12/5    If Harry Potter is rewritten in a modern style using science
        instead magic, and using real people and references instead of
        fiction, what could it include? I'll start:
        -Slytherin Pureblood = Nazi Ayran
        -Muggle = melting pot
        -Dobby = Black slavery, illiterate
        -Voldemort = GWB? Hitler? ??
        -Wizards = scientists? lawyers?
        -Giants = jocks?
        \_ fundamentalists
        -Muggle = melting pot
        \_ pragmatists
        -Dobby = Black slavery, illiterate
        \_ the working poor, economic slavery, child labour
        \_ Underpaid H1B visa holders in Silicon Valley doing shitty
           coding stuff that greencard holders don't want to do
        -Voldemort = GWB? Hitler? ??
        \_ any charismatic leader leading with fear.  There's a
        tonne to choose from.
        -Wizards = scientists? lawyers?
        \_ professionals.  Magic replaces science/engineering.
           Check out Dresden Files.  Wizards there can't even be in the
           same room as technology, it breaks/shorts out, glitches, dies.
        -Giants = jocks?
        \_ neanderthals, or people soon to be culturally irrelevant
           \_ you mean the Jews?        -Ahmadinejad
           \_ 'old europe'
           \_ libertarians
           \_ the middle class          -GWB
        \_ check out the many journey to the west versions. there is one
           by leiji which is sci-fi space/android themed.
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyqTPkiEteQ

12/5    Do they really have giant radio/radar towers in the midwest?

12/4    "This time system adjusts for shifts in relative time which occur
        due to the vessel's speed and space warp capability. It has little
        relationship to Earth's time as we know it. One hour aboard the USS
        Enterprise at different times may equal as little as three Earth
        hours. The stardates specified in the log entry must be computed
        against the speed of the vessel, the space warp, and its position
        within our galaxy, in order to give a meaningful reading."
        So, physicists, is Roddenberry talking out of his ass?
        \_ Of course he is.
        \_ do you know what science FICTION means?
           \_ I thought trek prided itself on bringing the SCIENCE to
              fiction.
              \_ no that's space 1999

12/5    Does anyone know what language group the Long A phoneme comes from?
        \_ No, but one of my tenants is getting his PhD in linguistics from
           Cal, I will ask him for you the next time I see him.
        \_ this might help:
           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenseness
        \_ Isn't 1/3rd of soda linguistics majors?