Madelaine McMasters

4-29-1996 The last of Sinclair Oil's large fiberglass dinosaurs is destroyed en-route to an Oxnard California amusement park when the flatbed trailer on which it was fastened is struck broadside by a little old lady from Pasadena driving a 1983 Ford Meteor. 4-29-2012 Three Georgetown University students are taken to a Cairo hospital after sharing a plate of jalepeno poppers and a molotov cocktail. 4-29-2012 Two Georgetown University students are applauded by Egyptian police after apparently attempting to christen their newest armored personnel carrier "Cleopatra's Revenge" with a bottle of Trader Joe's Pear Champagne.

PeterCanessa Oh wrote: In fact I'd go as far as to claim I have an entire inkle. ...catches a glimpse of it and swoons.

JeanneAnne wrote: By virtue of having relative small populations, the Scandinavian countries are able to operate as relatively benign & equitable Socialist democracies far better than more overly populated nations such as the US & China. >>In contrast the two principal countries to try Communism are the worlds largest and most populous.<< India is ~and was even during the heyday of the USSR~ far more populous than the Soviet Union. You may have an inkling of population issues but not a very good one or you wouldn't post such basic factual misstatements. Jeanne The metric of interest (as you mention carrying capacity) is probably population/arable land. Of 233 countries, the Scandinavians, Norway(133), Sweden(166) and Denmark(193) are all more "overly populated" than the US(205).

JimmyCorrigan wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: In response to your quote about honesty yesterday... "Note that venerable proverb: Children and fools always speak the truth. The deduction is plain: adults and wise persons never speak it." - Mark Twain ;-) Ain't ^^ that the truth. Hi, I'm Jimmy. Welcome to the forums, Jimmy! I'm Maddy. ;-)

Since music seems the topic today... "I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed." - B. B. King

Lia Abbot wrote: Hippie Bowman wrote: Good morning all! Happy Thrusday! We are thinking of you Val, and Ajja! Love you both! Breakfast tomorrow at Vals! YAY! 8 am! Peace! Happy Thursday? What exactly have you been smoking Hippie? Love and hugs to sweet Val. Thinking of you my friend. He's storming "thru" the weekend, powered by eyeglass cleaner, Lia. Happy Saturday Kids!!! ... sends extra hugs to You, Val and Ajja.

4-28-2001 Nikkei "Blinkman" Katanawa, inventor of the VCR, dies at 12:00AM. 4-28-2010 Conspiracy theorists "prove" the existence of vampires by showing they are never mentioned in the folklore of Arctic peoples. 4-28-2012 Philip Rosedale is spotted in a video of San Francisco's Castro district annual Walk for the Arts, finally confirming that Second Life's infamous "duckwalk" is indeed mo-cap.

JeanneAnne wrote: >>Carbon dating shows moon rocks to be even slightly older than earth rocks..<< Uh ... C14 has a halflife of only 5730 yrs .. it cant be used for dating stuff much older thana bout 60K yrs .. Moon rocks are ~4 bys old .. Stick to posting what you knowa bout Sy Jeanne He was already corrected and admitted the mistake. Read before posting, Jeanne.

Val, I'm sorry to hear Ajja's condition is not improving. I'm sending my best wishes and will strive to be there Sunday morning. ... hugs you all up.

JimmyCorrigan wrote: They are scary to me. Do you think they are sexy or scary? When I was little, I thought they talked funny ("I vont to sock your blawd"?!), though I shared their love of the dark. That's when all the spooky things come out to play. Now that I'm an adult, I still think they talk funny ("Wanna bite?") and I seem to annoy them. So they are neither sexy nor scary, unless they understand string theory. Then they are both.

In response to your quote about honesty yesterday... "Note that venerable proverb: Children and fools always speak the truth. The deduction is plain: adults and wise persons never speak it." - Mark Twain ;-)

PeterCanessa Oh wrote: "Furry Lisa" is the anthem of several in-world groups. Grabs her razor and heads in-world.

Hippie Bowman wrote: I can play Fur Elise on the piano from memory! Was the very first song i memorized! Woot! ...turns green with envy. If it had a drum part, I might be able to bang it out on my bodhran. Nothing makes people go away faster than my drumming.

Ceka Cianci wrote: it's made of cheese..it always has been and always will be.. Oh yes! But what kind? We know it's not Wensleydale or Stilton...

4-27-2010 "Peanuts" piano prodigy Schroeder celebrates the bicentennial of Beethoven's "Fur Elise" by playing it non-stop until Lucy goes away. 4-27-2012 Asteroid mining startup Planetary Resources offers failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich a seat on their first mission. Company scientists explain to Gingrich that asteroids are vastly smaller than the Moon, on which Gingrich had planned to build a permanent base and declare US sovereignty. Gingrich immediately begins preparations by saving up all the little American flags that hold the olives in his martinis.

ROB34466IIIa wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: .... (there was a rumor about my uncle, but it turns out he accidentally fell from the tree). Probably started by auntie ? :robotindifferent: She never did forgive him for wet-testing his homemade trolling motor in the bathtub.

Sy Beck wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: If you haven't thought of this Pyrex sphere theory, may I claim it. I'd like to name it MAD for "Madelaine's Atmospheric Dome". Yes, I'm vain. No, no. Surely, "Pyrex Installed Envelope" - In The Sky Go away! I'm feeding my vanity here, Sy. I have no tolerance for cleverness.

Lucinda Bulloch wrote: ty for proving my point, as you all will do in time. My pleasure.

Lucinda Bulloch wrote: I am a lot more well read than you. We may be on to something here. I don't imagine there's enough light to read by at the bottom of a well.

There are now thousands of seismometers around the globe, routinely recording both natural and man-made seismic activity. Just as expectant mothers can get li'l pictures of their unborn children via ultrasound, we can "triangulate" the recorded seismic data to probe the Earth's core. The data shows a core of molten iron, which thankfully explains our wandering magnetic field and the geologic evidence of plate tectonic drift. Your centrifuge analogy is flawed. The school centrifuge spins test tubes full of liquid. As you state, the denser things in suspension in the liquid in the tube settle to the "bottom" because of their own inertia (centrifugal force is conceptual, not actual). Curiously, the surface of Earth is covered by air and surrounded by a vacuum, both of which appear to be consisiderably less dense than the ground we're standing on. What do you imagine would happen if you replaced the centrifuge's test tubes with air and just poured liquid straight into the machine? Or do you imagine that the Earth is surrounded by a large transparent glass sphere which keeps us from flying off the surface? I do rather like this theory and will start scanning the skies for the passage of a giant "PYREX" label. If we believe we've launched satellites and people into orbit, we'll have to come up with an explanation for how they got through the sphere, won't we? If you haven't thought of this Pyrex sphere theory, may I claim it. I'd like to name it MAD for "Madelaine's Atmospheric Dome". Yes, I'm vain.

nt274 wrote: Some acamdemics think that many of the crimes that can happen on second life - copy righting, violence, money laundering etc need to be stopped by Linden Labs by altering the codes of the game space - so people are unable to commit these activities. This doesn't give me a very good feeling about academics. As others have and will point out, physical violence is SL is simulated, just as in video games and on television. In the entire history of human civiiization no govermnent has been able make people unable to do the things you mention except ultimately by executing them, which LL does routinely. These executions are generally based on survelliance done by residents themselves. In real life, I don't know anyone who has been executed (there was a rumor about my uncle, but it turns out he accidentally fell from the tree). I do know a few people who got traffic tickets. In SL I am aware of several who have been executed. Some have risen from the dead and been re-executed. I know of many more, including myself, who have received tickets here (mine was for wielding satire without a licence). SL already operates a bit like a police state. Vigilante survelliance, jury-less trial in-absentia and death by banning, all balanced by reincarnation. What more could you ask for?

I added your books to my list Celestiall. Del's passion is economics. Most people believe that's a dry subject, as they think of the standard definition of econ as "the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." It's a lot more exciting if you think of economics as "figuring out what motivates people". I believe Del thinks of economics that way, as do the "Freaknomics" fellas. And you gotta watch out for folks like Del. They know enough to pull the wool way over your eyes ;-)

PeterCanessa Oh wrote: Deltango Vale wrote: Nor was I suggesting that if my daughter had Chicken Pox I would feed her arsenic wrapped in poison ivy then toss her naked into a malarial swamp in the middle of a cold, rainy night. And lol at "feed her arsenic wrapped in poison ivy then toss her naked into a malarial swamp in the middle of a cold, rainy night" - at least it's all natural :-) Swamp living has its perks...

Deltango Vale wrote: ETA. Here is a link to a superb book on the history of disease by one of the world's top economic historians: http://www.amazon.com/Plagues-Peoples-William-H-McNeill/dp/0385121229 I've added it to my reading list, Del. Thanks!

PeterCanessa Oh wrote: It's interesting Deltango, that in so many ways I agree with you. Babies that survive a rough upbringing WILL be stronger and that's good for the species in the long term. On the other hand sub-saharan Africa still has the highest infant mortality rate in the world so you're asking parents to put their children at a higher risk of death in order to toughen them up. This is eugenics, exactly as Medhue says. Risk assessment - we probably could do with leaning more that way so our kids don't all grow up as neurotic, allergy-ridden wimps. Then again I'm ex-Army and have a more 'robust' view of risk than most. At the same time I certainly never have and never would deny my daughter medical treatment. In my graduate statistics class, the professor introduced himself to us on day one with this simple wish... "I hope to teach you to look at a thing and, in your heart, know if it's right." I thought that a very odd thing to say this was a class for thinkers, but he was a wonderful teacher. At the end of the year, he repeated his wish for us, and I no longer thought it odd at all. What he wanted was to instill in us an understanding of the ways in which we fool ourselves and how to be aware of it, not just when crunching the numbers (mind), but every waking moment (heart). His class was as much about wrong thinking as right. I'm certain I can still be easily fooled, but hopefully not as easily as before meeting him. So it is about risk assessment. The "dirty" world I advocate for children is, I hope, the healthiest and happiest one they could have. It is full of minor trifles, a cold or two, a cut, a bruised finger, a bruised ego and kisses to make them better... the little life lessons that build our character and our resolve, but are ultimately beneficial. This is a hard path to find, much less take, and it's why I keep my eyes and ears open.