Ghost Train

lol... so true.

The reason there is no widespread rebellion in China is that, despite all of the inadequacies of their government, their policies from Deng Xiao Ping onward did result in bringing 100+ Million people out of poverty, which is no small feat in a nation that prior to 1980 had essentially a 19th century infrastructure. I suggest you visit China sometime and make your own judgment on how the Chinese people think of their own government. Although I do agree that some policies like artificially keeping the value of the RMB low to boost the monetary value of their exports can be construed as a violation, your statement about the weapons trade is not accurate. The Pakistan Air Force's main fighters are the F-16 and an assortment of Mirage III's. Then by your logic, aren't the French and US defense industries guilty of supporting a "Talibanized Pakistan"? I don't think bringing the arms trade into this discussion helps prove anything about any country, as most major powers have been at some point in time guilty of giving the wrong the weapons to the wrong people at the wrong time. The US funded and trained the guerillas in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion of that country... guess who these guerillas are fighting now? Is is true that China has a long ways to go in the whole path towards civil rights and treating its minorities ethically, but by your logic we should just cut ties with any nation that does not behave up to our standard in this regard? How about lets cut ties with Singapore - which has essentially been a one party state since its inception and is our ally, or Saudi Arabia (our biggest ally in the ME) where women have no rights and beheading is the preferred form of execution... we still have diplomatic ties with countries whose standards of civic equity are not the same as ours because there are still a few reasonable people in the State Department (that somehow survived the Bush administration) that believe we can show other nations what our vision of "civil rights" are hope that the better traits of our nature rub off on them. That is the true definition of how effective "Soft Power" is, when compared against the Shock & Awe approach against lolIraq. And democratic development is an evolution, not a switch you flip. The media loves to paint Taiwan vs. PRC as a classic case of a small democratic nation vs a fascist giant, but always forgets to mention that Taiwan was in a state of martial law with no free election all the way until the 1990's, same with South Korea. Our own US history is replete with mistreatment of individuals. Considering first that we basically reduced hundreds of Native American civilizations to rubble, and African Americans were second class citizens almost a century after the end of the Civil War. The fact is that governments in general do nasty things do their people irrespective of what they say they stand for. I am hopeful that we have learned from our mistakes, and also confident that because of the international criticism of China, that it will as well eventually.

lol, don't they all start with F- ? Farmer, Flogger, Foxbat, Fulcrum?

I'm inclined to agree with some of Gate's proposed cut-back, or at least until the government reduces the red on the bottom line or start producing surpluses again. In a campaign, say in Afghanistan/Pakistan border, an extra F-22 will do nothing. The focus is on intelligence, special operations (where an un-maned drone will come in more handy than an omg5thgenfighter), and of course diplomacy. As for deterring China or a resurgent Russia, that's not really a factor. The Raptor is still the only 5th gen in service, whereas the Russian & Chinese response to the raptor are still a few years away.

Peace treaty with Harmony Gold that results in canonizing all their crap.

I was close: I get a cookiez nao?

The engine pair gives me an A-10 vibe... though I don't know for what reason why someone would want to scratch build one . (So I'm probably wrong)

Uh... ok, I'm not exactly sure which part of my post you're replying to . I'm basically agreeing with the premise of the show, which is that there was no technology and cultural transfer, and that the refugees pretty much integrated themselves into the rest of the human species, and also that "History Channel"-style ancient astronaut stories are just stories, and not grounded on fact.

I like Cathy too... she has a curvy hourglass figure, a real woman.

I think this thread should have been "A case for making Alto female, and Sheryl a trap male "

I liked BSG's ending particularly because they let go, as you said, of their fancy interstellar technology and decided to have a go at life with only the clothes on their back - which is different than say, if they went with President Lampkin's original plan to start building a "city" and retain their original colonial way of life, and said civilization turned out to be the mythical Atlantis, Lemuria, or what not . I guess to summarize what I mean is that the colonial refugees did not set themselves up to be gods, teachers, or conquerors, they just wished to integrate themselves into their new world. I am aware of Lee's statements saying that language, and culture are things that can be taught to the natives, but when speaking to the old man he used it for the sake of argument not necessarily suggesting that it was what they were going to do (or that it happened that way)... or else English would have be the oldest language on Earth . Also, as it's implied that the Earth in the final scene is indeed a representation of our own circa early 21st century, then said knowledge transfer was either not successful or did not take place. Humans in actuality, were pretty much nomads for 140,000+ years, it was only in the last 5,000 years or so when our technology and science lept forward. If the colonials transferred their way of life successfully then the 21st century would have been much much more advanced.

Oh when oh when will Bandai deliver us with a VF-4 or VF-2SS... I hope it's not before the world supposedly ends in 2012 .

I'm very glad they didn't go this route. We've had enough insinuations through pseudo-scientific pop culture that non-Western civilizations could not achieve great things - and that therefore, legacies like the pyramids, the Mayans advanced knowledge of astronomy, and the Nazca lines are the work of advanced aliens. The "ancient-astronaut theories" is just a nice way of elevating the West above the rest of the world.

It would revolve around: harem, maidos, pirates, and ninjas. Also, a panda called Steve.

The question is really still an open issue. There are a few groups working on sequencing Neanderthal DNA at the moment, which will shed more light on whether or not interbreeding is possible. I can believe that perhaps the more socially, and technologically advanced Homo Sapiens "refused" to cross-breed with Neaderthal upon their first encounter, but it does not mean they could not if they wanted to . Evolution is messy, and you don't suddenly get two distinct groups that aren't sexually compatible over night - which is a good timeframe to describe the closeness of both subgroups, literally a few hundred thousand years apart, which is like nothing.

I loved the original too... the remake was bleh, rather unremarkable. F-20 Tigershark ftw!

My picks, based on what I've seen, in categories: Best Mecha Pr0n: Macross Plus Runner Up: Gundam 0083 Best Long Film: The Wings of Honneamise Runner Up: Akira (yea... sue me) Best Harem Mess : Fate Stay Night (Saber-chan ... <3) Runner Up: Tenchi Muyo ... pick one Best "Western": Cowboy Bebop Runner Up: Trigun Best SciFi Meta-Science/WTF philosphical Category: NG Evangelion Runner Up: RahXephon

Not true. Earth 2.0 .... 150,000 years later: XD Love is optional.

Maybe the movie exposes the fact that GN technology are in fact based on long lost alien technology discovered on one of Jupiter's moons, or something to that effect. If Aolia's plans make mention of the "coming dialogues," then he is probably aware of the existence of some form of ET intelligence that will make contact with mankind. But in all likelihood... I doubt we'll see aliens, it's just so un-Gundam. Now, back to making fun of the show. I noticed that when new Federation President Clint00n (sorry couldn't resist ) was making her speech, the camera pans towards a row of people. Er... is it just me or does the girl with purple hair look surprisingly a lot like a certain innovator? This occurs at about 18:04. They seem to have added emphasis to the people sitting on that row. I'm interested to look back into the S1 episode where they are sifting through the file of known Aolia associates for comparison... but too lazy to locate it atm.

I must have missed those references from Geass then, time to rewatch! XD. I watched the 00 finale again this morning before leaving, I'd have to say that it was a nice way to tie things up. Seeing Hal/All & Lockon totally pwn Ribbon's posse was utterly satisfying. And Lockon's trans-am dodge was just so.... well, it was just so dylandy gangsta style. My only remaining complaint is that perhaps the 00 cast grew too large and hard to manage, and so we're left with rather dull conclusions for characters like Bushido, Billy & uncle, and even poor Ali - who I always thought was the main villain. Wang Liu Mei and Hong Long fall into the same category, they are just billed as rather important characters in S1 but meet a rather simple demise in S2. ... but the real winner of Gundam 00 is Patrick.

eh... what's this weird thing I keep reading on NK and some other places about the movie being a geass & 00 crossover? ... makes no sense to me. Something about the Jupiter shot at the end being significant.

I have not seen the finale yet... but I really like Reborn Gundam - has a Strike Freedom look minus the suck of SEED. Damm... Aolia's plan is working.

lol damm... it's just as I envisioned it. And Baltar has high score w00t.

Well... New Jersey by definition is science fiction - a wrong does not make a right, but 2 rights make a left.

I can see weather being Science Fiction ... or anime.