How exactly do you figure that Space is the place where bad programing goes to die? Granted, it's summertime, so I'm sleeping late and working to make money to pay tuition, thus less TV is watched, but Space is one of the few channels I tune into regularly. Sure, they run four hours of Star Trek in a row (one of each series except Enterprise), but you get Forever Knight in the morning, an eclectic mix of movies, and coming this fall Stargate (not to mention Brimstone, Angel and many more!). What more do you want?(Firefly perhaps?) We're not the US with 300 million potential viewers, so we get fewer dollars and fewer original programs, but it's always been that way.
Besides, if Moses hears you bitching, he'll punk you good, or send Rick the Temp after you.
And, strangely enough, there are places outside of Toronto where we didn't get to see it. You big-city folks don't seem to remember that you're a major market center, and you only got one screen in one (very large) theatre. Here in Guelph (drive west for an hour on the 401 and you'll find us) the closest theatre showing it was nearly a forty minute drive away, and that was for an animation festival. It also hit the Bookshelf for one or two showings, but that's it (and the only showings were nights I was working).
Starship Troopers the movie did not lampoon the book. It did an excellent job of ripping on what the book was most definitively not about. Go read some of Heinlein's essays. Read "Take Back Your Government"--if you can find a copy (apparently the American people don't care enough about the idea of participating in government to buy such a book). Read what he says about ST. And then tell me it's a love song to fascism.
Too many people read Stranger in the 60's and said "Ooooh, here's a remarkable model of what the world should be!" and then dove back to his previous novel to face major disillusionment...because it didn't fit their narrow conception of what Heinlein should be writing.
The interesting thing about Stranger in a Strange Land is that it initially arose due to the November 1949 issue of Astounding (the Time-Travel issue) and was originally thought up to be the story behind the suggested title Gulf, and there are obvious similarities between the evolved humans in Gulf and Valentine Michael Smith.
As to Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, RAH worked on both of them at the same time, and the leftover notes from Troopers were apparently used in Stranger to help round it out (just one of those bits of trivia you pick up that makes you think)
Why do the yanks always seem to want to change the titles of foreign movies?
Mad Max is soooo much better than road weanie and what was the deal with the "Sorceror's Stone"?
I believe that they went with Cowboy Bebop: The Movie rather than Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door so as to avoid any legal issues with Bob Dylan due to his famous song Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
As to the Sorceror's Stone, that was done because the American publisher felt that it sounded more "Magic-like" than Philosopher's Stone.
The whole "Gibson only uses a typewriter" and "Gibson hates computers" thing is a bit of a urban legend. It was really only true for Neuromancer, and, if you think about how old that book is, most of the books at the time were probably still being written on typewriters (everyone just noticed it about him because of the Cyberpunk nature of Neuromancer.
Don't believe me? Check out his site, with his rather interesting blog here
Yoshi Kawaoka who is the principle person behind this research, also works with Ebola. I would be interested to know if the Ebola virus uses a similar method of infecting host cells, as I believe both it and the Influenza A virus have a similar incubation period.
The article states that a single RNA strand is responsible for recruiting the other seven, which then work together to produce more virons. I'm curious as to whether it is that RNA strand which has to mutate in order for the virus to jump from species to species (such as from birds to humans). Perhaps this could lead to a new innoculation for birds that would prevent their viral infections from jumping ship to us.
This is turning into another one of those days where everything gets repeated right?
Seriously though, I just saw the Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolution preview, and I can't wait for the Hulk and the X-Men 2 that we all know are coming.
It seems that the Bolivian Tree Lizard loves eating fungi almost as much it loves pigeons, and once we're overrun by them we'll just release wave after wave of Chinese Needle Snake. The beautiful part is, however, the Gorillas we have lined up that thrive on snake meat, as once they've finished off the snakes they'll freeze to death during the wintertime!
As some people have allready mentioned above, Andre the Giant is a good example of what happens to a person with too much HGH, but what they've failed to mention is that Andre had that problem for his entire life. The condition is called acromegaly and is caused by an abnormality in the pituitary gland which causes escess amounts of HGH to be produced. Since the HGH was affecting Andre at an early age, it caused his relatively large size (most people suffering from acromegaly reach 'adult' size by age 11 or 12), and ultimately his death (congestive heart failure).
HGH works by stimulating the growth of cartilage in the Epiphyseal Plate, which causes lengthening of the bone. Unfortunately, once you finish puberty, the epiphyseal plate hardens into the epiphyseal line, which is why you stop growing (if you get an X-ray done on your arm, have the doc point it out to you - it'll be right near the end of the bone, just before it widens at the end).
In mature people, however, elevated levels of HGH cause the sides of bones to thicken, leading to very heavy features in the face, and wide hands and fingers. This can be seen in pictures of 'Giants' as well - not only are they quite tall, but their hands and faces are quite wide as well.
Basically, HGH in large amounts is bad for the mature human being. There have been a number of studies on its effects, and the major bad ones include increased incidence of cancer and diabetes. You have to remember that this is a hormone, and hormones basically control our bodies - messing with their balance can have very bad side effects. If you're serious about bulking up, an exercise routine is a much better way to go.
As I read through it, all I could sense was the overpowering smell of sour grapes on the part of the majority of the people interviewed (American McGee and Will Wright excepted). It was basically them saying that Miyamoto shouldn't be as popular as he is since he doesn't do what they do.
Guess what folks - if it wasn't for Miyamoto, you wouldn't have jobs. If the only games available back when I first got my hands on consoles (and we're talking Atari 2600 and NES) had been as violent or as adult themed as the games referred to in the article (GTA3 and BMX-XXX) my parents wouldn't have bought them for me. NO kids would have gotten games like those in the early 80s. I got Super Mario Bros. and Zelda, however, and they started me on my path. I own GTA3, and play it, but ten years down the road, I won't be playing it - I am still, however playing Super Mario World on my SNES, Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3 are in my closet, and get pulled out atleast once a year, and I've got an emulator on my PC for Zelda.
Seriously, if someone were to offer you a N64 with Mario 3D and Ocarina of Time for free, or GTA3 for free which would you take? It's the N64, no questions asked for me.
Well then, some of this money should go to the radio stations. Less advertising = more music - it makes sense to me, but then again, we all know that record execs don't have much sense (plus, I suppose they have to pad their salaries somehow).
Greg Egan wrote a book called Quarantine that this discussion reminded me of. Basically, everything else in the universe evolved needing unobserved quantum states, then Earth came along and started looking at everything. I found it rather interesting.
Hooray! I missed Spirited Away the first time it played in my area, so hopefully it will make another pass through.
On another note, could we perhaps link to Studio Ghibli when discussing their films in the future? It might reduce the number of "We Hate Disney" posts. It is unfortunate that Disney got the release rights to the Miyazaki/Ghibli films, but I'd rather rant about them somewhere else (for those of you who don't know who Miyazaki is check this out).
I know Nelvana used to have a animated version of Tintin (pick it from the pull down) that ran in both english and french up here in Canada. If Nelvana sounds familiar to you, it's probably because they also do Magic School Bus, Franklin, and any other number of kid cartoons you've seen.
It was where I was first introduced to him, and, had I not checked out a few of the original graphic novels by Herge, I wouldn't have even known that Snowy was supposed to 'talk'. He was just animated as a rather intuitive dog, much like Brain on Inspector Gadget, less the intuitive hand gestures and knack for disguises. If I remember correctly, the animation was pretty true to the original artwork.
There's an episode breakdown for you here, for those of you who are interested. It is Ten years old, but it still runs occasionally on the weekends (up here on YTV)
According to Mr Allen, NASA was forced to send robots to the moon and faked the manned missions because radiation levels in space were lethal to humans.
What the...
Hey! Science Fair Projects are for the KIDS to do! The KIDS! Not the DADS! jeez, you don't want to raise a cheater, do you? (Besides, everyone knows mothers do better work....)
Since Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5.73 x 10^3 years, I really doubt that your mountain was dated using it. Craters (and other geological formations, such as you mountain) are not dated using it as it's half-life is only about 5 or 6 thousand years, meaning it's only useful to date back approximately 70 thousand years, as any specimens from before that would have to be made entirely out of C-14 for any of it to survive to modern times. It's interesting to note that we are screwing over archeologists of the future thanks to the industrial revolution - there is more C-14 present in the atmosphere now due to pollutants (Nitrogen + neutron = Carbon-14). Potassium-40 and Uranium-238 are the isotopes used to date old rocks, as their half-lives are 1.26 x 10^9 years and 4.5 x 10^9 years respectfully. It is most likely that the crater in question in the above article was inaccurately dated due to an abundance of the isotope used to date it being present in the meteor that caused it.
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Besides, if Moses hears you bitching, he'll punk you good, or send Rick the Temp after you.
My brother and I still point off into the distance and say that when questioned on where we're going.
And, strangely enough, there are places outside of Toronto where we didn't get to see it. You big-city folks don't seem to remember that you're a major market center, and you only got one screen in one (very large) theatre. Here in Guelph (drive west for an hour on the 401 and you'll find us) the closest theatre showing it was nearly a forty minute drive away, and that was for an animation festival. It also hit the Bookshelf for one or two showings, but that's it (and the only showings were nights I was working).
As to Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, RAH worked on both of them at the same time, and the leftover notes from Troopers were apparently used in Stranger to help round it out (just one of those bits of trivia you pick up that makes you think)
I believe that they went with Cowboy Bebop: The Movie rather than Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door so as to avoid any legal issues with Bob Dylan due to his famous song Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
As to the Sorceror's Stone, that was done because the American publisher felt that it sounded more "Magic-like" than Philosopher's Stone.
So does my computer.
Don't believe me? Check out his site, with his rather interesting blog here
The article states that a single RNA strand is responsible for recruiting the other seven, which then work together to produce more virons. I'm curious as to whether it is that RNA strand which has to mutate in order for the virus to jump from species to species (such as from birds to humans). Perhaps this could lead to a new innoculation for birds that would prevent their viral infections from jumping ship to us.
I say "This sentence is a lie"?
Seriously though, I just saw the Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolution preview, and I can't wait for the Hulk and the X-Men 2 that we all know are coming.
It seems that the Bolivian Tree Lizard loves eating fungi almost as much it loves pigeons, and once we're overrun by them we'll just release wave after wave of Chinese Needle Snake. The beautiful part is, however, the Gorillas we have lined up that thrive on snake meat, as once they've finished off the snakes they'll freeze to death during the wintertime!
Speaking as a child of the 80's, it's good to know I've been around for over 15 years!
You and Randal seem to be thinking about the same thing...
HGH works by stimulating the growth of cartilage in the Epiphyseal Plate, which causes lengthening of the bone. Unfortunately, once you finish puberty, the epiphyseal plate hardens into the epiphyseal line, which is why you stop growing (if you get an X-ray done on your arm, have the doc point it out to you - it'll be right near the end of the bone, just before it widens at the end).
In mature people, however, elevated levels of HGH cause the sides of bones to thicken, leading to very heavy features in the face, and wide hands and fingers. This can be seen in pictures of 'Giants' as well - not only are they quite tall, but their hands and faces are quite wide as well.
Basically, HGH in large amounts is bad for the mature human being. There have been a number of studies on its effects, and the major bad ones include increased incidence of cancer and diabetes. You have to remember that this is a hormone, and hormones basically control our bodies - messing with their balance can have very bad side effects. If you're serious about bulking up, an exercise routine is a much better way to go.
Guess what folks - if it wasn't for Miyamoto, you wouldn't have jobs. If the only games available back when I first got my hands on consoles (and we're talking Atari 2600 and NES) had been as violent or as adult themed as the games referred to in the article (GTA3 and BMX-XXX) my parents wouldn't have bought them for me. NO kids would have gotten games like those in the early 80s. I got Super Mario Bros. and Zelda, however, and they started me on my path. I own GTA3, and play it, but ten years down the road, I won't be playing it - I am still, however playing Super Mario World on my SNES, Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3 are in my closet, and get pulled out atleast once a year, and I've got an emulator on my PC for Zelda.
Seriously, if someone were to offer you a N64 with Mario 3D and Ocarina of Time for free, or GTA3 for free which would you take? It's the N64, no questions asked for me.
Besides, Fox already did this with a TV show - it's called 24
I'd love a Hobbit Hole, but at these prices, I'm going to have to win the Lottery!
On another note, could we perhaps link to Studio Ghibli when discussing their films in the future? It might reduce the number of "We Hate Disney" posts. It is unfortunate that Disney got the release rights to the Miyazaki/Ghibli films, but I'd rather rant about them somewhere else (for those of you who don't know who Miyazaki is check this out).
It was where I was first introduced to him, and, had I not checked out a few of the original graphic novels by Herge, I wouldn't have even known that Snowy was supposed to 'talk'. He was just animated as a rather intuitive dog, much like Brain on Inspector Gadget, less the intuitive hand gestures and knack for disguises. If I remember correctly, the animation was pretty true to the original artwork.
There's an episode breakdown for you here, for those of you who are interested. It is Ten years old, but it still runs occasionally on the weekends (up here on YTV)
Perhaps wecould use these robots to cut down the Radioactive Trees
What the... Hey! Science Fair Projects are for the KIDS to do! The KIDS! Not the DADS! jeez, you don't want to raise a cheater, do you? (Besides, everyone knows mothers do better work....)
Since Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5.73 x 10^3 years, I really doubt that your mountain was dated using it. Craters (and other geological formations, such as you mountain) are not dated using it as it's half-life is only about 5 or 6 thousand years, meaning it's only useful to date back approximately 70 thousand years, as any specimens from before that would have to be made entirely out of C-14 for any of it to survive to modern times. It's interesting to note that we are screwing over archeologists of the future thanks to the industrial revolution - there is more C-14 present in the atmosphere now due to pollutants (Nitrogen + neutron = Carbon-14). Potassium-40 and Uranium-238 are the isotopes used to date old rocks, as their half-lives are 1.26 x 10^9 years and 4.5 x 10^9 years respectfully. It is most likely that the crater in question in the above article was inaccurately dated due to an abundance of the isotope used to date it being present in the meteor that caused it.