Re:High School sci-fi curriculum
on
Childhood's End
·
· Score: 1
I find it sort of sad that Slaughterhouse Five was left out of your curriculum. What could you possibly learn without Vonnegut.
Ironically, Vonnegut regards Childhood's End as [paraphrase] 'the finest science fiction novel he didn't write.' I read Clarke before, including the excellent Rendezvous with Rama, and the obvious 2001, but I would not have read CE without Vonnegut's recommendation.
It is also interesting to note that Clarke introduces the concept of 'Total Identification' or something like it in CE, which equates in many ways to the as yet still unrealized concept of virtual reality.
Clarke also pointed out the Y2K glitch in 1986, in the seemingly half finished but still interesting Ghost of the Grand Banks
The guy is a genuine genius. One of the things that troubles me most about him and Asimov, though, is that all their books have characters using papers, reading books and newspapers, checking files, etc. Funny that electronic data escaped them.
The real irony for me is that the Republican Party is so vehemently against 'Big Government,' but they are always the first to call in the Storm Troopers, form a special Storm Trooper committee and then a Storm Trooper Department, overseen by a subcommittee of Storm Trooper oversight. That a politicain, a public figure, finds a site about him objectionable is understandable, but to look absurd fighting it is divine.
Expanding the FEC to monitor dissenting opinions is wrong in every way. Newspapers and magazines endorse candidates all the time, but more importanly, they endorse positions on political issues. Are they the next to fall under the auspices of the FEC? The fact is that Bush has done some scary things, and said some even scarier things. But he most likely didn't do it on purpose. After all, this is the man that wants to prove that a "C average is good enough for the Presidency." He's funny on his own, and he deserves it just for running. Hubris is placing his C average above mine.*
Furthermore, what about Pat Buchanan? Everytime he speaks he does himself a disservice. Can the FEC censor him in order to maintian the integrity of his campaign? I can't believe the FEC has let Pat Buchanan turn himself into his own caricature.
I was at work when I posted the initial post in this thread. I was bored. Regardless, it is good to know that a little bit of sarcasm, obviously mislabelled as 'flamebait' inspired some genuine knowledge exchange.
Since this comment actually recieved a '4,' I am happy. And for those who didn't understand that I was kidding (though I do watch Jack van Impe...it's fun), perhaps they should have read Jonathan Swift instead of Tom Swift. I thank you for your immensely thoughtful response. I learned, which should be everybody's goal.
I don't know who reads these after they are pulled down, so I guess I may be branded a nutcase in spite of a great posting about how bootlegging video games is cool in spite of the Ten Commandments.
Revelations 8:11 talks about a star named Wormwood, which is what Chernyobl means, making waters bitter and killing people. Obviously the 1986 disaster was not the one the Bible was talking about.
I was just talking to a friend about how we were falling behind the timetable for the Apocalypse...This is just the kind of breath of fresh air we needed to prevent pushing the end of the world back another thousand years.
The real issue is the economic persecution of Brendan Fraser! Not that I need to reply to it, but this country is not governed by the Ten Commandments. They are a personal moral guide. Abortion is legal in this country. If you personally choose not to kill or steal, congrats... That's me in the corner, playing Tekken 3. Jin Kazuya Wins! And if thou could have killed Nina, thou would have.
As for the actual effect of software piracy, I freely admit two things. I am not a statistician, and I also work at a place with a lot of soldering irons lying around. But Sony has taken various steps to at least hinder people, including the 'Dino Crisis' kill, which won't even let you play a legit copy of the game if you have been chipped. Gran Turismo 2 is said to have the same 'feature.'
Furthermore, the PS2 is supposed to be a DVD player as well, which might explain why they want to encase the entire thing in a block of titanium. Imagine if there was an easy fix, and every PS2 became a spigot of bootlegged fun running right into people's heads. If you don't think bootlegging is a problem, feel free to turn to page 43 of the User's Manual and enter the third word in the second paragraph.
The real question is 'how much have CD-ROM burners hurt the videogame/software market?' A lot. From the geek perspective, not as much, because we either copy our own stuff or know somebody, but Playstation bootlegs cost $10. And those are usually copies of a rented copy, hence tons of profit for even the earliest people with questionable morals who plunked down the cash for a burner.
One of the CD's (and presumable DVD's) earliest problems is what dooms it to be readily copied. The biggest complaint about CDs was that they couldn't have the big artwork or cool liner notes like an album. They are compact by nature, and utilitarian, and therefore easily and willingly copied.
If the DVD burn trade takes off like the PS did, and the prices of the medium go down, I expect that a lot of people will buy The Mummy or whatever disposable movies come out next summer because they liked it. Then they'll have coasters for drinks forever.
As a result, retailers and the MPAA won't be able to rely on an act of caprice while waiting in the express lane at Target. Next Christmas, nobody will buy George of the Jungle 2. Brendan Fraser will suffer. When Brendan suffers, we all suffer.
The 2nd Amendment is also very specific. It unquestionably states that the militia that everybody keeps talking about must be 'well regulated.' That does NOT mean that any loser can have an AR-15. It means that if you are interested in defending your country you may feel free to arm yourself.
Sadly, most of the people in the gun lobby have no interest in defending their country. Intead they are looking to defend principles and property. And not from tyranny. People who feel the need to be armed to the teeth live in fear, and I do not understand. And sadly, this has nothing to do with naivete, but instead experience.
If the government can't manage gun control, which is something gun lovers regularly point out, then how do they expect them to regulate a militia, let alone do it well. That people don't see that guns are the problem in this equation is more troubling than actual people with guns. Do you see any murders in the military using tanks or M-16s? The largest concentration of weapons in the world (excluding Charlton Heston's sock drawer), and nothing ever happens for two reasons: having been in the military, I can assure you that it was WELL REGULATED, and that I was taught something that no pawn shop owner can teach any angry kid or postal worker.
And you know what? If you want to find out what it is, feel free to put your name on the dotted line.
Until the U.S. Government takes an active roll not in determining who gets guns, but instead to teach qualified people to respect the responsibility of owning one, we will continue to have kids and day traders go on rampages.
Wanna plan? You may keep your gun at your house, but you have to go to a real, genuine militia-affiliated shooting range to shoot it. And you get training, and you can train your 3 year old and do whatever you want. But you get no bullets unless you feel the need to hunt. All the bullets are kept in a vault at your little clubhouse. Of course that's the first place the Blue Berets will look, so keep them under the clubhouse matress with that dogearred Playboy.
While businesses have no obligation to promote or endorse a particular statement or stance, it seems to me that it should have been up to the ISP. For the FBI to conclude that a website is subversive in some way implies that the FBI has formed an opinion. The FBI is a tool used to enforce the law, not interpret those laws.
That they merely had to convince the ISP that the site is a subversive influence is troublesome for two reasons. First, I have not looked at the movie yet, and it may be drivel, like some sort of Kid Rock fantasy he had in 8th grade after his lunchtime acid session, but the FBI are not movie critics or moralists. Secondly, it is obviously a lame-ass ISP.
The fact that the FBI did not go through normal means to resolve this issue is a definite hint that the Constitution was not an issue. Instead, the FBI decided to assume the roles of the entire federal government, Siskel, Ebert AND the entire 700 Club.
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I find it sort of sad that Slaughterhouse Five was left out of your curriculum. What could you possibly learn without Vonnegut.
Ironically, Vonnegut regards Childhood's End as [paraphrase] 'the finest science fiction novel he didn't write.' I read Clarke before, including the excellent Rendezvous with Rama, and the obvious 2001, but I would not have read CE without Vonnegut's recommendation.
It is also interesting to note that Clarke introduces the concept of 'Total Identification' or something like it in CE, which equates in many ways to the as yet still unrealized concept of virtual reality.
Clarke also pointed out the Y2K glitch in 1986, in the seemingly half finished but still interesting Ghost of the Grand Banks
The guy is a genuine genius. One of the things that troubles me most about him and Asimov, though, is that all their books have characters using papers, reading books and newspapers, checking files, etc. Funny that electronic data escaped them.
The real irony for me is that the Republican Party is so vehemently against 'Big Government,' but they are always the first to call in the Storm Troopers, form a special Storm Trooper committee and then a Storm Trooper Department, overseen by a subcommittee of Storm Trooper oversight. That a politicain, a public figure, finds a site about him objectionable is understandable, but to look absurd fighting it is divine.
Expanding the FEC to monitor dissenting opinions is wrong in every way. Newspapers and magazines endorse candidates all the time, but more importanly, they endorse positions on political issues. Are they the next to fall under the auspices of the FEC? The fact is that Bush has done some scary things, and said some even scarier things. But he most likely didn't do it on purpose. After all, this is the man that wants to prove that a "C average is good enough for the Presidency." He's funny on his own, and he deserves it just for running. Hubris is placing his C average above mine.*
Furthermore, what about Pat Buchanan? Everytime he speaks he does himself a disservice. Can the FEC censor him in order to maintian the integrity of his campaign? I can't believe the FEC has let Pat Buchanan turn himself into his own caricature.
*I really had a B average.
I was at work when I posted the initial post in this thread. I was bored. Regardless, it is good to know that a little bit of sarcasm, obviously mislabelled as 'flamebait' inspired some genuine knowledge exchange.
Since this comment actually recieved a '4,' I am happy. And for those who didn't understand that I was kidding (though I do watch Jack van Impe...it's fun), perhaps they should have read Jonathan Swift instead of Tom Swift. I thank you for your immensely thoughtful response. I learned, which should be everybody's goal.
I don't know who reads these after they are pulled down, so I guess I may be branded a nutcase in spite of a great posting about how bootlegging video games is cool in spite of the Ten Commandments.
Revelations 8:11 talks about a star named Wormwood, which is what Chernyobl means, making waters bitter and killing people. Obviously the 1986 disaster was not the one the Bible was talking about.
I was just talking to a friend about how we were falling behind the timetable for the Apocalypse...This is just the kind of breath of fresh air we needed to prevent pushing the end of the world back another thousand years.
I can't wait to watch Jack van Impe next week!
The real issue is the economic persecution of Brendan Fraser! Not that I need to reply to it, but this country is not governed by the Ten Commandments. They are a personal moral guide. Abortion is legal in this country. If you personally choose not to kill or steal, congrats... That's me in the corner, playing Tekken 3. Jin Kazuya Wins! And if thou could have killed Nina, thou would have.
As for the actual effect of software piracy, I freely admit two things. I am not a statistician, and I also work at a place with a lot of soldering irons lying around. But Sony has taken various steps to at least hinder people, including the 'Dino Crisis' kill, which won't even let you play a legit copy of the game if you have been chipped. Gran Turismo 2 is said to have the same 'feature.'
Furthermore, the PS2 is supposed to be a DVD player as well, which might explain why they want to encase the entire thing in a block of titanium. Imagine if there was an easy fix, and every PS2 became a spigot of bootlegged fun running right into people's heads. If you don't think bootlegging is a problem, feel free to turn to page 43 of the User's Manual and enter the third word in the second paragraph.
The real question is 'how much have CD-ROM burners hurt the videogame/software market?' A lot. From the geek perspective, not as much, because we either copy our own stuff or know somebody, but Playstation bootlegs cost $10. And those are usually copies of a rented copy, hence tons of profit for even the earliest people with questionable morals who plunked down the cash for a burner.
One of the CD's (and presumable DVD's) earliest problems is what dooms it to be readily copied. The biggest complaint about CDs was that they couldn't have the big artwork or cool liner notes like an album. They are compact by nature, and utilitarian, and therefore easily and willingly copied.
If the DVD burn trade takes off like the PS did, and the prices of the medium go down, I expect that a lot of people will buy The Mummy or whatever disposable movies come out next summer because they liked it. Then they'll have coasters for drinks forever.
As a result, retailers and the MPAA won't be able to rely on an act of caprice while waiting in the express lane at Target. Next Christmas, nobody will buy George of the Jungle 2. Brendan Fraser will suffer. When Brendan suffers, we all suffer.
The 2nd Amendment is also very specific. It unquestionably states that the militia that everybody keeps talking about must be 'well regulated.' That does NOT mean that any loser can have an AR-15. It means that if you are interested in defending your country you may feel free to arm yourself.
Sadly, most of the people in the gun lobby have no interest in defending their country. Intead they are looking to defend principles and property. And not from tyranny. People who feel the need to be armed to the teeth live in fear, and I do not understand. And sadly, this has nothing to do with naivete, but instead experience.
If the government can't manage gun control, which is something gun lovers regularly point out, then how do they expect them to regulate a militia, let alone do it well. That people don't see that guns are the problem in this equation is more troubling than actual people with guns. Do you see any murders in the military using tanks or M-16s? The largest concentration of weapons in the world (excluding Charlton Heston's sock drawer), and nothing ever happens for two reasons: having been in the military, I can assure you that it was WELL REGULATED, and that I was taught something that no pawn shop owner can teach any angry kid or postal worker.
And you know what? If you want to find out what it is, feel free to put your name on the dotted line.
Until the U.S. Government takes an active roll not in determining who gets guns, but instead to teach qualified people to respect the responsibility of owning one, we will continue to have kids and day traders go on rampages.
Wanna plan? You may keep your gun at your house, but you have to go to a real, genuine militia-affiliated shooting range to shoot it. And you get training, and you can train your 3 year old and do whatever you want. But you get no bullets unless you feel the need to hunt. All the bullets are kept in a vault at your little clubhouse. Of course that's the first place the Blue Berets will look, so keep them under the clubhouse matress with that dogearred Playboy.
While businesses have no obligation to promote or endorse a particular statement or stance, it seems to me that it should have been up to the ISP. For the FBI to conclude that a website is subversive in some way implies that the FBI has formed an opinion. The FBI is a tool used to enforce the law, not interpret those laws.
That they merely had to convince the ISP that the site is a subversive influence is troublesome for two reasons. First, I have not looked at the movie yet, and it may be drivel, like some sort of Kid Rock fantasy he had in 8th grade after his lunchtime acid session, but the FBI are not movie critics or moralists. Secondly, it is obviously a lame-ass ISP.
The fact that the FBI did not go through normal means to resolve this issue is a definite hint that the Constitution was not an issue. Instead, the FBI decided to assume the roles of the entire federal government, Siskel, Ebert AND the entire 700 Club.