denyasis

Hey there! Sorry for disappearing - Been very busy with stuff. On the Solar Catastrophe front: I read a rather funny/weird/interesting book called "Apocolypse 2012". While it was a weird book and I'm not sure how much of it to take seriously, It did talk about a very interesting, semi-scientifucally possible solar doomsday event: Pardon my lack of physics/astronomy/spelling ability Essentially, The solar system is devoid of ISM (interstellar medium). We talked

sometimes the typing is faster than the thinking... haha, same thing happens to me too, Sorry for any mis-understanding. I'm really enjoying this thread. Can't really talk about scfi, planetary colonization, and genetics at the police academy Well, I guess I could, but I can see people looking at me really wierd, lol.

There are a large diversity of small changes in the DNA of most genes, that can manifest in single amino acid changes in proteins, which can affect functions like catalytic rates. these are called polymorphisms, and different "versions" of a gene are called "alleles". a certain set of alleles versus another would define a "race". You are pretty much correct. Perhaps I was vague in my explanation, but I was trying to point out that genetic variation betw

Can't wait to see this

Hey, I'm back. Happy Hump Day!! if a big part of development is controlled by the mother's genes and biochemistry, then another avenue of bio-engineering more broadly could be carried out by introducing (or removing) proteins to the uterus (or egg) to affect the embryo's development. it also highlights the ways that DNA controlling reproduction could be altered to produce stronger specimens of a particular species. Very true. One must remem

are you familiar at all with current nanotechnology research, or scientifically grounded speculation about where it could go? I'm very very familliar with the latter. And you kinda answere you own question here: ut being so short, the GATACCA sequence can be found on many points in the whole genome. what you'd need to do, then, is start looking at the base pairs on either or both sides of the particular GATACCA occuran

Dystopic I'd be glad to answer your questions. Keep in mind though, I haven't worked in a lab for over a year (I'm doing the police thing now, lol). I went to school for forensic Chemistry (half chemistry, half genetics+micro). I also did Lab work mutating E coli and Yeast for about a year (part of a larger project studying specific proteins), So I hope I can answer all your questions. so i guess the broadest question i have about the point you made i

we wouldn't even necessarily have to modify them by replacing genes through direct molecular engineering; it'd probably be cheaper and more stable to slowly introduce environmental factors more like those of Mars to various populations of simple, fast-reproducing life forms. it's also thought that though, i suspect a combination of the two methods would be used; if we have a tool to do something, we tend to use it. It's actually easier to mutate the

I'll add that' I've had some good experience with Avast, Thouhg I use AVG now. Mystik - I just though of something - You said you have Hyjack This right? Do you know when you got the spywhere? You should be able to use hyjack this to ID the process (if its running one) by comparing a current scan with say the original (or best guess date scan before you got the spyware). That'll atleast give you the process name, allowing you to find it in the registry, prefectch (clean that out, btw!)

Sory, couldn't edit my last post, but we could use genetic to alter the growth cycle of the plant, surplanting its circadian rythmn. Year round harvests anyone? That would destroy the soil, I know, but if the colony was receiveing fresh "fertilizer" every day, that wouldn't be a hug problem. That largest problem you would have is the gradual salination of the soil (becomes to salty) We currently can make Salt resistant plants via genetic modification, but there is a limit to how effecti

I think the issue of brining livestock and agriculture to mars and the concept of teraforming are kinda hitting the same nail with two different hammers. The be truely self sufficent, we need to implant an entire cyclic ecosystem on Mars. Everythign from Nitrogen fixing bacteria, to plants, to "wildlife". Whether on the surface, in domes, or underground, you must have 100% conservation of mass (specifically organic mass) for the ecosystem to survive or have to Import resources from Ear

but the bigger point i had is, does a base on mars actually use less resources than a base in orbit? i don't think so. I think it's totally dependant on what you want to do with the base. They both have advantages and disadvantages. Ground base: Easier to build More space to build on Gravity Ability to harvest resources locally Space travel very difficult Orbit base No gravity (can be plus) More dificult to

If you can rmeember teh name of teh spyware or more specifcally the name of the files that you deleted, the exe, and associated files, try searching the registry for references using those names as parameters. Since it's spyware, any reference you find can be deleted, and that might kill the notification. Also, you can try googling the spyware name. Usually there are a few forums out there that specialize in removing these things. When I got a Trojan a few years ago, I managed to find

IIRC there's an international treaty, similar to the one concerning antarctica, that states no government can own celestial bodies. You are correct. But one must remember that the intent of that treaty was primarily scientific in nature. Antartica has no known resources that we need - Same with other celestrial bodies (for the time being anyway). If there were an attempt to colonize Antartica (aside from the current scientific bases there), the setting u

One interesting scio-political question would be that of ownership. I mean, who owns the moon, or any other potential locations that we would colonize? Obviously there would have to be some form of national owernship of the land. A coproration can buy land in Idaho and build a facility, but its still in the USA. Any new colony would need some form of governmental oversight, and the benifits for that nation would be tourism, taxes, military, land leases, loans, etc. If there were some ec

Well, I can't really commet on the Physics, but I can commnet on the Soc. Historically, European expansion has almost always been need and adverserial based. The age of exploration was generally brought on by the desire to trade with the East directly. By accomplishing this, the (christian) nations of Europe would cut out the middle men, which were the (islamic) nations of the middle east. This would allow the Western nations to essentially pinch off the middle east from both s

On a different topic, remembering these old games perhaps we see them with rose-tinted glasses I agree and think its part of the result of "escalation" in the game genre. We want each sequel or next game to be better than before. More options, better graphics, etc, etc. First X wing, then TIE, now Freespace 2. If you really think about it, Xwing doesn't really even compare to the more modern games. If some released a modern X wing, reviewer would complai

My games usually last around 8-10 years. Like almost everyone stated, I think the length definitely has a lot to do with your ability to preplan. As Zy mentioned, being bold with your expansion is a big key. While the attack early strategy is not one that I am very good at (I tend to be more of a diplo player, lol), I will agree that it is a very effective strategy. Not only do you knock a potentially deadly player down very early, but you also drastically imporve your empire in terms of size an

I sense there are really two points here at issue. The first, mentioned by the OP, is the presence of threads on the Recent List that are of no intrest to the OP. I can agree with this. I really like the opt out system mentioned above. Who knows how much effort this will take to implement, but it might be a nice touch especially for those of us who have specific intrests in the game (I don't do metaverse - like some of the mods too much, so I have really no intrest in metaverse threads - just an

Did anyone ever play sacrifice? It was kinda like fantasy battlezone. Actually, Did anyone ever play battlezone (1 or 2)? Those games were jewels. I'm surprised that no one has really explored that genre, especially with the advances in graphics and AI. Sacrifice was, by far, my favorite. The environment (artristically and practically speaking) and characters really made up for the more or less cliche plot. I would love if they made a spiritual heir to sacrifice, espec

If anyone knows of any recent 2D games, could you let me know? I actually "re-discovered" a game that I have owned for a little more than a year. It's a Russian game called "Space rangers 2." It kinda channels star control a bit (or at least that is what it seems like to me). It's an intersting mix of 2d perspective with some 3d graphics, and pulls it off fairly nicely. Very addictive, and difficult. I know you can get it online at places like

I have to admit I have passing interest in Fallout. I own 1 and 2, but have yet to play them (Time and RL suck sometimes). While I think that TES series is definitely set apart by the fact that it is and always was 1st person, I don't think that means that 1st person perspectives should become the mainstay of rpg's. I hope Bethesda hasn't fallen into a pyschological prison built by thier own sucess with TES series. Come to think of it Vogar, I haven't really heard of any party based rpg

come to think of it, when I was reading the posts about teh space sims, I'm surprised no one mentioned Iwar or Iwar2. I felt they (particularly Iwar2) had a good sense of atmosphere, with a unique yet not overly complex universe. Iwar 2, while not totally freeform, did have a very unique approach to the free form aspects of the game (I'm a pirate?!? - sweet!! - let's raid the space lanes!!) that worked smoothly with the games mechanics. Compare this to say, X3, which, while an ok game (

*I dislike a lot of rpgs even though I buy and play a bunch. I'd much prefer ones that were about characters you made rather than always having them named for you and cannot change, same with character bios. D&D is good in that regard (games like NWN I and II) oops Morrowind/Oblivion too. I kinda agree to an extent. I think it depends on teh scope and plot of the game. In NWN and TES you are the "hero" with no real ploat based backstory, so its fun to cr

It would appear that we caught a huge catch of evangelists. Its very difficult to have a discussion with those who are certain that they are right. There is a significant difference between "I think something is so because..." and "I'm right, and you're wrong if you disagree...". The difference being that one is willing to discuse a subject, and the other is not. Agreed - I tried to step away from the religion part of the OP a little bit, but I guess my