Re: The Purpose of Science Fiction
Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > > Science fiction teaches governmentsand > citizenshow to understand the future of technology. > By Robert J. Sawyer > Slate Magazine - http://www.slate.com/id/2282651?nav=wp > I prefer what He said. Science fiction paints horrible futures, and make people fight for them not to happen. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Lula de Silva and WikiLeaks
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > Leaked U.S. cables, following Lula de Silva's eight years as > president of Brazil, show him cooperating with Washington and > double-crossing fellow leftists. > "Double-crossing" is an exageration... > > Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff is an economist, former > chief of staff and chosen successor to president Lula. She is the > the first female elected president of Brazil. > Yep. And the bulgarians are very proud of her, because her father was bulgarian. > After the 1964 coup d'état she joined Marxist urban guerrilla groups > that fought against the military dictatorship, was captured and > reportedly tortured in jail. > They forgot to mention that she may have taken part in bank robbery and murder during those times. > After her release, she helped found the Democratic Labour Party. > That was PDT, which was _not_ Lula's party (PT aka Arbeiterpartei). She switched from PDT to PT quite recently. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: For Alberto and others
Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > > The middle segment on tonight's "60 Minutes" was on Brazil and its > economy. I don't know if when the show becomes available on cbs.com > > (tomorrow morning?) it will be accessible from outside the U.S. or not. > I hope they didn't base their research on the Uncyclopedia article... Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Facebook breastfeeding ban
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >> I didn't say that. What I said is that only >> sociopaths, perverts and babykillers can think >> that breastfeeding is obscene. > > Would you agree that it is in bad taste > to use foul language, even though it is an expression > of free speech that some feel is disrespectful and > offensive, or are they just prudes who don't deserve > to have an opinion? > Non sequitur. How does the use of foul language correlate to breastfeeding? Do you think breastfeeding is some way disgusting or offensive? >> and another picture of the Google model: >> http://www.iamboredr.com/media/1645/Boobs/ > >> The girl is fully clothed, what's the point? > > NO way was she fully dressed! (although her nipples > were covered) > QED. And I still can't see why you posted that image. Is it to protest against the induction of breast cancer caused by the use of tight bras? > I have never heard of a Facebook rule > outlawing pictures of women breast feeding in public. > Are you certain this, Alberto? > They removed _all_ breastfeeding images. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Titties on Facebook
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > HOWEVER, just for you, Alberto, I did find this picture > on FB, of a hottie suckling a piglet at her breast: > http://www.shoutmouth.com/index.php/news/Greatest_Cleavage_in_Music_History?page=7 > A very beautiful image, full of meanings. She's an animal rights activist, isn't she? I can't think of a better way to express the idea of the imorality of killing pigs than showing that they are like us. > and another picture of the Google model: > http://www.iamboredr.com/media/1645/Boobs/ > The girl is fully clothed, what's the point? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Titties on Facebook
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >> Because breastfeeding is not obscene - as those sociopaths >> and perverts that own Facebook think, and try hard to push >> this evil and babykilling meme into children and their >> mothers. > > Alberto, are you saying it's okay to use obscenities on > this list, rather than censor speech, no matter who may > be offended by it? > I didn't say that. What I said is that only sociopaths, perverts and babykillers can think that breastfeeding is obscene. > I disagree with you that the owners > of FB are evil perverts and baby killers because they > choose to respect the morals of some of their users > who are offended by breast feeding pictures. I'm sure > they personally don't have a moral position on breast > feeding, but are going along with it for business reasons. > I just don't understand why it is such an issue. What is > going on with Wikileaks is a far more important issue of > government censorship. The people who own FB can do whatever > they want. They probably figure they will gain more users > than if they allowed rampant porn on FB. > Except that breastfeeding is not porn. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Facebook is evil
Doug Pensinger wrote: > >> Try replacing "breastfeeding" with something else, like >> "Hammer and Sickle" or "cleft lip". They shouldn't be >> allowed to censor and criminalize something that is >> not criminal. If they want to censor images of people >> smoking marijuana, or images of children with guns >> (and I bet they don't attack those images with the >> fury they attack breastfeeding, but I may be wrong), >> then it's ok, but there's no ethical reason to criminalize >> breatfeeding. > > How is different than, say, guidelines that discourage obscenities on > a mailing list? > Because breastfeeding is not obscene - as those sociopaths and perverts that own Facebook think, and try hard to push this evil and babykilling meme into children and their mothers. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Facebook
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > > Try replacing "breastfeeding" with something else, like > > "Hammer and Sickle" or "cleft lip". They shouldn't be > > allowed to censor and criminalize something that is > > not criminal. If they want to censor images of people > > smoking marijuana, or images of children with guns > > (and I bet they don't attack those images with the > > fury they attack breastfeeding, but I may be wrong), > > then it's ok, but there's no ethical reason to > > criminalize breastfeeding. > > Alberto, I'm curious why you feel so strongly about > breastfeeding pictures being forbidden on Facebook. > Until now I was not even aware nor cared. To ban > breastfeeding in public places is more controversial. > Were you a bottle baby and that explains your obsession, > or are you just objecting to censorship?~) > Yes, I am a hater of censorship. But it's not fun to get _here_ and distill hate against Iran's or China's censorship. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Facebook is evil
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >> Only a sociopath and pervert can think that >> breastfeeding is pornography. It's disrespectful to >> breastfeeding (and to pornography too, but wfc?) >> those sociopaths and perverts create a Social Network >> that criminalizes it. > > Alberto, please explain how Facebook is criminalizing > breastfeeding and how you know this to be a fact? Did > the owners of FB come out and specifically say that? > Also, why can only sociopaths and perverts think that? > Try replacing "breastfeeding" with something else, like "Hammer and Sickle" or "cleft lip". They shouldn't be allowed to censor and criminalize something that is not criminal. If they want to censor images of people smoking marijuana, or images of children with guns (and I bet they don't attack those images with the fury they attack breastfeeding, but I may be wrong), then it's ok, but there's no ethical reason to criminalize breatfeeding. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: (Ignoring Murphy's Law) kills
Jo Anne wrote: > > What the heck *is* Vaseline in Brazil? > Vasilina. That was not the problem. > Here it is a thick ointment also > known as petroleum jelly. And what is it used for there? > It's placed on the skin to prevent skin dehidratation. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Facebook is evil, why it must be eradicated [was: Wikileaks?]
Dan Minette wrote: > >> All the billions that g*vernments invest all the >> time to make mothers breastfeed, and those sociopaths >> and perverts create a Social Network that criminalizes >> it. They should be exiled to Antarctica. > > Actually, it doesn't, Alberto. Facebook is free, last time I > looked. I can choose to use it or not use it. If a network won't > let me refer to physics, and takes all examples of QM off it, it's > not criminalizing QM. > > Perhaps Facebook is making a business decision. Will disallowing pictures > of breastfeeding on Facebook gain it more prudish members than > allowing it would gain members interested in details of > breastfeeding that can best be shown by pictures? > Ok, replace "breastfeeding" with "black men dating white girls". If a Social Network disallowed pictures of black men dating white girls it would gain more racist members than allowing it would gain members interested in details of interracial relationships that can best be shown by pictures. > Not allowing women to breastfeed in, say, Mall of the Americas is > one thing. That severely curtails breastfeeding mom's ability to go > there. But, there are other ways to communicate such info on the > web, so not allowing someone to post it on one's Facebook account > can be seen as a purely business decision. > Not allowing black men to date white girls in, say, Mall of the Americas is one thing. That severely curtails black-white couples ability to go there. But, there are other ways to communicate such info on the web, so not allowing someone to post it on one's Whitepowerbook account can be seen as a purely business decision. Alberto Monteiro (and I didn't even use the H-word or the I-word!) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Facebook is evil, why it must be eradicated [was: Wikileaks?]
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > >> It's not the people that join that are sociopaths >> and perverts, it's the people that control the site >> that are sociopaths and perverts. >> >> Only a sociopath and pervert can think that >> breastfeeding is pornography. It's disrespectful >> to breastfeeding (and to pornography too, but wfc?) >> >> All the billions that g*vernments invest all the >> time to make mothers breastfeed, and those sociopaths >> and perverts create a Social Network that criminalizes >> it. They should be exiled to Antarctica. > > It seemed to me that the initial post could have been an excellent > illustration of a trap question in the mold of "Have you stopped > beating your wife?", and left it alone, admiring the complex twists > of it semantic seductiveness. > > But this seems to be a much better question to answer in the real world. > > The answer is that the culture at large has some very unhealthy and > dysfunctional ideas about nudity and sex, and tends to perceive > women's exposed breasts (regardless of the reasons why they're > exposed) as a sexualized image. > This is sociopathological, pervert and infanticidal. > I don't know if this is more so, or > less so, in Brazil than it is in the USA (I've heard widely > conflicting reports), > The conflicting reports are accurate: Brazil _was_ more liberal, but we are slowly becoming more fanatical and mysogynist than Iran and Afghanistan. > but with only limited exceptions in some more > open-minded areas of the country, people are taught to consider > exposed female breasts a moral threat of sorts (under the guise of > "protecting children") and some websites run by people who adhere to > that belief system tend to discriminate in that way rather, > er, indiscriminately. > This is sick. It's ok for children to watch ultraviolence, hear rap songs that glorify prostitution, but not to watch breasts? > I don't like the paradigm, I strongly feel that the value system > that underlies it is ultimately more destructive and unhealthy than > anything else, but it's a very deep-rooted paradigm that would > require far more than my own meager efforts to shift. And whether > I happen to like it or not, Facebook is likely to continue this > behavior for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't necessarily call > the attitudes driving it sociopathic, but I suppose I could call > some of them perverted, for a fairly loose definition of perversion. > I guess there are other Social Networks with less perverted owners. Here in Brazil, the Social Network of Choice is Orkut (Orkut seems like a Brazil - India Social Network :-) ). > (A similar definition exists in a more extreme form in parts of the > Arab world where women are forced to wrap themselves in clothing to > the extent that they can barely even see, supposedly to avoid > tempting nearby men into acts of lust. Both are a form of blaming > the victim, and I think men who believe this about women need to > work on impulse control more than they need to harass the womenfolk > into covering themselves up, but that may just be me.) > Men that think so should do the way Oedipus did _after_ he found out he was a parricide and mfer. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Facebook is evil, why it must be eradicated [was: Wikileaks?]
Dave Land wrote: > >> Why do people join Facebook, when it's owned >> by sociopaths and perverts? > > Well, of course the sociopaths and perverts to which > you refer are not on my friends list, so they don't > have any meaningful impact on my Facebook experience. > I mean "own" in the sense of ownership, not the game-world newspeak own. > And as to others who may actually enjoy the company > of sociopaths and perverts: who are you to judge? :-) > It's not the people that join that are sociopaths and perverts, it's the people that control the site that are sociopaths and perverts. Only a sociopath and pervert can think that breastfeeding is pornography. It's disrespectful to breastfeeding (and to pornography too, but wfc?) All the billions that g*vernments invest all the time to make mothers breastfeed, and those sociopaths and perverts create a Social Network that criminalizes it. They should be exiled to Antarctica. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Wikileaks?
> Or maybe it's everyone and their dog trying to > access their new Facebook profile page: (...) Why do people join Facebook, when it's owned by sociopaths and perverts? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Brin: (Ignoring Murphy's Law) kills
Three days ago, a brazilian teenager was killed in hospital, because instead of saline solution, the nurse gave her vaseline. The reason was that the idiots that produced those products made _identical_ vessels for them, with the difference being a minuscule identification label. Murphy's Law is exactly the way to prevent those stupid errors. Text (in Portuguese): http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caso_Stephane Here an image of the two vessels: http://g1.globo.com/jornal-nacional/noticia/2010/12/mae-diz-que-auxiliar-de- enfermagem-colocou-frasco-de-vaselina-em-sp.html Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Australia [was: Wikileaks]
Nick Arnett wrote: > >> How many secrets does Australia have that are worth leaking. >> Does a significant fraction of the World's population believe >> it is The Great Satan? > > Reminds me of the story of the lady who was applying for a visa > to enter Australia. When the clerk asked her if she had a > criminal record, she replied, "I had no idea one was still required." > > Have I used that joke here before? Well, if so, enjoy it again. > They don't require a criminal record, but they also ban anyone whose family includes people with Down Syndrome: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/world/asia/27australia.html Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Wikileaks
Doug Pensinger wrote: > > I'm generally for transparency and haven't heard of anything yet that > is beyond mildly embarrassing to the U. S. government. I do think > where the safety of our troops is concerned confidentially is > important, but that government secrets should have a relatively short > shelf life in all cases. > I think the worst source of embarassment is the use by .govs of security-weak softwares and OSes. What if this happened 70 years ago and Manhattan Project was leaked to the nazis (or even the soviets)? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: the Cold War
Pat Mathews wrote: > > Of course, Russia and China didn't like each other any better > than we liked either one of them, or they, us. Still, > Kipling's Great Game went on along all three borders for > quite some time. > Are you sure about that everybody-hated-America meme? I don't think there was too many anti-USA feeling in Russia and China during the 1950s and 1960s. The USA might be seen as a good ally in the Soviet Union, for its participation and support during WW2, and China certainly saw the USA as a liberator from the japanese atrocities - even if the USA supported the corrupt dictator after the War. Here in Latin America, anti-USA feelings only became proeminent when the USA sided with murderous dictatorships during the 1960s and 1970s, in such a way that we all thought that Communism was nice and pretty. We've had 21 years of full democracy in Brazil, and even then presidential candidates still want to identify themselves with the "left": in the last election (2010), the top-three were former Commies (Dilma was arrested and tortured in the 1970s for affiliation with communist guerilla, Serra was exiled, and Marina Silva claimed to be the extreme left). Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The powers of cats
David Hobby wrote: > > On a completely different note, but I felt like > sharing it: > > One of my cats performed a successful internet > search. I'd left the browser open, with iGoogle > up. The cat's contribution was apparently typing > "0222", a bit of mouse movement, and a click or an > enter. > > What I woke up to was GoogleMaps, showing a local > hair salon with a phone number ending in 0222. > It could be that cats are not getting smarter, but > Google is. > Is is beyond the intelligence level of cats to understand that it's possible to use the mouse and see interesting things in the screen? On a different note, do cats see computer screens the same way we do? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: the Cold War
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >>...and judging by GDP figures, the USA is still fighting the Cold War. > > There never was a "Cold" War beginning with the Korean War WW III > was a global conflict against Communism in Latin America, The > Carribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, etc. In fact > the US has been in a state of war under other names for most of our > history. WW IV is called the war on terror, and is also global in scope. > Jon Mann > No, the conflicts above mentioned justify the "War" term, the "Cold" is necessary because there was no actual USA x CCCP direct conflict, with americans and soviets killing each other in great numbers. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: SETI@home (history)
I wrote: > >> IIRC, there was a story somewhere that the s...@home software >> included a bug (like a crippleware) that would make it run >> _much slower_ than it could run, because there was not enough >> data for the millions of computers that would process this >> data. >> >> I am confusing things? I couldn't find any reference for this. David Hobby wrote: > > Got me, but there was a problem at the start. The > server kept send out the same data set over and over > by mistake for a while. So a few day's worth of > computing was wasted, until that was fixed. > Ok, but I was not thinking/misremembering a bug. I was thinking about a malicious code. > It's hard to see why they would cripple the program, > though. It's not like there aren't enough other > distributed computing projects around. (My office > computer analyzes data looking for gravity waves, > when I'm not using it.) > IIRC, the reason for cripple the program was that the s...@home program was a huge success, they got _much more_ volunteers than they planned, and they didn't have enough data to feed all the volunteers unless they crippled the program. So they did it. John Williams wrote: > > I do not know if that is true, but if it is true, I would call it a > feature, not a bug. If there is no useful SETI data for my computer > to crunch, I'd rather have the CPU cycles available for something else. > > Or did you mean that it consumed CPU cycles doing something useless, > like calculating digits of PI repeatedly? > Yes, something like that. The original program was so fast - IIRC - that "them(tm)" projected that the s...@home program would soon finish. They didn't want that, they wanted major press coverage, a program that would last years (and not days), so they crippled the program. This is the scenario I remember. I think I read it right here, in this list. Or maybe I am confusing some X-Files episode with truth. "Mendacem memorem esse oportet" Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
SETI@home (history)
IIRC, there was a story somewhere that the s...@home software included a bug (like a crippleware) that would make it run _much slower_ than it could run, because there was not enough data for the millions of computers that would process this data. I am confusing things? I couldn't find any reference for this. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Starting Engineer's Salaries
Dan Minette wrote: > > But having said that, it is true that the occasional flair up of > posts here and on Culture have usually coincided with someone > bringing in a non-norm opinion, and numerous people on the list > arguing with that one personor that argument spurring side > discussions. I also know that this list has made its more > conservative, vocal members feel less than welcome after years of > feeling welcome. > It also trimmed the other extreme, the anti-american, anti-capitalist and green members also were banned. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Mailing lists are evil, why they must be eradicated [was: Starting Engineer's Salaries]
John Williams wrote: > >> Hard to know if the quiet was due to trolling or some externality. > > It looks to me like this email list is usually quiet because the vast > majority of the members have self-selected so that they have many of > the same opinions. You do not get many interesting discussions that > go "X is good." "I agree". "Me too". "Count me in". "+1". > I agree. But, seriously, mailing lists are dying. It seems that as time goes by, _less_ people knows how to reply in an adequate format, quoting relevant parts and trimming the message to the necessary minimum. Top-posting is a plague much worse than trolling; if I were world dictator list administrator I would not ban anyone for an occasional trolling, but I would ban for top-posting. Also, it seems that everybody loves blogs, even He seldom comes here but is active in His blog - what's the point of a Brin-l list that does not discuss anything Brin-related? And young people don't use e-mail; they prefer those awful MSNs, Orkuts, Facebooks, etc. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Starting Engineer's Salaries
John Williams wrote: > > Only if you consider honesty and keeping your word to be ridiculous. > An honorable person would not agree to borrow money from anyone, > even a loan shark, if they thought that there was any possibility > that they would not be able to honor their agreement and pay back > the money that they borrowed. > I think here you crossed the line between being argumentative and being a troll. There's no way anyone can predict all futures. _Every_ borrowing implies a risk of not being able to honor it - even if I tell my workmate to lend me R$ 1.50 because I don't have exchange and I want to buy a candy, there's a risk that I will die in the next 10 minutes and not honor it. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Starting Engineer's Salaries
Dan Minette wrote: > > In hindsight, the housing bubble is obvious. > It was obvious to _me_, back in the 1990s, when I read that the average american had debts that were of the magnitude of 3x their actual possessions. I think I saw that in this list (I certainly said that in the brazilian lists). Here in Brazil, where interest rates used to be 15% _a month_ + inflation correction (the banks now are not so much greedy; they offer money at 5% a month, and don't even bother to correct inflation), nobody believed in my doomsdays scenarios. > Heck, at the time, I knew > there was a housing bubble, and if you look at Brin-l archives, you > will see that I wrote it. > Ah, the files. How hard to find anything there :-( Alberto Monteiro PS: and I am glad that my _other_ prophetic doomsday scenario is still in the Future. PPS: OTOH, my local doomsday scenario was an epic fail ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Down with the government
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > >> In other words, we have a continuing culture ware against a backdrop >> of change that is rapidly making the old culture obsolete. > > Well put. I might add that the old culture is becoming at least > vaguely aware of their increasing marginality, irrelevance, and > obsolescence, and doesn't like it at all .. > I think this has been said before. Was it Cicero? No, probably some ancient summerian said it earlier. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Back to the Plantation!~(was Down with the Government)
Jon Louis Mann wrote:
>
> They way things are going those connoisseurs of Earl Grey may yet
> get their way and start massacring strikers again. Maybe even bring
> back child labor. What an even better world that would be for the elite!~{
>
Talking about child labor... What about France? It seems that _they_
will have to bring back child labor, because the mature people
don't want to work.
Alberto Monteiro
PS: for those who are interested, Brazil came up with a nice
solution to the retirement problem, and it's _not_ killing
old people.
___
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Re: StratoSolar
Keith Henson wrote: > > Since the 1970s, US politicians have given lip service to "National > Energy Self-sufficiency." The US has failed to achieve anything, > largely because nobody had a good idea of how to make it work at the > same or lower cost than importing oil. This method might not work > either. However, it passes first-order physics and economics > analysis and seems to deserve serious further study. > You (USA) might be closer to self-sufficienty than you (Keith) think. Deepen the crisis (and reduce energy expendidure) and get a little more of shale gas, and you get there. Alberto Monteiro, minion of evil oil companies ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Who dat?
Jon Louis Mann wrote:
>
>> Here (Brazil) too. As usual, the weirdest candidate
>> was the biggest winner - Tiririca, an illeterate TV clown
>> that nobody remebered for the past 15 years. Now he must
>> prove that he can read and write, or his votes will be
>> nullified.
>> Are you getting too much political spam?
>
> That is fascinating; who is this Tiririca, what office and how did
> he win if no one remembered who he was?
>
Tiririca was a TV clown, he ran for Congress. He won because
he said things like "Do you know what a Congressman does?
I don't know either. Put me there and I will tell you".
> I am also running for political office, for the tenth time...~{
>
Good luck :-)
Alberto Monteiro
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Re: Is anybody home?
From: medieva...@aol.com > > it IS a year with political elections. > Here (Brazil) too. As usual, the weirdest candidate was the biggest winner - Tiririca, an illeterate TV clown that nobody remebered for the past 15 years. Now he must prove that he can read and write, or his votes will be nullified. Are you getting too much political spam? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: First Pluto is not a planet, and now . . . .
Euan Ritchie trolled: > > ...that some cosmic jewish zombie, who is his own father, can make > you live forever if you symbolicawy eat his flesh and telepathically > tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an > evil force from your soul, that is present in humanity because a rib- > woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. > :-))) I guess you are reading too much Uncyclopedia... Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Creationism [was: First Pluto is not a planet, and now . . . .]
Nick Arnett wrote: > >> There can't be too many different species, Noah's Ark wasn't >> big enough to carry them all! > > What, evolution stopped with the Ark? > > As long as we're on that subject, it dawned on me a while ago > that the trouble I have with creationists is that they believe > in a God who is too stupid to have created evolution. > I think the problem with creationists is that it's a good excuse for satanism. If God is such a motherfscker to create the world in six days and place everywhere signs that the Earth is 5 billion years old and the Universe is 15 billion years old, just to deceive His creation, then Satan can't be that bad in rebelling. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: First Pluto is not a planet, and now . . . .
Charlie Bell wrote: > > But thanks, it's a great example of science at work. It's also > becoming common - lots of what were thought to be different species > are becoming merged as the numbers of specimens increases. What > we're learning is that some dinosaurs had some pretty impressive > phenotypic plasticity through their lifetimes. > There can't be too many different species, Noah's Ark wasn't big enough to carry them all! Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Tea Party Racism
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > > So this is a complex question, because while the Tea Party does > technically have a leadership of sorts, it's a weak one, and there's > a lot of leaderless-cell activity underneath the surface that's not > at all like the public face of the party. And I'm not sure whether > that's a feature of the design, or an emergent property of its > population and the methods they use to communicate. I'm leaning > toward the latter, although the leadership certainly doesn't seem > to be too serious about doing anything other than enabling it and > diverting outside attention away from what's going on. > Bottom line: you don't think it's Intelligent Design, you think it's Natural Selection. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Having Dads makes you Happy
Deborah Harrell wrote: > > Only if you're Lutheran. Or Jewish. On the other paw, does anyone > else recall wincing in remembrance when Mufasa said "Simba, I'm > *very* disappointed in you..."? > At that time, I was more Mufasa than Simba. Pre-historic Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Having Dads makes you Happy
Dan Minette wrote: > >> And if the parents are "Adam and Steve" instead of "Adam and Eve"? > > I'd guess that it's probably going to be a greater challenge for > Adam and Steve than Adam and Eve, on average. My closest friend > from when I was growing up is gay and adopted, and there's been > challenges that she's faced as a parent that I haven't. > It's probably easier for a lesbian couple than for a male-gay couple to raise kids - most socio-cultural events require the presence of the mother, not the father. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: USA, love it or leave it
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >>> i think in brazil, you can beat your wife. > >> No, you can't. Maybe you could, back in 1825. >> Alberto Monteiro > > http://www.brazzil.com/component/content/article/205-june-2009/10195- > in-brazil-a-culture-of-violence-sees-wife-beating-as-no-big- > deal.html > At least there's an epsilon of truth in that site: "This woman is what Brazilian's call mulher de malandro. A mulher de malandro is a woman who teases mens, nags them no end and pratically begs to be hit" -- and calling someone a "mulher de malandro" is _very_ offensive. > I meant no offense,Alberto. I have only heard wife > beating is tolerated in Brazil, as it is in many countries. > Well, that's the kind of information you get when you read porn-sites. BTW, the author's name "José da Silva" is brazilian's "John Smith". Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: USA, love it or leave it!~)
Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > i think in brazil, you can beat your wife. > No, you can't. Maybe you could, back in 1825. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Any comments on this piece?
David Hobby wrote: > >>>>> Trying to think of a movie that portrays the USA as >>>>> a good place to visit... >>>> "American Pie", "Basic Instinct",... > >> And all of them portray the USA in a very positive way! > > Help me, I'm working on this. The message of "Basic Instinct" > is "Sure, the USA is full of crazy women who will kill you > with an ice pick. But at least they're hot and rich." Or? > No, the message is "The USA is such a free place that a murder suspect can be brought to a police station without panties, cross her legs, and get away with that". (does that look too much Yakov Smirnoff to you?) Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Any comments on this piece?
David Hobby wrote: > >>> Trying to think of a movie that portrays the USA as >>> a good place to visit... >> >> "American Pie", "Basic Instinct", "Hair", "Deep Throat", >> "The Girl Next Door", "Porky's", "Flashdance", "9 1/2 weeks", >> "Showgirls", "Back to the Future", "American Beauty" ... >> just to mention a few of them. > > I don't know if you're kidding or not. > This is e-mail. I'm always kidding. And I'm always deadly serious about the importance of jokes! :-P > I see > that as a pretty random list of movies, all of > which are set in the USA. > And all of them portray the USA in a very positive way! > "Showgirls" was definitely a bad movie. I didn't > really need to be reminded of it. : ) > I think "Showgirls" is a great movie, and the selling of DVDs just proves that. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Any comments on this piece?
Dan Minette wrote: > >> You have a wrong idea about Brazil. > > Is the Copacabana still as bad as when I was down there, about a > dozen years ago? > I don't think it changed too much. > I presume the sewer line was fixed by now, > No, it wasn't - and the problem was not the sewer line. > but are there still ugly sex workers every 100 yards > Maybe not, but there's a long time since I went throught Avenida Atlantica at night. BTW, prostitution is _legal_ in Brazil, what's illegal is the exploitation of prostitution (which does not make any sense, like 90% of law.br). > and hotels that were five star in 1950, and not updated since? > Yes, they are called "Patrimônio cultural tombado", which means that you can't touch them. But there are new hotels. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Any comments on this piece?
David Hobby wrote: > >> You have a wrong idea about Brazil. Unfortunately, >> the paradise that movies like "Blame it on Rio" or "Tourists" >> depict is as far away from actual Brazil as "Escape from NY" >> or "The Postman" [*] is from the actual USA. > > Is the difference between depiction and reality > in the same direction? > No, "as far away" is absolute value > > Trying to think of a movie that portrays the USA as > a good place to visit... > "American Pie", "Basic Instinct", "Hair", "Deep Throat", "The Girl Next Door", "Porky's", "Flashdance", "9 1/2 weeks", "Showgirls", "Back to the Future", "American Beauty" ... just to mention a few of them. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Any comments on this piece?
Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > >> Petrobras was :-) > > Did they make women's undergarments out of petroleum? > You have a wrong idea about Brazil. Unfortunately, the paradise that movies like "Blame it on Rio" or "Tourists" depict is as far away from actual Brazil as "Escape from NY" or "The Postman" [*] is from the actual USA. Alberto Monteiro [*] at least something is on-topic... ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Any comments on this piece?
Dan Minette wrote: > Last bust was 98-99, when oil prices averaged about > $15/barrel. No-one would be drilling deep water at those prices. > Petrobras was :-) Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: One Fish, Two Fish, Oil Fish, Goo Fish
> > On a personal level (and not nearly on the same scale as the > folks in the Gulf area), my extended family is scheduled to > hold a reunion on the beach at Destin, Florida. We are anxiously > watching to see if we are going to be oiled out. It's a pain, > especially as I've been looking forward to this vacation for > *months*. But again, not nearly as bad as the people (and animals) > who's lives have been ruined by the oil spill. > The good side of the oil spill is that you don't have to bring fuel if you want to have a beach barbecue; just get some seawater and set fire on it. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Clash of Titans
Nick Arnett wrote: > > Our grandson wanted to see it for his birthday, so we went to > the drive-in and saw Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans. > I slept through much of them. At least Prince of Persia doesn't claim to be based in History, but on a kill-em-all videogame. > I don't know why they even used the names of various gods in > the latter movie - the characters had hardly anything to do > with the actual myths. Well, perhaps I do know why - it > makes it seem as though there might be some educational > value in seeing it. But that would be mistaken. It is > undoubtedly counter-productive for the most part. > It's Evil, pure and simple Evil. Why they can't stick to History or Mythology, or even stay close to the books the movie is supposed to be based on, and just play with the visual? Those that did that became classicals: Ben Hur, Caligula and 300 will be forever remembered, while this Clash of Titans (like the previous) will be thrown in the trash. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Snakes on a Plane
Oops, sorry, I thought - because the original message had no text - that it came from any of the pt-speakings lists I read. I never saw this movie, but I wanted to watch it since I heard Jake Harper's critics [something is lost in the translation :-( ] Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Snakes on a Plane
Eu nunca vi este filme, mas me deu vontade de ver pela crítica feito a ele pelo Jake Harper. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Off to Haiti
Nick Arnett wrote: > > L'espwa fe viv! > Be careful. Bel dan pa di zanmi Alberto Monteiro (and that's all I know about Creole, thanks to the Portuguese Uncyclopedia) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On Listmail
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > > Wind/solar energy resources are still seen as hippie > fringe science in the parts of the world where oil is still king, > Not everywhere. P = k v^3 Maru Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Rio de Janeiro rains in April/2010 [was: On Listmail]
Doug Pensinger asked: > > Oops, sorry. Over 50 cm then? > 28.8 cm, the volume of April in 24 hours. There were two big problems: the rains happened during a time of high tide _and_ winds coming from the Sea; with abnormally high sea levels, the water couldn't flow to the Ocean. A huge part of Rio is at sea-level, and in 99% of cases when it rains, water flows naturally to the Ocean. But look at a few images in: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:2010_Rio_de_Janeiro_floods Another problem was sort-of expected: there are millions of people living in the hills in Rio (and Niteroi - another city, look at the map ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niter%C3%B3i ... Niteroi is at the other side of Guanabara Bay). These people illegally occupy preservation zones, and it's extremely hard to remove them, because any attempt to remove them is faced with "human rights defenders" that say they have the right to live where they live (those "human right defenders" vanish whenever a disaster happens and kills those people they "protect"). The worst single-point disaster was an illegal occupation in a landfill zone - some of the occupants didn't even know that they were living over a garbage dump. The disaster in Rio wasn't worse because Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes used the TV networks and asked people to stay at home on Tuesday (rains started on Monday). So very few people got strangled in traffic and were carried by the floods on Tuesday - most of us watched the rivers flowing through the city from the safety of home. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2010_Rio_de_Janeiro_floods_and_mudslides Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On Listmail
Doug Pensinger wrote: > >> Yes and no. I seldom check my e-mails these days, and I spend most >> of my free internet time in wikis. > > Hey Alberto, how are you? > In deep agony and despair, willing to spread mortal viruses and obliterate mankind - as usual when April ends (it's the deadline for the Great Satan aka IRS.br). > I heard you had a little rainstorm down > there a few weeks ago; what was it 21 inches? > I hate inches :-( > What wikis? > Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Conservapedia (some normal edits, some vandalisms - vandalizing Conservapedia is a fine art), Uncyclopedia (pt version), even SimsWiki. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On Listmail
Doug Pensinger wrote: > > In any case, poor old Brin-l seems to be as dead as a door nail, and > I think that that's a shame. > > Is anyone out there? > Yes and no. I seldom check my e-mails these days, and I spend most of my free internet time in wikis. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: national security and climate change
Charlie Bell wrote: > >> The US Army's Strategic Studies Institute has a number of >> papers addressing national security issues related to >> climate change. AFAIK, they are available for free as >> PDF downloads. Go here, >> http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=862 >> to see one published in August 2008. Food for thought, eh? > > Yes. I've read most of that lot in the past. > > But it's still a hoax, apparently. *sigh* > What is a hoax? Anthropogenic Global Warming? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Not ready
Michael Harney wrote: > > I thought I was ready to come back here. I was wrong. I was too > damaged by the last few years of my life working in a job that I was > ill suited for but had to do to make ends meet. I'll come back when > I relearn patience. > Why do you think learning patience is _easier_ off-line than on-line? At least here your occasional bursts of impatience will not be met by a punch in the nose :-) Alberto Monteiro ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Platform for gathering memories?
Nick Arnett wrote: > > Julia's question reminded me that you folks are a bit of a > brain trust... I need to figure out what would be the best > platform for gathering pictures, stories, videos and such > about my sister, particular for her daughter to know her > as she grows up. > Wikipedia once began a project dedicated to the memories of the victims of 9/11, but latter the scope was changed to include the memories of everyone. I guess the project is still not active, after 6 years of useless discussions: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipeople But I think you should start by keeping it simple: just dedicate one directory to her memories, and backup it to your niece's computer as frequently as she changes computers or you digitalize more stuff. That's how I keep my electronic memories. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: The worst
Jo Anne wrote: > > I will never understand these twistings of our lives, especially > when such terrible separations happen in one lifetime. I'm so sorry > for your loss. I hope you can find comfort wherever it is available > to you, including here. Blessings to you and your family. > Today, in brazilian TV, there was an analysis of the tragedies that happened in Angra dos Reis, where families were cut in half by an earthslide. The analysts said that people never recover from the loss, and it takes about one year for life to return to normal. I hope the best for Nick and his family - needless to say, let's keep Nick's sister memory alive. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: Re: is Brin-l active?
David Brin asked: > > Let me know how I can help! > You must tell us how far can we go - and how far we can't go :-) Obviously, copy-and-pasting huge pieces of the books is totally out of line. Obviously, giving a small resume of the books is totally in line. Hell lies in the details: could we place resumes of the character's lifes? Could we place description of the places, ships, races, concepts, etc? See, for example, what motivated this thread: the pages in wikipedia that were marked for deletion by a wikipedia troll (or should I say a wikipedia Tandu?): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hph-wayuo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplift_Universe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubru http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthclan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymbrimi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jophur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G'Kek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaker_(David_Brin) (possibly other pages) Are these pages "too much" or "too little"? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Another Conserpadia accidental joke: Fidel Castro is dead
Trent Shipley wrote: > > No, this one may be right. Fidel got too sick to rule and was > followed by his brother Raul(?). > What is the _reliable_ source that Fidel is undead? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Another Conserpadia accidental joke: Fidel Castro is dead
http://www.conservapedia.com/Fidel_Castro Fidel Castro (born August 13, 1926, presumably died by 2009) was the brutal communist dictator of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, (...) I don't think the list admins realize that Conservapedia editors are adding up minor vandalisms to make it a parody of Uncyclopedia. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The wikipedia trolls may win again (III) :-/
Matt Grimaldi wrote: > >>>> It must be a Brin-hater. >>> >>> Any clue to the identity of the troll? >>> >> Who cares? Unless you are the owner of a Death Note, there's nothing >> we could do. > > Don't you also need a picture of his face for that? > Yes - but it's easier to get the picture from the name than the name from the picture, unless you have Shinigami eyes. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The wikipedia trolls may win again (III) :-/
David Hobby wrote: > > So the user is "Abductive", and he seems to spend a lot > of time proposing articles for deletion. > It's probably an "attack account": a sock puppet of a known user, created to give anonimity to a coward behavior (if it used the _real_ account, we might retaliate by proposing for deletion _its_ articles!). In the Portuguese wikipedia those trolls are severely repressed; one editor who abused sock-puppeteering was banned until after 2012-12-21. > If we want the articles to stay up on Wikipedia, the > best defense is references to them in books not written > by David Brin. Does anybody know any? > Probably some science fiction magazines have material about Brin's characters, races, etc. Also, there's GURPS Uplift, who is _not_ by Him. (and I still think Category should not be in the magma table!!!) Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: The wikipedia trolls may win again (III) :-/
Julia wrote: > >> The Troll is targeting for deletion: Gubru, G'Kek, EarthClan, >> Tymbrimi, Streaker (David Brin), Jophur, and Alvin Hph-wayuo. > >> It must be a Brin-hater. > > Any clue to the identity of the troll? > Who cares? Unless you are the owner of a Death Note, there's nothing we could do. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
The wikipedia trolls may win again (III) :-/
> It seems like they are running a seek-and-destroy against every Brin > stuff in wikipedia. After Alvin, the trolls will delete Streaker. > The Troll is targeting for deletion: Gubru, G'Kek, EarthClan, Tymbrimi, Streaker (David Brin), Jophur, and Alvin Hph-wayuo. It must be a Brin-hater. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Special:Contributions&limit=50&target=Abductive Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
The wikipedia trolls may win again (II) :-/
It seems like they are running a seek-and-destroy against every Brin stuff in wikipedia. After Alvin, the trolls will delete Streaker. I will save the articles in txt files; when the Brin wiki is set up I will recreate them. It's a pity that the history will be lost - I created those two articles, but they have expanded beyond what I wrote. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: SciFi and Fantasy(?) Wiki
Nick Arnett wrote: > > For now, it's just going to be my problem to deal with the > finances. I say problem because I'm sure cash flow will be > negative for a while, of course. But it is appropriate to > resolve those things early on if there's chance it will actually > throw off cash. If not, shouting and tears inevitably follow. > One thing that amazes me is how stupid internet advertising is. For example, why on Hell should a site or list dedicated to, say, Linux, include advertisings about Viagra? A Brin wiki could easily include non-invasive ads that would be totally apropos. The Alvin page would exhibit a random ad that would eventually offer Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore or Heaven's Reach. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: SciFi and Fantasy(?) Wiki
Nick Arnett wrote: > > Seriously, though, the wiki gives everybody lotsa power... > I'm not familiar enough with Media Wiki to see (a) what > administrators might do via the web interface and > (b) exactly how to create 'em. It's a php associative > array, the docs tell me. > > I'm happy to keep the discussion here for now, to get it going. > > Any other experience wiki-ers here? > The whole point of evil wiki admins is to punish and coerce. Unfortunately, it's a necessary job. But I suggest to keep it simple. There are _many_ wikis in the Web, another SF (Fantasy too?) wiki would die of starvation. I think a Brin wiki would be the best - but probably you should ask Him about what stuff could go there. And the evil wiki admins would have to keep a keen eye on copyright violations - wiki users have a nasty tendency to copy-and-paste without regard for the legitimacy of the material. Also, it should be acurately determined how deep we could go. For example, should we have a detailed description of every event and character? It could spur interest in buying books, but it could also feed unscrupulous Hollywood scriptwriters to steal and distort Brin's ideas into new awful movies. How much fanfic should be admitted? Logical inferences based on the books are ok? Natural extrapolations are ok? Or should we stick to canonical (and deutero-canonical, like Kevin Costner's movie) material? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The wikipedia trolls may win again :-/
Trent Shipley wrote: > > David Brin is an important science fiction author so he merits > mention in Wikipedia. The Jijo trilogy merits mention. Each book in > the trilogy merits an article. However, each book is based on an > ensemble cast. Alvin is an ensemble character in trilogy by an > author of moderate importance in a work of moderate importance. Thus, > Alvin is too trivial to be in Wikipedia. > > If he were a Shakespeare character, no matter how minor, he would be > in Wikipedia, because Shakespeare is a very important author. If he > were a minor Naruto character he might rate an article because > Naruto is very popular. But as it is, Alvin doesn't meet the > criteria for important enough. > This is not what the owner of that thing said. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_is_not_paper "There is no reason why there shouldn't be a page for every Simpsons character, and even a table listing every episode, all neatly cross-linked and introduced by a shorter central page. Every episode name in the list could link to a separate page for each of those episodes, with links to reviews and trivia. Each of the 100+ poker games can have its own page with rules, history, and strategy. Jimbo Wales has agreed: Hard disks are cheap." So, it's just trolls that want to remove fictional character pages; after all, Dei Lucrii, Time Regained (film), Jia Xiaozhong, Montesquieu-Guittaut, Märkische Schweiz (Amt), Homage for Satan, and Pudian Road (Shanghai Metro) could be more important than Alvin? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The wikipedia trolls may win again :-/
David Hobby wrote: > >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hph-wayuo > > Alberto-- > > Hi. I think you can make a good case to keep it, > since it involves a major character in a series > of popular science fiction novels. > No, not my language, not my place to battle. I've tried to keep the Portuguese language trolls away from deleting relevant material - I can say I have been half-successful. > The pages for the books should also link to Alvin's > page. But wait, the entry at > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity%27s_Shore > is just a stub... > Yes, it's a stub, and fortunately so. Another stupid decision made in the English wikipedia was that spoilers are _not_ marked as such. Just take a look a the article about "The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre" movie... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_the_Christ ... or about the Titanic (the nazi rip-off by Cameron)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film) ... and see how carelessly it gives the end of both movies without respect for those who don't know the stories! > O.K., so maybe the problem is that a case can eventually > be made for Wikipedia to keep the page, but that > the related pages aren't detailed enough yet. I > can see developing a Wiki devoted to the Uplift > Universe in the meantime, and copying its content > onto Wikipedia as time passes. > I think the best would be to do the opposite: create an Uplift wiki, copy _from_ Wikipedia, and remove from Wikipedia. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Weekly Chat Reminder
> > The Weekly Brin-L chat is scheduled for Wednesday 3 PM > Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time. > There's usually somebody there to talk to for at least eight > hours after the start time. If no-one is there when you arrive > just wait around a while for the next person to show up! > Maybe I will get there tonight to remember you that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ :-P Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Recursion in C, as told by Kernigan, Ritchie, and Lovecraft
David Hobby wrote: > > That is nice. I'm sure I can find some people > who'll appreciate both references, and not just > say that the followers of Cthuhlu should use > different variable names for clarity. > Maybe we should parody the wikibook on C programming http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_programming into the Uncyclopaedia "mirror": http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/C_programming_language Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Recursion in C, as told by Kernigan, Ritchie, and Lovecraft
Warren Ockrassa wrote:
>
> I really enjoyed this, but can't share it with my colleagues, since
> they wouldn't get either reference.
>
> Sometimes it's really a pain in the ass to be a programmer and
> English major working in a PR department as the graphics guy.
>
> http://www.bobhobbs.com/files/kr_lovecraft.html
>
The code is wrong:
void Cthulhu
(int Ia) {
if (Ia/10)
Cthulhu (IA/10);
putchar // ftagn!
(Ia % 10 + '0');
} // neblod zin!
// is a comment in C++ and, by the arcane magic known as backwards
compatibility, crept into C compilers
Alberto Monteiro, Cthulhu worshipper, C programmer and utterly insane,
having failing the sanity check many times
___
http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: List of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2009"
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > > That being said, what I really wish someone would propose is sending > a robot propulsion/navigation system out to a conveniently sized > nickel/ iron asteroid, bring it home, and park it in an orbit high > enough to keep it from decaying for the foreseeable future > Great idea! All it would require was a propulsion system that does not waste fuel to change the asteroid's speed from about 50 km/s to 30 km/s in the perihelium of the transfer orbit, and it would be cheaper than launching stuff from Earth at the enormous 10 km/s speed (give or take a few km/s). Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Nomenclature (was) Chemicals R Us
Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > > I agree with you. "Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon > compounds." Though usually with the omission of most metal > carbonates, the chemistry of which is usually covered in the section > on inorganic chemistry. That's how *I* teach it in colleges, > anyway. ;) > I think that a more accurate definition is that Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds where carbon has a covalent bond with hydrogen, or to a replacement of hydrogen. This would include, frex, tetrachloromethane, but not carbon disulfide. Alberto 'definitions are evil, why they must be eradicated' Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Chemicals R Us
Deborah Harrell wrote: > >>> "A new report from the Danish Department of Environment, Food and >>> Rural Affairs (DEFRA), highlights the critical risks facing toddlers >>> from gender bending chemicals in everyday products. Chemicals like >>> phthalates (found in PVC and fragrances), > >> In fact, phthalates are found in PET, not PVC. PVC is >> polyvinylchlorine, the polymer of CH2=CHCl, PET is >> polyethyleneterephthalate, the copolymer of terephthalic >> acid and ethyleneglycol (with maybe some i/y changed - in >> Portuguese, there's no such distinction). > > Yes, the correct chemical is listed in the other article. Although > IIRC, PVC production is linked to cancer of some sort, and that was > suspected in the 50s by industry doctors (Dow? Monsanto? I can't > remember what I posted exactly on that several years ago); it was > not made public for a number of years. > I hate those AFTs. Phthalates are not Terephthalates; and phthalates are used in addition to PVC (that's what "found in" means). So, the original text was correct, and my English skills deficient :-( But if PVC is carcinogen than we could suffer the same doom the lead-piped romans suffered... >>> "...Fewer boys are being born. > >> That's great news! The world needs less boys and more girls. >> Excess boys cause wars. > > Nevertheless, it might be a problem if we wind up with a > passle of hermaprodites (who are usually sterile)...Could make an > interesting SF story, however. > Probably society would adapt to make female-female reproduction possible. We would end up in a Lesbian World, not much unlike Brin's Stratos. >> I think it was established that benzene is carninogen. But I am >> not aware that phthalates, just because they are aromatic, >> are harmful. In fact, a few aminoacids are aromatic. > > ? So you don't find research regarding various petroleum compounds > legitimate? We are well aware in the medical field of multiple > adverse effects of various organic - in the sense of > petroleum/industry-related - chemicals on healthe. > What? Nothing that the oil industry produces is harmful! :-P > And no, I who at > one point could fill an entire blackboard with the Krebs cycle and > multiple connecting metabolic pathways including peptide synthesis, > had _no idea_ that some amino acids (not to mention hormones etc.) > were aromatic... > Sometimes we can learn just by having fun editing Chemboxes in Wikipedia :-) Alberto Monteiro aka albmont ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Chemicals R Us
Deborah Harrell quoted: > > "A new report from the Danish Department of Environment, Food and > Rural Affairs (DEFRA), highlights the critical risks facing toddlers > from gender bending chemicals in everyday products. Chemicals like > phthalates (found in PVC and fragrances), > In fact, phthalates are found in PET, not PVC. PVC is polyvinylchlorine, the polymer of CH2=CHCl, PET is polyethyleneterephthalate, the copolymer of terephthalic acid and ethyleneglycol (with maybe some i/y changed - in Portuguese, there's no such distinction). > "...Fewer boys are being born. > That's great news! The world needs less boys and more girls. Excess boys cause wars. > > Just as research has shown that even minute amounts of lead _do_ > affect neurological development/function, I think we will find that > miniscule quantities of multiple organic compounds adversely affect > humans in numerous ways. > I think it was established that benzene is carninogen. But I am not aware that phthalates, just because they are aromatic, are harmful. In fact, a few aminoacids are aromatic. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Microsith's evil ways [was: For those still following the 'balloon boy' fracas]
Bruce Bostwick quoted: > > "'How do I print, Mr. Kahn? How do I save? Its Control-S! > Its ALWAYS Control-S!! Kahn Souphanousinphone > Not if you are doomed with M$'s products in other languages. The idiots that ported Word, Excel, etc to Portuguese _translated_ the Control-things, so that I have no idea how to cut, copy, paste, save, etc. BTW, each M$ product uses a _different_ set of Control's. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: How to tell if a star has planets?
David Hobby asked: > > Whatever happened to good old snake oil? > Became biodiesel. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Windows question . . .
Ronn! Blankenship asked: > > I have some older programs that I have to use (no more recent > versions are available) which on occasion when I try to run them > generate the message "The Win 16 Subsystem has insufficient > resources to continue running. Click on OK, close your applications, > and restart your machine." How can I once and for all grant more > resources to that subsystem so I never get that message again and > the programs in question will run without any delays or problems or > generating that message or any other nastygrams? I am running XP > with SP3 (also not likely to be updated in the foreseeable future) > though it has occurred with earlier versions, too. > Format & Reinstall Alberto Monteiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sorry, couldn't resist. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Knowledge of Complex Systems and Ecch-onomics
Dan M. wrote: > >>> Subject: Welcome to Hyperinflation! >>> Date: 2008-08-29 12:30 >>> >>> I was just checking the evolution of PPI (PPI and CPI measure >>> inflation in the USA), and noticed that _this year_ the >>> accumulated inflation is about 10% (!!!) >> Yes, but I was talking about the period from 2008-01 to 2008-06. > > Why that period? (the PPI increased 6.5% during that period). > Because I was repeating my message of 2008-08-29. Notice the date. It was quite obvious that something would happen soon. But the idiots (me including) couldn't see what was coming. Also, IIRC, the PPI is "revised" after a few months. The preliminary data indicated a 10% inflation - a sure sign that Evil Days Were Coming. > I guess its a YMMV item. I can usually find what I want in a > couple of minutes. As an aside, the US is unique among countries in > the amount of available data. It's much harder to get data from > other countries. > Maybe because the data is in English. I once tried to get some data from Japan, and everything was in japanese characters - that crazy mix of Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana, Arabic numbers and a few Roman words. Brazilian data are available at http://www.ibge.gov.br It's in Portuguese, Spanish and English (unfortunately, not in Latin, the official language of Latin America). Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Knowledge of Complex Systems and Ecconomics
Dan M. wrote: > >> Subject: Welcome to Hyperinflation! >> Date: 2008-08-29 12:30 > >> I was just checking the evolution of PPI (PPI and CPI measure >> inflation in the USA), and noticed that _this year_ the >> accumulated inflation is about 10% (!!!) > > Where did you get that? > 2008 data. And notice that I said PPI, not CPI. > According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, > we've had deflation of about 1% over the past 12 months and > inflation of 1.7% over the past 7 months. > Yes, but I was talking about the period from 2008-01 to 2008-06. > http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm > This site is awful. There's so much information that I have no idea where the data came from. But it probably came from that site. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: The thread about the thread
Dan M. wrote: > > So, the signal is clearly down from what it was before the break-up. > I'll agree the signal/noise ratio is down, but IMHO, the lack of > signal is the biggest contributing cause. If you notice how many > different folks posted in the last 6 weeks compared to the number of > posters in April-May, you will see that a lot more people feel they > have something to say now. Even you. :-) > You suppose that the cause is the break-up, but I don't think so. In _all_ mailing lists that I take part, the signal/noise ration has shifted towards noise in an alarming rate. Even I don't bother to read e-mails during the weekends - I seldom miss something really worth discussing. I think e-mail is dying. Most people prefer posting in blogs or similar media. I, for example, prefer trolling in the Wikipedia and other sites like that. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On 'Incomprehesibility'
Dave Land wrote: > >>> So what's wrong with a little ritualized cannibalism among consenting >>> adults? ;-) >> >> See how amusing you think it is when they come to eat YOUR brain :-) > > Then isn't it completely grand that it is always and ever has been / > symbolic/. > What about this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine#Industrial_sources Soylent green is not alternate future. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Posted in a workcube
Doug Pensinger wrote: > > wtf are you doing in a workcube on a Sunday evening??? Where are > your priorities, man? > Trying to make the evil boss happy and keep the underpaid slavelike job? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: More Pluto Goofyness . . .
Charlie Bell wrote: > >> IIRC, Phobos is falling and Deimos is leaving Mars. > > ...and our moon is leaving too. > No, it's not. If the Sun didn't explode [*], the Earth-Moon system would stabilize in two tidal-locked bodies. > It's all a matter of time. > Yes, but we are talking about a difference in many orders. The Moon has orbited Earth for thousands of millions of years, and it will orbit for ten times that number before stabilizing. Deimos may leave Mars even before Pangea Nova forms on Earth. Alberto Monteiro [*] is this the correct verbal tense? I want to express an alternate hypothetical future to a deterministic and almost sure future. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: More Pluto Goofyness . . .
Charlie Bell write: > > Either planets sweep their orbits of debris in which case we have > 14+ or they don't and we have 8. > Uh? Isn't it the other way around? > But it's not a debate about Pluto. It's a debate about whether we > have lots of planets or we have some planets and some planetoids. > I think a much more interesting debate would be to try to explain why Mars has two tiny moonlets and Venus and Mercury have none. Probably (my guess) Mars's moons are recent acquisitions, and won't last forever. Venus and Mercury may have had moonlets in the past too, that lasted a few million years and then either crashed or flew away. IIRC, Phobos is falling and Deimos is leaving Mars. And why with 100+ moons, none of them has a sub-moon? Alberto Monteiro the nostalgic ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The Role of Government in a Libertarian Free Market
Doug Pensinger wrote (in html, and it's a hell to reformat): > >> I do occasionally blow up. Once when I was accused of racism, >> once when a private discussion I'd had with someone was forwarded >> to the list, and ISTR Nick and I talking completely at >> cross-purposes. I was really annoyed on Friday night, >> partly 'cause I'd got home after drinking with a couple >> of friends in the pub, and an acquaintance of one of them >> was spouting anti-vaccination lunacy. And when I asked a >> couple of simple questions, I received the reply "Oh, so >> you're science. That figures." > > There's no arguing with simpletons like that. And we seem to > have more nut cases than ever before. Birthers??? Ay Yi Yi. > If you think things can't get worse... On another list, when those Muhammad cartoons appeared, all the list was mocking Islam and preaching freedom of speech, and that was the opportunity for one listmember to get out of the closet and confess being a Holocaust denier. I still don't know if he was sincere, or if we was just testing how "free speech rulez" we were. Alberto Monteiro PS: just because we believe in free speech doesn't mean we have to feed the trolls... ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The Role of Government in a Libertarian Free Market
Bruce Bostwick quoted: > > Heard from a flight instructor: > "The only dumb question is the one you DID NOT ask, resulting in my > going out and having to identify your bits and pieces in the midst > of torn and twisted metal." > This seems like a Heinlein quote to me. Alberto Monteiro the lurker ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
David Hobby wrote: > > That non-bypassable FBI and/or Interpol warning: This is actually > a loss for DVDs. With VHS, you could ALWAYS fast-forward. Why > aren't there hacks to skip the start-up warnings on DVDs? > Brazilian DVDs don't include this. They replace it with an "educative" movie. One version compares the buyer of pirate DVDs to drug dealers and kidnappers. Another version has a daddy proudly exhibiting a pirate DVD to his son, who in turn proudly says he got grade 10 (grade A+ in USA) as he cheated in the test and copied the test of a colleague. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Torchwood: Children of Earth
William T Goodall wrote: > > It reminds me of the (cancelled) _The Middleman_ series. > Seems like the fate of every good series that does not become sentimental :-( Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Death Note and japanese music [was: Torchwood: Children of Earth]
Rob wrote: > > DeathNote just ended on The Cartoon Network here. Hopefully they > will run the entire series again. > From my house it appears to be the best anime series ever. > Two weeks ago, I kind-of made all my family watch one episode together. What was my surprise when, instead of emocore's song by Nightmare, the show began with the death-metal by Maximum the Hormone. Animax shows japanese videoclips every half hour. It's very interesting. Some bands are quite good - and they don't show in the mainstream videoclip channels. Alberto Monteiro PS: I will refrain from commenting too much on Death Note. The show is too good to be spoiled. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Torchwood: Children of Earth
William T Goodall wrote: > > _Lost_ and _Fringe_ both return. _Lost_ was excellent last season > and I expect great things from the final season. _Fringe_ kicked up > a gear with the twists and revelations at the end of the first > season so it will be interesting where that goes. > I never watched _Fringe_. It replaced _Terminator_ in the Warner Channel (which I find quite annoying: they keep chaning the times and days, even placing good shows on Sundays (!)), and then I switched to The Hentai Channel aka Animax, and now I am totally captivated by _Death Note_. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Torchwood: Children of Earth
John Williams wrote: > > I'm trying to think of any good sci-fi on television recently, or > coming soon, but the only thing I can think of is Dollhouse. Umm, and > possibly A Game of Thrones, if it ever makes it to HBO, but that is > fantasy, not science fiction. > It's not sci-fi, but currently the best show I'm watching is an Anime: "Death Note". It's a supernatural horror turned into a detective story. But there are a few other decent shows that take sf elements. "Life on Mars", which tackles time-travel, is a decent police story. Even "House"'s final episodes of Season 5 were quite sf-ish. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Why not discuss the topic?
Nick Arnett wrote: > >> It seems odd to conclude that the way to get other people to >> behave as one thinks they should behave is to coerce them >> at gunpoint > > There are people with guns showing up to demand that you pay > your taxes? That suggests to me that you've been a bad, bad boy. > I have to agree with John here. The only reason people pay taxes is because the g*vernment threat us with guns. If I don't pay the car tax, people with guns may stop me and take away my car. If I don't pay the property tax, people with guns will come to my house and move me out of it. If I don't pay import taxes when I come from a travel, people with guns will steal the things I bought. G*vernment is consent robbery. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Drinking Water From Air Humidity
Charlie Bell wrote: > > Maybe I forgot to take into account the brainwashing that happened > when he entered the oil industry, and he can't see the words 'wind" > and "turbine" if they're adjacent to each other. Dan, is this words, > or a blank space: "WIND TURBINE" ? How about this? "RENEWABLE ENERGY"? > What is a "wind turbine"? What is "renewable energy"? Those words make no sense to me either, since energy = oil. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: In despair for the state of SF
Dan M wrote: > > Film, definitely. But, I'd argue that graphic novels combine > literature and art. Good art can be part of storytelling. For > example, "Guernica" by Picasso certainly tells a story. (...) > Nazi thug to Picasso: "You did this?" Picasso to nazi thug: "No, you did this" Alberto Monteiro PS: probably a myth, but the story is good ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Mention of David Brin
Dave Land wrote: > > Perfect -- and really more the point of my comment: why merely > irritate them when your goal is to engage them in considering the > ramifications of their idiotic statement? But yes: education does > wonders to slow population growth. > It's not education, it's the _cost_ of education that slows population growth. Alberto Monteiro, 3 kids, and paying 50% of the salary in education ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Google Operating System
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > >> Not to mention that changing Windows virtual monopoly to *Nix >> monopoly is _very bad_ for the development of new techs. > > How would migrating to a larger user base for *nix be bad for the > development of new techs? > Because Monopoly is Evil. > Other than by breaking the M$ "pay to play" licensing paradigm and > leveling the playing field for open source developers? > Who says M$ won't have users pay to play M$-Linux? It's possible that the worse nightmare of the free-software jihad community happens: M$ may embrace, extend and then extinguish Linux. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Google Operating System
Bruce Bostwick wrote: > > (As far as why .. well, it's possible that Google has taken notice > that Microsoft has been promoting Bing pretty heavily, and this is a > shot across their bow. If Chrome OS succeeds, and evolves into > something that can displace Windows as a full-functioning OS, > there's a possibility that Microsoft has bitten off more than it > can chew in picking this particular fight. If Google is successful > enough with this, it may finally push MS into a position where it > has little choice but to migrate to a Unix-based core and GUI model > like *everyone* else in the market. At a time not of their > choosing, unlike Apple's beautifully timed migration from OS 9 to > OS X.) > That would be chaos!!! Linux and Linux-likes are safe now because since 90% of desktops runs Windows, 99.9% of the virus-spam mafia targets Windows. If M$ moves to Linux, then Linux will never be safe again :-( Not to mention that changing Windows virtual monopoly to *Nix monopoly is _very bad_ for the development of new techs. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
