<![CDATA[Comments from SavannahJack]]> <![CDATA[Comments from SavannahJack]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Why Aren't Aliens Talking to Us?]]> Okay, to mediate a bit:

1) The universe is too effing big to ever meet up;
OR
2) There's nobody out there to meet up with;
OR
3) They are out there and could meet up with us, but won't talk to us because we are a) too primitive or b) too dangerous or c) too something else;
OR
4) They are out there but can't talk to us yet, the mail will arrive any day now.

That about sum it up?

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Who Doesn't Want An Iron Man-Head DVD?]]> *in Jeff Foxworthy whine*

If you can actually wear that case shown in the link, you might be a cartoon.

Just saying.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Swamp Thing Goes Badass]]> @btgoss: Nope, you are not mistaken at all; it was indeed purest excrement.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Playing Around with Plutonium and Neptunium]]> This is colossal! Stupendous! Amazing!
Room-temperature superconductors would mean a quantum leap in energy utilization and storage. Instant-charge batteries, practical levitation, super-efficient motors ...
This development was supposedly "just ahead" twenty years ago, when they developed a superconductor that operated at liquid oxygen temperatures (far warmer than previously). I sincerely hope that this time "soon" is "sooner."

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Barbie Releases Street-Walker Black Canary Doll]]> ummmm, all of them?
That's not to say I object to the impractical, but seriously...

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Deadly Bacteria Delivers Pneumonia Vaccine]]> If God'd wanted us to deliver vaccines with bacteria, He would have given us spiracles ...
Or words to that effect.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Has a New Species of Insect Appeared in the Middle of London?]]> @Belabras: Ditto that ... someone in the museum forgot to toss in a Raid(tm) bugbomb when they sealed up the shipping container in Kenya.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on When Will My Robot Eat My Flesh?]]> Some anthropophagic Pacific islanders refer to humans by a term meaning (roughly) "long pig."
So this characteristic of human flesh is not exactly "read then burn" stuff.
Interesting speculation about the stage being set for 'bots that would chow down on our corpses, though. If they develop an effective "metabolism" that can handle animal proteins, I may just look into buying a shiny metal ass of my own.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on In Soviet Russia, Space Opera Really Was Operatic]]> My Cyrillic is a little weak. Are the nudes on the "Heinlein collection" images supposed to be so obvious?

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on The Spirit Trailer Tries Too Hard To Get Some]]> @darcymcgee: Methinks he meant "douche", but "large deutch" was pretty funny.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on A Helmet that Lets You Smash into Walls Without Breaking Your Neck]]> With some kind of minimum force breaking point (to prevent it from flopping around in the wind), this could be a lifesaver for those motorcyclists smart enough to wear helmets, among whom I happily include myself.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Did Marvel Let Favreau Back For Iron Man 2 To Shut Him Up?]]> @Mazda Plainview: Cool, JF as in the progeria-afflicted nerdling in Blade Runner?
"We are so hoppy you foun' us, JF."

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on World's Greatest Astronomical Detective Strikes Again!]]> @B: Holy holistic, Bman!

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Will Seth Rogen Make You Care About The Green Hornet?]]> I am The Shoveler ... I shovel well.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on New Official Details About Hellboy 2, Transformers 2, Heroes And Sarah Connor Chronicles]]> I just reread this item and realized that the whole discussion is about the Doctor "regenerating."
First time through, I read that as Tennant "regurgitating" and I finally felt some identification with the character.
Ah well.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Hugo Gernsback’s RoboCops of 1924]]> Ditch the anthropomorphizing and the petrol power, and this is very close to the robots the cops are using now ... except the real ones have shotguns instead of "lead balls on flexible leads" ... a bit harder to jam up, I think.
Very clever, Hugo, but I agree with Mr. Darkedge that others might more correctly claim that "father of science fiction" title.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Robot Finds Melting Ice on Mars]]> Personally, all this proves is that the little chunks are no longer there. Could be that they walked off screen, no? Perhaps they are living rocks. Perhaps this is proof, not of water on Mars, but of LIFE, ITSELF on Mars. The little chunks are the inhabitants of our neighbor-planet. Perhaps they were expecting a better introduction than to be scooped up by a prospector arm, neh?

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Doctor Who's Robot Dog Finally Hitting The Big Time]]> OMG, a SERIES based on a robot doggie who says, "Yes, Mah-STAH!" all the time?
This is going to sniff robotic doggie butt.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Gears Of War Movie Brings Life To Alien Subculture]]> Good comments, except that Final Fantasy Advent Children was pretty good, and I enjoyed (gasp) resident evil ... Mila in a torn skirt with a gun - not a franchise, but a fun time nevertheless.
BTW, the word is "decent" as in "not indecent"; "descent" means "the act of descending or going down," which is probably not what you guys mean. Just a grammar hint from your uncle Savannah.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Why Commericals Are the Best Way to Evoke an Alternate World]]> @braak: I believe it was the SUX5000 (number may be wrong, but it definitely was the "SUX").

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Repairing the Ozone Hole Speeds Global Warming]]> Don't just do something, stand there.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on This Spaceship Car Doesn't Drive Quite Fast Enough To Get Away From The Haters]]> Seats one, no a/c, and is street legal in Zero states ... no wonder it's the Intertube darling of the week.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Why Commericals Are the Best Way to Evoke an Alternate World]]> I'd buy that for a dollar!
SPF 6000, for when you really have to go out in the sun (post Ozone, that is).

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Save the Aliens! Don't Litter!]]> Actually, it's the other way around, ain't it? Should be on the ISS, with a "Drains to Planet" legend.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Make Your Own Cloverfield, For ABC's Fucked-Future Documentary]]> @corpore-metal: I tend to agree with you about the quality of the editing at NattyBroad. And I concur wholeheartedly with your assessment of the future. Here we are in the 21st century and I have yet to own one (1) jetpack, unitard or floating dome house, and yet in the 1960s, that was "the future" I was promised by no less a personnage than Uncle Walter C. himself. So if you can't trust "the future" promised by Cronkite, what will the future really be? As you said, Herr Roboto, probably a mixture of good, bad and other.
BTW (and this is for all bloggers), "then" is temporal, "than" is relative. as in:
"If he his bigger THAN me, THEN he can kick my ass."
Just a hint from the local grammer police.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Six Astounding Young Adult Novels of the Pre-Potter Era]]> @Rasselas:"You know what today's children need? A scifi Encyclopedia Brown."

Well, in fact there were the "Tom Swift" stories ... sort of Hardy Boys meet Bill Nye the Science Guy ... Deep Sea Hydrodome and the Amazing Comuting Machine were two of the volumes in a multivolume set that was aimed at 8-12 year-old boys (me at the time). Ripping good propaganda

Also, I would like to add Heinlein's Red Planet to the list of YAs. This was the first story I ever read (my dad gave it to me when I entered second grade) and it made a large impression on me.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Transformers 2 Robot Roll Call, With First Pics Of Jetfire]]> I dunno about you, but those "three identical-looking women" are two rather different ladies and a guy in a wig. I call "actress, stand-in and stunt-guy" for R-C (after the sportbike designation, naturally).

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Five Reasons Why Aliens Will Make Contact with the Japanese First]]> Great, Kim is on the phone to Andromeda now, telling the Kelvins that the rest of us are mean to him jsut because he is a scratch golfer/supergenius/sex god.
If you were to actually pay me in real money (say, Euros or something), I couldn't come up with a worse ambassador for our little blue planet.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on A Museum Whose Shape Defies Geometry]]> Wow. So now it's "hep" to design ideous buildings?
Who knew?

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Which Author Should Replace Philip K. Dick As Hollywood's Idea Spigot?]]> @eviltimes: Looking at the poll results, it appears some of us have missed the point of the question: "a new idea SPIGOT." While all of these writers have produced interesting stories, and some have done more than one or two (sadly, that does not include Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman, etc.) really great idea stories. Haldeman had a brilliant start with Forever War and has been riffing on that since, and besides Ender, what has Card done that really illustrates his spigoty-ness?
To be a new idea spigot, someone must not only be brilliant (as all of these arguably are), but also prolific and varied in their writing. Few of them really are.
So I had to vote for Mr. Niven, who has at least a few universes under his belt, in addition to the flagship "known space" universe (which alone qualifies him to replace PKD).
Just my .02 Ameribucks (unadjusted since 1972).

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on This City Will Never Drown Again]]> @russdanger: Roger that, Russ. Venice in summer is (to quote Han Solo), a "wonderful new smell" ... sort of garbage heapy rottenfishious with an admixture of overripe dung.
I agree that many cities (including my own beloved Savannah) are where they are because of the sea trades (incl. pirates), but I understand most folks had a rather relaxed attitude vis-a-vis hygiene, back in the day.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on This City Will Never Drown Again]]> Gosh, all these posts and I'm the very very first to note that hydrodynamics makes this the ultimate in stupid ideas. Ever flush a terlette connected to a septic system in a flooded area? What happens?
Answer: Nothing.
Water (and that includes water contaminated with human bodily wastes) seeks its own level. Flushing would not work. The poo would simply fall to sea-level (the floor) and float there.
Sweet idea for a dwelling, huh? A styrofoam box floating in a cess pool with scores of other styrofoam boxes, wating for the next storm to come.
Sheesh, you'd think these so-called designers would have half a brain between them, but no!
And btw, I concur with all the other "issues" with this proposal ... tethering, collisions, drift, low-density and all make this one of the most idiotic ideas for siting a "city" that I have ever seen, with the possible exception of NOLA as it is being rebuilt using my (and your) money.
Cheers.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on 10 Awesome Uses For A Stasis Field]]> @MarsFlyer: Just a minor quibble and to prove what a hopeless fanboy I am ...
The Slaver trapped in the stasis field (called "the Sea statue" until they released him in "World of Ptaavs") was not a moron, he was just an average Slaver. As Niven explained, because they had "the Power", none of the Slaver species was terribly bright; they simply used critters with intelligence to get what they wanted. This individual's "off" button was on a suit designed for him by someone else.
Even so, I don't see how a stasis suit could have an off button, unless the generator for the field was also outside the field. But then, the very concept of stasis boggles my tiny little unenhanced, unaugmented brain.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Wanted Spoilers 06/02]]> This confirms it! Angelina Jolie no longer exists in real space. When they scanned her for Beowulf, she retired and everything since has been pure CGI.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on 10 Awesome Uses For A Stasis Field]]> Niven did a lot of playing with stasis fields. In one short story with Beowulf Shaefer, a stasis field is used to reinforce a robotic arm used to sling around a singularity (a very small singularity, but still massive). Stasis fields around very thin wire ("Sinclair molecules") created "variable knives" with almost infinitly sharp, unbreakable blades of any lengthy desired. Stasis around a spaceship traveling at relativistic speeds made it the ultimate guided projectile weapon (pilot the ship towards the taget until the last moment, then switch on the stasis to ride out the aftermath).
As "magic" science, stasis fields are the ultimate.
Oh, and BTW, the "speed-up field" was an inertial supressor that only appeared to speed up time ... by removing inertia from the equation, chemical, physical and biological processes could take place at very rapid speeds, even though time was really taking place at a normal rate.
Cheers.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Hey, Hey, It's The Zeroids! 1968]]> I had the Silver Exlorer and my brother had the Blue Commander. I recall that the tread drive system was a magnet for loose hair from our pets and threw its rubber treads all the time. Still, for relatively simple toys, they were a lot of fun.
Memories.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on Iron Man Less Entertaining, More Propagandizing, Than Initially Expected]]> @JennaW: Agreed, the Taliwhackers are a nasty bunch ... I think that's the whole point of the rant: that up until a few years ago a Bush Administration (Daddybush, not Babybush) was supporting them against the Rooskies with Stingers Missiles and other gear, and all the advice the CIA could give.
I agree that the water-boarding scene was probably intended as "ironic", but such irony can be hard to discern when it is coupled with rascist charachatures.
But hey, still a rockin' movie and I can't wait for IM2, if only for more splodeys to 70s rock.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on The Great Dinosaur Herds of the Middle East]]> @SavannahJack: Cold Fusion

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on The Great Dinosaur Herds of the Middle East]]> @Annalee Newitz: Oh, SCIENTISTS ... forget I said anything.

]]> <![CDATA[SavannahJack commented on The Great Dinosaur Herds of the Middle East]]> Depending on the variety of dinos, there may not have been distinct African and European and Asian continents, presuming that these are genuine ... I mean, my faith in the integrity of journalists is boundless and all, but I have known a few individuals who would not be above fabricating Gertie and Esso's tracks for the international publicity it would generate.
Just saying, is all.

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