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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:20:59 -0500, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:47:23 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: snipped for the mere exercise Yes, I do remember the "Mote in God's Eye". About a race that could not practice birth control so their civilization kept ending in extreme overpopulation. I forget how the problem was solved. I was a teenager when I read the book, and I remember so little about it. What you described evoked memories of the alien race in that book. I came across a copy of the book a couple of years ago at a yard sale. I purchased it to read again, and I started to do that last winter. For some reason I never got beyond the first few pages. (I've got too many books going at the same time right now.) All of this has me reminsicing about favorite books, though. The "High Crusade" by Poul Anderson was a lighthearted read, and Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" was a thought-provoking work. Then there was "The Forever War"... You need to read "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi and his companion works "Ghost Brigades" and "Zoe's War". Is there a reason why, Tom? I really gave up on Sci-fi years ago. And my reading list is overwhelming as it is. And I have opened concurrently; "Hypatia of Alexandria," "World Masterpieces since the Renaissance," and "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." Ah - so you really ARE Harry. Had me fooled there for a while. :) Yeah - it's the anti-"Forever War". :) If you are in a non-fiction muse, I got a couple of recommendations for you then - "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidde...4477536&sr=1-1 I've Got Things To Do With My Life: Pat Tillman by Mike Towle http://www.amazon.com/Ive-Got-Things...4477609&sr=1-1 I have some others in case you are interested. |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:36:14 -0500, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:38:15 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:49:50 -0500, wrote: On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 12:44:00 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: wrote in message m... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 09:09:30 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 11:56 am, wrote: On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:32:26 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 10:27 am, Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 9:38 am, wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OndG4b5M-Q4 -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access That is impressive. Watch animals who are good at climbing and you eventually get the impression that their minds are wired diff. They do not have the fear of falling we have although logic says they should. Clearly, this guy has little fear of falling but I wonder how much he has practiced on these particular rocks. Notice the white chalk on some of the blocks indicating a lot of use by climbers. Whether it's familiarity with the terrain, a natural talent, or a lot of practice, I would have to concede that the backflip on the vertical wall is unnatural. I would suspect that very few people would be able to develop that type of skill. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access We should genetically engineer people to have grasping feet. In fact, I imagine that generations from now people who live in space will develop such. They will have little use for shoes and will need such feet to keep from drifting around while they use their hands. That reminds me of a science fiction novel I read years ago, "The Mote in God's Eye," by David Niven and Jerry Pournelli. It's been years since I've read it; but, it seems to me that that in the novel the human race encounters another life form that was similar to what you've described. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access I vaguely remember reading this in college... can't remember it though. Maybe I should get it from the library.... I think that was their first collaboration. It was my favorite Sci-fi novel until I read "Dune" by Frank Herbert. It was. Others are "Footfall", "Gripping Hand", "Oath of Fealty". ...and "Lucifer's Hammer." Hey - it was late. I just KNEW I had forgot one. :) |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:41:50 -0500, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:38:15 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:49:50 -0500, wrote: On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 12:44:00 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: wrote in message m... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 09:09:30 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 11:56 am, wrote: On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:32:26 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 10:27 am, Frogwatch wrote: On Oct 1, 9:38 am, wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OndG4b5M-Q4 -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access That is impressive. Watch animals who are good at climbing and you eventually get the impression that their minds are wired diff. They do not have the fear of falling we have although logic says they should. Clearly, this guy has little fear of falling but I wonder how much he has practiced on these particular rocks. Notice the white chalk on some of the blocks indicating a lot of use by climbers. Whether it's familiarity with the terrain, a natural talent, or a lot of practice, I would have to concede that the backflip on the vertical wall is unnatural. I would suspect that very few people would be able to develop that type of skill. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access We should genetically engineer people to have grasping feet. In fact, I imagine that generations from now people who live in space will develop such. They will have little use for shoes and will need such feet to keep from drifting around while they use their hands. That reminds me of a science fiction novel I read years ago, "The Mote in God's Eye," by David Niven and Jerry Pournelli. It's been years since I've read it; but, it seems to me that that in the novel the human race encounters another life form that was similar to what you've described. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access I vaguely remember reading this in college... can't remember it though. Maybe I should get it from the library.... I think that was their first collaboration. It was my favorite Sci-fi novel until I read "Dune" by Frank Herbert. It was. Others are "Footfall", "Gripping Hand", "Oath of Fealty". "Dune'" was unreadable and a total waste of time much like "Battle Field Earth" and "Dyanetics". I'll respectfully disagree with you on this. Dune was an excellent read, and I suspect that it's awards and accolades weren't rendered for it's unreadability and lack of quality. Bullfeathers as my maternal Grandfather used to say in polite company. It was a piece of pandering ecological pseudo-intellectual pablum which massaged the collective sensitivities of fellow authors who felt they were being left behind in the area of "Great Thoughts". It was a watershed moment for scifi and the genre hasn't been the same since because scifi had been the realm of hardcore "geeks and freaks" as Martin Greenberg once said. "Dune" showed them the way to be obtuse as some of the more social commentary type mainstream novels - it was a way to move to the mainstream. Hell, just to show you how bad it was, it was rejected something like 25 times by every major scifi house - it's was first published by Chilton - you know the people who make automobile repair books and auto parts manuals? It was never a best seller until David Lynch made the movie in 1984. Rubbish - pure and simple. :) |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Oct 2, 3:20*am, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:47:23 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: snipped for the mere exercise Yes, I do remember the "Mote in God's Eye". *About a race that could not practice birth control so their civilization kept ending in extreme overpopulation. *I forget how the problem was solved. I was a teenager when I read the book, and I remember so little about it. *What you described evoked memories of the alien race in that book. *I came across a copy of the book a couple of years ago at a yard sale. *I purchased it to read again, and I started to do that last winter. *For some reason I never got beyond the first few pages. (I've got too many books going at the same time right now.) * All of this has me reminsicing about favorite books, though. *The "High Crusade" by Poul Anderson was a lighthearted read, and Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" was a thought-provoking work. *Then there was "The Forever War"... * You need to read "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi and his companion works "Ghost Brigades" and "Zoe's War". Is there a reason why, Tom? *I really gave up on Sci-fi years ago. And my reading list is overwhelming as it is. * And I have opened concurrently; "Hypatia of Alexandria," "World Masterpieces since the Renaissance," and "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." *I have never been an organized reader. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service * * * * * * *-------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access i gave up on Sci-fi when "Lost in Space" got canceled. |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:25:20 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote: snipped with finesse I'll respectfully disagree with you on this. Dune was an excellent read, and I suspect that it's awards and accolades weren't rendered for it's unreadability and lack of quality. Bullfeathers as my maternal Grandfather used to say in polite company. It was a piece of pandering ecological pseudo-intellectual pablum which massaged the collective sensitivities of fellow authors who felt they were being left behind in the area of "Great Thoughts". It was a watershed moment for scifi and the genre hasn't been the same since because scifi had been the realm of hardcore "geeks and freaks" as Martin Greenberg once said. "Dune" showed them the way to be obtuse as some of the more social commentary type mainstream novels - it was a way to move to the mainstream. Hell, just to show you how bad it was, it was rejected something like 25 times by every major scifi house - it's was first published by Chilton - you know the people who make automobile repair books and auto parts manuals? It was never a best seller until David Lynch made the movie in 1984. Rubbish - pure and simple. :) I certainly respect your opinion. I think, though, that we may look at the genre through different eye-glasses. If there were a purist's creed for sci-fi buffs, I was never aware of it. For me, reading sci-fi was simply entertainment. It was something that titillated my youthful imagination. I was compelled by the more intellectual works; but, in a more philosophical and ontological fashion, as primal as those things were for me back then. And in all honesty, it may very well be that if I read "Dune" today, I may have a much different perspective of the book, having more tempered and matured sensibilities through which to synthesize it. I did become increasingly disenchanted with the genre over time. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:26:43 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:38:06 -0500, wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:33:57 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: snipped quickly We should genetically engineer people to have grasping feet. In fact, I imagine that generations from now people who live in space will develop such. They will have little use for shoes and will need such feet to keep from drifting around while they use their hands. That reminds me of a science fiction novel I read years ago, "The Mote in God's Eye," by David Niven and Jerry Pournelli. It's been years since I've read it; but, it seems to me that that in the novel the human race encounters another life form that was similar to what you've described. Good lord. It was written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Quite right. Mr. Krause had already corrected my error, made in haste. Sorry - a little harsher than I meant it. It was late, I was ****ed off because I couldn't get off the conference call and I was amped up from having to deal with morons and poltroons. :) That's ok, Tom. I should know better than to post when I'm busy anyway. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:54:04 -0400, H the K
wrote: On 10/2/09 4:20 AM, wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:47:23 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: snipped for the mere exercise Yes, I do remember the "Mote in God's Eye". About a race that could not practice birth control so their civilization kept ending in extreme overpopulation. I forget how the problem was solved. I was a teenager when I read the book, and I remember so little about it. What you described evoked memories of the alien race in that book. I came across a copy of the book a couple of years ago at a yard sale. I purchased it to read again, and I started to do that last winter. For some reason I never got beyond the first few pages. (I've got too many books going at the same time right now.) All of this has me reminsicing about favorite books, though. The "High Crusade" by Poul Anderson was a lighthearted read, and Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" was a thought-provoking work. Then there was "The Forever War"... You need to read "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi and his companion works "Ghost Brigades" and "Zoe's War". Is there a reason why, Tom? I really gave up on Sci-fi years ago. And my reading list is overwhelming as it is. And I have opened concurrently; "Hypatia of Alexandria," "World Masterpieces since the Renaissance," and "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." I have never been an organized reader. I gave up reading sci-fi for the most part in 1968, after seeing Clarke and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. After seeing that, most sci-fi novels seemed silly to me. I had grown up reading the masters of sci-fi and their classics. But after 2001, all I could do was giggle my way though the few remaining sci-fi books I read. I did like Contact, though, and a couple of others. It's been years since I've read a sci-fi novel. I think I gave up reading sci-fi about the same time I gave up smoking Afghan Black. But that's merely coincidental, right? -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
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On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 05:52:26 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote: On Oct 2, 3:20*am, wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:47:23 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: snipped for the mere exercise Yes, I do remember the "Mote in God's Eye". *About a race that could not practice birth control so their civilization kept ending in extreme overpopulation. *I forget how the problem was solved. I was a teenager when I read the book, and I remember so little about it. *What you described evoked memories of the alien race in that book. *I came across a copy of the book a couple of years ago at a yard sale. *I purchased it to read again, and I started to do that last winter. *For some reason I never got beyond the first few pages. (I've got too many books going at the same time right now.) * All of this has me reminsicing about favorite books, though. *The "High Crusade" by Poul Anderson was a lighthearted read, and Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" was a thought-provoking work. *Then there was "The Forever War"... * You need to read "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi and his companion works "Ghost Brigades" and "Zoe's War". Is there a reason why, Tom? *I really gave up on Sci-fi years ago. And my reading list is overwhelming as it is. * And I have opened concurrently; "Hypatia of Alexandria," "World Masterpieces since the Renaissance," and "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." *I have never been an organized reader. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service * * * * * * *-------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access i gave up on Sci-fi when "Lost in Space" got canceled. LOL! They made a movie not too long ago, Tim, a great teaser to get you back in. :) -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:25:20 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote: ell, just to show you how bad it was, it was rejected something like 25 times by every major scifi house - it's was first published by Chilton - you know the people who make automobile repair books and auto parts manuals? Bull****. It was first published as a five part serial in Analog. Casady |
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On 10/2/09 11:15 AM, Richard Casady wrote:
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:25:20 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: ell, just to show you how bad it was, it was rejected something like 25 times by every major scifi house - it's was first published by Chilton - you know the people who make automobile repair books and auto parts manuals? Bull****. It was first published as a five part serial in Analog. Casady Tom gets "really" upset when you challenge his lack of expertise. -- Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger: Idiots All |
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"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in message ... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it) Which version - unedited or edited. The unedited version is better and by comparison, the edited version sucks. Heinlien was good only up to a point. If he kept within the bounds of his Libertarian views, he wrote some great stuff. When he started wandering off the reservation trying to match Silverberg and Dick (who by the way was a complete and total asshole as befits his name), he lost it completely. Read "Grumbles from The Grave" sometime - that will give you a whole new opinion of Heinlien. Issac Asimov was a good friend of my Father's. They met through another friend of my Dad's Clifford Simak - another scifi author. My favorite Asimov story was when I was in high school - I came home from football practice on my way to my job at the TV store and sitting in my living room with my Dad was Asimov, Simak and Martin Greenberg (the publisher, not the anthologist) yucking it up like there was no tomorrow. :) Heinlein wrote "Friday". Was a great book until he decided it was time to end the novel and crapped it completely in 1 final chapter! |
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wrote in message
... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 22:56:52 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: wrote in message . .. On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: wrote in message m... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 17:28:21 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: snipped for the conservation of bandwidth We should genetically engineer people to have grasping feet. In fact, I imagine that generations from now people who live in space will develop such. They will have little use for shoes and will need such feet to keep from drifting around while they use their hands. That reminds me of a science fiction novel I read years ago, "The Mote in God's Eye," by David Niven and Jerry Pournelli. It's been years since I've read it; but, it seems to me that that in the novel the human race encounters another life form that was similar to what you've described. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access I vaguely remember reading this in college... can't remember it though. Maybe I should get it from the library.... I think that was their first collaboration. It was my favorite Sci-fi novel until I read "Dune" by Frank Herbert. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access I didn't like that book... the movie was awful Do you read Science Fiction, Miss De Plume? I devoured science fiction novels when I was young. I haven't read a science fiction novel in years, though. The genre became too...commercial and gratuitously salacious, as far as I was concerned. The last good novel I've read, recently, was actually a humorous work by Leornard Wibberley, "The Mouse that Roared." Dune was not a nascently intellecutal book of the type you might find written by Stanislaw Lem, Ursula Le Guin, or Phillip K. Dick. But, Herbert wove a wonderful tapestry of story, future, distant shores, culture, intrigue and memorable characters that spawned at least two movies. I thought the work was incomparably imaginative. I have read other works since, though. Em is fine. I really like, no let me say it differently, I'm a huge fan of Usula Le Guin (favorite story is The Darkness Box) and Phillip K. Dick (Do android dream of electric sheep aka Blade Runner). I also love Azimov (I Robot and the Foundation novels - except the last one), Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it), and Bradbury (too many to list). Heinlein is actual exceptional. I saw the movie version of The Mouse that Roared when I was a child and thought it was so much fun, but I never like The Wizard of Oz. I didn't like the Dorothy charcter and the monkeys scared me when my mom took me to see it. "Em" seems so CSS, Em. But it works for me. Ursula Le Guin did write the Earth Sea Trilogy, too, which I enjoyed. Those books were more in the Fantasy or Heroic Fantasy genre. I thought her "Left Hand" more masterly. To be honest, I haven't read "The Darkness Box." I'll add that to my list (the interminable list). I read a lot of Asimov when I was in my teens, including "I Robot," and I would have to reread the books to discuss them adequately. I do remember that Asimov was markedly proud of his three laws of robotics. And I'd read "Stranger in a Strange Land," too. I read a lot of Heinlein back then (including "The Rolling Stones," the possible genesis for Gerrold's "The Trouble with Tribbles"). (In fact one of my research papers in college used references from Heinlein's testimony before Congress concerning NASA spinoff technology.) The one heralded author that I never really explored much as I probably should have was Arthur C. Clarke. I had read a couple of his books, I know. I don't remember the titles, though. Bradbury was an intriguing author, also, I'd have to agree. I don't think he ever forgave Michael Moore for 'borrowing' the title from his "Fahrenheit 451." Not sure what CSS means... sorry... didn't take it as flip. My name is a series of M's, so sometimes I'm called M&M, shortened even more to Em. The Darkness Box is a very short story. I don't think it's available online. My favorite I Robot short story is Robbie. Moore, I think, was trying to make political points with the title. I guess it sort of fits, but.... CSS stands for cascading style sheets, Em. It's a web design mechanism - sort of an html thing. If I can find "The Darkness Box," I'll definitely read it. I think I can slip in a short story :) Wow... never made that connection. I even googled up acronyms of CSS. lol -- Nom=de=Plume |
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"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it) Which version - unedited or edited. I'm not sure... never checked or even knew there was an edited version. The book I have (somewhere) is a paperback handmedown from years ago. The unedited version is better and by comparison, the edited version sucks. Heinlien was good only up to a point. If he kept within the bounds of his Libertarian views, he wrote some great stuff. When he started wandering off the reservation trying to match Silverberg and Dick (who by the way was a complete and total asshole as befits his name), he lost it completely. Read "Grumbles from The Grave" sometime - that will give you a whole new opinion of Heinlien. I never really considered Heinlein that political. I'll check out the Grumbles if I can find it. Issac Asimov was a good friend of my Father's. They met through another friend of my Dad's Clifford Simak - another scifi author. My favorite Asimov story was when I was in high school - I came home from football practice on my way to my job at the TV store and sitting in my living room with my Dad was Asimov, Simak and Martin Greenberg (the publisher, not the anthologist) yucking it up like there was no tomorrow. :) Ah, but there _is_ no tomorrow. Island, Aldos Huxley. -- Nom=de=Plume |
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"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ... I didn't like that book... the movie was awful The David Lynch version was fairly good, the second version by John Harrison sucked pond scum and there is soon to be a third version by David Berg because Hollywood seems to have run out of original ideas for movies. "Dune" was a pseudo-intellectual's dream book. Thematically, it was a freakin' mess, but because it was so bad, everybody thought it was good. And of course it spawned a whole series of pre/post quels if you will all written by his relatives trying to keep the franchise alive. I think that was my feeling at the time... it wandered about and I got tired of the wandering/wondering. Hebert is L. Ron Hubbard, only nobody spawned a religion off of "Dune". Don't bet on it. -- Nom=de=Plume |
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"CalifBill" wrote in message
m... "nom=de=plume" wrote in message ... "CalifBill" wrote in message m... "nom=de=plume" wrote in message ... wrote in message ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OndG4b5M-Q4 I like this one.. http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/vol...sandspecs.html -- Nom=de=Plume You will be one of few who go for the Volt. Over priced, 40 mile range and not a hybrid. Need to run the motor 3 hours to recharge and does not motivate the car. $40k for an in town car. Cheaper to hire a taxi. Some idiot is pressing this debacle. Well, I'd rather have a Prius. But I'm fine for now. -- Nom=de=Plume A Prius uses more natural resources over it's lifespan than a lot of econoboxes, but at least it goes more than 40 miles at a time. If they made the volt a hybrid, and especially if they stuffed in a small diesel, would be a lot better vehicle. A log more useable also. Well, the Prius is also really cute. -- Nom=de=Plume |
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On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 10:32:02 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote: wrote in message removed for brevity "Em" seems so CSS, Em. But it works for me. Ursula Le Guin did write the Earth Sea Trilogy, too, which I enjoyed. Those books were more in the Fantasy or Heroic Fantasy genre. I thought her "Left Hand" more masterly. To be honest, I haven't read "The Darkness Box." I'll add that to my list (the interminable list). I read a lot of Asimov when I was in my teens, including "I Robot," and I would have to reread the books to discuss them adequately. I do remember that Asimov was markedly proud of his three laws of robotics. And I'd read "Stranger in a Strange Land," too. I read a lot of Heinlein back then (including "The Rolling Stones," the possible genesis for Gerrold's "The Trouble with Tribbles"). (In fact one of my research papers in college used references from Heinlein's testimony before Congress concerning NASA spinoff technology.) The one heralded author that I never really explored much as I probably should have was Arthur C. Clarke. I had read a couple of his books, I know. I don't remember the titles, though. Bradbury was an intriguing author, also, I'd have to agree. I don't think he ever forgave Michael Moore for 'borrowing' the title from his "Fahrenheit 451." Not sure what CSS means... sorry... didn't take it as flip. My name is a series of M's, so sometimes I'm called M&M, shortened even more to Em. The Darkness Box is a very short story. I don't think it's available online. My favorite I Robot short story is Robbie. Moore, I think, was trying to make political points with the title. I guess it sort of fits, but.... CSS stands for cascading style sheets, Em. It's a web design mechanism - sort of an html thing. If I can find "The Darkness Box," I'll definitely read it. I think I can slip in a short story :) Wow... never made that connection. I even googled up acronyms of CSS. lol I had gotten up in the early morning hours with a bit of a fever this morning, Em, for some reason. I decided to check the headers before I went back to bed and subsequently decided to respond to some of the posts. So, I wasn't the most lucid when I responded. I didn't fully explain myself. "Em" in CSS is a unit of measure. It is equal to the width of an "M." The other units are "pt" and "px." A percentage can also be given to determine positioning, padding, etc. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:00:46 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote: On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it) Which version - unedited or edited. The unedited version is better and by comparison, the edited version sucks. Heinlien was good only up to a point. If he kept within the bounds of his Libertarian views, he wrote some great stuff. When he started wandering off the reservation trying to match Silverberg and Dick (who by the way was a complete and total asshole as befits his name), he lost it completely. Read "Grumbles from The Grave" sometime - that will give you a whole new opinion of Heinlien. Issac Asimov was a good friend of my Father's. They met through another friend of my Dad's Clifford Simak - another scifi author. My favorite Asimov story was when I was in high school - I came home from football practice on my way to my job at the TV store and sitting in my living room with my Dad was Asimov, Simak and Martin Greenberg (the publisher, not the anthologist) yucking it up like there was no tomorrow. :) What did you Dad do for a living, Tom? Clifford Simak was one of the early Sci-fi authors that I read (early in my exploration of the genre). I loved his book "City." I don't think that novel had any genuine critical acclaim, though. Another book of his that I remember reading was "The Werewolf Principal." I had read others; but, I'd never be able to remember the titles. I personally thought he was as good as Asimov, if not better. -- Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service -------http://www.NewsDemon.com------ Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access |
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wrote in message
... On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 10:32:02 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: wrote in message removed for brevity "Em" seems so CSS, Em. But it works for me. Ursula Le Guin did write the Earth Sea Trilogy, too, which I enjoyed. Those books were more in the Fantasy or Heroic Fantasy genre. I thought her "Left Hand" more masterly. To be honest, I haven't read "The Darkness Box." I'll add that to my list (the interminable list). I read a lot of Asimov when I was in my teens, including "I Robot," and I would have to reread the books to discuss them adequately. I do remember that Asimov was markedly proud of his three laws of robotics. And I'd read "Stranger in a Strange Land," too. I read a lot of Heinlein back then (including "The Rolling Stones," the possible genesis for Gerrold's "The Trouble with Tribbles"). (In fact one of my research papers in college used references from Heinlein's testimony before Congress concerning NASA spinoff technology.) The one heralded author that I never really explored much as I probably should have was Arthur C. Clarke. I had read a couple of his books, I know. I don't remember the titles, though. Bradbury was an intriguing author, also, I'd have to agree. I don't think he ever forgave Michael Moore for 'borrowing' the title from his "Fahrenheit 451." Not sure what CSS means... sorry... didn't take it as flip. My name is a series of M's, so sometimes I'm called M&M, shortened even more to Em. The Darkness Box is a very short story. I don't think it's available online. My favorite I Robot short story is Robbie. Moore, I think, was trying to make political points with the title. I guess it sort of fits, but.... CSS stands for cascading style sheets, Em. It's a web design mechanism - sort of an html thing. If I can find "The Darkness Box," I'll definitely read it. I think I can slip in a short story :) Wow... never made that connection. I even googled up acronyms of CSS. lol I had gotten up in the early morning hours with a bit of a fever this morning, Em, for some reason. I decided to check the headers before I went back to bed and subsequently decided to respond to some of the posts. So, I wasn't the most lucid when I responded. I didn't fully explain myself. "Em" in CSS is a unit of measure. It is equal to the width of an "M." The other units are "pt" and "px." A percentage can also be given to determine positioning, padding, etc. Sort of an em dash? I know about that terminology. I actually heard someone joke about that once, since I used to dash about. Sorry about your fever... maybe you're now immune to the H1N1. -- Nom=de=Plume |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 10:22:19 -0700, "CalifBill"
wrote: "Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in message ... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it) Which version - unedited or edited. The unedited version is better and by comparison, the edited version sucks. Heinlien was good only up to a point. If he kept within the bounds of his Libertarian views, he wrote some great stuff. When he started wandering off the reservation trying to match Silverberg and Dick (who by the way was a complete and total asshole as befits his name), he lost it completely. Read "Grumbles from The Grave" sometime - that will give you a whole new opinion of Heinlien. Issac Asimov was a good friend of my Father's. They met through another friend of my Dad's Clifford Simak - another scifi author. My favorite Asimov story was when I was in high school - I came home from football practice on my way to my job at the TV store and sitting in my living room with my Dad was Asimov, Simak and Martin Greenberg (the publisher, not the anthologist) yucking it up like there was no tomorrow. :) Heinlein wrote "Friday". Was a great book until he decided it was time to end the novel and crapped it completely in 1 final chapter! I agree, although I always saw, being a contrarian by nature, that "Friday" was Heinlein's attempt to replicate and expand upon "Starship Troopers". A lot of the themes found in "Starship Troopers" that were never fully explored show up in "Friday" somewhat twisted and warped. I didn't think it was worthy of a Nebula or Hugo award though - a lot of "Friday" was unreadable - in some ways, it out Clancy'd Clancy. :) |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 10:35:12 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote: "Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in message ... On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 19:18:54 -0700, "nom=de=plume" wrote: Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land... I still re-read it) Which version - unedited or edited. I'm not sure... never checked or even knew there was an edited version. The book I have (somewhere) is a paperback handmedown from years ago. It was the edited version then. The unedited version, with footnotes and commentary, was released by Virginia Heinlein about ten or so years ago. Gives you a much clearer idea of what Heinlein's ideas were. The unedited version is better and by comparison, the edited version sucks. Heinlien was good only up to a point. If he kept within the bounds of his Libertarian views, he wrote some great stuff. When he started wandering off the reservation trying to match Silverberg and Dick (who by the way was a complete and total asshole as befits his name), he lost it completely. Read "Grumbles from The Grave" sometime - that will give you a whole new opinion of Heinlien. I never really considered Heinlein that political. I'll check out the Grumbles if I can find it. Really? Interesting. "Starship Troopers", is a pure Libertarian political novel spiced up with a little was action (including some really funny scenes), then there's "Methuselah's Children" and "Time Enough for Love" which are all part and parcel of the Lazarus Long saga - lot's of Libertarian political thought in those, "Friday", was a Libertarian manifesto in some ways. Almost all of Heinlein's novels and shorts had some social themes and follow the Libertarian ideals: individual liberty/self-reliance, individual social obligations, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and most importantly the tendency of society to repress non-conformist thought. Those are all strong Libertarian concepts as expressed by Heinlein. Issac Asimov was a good friend of my Father's. They met through another friend of my Dad's Clifford Simak - another scifi author. My favorite Asimov story was when I was in high school - I came home from football practice on my way to my job at the TV store and sitting in my living room with my Dad was Asimov, Simak and Martin Greenberg (the publisher, not the anthologist) yucking it up like there was no tomorrow. :) Ah, but there _is_ no tomorrow. Island, Aldos Huxley. Huxley was a hack. Tomorrow is all we have. :) |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 10:37:14 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote: "Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in message ... I didn't like that book... the movie was awful The David Lynch version was fairly good, the second version by John Harrison sucked pond scum and there is soon to be a third version by David Berg because Hollywood seems to have run out of original ideas for movies. "Dune" was a pseudo-intellectual's dream book. Thematically, it was a freakin' mess, but because it was so bad, everybody thought it was good. And of course it spawned a whole series of pre/post quels if you will all written by his relatives trying to keep the franchise alive. I think that was my feeling at the time... it wandered about and I got tired of the wandering/wondering. Hebert is L. Ron Hubbard, only nobody spawned a religion off of "Dune". Don't bet on it. I've never heard tell of one - that doesn't mean there isn't though. Thinking about it, yeah - The Church of Global Warming. :) |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:41:45 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote: maybe you're now immune to the H1N1. I learned something interesting the other day when I made my visit to the immuology specialist. People my age, or those who were adults in 1976 which was the most recent occurance of the Ham and Bacon Flu, have an immunity to the disease if (1) they had the Ham and Bacon Flu, (2) were exposed to somebody who did have it. |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
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I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OndG4b5M-Q4 I like this one.. http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/vol...sandspecs.html Unrelated to the topic, as you knew. |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:16:44 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
Hebert is L. Ron Hubbard, only nobody spawned a religion off of "Dune". Don't bet on it. I've never heard tell of one - that doesn't mean there isn't though. Thinking about it, yeah - The Church of Global Warming. :) Not Hebert, but there is the Jedi Church. http://www.jedichurch.org/ |
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On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:25:17 -0500, thunder
wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:16:44 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: Hebert is L. Ron Hubbard, only nobody spawned a religion off of "Dune". Don't bet on it. I've never heard tell of one - that doesn't mean there isn't though. Thinking about it, yeah - The Church of Global Warming. :) Not Hebert, but there is the Jedi Church. http://www.jedichurch.org/ Heh - I saw something about that a while back. Sometimes, you just gotta wonder. After all, the only one and true God is the Flying Spaghetti Monster. |
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On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:17:11 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:15:41 GMT, (Richard Casady) wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:25:20 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: ell, just to show you how bad it was, it was rejected something like 25 times by every major scifi house - it's was first published by Chilton - you know the people who make automobile repair books and auto parts manuals? Bull****. It was first published as a five part serial in Analog. Sorry - nope. Bought the magazines one by one, all five of them. It was on the cover, Kelly Freas, twice. I have bought all the Analogs, for that matter. Casady |
I'll Stick to Boating, Thank-you...
Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:25:17 -0500, thunder wrote: On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:16:44 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote: Hebert is L. Ron Hubbard, only nobody spawned a religion off of "Dune". Don't bet on it. I've never heard tell of one - that doesn't mean there isn't though. Thinking about it, yeah - The Church of Global Warming. :) Not Hebert, but there is the Jedi Church. http://www.jedichurch.org/ Heh - I saw something about that a while back. Sometimes, you just gotta wonder. After all, the only one and true God is the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Amen! |
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