On Earth: General

[Cris]

Jenn,

This sounds fine. I agree that the date designation would be better left for the details rather than in the initial number sequence. So really I guess we'd have to come up with some kind of a coding system with the planet number and item number.

If we determine that Hom is within our universe, then anything in our universe might be 1. Then the planet designation, then a colon and then the item number. Creating a general genus and species list might help us determine some numbers there.

In terms of Latin, my only objection is that Celestials were collecting samples long before they came to Earth. Why would Celestials adopt Latin as a way to refer to samples if Latin is an Earth-based language? This would mean, logically, that they would call the plant by the name it had on its native world for all of the samples they collected, which would be impossible.

However, given the fact that Ganymede and other Celestials end up posted to Earth for long periods of time and are continuing their research here, it makes sense that some of Earth's culture and languages would become part of their lexicon as well. And it will certainly make it easier for readers to figure out what we're talking about if we us Latin names.

So I propose that we use number designations when on Hom or when Celestials are speaking to each other and Latin names for Earth-based flora.

Cris

[LaughingClown]

Not that I'm a Celestial expert (my work with Eris is still just two short stories and one graphic novel -- no novels), but I thought it was always that way. Latin names were only used for Earth animals and plants. Other planets would have their own scientific standard and Celestials would use this for those samples.

I always thought of it as the Latin or other native language being the "layman's term," with the numerical designation being the true scientific/official term.

Eric

[Mira]

I was reading National Geographic yesterday and I came upon this small article about something so big and incredible. The barcoding of every living animal on Earth.

Actually, what they're doing is recording the barcodes of every living animal (40,000 so far... which is a start!) with a simple genetic swab of the part of their DNA called Co1 which creates energy for a living creature and is unique for each species of creature. That part translates into this cool 600-bar (bar = a line in a barcode), four-color barcode. It's four-colors because there are, I guess, four parts to DNA (G, T, C and A). The man whose been doing this and who invented the idea in 2003 is a scientist named Paul Hebert.

The easy goal in the very near future is to create cheap hand-held scanners. You scan any animal while it move by you and the scanner will tell you exactly what it is!

Isn't that amazing?! I just thought that Celestials could have something like this instead of numbers or with their numbers. They could use 601 bars and have that one extra bar be the planet.

Mira

[Launa]

Oh my gosh... it's like a real-world pokedex. I am wild for this.

Thank you, Mira! I think this is a great idea (both for MG3K and for the world in general.)

[Cris]

Apr 20, 2010 6:56:22 GMT -8 Mira said:

I was reading National Geographic yesterday and I came upon this small article about something so big and incredible. The barcoding of every living animal on Earth.

Actually, what they're doing is recording the barcodes of every living animal (40,000 so far... which is a start!) with a simple genetic swab of the part of their DNA called Co1 which creates energy for a living creature and is unique for each species of creature. That part translates into this cool 600-bar (bar = a line in a barcode), four-color barcode. It's four-colors because there are, I guess, four parts to DNA (G, T, C and A). The man whose been doing this and who invented the idea in 2003 is a scientist named Paul Hebert.

The easy goal in the very near future is to create cheap hand-held scanners. You scan any animal while it move by you and the scanner will tell you exactly what it is!

Isn't that amazing?! I just thought that Celestials could have something like this instead of numbers or with their numbers. They could use 601 bars and have that one extra bar be the planet.

Mira

This is a great idea. I agree it would be very cool for Celestials to have. I have that issue of N.G. too, so I'll take a look at it. Now, all we have to do is figure out how to make the technology green.

Wow, cool!

Cris

[Jennifer]

Cris, any tech can be green if charged by the starwisp solar relay system or, if you need to take the tech off-Hom, it can be charged green with quantum energy

Launa, a Pokedex was exactly what I thought of when I read Mira's post. I want to buy a scanner for Faith and have her be able to scan all the bugs she catches.

Mira, I don't know how I missed that article. It's a great find. Oh wait... I do know how I missed it. I was stuck ten pages earlier on the giant spider that Maria posted about!

[Cris]

Jenn,

Thanks for that info. I thought the article was so very cool. Wouldn't a scanner be awesome?

Cris