OK my physics is garbage, but couldn't a thin sheet of plastic tuned to reflect only wavelengths in the IR spectrum be used for "perfect" thermal insulation?
If so I can't begin to think of the applications this tech could have above and beyond increasing bandwidth.
I've got all 36 episodes of Robotech in Realmedia format and the first half of the sequel series Southern Cross. Managed to download them all about a year ago. Sorry I don't have the URL any more but you might want to look for the "Robotech Project" or something similar - it was a site dedicated to keeping the show alive. They had hi res G2 format files and links to sites that had slightly lower res vids for Southern Cross and Invid.
If you _do_ find it, let me know;) If you're still desparate, get in touch we'll arrange something.
Maq
"Stage lights flashing; The feeling's smashing...."
I've been through 101 arguments on this subject from film reviewers to philosophy professors.
In my opinion one of the most defining features of the genre of science fiction is the exploration of everyday themes by placing them in the context of the extraordinary. To take an every day theme and exagerrate it with the use of a (usually) futuristic millieu to really force the reader/viewer to examine those themes in their most extreme form.
This sounds a little off-beat so I'll attempt to explain.
First of all, I think most/. readers would agree that you cannot simply define sci fi as anything containing advanced hardware. A genre is not defined by its props but by its themes. Take for example the classic film "Outland" - don't let the fact that it is set on an outer-space mining colony fool you, it's a western. Connery is the "new sheriff" in town waiting for the high-noon showdown with the bad dudes in black hats.
Similarly, traditional "Space Opera" fare bears little similarity to sci fi other than the technology. Star Wars is more of a fantasy sword and sorcery adventure epic than Sci Fi - drawing as it did on Roman and Greek history, mythology and the odd Kurasawa film.
Some of the more landmark Sci Fi works can be seen in their attempt to use extraordinary circumstances to highlight contemporary themes - in doing so the most commonly used tool is science.
Examples to illustrate:
Phillip K Dick - to my mind the finest sci fi writer ever - often used the example of bizarre alien races, strange psychotropic drugs, android technology etc, to highlight human philosophical themes of perception, identity and reality.
A classic example is Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Putting it simply this story (in both its forms) uses the concept of artificial intelligence to examine human themes of identity. The theme has been with us in philosphy for years but Dick uses science to craft it into a story and really make us think about it. There is a similar Dick short story which runs along the same theme; the name eludes me but it was based around an android who's entire experience of life was simply input from a tape in his chest. This is less a story about robots than it is a story about Cartesean themes of identity and perception.
Another example - the "Hive mind" sci fi themes of the 50's and 60's (Invasion of the Body Snatchers et al). Sci Fi in their own right but drawing on the paranoid McCarthyist politics of the time and echoing (or enhancing) fear of Communist takeover by extrapolating Communism from a differing political ideology to a race of aliens. (Side note - did anyone else find it amusing when Picard tried to destroy the Borg with Peace, Freedom and Individuality?;)
On the subject of Star Trek, this mentality has been at the heart of Star Trek since the beginning, Star Trek (often quite blatantly) uses extraordinary settings in order to address contemporary themes. It is arguably one of the reasons it has been so successful while Space Rangers and its ilk has faded into obscurity....
I've probably rambled on long enough. In closing I'd just like to reiterate that the important distinction in examining any genre is to look at the themes it tries to deal with, not the props it uses.
Thought this might be of interest, got this from the SAGE-AU mailing list from an original post on the Electronic Frontiers Australia list. Raises an interesting point Re: increased bandwidth costs for Au ISPs:
--Begin Fw--
The ABA has issued a 'Consultation Paper' containing draft specifications/criteria for restricted access systems for sites providing content that is (or is likely to be) classified R. A copy is available at: http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/ABAconspaper_ras.h tml Closing date for comments is Tuesday 9 November 1999.
The proposed system requires adults wishing to access material that is unsuitable for children on Australian sites, to provide significant personal details to register to access a site. After registering and obtaining a PIN or password, on each access to the site, the user must enter their allocated PIN or password together with their date of birth.
It seems highly unlikely that most users will be willing to provide sensitive personal details to web site operators, as such information could then be used for blackmail, personal or professional exposure, fraud and predatory behaviour, etc.
These provisions appear designed to silence sites in Australia providing material unsuitable for children (which includes considerably more material than "porn" and violence). As R rated sites outside Australia are not subject to any potential action by the ABA, sites will move offshore in order to maintain an Australian and international audience. ISPs will face higher bandwidth costs as more content is drawn from overseas and will lose income from hosting services to overseas ISPs/ICHs.
So has anyone actually _played_ wolf3d lately. Sure you get a nice "ah, I remember the good old days" feeling from it but when you look at it what we really loved about it was it was a precursor to a genre.
Is anyone really interested in playing a "kill the guard, kill the guard, find the key, kill the guard, kill the boss" kind of game? The FPS genre is so chock full of titles at the moment I fail to see how a throwback to the daddy of them all is going to be something to lose sleep over.
Given the current saturation of the FPS market a game has to bring something special or new to the table in order to be something other than a rehash; and, forgive me for being cynical, but the fact that they're leaning on the goodwill of the original title has me wondering if they have anything at all.
Hey, I could be wrong, look how many great 60's movies and TV shows have been remade into modern classics lately.
So has anyone actually _played_ wolf3d lately. Sure you get a nice "ah, I remember the good old days" feeling from it but when you look at it what we really loved about it was it was a precursor to a genre. Is anyone really interested in playing a "kill the guard, kill the guard, find the key, kill the guard, kill the boss" kind of game? The FPS genre is so chock full of titles at the moment I fail to see how a throwback to the daddy of them all is going to be something to lose sleep over. Given the current saturation of the FPS market a game has to bring something special or new to the table in order to be something other than a rehash; and, forgive me for being cynical, but the fact that they're leaning on the goodwill of the original title has me wondering if they have anything at all. Hey, I could be wrong, look how many great 60's movies and TV shows have been remade into modern classics lately. No, really... Stop Laughing
Slashdot Mirror
OK my physics is garbage, but couldn't a thin sheet of plastic tuned to reflect only wavelengths in the IR spectrum be used for "perfect" thermal insulation?
If so I can't begin to think of the applications this tech could have above and beyond increasing bandwidth.
Maq
I've got all 36 episodes of Robotech in Realmedia format and the first half of the sequel series Southern Cross. Managed to download them all about a year ago. Sorry I don't have the URL any more but you might want to look for the "Robotech Project" or something similar - it was a site dedicated to keeping the show alive. They had hi res G2 format files and links to sites that had slightly lower res vids for Southern Cross and Invid.
;) If you're still desparate, get in touch we'll arrange something.
If you _do_ find it, let me know
Maq
"Stage lights flashing; The feeling's smashing...."
I've been through 101 arguments on this subject from film reviewers to philosophy professors.
/. readers would agree that you cannot simply define sci fi as anything containing advanced hardware. A genre is not defined by its props but by its themes. Take for example the classic film "Outland" - don't let the fact that it is set on an outer-space mining colony fool you, it's a western. Connery is the "new sheriff" in town waiting for the high-noon showdown with the bad dudes in black hats.
;)
In my opinion one of the most defining features of the genre of science fiction is the exploration of everyday themes by placing them in the context of the extraordinary. To take an every day theme and exagerrate it with the use of a (usually) futuristic millieu to really force the reader/viewer to examine those themes in their most extreme form.
This sounds a little off-beat so I'll attempt to explain.
First of all, I think most
Similarly, traditional "Space Opera" fare bears little similarity to sci fi other than the technology. Star Wars is more of a fantasy sword and sorcery adventure epic than Sci Fi - drawing as it did on Roman and Greek history, mythology and the odd Kurasawa film.
Some of the more landmark Sci Fi works can be seen in their attempt to use extraordinary circumstances to highlight contemporary themes - in doing so the most commonly used tool is science.
Examples to illustrate:
Phillip K Dick - to my mind the finest sci fi writer ever - often used the example of bizarre alien races, strange psychotropic drugs, android technology etc, to highlight human philosophical themes of perception, identity and reality.
A classic example is Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Putting it simply this story (in both its forms) uses the concept of artificial intelligence to examine human themes of identity. The theme has been with us in philosphy for years but Dick uses science to craft it into a story and really make us think about it. There is a similar Dick short story which runs along the same theme; the name eludes me but it was based around an android who's entire experience of life was simply input from a tape in his chest. This is less a story about robots than it is a story about Cartesean themes of identity and perception.
Another example - the "Hive mind" sci fi themes of the 50's and 60's (Invasion of the Body Snatchers et al). Sci Fi in their own right but drawing on the paranoid McCarthyist politics of the time and echoing (or enhancing) fear of Communist takeover by extrapolating Communism from a differing political ideology to a race of aliens. (Side note - did anyone else find it amusing when Picard tried to destroy the Borg with Peace, Freedom and Individuality?
On the subject of Star Trek, this mentality has been at the heart of Star Trek since the beginning, Star Trek (often quite blatantly) uses extraordinary settings in order to address contemporary themes. It is arguably one of the reasons it has been so successful while Space Rangers and its ilk has faded into obscurity....
I've probably rambled on long enough. In closing I'd just like to reiterate that the important distinction in examining any genre is to look at the themes it tries to deal with, not the props it uses.
Thought this might be of interest, got this from the SAGE-AU mailing list from an original post on the Electronic Frontiers Australia list. Raises an interesting point Re: increased bandwidth costs for Au ISPs:
h tml
--Begin Fw--
The ABA has issued a 'Consultation Paper' containing draft
specifications/criteria for restricted access systems for sites providing
content that is (or is likely to be) classified R. A copy is available at:
http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/ABAconspaper_ras.
Closing date for comments is Tuesday 9 November 1999.
The proposed system requires adults wishing to access material that is
unsuitable for children on Australian sites, to provide significant
personal details to register to access a site. After registering and
obtaining a PIN or password, on each access to the site, the user must
enter their allocated PIN or password together with their date of birth.
It seems highly unlikely that most users will be willing to provide
sensitive personal details to web site operators, as such information could
then be used for blackmail, personal or professional exposure, fraud and
predatory behaviour, etc.
These provisions appear designed to silence sites in Australia providing
material unsuitable for children (which includes considerably more material
than "porn" and violence). As R rated sites outside Australia are not
subject to any potential action by the ABA, sites will move offshore in
order to maintain an Australian and international audience. ISPs will face
higher bandwidth costs as more content is drawn from overseas and will lose
income from hosting services to overseas ISPs/ICHs.
---End Fw---
So has anyone actually _played_ wolf3d lately. Sure you get a nice "ah, I remember the good old days" feeling from it but when you look at it what we really loved about it was it was a precursor to a genre.
Is anyone really interested in playing a "kill the guard, kill the guard, find the key, kill the guard, kill the boss" kind of game? The FPS genre is so chock full of titles at the moment I fail to see how a throwback to the daddy of them all is going to be something to lose sleep over.
Given the current saturation of the FPS market a game has to bring something special or new to the table in order to be something other than a rehash; and, forgive me for being cynical, but the fact that they're leaning on the goodwill of the original title has me wondering if they have anything at all.
Hey, I could be wrong, look how many great 60's movies and TV shows have been remade into modern classics lately.
No, really...
Stop Laughing
So has anyone actually _played_ wolf3d lately. Sure you get a nice "ah, I remember the good old days" feeling from it but when you look at it what we really loved about it was it was a precursor to a genre. Is anyone really interested in playing a "kill the guard, kill the guard, find the key, kill the guard, kill the boss" kind of game? The FPS genre is so chock full of titles at the moment I fail to see how a throwback to the daddy of them all is going to be something to lose sleep over. Given the current saturation of the FPS market a game has to bring something special or new to the table in order to be something other than a rehash; and, forgive me for being cynical, but the fact that they're leaning on the goodwill of the original title has me wondering if they have anything at all. Hey, I could be wrong, look how many great 60's movies and TV shows have been remade into modern classics lately. No, really... Stop Laughing