I just have to thrown out a few comments to the people that quit the Baroque Cycle part way through. Yeah, this series is a beast to read (I have 100 pages left, been reading since January) but it's a fantastic story with a scope that I've never seen anywhere before. Book 1 (Quicksilver) doesn't seem to do too much on it's own, but most of what happens in that book comes back to haunt you (and the characters) in book 3 (System of the World). I'm more than impressed with Stephenson's ability to see a story this big. The books occasionally do get a little too philosophical for my taste, but those scenes are relatively easy to gloss over. (Be careful doing that though, Stephenson is a master at making small details very important later.) Over-all, I thought Book 1 was decent, Book 2 was tons of fun, and Book 3 makes it all worthwhile. Maybe the ending sucks (don't know yet) but the trip has been awesome.
That said (and in an attempt to get back on-topic), I really haven't decided whether I'll attack Anathem yet. If there's anyone out there that shares my opinion of The Baroque Cycle, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.
About the end of Cryptonomicon: I was miffed when I got the end of it, too. "What happens next?" I wondered. Then I realized that somewhere before the ending, Avi (or whatever Randy's friend's name was) told Randy and Goto Dengo exactly what he wanted to do with the gold. He was going to spend as much as possible to make sure another holocaust never happens. I assume that's what happens after the last page of the book. The ending was there, but it wasn't at the end of the book. Weird.
Of course, that hasn't stopped me from wading my way through the Baroque Cycle, too. I started in January and I've got about 200 pages left in The Confusion. I figure I'll finish System of the World somewhere around Christmas....
The problem I have with UAC isn't the messages. It's the fact that Vista asks me TWICE if I'm sure I want to do what I'm trying to do. There's the annoying message that grays out the rest of the screen telling me what's happening, and then there's a message telling me I need to allow the action to happen. I like the second message. I want to know when I'm doing something that requires me to be act like an administrator and think about whether or not I really want to do what I'm trying. Fortunately, there's a simple enough registry setting (that's available through a Vista application if you have a version that's higher up the scale than Home Premium) that disables that first message, while leaving the second one intact. So right now, I've got Vista working pretty well. If Microsoft can iron out some speed and networking issues, I think I'll grow to actually like this thing.
I have to agree completely with this. This is exactly why I haven't switched from old-fashioned cable to any kind of dish. I've been using DVD recorders for about 2-3 years now. There's a cable box in the living room, but not in the bedroom (which is where I watch most TV). I have a recorder in both rooms. In the living room I have to program both the cable box and the recorder to get a show that I want. In the bedroom, the cable comes right into the recorder. I can just program the channel and time I want and the show is recorded on an 80GB hard drive. If it's a show I want to keep, I take the commercials out and burn it to a disk. Otherwise I just delete it from the hard drive when I'm done. I've loved this setup because I never have to worry about bending my schedule to match what's on TV. I just watch what I want in the middle of the night, when nothing else is on anyway. The only draw-back is that the bedroom DVD recorder doesn't get all the channels (nothing over 100) and I can't upgrade to a better television package. But I figure I don't need much more than I have right now anyway (300 channels and nothing's on, right?) so I'm going to keep my DVD recorders for as long as they will work with what Comcast delivers.
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Yup. That's true too. Baroque Cycle, Babylon 5, Wheel of Time, Otherland. I like stories that are big and convoluted.
I just have to thrown out a few comments to the people that quit the Baroque Cycle part way through. Yeah, this series is a beast to read (I have 100 pages left, been reading since January) but it's a fantastic story with a scope that I've never seen anywhere before. Book 1 (Quicksilver) doesn't seem to do too much on it's own, but most of what happens in that book comes back to haunt you (and the characters) in book 3 (System of the World). I'm more than impressed with Stephenson's ability to see a story this big. The books occasionally do get a little too philosophical for my taste, but those scenes are relatively easy to gloss over. (Be careful doing that though, Stephenson is a master at making small details very important later.) Over-all, I thought Book 1 was decent, Book 2 was tons of fun, and Book 3 makes it all worthwhile. Maybe the ending sucks (don't know yet) but the trip has been awesome.
That said (and in an attempt to get back on-topic), I really haven't decided whether I'll attack Anathem yet. If there's anyone out there that shares my opinion of The Baroque Cycle, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.
About the end of Cryptonomicon: I was miffed when I got the end of it, too. "What happens next?" I wondered. Then I realized that somewhere before the ending, Avi (or whatever Randy's friend's name was) told Randy and Goto Dengo exactly what he wanted to do with the gold. He was going to spend as much as possible to make sure another holocaust never happens. I assume that's what happens after the last page of the book. The ending was there, but it wasn't at the end of the book. Weird. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from wading my way through the Baroque Cycle, too. I started in January and I've got about 200 pages left in The Confusion. I figure I'll finish System of the World somewhere around Christmas....
The problem I have with UAC isn't the messages. It's the fact that Vista asks me TWICE if I'm sure I want to do what I'm trying to do. There's the annoying message that grays out the rest of the screen telling me what's happening, and then there's a message telling me I need to allow the action to happen. I like the second message. I want to know when I'm doing something that requires me to be act like an administrator and think about whether or not I really want to do what I'm trying. Fortunately, there's a simple enough registry setting (that's available through a Vista application if you have a version that's higher up the scale than Home Premium) that disables that first message, while leaving the second one intact. So right now, I've got Vista working pretty well. If Microsoft can iron out some speed and networking issues, I think I'll grow to actually like this thing.
I have to agree completely with this. This is exactly why I haven't switched from old-fashioned cable to any kind of dish. I've been using DVD recorders for about 2-3 years now. There's a cable box in the living room, but not in the bedroom (which is where I watch most TV). I have a recorder in both rooms. In the living room I have to program both the cable box and the recorder to get a show that I want. In the bedroom, the cable comes right into the recorder. I can just program the channel and time I want and the show is recorded on an 80GB hard drive. If it's a show I want to keep, I take the commercials out and burn it to a disk. Otherwise I just delete it from the hard drive when I'm done. I've loved this setup because I never have to worry about bending my schedule to match what's on TV. I just watch what I want in the middle of the night, when nothing else is on anyway. The only draw-back is that the bedroom DVD recorder doesn't get all the channels (nothing over 100) and I can't upgrade to a better television package. But I figure I don't need much more than I have right now anyway (300 channels and nothing's on, right?) so I'm going to keep my DVD recorders for as long as they will work with what Comcast delivers.