from a college class, instructor handed these out (English IB Mr. Grant). I wonder if same can be said about superhero stories and sci-fi:
THE SEVEN WAYS TO PLOT A WESTERN
by Frank Gruber
When I first began writing Western stories i'n 1934 1 learned a disconcerting fact: There were only seven basic Western story plots. I tried for months to invent an eighth and met with failure. Now, twenty-four years later, I am still using these seven basic Western plots:
1. THE UNION PACIFIC STORY. Into this classification fall all stories that have to do with the construction of a railroad, telegraph, or stage-coach line. Stories of wagon trains crossing the plains and mountains, accounts of building toll roads, also come into this grouping.
2. THE RANCH STORY. This category includes stories laid on cattle ranches; stories of rustlers, of ranchers versus nesters, of cattlemen versus sheepmen -- the typical cow country story, with typical cow-country heroes and villains. The movie Shane is an example.
3. THE EMPIRE STORY. This is not to,be confused with-Plot No. 2, although it frequently has elements of "The Ranch Story" in it. In the Empire Story, everything is on a grand scale. If the story has a ranch, it's a ranch of tremendous size, such as the King Ranch. The people, however, are more important in the Empire Story than the problems of the squatters, the fights over water holes, fencing, rustlers. The conflict is between Titans of the West, man against man, man against history. The founding of a boom town, a family dynasty, might be the problem. Typical of this category are Duel in the Sun, Broken Lance, etc.
4. THE REVENGE STORY. Someone has been wronged; and the chief protagonist devotes months, years, to a relentless pursuit of the wrongdoer, eventually bringing him to retribution. The Bravados is a recent example.
5. CUSTER'S LAST STAND. This is simply the cavalry-and-indian story, even though it may not have to do with Custer or the Little Big Horn. The cavalry-and-indian story is basic, and there is never a year without three or four good novels on this subject and at least one outstanding movie.
A change has come into this story, however, in recent years. In the old days the villains were the Indians. Today, the villain is the white man. The Indian is persecuted, maligned, mistreated by the whites, and.massacres the whites only in retaliation.
6. THE OUTLAW STORY. This is perennial fodder for the Western fan. No Jesse James or Billy the Kid motion picture has ever lost money. You can do Jesse James once every three or four years and it will be popular. You can do Billy the Kid just about as often; and in between you can fill in with Sam Bass, Butch Cassidy, John Wesley Hardin or any fictitious outlaw. If your outlaw is your lead, you must treat him with sympathy. He was forced into outlawry by people, conditions, the War.
7. THE MARSHAL STORY is about the dedicated lawman, so ably depicted in Hiqh Noon.
Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke is a dedicated lawman.
All you need to say about those that deny global warming:
1. Oil companies
2. Shipping companies
3. Russians
Because with less ice in Arctic Ocean area,
1. Oil companies examining more closely for drilling
2. Shipping companies planning for the long desired "northern passage"
3. Russians grumbling more about mineral rights in that area of the planet
If there was no global warming, then these guys would not take interest like they have been recently.
>"interesting tidbits from the MIT open courseware Aerospace lecture series with the shuttle's designers and engineers."
what?!? Any books,articles, overheads, pdfs from these guys? It sounds like their presentations bring to light many reasons why the Shuttle was made the way it is. If many of us knew these reasons, then we can at least make intelligent posts instead of moronic ones.
> it seems like a huge waste to deorbit it in just 9 years.
A lot can happen in nine years, another war(s) can happen in nine years. We could also acquire new partners and ideas, however. But it seems ridiculous to de-orbit the station with nine years of use even though it took 25 to build it. But maybe that's why: Companies are not going to make more money because there is nothing more on ISS to build (there is but ain't got nothin' to carry more modules to it).
Back in the 80s someone told me he read some astronomy reports where it was observed that matter traveled faster than speed of light from huge supernova explosions. I don't think such observations been seen but I haven't spent time searching such reports. Few years ago I asked Seth Shostak of SETI, he said none have been observed traveling faster than light (the debris does move quite fast though but much slower than c).
However, all these experiments are based on electromagnetic systems so it is all limited to speed of light. Someone else posted earlier in this thread photon speed is not really news (if they found it moving faster, that would be news!). I do like that term "superluminal" as in superluminal flight (any movies used this term yet?). Maybe what is news is Chinese have new experimental techniques in high energy physics.
Years ago when taking physics classes I learned the word tachyon, only to find someone else already had it for a personalized license plate!
I get suspicious when people like Gates "leverage private money in a way that redirects how public education dollars are spent." Like those who believe schools should operate how they want schools to operate instead of how they should operate. There was a time when someone completes high school they have reasonable education to be an adult, though trade school or college will help. Instead these "big donors" are trying to form school kids into what they want to function at their companies. Though not necessarily a bad thing if done for the right reasons. Yes, corporations need intelligent employees but people should have a right and ability to pursue a career they have a personal interest instead of having to work $9/hr in IT.
Everyone has all kinds of ideas for school reform, but what did schools do before they became so "bad?" What was their methods of teaching? I wonder if some of these old people forgot what methods were used to make them successful. Or did they simply grow up in neighborhoods that had good schools and not experienced growing up in neighborhoods with bad schools. There is a huge difference in Palo Alto, CA school district (where many parents have college degrees) when compared to east San Jose school districts (where many parents are poor working class). For you that say, "tango sierra, they'll just have to work harder!" Be careful because poor uneducated can easily be recruited into gang activity, and that can lead to bigger problems.
My big gripe is they increase spending on prisons, TSA, etc. and decrease spending on schools so it should not be a surprise we'll have more young people going to jails instead of schools.
Not really an answer to this article but I met a couple (anchor and cameraman) with China Central TV in Titusville covering the STS-135 launch. I asked what they think that many Americans say it will be the Chinese that will walk the surface of the moon next. She said they hope to be as good as the Americans.
> It's the goal of the engineers to build better foolproof equipment
There is the situation designing a system that is idiot proof, and along comes better idiots! I think part of engineering is something that can properly trap or catch problems before they occur, first is to STOP and kill AUTORUN feature!
I haven't read all the comments but I'm sure someone has mentioned a trick to penetrate IT systems of a company is to strategically scatter USB sticks on walkways or parking lots of companies. Then some fool employee will find one, plug it in company PC and whammo (stick autoruns some horrible virus like what Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith did in the movie).
Alrighty so I haven't RTFA but this is the kind of stuff NASA should be doing more. Hire ambitious smart people with grand ideas, give them resources and turn 'em loose! Probably much of what they do will amount to nothing but you just never know (a great concept may become reality).
>The point is there's not even a need for a pet industry when it's proven itself often untrustworthy and sometimes
>contributory to the stray problem (which your tax dollars have to deal with)
Good discussion, and I'm probably one of the "kneejerk crowd on Slashdot." But with all the various ordinances created by SF city for all kinds of issues, I still think this one will come back and haunt the city's reputation even when this pet sale ban has good intentions. Maybe there needs to be some education about pet breeders as you elaborated so then such proposals make sense when introduced.
Whether you agree or not, I think such proposals will simply add more fuel to those that say all them SF people are nutjobs. This will impact future ideas/programs/conferences/whatever put forth by the city even if it is generally accepted and considered good ideas. There may be large groups or companies planning a SF conference (or perhaps hosting Olympic Games) but oh no, they may say, "uhmmm, them SF folks sure are nutzoid, maybe we should look into another city."
I think they need to look at proposals more carefully and see how it will impact the city 20, 30, 40 years from now. Pet ban sale may not do a whole lot over the long run. Also will have to deal with "pirated pets" and "illegal sales" which may lead to greater problems (i.e. pot is illegal and contributes to costly drug wars).
I admit I haven't coded in years, and never done java or scripting or whatever. So it's either I spend some years in computer classes or years muddling through whatever scraps of stuff out there. There are books but they immediately jump into all kinds of options and various things. What I hate are examples of "hello world" and how easy it is to write the source but there is nothing about compiling (kind of like teaching someone to skydive but you don't provide a jump plane).
This reminds me about learning networks, there are no books except those written in the 1990s (with lots of pages discussing thinnet vs. thicknet), virtually all webpages are basically aggregates of some shallow discussion but you are blasted with ads.
What I think is needed is something basic that can get people started, and they can then decide if that is what they want to do or not. I use an example of a ballroom dance studio has beginner specials. You are taught basic (very basic) waltz,foxtrot, tango,rumba,cha-cha,swing skills enough to get you on the dance floor so you can experience the activity. Now if you want to master then that will take considerable more training. You don't start beginners with intent to train them to compete as open pros.
>He opened it up, pulled out a copy of Turbo Pascal, handed it to me and said, "Here...you can write your own games with this."...and I did. It was probably the most brilliant parenting move he made in his entire career. )
Excellent! Reminds me of the phrase, "Give someone a fish and you fed them for a day. Teach them to fish [ in your case your dad gave you a fishing pole ] and you have fed them for life."
I say use two different computers. One with all your "good stuff" and the other for internet use. That's what I do, although got ZoneAlarm but I had a PC that got so botched up, I nearly lost everything. So now I use two (also got Macs, one online the other not). Not that I have pirated music, don't really know if some of my few Connie Francis mp3s are pirated (virtually all my music is on CDs and vinyl). But with the mob mentality of various you-know-who organizations it seems pointless to debate the legal issues (they will continue to be as aggressive as those in Hackastan).
The smells would not have to be that strong, certain odors even low level can have tremendous impact on the psychology and how it would effect emotions. However, I would like to see more investment in writers and creativity. Take a look at the latest rehash of reality shows or going back old comic books from the 20th century for ideas (latest being Green Lantern).
>Who would want to spend the resources to archive 20 gazilla-bytes of (mostly) crap?
What may appear to be crap to you may be quite significant to others years (and maybe hundreds of years) from now.
I like Internet Archive, sometimes there are websites of good reference material, i.e. Radio-TNC Wiring Diagrams Index at http://users3.ev1.net/~medcalf/ztx/wire/index.html but this site is gone. However, you can find it at IA. It may not all be complete (a non-profit cannot do everything) but considering this private group has done something the govt and big corporations will never do. I've use them when some of my webpages barffed and I cannot find the images on my computer.
>With the death of paper books and the move to only digital copies (most of which will be slathered in DRM)
>you can eliminate the concept of resale, ensure that old editions of books become unusable, and revise history
>on the fly. Region lockouts, EULAs, acitvations and time limits.
This is the best explanation of why we should never eliminate paper books. If I want to read a book, I open it and read it. Not have to register and create another F user ID and password! Now all you tree people saying e-books will save trees, you need to focus on those who produce and mail junk mail.
Not really big news as in major political events but things like this I find fascinating. Extremely large objects doing something that covers a noticable portion of the galaxy (fortunately our solar system is quite far away or we'd all be toast, literally). It kind of makes you wonder of the vast amount of energy involved, how did it all began and where will it end. Meanwhile all you and me puny earthers bitch and moan of all kinds of crap that really don't impact much beyond the surface of this third rock in space.
>Having done a lot of flying in the USA in recent years I can assure you there is no optimization of the airlines:
hey Beaver, excellent discussion and one that most pro-airplane people don't mention when describing how slow trains are to planes. As you said, "the flight may only take an hour, but if I add all the bullshit associated with...."
Slashdot Mirror
from a college class, instructor handed these out (English IB Mr. Grant). I wonder if same can be said about superhero stories and sci-fi:
THE SEVEN WAYS TO PLOT A WESTERN
by Frank Gruber
When I first began writing Western stories i'n 1934 1 learned a disconcerting fact: There were only seven basic Western story plots. I tried for months to invent an eighth and met with failure. Now, twenty-four years later, I am still using these seven basic Western plots:
1. THE UNION PACIFIC STORY. Into this classification fall all stories that have to do with the construction of a railroad, telegraph, or stage-coach line. Stories of wagon trains crossing the plains and mountains, accounts of building toll roads, also come into this grouping.
2. THE RANCH STORY. This category includes stories laid on cattle ranches; stories of rustlers, of ranchers versus nesters, of cattlemen versus sheepmen -- the typical cow country story, with typical cow-country heroes and villains. The movie Shane is an example.
3. THE EMPIRE STORY. This is not to,be confused with-Plot No. 2, although it frequently has elements of "The Ranch Story" in it. In the Empire Story, everything is on a grand scale. If the story has a ranch, it's a ranch of tremendous size, such as the King Ranch. The people, however, are more important in the Empire Story than the problems of the squatters, the fights over water holes, fencing, rustlers. The conflict is between Titans of the West, man against man, man against history. The founding of a boom town, a family dynasty, might be the problem. Typical of this category are Duel in the Sun, Broken Lance, etc.
4. THE REVENGE STORY. Someone has been wronged; and the chief protagonist devotes months, years, to a relentless pursuit of the wrongdoer, eventually bringing him to retribution. The Bravados is a recent example.
5. CUSTER'S LAST STAND. This is simply the cavalry-and-indian story, even though it may not have to do with Custer or the Little Big Horn. The cavalry-and-indian story is basic, and there is never a year without three or four good novels on this subject and at least one outstanding movie.
A change has come into this story, however, in recent years. In the old days the villains were the Indians. Today, the villain is the white man. The Indian is persecuted, maligned, mistreated by the whites, and.massacres the whites only in retaliation.
6. THE OUTLAW STORY. This is perennial fodder for the Western fan. No Jesse James or Billy the Kid motion picture has ever lost money. You can do Jesse James once every three or four years and it will be popular. You can do Billy the Kid just about as often; and in between you can fill in with Sam Bass, Butch Cassidy, John Wesley Hardin or any fictitious outlaw. If your outlaw is your lead, you must treat him with sympathy. He was forced into outlawry by people, conditions, the War.
7. THE MARSHAL STORY is about the dedicated lawman, so ably depicted in Hiqh Noon. Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke is a dedicated lawman.
1958 by T.V. Guide
> And those with an ideological axe to grind.
All you need to say about those that deny global warming:
1. Oil companies
2. Shipping companies
3. Russians
Because with less ice in Arctic Ocean area,
1. Oil companies examining more closely for drilling
2. Shipping companies planning for the long desired "northern passage"
3. Russians grumbling more about mineral rights in that area of the planet
If there was no global warming, then these guys would not take interest like they have been recently.
I found Lecture 1 (The Origins of the Space Shuttle) at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/lecture-notes/lecture-1/ (and looks like it is on Youtube, length = 110 min). PDF notes at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/lecture-notes/myers_shtl_orign.pdf
another link of open courseware on Shuttle history, http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/lecture-notes/lecture-2/
I think I've found what I asked for, http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/#aeronautics-and-astronautics
what?!? Any books,articles, overheads, pdfs from these guys? It sounds like their presentations bring to light many reasons why the Shuttle was made the way it is. If many of us knew these reasons, then we can at least make intelligent posts instead of moronic ones.
> it seems like a huge waste to deorbit it in just 9 years.
A lot can happen in nine years, another war(s) can happen in nine years. We could also acquire new partners and ideas, however. But it seems ridiculous to de-orbit the station with nine years of use even though it took 25 to build it. But maybe that's why: Companies are not going to make more money because there is nothing more on ISS to build (there is but ain't got nothin' to carry more modules to it).
Back in the 80s someone told me he read some astronomy reports where it was observed that matter traveled faster than speed of light from huge supernova explosions. I don't think such observations been seen but I haven't spent time searching such reports. Few years ago I asked Seth Shostak of SETI, he said none have been observed traveling faster than light (the debris does move quite fast though but much slower than c).
However, all these experiments are based on electromagnetic systems so it is all limited to speed of light. Someone else posted earlier in this thread photon speed is not really news (if they found it moving faster, that would be news!). I do like that term "superluminal" as in superluminal flight (any movies used this term yet?). Maybe what is news is Chinese have new experimental techniques in high energy physics.
Years ago when taking physics classes I learned the word tachyon, only to find someone else already had it for a personalized license plate!
I get suspicious when people like Gates "leverage private money in a way that redirects how public education dollars are spent." Like those who believe schools should operate how they want schools to operate instead of how they should operate. There was a time when someone completes high school they have reasonable education to be an adult, though trade school or college will help. Instead these "big donors" are trying to form school kids into what they want to function at their companies. Though not necessarily a bad thing if done for the right reasons. Yes, corporations need intelligent employees but people should have a right and ability to pursue a career they have a personal interest instead of having to work $9/hr in IT.
Everyone has all kinds of ideas for school reform, but what did schools do before they became so "bad?" What was their methods of teaching? I wonder if some of these old people forgot what methods were used to make them successful. Or did they simply grow up in neighborhoods that had good schools and not experienced growing up in neighborhoods with bad schools. There is a huge difference in Palo Alto, CA school district (where many parents have college degrees) when compared to east San Jose school districts (where many parents are poor working class). For you that say, "tango sierra, they'll just have to work harder!" Be careful because poor uneducated can easily be recruited into gang activity, and that can lead to bigger problems.
My big gripe is they increase spending on prisons, TSA, etc. and decrease spending on schools so it should not be a surprise we'll have more young people going to jails instead of schools.
Not really an answer to this article but I met a couple (anchor and cameraman) with China Central TV in Titusville covering the STS-135 launch. I asked what they think that many Americans say it will be the Chinese that will walk the surface of the moon next. She said they hope to be as good as the Americans.
>"So, when someone issues communications through technology, that is the press protected by the 1st Amendement."
Post of the Month! Good examination.
> It's the goal of the engineers to build better foolproof equipment
There is the situation designing a system that is idiot proof, and along comes better idiots! I think part of engineering is something that can properly trap or catch problems before they occur, first is to STOP and kill AUTORUN feature!
I haven't read all the comments but I'm sure someone has mentioned a trick to penetrate IT systems of a company is to strategically scatter USB sticks on walkways or parking lots of companies. Then some fool employee will find one, plug it in company PC and whammo (stick autoruns some horrible virus like what Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith did in the movie).
>SLS (a communist approach to space)
you mean the "Socialist Launch System?"
Alrighty so I haven't RTFA but this is the kind of stuff NASA should be doing more. Hire ambitious smart people with grand ideas, give them resources and turn 'em loose! Probably much of what they do will amount to nothing but you just never know (a great concept may become reality).
> if you don't like the pet industry, regulate it. Make sure its up to par. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I second that, outlawing will only make it worse.
>The point is there's not even a need for a pet industry when it's proven itself often untrustworthy and sometimes >contributory to the stray problem (which your tax dollars have to deal with)
Good discussion, and I'm probably one of the "kneejerk crowd on Slashdot." But with all the various ordinances created by SF city for all kinds of issues, I still think this one will come back and haunt the city's reputation even when this pet sale ban has good intentions. Maybe there needs to be some education about pet breeders as you elaborated so then such proposals make sense when introduced.
Whether you agree or not, I think such proposals will simply add more fuel to those that say all them SF people are nutjobs. This will impact future ideas/programs/conferences/whatever put forth by the city even if it is generally accepted and considered good ideas. There may be large groups or companies planning a SF conference (or perhaps hosting Olympic Games) but oh no, they may say, "uhmmm, them SF folks sure are nutzoid, maybe we should look into another city."
I think they need to look at proposals more carefully and see how it will impact the city 20, 30, 40 years from now. Pet ban sale may not do a whole lot over the long run. Also will have to deal with "pirated pets" and "illegal sales" which may lead to greater problems (i.e. pot is illegal and contributes to costly drug wars).
I admit I haven't coded in years, and never done java or scripting or whatever. So it's either I spend some years in computer classes or years muddling through whatever scraps of stuff out there. There are books but they immediately jump into all kinds of options and various things. What I hate are examples of "hello world" and how easy it is to write the source but there is nothing about compiling (kind of like teaching someone to skydive but you don't provide a jump plane).
This reminds me about learning networks, there are no books except those written in the 1990s (with lots of pages discussing thinnet vs. thicknet), virtually all webpages are basically aggregates of some shallow discussion but you are blasted with ads.
What I think is needed is something basic that can get people started, and they can then decide if that is what they want to do or not. I use an example of a ballroom dance studio has beginner specials. You are taught basic (very basic) waltz,foxtrot, tango,rumba,cha-cha,swing skills enough to get you on the dance floor so you can experience the activity. Now if you want to master then that will take considerable more training. You don't start beginners with intent to train them to compete as open pros.
>He opened it up, pulled out a copy of Turbo Pascal, handed it to me and said, "Here...you can write your own games with this." ...and I did. It was probably the most brilliant parenting move he made in his entire career. )
Excellent! Reminds me of the phrase, "Give someone a fish and you fed them for a day. Teach them to fish [ in your case your dad gave you a fishing pole ] and you have fed them for life."
I say use two different computers. One with all your "good stuff" and the other for internet use. That's what I do, although got ZoneAlarm but I had a PC that got so botched up, I nearly lost everything. So now I use two (also got Macs, one online the other not). Not that I have pirated music, don't really know if some of my few Connie Francis mp3s are pirated (virtually all my music is on CDs and vinyl). But with the mob mentality of various you-know-who organizations it seems pointless to debate the legal issues (they will continue to be as aggressive as those in Hackastan).
The smells would not have to be that strong, certain odors even low level can have tremendous impact on the psychology and how it would effect emotions. However, I would like to see more investment in writers and creativity. Take a look at the latest rehash of reality shows or going back old comic books from the 20th century for ideas (latest being Green Lantern).
>Who would want to spend the resources to archive 20 gazilla-bytes of (mostly) crap?
What may appear to be crap to you may be quite significant to others years (and maybe hundreds of years) from now.
I like Internet Archive, sometimes there are websites of good reference material, i.e. Radio-TNC Wiring Diagrams Index at http://users3.ev1.net/~medcalf/ztx/wire/index.html but this site is gone. However, you can find it at IA. It may not all be complete (a non-profit cannot do everything) but considering this private group has done something the govt and big corporations will never do. I've use them when some of my webpages barffed and I cannot find the images on my computer.
>With the death of paper books and the move to only digital copies (most of which will be slathered in DRM)
>you can eliminate the concept of resale, ensure that old editions of books become unusable, and revise history
>on the fly. Region lockouts, EULAs, acitvations and time limits.
This is the best explanation of why we should never eliminate paper books. If I want to read a book, I open it and read it. Not have to register and create another F user ID and password! Now all you tree people saying e-books will save trees, you need to focus on those who produce and mail junk mail.
Not really big news as in major political events but things like this I find fascinating. Extremely large objects doing something that covers a noticable portion of the galaxy (fortunately our solar system is quite far away or we'd all be toast, literally). It kind of makes you wonder of the vast amount of energy involved, how did it all began and where will it end. Meanwhile all you and me puny earthers bitch and moan of all kinds of crap that really don't impact much beyond the surface of this third rock in space.
>Having done a lot of flying in the USA in recent years I can assure you there is no optimization of the airlines:
hey Beaver, excellent discussion and one that most pro-airplane people don't mention when describing how slow trains are to planes. As you said, "the flight may only take an hour, but if I add all the bullshit associated with...."