tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post115058774961744930..comments2024-03-28T08:34:43.846-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Various Miscellaneous Apolitical itemsDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150765855848428292006-06-19T18:10:00.000-07:002006-06-19T18:10:00.000-07:00Tragic news.FWIW: the stroke occurred on June 12, ...Tragic news.<BR/>FWIW: the stroke occurred on June 12, and Jim Baen is still in a coma. No further news.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150690349593361562006-06-18T21:12:00.000-07:002006-06-18T21:12:00.000-07:00Since Tony mentioned him:Jim Baen has had a very s...Since Tony mentioned him:<BR/><BR/>Jim Baen has had a very serious stroke and is in a coma.<BR/><BR/>The company is running under "very specific" emergency plans.<BR/><BR/>Don't know much more than that. If you're interested, check the publishers' web site.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150689055102031252006-06-18T20:50:00.000-07:002006-06-18T20:50:00.000-07:00Fred,Apart from the 'Star Wars on Trial' and 'King...Fred,<BR/><BR/>Apart from the 'Star Wars on Trial' and 'King Kong' collections, I suggest you go have a look at <A HREF="http://www.baens-universe.com/" REL="nofollow">Jim Baen's Universe</A> and check out 'the Ancient Ones'. You'll find a few other notaries there as well. (I haven't yet, alas: been too busy! Gotta get less busy...)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150685323767618832006-06-18T19:48:00.000-07:002006-06-18T19:48:00.000-07:00tangent you said "I wonder if these new tar source...tangent you said "I wonder if these new tar sources will result in further delays in alternative fuels. One of the big problems with alternative fuel research is that so long as gasoline remained cheap and accessible, there was no incentive for researching other fuels."<BR/><BR/>isnt the question the answer?<BR/><BR/>If the issue is carbon dioxide then alternative fuels (except hydrogen made with nuclear or wind) dont realy get you anything a more efficient petrol engine wontAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150677824335322152006-06-18T17:43:00.000-07:002006-06-18T17:43:00.000-07:00Well, I've had carpal tunnel since 1985. The treat...Well, I've had carpal tunnel since 1985. The treatment back then was to slice you. 30% chance of making it worse, 30% chance of cure, 30% chance of being better than getting worse again. I was the last 30%. No "cure" that I've ever heard of!<BR/><BR/>And, ahem, Dr. Brin, ahem, any chance of some good old fashioned "science fiction" coming our way? I just read "Tank Farm" in the Benford/Zebrowski collection "Skylife" and it had me hankering for a new Brin opus in the Uplift universe or a novel set in the "Tank Farm" universe, or, anything!!!!Frederick Paul Kiesche IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17503079579685008728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150640951043827212006-06-18T07:29:00.000-07:002006-06-18T07:29:00.000-07:00Stefan, I concur---The Fog of War was excellent. I...Stefan, I concur---The Fog of War was <I>excellent</I>. I had never imagined how so many very intelligent people could go so disastrously wrong. Sobering.<BR/><BR/>Tangent, don't worry about tar sands or whatnot. We'll be making diesel via the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch" REL="nofollow">Fischer-Tropsch process</A> until we run out of dry land. There's plenty more carbon to throw into the atmosphere; it's not like we can all go the way of <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil" REL="nofollow">Brazil</A> and become energy-independent, or anything.<BR/><BR/>I <A HREF="http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2006/06/from-battlefront-of-ideas.html#115032342413036689" REL="nofollow">mentioned earlier</A> that I'd run into some of that "deep environmentalism" nonsense that I thought was only a theoretical position that no one took seriously. I've now discovered <A HREF="http://imnotparanoid.blogspot.com/2006/03/death-of-artistic-mastery.html" REL="nofollow">a blog post at "I'm Not Paranoid"</A> which reads like something straight out of Nathan Holn. It's only about culture and the arts, instead of society as a whole, but it bemoans the lack of "elites" (I quote) to lead "the rabble" (I quote again, and not ironically!) to good taste.<BR/><BR/>The more I read, the more impressed I am with the concepts of modernism and faith in the abilities of the common people and the institutions we build, and more convinced that this is, indeed, the most salient divide in political debate today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150600027556731792006-06-17T20:07:00.000-07:002006-06-17T20:07:00.000-07:00Oooh!Queue up your TiVOs or VCRs.Tonight at 9:00 p...Oooh!<BR/><BR/>Queue up your TiVOs or VCRs.<BR/><BR/>Tonight at 9:00 pm, and then again in the wee hours, History Channel will run Errol Morris' <I>The Fog of War,</I> an excellent movie-length interview with Robert MacNamara, the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1150591203388770522006-06-17T17:40:00.000-07:002006-06-17T17:40:00.000-07:00Interesting bit from Natural History Magazine:The ...Interesting bit from Natural History Magazine:<BR/><BR/><B>The Birth of War</B><BR/><BR/><I>An archaeological survey concludes that warfare, despite its malignant hold on modern life, has not always been part of the human condition.<BR/><BR/>By R. Brian Ferguson<BR/><BR/>Thirty years ago all the anthropologists studying war would have fit into one small room. Granted—and guaranteed—that room would frequently erupt in heated debate, but few outside would notice or care. Tribal warfare? Exotic, maybe, but so what? Anthropologists see war as potentially lethal violence between two groups, no matter how small the groups or how few the casualties. But how much light could such a broad definition of conflict, or cases of precivilized human strife, shed on modern warfare, the struggles that have flared in Iraq, Kosovo, Rwanda, Vietnam, Korea—and on and on?</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://naturalhistorymag.com/master.html?http://naturalhistorymag.com/0703/0703_feature.html" REL="nofollow">Rest of story</A><BR/><BR/>I could see the above being attacked as politicized science. (How <I>dare</I> some egghead hippies suggest war might not be human nature!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com