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Well, they certainly didn't come out of thin air, but neither did they come out of Tolkien's head. Most of them (save for the hobbits and the orcs) came from Nordic mythology. Sacred-texts.com has a list (and texts) of many of his sources.

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Oh goodness grace!

http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm http://www.hermetic.com/ http://www.hermetics.org/library.html

God created the world in seven days because it sounded good to put it that way -- the author wasn't trying to say anything deep or important by saying "seven days". This should be clear whether or not you believe the author was inspired by God (or was God).

1. light
2. sky and water
3. land
4. sun, moon, and stars (bearers of light)
5. birds and fish (residents of sky and land)
6. animals (residents of land)
7. rested

The literary structure indicates that the creation of the world was deliberate and calculated. The first three days were preparation for what was created later. If (as most Bible scholars believe) this was written during the Babylonian captivity, it is likely that it was written with the Babylonian creation story in mind. In the Babylonian story (the Enuma Elish) the world is created as an afterthought using the body of Tiamat (chaos), slain by the hero god Marduk. In contrast, the Hebrew story claims that the creation of the world was premeditated, and that when the creation was finished, it was "very good" (Gen 1.31).

Though there will always be variations in interpretation, the more we know about the original context, the better we are likely to understand the meaning.

I'm sure they do noh theater.

In "One Law To Rule Them All" Michael Ames writes:
Asimov's phrase, "allow a human being to come to harm," if implemented fully, would turn humanity into a clutch of coddled infants, perpetually protected from harm, both physical and mental.

In evaluating what constitutes "mental harm", it seems to me that one must apply a cultural standard. For example, many American conservatives regard images of nudity as damaging to children, rather than vital for well-adjustment. In other cultures there is a great variety of words and images regarded as harmful which are innocuous in other contexts. To apply the First Law consummately, we must allow for acculturation, but there are sure to be serious conflicts (what protects one will inadvertantly harm enough by a different standard).

Let's consider the mechanics of "protection from harm." Asimov seemed to indicate a direct reaction to an immediate situation, but surely a protective impulse is bound to be frequently disastrous if it lacks such critical skills as foresight, an ability to extrapolate based on extremely subtle information, and the need for non-action. In fact, this very principle of direct reaction is itself culturally situated: direct communicators tend to seek unambiguous solutions to immediate "problems"; contrast with the Taoist principle of wu wei .

Obviously.... ... this is just a PR stunt by the Sci Fi Channel to hype their new series, Stargate: Atlantis.

Yeaahhhhh, no. Unless, of course, the SciFi Channel has been planning this television series for the past hundred years or so. Look around, there's another "scientist" that "discovers Atlantis" in a different part of the world every 3 months nowadays, and (who woulda thought) it NEVER fits the complete description from Plato.

I know you meant this as a rhetorical question, but I'll bite anyways.

Q: how do they confirm it is atlantis?
A: When they find some artifacts in the vicinity and can carbon date them back from 9000 years ago. When they can find proof of the animals and/or technology that existed there according to the one-and-only document that even mentions the city.

Q: why can't their find of this ancient city stand on its own as exciting and important?
A: Because the human-race has this drive to solve puzzles and find proofs and explanations of any and everything. The city of Atlantis is no different from Noah's Ark, Solomon's Temple, Eden, or even the laws of physics; people will continually search for them until they find inexplicable proof (whether it exists or not) that they exist.

Q: why link it to a dubious unprovable myth
A: Short answer: in hopes of acquiring more research dollars.

And finally...
Q: maybe i'm stpid, but...
A: You are correct, because you can't spell "stupid". ;-)

maybe they can start on this one:
4638 ABK 24 ALGMOR3Y X24 89 RPSTOVAL

Nicolas Poussin's rendition of the four Arcadian shepherds.

Perhaps the meaning of the cipher can be divined by running the Ecologues through a suitable perl script.

In our modern era, marked as it is with religious strife, it is important to remember the early martyrs associated with the early Christian church in Europe.

Eyvind Kinrifa was a priest/shaman of the Northern European religion (the one with Odin, Thor, etc., I'll refer to it as paganism here) who died at the hand of Olaf Tryggvason around 1000 A.D. or so. Eyvind was an only child; his mother told him that he was only conceived with the help of a Finnish shaman. Olaf (aka "St. Olaf") captured Eyvind and held him prisoner. Olaf really wanted Eyvind to convert because he was a prominent adherent of the pagan religion. Olaf apparently made all the philosophical arguments that he could think of, but Eyvind would not convert. Olaf offered land, power, and treasure, but Eyvind would not convert. Olaf finally resorted to threatening Eyvind with torture and death, but Eyvind remained steadfast in his pagan beliefs.

According to the Heimskringla, Olaf Tryggvason's Saga (1844 translation), this is what finally happened:
Then the king [Olaf] ordered a pan of glowing coals to be placed upon Eyvind's belly, which burst asunder. Eyvind cried, "Take away the pan, and I will say something before I die," which also was done. The king said, "Wilt thou now, Eyvind, believe in Christ?" "No," said Eyvind, "I can take no baptism; for I am an evil spirit put into a man's body by the sorcery of Fins because in no other way could my father and mother have a child."

Somehow, I rather doubt that Eyvind really said that he personally was an "evil spirit," and even if he did, the story seems to be an attempt to explain away what to me sounds like the most horrifying cruelty. Olaf's activities, in my opinion, did not follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Charlemagne is another fine example of a Christian king: he slaughtered literally thousands of people who refused baptism, and he instituted laws that imposed the death penalty on anyone engaging in pagan religious practices, particularly those associated with birth, marriage, and burial.

The Piri Reis Map was drawn in 1513 by a Turkish admiral. The interesting thing is that on the map he describes how his map was created by piecing together and copying 20 much older maps, some going back to ancient Egypt.

The US Navy map bureau's chief engineer analyzed the map, agreed it was highly accurate, and agreed that the coast line at the bottom could only be the land mass of Antarctica. That coast has been completely obscured by ice for 6000 years.

Unfortunately, the crackpots have given the word "Atlantis" and the search for very ancient advanced cultures a bad name. I want every smart scientific person on Slashdot to take a long look at the map linked below. The information on that map contradicts every mainstream history book. There's a lot more to the story of human civilization than we currently understand.

A good picture and story about the map

-B

In phase one, you go to the Middle East to kill moozlim ayrabs in Christ's name, but don't stop at just the men. Kill the women and children, too. They are all heathens. Kill anyone on your path. Kill the livestock and burn their crops!

Phase two is set back in Europe. Now, we are hunting for witches. With your trusty copy of Malleus Maleficarum by your side, go from town to town, put the witches on trial, and burn them all! Don't leave a single woman or girl alive, they could easily be witches. Make sure to destroy any synagogue, and and Jews therein. The strange things they do in there are probably witchcraft, too.

In phase 3, we are here in the good old US of A. Take up serpents! Drink poison and survive, speak in new tongues. Deny children medical care, but instead pray, and go door to door telling people how they will burn in hell if they don't join your church!

In the days of old, fat women used to be considered the most attractive, and often appeared in classical art.

That's because they had huge...tracts of land

The only reference I could find, though, was here , and it does say "cop" but I clearly heard her say "court" and anyway it makes sense, because she's on "trial"...

One of the reasons that Christianity spread so far and wide, is due to this creativity on the part of those spreading the gospel.

> Unless you fell off halfway up or something.

Or perhaps something like the last line in Scene 29: "Excuse me, could, uh, could somebody give me a push, please...?"

"Being made of wood, I really wouldn't..."

May we burn you if you also float in water like the very small rocks?

Buddha taught us that the source of human misery is attachment. In order to be free from sorrow, we must be free from attachment - and from striving.

Many people who meditate - and I suspect most Americans who meditate - do so because they hope to get something out of it, anything from relaxation, to relief from stress, enlightment or spiritual growth. But if you are striving to better yourself through meditation, you are missing the whole point. What you must free yourself from is that very striving.

The Shambhala monk Chyogyam Trungpa was instrumental in bringing Tibetan buddhism to the US and Canada in a form that could be appreciated by westerners. May I recommend a couple of his books:

• Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
• The Heart of the Buddha

I can teach anyone to meditate in about two minutes:

Sit comfortably but with your back straight. Focus just part of your attention on your breath. Clear your mind of thoughts. Don't beat yourself up if a though crosses your mind, just let it go. Then sit for a while. Try ten minutes to start with, then a little longer each day as you get used to it.

The most important thing is to just sit. How many Slashdotters ever allow themselves to just sit? To just clear your mind without thinking of anything?

Trungpa said there was no way out but to apply your bottom to the meditation cushion. I can promise you'll enjoy his books - he was quite a colorful character.

I think that the day that release from attachment can be sold to American business will come when Bill Gates gives his money to the poor, shaves his head, dons saffron robes, and takes The Vows of Refuge.

Piracy: a crucial part of viral marketing.

Pirates have been given a bad rap, historically. History is written by the victors, remember. Many of the pirates from the great sailing age freed slaves and the indentured, set up their own kingless mini-republics and functional anarchies, and would appear more modern to us than their other contemporaries.

See this excert from TAZ on pirate utopias or this article or google it. And of course if you're really into the spirit of things, you could goof around reading No Quarter Given.

"They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make then one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment" - D. Defoe

I think that Buddhist Nirvana sort of does; entities that become enlightened are never returned to the wheel of life, so there's a constant drain of energy "lost" by the world to nothingness.

What energy is lost? Are you referring to some sort of energy embodied in a soul? There is no persistent self, ego, or soul. Upon death the body, and thus mind, are dissolved. The matter comprising a person does not vanish anywhere. Consciousness is dissipated upon the cessation of stimuli, for such is how it arises.

Please refer to the following:

The Gospel of Buddha, by Paul Carus -- specifically "The Bodhisattva's Search"

What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula -- the earlier chapters; unfortunately, as I am currently at work, I cannot reference them.

The peace of Nirvana always seemed something like a perfectly uniform universe to me.

A key point regarding the conception of Nirvana lies in the following statement by the Buddhist logician Nagarjuna:

"There is nothing whatever which differentiates the existence-in-flux (samsara) from nirvana;
And there is nothing whatever which differentiates nirvana from existence-in-flux."
--Nagarjuna, "Fundamental of the Middle Way" (25.19)

Nagarjuna espouses the idea of sunyata, or emptiness. For a further explanation of sunyata, please consult an essay that I have written:
Emptiness, Nihilism, and the Middle Way. While this essay deals with sunyata in a different context, I believe that it comprises an adaquete introduction towards the concept. (I am not a monk, but at the very least my professor had no qualms with it)

Totally off-topic explanation of what the name means:

The Sampo, from the ancient Finnish national epos Kalevala (look for "On the third night"...,) is a magical mill that when turned on produces from its three sides never-ending streams of
1) Flour
2) Salt
3) Gold

One wonders why they chose that name...

There is an incredibly rich public domain.

For evidence of this, visit the following website:

http://www.sacred-texts.com

Or go to:
Project Gutenberg.

The fact that you can't download any and everything you want for free isn't evidence of lack of a ricn public domain.

It's not a troll that challenges them. "It's the old man from Scene 24!"

(Not the best reference site, but the best one is currently down.)

• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
• Common Lisp HyperSpec
• Common Lisp the Language, 2. ed
• Common Lisp - A gentle Introduction to symbolic computation
• The Scheme Programming language, 2. ed
• Reflections on trusting trust
• Lisp: Good News, Bad News. How to Win Big
• John McCarthy's homepage
• Dennis Ritchie's homepage
• Various classic papers it's a shame ACM never bothered to continue adding to
• Another list of classic papers (this time related mostly to programming language design)
• GTK-Gnome Application Development (not a classic, though, as the field is too young)
• KDE 2.0 Development (not a classic though, as the field is too young)
• Eric Weissteins Mathworld
• Compilers and compiler generators - an introduction with C++ (although I'm not too sure if it deserves being called a classic...)
• Parsing techniques - A practical guide
• Art of assembly language programming (never was a dead tree, but good anyway)
• Paul Carters 386 assembly book (same comment as above)
• An Introduction to Scheme and its Implementation (see comment above)
• How to design programs - An introduction to programming and computing (not a classic, yet!)
• The Gutenberg archives contains much non-copyrighted classic fiction in ASCII format
• Sacred texts has copies of or links to many religious text for various major (or minor) religions

For an ass-beating Icelandic saga, try Njal's Saga, a rich source for Icelandic history and a great read.

-tyriphobe