Brin on Coast to Coast AM tonight (Wed. 17 Sep)
nothing more to add here . . . ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Things you probably didn't know about Noah and the Flood . . .
The Good Lord was talking to Noah about something else the first time He mentioned the coming Flood and the need to build a boat and went off on an arctangent . . . Some of the animals couldn't find the way to the ark so Noah put up an arcsine to guide them . . . Noah couldn't afford all the gopher wood and pitch required to build the ark so one of his sons had to arccosine a loan for him . . . One insect couldn't find the way even after Noah put up an arcsine: he became known as an arcsecant. His mate was known as an arccosecant. And when he finally found it he became an arcexsecant . . . Since ships are usually considered female, after Noah put up the arcsine would the archaversine? To keep the rain from smearing the paint on the sign and making it unreadable Noah put an awning over it that was known as an arccoversine . . . Had Noah lived in England and launched the ark from the white cliffs, to guide the animals he would have put up an arcdoversine . . . ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Power satellites was and the rest of you
At 12:04 Tuesday 04-03-14, Keith Henson wrote: [...] Time to displace fossil fuels is a bit over two decades from the start. Will probably take at least that long before second- and third-hand used electric vehicles get cheap enough for those who today cannot afford anything newer than that in a gasoline-powered vehicle to start being able to afford to replace their current vehicles that they have to have to get to work, school, the grocery store, the doctor, etc. It's also highly unlikely that things will change enough any sooner than that in most places in the US and elsewhere outside of a few densely-packed urban centers like NYC for most people to be able to do without individual powered transportation for those necessary trips: IOW, most places I've lived the bus or other public transportation is only good for going downtown in the morning and coming back in the evening after regular business hours, and not even that from many places where people live, and most people have too far to go or have disabilities or other health conditions which would prevent them from walking or riding a bicycle to/from work, even when it's not raining or other inclement weather, or their job requires them to arrive in a suit or other specified attire, looking and smelling fresh, and stay that way all day, and the business doesn't have and probably has no place to install locker rooms with showers. Then there are the ones who have to carry tools or samples or other bulky items with them, and pretty much everyone who has to bring groceries home or take kids to the doctor or multiple kids to multiple schools, music lessons, soccer practice, etc. . . . . . . ronn! :) An Active List Again? Maru ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Stephen Hawking: There are no black holes
Notion of an 'event horizon', from which nothing can escape, is incompatible with quantum theory, physicist claims. http://www.nature.com/news/stephen-hawking-there-are-no-black-holes-1.14583 ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Brin on the radio!
FYI: Coast to Coast AM Schedule 1.10.14 - 1.16.14: Sunday, January 12, 2014: What if the 21st Century begins in 2014? The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn't start at their official point, the turning of a calendar from 00 to 01, suggests futurist and author David Brin. (http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/brin-david/5828) He joins John B. Wells to discuss how 2014 might be the real start of the 21st Century and how this year will be pivotal for change. In the first hour, attorney and advocate for sustainability, David Robinson Simon, argues that the animal foods industry has rigged the game with artificially low prices, resulting in higher taxes and rampant obesity. Coast to Coast AM - Live Nightly 1am-5am EST / 10pm-2am PST ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Earth-size planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B
Not in the habitable zone, however . . . Here are the announcements, in increasing order of technicality: (1) Popular-level from 'Bad Astronomer Phil Plait: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/10/16/alpha-centauri-has-a-planet/?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+BadAstronomyBlog+%28Bad+Astronomy%29 or http://snipurl.com/25bmv59 (2) The ESO announcement: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1241/ (3) Copy of the article to appear in today's issue of NATURE for those who want all of the technical details: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1241/eso1241a.pdf ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Employment you've been searching!
At 08:56 AM Thursday 8/30/2012, , wrote: I would like to take this time to welcome you to our hiring process and give you a brief synopsis of the position's benefits and requirements. If you are taking a career break, are on a maternity leave, recently retired or simply looking for some part-time job, this position is for you. Occupation: Flexible schedule 2 to 8 hours per day. We can guarantee a minimum 20 hrs/week occupation Salary: Starting salary is 2000 GBP per month plus commission, paid every month. Business hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, MON-FRI, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM SAT or part time (UK time). Region: United Kingdom. Please note that there are no startup fees or deposits to start working for us. To request an application form, schedule your interview and receive more information about this position Which they still haven't named! please reply to c...@xpatjobsuk.com, xpat job suk.com? Looks like they know and admit what the job they're hiring for is like! :P . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Job opportunity - hurry to apply!
Figured it must be spam. Found it interesting that nowhere in the message did it ever actually state what the position is . . . ;) (Speaking of spam, first thing I did when I sat down at the machine this afternoon was spend upwards of 45 minutes trying to find a place to report a somewhat suspicious-sounding message allegedly from Yahoo!. They not just them, but they are really bad about it make it ridiculously hard to contact cusstomer¹ service. Unfortunately, when ATT started re-assimilating all the Baby Bells created by the breakup back in the 70s they decided to get Yahoo! to handle all their e-mail accounts, so when a message arrives allegedly from Yahoo! claiming that some update action is necessary or all accounts will be closed it can't just be ignored and trashed as spam . . . :() _ ¹ Not a typo. At 01:53 PM Wednesday 8/29/2012, Nick Arnett wrote: Crap - no. I didn't realize they managed to spam the whole list. I'm used to getting spam as an admin, but I think this is the first time somebody managed to hit the whole list. Nick On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 11:44 AM, Matt Grimaldi matzeb...@yahoo.com wrote: Nick, Is this really you? From: narn...@mccmedia.com narn...@mccmedia.com To: narn...@mccmedia.com; brin-l@mccmedia.com Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 2:50 AM Subject: Job opportunity - hurry to apply! I would like to take this time to welcome you to our hiring process and give you a brief synopsis of the position's benefits and requirements. If you are taking a career break, are on a maternity leave, recently retired or simply looking for some part-time job, this position is for you. Occupation: Flexible schedule 2 to 8 hours per day. We can guarantee a minimum 20 hrs/week occupation Salary: Starting salary is 2000 GBP per month plus commission, paid every month. Business hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, MON-FRI, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM SAT or part time (UK time). Region: United Kingdom. Please note that there are no startup fees or deposits to start working for us. To request an application form, schedule your interview and receive more information about this position please reply to b...@xpatjobsuk.com,with your personal identification number for this position IDNO: 0915 [snip feeter for brevity] . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: phished
At 06:13 PM Wednesday 8/29/2012, Jon Louis Mann wrote: 1. Re: Job opportunity - hurry to apply! (Matt Grimaldi) 2. RE: Job opportunity - hurry to apply! (Horn, John) 3. Re: Job opportunity - hurry to apply! (Nick Arnett) 4. Job opportunity? (Jon Louis Mann) Nick, Is this really you? Highly unlikely. From: Jon Louis Mann net_democr...@yahoo.com Huh??? It's not Nick; somehow, someone in his address may have been phished. Recently I've been getting job opportunity links, ostensibly from friends, but with phony e-mail addresses. The first time it happened to me I received a link from someone I knew on Twitter. I was sent very disturbing porn link that went out to all my twitter followers (fortunately I rare go on Twitter). I got a nasty reply from a young girl saying, Jon, I used to think you were a standup guy, but now I know you are a dirty old man.. I changed my password right away, but it was too late. Most social networks have a security page. Now, I know better than to reply to e-mails asking for my password, ESPECIALLY if my user I.D. is my e-mail address, or it is from a bank. Nor do I respond to e-mails that threaten to close my account unless I provide personal information. See my message that crossed yours somewhere in the ether about the time one of those cost me just a couple of hours ago . . . (The waste of time was in getting to a place where I could report it and ask for confirmation if just in case it was genuine. Why do service providers make it so difficult to find and use their customer service contact links? Grrr . . . :-o ) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: Book / Time = Joy%
At 03:50 AM Monday 6/18/2012, Charlie Bell wrote: Reading is a very expensive habit! Glad I can afford it. I have a backpack full of books to return to the library tomorrow (or as soon after that as I can get there: only two are actually due tomorrow). Last time (a couple of weeks ago), I had to carry a full mesh shopping bag in addition because I had too many to return to fit in the backpack . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Time Well Spent
At 06:15 PM Monday 6/18/2012, Dan Minette wrote: So, I just ordered a 16 foot cat Dang! And I thought I had a lot of litter box scooping to do with two regular-size ones . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Br¡n: Quantum Cryptography Outperformed By Thermodynamics
At 11:31 PM Thursday 6/14/2012, KZK wrote: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428202/quantum-cryptography-outperformed-by-classical/ The idea is straightforward. Alice wants to send Bob a message via an ordinary wire. At each end of the wire, there are two different resistors that correspond to a 0 or 1. Alice encodes her message by connecting these two resistors to the wire in the required sequence. Bob, on the other hand, connects his resistors to the wire at random. The crucial part of this set up is that the actual current and voltage through the wire is random, ideally Johnson noise. The essential features of this noise are determined by the combination of resistors at each end. This noise is public--anybody can see or measure it. Now here's the clever bit. Bob knows which resistor he connected to the wire and so can work out which resistor Alice must have connected. So while this is going on, what are Carol and Ted up to? ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Uncle Rays Dystopia
The character complains that he's relentlessly pestered with calls from friends and employers, salesmen and pollsters, people calling simply because they can. Mr. Bradbury's vision of tired commuters with their wrist radios, talking to their wives, saying, 'Now I'm at Forty-third, now I'm at Forty-fourth, here I am at Forty-ninth, now turning at Sixty-first has gone from science-fiction satire to dreary realism. It was all so enchanting at first, muses our protagonist. They were almost toys, to be played with, but the people got too involved, went too far, and got wrapped up in a pattern of social behavior and couldn't get out, couldn't admit they were in, even. Most of all, Mr. Bradbury knew how the future would feel: louder, faster, stupider, meaner, increasingly inane and violent. Collective cultural amnesia, anhedonia, isolation. The hysterical censoriousness of political correctness. Teenagers killing one another for kicks. Grown-ups reading comic books. A postliterate populace. I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths, says the fire captain in Fahrenheit, written in 1953. No one wanted them back. No one missed them. Civilization drowned out and obliterated by electronic chatter. The book's protagonist, Guy Montag, secretly trying to memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes on a train, finally leaps up screaming, maddened by an incessant jingle for Denham's Dentifrice. A man is arrested for walking on a residential street. Everyone locked indoors at night, immersed in the social lives of imaginary friends and families on TV, while the government bombs someone on the other side of the planet. Does any of this sound familiar? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/opinion/uncle-rays-dystopia.html?_r=1src=unfeedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonppagewanted=all http://snipurl.com/23vj8zh ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Tuesday afternoon . . .
At 07:29 PM Sunday 6/3/2012, Charlie Bell wrote: Wednesday from 8:30am ish in Oz. Does that mean you're in that time zone that's an hour and a half different from the next one over? But forecast is cloudy in Melbourne. :( This morning here, Thor seems awfully annoyed about something, and the gutters are overflowing. Started just before the start of the eclipse (Moon had already gone behind the tree line as well). Supposed to do this off and on all day today and tonight and into tomorrow sometime. Hoping it clears up before the afternoon: forecasts from different sources seem to differ on the likelihood of that. If it does, I plan to drag my 10 out on the driveway or somewhere nearby where I'll have the best view, slap on the solar filter, and at least watch the ingress phases before it gets too low . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Tuesday afternoon . . .
At 08:49 AM Monday 6/4/2012, medieva...@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 6/4/2012 6:31:36 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net writes: I plan to drag my 10 out on the driveway or somewhere nearby where I'll have the best view, slap on the solar filter, and at least watch the ingress phases before it gets too low . . . Um... Drag out 10 and ingress is not a good sentence if somebody who likes to overhear conversations just happens to walk by. Thank gawd you didn't mention a rectifier. Vilyehm Ahem . . . (1) I figured that most of the folks reading this list would know what I was talking about, either already or by reading the links I posted yesterday if they were at all interested. (2) We don't have sidewalks and this little neighborhood is sort of a blind sac off the busier road, so most of the people who just happen to walk by within earshot will probably be folks I know. (3) A half-hour or so ago when I saw my next-door neighbor I invited him and his wife to come over if they see me out tomorrow afternoon, and I didn't use such technical terms, but ordinary language. (4) The clouds are scattered and thin enough right now (pretty much exactly 24 hours to go) that we could see something if it were happening now. Hope tomorrow will be the same: there are some more storms predicted overnight, but I hope it will clear up by tomorrow afternoon. (5) I checked out the telescope, eyepiece case, and filter while I was out there, and all seem ready to go. There's some dust on the mirror, of course, but any of you who have worked with telescopes will realize that it takes a whole lot of dust to do as much damage to the image as the damage cleaning can do. (6) If the weather is acceptable, I might even drag out a portable black/white/green/whatever it is board and make a sign inviting them in case any neighbors do walk or drive by. ;) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Tuesday afternoon . . .
. . . in North America. Wednesday in some other parts of the world. In any case, last chance until 2117: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120603.html For a rough observing guide, including precautions to take when observing the Sun any time: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Transit-of-Venus-February-2012-134332798.html Basically, first contact occurs right after 6pm EDT, 5pm CDT, 4pm MDT, 3pm PDT, so you want to be in place with your equipment if any ready before that time. For more information, check out the links in and below that article and those shown on the right-hand side of the page. (Some may be duplicates of others.) Detailed times and such available here: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/VenusTransitCalculator.html though it seems to be busy and taking awhile to load today. Keep trying. If it's cloudy where you are, one place to watch the event live on-line is: http://venustransit.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/ Other links here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/Where-to-See-the-Transit-of-Venus-Online-154213475.html though if previous events are any guide, many of the live sites will probably experience a lot of traffic during the transit and may be slow, drop connections, etc., so, again, keep trying. Also, by coincidence, there's a partial eclipse of the moon tomorrow morning, beginning almost exactly 36 hours before the transit begins (i.e., 6:00 a.m. EDT, 5:00 CDT, 4:00 MDT, and 3:00 PDT). Again, the further west you are in North America, the more you will see. More at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/Partial-Eclipse-of-the-Moon-ar-Dawn-June-4th-143680466.html. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Night Owls Demand Equal Rights!
At 01:17 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Matt Grimaldi wrote: Ticia wrote: B-Society: proposing an alternative to the 9-5 society, taking into account the needs of the 25% of us who are evening types (night owls). That sounds good! If there was a chapter in L.A., I would want to join! -- Matt They meet at Joe's sushi bar downtown starting at 8:00 AM. . . . ronn! :) Sunrise is Nature's way of telling you it's bedtime. ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
ADMIN: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure), was Re: Night Owls Demand Equal Rights!
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Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:49:35 -0500
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Subject: Re: Night Owls Demand Equal Rights!
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At 01:17 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Matt Grimaldi wrote:
Ticia wrote:
B-Society: proposing an alternative to the 9-5 society,
taking into account the needs of the 25% of us who are
evening types (night owls).
That sounds good! If there was a chapter in L.A., I would want to join!
-- Matt
They meet at Joe's sushi bar downtown starting at 8:00 AM.
. . . ronn! :)
Sunrise is Nature's way of telling you it's bedtime.
___
http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
. . . ronn! :)
___
http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: ADMIN: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure), was Re: Night Owls Demand Equal Rights!
At 04:48 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: Is there anyone who knows why I and others (I presume the whole list?) receive this in response to EVERY message we sent to the list, and can do something about it? I see Ticia also wondered the same pretty thing at much the same moment, and was nice enough to not try to be as helpful as I was . . . :( And apparently Dan answered my question in the negative . . . :(:( Oh, well . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
At 04:32 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Ticia wrote: And why do I keep getting this? On Sep 18, 2011, at 11:02 PM, postmas...@cenit.de wrote: This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. a.freib...@cenit.de Without the extra e it reminds me of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Friberg (And here comes yet another automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: ADMIN: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure), was Re: Night Owls Demand Equal Rights!
At 06:37 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Nick Arnett wrote: Ugh - I didn't realize everybody was getting this. Yep. I get it every time I send a message to the list, and it sounds like everybody else does, too . . . Shouldn't happen. I'll figure it out and stop it. Thanks! . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Electronic interface options
At 08:00 PM Sunday 9/18/2011, Pat Mathews wrote: My problem is that I have quite a bit of trouble recognizing people in a different context. So if Kat wants to poke me, is this catmountain in Tijeras? Kat Roberts from the SCA? Or Kit Kat from the Porn Page? The on-line version of the problem faced in the sci-fi community in Utah in the eighties*: we had at least seven folks named Dave (including Wolverton/Farland), and in any given formal or informal gathering there were usually at least two or three if not more, so things could get confusing when anyone called out for Dave . . . _ *Several of them afaik are still in the area, though I know some have moved elsewhere. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Solar Bankrupcy
Is someone now foreclosing on the Sun?! ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On this date in . . .
Given the obvious shortage of functional ones in Washington, perhaps it is a good idea to do whatever is needed to conserve them . . . At 12:19 AM Sunday 9/4/2011, medieva...@aol.com wrote: I now think all government is run under the rule of Cap and Trade ...of brain cells. In a message dated 9/3/2011 8:21:45 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net writes: 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which provided aid to public and private education to promote learning in such fields as math and science (Insert your own comment here.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
On this date in . . .
1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which provided aid to public and private education to promote learning in such fields as math and science (Insert your own comment here.) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Alcor
At 04:52 PM Monday 8/29/2011, Jon Louis Mann wrote: Keith, are you with Alcor? Yes. I've been thinking about it for years, but haven't seen anyone at cons lately to sign people up. If you are serious about it, at least get insurance (unless you can afford it out of pocket, and even then, insurance is a good way to assure the funding will be there). I'm curious why so many deceased SF authors never signed up... They don't seem to be much more likely to sign up than the rest of the population. As for why, ask them, but expect rationalizations rather then reason. Keith I spoke to Diane and she referred me to an attorney in San Diego County, whose practice is too busy for Alcor. I'm trying to convince a friend who is an estate planner to step up. I have to write a will and make arrangements to move to Oregon in the event I get a terminal illness. If I end up with something like Alzheimer's it would be pointless to freeze a vegetable. Since no one else has done it: Insert your own Bird's-Eye or Green Giant reference here. . . . ronn! :) Hoe, Hoe, Hoe Maru ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Fw: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
At 04:53 PM Monday 8/29/2011, Jon Louis Mann wrote: Anyone else getting these? This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. a.freib...@cenit.de Yep. (And I expect I'll get another one in response to this reply . . . ) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Fw: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
At 06:02 PM Wednesday 8/31/2011, Ronn! Blankenship wrote:
At 04:53 PM Monday 8/29/2011, Jon Louis Mann wrote:
Anyone else getting these?
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Delivery to the following recipients failed.
a.freib...@cenit.de
Yep.
(And I expect I'll get another one in response to this reply . . . )
. . . ronn! :)
Am I good or what? ;)
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Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:02:04 -0500
To: Killer Bs \(David Brin et al\) Discussion brin-l@mccmedia.com
From: Ronn! Blankenship ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net
Subject: Re: Fw: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
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Re: Br¡n: On Fracking and Earthquakes
At 06:57 AM Friday 8/26/2011, KZK wrote: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/08/human-activity-can-cause-earthquakes/ I really like the instructions given for those who want to leave comments. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury!
At 03:47 PM Monday 8/22/2011, Nick Arnett wrote: On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Ronn! Blankenship ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net wrote: The writer, who has always seemed to be ahead of his time, turns 91 Monday. His 30 books and more than 600 short stories have influenced a generation of American fiction writers. And a fine day to be born, too. Nick (Today is MY birthday. I'm not 91, but I'm working on it.) And whose fault is it that no one knew that in advance? Hope it was happy! . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Golden anniversary . . .
http://comics.com/jeff_parker/2011-05-04/ . . . ronn! :) I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Transparent tracking with iphone.
At 11:42 PM Thursday 4/21/2011, Dave Land wrote: On Apr 21, 2011, at 8:31 AM, Keith Henson wrote: Wonder what David thinks of this? http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/04/20/iphone.tracking/ David _Brin_ thinks this: http://twitter.com/#!/DavidBrin1/status/61181497515843584 Spy Conspiracy: Your iPhone is secretly tracking everywhere you've been, all the time via @Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/#!5793925/your- iphone-is-secretly-tracking-everywhere-youve-been David _Land_ thinks this: http://twitter.com/#!/dland/status/61206837550252032 @DavidBrin1 @Gizmodo What a non-story: the phone stores data locally, doesn't transmit it. Where's the problem? Michigan? License, registration, proof of insurance, and cell phone, please.: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/aclu-concerned-over-michigan-state-police-extracting-phone-data.html . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Burp!
Scientists have directly observed for the first time the merger of two closely orbiting stars. http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/71387/title/Two_stars_caught_fusing_into_one ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Family Portrait, II
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?image_id=399 ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Brin: Why we still use rockets . . .
Space stasis: What the strange persistence of rockets can teach us about innovation. - By Neal Stephenson - Slate Magazine - http://www.slate.com/id/2283469/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
The Purpose of Science Fiction
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 ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: Real inventions since 1970
At 04:48 PM Monday 1/31/2011, KZK wrote: Steve Roth asks an interesting question about the number and type of real inventions since the seventies (that aren't just improvements of existing inventions): http://www.asymptosis.com/name-one-really-big-invention-since-1970-besides-the-internet.html Optical media? (CD, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu) Hard Drives? Hard drives in the sense of a rigid substrate coated with a magnetic substance certainly existed in 1970. This is a type I used in those days: http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-VINTAGE-DISK-PLATTER-2135-2-THESE-/320621059587 on an IBM 1130: http://www.ibm1130.net/functional/DiskStorage.html with a platter about a foot across (about the size of a LP record album from the day) inside the pictured enclosure (which some compared to a pizza carrier) that had a capacity (as measured today) of about 1 megabyte. (And the price this guy wants for these two is just about the same numerical price they sold for in the early 70s!) Put a few of them together on a spindle and you got a disk pack: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_IBM_disk_storage . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Bad Science in Movies (Graphic)
http://graphjam.memebase.com/2010/12/28/funny-graphs-weird-science/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink
Writers are bypassing the traditional route to bookstore shelves and self-publishing their works online. By selling directly to readers, authors get a larger slice of the sale price. [Photo] Science fiction writers Greg Bear, left, and Neal Stephenson created a subscription-based historical novel about Genghis Khan's conquests. (Kevin P. Casey, For The Times / December 18, 2010) Joe Konrath can't wait for his books to go out of print. When that happens, the 40-year-old crime novelist plans to reclaim the copyrights from his publisher, Hyperion Books, and self-publish them on Amazon.com, Apple Inc.'s iBooks and other online outlets. That way he'll be able to collect 70% of the sale price, compared with the 6% to 18% he receives from Hyperion. As for future novels, Konrath plans to self-publish all of them in digital form without having to leave his house in Schaumburg, Ill. Complete article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gatekeepers-20101226,0,7119214.story?track=rssutm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29 http://tinyurl.com/2el4545 ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Lunar eclipse tonight, particularly for North American locations
Some others will be able to see at least part of the show. Here's a link to times and links to webcams that will be broadcasting the eclipse live if you, too, are clouded out like it appears it will be here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/111597159.html ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: For Alberto and others
At 06:05 AM Monday 12/13/2010, Alberto Monteiro wrote: 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 The episode itself doesn't seem to be available yet, but there seem to be some preview clips at http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/, though again you'll have to see if you can access it. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Carbon, Rings
The First Carbon Planet? - ScienceNOW - http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/12/scienceshot-the-first-carbon.html Violent Origin for Saturn's Rings - ScienceNOW - http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/12/violent-origin-for-saturns-rings.html ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
For Alberto and others
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. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Titties on Facebook
At 01:46 AM Friday 12/10/2010, Jon Louis Mann wrote: 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 How is different than, say, guidelines that discourage obscenities on a mailing list? Doug 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 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 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. My guess is that they are doing it because the laws in many locations across the U.S. at least used to (and probably still in some locations: there are any number of lists, many predating the Internet, of outdated laws that sound ridiculous to people today but are still on the books) say that having any part of the [female] nipple or areola (or in at least one case I heard of, any differently-pigmented portion of the female breast, which perhaps applies to women with birthmarks or perhaps even tan lines) is legally considered obscene or public indecency or something like that. Not so much to discourage women from breastfeeding their infants, but to prevent them from walking around town or performing in various gentlemen's clubs topless. And various types of net nanny software block and report any search for any string containing the word breast, even though that may prevent a woman from learning about how to examine herself for cancer or about her options if she is diagnosed, primarily to keep junior-high-school-age males from using the computers in the school or public library to search for titillating images (p.i.), because whether one agrees or not, or whether one objects to health information being unintentionally censored, it is still the law in most locations that such images must be kept out of the possible view of minors under the age of 18. (Hence why Playboy and other such men's magazines are generally kept behind the counter, or in a separate section of the book/magazine store, and only available for sale to adults who ask for them, at least in some states/cities.) I found some even more perverted pictures on FB, but out of respect for Debbie, I won't put those up. So you don't think any of the other women (or maybe even some men) on the list would be offended? Debbie (and only Debbie) has to be protected? . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
WikiLeaks Founder Assange Vows Poison Pill If Arrested, Killed
FWIW: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is threatening to go nuclear if he is killed or arrested, releasing a poison pill of secret documents even more devastating than the ones that already have sparked diplomatic chaos around the globe, according to the British tabloid The Daily Mail. [...] Assange's poison pill is thought to include embarrassing revelations about the BP oil spill, aerial video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that caused civilian casualties, sensitive information on Bank of America, and secret documents that discuss the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, according to the Daily Mail,. Thousands of the site's supporters have downloaded the nuclear bomb from the WikiLeaks website, Stephens claims. http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/wikileaks-assange-poison-pill/2010/12/06/id/379105 http://tinyurl.com/29r8ksd ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Wikileaks?
Is someone running a DDoS attack on Wikileaks tonight (US time)? I'm getting a lot more slow and dropped connections on the Web tonight than usual, so I wondered if it's all over the Net or just here . . . ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Wikileaks?
At 08:06 PM Monday 12/6/2010, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: Is someone running a DDoS attack on Wikileaks tonight (US time)? I'm getting a lot more slow and dropped connections on the Web tonight than usual, so I wondered if it's all over the Net or just here . . . Or maybe it's everyone and their dog trying to access their new Facebook profile page: I just went to a site to read a political opinion article, and they apparently use Facebook for comments and replies, as down below the article in the comments section I saw a box full of the message one of the add-ons¹ I have installed which instead of just showing a 404 error message puts up when it can't get to a page which allows multiple options such as Try again or trying to access that page at various web archive sites which informed me said that The site www.facebook.com is taking too long to respond. . . . In any case, grrr . . . _ ¹Firefox is currently stuck trying to load another site so I can't access the list of add-ons to tell what that add-on is called, so if anyone is interested, ask me later . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Eris smaller than Pluto?
Something happened yesterday that could upend the bragging rights among the kingpins of trans-Neptunian space. If the early results hold up, this time it's the dwarf planet Eris's turn to be demoted, and Pluto might have just regained its status as the largest object in the Kuiper Belt. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/106861063.html http://tinyurl.com/25uvmkv ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Explained.
http://twitter.com/ChrisPirillo/status/1540301298597888 (not malware) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Comet Hartley 2 close-up
From this morning's fly-by: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/495296main_epoxi-1-full_full.jpg http://tinyurl.com/2bkv3jv ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Fwd: Spock as legal authority
very largeboldStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is now officially a legal authority/very large/bold [stock photo of Spock on the bridge in STII uniform] The wisdom of Spock has guided us all for years, but now it's enshrined in Texas law. Ruling on the limits of police power, the Texas Supreme Court quoted from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Ruling in Robinson vs. Crown Cork Seal Company (PDF at http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2010/oct/060714c2.pdf or(?) http://tinyurl.com/18r), Justice Don Willett writes: Appropriately weighty principles guide our course. First, we recognize that police power draws from the credo that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Second, while this maxim rings utilitarian and Dickensian (not to mention Vulcan), it is cabined by something contrarian and Texan: distrust of intrusive government and a belief that police power is justified only by urgency, not expediency. And there's this footnote after the word Vulcan: See STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (Paramount Pictures 1982). The film references several works of classic literature, none more prominently than A Tale of Two Cities. Spock gives Admiral Kirk an antique copy as a birthday present, and the film itself is bookended with the book's opening and closing passages. Most memorable, of course, is Spock's famous line from his moment of sacrifice: Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh . . . to which Kirk replies, the needs of the few. We've always thought Spock would be the best person to defend us if we were ever put on trial (other than Samuel T. Cogley, of course) but now he's officially an authority on interpreting the Constitution. Most logical. [SFWA (http://www.sfwa.org/2010/10/star-trek-cited-by-texas-supreme-court) and Josh Blackman (http://joshblackman.com/blog/)] ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Down with the government
At 03:23 PM Friday 10/15/2010, Dan Minette wrote: [snip] California has put itself in a box and I'd expect housing prices to drop another factor of ? before it can start to rebound. Now, there's a topic we can debate. :-) Dan M. Something missing here . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Do you suppose they sell Popesicles?
Pope shop opens ahead of Benedict's British visit Religion - CNN.com Blogs http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/03/pope-shop-opens-ahead-of-benedicts-british-visit/ http://tinyurl.com/2crhe8q ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
First Pluto is not a planet, and now . . . .
Triceratops 'never really existed but was just a young version of another dinosaur' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1299666/Triceratops-really-existed.html or http://tinyurl.com/28tbfy8 ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Blast from the Past: Re: Zebras
Particularly for Julia . . . http://actinglikeanimals.com/2010/07/28/funny-animal-photos-zedonk/ or http://tinyurl.com/27fxbdq . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Having Dads makes you Happy
At 03:21 PM Friday 7/9/2010, Dave Land wrote: On Jul 9, 2010, at 12:49 PM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: At 02:02 PM Friday 7/9/2010, Dan Minette wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l- boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Jo Anne Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 1:49 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Having Dads makes you Happy Dave Wrote Maybe we should retitle this thread Having dads makes you happy? Throat clearing noises I know this list is androcentric, but, come on! ...and having Moms makes you (fill in the blank)? How about Having dads and moms in the same house and married to each other? And if the parents are Adam and Steve instead of Adam and Eve? If that had been what I was commenting on, presumably I would have changed the plural in the Subject line to singular. ;) I had in mind more the conditions that lead to the need for such neologisms as baby daddy or other terms to indicate a parent who is little if at all involved in the lives of either the child or the baby mama(s) he impregnated. IOW, it takes a lot more than biology to be a Dad (which has been the point made by some others in this thread also. Indeed biology is not always even necessary: a couple who want a child enough to adopt one may be every bit as good parents as a couple who have their own wanted and loved biological child to whose well-being they are committed.) Dave Heather Has Two Mommies Maru There was a recent (announced this year, at least) study that seems to show that if Heather was born to two mommies who were already in a committed relationship when one of them became pregnant via donor she is probably as well-adjusted, etc., as Tiffany who comes from an intact two-parent (one of each sex) family. Of course I'm not the only person whose immediate conclusion was that the extra time, trouble, and expense involved in the conception via donor indicates that Heather's two mommies clearly planned for and wanted her. So the best thing for the kids is clearly to have their parents in the same house and committed to each other (in the words of the old the nursery rhyme, First comes love, then comes marriage, *then* comes a baby in a baby carriage.) and the kids rather than living on opposite ends of town or even in different cities or states and keeping the kids almost constantly on the run back and forth between them, even if they don't engage in the additional reportedly-all-too-common practice of each trying to influence the kids against the other. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Having Dads makes you Happy
At 08:55 AM Sunday 7/11/2010, Charlie Bell wrote: On 11/07/2010, at 11:40 PM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: I had in mind more the conditions that lead to the need for such neologisms as baby daddy or other terms to indicate a parent who is little if at all involved in the lives of either the child or the baby mama(s) he impregnated. IOW, it takes a lot more than biology to be a Dad (which has been the point made by some others in this thread also. Indeed biology is not always even necessary: a couple who want a child enough to adopt one may be every bit as good parents as a couple who have their own wanted and loved biological child to whose well-being they are committed.) I have never met my biological parents. I know nothing about them (other than their genes were clearly awesome ;-) ) Yeah, me too, on both counts. Dave Heather Has Two Mommies Maru There was a recent (announced this year, at least) study that seems to show that if Heather was born to two mommies who were already in a committed relationship when one of them became pregnant via donor she is probably as well-adjusted, etc., as Tiffany who comes from an intact two-parent (one of each sex) family. Of course I'm not the only person whose immediate conclusion was that the extra time, trouble, and expense involved in the conception via donor indicates that Heather's two mommies clearly planned for and wanted her. So the best thing for the kids is clearly to have their parents in the same house and committed to each other (in the words of the old the nursery rhyme, First comes love, then comes marriage, *then* comes a baby in a baby carriage.) and the kids rather than living on opposite ends of town or even in different cities or states and keeping the kids almost constantly on the run back and forth between them, even if they don't engage in the additional reportedly-all-too-common practice of each trying to influence the kids against the other. Yep, pretty much what I was saying a few posts ago. Parenting is about commitment, responsibility, love, and not a little bit of luck too. My real* parents did an extraordinary job, especially considering what they had to work with. __ *You will no doubt figure from this that whenever someone finds out I'm adopted and asks, So what about your 'real' parents? I always tell them that the parents who put up with me and sat with me in the ER and later the hospital room and who repainted the kitchen after a couple of experiments took the paint off the ceiling and one wall and ... are my _real_ parents. Single parents can do it too (and people seem too forget that single parents are just as often bereaved as unmarried, so there's no choice for a lot of them), Absolutely! I know at least one who not only had one of her own but took in foster children and adopted if I remember correctly three of the latter and raised at least the first one to college age before finding somebody and getting remarried a few months ago. but it's a lot harder to do well on one's own. Not least of the problems being simply earning enough to keep things going in a time when it seems more and more both parents have to work to make ends meet. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Live asteroid flyby coverage now
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RE: Having Dads makes you Happy
At 02:02 PM Friday 7/9/2010, Dan Minette wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Jo Anne Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 1:49 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Having Dads makes you Happy Dave Wrote Maybe we should retitle this thread Having dads makes you happy? Throat clearing noises I know this list is androcentric, but, come on! ...and having Moms makes you (fill in the blank)? How about Having dads and moms in the same house and married to each other? . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: Beds, FM Radiation, and Left-Sided Cancer
At 07:49 AM Sunday 7/4/2010, KZK wrote: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=left-sided-cancer-blame-your-bed-an-2010-07-02 Exposure to the sun elevates the risk of melanoma, but the sun's intensity has not changed in the last three decades. Not what marketers of sunscreen and those who screamed for much of that period about O3 depletion would have you believe. The futons used for sleeping in Japan are mattresses placed directly on the bedroom floor, in contrast to the elevated box springs and mattress of beds used in the West. So where do they keep their junk? The first line of evidence they cite comes from a 2007 study in Sweden conducted between 1989 and 1993 that revealed a strong link between the incidence of melanoma and the number of FM and TV transmission towers covering the area where the individuals lived. Despite epidemiological correlations like this one suggesting the possibility that electromagnetic radiation from FM and TV broadcasts stations could suppress the immune system and promote cancer, the strength of these electromagnetic fields is so feeble it has been difficult to imagine any biological basis for the correlation. So if true perhaps the rate in the U.S. should show a drop starting a year ago? (And perhaps the tax on tanning beds that started the first of the month should have been on regular beds, instead?) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: replacing fossil fuels
At 10:58 AM Sunday 7/4/2010, Julia wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Keith Henson Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 8:40 AM To: brin-l@mccmedia.com Subject: RE: replacing fossil fuels On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 11:00 AM, Dan Minette danmine...@att.net wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Keith Henson Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 3:09 PM Wonder where this hung out for over two weeks before making it into a posting? Keith --- Short version: It was in a moderation queue. Long version: There are 3 moderators, for some reason I seem to be the only one who checks for posts awaiting moderation (or it's that way most of the time), this computer has been having issues (and needing replacement, and there is a machine to replace it, but getting it set up will take time I haven't had yet for 2 months now), and things even more hectic than usual for those 2 weeks. Also, the software has changed since I first started doing moderation on a Nick-run system, and it's not as easy to automatically clear someone's moderate flag, plus it used to be they'd clear themselves after a certain period of time or a certain number of posts, which hasn't been happening for more than a year, so the system is creating more work for the moderator(s) than it did 3 years ago. Keith's moderation flag has been cleared now. If at any point, you're aware of a post you've made and it hasn't shown up for a couple of days, if you send me e-mail at fractalf...@gmail.com, I'll know I ought to be logging on from whatever system I have access to ASAP to check on that. (I can *usually* manage 5 minutes a day at that address to look at anything extremely critical. I think there were 2 days in the past 3 weeks I wasn't even able to do *that*, though.) Does this list get messages from obvious spambots attempting to join and post spam as often as some of the other lists I co-moderate do? If it does, it's no wonder when a real message from a real list member gets held up from time to time (even when the real list member is not the list owner who somehow accidentally revoked his own right to post to the list . . . no, I'm not referring to myself . . .) And it doesn't help when the moderators are in different parts of the world in different time zones and for whatever reason need to confer before making a decision (sometimes frex spambots can be quite clever, though others can be so obvious it's a wonder their creators think anyone would fall for them). (I thought about snipping the long version above, but then thought again that it seemed relevant enough to leave . . . ) (The short version of what happened during that time, that I gave to various people for various reasons, was I fell off the internet. And a point at which I expected to do some catch-up, it turned out that I didn't have the internet access I'd anticipated I would.) Julia Glad to see you're back, anyway! . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
0.28 eV
BBC News - Neutrino 'ghost particle' sized up by astronomers http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10364160.stm http://tinyurl.com/3yrm78g ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Any comments on this piece?
At 07:15 AM Thursday 6/17/2010, Alberto Monteiro wrote: Petrobras was :-) Did they make women's undergarments out of petroleum? . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Dan: Any comments on this piece?
This link was sent to another list a little while ago: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593#comment-648967 and people there (no experts in the field) are wondering if the author likely knows what he is talking about or not. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
4 Alberto
http://tinyurl.com/24bcgj4 (Sorry, it's a graphic, so you'll have to go to the link.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
For book lovers -- FREE for the next ~3.5 hours only
Sorry: I didn't feel up to checking it out until late in the day. Must download and install (seems to work OK on this old machine running XP with SP3) before midnight PDT (UTC - 7). And I guess they know their probable audience: two of the books which are given as example files are the 7th Harry Potter book and a books-on-tape-type version of LotR . . . Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. All My Books - Organize your paper books, e-books and audio books into the electronic library with All My Books easy! - http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/allmybooks/ http://tinyurl.com/2f5ht6q . . . ronn! :) who has no connection with any of the companies or individuals involved: just frequently finds good software free there . . . ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Remember when . . .
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/30/how-2525-hit-the-top/ http://tinyurl.com/25rs2oc ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Snakes on a Plane
http://tinyurl.com/2bk99cp ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
ObBenford, sort of . . .
(Sorry, since the list won't allow graphics all I can post is the link.) Non Sequitur Comic Strip, May 16, 2010 on GoComics.com - http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2010/05/16/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: ObBenford, sort of . . .
At 08:50 AM Sunday 5/16/2010, Bruce Bostwick wrote: On May 16, 2010, at 7:49 AM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: (Sorry, since the list won't allow graphics all I can post is the link.) Non Sequitur Comic Strip, May 16, 2010 on GoComics.com - http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2010/05/16/ How do they maintain the vacuum in the well? One of the things I was wondering also . . . :-\ . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: The Onion: Study Reveals Dolphins Lack Capacity To Mock Celebrity Culture
At 06:04 PM Thursday 5/13/2010, Dave Land wrote: Folks, Too quiet around here lately. Need a laugh? How about a groan? http://somuchpun.com/2010/04/28/funny-pun-photos-but-i-didn39t-shoot-no-comic-sans/ . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Your mama . . .
And everyone else's . . . http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100506/full/news.2010.225.html?s=news_rssutm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Frss%2Fmost_recent+%28NatureNews+-+Most+recent+articles%29utm_content=Google+Readerhttp://www.nature.com/news/2010/100506/full/news.2010.225.html?s=news_rssutm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Frss%2Fmost_recent+%28NatureNews+-+Most+recent+articles%29utm_content=Google+Reader quote European and Asian genomes have traces of Neanderthal Migrating humans interbred with Neanderthals after leaving Africa. Rex Dalton [Image] Neanderthal man Some Neanderthal lives on in the genomes of many modern humans. M. ANTON/ SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The genomes of most modern humans are 1--4% Neanderthal --- a result of interbreeding with the close relatives that went extinct 30,000 years ago, according to work by an international group of researchers. The team, led by Svante Pääbo, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, is reporting only 60% of the Neanderthal genome. But sequencing even this much of the genome was thought to be impossible just a decade ago. end quote Anticipated by Tom Weller on page 66 of that out-of-print 1984 classic and 1986 Hugo Award winner _Science Made Stupid_ (http://www.amazon.com/Science-Made-Stupid-Tom-Weller/dp/0395366461) available in full for on-line viewing or download at http://www.chrispennello.com/tweller/: quote As you know, Neanderthal man may have interbred with modern man. His descendants are with us even today, passing for full-blooded Homo sapiens. If you suspect a touch of the old hand ax in your ancestry, score yourself on this test: 1. Do your eyebrows meet in the middle? If so, give yourself five points. 2. Can you lock your knees in an upright position? If not, take five points. 3. Got a chin? If the answer is no, add three points. 4. How about a forehead? If not, add another three points. 5. Is it easy for you to balance a book on your head? Then give yourself five points. 6. Do you ever open Coke bottles with your teeth? If you do, add ten points. 7. Are you frequently more comfortable squatting on your heels than sitting in a chair? Take five points. 8. Is your head attached vertically to your neck? If not, add one point for every five degrees of slope. 9. Less than five feet tall? Add one point for every inch under. 10. If your lower arm is shorter than your upper arm, add one point for every inch of difference. 11. Ditto for your lower and upper legs. 12. Pigeon-toed? Five points. 13. Have you ever felt like bashing a postal clerk with a club? You're normal--no points. 14. Is the space between your big toe and your other toes big enough to hold an apple? Add five points. 15. Do you regularly eat apples in this way? Add fifteen points. 16. Do people think you're wearing your hair in a bun when you're not? Give yourself ten points. 17. Can you count your vertebrae while wearing two sweaters and an overcoat? Take five more points. 18. Is your nickname Duke, Butch, or Animal? Three points. Scoring: 0-20 points: You are a virtually pure Homo sapiens. Feel free to build bridges, compose symphonies, and overrun the world. 20-40 points: A slight Neanderthal strain means that you will occasionally have spells of primitive behavior, crawling around on all fours and whooping wildly. If you live in California, no one will notice. 40-60 points: You can still function quite well in the modern world, but avoid eating in fancy restaurants lest your table manners give you away. 60-80 points: Your Pleistocene heritage is predominant. You should consider a career in pro football. 80-100 points: Unfortunately, your genetic makeup is Grunt City; there is no place for you in human society. Try running for public office instead. end quote . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Question of the Day
At 07:48 PM Monday 5/3/2010, John Garcia wrote: On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:37 PM, Ronn! Blankenship mailto:ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.netronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net wrote: Any troubledome out there figured out if Zanzibar is still the right size? To stand on? john http://www.metafilter.com/91591/ToDAY-third-MAY-twentyTEN-come-aGAIN See the first comment: the author is not the only one . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Question of the Day
Any troubledome out there figured out if Zanzibar is still the right size? ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On Listmail
At 04:07 PM Monday 5/3/2010, Dave Land wrote: On May 3, 2010, at 9:14 AM, Bruce Bostwick wrote: There was research on exactly that sort of strategy, a few decades ago. Then it went out of style and what research there was was starved of funding and allowed to die, and we went right back to the old habits. Wind/solar energy resources are still seen as hippie fringe science in the parts of the world where oil is still king, and oil production is still the vast majority of our energy investment. From twitter.com/timbray: BREAKING: Large Air Spill at Wind Farm. No threats reported. Some claim to enjoy the breeze (via @quikness) Dave http://comics.com/ed_stein/2010-05-01/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Armstrong: Obama NASA plan 'devastating'
Editor's note: In an open letter obtained by NBC's Jay Barbree, former astronauts Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan urge President Obama to reconsider what they warn would be devastating new policies for the future of NASA. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36470363/ns/nightly_news/ . . . ronn! :) I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Ununseptium
Scientists Discover Heavy New Element - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/science/07element.html http://tinyurl.com/yb3dypy . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Two interesting Articles for Dr. Brin:
At 05:02 PM Saturday 3/20/2010, David Brin wrote: I challenge libertarians to imagine it is 1861. In which army do they fight? Subquestion #1: Where do they live? Subquestion #2: What is the color of their skin? (Point being that although some people had a choice in that matter and some made one many did not. Although another point is that some who did did not necessarily make the obvious choice based on the subquestions . . . ) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Reminder: Daylight-Saving Time begins this weekend!
Unstrange Phenomena free online comic strip library at comics.com - http://comics.com/unstrange_phenomena/2010-03-12/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Today's EE/Physics homework assignment . . .
http://thereifixedit.com/2010/02/20/epic-kludge-photo-resistance-is-futile/ ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Apple's big announcement . . .
At 04:03 PM Wednesday 1/27/2010, Damon Agretto wrote: I should also add that I know it was a funny, but my statement should cover me for all Apple products... Including this one? (cue appropriate music) http://comics.com/cam_cardow/2010-01-29/ . . . ronn! :) ___ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Is this thing on?
At 05:53 PM Monday 1/25/2010, Julia wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of John Williams Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:44 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Re: Is this thing on? On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 4:25 PM, Dave Land dml...@gmail.com wrote: _It_ is on, but nobody is on _it_. How's _it_ hangin' ? ___ I love wearing a Workman model Utilikilt and sticking a hammer in the tool loop, just so *I* can answer the question, How's the hammer hanging? (Of course, it doesn't happen often, and is more likely to be a rubber mallet, the sort that's useful for pounding tent stakes into the ground.) Julia Some places the ground is hard enough to make a rubber mallet useless for that purpose. Carrying a sledge hammer of sufficient size in a tool loop on an article of clothing more commonly worn in these parts, however, might lead to one being the subject of the tune made popular recently by commercials for _American Idol_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwhl4IrPNc) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Apple's big announcement . . .
http://comics.com/prickly_city/2010-01-26/ ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Gravity wells
http://xkcd.com/681/ (You will need to click to embiggen.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Avatar
At 02:34 AM Thursday 12/24/2009, Bruce Bostwick wrote: On Dec 23, 2009, at 2:56 PM, Max Battcher wrote: On 12/23/2009 13:11, Julia wrote: When I've seen the preview, I've had uncanny valley issues. I don't think I could sit through the whole thing without having a brain-ache. :( I don't think the previews do justice to the film because this really is one of those rare films that needs 3D to do it justice and is better the bigger the screen that you watch it on. I particularly think the uncanny valley issues with the film dissolve the more you let the film immerse you and large screens and 3D are key to that. This is something that James Cameron seems to have known all along, and part of why it has become the message to get out to encourage people to pay for that 3D or IMAX upgrade at their local popcorn stadium. I actually had few if any uncanny valley problems with it at all. I think one big factor was facial expressions -- this is the first movie about which I've been able to say that the CG characters had a full enough and rich enough range of expressions for the faces and nonverbal cues to hold their own with the dialogue, and in fact successfully replace it in ways that really surprised me. But there was an incredible attention to detail all around, and it required very little suspension of disbelief, and particularly visually, less than I'm used to from most movies. The previews really don't do it justice at all, and I agree with Max that it's a movie that does really need 3D to really get all of it. As for the themes I found most interesting .. well, those would be spoilers .. ;) Here's an opinion from the NY Times that was reprinted here today: Its fitting that James Camerons Avatar arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. Its at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James. But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, Avatar is Camerons long apologia for pantheism a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world. Complete article: Op-Ed Columnist - Heaven and Nature - NYTimes.com - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/opinion/21douthat1.html http://tinyurl.com/ye43c8x (Reading nytimes.com articles may require free registration.) FYI Maru . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Uplift!
F Minus free online comic strip library at comics.com - http://comics.com/f_minus/2009-12-20/ . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Astro potpourri
Mars orbiter lines up both Martian moons in one photo: Scientific American Gallery - http://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery_directory.cfm?photo_id=8E6C48CB-C925-05E5-86D78678378F19AAsc=WR_20091217 - - - - - Astronomy.com - Theorists propose a new way to shine and a new kind of star - http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=aid=8895 - - - - - According to Butler, current indications are that one-half of nearby stars have a detectable planet with mass equal to or less than Neptune's. Astronomy.com - New discoveries suggest low-mass planets are common around nearby stars (18 December 2009) http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=aid=8893 http://tinyurl.com/yfdqxxr - - - - - More intriguing is what GJ 1214b might be. Describing their discovery in the December 17th Nature, a team led by David Charbonneau and Zachary Berta (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) note that this world has about 6.5 times the mass of Earth (as told from the star's gravitational wobble) but a full 2.7 times Earth's diameter (as told by the transit depth). Those specs don't match those of any other planet in our solar system or known elsewhere. It has almost the same mass as the one other transiting super-Earth discovered so far, Corot-7b, but the two could hardly be more different in makeup, judging by their average densities. Whereas Corot-7b is probably a molten-hot mix of rock and metal, the average density of GJ 1214b (1.87 g/cm3 is too low for this world to be rocky and too high to be a gas giant. Instead, it most likely consists almost entirely of water, overlaid by a massive atmosphere. It's thus the first specimen of an entire new class of planet. (OK, OK, it's the second if you count the wacky, hypothetical place portrayed in the 1995 sci-fi flick Waterworld.) Since it orbits so closely, GJ 1214b probably has a surface temperature near 400°F hot as an oven and almost certainly devoid of life but still cooler than any other known transiting planet. The interior would be much hotter, but at the extremely high pressures deep inside a planet, even very hot water exists in solid form: hot ice. SkyandTelescope.com - News Blog - A Weird, Wonderful Waterworld? (18 December 2009) http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/79646632.html http://tinyurl.com/y9ly8ph - - - - - It has dawned on theorists in recent years that other Earth-mass planets may be enormous water droplets, balls of nitrogen or lumps of iron. Name your favorite element or compound, and someone has imagined a planet made of it. The spectrum of possibilities depends largely on the ratio of carbon to oxygen. After hydrogen and helium, these are the most common elements in the universe, and in an embryonic planetary system they pair off to create carbon monoxide. The element that is in slight excess ends up dominating the planet's chemistry. In our solar system, oxygen dominates. Although we tend to think of our planet as defined by carbon, the basis of life, the element is actually a fairly minor constituent. The terrestrial planets are made of silicate minerals, which are oxygen-rich. The outer solar system abounds in another oxygen-rich compound, water. Earth-Like Planets May Be Made of Carbon: Scientific American (18 December 2009) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-large-lump-of-coal http://tinyurl.com/ybmup5k ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Kid's telescope buying advice?
At 03:59 AM Thursday 12/10/2009, Charlie Bell wrote: On 10/12/2009, at 6:26 PM, Bryon Daly wrote: *Delurking* I could use some telescope purchasing advice, if anyone's interested in helping. My astonomy knowledge is quite limited. Try these resources from the web sites of _Astronomy_ and _Sky and Telescope_ magazines for some information. Astronomy.com - How to buy your first telescope - http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=aid=8038 SkyandTelescope.com - Homepage Equipment - Low-Cost Starter Scopes - http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equipment/home/69745547.html (I believe both have links to follow for more info.) Also, if you can find an amateur astronomy group in your area, contact them. (I believe the one here locally covered buying a first 'scope for kids last month at the November meeting.) They can probably give you lots of advice, perhaps even give you a chance to check out some 'scopes that they own, and tell you if there's any good place to go locally to get one (as well as where to avoid!) or if you'd be better off ordering one. I'd say you'd be better off getting a decent 'scope for the family and getting the lad a good book on how to use it as a present. Go to a telescope shop. Or a mail order place which specializes, frex http://www.telescope.com/control/main/. (Despite their seeming arrogance in claiming that domain name ;) , I've had good luck ordering stuff from them since the early 80s.) Don't get one from a toy store. Or a department store or a big-box store, unless you've checked it out elsewhere and found you can get a better price and good guarantee (return or service) from there, which is unlikely. (Several years ago I did buy one of those Magnifies 450 Times! ones from Wal-Mart that was on sale after Christmas to use in the classroom to demonstrate some of the basic principles of a telescope, and it turned out to be somewhat better than I expected (though I had more sense to expect to see anything at 450x!), but I still probably wouldn't recommend one like that for anyone getting one for themselves or a kid, esp. one who has shown any serious interest in astronomy, or if you hope to plant such an interest . . . ) . . . ronn! :) Ronn Blankenship Sometime Adjunct Instructor of Astronomy/Planetary Science University of Montevallo Montevallo, AL Disclaimer: Unless specifically stated otherwise, any opinions contained herein are the personal opinions of the author and do not represent the official position of the University of Montevallo. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Another observation about e-books . . .
Rudy Park free online comic strip library at comics.com - http://comics.com/rudy_park/2009-12-08/ ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Fake religion
At 07:40 PM Tuesday 12/1/2009, William T Goodall wrote: Remind me which one of these is supposed to be the evil phoney religion? http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/12/irish_govt_report_on_catholic.php http://infinitecomplacency.blogspot.com/2009/11/16-john-lindsteins-lawsuit.html Is the response necessarily limited to an exclusive OR? Evil is as Evil does Maru Or, By their fruits ye shall know them . . . . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
On this day in . . .
. . . 1954, in Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, an 8.5 lb (3.86 kg) sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise, in the only unequivocally known case of a human being hit by a space rock ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Google vs Bing
http://bingle.nu/ ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Again, The Future
1. http://i39.tinypic.com/24w7ed0.jpg 2. http://comics.com/the_buckets/2009-11-24/ And one response: http://comics.com/brevity/2009-11-24/ . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Groan.
http://comics.com/frankernest/2009-11-24/ ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
RE: Again, The Future
At 08:55 PM Tuesday 11/24/2009, Julia Thompson wrote: -Original Message- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Ronn! Blankenship Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 5:32 PM To: Recipient list suppressed: Subject: Again, The Future 1. http://i39.tinypic.com/24w7ed0.jpg 2. http://comics.com/the_buckets/2009-11-24/ And one response: http://comics.com/brevity/2009-11-24/ . . . ronn! :) ___ I IM'ed those links to my friend who is in another room in my house. The IM'ing in the same house was freaky for her. :) But did you IM breakfast? Still waiting for her reaction to the last one Julia FWIW, I received the first one from someone else as just the image attached to an e-mail with no link information given, and used the TinEye plug-in (http://www.tineye.com/plugin) for Firefox to search for it, and it found 16 matches in something like 0.015 seconds, so if anyone ever finds a need to look for on-line matches to images, I can recommend it. . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Nomenclature (was) Chemicals R Us
At 11:58 AM Wednesday 11/18/2009, Deborah Harrell wrote: I'll bet there's a difference of wording -- 'organic chemistry' here primarily refers to petrochemicals; 'biochemistry' refers to life-related chemicals. This is an incorrect terminology in my opinion, but I can't change what is taught in colleges... Debbi Words, Words - What Is Brain?! Maru :) 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. ;) Just Don't Ask An Astrophysicist To Define Metals 'Cuz He'll Include Carbon As One Maru . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Chemicals R Us
At 01:36 PM Wednesday 11/18/2009, Alberto Monteiro wrote: But if PVC is carcinogen than we could suffer the same doom the lead-piped romans suffered... At least we won't go plumb crazy. You Can Lead A Horse To Water But A Pencil Has To Be Lead Maru . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: List of The 50 Best Inventions of 2009
At 05:42 PM Tuesday 11/17/2009, Andrew Crystall wrote: On 17 Nov 2009 at 12:48, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: starts here . . . The Best Invention of the Year: NASA's Ares Rockets The 50 Best Inventions of 2009 - TIME http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933945,00.html http://tinyurl.com/yl4evjq (Includes the 5 Worst Inventions of the Year and a poll for voting on the ranking: Ares is not #1 in that poll.) The Ares I darn well should be. I mean, the Ares V is a good enough concept for bulk launch, never mind that the Saturn V was carrying arround 75% of the same payload in the late 60's, but sticking Astronaughts on top of a rocket at this stage? Insane. Spaceplanes, allready. AndrewC I'm guessing I wasn't clear and that you didn't go through the list at the site. The poll is for visitors to the site to rank the items in the 50 Best list. When I was there #1 was what they referred to as the Electric Eye, #2 was the 60W LED light bulb (no word on when they'll come out with one to replace 100W bulbs here at least 60W aren't bright enough to light up the room well enough from the ceiling fixture (even though the ceiling is painted white) or to read by), and bringing up the tail at #50 was the cloned puppy. Dog Gone Maru . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Chemicals R Us
At 11:28 AM Wednesday 11/18/2009, Deborah Harrell wrote: And no, I who at one point could fill an entire blackboard with the Krebs cycle and multiple connecting metabolic pathwaysincluding peptide synthesis, had _no idea_ that some amino acids (not to mention hormones etc.) were aromatic... I did, even though on those occasions I need to refer to the Krebs cycle I use a chart. hey, really!!! Debbi Don't Want No Tryptophan Or Steroids Maru So, no turkey next Thursday, then? . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
List of The 50 Best Inventions of 2009
starts here . . . The Best Invention of the Year: NASA's Ares Rockets The 50 Best Inventions of 2009 - TIME http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933945,00.html http://tinyurl.com/yl4evjq (Includes the 5 Worst Inventions of the Year and a poll for voting on the ranking: Ares is not #1 in that poll.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
