Errors-To: ecto-owner@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #719 ecto, Number 719 Wednesday, 25 August 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Messages + Re: ecto #715 Re: Sandy Denny Re: I'M BACK!!!!!!!!! I'm going to order some albums, and... Re: A klaus from Vickie (pt 1) 4 Non Blondes Tachyons R Us Re: ecto #718 Re: lexicon Re: ecto #718 dejavu San-dy Den-ny gender-bending artists Re: Great Thunderstorms Re: Neile's meaning (with tongue in cheek) Multimedia in Pop Music Tachyons (Re: A klaus from Vickie (pt 1) ) ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1993 23:11:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Neile Graham Subject: Messages + woj, re: Bighat. Could you post the address & price and stuff for the Big Hat disc? Vickie, re: sycophant. You can't have been listening to your Lisa Germano, _Happiness_ recently. Guess the title of track 5? You guessed it, "Sycophant". I agree with Michael Peskura, though, we're your acolytes, not sycophants, I hope at least. Mitch, re: yclept. Hey, I love a man you know Old English :) Greg, re: yups. I'm going to use up one of the three yups you promised me right now. We got the new Stereolab disc (their big label [Warner]) debut, called _Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements_ today and it's *wonderful*. It's a mix of the sound from my Desert Island Disc, _Peng!_ and their latest EP, _The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music_. Laetitia [Seaya in earlier recordings] Sadier has a lovely ethereal, expressive voice and the run is both fun and wild and beautiful (though sometimes discordant). One alert: if you can't stand 60s-style organ this disc isn't for you. They use that style and play it up wonderfully. Have a listen Have a listen Have a listen. --Neile at her own account neile@u.washington.edu ======================================================================== Subject: Re: ecto #715 Date: Tue, 24 Aug 93 22:43:13 CDT From: Joe Zitt Neile Graham writes: > Please note that if you want to continue receiving newsletters from the > Ville de Bears they need a check for $2 to help them cover mailing costs. > It's the first time I've had to pay for a subscription to a commercial > newsletter, but hey, I understand the need for it. I work for a > non-profit literary magazine and the mail really adds up, especially as I > pay for it myself. This strikes me as obvious enough that someone's probably already discovered a good reason why not, but: Would it be possible to put the Newsletter up for ftp, with textfiles of the text and GIFs of the graphics? > BTW, I'm listening to _The Lion and the Cobra_ for the first time in ages. > I know it's fashionable to dislike Sinead, but this is still a *fantastic* > album. "Troy" "I Want Your Hands On Me", etc. Yes! I even loved the live performance I attended -- even though she gave up after five songs. In a better universe, her second album would have been "Suspiria" B-] ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 24 Aug 93 20:48 EDT From: robert@deepspace.nj00802.sai.com (Robert Lovejoy) Subject: Re: Sandy Denny > > She's a goddess, too, though she did play a lot of covers. In the > pantheon I'd say she's Persephone, because though she's dead her voice > is *alive*. > Hi Neile! I got into Sandy Denny years ago; it was the 60's, I was in college... Bands like Fotheringay, Stone the Crows, and the Strawbs had a great sound. It's interesting that you can't hear this music on the "classic rock" format. While driving Chris Boek up to Casa de Footah last saturday we were listening to WXPN. They played "Tam Lin", which Chris had never heard. What a voice! Just wanted to say there's another major S.D. fan out there! Bob the folky rocker ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 24 Aug 93 20:53 EDT From: robert@deepspace.nj00802.sai.com (Robert Lovejoy) Subject: Re: I'M BACK!!!!!!!!! > > I'm back again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > And it is great to have you back! Welcome! Bob ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:32:23 +0200 From: yngveh@stud.cs.uit.no (Yngve Hauge) Subject: I'm going to order some albums, and... As the subject says - I'm going to order some albums and therefore I need some recommendations of albums by some artists/groups - Here They come : Throwing Muses Cocteau Twins Diamanda Galas Concrete Blonde Danielle Dax Dead Can Dance All About Eve Lene Lovich In addition to those I'm going to buy albums by : Heidi Berry Rainbirds HEX (for sure!!!!!!!) Lisa Germano(If they got it yet) A.C. Marias (Not sure yet....How good is their "One Of Our Girls" album?) How is the album "Ripe" by Banderas? Bjork Grace Darling I guess that should be enough for now....... -- T ---- Only In Your Eyes Lies Your Soul.............. H | --- ----- ---- --- - -- - - - - - --- E |-- | | | | | | |__| | | |_ | | | | | |--- | | | | | --- --- - - ---- - - - -- - - - --- --- Yngve Hauge (yngveh@stud.cs.uit.no).....University of Tromsoe...Norway ======================================================================== From: S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk Subject: Re: A klaus from Vickie (pt 1) Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:02:56 BST On Tue, 24 Aug 93 at 23:25:01 EDT WretchAwry wrote: > SteveF>>> Thanks for relaying Happy's message Vickie! > > You're welcome! > > Uli>> looks like a tachyon mail service... ;-) > SteveF> Now *THAT* I like. Thanks Uli! > > I'm lost guys. What's "tachyon" mean? Cripes! Do I really want to do this? Look, Vickie, I'll try to explain as long as you *PROMISE* this is not to develop into a course on particle physics by net mail, OK? Seriously, a tachyon (from the Greek "takhus", meaning "swift"), is a hypothetical elementary particle capable of travelling faster than the velocity of light. Nobody has any hard evidence of the actual existence of any such things (and personally I do not think any will ever be found) but the relevant equations have solutions that, if manifest in our physical reality, would describe tachyons. Because (if they really exist) tachyons travel faster than light, they would appear to us to be moving backwards in time. Thus a tachyon mail service, unlike an electronic one (electrons travel more slowly than the speed of light, so they move forward in time, just like all law-abiding god-fearing regular folks should do), could provide answers to questions before they were asked. I'd asked the question "did Happy like the kite" in my letter to Aural Gratification, but (unbeknownst to me) Happy had already answered the question in her fax to you which you posted. Answer preceding question implies information travelling faster than light which in turn suggests a tachyon mail service. Neat! ***************************************** *** Warning! Pedantic rambling ahead. *** *** Proceed with Care. *** *** You have been warned! *** ***************************************** Actually, when it comes down to it, I'm not convinced that using tachyons rather than electrons to convey information would really convey the information faster than light, and therefore backwards in time. Consider, electrons move more slowly than light yet the waves which carry the information travel at the speed of light. Wouldn't a similar situation obtain when using tachyons? Wouldn't one then find that although the particles themselves were moving at a speed other than that of light, the waves would still travel at light speed and the information would take just as long to get from one point to another. I suspect a "fearful symetry" which would ensure that the physics of faster than light particles would be a reflection of the physics of slower than light particles, just with the sign changed to protect the innocent. ************************************** *** End of (intentional) pedantry. *** ************************************** P.S. I like "acolyte" much better than "sycophant" (never did like figs). Do we get to wear long robes, with cowls? I've always wanted a cowl! I'd like to suggest that they should be coloured the lovely deep blue of the Ecto T-shirt. I could really get into that! :-) -- Regards Steve Fagg ( S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk +44-279-402437 ) BNR Europe Ltd., London Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 9NA, UK *** "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown". *** ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 14:07:50 CET From: Ilka Heber Subject: 4 Non Blondes Hi there, I just wanted to point out that the single from 4 Non Blondes is actually called "What's Up", not "What's going on". Just in case anybody is interested, the album is called "Bigger, Better, Faster, More". Ilka ======================================================================== From: Mike Matthews Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 08:25:36 -0400 Subject: Tachyons R Us Well, if you think about it, the tachyon mail service couldn't exist anyway. Nobody has a tachyon TCP/IP layer yet. Mike ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:35:40 BST From: Evan Welsh Subject: Re: ecto #718 Vickie writes: > Geoff "soon to see the Cool Thing at O'Hare airport" Parks writes: >> A "public" school in the US = A "state" school in England & Wales. The >> education system in Scotland is rather different and they might have >> different nomenclature there (I don't know for sure). > Thanks! perhaps Evan can check in for the Scottish angle. Hi Vickie. I nearly missed this since I only have time to speed-read these days. Who knows what else I've missed! I hope there's nobody out there offended that I haven't replied to them, thinking I'm ignoring them. :-( Yes, the education system in Scotland is different from the rest of the UK but not in this respect. Here's the list after I and my editor got our hands on it. I hope nobody feels I've trodden on their toes with my changes. You can always change them back again! ********************************************************************** Add to this list (and feel free to correct mistakes) ********************************************************************** America Canada UK Europe Australia ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Private Public schools schools Erasers Rubbers Rubbers Condoms/Durex Adhesive tape Scotch tape Sellotape Durex Elevators Elevator Lifts Apartments Apartments Flats Cookies Cookies Biscuits Biscuits Cookies Jelly Jam Jam Jello Jello Jelly Sidewalk Sidewalk Pavement Pavement Pavement Tarmac hood bonnet trunk boot bathroom washroom w.c/loo/toilet gas ultrimar? petrol soccer soccer football/fitba football football football American football American football hockey hockey ice-hockey field-hockey field-hockey hockey hockey tomato tomato beer piss lager strong beer beer lager piss ale ale beer chips chips crisps chips french-fries french-fries chips pomme-frites bun bun roll whiskey bourbon scotch whisky England England UK/Britain England Pommie-land (These contributions seem to be diverging somewhat:) soccer hockey football tennis rugby football There are still huge gaps under Europe and Australia. Understandably for Europe since it's covered by so many different languages but how come the Aussies are being so quiet about it. Hadn't they woken up yet by the time I got digest I'm replying to? -- _____________________________________________________________________ / Evan Welsh \ \ Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (+44 31 650 5960) / ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 11:58:17 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: Re: lexicon In apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes, article <9308241534.AA08033@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>, you wrote: In message "Re: Street festival, cool music store folks, and German broadcasting" on Aug 24, Stephen Thomas writes:] >********************************************************************** > Add to this list (and feel free to correct mistakes) >********************************************************************** >America Canada UK Europe Australia >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Private Public Private > schools schools schools >Erasers Rubbers Rubbers >Elevators Lifts Lifts >Apartments Flats Flats >Cookies Biscuits Biscuits >Biscuits Cookies Buns? * >Jelly Jam Jam >Jello Jelly Jelly Sidewalk Pavement Footpath Pavement Road (I think) Road hood bonnet (car parts) Bonnet trunk boot Boot bathroom washroom w.c or loo Toilet gas ultrimar petrol Petrol soccer hockey football Soccer tennis rugby Australian rules football tomato tomato Tomato beer piss Beer strong beer beer piss Beer vacation Holiday President Prime Minister CD5 CD single NC-17 R R M Suzuki Samurai Suzuki Sierra Pissed Angry Drunk Pissed I'm sure there are many more... :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== From: Tim Cook Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:46:08 BST Subject: Re: ecto #718 I've got an English/American dictionary somewhere (both ways). If anyone is interested I can mail them a copy (it's a bit long to add to the digest). tim PS Its got all the rude words in as well :). After reading it Americans will never be able to use the word 'fanny' ever again!! ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 09:11:33 CDT From: lusky@sol.hc.ti.com (Steve Lusky) Subject: dejavu Tim cooks: PS Its got all the rude words in as well :). After reading it Americans will never be able to use the word 'fanny' ever again!! Many moons ago, I was on an exchange trip between the UK and New Jersey. A male & female springboard diver from the UK came to NJ, then two from NJ to the UK. After a long from London to Blackpool, the attractive NJ female joined our largely male group to practice before a competition. She commented, "Ohhh, my fanny sure is tired." We were perplexed why everyone was howling. It took them a while to calm down and explain it to us. We sure were red -- what a way to warm up. :-) (With Ecto and several Ectophiles based in New Brunswick, I wonder what the area must now be like. I grew up in Edison, but have not returned for some two decades.) (While I'm not on the Ecto Hostel list, I'm willing to be a dinner stop should any Ectophile be in the North Dallas area.) Cheers, Steve ======================================================================== Date: 25 Aug 93 10:37:56 EDT From: Mike Mendelson Subject: San-dy Den-ny Neile pours accolades over Sandy Denny. I have never heard any of her music (consciously, that is) and for the simple reason that her name is mentioned in the KT song Blow Away (one of the all time most incredible songs ever created, amen) I would be interested in checking out her music. Neile, could you suggest ONE CD (available in U.S. or Canada) that I should buy to start off, blank slate? I'd appreciate it. Neile also wrote: >_Liege and Lief_ in first the vinyl that I worse out and now the disc have >probably had more plays on my stereo than any other music I've owned, and >not only because I've owned it so long. This qualifies hands down as one of the most cryptic and intriguing sentences I've ever read!! Did anybody understand it? I'm sure it's of some grave importance. :-) Movies: Went to see the Fugitive and Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen). I would highly recommend both. MMM was certainly better than I expected, and I daresay better than his last one. At least the camera stayed stiller this time. Now this was the movie written for Mia, but played by Diane, right? I could (I think) see how Mia might have fit it, but hey, Diane is great... but she sure wears a lot of Big Belts! -palindromeman ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 10:54:33 -0400 (EDT) From: consid Subject: gender-bending artists On the subject of men who sound like women and vice-versa .... Someone just posted an article to alt.music.alternative about the Coneheads soundtrack, saying it features a duet by k.d. lang "and some girl." The "girl" is actually Andy Bell of Erasure. Andy's partner in Erasure, Vince Clark, has worked with three different singers in the past 12 years, all of whom sound exactly alike -- one woman (Alison Moyet of Yazoo) and two men (Andy Bell and the Undertones' Feargal Sharkey). When I first heard the Assembly song "Never Never," with the vocals by Sharkey, I thought it was a woman singing! Wondering if I'll EVER get to see the Cool Thing at O'Hare, -Sue Trowbridge * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * You know that your time is coming 'round Don't let the bastards grind you down -U2 * * * * * * * * * * consid@access.digex.net * * * * * * * * * * ======================================================================== From: S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk Subject: Re: San-dy Den-ny Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 16:02:35 BST On 25 Aug 93 at 10:37:56 EDT Mike Mendelson wrote: > Neile also wrote: > >_Liege and Lief_ in first the vinyl that I worse out and now the disc > have > >probably had more plays on my stereo than any other music I've owned, > and > >not only because I've owned it so long. > > This qualifies hands down as one of the most cryptic and intriguing > sentences I've ever read!! Did anybody understand it? I'm sure > it's of some grave importance. :-) That last sentence is an unconscionable pun to use when when discussing the work of a dead artist! :-) As for Neile's sentence. It gave me no trouble, because my brain silently corrected it as I read so that I understood Neile to have meant: _Liege and Lief_ is the first vinyl that I wore out and now the discs have probably had more plays on my stereo... Whether that is what she actually *DID* mean, is of course another question, and one that only Neile can answer for us. I have to agree with the palindromeman that, especially for the normally pretty accurate Neile, that's quite a lot of bloopers to cram into one small sentence. Perhaps you were being distracted while typing, eh Neile? P.S. Mike, do you want these Ectoform .BMP files? -- Regards Steve Fagg ( S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk +44-279-402437 ) BNR Europe Ltd., London Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 9NA, UK *** "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown". *** ======================================================================== From: guetzlaf@gravity.cray.com (Cathy Guetzlaff) Subject: Re: Great Thunderstorms Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 10:29:32 CDT Chip comments: >I remember reading a bit on thunderstorms in here recently, and was it >Vickie who said that she hadn't seen a good one since she moved to >Chicago? I would say the storm that ripped through here yesterday >was notable, wasn't it?! Even more notable if one was sitting in the upper deck at Comiskey Park which is where I got to witness the whole thing. The sky turned all sorts of weird colors like the sky in _Ghostbusters_ and the lightning put on quite a light show! There's something to be said for being cheap -- we had $4 tickets but they were protected from most of the storm by the small roof around the upper deck. We stayed relatively dry until the wind started changing direction at which point we got soaked. That wasn't so bad, we were more upset about our beer getting watered down. :-) Then add to that trying to get a cab during a downpour and squeezing seven very wet chemists and computer jocks into it for an exciting ride back to the Fairmont. That's one way of getting better acquainted with one's work group that I wouldn't necessarily recommend. I was in Chicago on a boon-doggle, errrr, business trip -- drove down on Monday and back to Mpls on Tuesday. I don't think I want to go back to Chicago again. Ever. Last time I was through there was a week earlier when I returned from vacation and drove through Chicago just as the storms that closed O'Hare were passing through. Hmmmmm, maybe *I'm* the one bringing the bad weather, in which case Chicagoans are probably agreeing that I shouldn't come back to Chicago. Ever. -- Cathy Guetzlaff Cray Research, Inc. guetzlaf@cray.com ======================================================================== From: "Michael Blackmore" Date: 25 Aug 93 11:31:16 EST Subject: Re: Neile's meaning (with tongue in cheek) Mike Mendelson comments: > Neile also wrote: > >_Liege and Lief_ in first the vinyl that I worse out and now the disc > > haveprobably had more plays on my stereo than any other music >> I've owned, and not only because I've owned it so long. > > This qualifies hands down as one of the most cryptic and intriguing > sentences I've ever read!! Did anybody understand it? I'm sure > it's of some grave importance. :-) Well, I plugged the sentence into my copy of Neile-Speak (software for translating Neile's comments). The first go through it came up with insufficient memory errors. So I installed more memory. I ran it again and got: "Drop your trousers Sir William". I went back to the drawing board! After some tinkering and installing the latest copy of Neile-Speak (V. 6.1, which also includes a demo copy of Nirvana-Speak the new software for figuring out the lyrics to Nirvana songs!); I got this result: "Liege and Lief_ is the first vinyl that I wore out and now the (compact) disc has probably had more plays on my stereo than any other music (albums/discs) that I've owned. This is not only because I've owned it so long, but because I play it so much! I highly endorse this album!" I hope this helps you Mike (and Ecto). Neile-Speak (and Nirvana- Speak) are available for $29.95 (each) from the We-Say-So Corporation (c/o Dinosaurs). ;-) ;-) ;-) - Michael B. ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:28:51 EDT From: rmorrow@afit.af.mil (Robert K. Morrow) Subject: Multimedia in Pop Music The following appeared in _The Economist_, Aug 21, 1993, and might be of interest since Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel are mentioned: "Once U2 was four young Irishmen playing meat-and-potatoes rock music. At a U2 concert these days they are busier talking to civilians in Sarajevo via satellite, broadcasting confessional interviews with members of the audience, making prank telephone calls to Buckingham Palace, and issuing their own fake banknotes. The band is dwarfed by video screens, often filled with live footage of the performance filmed by U2's members. It is sur- prising that they still find time to play their guitars. The fans do not seem to mind the change. They cheer televised slogans as they once cheered guitar solos, and clap along-- without irony--to footage of a drummer from "Triumph of the Will", a Nazi propaganda film made by Leni Reifenstahl. The group's multimedia approach is popular: U2's current "Zoo TV" concert tour has sold tickets worth $240m. What U2 is doing is not new. Laurie Anderson put on similar multimedia shows--albeit less extravagantly--during the late 1970's without arousing mass enthusiasm. [!] So what, besides the loyalty of fans, explains U2's great popular success with many of the same ideas? One clue can be seen in the advertising that accompanies the group's concerts: Nintendo, a Japanese maker of video games, is a sponsor. Over the past few years, video games have replaced rock concerts and recordings for many teenagers--as a spending priority, as a source of excitement, and as a way to alarm their parents. The latest game ("Sonic The Hedgehog 2") by SEGA, Nintendo's main rival, made more money on its day of release than the best selling rock CD of 1992 (Simply Red's "Stars") did in the whole of last year. At the same time, the rise of "rave" culture has shown that many of those who still like rock are no longer content just to stand and listen at concerts. "Raves" often offer a whole package, from disc jockeys to computer-generated visuals to body painting. Video games and "raves" are both interactive; going to a ordinary rock concert is not, and nor is listening to a CD. As the excitement of the traditional rock-music format has faded, so have the music industry's sales figures. In Britain unit sales are no higher now than they were a decade ago, despite the introduction of the CD. Most on the business side of the indus- try are stuck in a rut, and it has been left to musicians to see the artistic possibilities of using other media besides sound. Like U2, these musicians tend to be comparatively old and exceedingly rich. Prince has announced that he will give up recording to "concentrate on working with virtual reality" and to make his own video game. Billy Idol plans his own version of "Zoo TV". But Peter Gabriel will be the first to get a multi- media package in the shops rather than the stadiums. This autumn, he is set to release the first rock CD-ROM. Costing about $45, this CD will carry video footage, a video game, self-promotional information, and stored sound, which will allow the buyer to compose with bits of Mr Gabriel's music on his own computer. Mr Gabriel also wants to build an "Experience Park", a virtual- reality playground, in Barcelona, in partnership with Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno, who has been guru to U2 and other rock musicians. These grand schemes may not repeat the success of "Zoo TV". Rock musicians and their fans can be slow to adapt to new tech- nology: synthesizers took a decade to gain acceptance. U2 meanwhile, is hedging its bets. Halfway through a concert at Wembley in London, the group switched off the video screens, and played a few songs in its own style--to the loudest cheers of the evening." Bob Morrow ======================================================================== Subject: Tachyons (Re: A klaus from Vickie (pt 1) ) Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 13:39:41 -0400 From: "Dr. Dan" Uh oh. Warning: danger, Will Robinson, danger! Physicist on board! (Next, on Geraldo, "Scientists who calculate too much, and the equations they love") S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk writes: >the relevant equations have solutions that, if >manifest in our physical reality, would describe tachyons. However, at least in their simplest form, the tachyon solutions to the field equations do not interact at all with the normal solutions, so even if tachyons exist they might not couple at all with our universe; in which case their existence at all becomes something of a philosophical question. >Because (if they really exist) tachyons travel faster than light, they >would appear to us to be moving backwards in time. Important qualifier: only in some reference frames. Whether a given tachyon seems to be going backwards in time depends on the relative velocity between you and the events caused by that tachyon--for some observers, those events will appear out of time order--as if the tachyon moved backwards in time--while for other observers the events will still be time ordered, but linked by some causal connection that traveled faster than light. This can lead to paradoxes, one reason physicists like to think tachyons don't exist. Understanding how this can be takes some moderately serious understanding of special relativity, so be prepared for fairly tough slogging if you want a real explanation (though probably nothing your average ectophile couldn't handle if she really wanted to--it isn't rocket science after all (our rockets travel much too slow for special relativity to be rocket science :-) :-) (gotta get those parens matched) >Actually, when it comes down to it, I'm not convinced that using >tachyons rather than electrons to convey information would really >convey the information faster than light, and therefore backwards in >time. Consider, electrons move more slowly than light yet the waves >which carry the information travel at the speed of light. Umm, let's be careful here. If you are actually transferring information by the motion of electrons, e.g. by modulating an electron beam, then all the relevant velocities are less than the speed of light. If you are wiggling electrons to make waves, like radio, then you're actually trans- ferring the information with "light" (radio is the same stuff as light, just a much lower frequency/lower particle energy), and so it travels at the speed of light. But you aren't using electrons to carry the information anymore--you're using electromagnetic waves/photons. (What actually goes on in a piece of wire with a current in it depends on the frequency of the signal and the transmission characteristics of the piece of wire--so I'd rather not get into that...) If you did figure out some way to transmit information with tachyons, perhaps by directly modulating a tachyon beam, the information would indeed travel faster than light. If you did wiggle a tachyon about, it wouldn't couple to the electromagnetic field (tachyons can't be charged--if they were, they'd emit Cherenkov radiation constantly)--in fact, we don't know of any field a tachyon might couple to (so getting a tachyon to wiggle about in the first place would be a hard problem). If someone wants this translated into english (and cheezy visual effects), I should have Carl Sagan's phone number around here somewhere... >P.S. I like "acolyte" much better than "sycophant" (never did like >figs). Actually, i kinda like syncophant (shower of synchronization?), myself. -- Dan Riley Internet: dsr@lns598.tn.cornell.edu Wilson Lab, Cornell University HEPNET/SPAN: lns598::dsr (44630::dsr) "Maybe, leastways is the best way of all" -Caterwaul ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)