Oz the Great and Powerful

I see only one return: better chances of mankind's survival. Nope. The whole reason the New World was colonized was economic, and as transport tech got better (bigger ships, sail to steam, etc.) it became cheaper to move goods. This is what I see as the spark. There will be several small scientific stations thru our solar system. We will get better at building ships to support these stations. At some point there will be an economic impulse to d

Here's a question, Dystopic - what would the social effects be of relativistic flight? See Poul Anderson's "Tau Zero" for ideas. What happens if the ships themselves are the only form of communication, but a two year (or whatever) ship time becomes fifty (or whatever) in "real" time. The same sort of thing happened in the 17th and 18th century for sea travellers - but their calendar still matched the calendar at home! Add relativistic effects to that and it gets interesting. The Bussard

"Beer is proof that God loves us." - Benjamin Franklin

Not really,,, lets call it.... 'observational science'. You see a pattern, in this case, how so many book worms wear glasses and then look at what all book worms have in common, IE they read allot, and since you use your eyes to read... aha, aha (Mystikmind points his figer in the air expressing an idea) Reading must be bad for your eyes Take it from an aging bookworm / nerd with glasses - there is a correlation. But you are coming at it backwards. <

but has anyone else read the Forever War? Another classic! How could I forget that?

i really, really hope Sally is a significant human other, and not the family pet Baaaaaaaaa! Oh, there's a mental picture....

I don't know why exactly Evil was banned. I don't either, and don't expect to. But I miss him, too. When he took time to think about what he was trying to say he had interesting ideas, but he had/has a short fuse. But I miss the fun... Stardock folks, if you needed to to it I can understand. But the loss of any diminishes us all, and the forums aren't the same.

does that make smirnoff ice and tequiza forms of heresey? if so, then here we have original sin: Smirnoff ice is proof that the Russian Ortodox God loves us. Tequiza is proof that the lesser Mayan gods have no real power. And Zima is proof that Satan walks among us! I drink old school. All these teeny-bopper training wheel drinks (Mikes Hard, Puckers, all the wacky flavors of schnapps) seem silly to me. If you want to drink Kool-Aid, drink Kool-

there is always that 'chemical' aftertaste which always puts me off. I don't drink Scotch for this reason. I like Jack Daniel's in a shot, but not over the rocks to sip on. Beer, now....beer is proof that God loves us!

ps. I could use some advice as I'm not well versed in alcohol. I am thinking of making homemade "smoothies" We've been making a killer summertime smoothie for a few years. Ice, frozen limeade, and gin, preferably Tanqueray but whatever. Play with it until you like the taste, but you get a frozen gin and tonic. Great for around the pool!

Killean's got poorer here right around the same time. I agree. I'm a shot & a beer guy. Jack Daniel's works for me, and any beer that tastes like beer. Guiness is a little too strong for me, but I love Black & Tans (1/2 Guiness, 1/2 Harp or Bass Ale). Another personal favorite is Hacker-Pschorr, a great German weiss beer. Great on a summer day with a lemon wedge. that almost sounds like toad licking. How

Which told me 3 things: 1) Ironside, and possibly Verhoven did not read the book; 2) Virginia never met Verhoven before the rights were sold; 3) I probably don't need to see any more Paul Verhoven films All you younger folks! Read the book! And you might as well buy a copy, because if you like this game, you're a person who will keep your 1st copy until you give it to your as yet unborn kid. (I think we actually hav

You know this stuff only works if you are prepared to take the bible as the creditable word of god. I personally dont, I may have too high expectations but I always immagined the word of god being somewhat more... coherent. Remember, our version of the Bible has been translated at least 5 times and is the written version of stories that were passed down by word of mouth for thousands of years. Do I believe that there is truth in the Bible? Yes - we shou

My real recommendation: use your local library and don't be afraid to put a book down partway, halfway, or most of the way through. Only buy books when you know you want to keep the author working or a friend would love the gift. This is really true. I read gobs of science fiction when I was younger, but you could buy a paperback for $1.50. At current prices I tend to be more careful about what I buy. But you can get anything at the library for f

Original Starfire was designed by Steve Cole, Great pencil and paper game! I loved playing that! How old am I? I must truly be a geezer...

though I'm not usually a big fantasy person I've given up on fantasy in the last few years. There is so much of it, and so much of it is bad. Using the "magic jewel" or "sacred potion" to get out of a plot jam just doesn't seem fair to me. Hard science fiction grabs my attention and makes me interested. The "Dragonriders of Pern" books are an interesting exception, though. There's just enough hard science in the story to keep it beleivable for m

I'll give it a shot... Continuing oil crisis for another 10 years as China and India need oil to fuel their growing economy. Continued high prices and demand make nuclear and coal power plants attractive again in the US. US turns to more electric power, with a shift to bio-fuel for autos and trucks. This means more farmland growing corn for ethanol, and not grain for export. The "breadbasket of the world" no longer exports huge amounts of food, or imports huge amounts of oil. A

I can't believe no body mentioned David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series. If you like Man-Kzin stuff, read Jerry Pournelle's "Mote in God's Eye". With everyone posting about "Starship Troopers" I'm suprised no one added "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I read "Troopers" when I was eleven and it turned me on to science fiction. I've read almost everything Heinlein has written. His Lazarus Long stories are really good, too. Check out "Methusalah's Children". "Armor" by

At my workplace, the management makes you write your own review and then reviews your review of yourself! (say that five times fast!) Although they do have to add comments. Purge, you are my new hero!

You sure you didn't mean trifocals there old fella? Eeehh? What was that you said? Oh, let me turn up my hearing aid...

I'm looking forward to going to my kids' houses, eating their snacks, and soiling their furniture! I have such big plans for them...

i say if we have the means to try and keep the climate change under control, But that's a big "if". The developed nations can talk about going to 100% nuclear power. What about the Third World? And who enforces global restrictions on pollutants? And how? Should we take the actions that are feasible now? Sure. But to leap into the Kyoto Agreement blindly and cripple our economy because of an unproven theory is foolish. [quote]fact: the c

www.cfidc.org/opp/jordan.ht Interesting article, Hydro. But if we can see that the climate has changed many times in the last 100,000 years and we weren't around, what triggered it then? The huge freshwater lake triggered the Younger Dryas, but what about the others? This is my point - if we know the climate changed before we were around, there must be another mechanism at work. Otherwise, if there were no greenhouse gases, the climate would nev

Can natural climate change be rapid? YES. I believe that the climate is changing. I will accept that it is possible that humans have something to do with it, but I haven't seen a provable link to anything we do and global warming. Computer models don't count. I can make a model say anything I want it to. Now, for all the "icecaps are melting and polar bears are dying" worriers out there - Just exactly how do you plan to reduce global

It is clear that the demographic of TBS games is much older than RTS games and you'll find that 40 probably puts you closer to the mean than the top end That's because our reflexes are going. I can't play the twitchy shooter games anymore. The over-caffeined teenagers are too fast for me! Now, let me move my walker and adjust my bifocals...it's hell getting old!