Slashdot Mirror


The Bug by Ellen Ullman

Never Rock Fila writes "On the front page of tomorrow's New York Times Book Review, a slightly breathless but overdue enthusiastic review of Ellen Ullman's new novel, The Bug. The review acknowledges that 'Ullman has already established herself as an indispensable voice out of the world of technology' -- if you haven't read her first book, a memoir, Close to the Machine, read that too -- and it's nice to see a mainstream publication like the Times, the gold standard of book reviews as I understand it, giving such prominent and positive attention to a novel by a former 'software engineer' that's all about getting inside the mind of a programmer, even concluding 'If more contemporary novels delivered news this relevant and wise they'd have to stop declaring the death of the novel.' The reviewer, one Benjamin Anastas, has the chops to develop a sustained comparison to Mary Shelley, to legitimately place the 1984 computer programmers at the center of the novel among 'all the best characters in fiction,' and to declare the book 'thrilling and intellectually fearless.'"

5 of 1,547 comments (clear)

  1. Tux smokes weed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
  2. DOES IT MEET COMMUNITY STANDARDS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Stuck at a red light outside an adult bookstore,
    His son said "Daddy what are all those X's for?"
    As the light turned green he changed the subject fast,
    Started talking about football as they drove right past...

    What do you say?

  3. Re:I loved her show on FOX by saden1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    NY Times has as much credibility as Fox News. How can anyone take either of these entertainment organizations seriously?

    Disgusting!

    --

    -----
    One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  4. How will GNAA/Linux do on this, I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I think the question should rather be...

    Whether linux is well optimized for x86 arch.

    since these chips use a VLIW core for the actual processing with the x86 instructions being compiled on the fly to the vliw code.

    Maybe if the linux kernel was compiled to take better advantage of instruction level parallelism the code morphing engine(the x86 to vliw compiler) could actually run linux much faster.

    But then that would be doing some part of the code morphing engines job at the compiler level... nothing wrong with that except you would have to write an entirely new compiler.

    plz correct me if i am wrong. (any comp arch gurus around)
    wc

  5. MIDI interfaces with GNAA/Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ***Here are some of the imdb.com reviews for "Gay Niggers From Outer Space":

    Summary: The best homosexual racial minority sci-fi film ever.

    "Morten Lindbergs classic cult short, Gay Niggers From Outer Space is one of
    the first short films to really stick to what the title suggests. From the
    time the first gay nigger walked onto the screen up until the final intense
    climax with the Tourette's Syndrome Kingdom in Outer Space, it's filled with
    dark comedy, action and plenty of suspense. "

    "Gay Niggers from Outer Space is a masterpiece of a film. No other film
    portraits emotions as majestically and stunningly since The Legend of Nigger
    Charley and Home Alone II. With a cast of all-star African niggers and a
    director with Kubrick potential, it is no wonder that Gay Niggers from Outer
    Space is marked the greatest film of all time."

    "From the very first scene where Gay Nigger Harris throws up on his own face
    and commits suicide, to the climactic scene where Nigger Ralph Nader and
    Nigger Humphrey Bogart fight over the last hashbrown and pick cotton til
    their noses bleed, Gay Niggers from Outer Space is the most magical
    portrayal of gay niggers open to the public."

    ***However, no mention is made of the hazadous lifestyle of gay niggers,
    so the following is an attempt to explain those hazards in layman's terms:

    Despite cries to the contrary in the media, AIDS is still primarily a gay
    and black disease. The media loves to report the "growing epidemic" among
    whites, when in fact the rate of infection among heterosexual whites is
    dropping off significantly year by year. The media though, reports only the
    TOTAL current infection rate, not the RELATIVE. So while there are more
    cases each year, the RATE of infection is dropping quickly. Except for the
    gay/nigger communities, where it's skyrocketing.

    Why does AIDS seem to target gays and niggers so much more so than whites
    and straights? Anal sex. The anus was not designed to accommodate vigorous
    penetration as occurs in anal sex. Unlike the vagina, the anus has very
    delicate membranes, which damage easily. Couple that with the fact that
    sperm contains immune system suppressing chemicals. That's why the sperm is
    not treated as a foreign protein in the vagina...because of the immune
    suppressing effects of the sperm cells. Without this effect, pregnancy
    could not occur, as the sperm would be attacked as a foreign protein.

    In the anus, sperm has the same immune suppressing effect. During anal sex,
    the anal wall is torn and open lesions form. Because there is little if any
    sensory nerve endings in the anus, this damage often goes unnoticed. The
    sperm then induce their immune suppressing effect, and the stage is set.
    Various bacteria both beneficial and infectious dwell in the colon, as well
    as viral matter. When the anus is ripped open, exposing the blood to the
    immune suppressing chemicals in the sperm, and the viral matter passed
    along with it, infection is virtually assured.

    ***So does the skyrocketing rate of AIDS infection mean that there are
    skyrocketing rates of gay niggers???

    ***Not exactly, because most White people don't realize that a large
    percentage of nigger males are bisexual. It's a great irony considering all
    of their macho posturing and affectations. They tend to admire the male
    physique, and when no women are present, they will hip-hop dance with each
    other. Any port in a storm will do, because da' brotha's just gots ta
    have it!!! Then they pass along the virus to their wives, girlfriends, and
    family members.

    ***Here is a story about this phenomenon from "The Village Voice":

    http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0123/wright.p hp

    And for the Toronto Gay Niggers:

    http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2001-08-16/news _s tory_p.html bii