From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V00 #131 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume00/131 Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se Reply-To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se ------------------------------ Content-Type: text/plain blakes7-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 131 Today's Topics: Re: [B7L] FINALACT [B7L] FLAG test Re: [B7L] FLAG test Brian Croucher (was Re: [B7L] FINALACT) [B7L] dorset meet [B7L] BBC bow to fan pressure... [B7L] Re: APAs (was Recruitment Tactics) Re: [B7L] FLAG test Re: [B7L] BBC 2 Repeats Finished ! Re: [B7L] FLAG test Re: [B7L] FINALACT Re: [B7L] BBC 2 Repeats Finished ! [B7L] Re: Project Avalon List Re: [B7L] FLAG test [B7L] Re: First Impressions: "Redemption" [B7L] SCHOOL [B7L] Re: SCHOOL RE: [B7L] FINALACT RE: [B7L] FINALACT Re: [B7L] FLAG test ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 23:52:21 -0700 From: Nick Moffitt To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] FINALACT Message-ID: <20000508235221.Q3369@zork.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii begin Penny Dreadful quotation: > "Foundation Invalidating Numerous Accusations Levelled Against > Croucher's Travis". We have God and Karaoke on our side. I will see you all rot in hell, FINALACT. You can all go eat a king-sized bucket of fuck! All one need do is watch Weapon and stare aghast at the pompador. Actually, we just watched Trial today, and I was pretty impressed with his performance. It was much better than Weapon. > >I've yet to see the new Travis, but an RSC actor vs. Brian > >Croucher? No contest, surely? > > Indeed, no contest at all. Right, Jacqueline? -- For A Dread Time, > Call Penny: http://members.tripod.com/~Penny_Dreadful/ Mmm, nice screen captures. -- CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks LinuxCabal.Org - Co-location facilities and meeting space Pigdog.Org - The Online Handbook for Bad People of the Future You are not entitled to your opinions. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 09:52:06 +0100 From: Alison Page To: "'blakes7@lysator.liu.se'" Subject: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: <21B0197931E1D211A26E0008C79F6C4AB0C56B@BRAMLEY> Content-Type: text/plain Hi all, quiet innit? Heard of the FLAG test? This is yet another personality test (look away now if you don't want to see the result) and I think it was set up to assess leadership suitability. Typically for tests of this kind there are four binary scales. In this case they are factual / sensitive (that's a bit like robustly objective vs subjective) lively / calm aggressive / passive group oriented / individualistic the 'FLAG' type is supposed to be optimum for leadership (i.e. factual, lively, aggressive, group oriented). Without going into all the other types, I think it is clear that by these criteria Blake is the most suitable person for leadership that we encounter on the show. Servalan, funnily enough comes fairly close (FLAI) but is let down by her own selfishness. And Avon, though forced into leadership, is even more unsuitable (FCAI) - not only self-oriented but too calm (given the chance he'd quietly get on with examining Sopron) . I'd better point out that I'm not saying that makes Avon worse than Blake, or less interesting, just not such a good leader. And gosh I hate to say it, but isn't Tarrant a junior FLAG type? Would he have made a good leader given the chance? Too gung-ho for my taste, but perhaps he'd have been better than Avon? Would they have been killed earlier or later with Tarrant in charge? Alison ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 06:19:36 EDT From: B7Morrigan@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I love these tests. They remind me of ISO 9000. You might build screen doors for submarines but at least you've documented your process. Alison wrote: > Isn't Tarrant a junior FLAG type? Would he have made a good leader given the > chance? Too gung-ho for my taste, but perhaps he'd have been better than Avon? > Would they have been killed earlier or later with Tarrant in charge? Now watch carefully, all. This is not an example of how to win friends and influence enemies (TN to be specific). Just like ISO 9000 measures that you've got a great, consistent, and well-documented process even tho your product might be stupid, FLAG measures four of the characteristics of leadership without considering if the leader has a brain, or knows how to use it. Poor Tarrant, all skill sets, no horsepower. Tarrant a junior FLAG type? Absolutely. Reminds me of many up and coming executives at my company. (Quick, sell that stock!) Jeeves, bring me my Kevlar! Trish formerly prmolloy@aol.com "Auron may be different, Cally, but on Earth it is considered ill-mannered to kill your friends while committing suicide." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 09:03:29 -0400 From: "Christine+Steve" To: "Blakes 7 List" Subject: Brian Croucher (was Re: [B7L] FINALACT) Message-ID: <006301bfb9b7$0dedb860$8d249ad8@cgorman> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > At 08:18 AM 08/05/00 -0400, RCalla6725@aol.com wrote: > > ><< FINALACT >> > > > >Sorry, I'm lost. Could someone please tell me what this stands for? I gather > >it's some sort of debate over the new/old Travis. > > "Foundation Invalidating Numerous Accusations Levelled Against Croucher's > Travis". We have God and Karaoke on our side. > > >I've yet to see the new Travis, but an RSC actor vs. Brian Croucher? No > >contest, surely? > > Indeed, no contest at all. Right, Jacqueline? > -- Personally, I quite like BC as Travis, especially in Gambit, where his protection and loyalty to Docholli comes out well. Took a while to grow into the role, but with a few episodes under his belt, I think he's pretty good. I think he expressed Travis' cold determination very well in Star One. Steve Dobson The Blakes 7 Files http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 15:00:46 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List cc: Freedom City Subject: [B7L] dorset meet Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII the next Dorset meet is 13 May. We're meeting at the cinema at Tower Park (Poole) to see Galaxy Quest at 1pm and then moving onto my place afterwards. If you're coming, let me know (helps if I know how to recognise you). All welcome. Judith -- http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 - Fanzines for Blake's 7, B7 Filk songs, pictures, news, Conventions past and present, Blake's 7 fan clubs, Gareth Thomas, etc. (also non-Blake's 7 zines at http://www.nas.com/~lknight ) Redemption '01 23-25 Feb 2001 http://www.smof.com/redemption/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 17:19:58 +0100 From: "Andy Hopkinson" To: "Lysator" Cc: "Judith Proctor" Subject: [B7L] BBC bow to fan pressure... Message-ID: <000701bfb9d2$6b6030c0$2cea2ac2@andyrh> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We received a telephone call from a BBC executive today, who stated that they fully intend to stand by their decision to repeat all of season 1, and in the light of their mistake the episode "Orac" will be shown on Saturday 20th May (though a time slot has not yet been given). As for season 2, we were assured that a decision has still not been made, but will be in the next few days. So now really is the time to make that call... It does make a difference, "Orac" would have been conveniently forgotten if people had just not bothered to complain. Andy/Alan. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 12:37:43 EDT From: JEB31538@cs.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: APAs (was Recruitment Tactics) Message-ID: <7a.4fb1577.264998d7@cs.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nick commented -- > APAs were precursors to newsgroups and mailing lists. It > stands for Amateur Press Association, and they were usually >blech< > mimeographed. APAs were mostly slop, but then again we must keep > Sturgeon's law in mind. APAs are still around as has been mentioned by others. I belong to two, and I enjoy both of them very much. On the Wing is a Tarrant APA which is still print, and Rallying Call is a Blake APA which is now on the net at onelist. Print copies of RC, however, are available for those of us "computer challenged." However, tribs for RC are done via Email. If anyone is interested in joining, it must be noted that both APAs mix gen,adult, and slash content so one must not be adverse to this. It is possible to join On the Wing without having Tarrant as your main favorite character, but you must like him. The same is true of Blake for Rallying Call. To join Rallying CAll, you can go to onelist/egroups and apply there. Basically there are four actual APAs a year and there is little communication among RC members inbetween times. Issue 32 is just in the process of being done. To join On the Wing, a good person to contact is Carol McCoy at Mac4781@aol.com. Both APAs are taking new members because membership is down in each, fairly close to ten. It's nice if there are about 20 members because then when some people don't participate, it doesn't make for such an obvious gap. Joyce Bowen JEB31538@cs.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 17:40:37 +0100 From: "Alison Page" To: Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: <00a501bfb9d5$bd537880$ca8edec2@pre-installedco> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Trish said - , >Just like ISO 9000 measures that you've got a great, consistent, and >well-documented process even tho your product might be stupid, FLAG measures >four of the characteristics of leadership without considering if the leader >has a brain, or knows how to use it. Poor Tarrant, all skill sets, no >horsepower. That's a good point about FLAG, and I like the analogy (those process standards things drive me up the bloody wall for exactly that reason) But just how thick is Tarrant? My opinion seems to swash about according to who is defending or attacking him. They all seem right. And must a leader have a brain? You could argue that a really good leader uses other people to do the thinking. You'd have to trust them though - could be a bit of a problem by season 4. Alison ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 14:01:17 -0400 From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" Subject: Re: [B7L] BBC 2 Repeats Finished ! Message-ID: <200005091401_MC2-A461-2657@compuserve.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Andy wrote: >According to BBC Duty Officer, Blake's 7 has now >finished it's repeat run, inspite of the fact that the >Radio Times has stated that Deliverance is part 1 >of a two part story. Before I do any ringing, can I just check the basic facts - they showed Deliverance on Saturday (May 6)? I've got a bit confused, because I was out all day that day, so didn't see it, and the previous two weeks I woke up in time to see the UK Gold showing on Sunday morning (this will probably come as a grave shock to my friends, but I do occasionally wake up before 10 a.m), which is only two weeks ahead of BBC2 at the moment. And I think the last two I saw were Bounty and Orac, which would fit Deliverance as the May 6 episode. If so, a great excuse for ringing up next week ("we were on tenterhooks to see the conclusion to that great episode last week"). Harriet ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 18:47:37 +0200 From: "Marian de Haan" To: Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: <002101bfb9d6$4d29fb00$d8ed72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Alison Page asked: >Would they have been killed earlier or later with Tarrant in charge? Earlier. Much earlier. :-) (He would have got them killed in 'Harvest' if Avon had not come to the rescue.) Marian ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 06:20:28 EDT From: RCalla6725@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] FINALACT Message-ID: <6f.4b25750.2649406c@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 09/05/00 07:38:17 GMT Daylight Time, pennydreadful@powersurfr.com writes: << "Foundation Invalidating Numerous Accusations Levelled Against Croucher's Travis". We have God and Karaoke on our side. >> Karaoke? The Dennis Potter work? I like Dennis Potter but that one... That bloke that used to be in Eastenders "sortin' art" Robbie Jackson vs. the RSC actor who also used to be in Citizen Smith? I can still see no contest, and by the looks of the BBC repeats, I don't think I will... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 10:07:11 +0100 From: "David A McIntee" To: "Lysator" Cc: "Judith Proctor" Subject: Re: [B7L] BBC 2 Repeats Finished ! Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Andy Hopkinson > As for the hoped for repeat of season 2, the Duty officer said that although > they were committed to showing all of season 1 (!?) there are no plans to > repeat the rest, due to poor ratings caused by the programme being moved up > an down schedules. > And it didn't occur to them that they might keep the ratings by *not* bouncing it around the schedule...?! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 12:38:40 EDT From: JEB31538@cs.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: Project Avalon List Message-ID: <62.3383b3d.26499910@cs.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steve wrote -- > Hi, I've received an email asking me to join a list called projectavalon > on Egroup. I've accepted to see what it is about, but does anyone know > who's behind it? I am also curious that with two existing groups on > Egroup, this list and Freedom City, why someone thinks we need another > one. Though Michael Bailey's Egroup list has gone very quiet lately with > no posts since 19 April, which makes me think either the list has gone > or I've been dropped off somehow. I know nothing about projectavalon, but there are six other B7 groups at onelist. I know about Blakes-7 Bailey's group (The list is just quiet these days.) blakes7 Kristin's group Blakes_7 Joe Young's group, has only three members blake-avon7 Peja's group DownandSafe a list for discussing Blake with no character bashing allowed RallyingCall a Blake print APA that went electronic last year What is weird is that when you put Blakes 7 or Blake's 7 into the search engine, you do NOT get a listing of all the groups. They are hard to find. I only listed these six groups because I belong to them. Someone told me that they thought there was an Avon list at onelist, too. None of the lists seem very active, but then, of course, Rallying Call only means to be active as such four times a year when it does the quarterly APA. I just learned this today. Once you join a group, you can click on members on the left side and see the Emails of who all are members. Sometimes there is more information, such as who is owner. That's how I found out Joe Young was the owner of Blakes_7. I'm sorry I didn't answer your question about projectavalon. Someone else will have to do that. Joyce Bowen JEB31538@cs.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 08:11:38 EDT From: Mac4781@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: <22.5858ae1.26495a7a@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Alison wrote: > the 'FLAG' type is supposed to be optimum for leadership (i.e. factual, > lively, aggressive, group oriented). "Lively" as opposed to calm is something I hadn't expected. > I think it is clear that by these criteria Blake is the most suitable person > for leadership that we encounter on the show. I'm not sure I'd call Blake group oriented. He worked with groups because he needed them to succeed, but he didn't seem to be oriented to team play. He was more like a coach. Communication was mostly one way--Blake to group--even when he was working with cooperative underlings on GP. While Blake managed to get things done, he might have been more successful if he had been more open to group processes. I'd shade him slightly toward I (not as far I as Servalan). > And Avon, though > forced into leadership, is even more unsuitable (FCAI) - not only > self-oriented but too calm (given the chance he'd quietly get on with > examining Sopron) . It's Avon's calmness that made him a good complement for Tarrant. He was there to provide balance when Tarrant was too lively. That's why I like them as a team. > And gosh I hate to say it, but isn't Tarrant a junior FLAG type? Which shouldn't be surprising. He probably had to pass the FLAG test to get into the FSA. :) Leadership potential is typically considered to be a prerequisite for military officers. > Would he have made a good leader given the chance? I think the potential is there. As Avon noted, Tarrant is "good material." > Too gung-ho for my taste, but perhaps he'd have been better than Avon? I might have said too gung-ho myself, but for the Lively. Lively ultimately served Horatio Nelson well, even if it was responsible for some of his defeats (such as when he attacked a town with small boats). Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen was certainly Tarrant-like. He put the telescope to his blind eye and said he couldn't see his superior's signal to retreat. Shades of Tarrant on Helotrix. :) > Would they have been killed earlier or later with Tarrant in charge? Hard to say. Tarrant didn't get any of them killed when he was in charge. Granted, that was sometimes due to the assistance of his shipmates. But that's what teamwork is all about. Carol Mc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 22:41:32 +0100 From: Steve Rogerson To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: First Impressions: "Redemption" Message-ID: <39188609.A79BD677@mcr1.poptel.org.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ariana said: "Judith, can you replace "Redemption" with "Deliverence" throughout?" Please don't -- cheers Steve Rogerson http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson Redemption: The Blake's 7 and Babylon 5 convention 23-25 February 2001, Ashford, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 22:07:28 EDT From: B7Morrigan@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se, freedom-city@blakes-7.org Subject: [B7L] SCHOOL Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Funny that we got on the subject of APAs (actually not at all coincidental). Dana Shilling and I have been talking about trying to set up something like an electronic APA. Dana summarized the proposal below: THE SCHOOL SYSTEM Slave's Cringingly Humble Online Outpouring of Literature: An E-mail Fanfic Exchange Idea by Trish & Dana; run by absolutely nobody Mistresses and Masters: This is our unworthy attempt at a no-cost, low-effort system for bringing B7 fanfic writers and readers together via e-mail. It's a way for readers to contact writers and ask for story copies. If the readers want to, they make comments (but they don't commit to being beta-readers. Anyway, we're sure that all our readers are Alphas. We ourselves are but Delta-grade ignorants.) We are grovelingly grateful for the fine work done by the publishers of print and on-line zines, and we intend SCHOOL to be a complement as well as a compliment. A zine has things like editing, production values, a variety of stories by different authors, etc. SCHOOL is direct many-to-many exchange of ASCII files by e-mail. However, it would be great if writers who have stories that were published in out of print zines would dig out those backup disks and make the files available! Ditto for publishers of zines that it is not practical or economically viable to reprint on paper or convert to HTML. Publishers: please also think of SCHOOL as a farm team-you might read some things that are worth reprinting, or that might be after improvements from skillful guidance. Why e-mail? It doesn't cost anything; there isn't any technology involved; and the whole thing can be done in a couple of clicks. HOW IT WORKS: FOR WRITERS: a. If you want to participate, figure out which stories, essays, poems, etc. you want to be included in the system. b. In the interests of speeding up file transfer, save each file as an ASCII (text-only) file. c. Keep an ongoing list of all your SCHOOL files (your "SCHOOL list"). d. The default assumption is that all SCHOOL files are B7-related. If they're crossovers, say so. If they're about something else entirely that you think Lysator and/or Freedom City participants might want to read, indicate what they're about. e. Give each file a number, starting with 1. f. For each file, indicate: File number; title (in the interests of reader sensibilities, put slashes around the titles of slash stories); version number, if it's been revised; file size; rating; personnel and any comments you wish to make. For instance: ********************* Dana's SCHOOL List 1. Not Our Kind Darling: V2; 63k; PG-13; When Avon Met Jenna (about 20 years before SpaceFall). "Pills up. Bibles back. Get paid each way." An Origin story, in which our protagonist gets his name and attribute. 2. Accustomed to His Face: 40k; PG-13; V&A smarm. Unresolved Scholastic Tension. 3. /Field of Dreams/: 75k; NC-17; report from the Scorpio Squash Tournament. The tournament is single elimination, but the story is round robin. Da/V, A/Da, T/A, A/Da/T. Not entirely vanilla. 4. /User Interface/: 80k; NC-17; B7-Angel crossover. The Powers that Be recommend a hacker for a job over a long weekend. A/Angel, A/Giles. S&M. Explicit frozen dairy products. ********************** g. Just add "SCHOOL" to your sig. h. If you have a new story, etc., just post to the lists that you've added to your SCHOOL list, perhaps giving a little information about the new addition. HOW IT WORKS FOR READERS: a. When you see SCHOOL after a post from someone who seems to you might write something worth reading, e-mail that person directly and ask for her or his SCHOOL list. b. S/he will e-mail you back the latest version of her/his list. c. If anything sounds interesting enough to justify the download time (in other words, this is a pretty low barrier), e-mail back saying something like "Please send me Numbers 1,5, and 8." d. The writer will then send you an ASCII file attachment with the relevant stuff. e. If you don't like a story, that's why they designed in a CLOSE button. TH-TH-THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! Trish SCHOOL "Auron may be different, Cally, but on Earth it is considered ill-mannered to kill your friends while committing suicide." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 23:16:08 -0400 From: "Dana Shilling" To: , Subject: [B7L] Re: SCHOOL Message-ID: <00d201bfba2e$1dd31d20$67614e0c@dshilling> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Point of clarification: that was just a sample SCHOOL list. Judith is going to be publishing two of those stories, so they'll be available through her rather than me. -(Y) [Dana] SCHOOL PS--All of Trish's stuff is great, but her latest is amazing. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 06:07:01 +0200 From: Jacqueline Thijsen To: Lysator Subject: RE: [B7L] FINALACT Message-ID: <39DCDDFD014ED21185C300104BB3F99FEF7339@NL-ARN-MAIL01> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Welcome back oh great and Dreadful leader! My apologies for not greeting you earlier, but some trifling little virus turned out to be enough to mess up our servers. Ah, the blessings of Outlook and Exchange.... > "Foundation Invalidating Numerous Accusations Levelled > Against Croucher's > Travis". We have God and Karaoke on our side. We used to have the piranha's, too, but then Una stole them for a fight with Neil. The Teletubbies are still ours, though. > >I've yet to see the new Travis, but an RSC actor vs. Brian > >Croucher? No contest, surely? > > Indeed, no contest at all. Right, Jacqueline? Need you still ask? That RSC actor never managed to do Travis justice the way our Brian did. I'm aware that there are some who think that his acting was slightly off in Weapon, but they are sorely mistaken. That was all the director's fault. And I didn't see any bad acting, anyway. Besides, the new and infinitely improved Travis gets a lot closer to catching Blake than the other one ever did. So There. Jacqueline ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 14:23:54 EST From: "J MacQueen" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: RE: [B7L] FINALACT Message-ID: <20000510042354.14684.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed >From: Jacqueline Thijsen >The Teletubbies are still ours, though. In a secret hideout a couple of desks away from me, from the looks of things... Worried Joanne ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 03:53:56 PDT From: "Sally Manton" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test Message-ID: <20000510105356.6379.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed After Trish said: Alsion asked: Definitely *not* at all thick in the sense of stupid. He's really fairly bright IMHO - smart and sharp rather than intellectual or cerebral. But he *is* rather badly hobbled by his almost total lack of common sense, slightly stolid (to my eyes) way of thinking, and poor people skills (yes, yes, Avon's are nearly as bad, but he does have analytic ability to help compensate). All of Our Heroes can be amazingly stupid at times (even Orac! See the beginning of Blake) and Tarrant's no different. Would he have gotten everyone killed? Very probably. Not *because* I think he'd be such a bad leader (I do think he'd be poor at the job and is unlikely to get any better, but he's be no worse than nearly everyone else and better at least than Gan, Vila or Dayna) Simply because, given the almost farcically unequal battle we're talking about, 95% of the entire human race would have gotten them all killed. It's more that Tarrant wouldn't do such a bad job, but Blake and (for all *his* lack of conventional leadership skills) Avon did such an *extraordinary* good job of keeping them alive in this situation with half the galaxy after them (given the odds, the low attrition rate has to be called impressive - well, right up till that little shooting party at GP). ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com -------------------------------- End of blakes7-d Digest V00 Issue #131 **************************************