From: Jeb Boyt [jeboyt@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 9:52 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: RE: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More on Synergy use/distrib ----Original Message Follows---- From: "chalz@earthlink.net" Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 22:47:20 -0400 My GM and I have talked a little on this since the last such post, and we think that a sort of booklet of the Synergy rules would be most excellent. I dono, like a $7 booklet or whatever, with the base Synergy rules. That way you could write up material for a game and say "For the gaming rules, buy the booklet here." I dono about anyone else, but if that were the case for me, I'd be more likely to buy the cheaper booklet than the whole BP book. ================================= Sounds like something similiar to GURPS Lite. A booklet on the essential rules and nothing else. It could even be published as an e-book to avoid printing costs. Jeb _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Christopher Gribbon [c.gribbon@dundee.ac.uk] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 10:48 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - OT scottish "terrorists" >Sometimes terrorists can have the most obscure reasons for >doing things. In Scotland, in the 50's and 60's >there were guys running around blowing up postboxes. The >reason was that all new mail boxes had the >stamp ER2 (or ERII I'm not quite sure) meaning Queen >Elizabeth the Second. These patriots/terrorists objected >since technically Great Britain never had a Queen Elizabeth >the First. Feelings can run very deep >and grudges can be held for a *very* long time. It's ERII. At that time also the Stone of Destiny (which all British monarchs are crowned on) was stolen from under the throne and brought back to Scotland by four students from Glasgow University. It was, however, recovered and returned to England. Mind you, there is a fair amount of doubt as to whether the current Stone of Destiny is the actual original - as the Monks of Scone (who kept it before Longshanks' army took Scone and flattened everything around it) had plenty of time to hide it before the army got there. The current Stone is a huge granite slab, with iron hoops embedded in each end; the original stone is most usually described as a rounded marble stone.... One interesting hypothesis is that the army found a big, impressive stone and took it back 'cos they couldn't find anything else - but it was actually the lid to the Cess pit of at Scone. Christopher Gribbon Vision Research Laboratories Medical Sciences Institute University of Dundee Dundee DD1 5EH UK (01382) 344 229 ____________________________________________________________________ "A scientist is meant to be disinterested, pure; his ambition merely to descry the cement of the universe. He isn't meant to use it to start laying his own patio!" - WILL SELF, The Quantity Theory of Insanity *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: chalz@earthlink.net Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 10:11 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: An interesting idea... Something my brother forwarded to me. I think it's rather relevant to Blue Planet and more than a couple of our discussions here... For some years, some biologists have argued that there was a 7th day of creation, during which God thought about his prototypes and finally made the crowning glory of his creation here on Earth: the giant squid. The basic problem with the idea that we humans are the peak of His creation was pointed out by none other than Charles Darwin. The problem is explaining the evolution of the vertebrate eye. He gave this as a very serious problem, because this organ doesn't fossilize at all, and it is difficult to explain how all the intermediate forms could have been sufficiently functional for Natural Selection to have selected them. In recent years, Creationists have vociferously challenged the entire evolutionary paradigm, and some biologists have given serious thought to their criticisms, as well as Darwin's issue of the eye. Some have suggested the thought experiment: Suppose that the Creationists are right, and the world was built by some sort of Cosmic Engineer (which we may call "God" for short). What can we learn by studying the artifacts of the creation process? One thing that we learn when we study the vertebrate eye is that it has a rather strange structure. The blood vessels and the nerves pass through the surface in a bundle (the "blind spot"), and spread out on the inside of the retina. This is a very bizarre way to lay out the "wiring". Why would any sensible engineer do it this way, rather than the much more sensible way of running the wiring along the back surface? We might hypothesize that there is some obscure benefit to doing it this way, and we just aren't clever enough to figure it out. But this is shot down by a simple fact. The "camera" type of eye seems to have evolved (or been created, if you prefer) more than once. The cephalopods (a family of animals that include octopi, squid, and nautilus) have eyes that are superficially similar, but on close examination, we find that all the details are different. In particular, they have the "wiring" on the back of the retina, as you'd expect. So, if there is a Creator, He seems to have done the job twice, once poorly (with vertebrates), and once well (with the cephalopods). This is very suspicious. It is especially suspicious when you consider that, while we humans claim that the planet was built for us, it is roughly 3/4 salt water. If you measure the areas that we humans actually inhabit in any significant numbers, we are talking about maybe 5% of the globe, whereas the giant squid is at the top of the food chain over roughly 70%. When you consider the actual volume of the inhabited space, the giant squid has a home range many thousands of times greater than ours. If this isn't convincing enough, consider also that humans have quite a good record of wiping out all the large predators, on both land and at sea. We have devastated the cetacea and are busy wiping out the large sharks, tunas, and other major marine predators. There is one exception: Humans show little interest in interacting with the giant squid. Sure, we catch the little ones and eat them, but as for the biggest species, we almost totally ignore it, although it is a major predator in all the oceans. And if you are like most humans, you are probably thinking that this is silly. Who cares about a bunch of big squid? This is very, very suspicious. We have a glaring blind spot here. Most large predators drive us crazy. We are terrified of wolves, bears, and sharks. Although very few humans have ever been injured by any of them, we hunt them down and kill them on sight, because they terrify us. But a several-ton squid that eats large sharks? That is a creature that we can't see, and we don't take it seriously. Other large sea creatures get tangled in our nets and die; by some mysterious process, those nets don't catch giant squid. Nothing we do seems to affect this one major predator. Very suspicious. Invoking Occams's razor together with our Creation hypothesis leaves us with only one reasonable explanation. The world was created as a habitat for the giant squid. Humans were put here to control the large predators that would otherwise bother the giant squid. We are programmed to ignore the giant squid, and to not take actions that would harm them. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail2Web - Check your email from the web at http://www.mail2web.com/ . *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: chalz@earthlink.net Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 10:13 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: RE: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - OT scottish terrorists **** One interesting hypothesis is that the army found a big, impressive stone and took it back 'cos they couldn't find anything else - but it was actually the lid to the Cess pit of at Scone. ** The history and legends of the Isles are just so fascinating... ;) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail2Web - Check your email from the web at http://www.mail2web.com/ . *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Ml10@aol.com Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 11:22 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: An interesting idea... Hmm.... Just had an idea of some wacko cultist using (most of) this argument to start worshiping Greater Whites.... Mmmmm.... Greater Whites..... Mike Z *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Justin Bacon [triad@prairie.lakes.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 1:12 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Who is running a campaign right now Dr Ian McDonald wrote: > I don't think the "terrorist, so it's Muslim" happens that much outside > American media. In a week where the news channels have been constantly discussing the forthcoming execution of Timothy McVeigh, I'm a little unclear how *anyone* could have the impression that the American media draws a "terrorist, so it's Muslim" connection. Of course, I'm still unclear how anyone could interpret THE SIEGE as an anti-Muslim movie -- considering that the movie's entire thesis is that blindly painting Muslims with the red brush of prejudice just because there are some psycho Muslims out there is wrong. Is there anyone out there who honestly believes that there aren't Muslim terrorists in the world? And if there are Muslim terrorists in the world, why is it unforgivable sin for Hollywood to make a movie featuring Muslim terrorists? It's not like those are the only terrorists Hollywood depicts -- militias, psycho "white guys", and the IRA seem to get their time in the spotlight, too. Justin Bacon triad3204@aol.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Dr Ian McDonald [ian.mcdonald@iname.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 1:56 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Who is running a campaign right now Justin Bacon wrote: > > Dr Ian McDonald wrote: > > > I don't think the "terrorist, so it's Muslim" happens that much outside > > American media. > > In a week where the news channels have been constantly discussing the forthcoming execution of Timothy McVeigh, I'm a little unclear how *anyone* could have the impression that the American media draws a "terrorist, so it's Muslim" connection. Okay - I overplayed my case. > Of course, I'm still unclear how anyone could interpret THE SIEGE as an anti-Muslim movie -- considering that the movie's entire thesis is that blindly painting Muslims with the red brush of prejudice just because there are some psycho Muslims out there is wrong. > Don't know the film. > Is there anyone out there who honestly believes that there aren't Muslim terrorists in the world? And if there are Muslim terrorists in the world, why is it unforgivable sin for Hollywood to make a movie featuring Muslim terrorists? The issue is more that the sum total of the US media radically over-represents Islamic terrorism. I tend not to watch action films, so I can't pick out individual examples. The result in the status of US muslims is obvious, though. > It's not like those are the only terrorists Hollywood depicts -- militias, psycho "white guys", and the IRA seem to get their time in the spotlight, too. Comparing the treatment of the IRA with the treatment of Islamic terrorists is salutatory. In "Patriot Games", Harrison Ford fights the IRA. But, to avoid offending all those members who do important social work in the community (as opposed to, say, blowing the knees off people vaguely suspected of petty crimes), he battles an "ultra-violent" faction. In another film, he befriends a gun smuggler. In "In the name of the father", the true story of a shameful miscarriage of justice becomes fictionalised and exagguarated to the point that the title characters tells the media IRL that it's a good movie, but not much to do with what really happened... (Statement of interests: I really don't care whether NI is part of the UK, part of the RoI, independent within Europe, or anything. As long as the people decide. And they have decided. Only around 10-15% of them vote for the IRA or other terrorist-linked political parties. There is no reason for any terrorist organisation, on either side, to exist there.) This is important because the IRA gets much, if not most, of its money from americans who have watched too many movies. (This rant was brought to you by ...) > Justin Bacon > triad3204@aol.com > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. -- Ian McDonald http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/alternative.html http://travel.to/startrekcolony - Star Trek: Colony site & .mov http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/who-rpg.html - Dr. Who RPGs *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Dooley, Ryan [dooleyr@missouri.edu] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 2:35 PM To: 'blue_planet@lists.ient.com' Subject: RE: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More on Synergy use/distrib There is also the D6 System book from westend games (ala, the old starwars). If synergy were to be produced in a book format, I'd pay up to $15 for it as it would be most cool. Cheers, Ryan > -----Original Message----- > From: Jeb Boyt [mailto:jeboyt@hotmail.com] > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 9:52 AM > To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com > Subject: RE: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More on Synergy use/distrib > > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "chalz@earthlink.net" > Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 22:47:20 -0400 > > My GM and I have talked a little on this since the last > such post, and > we think that a sort of booklet of the Synergy rules would be most > excellent. I dono, like a $7 booklet or whatever, with the > base Synergy > rules. That way you could write up material for a game and > say "For the > gaming rules, buy the booklet here." I dono about anyone > else, but if that > were the case for me, I'd be more likely to buy the cheaper > booklet than the > whole BP book. > ================================= > > Sounds like something similiar to GURPS Lite. A booklet on > the essential > rules and nothing else. It could even be published as an > e-book to avoid > printing costs. > > Jeb > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > ************************************************************** > ************* > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: David R. Crowell [gpfarm-dave@northnet.org] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 2:24 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] -Terrorists was Who is running a campaign right now ----- Original Message ----- From: Justin Bacon To: Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 2:12 PM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Who is running a campaign right now > Dr Ian McDonald wrote: > > > I don't think the "terrorist, so it's Muslim" happens that much outside > > American media. > > In a week where the news channels have been constantly discussing the forthcoming execution of Timothy McVeigh, I'm a little unclear how *anyone* could have the impression that the American media draws a "terrorist, so it's Muslim" connection. Of course imediately after the Oklahoma City blast, "Muslim Terrorists" was exactly who the Media was blaming. > > Of course, I'm still unclear how anyone could interpret THE SIEGE as an anti-Muslim movie -- considering that the movie's entire thesis is that blindly painting Muslims with the red brush of prejudice just because there are some psycho Muslims out there is wrong. Haven't seen it so I can't comment. > > Is there anyone out there who honestly believes that there aren't Muslim terrorists in the world? And if there are Muslim terrorists in the world, why is it unforgivable sin for Hollywood to make a movie featuring Muslim terrorists? It's not like those are the only terrorists Hollywood depicts -- militias, psycho "white guys", and the IRA seem to get their time in the spotlight, too. Muslim terrorists certainly are a reality, so it is not a sin in my book to portray them in films etc. Of course there are non-Muslim terrorists as well and for fairness they should be depicted as well. The terrorists in "Die Hard" were certainly a mixed bunch as far ethnicity was concerned, so I think you are right that not all terrorists are depicted as being Muslim. The problem seems to be too few positive portrayals of Muslims in the Media. As Orson Welles said at the end of his broadcast of "Dracula" "There are bats and there are wolves. Such things do exist." > > Justin Bacon > triad3204@aol.com > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: David R. Crowell [gpfarm-dave@northnet.org] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 2:08 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More on Synergy use/distrib Chaosium did something similar with their Basic Roleplaying System. A little booklet with just the essential rules mechanics. TSR did likewise with their Amazing Engine. A PDF or other e-book would be fine. I would like this from the standpoint of having a quick reference guide to the rules. --dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeb Boyt > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "chalz@earthlink.net" > Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 22:47:20 -0400 > > My GM and I have talked a little on this since the last such post, and > we think that a sort of booklet of the Synergy rules would be most > excellent. I dono, like a $7 booklet or whatever, with the base Synergy > rules. That way you could write up material for a game and say "For the > gaming rules, buy the booklet here." I dono about anyone else, but if that > were the case for me, I'd be more likely to buy the cheaper booklet than the > whole BP book. > ================================= > > Sounds like something similiar to GURPS Lite. A booklet on the essential > rules and nothing else. It could even be published as an e-book to avoid > printing costs. > > Jeb > _________________________________________________________________ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Dr Ian McDonald [ian.mcdonald@iname.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 4:22 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More on Synergy use/distrib Seriously, what does Synergy offer that another, better placed, system doesn't? Don't get me wrong - it's a good system, particularly the damage rules - but AFAIK it is only used in one game, and so has a long way to go before the network externalities work in BP's favour. Blue Planet would be better helped by finding a better known system that suits the genre and somehow making itself compatible. (Or just including Fudge stats for easy conversion to, well, anything.) "Dooley, Ryan" wrote: > > There is also the D6 System book from westend games (ala, the old starwars). > > If synergy were to be produced in a book format, I'd pay up to $15 for it as > it would be most cool. > > Cheers, > Ryan > -- Ian McDonald http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/alternative.html http://travel.to/startrekcolony - Star Trek: Colony site & .mov http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/who-rpg.html - Dr. Who RPGs *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: necrobob [necrobob@mail.compfxnet.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 4:47 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] -Terrorists was Who is running a campaign right now ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "David R. Crowell" Reply-To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 15:24:02 -0400 >Of course imediately after the Oklahoma City blast, "Muslim Terrorists" was >exactly who the Media was blaming. At the time, Muslim terrorists were the most likely suspects. Not that that justifies the leap most Americans made in blaming them before the dust had even settled. >as being Muslim. The problem seems to be too few positive portrayals of >Muslims in the Media. I think you'd probably be safer if you amended that to "the American media". To be honest, I'm having a hard time remembering anytime I've seen a Muslim on a TV show or movie who wasn't a terrorist. There probably are a few, but I can't remember seeing them. -Necromancer Bob *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: ChrisTheS [stormsurge@stormsurge.org] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 7:52 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: An interesting idea... Hehe... sounds interesting (or, a cult on both Poseidon and Earth that worships greater whites, and smuggles one back to Earth... mmm....) ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 9:21 AM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: An interesting idea... > Hmm.... > Just had an idea of some wacko cultist using (most of) > this argument to start worshiping Greater Whites.... > > Mmmmm.... Greater Whites..... > > Mike Z > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.