> "....Marines spearheaded the war effort on
> the Pacific front....Using the Corps' amphibious
> nature to his advantage, Nimitz employed a
> strategy known as "island hopping." The idea
> was to capture key islands, one after another,
> until the main islands of Japan were within
> striking distance of B-52 [sic] bombers."

> Why did we island hop?  We could have left Iwo
> Jima and Tarawa to die on the vine, so to speak.

> > >From the marines website:

> > "....Marines spearheaded the war effort on
> > the Pacific front....Using the Corps' amphibious
> > nature to his advantage, Nimitz employed a
> > strategy known as "island hopping." The idea
> > was to capture key islands, one after another,
> > until the main islands of Japan were within
> > striking distance of B-52 [sic] bombers."

> > Why did we island hop?  We could have left Iwo
> > Jima and Tarawa to die on the vine, so to speak.

> Iwo was wanted as a forward fighter base and damaged aircraft divert
> base

> --
> Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
> diet of static text and
> cascading "threads."

>>>From the marines website:

>>"....Marines spearheaded the war effort on
>>the Pacific front....Using the Corps' amphibious
>>nature to his advantage, Nimitz employed a
>>strategy known as "island hopping." The idea
>>was to capture key islands, one after another,
>>until the main islands of Japan were within
>>striking distance of B-52 [sic] bombers."

>>Why did we island hop?  We could have left Iwo
>>Jima and Tarawa to die on the vine, so to speak.

>>beebs

> I just saw Clint Eastwood's movie "Letters from Iwo Jima".  I would
> recommend
> it to anyone who has an interest in this battle.   It was done from the
> perspective of the Imperial Japanese side.

> It was the first piece of Imperial Japanese soil to be taken by the
> Americans.
> This was quite a psychological blow to the Japanese forces after the
> Combined
> Fleet defeat in the Marianas (Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot).  It also made
> a
> good emergency strip for damaged B-29s, air/sea rescue operations, and
> fighter/fighter-bomber escort base.

> Tarawa was where the B-29s that carried the atomic bombs were launched.
> IMHO,
> I don't think that the atomic bomb secret influenced the decision to
> invade
> Tarawa, the range of the B-29 absolutely did.

>>"Dr. Bill" <DrB...@seemysigforemailaddress.info> wrote in message
>>news:ro3g839ger5fk00ltpsks0psfb5brq9dgp@4ax.com...
>>> On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:33:52 -0700, beebs <dbbee...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>>>>>From the marines website:

>>>>"....Marines spearheaded the war effort on
>>>>the Pacific front....Using the Corps' amphibious
>>>>nature to his advantage, Nimitz employed a
>>>>strategy known as "island hopping." The idea
>>>>was to capture key islands, one after another,
>>>>until the main islands of Japan were within
>>>>striking distance of B-52 [sic] bombers."

>>>>Why did we island hop?  We could have left Iwo
>>>>Jima and Tarawa to die on the vine, so to speak.

>>>>beebs

>>> I just saw Clint Eastwood's movie "Letters from Iwo Jima".  I would
>>> recommend
>>> it to anyone who has an interest in this battle.   It was done from the
>>> perspective of the Imperial Japanese side.

>>> It was the first piece of Imperial Japanese soil to be taken by the
>>> Americans.
>>> This was quite a psychological blow to the Japanese forces after the
>>> Combined
>>> Fleet defeat in the Marianas (Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot).  It also
>>> made
>>> a
>>> good emergency strip for damaged B-29s, air/sea rescue operations, and
>>> fighter/fighter-bomber escort base.

>>> Tarawa was where the B-29s that carried the atomic bombs were launched.
>>> IMHO,
>>> I don't think that the atomic bomb secret influenced the decision to
>>> invade
>>> Tarawa, the range of the B-29 absolutely did.

>>I almost rented that this weekend.  IIRC all copies (up here in this part
>>of
>>Canada) were out.

>>- nilita

> That should tell you something - all rented out.

> Make sure you have your reading glasses on or speak Japanese.  Almost all
> the
> dialogue was in Japanses with English subtitles.  I thought it was a top
> notch
> movie that reflected the unplanned consequences of the actions of Imperial
> Japan in it's struggle with the Allied Forces.

> Also, Clint Eastwood did an excellent job of directing the movie.

> Dr. Bill

>>"Dr. Bill" <DrB...@seemysigforemailaddress.info> wrote in message
>>news:c57g835boqa8gr4k46ris1sd5l03c75e6r@4ax.com...
>>> On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:50:11 GMT, "La N" <nilita2004NOS...@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:

>>>>"Dr. Bill" <DrB...@seemysigforemailaddress.info> wrote in message
>>>>news:ro3g839ger5fk00ltpsks0psfb5brq9dgp@4ax.com...
>>>>> On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:33:52 -0700, beebs <dbbee...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>>>>>>>From the marines website:

>>>>>>"....Marines spearheaded the war effort on
>>>>>>the Pacific front....Using the Corps' amphibious
>>>>>>nature to his advantage, Nimitz employed a
>>>>>>strategy known as "island hopping." The idea
>>>>>>was to capture key islands, one after another,
>>>>>>until the main islands of Japan were within
>>>>>>striking distance of B-52 [sic] bombers."

>>>>>>Why did we island hop?  We could have left Iwo
>>>>>>Jima and Tarawa to die on the vine, so to speak.

>>>>>>beebs

>>>>> I just saw Clint Eastwood's movie "Letters from Iwo Jima".  I would
>>>>> recommend
>>>>> it to anyone who has an interest in this battle.   It was done from
>>>>> the
>>>>> perspective of the Imperial Japanese side.

>>>>> It was the first piece of Imperial Japanese soil to be taken by the
>>>>> Americans.
>>>>> This was quite a psychological blow to the Japanese forces after the
>>>>> Combined
>>>>> Fleet defeat in the Marianas (Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot).  It also
>>>>> made
>>>>> a
>>>>> good emergency strip for damaged B-29s, air/sea rescue operations, and
>>>>> fighter/fighter-bomber escort base.

>>>>> Tarawa was where the B-29s that carried the atomic bombs were
>>>>> launched.
>>>>> IMHO,
>>>>> I don't think that the atomic bomb secret influenced the decision to
>>>>> invade
>>>>> Tarawa, the range of the B-29 absolutely did.

>>>>I almost rented that this weekend.  IIRC all copies (up here in this
>>>>part
>>>>of
>>>>Canada) were out.

>>>>- nilita

>>> That should tell you something - all rented out.

>>> Make sure you have your reading glasses on or speak Japanese.  Almost
>>> all
>>> the
>>> dialogue was in Japanses with English subtitles.  I thought it was a top
>>> notch
>>> movie that reflected the unplanned consequences of the actions of
>>> Imperial
>>> Japan in it's struggle with the Allied Forces.

>>> Also, Clint Eastwood did an excellent job of directing the movie.

>>> Dr. Bill

>>Speaking of Eastwood, it's hard to believe that he just turned 77 years
>>old.
>>That guy is some multi-talented.

>>- nilita

> Hi Nilita,

> He's done all kinds of things.  The first time I saw him was in the TV
> series
> "Rawhide" as Rowdy Yates.  His career really took off with the "Spaghetti
> Westerns" as an actor.  He was started Malpaso Productions early on to
> look
> after his business interests.  He has also been the mayor of Carmel, CA
> near
> Monterrey.  I couldn't even begin to guess how many movies he has been in,
> directed, or had his kin doing things.  The musical score for "Letters
> from Iwo
> Jima" was partially written by his son.  His daughter does a bit of acting
> also.

> Dr. Bill

> "DrB...@kATz.oldsarge.net - for e-mail address kick out the kATz."

> > "Tankfixer" <paul.carr...@us.army.m> wrote in message
> >news:3cxhi.2310$rR.1744@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...

> > > Lots of posts Jim, same content in each one.
> > > Your programming is failing.

> > Yeah and the fucktard is morphing his e-mail addy in each one too so you
> > have to kill-file him each time.

> Time to go for his throat ?

> --
> Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
> diet of static text and
> cascading "threads."

>> > "Tankfixer" <paul.carr...@us.army.m> wrote in message
>> >news:3cxhi.2310$rR.1744@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...

>> > > Lots of posts Jim, same content in each one.
>> > > Your programming is failing.

>> > Yeah and the fucktard is morphing his e-mail addy in each one too so
>> > you
>> > have to kill-file him each time.

>> Time to go for his throat ?

>> --
>> Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
>> diet of static text and
>> cascading "threads."

> Construction of a Conscious Thing

> The construction is independent of any specific definition of
> consciousness.  It shows how consciousness might be produced from non-
> conscious devices.

> Start off with millions of identical ordinary (non-conscious) robots.
> Each robot is pre-programmed to collect things from the environment at
> random (twigs, elastic bands, teacups, wheels, orange peel etc), and
> incorporate them into itself, gradually replacing all its original
> component parts as it does so.  Now let the robots free to interact
> with the environment for a while.

> Most of the robots would cease to function quite rapidly, of  course.
> They might replace one of their vital components (the computer
> program, for example), with a piece of orange peel, and immediately
> stop working permanently.  Some might continue to function for quite a
> while, making meaningless minor alterations to their original
> structure, without affecting their basic operation as the programmed
> mechanical device we started off with, which we knew to be non-
> conscious, and we can ignore them.  We can also ignore robots which
> have replaced themselves with biological material which was already
> conscious, because they are not the sort of 'constructed
> consciousness' that we are interested in.

> The robots we are interested in are those which have managed to
> replace all their constituent components, including their original
> computer hardware and software, with non-biological material that they
> have picked up from the environment, but are still functioning like
> the original robots.  The random self-construction may have led to a
> strange wheeled mechanism made out of orange peel, teacups and elastic
> bands held together with bits of wood, with its understanding of
> reality contained in the vibrational processes occurring in millions
> of twig-twanged elastic bands, which wanders around in the natural
> environment apparently decorating itself with the bits of garbage it
> picks up.  It is of course extremely unlikely that such a thing, or
> any similar 'randomly constructed' functioning being, would ever
> occur, but the possibility that millions of monkeys randomly operating
> typewriters would produce the occasional Shakespeare sonnet is
> similarly unlikely.  However, in either case, if you started with
> sufficient non-conscious robots, or if you left the monkeys typing
> long enough, they would eventually achieve the objective.  The
> resulting things, whose workings and principles of operation might be
> a mystery to us, have like ourselves, been created out of material
> from the environment, so they might be conscious, as we are.

> Perhaps the resultant being has improved on its original design and is
> now conscious?  Consciousness is a subjective experience, so there is
> no way of determining whether or not anything or anybody is
> conscious.  But at any rate, the self-constructed thing would not be
> less conscious than the non-conscious robot it began as.

>> Lots of posts Jim, same content in each one.
>> Your programming is failing.

> Yeah and the fucktard is morphing his e-mail addy in each one too so you
> have to kill-file him each time.