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Comments · 8

Re:The Flettner rotorship by runningduck · 2006-07-08 13:13 · Score: 1 · on Wind Powered Freighters Return

When I first read the description I thought about a "ship" designed to sail directly into the wind, but couldn't think of how they implemented it on a full sized vessel. http://www.main.org/polycosmos/silicbar/sailscrw.h tm
Highly litigious society by Linuxathome · 2005-01-13 17:22 · Score: 1 · on Pair Arrested After Telling Lawyer Jokes

This post reminds me of the Stella Awards. Excerpt:

It's once again time to review the winners of the annual Stella Awards. The Stellas' are named! after 81 year old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's.

That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States. Unfortunately the most recent lawsuit implicating McDonald's, the teens who allege that eating at McDonald's has made them fat, was filed after the 2003 award voting was closed. This suit will top the 2004 awards list without question.
THIS YEAR'S AWARDS GO TO ...
Re:I know it's so terribly un/. of me, but by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-06 06:56 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Interview with Bruce Sterling

Sterling is a bit of an over the top hypester. He's typical of a lot of the Austin techno-hippy crowd, Jon Lebkowsky, Chip Rosenthal, David Nunez, that fucked up hippie artist Santos, that guy who makes metal g-strings, etc. I hope I'm pissing anyone off by lumping them all together.
However, there is a kernel of true insight that you seem to be missing in Sterling. There is something more to him than the 99 percent of SF which is pure pulp crap.
My advice is to just read his novels and short stories. His magazine articles and interviews are less compelling and contain more "oh shit I'm so happy to be a nerd in the 21st century" type stuff. I would recommend "Distraction" if you are only going to read one.
What is different about Sterling from other SF writers is that he is a real futurist, or at least doing a better job trying than anyone else. He is really trying to describe what the world will really be like in our lifetime. At his very best, you should feel like you are reading a cross between Wired Magazine and News of the Weird, but from 2050. The point being that Wired Magazine and News of the Weird are non-fiction, even it is an odd perspective. Immagine that those to publications were your only news from today's world, and that you were trying to puzzle out what was really happening from them; that is the limited portal to the future that I think Sterling provides. There are no real plot or characters in any of his work, so don't look for literary statisfaction. (With the possible exception of his character Leggy Starlitz.)
Re:I know it's so terribly un/. of me, but by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-06 06:56 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Interview with Bruce Sterling

Sterling is a bit of an over the top hypester. He's typical of a lot of the Austin techno-hippy crowd, Jon Lebkowsky, Chip Rosenthal, David Nunez, that fucked up hippie artist Santos, that guy who makes metal g-strings, etc. I hope I'm pissing anyone off by lumping them all together.
However, there is a kernel of true insight that you seem to be missing in Sterling. There is something more to him than the 99 percent of SF which is pure pulp crap.
My advice is to just read his novels and short stories. His magazine articles and interviews are less compelling and contain more "oh shit I'm so happy to be a nerd in the 21st century" type stuff. I would recommend "Distraction" if you are only going to read one.
What is different about Sterling from other SF writers is that he is a real futurist, or at least doing a better job trying than anyone else. He is really trying to describe what the world will really be like in our lifetime. At his very best, you should feel like you are reading a cross between Wired Magazine and News of the Weird, but from 2050. The point being that Wired Magazine and News of the Weird are non-fiction, even it is an odd perspective. Immagine that those to publications were your only news from today's world, and that you were trying to puzzle out what was really happening from them; that is the limited portal to the future that I think Sterling provides. There are no real plot or characters in any of his work, so don't look for literary statisfaction. (With the possible exception of his character Leggy Starlitz.)
Re:I know it's so terribly un/. of me, but by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-06 06:56 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Interview with Bruce Sterling

Sterling is a bit of an over the top hypester. He's typical of a lot of the Austin techno-hippy crowd, Jon Lebkowsky, Chip Rosenthal, David Nunez, that fucked up hippie artist Santos, that guy who makes metal g-strings, etc. I hope I'm pissing anyone off by lumping them all together.
However, there is a kernel of true insight that you seem to be missing in Sterling. There is something more to him than the 99 percent of SF which is pure pulp crap.
My advice is to just read his novels and short stories. His magazine articles and interviews are less compelling and contain more "oh shit I'm so happy to be a nerd in the 21st century" type stuff. I would recommend "Distraction" if you are only going to read one.
What is different about Sterling from other SF writers is that he is a real futurist, or at least doing a better job trying than anyone else. He is really trying to describe what the world will really be like in our lifetime. At his very best, you should feel like you are reading a cross between Wired Magazine and News of the Weird, but from 2050. The point being that Wired Magazine and News of the Weird are non-fiction, even it is an odd perspective. Immagine that those to publications were your only news from today's world, and that you were trying to puzzle out what was really happening from them; that is the limited portal to the future that I think Sterling provides. There are no real plot or characters in any of his work, so don't look for literary statisfaction. (With the possible exception of his character Leggy Starlitz.)
Re:I know it's so terribly un/. of me, but by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-06 06:56 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Interview with Bruce Sterling

Sterling is a bit of an over the top hypester. He's typical of a lot of the Austin techno-hippy crowd, Jon Lebkowsky, Chip Rosenthal, David Nunez, that fucked up hippie artist Santos, that guy who makes metal g-strings, etc. I hope I'm pissing anyone off by lumping them all together.
However, there is a kernel of true insight that you seem to be missing in Sterling. There is something more to him than the 99 percent of SF which is pure pulp crap.
My advice is to just read his novels and short stories. His magazine articles and interviews are less compelling and contain more "oh shit I'm so happy to be a nerd in the 21st century" type stuff. I would recommend "Distraction" if you are only going to read one.
What is different about Sterling from other SF writers is that he is a real futurist, or at least doing a better job trying than anyone else. He is really trying to describe what the world will really be like in our lifetime. At his very best, you should feel like you are reading a cross between Wired Magazine and News of the Weird, but from 2050. The point being that Wired Magazine and News of the Weird are non-fiction, even it is an odd perspective. Immagine that those to publications were your only news from today's world, and that you were trying to puzzle out what was really happening from them; that is the limited portal to the future that I think Sterling provides. There are no real plot or characters in any of his work, so don't look for literary statisfaction. (With the possible exception of his character Leggy Starlitz.)
Re:I know it's so terribly un/. of me, but by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-06 06:56 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Interview with Bruce Sterling

Sterling is a bit of an over the top hypester. He's typical of a lot of the Austin techno-hippy crowd, Jon Lebkowsky, Chip Rosenthal, David Nunez, that fucked up hippie artist Santos, that guy who makes metal g-strings, etc. I hope I'm pissing anyone off by lumping them all together.
However, there is a kernel of true insight that you seem to be missing in Sterling. There is something more to him than the 99 percent of SF which is pure pulp crap.
My advice is to just read his novels and short stories. His magazine articles and interviews are less compelling and contain more "oh shit I'm so happy to be a nerd in the 21st century" type stuff. I would recommend "Distraction" if you are only going to read one.
What is different about Sterling from other SF writers is that he is a real futurist, or at least doing a better job trying than anyone else. He is really trying to describe what the world will really be like in our lifetime. At his very best, you should feel like you are reading a cross between Wired Magazine and News of the Weird, but from 2050. The point being that Wired Magazine and News of the Weird are non-fiction, even it is an odd perspective. Immagine that those to publications were your only news from today's world, and that you were trying to puzzle out what was really happening from them; that is the limited portal to the future that I think Sterling provides. There are no real plot or characters in any of his work, so don't look for literary statisfaction. (With the possible exception of his character Leggy Starlitz.)
You can't do whatever you want on your front lawn by Anonymous Coward · 2002-05-12 02:26 · Score: 0 · on RoadRunner Co-Opting "Organization" Headers

No parking cars on your lawn