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From: Gene Wirchenko on 18 May 2010 18:00 On 17 May 2010 21:40:47 GMT, Seebs <usenet-nospam(a)seebs.net> wrote: >On 2010-05-17, Gene Wirchenko <genew(a)ocis.net> wrote: >> But what if a similar situation exists as with sickle cell anemia >> and malaria resistance? > >Then some people might make different choices about which genes they want >to pass on than others would. If they know about it. If they do not, the effect still occurs until bred out. Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko
From: DMcCunney on 19 May 2010 00:14 * Steve Hix: > At one point in the '60s, Analog switched from paperback size to > standard magazine size. At which point my grandmother, assuming from the > first cover she saw, a painting of Jupiter, that it was a science > magazine, picked up issues from the news stand for me. > > I didn't complain. Circa 1965. (I still have some. The one I just pulled to check is the July 1965, with an archetypal John Schoenherr painting of a sandworm on the cover, illustrating part 3 of a 5 part serialization of _Prophet of Dune_.) The run lasted a year and a half. Conde Nast did it to attract advertising which was created in that format, citing the high percentage of scientific/technical types who read the magazine. They couldn't get the advertisers to believe thier demographics, and switched back to digest size when the paper contract came up for renewal. ______ Dennis
From: DMcCunney on 19 May 2010 20:46 * despen(a)verizon.net: > To terraform Mars we'd need to increase it's mass so it could hold an > atmosphere we can breath. Or modify ourselves to be something that could live there as is. It's actually a fairly common theme in SF: do you change the planet to suit you, or change yourself to suit the planet? ______ Dennis
From: DMcCunney on 19 May 2010 20:52 * Jamie Kahn Genet: > Peter Flass <Peter_Flass(a)Yahoo.com> wrote: >> AES wrote: >> >>> [How can anybody on a _computer_ group, for God's sake, even think that >>> at this point a manned excursion to the Moon it's worth wasting funds >>> on.) >> >> What are we going to do, stay on this god-forsaken dirtball until the >> sun turns into a red dwarf? Or should we just wait until someone >> invents FTL drive? If we're not expanding, we're dying. > > The obvious next major step for hummanity is to expand outwards to Mars > and eventually teraform it. Having a whole second planet to live on and > exploit (sadly necessary) for resources would be of massive benefit to > us. Or we could stay here on our little home planet and see just how bad > overcrowding can get... Why terraform and settle on another planet? Once you have the capability to do things like *get* to Mars and terraform it, you have the ability to do other things, like construct space habitats. No need to go to another planet to find places to live. ______ Dennis
From: despen on 19 May 2010 21:18
DMcCunney <plugh(a)xyzzy.com> writes: > * despen(a)verizon.net: > >> To terraform Mars we'd need to increase it's mass so it could hold an >> atmosphere we can breath. > > Or modify ourselves to be something that could live there as is. Almost no atmosphere, the surface pressure is .087 psi vs. Earth at 14.69 psi. Really cold. We'd be lucky to find a fungus that would survive. It's life cycle would be so slow you'd think it was dead. > It's actually a fairly common theme in SF: do you change the planet to > suit you, or change yourself to suit the planet? Yep. Not a good way to relieve over-crowding. |