Goddamn, I wish someone would invent a moderation system for/. that actually worked.
I just wasted several minutes of my life reading through weak jokes, arguments and trolling. The only insightful comment on the page is yours. If only there was a way to move comments like this to the top, rather than just rewarding the people who happen to post first.
I'm not sure what this says about Taiwan, but the figures seem to suggest that almost as many people die there as a result of accidents with guns as are killed in firearm-related homicides.
Of course, their total firearm homicide per capita rate is less than 1/20th of that in the United States, so perhaps the figures just show that no-one in Taiwan is quite sure how to use a gun.
That's an old wive's tale. If it was a wise tale, it would most likely be true.
Re:Halfway through the book, and ...
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
I totally agree here. The only book of Stephenson's I unreservedly enjoyed was The Diamond Age. I read it years ago, and it instantly became one of my favourite books of all time. It drew me in so much that even the "weak ending" that everyone complains about seemed to fit perfectly.
Since then I have read Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash and Anathem, and while I enjoyed them, I found each of them flawed in its own way, and none of them lived up to my memory of Diamond Age.
I'd disagree with the reviewer that Anathem was dragged down by its neologisms or its sheer length; both of these things are essential to the book. I found the story gripping, and loved the way he was unafraid to weave a wide range of philosophical concepts into the plot.
Where the book fell down for me, I think, is the characters. The author seemed to concentrate on ideas to the expense of characterisation. I never found myself caring about Erasmas and the other fraas in the way I did about the protagonists of Diamond Age, or even Cryptonomicon.
Now I'm nervous about going back and reading Diamond Age again, in case I find it's not as good as I remember.
Re:Crap, I just learned the words...
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
Gardan's Steelyard is not so much a new idea as a reframing of Occam's Razor. Most of the ideas in the book come from elsewhere, Stephenson's genius is in weaving them so well into the plot of his story. You can read what he has to say about the ideas in the story at the book's acknowledgements page.
I take your point about some of the poorly designed questions, and I salute your perfect score, but I have to ask: do you guys really elect your dogcatchers?
As a UK citizen, who does not consider himself particularly knowledgeable regarding either the United States or history in general, I answered 25 out of the 33 questions correctly (76%).
As seems traditional in multiple-choice tests, several of the answers could be deduced by common sense alone; one was given away entirely by an earlier question. Of the remainder, about half seemed like common knowledge; I made educated guesses on the remainder.
It would worry me if my country were being run by people less knowledgeable than me. Not that I'm implying our elected officials would do any better in a similar test... quite the opposite, I fear.
Perhaps Microsoft could let Apple know what their accountants are doing that Apple's cant figure out.
Yeah, because Microsoft are well known for giving away stuff for free, rather than charging full price for what should basically be a patch (cough, Windows 7).
Point taken, however, that Apple are even worse for doing this, and kudos to Microsoft in this particular case for giving us something for free.
Has anyone else actually seen the use of the word "emerging" in this context before? Surely it's an "emergent" property? I certainly can't find any examples of the use of "emerging" in this way via a quick google. Did Kurzweil use entirely the wrong word?
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, Brian Gordon.
>examine me
You are deathly pale. The grues are unlikely to be interested.
Just slap a "Beta" on it and move on, that's the Google way, right?
No, that's what they do when it's finished.
It's not dead, it's just resting.
What do lawyer zombies say?
Moneeeeey!
What do physicist zombies say?
Braaaanes!!!
Goddamn, I wish someone would invent a moderation system for /. that actually worked.
I just wasted several minutes of my life reading through weak jokes, arguments and trolling. The only insightful comment on the page is yours. If only there was a way to move comments like this to the top, rather than just rewarding the people who happen to post first.
Do programmers also loose karma for being fast and lose with their spelling?
Philosophically Al Gore opposed climate change... but his electricity bill would tell you a different story.
But what the hell, he's done more to fight climate change than I ever have. I've heard Jefferson did quite a good job over slavery too.
I'm not sure what this says about Taiwan, but the figures seem to suggest that almost as many people die there as a result of accidents with guns as are killed in firearm-related homicides.
Of course, their total firearm homicide per capita rate is less than 1/20th of that in the United States, so perhaps the figures just show that no-one in Taiwan is quite sure how to use a gun.
Hehe, well spotted, thanks.
"What are we going to do today, Brin?"
"Same thing we do every day, Larry... try and take over the world!"
There, fixed that for ya. Hold on, I actually did fix that for ya! Weird.
It's just an old wise tale
That's an old wive's tale. If it was a wise tale, it would most likely be true.
I totally agree here. The only book of Stephenson's I unreservedly enjoyed was The Diamond Age. I read it years ago, and it instantly became one of my favourite books of all time. It drew me in so much that even the "weak ending" that everyone complains about seemed to fit perfectly.
Since then I have read Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash and Anathem, and while I enjoyed them, I found each of them flawed in its own way, and none of them lived up to my memory of Diamond Age.
I'd disagree with the reviewer that Anathem was dragged down by its neologisms or its sheer length; both of these things are essential to the book. I found the story gripping, and loved the way he was unafraid to weave a wide range of philosophical concepts into the plot.
Where the book fell down for me, I think, is the characters. The author seemed to concentrate on ideas to the expense of characterisation. I never found myself caring about Erasmas and the other fraas in the way I did about the protagonists of Diamond Age, or even Cryptonomicon.
Now I'm nervous about going back and reading Diamond Age again, in case I find it's not as good as I remember.
Gardan's Steelyard is not so much a new idea as a reframing of Occam's Razor. Most of the ideas in the book come from elsewhere, Stephenson's genius is in weaving them so well into the plot of his story. You can read what he has to say about the ideas in the story at the book's acknowledgements page.
I'm pretty sure that I'd be happy to punch anybody who smiled at me and tried to sell me a ring-tone directly in the face.
Me too; a ring-tone directly in the face would be most inconvenient.
That's nothing. There appear to have been at least 323,000 cases of a collision between a land rover and a mouse.
540,000 +safari +crashes -mouse
To the best of my knowledge, neither can a cat.
I take your point about some of the poorly designed questions, and I salute your perfect score, but I have to ask: do you guys really elect your dogcatchers?
As a UK citizen, who does not consider himself particularly knowledgeable regarding either the United States or history in general, I answered 25 out of the 33 questions correctly (76%).
As seems traditional in multiple-choice tests, several of the answers could be deduced by common sense alone; one was given away entirely by an earlier question. Of the remainder, about half seemed like common knowledge; I made educated guesses on the remainder.
It would worry me if my country were being run by people less knowledgeable than me. Not that I'm implying our elected officials would do any better in a similar test... quite the opposite, I fear.
New Scientist has a slightly more technical look at the accomplishment.
When I read a sentence like that, I begin to wonder if maybe I'm getting my science news from the wrong source.
And shut down slashdot? - Never!!!
It's okay, Vint Cerf's wonderful new Interplanetary Internet will allow everyone on the ship to carry on posting during the journey.
I wonder who'll get the frist post from interplanetary space?
I always tend to class anyone with a shred of style as a geek rather than a nerd - maybe I read too much into the distinction between the two?
Perhaps Microsoft could let Apple know what their accountants are doing that Apple's cant figure out.
Yeah, because Microsoft are well known for giving away stuff for free, rather than charging full price for what should basically be a patch (cough, Windows 7).
Point taken, however, that Apple are even worse for doing this, and kudos to Microsoft in this particular case for giving us something for free.
Has anyone else actually seen the use of the word "emerging" in this context before? Surely it's an "emergent" property? I certainly can't find any examples of the use of "emerging" in this way via a quick google. Did Kurzweil use entirely the wrong word?