D'kian

That seems to be a misquote of Clarke's Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable form magic." It's also sometimes called Clarke's third law. The other two are: 1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; when he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong. 2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. Clarke of course is the late Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer.

When I saw the thread title, I thought "So did Jim Taggart."

Thanks. If you're looking for more advice on casinos, try Wizard of Vegas. It's run by a mathematician who does analysis for casinos and games manufacturers, among other things. He's a great guy, very approachable and very reasonable. My nick there is Nareed.

One of my favorite exchanges is the scene atop of the dam in "The Fugitive." The words aren't anything special, it's the acting from both Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones that makes it work: Dr. Kimble: I didn't kill my wife! Gerard: I don't care. And of course there's the scene in Casablanca where Renault closes down Rick's. Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds? Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money] Croupier: Your winnings, sir. Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much. [aloud] Captain Renault: Everybody out at once! If we admit TV, a good one is from Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory: "I did not try. I succeeded."

No "may" about it. I used those commands in a way which is what barely allows me to remain on topic. Briefly, your link does describe it as the TRS-80 Color Computer. Mine was exactly that one. It came with 4K RAM (no, that's not a typo), and I got a tape recorder for file storage. At the time I actually wanted an Atari 800, but my parents insisted anything named "Atari" was a game and not a serious computer <sigh>. Anyway, one thing I tried to do with the old computer was a simplified light-cycle game. I got it to display and move lines of two different colors, and to score a point when one line intersected the other or the wall (much like the snake games found on cell phones these days). But I never figured out how to manipulate the two lines at once. It amused me that I used the TRON command while running tests of the Tron Light-Cycle program (barely on topic, I said). Later I graduated to an Apple ][e. I still wanted an Atari, though.

Well, Lora was Alan's girlfriend, not Flynn's (though she implies she liked him at some point). And inside the computer Yori hung around with Tron, not Flynn or Clu.

I plan to see it this weekend or next. Meanwhile here's my short review of the original film, typos and all, copied from elsewhere in the board: Elsewhere in the board I also called tron an "ordinary thriller with mediocre acting and innovative special effects, with a plot twist." I would like to revise that, because the acting wasn't mediocre. It was somewhat over the top at times, but it was pretty good. It's worth noting that the star of the original movie was Jeff Bridges as Flynn, but the hero and title character was Tron, the program played by Bruce Boxleitner(sp?). Lastly a bit of trivia. The Radio Shack color computer (TRS-80 if memory serves), had a command in BASIC called "TRON." It meant "TRace ON" and it displayed the line number being run when you ran a program. The opposite command was "TROFF."

I meant six months later.

Well, after struggling with this idea for some time, I think I fixed it. Of course it suffered some serious changes: I'm dropping the double first person narrative. The characters are now called Althea and Nathan, and it's mostly Althea's story. The names are deliberately chosen (nothing wrong with the previous names, Michelle and Edwin, but I used up Michelle in another story) The story starts when Althea and Nathan meet, which is very unusual because: Althea is a transsexual woman The professions remain, but Althea will be involved in general construction rather than underwater work specifically, because: She has an idea for making construction robots much more autonomous, thereby cutting down the need and number of human supervisors, thereby cutting costs. But she has trouble getting construction firms to listen to her. By the time she meets Nathan, she's started her own company in order to develop her ideas into practical applications Nathan is still a diver much sought after by underwater construction firms, but he quits his job and sets himself up as a consultant. This way he can take higher bids for his services from various companies rather than be tied to one. Conflict comes when two things happen almost at once: 8.1) Althea finally has demonstration models ready for deployment, and some potential clients are interested 8.2) Nathan gets an offer for a year-long off-Earth gig from his old boss Althea can't go off-Earth just as her company is finally getting off the ground, and she doesn't want to be apart from her husband for that long. But Nathan has a great opportunity and she doesn't want to deprive him of it Nathan thinks his old boss' offer is a great opportunity for his firm and his career, but he also doesn't want to spend that much time away from his wife, and he wants to support his wife now that she needs him So there's the conflict. Now to the inevitable question: why is Althea a transsexual? There are two reasons for that. One is that I've been thinking about gender issues for a few months now, partly from personal reasons and partly from another story idea I had (and I guess I just kind of came out). The other is her gender plays a role in 1) how Nathan meets her and 2) how the conflict is resolved after they have a huge quarrel about it. This is still a very happy story. The romance between the heroes is, to me, very sweet and moving. Nathan in particular is a gentleman and a caring lover. The focus of the tale is now on their relationship, Althea's background and the bright, bright future I envisioned. Of course since the story goes back to the time they met, it will be a lot longer. This gives me a chance to describe the Trans-Pacific tunnel in more detail. And also to add all sorts of other future goodies like a space elevator, one-atmosphere deep diving, interstellar ships and vacation homes in space. Oh, the revamped version came partly from an isolated scene concerning a general issue man falling in love with a tranny. I liked it very much and looked for someplace to put it in, therefore the new "Water and Sand." Little preview: when they first meet, Nathan insults Althea so badly and in such mean spirit that she feels like slapping him hard. They get married six weeks later. And I guess I have my simplified outline now

I've found over the years that when I talk too much about a story I'm working on, I tend to lose interest in actually writing it. I already owe at least two board members a completed version of a story I posted about going on three years now... So I won't say anything about this story, but there's a piece of dialogue I want to try out on an audience. I think it's good, but I want some independent confirmation. I'll give a little background, the minimally necessary. The speaker is a defense attorney who's defending a woman accused of manslaughter, claiming self-defense. She's speaking to the lead detective on the case, who feels badly that the lawyer's client is on trial, and thinks in fact she has betrayed the lawyer's client. The detective has offered to help, and the lawyer has refused her offer. The lawyer then tells the detective: "You want I should condemn you? Would you feel better if I told you what a wretch you are? I'm sorry, detective. I can't do that. You're not a wretch or a traitor. You're an angel, and that's a much harder thing to be." Any thoughts?

You may recall in the Thrawn trilogy there are numerous mentions of the Outbound Flight Project, mostly concerning the mad Jedi C'baoth, whom Thrawn enlists on his side. Last year Zahn did a novel about the Outbound Flight, set int he time of the movie prequels. We get to see Thrawn when he fought in his peoples' armed forces, before he joined the Empire. Anyway, the Jedi in the book treat the common people very badly. not all of them and not all the time, but enough so you can understand if there was wide-spread antipathy towards the Jedi at the time. That's something Lucas completely missed. I mean, the newly self-proclaimed emperor states the Jedi rebelled against the Republic, and no one raises even a doubt about it? Of course the whole third prequel was horribly rushed and bypassed the plot to get to an even worse ending. I hope he isn't. I'm not about to say the prequels were worse than "Howard The Duck," but I am tempted (I guess I did )

He's done two things that stand out in the SW universe: 1) He had a villain, Thrawn, with a working brain and 2) He showed how the Jedi alienated the populace in "Outbound Flight."

If only crazy, old George were to hire Timothy Zahn to write the movie....

What will be funny is how the Left will manage to blame this latest PR disaster on George Bush.

No, it doesn't. A dominant defense by itself is nothing, it needs at least a half-competent offense to go along. The 90s Steelers never had anything near to a half-competent offense.

How many of those Superbowls did Dallas reach thanks to the Doomsday Defense? Three? Four?

Gruden? I think not. Tampa won for its defense. Which, BTW, he inherited from former Steeler Tony Dungy, and one of his defensive assistant coaches was soon-to-be-Steeler Mike Tomlin. Anyway, the defense scored 21 points, as many points as it allowed the Raiders to score.

I believe I pointed at seven championships, and hinted at one. In any case, do talk about the Niners. let's start with Ronnie Lott. The we can talk about the 1980s Chargers. They had a killer offense under Don Coryell and Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow. Of course, they had no defense to speak of. And so... Niners 5, Steelers 6. 5>6? I thought not. BTW, Bill Walsh started developing his offensive system in Cincinnati under Paul Brown. Would that the Bengals had promoted him to head coach...

Indeed. With a QB whose name no one remembers and a pedestrian offense. You should pick the Steelers, then, who've won six Superbowls, more than anyone else. While the 70s dynasty had a fairly good offense, they also had the league's best defense. The current team also has a great defense and a problematic offense. So there. Oh, And I won't even mention the 85 Bears.

Not bad. The Steelers won and the Cowboys lost, again. Pittsburgh has managed two impressive feats: 1) the deffense has allowed just one TD in 8 full quarters and some overtime. 2) The offense has scored just one TD in 8 full quarters plus some overtime, yet the team is 2-0. Repeat after me: Defenses win championships (ask the Ravens). Of course good special teams help.... Anyway, the Steeler offense might as well not be playing. Except it held on to the ball and ate 33 minutes of the clock, so at least they gave the defense some rest. To be fair, though, Dixon seemed better than last week, before he left the game with an injury. He might be a good starting QB someday, or at least a solid backup. Right now he's neither. I hope Leftwich can play soon (assuming he's rehired -don't ask). I mean, playing a QB who got cut from the Lions (the Lions!), well, the less said the better. I mean, come on, between Dixon and Batch they threw for less yards than Vince Young, who was pulled out of the game. Tidbit: when the Titans finally scored a TD, it was caught by former Steeler Nate Washington. Good thing they didn't play in Hine's Field..... Of course a victory over the Titans isn't as satisfying as it was when they were a divisional rival, and much less than when they were the Houston Oilers. <sigh> But 2-0 is 2-0. On other things: The Dolphins looked good, but the Vikings looked awful. I think Favre should have stayed retired this time. The Pats might as well use a sieve for defense. It might leak less. Here's hoping Brady will last until the defense matures. The Jets are still the Jets, the win over New England notwithstanding. In more reunion news, Gary Kubiak faced former boss Mike Shanahan. The Texans won in overtime. For once icing the kicker (sort of) worked. Finally, can we stop slobbering over the prospect of the Manning brothers facing each other? They won't, unless one of them switched to defense. Why is it so hard to understand a QB faces the opposing team's defense, even if his brother is QB on the other team?

I wonder how many Canadians would like to spend a typical Canadian winter using no fuel at all. See if they can keep warm using wind turbines and solar panels.

The Jets are on track and on schedule towards another perfect Jets' Season. That's one in which they disappoint everyone, themselves included, and remind the people of NYC they have another, better team (even if they play in New Jersey). I wonder if they can clone Joe Namath? Of course, with their luck the Jets would produce an Off-Broadway Joe (that's not even funny). The Chargers are on track to mirror the Jets, too. It's amazing when you see how poorly KC did on offense, and yet they won handily. Not that I expect the Chiefs to do well this season, either, but someone has to win the Mostly harmless Division of the AFC.

Not a bad first weekend. The Steelers won and the Cowboys lost. In the end you can't ask more than that. At Pittsburgh Roethliberger's absence is being seriously felt. I'd say even Leftwich's absence is seriously felt. While the team reverted to the Cowher era, more or less, and relied more on the run and defense, young Dixon underthrew receivers left and right to force punts or field goal attempts. Meanwhile the early results indicate the Pats may be back on track. The Dolphins need another one-season trick. The Bengals will disappoint themselves again. The Browns are still the Browns (more's the pity) and the Lions are, unfortunately, their usual selves. The Eagles may be regretting selling McNabb to a division rival. And Mike Shanahan surprised himself by whatever the hell offense he ran last night. It's not impossible for a head coach that has won the Superbowl with one team to win a Superbowl with another team, but it's never happened. Shanahan, I'm afraid, won't be the first. Oh, yes, and the Texans either are finally blooming or the Colts have finally lost it.

Well, the season's finally started. The Saints gave quite an unexpected game against the Vikings. Given Drew Brees on one side and ol' Iron Man on the other, the last thing I expected was a defensive duel. I didn't watch the whole game because 1) I don't care that much about either team and 2) there was a new ep of L&O Criminal Intent by the end of the 3rd quarter, so I missed the Vikes' FG. I saw the blocked PAT, though. That was bizarre and, in the end, a non-factor. The big news for the weekend is the Steelers are starting someone named Dixon at QB, because Leftwich got injured in the last pre-season game. This just barely convinces me the owners' idea for a longer season is worth it. More on that later.

Would that they have kept Favre, hey? The Favre Soap, Part III, seems to have gone on hiatus. I really don't care much anymore.