JamesSavik

If you missed the pilot, it is available online. You can find it here Jericho- the pilot Here a description & review Review of Jericho

I liked the pilot. If they manage to keep the script out Hollywood cheese factory, it could be pretty good.

Warlock is the masculine form of witch. A gay witch would be... a lesbian witch or are you looking for a story about a gay warlock (like Uncle Arthur)? Charmed took major liberties with the world of arcana. Bewitched created its own mythos of nose twitching witches and warlocks. There are many, many kinds of magic users. Some of the most ancient schools of magic were based on the use of the elements. You can imagine that creating water and throwing fireballs would enhance a persons reputation in the ancient world. Another very old school of magic is astrology which was not only used for reading forecasts of future trends, true maters were said to be able to manipulate those trends. There are many other schools of magic- some of which use quite different energies to do their thing and DO NOT mix. A few are: Conjurers cast spells that bring creatures or material. Illusionists merely create illusions but the more powerful ones can warp reality. Deviners cast spells that gather information. Evokers cast spells that create something from nothing. Alchemist try to transmute some common (or vulgar) material into a rare (or noble) material. Abjuration spells protect, block or banish. Many powerful white magic users practice this school of magic exclusively. Necromancers use spells that manipllate life forces. They are not always evil. White necromancers are powerful healers that often pose as monks or physicians. Enchanters cast spells that can magically enhance an item or control a person or creature. One of my favorites was introducted during Babylon 5 and later appeared in Crusade- the techno-mages. And no. They didn't produce magical dance music. Their bag was micing magic and technology. I was actually considering doing something along these lines for the Fall anthology.

NASA's Hubble Finds Hundreds of Young Galaxies in Early Universe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Press Release: September 21, 2006 PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR06-12 Source Link NASA'S HUBBLE FINDS HUNDREDS OF YOUNG GALAXIES IN EARLY UNIVERSE Astronomers analyzing two of the deepest views of the cosmos made with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a gold mine of galaxies, more than 500 that existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. These galaxies thrived when the cosmos was less than 7 percent of its present age of 13.7 billion years. This sample represents the most comprehensive compilation of galaxies in the early universe, researchers said. The discovery is scientifically invaluable for understanding the origin of galaxies, considering that just a decade ago early galaxy formation was largely uncharted territory. Astronomers had not seen even one galaxy that existed when the universe was a billion years old, so finding 500 in a Hubble survey is a significant leap forward for cosmologists. The galaxies unveiled by Hubble are smaller than today's giant galaxies and very bluish in color, indicating they are ablaze with star birth. The images appear red because of the galaxies' tremendous distance from Earth. The blue light from their young stars took nearly 13 billion years to arrive at Earth. During the journey, the blue light was shifted to red light due to the expansion of space. "Finding so many of these dwarf galaxies, but so few bright ones, is evidence for galaxies building up from small pieces

Massive stars (20-60 solar masses) that enter the Wolf-Rayet phase often lose quite a lot of mass- sometimes up to a third of the stars mass. It is thought that this phase is a precursor to a type II supernova. The material that is lost from these stars is quite rich in carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Wolf-Rayet stars are characterized by a strong, hot solar wind. In this picture the WR star is blowing a bubble of highly ionized plasma around itself. The gas that appears green is oxygen. This picture was taken with a filter sensitive to O II (double ionized oxygen). WR stars are quite hot because the outer layers blow away and expose layers of hot plasma underneath. Lower mass stars like our sun go through a similar red-giant phase. The difference is that most of the mass is lost and the core will eventually become a white dwarf. The star just isn't heavy enough to undergo a coer-collapse. The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC6543) is a good example of a planetary nebula formed by a degenerate main sequence star. Both processes serve to enrich the interstellar medium with key elements but only during supernova are elements heavier than iron synthesized. Supernova, particulary type II, are relatively rare but are so energetic that they can be detected from billions of light years away. The picture above is SN1987A +six months in the center of the frame. The only supernova in modern times that was close enough for careful study. (Anglo-Australian Observatory)

Sometimes one of our friends goes missing for a while and we'll worry about them. Anybody heard from the Bloke? Let us know if he's alive and well. Reply here if you miss Sumbloke too. James

A 'Genetic Study' Of The Galaxy Galactic Bulge and Disc Stars Shown To Have Different Oxygen Abundances ESO 34/06 - Science Release 12 September 2006 Source Link Part of one of the four regions of the sky in the direction of the Galactic Bulge in which the astronomers measured the iron and oxygen abundances in stars. This particular field is in the vicinity of the so-called 'Baade's Window', a region with relatively low amounts of interstellar "dust" that could block the sight, allowing astronomers to peer into the central parts of the Milky Way galactic centre and beyond. The globular cluster NGC 6528 is visible in the lower left corner. The image is a colour composite, based on images obtained in the B-, V-, and I-filters with the FORS instrument on the ESO VLT. The images were extracted from the ESO Science Archive and processed by Henri Boffin (ESO). North is to the right and East on top. _________________________________________________________________ Galactic Bulge and Disc Stars Shown To Have Different Oxygen Abundances Looking in detail at the composition of stars with ESO's VLT, astronomers are providing a fresh look at the history of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. They reveal that the central part of our Galaxy formed not only very quickly but also independently of the rest. "For the first time, we have clearly established a 'genetic difference' between stars in the disc and the bulge of our Galaxy," said Manuela Zoccali, lead author of the paper presenting the results in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics [1]. "We infer from this that the bulge must have formed more rapidly than the disc, probably in less than a billion years and when the Universe was still very young." The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, having pinwheel-shaped arms of gas, dust, and stars lying in a flattened disc, and extending directly out from a spherical nucleus of stars in the central region. The spherical nucleus is called a bulge, because it bulges out from the disc. While the disc of our Galaxy is made up of stars of all ages, the bulge contains old stars dating from the time the galaxy formed, more than 10 billion years ago. Thus, studying the bulge allows astronomers to know more about how our Galaxy formed. To do this, an international team of astronomers [2] analysed in detail the chemical composition of 50 giant stars in four different areas of the sky towards the Galactic bulge. They made use of the FLAMES/UVES spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope to obtain high-resolution spectra. The chemical composition of stars carries the signature of the enrichment processes undergone by the interstellar matter up to the moment of their formation. It depends on the previous history of star formation and can thus be used to infer whether there is a 'genetic link' between different stellar groups. In particular, comparison between the abundance of oxygen and iron in stars is very illustrative. Oxygen is predominantly produced in the explosion of massive, short-lived stars (so-called Type II supernovae), while iron instead originates mostly in Type Ia supernovae [3], which can take much longer to develop. Comparing oxygen with iron abundances therefore gives insight on the star birth rate in the Milky Way's past. Ratio of Oxygen over Iron abundance as a function of the iron content in stars (both axis are using logarithmic scales). The green circle denotes the stars in the Bulge studied by the present astronomers, while the yellow triangles and blue crosses are previous data obtained for stars in the disc of our Galaxy. The bulge stars are clearly more oxygen-rich than disc stars, highlighting the 'genetic difference' between the bulge and disc stars. _________________________________________________________________ "The larger size and iron-content coverage of our sample allows us to draw much more robust conclusions than were possible until now," said Aurelie Lecureur, from the Paris-Meudon Observatory (France) and co-author of the paper. The astronomers clearly established that, for a given iron content, stars in the bulge possess more oxygen than their disc counterparts. This highlights a systematic, hereditary difference between bulge and disc stars. "In other words, bulge stars did not originate in the disc and then migrate inward to build up the bulge but rather formed independently of the disc," said Zoccali. "Moreover, the chemical enrichment of the bulge, and hence its formation timescale, has been faster than that of the disc." Comparisons with theoretical models indicate that the Galactic bulge must have formed in less than a billion years, most likely through a series of starbursts when the Universe was still very young. Notes [1]: "Oxygen abundances in the Galactic bulge: evidence for fast chemical enrichment" by Zoccali et al. It is freely available from the publisher's web site as a PDF file. [2]: The team is composed of Manuela Zoccali and Dante Minniti (Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago), Aurelie Lecureur, Vanessa Hill and Ana Gomez (Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France), Beatriz Barbuy (Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil), Alvio Renzini (INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy), and Yazan Momany and Sergio Ortolani (Universita di Padova, Italy). [3]: Type Ia supernovae are a sub-class of supernovae that were historically classified as not showing the signature of hydrogen in their spectra. They are currently interpreted as the disruption of small, compact stars, called white dwarfs, that acquire matter from a companion star. A white dwarf represents the penultimate stage of a solar-type star. The nuclear reactor in its core has run out of fuel a long time ago and is now inactive. However, at some point the mounting weight of the accumulating material will have increased the pressure inside the white dwarf so much that the nuclear ashes in there will ignite and start burning into even heavier elements. This process very quickly becomes uncontrolled and the entire star is blown to pieces in a dramatic event. An extremely hot fireball is seen that often outshines the host galaxy. PDF of Zoccali, et al- Oxygen Abundances in the Galactic Halo

I don't like to deal with guys that identify themselves as str8 but enjoy fooling around. They don't know who they are. You see this quite a lot in teens where it is expected. If they are 30 and still experimenting, then they'll probably never get the formula right.

I spent the last couple of weeks commuting back and forth to Gulfport. I was doing a job overseeing the installation of a business network. Actually- the business was rebuilt after a certain be-yach of a hurricane blew most of it to Wiggins. It took almost a year to get a construction company that wasn't booked up. They must be well practiced as they went from concrete slab to interior finishing in Three weeks. It's like watching mushrooms pop up after the rain. I see some definite advantages to Katrina. Everything that was destroyed- save the historic buildings- are being built back brand new. Businesses are getting a modern makeover. Homeowners that weren't screwed over by the wind vs rain loophole are getting brand new houses. Unemployment is unheard of. If you can walk and use a push-broom, someone will hire you. Construction is going on everywhere and the watch-word seems to be bigger and better. I got a chance to catch up with some of my relatives on the coast and all of them have hair-raising stories. Heath is a 22 year old who used to live in Moss Point. They went to a relatives house that was in the hills 15 miles behind Pascagoula, MS. Even at that distance, they had major problems. The storm damaged the roof and knocked down so many trees, it was a week until they could drive to the main road. They weren't allowed back to Moss Point for almost a month and then all that was left was a concrete slab. Their family lived in a FEMA trailer from October of last year until June when they finished rebuilding. Heath has become a champion roofer and can get as much work as he can do. Even a year after the storm, the tell-tale "Blue Tarps" still cover many roofs. If a house didn't get flooded, the winds from Katrina ripped shingles off a roof like a fisherman scales a fish. After the storm, FEMA gave out blue tarps to cover roofs until they could be repaired. My cousin Rick has a house outside Pascagoula. He built it himself- he is a contractor. He built it 10 feet off the ground with I-beams and concrete blocks. As the area he was in didn't get flooded during Camile, a cat 4 hurricane in 1969 that previously served as a benchmark, he was confident that his house would be fine. What he wasn't counting on was a 35 foot storm surge that despite his elevation and stilts put 3 feet of water on his first floor. His family moved everything upstairs to ride out the storm. To their horror, they looked out and saw their neighbors house coming apart and the neighbors holding onto floating debris. He took the poll that he used to dip leaves out of his pool, went out onto the top of his garage and dipped his neighbor and her two kids out of the flood waters. Before the storm was over, seven more people from the neighborhood were saved. Unfortunately, several of his neighbors are still missing. Rick's house, built tough, survived the storm easily. It just got a bit wet. His basement workshop was wreaked and he needed new wiring and carpet. He has been working steadily ever since rebuilding homes wreaked by the storm. On the anniversary of the Katrina, he bought a show truck to replace the one that the storm had ruined. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is down but it's not out. Reconstruction is going on at a furious rate. I am confident that it anything, it will be bigger and better than ever before. Wait a year or so and y'all come see us. JS PS- I hear that Joey's on the Beach, the gay mecca in Biloxi, is going to be rebuilt and should be open by next summer.

OOPS! I have unwittingly bought into a stereotype- specifically str8 guys can't dance/gay guys can. I can't dance unless I'm on fire or bees are chasing me in which case I can be very light on my feet. I should know better. JS

I haven't experienced sexual prejudice and unfortunately, I know some people have. It would please me if you never experienced it but I doubt that will be the case. Sexual prejudice will be different in the US and Australia so I doubt that I can help you much. I wrote some notes about anti-gay bias and its origins that might help. There appear to be several distinct "flavors" of anti-gay bias which tend to overlap in many cases. I have observed that often when a person exhibits extreme bias, some underlying pathology may be involved. When one of these lines of reasoning is shown to be false, another one of the reasons will be brought forward. I will try to list the typical reasons for bias and the pathologies because it is important for us to look at the reasons why people hate us. 1. Typical Bias a. the Ick factor- the idea of two people of the same sex having sex is gross to some people. b. religious objections- the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Islamic faith have strong taboos against gay sex. In some cultures this has been taken so far as to criminalize gay sexual acts. c. It's not natural- this school of thought seems to think that same-sex attraction does not occur in nature despite all evidence to the contrary. They do not seem to have the same objections to organ transplants or in-vitro fertilization. d. Gays are all Predators- despite all evidence to the contrary. e. plain old garden variety bigotry- these guys hate anything different be it race, religion or sexual preference. f. Erroneous Misconceptions- these people have heard something or have some belief about gay people and their behavior. 2. Atypical/Pathological Bias a. ego defining bigotry- in this type of bias, the bigot believes that he is superior because of a defining characteristic like his race, gender or sexuality. Typically, this person doesn't have a lot going for them so their ego depends on a characteristic like race or orientation for their self-esteem. b. Homophobia- this is a person that has some same-sex attraction but turns their self-loathing outward against others. Gay people constitute a serious threat to their identity c. Post-Victimization Projection- this person has been sexually abused or sexually assaulted and turns his anger toward all gay people as potential sexual abusers or assaulter's. d. Religious Fanaticism- this person has an underlying psychosis and believes that their actions are guided or directed by god. This is sometimes what is going on with many ritualistic serial killers. The difficult part of this analysis is that the reasons for bias usually overlap and sometimes cover an underlying pathology. There is no single reason for anti-gay bias and it's layers and psychological complexity make it a difficult issue to pin down. As a writer, I do a good bit of research to develop my characters. This is a result of the information that I've gathered.

Hi guys & dolls- I've been seeing the trailers for a new series this fall on CBS called Jericho. It starts Wednesday night at 8E/9C. I was wondering: is anybody interested in it? Have you heard anything about it. Jericho on CBS Clips I used to like disaster/post-apocalyptic genera. As a writer, I had to wonder how you can get more than a few hours of drama out of a nuclear war. Another thing that makes me wonder is that Hollywood has NEVER done sci-fi/speculative fiction very well. When they run short of ideas, they fall back on the cute kid/smart dog/dumb robot plot devices and then it all goes to crap. I'll be interested to see how the plot holds up.

Hummas...ick! Dirt is better. Mississippi dirt that is. Vance- has your cat been modeling for Purina cat chow? His twin is on the bag of cat food I picked up for my "outside cats".

Dancer No str8 boy could move like that.

Welcome Steve! I'll have to have a look at A Shot of Bourbon. (although I'm a dried out Scotch man myself) :chris:

Good to hear from you SB! You are making a lot of sense, just pick and choose the "old" peeps you listen too very carefully. You can be of any age and still be full of...unpleasentness. JS

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been working on the coast but I'll be done by the weekend. Anywho- this little link fell into my inbox. I shan't tell you what it is because I didn't have any warning either. Seriously- if you are driving, pull over. Vid Link OK they are like peanuts- you can't post just one. Here is a bad-assed PSA: Cats really like to party

Considering my former roommate, I never needed to buy Residential Evil. He was a horror story in his own right. I had an Evil Resident. After he left, I had to clean up with holy water and clorox. I never knew that an exorcism could be so expensive.

Hi Justyn! It's good to have you blogging with us. JS

Back in the eighties if you had anything to do with computer programming, Borland's Turbo Pascal and Turbo C were all the rage. Borland created Intergrated Development Environments (IDEs) that allowed programmers to write, edit, compile and debug code all in one program. Since then, IDEs have become something of an industry standard like JavaBeans and Eclipse. Well, Borland is back! You can download for free Turbo Explorer compilers for C++, C# and Delphi. Free is always the right price. C stuff is all over the web so I won't belabor that point. Delphi is an object-oriented version of Pascal with extensions for the windows environment. You can find these compilers at the Turbo Explorer Homepage. If you are intrested in Delphi, check out Marco Cantu's homepage. He has free code and ebooks available for download. Two of these are of special interest are: Essential Pascal and Essential Delphi. These can be found at Cantu's free Pascal and Delphi ebooks.

The colors of Little Girl's kittens remind me of Siamese markings. Beware of Siamese cats. They are powerful personalities and will soon be running any household they enter. They are loud, opinionated, bossy and quite clever. They will have you trained in no time!

I'm happy for you LB! I know that looking for a job is nerve racking and when you get one, it relieves a lot of stress. I look forward to the last chapter of SOOTB with mixed emotions. I look forward to reading it but I dread it being over. What's are the chances of a sequel staring Toby and Cody!?

Yeah- the image at the top comes from an old French movie. Since it was an ESA probe, I thought that it was somewhat appropriate.

NOTE TO SELF: I need a new Polo shirt NOTE TO KEVIN: Yes, it was a perfect day.