"Wrong. From an article featuring prominent anthropometric historian John Komlos:"
Interesting article, but I doubt the accuracy of his results. According to his theories, urban African American males should be shrinking, and I seriously doubt that is the case. I'd even speculate that urban African American males on average are taller than "white" American males, urban or rural. Of course, maybe this is only accurate here on the "West Coast."
"Do you realize that your post was self-contradictory? First, you say that the reason that Europeans are taller on average is the different demographics. I agree with this. Then you say that each generation is getting taller than the last. The evidence you give is purely anecdotal, and this point has nothing to do with your previous argument."
It may be anecdotal, but for me, it is still the truth of the matter. Adopting the "American" diet tends to increase the height in successive generations. That is also true for the first (and following) born generation of Asian immigrants to the United States as well. However, they are starting off at a shorter height than native born "whites", African Americans, and Native Americans already, thus the "average" American height is remaining at 5'10" (or less now) which has been consistent since at least 1950 even though the previously mentioned groups are still *growing* taller with each new generation.
Does that explain the point I was trying to make a little bit better?
"Jared Diamond addresses this in his book "The Third Chimpanzee". He suggests that while Neandarthals and Cromagnons are related species, that doesn't imply they're so closely related that a Cromagnon would want to have sex with a Neandarthal--anymore than a human would feel the urge to have sex with a chimpanzee, despite, again, being such closely related species. A Cromagnon, Diamond speculates, would probably have found the idea as repulsive."
What? The Neanderthals didn't have a James T. Kirk amongst their midsts, willing to propagate their genes by any means necessary? Actually, that's pretty unbelieveable, knowing how males of the homosapien species acts. Even with the harshness of racism over the past few hundred years did not preclude intermixing, even when it was illegal in certain societies.
I'd say that any species that resembles humanity would be a viable candidate for mating by our ancestor's thinking.
What about Neanderthal or Cromagnon homosexuality? Perhaps such practices on a widescale led to their demise...that and their women being kidnapped/raped by homosapien males.
I can't believe I'm even typing this, but speculation is fun, no matter how ridiculous...
"Well I don't know about you, but cloning Natalie Portman seems the more obvious objective to all past, present and future cloning projects."
Well, if the thought of cloning a line of small/non breasted women who think there are still restrictive tariffs on Mexican produce turns you on, then by all means. Tool.
Cloning an army of superwomen using Monica Bellucci as the template is the answer.
"'Thals don't figure prominently until the fourth book in the series, "Something Rotten," where they turn out to be instrumental in a high-stakes world cup croquet tournament."
The Thals? The mortal enemies of the Kaleds, who later became the galactic mutated filth known as the Daleks?
Granted, the Thals did evolve into a peace loving folk known for their beautiful capes, and modeling their look to resemble Nick Rhodes, the keyboardist of the band known as Duran Duran.
"Given the upcoming supreme court nominations, it won't be long until they're the new completely-legal slave race for the rich and powerful (a position currently occupied by the United States legislature)"
I'm sure there's some openings available at the RIAA...
"So this brings up an interesting question... IF the entire Neanderthal genome was recovered, could its DNA be inserted into a human egg and brought to birth by a surrogate human mother? If this is feasible (with current or near-future tech), imagine the implications!"
And currently entirely legal. The ban on "human" cloning would not prevent cloning of a non-human population. Stem cell research could be done on Neanderthal genetic stock.
Granted, if Neanderthal DNA shares a good chunk of DNA, then expect modifications of the law to begin in draft form.
"This may be able to tell us which is true. I wonder though, if we do find out that we absorbed them through interbreeding, will this eventually lead to discrimination against those of us who still harbor "caveman genes?""
There's also the theory that our ancestors ate the Neanderthals, similar to modern day Africans eating the Gorillas. Prehistoric *bushmeat.* Like the New York Times, I don't subscribe to that theory...
"I really wonder what the religions will say of these people when they will exist again?"
Most of the monotheistic world would probably (narrowmindedly) label the restored Neanderthals as the godless artifical offspring of the "Giants" written about in the Book of Genesis. The offspring of human females and the "angels" discarded from Heaven (I guess that depends upon the interpretation of these angels were part of Satan's flock). The offspring that were so wicked that *The Flood* was meant to destroy.
"July 06, 2005: Project to sequence genome of Neanderthal Man begins. September 3, 2009: Genome of Neanderthal Man sequenced. March 21, 2012: Neanderthal Man cloned. April 4, 2015: Neanderthal Man reaches the point of being able to form, in a grunting, slurred speech, individual english words. April 5, 2015: Neanderthal Man starts blog"
November 2016: Neanderthal man becomes President of the United States.* Snide Europeans based in France claim this is not the first time this has happened.
*Assuming the Neanderthal clone began as an "adult."
"In the last 50 years or so, Europeans have become on average about 2 cm taller than Americans. I'd guess (though I'm not sure) that Americans eat more meat than Europeans."
I don't believe that such averages can be attributed to diet/nutrition/prenatal/obesity. Compare the level of immigration to the United States over the past 50 years from Asian countries versus how many Asians moved to Europe over that same period of time. There's your explanation.
I mean, just look around and see how "white" Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans are all getting taller than the prior generations. I'm of that first category (and partly of the last) and I'm 2 inches taller than my father, who in turn is 2 inches taller than his father, and the mothers have all been around the same height too.
I've always thought it was foolish to speculate that modern humans and Neanderthals did not interbreed. Especially considering such people as the late Andre the Giant who actually resembles a Neanderthal. Although the Giant is no longer part of this mortal coil, perhaps this team could compare their findings with the DNA of Andre's American daughter, if her and her mother consented.
I can also see DARPA being interested in the findings. There is value in modifying soldiers of the future with the muscle mass that the Neanderthals enjoyed. And I'm sure the Chinese military would also be interested in such application(s). The question in my mind is which of these two military powers will be the first serious about the subject, either officially or behind closed doors...
And out of curiousity, could the gene sequencing be a project fit for BOINC? I know I'd be interested in donating my spare CPU cycles to the project.
...when is Palm going to get in on the "suing Microsoft" business?
I realize that as of late (the past 3 years or so), the loss of PalmOS marketshare has been the combined fault of PalmOne (back to being Palm again) and PalmSource in failing to keep up with the times, but there has to be some incriminating emails at Redmond on their efforts to squash the platform.
I would venture to speculate that there has to be some correspondence between Microsoft and Gateway putting pressure on them to dump the Palm line from their stores and online offerings...probably an offer to Dell to design the original Axims too. But that's just an assumption...
"1) Found Company 2) Sell company - stage 1 profit 3)Realise there is more money to be made by suing a former competitor 4) Buy failed company back 5) Sue Competitor 6) More Profit????"
Why not? It worked for Digital Research. Microsoft certainly would not be in the position it holds today had it not ripped off CP/M back in the day.
I live in a city (Sacramento) that has 7 broadcasters, and a couple of Spanish language broadcast stations as well. What exactly do these stations provide locally? Three of them offer local news, but what good is local news anyways? I can count on some traffic accident story, a story on a murder, someone losing a special pet story, a celebrity interview tied with the network the broadcaster is affiliated with, and more fluff. Does my city really need 7 broadcasters with that type of content? Nope. And neither does any other major city in my opinion.
I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to reduce the free broadcasters and save the bandwidth for better options (fire, police, public emergency, defense, mobile phones, etc.). Perhaps instead of 7, we should have 3 broadcast stations:
* One station devoted to local news.
* One station that is PBS, combined with the community access channels that cable/satellite is mandated to provide for through the franchise fees.
* An educational themed channel supported by commercials, like Discovery or History Channel.
Move all the entertainment channels onto pay cable/satellite.
I would like to see an experiment like this occur. It would be interesting to see if free television access being reduced to educational content might force the proletariat into being smarter or if taking away a relatively free entertainment item might actually increase the birth rate and crime.
"That's what the Bbile teaches. Aside from the homosexuals burning in hell bit. It teaches that all who sin are deserving of that fate, but that all can be saved by turning away from their sin and trusting in Jesus' death on the cross to pay the price for them. Being a homosexual isn't regarded as a sin; homosexual practise is. Just like many other things, such as heterosexual sex outside of marriage."
That's another thing that bugs me, and I'm not a homosexual. *Christians* pulling stuff out the *Old Testament* and trying to place its restrictions on non-Jews. If *Christians* want to impose segments of Old Testament morality onto people, then they themselves better not eat pork, better not eat shellfish at Red Lobster on Sunday, better not masturbate (or suffer being struck to death by God for wasting precious semen), and better not fail to beat their wives or children for being unruly and challenging their authority. Or, the whole "eye for an eye" routine which is counter to the teachings of Jesus. That's why the argument for stressing the *Ten Commandments* is absurd too. To a Christian, they are the *Ten Suggestions.*
I also forgot that under the Old Testament, and even New Testament thinking, epileptics (sic) are to be treated as if they are possessed by evil spirits and exorcized instead of treating them with modern medicine.
"The Roman Catholic Church has invented many traditions out of the logic of man rather than through direct revelation (too many for me to enumerate here). This makes them an apostate church. Sorry, but you can't "vote" on church doctrine like they did in the Council of Nicea, etc. They also come dangerously close to placing Mary above Jesus, making her an idol, even if they don't claim to worship her directly. Christ taught that He and His Father are the only beings one needs to believe in in order to achieve salvation."
Do they worship Jesus Christ? Yes. Is the Bible their official book? Yes. Where they the original Christian Church that was given sanction by Emperor Constantine? Yes. Then they are *Christian.*
If you are going to get technical about additions to the Church teachings, then maybe *you* shouldn't celebrate Christmas in December, better not use the Yule Log, better not use a Christmas tree, and many other things that were taken from earlier traditions too. Otherwise, somebody else will say your beliefs aren't *Christian* either.
Geez, its not like the Catholics came up with some absurd idea that the Garden of Eden was in North America, or that Jesus preached to non-existent "white" Native Americans right after his resurrection!:)
"Do you not find that how much you like an idea is a poor method for evaluating whether it is true or not? and that resorting to ad hominens is a poor manner of conducting a debate?"
I think its an accurate critique. If a follower of a deity cannot even spell HIS name correctly (referring to him as "Jehovah" when his name is "Yeweh") then I do not place much stock in them or their message. And that's not even counting the fact that said sect has predicted the end of the world several times, giving the exact year of the end, and then being wrong each time.
"Catholics aren't Christians. They are Catholics and believe in all kinds of superstitions."
How exactly do you figure *Catholics* AREN'T *Christians*?
The Catholic/Orothodox Church is the original Christian denomination. Throw in the Egyptian Church in there as well.
From my experience, people who claim to be *Christians* exclusively tend to be non-denominational Baptists, in fact. By declaring themselves as *Christians*, they imply that they are the true Church of Christ and thus slights all the other Christian denominations. They also tend to be the so-called *Bible Thumpers* who also believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, evolution is a fraud, and all homosexuals shall burn in Hell, along with false Christians (of the other denominations), non-believers, and other sinful folk.
I find such a comment insulting, and I'm not even a Catholic. In fact, it makes me pitty such folk for being such outright simpletons. At least the Jehovah's Witnesses (who can't even spell their God's name correctly) have the decency not to vote.
"This whole Jedi religion dreck has now officially gone too far. To those misguided simpletons out there who insist on calling themselves 'Jedi knights', I offer you this chance to prove yourselves:"
How has it gone too far? How is declaring ones self a Jedi worse than admitting to being a Scientologist? I know which "fake" scifi-based religion I'd choose out of the two of them.
At least "the Force" is based upon Taoism, which is a real religion.
And we should also give credit to Lucas for not trying himself to make the Jedi beliefs an actual religion, despite the assertions from Coppola that he should.
Perhaps Microsoft should just concentrate on catching up with their existing competitors before proclaiming they'll vanquish new competitors.
*Microsoft needs to concentrate on getting Longhorn out the door in 2006 without resorting to cutting further features.
*Microsoft needs to figure out how to tackle spyware issues on the Windows platform.
*Microsoft has to convince a good segment of the videogame enthusiasts not to wait for the Playstation3 and buy an Xbox360 instead.
*Microsoft needs to figure out how to beat Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store.
*Microsoft needs to convince Corporate America to upgrade off of Windows2000.
*Microsoft needs Internet Explorer7 to beat Firefox feature-for-feature to regain mindshare.
All of these issues should be the focus of Microsoft before Steve Ballmer starts mouthing off about taking down Google or any other upstart that captures 15 minutes of fame in the press away from Redmond.
"If you completely drain someone's infected HIV blood... flush their system out with this frigid saline solution... and then refill them with clean blood.... would this not be a cure for AIDS?"
Whatever happened to the folks that were part of the blood boiling experiment in South Africa?
"If you're clinically dead, the soul aready departed right? Especially if it takes a few hours or days to get your body revived, then your soul's been hanging with the big man upstairs and probably won't want to return, which means the body will be revived without a soul and turn into a brain-eating zombie..."
I can't see why the *Church* (generic term for all Christian denominations) couldn't simply explain that the soul is essentially tethered to the body. When the body *dies,* the soul goes onto the next stage. If it is revived, the soul returns.
Religion seems to have survived artificial insemination 20 + years ago. Then again, there's always the possibility that religion will exhault those that choose to die and not artifically continue their human existence...declaring those that do part of the godless rich.
Slashdot Mirror
"Wrong. From an article featuring prominent anthropometric historian John Komlos:"
Interesting article, but I doubt the accuracy of his results. According to his theories, urban African American males should be shrinking, and I seriously doubt that is the case. I'd even speculate that urban African American males on average are taller than "white" American males, urban or rural. Of course, maybe this is only accurate here on the "West Coast."
"Do you realize that your post was self-contradictory? First, you say that the reason that Europeans are taller on average is the different demographics. I agree with this. Then you say that each generation is getting taller than the last. The evidence you give is purely anecdotal, and this point has nothing to do with your previous argument."
It may be anecdotal, but for me, it is still the truth of the matter. Adopting the "American" diet tends to increase the height in successive generations. That is also true for the first (and following) born generation of Asian immigrants to the United States as well. However, they are starting off at a shorter height than native born "whites", African Americans, and Native Americans already, thus the "average" American height is remaining at 5'10" (or less now) which has been consistent since at least 1950 even though the previously mentioned groups are still *growing* taller with each new generation.
Does that explain the point I was trying to make a little bit better?
"Jared Diamond addresses this in his book "The Third Chimpanzee". He suggests that while Neandarthals and Cromagnons are related species, that doesn't imply they're so closely related that a Cromagnon would want to have sex with a Neandarthal--anymore than a human would feel the urge to have sex with a chimpanzee, despite, again, being such closely related species. A Cromagnon, Diamond speculates, would probably have found the idea as repulsive."
What? The Neanderthals didn't have a James T. Kirk amongst their midsts, willing to propagate their genes by any means necessary? Actually, that's pretty unbelieveable, knowing how males of the homosapien species acts. Even with the harshness of racism over the past few hundred years did not preclude intermixing, even when it was illegal in certain societies.
I'd say that any species that resembles humanity would be a viable candidate for mating by our ancestor's thinking.
What about Neanderthal or Cromagnon homosexuality? Perhaps such practices on a widescale led to their demise...that and their women being kidnapped/raped by homosapien males.
I can't believe I'm even typing this, but speculation is fun, no matter how ridiculous...
"Well I don't know about you, but cloning Natalie Portman seems the more obvious objective to all past, present and future cloning projects."
Well, if the thought of cloning a line of small/non breasted women who think there are still restrictive tariffs on Mexican produce turns you on, then by all means. Tool.
Cloning an army of superwomen using Monica Bellucci as the template is the answer.
"'Thals don't figure prominently until the fourth book in the series, "Something Rotten," where they turn out to be instrumental in a high-stakes world cup croquet tournament."
The Thals? The mortal enemies of the Kaleds, who later became the galactic mutated filth known as the Daleks?
Granted, the Thals did evolve into a peace loving folk known for their beautiful capes, and modeling their look to resemble Nick Rhodes, the keyboardist of the band known as Duran Duran.
"Given the upcoming supreme court nominations, it won't be long until they're the new completely-legal slave race for the rich and powerful (a position currently occupied by the United States legislature)"
I'm sure there's some openings available at the RIAA...
"Granted, if Neanderthal DNA shares a good chunk of DNA, then expect modifications of the law to begin in draft form."
Neanderthal DNA shares a good chunk with human DNA. Left out the human part there accidentally.
"So this brings up an interesting question... IF the entire Neanderthal genome was recovered, could its DNA be inserted into a human egg and brought to birth by a surrogate human mother? If this is feasible (with current or near-future tech), imagine the implications!"
And currently entirely legal. The ban on "human" cloning would not prevent cloning of a non-human population. Stem cell research could be done on Neanderthal genetic stock.
Granted, if Neanderthal DNA shares a good chunk of DNA, then expect modifications of the law to begin in draft form.
"This may be able to tell us which is true. I wonder though, if we do find out that we absorbed them through interbreeding, will this eventually lead to discrimination against those of us who still harbor "caveman genes?""
There's also the theory that our ancestors ate the Neanderthals, similar to modern day Africans eating the Gorillas. Prehistoric *bushmeat.* Like the New York Times, I don't subscribe to that theory...
"I really wonder what the religions will say of these people when they will exist again?"
Most of the monotheistic world would probably (narrowmindedly) label the restored Neanderthals as the godless artifical offspring of the "Giants" written about in the Book of Genesis. The offspring of human females and the "angels" discarded from Heaven (I guess that depends upon the interpretation of these angels were part of Satan's flock). The offspring that were so wicked that *The Flood* was meant to destroy.
"July 06, 2005: Project to sequence genome of Neanderthal Man begins.
September 3, 2009: Genome of Neanderthal Man sequenced.
March 21, 2012: Neanderthal Man cloned.
April 4, 2015: Neanderthal Man reaches the point of being able to form, in a grunting, slurred speech, individual english words.
April 5, 2015: Neanderthal Man starts blog"
November 2016: Neanderthal man becomes President of the United States.* Snide Europeans based in France claim this is not the first time this has happened.
*Assuming the Neanderthal clone began as an "adult."
"In the last 50 years or so, Europeans have become on average about 2 cm taller than Americans. I'd guess (though I'm not sure) that Americans eat more meat than Europeans."
I don't believe that such averages can be attributed to diet/nutrition/prenatal/obesity. Compare the level of immigration to the United States over the past 50 years from Asian countries versus how many Asians moved to Europe over that same period of time. There's your explanation.
I mean, just look around and see how "white" Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans are all getting taller than the prior generations. I'm of that first category (and partly of the last) and I'm 2 inches taller than my father, who in turn is 2 inches taller than his father, and the mothers have all been around the same height too.
I've always thought it was foolish to speculate that modern humans and Neanderthals did not interbreed. Especially considering such people as the late Andre the Giant who actually resembles a Neanderthal. Although the Giant is no longer part of this mortal coil, perhaps this team could compare their findings with the DNA of Andre's American daughter, if her and her mother consented.
I can also see DARPA being interested in the findings. There is value in modifying soldiers of the future with the muscle mass that the Neanderthals enjoyed. And I'm sure the Chinese military would also be interested in such application(s). The question in my mind is which of these two military powers will be the first serious about the subject, either officially or behind closed doors...
And out of curiousity, could the gene sequencing be a project fit for BOINC? I know I'd be interested in donating my spare CPU cycles to the project.
I realize that as of late (the past 3 years or so), the loss of PalmOS marketshare has been the combined fault of PalmOne (back to being Palm again) and PalmSource in failing to keep up with the times, but there has to be some incriminating emails at Redmond on their efforts to squash the platform.
I would venture to speculate that there has to be some correspondence between Microsoft and Gateway putting pressure on them to dump the Palm line from their stores and online offerings...probably an offer to Dell to design the original Axims too. But that's just an assumption...
"1) Found Company 2) Sell company - stage 1 profit
3)Realise there is more money to be made by suing a former competitor 4) Buy failed company back
5) Sue Competitor 6) More Profit????"
Why not? It worked for Digital Research. Microsoft certainly would not be in the position it holds today had it not ripped off CP/M back in the day.
I live in a city (Sacramento) that has 7 broadcasters, and a couple of Spanish language broadcast stations as well. What exactly do these stations provide locally? Three of them offer local news, but what good is local news anyways? I can count on some traffic accident story, a story on a murder, someone losing a special pet story, a celebrity interview tied with the network the broadcaster is affiliated with, and more fluff. Does my city really need 7 broadcasters with that type of content? Nope. And neither does any other major city in my opinion.
I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to reduce the free broadcasters and save the bandwidth for better options (fire, police, public emergency, defense, mobile phones, etc.). Perhaps instead of 7, we should have 3 broadcast stations:
* One station devoted to local news.
* One station that is PBS, combined with the community access channels that cable/satellite is mandated to provide for through the franchise fees.
* An educational themed channel supported by commercials, like Discovery or History Channel.
Move all the entertainment channels onto pay cable/satellite.
I would like to see an experiment like this occur. It would be interesting to see if free television access being reduced to educational content might force the proletariat into being smarter or if taking away a relatively free entertainment item might actually increase the birth rate and crime.
"That's what the Bbile teaches. Aside from the homosexuals burning in hell bit. It teaches that all who sin are deserving of that fate, but that all can be saved by turning away from their sin and trusting in Jesus' death on the cross to pay the price for them. Being a homosexual isn't regarded as a sin; homosexual practise is. Just like many other things, such as heterosexual sex outside of marriage."
That's another thing that bugs me, and I'm not a homosexual. *Christians* pulling stuff out the *Old Testament* and trying to place its restrictions on non-Jews. If *Christians* want to impose segments of Old Testament morality onto people, then they themselves better not eat pork, better not eat shellfish at Red Lobster on Sunday, better not masturbate (or suffer being struck to death by God for wasting precious semen), and better not fail to beat their wives or children for being unruly and challenging their authority. Or, the whole "eye for an eye" routine which is counter to the teachings of Jesus. That's why the argument for stressing the *Ten Commandments* is absurd too. To a Christian, they are the *Ten Suggestions.*
I also forgot that under the Old Testament, and even New Testament thinking, epileptics (sic) are to be treated as if they are possessed by evil spirits and exorcized instead of treating them with modern medicine.
"The Roman Catholic Church has invented many traditions out of the logic of man rather than through direct revelation (too many for me to enumerate here). This makes them an apostate church. Sorry, but you can't "vote" on church doctrine like they did in the Council of Nicea, etc. They also come dangerously close to placing Mary above Jesus, making her an idol, even if they don't claim to worship her directly. Christ taught that He and His Father are the only beings one needs to believe in in order to achieve salvation."
:)
Do they worship Jesus Christ? Yes. Is the Bible their official book? Yes. Where they the original Christian Church that was given sanction by Emperor Constantine? Yes. Then they are *Christian.*
If you are going to get technical about additions to the Church teachings, then maybe *you* shouldn't celebrate Christmas in December, better not use the Yule Log, better not use a Christmas tree, and many other things that were taken from earlier traditions too. Otherwise, somebody else will say your beliefs aren't *Christian* either.
Geez, its not like the Catholics came up with some absurd idea that the Garden of Eden was in North America, or that Jesus preached to non-existent "white" Native Americans right after his resurrection!
"Do you not find that how much you like an idea is a poor method for evaluating whether it is true or not? and that resorting to ad hominens is a poor manner of conducting a debate?"
I think its an accurate critique. If a follower of a deity cannot even spell HIS name correctly (referring to him as "Jehovah" when his name is "Yeweh") then I do not place much stock in them or their message. And that's not even counting the fact that said sect has predicted the end of the world several times, giving the exact year of the end, and then being wrong each time.
"Catholics aren't Christians. They are Catholics and believe in all kinds of superstitions."
How exactly do you figure *Catholics* AREN'T *Christians*?
The Catholic/Orothodox Church is the original Christian denomination. Throw in the Egyptian Church in there as well.
From my experience, people who claim to be *Christians* exclusively tend to be non-denominational Baptists, in fact. By declaring themselves as *Christians*, they imply that they are the true Church of Christ and thus slights all the other Christian denominations. They also tend to be the so-called *Bible Thumpers* who also believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, evolution is a fraud, and all homosexuals shall burn in Hell, along with false Christians (of the other denominations), non-believers, and other sinful folk.
I find such a comment insulting, and I'm not even a Catholic. In fact, it makes me pitty such folk for being such outright simpletons. At least the Jehovah's Witnesses (who can't even spell their God's name correctly) have the decency not to vote.
"This whole Jedi religion dreck has now officially gone too far. To those misguided simpletons out there who insist on calling themselves 'Jedi knights', I offer you this chance to prove yourselves:"
How has it gone too far? How is declaring ones self a Jedi worse than admitting to being a Scientologist? I know which "fake" scifi-based religion I'd choose out of the two of them.
At least "the Force" is based upon Taoism, which is a real religion.
And we should also give credit to Lucas for not trying himself to make the Jedi beliefs an actual religion, despite the assertions from Coppola that he should.
Perhaps Microsoft should just concentrate on catching up with their existing competitors before proclaiming they'll vanquish new competitors.
*Microsoft needs to concentrate on getting Longhorn out the door in 2006 without resorting to cutting further features.
*Microsoft needs to figure out how to tackle spyware issues on the Windows platform.
*Microsoft has to convince a good segment of the videogame enthusiasts not to wait for the Playstation3 and buy an Xbox360 instead.
*Microsoft needs to figure out how to beat Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store.
*Microsoft needs to convince Corporate America to upgrade off of Windows2000.
*Microsoft needs Internet Explorer7 to beat Firefox feature-for-feature to regain mindshare.
All of these issues should be the focus of Microsoft before Steve Ballmer starts mouthing off about taking down Google or any other upstart that captures 15 minutes of fame in the press away from Redmond.
"Blood cells can be based around copper instead of iron - It works just fine for oxygen transfer. So, green blood is a scientific possibility."
:)
Sigh....another Mr. Spock reference on Slashdot.
Star Trek is dead! Long live Doctor Who!
"If you completely drain someone's infected HIV blood... flush their system out with this frigid saline solution... and then refill them with clean blood....
would this not be a cure for AIDS?"
Whatever happened to the folks that were part of the blood boiling experiment in South Africa?
"If you're clinically dead, the soul aready departed right? Especially if it takes a few hours or days to get your body revived, then your soul's been hanging with the big man upstairs and probably won't want to return, which means the body will be revived without a soul and turn into a brain-eating zombie..."
I can't see why the *Church* (generic term for all Christian denominations) couldn't simply explain that the soul is essentially tethered to the body. When the body *dies,* the soul goes onto the next stage. If it is revived, the soul returns.
Religion seems to have survived artificial insemination 20 + years ago. Then again, there's always the possibility that religion will exhault those that choose to die and not artifically continue their human existence...declaring those that do part of the godless rich.