From extropians-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Mon Jun 14 21:34:47 1993 Return-Path: Received: from usc.edu by chaph.usc.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1+ucs-3.0) id AA23640; Mon, 14 Jun 93 21:34:44 PDT Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Received: from wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu by usc.edu (4.1/SMI-3.0DEV3-USC+3.1) id AA01377; Mon, 14 Jun 93 21:34:40 PDT Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Received: by wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (5.65/4.0) id ; Tue, 15 Jun 93 00:13:13 -0400 Message-Id: <9306150413.AA11068@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu> To: ExI-Daily@gnu.ai.mit.edu Date: Tue, 15 Jun 93 00:12:33 -0400 X-Original-Message-Id: <9306150412.AA11059@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu> X-Original-To: Extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu From: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Subject: Extropians Digest V93 #0328 X-Extropian-Date: Remailed on June 15, 373 P.N.O. [04:13:12 UTC] Reply-To: Extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Status: O Extropians Digest Tue, 15 Jun 93 Volume 93 : Issue 0328 Today's Topics: Colour Cones Mutation (was diet) [2 msgs] DIET/ANTHRO: Lactose intolerance, devel. of dair [1 msgs] Forward: Cable News (Orlando & CableSoft) [1 msgs] LIFE-EX: Milk [1 msgs] META: giving feedback [1 msgs] QUERY: foreskin mutilation [1 msgs] SOC: Birth Order and Extropians [1 msgs] SPACE/FREE: Governments in Space [1 msgs] SPEECH: Judeo-Christian ethics meme set [1 msgs] email address list [1 msgs] Administrivia: This is the digested version of the Extropian mailing list. Please remember that this list is private; messages must not be forwarded without their author's permission. To send mail to the list/digest, address your posts to: extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu To send add/drop requests for this digest, address your post to: exi-daily-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu To make a formal complaint or an administrative request, address your posts to: extropians-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu If your mail reader is operating correctly, replies to this message will be automatically addressed to the entire list [extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu] - please avoid long quotes! The Extropian mailing list is brought to you by the Extropy Institute, through hardware, generously provided, by the Free Software Foundation - neither is responsible for its content. Forward, Onward, Outward - Harry Shapiro (habs) List Administrator. Approximate Size: 63080 bytes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 20:46:30 CST From: "" Subject: email address list I've been collecting email addresses of interest to sf/fantasy readers, fans, writers, etc. In a few days, I'll have the latest version of my listing ready to post. If you're interested in receiving it, let me know. If you have a list to suggest that you think I might not know about, let me know. Dan Goodman dsg@staff.tc.umn.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 21:54:59 -0400 (EDT) From: esr@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) Subject: Colour Cones Mutation (was diet) > I was amused by Eric's post of his music catalogue - I recognised > not a single artist. That's not surprising. Of all the artists I mentioned, only Jeff Beck has anything like mainstream name recognition. The others are known mainly to fusion-jazz fans, the brightest 5% of the metalheads, and people who actually *play* electric guitar. They're musician's musicians. -- Eric S. Raymond ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 22:15:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Harry Shapiro Subject: DIET/ANTHRO: Lactose intolerance, devel. of dair > > And one other factor I'd been thinking of several years ago > > (in connection with something else entirely) that may be relevant here: > > "white" people seem to have the widest variety of phenotypal differences > > in the world (besides height and a few other things). More differing hair > > colours, eye colours, weights, etc (the record heaviest and lightest > > people were both "white", and in fact so were the tallest and shortest, > I could readily believe that Asians have less phenotypic variation than > whites. Come to think of it, I think I've seen statistics on blood group > distribution that back that up. I'm not so sure about blacks --- they're > an older and more varied population, if the cladists are right. I disagree. I can tell the difference between most asians and their country of origin, while they "all look alike" to many of my friends. I have liked arround asians for many years and my father has traveled though those countries many times, bring back young asians to study in America. I can't comment on blood group distribution. Their is of course, a large group of ethnic chinese that can before "all over the world," a bit like the "jews." They may have more similar appearance to each other. /hawk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 20:11:59 -0700 From: mcpherso@lumina.ucsd.edu (John McPherson) Subject: SPEECH: Judeo-Christian ethics meme set Verily hath Stanton McCandlish spoken unto the Extropians: | | Quoth John McPherson, verily I saith unto thee: | > Centered on the question "Have Judeo-Christian ethics advanced or | > degraded civilization?" was a joint-meeting [...] | | Never would've thought there'd be any question about that... >;) I guess it depends on whether or not you've been successfully infected with the J-C meme. The Christian speaker (obviously infected) and the "agnostic" Republican thought J-C ethics have advanced civilization, while most of the atheists considered J-C ethics to be a plague on humanity. I took the position that J-C ethics per se have been irrelevant since it is Reason that has advanced us and Force that has degraded us. | ... please post it to the exi-essay list, [...] sounds quite interesting. Thanks for the compliment. Since the speech isn't explicitly "extropian" I decided not to post it, but on the other hand I thought some would be interested. The optimal solution seemed to be to advertise its availability, and to wait for customers ;-). /UCSD/SIO/CalSpace/John_McPherson (mcpherso@lumina.ucsd.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Life --> Individual --> Net Extropic --> Trade --> Free Market Human Action Production Economy ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Mr. President Clinton, can you name one country that has ever taxed and spent its way into prosperity?" -- Loren Fleming of San Diego ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 18:45:47 -0600 From: zane@genesis.mcs.com (Sameer) Subject: SPACE/FREE: Governments in Space In message <9306141753.AA04779@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu>, "Perry E. Metzger" writes: > > I think you miss the major benefit of space migration: being able to > go to unclaimed territory. There is no place left on earth where a > state has not claimed the right to rule you -- on the other hand, > history has shown that it is hard to rule the frontier, and the > frontier in this case is infinitely larger than in the past. > > Perry I agree. A fronteir is probably a very free place to live. That's why I live on the internet. -- | Sameer Parekh-zane@genesis.MCS.COM-PFA related mail to pfa@genesis.MCS.COM | | Apprentice Philosopher, Writer, Physicist, Healer, Programmer, Lover, more | | "Symbiosis is Good" - Me_"Specialization is for Insects" - R. A. Heinlein_/ \_______________________/ \______________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 21:59:04 -0400 (EDT) From: esr@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) Subject: Colour Cones Mutation (was diet) > Yes indeed. Welsh is a good example, having (esp. in Literary Welsh) > several words more-or-less for blue, but which can also cover all sorts of > greens and greys and other hues. Hah. I *wondered* if someone was going to bring up Welsh! Tell me if you know, because I've been wondering for years --- has popular Welsh imported some mutation of the English word `blue' to get around the nonspecifity of `gris' et al? -- Eric S. Raymond ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 22:34:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Harry Shapiro Subject: QUERY: foreskin mutilation > On Sun, 13 Jun 1993, Stanton McCandlish wrote: > > > Anyone happen to know how, why and when circumcision came to be a "normal" > > practice in this country? Personally, it really torques me that my > > genitals were mutilated when I couldn't speak to object, but oh I agree. I would not circumcise a male child, if I had one. Their have been studies that show it is "healthier." Some of these studies have been refuted. The evidience is conflicting. >From reports I have heard I would say that an un-circumcised male who gives attention to proper "cleaning" is no worse off, healthwise, than one who is circumcised. /hawk -- Harry Shapiro habs@panix.com List Administrator of the Extropy Institute Mailing List Private Communication for the Extropian Community since 1991 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 19:48:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott C DeLancey Subject: SOC: Birth Order and Extropians On Mon, 14 Jun 1993, Robin Hanson wrote: > Well more poll responses may trickle in, but let my summarize the 28 > responses so far received. Amazingly, only 9 of these 28 folks are > not first borns, though the average # children is 2.7! > Perhaps less > surprisingly, only 6 of these 28 said they were anything other than > more likely to support new theories, and only 2 said they were less > likely. > > So either my stats are too low, I'm getting a biased sample, > extropians violate the more general pattern, or there's a big > difference between what people say and what they do here. Heh. Didya leave off a smiley or two here? (Easy to understand; I never touch the buggers myself). You're taking a poll on Extropians where the dependent variable is neophilia, and you're wondering if you got a biased sample? I hate to be the one to tell you, guys, but "extropian basics" and other staples of the list like cryonics, nootropics, vegetarianism and other life extension or enhancement through nutrition schemes, and libertarianism (not to mention anarchism) are just plain cranky lunacy. Just ask any Expert. And nanotech and space colonization are pretty pie-in-the-sky too--maybe not crackpottery, but certainly not the sort of thing that responsible science types should be worrying about. Face it--anyone who takes an interest in the stuff that goes on on this list, but claims to be less likely than most to buy a new theory, is living in a pretty strange reality (to put it diplomatically). Scott DeLancey delancey@darkwing.uoregon.edu Department of Linguistics University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403, USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 22:57:03 -0400 From: hhuang@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: LIFE-EX: Milk Alex Chislenko writes, >> In British middle-aged males the high milk drinkers had fatality rate, >> from heart disease, _1/8_ of their low milk consumers. There was a >> smaller (statistically non-significant) effect for females. > > I can imagine that high milk drinkers may well be low-alcohol drinkers, >low smokers, and in general have a healthier life style, which may mean >lower heart disease levels regardless of their milk consumption. Given the many admitted hearsay evidence against milk (for one, its allergic effects), I would speculate that a good reason why high milk drinkers may have lower fatality rates can be because of one of the best things milk does have to offer : calcium and, if it is fortified, vitamin D as well. Calcium (and presumably vitamin D as well) defiency is supposed to be widespread among older Americans. Although your body does cannabilize the calcium from its own bones to maintain bodily tissue levels for the many vital functions that calcium serves, I've seen many anecdotes of how low calcium intake messes with one's health in nasty ways. So it might be the calcium (& possibly vitamin D) after all. But I find a _1/8_ rate difficult to swallow. Even many statistical studies done on Americans about various risk factors for heart disease (smoking, drinking, pounds over ideal body weight, exercise, stress, high blood pressure), no single factor has ever shown such a significant level of risk decrease. Finally: well, the cutting of milk from my diet has indeed lowered the amount of phlegm that I cough up or swallow down daily. One of these days, I'll suddenly consume 7-8 cups of milk daily for a few days. If the phlegm comes back, then that'll be sufficient enough proof for me. Too bad, milk & dairy produts were quite a nutritious a set of foods. Now that I've quit, I've had to take on a calcium supplement, and I'm now looking for a vitamin D supplement as well. -Han Y. Huang hhuang@athena.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 23:19-EDT From: Marc.Ringuette@GS80.SP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: META: giving feedback I think it may be the case that we're not, as a group, giving enough positive feedback to good but non-controversial messages. I'm going to make a special effort to send personal email to people who write particularly interesting articles, just to say "job well done". I encourage others to do the same. It's a bummer when your carefully crafted essay disappears into a black hole. -- Marc Ringuette (mnr@cs.cmu.edu). Freely repost/archive any of my messages. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 21:50:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Harry Shapiro Subject: Forward: Cable News (Orlando & CableSoft) The following text is presented for personal educational use only. It is not to be copied or otherwise used in a manner which violates rights of its copyright holders. This letter serves only as private communication to readers of the Extropian Mailing List. _________________________________________________________________ This file contains lots of information on the state of cable systems. There is lots of information on what Time-Warner is doing in Orlando as reported by a local paper. It is more extensive that what has been reported elsewhere. Their is other info on cable as reported by the same paper and the last article is from the NY Times and is the latest piece about CableSoft the join venture between Time-Warner, TCI, and Microsoft. /hawk Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. THE ORLANDO SENTINEL June 13, 1993 Sunday, 3 STAR SECTION: HOMES; Pg. J1 LENGTH: 1150 words HEADLINE: STATE-OF-THE-ART HAVENS FOR HIGH-TECH MAVENS; TIME WARNER WILL TEST ITS INTERACTIVE CABLE NETWORK IN SEMINOLE, GILDING NEIGHBORHOODS ALREADY KNOWN FOR EASY CHARM. BYLINE: By Joe Kilsheimer of The Sentinel Staff KEYWORD: HOUSING DEVELOPMENT HIGH TECH TELEVISION NEIGHBORHOOD DESCRIPTION COMPARISON SC CF COST STAT BODY: There finally may be a place that high-tech aficionados can call home - literally. High-tech heaven is coming to the southwest Seminole County subdivisions of Sweetwater Oaks, Sabal Point, Spring Valley and Wekiva. Time Warner Cable has picked those neighborhoods to test market the nation's first interactive cable -TV service. It's a fiber-optic network that is expected to give residents some of the lifestyle options enjoyed by futuristic cartoon character George Jetson and family. Imagine this: A video store library available at the touch of a remote control; two-way videophone conversations; and video games that pit you against your neighbors - from the warmth and comfort of your own homes. The recent announcement has real estate agents excited because they think the new system is bound to attract home buyers simply because of its novelty. But they are quick to emphasize that it won't change the essential characteristics that have attracted buyers to those neighborhoods since the early 1970s: quiet, tree-laden streets, rolling terrain and schools with a good reputation. "If you asked me why so many people have moved to this part of Central Florida over the past 20 years, I would have to say it's because of one thing: These are family neighborhoods," said Everette Huskey, president of Huskey Realty and developer of Sweetwater Oaks. "They simply are laid out in a way that is conducive to family living. . . . You've got jogging trails, bike paths and parks for the kids to play on and you've got golf courses and tennis courts for the grown-ups to play on - all right in their own neighborhoods," Huskey said. Three of the subdivisions - Sweetwater Oaks, Sabal Point and Wekiva - are linked northwest of Altamonte Springs and west of Longwood. Those three lie off Wekiva Springs Road, which extends north from State Road 434 and curves west to intersect with State Road 436 near Apopka. Spring Valley is closer to Altamonte Springs and lies south of State Road 436. It was picked in part because it is near the Maitland Center office park, which also will be wired to the new system. Among the four subdivisions, there are a lot of similarities. They all, for example, are completed and offer homes primarily on the resale market. A few scattered vacant lots remain, but those are owned mostly by individuals, real estate agents said. Three of the four - Sweetwater Oaks, Sabal Point and Wekiva - have 18-hole golf courses and tennis facilities. Individually, they offer a broad spectrum of houses - from apartments to condominiums to multimillion-dollar estates - but the majority of homes are three- or four-bedroom models in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. But though there are many similarities, there are differences among the subdivisions, too. Officials with Cablevision of Central Florida, a Time Warner subsidiary that will operate the new system, said the neighborhoods were selected because of the mix of residents' incomes, household sizes and education. That mix is reflected in the statistics maintained by the Greater Orlando Association of Realtors. Among the four neighborhoods, there were 319 homes listed for sale with Realtors in early June. Prices ranged from $41,900 to $3.85 million. Real estate agents say each of the subdivisions has a distinct character. Sweetwater Oaks, for example, is the oldest of the subdivisions, having opened in 1971. Its houses generally are more traditionally styled, said Irene Houser, broker at RE/MAX Preferred Properties in Altamonte Springs. Sweetwater residents have access to a lakefront park on Lake Brantley, which is big enough for water-skiing. The homeowners association also maintains a riverfront park on the Wekiva River. Prices in Sweetwater start near $100,000 for smaller, older houses, Houser said. Average prices range from $150,000 to $175,000, she said. Another section of Sweetwater contains some of Central Florida's most high-priced real estate. In Sweetwater Club, more than 40 of the subdivision's 178 homes carry price tags that exceed $1 million. Sabal Point, which lies east of Sweetwater Oaks, is the youngest of the four subdivisions. Land development and home building was completed in 1991 by NTS Florida Properties, a subsidiary of a Louisville, Ky.-based company. Judy Dendy, an agent with The Prudential Florida Realty, said Sabal Point has more contemporary-styled houses. "Sabal has a lot of houses that people in the custom-home market would look for. There are a lot of houses that are pool-planned and that have the kitchen-family room combination that is so popular today," Dendy said. In addition to the golf course, Sabal's other main recreational feature is a nature trail that is popular with joggers, Dendy said. Sabal Point is the only one of the four that offers rental housing. Apartment complexes such as Sabal Club, Sabal Park and Golfbrook Villas, with monthly rents ranging from about $600 to more than $1,000, are targeted mostly to upscale consumers, Dendy said. Wekiva was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Magnolia Service Corp., a subsidiary of a now-defunct savings and loan association called The First F.A. Wekiva offers the most affordable housing among the four neighborhoods, said Delores Johnson, an agent with Watson Realty's Wekiva office. On the subdivision's east side are three- and four-bedroom houses that start in the mid-$80s. On Wekiva's north side is a collection of town homes and cluster homes that usually are listed in the mid-$90s and low $100s, Johnson said. Wekiva was developed with a series of bike paths that link individual villages. The bike paths make it easy for children to reach a Seminole County branch library, which is in the middle of the development. Spring Valley actually is a collection of neighborhoods built by a variety of developers in the early 1970s. Spring Valley lies west of Wymore Road and south of State Road 436. Spring Valley doesn't have the look of a planned community as the other three do, but it does have more of a secluded feeling, said Nancy Daniel, broker at ERA Daniel & Wohlwender in Altamonte Springs. Prices in Spring Valley generally range from about $150,000 to more than $400,000. In some parts of Spring Valley, houses on Spring Lake have sold for more than $800,000, Daniel said. Cablevision officials have said they will begin marketing the new high-tech system to residents in the four subdivisions by next January. The first houses are scheduled to go on line by March 1994. But between now and then, agents predict that buyers will seek out houses in the four subdivisions simply to be among the first in the country to witness the future. "I think this is definitely going to heat up sales," developer Huskey said. "I think it's going to do wonders for real estate values." GRAPHIC: PHOTO 2 C: Spring Valley (left) and Sabal Point are two of the four subdivisions chosen for the high-tech experiment. BARBARA V. PEREZ/SENTINEL PHOTO 2 C: Wekiva (above) and Sweetwater Oaks (right) lie off Wekiva Springs Road. Sweetwater Oaks is the oldest of the four selected subdivisions, while Wekiva is the most affordable. BARBARA V. PEREZ/SENTINEL TYPE: FEATURE COLUMN: Neighbors Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune May 30, 1993 Sunday, 3 STAR SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 1661 words HEADLINE: CITIES TUNING IN TO TV OF FUTURE; EXPERIMENTS IN PLACES SUCH AS MONTREAL AND SAN DIEGO SHOW THE POTENTIAL OF A SYSTEM THAT'S COMING TO SEMINOLE COUNTY. BYLINE: By Jay Hamburg of The Sentinel Staff KEYWORD: TELEVISION HIGH TECH TECHNOLOGY FORECAST COST STAT UTILITY COMPUTER BODY: The nation's electronic superhighway may be about to rise from the Orlando suburbs later this year, but smaller interactive boulevards and avenues have been carrying traffic for several years in test sites throughout the United States and Canada. In Montreal, baseball fans can watch the Expos and hockey fans can watch the Canadiens on a special two-way cable -television channel that lets them choose camera angles or call up player statistics with a click of their remote controls. In San Diego and several other cities, cable -system customers can write checks electronically and make travel reservations through their TV sets. In Birmingham, Mich., fourth-graders at an elementary school record short programs that they can call up later on their TV sets at home. Students and parents can summon teacher messages, homework updates or class projects. A shop-at-home service for school supplies is planned. The possibilities, according to a Birmingham cable -TV official, are "limited only by your mind." >From customized sports coverage to electronic banking, small-scale experiments in interactive television already show the potential of the advanced two-way system that Time Warner Inc. will offer to 4,000 Seminole County homes next spring. The smaller test sites have already shown that it's possible for home viewers to play along with televised game shows in California. They've shown that doctors hundreds of miles apart in Georgia can consult each other while viewing a patient's X-rays. Is it all possible here? "Absolutely," said Thomas Feige, president of Time Warner's Orlando -area test system. "That's a real goal." Although details of the new fiber-optic system have not been worked out, Feige says Orlando's so-called full service network will be capable of providing nearly anything that's already being offered on an experimental basis somewhere else. The company has said it will offer subscribers access on demand to hundreds of full-length motion pictures and digitally stored television shows. Feige said he also would like the Orlando system to include video mail and voice-activated features. Last week, Time Warner disclosed that its local cable -TV subsidiary, CableVision of Central Florida, would offer the nation's first comprehensive full service network in several neighborhoods of southwest Seminole County: Wekiva, Sweetwater, Sabal Point, Lake Brantley and Spring Valley. The company also will wire the Maitland Center business park, just over the line in Orange County, because its offices are based there. The first homes are scheduled to be hooked up next March. Video on demand allows viewers to watch something whenever they want to watch it, and it allows them to pause, reverse and fast- forward the programs with their remote controls, just as they do with a videocassette recorder. Few systems today offer more than a handful of such video-on- demand choices at one time. The closest thing to a full service network now operating is Videoway's cable -TV system in Montreal and Quebec. The 200,000 subscribers don't have video on demand yet, but they do have access to more than 100 entertainment and information services. For $7.95 a month, Videoway subscribers get interactive sports broadcasts, as well as video games, horoscopes, real-time stock prices, and road and weather updates. Next year, the service hopes to offer subscribers the ability to bank at home and send electronic messages - known as E-mail - to each other through their TV sets. "It's a step ahead of what other companies are doing now," said Sylvain Leclerc, a Videoway spokesman in Montreal. "But in two or three years, we know there will be others." Baseball fans in Montreal can shrink their TV picture and surround the live action with an array of baseball facts - from a player's batting average to the speed of the last pitch thrown. If an Expo player strikes out to end a rally, angry fans can mock him by displaying his huge salary beside him on the screen. If he performs heroically, they can replay the action again and again with a flick of their remote controls. One of the cameras offered to the viewer often follows a star player throughout a baseball or hockey game, regardless of where the ball or puck is at the time. "It's real fun to watch him (the player) prepare," said artist Emmanuel Cladais, who has subscribed to the Videoway channel for three years. "You can see what's in his mind." Imagine calling up Shaquille O'Neal's stats whenever you want during an Orlando Magic game or watching the action through a camera trained solely on the basketball superstar. Time Warner does not have any plans to create such a service in Orlando, Feige said, but he expects companies that televise sports events to offer such services with their broadcasts - eventually. The largest and most complex commercial system now operating in the United States is a premium channel offered by GTE Corp. to cable -TV companies in Cerritos, Calif., San Diego and Boston. The service, called Main Street, allows subscribers to bank electronically, book travel reservations and take a Scholastic Aptitude Test study course through their television, as well as buy items from electronic catalogs - all for $9.95 a month. GTE has been testing various options on the systems since their birth in 1988. They currently have about 3,000 customers in the three cities combined and expect to add as many as 200 a week eventually. Experts at last week's Comdex computer show in Atlanta were predicting that by the year 2000, 10 million homes nationwide will have interactive cable television of one kind or another. "These things are popping up all over the place," said Gary Arlen, an industry analyst from Bethesda, Md., who follows the interactive- media field. Arlen has spotted more then 50 projects in the planning or start-up phases. However, "Interactive is not for everyone," he warned. His research has indicated that nearly half of the country's TV audience will not take to the newfangled device right away. Such viewers tend to be older and less technically oriented. "It suggests that it's a generational issue that may take a long time to gain acceptance," Arlen said. The experience of those at Midvale Elementary School in Michigan suggests he's right. The school-home channel was envisioned as a way for parents to stay in touch with school activities, but the children soon began dominating much of the programming, creating book reports and games to watch at home. "What happened that nobody expected is that the kids really wanted to get involved," said Hugh Jencks, spokesman for Booth Communications, which operates the Birmingham cable system. For instance, students can now view the daily specials offered by the school store on the system's Intelligent Television Network, Jencks said. The children already operate a student bank at school, and Booth is helping them plan an electronic shopping channel for the 39 fourth- graders. As Jencks envisions it, a student would be able to look over the school store's merchandise on the TV screen before pressing a button to order pencils, notebooks or T-shirts. The system would automatically debit the child's account at the school bank. The next day, the merchandise would be waiting at the youngster's desk. In Sterling Heights, Mich., the community's fiber-optic telephone lines connect the homes of 120 fourth-graders with an educational video library that offers students fun programming on reading, science and math. "I really enjoy it," said 9-year-old Amanda Hayden. "You can learn at home instead of in the classroom. You can be relaxed and lay on the floor. . . . Sometimes we talk about it on the playground." The Michigan Bell system, called ThinkLink, also is a bigger-than- expected hit with the students, parents say. Amanda's mother, Jeanette Hayden, said her three children recently choose to watch a school video on Grimm's Fairy-Tales instead of Saturday morning cartoons. "Sometimes I don't think they realize they're learning," she said. That may be good news for both the future of education and the future of the cable, telephone and computer industries. Companies in all three business groups are betting millions and billions of dollars that interactive television is not just the wave of the future but the way of life for the future. Much will depend on how the 4,000 CableVision subscribers in Seminole County respond to Time Warner's full service network. The company plans to expand the interactive network from Seminole County to all 200,000 CableVision subscribers in metropolitan Orlando by 1996 - and to most of its other U.S. cable -TV systems by 1998. Telecommunications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator, has pledged to spend $1.9 billion upgrading its U.S. systems with fiber- optic cable between now and 1996 - including its 55,000 subscribers in Central Florida. TCI, however, doesn't plan to offer two-way services right away on its proposed 500-channel system. Feige says Time Warner picked the metropolitan Orlando area to test its full service network because CableVision of Central Florida has a total of 475,000 subscribers. That makes it the third-largest cable -TV system in the nation and the second-largest in the Time Warner stable, behind New York's. The presence in Orlando of large, internationally known theme parks was a consideration, too. The technological innovations introduced by parks such as Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, Universal Studios and Sea World have helped create a "technologically willing" population, according to Mark Berniker, senior analyst at Jupiter Communication Co., a New York-based market research company. "They ( Time-Warner) are trying to plug into the people that are open to new possibilities," Berniker said. "Try doing that in northern Maine." GRAPHIC: PHOTO 3: Left: Main Street allows subscribers to bank electronically, book travel reservations and take a Scholastic Aptitude Test study course through their television, as well as buy items from electronic catalogs - all for $9.95 a month.; Below left: Baseball fans in Montreal can use a two-way cable -television channel to choose camera angles or shrink their TV picture and surround the live action with an array of baseball facts - from a player's batting average to the speed of the last pitch thrown.; Below right: The Ameritech/Michigan Bell system, called ThinkLink, is a bigger-than-expected hit with students, parents say. Amanda Hayden uses her television to access educational programs to supplement her classroom curriculum. TYPE: FEATURE COLUMN: Programming for your TV Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune May 12, 1993 Wednesday, 3 STAR SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. D1 LENGTH: 516 words HEADLINE: TIME WARNER AWARDS CABLE BOX BID; SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA WILL MAKE THE FIRST CONVERTER BOXES FOR ORLANDO'S ; INTERACTIVE PROJECT. BYLINE: By Rene Stutzman of The Sentinel Staff KEYWORD: TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS US ENTERTAINMENT CONTRACT , DESCRIPTION ALTERNATIVE COMPUTER BODY: Look! On top of your television! It's a personal computer! It's a telephone! No, it's a cable converter box. Actually it's all three. Time Warner Cable announced that Scientific-Atlanta Inc. will build the box that will bring the cable company's "electronic superhighway" to 4,000 Orlando -area homes early next year. The ultrahigh-tech system will allow viewers to interact with their televisions, for example, ordering up "video on demand" movies, video games that can be played with other subscribers or a piece of clothing from a retailer. "This box is an entertainment mall," said Mike Hayashai, Time Warner vice president of international development. "You can send data for any application." Details of the contract were not announced, including how much money is involved, but Scientific-Atlanta, of Norcross, Ga., is to build 4,000 converters and remote controls at its plant in suburban Atlanta for delivery to Orlando. The contract was the second superhighway pact between the two companies in three weeks. On April 28, they announced that Scientific-Atlanta would build amplifiers and fiber optics electronics needed for the network's transmission system. Jim Kedersha, an analyst with Cowen & Co. in Boston, said the dollar value of this week's contract was not great but the deal is a coup for Scientific-Atlanta. Although Scientific-Atlanta has no guarantee it would be chosen to produce more than 4,000 boxes, Kedersha said the deal likely gives the Georgia manufacturer an inside track should the Orlando network be expanded. The box will look much like existing cable converters, but it will contain a powerful microprocessor and have more computing power than a personal computer, said Mike Luftman, vice president of Time Warner Cable in Stamford, Conn. "It's the difference between a Model T and a Ferrari," he said Tuesday, a day after the contract was announced. Toshiba Corp. of Tokyo is working with Scientific-Atlanta to develop the technology, the companies announced. "This box is going to be a gateway into an electronic fire hose that's going to be throwing a ton of services and alternatives at you," Kedersha said. The box will decompress the 600 to 700 channels of information available on the superhighway, dubbed the Full Service Network by Time Warner. But plug in a keyboard, and it can serve as a personal computer, Hayashai said. "It could become your own personal storage device," said Bill Brown, president of CableVision of Central Florida, the local subsidiary of Time Warner Cable. "You could put in there some movies or records you want to retain, tax records." It also has the capacity to serve as a telephone transmitter and receiver if properly outfitted, Brown said. " Time Warner is on the leading edge, asking us to build something that's never been built before. It's really a quantum leap from what we've done in the past," said Bob Brobst, spokesman for Scientific- Atlanta. Time Warner has not announced which Orange or Seminole County neighborhoods will be involved in the network trial. GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Bill Brown; BOX: What subscribers will get; - A new computer-converter box; - A new remote control; What box can do; - Decompress Cablevision's "electronic superhighway" into a signal TVs can read; - Allow viewers to interact with TV. For example, they could select a "view-on-demand" movie; order a video game and then play it with someone else on the cable system; or buy and airplane ticket.; - Serve as a telephone, with the proper attachments; - Serve as a personal computer, if subscribers add a keyboard; Source: Time Warner Cable, Scientific-Atlanta; MARK BOIVIN/SENTINEL Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune May 6, 1993 Thursday, 3 STAR SECTION: LOCAL & STATE; Pg. B3 LENGTH: 155 words HEADLINE: FOLLOW-UP: INTERACTIVE TV KEYWORD: UTILITY BUSINESS OC TECHNOLOGY HIGH TECH TELEVISION BODY: Q. What happened to plans announced by William Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corp., to work with Time Warner Inc. in developing software for interactive television in the Orlando area? A. Gates, the country's richest person, announced that his company had been working informally with Time Warner when he came to Orlando in March to give a speech hosted by the Central Florida Computer Society. In the meantime, other companies such as Silicon Graphics and 3DO in California have pitched ideas to Time Warner for creating user- friendly devices and software to control two-way television systems. Tom Feige, president of Time Warner's full-service network in Orlando, said his company is continuing its talks with Microsoft along with other companies. But it has not yet settled on a final product to put in the homes of the 4,000 local customers who will get hooked up to the advanced cable system next year. GRAPHIC: PHOTO: William Gates TYPE: Q&A COLUMN: FOLLOW UP: Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune April 13, 1993 Tuesday, 3 STAR SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 612 words HEADLINE: CABLE TV TIES INTO FIBER OPTICS BYLINE: By Rene Stutzman of The Sentinel Staff KEYWORD: TELEVISION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY CHANGE DESCRIPTION , CONSTRUCTION SERVICE INFORMATION INDUSTRY OC CF SC FLA US BODY: Tele-Communications Inc. unveiled a $1.9 billion plan Monday to build a much-anticipated vast fiber optic cable television system capable of bringing 500 channels and an unprecedented amount of electronic data into American homes, including 55,000 in Central Florida. "This will completely change the way we think of television," said Tony Bello, director of business development for TCI of Florida in Miami. In the Orlando area, TCI's system will be cheek by jowl with a similarly revolutionary cable system being built by Time Warner Inc. and its subsidiary, CableVision of Central Florida. Both systems will be tied together by fiber optic cables, then juiced up by digital compression, a process that exponentially increases the capacity of a cable system. TCI, based in Englewood, Colo., is building its information "superhighway" by laying 7,000 miles of fiber optic cable across the nation, with the goal of linking most of the 250 cities and 10 million homes it serves by the end of 1996. Construction already has begun in Altamonte Springs, where 11 1/2 miles of the glass-based cable, capable of carrying 250,000 times the amount of information as copper telephone wire, already has been installed, said to Jeff Walker, assistant manager of Storer Cable, which is part of TCI. By 1994, the 17,500 Seminole County homes served by Storer should be wired for the dramatically upgraded service, an unprecedented mix of entertainment, home shopping and electronic information. In addition, the system will give customers the ability to program what they watch. "We envision a lot of viewer-controlled television, which is what we call pay-per-view. Any time, day or night, 2,000 titles in movies. There'll be enhanced shopping services, video games, those kinds of things," Bello said. The same system is to be wired into about 37,000 homes in Daytona Beach, according to the company. Time Warner's system is designed for 6,000 homes in Orange and Seminole counties. However, CableVision President Bill Brown on Monday wouldn't identify which communities would be involved. He said they will be made public early next week. And full service to both systems in Central Florida is expected next year, according to both companies. Brown said there is no race between the two companies. "I can't go any faster," he said. "We're pushing vendors to develop hardware as fast as we can. I don't think we want to accelerate any more." Once the new cable is installed, Storer customers will get double the number of channels. CableVision customers will get 50 percent more. In addition, the picture should be sharper, both companies say. The big change, however, will come when the second key technological change is added: digital compression. Both companies still are working on that technology, which will require a converter box in each home, but both said they should be available in 1994. "We think . . . our present configuration is more flexible than theirs, but I wouldn't be surprised if, through the evolutionary process, we didn't end up looking alike," Brown said. Bello said the cost of basic cable service should not increase. However, a customer's bill would be determined by the number of services he or she chooses. Brown said the price of CableVision's interactive service would be "competitive" and that the price of a viewer-selected movie would compare to a videotape rental or admission to a movie theater. The race to build information highways has been intensifying recently as cable TV companies and regional telephone concerns battle to be first in successfully delivering such services. Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune March 7, 1993 Sunday, 3 STAR SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. D1 LENGTH: 1274 words HEADLINE: CABLE RADIO: HBO OF MUSIC; DIGITAL AUDIO, NOW ARRIVING AT CENTRAL FLORIDA CABLE SYSTEMS, OFFERS 30 ; CHANNELS WITHOUT DJS OR ADS. BYLINE: By Catherine Hinman, Of The Sentinel Staff KEYWORD: TECHNOLOGY HIGH TECH OC CF LC DESCRIPTION MEDIA , ENTERTAINMENT BODY: Mark Browne is on the cutting edge of entertainment technology in Central Florida. With a handy remote control device at home in Fruitland Park, he is able to access 30 channels of commercial-free, deejay-less, compact disc-quality music on his stereo. Rock 'n' roll? It's time to boogie! Country music? Yee ha! Reggae? No problem, mon! "Just depending on what mood you're in, it's nice to listen to certain music," says Browne, 23. "If you want to tone things down, you can listen to a softer music." Browne gets this magical music service, called Digital Music Express or DMX, piped into his home through his cable system 24 hours a day for $10.95 a month. As a subscriber to Lake County Cablevision, Browne last spring became one of the first people in Central Florida to experience digital audio and one of a growing number of people nationwide. DMX, provided by the Los Angeles-based International Cablecasting Technologies Inc., is one of two digital audio services being sold around the country. Sometimes known as cable radio, these services are to broadcast radio what HBO was to broadcast television more than a decade ago. But instead of movie selections, digital audio services provide music - all varieties, all the time, with a sound quality superior to that of stations and sans commercials and chuckling announcers. "With a radio station there is always the deejay you've got to put up with," Browne says. "There are a lot of radio stations I don't listen to in the morning because of the deejay." Whether digital audio achieves the same market prowess as HBO remains to be seen, but cable radio is the newest premium service being hawked to cable subscribers today. Though it is only available through Lake County Cablevision and Storer Cable in Altamonte Springs now, many more Central Floridians will have the option of testing cable radio in the coming months. Cablevision of Central Florida, the region's largest cable operator, plans to add a digital audio service within a year. Lake County Cablevision has signed up 500 subscribers to DMX since it began offering the service last May. Subscribers get a special tuner for their stereo and the DMX remote control, which is dubbed the "DMX DJ." The remote control has a data window that will display, with the push of a button, the name of the song the listener is hearing, the artist, the composer and the album title. "We've found once people . . . hear the music and play with the remote control, it sells itself," said Randy Ittner, marketing manager at Lake County Cablevision. Digital audio has grown slowly since it began The key to selling the music service is demonstrating it, Ittner says. The concept is so new that most people can't grasp its full benefits without hearing and seeing it. Indeed, the rollout of digital audio hasn't happened at a dazzling rate. DMX launched its service in 1991 and its competitor Digital Cable Radio (DCR) launched in early 1990. Today DMX serves 120,000 customers nationwide and DCR, 55,000. Initial subscribers, company officials say, tend to be owners of compact disc players and heavy cable users. The problem is that the number of subscribers tends to plateau after the so-called audiophiles have signed up for the service, says Matt Stump, national editor of the weekly trade magazine Cable World. Though the digital audio companies are still trying to figure out their marketing strategies, the cable industry remains optimistic about the technology's potential, Stump says. Even major record companies are investing in digital audio because they believe the services can be good for music sales. The major hurdle for digital audio is the education of the consumer. "Until 80 percent of your people really understand it and choose not to subscribe to it, you just keep marketing," Stump says. Digital Cable Radio will most likely be the system offered by Cablevision of Central Florida, said Jim Rozier, vice president of marketing and business development. Time Warner Cable, Cablevision's parent company, is a partner in the DCR venture. DCR spokeswoman Karen Muldoon said DCR expects 25 to 30 percent of the 55 million U.S. cable homes to subscribe to a cable radio service within 10 to 15 years. DCR has 28 channels for music and for simulcasting premium cable channels like HBO, Showtime and Cinemax. The company will be expanding to 56 channels this spring and expects eventually to offer as many as 250 channels for music, video simulcasts and information such as sports statistics and financial news. DMX on the other hand sees itself primarily as a music delivery service. Individual cable operators have the option of adjusting their equipment to allow for simulcasting of premium cable channels. Lake County Cablevision, for example, simulcasts 10 video channels through DMX, including its pay-per-view channels, premium movie channels and MTV and VH-1. Storer does not as yet. In popular formats like rock 'n' roll, DMX programs a broader range of music than the typical radio station, says customer Browne. And some of the formats DMX offers are rarely found on commercial radio stations today: opera, show tunes, blues and big band music, to name a few. (DMX's competitor DCR also has a channel of music and special programming just for kids.) Storer plans big push for signups in spring Is cable radio considered a threat to radio? Not at the moment, says Steve Holbrook, operations director at WWKA-FM (92.3). Then again, it's not something to be taken lightly. Although most people now listen to the radio in their cars coming to and from work, cable radio could further erode radio's evening audiences. In a few years, cable radio may even be available in cars through special equipment. Cable radio, Holbrook says, will help broadcasters better define their roles. Radio stations are far more than jukeboxes. They are sources of news and information, and the same disc jockeys some listeners hate are the very people other listeners love to spend time with. "I think listeners like to have a personality," Holbrook says. "They like to be entertained." "While it ( cable radio) will be neat to have in the beginning, people will eventually go back to radio," he says. Storer Cable began offering DMX to its Altamonte Springs subscribers in early December. Although the company will not reveal how many customers have picked it up, acting system manager Jeff Walker says there's a lot more room for growth. Storer plans to "relaunch" DMX this spring with a bigger marketing push. If all Storer's customers were like Larry Curtis, the sell would be a cinch. Curtis, 35, ordered DMX as soon as he heard it at Storer's offices. He is single and a big fan of both music and cable. For Curtis, a truck driver, home entertainment is a high priority. His monthly cable bill is about $100 a month. "I cherish my moments at home because I'm on the road a lot," he says. "Being one of those kinds of people, I don't mind spending the money." Curtis says he uses DMX as sort of a customized Muzak. The quality of sound is as good as if it were coming from his own CD player and the selection of music is far greater than he could ever find on his radio. "If you can't find something to listen to in 30 channels of music," he says, "you're not a music person." GRAPHIC: BOX: How it works; Digital audio works through a subscriber's cable system. It is hooked up with a special tuner that splits the cable signal between the television and the stereo.; For about $10 a month, customers also receive a remote control device that accesses up to 30 channels of music. In some cases, they also receive channels that simulcast in digital sound quality such cable offerings as HBO or MTV.; Two digital audio services are being sold throughout the country.; One service, Digital Music Express, uses a remote control with a data window that displays, with the push of a button, the name of the song the listener is hearing, the artist, the composer and the album title.; The other service, Digital Cable Radio, uses a simpler remote but plans to introduce an upgraded version this spring.; PHOTO c: Mark Browne of Fruitland Park, with tuner and remote control, was one of the 1st people in Central Florida to sign up for the service. MINDY SCHAUER/SENTINEL; PHOTO: Subscribers get a tuner and remote control. Remote can show the name of the song that's playing, the artist, composer, album title. MINDY SCHAUER/SENTINEL TYPE: FEATURE Copyright 1993 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel Tribune March 1, 1993 Monday, 3 STAR SECTION: CENTRAL FLORIDA BUSINESS; Pg. 24 LENGTH: 108 words HEADLINE: PHONE NETWORK KEYWORD: UTILITY SERVICE US TECHNOLOGY HIGH TECH BODY: Southern Bell Co. is busy expanding its high-tech fiber-optic telephone network in Central Florida to stay ahead of emerging competitors such as Time Warner Inc. Southern Bell announced recently it will spend $256 million through 1996 laying fiber-optic cable and installing new digital switches in Central Florida. Phone companies such as Southern Bell and cable -TV companies like Time Warner are in a race for the telecommunications and entertainment services market of the future. Southern Bell has accelerated its network construction. The latest capital budget is almost 10 percent more than in the previous three-year period. COLUMN: NOTES Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company The New York Times June 13, 1993, Sunday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section 1; Page 31; Column 1; National Desk LENGTH: 1118 words HEADLINE: Microsoft and 2 Cable Giants Close to an Alliance BYLINE: By JOHN MARKOFF BODY: Three dominant technology and entertainment companies are on the verge of joining forces to create the equivalent of software for cable television -- an operating system that would combine the worlds of computing and television and perhaps shape how much of popular culture is delivered. Time Warner Inc., the largest entertainment company; Tele- Communications Inc., the largest cable television company, and the Microsoft Corporation, the largest software company, are expected to announce by the end of the month that they will form a company, tentatively called Cablesoft. This new venture, its creators hope, will lead the way in establishing a standard for the transmission of the coming generation of interactive programs. At stake, essentially, is control of the unobtrusive cable box that sits atop many television sets. In recent months the box, which is expected to gain many more powers in coming years, has become a battleground for computer, telephone and cable companies. 'Gateway for Popular Culture' "This has tremendous economic and social importance; it is the gateway for popular culture," said James F. Moore, president of Geopartners Research Inc., a management consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. "This is the substitute for newspapers and magazines and catalogues and movies, and that gives it enormous economic potential for those who control the gateway." The three companies have declined to discuss their negotiations, but several executives involved in the talks say that for several months the three chief executives -- Gerald M. Levin of Time Warner, John C. Malone of Tele-Communications Inc. and William H. Gates of Microsoft -- have been meeting face to face to hammer out the details. These executives said that the deal had not yet been completed and that other companies, including regional telephone and software companies, might participate. Antitrust Considerations Asked whether the potential alliance might raise antitrust concerns, Christopher O. B. Wright, an antitrust specialist at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm in Palo Alto, Calif., said: "All three of these companies have tremendous influence in their respective markets. But the question is will this translate into leverage in this new market." Such joint ventures are often subject to scrutiny by Federal agencies, he said, but there has been little antitrust enforcement in high- technology in recent years. The competition to establish an industry standard for interactive television reflects lessons learned from the early days of the personal computer business, in the late 1970's, when literally hundreds of companies were introducing incompatible equipment. In recent months, the jockeying for position in the emerging interactive market has reached a feverish pitch, months, with large information companies jostling to line up on the inside track. Last month, for example, the Intel Corporation, the world's largest chipmaker, Microsoft and the General Instrument Corporation announced plans to develop a cable converter that would have a built-in personal computer. Last Monday, Time Warner announced that Silicon Graphics Inc., a Silicon Valley computer maker, and Scientific Atlanta, a supplier of cable boxes, would supply hardware and software for its digital television trial in Orlando, Fla., which is scheduled for next year. A day before that announcement, Kaleida, a joint venture of International Business Machines and Apple Computer, said it was joining with Motorola Inc. and Scientific Atlanta to develop a similar futuristic television controller. Also last month, U S West, the regional telephone company based in Denver, said it would invest $ 2.5 billion in Time Warner to build advanced cable and information networks that would offer a range of services. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company and Viacom Inc. have announced a similar plan. An Imposing Partnership Amid all this maneuvering, the dominance of Microsoft, Tele- Communications and Time Warner in their respective industries makes the prospective partnership an imposing one. Tele-Communications, based in Englewood, Colo., is the largest cable systems operator; Time Warner, based in New York, is the second largest. Together they provide service to 30 percent of the nation's 57 million households with cable television. Time Warner, through its music companies, production studios and film libraries, has access to a vast storehouse of videos, which could be transmitted on demand. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., has become the standard setter in the personal computer industry through its MS-DOS operating system and its Windows software. Indeed, Microsoft's influence in the personal computer industry has aroused intense concern among competitors that its position is so dominant that it stifles competition. The Federal Trade Commission has been been investigating antitrust complaints against Microsoft since 1990, and a hearing is scheduled for next month. And some people now worry that Microsoft hopes to wield similar influence in interactive television. "It's going to make it tougher for us," said A. Nathaniel Goldhaber, president of Kaleida, the I.B.M.-Apple venture. "Bill Gates through sheer brilliance has extracted every possible dollar from the personal computer industry food chain. If he is allowed to, he will do the the same thing for the digital distribution of entertainment and information." One executive involved in the current discussions, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified, said the partners did not want the alliance to be seen as threatening to other companies. "We don't have all the pieces together yet," he said. Desire for a Standard "We don't want to do another Blockbuster," he added, referring to a recent joint venture announced by I.B.M. and Blockbuster Entertainment, which plans to develop technology that Blockbuster, which has nearly 3,500 video and music stores, could use to obtain any item a customer wanted. The venture drew immediate opposition from record companies. At the same time, he said, there is tremendous interest in creating a standard for interactive television, because the sooner a common ground is found, a burst of new digital information and entertainment services are likely. "People are crying out for a standard," this executive said. A number of industry executives have warned that despite the intense interest in interactive television on many fronts, it may well be years before systems are installed and before public appetite for such services is sufficient to provide the companies significant returns on their investments. SUBJECT: Terms not available -- Harry Shapiro habs@panix.com List Administrator of the Extropy Institute Mailing List Private Communication for the Extropian Community since 1991 ------------------------------ End of Extropians Digest V93 Issue #0328 ****************************************