Whatever you watch, NEVER watch dubs!
on
Essential Anime
·
· Score: 1
I've watched quite a bit of manga, and generally I can say that the dubs lack... umm... SOMEthing. When you watch the subtitled version, you really get much more of the nuance, much more of the idea behind the dialogs. Even if you don't understand one word of Japanese, after watching manga in Japanese for a little while you'll get the hang of some of the nuances, and definitely much more of the emotion.
I've watched Lain both subtitled and dubbed, and subtitled it is much more mysterious. The dubbed version just seems much... flatter. I really don't know how to explain it except to advise to always watch the subs, not the dubs.
At least it does prove one thing: he doesn't believe computers are alive in any way, otherwise he'd be breaking his Rede by shooting at those poor defenseless pieces of hardware.
Note: I'm not Wiccan, though I did sling-shot around Wicca in my search for my own Path:)
Let me see if I get this straight... Microsoft has (in all likelyhood) forced eBay to take agressive measures against the sale of any Microsoft products, because their own research shows that many of those sales are in some way illegal. They seem to bring it like they're concerned about people buying illegal software, and that they're protecting the customers by shutting down illicit sales, but in fact they're shutting down ALL sale of ANY Microsoft product, not even allowing the customers to buy the legal stuff.
Checking the legality of a transfer is, afaik, not up to eBay, let alone up to Microsoft - it's up to the seller and the buyer. On top of that, Microsoft has nothing to say about what is being sold there. While indeed possibly many of those sales do involve illegal or incomplete software, many again do not, and are perfectly legal.
But all that aside, there is nothing we can do. I've never used eBay, but I'm pretty sure they have some sort of agreement by which they're entitled to cancel any auction they see fit. Microsoft is in the clear aswell, for all they really do is express their concern about the possible sale of illegal goods. For fear of law suits, eBay obeys Microsoft's every whim. Nothing wrong there either, just sound corporate strategy. I mean, who wouldn't rattle, shake and grovel when faced with a giant like Microsoft who could squash your business in a heartbeat and then scrape you off its boot?
So legally, there is nothing wrong here. Morally - now there's a totally different story. But then again, what else did you expect from the likes of Microsoft and eBay?
There is however one thing we CAN do. Boycot eBay. But that would also be a bit harsh, imho, because eBay too is simply caught between a rock and a hard place, and both those predicaments are marked with a huge four-coloured flag...
Since being introduced to MP3s I haven't bought any less CD's than I did before. Generally I bought about one CD per month, and I still do. But while I used to buy mainstream CD's, I know simply download the mainstream stuff, and buy the less mainstream stuff I otherwise wouldn't have bought, like Wendy Rule's album Deity which I bought last week, and Within Temptation's album Enter about a month ago.
When you download mainstream MP3s, you're screwing the record companies. Of the CD you would have bought, not very much would have gone to the artist, and mainstream artists have enough money anyway, so it doesn't make any difference there. Instead I buy non-mainstream CD's, so money goes to artist who earn a lot less who work for less prestigious (read: more human(e)) record companies.
So in effect, only the distribution of my money has changed. Instead of it all going into the huge pockets of the big record companies, it now ends up in the pockets of alternative artists and record companies. Doesn't seem too bad to me...
As far as I know there _is_ no translation of "Open Source Software" to German. There sure isn't a German word for software, neither for source, and so the choice is between "Offene Source Software" or "Open Source Software", and the choice is easy.
In Dutch it would be even easier, because Open is also Open. Hmmm, hold on, Source in Dutch could be translated as Broncode (souce code, literally), so maybe in German it could be something like Brunncode... Nah, doesn't sound like anything.
I'm a bob at a company doing outsourced technical support for Philips, Memorex, Dysan, Gravis, Kensington, Fujitsu-Siemens and others worldwide. I happen to be one of the few there who knows something about Linux. And though officially Linux is not supported by any of the above-mentioned companies, many agents will come to me when a customer has a Linux question - because they'd like to help the customer, and they know I might have the answer to the question. One thing I really hate to do, and many with me, is to say "Sorry sir, that's not supported" while I do know the answer, or know the answer isn't far. Yeah, technically it may be wrong to unofficially support Linux in the margin. But all those companies pay per call. The customer has called anyway, so why not HELP them? That's what helpdesks are for, right?
Actually, I hear so many people pure on tech support, but I actually kind of like it. I do 8 projects in 3 languages (Dutch, English and German), and sometimes I even get to practice my (rather limited) French skills when the French agents happen to be out. I like the work, I like helping people, I like the co-workers, I like the variation from call to call. That's the advantage of working at a large world-wide outsource-center as opposed to a small local callcenter. I guess:)
Or, I could ofcourse be crazy. Definitely a viable theory...
Censorware is supposed to block pornography. But that is definitely not all it blocks... Most censorware programs also ban anything "occult", while many extremist sites (kkk, godhatesfags) are accessable. What's so bad about an honest to Goddess religion, while nothing bad is perceived of the kkk???
maybe not, but the blind do watch, uh, listen TV. sure, they lose the visual part of TV, but they also don't have the visual part of real life, so where's the difference?
The visually impaired use browsers other than Internet Explorer 4.0+ or Netscape Navigator 4.0+ - they use specialized text-based browsers, that won't be able to access Fox' foxy site. Or what, for example, about a browser like Opera? Those should also be quite capable to access the site.
for gene therapy, the best method by far is virus therapy. insert genetically altered viruses that spread what you want to have spread. the latest invention against cancer goes in that direction... there's a gene found in HIV that is actually responsible for killing a cell. all that needs to be done now is to find a virus that targets only specific cancerous cells, which you could build that one HIV gene into to get a 100% effective weapon against that specific cancer version.
well, those distances might be crossed... that's definitely not the largest problem here.
the largest problem, imho, is that alien physiology is most likely to be completely unlike anything we can possibly imagine. maybe it would on the outside look kind of humanoid, but that's probably where the comparison would end. that aliens would be able to have sex with humans to create a hybrid is complete and utter bullshit. most probably the genetic storage aliens use would be completely incompatible with that of humans, and even if they had DNA, they would have a different number of chromosomes, and/or different sizes of chromosomes, making it incompatible anyway.
alien-human hybrid, my ass. I can't believe these people dare call themselves scientists.
how long has the earth been around? for billions of years. how long has Homo sapiens been around? for only a few million years. how long ago did we enter the industrial era? only about a hundred years ago. how long ago did we first get into space? about half a century ago.
there are probably millions of planets out there that have the potential of developing life. and even substracting all the Mars and Venus-like planets where life exists for a very short time and then becomes completely extinct, you're probably still left with a few million where long-term life comes into being. and there you have the potential for intelligent life forms.
compare the age of the earth and the age of mankind. in all probability, any intelligent life forms that are out there at this moment are millions, if not billions of years ahaid of us. sure, science now can't find a way to travel faster than light, but our science is only a few hundred years old. add a few million years, and I'm sure you can find a way:)
as many have already said, the trick to remember a password is to find a reference or a "source path" to it which can be remembered more readily. but then there's the problem of how to find out which reference that is...
references and paths to a password work because the human mind excells at finding references, and at remembering paths. what always seems to work for me is the repeat the password or whatever I wish to remember in my head, and the reverse process will take place. your mind will get busy generating references from that password. and some of those references away from it, will also easily lead back. and ofcourse the same applies to any paths your mind may come up with.
actually, the University of Twente in the Netherlands (www.utwente.nl) is going to experiment with a wireless network for students and employees next year. currently what's available is a 100Mbit LAN for students and employees living on campus, and a dial-in connection for people outside campus. for people outside campus there are currently ongoing experiments with cable modem connection to the university network.
Terminal introverts... I'm one of those. A definite INFP (healer) on the Keirsy scale, leaning towards INTP (architect). Very Introvert, trusting almost equally on Feeling and Thought. And yes, the internet has really opened me up. Online I could be open, talk about myself, talk with other people, and that experience online is now starting to slowly trickle into real life. If it weren't for the internet, I'd still shut as a clam. I'm a terminal introvert, but I'm slowly changing. And the cure is called Internet:)
Maybe that's because the Internet is (or at least used to be) strewn with other Terminal Introverts who were all looking for people to talk with. I love the Internet. My friends span the entire world and all age groups. But one person is very special... I met her about 18 months ago on the Silver Circle, a talker based on a MUD (tinyfugue, here I come), especially for pagans. We hung out there a lot, and at one point she decided to come visit me. (She lives in Richmond, VA, I live in the Netherlands). We love eachother dearly, but in a very brother-sister kind of way. She's the only person I truly trust, the only person I truly confide in. I could picture myself in the future, 70 years old, sitting on a bench in the park with her talking about life in general. Nothing romantic or sexual involved, just a mutual understanding, a bond sprouted out of compatibility of our thoughts and beliefs, even though we come out of completely different backgrounds with almost opposite cultures.
I'll be honest with you guys. I'm 21, and I've never had sex. Terminal Introvert. I've only had one real girlfriend, when I was 16, but she was 14 and wasn't ready for anything beyond a passionate kiss, which I respected. When she suddenly and completely unexpectedly left me for somebody else, while I was already in a deep depression, I almost killed myself over it... And it is at that point that I turned terminally shy.
But, as I said, I'm slowly getting out of that. The last few weeks I've been seeing a girl / woman (she's 19... can't really call her a girl, yet can't really call her a woman either) quite regularly. We chat through icq, sometimes I watch TV at her place and reversed, sometimes we go out to dinner, or have coffee. Nothing romantic yet, but that's a definite possibility. I'm definitely not the kind of guy to open up with somebody I don't know... And Sandra is the first person who takes it as slowly as I do. At this point we're just friends, but it could definitely grow. How I met her? She's the ex of a housemate of mine...:)
what's very suprizing though, is that a person who slams on somebody's spelling can't spell "surprising".:)
and yeah, I'd put his English teacher in the brig aswell. when I was that boy's age I could do much better than that, and English is my second language...
Why do they call it that? Because they're completely surprised that MS-DOS made it to the Millennium?:)
Seriously though... Win98SE is a completely bogus product. One huge bowl of unpredictable spaghetti code. Pull one strand to fix a bug, and some other strands completely unexpectedly twist and turn, creating five new bugs. That's how they made Win98SE. They tried to fix a few Win98 bugs, but instead created more new bugs. Especially USB in Win98SE is completely unpredictable; installing any USB device is like playing Russian Roulette. I work for the company that made the infamous USB device that crashed Win98 during that demo session with Bill Gates present, and I can tell you, our devices are doing that same thing on a much more regular basis with Win98SE:)
Why do they call it that? Because they're completely surprised that MS-DOS made it to the Millennium?:)
Seriously though... Win98SE is a completely bogus product. One huge bowl of unpredictable spaghetti code. Pull one strand to fix a bug, and some other strands completely unexpectedly twist and turn, creating five new bugs. That's how they made Win98SE. They tried to fix a few Win98 bugs, but instead created more new bugs. Especially USB in Win98SE is completely unpredictable; installing any USB device is like playing Russian Roulette. I work for the company that made the infamous USB device that crashed Win98 during that demo session with Bill Gates present, and I can tell you, our devices are doing that same thing on a much more regular basis with Win98SE:)
I had never heard of that... anybody know any online sources on terraforming Venus? Venus is indeed only a fraction smaller than the Earth, so if it could be terraformed, it would be a perfect Terra II. And Venus is closer than Mars too... Strange that something so obvious is completely overlooked due to the Mars Craze...
There's always the Brute Force and Ignorance approach: Mine the limestone back off the ocean floor and break it down into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide again. This would take a fair amount of industry, but if we have the wherewithal to terraform a _planet_, this should be do-able (if we want to).
I hadn't thought of that... It is indeed a possibility, though horribly expensive. But, since terraforming Mars will take hundreds of years to complete with whatever method you use, there'll probably be effective ways to mine the sea bed by then.
My big caveat isn't the fact that terraforming a planet is horrifically expensive, more that it takes horrifically long. Many generations would pass before the project is finished. I still have to find the first person who is willing to pay billions and billions of dollars so his great great great great grandchildren can move to Mars.:-)
I assume you mean the Earth is inbetween Venus and Mars astrometrically aswell. That indeed has an influence on the greenhouse effect in that the Earth gets 2.68 times more solar radiation than Mars, and Venus gets 1.95 times more solar radiation than the Earth (5.22 times more than Mars). But there is also the issue of atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere for example holds back a lot of solar radiation.
What caused Venus' greenhouse effect to topple is probably the high solar radiation. But what caused Mars' greenhouse effect to topple the other way is not as much the low solar radiation, but more the lack of plate tectonics.
Slashdot Mirror
I've watched quite a bit of manga, and generally I can say that the dubs lack ... umm ... SOMEthing. When you watch the subtitled version, you really get much more of the nuance, much more of the idea behind the dialogs. Even if you don't understand one word of Japanese, after watching manga in Japanese for a little while you'll get the hang of some of the nuances, and definitely much more of the emotion.
... flatter. I really don't know how to explain it except to advise to always watch the subs, not the dubs.
I've watched Lain both subtitled and dubbed, and subtitled it is much more mysterious. The dubbed version just seems much
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Beautiful speech, Araneas! You should go into politics. Might liven things up a little :)
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Ah, mr. Anonymous Coward, would you be so kind as to reveal your identity to me? :)
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
And what's wrong with Wiccans? :)
:)
At least it does prove one thing: he doesn't believe computers are alive in any way, otherwise he'd be breaking his Rede by shooting at those poor defenseless pieces of hardware.
Note: I'm not Wiccan, though I did sling-shot around Wicca in my search for my own Path
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Let me see if I get this straight... Microsoft has (in all likelyhood) forced eBay to take agressive measures against the sale of any Microsoft products, because their own research shows that many of those sales are in some way illegal. They seem to bring it like they're concerned about people buying illegal software, and that they're protecting the customers by shutting down illicit sales, but in fact they're shutting down ALL sale of ANY Microsoft product, not even allowing the customers to buy the legal stuff.
Checking the legality of a transfer is, afaik, not up to eBay, let alone up to Microsoft - it's up to the seller and the buyer. On top of that, Microsoft has nothing to say about what is being sold there. While indeed possibly many of those sales do involve illegal or incomplete software, many again do not, and are perfectly legal.
But all that aside, there is nothing we can do. I've never used eBay, but I'm pretty sure they have some sort of agreement by which they're entitled to cancel any auction they see fit. Microsoft is in the clear aswell, for all they really do is express their concern about the possible sale of illegal goods. For fear of law suits, eBay obeys Microsoft's every whim. Nothing wrong there either, just sound corporate strategy. I mean, who wouldn't rattle, shake and grovel when faced with a giant like Microsoft who could squash your business in a heartbeat and then scrape you off its boot?
So legally, there is nothing wrong here. Morally - now there's a totally different story. But then again, what else did you expect from the likes of Microsoft and eBay?
There is however one thing we CAN do. Boycot eBay. But that would also be a bit harsh, imho, because eBay too is simply caught between a rock and a hard place, and both those predicaments are marked with a huge four-coloured flag...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
I think Win32 must be one of those fancy recursive acronyms: Win Is Not 32bit.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Since being introduced to MP3s I haven't bought any less CD's than I did before. Generally I bought about one CD per month, and I still do. But while I used to buy mainstream CD's, I know simply download the mainstream stuff, and buy the less mainstream stuff I otherwise wouldn't have bought, like Wendy Rule's album Deity which I bought last week, and Within Temptation's album Enter about a month ago.
When you download mainstream MP3s, you're screwing the record companies. Of the CD you would have bought, not very much would have gone to the artist, and mainstream artists have enough money anyway, so it doesn't make any difference there. Instead I buy non-mainstream CD's, so money goes to artist who earn a lot less who work for less prestigious (read: more human(e)) record companies.
So in effect, only the distribution of my money has changed. Instead of it all going into the huge pockets of the big record companies, it now ends up in the pockets of alternative artists and record companies. Doesn't seem too bad to me...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
As far as I know there _is_ no translation of "Open Source Software" to German. There sure isn't a German word for software, neither for source, and so the choice is between "Offene Source Software" or "Open Source Software", and the choice is easy.
:)
In Dutch it would be even easier, because Open is also Open. Hmmm, hold on, Source in Dutch could be translated as Broncode (souce code, literally), so maybe in German it could be something like Brunncode... Nah, doesn't sound like anything.
OSS it is, and OSS it will ever remain.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
I'm a bob at a company doing outsourced technical support for Philips, Memorex, Dysan, Gravis, Kensington, Fujitsu-Siemens and others worldwide. I happen to be one of the few there who knows something about Linux. And though officially Linux is not supported by any of the above-mentioned companies, many agents will come to me when a customer has a Linux question - because they'd like to help the customer, and they know I might have the answer to the question. One thing I really hate to do, and many with me, is to say "Sorry sir, that's not supported" while I do know the answer, or know the answer isn't far. Yeah, technically it may be wrong to unofficially support Linux in the margin. But all those companies pay per call. The customer has called anyway, so why not HELP them? That's what helpdesks are for, right?
:)
Actually, I hear so many people pure on tech support, but I actually kind of like it. I do 8 projects in 3 languages (Dutch, English and German), and sometimes I even get to practice my (rather limited) French skills when the French agents happen to be out. I like the work, I like helping people, I like the co-workers, I like the variation from call to call. That's the advantage of working at a large world-wide outsource-center as opposed to a small local callcenter. I guess
Or, I could ofcourse be crazy. Definitely a viable theory...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Censorware is supposed to block pornography. But that is definitely not all it blocks... Most censorware programs also ban anything "occult", while many extremist sites (kkk, godhatesfags) are accessable. What's so bad about an honest to Goddess religion, while nothing bad is perceived of the kkk???
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
would they have banned all Hollywood movies?
:)
actually, that wouldn't be such a bad thing
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
maybe not, but the blind do watch, uh, listen TV. sure, they lose the visual part of TV, but they also don't have the visual part of real life, so where's the difference?
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
The visually impaired use browsers other than Internet Explorer 4.0+ or Netscape Navigator 4.0+ - they use specialized text-based browsers, that won't be able to access Fox' foxy site. Or what, for example, about a browser like Opera? Those should also be quite capable to access the site.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
for gene therapy, the best method by far is virus therapy. insert genetically altered viruses that spread what you want to have spread. the latest invention against cancer goes in that direction... there's a gene found in HIV that is actually responsible for killing a cell. all that needs to be done now is to find a virus that targets only specific cancerous cells, which you could build that one HIV gene into to get a 100% effective weapon against that specific cancer version.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
well, those distances might be crossed... that's definitely not the largest problem here.
the largest problem, imho, is that alien physiology is most likely to be completely unlike anything we can possibly imagine. maybe it would on the outside look kind of humanoid, but that's probably where the comparison would end. that aliens would be able to have sex with humans to create a hybrid is complete and utter bullshit. most probably the genetic storage aliens use would be completely incompatible with that of humans, and even if they had DNA, they would have a different number of chromosomes, and/or different sizes of chromosomes, making it incompatible anyway.
alien-human hybrid, my ass. I can't believe these people dare call themselves scientists.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
how long has the earth been around? for billions of years. how long has Homo sapiens been around? for only a few million years. how long ago did we enter the industrial era? only about a hundred years ago. how long ago did we first get into space? about half a century ago.
:)
there are probably millions of planets out there that have the potential of developing life. and even substracting all the Mars and Venus-like planets where life exists for a very short time and then becomes completely extinct, you're probably still left with a few million where long-term life comes into being. and there you have the potential for intelligent life forms.
compare the age of the earth and the age of mankind. in all probability, any intelligent life forms that are out there at this moment are millions, if not billions of years ahaid of us. sure, science now can't find a way to travel faster than light, but our science is only a few hundred years old. add a few million years, and I'm sure you can find a way
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
as many have already said, the trick to remember a password is to find a reference or a "source path" to it which can be remembered more readily. but then there's the problem of how to find out which reference that is...
references and paths to a password work because the human mind excells at finding references, and at remembering paths. what always seems to work for me is the repeat the password or whatever I wish to remember in my head, and the reverse process will take place. your mind will get busy generating references from that password. and some of those references away from it, will also easily lead back. and ofcourse the same applies to any paths your mind may come up with.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
actually, the University of Twente in the Netherlands (www.utwente.nl) is going to experiment with a wireless network for students and employees next year. currently what's available is a 100Mbit LAN for students and employees living on campus, and a dial-in connection for people outside campus. for people outside campus there are currently ongoing experiments with cable modem connection to the university network.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Terminal introverts... I'm one of those. A definite INFP (healer) on the Keirsy scale, leaning towards INTP (architect). Very Introvert, trusting almost equally on Feeling and Thought. And yes, the internet has really opened me up. Online I could be open, talk about myself, talk with other people, and that experience online is now starting to slowly trickle into real life. If it weren't for the internet, I'd still shut as a clam. I'm a terminal introvert, but I'm slowly changing. And the cure is called Internet :)
:)
Maybe that's because the Internet is (or at least used to be) strewn with other Terminal Introverts who were all looking for people to talk with. I love the Internet. My friends span the entire world and all age groups. But one person is very special... I met her about 18 months ago on the Silver Circle, a talker based on a MUD (tinyfugue, here I come), especially for pagans. We hung out there a lot, and at one point she decided to come visit me. (She lives in Richmond, VA, I live in the Netherlands). We love eachother dearly, but in a very brother-sister kind of way. She's the only person I truly trust, the only person I truly confide in. I could picture myself in the future, 70 years old, sitting on a bench in the park with her talking about life in general. Nothing romantic or sexual involved, just a mutual understanding, a bond sprouted out of compatibility of our thoughts and beliefs, even though we come out of completely different backgrounds with almost opposite cultures.
I'll be honest with you guys. I'm 21, and I've never had sex. Terminal Introvert. I've only had one real girlfriend, when I was 16, but she was 14 and wasn't ready for anything beyond a passionate kiss, which I respected. When she suddenly and completely unexpectedly left me for somebody else, while I was already in a deep depression, I almost killed myself over it... And it is at that point that I turned terminally shy.
But, as I said, I'm slowly getting out of that. The last few weeks I've been seeing a girl / woman (she's 19... can't really call her a girl, yet can't really call her a woman either) quite regularly. We chat through icq, sometimes I watch TV at her place and reversed, sometimes we go out to dinner, or have coffee. Nothing romantic yet, but that's a definite possibility. I'm definitely not the kind of guy to open up with somebody I don't know... And Sandra is the first person who takes it as slowly as I do. At this point we're just friends, but it could definitely grow. How I met her? She's the ex of a housemate of mine...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
what's very suprizing though, is that a person who slams on somebody's spelling can't spell "surprising". :)
and yeah, I'd put his English teacher in the brig aswell. when I was that boy's age I could do much better than that, and English is my second language...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Why do they call it that? Because they're completely surprised that MS-DOS made it to the Millennium? :)
:)
Seriously though... Win98SE is a completely bogus product. One huge bowl of unpredictable spaghetti code. Pull one strand to fix a bug, and some other strands completely unexpectedly twist and turn, creating five new bugs. That's how they made Win98SE. They tried to fix a few Win98 bugs, but instead created more new bugs. Especially USB in Win98SE is completely unpredictable; installing any USB device is like playing Russian Roulette. I work for the company that made the infamous USB device that crashed Win98 during that demo session with Bill Gates present, and I can tell you, our devices are doing that same thing on a much more regular basis with Win98SE
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Why do they call it that? Because they're completely surprised that MS-DOS made it to the Millennium? :)
:)
Seriously though... Win98SE is a completely bogus product. One huge bowl of unpredictable spaghetti code. Pull one strand to fix a bug, and some other strands completely unexpectedly twist and turn, creating five new bugs. That's how they made Win98SE. They tried to fix a few Win98 bugs, but instead created more new bugs. Especially USB in Win98SE is completely unpredictable; installing any USB device is like playing Russian Roulette. I work for the company that made the infamous USB device that crashed Win98 during that demo session with Bill Gates present, and I can tell you, our devices are doing that same thing on a much more regular basis with Win98SE
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
where are the moderators when you need them? :-)
I had never heard of that... anybody know any online sources on terraforming Venus? Venus is indeed only a fraction smaller than the Earth, so if it could be terraformed, it would be a perfect Terra II. And Venus is closer than Mars too... Strange that something so obvious is completely overlooked due to the Mars Craze...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humor,
There's always the Brute Force and Ignorance approach: Mine the limestone back off the ocean floor and break it down into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide again. This would take a fair amount of industry, but if we have the wherewithal to terraform a _planet_, this should be do-able (if we want to).
:-)
I hadn't thought of that... It is indeed a possibility, though horribly expensive. But, since terraforming Mars will take hundreds of years to complete with whatever method you use, there'll probably be effective ways to mine the sea bed by then.
My big caveat isn't the fact that terraforming a planet is horrifically expensive, more that it takes horrifically long. Many generations would pass before the project is finished. I still have to find the first person who is willing to pay billions and billions of dollars so his great great great great grandchildren can move to Mars.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humor,
I assume you mean the Earth is inbetween Venus and Mars astrometrically aswell. That indeed has an influence on the greenhouse effect in that the Earth gets 2.68 times more solar radiation than Mars, and Venus gets 1.95 times more solar radiation than the Earth (5.22 times more than Mars). But there is also the issue of atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere for example holds back a lot of solar radiation.
What caused Venus' greenhouse effect to topple is probably the high solar radiation. But what caused Mars' greenhouse effect to topple the other way is not as much the low solar radiation, but more the lack of plate tectonics.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humor,