Friday, May 09, 2008
Casting Life Beyond Earth…(July E-News from 2SS.Com)
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[[Company:25]]
Dear [[Salutation:40]],
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‘ E – N E W S from ‘
‘ 2SS.Com ‘
‘ Compiled and Edited by ‘
‘ Mailed on: 07/01/2001 9:41 PM Number 33 ‘
‘ Int’l Standard Serial No. - ISSN: 1523-3537‘
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‘ Apologies for the late arrival. We knew it ‘
‘ was better to arrive late than un-edited as our ‘
‘ new ‘ace editor’ was traveling at publication time. ‘
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‘ difference for your organization. ‘
‘ In this issue (5 Items): ‘
‘ ================ ‘
‘ 1--CASTING LIFE BEYOND EARTH ‘
‘ 2--QUESTIONS? ‘
‘ 3--PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ 4--STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ 5--WHY SUBSCRIBE? 2SS.Com & ‘
YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. ‘
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‘ --------------------------Item One---------------------- ‘
‘ CASTING LIFE BEYOND EARTH? ‘
‘ ================================== ‘
‘ Some futurists are considering the possibilities ‘
‘ of man propagating life ‘as we WILL COME to ‘
‘ know it’. ‘
‘ Some of the big questions include: ‘
‘ * Should we send a mass of living raw materials
’ into space toward a lifeless planet with life ‘
‘ supporting potential? ‘
‘ * Could Cyborg-like descendants from the ‘
‘ forthcoming marriage of man and computers
‘ be sent on a distant ‘activate-on-arrival’ ‘
‘ mission? ‘
‘ * Is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy ‘
‘ (as described every day in the media by
‘ Christian futurists) an inescapable ‘
‘ ‘out-of-this-world’ destiny that earthlings ‘
‘ are drawing ever closer to fulfilling? ‘
‘ I believe the foundation for how we think about ‘
‘ these questions is already being ‘well-formed’. ‘
‘ Consider a few simple predicaments of living
‘ in the 21st century: ‘
‘ * You have a serious condition that is treatable.
‘ You simply need to have some man-made
‘ materials inserted into you to be restored to ‘
‘ ‘normal’ health. Would you hesitate to ‘
‘ say YES!? ‘
‘ * You have an unseen and unnoticed health ‘
‘ problem that is detected as part of a normal ‘
‘ check-up. Your doctor can verify the finding, ‘
‘ remove the offending and replaceable body ‘
‘ part and restore you to ‘normal’ ‘
‘ health. Would you hesitate to say YES!? ‘
‘ * Your child might be born with a genetic defect ‘
‘ that could potentially be corrected. If you
‘ agree, an inexpensive low-risk procedure
‘ can obtain information so you can make
‘ an informed decision. Would you hesitate
‘ to say YES!? ‘
‘ * Your child is in poor health and needs a ‘
‘ specially engineered component installed ‘
‘ in his or her head. The procedure and the ‘
‘ component have a recent but proven track
‘ record and it’s the best chance for your child ‘
‘ to be restored to a healthy a normal life.
‘ Would you hesitate to say YES!? ‘
‘ These questions may seem futuristic. They are ‘
‘ NOT! If cast into the reality of hernias, decayed ‘
‘ teeth, a late-in-life conception and ear tubes, ‘
‘ they’re simply ‘years-old’ facts of history.
‘ Where are the decisions we make every day ‘
‘ leading us? ‘
‘ * Will we hesitate to massively buy computers ‘
‘ we can really talk to? ‘
‘ * Will we hesitate to use a computer to give ‘
‘ us deductive information that we know we ‘
‘ alone could never have deduced? ‘
‘ * Will we hesitate to capture and preserve ‘
‘ knowledge, memory, and wisdom for future ‘
‘ use? ‘
‘ * Will we hurdle a container of living mass or ‘
‘ ‘activate-on-arrival’ cyborgs toward distant ‘
‘ planets? ‘
‘ My optimistic Christian opinion is that ‘
‘ maybe we can’t do as much about all this as ‘
‘ we think we can. ‘
‘ Nevertheless, it is very interesting to see how ‘
‘ easily we do accept these ‘answers’ into our ‘
‘ lives. I have the good fortune to be able to
’ make a living working with technology and, ‘
‘ to work with may of the readers of E-News ‘
‘ while doing it. I’m grateful for, and at least a little ‘
‘ suspicious of, where it’s all leading. If you are ‘
‘ too, I’d be pleased to hear from you? ‘
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‘ --------------------------Item Two----------------------- ‘
‘ QUESTIONS? ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ WHAT ABOUT A BLACKOUT? ‘
‘ It seemed a remote consideration until the ‘
‘ dawn of the year 2000 in California. Now ‘
‘ participants in one of the world’s largest ‘
‘ economies MUST consider what to do when ‘
‘ the lights--and everything else--go off! ‘
‘ The April 2001 issue of Harvard Business ‘
‘ Review guides readers through a useful ‘
‘ list of considerations with some detail you
‘ may wish to investigate. Topics include: ‘
‘ 1. Know where your electricity comes from. ‘
‘ 2. Realize the risks of being an ‘interruptible ‘
customer’ ‘
‘ 3. Consider electricity independence – ‘
‘ but wisely ‘
‘ 4. Pursue smart energy conservation ‘
‘ 5. Get into politics or get out of business ‘
If this topic interests you, consider getting an ‘
‘ adobe acrobat copy of the full version at ‘
http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/prod_detail.asp?F0104C for about $5.50. ‘
‘ The NE’XP’T WINDOWS? ‘
‘ Microsoft appears to be trying to catch up ‘
‘ to Apple with it’s growing pace of Office and
‘ Widows updates. The next ‘XP’ version of ‘
‘ Windows will hit the streets in October of this ‘
‘ year. The list of feature improvements
‘ (particularly compatibility improvements) is ‘
‘ impressive, but We’re not expecting it to be ‘
‘ compelling enough to motivate most folks to ‘
‘ upgrade for some time. For more information ‘
‘ try: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.asp‘
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‘ ---------------------Item Three------------------------- ‘
‘ PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ PALM BACKUP? ‘
‘ Even away from or NEVER connected to your PC, ‘
‘ you can now back it up with a Northstar Mobil ‘
‘ Memory Save unit (about $50, and a small ‘
‘ 1.8” X 1.1” X .4”). You just plug it into the ‘
‘ Palm where it also stores it’s own software ‘
‘ so you can backup any time or re-install from ‘
‘ and retrieve your data. ‘
‘ NEW MULTI-FUNCTION SOHO ROUTER ‘
‘ If you’re thinking about getting a home or ‘
‘ small-office router, Netgear and Sonicwall ‘
‘ have a new product that should be on your ‘
‘ consideration list. It works as a high quality
‘ router, as a firewall to reject errant inbound ‘
‘ packets, and to prevent denial-of-service ‘
‘ attacks. It also allows for static and dynamic ‘
filtering to restrict access to specified sites ‘
‘ (or you can subscribe to a service that gives
‘ you an auto-download of weekly updates). ‘
‘ Finally, it has an integrated 4–port ‘
‘ switch to allow connecting local users (about
‘ $230 or so if you shop). ‘
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‘ ----------------------Item Four-------------------------- ‘
‘ STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ 1. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/vtour/index.html
‘ is the home of a fascinating tour of the Inter- ‘
‘ national space station. You can move from ‘
‘ module to module and control a video-quality ‘
‘ picture of what’s inside. It’s amazing stuff! ‘
‘ 2. Learn about QuickBase in an article at: ‘
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2782592,00.html. In this interesting ‘
‘ article see an example of using QuickBase. ‘
‘ Intuit’s WWW-based database that allows ‘
‘ you to build FREE databases that virtually ‘
‘ anyone can access from anywhere. Or go ‘
‘ directly to try it yourself at www.quickbase.com. ‘
‘ 3. www.fictionwise.com is an interesting eBook ‘
‘ website you may want to check out! They ‘
‘ feature short story eBooks by top authors like ‘
‘ Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, Nancy ‘
‘ Kress, Damon Knight, and Mike Resnick and
‘ they support all the major eBook formats. ‘
‘ Many of their eBooks are less than $10 and
‘ some are FREE as is registration! ‘
‘ 4. http://www.directnic.com/?4539 is an on-line ‘
‘ domain registry where you can secure and ‘
‘ park, or even begin to use domain names, for ‘
‘ just $15 a year. And if you use the above link, ‘
‘ 2SS.Com will be rewarded for referring you. ‘
’ It’s a great place to reserve your name. On ‘
‘ the DirectNic home page, click on the link to ‘
‘ the ‘pre-registration form’ in the lower right ‘
‘ hand corner just above the sub-title FAQ ‘
‘ AVAILABLE ON-LINE ‘
‘ 5. http://dbml.zapdata.com where you can get ‘
‘ highly-targeted sales leads for as little as ‘
‘ $.50 each. ZapData is affiliated with Dun &
‘ Bradstreet for its continuing supply of
‘ company lead info.’
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‘ -------------------------Item Five----------------------- ‘
‘ WHY SUBSCRIBE? ‘
‘ 2SS.Com & YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
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