Big Update From Gentle Giant
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Gentle Giant Exclusives Update
Gentle Giant Exclusives Update
08/17/2004 09:33 PMIf you missed out on the Gentle Giant convention exclusives this
summer, good news! The remaining stock will be available to members of
the Collectors Club. Both the
Luke Skywalker in
Stormtrooper disguise mini-bust and
Spirit of
the Rebellion bust-ups will be available next week. Restrictions
will apply. For more info, head on over to
Gentle Giant's website and
join today.
Touring Gentle Giant
Touring Gentle Giant
12/19/2004 03:15 PMGame
Video Vault.com has posted a quick tour and interview with our
friends over at Gentle Giant Studios. If you share an interest in how
GGS works and what their plans may be for the future, it's definitely
worth checking out.
Announcements from Gentle Giant
Announcements from Gentle Giant
02/13/2004 06:36 PMUpdates to the
Gentle Giant
website today included a funky line of two to three inch tall
Star Wars "Bust-Ups". Photos of series one are on the site and
include Han as above, plus Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, Yoda, and C-3PO,
though he is not shown.
Another line of 1/6 scale collectibles called the
Star Wars
Armory Collection also premieres on the site. Shown is an X-Wing pilot
helmet and listed is a TIE Figher Pilot helmet. Looks like this is set
to replace the cool Riddell helmet line.
Gentle Giant Busts-Up Comic-Con
Gentle Giant Busts-Up Comic-Con
07/21/2004 08:18 PMGentle Giant once again impresses fans with their new line of
Bust-Ups, including the exclusive Spirit of the Rebellion set. This
exclusive set will be limited to 600 sets per day of the show, and 300
sets for tonight's Preview Night.
A Visit To Gentle Giant Studios
A Visit To Gentle Giant Studios
07/09/2004 10:04 AMOur man Mark Hurray was able to visit Gentle Giant Studios last week
in California to talk with Eric Lyga, marketing wiz for the company.
See what's going on there, and learn more about the cool things they
have done, and are planning to do in our new special feature,
One Giant Interview.
Gentle Giant Sneak Peek
Gentle Giant Sneak Peek
04/16/2005 02:26 AMImages of two new offerings from Gentle Giant Studios have surfaced.
The Clone Wars 10" General Grievous maquette is set to ship in
September, edition size has not yet been determined. Also shipping
September, the Imperial Speeder Bike and Scout Trooper statue from
Return of the Jedi. Measuring 12.5” x 6.5” x 7.5” this instant
classic has been set at a limited edition size of only 1500 pieces
worldwide. Thanks to Dean for the pics and information on these
pieces.
Gentle Giant Con Exclusive News
Gentle Giant Con Exclusive News
05/14/2004 06:11 PMThe Gentle Giant website has updated with news of their summer
convention plans. Joining the
Spirit of the Rebellion Bust-Up
4-pack, Gentle Giant will also be featuring an exclusive Luke
Skywalker Stormtrooper Mini-Bust. Quantities look very promising for
both San Diego Comic Con and Chicago's Wizard World. In addition,
Gentle Giant will continue their tradition of Fan Busts; this year's
entries will be able to choose either X-Wing pilot or Stormtrooper
themes. Choose wisely, only one fan from each theme will win. For the
full details, be sure to check out the
Gentle Giant website!
Gentle Giant Press Chat
Gentle Giant Press Chat
01/05/2005 04:05 PMThe Mini-Bust masters set aside some time today to field a few
questions from members of the press. Rebelscum was on hand and is
pleased to share the results of the chat with our readers.
Gentle Giant Announces Bossk Bust
Gentle Giant Announces Bossk Bust
02/12/2004 02:17 PMGentle Giant's pre-Toy Fair newsletter promises some great
collectibles for 2004, including the next in what will hopefully be a
long series of Bounty Hunter Mini-Busts.
Gentle Giant San Diego Comic Con
Exclusive
Gentle Giant San Diego Comic Con
Exclusive
05/03/2004 06:34 AMThe Gentle Giant
website mentions
that at San Diego Comic Con and Wizard World Chicago their exclusive
product will be a Spirit of the Rebellion Bust-Ups 4-pack. Including
clear versions of Ceremonial Han Solo, Ceremonial Luke Skywalker,
Princess Leia, and C-3PO Bust-Ups!
Gentle Giant Darth Vader Arrives Next
May
Gentle Giant Darth Vader Arrives Next
May
12/27/2004 11:58 PMGentle Giant has released these detail photos of their Episode III
Darth Vader expected to arrive next May. Standing 14" tall, it will be
a limited edition and sell for about $200.
Gentle Giant Leia Boushh Mini-Bust
Gentle Giant Leia Boushh Mini-Bust
08/14/2004 01:24 PMChristopher Topin reported in to Theforce.net he saw a Leia Boushh at
the Gentle Giant booth at Chicago Wizard World on Friday. He said it
will have removable arms, one with a blaster and one with a thermal
detonator. No release date or other info was given.
Gentle Giant Chrome Jango Mini-Bust
Gentle Giant Chrome Jango Mini-Bust
06/16/2004 08:20 AMStar Wars credit card licensee MBNA has started accepting
Galactic Reward points for their exclusive Gentle Giants Chrome Jango
Bust today. It's a whopping 11,500 points to get the one each member
is limited to. However, if you don't have the card already, you can
get the bust for free by signing up and spending just $25. Check it
all out at
GalacticRewards.com.
Gentle Giant Forced To Change Exclusive
Plans
Gentle Giant Forced To Change Exclusive
Plans
07/22/2004 01:04 AMComic-Con hasn't even started yet, and already there's a problem with
the exclusives from Gentle Giant. Comic-Con security is enforcing the
sale of exclusive items from the planned distrubution system to a
raffle system. Fans interested in acquiring the
Spirit of the
Rebellion bust-ups or the
Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper
Disguise mini-bust can enter the raffle, and if their number is
called, will be able to make their purchase. The good news is that the
winning number is good throughout the show, so if your number is
called, you can make your purchase during the weekend. This is not
what Gentle Giant had planned, and they were only informed of this
change minutes before distribution was about to begin.
Gentle.NET 0.9
Gentle.NET 0.9
01/23/2004 05:26 PMAn object persistence framework.
Gentle.NET 1.0.4
Gentle.NET 1.0.4
05/17/2004 10:30 PMAn object persistence framework for .NET written in C#.
Gentle.NET 0.9.5
Gentle.NET 0.9.5
02/16/2004 12:51 AMAn object persistence framework for .NET written in C#.
GenTle
GenTle
12/11/2003 03:55 AMRelease of version 0.2.1
Gentle.NET 1.1.1
Gentle.NET 1.1.1
07/04/2004 02:37 AMAn object persistence framework for .NET written in C#.
Gentle.NET 1.0.2
Gentle.NET 1.0.2
04/22/2004 06:44 PMAn object persistence framework for .NET written in C#.
Gentle.NET 1.0.3
Gentle.NET 1.0.3
04/28/2004 09:46 PMAn object persistence framework for .NET written in C#.
Gentle.NET 0.9.1
Gentle.NET 0.9.1
01/27/2004 09:51 PMAn object persistence framework.
Gentle.NET 1.2.0 released!
Gentle.NET 1.2.0 released!
03/14/2005 05:29 PMGentle.NET is a database independent object persistence framework
written in C# for .NET and Mono. It features automatic SQL generation
and object construction, an SQL factory for creating custom queries,
excellent performance, advanced caching, and much, much more.
This release adds an advanced caching subsystem and a provider for SQL
Server CE. There have been major improvements to the configuration
subsystem, error reporting, and a number of other components. A bug
affecting the use of multiple brokers has been fixed. MySQL users
should upgrade due to critical bugs in the MySQL library shipped with
previous versions.
Download the latest release from the project home page at
http://sf.net/projects/gopf or visit the project community site for
documentation and other related material at
http://www.mertner.com/confluence.
Gentle Corrections
Gentle Corrections
12/05/2003 10:15 AM
Mark Baker: Today, Roy Fielding ripped me a new one on the
topic of the https URI scheme, which I had always considered an
unnecessary hack.
It seems that Mark now knows a bit more about the rationale
behind the https URI scheme, but doesn't quite grasp the
colloquialism.
Trust me, if you've ever witnessed Roy ripping someone a new
one, you will know it.
Me? I've only gotten a mild swat or two...
gentle-db beta1
gentle-db beta1
02/12/2004 06:09 PMA simple Web database in PHP.
Gentle.NET 1.1.0 released
Gentle.NET 1.1.0 released
06/21/2004 06:54 PMThe release of Gentle.NET 1.1.0 adds dynamic loading of provider
libraries, automatic lowest cost constructor selection, vastly
improved transaction handling, a completely reworked configuration
file handler, support for decorating private members, and many other
improvements. There have been many fixes for Jet/Access, Firebird,
MySQL and Sybase users. Gentle.NET is an RDBMS independent object
persistence framework. It features automatic SQL generation and object
construction, an SQL factory for creating custom queries, DataView
construction helpers, excellent performance and reasonably complete
docs.
Please refer to the readme file for detailed upgrade instructions.
Download the latest release from the project home page at
http://sf.net/projects/gopf or visit the project community site for
documentation and other related material at
http://www.mertner.com/confluence.
Gentle.NET 1.2.2 (Default branch)
Gentle.NET 1.2.2 (Default branch)
04/03/2005 11:45 PM
Gentle.NET is a CLS-compliant, database independent object persistence
framework. It has an extensive feature set, excellent performance, and
reasonably complete docs. It features automatic SQL generation, object
construction/caching/uniquing, validation, bindable list support,
relation management, transactions, and much more. Oracle, PostgreSQL,
MySQL, Firebird/InterBase, MS SQL Server (incl. CE), MS Access,
SQLite, Sybase, and Sybase ASA are supported. It includes a NAnt build
file as well as VS.NET project files for building under Windows. Mono
1.1.4 and higher is fully supported.
Changes:
This release fixed a bug affecting reserved word handling and another
affecting concurrency handling when using unnamed parameters.
Gentle Giant's Chewbacca
Gentle Giant's Chewbacca
12/11/2003 10:51 AMGentle Giant will be releasing a new line of
Star Wars statues,
exclusively for the collector's club members. A 15" tall Chewbacca
will head off the line early in 2004, and should be ready in time for
Toy Fair. This looks similar to the statue we reported on
last month,
but click on the thumbnail above for more detailed photos.
Gentle.NET 1.2.1 (Default branch)
Gentle.NET 1.2.1 (Default branch)
03/31/2005 07:22 AM
Gentle.NET is a CLS-compliant, database independent object persistence
framework. It has an extensive feature set, excellent performance, and
reasonably complete docs. It features automatic SQL generation, object
construction/caching/uniquing, validation, bindable list support,
relation management, transactions, and much more. Oracle, PostgreSQL,
MySQL, Firebird/InterBase, MS SQL Server (incl. CE), MS Access,
SQLite, Sybase, and Sybase ASA are supported. It includes a NAnt build
file as well as VS.NET project files for building under Windows. Mono
1.1.4 and higher is fully supported.
Changes:
This release adds a validation subsystem as well as numerous
improvements throughout. Critical bugfixes were made in the core
components. Existing users should upgrade. The framework is now CLS
compliant, and Mono (1.1.4+) is fully supported.
A Few Gentle Words from the Club for
Growth...
A Few Gentle Words from the Club for
Growth...
01/08/2004 08:38 PMLest anyone lull themselves into the belief that the left has taken an
uncontested lead in the bad-mouthing-the-oppostion derby, I submit the
following from an Iowa anti-Dean ad being run by The Club for Growth,
a PAC which describes itself as "one of the nation’s leading
free-market political advocacy organizations." In a current press
release on their web site, they announce an ad that began running
today on Des Moines, Iowa broadcast stations and on cable news
channels, for which they have budgeted over $100,000 during this phase
of the campaign. For for those who can't stream the ad from here, it
goes like this: "A dignified older couple walks out of a barber shop.
An off-screen announcer asks what they think of Howard Dean’s
plan to raise taxes on a typical family by $1,900. "Without
hesitation, the husband responds: 'What do I think? Well, I think
Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding,
latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York
Times-reading…' "His wife continues: '…body piercing,
Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it
belongs.'" Is this really an ad about economic policy? I think it will
be very difficult for me to convince my new fellow travelers in the
pro-Dean scene to restrain their rhetoric if their TV sets are going
to be lavishing such pretty stuff as this on them. I hope those among
you who take such grave exception to vivid excesses on the "left" or
whatever the hell you call us, will be equally offended by this ad and
will encourage your own colleagues to back it off a couple of turns.
Otherwise the future of America with devolve to a purely idiotic
professional wrestling match between gay atheist Harvard professors
and some good ol' refugees from "Deliverance" who are just trying to
keep the weirdos - and a few other objectionable demographic groups
safely away from power. I can see their thinking. One can hardly
entrust government to someone who actually reads a newspaper instead
of getting his news over the television, as God prefers that he do. I
mention all this because if we are to make this campaign - or this
blog - safe for rational, if spirited, disagreement about policy, we
will have to go forth often among our own camps and evangelize the
civilization of adversarial respect. We could start right here,
arguing fiercely among ourselves, and create so graceful a model for
constructive combat that it communicates a necessary dignity to
whatever government rises from it....
Gentle.NET Object Persistence Framework
Gentle.NET Object Persistence Framework
02/15/2004 10:28 PMGentle.NET v0.9.5 (stable) - Initial SourceForge Release
MPAA Fights Pirates with Gentle Threats
MPAA Fights Pirates with Gentle Threats
12/27/2003 10:04 AMGentle Giant's Summer Exclusive Pics
Gentle Giant's Summer Exclusive Pics
07/09/2004 09:35 PMGentle Giant sent along photos of their summer exclusive Bust-Up and
Mini-Busts today. These will be available at their San Diego Comic-Con
and Wizard World Chicago stops this summer. Luke will be $45.00,
limited to 3500 pieces, and the Spirit Of The Rebellion set will be
$20.00 and limited to 5000 sets. Each piece is limited to one per
adult at the shows. You can see all the details on these at the
Gentle Giant website.
MBNA Mastercard Exclusive Gentle Giants
Mini-Bust
MBNA Mastercard Exclusive Gentle Giants
Mini-Bust
11/19/2003 04:33 PMI really can't remember the last time a promotion that I know is
supposed to help the
Star Wars brand has gone as wrong as the
one Lucasfilm is doing with MBNA right now. In what seems like a
string of problems, a quick check of the official
MBNA Galactic Rewards
website will show you, as it now has been for about three weeks,
that they are completely and hopeless offline. Never mind that
frequent calls to them have now turned to comical as they now are
gun-shy of telling callers the next promised date it will be online
again. And forget about finding out when they will make the cool
exclusive Gentle Giants Vader Mini-Bust available to us as each person
you talk to will give you a different date, or no date in some cases.
And on top of that, the last time I was able to see the promotion page
for this it said they had just 100 of them available, and sometime in
December they would go up from 7,500 points to 10,000 points each. I'm
taking odds it will be December before they ever get the darn site
back online. If you have missed the history on this, you can get up to
speed with a quick
MBN
A search.
"Felt as a gentle roll that made
chandeliers sway in Thousand Oaks,
here's the data:"
"Felt as a gentle roll that made
chandeliers sway in Thousand Oaks,
here's the data:"
12/23/2003 02:47 AMJEFF MASSON
AND THE VIRTUE OF GENTLE
PERSUASION
JEFF MASSON
AND THE VIRTUE OF GENTLE
PERSUASION
01/22/2004 02:12 AM
 In his new book The Pig Who Sang to the Moon,
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson continues the critical life's work he began
with the groundbreaking When
Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals.
Masson understands the importance of repetition in achieving something
as enormous as changing an entire culture's belief system, and he is
patient and dispassionate in doing so. Like his previous books, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon
is a dense and methodical mix of scientific citations and compelling
anecdotes in defence of his continuing thesis: that animals are not
only intelligent, but also live rich and complex emotional lives.
Previous books have dealt with animals in the wild and with pets, and
the subject this time is the most difficult of all: Farm animals,
which
Masson correctly points out should more properly be called 'farmed
animals'.
Masson understands how politically charged his subject is, and
carefully avoids overstatement, provocative language or grim
descriptions of factory farms that would raise defensive barriers. He
is trying to move fence-sitters here -- potential allies in the
farming
community, social and political leaders, borderline vegetarians and
other writers who intuitively sense there is something terribly wrong
with raising animals in cramped, painful, mind-numbing, artificial
quarters just so we can slaughter them in astronomical quantities to
feed the never-ending explosion of human numbers. He'll cite a
well-researched report or a respected scientist and follow up with a
delightful, always positive, never confrontational story. He qualifies
almost every statement he makes, and almost apologetically leads you
to
the obvious conclusion. He will not condemn our attitudes and actions,
preferring instead to explain and understand them, and then gently
suggest logical and compassionate alternatives. He explains the
atrocities (my word, not his) that are committed against farmed
animals
by saying simply "it is in our own self-interest not to know them; it
is easiest to disconnect from whom we are eating if we know nothing at
all about them". Even his conclusion advocating a vegan diet and the
eschewing of leather, wool and down products starts with the word
if.
And to the reader who doubts what difference one person acting on that
suggestion would make, he lists the number of animals spared suffering
by a single human vegetarian in one lifetime: 6 cows, 22 pigs, 30
sheep, 800 chickens, 50 turkeys, 15 ducks, 12 geese, 7 rabbits, and a
half a ton of fish. Masson confesses that he has not yet converted
completely to a vegan diet, but explains how quickly the vegan
alternatives to animal food products are improving in quality, taste
and variety. Like me, he's getting there, urged forward, one step at a
time, and he's likewise urging others on, one person at a time. The Pig Who Sang to the Moon is a
charming and engaging book with an important message for all of
us.
|
Giant steps...
Giant steps...
12/14/2003 09:07 AMMicrosoft Research Cambridge (MSR Cambridge) flung open its doors in a
'radical move to bring technology innovation' to 50 local sixth form
students. We were invited along to join the science, maths and IT
students in a day devoted to lectures on cutting edge technology and
some hands on action with the very latest software!
Look at the giant colon!
Look at the giant colon!
08/16/2004 10:30 PM
The
Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of
Philadelphia is a collection of
medical oddities and exhibits
about disease. It is the
home
of the Soap Lady, Chang and Eng's liver, a tumor from a U.S.
president, and a rather
massive
colon.
Gretchen
Worden, director of the museum since 1988, recently passed away.
Giant Easter Egg
Giant Easter Egg
04/09/2004 04:08 PM
This giant Ukrainian Easter Egg (pysanka) was built in 1975 in
Vegreville, Canada by (then) Univ. Utah Computer Science Professor
Ronald Resch. Interesting
egg factoids can be found
here--including that it swivels like a weather vane. Vegreville
has an
annual
festival. More
images of
egg here. The Vegreville Pysanka was the first physical structure
completely designed with computer-aided geometric modeling software.
There is a good
description
here of the complex geometry involved. It's based on a
technique
(PDF) he developed and
patented for folding a flat
material (i.e. sheet metal) into flexible surfaces. Ronald Resch has
had an
interesting career.
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Big Update From Gentle Giant
