it's hard to make 1000 year goals when the party in control believes that Christ is coming back "any day now" to whisk us all off to heaven. Okay, not all of us. Just the Baptists.
As Enron has so resoundingly proven; it's actually BAD for the economy to foster an environment of fraud. If people don't TRUST, they don't take a chance with their money. It's in congress' interest to create strong laws and enforce them. Why they're not doing so is a complete mystery.
The idea that ideas are even "property", an sich, is a pretty new thing, going back maybe 200 years at most.
Not true. The Venitians who invented spectacles (that is, corrective eye lenses, as opposed to the simply magnifiying lenses that existed as early as 262 BC in China) - kept it a closely guarded secret for decades to prevent anyone else from figuring out how they made them so they could reap enormous profits from the exclusive control of the manufacture and sale of eyeglasses. That's more like 600 years old.
I agree though, the concept is pretty sick. Especially in this form, where people profited hugely and many people who would otherwise have been productive members of society, being able to see - simply were too poor to afford glasses. Maybe that was the case before glasses ever were created in the first place, and sure, the innovation deserves reward - but there's a point where the control becomes abusive. Drawing a distinct line at a given point yeilds to slippery-slope arguments in BOTH directions - but I think that the US constitutional basis of a 14 year copyright/patent is an excellent compromise.
Tyranny of the majority? I'd say using the word "Tyranny" is kind of a loaded word, and redundant. Nobody wants Tyranny of anything. The fact is, the only good form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. The only problem is locating a benevolent dictator. The same applies in locating a benevolent president, congress, parliment, or outright votership as in a "pure" democracy.
Bottom line is, people suck, and should not be trusted to govern. themselves or others. period. Unfortunately, there just ain't no alternative.
Re:Bandwidth solves this problem soon?
on
Homogenized Music
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· Score: 2
It's not the bandwidth of the number of radio channels that's the limiting factor - it's the bandwidth of the promotors. They can only control so many stations. With Web Radio - the promotors will have to controll thousands of stations, and geography doesn't become a factor at all. So obviously, the route to controlling Web Radio isn't with payola/promotors. It's with CARP legislation.
There's also another kiss when she's patching up his stump in the Falcon after she rescues his whiny ass from the weather vane on the bottom of the cloud city. Very fast, almost glancing. I'm not sure what the whole point of it was.
yeah yeah, and in EIV, Obi Wan says that the Jedi defended justice in the old republic for over 1000 generations. In EI and II, it's 1000 years. Unless those Jedi breed really freaking fast.
Actually, I think that those of us who are allergic to latex are going to increase as numbers - it's a survivability trait. Darwin sez - those who are not allergic to condoms. . . DON'T REPRODUCE!
I just got an email from George Lucas himself, asking me what I think of his proposed outline for Episode III (he said his outline for II finished up a week after filming started, we all know what a disaster that was, so he's trying to get a headstart on III).
In III, it is 15 years later. The Clone Wars are in full swing. Chancellor Palpatine's "War on Secessionists" has killed many innocent people, but has failed to bring Count Dooku to justice. Amidala has secretly had Anakin's love babies - while Anakin has been called away to fight the "War on Secessionists" with his side kick ObiWan.
Jar Jar accidentally flips the latch on Amidala's window in her high-rise as she leans on it to look out on the beatiful sunrise one morning (er - I wonder what Jar Jar was doing in Amidala's room in the early morning?). Anakin totally blows his top, and abandons his post, returning to Coruscant, he confronts Jar Jar, who admits that he was "doing" Amidala, and that Luke and Leia are really HIS. Anakin force-grabs Jar Jar, and lightsabers his arms and legs off, then shoves him out the same window, and before dropping him 5000 feet, tears his torso to shreds.
In the meantime, ObiWan is instructed by Yoda to NOT confront Anakin, but instead, to protect Luke and Leia from his growing rage. So ObiWan successfully evades Anakin on Coruscant, abducts the children, and spirits them off to Bail Organa's home planet of Alderaan. To have him adopt them as the Jedi's ace in the hole against the growing menace of their loose cannon, Anakin. Anakin finds out and decides that the Jedi council is plotting against him, and needs to be destroyed. And so, he destroys them. Three escape. Yoda, Mace, and a new Jedi, Ell Ron Hubbardi played by John Travolta. A long hunting sequence plays out where Mace Windu and Ell Ron lead Anakin on a wild goose chase through the streets of Coruscant in a speeder, while Mace and Ell Ron philosophise about the meaning of life, the force, phenomenology, etc.
While they stop for food at a "Space Denny's", Mace goes to the bathroom, and Anakin finally catches up to Ell Ron, and uses the Jedi Mind Trick (TM) to convince him that Mace is evil and that they should destroy eachother. Mace comes out of the bathroom, and they have the lightsaber duel to end all lightsaber duels. Properly disposed of, Anakin now ignores the two and pursues Yoda. But by now, the trail is cold, and he ends up on Alderaan, looking for the kids, so he can destroy them. ObiWan finds him first, and they duel nearly to the death, and Anakin is plunged into a volcano.
Mace has destroyed Ell Ron Hubbardi, and it is in the remains of the shattered high-rise that was the Space Denny's that the emporer encounters him, all pissed off and shit. The emporer turns him to the dark side, and has him change his name to Darth Vader. The emporer says that he will tell everyone that Darth Vader is really Anakin, rescued from the Volcano, and rebuilt with off the shelf cyborg parts.
Yoda catches up with Obi Wan, and tells him that they've got to change plans a bit, because having BOTH twins on Alderaan is a single-point of failure, so Obi Wan takes Luke to Tatooine, and sells him as a slave for a cheap hooker. Luke is eventually sold through several owners, who decide to get rid of him as soon as they find out how much he whines, until he ends up in the same fate as his grandmother Shmi. Eventually, Owen comes to love Luke and sets him free, and even stops molesting him - but continues to keep him on as a farmhand. Yoda, in the meantime, has hidden himself on Dagobah.
Oh yeah, and one twist he wants to add. The Space Denny's actually gathers roadkill from all around Coruscant. People who have fallen out of windows, or their speeder's seatbelts weren't fastened, etc. And grinds them up as mystery meat. So Mace and Ell Ron were actually eating bits of Amidala and Jar Jar. And when Anakin stopped to warp Ell Ron's mind, he also took a bite of Mace's hamburger, containing bits of Amidala. In this way, Amidala's body became part of the force, and this is the route through which she becomes a ghost at the end of the re-made episode VI. Also, they'll have to reshoot the scenes where Vader takes off his mask in Episode V and VI (and his ghost scene at the end of VI) to replace him with Windu. This is also how Jar Jar's ghost ends up in Episode IV, because he was eaten by Mace, who was Darth Vader. Jar Jar's ghost will be in the scene where Obi Wan is killed, he'll tell Luke; "Luke! Meesa tink yoosa better get a runnin boss" - but he won't admit to being his true father, because that would present an obvious continutiy error with Episode V. In fact, it will never be revealed to Luke who his real father is, and when he pulls off Vader's mask at the end and sees that it's Mace, he'll chalk up the skin color difference to volcanic scorching or something.
- - - I'm not sure what to say to George. I mean, I think he sent it to me by mistake - I actually opened it by mistake, because the subject line was "Enlarge your penis 500%!" - I think it's a great idea that hes getting a headstart, and I kind of like this better than where it looked like it was headed.
You're kidding yourself if you're saying that a DJ is an artist. You like turntables so you can scratch. Big freakin deal. When you have to characterize a quality by saying it "feels" better, you're reaching for a justification that in all likelyhood just isn't there.
. ..and if they don't get it right, how will they know? They can compare it to the specimens they have in jars, but how do they see if it has the right behaviors, etc. ?
I dunno, in IV, V, VI, I was very interested in the character, Darth Vader, and how he came to be what he was. After Bin Laden blew up the WTC, we all asked ourselves, "WHY do they hate us so much?" After Harris and Klebold offed their classmates, then themselves, we all asked ourselves, "WHY would two American teenagers with everything to look forward to do something like that?" And after Darth Vader helped the Emporer dissolve the senate and blow up a planet, we wonder "what could have turned him into such a monster?"
Well, we're finding out. I suppose that in REAL life, these things come out and ultimately, we don't learn anything of value from them - but our curiosity is satisfied. We're curious about the bad ones. It's why Serial Killer Trading Cards sell.
Actually, I'm VERY suprised that Katz didn't bring up the youthy arrogant power trip that Anakin was on as he slowly turned to the dark side, just like teenagers Harris and Klebold, the pair of Sith Lord teenagers seduced by the power offered by home made pipe bombs and guns.
If you recall, Yoda and Kenobi were TRAINED FROM BIRTH.
Luke had a few hours with Kenobi on the Falcon, and some time with Yoda on Dagobah (which could be anywhere from a day or two to a couple of weeks, depending on how you interpret ESB). He sure didn't stick around to "complete the training". Hell, Vader never demonstrated use of Force Lightning. Maybe that was because he didn't have enough living parts left, or maybe he didn't stick around with the Jedi long enough to be trained. I suspect it's probably one of the very advanced tricks, like coming back as a ghost after being offed.
I have to totally disagree. The battle scenes, if you look at the Jedi, most of the totally sucked at pretending they were holding light sabers. The whole Kamino sequence was so unrealistic looking, I almost walked out. I've seen better Babylon 5 scenes. The cloning aliens were terribly unrealistic. Yeah, I agree that a lot of the CGI in Spiderman was pretty fake, but in that case, I attribute it to pushing the technology to the breaking point. But the kinds of things they were trying to do in EpII weren't ground breaking - the CGI just looked cheap, and they used it WAY too much when they could have done just as well or better with models in many cases.
That's not how I would have choreographed that fight.
Look at ESB, Luke vs. Vader. Vader starts out fighting one-handed, while Luke is sweating grunting, balls-out giving it everything he's got like the hot-tempered whiny little out of control punk that he is. Vader holds him off and controls - DOMINATES the fight with quiet dignity. He's steering Luke over to the carbon freezer. . .
I expected something more akin to that out of an 800 year old little green guy. Especially one who walks like he's got an arthritic hip. The jumping spinning spastic monkey he turned into was not dignified at all. I half expected him to begin using the force to fling his feces at Dooku.
As someone who knows at least a little bit about martial arts - both in a practical sense, and a Hollywood sense - I would have written up this fight with Yoda using more wisdom with regard to his strengths as a fighter. Trying to kick someone in the head is like trying to punch someone in the knee. It's not the easiest move, it wastes energy for very little potential payoff, and it exposes some fairly vulnerable areas to attack. Granted, Yoda wasn't throwing any Jet Li kicks, but there was no reason for him to jump up to Dooku's face-level, where his lightsaber was more conveniently located for defense. I would have kept Yoda firmly planted on the ground, using two short light sabers. (long would be impossible, because some of the moves would have the tips cutting the floor). Yoda would have made quick lunging low attacks at Dooku's feet and shins. As silly as that sounds, Dooku would have had a hard time defending against them. He'd have to bend over, stoop down, and be made off balance. On the ground, there's a limited number of directions Yoda could expect to be attacked from. Down there, Dooku does have a reach advantage, but he pretty much has that no matter where Yoda is. With two sabres, Yoda could have eaten that advantage. Yoda has a good defensive advantage, and the ability to attack targets that would be difficult for Dooku to defend. It's a great strategy, because Yoda could easily have cut off a foot or a leg. Then they could have moved the story on and Dooku could have escaped, and gotten a cyber replacement, which would have taken all of 60 seconds of film to portray. When I first saw Yoda in action, I was half expecting some bullet-time scenes. I'm grateful they didn't do that. . .
Number 2 - the mirror could have been left by an unmanned mission.
Number 4 - The last serious attempt on this one, I heard from a friend of mine, who is a muslim in the UK (who sadly, buys into the moon-landing-hoax-hoax). Apparently, this is a very popular theory among muslims (according to him). They feel that the US Moon Landing was a hoax so that the US could "prove" to the world that Americans were better than the rest, and the Science is the one true way and the "backwards religious people" can't do "great" things. Along with a lot of this rhetoric is some very anti-white racist thinking - the World Trade Center versus the Petronas Towers was also involved (this was pre-Sept 11.) as an example that Muslims (and people of color) can do things just as great as the whites/infidels. This reason has been cited as why the World Trade Center has been a prime target of muslim terrorists for over 10 years. (the Sears tower is taller, dammit!)
This is why I'll be laughing my ass off when the Chinese build a moon base.
It IS true that had their been a solar flare while the astronauts were outside the van allen belts, they would have received a strong dose of radiation - but most likely not lethal. In fact, they were exposed to some fairly high radiation, but certainly not enough to affect their health. There are plans in the Mars missions for how astronauts can be warned and sheilded from radiation during the trip.
Another part of the conspiracy is how no earth-based telescope is powerful enough to actually SEE the leftover moon landers, etc. But Hubble supposedly is - but JPL refuses to point Hubble at the moon because (conspiracy) that would expose the hoax (truth) the instruments are too sensitive to be exposed to light that bright.
All seriously funny stuff. Except for the knocking down of the WTC. That wasn't very funny.
I don't have RSI, and especially not from typing. I use the regular old MS natural keyboard, but I'd used the standard kind for years before they were available.
I did, however, find that I do suffer from tendonitis in my right wrist - mainly from mousing. What I found helps best is to hold the mouse correctly. For the standard teardrop-ish Microsoft mouse, I keep my index finger on the button, and I clutch the base of the mouse under my thumb, not under my palm, or the heel of my hand. I found that this changed the angle at which I hold the mouse, and took the stress off the outside edge of my wrist, where it hurt the most.
I've even experimented with some adhesive and velcro - and on MY system, I have a little thumb-strap that fastens around my thumb, so I can keep the moust at the proper angle in relation to my hand.
And since the skyrocketing federal tax revenues pre FY2000 were caused by skyrocketing personal wealth, which was caused by skyrocketing profits from stock investments, which was caused by skyrocketing.coms and tech, which was caused by people believing the hype about stocks -
Maybe listening to the lies wasn't a bad idea afterall. Please, Enron, come back!! We miss you! Lie to us some more. Tell us we're pretty.
Slashdot Mirror
it's hard to make 1000 year goals when the party in control believes that Christ is coming back "any day now" to whisk us all off to heaven. Okay, not all of us. Just the Baptists.
As Enron has so resoundingly proven; it's actually BAD for the economy to foster an environment of fraud. If people don't TRUST, they don't take a chance with their money. It's in congress' interest to create strong laws and enforce them. Why they're not doing so is a complete mystery.
Obviously KOME in LA is made-up. Sex sells. Or so I hear.
It's just what I said when I first used the web back in 1994. "This is going to change EVERYTHING".
The idea that ideas are even "property", an sich, is a pretty new thing, going back maybe 200 years at most.
Not true. The Venitians who invented spectacles (that is, corrective eye lenses, as opposed to the simply magnifiying lenses that existed as early as 262 BC in China) - kept it a closely guarded secret for decades to prevent anyone else from figuring out how they made them so they could reap enormous profits from the exclusive control of the manufacture and sale of eyeglasses. That's more like 600 years old.
I agree though, the concept is pretty sick. Especially in this form, where people profited hugely and many people who would otherwise have been productive members of society, being able to see - simply were too poor to afford glasses. Maybe that was the case before glasses ever were created in the first place, and sure, the innovation deserves reward - but there's a point where the control becomes abusive. Drawing a distinct line at a given point yeilds to slippery-slope arguments in BOTH directions - but I think that the US constitutional basis of a 14 year copyright/patent is an excellent compromise.
Tyranny of the majority? I'd say using the word "Tyranny" is kind of a loaded word, and redundant. Nobody wants Tyranny of anything. The fact is, the only good form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. The only problem is locating a benevolent dictator. The same applies in locating a benevolent president, congress, parliment, or outright votership as in a "pure" democracy.
Bottom line is, people suck, and should not be trusted to govern. themselves or others. period. Unfortunately, there just ain't no alternative.
Don't you mean Wir? :) (Where Is Robert?)
It's not the bandwidth of the number of radio channels that's the limiting factor - it's the bandwidth of the promotors. They can only control so many stations. With Web Radio - the promotors will have to controll thousands of stations, and geography doesn't become a factor at all. So obviously, the route to controlling Web Radio isn't with payola/promotors. It's with CARP legislation.
There's also another kiss when she's patching up his stump in the Falcon after she rescues his whiny ass from the weather vane on the bottom of the cloud city. Very fast, almost glancing. I'm not sure what the whole point of it was.
heh heh, "Bored Now" Padme. . .
yeah yeah, and in EIV, Obi Wan says that the Jedi defended justice in the old republic for over 1000 generations. In EI and II, it's 1000 years. Unless those Jedi breed really freaking fast.
Actually, I think that those of us who are allergic to latex are going to increase as numbers - it's a survivability trait. Darwin sez - those who are not allergic to condoms. . . DON'T REPRODUCE!
I just got an email from George Lucas himself, asking me what I think of his proposed outline for Episode III (he said his outline for II finished up a week after filming started, we all know what a disaster that was, so he's trying to get a headstart on III).
In III, it is 15 years later. The Clone Wars are in full swing. Chancellor Palpatine's "War on Secessionists" has killed many innocent people, but has failed to bring Count Dooku to justice.
Amidala has secretly had Anakin's love babies - while Anakin has been called away to fight the "War on Secessionists" with his side kick ObiWan.
Jar Jar accidentally flips the latch on Amidala's window in her high-rise as she leans on it to look out on the beatiful sunrise one morning (er - I wonder what Jar Jar was doing in Amidala's room in the early morning?). Anakin totally blows his top, and abandons his post, returning to Coruscant, he confronts Jar Jar, who admits that he was "doing" Amidala, and that Luke and Leia are really HIS. Anakin force-grabs Jar Jar, and lightsabers his arms and legs off, then shoves him out the same window, and before dropping him 5000 feet, tears his torso to shreds.
In the meantime, ObiWan is instructed by Yoda to NOT confront Anakin, but instead, to protect Luke and Leia from his growing rage. So ObiWan successfully evades Anakin on Coruscant, abducts the children, and spirits them off to Bail Organa's home planet of Alderaan. To have him adopt them as the Jedi's ace in the hole against the growing menace of their loose cannon, Anakin.
Anakin finds out and decides that the Jedi council is plotting against him, and needs to be destroyed. And so, he destroys them. Three escape. Yoda, Mace, and a new Jedi, Ell Ron Hubbardi played by John Travolta. A long hunting sequence plays out where Mace Windu and Ell Ron lead Anakin on a wild goose chase through the streets of Coruscant in a speeder, while Mace and Ell Ron philosophise about the meaning of life, the force, phenomenology, etc.
While they stop for food at a "Space Denny's", Mace goes to the bathroom, and Anakin finally catches up to Ell Ron, and uses the Jedi Mind Trick (TM) to convince him that Mace is evil and that they should destroy eachother. Mace comes out of the bathroom, and they have the lightsaber duel to end all lightsaber duels. Properly disposed of, Anakin now ignores the two and pursues Yoda. But by now, the trail is cold, and he ends up on Alderaan, looking for the kids, so he can destroy them. ObiWan finds him first, and they duel nearly to the death, and Anakin is plunged into a volcano.
Mace has destroyed Ell Ron Hubbardi, and it is in the remains of the shattered high-rise that was the Space Denny's that the emporer encounters him, all pissed off and shit. The emporer turns him to the dark side, and has him change his name to Darth Vader. The emporer says that he will tell everyone that Darth Vader is really Anakin, rescued from the Volcano, and rebuilt with off the shelf cyborg parts.
Yoda catches up with Obi Wan, and tells him that they've got to change plans a bit, because having BOTH twins on Alderaan is a single-point of failure, so Obi Wan takes Luke to Tatooine, and sells him as a slave for a cheap hooker. Luke is eventually sold through several owners, who decide to get rid of him as soon as they find out how much he whines, until he ends up in the same fate as his grandmother Shmi. Eventually, Owen comes to love Luke and sets him free, and even stops molesting him - but continues to keep him on as a farmhand. Yoda, in the meantime, has hidden himself on Dagobah.
Oh yeah, and one twist he wants to add.
The Space Denny's actually gathers roadkill from all around Coruscant. People who have fallen out of windows, or their speeder's seatbelts weren't fastened, etc. And grinds them up as mystery meat. So Mace and Ell Ron were actually eating bits of Amidala and Jar Jar. And when Anakin stopped to warp Ell Ron's mind, he also took a bite of Mace's hamburger, containing bits of Amidala. In this way, Amidala's body became part of the force, and this is the route through which she becomes a ghost at the end of the re-made episode VI. Also, they'll have to reshoot the scenes where Vader takes off his mask in Episode V and VI (and his ghost scene at the end of VI) to replace him with Windu. This is also how Jar Jar's ghost ends up in Episode IV, because he was eaten by Mace, who was Darth Vader. Jar Jar's ghost will be in the scene where Obi Wan is killed, he'll tell Luke; "Luke! Meesa tink yoosa better get a runnin boss" - but he won't admit to being his true father, because that would present an obvious continutiy error with Episode V. In fact, it will never be revealed to Luke who his real father is, and when he pulls off Vader's mask at the end and sees that it's Mace, he'll chalk up the skin color difference to volcanic scorching or something.
- - -
I'm not sure what to say to George. I mean, I think he sent it to me by mistake - I actually opened it by mistake, because the subject line was "Enlarge your penis 500%!" -
I think it's a great idea that hes getting a headstart, and I kind of like this better than where it looked like it was headed.
You're kidding yourself if you're saying that a DJ is an artist. You like turntables so you can scratch. Big freakin deal. When you have to characterize a quality by saying it "feels" better, you're reaching for a justification that in all likelyhood just isn't there.
I guess in that case, you'd better stay out of France as well. . .
. . .and if they don't get it right, how will they know? They can compare it to the specimens they have in jars, but how do they see if it has the right behaviors, etc. ?
I dunno, in IV, V, VI, I was very interested in the character, Darth Vader, and how he came to be what he was.
After Bin Laden blew up the WTC, we all asked ourselves, "WHY do they hate us so much?"
After Harris and Klebold offed their classmates, then themselves, we all asked ourselves, "WHY would two American teenagers with everything to look forward to do something like that?"
And after Darth Vader helped the Emporer dissolve the senate and blow up a planet, we wonder "what could have turned him into such a monster?"
Well, we're finding out. I suppose that in REAL life, these things come out and ultimately, we don't learn anything of value from them - but our curiosity is satisfied. We're curious about the bad ones. It's why Serial Killer Trading Cards sell.
Actually, I'm VERY suprised that Katz didn't bring up the youthy arrogant power trip that Anakin was on as he slowly turned to the dark side, just like teenagers Harris and Klebold, the pair of Sith Lord teenagers seduced by the power offered by home made pipe bombs and guns.
If you recall, Yoda and Kenobi were TRAINED FROM BIRTH.
Luke had a few hours with Kenobi on the Falcon, and some time with Yoda on Dagobah (which could be anywhere from a day or two to a couple of weeks, depending on how you interpret ESB). He sure didn't stick around to "complete the training". Hell, Vader never demonstrated use of Force Lightning. Maybe that was because he didn't have enough living parts left, or maybe he didn't stick around with the Jedi long enough to be trained. I suspect it's probably one of the very advanced tricks, like coming back as a ghost after being offed.
I have to totally disagree. The battle scenes, if you look at the Jedi, most of the totally sucked at pretending they were holding light sabers. The whole Kamino sequence was so unrealistic looking, I almost walked out. I've seen better Babylon 5 scenes. The cloning aliens were terribly unrealistic. Yeah, I agree that a lot of the CGI in Spiderman was pretty fake, but in that case, I attribute it to pushing the technology to the breaking point. But the kinds of things they were trying to do in EpII weren't ground breaking - the CGI just looked cheap, and they used it WAY too much when they could have done just as well or better with models in many cases.
That's not how I would have choreographed that fight.
Look at ESB, Luke vs. Vader. Vader starts out fighting one-handed, while Luke is sweating grunting, balls-out giving it everything he's got like the hot-tempered whiny little out of control punk that he is. Vader holds him off and controls - DOMINATES the fight with quiet dignity. He's steering Luke over to the carbon freezer. . .
I expected something more akin to that out of an 800 year old little green guy. Especially one who walks like he's got an arthritic hip. The jumping spinning spastic monkey he turned into was not dignified at all. I half expected him to begin using the force to fling his feces at Dooku.
As someone who knows at least a little bit about martial arts - both in a practical sense, and a Hollywood sense - I would have written up this fight with Yoda using more wisdom with regard to his strengths as a fighter. Trying to kick someone in the head is like trying to punch someone in the knee. It's not the easiest move, it wastes energy for very little potential payoff, and it exposes some fairly vulnerable areas to attack. Granted, Yoda wasn't throwing any Jet Li kicks, but there was no reason for him to jump up to Dooku's face-level, where his lightsaber was more conveniently located for defense. I would have kept Yoda firmly planted on the ground, using two short light sabers. (long would be impossible, because some of the moves would have the tips cutting the floor). Yoda would have made quick lunging low attacks at Dooku's feet and shins. As silly as that sounds, Dooku would have had a hard time defending against them. He'd have to bend over, stoop down, and be made off balance. On the ground, there's a limited number of directions Yoda could expect to be attacked from. Down there, Dooku does have a reach advantage, but he pretty much has that no matter where Yoda is. With two sabres, Yoda could have eaten that advantage. Yoda has a good defensive advantage, and the ability to attack targets that would be difficult for Dooku to defend. It's a great strategy, because Yoda could easily have cut off a foot or a leg. Then they could have moved the story on and Dooku could have escaped, and gotten a cyber replacement, which would have taken all of 60 seconds of film to portray.
When I first saw Yoda in action, I was half expecting some bullet-time scenes. I'm grateful they didn't do that. . .
Number 2 - the mirror could have been left by an unmanned mission.
Number 4 - The last serious attempt on this one, I heard from a friend of mine, who is a muslim in the UK (who sadly, buys into the moon-landing-hoax-hoax). Apparently, this is a very popular theory among muslims (according to him). They feel that the US Moon Landing was a hoax so that the US could "prove" to the world that Americans were better than the rest, and the Science is the one true way and the "backwards religious people" can't do "great" things.
Along with a lot of this rhetoric is some very anti-white racist thinking - the World Trade Center versus the Petronas Towers was also involved (this was pre-Sept 11.) as an example that Muslims (and people of color) can do things just as great as the whites/infidels. This reason has been cited as why the World Trade Center has been a prime target of muslim terrorists for over 10 years.
(the Sears tower is taller, dammit!)
This is why I'll be laughing my ass off when the Chinese build a moon base.
It IS true that had their been a solar flare while the astronauts were outside the van allen belts, they would have received a strong dose of radiation - but most likely not lethal. In fact, they were exposed to some fairly high radiation, but certainly not enough to affect their health. There are plans in the Mars missions for how astronauts can be warned and sheilded from radiation during the trip.
Another part of the conspiracy is how no earth-based telescope is powerful enough to actually SEE the leftover moon landers, etc. But Hubble supposedly is - but JPL refuses to point Hubble at the moon because (conspiracy) that would expose the hoax (truth) the instruments are too sensitive to be exposed to light that bright.
All seriously funny stuff. Except for the knocking down of the WTC. That wasn't very funny.
I don't have RSI, and especially not from typing. I use the regular old MS natural keyboard, but I'd used the standard kind for years before they were available.
I did, however, find that I do suffer from tendonitis in my right wrist - mainly from mousing. What I found helps best is to hold the mouse correctly. For the standard teardrop-ish Microsoft mouse, I keep my index finger on the button, and I clutch the base of the mouse under my thumb, not under my palm, or the heel of my hand. I found that this changed the angle at which I hold the mouse, and took the stress off the outside edge of my wrist, where it hurt the most.
I've even experimented with some adhesive and velcro - and on MY system, I have a little thumb-strap that fastens around my thumb, so I can keep the moust at the proper angle in relation to my hand.
And since the skyrocketing federal tax revenues pre FY2000 were caused by skyrocketing personal wealth, which was caused by skyrocketing profits from stock investments, which was caused by skyrocketing .coms and tech, which was caused by people believing the hype about stocks -
Maybe listening to the lies wasn't a bad idea afterall. Please, Enron, come back!! We miss you! Lie to us some more. Tell us we're pretty.
He wasn't talking about shockwaves, he was talking about plasma waves.
Anyway, what the fuck is a plasma wave?