Blakes7 August 2001

blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se

51 participants
264 discussions

RE: Re: [B7L] Re: Orbit
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

Mistral <mistral(a)centurytel.net> wrote: >Sally Manton wrote: >> >> Kathryn wrote: >> <After all, Orac suggested killing Vila and Tarrant in Headhunter, and >> Avon refused to do it.> >> >> I always liked that. "Oh, you'll have to do better than that, Orac, if you >> expect me to kill them..." so next time round, Orac *did* do better, and >> guess what? <veg> > >Hm, and there was that time in Shadow where Vila narrowly escapes being >electrocuted by Orac. Now, I wonder . . . somebody has a theory about >Vila being an agent of some greater power, can't quite remember the >details. Could Orac be an agent of an opposing power, on a mission to >kill Vila and make it look like an accident? > >Mistral >-- The discussion here of 'a while back' as to whether Avon was an emissary of the System might link up here. (Or perhaps Vila was from the System) Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

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Re: versions of slavery (was Headhunter and Assassin)
by Helen Krummenacker 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

> Ellynne brings up: > > In the American southwest, settlers from free states bought children from > local Indians once it became known that the children were likely to be > killed otherwise (selling a child was often the alternative to > infanticide or letting them die of slow starvation) but they were also > known to drive out or arrest slavers from nearby Mexico. > "A state has the ethics and morals it can afford". Sounds like the settlers were attempting chariable works there. Pay the family for the kid, giving the parents a chance to feed their other children. The settlers now have responsibility for feeding, clothing, etc the child, in a drought prone environment. Everyone has to contribute. So the Indian child works for and with the family. But why does the Federation keep slaves? Probably for psychological reasons moreso than labor effeciency. We've seen they used robot patrols,so robot labor would certainly be a possibility. The Federation *could* afford to be ethical and moral, but they choose not to. Slavery hangs as a threat over the heads of people who might risk their lives, b ut not their families' well-being. This is a threat used specifically with the military who have the means (spaceship access) to desert. It also gives even the lowest 'free' citizens a feeling of status. Likewise, the bond-slave suggests a person who is in slavery for monetary failure... as an indentured servent might enter a limited period of slave-like status or a man in debtor's prison be allowed to continue working to earn his freedom. Still, the slaves don't seem to make up that much of the population (except on Horizon, where it is being used to keep the population in line) so what else is going on economically that the Federation has patrol robots, but Our Heroes send Vila to do the muck-work on ship instead of designing a little cleaning robot. (Defuse one of Dayna's bombs and put a scrubber ont he bottom) Most Federation sets we see, with the exception of the president's palace are very Spartan. Jenna was delighted by the frivolity of a huge wardrobe room on board Zen. She also was so attatched to her necklace we see her wearing that one piece of jewelry multiple times, but no other. Sarkoff was very protective of the antiques he'd collected. What does this have to do with labor? Well, in our society (modern industrial), we are pretty labor efficient. We use robots to build cars. We have huge machines that stamp metal forms and pour plastic molds... we have goods aplenty for very little manpower. So we convince people they need more and more stuff. Modern society is built on 'wage-slavery', the willingness of people to put out more labor than they should need to to take care of necessities, by selling them on wants. The Federation does not appear to have excess goods. They grow by military conquest, not economic assimilation. Labor then becomes a way of keeping people busy, keeping their minds off thoughts of a more luxuriant past or modern politicing. These are just thoughts going through my head. I'd need to do a lot of research to build and support this theory, but I find myself thinking the Federation at one point had to switch to a military economy to support a war effort, only to find they could not easily switch back, and that a powerful elite didn't want things to change.

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Re: pronouns
by Helen Krummenacker 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

> Personally, I generally use "he" or "she" to refer to anything > sentient/sapient (which Orac, IMO, certainly is). So it'd annoy Avon. > What do I care? :) > LOL. Betty, can that paragraph also be punctuated as, "Personally, I generally use "he" or "she" to refer to anything setient/sapient, so it'd annoy Avon. 'What? Do I care?'" After all, his persnickityness can actually make him a target of fun. All joking aside, I brought up the it/he thing because as we moved away from 'only one of them unchanged', I wasn't sure if the discussion was of Avon or ORAC-- and wanted to use 'it' to clarify which of them I thought the original post referred to.

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Re: crossovers (was no subject)
by Helen Krummenacker 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

We named our motor scooter "Grundoon," after a character in Pogo. How about a B7-Pogo crossover? Or does anyone remember Pogo? --Ann Most appropriate quote to use in such a crossover: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

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Re: [B7L] Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
by Nic Mayer 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

From: Harriet Monkhouse <hflysator(a)jarriere.demon.co.uk> > Jacqui wrote: > > Is on BBC 2 (UK) tonight. > And very nice it was to see it, though I'd rather they'd paid tribute by > rebroadcasting the radio version. For one thing, it's a lot longer. I heard that they were planning to. We almost need someone from Blakes 7 to pop their clogs and maybe the BBC might repeat it. Although they do have a habit of repeating old series, but only the episodes I've seen. > For another, the actors look better. Though I did enjoy seeing the Its quite worrying when you can recognise actors that were in the radio series and not the TV series before they utter a word. Although it took me a few minutes to realise it was Trillian in Casualty last Friday. Nic sig missing, presumed fed

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Re: [B7L] Shadows of Blake (addendum)
by Sally Manton 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

Eeep, one's typing hit the skids again (probably because while I was finishing it someone was talking at me about the Work I'm Paid For) ... please mentally delete everything before "Part of the problem here" and change the number of episodes with Blake to 5 (the argument still stands, however :-). Wasn't there a space mission that went up in a million-dollar explosion because someone typed a minus instead of a plus sign? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (off topic)
by Andrew Williams 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

Una wrote: >There's also an edition of Omnibus about him [DNA] on Saturday on the BBC Thanks Una. Somebody teleport me to the UK on Saturday....

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RE: [B7L] Orbit (or who knows what evil lurks in a little plastic box ...)
by Louise Rutter 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

James wrote: >More to the point is why Avon didn't consider the possibility until he >(quite literally - the writer's joke?) tripped over it. Even Avon Panics :-) Expecting a logical analysis of the possibilities was a bit much under the circumstances..... Louise

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Re: [B7L] Re: Orbit
by Sally Manton 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

Kathryn wrote: <After all, Orac suggested killing Vila and Tarrant in Headhunter, and Avon refused to do it.> I always liked that. "Oh, you'll have to do better than that, Orac, if you expect me to kill them..." so next time round, Orac *did* do better, and guess what? <veg> _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Re: [B7L] Shadows of Blake (addendum)
by Sally Manton 01 Aug '01

01 Aug '01

After I wrote: <Wasn't there a space mission that went up in a million-dollar explosion because someone typed a minus instead of a plus sign?> Mistral added: <Really? They needed some error-trapping routines, didn't they?> <long sad sigh> I don't think *any* routine or safeguard is much use against someone who can slowly, carefully and with great deliberation stuff up like I can ... No wonder Jarriere's my role model. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Blakes7 August 2001