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Given that the Big Bang was heavily contested for the larger part of the 20th century and that most scientists initially thought it was a crackpot theory ... to have convinced the vast majority of the scientific community, I think it's safe to say that it's not a wild guess. Just because we don't know what happened before it. Believe me, there's shedloads of evidence for it. Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_bang - look under observational evidence. Ergo, not wild guess. For the history of it - http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bang-Origin-Universe-P-S /dp/0007162219/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0498900-8622244?ie =UTF8&s=books&qid=1175189801&sr=8-1 Evolution ... er ... there've been quite a few intermediate forms found. How the hell can you explain fossils of, say, homo erectus without evolution and geology being involved? Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetacean s and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_hors e because I'm presuming you wouldn't trust talkorigins as a source. Anyone who says that there are no intermediates either hasn't researched it too deeply or insists on finding additional intermediates between intermediates forever and ever, so that they can continue to deny that they exist. Mutations that add DNA complexity? Define complexity. Meanwhile, look up polyploidy, frameshifts and retroviruses. Because of your vague wording, I have no idea if these actually fit the bill for what you're looking for, but these are three things off the top of my head which show what I THINK you're denying exists. If you're too lazy to look them up: Polyploidy - copying chromosomes basically. Down's Syndrome is a form of it and it's a major cause for speciation in plants. Frameshifts - causes genetic disease. When an extra base is added or a base is removed from the DNA, which, by virtue of how DNA transcription works (codons of three bases, coding for one amino acid) completely alters all of the code past that point of the code. This is significant because it involves an additional base being added (additional complexity, ne?) and it's pretty undeniable that this happens. Retroviruses - viruses that can add DNA to the DNA of the host. Again, not really deniable, additional complexity. Given that Franklin lived and died before Darwin I'm not too surprised that he was a creationist. Seeing as there wasn't really an alternative at the time and the existence of God was, at the time, a given, see? Also, inventor does not necessarily mean scientist and vice versa. Although Franklin was undoubtedly both, it needs to be said. And of course there are Christians who create things. We're not talking about Christians and never were, we're talking about creationists. Unless you're telling me that every single Christian is a creationist. And a creationist does not necessarily reject the rest of science which does not conflict with the Bible, BUT, creationism as a whole is very unscientific, placing no value on science. There are some creationists who are still scientists, but the proportion (not amount, although that's also true) of creationists who are scientists is MUCH, MUCH smaller than the amount of non-creationists who are scientists. And what the hell are you talking about? No proof but verbal repetition? http://web.ukonline.co.uk/a.buckley/dino.htm - this page isn't the best for describing it, but there're certainly some things in there which I've checked up elsewhere and have found to be true. I'd say that it counts as evidence, rather than some mysterious verbal folklor

I would but I hate their return policy. I'll stick with http://www.newegg.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/

Any of you young'uns old enough to remember the movie Looker?

(-by the by, I'd still like to find the soundtrack to this movie, if anyone has run across a copy-)

Any of you young'uns old enough to remember the movie Looker?

(-by the by, I'd still like to find the soundtrack to this movie, if anyone has run across a copy-)

Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun had computer monitors could implant an artificial intelligence in anyone who looked at their patterns of swirling colours (as the population in the novels worshipped these artificial intelligences, this was seen as "possession by a god" like in ancient Greek thought). Ironically, this has been called by some critics the most scientifically unbelievable thing in the work, since "looking at patterns of light can't change your brain."

In summary, I worry that Americans are extremely susceptible to distraction by highly irrelevant issues and that exploitation of this weakness gravely impacts the quality of their government.

If you read The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins, you'll find that recent genetic evidence suggests that many of the distinct branches of modern mammals predate the K-T extinction.

In particular, by the time of the K-T extinction, I believe that the primate lineage had already separated from rodents, as well as the laurasiatheres (all hoofed mammals, lions, tigers, bears, etc.), xenarthrans (armadillos, sloths, etc.), and afrotheres (elephants, manatees, anteaters, etc.).

So, while most mammals in the Cretaceous may still have been tiny shrew-like creatures scurrying around in the underbrush, many of the modern lineages had already come into separate existence.

It is also interesting to read, in the book, that our nearest non-primate relatives aside from the tree shrews are rodents. I can sort of see it: give a mouse a little more finger dexterity and it wouldn't not that different from a lemur. It also might explain why rodents are such good laboratory specimens.

"I find the price of the little wireless device most eggregious even now and wonder why there are not third party devices out there that can do the wireless."

Well, actually, there are third party alternatives that can do the wireless, although maybe not as well. Like this which isn't exactly any cheaper anyway. Or if you want cheaper, there's this although it's outdated, it should still work fine.

"I find the price of the little wireless device most eggregious even now and wonder why there are not third party devices out there that can do the wireless."

Well, actually, there are third party alternatives that can do the wireless, although maybe not as well. Like this which isn't exactly any cheaper anyway. Or if you want cheaper, there's this although it's outdated, it should still work fine.

> Who the f*** decided that sentences on the Internet shall no longer be formatted with two spaces after a period?!

That happened some time in the mid 80s when computers got proportional fonts. Try reading The PC Is Not A Typewriter or a basic intro to graphic design and typography.

Nintendo has been using "supply shortages" as a business tactic dating all the way back to the NES. It keeps retailers and licensees in line, keeps anticipation high, and helps them leverage their software rollout strategy to the highest level.

And I'll apologize for using the "leverage" buzzword by providing documentation to back up my facts.

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Press-Start-Contin ue/dp/0966961706/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-2040246-58511 46?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175043506&sr=1-2

Unless Grant Callin was more prophetic than he would believe and the Hexies of Tharthee (from his novels Saturn Alia and A Lion on Tharthee) really exist... in which case there's a plaque down there with information inscribed on it.

Unless Grant Callin was more prophetic than he would believe and the Hexies of Tharthee (from his novels Saturn Alia and A Lion on Tharthee) really exist... in which case there's a plaque down there with information inscribed on it.

It's the hexies from Saturnalia.

Er, yeah. It's a classic. New to sci-fi, are you?

You're not the ones being screwed, we are.

Hmm that's interesting, I guess I didn't see it from that view point.

Decided to fish around for an example, here's one: Iced Earth's The Glorious Burden. The "Imported" edition has two extra tracks, the same as the Limited edition. I will number them below to avoid confusion.

Album #1: US version from Amazon USA: $16.98

Album #2: Imported edition from Amazon USA: $38.99 . Note the Japanese left side of the cover which "proves" that it is an import.

Album #3: US version from Amazon Japan: 2313 yen ~= $19.61. This is titled "[From US][Import]"

Album #4: US limited edition from Amazon Japan: 3130 yen ~= $26.54. This is titled "Limited Edition[From US][Import]"

Album #5: US limited edition from Amazon US: $22.98.

Confused yet? Alright, in terms of content. #4 = #5 = #2. And #1 = #3. The only difference #2 has from #4 and #5 is that its contents are split onto two cds, which hardly justifies the price premium

Now who in their right mind would buy #2 when #5 was available? Simple, #5 was released 2 months later. The $38.99 version was a complete scam - you will note that Japan has no equivalent (even though #5 has a Japanese cover!). Loyal fans/collectors who *had* to have every song ended up paying more than double the album price for two extra tracks. To pour salt onto the wound, the "limited edition" released later has those tracks for a much lower price.

This practice further complicates things because now Amazon (US) has to have 3 pages for different CDs, each with their own set of reviews (although some reviewers copy-paste their review to every edition). Tagging music becomes confusing because of the proliferation of very similar albums with subtle differences. And of course buyers will have to do extra research to make sure they're getting what they want.

We have to put up with all these inconveniences so that the record industry can price discriminate.

You're not the ones being screwed, we are.

Hmm that's interesting, I guess I didn't see it from that view point.

Decided to fish around for an example, here's one: Iced Earth's The Glorious Burden. The "Imported" edition has two extra tracks, the same as the Limited edition. I will number them below to avoid confusion.

Album #1: US version from Amazon USA: $16.98

Album #2: Imported edition from Amazon USA: $38.99 . Note the Japanese left side of the cover which "proves" that it is an import.

Album #3: US version from Amazon Japan: 2313 yen ~= $19.61. This is titled "[From US][Import]"

Album #4: US limited edition from Amazon Japan: 3130 yen ~= $26.54. This is titled "Limited Edition[From US][Import]"

Album #5: US limited edition from Amazon US: $22.98.

Confused yet? Alright, in terms of content. #4 = #5 = #2. And #1 = #3. The only difference #2 has from #4 and #5 is that its contents are split onto two cds, which hardly justifies the price premium

Now who in their right mind would buy #2 when #5 was available? Simple, #5 was released 2 months later. The $38.99 version was a complete scam - you will note that Japan has no equivalent (even though #5 has a Japanese cover!). Loyal fans/collectors who *had* to have every song ended up paying more than double the album price for two extra tracks. To pour salt onto the wound, the "limited edition" released later has those tracks for a much lower price.

This practice further complicates things because now Amazon (US) has to have 3 pages for different CDs, each with their own set of reviews (although some reviewers copy-paste their review to every edition). Tagging music becomes confusing because of the proliferation of very similar albums with subtle differences. And of course buyers will have to do extra research to make sure they're getting what they want.

We have to put up with all these inconveniences so that the record industry can price discriminate.

You're not the ones being screwed, we are.

Hmm that's interesting, I guess I didn't see it from that view point.

Decided to fish around for an example, here's one: Iced Earth's The Glorious Burden. The "Imported" edition has two extra tracks, the same as the Limited edition. I will number them below to avoid confusion.

Album #1: US version from Amazon USA: $16.98

Album #2: Imported edition from Amazon USA: $38.99 . Note the Japanese left side of the cover which "proves" that it is an import.

Album #3: US version from Amazon Japan: 2313 yen ~= $19.61. This is titled "[From US][Import]"

Album #4: US limited edition from Amazon Japan: 3130 yen ~= $26.54. This is titled "Limited Edition[From US][Import]"

Album #5: US limited edition from Amazon US: $22.98.

Confused yet? Alright, in terms of content. #4 = #5 = #2. And #1 = #3. The only difference #2 has from #4 and #5 is that its contents are split onto two cds, which hardly justifies the price premium

Now who in their right mind would buy #2 when #5 was available? Simple, #5 was released 2 months later. The $38.99 version was a complete scam - you will note that Japan has no equivalent (even though #5 has a Japanese cover!). Loyal fans/collectors who *had* to have every song ended up paying more than double the album price for two extra tracks. To pour salt onto the wound, the "limited edition" released later has those tracks for a much lower price.

This practice further complicates things because now Amazon (US) has to have 3 pages for different CDs, each with their own set of reviews (although some reviewers copy-paste their review to every edition). Tagging music becomes confusing because of the proliferation of very similar albums with subtle differences. And of course buyers will have to do extra research to make sure they're getting what they want.

We have to put up with all these inconveniences so that the record industry can price discriminate.

This is SO true!

I read that sentence and thought "Heavy Metal Opera". (As in Avantasia and Aina).

This is SO true!

I read that sentence and thought "Heavy Metal Opera". (As in Avantasia and Aina).

If you don't have the patience for his novels, I don't recommend them.

However, I do have to mention that "Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham" is quite approachable by just about anyone, and makes for a quick, enjoyable read [amazon link].

Of course, it has *nothing* to do with Middle-Earth and is just barely recognizable by most Tolkein readers as being his...

If you want to read Tolkien-like writing, look at Tolkien's contemporaries. In particular there's Silverlock by John Myers Myers, which was published at the same time as LotR. Silverlock is a very different kind of novel -- more of a Gulliver-esque romp than an epic swords-and-sorcery fantasy -- but it's still an amazing work of literature that deserves respect equal to the best that Tolkien produced.

We won't feel that we're living in the future and its a wonderful time to be alive until they introduce fishbowl helmets like in golden age-style sci-fi cover art (e.g. Flynn's Lodestar ). This nonsense about a white helmet with just a gold visor is making millions of children apathetic to the space program.

It's more than that.

There is no argument that USAs serve "At the pleasure of The President".

*IF* George Bush had simply asked them to resign, there would be no scandal.

*BUT* George Bush chose to lie about the reasons they were asked to leave, defaming those USAs who in fact had very highly rated performance reviews.

Pay attention to this simple fact:

It's not the action, it's the cover-up.

And the kicker here? NO COVER UP WAS NEEDED. They just did the cover-up move out of habit.

And then Gonzales lied to Congress. And it all fell apart.

Hmmm.. Why is it important for all the USAs to be "Loyal Bushies" to use the criteria Alberto Gonzales office was using according to their emails?

It's the simple fact that the entire administration is vulnerable to charges for violating 18 USC 371.

Let me excerpt a bit of Elizabeth de la Vega's book, from the Model Indictment she drew up. ( She's an ex-United States Attorney, btw. )

From USA v. Bush. http://www.amazon.com/United-States-George-Bush-al /dp/1583227563/

11. Pursuant to the Constitution, their oaths of office, their status as Executive Branch employees, and their presence in the United States, BUSH, CHENEY, RICE, RUMSFELD, and POWELL, and their subordinates and employees, are required to obey Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, which prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States.

12. As used in Section 371, the term "to defraud the United States" means "to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful government functions by deceit, craft, trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest." The term also means to "impair, obstruct, or defeat the lawful function of any department of government" by the use of "false or fraudulent pretenses or representations."

13. A "false" or "fraudulent" representation is one that is: (a) made with knowledge that it is untrue; (b) a half-truth; (c) made without a reasonable basis or with reckless indifference as to whether it is, in fact, true or false; or (d) literally true, but intentionally presented in a manner reasonably calculated to deceive a person of ordinary prudence and intelligence. The knowing concealment or omission of information that a reasonable person would consider important in deciding an issue also constitutes fraud.

14. Congress is a "department of the United States" within the meaning of Section 371. In addition, hearings regarding funding for military action and authorization to use military force are "lawful functions" of Congress.

15. Accordingly, the presentation of information to Congress and the general public through deceit, craft, trickery, dishonest means, and fraudulent representations, including lies, half-truths, material omissions, and statements made with reckless indifference to their truth or falsity, while knowing and intending that such fraudulent representations would influence Congress' decisions regarding authorization to use military force and funding for military action, constitutes interfering with, obstructing, impairing, and defeating a lawful government function of a department of the United States within the meaning of Section 371.

It looks like it would take a SINGLE United States Attorney with the guts to do their job, as per their oath, and the ENTIRE administration would be perp-walked at the same time.

Explains why Bush will ultimately give away whatever he's asked. That's a hella big club to hold over his head.

We still have lines. And a whole crapload of 'em. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-WEGA-KD-34XBR970-Trinit ron-Digital/dp/B000F4RC02

When I write an email I'm able to think about what I say before I say it and rearrange things after the fact if it comes out wrong. Can't do that in conversation, you have to get it right the first time, and know exactly where you're going and how you're going to get there before you start. Been trying for years, but simply can't. What then?

The answer to "What then?" is : learn. You say you've tried, but I suspect you have made the same mistake I did for a long time, which is to assume that you should just somehow know how to deal with people by yourself. The reality is that it is a learned skill, most easily pick up by learning from someone who is already good at it. Books can be a great resource.

Practising is of little value if you don't first have an idea of what specific skill it is you are trying to practice.

As for being prepared, this is also a skill, and quite easy, eg:
1. Start the conversation by letting them know that it's not conclusive. You could say something like "I've got some thoughts on [subject], I'd like to get your input on while I'm still thinking about it....", this gives you an out when they say something you don't expect.
2. When they say something you don't expect "I've never looked at it that way, I'll think it over and get back to you"
3. If they push for a quick desicion "Honestly, what you've said seems pretty important, I think it deserves more consideration than I've got time for right now, I'll get back to you"

You can easily develop a few "standard responses" that allow you time to think and take the pressure off. I'm sure you get the idea.
I recommend this book, Skill with People http://www.amazon.com/s/102-6152705-7396905?ie=UTF 8&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=skill% 20with%20people

Dialectic of Enlightenment

This sounds a lot like those idiots who get their children fingerprinted and swabbed for DNA at the mall or their child's school, with some sort of warped idea that if their child is kidnapped, having their fingerprints on record will somehow magically return them.

People do that so in a worst case scenario, they can identify their child's remains.

Most people have never thought about it, most likely because it is a horrible thing to think about, but not knowing that the body that the police just found is your child can be worse than knowing.

LK

Kathy Sierra (creator of the Head First book series) has a great blog and discovered some things about Face-to-face at SXSW this year and made a post about it.

Between the XBox 360 which comes with Media Center capability and TiVo / Amazon's Unbox partnership (they'll even pay you to register!), I really don't see a reason to get an Apple TV at all, even still.

Want to stay legal? TiVo + Amazon has you covered, and you get all that fun TiVo functionality along with it. You can even put TiVo recordings onto your iPod video.
Want to download shows/movies/whatever other videos for free and watch them on your TV? Xbox 360 + Vista/XPMC, and you get the ability to play some great games along with it.

I agree, practice is very important. I think the rapidly expanding Ruby literature is great, but none of the books, to my knowledge, contain problem sets or exercises of any kind (aside from their iterative but simplistic examples that run through the book in some cases). Ruby quiz is a good resource but it would be preferable to also have simpler stuff that would help younger students to make quick progress and see if they were getting the concepts right away.

I was trying to make a list of books for learning to program, sort of a minimal set for getting up to speed on my favorite technologies, and that's when I realized that these books don't have problem sets. Normally I think of writing problems as the hardest part of being a teacher, but in Ruby perhaps it wouldn't be all that tough.

It makes perfect sense. I have one of these DVD recorders, and I use it to do essentially the same thing. One DVD-RAM holds up to 8 hours of TV, so it works great for catching up on TV that runs late at night or when I'm too busy to watch it. Of course, I'd prefer a MythTV box with a nice big RAID array, but this was a lot cheaper. (It even came with a DVD-RAM disc!) It basically works like a "poor man's TiVo" when you use a DVD-RAM disc--you can watch a show off the disc while recording another (although seeking doesn't work as smoothly when it's doing two things at once), and you can start recording at any time and just press "Play" to jump back to where you started recording. (You can also tune the TV to another channel, like you can with a VCR.) It can schedule recordings, and is very diligent about cueing up the recording one minute before it starts, to make sure it's ready to record. The UI can be a bit sluggish, and it crashes extremely occasionally (about once a month, if even -- usually when it's juggling seven tasks at once), but it's a great deal, and much cheaper than a TiVo.

Woohoo! Way to oversimplify history. There may be many different versions explaining why did Hitler made a fatal mistake of starting Operation Barbarosa in 1941. Certainly a dire (and obviously sentimental) need for Caspian oil is hardly among the sanest reasons.

My favorite is still the theory that USSR was preparing to strike at Germany first in 1941, and Hitler decided to make a gamble fully understanding that of two evils it's better to select the lesser one.

In fact there is a pretty interesting book trying to explain why it is likely that Stalin was about to attack in summer of 1941. While as all historical speculation it should be taken with a grain of salt, I have hard time disbelieving the basic premise. If you are genuinely interested in the subject, I advise you try to locate the book and read it. If nothing else, it will give a fresh vantage point for understanding complicated reasons behind WW II in USSR. And damn, this is soooo offtopic!

I'm going to guess you were being sarcastic due to the smiley =P

But I will post a link to the original material for Blade Runner anyways.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

True, which is why if you're going to try to game the system, you might be better off spending that money buying multiple copies of your book along with a few selected, sustained best sellers. Then when someone looks at the best seller, they your book listed as something that other customers also published.

Or if you'd like to participate in a more honest way, I recommend these tools on Amazon, which I've used to promote my Moodle and Training books:

Create a So you'd like to... guide with your book on the guide. Make the guide relevant, not just an excuse for self promotion, and people will actually use your guide. The more people who click into items from your guide, the more Amazon will display it.

Create a Listmania list with your book on it. Again, make it relevant and you'll get better results from that list.

Make search suggestions that are relevant and accurate for your book. "You can specify the search for which you think the item should appear, along with your explanation of why it is relevant. Once approved, we'll show your suggestion in Amazon search to everyone."

Participate in Amazon's Search Inside! program.

Add descriptive content to your book's Amazon listing.

And one that I've been too busy (lazy?) to use, participate in Amazon's blog program, AmazonConnect.

These are all much longer-lasting ways of improving the sale of your book on Amazon. And they're much cheaper than paying someone thousands to game the system for you. But if people really thing it's worth all that money for one hour of dubious fame, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would offer a service to do it for them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671041266/ref=sib _dp_pt/102-6841453-0822545#reader-link

Something similar is happening in the podcast world, Scott Sigler, an author who releases all his books for free via podcast, is releasing his second novel to hardcopy in about a week. He's going through a big promotion to try to get Ancestor number one on Amazon for at least a few minutes. Here's a link to his plea. Pretty interesting, but too bad it's probably my least favorite out of all the books he has written.

Rejoice, for the time is nigh!

Official DVD release date is April 24, 2007 according to Amazon. Season One, anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000MXPE6U

A bullshit book for a a bullshit list. Have you looked at that list? It's ridiculous. Maybe three of those books deserve to be on there ... but a book on CD!?

If it's full of bullshit, that's what it's worth to me.

No one cares

FUCK KDE!

After "Bicentennial Man" (*shudder*), I had hoped that the Good Doctor's work would not be further reduced to trash by Hollywood... but I was wrong. I'll have no part of "I, Robot", the Holly-weird version.

Sudoku was fun, but the majority of the fun with any of these puzzles for me was figuring out solution methods for myself. Sudoku is now so heavily documented as to be trivial to solve, even at the highest difficulty levels (Especially if you have the patience to try Bowman's Bingo).

After getting burned out on Sudoku, I found out about Nikoli, and the other myriad puzzles they publish. At first I started with Hashiwokakero, then quickly moved on to Heyawake, Nurikabe, Hitori, Akari, Ripple Effect, Masyu, and even some not listed on the English version of Nikoli's website (Kin Kon Kan is particularly fun, once you figure out the rules).

In that time, I've ordered several books from Nikoli's website, traded for books with occasional Japanese acquaintances, and hunted Japanese auction sites for out of print editions. In short, it's expensive and time consuming to feed my language-independent logic puzzle habit. I'd be very happy if some stateside publisher would put out a magazine akin to Nikoli's "Puzzle Communication", or a compilation of new puzzles. I've seen a few books featuring other Nikoli puzzle types, but they do not feature more than 3 or 4 different puzzle types. Games magazine's puzzle magazines frequently feature Nurikabe and Slither Link, but only 2-5 puzzles per issue. What I want is variety and volume. Lots of different puzzles, lots of instances of each.

By the way, those with the ability/desire to import Japanese video games might want to check out Puzzle Series for the Nintendo DS. Volume 5 is Slither Link, Volume 6 is Illust Logic (Known to many as Picross, Nonograms, Edel, or Paint by Numbers), Volume 10 is Hitori, Volume 11 is Nurikabe, and Volume 12 is Akari (Light Up). You may also want to check out Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection. NetGame is particularly interesting.

And of course, no discussion of grid-based, wordless logic puzzles is complete without a mention of Solitaire Battleships, which currently cruises under the radar with the name Yubotu.