Re: [scifinoir2] Maia Campbell Before The Drugs
Now I'm remembering that when the LA Times was still a newspaper, Bebe Moore Campbell had a cover story in the Sunday magazine in which she covered their family's push toward financial stability, her own writing career, the trappings of middle class life, and what it meant when she realized that her daughter needed hospitalization. There was a lot about her daughter acting out and about the challenges of getting someone into treatment when she doesn't think she needs it. Tracy On Aug 12, 2010, at 6:26 AM, Gerald Haynes efhay...@yahoo.com wrote: First of all, I had no idea she had fallen to this level, and secondly I was saddened by the exploitation of these people taking the footage. It is obvious that she is not mentally healthy, yet they stand around prodding and mocking her. We, as humans, can be horrible to each other... Gerald Haynes http://thesmallfries.com - Calvin Hobbes who? http://dontarrestus.com - Latino based sci-fi comic strip fun From: George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, August 12, 2010 4:20:47 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Maia Campbell Before The Drugs She's the daughter of the late Bebe Moore Campbell. I thinnk her mothers death along with undiagnosed bipolar contion were reason for her rapid downward spiral. From: Mr. Worf HelloMahogany@ gmail.com To: bombcherryjuice BombcherryJuice@ yahoogroups. com Sent: Thu, August 12, 2010 1:05:48 AM Subject: [scifinoir2] Maia Campbell Before The Drugs This is sad... Maia Campbell Before The Drugs [PHOTOS] Previous Click for More Post by Shamika Sanders in Gossip News on Aug 10, 2010 at 4:28 pm View Photos This photo recently surfaced of Maia Campbell when she was booked for (whatever) crime it was this time. Maia Campbell was once the star of the T.V show “In The House,” and teenage movie ‘Trippin.” It’s rumored that Maia was recently arrested for prostitution after her run in with drugs. Maia Campbell had the potential to be a major black actress in Hollywood, check out her pics before the drugs. She was truly beautiful… Maia Campbell In Rehab After “Cracked Out” Video Surfaces On Web Reason #2071 Not To Do Crack: It Turns Sitcom Stars To Crazy Prostitutes -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_ of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Ganja and Hess movie?
I've never seen it either. I remember looking for it once during the VHS heyday. It was gone. I remember looking for several titles that were either impossible to find or hundreds of dollars. But I see that the DVD is available for much less. Tracy On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: I've been aware of this movie for some time but I've never seen it. I attempted to buy a copy years ago but, at the time, it was out of my price range. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@... wrote: Has anyone seen this movie before? It is about an African American man and woman that become vampires. It was made in 1973, I found a couple of clips of it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdIuxbuO-Ifeature=related -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: True Blood Season 3
I'd watch that! On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@... wrote: I notice we haven't seen too many vamps of color; I really wish that would change. This reminds me of something Paul Mooney, my favorite comedian, sez: There are no ghosts! If there were ghosts, black slaves would be comin' back to haunt your ass! Of course there would be black vampires and black werewolves, and because of the hierarchies (which, in the case of the vampires, I totally do NOT understand - werewolves WOULD be pack animals)they would rise to the top - through cunning, guile and strength. In fact, the oldest and strongest vampires would be black, if vampires existed. Course, who would tune in to see that(besides me)? ~rave! I am powerfully disappointed by how the role of Lafayette has devolved. I would have preferred him dead (as he is the Sookie Stackhouse books) than reduced to this. ~rave? Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo ! Groups Links
Re: [scifinoir2] Native American Paper Sculptures
These are stunning! On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Amy Harlib ahar...@earthlink.net wrote: ahar...@earthlink.net Wow! Amy On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 4:11 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: ** Native American Paper Sculptures These are absolutely Beautiful!!! Sculptures of Native American scenes made out of paper by Allen and Patty Eckman [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *These stunningly detailed sculptures may only be made from paper - but they are being snapped up by art fans for tens of thousands of pounds. The intricate creations depict Native American scenes and took up to 11 months to make using a specially formulated paper* *[image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman]* ** *Husband and wife team Allen and Patty Eckman put **paper pulp** into clay moulds and pressurise it to remove the water* *[image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman]* ** *The hard, lightweight pieces are then removed and the couple painstakingly add detailed finishings with a wide range of tools* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *They have been making the creations since 1987 at their home studio, in South Dakota , America , and have racked up a whopping £3 million selling the works of art* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *The pieces depict traditional scenes from **Native American history**of Cherokees hunting and dancing * ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *The most expensive piece is called Prairie Edge Powwow which sold for £47,000* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *Allen said: We create Indians partly because my great, great grandmother was a Cherokee and my family on both sides admire the native Americans...* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *...I work on the men and animals and Patty does the women and children explains Allen* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *I enjoy most doing the detail. The paper really lends itself to unlimited detail. I'm really interested in the Indians' material, physical and spiritual culture and that whole period of our nation's history I find fascinating. From the western expansion, through the Civil War and beyond is of great interest to me.* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *Allen explained their technique: It should not be confused with papier mache. The two mediums are completely different. I call what we do 'cast paper sculpture'* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *...Some of them we create are lifesize and some we scale down to 1/6 lifesize* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *These sculptures are posed as standing nude figures and limited detailed animals with no ears, tails or hair* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *We transform them by sculpting on top of them - creating detail with soft and hard paper we make in various thicknesses and textures.* ** ** [image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman] *We have really enjoyed the development of our **fine art techniques**over the years and have created a process that is worth sharing. There are many artists and sculptors who we believe will enjoy this medium as much as we have.* ** ** *[image: Paper art of Native American indians made by Allen and Patty Eckman]* -- http://MisfitsCafe. com/Diane http://misfitscafe.com/Diane -- If your world doesn't allow you to dream, move to one where you can. Billy Idol -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Salt in your eye
I'm not sure what to say about that. I've seen a few things lately that remind me of how important it is for children to be raised by people who want them around. But I assume some people could be good at the job with a child at home. I guess I would chalk that up to at least the way she's feeling right now about raising children, and maybe the way she would advise others. That just reminded me of a huge argument I had with a guy I was dating when we were watching some older Apollo 13 movie (not the famous Tom Hanks one). I was certain that no one who wants to have a dangerous job should have children. But I was 19 then and things were simple. On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: There was an interesting change made in this movie - aside from changing the name from Edwin to Evelyn - Edwin was supposed to have a child and Jolie nixed this idea because, she said, a woman in this profession could not have a child and effectively do her job. ~rave? --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote: Again, not disputing it's an issue, I just think that in context of this film--spies, espionage, rogue states--the torture/beating makes sense. I can see it having been done to a man in this context. Indeed, isn't Salt based on a character that was originally envisioned as a man? I wonder if the torture scene was there for his incarnation. I'd argue in this case they may even have toned down the torture since it was a woman, as with a man they'd have shown the actually beating and torture in more graphic detail. This may be the exception that proves the rule. - Original Message - From: Kelwyn ravena...@... To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 11:51:59 AM Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Salt in your eye I knew somebody was going to play the Pierce Brosnan card. The difference is that, particularly in the Bond films, this is an anomaly - usually the Bond torture comes at the end of the film (see Casino Royale) not the beginning. One would be hand-pressed to name a female actioner where this doesn't begin this way. And, if you can name one it probably underperformed at the box office. Angelina Jolie's first Tomb Raider movie is a notable exception. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@ wrote: I'm not arguing that trend, but I am arguing that in this case it may have been justified and appropriate for the film. The point was she was captured by an enemy government. I liken it to the last Bond flick with Pierce Brosnan, who was similarly tortured by the North Koreans. Wasn't he also stripped down to his skivvies? In this case maybe it was simply tell a good believable story, and not an intent to titillate the audience? Of course, I don't find the anorexic-looking Jolie sexy anyway, so any intended titillation would go over my head, even if seeing a woman bound was a thing that turned me on (and it's not). - Original Message - From: Kelwyn ravenadal@ To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 9:28:00 AM Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Salt in your eye It is not the severity of the abuse I am commenting on. It is the necessity of the abuse before we, the viewers, can accept Salt as a kick-ass avenger. This is not de rigueur in male action films where the impetus is usually a woman (wife, daughter, girlfriend) who has been killed, kidnapped and/or raped. In female action films, it is the heroine herself who must be (nearly) killed, kidnapped and/or raped. ~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@ wrote: It's not bad. They don't show any real abuse, just the image of her after having been abused. - Original Message - From: Martin Baxter martinbaxter7@ To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 6:39:47 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Salt in your eye Ah... remind me to be getting popcorn during that part of the festivities. On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 2:26 PM, Kelwyn ravenadal@ wrote: Although Salt did not dislodge Inception from the top of the box office, it did take in $36 mil at the weekend box office. Part of its success is that it adhered to the formula for a successful kick-ass female action movie: Salt opens with Angelina Jolie stripped to her skivvies, bloodied and beaten, under the extremes of torture - the usual fetishistic fantasy. ~(no)rave! -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Expose the NCAA, not the athletes
I am really curious about any experiences you would like to share with the NCAA. I was an undergrad in a place where athletics didn't bring revenue to the school; but I've been in places since then were sports matter a lot. But I know that student-athletes have vastly different experiences depending on whether their sport brings in money. On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 2:58 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Wherein Brother Whitlock Speaks Truth to Power... http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/jason-whitlock-expose-ncaa-not-reggie-bush-072210?GT1=39002 The NCAA rule book is not the United States Constitution. If anything, the rule book supporting the bogus concept of “amateur athletics” is akin to the laws that supported Jim Crow, denied women suffrage and upheld slavery. The architect of the modern NCAA, the organization’s former president, Walter Byers, spelled out all of this in his 1997 *mea culpa*, “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting the Student-Athlete.” Byers wrote: “Today the NCAA Presidents Commission is preoccupied with tightening a few loose bolts in a worn machine, firmly committed to the neo-plantation belief that the enormous proceeds from college games belong to the overseers (administrators) and supervisors (coaches). The plantation workers performing in the arena may only receive those benefits authorized by the overseers.” Byers was not and is not a Jesse Jackson sympathizer. Byers is a white, right-wing conservative from Kansas. He was the NCAA’s first president (1951-1988) and sole visionary. He admitted creating a monster. His NCAA memoir was his repentance and call for a fundamental overhaul of a corrupt organization. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Expose the NCAA, not the athletes
That all makes sense. It doesn't make a lot of sense to target Reggie Bush as though he had power as a student. USC's former coach was the highest paid university employee in the country at around $4.4 million when he resigned. This hasn't hurt him. The NFL salary is more than $7 million. But at least in public schools the box office from sports like football and whatever else is major in the area pays for swimming, fencing, baseball, and the like. What is there to do about that? On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Tracy, I don't really have a massive experience to correspond with this. The closest I've come to the sports-money experience was during my years at Virginia State, a measly D-IIA school. During football season my last year there, I was casually seeing a young lady who worked in the stadium office as an accountant trainee. After a game we played against Troy State (nothing big whatsoever, as we weren't in the same conference and were playing each other for the first time), she had to help count down the gate. It came to a hair under 1.1 MILLION. When I ehard that number, my first thought was to wonder what serious games, like Army-Navy, Ohio State-Michigan, Notre Dame-USC and Alabama-Auburn drew in. This entire farce regarding sanctions and punishments because the players get a tiny fraction of the gate SICKENS me. PAY THE PLAYERS. Sure, it ruins the spirit of amateur athletics, some may say. IMO, it was ruined the day I sat outside that money room, looking at all of the worn bills being collated. On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 4:35 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: I am really curious about any experiences you would like to share with the NCAA. I was an undergrad in a place where athletics didn't bring revenue to the school; but I've been in places since then were sports matter a lot. But I know that student-athletes have vastly different experiences depending on whether their sport brings in money. On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 2:58 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Wherein Brother Whitlock Speaks Truth to Power... http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/jason-whitlock-expose-ncaa-not-reggie-bush-072210?GT1=39002 The NCAA rule book is not the United States Constitution. If anything, the rule book supporting the bogus concept of “amateur athletics” is akin to the laws that supported Jim Crow, denied women suffrage and upheld slavery. The architect of the modern NCAA, the organization’s former president, Walter Byers, spelled out all of this in his 1997 *mea culpa*, “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting the Student-Athlete.” Byers wrote: “Today the NCAA Presidents Commission is preoccupied with tightening a few loose bolts in a worn machine, firmly committed to the neo-plantation belief that the enormous proceeds from college games belong to the overseers (administrators) and supervisors (coaches). The plantation workers performing in the arena may only receive those benefits authorized by the overseers.” Byers was not and is not a Jesse Jackson sympathizer. Byers is a white, right-wing conservative from Kansas. He was the NCAA’s first president (1951-1988) and sole visionary. He admitted creating a monster. His NCAA memoir was his repentance and call for a fundamental overhaul of a corrupt organization. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] VIDEO: Mysterious Beast “Chupacab ras” Found In Texas
When I first heard the legends, I didn't know what to think. But when I see the pictures, they all look like some damaged versions of regular animals. I've seen dogs turn blue like that when they've lost their fur. I imagine other canines might too. What do you all think? On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 3:34 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: VIDEO: Mysterious Beast “Chupacabras” Found In TexasView Photos By Claudio E. Cabrera http://newsone.com/author/ccabrera/ July 14, 2010 7:18 pm [image: Mythical Chupacabra] The mythical, mysterious beast called the “Chupacabra” may just be real after all. The “Chupacabra,” which is a goat-sucker in English, is apparently on the prowl and ripping animals limb from limb in Texas. The animal, a cross between dog and wolf, is said to target anything in its sight. Click here to view videohttp://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Chupacabras-Mysterious-creatures-killed-in-Texas/YMYc1PyfZ0imSLKAP7IX4w.cspx Growing up in New York City, where there’s a substantial Puerto Rican population, tales of the Chupacabra were often told. I didn’t know whether to believe the tales or not. I never thought a Chupacabra would be spotted in these parts. I always thought it was an animal you’d find in the Caribbean or somewhere down south. According to recent reports, I wasn’t too far off. Just a few days ago, two Chupacabras were found and killed by a Texas Animal Officer near San Antonio. The rancher who reported the sighting told WOAI that it was the “worst looking animal he’s ever seen.” Chupacabra sightings aren’t anything new. There have been sightings in South Florida in the late 90’s and in Northern Texas a few years ago. While many dispel the myth of these animal exisisting, similar looking ones seem to pop up every now and then. I guess we’ll have to wait for the tests to come out which will determine what this “beast” really is. Click here to view photos: * * *RELATED:* -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Hal Jordan's painted on super suit
I need to be the lady who says the nipples in the Batman suit did not get me to the theater. But I also didn't think it was a subtle touch. It was the first thing I noticed when I saw the suit. Friends and I immediately started joking about the fetish Batman. I hope that's not the thinking behind the Green Lantern suit. On Jul 16, 2010, at 6:22 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Remember the nipples on the Batman suit? That was something very subtle but according to Hollywood that attracted more women to see the movie. The Green Latern suit is similar to that. On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 3:10 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: How does that Tron-ripoff monstrosity attract the ladies? - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 5:54:48 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hal Jordan's painted on super suit Gotta attract the ladies to the movie I guess... I'm not liking it either. On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 2:39 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: My twenty-two year old son called me last night to tell me how much he really REALLY hates this Green Lantern costume. ~rave! http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-green-lantern-costume.html The buzz for next summer's blockbuster-in-the-making reached a fever pitch this week when photos of Reynolds as Green Lantern emerged -- particularly the one that graces the cover of the July 23 issue of Entertainment Weekly. At first glance, even a casual fan might notice that Reynolds's costume has a painted-on look. That's because it is digitally painted onto the actor's body. Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo! Groups Links -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] [] they still hating on Lebron
I hadn't seen this shirt. It's an ugly attack. If the past 7 years in Cleveland can provide any predictions, I don't imagine the Miami press or paparazzi will be kind to her. On Jul 13, 2010, at 7:12 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: http://kissmyassleb ron.bigcartel. com/product/ you-can-head- south-but- your-mom- rides-west Designated Hitter -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] 10 Bizarre Theories And The Facts Surrounding Them
I take in a lot of media. But I've never heard the idea that the Middle Ages didn't exist. On Jul 14, 2010, at 7:43 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm surprised that we haven't seen any of these in a movie yet. On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 4:26 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote: Thank you, Mr Worf. #s 5-9 are prime fodder for my work. On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: 10 Bizarre Theories And The Facts Surrounding Them Share This- Published July 24, 2008 - 550 Comments Previously we posted a list on conspiracy theories, but the items on this list are not really suited to that genre. This is a list of bizarre theories or beliefs that many people subscribe to – with a list of the facts as far as modern science is concerned. This is not meant as a criticism of believers, but as a discussion of the theories and facts. 10 Magic The Theory: The theory is by using certain objects such as a candle, a dagger and a wide variety of things you can bend the universe to your will completely ignoring the laws of physics and the practical laws of the universe. The facts: Many people claim that they can use such powers as summoning demons, angels or other things and the OOBE or out of body experience under laboratory conditions but no one has been able to prove it so far. There are incidents that do defy logical explanations, such as some people’s claims of using the Ouija board, though since none of these events can be proven it is very weak evidence. 9 Reptoids The Theory: This has to be one of the most outlandish theories ever brought forth, it is claimed most famously by David Icke but as well by several others. It states that the royal family of Britain, President Bush’s family as well as many other higher ups are actually aliens that are here to secretly take over earth, feeding off of humans to maintain their “human form”. The facts: Most of the theorists proof consists of enhanced photos of people such as Mr. Bush with reptile looking eyes, though they have come forth with many other forms of proof such as videos and other reptile aspects of the reptoids here on earth. The videos all brought forth have been proven fake or are so obviously fake no one has wasted time and resources to look into it. 8 2008 is actually 1711 The Theory: The theory here is that the early Middle Ages never existed and we have been counting the earth almost 200 years older than it actually is. The facts: Well, there is no solid way to prove or disprove it, since the very theory says the carbon dating of this age is flawed. They also claim the written test from that era is a forgery from people of that era. Though they have not put forth a reason why and there is no solid evidence from them to prove this theory since the basis of their theory stops us from being able to scientifically prove they are wrong. It is a matter of who believes what, though the evidence does seem to be stronger for the side against the Middle Ages not existing. Since all this theory says is that the carbon dating is incorrect and the writings are forgeries though we have an almost perfect time line with the carbon dating we use, we can almost cast this one aside without proof. 7 Nazi Advances The Theory: The theory is the Nazis were much farther ahead than technology would allow them to be at the time. It ranges wildly but one of the most popular versions is that the Nazis landed on the moon as early as 1942 and established a moon base on the dark side of the moon. They also had establishments with at least half a dozen alien civilizations, and that the remaining Nazis remain on the moon to this day. The facts: There are so many holes in this Theory, for example most skeptics believe that we haven’t had any contact at all with aliens as of yet, as well the dark side of the moon is freezing, they would need amazing machinery to accomplish living there. They would need a way to renew all their resources; this could be explained by growing plants for food and air. But they would also need an energy source of some kind, which there would have to be one not yet discovered by us back here on earth. 6 Hollow Earth The Theory: The theory is the earth is actually hollow and is not filled with magma. It ranges from there being several layered shells on the inside (usually four) to the inside having ground like ours, with 800 miles of crust between us and them, most people usually say there is also an inner sun. The facts: Though this is not quite as insane or as impossible as the others it is still highly unlikely. We don’t know for sure what’s under our earth’s crust but this theory completely forgets to mention where the magma that erupts from volcanoes comes from if the earth is hollow. As well, the inner sun would
Re: [scifinoir2] Dream Weaver - Rave's Inception Review
Thank you for linking to your review. This movie is one of the few I'm looking forward to seeing. On Jul 14, 2010, at 9:28 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://blackplush.blogspot.com/2010/07/dream-weaver.html It is hard to quantify how good Inception is. It is a two and one half hour roller coaster ride with enough thrills and spills to keep you glued to your seat - when you are not perched on the edge of it.
Re: [scifinoir2] [] they still hating on Lebron
Martin, what do you usually claim to be? On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:37 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Tracy, this whole thing is ugly. Stuff like this is why I don't claim to be human. On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:23 AM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: I hadn't seen this shirt. It's an ugly attack. If the past 7 years in Cleveland can provide any predictions, I don't imagine the Miami press or paparazzi will be kind to her. On Jul 13, 2010, at 7:12 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: [image: http://cache0.bigcartel.com/product_images/25546133/HEadSouth.jpg] http://kissmyasslebron.bigcartel.com/product/you-can-head-south-but-your-mom-rides-west http://kissmyassleb ron.bigcartel. com/product/ you-can-head- south-but- your-mom- rides-west Designated Hitter -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] 10 Bizarre Theories And The Facts Surrounding Them
I'm busy wrapping my mind around this one. It definitely can make good story material. On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Tracy, I heard a blurb about it once at Above Top Secret. Literally one post, one reply on the thread, and then the admins shut the thread down. The only conspiracy theory I've ever head of regarding time on the calendar is the one surrounding the fact that, back in 1752, Great Britain finally decided to join the rest of Europe in using the Gregorian Calendar, giving up eleven days in September. The conspiracy theory is that the Illuminati actually stole the time, toward their own ends. Lawrence Miles wrote a series of books and stories about it, in Faction Paradoxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faction_Paradox, with a few extra curves tossed in. I've begun looking for everything related to this, because I think that Doctor Who might be verging toward introducing it as a storyline. On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: I take in a lot of media. But I've never heard the idea that the Middle Ages didn't exist. On Jul 14, 2010, at 7:43 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm surprised that we haven't seen any of these in a movie yet. On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 4:26 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxter7@martinbaxt...@gmail.com gmail.com wrote: Thank you, Mr Worf. #s 5-9 are prime fodder for my work. On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Mr. Worf HelloMahogany@hellomahog...@gmail.com gmail.com wrote: 10 Bizarre Theories And The Facts Surrounding Them Share This- Published July 24, 2008 - 550 Commentshttp://listverse.com/2008/07/24/10-bizarre-theories-and-the-facts-surrounding-them/#idc-container Previously we posted a list on conspiracy theorieshttp://listverse.com/miscellaneous/another-10-conspiracy-theories/, but the items on this list are not really suited to that genre. This is a list of bizarre theories or beliefs that many people subscribe to – with a list of the facts as far as modern science is concerned. This is not meant as a criticism of believers, but as a discussion of the theories and facts. 10 Magic [image: Picture 1-36]http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/picture-1-36.png The Theory: The theory is by using certain objects such as a candlehttp://listverse.com/2008/07/24/10-bizarre-theories-and-the-facts-surrounding-them/#, a dagger and a wide variety of things you can bend the universe to your will completely ignoring the laws of physics and the practical laws of the universe. The facts: Many people claim that they can use such powers as summoning demons, angels or other things and the OOBE or out of body experience under laboratory conditions but no one has been able to prove it so far. There are incidents that do defy logical explanations, such as some people’s claims of using the Ouija board, though since none of these events can be proven it is very weak evidence. 9 Reptoids [image: Picture 2-17]http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/picture-2-17.png The Theory: This has to be one of the most outlandish theories ever brought forth, it is claimed most famously by David Icke but as well by several others. It states that the royal familyhttp://listverse.com/2008/07/24/10-bizarre-theories-and-the-facts-surrounding-them/#of Britain, President Bush’s family as well as many other higher ups are actually aliens that are here to secretly take over earth, feeding off of humans to maintain their “human form”. The facts: Most of the theorists proof consists of enhanced photos of people such as Mr. Bush with reptile looking eyes, though they have come forth with many other forms of proof such as videos and other reptile aspects of the reptoids here on earth. The videos all brought forth have been proven fake or are so obviously fake no one has wasted time and resources to look into it. 8 2008 is actually 1711 [image: Herman]http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/herman.jpg The Theory: The theory here is that the early Middle Ages never existed and we have been counting the earth almost 200 years older than it actually is. The facts: Well, there is no solid way to prove or disprove it, since the very theory says the carbon dating of this age is flawed. They also claim the written test from that era is a forgery from people of that era. Though they have not put forth a reason why and there is no solid evidence from them to prove this theory since the basis of their theory stops us from being able to scientifically prove they are wrong. It is a matter of who believes what, though the evidence does seem to be stronger for the side against the Middle Ages not existing. Since all this theory says is that the carbon dating is incorrect and the writings are forgeries though we have an almost perfect time line with the carbon dating we use, we can almost cast
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Goldberg: Mel Gibson is Not a Racist
The whole Whoppi Goldberg thing is bizarre. I can't imagine hearing these words from anyone I know and then trying to defend that person. Does anyone else feel as though this recording is getting so much play just because news outlets want to play slurs, even when they're bleeped? On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I think Mel gets his racism from his father who is a well documented anti-semite and conspiracy theorist. I think Whoopi has bought into the Hollywood hype. She has been in the Hollywood system so long that she has lost her bearings on reality. This happens to a lot of people of color that gain acceptance through tokenism and may have genuine white friends, but that does not mean that all is right with the world. On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Brent, I owe you an apology for high-mindedly saying I don't like being privy to people's private thoughts and utterances, odious though they may be. I still feel that way. I hate knowing that Gibson is such a racist on this level. I don't get why his girlfriend chose to release this crap to Radar Online instead of just the cops. I think, like the other topics we've discussed recently of media coverage, we are becoming way too much of a nation where everyone wants to get their stuff out in the media for a variety of reasons. But, for all that I wish and think this stuff should never have been released this way, I must admit I've listened to it, and it sickens me. The only question I have is, why is *anyone* still surprised at Gibson's racism? The drunken rants when he was arrested were enough evidence, the disturbing anti-Semitic tones of The Passion of the Christ were troublesome as well. As for Whoopi Goldberg saying he's not a racist, I have no idea what the hell her definition is, but I'm not surprised. She's dealt with self-hatred and hatred of black people for a long time. I've noticed over the years how she attacks people who use the term African-American, saying she's just an American, as if the term were insulting. I note how refused to wear a ribbon against racism for the Oscars one year, and even did a riff on it, but curiously, she wore things supporting everything from gay rights to women's rights. And I note that, the same lady who gives people like Gibson a pass is very quick to attack other blacks. years ago she was given an Essence award I believe. (Might have been NAACP...) When she got the award, Goldberg proceeded to thank the audience, then tell them Y'all have made it hard on me--very hard. She berated the audience for all the years that blacks had laughed at her looks, not supported her, and made her feel ugly. Odd that she was so quick to attack blacks publicly, takes offense at black labels, yet can be so forgiving and understanding of racism like this. Oh yeah: I bet Danny Glover is saying, What the fu**, Mel?! http://www.examiner.com/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner~y2010m7d13-Whoopi-Goldberg-defends-Mel-Gibson-Mel-Gibson-is-not-a-racisthttp://www.examiner.com/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner%7Ey2010m7d13-Whoopi-Goldberg-defends-Mel-Gibson-Mel-Gibson-is-not-a-racist *We've been following the goings-on over at the Mel Gibson Meltdownapalooza for the past few weeks. By now, you've probably heard one or more of the audio tapes that Gibson's ex has leaked to the press, so we don't need to reiterate the blatant hate-speech, misogyny, and-- let's face it-- flat-out threats that Gibson spits out during these tapes. This is the sorta situation that any reasonable, intelligent, rational thinking-person could look at and say, You know, I think that Mel Gibson's a bit of a racist, and probably a few other things. With that said, Whoopi Goldberg has sprung into action to defend Mel Gibson as decidedly un-racist. Read all about it below, my gentle Examiner readers...* This Mel Gibson thing's really getting out of hand. The current news on the situation is that authorities are now looking into the Gibson/Oksana (that'd be his ex-wife) debacle for a multitude of reasons. On one side of the fence, you've got Gibson's camp accusing Oksana of trying to extor Gibson by releasing the tapes to the media. This side claims that Gibson was set-up and provoked into making the several audio tapes that have now leaked to the press. On the other side of the debate, you've got Gibson's ex's people, who claim that Gibson beat her up, threatened to plant her in (his) rose garden, and that Gibson's a flaming racist. Now, just because there aren't enough cooks in this particular kitchen, Whoopi Goldberg's got a few things to say:http://wonderwall.msn.com/tv/whoopi-goldberg-mel-gibson-is-not-a-racist-1560886.story?GT1=28135 *I have had a long friendship with Mel. You can say he's being a bonehead, but I can't sit and say that he's a racist having
Re: [scifinoir2] 6 Coolest Inventions you Probably D idn’t Know Exist
These are great. Although I once saw a traffic light that did some kind of crazy blinking when the caution light came on. It was late. It seemed brighter than normal. For a second, I thought it might mean something other than what normal traffic lights mean. I think I'm getting to the point where I need some warning when the everyday changes. On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 3:39 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: 6 Coolest Inventions you Probably Didn’t Know Exist December 2, 2009 by uphaa.blog http://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/author/admin/ Progress Bar on a Traffic Light A designhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#award has been given for a concept that would allow existing traffic lights to be retrofitted with progress bars that offer a visual representation of when the light will change. Damjan Stanković -the designer- promotes this stoplight as an eco solution in the following ways: If you’ve got the amount of time you’ve got to stop in front of you, you can shut your engine off, wait, be calm, and turn it back on again when the time is almost up. This not only lessens the amount of gashttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#you use sitting still, but it lessens the amount of crazy madness you have wondering if the stoplight is stuck, or just really, really long.Source http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/30/a-better-understanding-of-stoplights/ Waterproof Gadget Coating Golden Shellback Coating is here and it is specifically created to protect gizmoshttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#against damage and loss of function due to harsh weather conditions and moisture. This protective shield produces a vacuum-deposited film that is non-flammable and insoluble in solvents. It is an ideal protection for plastic, copper, aluminum, metal, ceramic, steel, tin, or glass. The price of this excellent anti-corrosion coating depends on the equipment you want to use it for. For the BlackBerry Pearlhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#, $120; the iPod Shuffle, $60; the iPod Touchhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#$120.Source. http://www.golden-shellback.com/ Airport Sleep Pods Have you ever slept at the airport? For those of us who want the convenience of sleepinghttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#at the airport, without so much of the crazy, there’s these amazing things right here! “Sleephttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#Box” they go by the name of, designed by Arch Group for those who need private time in strange, unfriendly places! There’s a thousand instances where the ideal personal cubical could come in handy. Here’s one of them: the airport. In between flights, what do you do? Sit in some marginally comfortable seats. Lots of time in between flights, what do you do? Sleep box. The box itself is 2mx1.4mx2.3m. The main bed is 2×0.6m, equipped with an automatic system which changes the linenshttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#(think Fifth Element.) The bed is a soft, flexible strip of polymer and pulp tissue. Ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD television, wireless internet accesshttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#, power sockets, extra luggage space under lounges. Payment is made in time, anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours.Sourcehttp://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/12/airport-sleep-pods/ Live Checking Card Do you know who the Green Monster is? It’s that skunk-of-a-bill that you get at the end of the month; it devours all your Dollars because you overspent! Only if you could use something like the Live Checking Card! A Credit Card won’t let you go beyond your limits. It’s a digital thang with an E-ink display that allows you to check your payment history on it. It even tracks your bankhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#account’s transaction through RFIDhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#. A cumulative amount shows up on the screen every time you swipe the card; giving you your account balance on your finger tips. Designers: Jin-young Yoon, Wook-sun Oh, Young-ho Lee Jun-kyo Lee. Sourcehttp://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/26/kick-the-green-monster/ Hydropak – World’s First Portable Fuel Cell The HydroPak is the world’s first commercially available fuel cellhttp://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/6-coolest-inventions-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/#. The system consists of a fuel cell and water-activated
Re: [scifinoir2] LeBron's crazy daddy drama
How is it that he can sue them for never mentioning him? I noticed that he waited until LJ became too old to receive back child support. On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 8:50 AM, George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com wrote: I'm from DC and was in college in 84 and want to know the name of this bar. -- *From:* Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com *To:* scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com *Sent:* Mon, July 12, 2010 1:13:53 PM *Subject:* Re: [scifinoir2] LeBron's crazy daddy drama rave... it took the guy this long to figure out that he MIGHT be the babydaddy? On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 1:15 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo. comravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.examiner.com/x-19726-Celebrity-Property-Examiner%7Ey2010m7d7-Celebrity-Scandal-Man-sues-NBA-celebrity-athlete-LeBron-James-for-rights-to-claim-he-is-his-father TMZ says the lawsuit filed June 7 against LeBron James and his mother is explosive -- and sports fans agree. In it, 55-year-old Leicester Bryce Stovell claims he met Lebron's mother Gloria in a D.C. area bar in 1984. At that time, Stovell claims he had unprotected sex with her -- not following a relationship but on the very night they met. According to the celebrity look alike wannabe dad, she and he parted company when he later found out she was 15-years-old at the time of their tryst. OOPS. In case you are wondering, he was a youthful 29 (or creepy old dude praying on a teen who had conned her way into an adult nightclub [while most likely carrying a fake ID], depending on your attitude). According to the documents he filed recently in a federal court -- Lebron's mom Gloria has spent the rest of her life shielding LeBron and the rest of the general public from the truth about his origins. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=fQUxw9aUVikhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] James Mink Story
Is this movie airing again? On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: This morning I saw this movie Captive Heart: the James Mink Story starring Lou Gossett, Kate Nelligan, Michael Jai White and Ruby Dee. It is an amazing mind screw about how twisted is slavery and its legacy. An escaped slave, James Mink runs away to Canada where he becomes a wealthy and influential man. He marries a white woman, has a bi-racial child and, because he doesn't want to sully his daughter by having her marry a black man he offers a huge dowry to any respectable white man who will marry her. He finds one but the man turns out to be a vicious slave trader who gang rapes his daughter before selling her into slavery back in the American south. Posing as his wife's slave, Mink eventually rescues his daughter, several other slaves and the black man, a slave, she has fallen in love with. Mink's actions to save his daughter are bold and heroic but since was his self-hate and knuckleheadism that led to his daughter's servitude in the first place I am deeply conflicted about adding him to http://theworldebon.blogspot.com
Re: [scifinoir2] Hoopla Around James Stranger than Fiction
No one will notice for at least another week. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.comwrote: I'm in Charlotte. We just sent the Browns a QB named Jake Delhomme. If you think you all are mad NOW... On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:27 AM, Tracy Curtis wrote: I'm in Cleveland right now. It's my hometown. I can assure that black people are (over)reacting to this news. The city, after all, is more than half black. So local coverage shows a lot of black people. They ripped up posters and tore up a few things too. And because this is Cleveland, there are the veiled threats to his safety if he comes back. I think that at least one person on each local newscast uttered the FCC-friendly equivalent of f...@$ LeBron. There are guards now protecting the mural as people gather to destroy their gear. It's bizarre and really said. There's a lot of difficulty and poverty here. There have always been rabid sports fans and they have so little. I'm not sure what the national coverage has been. But there was a serious push to get him to stay that included playing back his own words about his home town on TV and radio outlets. There were rallies. And a lot of people put their kids up to it. He spent the last few days at his basketball camp and at some boys and girls clubs as he typically did during summers with kids begging him. Just watching the desperation is sad. In some ways, the comedians were right about the city. The population is maybe 40% of what it was when I was a kid. Houses are boarded up and those left sometimes can be had for the price of a mediocre used car or even for trade in some neighborhoods. Detroit gets more coverage, but it's bad here too. What most fans are saying about the press conference is that it's embarrassing to be dumped publicly. I think something without the fanfare would have stung them less. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Thanks. I'm listening to comedians Gary Owens and Kevin Hart on the Tom Joyner Morning Show . Gary Owens--he's the white comedian married to a black woman who often jokes about that-says only the white guys in Cleveland are tripping on this level. You don't see no Brothers burning their jerseys, he joked, only the out-of-shape white guys with one beer in their hands. Hart suggested now's a good time to start a business in Cleveland 'cause you can do it on the cheap, prices are now going to be so low.He said they're going to shoot Soul Plane 2 in Cleveland for only 50K! He's decided to start a trucking company up there. He can't drive a truck, but since Hart figures there'll be no traffic on the streets of Cleveland, he'll be just fine. I'm still not sure which is funnier/sadder to me: the dude literally crying like a baby while his (drunk) friend consoles him, or Mr. LeBron is *dead* to me! - Original Message - From: Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 9, 2010 6:20:31 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hoopla Around James Stranger than Fiction Keith, the First Laugh of the Morn Award, long unrewarded, finds a worthy mantle in yours. So sad a little mess all around. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 1:12 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Who'd have thunk that King James would be able to out self-promote the likes of Madonna, Paris Hilton, or Spike Lee? Talk about overblown, overhyped, and overlong. It was just a freakin' decision for where a rich b-baller will go to try and win a championship. Did it really demand an hour long special on ESPN? And, growing up as I did in Fort Worth, you can't beat me for being a fan of stuff like all things Dallas Cowboys, but come on: there were dudes in Miami jumping up and down with joy (what, are they getting paid for this?), folks in Cleveland were burning his jersey, one dude was crying and saying it was the worst day of his life, and another disgusted fan said I hope the Heat never win anything. James is dead to me! Man, I find myself wondering again what aliens would think of us, watching from on high: They have multiple armed conflicts raging...they are systematically destroying their own biosphere, with no way to reach or terraform other planets...they still fight conflicts based on skin coloring and belief systems--yet millions of them are watching in concert the decision of one of their own concerning a spheroid object involved in one of their ritualized sports? No wonder we haven't been invited to join the Federation yet... Still, given how the hometown crowd was acting, it would have been fun if James had made the announcement *in Cleveland*! -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Monster wrestling
I hope to get to one of these soon. On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 1:14 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Last week or so there was a post where I mentioned the monster wrestling matches. Now the monster battles are on tour. Check them out here: http://www.kaiju.com/ -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Scientists discover antibodies that neutralize over 91 percent of HIV strains
I remember hearing in the early 1990s that some people had a natural resistance to AIDS. They would get the HIV virus. It would be detectable. But even without treatment, they never acquired full-blown AIDS. On Jul 10, 2010, at 1:38 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: That would make sense that some folks in Africa would have a natural immunity to it. Like folks in Europe that are naturally immune to the black plague. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: I saw this in the Wall Street Journal (and posted it practically everywhere but here). The HIV antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally. That is absolutely wild to me! ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@... wrote: Scientists discover antibodies that neutralize over 91 percent of HIV strains By Darren Quick http://www.gizmag.com/author/darren-quick/ *19:58 July 8, 2010* 1 Picturehttp://www.gizmag.com/antibodies-neutralize-over-90-percent-of-hiv-strains/15662/picture/117491/ [image: The atomic structure of the antibody VRC01 (blue and green) binding to HIV (grey and red) ...]http://www.gizmag.com/antibodies-neutralize-over-90-percent-of-hiv-strains/15662/picture/117491/ The atomic structure of the antibody VRC01 (blue and green) binding to HIV (grey and red) (Image: NIAID VRC) Find an ASO Near Youhttp://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=lai=BxH1kZow3TMjfF4jSjQTH-a30A-q3m2_mq6r1DcCNtwGg-IkBEAEYASCz3PoBKAQ4AFDj7KDL-v8BYMmO8IbIo6AZsgEOd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gGlAWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ2l6bWFnLmNvbS9hbnRpYm9kaWVzLW5ldXRyYWxpemUtb3Zlci05MC1wZXJjZW50LW9mLWhpdi1zdHJhaW5zLzE1NjYyLz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249OTE5MjY5NTRhZC1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbMgC1rnhEqgDAegD8QToA7gD6AMt6APvCegD-AT1AwAAAET1AwACAAAnum=1sig=AGiWqtyp3A5Yq3HMU1O2krjMxJ78-3Y7sAclient=ca-pub-1607124478120364adurl=http://www.HIVTreatmentIsPower.com%3Fs_kwcid%3DTC%7C6887%7Csupport%2520for%2520hiv%7Cwww.gizmag.com%7CC%7Cb%7C3646087206- www.HIVTreatmentIsPower.comhttp://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=lai=BxH1kZow3TMjfF4jSjQTH-a30A-q3m2_mq6r1DcCNtwGg-IkBEAEYASCz3PoBKAQ4AFDj7KDL-v8BYMmO8IbIo6AZsgEOd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gGlAWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ2l6bWFnLmNvbS9hbnRpYm9kaWVzLW5ldXRyYWxpemUtb3Zlci05MC1wZXJjZW50LW9mLWhpdi1zdHJhaW5zLzE1NjYyLz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249OTE5MjY5NTRhZC1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbMgC1rnhEqgDAegD8QToA7gD6AMt6APvCegD-AT1AwAAAET1AwACAAAnum=1sig=AGiWqtyp3A5Yq3HMU1O2krjMxJ78-3Y7sAclient=ca-pub-1607124478120364adurl=http://www.HIVTreatmentIsPower.com%3Fs_kwcid%3DTC%7C6887%7Csupport%2520for%2520hiv%7Cwww.gizmag.com%7CC%7Cb%7C3646087206 An ASO can provide HIV/AIDS support in many areas. Find one near you. Custom Antibodieshttp://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=lai=BKcOjZow3TMjfF4jSjQTH-a30A-qf3L4Bps7BvA_AjbcB4IObARACGAIgs9z6ASgEOABQrdSd_AZgyY7whsijoBmgAYSA1v4DsgEOd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gGlAWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ2l6bWFnLmNvbS9hbnRpYm9kaWVzLW5ldXRyYWxpemUtb3Zlci05MC1wZXJjZW50LW9mLWhpdi1zdHJhaW5zLzE1NjYyLz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249OTE5MjY5NTRhZC1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbIACAagDAegD8QToA7gD6AMt6APvCegD-AT1AwAAAET1AwACAAAnum=2sig=AGiWqtxYz4l1x_e9Ssim4Evnu9h-QLeURQclient=ca-pub-1607124478120364adurl=http://www.promab.com- www.promab.comhttp://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=lai=BKcOjZow3TMjfF4jSjQTH-a30A-qf3L4Bps7BvA_AjbcB4IObARACGAIgs9z6ASgEOABQrdSd_AZgyY7whsijoBmgAYSA1v4DsgEOd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gGlAWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ2l6bWFnLmNvbS9hbnRpYm9kaWVzLW5ldXRyYWxpemUtb3Zlci05MC1wZXJjZW50LW9mLWhpdi1zdHJhaW5zLzE1NjYyLz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249OTE5MjY5NTRhZC1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbIACAagDAegD8QToA7gD6AMt6APvCegD-AT1AwAAAET1AwACAAAnum=2sig=AGiWqtxYz4l1x_e9Ssim4Evnu9h-QLeURQclient=ca-pub-1607124478120364adurl=http://www.promab.com High-Quality Research Antibodies. Monoclonals Antibody Service $3,900 Vaccine Summit 2010http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=lai=BTv1YZow3TMjfF4jSjQTH-a30A-zVgLMB_O6n4BPAjbcB0PAzEAMYAyCz3PoBKAQ4AFCn39XgBmDJjvCGyKOgGbIBDnd3dy5naXptYWcuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBpQFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb20vYW50aWJvZGllcy1uZXV0cmFsaXplLW92ZXItOTAtcGVyY2VudC1vZi1oaXYtc3RyYWlucy8xNTY2Mi8_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1HaXptYWcrU3Vic2NyaWJlcnMmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPTkxOTI2OTU0YWQtVUEtMjIzNTM2MC00JnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWyAAgGoAwHoA_EE6AO4A-gDLegD7wnoA_gE9QMAAABE9QMAAgAAnum=3sig=AGiWqtzwl0AY94_WS2-miKs-b0_Koa0muwclient=ca-pub-1607124478120364adurl=http://www.healthtech.com/imt-
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: LeBron James The Decision top-ranked show on Thursday night
I'm glad you said this. Reading your comments allowed me to realize that the other TV events are completely off my radar. I only had a vague notion of these broadcasts except for the drafts. I don't think I've seen one--at least in adulthood. I now watch sports only occasionally after growing up watching quite a bit of football. I probably would have paid little attention to the LeBron James event if I were anyplace other than Cleveland. People have been publicly begging and crying the whole time of my visit. From what I understand, this has been happening since the playoffs. Being here now definitely skews my viewpoint. People are drawing a lot of comparisons to the way the Art Modell removed the Browns from the city. Maybe it makes sense to compare the two men. But the situations to me are very different. I would speculate that Gilbert's letter is his rant against LJ, but also his way of positioning himself in the city against Modell. He'll need that support. And it definitely worked here. That said, I totally agree with you that when black people do things that are unprecedented, a lot of folks suddenly take offense. On Jul 10, 2010, at 7:20 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: As I've stated previously, I find it both interesting and disheartening that people are okay when corporations (the NBA, the New York Athletic Club, the Kentucky Derby) put on one of these bloated hour-long programs with two minutes of content but are aghast when an individual does it. Like the police officer in Malcolm X most folks seem to think, That is too much power for one black man to have! I am not displeased that Mr. James' asserted his manhood right to apply his trade where ever he wants to. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@... wrote: The across-the-board reaction I'm hearing in this is that, in the public eye, LeBron had lost a lots of fans over this. And not because he left Cleveland. I've heard that event described, most charitably, as an infomercial. Doesn't bother me only because I watch so few NBA games (a grand total of six this past season, counting the playoffs). On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 4:45 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@... wrote: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/09/lebron-james-the-decision-is-top-rated-tv-show-on-thursday/56595 Thursday night's LeBron James The Decision on ESPN drew a 7.3 household rating in the preliminary overnight ratings. Compare that to the top rated show on broadcast last night, a repeat of The Mentalist on CBS, which drew a 6.0 household rating in the preliminary overnights. Update: Here is ESPN's official press release. A 7.3 is twice what an average NBA game ranks. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Hoopla Around James Stranger than Fiction
I'm in Cleveland right now. It's my hometown. I can assure that black people are (over)reacting to this news. The city, after all, is more than half black. So local coverage shows a lot of black people. They ripped up posters and tore up a few things too. And because this is Cleveland, there are the veiled threats to his safety if he comes back. I think that at least one person on each local newscast uttered the FCC-friendly equivalent of f...@$ LeBron. There are guards now protecting the mural as people gather to destroy their gear. It's bizarre and really said. There's a lot of difficulty and poverty here. There have always been rabid sports fans and they have so little. I'm not sure what the national coverage has been. But there was a serious push to get him to stay that included playing back his own words about his home town on TV and radio outlets. There were rallies. And a lot of people put their kids up to it. He spent the last few days at his basketball camp and at some boys and girls clubs as he typically did during summers with kids begging him. Just watching the desperation is sad. In some ways, the comedians were right about the city. The population is maybe 40% of what it was when I was a kid. Houses are boarded up and those left sometimes can be had for the price of a mediocre used car or even for trade in some neighborhoods. Detroit gets more coverage, but it's bad here too. What most fans are saying about the press conference is that it's embarrassing to be dumped publicly. I think something without the fanfare would have stung them less. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Thanks. I'm listening to comedians Gary Owens and Kevin Hart on the Tom Joyner Morning Show . Gary Owens--he's the white comedian married to a black woman who often jokes about that-says only the white guys in Cleveland are tripping on this level. You don't see no Brothers burning their jerseys, he joked, only the out-of-shape white guys with one beer in their hands. Hart suggested now's a good time to start a business in Cleveland 'cause you can do it on the cheap, prices are now going to be so low.He said they're going to shoot Soul Plane 2 in Cleveland for only 50K! He's decided to start a trucking company up there. He can't drive a truck, but since Hart figures there'll be no traffic on the streets of Cleveland, he'll be just fine. I'm still not sure which is funnier/sadder to me: the dude literally crying like a baby while his (drunk) friend consoles him, or Mr. LeBron is *dead* to me! - Original Message - From: Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 9, 2010 6:20:31 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hoopla Around James Stranger than Fiction Keith, the First Laugh of the Morn Award, long unrewarded, finds a worthy mantle in yours. So sad a little mess all around. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 1:12 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Who'd have thunk that King James would be able to out self-promote the likes of Madonna, Paris Hilton, or Spike Lee? Talk about overblown, overhyped, and overlong. It was just a freakin' decision for where a rich b-baller will go to try and win a championship. Did it really demand an hour long special on ESPN? And, growing up as I did in Fort Worth, you can't beat me for being a fan of stuff like all things Dallas Cowboys, but come on: there were dudes in Miami jumping up and down with joy (what, are they getting paid for this?), folks in Cleveland were burning his jersey, one dude was crying and saying it was the worst day of his life, and another disgusted fan said I hope the Heat never win anything. James is dead to me! Man, I find myself wondering again what aliens would think of us, watching from on high: They have multiple armed conflicts raging...they are systematically destroying their own biosphere, with no way to reach or terraform other planets...they still fight conflicts based on skin coloring and belief systems--yet millions of them are watching in concert the decision of one of their own concerning a spheroid object involved in one of their ritualized sports? No wonder we haven't been invited to join the Federation yet... Still, given how the hometown crowd was acting, it would have been fun if James had made the announcement *in Cleveland*! -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Mark Reads Twilight blog
Thanks for posting this link. I hadn't looked at the books or movies because I thought they were for children. I had no idea about the ideologies in them. On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@gmail.com wrote: Anyone ever read this? I've been reading it section by section, alternating between laughing to the point of tears and nodding in agreement with his assessment of why these books are so creepy with all of the sexism and racism in them. Here's one REALLY good post: http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/5415701/mark-reads-eclipse-chapter-13/ Anyhow, thought people here would be interested. :) ~ Where love and magic meet ~ http://www.adriannebrennan.com Experience the magic of the Dark Moon series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m): http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
[scifinoir2] Two energy saving inventions
This man has a lab in Atlanta and is working away to save us from ourselves. I http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/video-black-inventor-reveals-two-amazing-energy-saving-inventions-on-cnn/
Re: [scifinoir2] Mark Reads Twilight blog
I'll have to check them out now. But I'll be sure to use a library for this one. She's not getting my money. On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:46 PM, Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@gmail.com wrote: They are honestly the most disturbing pieces of fiction I've ever read, not because they are so badly written but because of what they are claiming is romantic and acceptable behavior in relationships. ~ Where love and magic meet ~ http://www.adriannebrennan.com Experience the magic of the Dark Moon series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m): http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks for posting this link. I hadn't looked at the books or movies because I thought they were for children. I had no idea about the ideologies in them. On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@gmail.com wrote: Anyone ever read this? I've been reading it section by section, alternating between laughing to the point of tears and nodding in agreement with his assessment of why these books are so creepy with all of the sexism and racism in them. Here's one REALLY good post: http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/5415701/mark-reads-eclipse-chapter-13/ Anyhow, thought people here would be interested. :) ~ Where love and magic meet ~ http://www.adriannebrennan.com Experience the magic of the Dark Moon series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m): http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
Re: [scifinoir2] Anyone Seen the Film Man from Earth?
I've seen it. It's worth watching for the way they tease out an idea. I don't want to give any spoilers. But I can see it working well as a play. Perhaps because of the budget, they remain in one place throughout the entire film and have an extended conversation about one group member's life. It could ruffle some feathers by undermining some fundamental ideas of both religion and science. I read a bunch of good reviews before buying a used copy from Amazon. On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 6:05 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: No, Keith, I haven't as yet. Can't wait to get my hands on it. On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 10:18 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Anyone ever seen this indie film? It's based on a story by the late Jerome Bixby. Bixby wrote a handful of episodes for the original Trek series, the screenplay for the movie Fantastic Voyage, and the famous Twilight Zone episodes It's a Good Life and its years-later sequel, It's Still a Good Life. I've heard a smattering of really good reviews about this movie over the last couple of years that make me want to chase it down. Always a good find to discover a truly original scifi flick, you know? The film stars John Billingsley (Phlox on Enterprise), Tony Todd (Candy Man, several Star Trek eps), and William The Greatest American Hero Katt. Anyone see it? ** http://latefilm.com/jerome-bixbys-the-man-from-earth-trailer http://latemag.com/is-jerome-bixbys-the-man-from-earth-this-years-sleeper-hit In amongst the myriad of DVDs on my desk was a screener from Starz for Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth. It sat there for a while amongst the others not particularly standing out, then on a whim I watched it last night. When it started it seemed like general low budget independent stuff and I figured it might be somewhere between poor or OK. How ever by the end of the movie I was exceedingly surprised. I have a feeling that this story was the now sadly deceased Jerome Bixby's (Fantastic Voyage http://imdb.com/title/tt0060397/) magnum opus. Director Richard Schenkman's film is very minimalist, really its not much more than a play filmed on location, which at first I thought was a bit of a shame, but actually maybe that was just the right way to do it, take a step back and let the late Bixby weave his storytelling magic. This really has a chance of being the single best piece of screenwriting you will see on a screen large or small this year (really!). Which with the writers on strike in Hollywood should remind people just how important good writers really are. I know Independent, low budget film can be a bit jarring to a lot of viewers, but as this story unfolds you will forget that this was shot in just eight dayshttp://www.dreamlogic.net/archives/movie-review-screener-the-man-from-earthI promise. Yes it is a bit of a shame Schenkman and the cast which includes Tony Todd (Candyman), David Lee Smith (CSI: Miami's IAB Sergeant Rick Stetler) and John Billingsley (Enterprise's Dr. Phlox) did not have the time and budget to polish this more, but a diamond in the ruff is still a diamond and this little film certainly sparkles. After watching this I went in search of reviews and only found a few, but then I started to notice the feedback of everyday viewers on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000UYX4Q8/ispitonyourmo-20, The IMDB http://imdb.com/title/tt0756683/ and such places and for the vast majority the word *Excellent* is being thrown around. Word of mouth could really push this film, I know the person I saw it with would not shut up about it. I think Starz should keep an eye on the feedback and maybe up the marketing budget for this because they really could have this years independent smash on their hands. 8 People, 1 room and a thought inducing tale about a man who has (maybe) walked the earth for 14,000 years make this the little film that could. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack
The wealth association is still there. The Korean woman who was talking about Daniel Kim said the ideal Korean guy looks more like a mid-level office worker. Then she showed me some pictures. They were not of men who would appeal to most American women. I remember reading one of the many pieces about Sammy Sosa's skin bleaching. Almost as a throwaway comment, the writer cited some statistic that the income gap between lighter skinned black people and darker skinned black people is nearly as big as the black/white gap. I tried to find that article just now and didn't. But I did see a lot of academic pieces noting that gap and a similar gap among Mexican Americans. They also correlated that, without calling it a cause and effect relationship, high blood pressure and heart trouble affecting dark skinned people more with the idea that it might be connected to stress. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are about the prejudice being gone from the community. I wonder sometimes whether it's just not spoken. Maybe Im being too pessimistic. I hope I'm wrong. On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 1:34 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: It used to be sad that in some eras, light skin was associate with wealth and power, because people who had to labour in fields were darkened by the sun. Hence, darker skin indicated less noble backgrounds. I know, for example, that in certain periods in European history, already white aristocracy used to apply makeup to make their skin even whiter. I wonder how much the skin color prejudice is still rampant in this world, when it's based on perceptions of status, and when it affects women mostly? Typically in cultures that have the issue, it's bad for a man to be darker skinned, but almost intolerable for a woman to be so. I continue to hope that in Africa and Caribbean countries like Haiti, the love for light skin isn't infecting the populace like so much else of the world. When I see Asian women having surgery to eliminate their epicanthic folds, non-white woman getting their broad noses changed, and even some black girls in teh US starting to suffer from bulemia and anorexia, i get worried... - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 4, 2010 2:22:29 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack That reminded me of something a friend told me about. She was from central America then moved to Mexico. She was a beauty queen winner in Mexico and had multiple degrees but she still had problems in Mexico because they wanted fairer skinned women there. In Mexico the lighter skinned, blond hair blue eyed Mexicans are the ones with power. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: It's an issue. Notice at the overwhelming number of stars on Univision and stuff, and how they all look more Spanish, with women often dying their hair lighter colors. The darker Latinoes aren't usually played up as stars or love interests, unless it's the man. Darker women are rare to be seen. And don't even hope for Latinos who have a more obvious Native look to them to be anything but servants or soldiers... - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:45:58 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack Yea I noticed that the biggest Indian stars are fair skinned and have slightly European looks. That includes Pakistani movie stars as well. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: True dat, of course there's the whole dark-skinned prejudice in many countries where the populace isn't African, such as in India, where dark skinned women aren't celebrated as much as light skinned ones. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:12:27 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack There are black middle easterners. That is silly but WE do get crap from all other races. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:45 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Yeah, you see it a lot. Here in the States, there are still a lot of people from Asian and Middle Eastern countries who freak if their children date black people, religious beliefs notwithstanding. (white's okay in many cases). Here in Atlanta, a trail was just concluded last year in which an Indian man was convicted for the murder-for-hire killing of his black daughter-in-law. The dude hired two guys (who were black, ironically) to attack his daughter in law and murder her. They did so by cutting her throat--with her young daughter in the room watching! Buddy did it because the thought of his son married to a black woman was
Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack
The talk bothered him. He's back to his former skin color. http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/05/19/sammy-sosa-sammy-sosa-skin-color-back-to-normal-pictures/?doing_wp_cron I agree with you about the finances. That stuff can keep you up at night and induce all sorts of shame and questioning. On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Sammy Sosa did a Michael Jackson. http://celebdailyphoto.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/sammy-sosa-skin.jpg The thing that bugs me the most about his situation is that he really didn't get the same amount of grief that Michael Jackson suffered. After the initial shock the story pretty much died. I believe that stress levels for any people struggling with finances will be much higher than anyone else. One of the older examples of this was a study done back in the 1990s that clearly showed the lifespans of people that were wealthier lived much longer than their lower income counterparts. On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 1:14 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com wrote: The wealth association is still there. The Korean woman who was talking about Daniel Kim said the ideal Korean guy looks more like a mid-level office worker. Then she showed me some pictures. They were not of men who would appeal to most American women. I remember reading one of the many pieces about Sammy Sosa's skin bleaching. Almost as a throwaway comment, the writer cited some statistic that the income gap between lighter skinned black people and darker skinned black people is nearly as big as the black/white gap. I tried to find that article just now and didn't. But I did see a lot of academic pieces noting that gap and a similar gap among Mexican Americans. They also correlated that, without calling it a cause and effect relationship, high blood pressure and heart trouble affecting dark skinned people more with the idea that it might be connected to stress. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are about the prejudice being gone from the community. I wonder sometimes whether it's just not spoken. Maybe Im being too pessimistic. I hope I'm wrong. On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 1:34 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: It used to be sad that in some eras, light skin was associate with wealth and power, because people who had to labour in fields were darkened by the sun. Hence, darker skin indicated less noble backgrounds. I know, for example, that in certain periods in European history, already white aristocracy used to apply makeup to make their skin even whiter. I wonder how much the skin color prejudice is still rampant in this world, when it's based on perceptions of status, and when it affects women mostly? Typically in cultures that have the issue, it's bad for a man to be darker skinned, but almost intolerable for a woman to be so. I continue to hope that in Africa and Caribbean countries like Haiti, the love for light skin isn't infecting the populace like so much else of the world. When I see Asian women having surgery to eliminate their epicanthic folds, non-white woman getting their broad noses changed, and even some black girls in teh US starting to suffer from bulemia and anorexia, i get worried... - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 4, 2010 2:22:29 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack That reminded me of something a friend told me about. She was from central America then moved to Mexico. She was a beauty queen winner in Mexico and had multiple degrees but she still had problems in Mexico because they wanted fairer skinned women there. In Mexico the lighter skinned, blond hair blue eyed Mexicans are the ones with power. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: It's an issue. Notice at the overwhelming number of stars on Univision and stuff, and how they all look more Spanish, with women often dying their hair lighter colors. The darker Latinoes aren't usually played up as stars or love interests, unless it's the man. Darker women are rare to be seen. And don't even hope for Latinos who have a more obvious Native look to them to be anything but servants or soldiers... - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:45:58 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack Yea I noticed that the biggest Indian stars are fair skinned and have slightly European looks. That includes Pakistani movie stars as well. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: True dat, of course there's the whole dark-skinned prejudice in many countries where the populace isn't African, such as in India, where dark skinned women aren't celebrated as much
Re: [scifinoir2] [Mexican Wrestlers]
I went to Lucha Vavoom in LA once. My favorite part had to be the audience members dressed like that in suits and masks arriving in late 1940s cars. I was definitely under costumed. On Jul 3, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: My favorite pic out of these are the two guys sitting at the table. Great pic. Ever see the cartoon Mucha Lucha? It is kind of a tribute to luchadores. All of characters are luchadores. The icecream man, the teachers, grandma, grandpa etc. Its cute. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 4:30 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote: Viva los Luchadores! Back when I lived in Noo Yawk, I could watch Mexican wrestling on TV. A couple of times, I almost wet myself, because I couldn't tear myself away from the action. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 8:36 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: [Attachment(s) from Mr. Worf included below] These guys put American wrestlers to shame. -- Danilo -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] [Mexican Wrestlers]
Thank you! I'm looking forward to it. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Tracy, that just became part of one of my stories. Thanks, and expect due credit upon publication! [?][?] On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 8:36 AM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com wrote: I went to Lucha Vavoom in LA once. My favorite part had to be the audience members dressed like that in suits and masks arriving in late 1940s cars. I was definitely under costumed. On Jul 3, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: My favorite pic out of these are the two guys sitting at the table. Great pic. Ever see the cartoon Mucha Lucha? It is kind of a tribute to luchadores. All of characters are luchadores. The icecream man, the teachers, grandma, grandpa etc. Its cute. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 4:30 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxter7@martinbaxt...@gmail.com gmail.com wrote: Viva los Luchadores! Back when I lived in Noo Yawk, I could watch Mexican wrestling on TV. A couple of times, I almost wet myself, because I couldn't tear myself away from the action. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 8:36 PM, Mr. Worf HelloMahogany@hellomahog...@gmail.com gmail.com wrote: [Attachment(s)#129992dcca2521fa_129984f2127ebac2_1299812e5ee711af_12995bc969c43d80_TopTextfrom Mr. Worf included below] These guys put American wrestlers to shame. http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/BomBonitoBarato/join -- Danilo -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVikhttp://www.youtube .com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik 330.gif347.gif
Re: [scifinoir2] [Mexican Wrestlers]
It was great. I would recommend it to anyone who loves spectacle. I never knew about the monster matches. But I really wanted to go to virtual cock fighting, which sounds similar. People dressed in chicken suits with some kind of simulated weapon attached to their feet. The arena broadcast the real match and a video game version made from sensors in the suits. On Jul 3, 2010, at 4:03 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: That sounds like a lot of fun! I love LA for stuff like that. They just don't have anything cool like that here. Have you seen the monster matches? They have people that dress up like monsters from a godzilla movie that wrestle in a cage match. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 5:36 AM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com wrote: I went to Lucha Vavoom in LA once. My favorite part had to be the audience members dressed like that in suits and masks arriving in late 1940s cars. I was definitely under costumed. On Jul 3, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: My favorite pic out of these are the two guys sitting at the table. Great pic. Ever see the cartoon Mucha Lucha? It is kind of a tribute to luchadores. All of characters are luchadores. The icecream man, the teachers, grandma, grandpa etc. Its cute. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 4:30 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote: Viva los Luchadores! Back when I lived in Noo Yawk, I could watch Mexican wrestling on TV. A couple of times, I almost wet myself, because I couldn't tear myself away from the action. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 8:36 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: [Attachment(s) from Mr. Worf included below] These guys put American wrestlers to shame. -- Danilo -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack
I heard the same thing about Korea after being shocked by a Korean woman saying that Daniel Kim, the actor from Lost, is ugly by Korean standards largely because he is dark. I think she said something about him looking like a laborer. On Jul 3, 2010, at 5:42 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: It's an issue. Notice at the overwhelming number of stars on Univision and stuff, and how they all look more Spanish, with women often dying their hair lighter colors. The darker Latinoes aren't usually played up as stars or love interests, unless it's the man. Darker women are rare to be seen. And don't even hope for Latinos who have a more obvious Native look to them to be anything but servants or soldiers... - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:45:58 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack Yea I noticed that the biggest Indian stars are fair skinned and have slightly European looks. That includes Pakistani movie stars as well. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: True dat, of course there's the whole dark-skinned prejudice in many countries where the populace isn't African, such as in India, where dark skinned women aren't celebrated as much as light skinned ones. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:12:27 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack There are black middle easterners. That is silly but WE do get crap from all other races. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:45 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Yeah, you see it a lot. Here in the States, there are still a lot of people from Asian and Middle Eastern countries who freak if their children date black people, religious beliefs notwithstanding. (white's okay in many cases). Here in Atlanta, a trail was just concluded last year in which an Indian man was convicted for the murder-for-hire killing of his black daughter-in-law. The dude hired two guys (who were black, ironically) to attack his daughter in law and murder her. They did so by cutting her throat--with her young daughter in the room watching! Buddy did it because the thought of his son married to a black woman was intolerable. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 2:34:05 AM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Relatives of Harry Potter actress charged in attack It is sad. She is a very beautiful girl. The problem is fairly common in the UK where fundamentalist muslims old world ways meet up with the modern world. In their eyes they have the right to kill her if she embarrasses the family by having premarital sex, or going on a date without a chaperon or by breaking a few other rules. On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:19 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Wow, this is sad, but not atypical in certain cultures and parts of the world, sadly... http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/02/england.harry.potter.attack/index.html?hpt=Mid London, England (CNN) -- The father and brother of a Harry Potter actress will appear in court later this month in Manchester, England, on charges of threatening to kill the young star, prosecutors said Friday. Abdul Azad, 54, and his son Ashraf, 28, are accused of attacking actress Afshan Azad earlier this month because of her relationship with a Hindu man, a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said. The family is Muslim. The father and brother appeared at Manchester Magistrate's Court on Wednesday and were released on conditional bail, said the spokesman, who could not be named in line with policy. Bail conditions include a curfew and ban on traveling to London, the Manchester Evening News reported. Afshan Azad, reported to be 22, has appeared in four Harry Potter films as Padma Patil, a classmate of the boy wizard and twin sister of Parvati Patil. The alleged attack happened May 21. The father and brother are charged with threatening to kill the actress, and her brother is also charged with assault, the prosecutors' spokesman said. Afshan Azad had never acted before she was cast in the movies, and admitted she only went to the auditions with her friends for a bit of fun, the Manchester Evening News reported. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Celebrating 10
Re: [scifinoir2] As Kin Crashes and Burns, the Droid X rises
Just the ability for it to be a hotspot makes it worth a lot. I didn't know it could do that. On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc2996 While the world continues to line up for the latest iPhone — reception problems and all — Verizon's just-announced jumbo-screen Motorola Droid X has racked up a bevy of admiring reviews. David Pogue at the New York Times calls the Droid X (slated to arrive July 15 for $199, with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract and after a mail-in rebate) a big, beautiful contender with an almost-Imax screen (4.3 inches diagonally, to be exact, or almost a inch bigger than the iPhone's 3.5-inch display). The phone performs like a speed rocket, Pogue gushes, and benefits from Google's open and customizable (and soon Flash-supporting) Android OS, although he also complains about a few nagging quirks (the security warnings before you download Android apps, the wonky screen rotation, the Wi-Fi-less Skype). The Droid X battery gets you through a full day easily, Pogue continues, and there's also Verizon's expensive but not-call-dropping network, as well as the handset's ability to act as a mobile hotspot for other Wi-Fi devices. That said, the Droid X isn't for everyone, Pogue warns, saying that the absolutely huge shell makes you feel as if you're talking into a frozen waffle when you're making a call, and that although Android is a great OS for technically proficient high-end users, it's more complicated and less polished than Apple's iOS.
[scifinoir2] Minority Report tech—apologies if you discussed th is equipment before
I just ran across a story about technology developed in Israel that's supposed to predict criminal behavior. It's being tested in a New Jersey prison and at some border points in the United States. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1768050/suspect_detection_systems_inc_sells_additional_cogito_interrogation_units_to/index.html
Re: [scifinoir2] Kids today?
I think so too. No kids were that height when I was in 7th grade. It also seems that babies become interactive a lot earlier than they did even 20 years ago. Does anyone else think that back then they never seemed able to focus or do anything else they seem to emerge doing now? On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 4:27 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: There has to be something in the food. Today I was at an elementary school to watch a parade. Why is it that the kids in the 7th grade ( So these kids are about 12-13! ) were as tall or taller than me? I'm 5'10.What the heck is going on? -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Minority Report tech—apologies if you discussed this equipment before
It scares me. On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm a little creeped out about this. On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 1:57 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com wrote: I just ran across a story about technology developed in Israel that's supposed to predict criminal behavior. It's being tested in a New Jersey prison and at some border points in the United States. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1768050/suspect_detection_systems_inc_sells_additional_cogito_interrogation_units_to/index.html -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Muslims, Asians and others protest casting of white actors in ethnic parts
Didn't she also get the brownface treatment when she played Marianne Pearl (widow of the journalist killed in Pakistan)? Tracy On Jun 28, 2010, at 9:25 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I read a couple of days ago that Angelina Jolie got the part of Cleopatra in the next movie. Continuing the long line of white (in her case whiteish) actors playing parts that should have gone to someone middle eastern or light skinned black. On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 6:08 PM, Justin Mohareb justinmoha...@gmail.com wrote: Personally, I don't know what they'd want more: More roles, or just dignified ones. Getting a callback for Terrorist #3, only to lose out to a French guy must be getting awful repetitive. Justin On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 8:05 PM, brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20100628_Muslims__Asians_and_others_protest_casting_of_white_actors_in_ethnic_parts.html Posted on Mon, Jun. 28, 2010 Muslims, Asians and others protest casting of white actors in ethnic parts By CHRIS LEE Philadelphia Daily News Los Angeles Times SINCE ITS RELEASE, the video-game franchise Prince of Persia has become notable for the acrobatic grace of its dagger-wielding, balloon pants-wearing hero as well as for what the games didn't do: affront gamers of Middle-Eastern and Muslim descent with stereotypical depictions of people from the region as terrorists or religious zealots. Independent filmmaker and blogger Jehanzeb Dar, to name one such player, remembers his favorable first reaction to the swashbuckling action game, which is set amid the sands and ancient cities of Persia (as ancient Iran is known) and follows a hero with a magic sword caught between forces of good and evil. You could see clearly the protagonist had distinct Middle-Eastern features and darker skin, said Dar, 26, who pens the blog, Muslim Reverie, from Langhorne. People could develop some respect for that culture instead of seeing it vilified. So when Disney Studios announced plans for a live-action adaptation of Prince, Dar held out hope it would be a serious story that would dispel a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions. Then came the bad news regarding Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. None of its principal cast members are of Iranian, Middle-Eastern or Muslim descent. And playing Dastan, the hero and titular heir to the Persian throne in the $200 million tent-pole film, is none other than Swedish-Jewish-American prince Jake Gyllenhaal. My first reaction was, 'Really?!' said Dar. It's insulting that people of color - especially Middle Easterners or South Asians - are not allowed to portray ourselves in these roles. That's a big problem a lot of people in the community are having with this film. Of course, Hollywood has a rich history with this kind of thing. Think: John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in The Conqueror, Peter Sellers' bumbling Indian character in The Party or even more notoriously, Mickey Rooney's bucktoothed Mr. Yunioshi character from Breakfast at Tiffany's, the grandfather of all yellowface stereotypes. Although these portrayals took place decades ago, their legacy lives on. Even now, in the age of Barack Obama - when the newly crowned Miss USA Rima Fakih is Lebanese American, Will Smith is the biggest movie star in the world and Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina to sit on the Supreme Court - the movie industry can still seem woefully behind the times when it comes to matters of race. Consider the latest evidence. This summer, two of the season's biggest-budgeted films have sparked controversy by installing white actors in decidedly ethnic parts. And some early fan reactions have varied from indignation to righteous fury to organized revolt over a perceived whitewashing of multi-culti characters, a practice that is known as racebending. Besides Gyllenhaal and British actress Gemma Arterton's portrayal of Iranian characters in the swords-and-sandals action epic Prince of Persia, Paramount has come under attack for its live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Directed by Sixth Sense auteur M. Night Shyamalan, The Last Airbender (as the movie is called to distinguish it from a certain James Cameron-directed 3-D blockbuster) has enraged some of the show's aficionados by casting white actors in three of four principle roles - characters that fans of the original insist are Asian and Native American. And with just days until the movie's Friday release - after an 18-month-long letter-writing campaign to the film's producers and a correspondence with Paramount President Adam Goodman to underscore the importance of casting Asian actors in designated Asian roles - members of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and an organization called www.racebending.com are urging fans to boycott Airbender. The movie's
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Octavia Butler
My understanding of the teaching thing in high schools comes from talking to my students who have been teachers and to students just out of high school. They indicate that assigning anything designated science fiction or fantasy involves special permissions. Kindred stands outside of that. And most of the time when entire school boards have to decide on something that addresses race and black people, they decide on something dealing with slavery rather than race in the contemporary context. Most students won't get to talk about the marriage in the book until at least college or maybe even grad school. Teachers will ignore it. It's interesting what you say about Butler's use of men. I remember being struck by the fact that she was one of the few literary writers who wrote relationships for black women at all. In a lot of novels, the woman had a great love who was already dead by the time the action started, or the novel led to a marriage where the details were obscured, or there was abuse. Nothing good, or even mundane existed for a long time. Tracy On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 8:41 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: I find it suspect that Kindred is the Butler novel that is most taught in schools. Due to her passivity in the face of her increasingly horrific subjugation and her fierce defense of her blond white husband when her neighbors begin to suspect, erroneously, that he is abusing her, I wonder what - exactly - is being taught here. ~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@... wrote: I like it a lot and taught both *Parable of the Sower* and the short story Bloodchild last semester. Most of her work is not hard sci-fi. She picks a set of circumstances (biological anomalies, time anomalies, different planetary settings, etc.) to explore primarily the ways that people treat each other as they are pushed to what they thought was their limit. Bloodchild, for example, has humans inexplicably living as colonial subjects to an intelligent insect-like species that needs humans for reproduction. The story tests ideas of compelled closeness and familial responsibility. Much of her work has black women at the center, which is nice. *Kindred* is the novel most often taught in schools. Butler herself insisted that it wasn't sci-fi at all. The set-up is that the main character, a black woman married to a white man in 1976 finds herself transported to the pre-Civil War South where she has to contend with and insufferable white boy/man and has to offer him care. I hope that helps. I wasn't sure exactly what you wanted to know. Tracy On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 3:46 AM, George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@... wrote: Noir, Thoughts on her writings?
Re: [scifinoir2] Slanty-eyed white people playing Asians marathon on TCM
I can't remember whether we talked about this subject on the list before. But there should be a category for based on a true story or true scenario when they just turn the Asian Americans into white people. At least The Fast and the Furious, and 21, the movie about MIT students counting cards come to mind. I started thinking about this even more when in a class of 19, no one could name a single Asian American man. On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 9:34 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: There is a slany-eyed white people playing Asians marathon on TCM today. Thus far this morning I have seen that great Asian actress Katharine Hepburn starring as Jade Tan in the great Chinese resistance movie Dragon Seed (1944). This movie also stars notable Asian actors John Huston (as patriarch Ling Tan) and Agnes Moorehead (as third cousin's wife). There is a scene where Hepburn is holding an actual asian infant that looks eerily like Kim Hunter holding a real chimpanzee in Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Dragon Seed was followed by that great Asian actor Anthony Quinn playing Chen Ta in China Sky (1945). I am currently watching those great Asian actors Paul Muni (Wang Lung) and Luise Rainer (O-lan) in The Good Earth (1937). Is Luis Rainer the only Asian to win an Academy Award for Best Actress? The Good Earth will be followed by The Bitter Tea of General Yen, (1933) starring that great Asian actor Nils Asther. 7 Women, (1966) starring Ann Bancroft (which I may skip because all the Asians are played by Asians) 55 Days at Peking (1963)starring that great Asian actress Flora Robson as Empress Tzu-Hsi and notable Asian actor Leo Genn as Gen. Jung-Lu. ~(no)rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Jaden Smith's Karate Kid Defies Hollywood wisdom
I'll offer this speculation about Drew Barrymore. She's not dumb. She either is or behaves as though she's weird or flaky in part because she knew from the time she was a child that she would not be able to pull off the glamorous waif look that might otherwise keep her popularity high enough to get her hired. Tracy On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 9:40 PM, Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.comwrote: Wow, I'm gonna search for that interview, because until you typed this, I had Drew written off as very Madonna ish, in that if 'being smart' is what's up, then she's all in. Until being dumb is what's up. Then she's at that party. You may have singlehandedly changed my view of her. Daryle On Jun 21, 2010, at 9:24 PM, Keith Johnson wrote: One of the most successful acting families in history is the Barrymore family, with actors going back to the early 20th century. Drew has been very successful in her own right since her days as the cute kid actor. While one may argue about the types of movies she does, or debate her acting ability, she's undeniably able to get and create work, having been a producer as well as an actress. Besides, she really is a student of film history, and after i heard her on NPR's Fresh Air saying how honored she was to speak to host Terry Gross, I upped her assessment in my book. Any actress who regularly listens to NPR and counts being on it an honor is okay in my book. - Original Message - From: Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 8:41:14 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Jaden Smith's Karate Kid Defies Hollywood wisdom The SON of Clint is in Invictus and is a pretty weak actor...so far. So far the most successful Coppola besides Francis doesn't use the name (he uses Nick Cage). Robert Downey Jr is WAY more successful than his dad ever was, pre-and post rehab. As has been mentioned already, Michael Douglas is really one of the best actor's kid example. On Jun 21, 2010, at 1:20 PM, Omari Confer wrote: The daughter of Clint went out of her way to not use her dads repand has gotten her nowhere. The foundation of hollywood is in the genes man. Ask the Baldwins...the Barrymores, The Arquettes, the Copalas...etc On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.com wrote: ...just ask the Eastwoods. Another thing to factor in is that Will's son's LAST picture was a remake, and was horrible. This film succeeded, as much as nobody wants to admit it, BECAUSE of Jaden Smith. And I love me some Jackie Chan. But Jaden made this character work! On Jun 21, 2010, at 11:36 AM, Kelwyn wrote: Nothing in Hollywood is a slam dunk. Before hand everybody was picking The A-team, another remake, as the slam dunk. Further, conventional wisdom is that a major movie must be helmed by a white person. Lastly, what does Will Smith's track record have to do with his son? Hollywood dominance is not hereditary. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Omari Confer clockwork...@... wrote: Its also a remake...with Will Smith's kidand the most prolific action star on the planetslam dunk. On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 9:43 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@... wrote: Jaden Smith's The Karate Kid wasn't supposed to score a huge $55.7 million opening (and $112 million in two weeks). It is done so by defying conventional Hollywood wisdom. Amazingly, it has an almost entirely nonwhite cast. This something The Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender were too timid to try. ~rave! -- READ MY BLOG http://centralheatingblog.blogspot.com STRING THEORY http://stringtheory.podbean.com -- READ MY BLOG http://centralheatingblog.blogspot.com STRING THEORY http://stringtheory.podbean.com
Re: [scifinoir2] Burning Question: Why Do We Still Have Power Cords?
There's probably a little of the If it ain't broke. . . idea. But I imagine the biggest reason is to protect billing. On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 5:41 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Something I've wondered about many a day, Mr Worf. Here's hoping that this comes to light. On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 5:58 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Burning Question: Why Do We Still Have Power Cords? - By Bryan Gardiner [image: Email Author] ra...@wired.com - May 24, 2010 | - 12:00 pm | - Wired June 2010 http://www.wired.com/magazine/18-06/ - [image: Illustration: Don Clark] Illustration: Don Clark It’s a good thing Nikola Tesla http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ never figured out how to time travel, because that cord jungle behind your entertainment center would break his heart—again. It’s been more than a century since he lit incandescent bulbs wirelessly in his lab, and yet you’re still plugging into the wall. Even your three-pronged socket looks surprised. There are plenty of ways to beam volts through the air. Unfortunately, none of them are as cheap, efficient, convenient, or, well, safe as a cord. Radio waves can carry electromagnetic radiation to your devices, but radiation tends to peter out over long distances, leaving a thirsty gadget on the receiving end. Sure, you can crank up the amps to compensate for the loss, but then you end up frying passersby. Not good. Lasers provide a better long-distance solution—but only if there is direct line of sight between source and device. Hey… down in front! MIT spinoff WiTricityhttp://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/wireless-0607.htmlhas worked out how to transmit juice to any gadget that enters a certain magnetic field. Using two magnetically resonant coils that operate at the same frequency—one in the transmitter and one in the device—the company has successfully transferred watts of electricity over a couple of meters. Unfortunately, when you increase the space between the coils, charging efficiency goes down the toilet. This solution also litters your house with magnetic fields. While the company says these fields are orders of magnitude weaker than those found in an MRI machine, your tinfoil-hat-wearing neighbor is likely already imagining exploding pacemakers and brain tumors. Other firms are banking on magnetic induction. You might already have a gadget that charges this way: Electric toothbrushes have used the technology for years. Recently PowerMat http://www.powermat.com/us/how-it-works/started using it for a charging pad that lets you gas up any gadget for which the company makes a compatible adaptor. But magnetic induction is barely wireless: It relies on superclose proximity between two coils to transfer power. It’s also unclear whether it can supply enough power for the amp-hungry gadgets in your living room. Bottom line? Get used to gear with tails. While we can definitely cut down on a few of the cords in our lives, slicing through that final wire may take a sharper technological knife that we currently have. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Octavia Butler
I like it a lot and taught both *Parable of the Sower* and the short story Bloodchild last semester. Most of her work is not hard sci-fi. She picks a set of circumstances (biological anomalies, time anomalies, different planetary settings, etc.) to explore primarily the ways that people treat each other as they are pushed to what they thought was their limit. Bloodchild, for example, has humans inexplicably living as colonial subjects to an intelligent insect-like species that needs humans for reproduction. The story tests ideas of compelled closeness and familial responsibility. Much of her work has black women at the center, which is nice. *Kindred* is the novel most often taught in schools. Butler herself insisted that it wasn't sci-fi at all. The set-up is that the main character, a black woman married to a white man in 1976 finds herself transported to the pre-Civil War South where she has to contend with and insufferable white boy/man and has to offer him care. I hope that helps. I wasn't sure exactly what you wanted to know. Tracy On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 3:46 AM, George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com wrote: Noir, Thoughts on her writings?
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Why the hatred for Jaden Smith?
After reading through a few of the comments on the original article, I was struck by how many people seem to say specifically that they like Will Smith, but dislike Jada Pinkett-Smith and dislike the kid because he looks like her. Actually, they won't name her. They just call her his mother. That seems scary, but somehow typical. Jaden, in the Letterman interview, says that the name is a nod to the producer of the original film because of the help, and stamp of approval he gave them. On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: In this instance the filmmakers have crossed their ts and dotted their is. The film is known as The Kung Fu Kid internationally and Best Kid in Japan. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Amy Harlib ahar...@... wrote: ahar...@... I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. I liked the trailers and I love Jackie Chan. I hate the title. The story has nothing to do with Karate which is a Japanese thing. It is about kung-fu and China! This film's title insults billions of Chinese people all over the world that Hollywood is so greedy to sell tickets by exploiting the Karate Kid franchise that they think folks are too stupid to tell the difference between Karate and Kung-fu? All those slanty-eyed Asians are all alike, eh? Typical Hollywood willful ignorance. They could have correctly and accurately called this film Kung-Fu Kid and with Jackie Chan's name on it, sold just as many tickets I bet! I'll still go for Jackie Chan, if nothing else. Amy It's not Jaden. It's his parents. The world hates his parents but worship money too much to say it to their faces. Generation X and early Y are under-achievers. We coin phrases like underwhelm. Will and Jada do what they say they're gonna do. Collectively, we don't like that. And so yeah, they're gonna be hatred towards BOTH kids. Wait till Willow's album drops. What has amazed me is the amount of BLACK hatred towards Jaden. We keep hating on young people who are doing good work, and we wonder why the majority of young people wanna stay under-achievers. On Jun 21, 2010, at 10:26 AM, ravenadal wrote: http://movie-critics.ew.com/2010/06/18/why-the-hatred-for-jaden-smith/ What is Jaden Smith's crime? Last weekend, the up-and-coming young actor, who will turn 12 this July 8, starred in a remake of The Karate Kid that audiences flocked to beyond expectation and, from all available evidence, loved. Given that Smith is front and center in more or less every frame of the 2 hour and 20 minute movie (and given that his performance, as a kid who hides his sadness behind a mask of surliness, is — to this critic, at least — a magnetic and affecting piece of acting), I hope we can all agree that Jaden Smith's presence on screen had a little something to do with the movie's success. Yet Smith's rise has been greeted, in far too many quarters (including a number of comment boards on ew.com, like the one on my review), with bitter, gnashing resentment. This 11-year-old really has the haters foaming.
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Why the hatred for Jaden Smith?
After reading through a few of the comments on the original article, I was struck by how many people seem to say specifically that they like Will Smith, but dislike Jada Pinkett-Smith and dislike the kid because he looks like her. Actually, they won't name her. They just call her his mother. That seems scary, but somehow typical. Jaden, in the Letterman interview, says that the name is a nod to the producer of the original film because of the help, and stamp of approval he gave them. On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: In this instance the filmmakers have crossed their ts and dotted their is. The film is known as The Kung Fu Kid internationally and Best Kid in Japan. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Amy Harlib ahar...@... wrote: ahar...@... I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. I liked the trailers and I love Jackie Chan. I hate the title. The story has nothing to do with Karate which is a Japanese thing. It is about kung-fu and China! This film's title insults billions of Chinese people all over the world that Hollywood is so greedy to sell tickets by exploiting the Karate Kid franchise that they think folks are too stupid to tell the difference between Karate and Kung-fu? All those slanty-eyed Asians are all alike, eh? Typical Hollywood willful ignorance. They could have correctly and accurately called this film Kung-Fu Kid and with Jackie Chan's name on it, sold just as many tickets I bet! I'll still go for Jackie Chan, if nothing else. Amy It's not Jaden. It's his parents. The world hates his parents but worship money too much to say it to their faces. Generation X and early Y are under-achievers. We coin phrases like underwhelm. Will and Jada do what they say they're gonna do. Collectively, we don't like that. And so yeah, they're gonna be hatred towards BOTH kids. Wait till Willow's album drops. What has amazed me is the amount of BLACK hatred towards Jaden. We keep hating on young people who are doing good work, and we wonder why the majority of young people wanna stay under-achievers. On Jun 21, 2010, at 10:26 AM, ravenadal wrote: http://movie-critics.ew.com/2010/06/18/why-the-hatred-for-jaden-smith/ What is Jaden Smith's crime? Last weekend, the up-and-coming young actor, who will turn 12 this July 8, starred in a remake of The Karate Kid that audiences flocked to beyond expectation and, from all available evidence, loved. Given that Smith is front and center in more or less every frame of the 2 hour and 20 minute movie (and given that his performance, as a kid who hides his sadness behind a mask of surliness, is — to this critic, at least — a magnetic and affecting piece of acting), I hope we can all agree that Jaden Smith's presence on screen had a little something to do with the movie's success. Yet Smith's rise has been greeted, in far too many quarters (including a number of comment boards on ew.com, like the one on my review), with bitter, gnashing resentment. This 11-year-old really has the haters foaming.
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Fugitive Caught After 40 Years in Hiding
The part where he says it's unfair that his victim's grandson spent money on the investigation galls me. He's acting as though he didn't take a life. On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: I'm not sure that I can feel any sympathy for this guy, Keith, because I'm not buying his story. Nothing I can put my finger on, mind you. Just my Little Voice chatting me up. And I'm as speechless as you, after reading that... [?] On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Wow. What really sucks is that he's going to die in jail not because he avoided his just sentence for the murder, but because he skipped out on parole?? And damn, what a commentary, to skip out on parole rather than being with your wife? Not sure Dr. Phil could even save that one! As far as him saying he was a different person, and the fact that he likely had mental problems: a few years ago I got into a long debate with a conservative co-worker who strongly supports the death penalty, which I oppose. I asked him if, as a Christian, he believed a man could truly repent and become a new man, as the Bible says. Yes, he said, I believe some people do evil things but can in time, with God's help, change So, I asked, then you see my point, that some people can after years become different than the murderers they once were. The average death row inmate's in jail for over a decade, and in that time, you could be killing a completely different human being. He responded, You're right. That's why we need to start executing people as fast as possible, so they don't have time to change and become better people. Uncharacteristically, I had nothing to say after that... ** By MATT GOURAS, Associated Press Writer Matt Gouras, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 15, 5:55 am ET HELENA, Mont. – The aging Frank Dryman, a notorious killer from Montana's past, had hidden in plain sight for so long that he forgot he was a wanted man. In an exclusive jailhouse interviewhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wedding_chapel_fugitive#with The Associated Press, Dryman detailed how he invented a whole new life, with a new family, an Arizona wedding chapel business — and even volunteer work for local civic clubs. They just forgot about me, said Dryman, in his first interview since being caught and sent back to the prison he last left in the 1960s. I was a prominent member of the community. That is, until the grandson of the man he shot six times in the back came looking. Dryman had been one step ahead of the law since 1951 when he avoided the hangman's noose, a relic of frontier justice still in use at the time. Less than 20 years later he was out on parole. Not content with that good fortune, he skipped out and evaded authorities for four decades. After a while he even forgot about hiding and signed up for V.A. benefits from his days in the Navy in 1948. Now the 79-year-old Dryman is back behind barshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wedding_chapel_fugitive#, likely for what remains of his life. He was caught only after his long-ago victim's grandson got curious and started poking around. Dryman was hitching a ride from Shelby cafe owner Clarence Pellett on a cold and snowy day in 1951 when he pulled a gun and ordered Pellett out of his own car and began firing. Dryman does not deny the crime — just that he's not the same man today. He has been Victor Houston for decades. At the time of the murder http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wedding_chapel_fugitive#, and after being discharged from the Navy for mental issues, he was going by yet another name: Frank Valentine. That kid, Frank Valentine, he just exploded, Dryman says of his crime. I didn't shoot that man in the back. That wild kid did. That's not me. Victor Houston tried to make up for it by being an honor citizen. Dryman says he served his time, which he did until paroled. But a Montana Parole Board http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wedding_chapel_fugitive# not accustomed to leniency on those who walk away from supervision was not impressed with Dryman's subsequent good deeds. Last month the board sent him back behind bars to serve what remains of his life sentencehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wedding_chapel_fugitive# . Dryman said he disappeared from parole in California to get away from a wife he didn't like. He said he's not sure why he just didn't leave the wife and remain on parole. But once gone, he said, he didn't look back. His new wife and family knew nothing of his past. He put down roots in Arizona City painting signs, a trade learned in prison, and performing weddings. I never thought I was a parole violator. I was Victor Houston. I never looked over my shoulder, Dryman said. I just forgot about it. On his birthday he used to get two cards from his
Re: [scifinoir2] Costner tells Congress he's got an oil spill solution
What do you think this process might do to any wildlife that gets pulled in, or toward, the device? On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 4:26 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: If this works, there'll be a LOT of people, myself included, wondering why they went to James Cameron first... On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/7045250.html Actor Kevin Costner told Congress on Wednesday that he has a solution to ocean oil spills: a machine that separates oil from water. Costner said he has spent more than $20 million for the patent and development of the machines since 1993 because he was inspired by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. There's been some question as to why I'm here, Costner told the House Energy and Environment subcommittee. I want to assure everyone here it's not because I heard a voice in a cornfield, a reference to Field of Dreams. In that 1989 film, Costner played the role of a farmer who turned his cornfield into a baseball field. The machines — marketed by Ocean Therapy Solutions — are like vacuum cleaners that suck up the oily water and separate the pollutants through a centrifuge. BP recently put in an order for 32 of the machines to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico, according to Ocean Therapy Solutions CEO John Houghtaling, who said the 32 machines could process 6 million gallons of water a day. -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] Class Rank and Entitlement
I meant to thank you earlier for writing this piece. And now I want to add congratulations on your daughter's graduation. Although I won't be on campus this fall, I'd like to see her in one of my classes at some point. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 11:23 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: rave, beautiful piece. The truth makes me weep. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/95361059.html -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] o/t Terence Howard In Talks To Portray Marvin Gaye
The last thing I heard about the Hendrix movie was that Andre 3000 of Outkast was going to play Hendrix. But I haven't heard that mentioned in at least two years. I don't know what to think about Terence Howard as Marvin Gaye. It could be great or a travesty. On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 5:31 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Mr Worf, don't know about the Hendrix movie, but the James Brown joint is knotted up in legalese, with a number of people claiming to be his children coming out of the walls for a piece of the action. Last count, there were 35 separate claims. On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 5:10 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Whatever happened to the Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown movies? On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 4:47 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Mr Worf, it could work big. Or it could blow up in a lot of faces. It's a fine line. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: Terence Howard In Talks To Portray Marvin Gaye By Bill Johnson http://theurbandaily.com/author/billjohnson/ June 1, 2010 3:59 pm [image: terence-howard-in-talks-to-portray-marvin-gaye] Terence Howard recently revealed that he’s been in talks with director Cameron Crowe to star in Crowe’s upcoming Marvin Gaye biopic. Speaking with a reporter from Deadline Londonhttp://m.deadline.com/2010/05/cannes-terrence-howard-in-talks-to-play-cameron-crowes-marvin-gaye/, Howard said that the director approached him to star in the film, but nothing has been finalized yet. Howard’s also quoted as saying “Everybody who loves music will hate me if I get this one wrong.” Damn right. Cameron Crowe originally reached out to Will Smith to portray the legendary soul singer, but Smith declined. Another Marvin Gaye biopic, titled *Sexual Healing*, is in the works with Jesse L Martin (”Law Order”) to play Gaye. Unlike Crowe’s film, *Sexual Healing* will only deal with the final years of Gaye’s life. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] When Good Porn Stars Go Bad
All the time I was hearing this story, I didn't see a picture of the guy. Damn, damn, damn! On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/02/porn-actor-slash-web.html Dude was working and living at warehouse where porn was filmed. He was about to get fired AND evicted.
Re: [scifinoir2] What if Jaws was made today?
My favorite speculation in the whole piece is that the shark would be loud. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 6:01 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: 2012 kind of also took care of most of the natural disaster films in one great swoop. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 3:44 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: I should add that it was due before 9/11, but was shoved back, for obvious reasons. On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 6:43 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: No, Mr Worf. IMO, we never need to remake another one again. I posted this more as a thought exercise than anything else, because I don't see how the vibe of it can be recaptured at any level. And yes, The Towering Inferno is already in the pipe. On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 6:25 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: This would be very plausible. I can see them doing something like this. The problem is that I don't think that you can do it in a way that would capture the feelings that the first movie was able to stir. Things like the innocent dangling of legs off of the edge of a boat or a child swimming became points of tension throughout the original film. Attempting to recapture that would be difficult because we all know what is about to happen. (That is why good editing is important too.) Do we really need to remake every movie that was made? Speaking of 1970s movies, I am sure that someone is remaking Towering Inferno, Airport 79, and a few other classics. On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 1:55 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Normally, I'm not big on remakes (as you all know), but this... === Read this hilariously accurate depiction of what *Jaws* would be like if it was made today. Starring Sam Worthington as Chief Brody (who has an ultra-dark NYPD past), Michael Cera as Matt Hooper, and Samuel L. Jackson as Quint. http://chud.com/articles/articles/23893/1/WHAT-IF-JAWS-WAS-MADE-TODAY/Page1.html Martin (waiting for the line Get this motherf*ckin' shark outta my motherf*ckin' boat!) -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Long Believed Myths about Gas Mileage Debunked
Rave, I've had to tell people about the Wisconsin mornings when the steering wheel is too cold to touch. A lot flat out disbelieved me. And my family still tries to tell me to warm up the car even though most mechanics now go so far as to say that idling is bad for the car. And on one of those Wisconsin winter days, when I spent nearly an hour trying to de-ice the outside of the car enough to drive it and left it on to help, the temperature gage never moved beyond that absolute cold place until I drove it. This same now 16-year-old car seemed to increase its mileage each time I thought seriously about getting rid of it. I think it hears me talking about it. The premium fuel thing is interesting. I can't see myself buying a car that requires or even recommends it. My understanding is that if it's required, using something else worsens the exhaust and the performance. But a regular car can't take advantage of the high octane and thus gets no benefit. On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 7:54 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: I live in Wisconsin and I learned the no need to warm up car dictum from Click and Clack the Car Talk guys. Once it starts, the car will warm up the same whether it is sitting still or moving. Of course, a warm vs. a cold car makes a BIG difference to the driver! ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote: I must admit, several of these were myths I still believed, especially the whole concept of warming up the car on a cold morning. ** http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_driving/62/six-gas-mileage-myths.html Six gas mileage myths Do Americans care about fuel economy as oil spills into the Gulf of Mexico and gasoline hovers around $3 a gallon? You bet they do, though they also have a fair number of misconceptions about how to squeeze a few more miles out of every drop. The Consumer Federation of America's (CFA) most recent survey says that if we had a 50-mile-per-gallon car fleet today, we'd save more oil than the entire proven reserves in the entire Gulf of Mexico. And people care about that. According to Jack Gillis, author of The Car Book and a CFA spokesman, 87 percent of respondents said it is important that the country reduce its consumption of oil, and 54 percent said it is very important. An amazing 65 percent of Americans surveyed support a mandated transition to a 50-mpg fuel economy standard by 2025. That's a tough standard, some 15 mpg better than the ambitious goal set by the Obama Administration (35 mpg by 2016). The expectations of American consumers are reasonable and achievable, Gillis said in a conference call. CFA says that Asian carmakers, compared to the U.S. competition, are offering twice as many vehicles with 30 mpg or better. It's shocking that so few of today's cars get more than 30 mpg , he said. Mark Cooper, CFA's research director, noted that in five years of the group's polling, the public's views have stayed remarkably consistent: Americans want less dependence on Middle Eastern oil and higher fuel-economy standards. People care about fuel economy, but they're misinformed about how to actually achieve it. The federal government's fueleconomy.gov site (very useful to check cars' mpg) just published the Top 10 Misconceptions About Fuel Economy. Here are a few big myths: • It takes more fuel to start a vehicle than it does to let it idle. People are really confused about this one and will leave a car idling for half an hour rather than turn it off and restart. Some kids I know started an anti-idling campaign in the suburbs and are shaming parents into shutting down their cars. Idling uses a quarter- to a half-gallon of fuel in an hour (costing you one to two cents a minute). Unless you're stalled in traffic, turn off the car when stopped for more a few minutes. • Vehicles need to be warmed up before they're driven. Pshaw. That is a long-outdated notion. Today's cars are fine being driven off seconds after they're started . • As a vehicle ages, its fuel economy decreases significantly. Not true. As long as it's maintained, a 10- or 15-year-old car should have like-new mileage. The key thing is maintenance -- an out-of-tune car will definitely start to decline mileage-wise. • Replacing your air filter helps your car run efficiently. Another outdated claim, going back to the pre-1976 carburetor days. Modern fuel-injection engines don't get economy benefits from a clean air filter. • After-market additives and devices can dramatically improve your fuel economy. As readers of my story on The Blade recall, there's not much evidence that these miracle products do much more than drain your wallet. Both the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Reports have weighed in on this. There are no
Re: [scifinoir2] Mom Gives Birth Behind Wheel of Chevy Cobalt, Gets Freebies From GM
This is the first version of the story I've read that mentions why her husband wasn't driving. On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Did anyone ask the woman why she didn't pull over and call 911? Mom Gives Birth Behind Wheel of Chevy Cobalt, Gets Freebies From GM Published May 27, 2010 Poor So-So Pretty Good Good Excellent - Poor - So-So - Pretty Good - Good - Excellent 4 Ratings 4 Ratings *Just the Facts: - A Minnesota woman gave birth this week to a baby boy while driving her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. - The baby's birth created a media sensation. - GM has since bestowed a variety of baby gifts on the family, including a year's worth of diapers. * *DETROIT* — A Minnesota woman who gave birth to a baby boy while driving her red 2005 Chevrolet Cobalthttp://www.insideline.com/chevrolet/cobalt/2005/earlier this week has been given a carload of gifts from General Motors. The bonanza includes a one-year supply of diapers, which the automaker said in a statement is to avoid any other unexpected deliveries in the car. GM — which said the baby was miraculously delivered — gave the family two child safety seats, a stroller and numerous other supplies, including bottles, formula and toys. We knew the Cobalt was designed to deliver its occupants safely, but never did we expect a delivery quite like this, said Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet product marketing director of small cars and crossovers. The baby's birth created a media sensation. Amanda McBride was driving her Chevy Cobalt to the hospital while in labor. The child's father, Joseph Phillips, was unable to drive because of a medical condition, according to the automaker. With the baby's birth imminent, McBride told the Bemidji * Pioneer* that she pulled down her pants, while Phillips steered the car. And then the baby just came right out, she said. I was just sitting on the seat and he just slid out. It really wasn't bad at all. McBride told ABC News that she was going about 70 miles per hour in the car at the time and had put the car on cruise. The parents say that the baby has been nicknamed Joe Chevy. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
[scifinoir2] killing off black characters
I imagine this subject has been discussed on the list before. But I just watched Cloverfield and was shocked that the black character seemed to be the only one to survive. How many other movies with an ensemble cast leave black characters, or maybe other characters of color, alive when others are killed? Just wondering. I couldn't think of any.
Re: [scifinoir2] killing off black characters
Now I have to watch Anaconda. I avoided that because of the effects. I had forgotten about Deep Blue Sea, but had the same theater experience. It's worth another look just for that. I liked Event Horizon when it came out, but haven't watched it in a long time. My memory of the ending was really hazy. With lone black characters, there's always way too much sacrifice for the group, or getting sacrificed for the group. On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 11:44 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: There's a few. One of the earliest was Anaconda, in which Ice Cube survived while most of the whites died. Indeed, one of the reasons it succeeded with blacks was that fact. Many of us were still smarting from the first Jurassic Park, where the first death in the flick was an old black man who'd climbed onto the dino's cage, only to be eaten (and I could *never* understand why he did that while the Great White Hunter stood at a safe distance with a loaded gun). And of course Sam Jackson's character bought it in that movie. So Ice Cube's survival was a new thing. LL Cool J survived in Deep Blue Sea (one of my fav B-movies) although all but one of the whites bought it. Indeed, there's a joke in the movie itself where LL's character says Black people never survive stuff like this. In the theatre where I saw the movie, the mostly Black and Mexican crowd roared with laughter. Though Fishburne's character bought it in Event Horizon, Richard T. Jones' character survived the grisly killing orgy. Can we say Keith David survived in the 80s remake of The Thing? He and Kurt Russell were the last two men left alive, though the ending pretty much shows they were both going to freeze to death very soon. - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com To: SciFiNoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 7:14:30 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] killing off black characters I imagine this subject has been discussed on the list before. But I just watched Cloverfield and was shocked that the black character seemed to be the only one to survive. How many other movies with an ensemble cast leave black characters, or maybe other characters of color, alive when others are killed? Just wondering. I couldn't think of any.
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Georgia Teacher Under Fire for Kids' Klan Robes
I'm not surprised by the reactions so many people are having to the student who was alarmed. One thing that seems really constant is that somehow there is this crazy belief that black people are not ever afraid of white people. I see this in the classes I teach. The Atlanta article's comments show that they seem to think his response was simply to start trouble. I also agree with Martin that we've gotten lax. I had students who came into class believing that every bit of racism, sexism, etc. should be available for joking and that such joking is a sign of progress. They had trouble seeing the effects of numbers, context, fear, etc and certainly couldn't believe that people might tolerate some of their behavior out of fear. Since I've been here in Madison, I've heard from several people with children in schools that their non-white kids are encouraged to tolerate slurs and poor treatment more generally. And when I sat with some students for a discussion centered around Spike Lee's Bamboozled, one of the questions I got was essentially, why can't we all use slurs? They seemed shocked when I turned it back to them and asked why they would want to do that, and even more shocked when I told them I don't use them myself and am certainly not looking for that privilege from Latinos, Asian Americans etc. On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 10:06 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: This was in Danville, Virginny, Keith, Thuh Las' Capital of Thuh Con-Fed'racy. And the racism is still intact, trust me. When I was back there back in '91 to bury my maternal grandmother, I ran into a White woman who, when we were fellow students, couldn't keep her eyes (or hands off me). When she took sight of me, in a department store, she couldn't get away fast enough. On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: It might be where you went to school, or simply that back in the day whites were more conscious and careful of potentially offending blacks in some areas. Now maybe we've gotten a bit lax, as the whole idea that everyone's fully equal and those racist days are long gone is often being put forward... - Original Message - From: Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 6:37:10 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Georgia Teacher Under Fire for Kids' Klan Robes Keith, it's bewildering to me. I went to predominately White schools my entire life until college, was often the only face of color in the room. I didn't often get hit with incidents of racism, but my teachers did protect me when they arose, taking the time to explain things to those who offended. On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 1:18 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: I'm amazed at how blithely people want to dismiss things like this as politcal correctness, or well-intentioned mistakes. I'm not saying burn the school down or anything, but come on: saying the kid overracted to seeing four people walking through the lunchroom dressed in full Klan robes? Only in a ninety-four percent white area: had they tried that down my way, I'm sorry to say the kids would have probably gotten jacked. It's reasons like this why I'm not a fan of black kids going to overwhelmingly white schools, especially in overwhelmingly white areas: there's a lack of sensitivity and awareness sometimes that can't be easily taught. It is inconceivable that a teacher of any race wouldn't think to inform her principal that she was using Klan robes for a film at school. It's less understandable that it never crossed her mind that marching them through the school might cause some issues. Yet it happened because the teacher and all the parents and kids are simply not tuned in to the world that blacks have endured, or the painful legacies that still linger. How does one teach common sense in the face of such woeful ignorance? She was well-intentioned, but clueless as hell. What bothers me, what is the continuing strugge we have with issues of race, gender, etc., is the lack of consideration by people who can't seem to consider things outside their own experiences. You shouldn't have to be black to get this. I bet if the kids had been dressed like Union soldiers on the way to burn Atlanta, some of these get over it parents would see things differently. I bet if they'd worn SS uniforms, even non-Jewish whites would have been more sympathetic to any outrage. What if four big black brothers had marched by with fake guns and knives, saying they were going to re-enact a slave revolt where some whites were killed? Think the parents would be seeing get over it? The sad thing is, that we so often only seem to sympathize and empathize when it's something that directly affects our little racial/gender/ethnic/political group. Does the teacher need to be fired? Do we need to march? Probably not, but a
[scifinoir2] Brittany Murphy's husband dies
I remember that people on the list discussed her death. Now he's gone too. http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20100524/e5e7278c-5b2e-4857-88c8-77d0a5f5b1c
Re: [scifinoir2] Persons Unknown
At first glance, it reminds me of the Cube movies. On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 6:23 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I haven't read much about this show yet, but my first impression from the commercial is that it is NBC's version of Lost. Total strangers are kidnapped and taken to an abandoned town where they are watched via security cameras ala big brother. http://www.nbc.com/persons-unknown/ Official statement: *Persons Unknown* is a one-hour mystery drama in which a group of strangers must come together to solve the puzzle of their lives. The series is from Oscar-winning writer *Christopher McQuarrie* (*The Usual Suspects*) who executive-produces with *Heather McQuarrie* and *Remi Aubuchon*. The series stars *Alan Ruck * (*Spin City*) and *Jason Wiles* (*Third Watch* ).
Re: [scifinoir2] Fwd: The Event
That's one thing I'll be doing in the fall. On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 4:31 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: -- Forwarded message -- From: Martin Baxter martin.baxter@gmail.com Date: Sun, May 23, 2010 at 3:21 PM Subject: The Event To: martinbaxt...@gmail.com Mm... [?][?] = Magazine http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/ Sci-fi newshttp://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/news/zoo/home_news.php Just in http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/news/zoo/home_news.php | Library of scifi newshttp://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/news/zoo/library_news.php 25Sharehttp://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfcrowsnest.com%2Farticles%2Fnews%2F2010%2FThe-Event-14844.phpt=The%20Eventsrc=sp The Event 22/05/2010. Contributed by Jessica Martin [image: author pic] *A new TV series from the USA which looks to have an aliens cover-up conspiracy angle. The US president is about to be assassinated by the CIA for revealing the fact they have a bunch of ETs locked up.* Or they could be time travellers from the future or survivors from a parallel dimension. Thrown into the mix is a young man whose girlfriend goes missing in one of those 'she never existed at all'-type cover-ups, who then seems to be dragged into the plot. He ends up having to try to save a suicide-mission 747 he's travelling on from crashing into the President's press conference. What is the event, the voiceover asks? Heck, maybe it's a nice Sunday roast? http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/news/2010/The-Event-14844.php -- Between getsumei no michi and the Zero...no better place to live. (About little moments of happiness) If this isn't nice, I don't know what is. -- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without A Country -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik 327.gif330.gif
Re: [scifinoir2] Science-Fictional Music
I'm fortunate enough to belong to a group of similarly inclined people--many of them younger and with more energy to devote to searching--who scout things. Then we all get together periodically and listen. I find out about new music that way. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Tracy, I stopped buying music back in 1990, aside from compilations of favorite artists. It's all become too homogenized for my taste. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 12:34 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: I saw her perform a month or so ago. It was a great experience. She and the band gave it their all despite the fact that we were outdoors and it was rainy and cold. I'm starting to listen to the new album and like it. Lately it's been hard for me to find new albums, conceived as such rather than as a collection of singles, that I like. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: They kill VH1 Soul, but its decrepit sire staggers ever onward... [?] On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 7:29 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: I think I remember seeing some of her older stuff on VH1 Soul (may it rest in peace!) We really don't get to hear anything new in this country without filtering through the monopoly filter. There's a ton of American and UK RB artists that are making good original stuff. :( I don't want to nitpick but the dance moves are James Brown. She's ok. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 3:46 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote: I'm convinced. Thanks, Brent! On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 11:05 PM, brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/125708-janelle-monae-the-archandroid Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid By Quentin B. Huff 21 May 2010 Lady Stardust There’s a perfectly good reason why I never thought of Michael Jackson as the “King of Pop”. It’s not because I’m a hater. It’s not that I thought he was undeserving of the title. It’s that I always thought of Michael Jackson as an entire category unto himself. How, I wondered, could he be “of” anything? He was his own genre. Same thing with the Beatles. James Brown. Ella Fitzgerald. Aretha. I’m not saying Janelle Monáe Robinson has reached the status of Michael Jackson. Nor am I suggesting that she can lay claim to an entire genre - at least not yet. If, however, you’re looking for the “total package”, this little lady from the state of Kansas comes awfully close. Perhaps more importantly, she’s got all the makings of a genuine ‘70s and ‘80s rock star, and they sure don’t make a lot of those anymore. These days, it’s about the everyman and everywoman singing relatable tunes, not some rock god or goddess belting out larger-than-life stadium anthems. This is the age of the familiar, not the foreign. Janelle Monáe’s rock star bona fides are all intact. She’s got vocals for days, wielding a voice that can be as gentle as a ballad in a Disney movie or so big and thunderous her five foot (1.524 meter) frame hardly seems fit to contain it. A rock star needs an iconic look, and her outfit of choice is timeless and appropriate: a tuxedo, black and perfectly pressed. Her hairstyle includes a gravity-defying pompadour. She makes songs like “Neon Gumbo”, composed with backwards lyrics and a reversed sample of her older tune “Many Moons”, like the stuff Prince added to the end of Darling Nikki. Like any self-respecting rock star, she’s fabulous and glam and entertainingly weird, traits you could easily pick up from her interviews. When it comes to music, though, she’s focused, message-oriented, and dedicated to uplifting her listeners. Better still, she absolutely brings the hotness to her live show. Hyperactive, to the point of appearing possessed, Janelle Monáe is a firecracker, a combination of James Brown and David Bowie, among others. She’s undulating, twisting, gyrating, the embodiment of constant motion. There’s no lip synching here, folks, and did I mention that she moonwalks like nobody’s business? The sista can dance. Musically, she’s a live wire, a genre-hopper who touches RB and prog rock with as much verve as she handles jazz, cabaret, rap, doo-wop, and disco. She’s chic with a rockabilly lean, smart yet fun, and a gleeful student of Pink Floyd, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and Grace Jones. She ought to be a member of OutKast, but instead of shaking it “like a Polaroid picture”, she shakes it “like a schizo”. She’s the daughter of George Clinton and Parliament’s “Star Child” who occasionally borrows the “mothership” and takes it out for a spin. She’s Cinderella, but she wears James Brown’s dress shoes (without socks!) in lieu of slippers. She’s Lady Stardust. She is, quite honestly, the best signee to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s Bad Boy label since the Notorious B.I.G., and signing her
Re: [scifinoir2] Science-Fictional Music
I saw her perform a month or so ago. It was a great experience. She and the band gave it their all despite the fact that we were outdoors and it was rainy and cold. I'm starting to listen to the new album and like it. Lately it's been hard for me to find new albums, conceived as such rather than as a collection of singles, that I like. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: They kill VH1 Soul, but its decrepit sire staggers ever onward... [?] On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 7:29 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I think I remember seeing some of her older stuff on VH1 Soul (may it rest in peace!) We really don't get to hear anything new in this country without filtering through the monopoly filter. There's a ton of American and UK RB artists that are making good original stuff. :( I don't want to nitpick but the dance moves are James Brown. She's ok. On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 3:46 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: I'm convinced. Thanks, Brent! On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 11:05 PM, brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/125708-janelle-monae-the-archandroid Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid By Quentin B. Huff 21 May 2010 Lady Stardust There’s a perfectly good reason why I never thought of Michael Jackson as the “King of Pop”. It’s not because I’m a hater. It’s not that I thought he was undeserving of the title. It’s that I always thought of Michael Jackson as an entire category unto himself. How, I wondered, could he be “of” anything? He was his own genre. Same thing with the Beatles. James Brown. Ella Fitzgerald. Aretha. I’m not saying Janelle Monáe Robinson has reached the status of Michael Jackson. Nor am I suggesting that she can lay claim to an entire genre - at least not yet. If, however, you’re looking for the “total package”, this little lady from the state of Kansas comes awfully close. Perhaps more importantly, she’s got all the makings of a genuine ‘70s and ‘80s rock star, and they sure don’t make a lot of those anymore. These days, it’s about the everyman and everywoman singing relatable tunes, not some rock god or goddess belting out larger-than-life stadium anthems. This is the age of the familiar, not the foreign. Janelle Monáe’s rock star bona fides are all intact. She’s got vocals for days, wielding a voice that can be as gentle as a ballad in a Disney movie or so big and thunderous her five foot (1.524 meter) frame hardly seems fit to contain it. A rock star needs an iconic look, and her outfit of choice is timeless and appropriate: a tuxedo, black and perfectly pressed. Her hairstyle includes a gravity-defying pompadour. She makes songs like “Neon Gumbo”, composed with backwards lyrics and a reversed sample of her older tune “Many Moons”, like the stuff Prince added to the end of Darling Nikki. Like any self-respecting rock star, she’s fabulous and glam and entertainingly weird, traits you could easily pick up from her interviews. When it comes to music, though, she’s focused, message-oriented, and dedicated to uplifting her listeners. Better still, she absolutely brings the hotness to her live show. Hyperactive, to the point of appearing possessed, Janelle Monáe is a firecracker, a combination of James Brown and David Bowie, among others. She’s undulating, twisting, gyrating, the embodiment of constant motion. There’s no lip synching here, folks, and did I mention that she moonwalks like nobody’s business? The sista can dance. Musically, she’s a live wire, a genre-hopper who touches RB and prog rock with as much verve as she handles jazz, cabaret, rap, doo-wop, and disco. She’s chic with a rockabilly lean, smart yet fun, and a gleeful student of Pink Floyd, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and Grace Jones. She ought to be a member of OutKast, but instead of shaking it “like a Polaroid picture”, she shakes it “like a schizo”. She’s the daughter of George Clinton and Parliament’s “Star Child” who occasionally borrows the “mothership” and takes it out for a spin. She’s Cinderella, but she wears James Brown’s dress shoes (without socks!) in lieu of slippers. She’s Lady Stardust. She is, quite honestly, the best signee to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s Bad Boy label since the Notorious B.I.G., and signing her was certainly Diddy’s most interesting choice since he made those kids on Making the Band walk all the way from Manhattan to Brooklyn, New York to secure him some cheesecake. Still not convinced? Nothing gives you rock star cred like having the necessary self-indulgence to craft a concept album or rock opera. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, Green Day’s American Idiot, and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On are among those often cited as examples of the concept album phenomenon. Throw your favorite album by the Who in there
Re: [scifinoir2] The Scared Yet files: iRobot's oozy ChemBot amazes and terrifies
This brings back my childhood fear of the blob. On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 6:13 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: It can also be used as a weapon, after a fashion. Just looking at it makes my stomach do slow rolls... On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 6:14 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: iRobot's oozy ChemBot amazes and terrifies by Leslie Katz http://www.cnet.com/profile/Leslie+Katz/ - Font size - Print - E-mail - Share - 27 commentshttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10375216-1.html#comments - Yahoo! Buzzhttp://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=cnet_crave854guid=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-17938_105-10375216-1.html%3Ftag%3Dyahoobuzz Share503http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-17938_105-10375216-1.htmlt=iRobot%27s%20oozy%20ChemBot%20amazes%20and%20terrifies%20%7C%20Crave%20-%20CNETsrc=sp For now, it's palm-size, sure, but what if something terrible happens, and it can't stop inflating? (Credit: YouTube screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET) We're getting a first glimpse of that shape-shifting ChemBothttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-9970345-72.htmlwe first told you about last year, and well, it looks like the love child of a beating heart and a wad of Silly Putty. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Office awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to iRobot to create the flexible military bot. The maker of the Roomba and Scooba, along with University of Chicago researchers, showed off the oozy results at the Iros conferencehttp://www.iros09.mtu.edu/index.php/IROS_2009:_The_2009_IEEE/RSJ_International_Conference_on_Intelligent_RObots_and_Systems(the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in St. Louis this week. DARPA envisions the palm-size ChemBot as a mobile robot that can traverse soft terrain and navigate through small openings, such as tiny wall cracks, during reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. It gets around by way of a process called jamming, in which material can transition between semiliquid and solid states with only a slight change in volume. In ChemBot's case, a flexible silicone skin encapsulates a series of pockets containing a mix of air and loosely packed particles. When air is removed from the compartments, the skin attempts to equalize the pressure differential by constricting the particles, which shift slightly to fill the void left by the evacuated air. In that way, the weird little blob inflates and deflates parts of its body, changing size and shape--and scaring the living daylights out of us. We don't know exactly when ChemBot will join the Armed Forces, but we can only beg: please, oh please, keep it away from us. *(Via IEEE Spectrumhttp://spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton/irobot-soft-morphing-blob-chembot) * -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
Re: [scifinoir2] The Scared Yet files: iRobot's oozy ChemBot amazes and terrifies
Well, I was around 5 or 6 when I first saw the movie. I guess it was that it did all the things this chem-robot is supposed to do. I was always looking under door cracks and checking out the vents. Plus when I looked out of my bedroom into a partially illuminated hallway, I could always convince myself that any rounded shadow was moving, and therefore might be the blob. On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 3:35 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Ha-ha! The Blob scared you? Why is that? Although, I guess I can understand that. What used to creep me out was that bubble hunter thing from The Prisoner, that would chase down and cover people, leaving the outline of the screaming person inside. I'd start having trouble breathing as soon as I saw that thing bouncing across the sand. Movies dealing with malevolent spiritual beings--vengeful spirits of the dead, evil demons--can get me too, since I was raised in a very traditional Christian tradition, and thoughts of servants of the Devil and stuff still hit that inner part that fears pure Evil. You know, outside of that, few movie monsters or supernatural creatures scare me, at least, in terms of staying with me much past the movie. But what can stay with me in the light night when the house is creaking? Anything I've seen about serial killers and all-too-mortal psychoe: movies like Psycho, the first Friday the 13th, Halloween. I never worry too much about opening the front door in the wee hours and seeing Dracula, Frankenstein, or the Wolfman on my front stoop. But a crazy, cannibalistic killer like a Dahmer who's running around with a knife or ax or something? It's not out of the realm of possibility... - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 2:22:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] The Scared Yet files: iRobot's oozy ChemBot amazes and terrifies This brings back my childhood fear of the blob. On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 6:13 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: It can also be used as a weapon, after a fashion. Just looking at it makes my stomach do slow rolls... On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 6:14 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: iRobot's oozy ChemBot amazes and terrifies by Leslie Katz http://www.cnet.com/profile/Leslie+Katz/ - Font size - Print - E-mail - Share - 27 commentshttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10375216-1.html#comments - Yahoo! Buzzhttp://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=cnet_crave854guid=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-17938_105-10375216-1.html%3Ftag%3Dyahoobuzz Share503http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-17938_105-10375216-1.htmlt=iRobot%27s%20oozy%20ChemBot%20amazes%20and%20terrifies%20%7C%20Crave%20-%20CNETsrc=sp For now, it's palm-size, sure, but what if something terrible happens, and it can't stop inflating? (Credit: YouTube screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET) We're getting a first glimpse of that shape-shifting ChemBothttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-9970345-72.htmlwe first told you about last year, and well, it looks like the love child of a beating heart and a wad of Silly Putty. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Office awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to iRobot to create the flexible military bot. The maker of the Roomba and Scooba, along with University of Chicago researchers, showed off the oozy results at the Iros conferencehttp://www.iros09.mtu.edu/index.php/IROS_2009:_The_2009_IEEE/RSJ_International_Conference_on_Intelligent_RObots_and_Systems(the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in St. Louis this week. DARPA envisions the palm-size ChemBot as a mobile robot that can traverse soft terrain and navigate through small openings, such as tiny wall cracks, during reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. It gets around by way of a process called jamming, in which material can transition between semiliquid and solid states with only a slight change in volume. In ChemBot's case, a flexible silicone skin encapsulates a series of pockets containing a mix of air and loosely packed particles. When air is removed from the compartments, the skin attempts to equalize the pressure differential by constricting the particles, which shift slightly to fill the void left by the evacuated air. In that way, the weird little blob inflates and deflates parts of its body, changing size and shape--and scaring the living daylights out of us. We don't know exactly when ChemBot will join the Armed Forces, but we can only beg: please, oh please, keep it away from us. *(Via IEEE Spectrumhttp://spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton/irobot-soft-morphing-blob-chembot) * -- If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster...
That's a really great name. I always wanted a name that seemed weightier than my own. On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 9:06 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: Parents also do unintentionally cruel things. We named my daughter Clarke which is her maternal grandmother's surname. My daughter was rendered near mute because as a child, she could not pronounce the K sound and her name had two of them. On the other hand, she is such a Clarke, which means learned woman that it would be impossible to think of her as anything else. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@... wrote: Yep. People have to think of those things when they name their kids. But I guess kids will find something to target anyway. On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@...wrote: Thanks I spelled it wrong. I remember his sister saying kids at school used to call him Ahmet vomit. - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@... To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:47:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster... That's a name that may make travel difficult, and getting and Apple Store app approved. I think the Zappa son's name is Ahmet. On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@ ...wrote: I think I left out another. Wasn't there a Moon Unit Zappa? - Original Message - From: Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:15:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster... If Tiger Woods can call himself Caublanasian, Prince can go by (Symbol), and the late Frank Zappa can name his kids Dweezel and Omit, why not? - Original Message - From: Kelwyn ravena...@... To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:12:40 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster... http://www.geekologie.com/2008/11/british_boy_legally_changes_na.php British Boy Legally Changes Name To 'Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined' but you can call him CFFTSSBWTHATFC for short. ~rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster...
That's a name that may make travel difficult, and getting and Apple Store app approved. I think the Zappa son's name is Ahmet. On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: I think I left out another. Wasn't there a Moon Unit Zappa? - Original Message - From: Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:15:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster... If Tiger Woods can call himself Caublanasian, Prince can go by (Symbol), and the late Frank Zappa can name his kids Dweezel and Omit, why not? - Original Message - From: Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:12:40 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] British Boy Legally Changes Name to Captain Fantastic Faster... http://www.geekologie.com/2008/11/british_boy_legally_changes_na.php British Boy Legally Changes Name To 'Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined' but you can call him CFFTSSBWTHATFC for short. ~rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] Gallery: Curious and curiouser emerging technologies
It's not a good idea to have a bright augmentation of the road's edge. If you can't see that, it's a good signal that driving conditions aren't good enough. And if the tech gets it wrong, the driver has two conflicting visual signals to follow. That's not good. On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: augmented reality windshield? For a car? Don't know what frightens me more: that people already distracted while chatting on cellphones or texting have a new distraction...or the fact that this pic seems to indicated this is tech built on a Microsoft OS! :( - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:20:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] Gallery: Curious and curiouser emerging technologies Gallery: Curious and curiouser emerging technologieshttp://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217.html Augmented reality on your windshield - Next Image » http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-2.html [image: Augmented reality on your windshield]http://content.zdnet.com/2347-11422_22-418217-418218.html?seq=1 The human/machine interface department at GM has developed a working heads-up display that turns an ordinary windshield into an augmented reality information dashboard. *See full story: * An augmented reality windshield from GMhttp://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=2164tag=col1;post-2164in Chris Jablonski's Emerging Tech blog http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/. *Credit: General Motors and Carnegie Mellon University* - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-1.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-2.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-3.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-4.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-5.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-6.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-7.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-8.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-9.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-10.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-11.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-12.html - http://content.zdnet.com/2346-11422_22-418217-13.html -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] The luckiest people in Hollywood?
I always wondered why people kept giving Kevin Costner chances after his expensive films lost so much money. Is that the kind of luck you mean? On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 3:43 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: This is just a topic. There's no right or wrong answers for this. So, the question is: Who are the luckiest people in Hollywood? That is, people who may have gotten a lucky break in a film or two. One person that I would put on the list is: Carrie-Anne Moss from the Matrix. She was basically a tv actress and had been on a boat load of tv shows. Some of them were scifi since the 1980s. After the Matrix series she was in Memento, Chocolat, Disturbia and others. Who would you add to the list? -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] They do the crime; we do the time
I was really annoyed when I saw the story. But it got worse after I saw the web site for the costume sales. http://www.spfxmasks.com/maskplayer.html http://www.spfxmasks.com/ourmasks.html On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/04/22/2010-04-22_white_crook_robbed_banks_in_expensive_africanamerican_mask.html A robber who marauded in a high-quality mask that made him appear African-American was no match for Ohio cops. Conrad Zdzierak, 30, has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated robbery after robbing four banks and an a CVS pharmacy on April 9, reports ABC News affiliate WFTS in Tampa. Detectives say Zdzierak was initially able to elude the cops because of his disguise, an expensive silicon mask called The Player valued at around $650. The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African-American male. http://twitter.com/ravenadal http://theworldebon.blogspot.com
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: They do the crime; we do the time
What did your son have to say about it? He is a teenager, right? I'm always investigating generational differences. I had to talk to my students (again) about how people weren't always homeless in this country. But I digress. I wondered the same thing. It certainly makes sense for the guy trying to rob a bank. But clearly the mask existed before he decided to commit the crime. Even though I'm not the sort of person who is usually filled with high expectations, it's kind of heartbreaking to discover that black male masks are sold to scare people on Halloween. On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: I asked my son about this. I wanted to know who would pay $650 for a realistic black mask. Your link clears it up for me. The black mask is just another monster mask available for Halloween (and special demonic occasions). The more things change; the more they stay the same. ~(no)rave! The player Introducing The Player, He is the first realistic silicone African American mask on the market. This is one incredible mask and brings to mind characters played by Ving Raimes and Samual L. Jackson. Using all-new painting techniques used by top Hollywood Special Effects artists, Rusty Slusser has upped the anty in the world of realistic silicone masks. Matching african-american hands (sold seperately) will complete this incredibly awesome illusion. --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@... wrote: I was really annoyed when I saw the story. But it got worse after I saw the web site for the costume sales. http://www.spfxmasks.com/maskplayer.html http://www.spfxmasks.com/ourmasks.html On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@... wrote: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/04/22/2010-04-22_white_crook_robbed_banks_in_expensive_africanamerican_mask.html A robber who marauded in a high-quality mask that made him appear African-American was no match for Ohio cops. Conrad Zdzierak, 30, has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated robbery after robbing four banks and an a CVS pharmacy on April 9, reports ABC News affiliate WFTS in Tampa. Detectives say Zdzierak was initially able to elude the cops because of his disguise, an expensive silicon mask called The Player valued at around $650. The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African-American male. http://twitter.com/ravenadal http://theworldebon.blogspot.com
Re: [scifinoir2] Katie Williams is Notre Dame's first black valedictorian
That's great news. On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.the-savvy-sista.com/2010/04/you-go-girl-katie-williams-is-notre.html History is being made at the University of Notre Dame this spring In the 161 years the University of Notre Dame has been awarding degrees, never had there been an African-American as valedictorian. Until this year. She's Katie Washington of Gary, Indiana. She carries a 4.0 GPA majoring in biology and minoring in Catholic social teaching. According to the Northwest Indiana Times, Washington plans to continue her studies at Johns Hopkins University and follow in her father's footsteps into medicine. Washington says she's humbled by the honor of being named valedictorian. More information from Notre Dame University: Katie Washington, a biological sciences major from Gary, Ind., has been named valedictorian of the 2010 University of Notre Dame graduating class and will present the valedictory address during Commencement exercises May 16 (Sunday) in Notre Dame stadium. Washington, who earned a 4.0 grade point average, has a minor in Catholic Social Teaching. She has conducted research on lung cancer at the Cold Spring Harbor labs and performed genetic studies in the University's Eck Institute for Global Health on the mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever. She is the co-author of a research paper with David Severson, professor of biological sciences. Washington directs the Voices of Faith Gospel Choir at Notre Dame, is a mentor/tutor for the Sister-to-Sister program at South Bend's Washington High School and serves as the student coordinator of the Center for Social Concerns' Lives in the Balance: Youth Violence and Society Seminar. Upon graduation, Washington plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D program at Johns Hopkins University.
Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Texas city revives paddling as it takes a swat at misbehavior
As a kid, I was accused of overreacting to paddling. We had a substitute teacher who was someone I knew from the neighborhood. But he had no business in the classroom. I was third grade. Someone did something annoying that I don't quite remember. Maybe the person slammed a desk when the guy's back was turned. When no one would tall who had done it, we were all paddled. I felt really humiliated and wouldn't stop crying. I think I told my mother; she had a conversation with the principal. Then I was afraid he was mad at me. So I became afraid to go around the corner to the store because he would go to the same store. Plus, I was genuinely confused by it. I was raised by people who told me to hit back if I was hit. But what is an 8-year-old girl who is maybe 50 pounds supposed to do when hit by a man who's at least 6'5? I honestly kept thinking that because I hadn't defended myself that he was just going to hit me again at some other point. I had revenge fantasies that honestly didn't end until he was killed. I was around 22 then. I realize that my tendency to hold onto things was unusual. But I don't think the fact that this put a notion of violence into my head is that unusual. I don't understand how people can think that hitting their kids will help curb bad behavior, especially if what they are trying to curb is the kid's aggressive behavior. On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: I hear you Rave. My parents stopped whipping me not because I was big, but because I had become increasingly angry and even frightening the older I got. The more I was hit, the angrier I became, and the more I determined to get away. When I was 16 all kinds of things came to a head, and my father threatened to hit me. This may sound weird to you, but there can be a kind of savage joy in the release of anger, a fire that burns and burns you can relish. I was to that point, and honestly didn't care what was done to me: i was so gone I was going to run off as soon as he was done. I didn't care what he did to me. I think there was a calm coldness to me that made him stop, and he backed off, realizing I was half-crazed. It was after that that my folks started punishment: denying field trips, telling my teachers when i was acting up at home (a source of major embarrassment), etc. That didn't change my *attitude* --i was an oppressed, misunderstood teen after all!--but it changed my *behaviour* because I couldn't stand being grounded. I was still ticked all the time, but now my parents' wrath was more cutting and longer lasting than a simple quick whipping. In time my attitude matched my outward behaviour and we developed a great relationship. I can truly say that not one whipping ever did as much as the groundings. As for that Reader Advisory Board, are most of the corporal punishment supporters white? Rural or urban? Well educated? - Original Message - From: Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 10:57:46 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Texas city revives paddling as it takes a swat at misbehavior All a beating teaches you is how to take a beating. I, too, was raised with the rod but, interestingly, my father stopped beating me when I grew bigger than him. I raised my two children without corporal punishment and they are both mannerable and productive. People comment all the time on how chill and well behaved they are. Moreover, I still have a wonderful relationship with both of them. To this point, during my one year stint on the Reader Advisory Board of my local newspaper, this conversation came up and of the fifteen people in the room, only two of us were opposed to corporal punishment. ~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote: I think it's ridiculous. I personally don't believe in paddling/whipping kids. having been raised by old-school parents who were both born in the country, in Texas, in 1925, let me tell you I'm familiar with this type of punishment. My folks believed in belts, switches, and occasionally the razor strap. I freely admit I was a kid who tested and battled my parents all the damn time, but, the whippings didn't do a thing for me. It wasn't until they started really punishing me by taking away privileges--school trips, TV time, playing outdoors in the summer--that my behavior changed. But that's at home. My parents loved me and were not abusive parents, but I know friends whose family members bordered on that. And if *they* did, why would I entrust a child to a school authority who's not related to my kid? I remember clearly teachers with issues: women who disliked me as a boy because they had problems with men in general...men who were jealous of young handsome men...white teachers who felt all the black students needed some
Re: [scifinoir2] Reimagining Reimagining
That's really wonderful and makes me wish I could paint. On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 2:14 PM, Bosco Bosco ironpi...@yahoo.com wrote: This is freakin awesome. Thrift Store art made fabulous: http://used-outboard-motor.net/How_To_Make_A_Used_Thrift_Store_Painting_MOAR_AWESOME.html Bosco
Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!
i feel as though I should buy tickets right now. I didn't have anything censored from me when I was a kid. I think it made me develop my reading and film preferences earlier and without much peer pressure. And now I'm faculty at UW-Madison. Rave, I hope your child at least comes to visit my office. On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 7:16 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Say it again, Mr Worf! On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 11:22 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: The article's title should have been some people have totally unrealistic opinions of how 11 year olds act when adults are not around People have also forgotten how things have changed. When I was 12 there were 12 year old hookers and heroin junkies in the bad parts of town. Worrying about a fictional 11 year old on screen and her influences on kids is silly. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:03 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Puh-LEEZE! I come from The Projects, where FIVE-year-olds know more cuss words than I've heard come out of her. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' By MARK CARO A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges brutal blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet blush - if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl. The movie may be called Kick-Ass, a title that already has some parents shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete with her dropping f and c bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated Kick-Ass, which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant, nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but is this a good thing? I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of civilization as we know it, joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin. There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or reflect it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but there's no question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a lot of barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys and girls. Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be traced back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of The Exorcist (1973), though they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing. Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated), cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon; she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next year. Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation; here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's unhinged title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he tried to impress her by shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's The Professional (aka Leon, 1994). But Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares Portman's character from doing the lethal work, whereas Vaughn isn't exactly concerned about Hit Girl getting blood on her hands. Or, as the Kick-Ass press notes state: Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky force of nature, likely to be an instant professional icon redolent of Jodie Foster in 'Taxi Driver' and Natalie Portman in 'The Professional.' (No one from Lionsgate or the film was made available to comment.) The notion of innocence in this society is gone, said Neal Gabler, author of Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. It's not just a function of violence. I think it's a function of a certain social cynicism that has just built and built and built over the years where people believe in nothing. Which isn't to say
Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter what their relationships with the people they attack. But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take better care of himself. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or overhearing conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting. I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts. I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe they'd be on the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she argues it's her 'parental duty' By Paul Thompsonhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=yauthornamef=Paul+Thompson Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010 [image: g] 'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New, who is being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook page and reading about his private life. Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son, Lane, said he wanted criminal charges filed against his mother for her 'snooping'. The teenager claims his mother changed his password on his Facebook account after he accidentally left his computer on. He also said she posted slanderous comments and changed the password to his email so he can no longer receive updates to his page. The teenager, who lives with his grandmother following his parents' messy divorce, made a complaint with prosecutors in Arkansas after the incident last month. Prosecutors agreed with the teenager and charged Mrs New under the state's harassment laws. The high tech family row began after Lane accidentally left his computer on while visiting his mother at her home in the town of Arkadelphia. The 42-year-old became concerned about several entries, including one in which he son wrote about driving home at 95mph after an argument with his girlfriend. She also read some other postings, which bothered
Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
I don't really know. I was speculating about the fraud part. I imagine that's why she can be charged. I read somewhere that she posted pretending to be him. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue. Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage child's account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to Facebook. What if his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password, found it, and then accessed his account? Is that illegal? - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter what their relationships with the people they attack. But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take better care of himself. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or overhearing conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting. I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts. I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe they'd be on the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she argues it's her 'parental duty' By Paul Thompsonhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=yauthornamef=Paul+Thompson Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010 [image: g] 'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New, who is being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook page and reading about his private life. Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son, Lane, said he wanted criminal charges filed against his mother for her 'snooping'. The teenager claims his mother changed his
Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
I think the criminal thing may be analogous to the way domestic violence laws have evolved. It used to be that the person being hurt had to press charges. Now, if there's evidence, the state must bring charges. I don't know how much of a choice they would have if she pretended to be him. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:20 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Same here. That's the only thing I can see that would possibly warrant criminal charges. Still, I wonder if the law couldn't have tried to get them to settle this out of court? Maybe have everyone sit down and talk it out? The kid is obviously angry, and maybe with good reason. But I hate to see him taking his mom to court like this. She might even be wrong in a way, but criminal? - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:12:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment I don't really know. I was speculating about the fraud part. I imagine that's why she can be charged. I read somewhere that she posted pretending to be him. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue. Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage child's account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to Facebook. What if his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password, found it, and then accessed his account? Is that illegal? - Original Message - From: Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter what their relationships with the people they attack. But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take better care of himself. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or overhearing conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting. I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts. I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling precedent, but given that state's social
Re: [scifinoir2] World Science: Newfound species dubbed 'T. rex' of leeches
I love that unknown (at least to western scientists) large species keep being found. But I am really paranoid about parasites. This is nightmare inducing. On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 11:27 PM, Amy Harlib ahar...@earthlink.net wrote: ahar...@earthlink.net Cool science stuff. - Original Message - *From:* World Science emailn...@world-science.net *To:* emailn...@world-science.net *Sent:* Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:46 PM *Subject:* World Science: Newfound species dubbed 'T. rex' of leeches * *You may still have to avoid T. rex*http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100414_rex : A leech that turned up in a girl's nose has been dubbed the T. rex of its kind by scientists. They say its ancestors might have tormented the old *T. rex* in a like fashion. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100414_rex * *New evidence cited that rocky, watery planets are common* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100413_planets: Vaporized remnants of rocky, and possibly watery, bodies hang around many dead stars, astronomers say. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100413_planets * *Possible new human ancestor revealed*http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100408_australo : Two partial skeletons unearthed in South Africa are from a previously unknown species, according to scientists. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100408_australo * *Life on Titan? Stand far back and hold your nose!* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100412_titan If life has evolved on Saturn's frigid moon, Titan, it would be strange, smelly -- and potentially explosive, new research suggests. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100412_titan * *Artificial leaves could help power machines of future* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_leaf: Researchers are presenting a design strategy that they say could harness Mother Nature's ability to produce energy from sunlight and water. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_leaf * *Another species of extinct humans ID'd?*http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100325_hominin A previously unknown lineage of humans has been identified based on genes extracted from a bit of bone, scientists say, though it is not believed to be a direct ancestor of modern people. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100325_hominin ADDITIONAL NEWS * *Family tree research can open Pandora's Box* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100409_familytree: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100409_familytree * *Brain cells shout in unison to get message through* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100401_neurons: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100401_neurons * *Eye-operated video game developed for the disabled* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_planning: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_planning * *Power prompts less accurate time predictions, research finds* http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_planning: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100326_planning *World Science homepage* Don't forget to visit our homepage for Science In Images; links to top science news from other publi- cations; and other recent World Science stories! http://www.world-science.net *World Science archives* To new readers especially: you need not miss our ex- citing past stories, though they won't appear in future newsletters. See archives for any year by typing that year after the homepage address: for example, http://www.world-science.net/2007 *Invite friends to join World Science!* Click here to open an invitation email you can send friends and colleagues so they can join you in sub- scribing to World Science at no charge. Feel free to change the email text (although you might want to leave the subscription instructions unchanged.) * More information* This is the World Science newsletter. *To cancel* your subscription, please reply to this email address with cancel in the subject line. *To subscribe*, write to this email address with subscribe in the subject line. *To change* the address where you receive the newsletter, simply subscribe the new address and cancel the old one. Any World Science article may be reproduced on another website, on condition that it is reproduced along with a link to the World Science homepage, http://www.world-science.net. Linking to the page of the original article is optional. http://www.world-science.net -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.801 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2810 - Release Date: 04/14/10 02:31:00
Re: [scifinoir2] Checked out the IPad
I imagine it's the same screen as the iPhone. That I clean with stuff made for eyeglasses. On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 3:58 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: One more question that I had about the Ipad was how do you keep the screen clean? On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Yeah, they saved money on the CPU. Thanks guys for the compliment. I thought we'd be getting a true thin film computer by now, but I guess the materials and electronics tech is still being worked out before it's practical and affordable. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2010 4:31:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Checked out the IPad The only reason that I could think of as to why they went with an underpowered chip was they had some laying around or they didn't think it needed it because they couldn't secure the memory.(or there is a compatibility reason with the Iphone) There is almost no one that doesn't multi-task now. What would be cool is using an app like google voice and turn it into a mega Iphone. Martin is right I think you may have designed the 2020 version of the Ipad. On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 5:14 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: Thanks, good stuff. That's why I didn't buy one early. The lack of USB, a video camera, and Flash support are troubling in a device whose price approaches that of a good used laptop. I would hope that at least the USB/video camera appear in later versions, as their exclusion from a portable computer is really unfortunate. Flash? Don't know. The microprocessor they put in the device is not brand new, and not the most powerful available to them. Like the old Super Nintendo, the iPad's CPU is tweaked to do its graphics jobs based on efficiency of how it works, not pure processing power. Do you remember the TV series Earth Final Conflict? The characters used flexible film communication devices. They had rod like devices out of which they'd pull a flexible screen to communicate. The shape of the handles in which the screen was rolled up allowed them to be easily held. I think the iPad should have had something like that on both sides, a curved, contoured edge that allows it to be held comfortably. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2010 1:52:51 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] Checked out the IPad I played around with the IPAD for a little while tonight at my local Best buy. It is a lot smaller than I originally thought, (about 8wx12L) but I can see the potential for some applications. The demo unit had a bunch of software that was installed for the demo. It included everything from games, to books, to music apps. The first thing that I noticed is that it is not as fast as some of the laptops that are currently available. Loading time can take a couple of moments depending on the app. Now I know why Apple limited it to running only one app at a time. One thing it does offer is an extra dimension of being tactile to the user experience. It made reading a book felt very natural. Also, being about the size of a book made playing a driving game a lot of fun. Another great thing about the unit is that there is little to no learning curve. If you have an Iphone you can pretty much pick it up and go. If you have never used an Iphone before or have never seen the commercials for it, with a little poking around you can quickly learn to move around. A kid walked up next to me and he was able to figure it out in about 12 seconds, but then again kids are like that. :) Included in the demo was a music recording program. (I think it is related to Garageband.) It offered a 3.5 octave keyboard display giving you keys that are about the same size as a 49 key music keyboard. The sounds that came with the app were fairly generic, but would be useful if you are a musician on the go. The software added an arpeggio, drum loops and effects too. The biggest drawback to using this unit is being able to hang on to it without dropping it on to the floor! They should make some kind of handle that connects to the unit and rest on the back of it so you can hang on to it a little better while you are flipping pages and whatnot. I won't even mention the lack of flash support, and USB! (Maybe Apple is waiting for someone to cobble up some parts for it?) I think Apple may have plans to offer an upgrade later on that will have preinstalled or allow you to add on peripherals, but after you spend $499-699 for the unit and buy the add-ons you might as well buy a Mac book Pro which is far superior. Too bad it doesn’t take phone calls. It might be worth the money! :) Google is also releasing something similar in a few months so it may be
Re: [scifinoir2] TVOne Running The Richard Pryor Show Marathon
I remember watching its first run when I was a kid. Of course I missed a lot of the jokes. Then I watched again maybe 10 years ago. The piece that struck me the most, and probably made me tear up when I saw it was one where Pryor does a silent bit. If I recall correctly, there were children in the scene, but no adult performers. The piece played up the difference between the persona and the guy's actual life. Does anyone remember that? On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 4:25 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Keith, I ahve moments when I *wish* I were that young. And I'm all over it right now. Thanks for the heads-up. On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 5:11 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: TVOne is running an all day marathon of The Richard Pryor show. You may be old enough to remember the show. It was rough and raw, very funny,scathing at times in its commentary. Of course, NBC deemed it too controversial and it was canceled after one season. Still good stuff after all these years. In this hour they'll be doing the great skit where he plays the President. Worth taking a look. And if you're too young to remember Pryor's show, you've probably never seen The Smothers Brothers show from back in the day. It too was sharply insightful, and it too was canceled, as CBS couldn't deal with what they saw as its leftist, anti-government, anti-war stance.
Re: [scifinoir2] Avatar to the IMAX
Could someone enlighten me on the difference between regular and really good IMAX? I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D. But I'm not sure now whether I could have had a different experience. On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://blackplush.blogspot.com/2010/04/avatar-to-imax.html It is hard to believe anything can surpass the experience of watching Avatar in 3-D. Then James Cameron and crew takes it up a notch and releases the movie in the IMAX format. And I am not talking about seeing it at some rinky-dink flat IMAX screen, I am talking about crystal clear images on a six-story-tall screen with wraparound digital surround sound at an IMAX® Dome Theater. Settling back in your stadium seat and seeing the movie unspool in front of you, above you and on either side of you is a transcendent experience. Filmed to take advantage of the full IMAX experience, Avatar has so much to engage the eye and ear it is sometimes hard to decide what to focus on. And all of it is spectacular, stupendous, marvelous - you lose track of superlatives. This format allows you to appreciate the proper scale of the ten-foor tall Navi and the majesty of Hometree. The flora and fauna is awe-inspiring and the predators are truly menacing. That was scary! my seventeen year-old daughter exclaimed as Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) made a hairbreadth escape. The photo-realism is stunning. With the world of Paradox literally wrapped around you, everything is heightened: the drama, the suspense; even the romance. You can actually look into Neytiri's face and see every facet of her large, expressive eyes. ~rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] Avatar to the IMAX
Thanks, Mr. Worf. I guess I'm wondering whether there is a noticeable difference between digital IMAX and analog IMAX if such a thing still exists. On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Think of IMax as high resolution digital film. 3d Imax is high resolution 3d. Its the best way to see a 3d film. On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 10:45 AM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: Could someone enlighten me on the difference between regular and really good IMAX? I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D. But I'm not sure now whether I could have had a different experience. On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://blackplush.blogspot.com/2010/04/avatar-to-imax.html It is hard to believe anything can surpass the experience of watching Avatar in 3-D. Then James Cameron and crew takes it up a notch and releases the movie in the IMAX format. And I am not talking about seeing it at some rinky-dink flat IMAX screen, I am talking about crystal clear images on a six-story-tall screen with wraparound digital surround sound at an IMAX® Dome Theater. Settling back in your stadium seat and seeing the movie unspool in front of you, above you and on either side of you is a transcendent experience. Filmed to take advantage of the full IMAX experience, Avatar has so much to engage the eye and ear it is sometimes hard to decide what to focus on. And all of it is spectacular, stupendous, marvelous - you lose track of superlatives. This format allows you to appreciate the proper scale of the ten-foor tall Navi and the majesty of Hometree. The flora and fauna is awe-inspiring and the predators are truly menacing. That was scary! my seventeen year-old daughter exclaimed as Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) made a hairbreadth escape. The photo-realism is stunning. With the world of Paradox literally wrapped around you, everything is heightened: the drama, the suspense; even the romance. You can actually look into Neytiri's face and see every facet of her large, expressive eyes. ~rave! -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] David Mills, Television Writer and Producer, Dies
I'm really sorry to hear this. He was a talented and interesting guy. On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 2:10 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Sad news. Homicide is easily in my top ten favorite TV shows of all time, certainly in terms of cop shows. It's the first show I can remember on TV that had so many blacks in non-stereotyped positions of leadership and influence. (Unlike, say, NYPD Blue, which relegated the black captain to more of a guest star in favor of the bigoted white subordinate). Talent like his is rare: he will be missed Although, what's up with his blog Undercover Black Man?... http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/ *** David Mills, Television Writer and Producer, Dies By DAVE ITZKOFFhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/author/dave-itzkoff/ *12:24 p.m. | Updated * David Millshttp://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/061100scott-corner.html, an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer for crime dramas like “The Wire”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/arts/television/10stan.htmlon HBO and “Homicide: Life on the Streets” on NBC died on Tuesday in New Orleans, a press representative for HBO said. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reportedhttp://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/03/treme_writer_david_mills_dies.htmlthat Mr. Mills died from a brain aneurysm. HBO is about to broadcast the debut of a new series, “Treme,”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/magazine/21simon-t.htmlon which Mr. Mills worked as a writer and producer. After Mr. Mills made his television writing debut with “Homicide,” which his friend, David Simon, helped to create, he wrote for “NYPD Blue” and “ER.” He was also a co-writer and co-producer on “The Corner,”http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/198480/The-Corner/overviewadapted from Mr. Simon’s book about drug abuse and poverty in Baltimore, which won three Emmys. Mr. Mills also created the NBC series “Kingpin,” about a Mexican drug cartel, which was shown in 2003. HBO said Wednesday in a statement: HBO is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our dear friend and colleague David Mills. He was a gracious and humble man, and will be sorely missed by those who knew and loved him, as well as those who were aware of his immense talent. David has left us too soon but his brilliant work will live on. Mr. Mills also chronicled his passion for music at his blog, Undercover Black Man http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/. Before writing for television, he worked as a journalist and gained national attention for a 1992 interviewhttp://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74018923.html?dids=74018923:74018923FMT=ABSwith the hip-hop performer Sister Souljah in The Washington Post, in which she said, “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” When the Rainbow Coalition later invited Sister Souljah to speak at its convention, the group was criticized by Gov. Bill Clinton, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, who cited Mr. Mills’s interview.
Re: [scifinoir2] Sleep Dealer
The premise is frightening, and we're only a few steps away from it. I read a few years ago about remote labor on Second Life operating in a way that had everything the movie has except the physical connection. But the movie doesn't prop up the premise. On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:48 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: No, Tracy. Haven't seen that, but I will be looking for it now, even if the premise is a GOP wet dream. On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 9:23 PM, Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.comwrote: Hello everyone, I just watched a movie called Sleep Dealer. It's about technology that allows the labor to be imported without moving the actual people. Drone warfare technology also makes an appearance. If anyone has seen it, I'd like to know what you think. Here's a link to a trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTZv6oxa2KI It's misleading though because it makes the movie seem fast-paced when it is mostly deliberate. Also, the voice-over isn't used. The actual movie is in Spanish with available subtitles. Tracy
Re: [scifinoir2] Topic: Revenge of the dumb terminal?
It might be popular for travel. But I imagine that service would be at least as spotty as cell service is now. I wouldn't have much patience for that. On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 6:20 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Don't think it'll last. Humans who deal in tech like to have The Next Big Thing. On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I was just watching an interview with the CEO of Panalogic (John Kisch). With the big push toward servers dumb terminals (Basically how computers started) as part of the infrastructure of cloud computing we are now seeing cost benefits of taking this step backwards. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars per user, a dumb terminal will cost only the cost of a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and a dumb terminal interface. The interface can cost below $100 each so an institution like a hospital can have them all over the place cheaply. What do you think of this step back? Here is a little more on it: http://www.pressheretv.com -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
[scifinoir2] Sleep Dealer
Hello everyone, I just watched a movie called Sleep Dealer. It's about technology that allows the labor to be imported without moving the actual people. Drone warfare technology also makes an appearance. If anyone has seen it, I'd like to know what you think. Here's a link to a trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTZv6oxa2KI It's misleading though because it makes the movie seem fast-paced when it is mostly deliberate. Also, the voice-over isn't used. The actual movie is in Spanish with available subtitles. Tracy
Re: [scifinoir2] Gangsta gadgets
Does anyone else think that the gun cell phone is an exceedingly bad idea? On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 4:45 PM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Mr Worf, I'm sending this to several of my cousins in Jersey and Virginia. I predict that each will own a Booty Mouse ere long. On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 12:02 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.comwrote: Gangsta Gadgets Shall Appeal to Geeks Toohttp://www.walyou.com/blog/2010/03/02/gangsta-gadgets/4 Commentshttp://www.walyou.com/blog/2010/03/02/gangsta-gadgets/#commentsBy Jai on March 2nd, 2010 in Fun Gadgets http://www.walyou.com/blog/category/fun-gadgets/ http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.walyou.com/blog/2010/03/02/gangsta-gadgets/title=Gangsta%20Gadgets%20Shall%20Appeal%20to%20Geeks%20ToosrcURL=http://www.walyou.com/blog Gangsta culture has been inspired by the music that originated in Afro-American ghettos, and it has been quite glamorized by the mass media, along with Gangsta fashion, style etc which are dominated by bright colors, showy gadgets, chains and baggy clothes. Geeks may now feel connected to Gangsta lifestyle through gadgets that are inspired by Hip-hop culture, and icons representing the sub-culture. Kristin Verbyhttp://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=236762portfolio_id=3200253;has used photography and 3D rendering in order to create these amazing and realistic gadgets that are inspired by Gangsta culture. [image: gangsta boombox sneakers Gangsta Gadgets Shall Appeal to Geeks Too]http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gangsta-boombox-sneakers.jpg The series called “Gangsta Gadgets” includes sneakers, remote control, shower head and also a mouse. The Boombox Sneakers look showy like the NES Shoes http://www.walyou.com/blog/2009/06/02/nes-sneaker-mod/ and come with space to insert a DVD and play it. It seems like there would also be speakers to play music loud. It would be great to dance with the shoes on and music playing alongside. [image: gangsta remote glock Gangsta Gadgets Shall Appeal to Geeks Too]http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gangsta-remote-glock.jpg Gangsta culture is dominated by guns and violence, and geeky lifestyle is dominated by remote controls. Thus, the Remote Glock is a great remote control which looks like a gun…kind of like the Nokia Cellphone Gunhttp://www.walyou.com/blog/2008/12/28/weird-cellphone-gun-from-nokia/ . [image: gangsta r kelly shower head Gangsta Gadgets Shall Appeal to Geeks Too]http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gangsta-r-kelly-shower-head.jpg R. Kelly is one of the most famous RB singers. The R. Kelly Shower Head looks all bling and golden and even seems to come with a camera lens for the pleasure of perverts. [image: gangsta booty mouse Gangsta Gadgets Shall Appeal to Geeks Too]http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gangsta-booty-mouse.jpg The Booty Mouse is self-explanatory and could be a reference to the importance to big butts in hip hop culture. These Gangsta Gadgets are cool and funny, and if they are manufactured, they would certainly be very popular. You could also take a look at the Pimpendo Nintendo Mod http://www.walyou.com/blog/2009/06/25/pimp-nintendo-mod/, which is a Gangsta inspired NES. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Brutal Book War remedy: Book Clubs
Did anyone else notice that over the past several months Borders also switched to free wi-fi from a pay service? I go there to work when traveling, but they don't seem to realize that the problem is that they don't have the books I want. On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 8:47 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-borders20-2010mar20,0,7054811.story The chain lets book groups know they are welcome to meet at its stores. The move is aimed at boosting sales amid intense competition from online vendors and big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. By Sandra M. Jones March 20, 2010 Chicago In the increasingly brutal book wars, Borders Group Inc. is learning what coffeehouses long have known: Encourage shoppers to think of you as a home away from home and they'll spend more, maybe even become regulars. To spur that feeling, Borders quietly unveiled a program last month that invites book clubs to convene at its cafes instead of in members' homes. The step is geared toward helping the money-losing bookstore chain drum up sales and reshape itself into a local gathering place instead of a faceless superstore.
[scifinoir2] tribe asks Cameron for help
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/dongria-kondh-ask-james-c_n_491020.html This really chills me. Tracy
Re: [scifinoir2] Avatar highest grossing movie ever?
Thanks for posting the conversion. They used to measure movie popularity by ticket sales, at least into the 1980s. I always argue that movies should be measured by tickets sold and jobs should be measured in real dollars. On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Great point, rave. I forgive you as well, for the use of That Movie Where They Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Babies. [?][?] On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 7:07 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: Movie Ticket sales: Avatar - 62 million tickets sold ($666 million) Titantic - 128 million tickets sold ($977 million in 2010 dollars) Gone With the Wind - 202 million tickets sold (1.5 billion, adjusted) source: Parade magazine 4F4.gif320.gif
Re: [scifinoir2] Obsolete Professions
I saw some slightly advanced typesetting once on a newspaper tour. It made me appreciate the inky fingers from reading the paper. At least one of my friends gets milk delivery now. That place is doing great business. If I could do any one of those, I'd want to be a lector, though I doubt they had women lectors. On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 8:14 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.comwrote: Of those occupations offered, I'd be either that or a telegraph operator, rave. On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124251060 Eye would have made an excellent Lector. ~rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] Obsolete Professions
The friend with milk delivery lives in Denver. On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 4:34 PM, George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com wrote: I still see elevator operators at the Senate building in DC. Saw one last year at all places Pimlico Race track in Baltimore. Haven't seen milk delivered for over thirty-five years. -- *From:* Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com *To:* scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com *Sent:* Sun, March 7, 2010 9:36:52 AM *Subject:* Re: [scifinoir2] Obsolete Professions They could rehire the lectors in libraries to tell stories to kids. On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 6:14 AM, Martin Baxter martinbaxter7@ gmail.commartinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote: Of those occupations offered, I'd be either that or a telegraph operator, rave. On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo. comravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.npr. org/templates/ story/story. php?storyId= 124251060http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124251060 Eye would have made an excellent Lector. ~rave! -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_ of_darkness/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Dwayne McDuffie: Race, Sci-Fi and Comics
Thanks so much for posting this link. My student is working on the Milestone comics. On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 7:22 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/race-sci-fi-and-comics-a-talk-with-dwayne-mcduffie/37063/
Re: [scifinoir2] Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet
That's chilling enough to have me looking over my shoulder here at home. On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.comwrote: Mr Worf, the examples of such I've met have far less facial-recognition value. You wouldn't know about them until they were standing right next to you. Literally. First one I met was a Dr Bice, back when I was a student at Virginia State. He ran the computer department (then called Business Information Systems). Looked like anyone's grandfather. If said grandfather were ex-OSS, ex-CIA and ex-NSA. The first day he met me (making it a point to do so, because he'd seen my grades and wanted to recruit me), he calmly told me about two things in my life I'd NEVER told anyone before. I almost dropped out that day, so afraid I was. If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: hellomahog...@gmail.com Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 15:43:26 -0800 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet They are scarier than being occupied by any foreign government because they are already in our government. Some of them would easily be diagnosed as sociopaths. An example of one would be Newt Gingrich. On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 2:54 PM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.comwrote: I agree with you entirely, Mr Worf. heck, I believe that I've met pieces of it in the past. Uber-scary guys, these were. If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: hellomahog...@gmail.com Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 12:50:58 -0800 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet I believe that there is still an element within our government that has the old way of thinking. That the best country we can have is having the populace of this nation controlled with an iron fist by any means necessary. The easiest way to do it is to trick the population into thinking that we need this kind of control over us. On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 12:12 PM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.com wrote: What else, from a career spook? I'll be dropping my congressman a line about this ASAP. Would hit my senator, but he's probably drooling at the thought of this, good little neocon he is. If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: hellomahog...@gmail.com Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 19:26:19 -0800 Subject: [scifinoir2] Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet - By Ryan Singel http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/author/ryan_singel/ [image: Email Author] r...@ryansingel.net - March 1, 2010 | - 6:56 pm | - Categories: Cybarmageddon!http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/category/cybarmageddon/ - [image: michael_mcconnell]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/03/michael_mcconnell.jpgThe biggest threat to the open internet is not Chinese government hackers or greedy anti-net-neutrality ISPs, it’s Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence. McConnell’s not dangerous because he knows anything about SQL injection hacks, but because he knows about social engineering. He’s the nice-seeming guy who’s willing and able to use fear-mongering to manipulate the federal bureaucracy for his own ends, while coming off like a straight shooter to those who are not in the know. When he was head of the country’s national intelligence, he scared President Bush with visions of e-doomhttp://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/01/feds-must-exami/, prompting the president to sign a comprehensive secret order that unleashed tens of billions of dollars into the military’s black budget so they could start making firewalls and building malware into military equipment. And now McConnell is back in civilian life as a vice president at the secretive defense contracting giant Booz Allen Hamiltonhttp://www.boozallen.com/. He’s out in front of Congress and the media, peddling the same Cybaremaggedon! http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/category/cybarmageddon/gloom. And now he says we need to *re-engineer* the internet. We need to develop an early-warning system to monitor cyberspace, identify intrusions and locate the source of attacks with a trail of evidence that can support diplomatic, military and legal options — and we must be able to do this in milliseconds. *More specifically, we need to re-engineer the Internet to make
Re: [scifinoir2] Software gives Ebert his voice back
I always worry about such things. But with Ebert, they synthesized this voice from all of his movie reviews. Most of us don't have that much recording of ourselves. It's not clear to me how much it would take. On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 3:12 PM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: This is a great thing for Ebert. The bad thing about the technology is that they are unleashing onto the world a technology that will make it difficult in the near future to tell what is real and what isn't audio wise. On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.com wrote: That is GREAT. ;-) If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: ravena...@yahoo.com Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 22:08:51 + Subject: [scifinoir2] Software gives Ebert his voice back www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-0227-ebert-voice-20100226,0,3083464.story chicagotribune.com Technology giving Ebert his voice back Software uses audio from DVD commentaries to let critic sound like himself again By Gerry Smith, Tribune reporter 8:14 PM CST, February 26, 2010 Nearly four years after a battle with thyroid cancer robbed him of the ability to speak, iconic film critic Roger Ebert sounded like his former self Friday during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the show's producer said. It was no medical miracle, but rather a demonstration of new software using audio recordings of Ebert to create a synthetic voice that sounds like his own. CereProc, a company based in Edinburgh, Scotland, created the voice for him using mostly audio of Ebert's DVD commentaries on Citizen Kane and Casablanca. The company's technology allows Ebert to sound more natural than other text to speech software — even allowing for a range of emotions. Roger has many years of experience in broadcasting, said Matthew Aylett, chief technical officer for CereProc. Obviously we couldn't record him but he did have a lot of audio material we could use to build his voice. The company has used the technology — which turns text typed by the user into sound — to build voices of other famous people, including former President George W. Bush on a satirical Web site. But this is the first time the company has produced a synthetic voice that sounds like the old voice of the person using it, Aylett said. Ebert could not be reached for comment Friday, but in a blog post last summer, he described his frustrations with trying to communicate. After his second surgery, Ebert learned he would no longer be able to speak and started writing notes, he wrote in an August 2009 blog entry. But he found that took too long to keep up with normal conversation. There is a point when a zinger is perfectly timed, and a point when it is pointless, Ebert said. At the time, the Chicago Sun-Times film critic said he had been experimenting with synthetic voice software made by other companies. He tried a voice named Lawrence, which had a British accent, and more recently a voice named Alex, which had an American accent that sounded more natural because it recognized punctuation marks, Ebert wrote on his blog. But he still hoped to sound more like himself, particularly at public appearances, he said. On those occasions I've appeared in public or on TV with a computer voice, I nevertheless sound like Robby the Robot, he wrote on his blog. Eloquence and intonation are impossible. I dream of hearing a voice something like my own. The taping of Ebert on Oprah, which will air Tuesday, includes him giving the talk show host his 2010 Oscar picks and allowing her cameras to follow him for a day, the show's producer said. While Ebert's new voice sounds like his own, it occasionally makes errors, Aylett said. In particular, the software has difficulty pronouncing unusual proper names and sometimes fails to make intonation sound natural, he said. It sounds like him, he said. But it will sound better as we add more audio information to it. The more data we have, the smoother and the more accurate the voice will become. On its Web site, CereProc says it provides voices that sound real and have character. To build Ebert's voice, the company is using between three and five hours of his voice recordings and cutting them into numerous small units of sound. The software also allows for users to insert emotions, from anger to happiness. The latter would seem to best describe Ebert's reaction to the software's possibilities. Last summer, after discovering CereProc while surfing the Internet, Ebert said he had big plans, including using his own voice to host online or telecast video essays, he wrote on his blog. I am greatly cheered, he wrote. Even while his new voice is being fine-tuned, the software offers Ebert a chance
Re: [scifinoir2] 10 most influential African Americans in sci-fi list
Some of the comments on the piece are a bit scary. What kind of person argues for dropping Octavia Butler from a list on influential black people in sci fi? On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM, George Arterberry brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.mania.com/10-influential-african-americans-sci-fi_article_120722.html Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=map [image: Yahoo! Groups]http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcWRmZzFvBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE1MTYxMDYwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTAzNDgyNwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTI2NzQ1Njc1Ng-- Switch to: Text-Onlyscifinoir2-traditio...@yahoogroups.com?subject=change+delivery+format:+Traditional, Daily Digestscifinoir2-dig...@yahoogroups.com?subject=email+delivery:+Digest• Unsubscribe scifinoir2-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com?subject=unsubscribe • Terms of Use http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ .
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Mayor Who Sent Obama Watermelon Picture Quits
Let me preface this by saying that I don't believe him. However, I one student say that Robert seems like an unlikely name for a black person and another say that she never thought of black people being into things like coffee. I'm fairly sure the first student was utterly sincere and not trying to be offensive. People amaze me. On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 2:24 PM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.comwrote: Based on that, I can make a case that he never HAD the ability to lead, unless it's a Tea Party rally (which this makes him a mortal lock to do, ere long). And it also says volumes about those who elected him to office. If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik -- To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:20:31 + Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Mayor Who Sent Obama Watermelon Picture Quits What irritates me more is the way people like this mayor have the gall to claim I didn't know it was offensive, I didn't mean to upset anyone. What crap! You can't live in the US and not be aware of the racial significance of this. I mean, if that were the case, why not pumpkins? Strawberries? Eggplants, even? * http://newsone.com/nation/news-one-staff/california-mayor-emails-white-house-watermelon-picture/ UPDATE: Mayor Who Sent Obama Watermelon Picture Quits By News One http://newsone.com/author/news-one-staff/ February 27, 2009 4:24 pm [image: br /] http://cdn.newsone.com/files/2009/02/picture-810.png *UPDATE: Mayor Who Sent Obama Watermelon Picture Quits* The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White Househttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/27/mayor-who-sent-obama-wate_n_170492.html#lawn planted with watermelons under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.” Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued a statement Thursday saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor at Monday’s City Councilhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/27/mayor-who-sent-obama-wate_n_170492.html#meeting. Grose came under fire for sending the picture to what he called “a small group of friends.” One of the recipients, a local businesswoman and city volunteer, publicly scolded the mayor for his actions. Grose says he accepts that the e-mail was in poor taste and has affected his ability to lead the city. Grose said he didn’t mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons. Located in Orange County, Los Alamitos is a 2 1/4-square-mile city of around 12,000 people. -- Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469227/direct/01/
Re: [scifinoir2] Body of actor Koenig found
It's hard to see his parents looking so frail and worried, then having their worst fears confirmed. On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/02/missing-actor-andrew-koenig-found-dead-in-vancouver-park.html A tearful Walter Koenig appeared at a press conference Thursday evening to confirm that a body found earlier in the day in Vancouver's Stanley Park was that of his son, missing Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig. My son took his own life, Walter Koenig said, wife Judy at his side.
Re: [scifinoir2] Top 14 wealthiest African Americans
How do you think that mistake got by so many people? My first guess is that they have a very young, not very diverse staff. On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 4:04 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: Note: One of the pictures is incorrect. Can you guess which one? http://eamazings.com/index.php/eamazings/top-14-wealthiest-black-americans-04022010.html -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms available this week!
Congratulations! I've just become familiar with your work via Podcastle. I'm looking forward to getting the book. On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 5:14 PM, C.W. Badie astromancer2...@yahoo.comwrote: You Go, Gir-...Um, Self-Realizing, Successful Black Woman... Such music flows on the Fringe, and no one can resist singing to Scarlet From THE SIDE STREET CHRONICLES by C.W. Badie --- On *Mon, 2/22/10, Nora n...@earthlink.net* wrote: From: Nora n...@earthlink.net Subject: [scifinoir2] The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms available this week! To: Nora nojoj...@gmail.com Date: Monday, February 22, 2010, 8:59 PM Apologies for the crosspost, folks; just trying to be efficient in my shameless self-promotion. =) I can has book! My first novel, THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, first of the Inheritance Trilogy, is officially available as of February 25th. It's actually available already in many bookstores and from Amazon, if you don't want to wait: http://www.amazon. com/Hundred- Thousand- Kingdoms- N-Jemisin/ dp/0316043915http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Thousand-Kingdoms-N-Jemisin/dp/0316043915 A saga of gods and mortals, power and love, death and revenge, THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS follows Yeine, a young woman who is an estranged member of the most powerful family in the world. At her mother's death, she's dragged back into the family politics, and must ally with the source of their power -- a quartet of enslaved gods -- to survive. Despite the shamelessness of this message, I'm actually not great at talking myself up, so I'll just refer you to my website (http://nkjemisin. comhttp://nkjemisin.com/ ), where you can find: -A synopsis -Sample chapters -Some of the great reviews the book has been getting, including a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal, and a Top Pick from Romantic times -Contests, interviews, and more! Please take a look-see, and spread the word! Nora (N. K. Jemisin) -- The gods, enslaved. A family with absolute power, absolutely corrupt. A young woman whose rage can save the world. THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, out now from Orbit Books! http://nkjemisin. com http://nkjemisin.com/
Re: [scifinoir2] Fox cancels Past Life
I actually watched the show. It was puzzling. People went to therapy and ended up talking to crime investigators who used the patients' past lives to solve cold cases. None of this made sense with any traditional understanding of criminal investigations, therapy, or reincarnation. It was a bit crazy. On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L12I20100222 Any Past Life fans? The series was created by David Hudgins and inspired by the book The Reincarnationist, a crime thriller by M.J. Rose, whose main character, Josh Ryder, solves a 21st-century crime with memories and clues from his past life in ancient Rome. Although seven episodes were produced,the series was canceled after three episodes aired to declining ratings. The network announced plans to air the remaining episodes at some unspecified point later in the season. http://www.fox.com/pastlife/
