Tuesday, October 03, 2000

Human race developed first on Mars: A videssos (Harry Turtledove mailing list) special report: One indication that the human race did not evolve here is the character of human pregnancy. It is a genetic modification of Martian pregnancy, adapted for a planet with heavier gravity. Martian women carried their young for a full Martian year, or 22 of our months. Their babies were born fully able to walk and to talk. But the genetic engineers working on a new Remnant caste to colonize Earth realized that this would never do on a planet with such high gravity. So they abbreviated pregnancy in the caste that eventually settled here. From a Martian standpoint all births here on Earth are premature. The rest was a modification of fetal development, giving priority to systems necessary for such a premature infant to survive in a gravitational field 2.5 times as high as it should have to endure. From the summary of Jakob Neilsen's newest Alertbox: "To take the Internet to the next level, users must begin posting their own material rather than simply consuming content or distributing copyrighted material." For once, I actually agree with Jakob -- and not only that, but just before I read this I was thinking the same thing. Of course, it is common sense. I think that everyone should publish one page (page being defined as "some informative text and a few links." I don't care if only one person (the author) considers the text informative and the links useful. A web in which only big-media contributes is a one-way medium like television. So, damn-it, make your descendants proud. Post a page a week, that's all we ask.> It seems that the Libertarian Party (and all third parties) have again been betrayed by the courts: Judge rules that LP not allowed to enter taxpayer-funded debates. Bumper sticker slogan archive. "Reunite Pangea" is listed!> Reunite Pangea! In 250 million years will we finally end up with that supercontinent Pangea once more? #title "Dane Carlson's Very Old Archives"