I read it, I read the whole damn thing. And the whole time I kept wondering WHY I was bothering. Hoping that, if I just stuck with it, then it would eventually reward me by becoming interesting and exciting. But it never really did.
Instead it was a dull, trudging grind, watching Raz bumble from one stupid pointless task to another.
Whoever said "any book with more than 3 made-up words in it isn't worth reading" was right.
Just read the three appendixes. They were pretty cool. Even if NS changed all the names for everything.
NS hit home runs with Cryptonomicron and Snow Crash. I really liked Diamond Age. Hell, even Zodiac was a fun read (if a bit Deux Ex at the end)... but this one fell flat and was dragged under the wheels. Bleck.
You keep using the word "you" and implying that it refers to the same group of people in each instance. I'm not sure that it really does.
I think it reads better as Some person or group in power created The WMDs case to convince the American people to invade Iraq. And when that person/group ran out of ideas on how to prove the existence of the said WMDs, somehow the reason turned to "democracy"
You can 1) load iTunes 2) search iTunes 3) buy the track from the iTunes store with one click. 4) listen to the track
Or you can 1) Load your web browser 2) search for a music store 3) buy the track 4) load iTunes 5) import the track you just bought (you can FIND it... right?) 6) listen to the track.
Wait... I was wrong. There's a HUGE difference in ease-of-use.
Bah, it's probably just the MPAA's new business model. They know the movie is a piece of crap that won't do well in the theatre... so instead they "leak" it then sue everyone that touches the torrent.
I think they should take the bleeping to the next level some time. just to point out how absurd it is. Maybe something like the following (words bleeped out in [])
Today we're trying trying to see if vinegar and newspaper clean a window as well as actual window cleaner.
Ok, here we've got [Heinz] brand [vinegar] and a big sheet of plate [glass]. We've also selected the [Business] section of the New York Times [newspaper]... Over here we've got [Parish] brand concentrated [window cleaner] diluted 4 to 1 with [water]...
Have the remainder of the segment be one long, continuous, bleep. Perhaps covering up a short rant about how stupid it is that they have to bleep stuff.
For consumer photography (as opposed to pro) all that really matters is - easy to carry around (pocket size ftw) - takes good pictures without the user having to do more than turn it on - easy to put pics on the computer/flickr - easy to get pics printed - the camera looks cute - pictures look good when viewed on a monitor and when printed at 4x6 size
A good wysiwyg lcd screen is a serious bonus, but not required.
All the rest of stuff people are bitching about in this thread (colours detected differently by ccd chips, needing more than $stupid_big_number megapix, etc) is NOT something the typical consumer-grade user cares about.
There's a HUGE difference between an audiobook and a TTS. Like comparing a kids stick figure to a masterwork painting.
TTS mispronounces words like crazy, has very poor pacing and no emotional content. Audiobooks often have sound cues and other content to make the presentation much more like someone acting out the book, rather that simply reading it.
Kids are learning machines. Give a normal (no special software) computer with a net connection to bunch of kids who have no other technology of note... and not only will they teach themselves to use it, they'll also teach themselves English because most of the good stuff online is in that language.
Here, normal means - Modern OS with windowing/mouse UI - Web browser with homepage pointing to a large portal site (like Yahoo) - Word processer - Painting/Drawing app
Yeah, terrorists with weapons overpowered all those weaponless non-terrorists. Good thing those passengers weren't armed eh?... they might have been more able to stop the dog fuckers who crashed those planes.
It's from the "Radioactive Man" episode in season 7. The Wolfcastle (McBain) character is about to be covered in acid and is given a pair of goggles to protect his eyes.
When the acid hits, he cries out that "The goggles, they do nothing!"
Slashdot Mirror
[no spoilers, just opinion]
I read it, I read the whole damn thing. And the whole time I kept wondering WHY I was bothering.
Hoping that, if I just stuck with it, then it would eventually reward me by becoming interesting and exciting. But it never really did.
Instead it was a dull, trudging grind, watching Raz bumble from one stupid pointless task to another.
Whoever said "any book with more than 3 made-up words in it isn't worth reading" was right.
Just read the three appendixes. They were pretty cool. Even if NS changed all the names for everything.
NS hit home runs with Cryptonomicron and Snow Crash. I really liked Diamond Age. Hell, even Zodiac was a fun read (if a bit Deux Ex at the end)... but this one fell flat and was dragged under the wheels. Bleck.
Also because it's way easier to knock down a wall and reuse the stones than it is to go dig up and shape stones out of a quarry
You keep using the word "you" and implying that it refers to the same group of people in each instance.
I'm not sure that it really does.
I think it reads better as
Some person or group in power created The WMDs case to convince the American people to invade Iraq. And when that person/group ran out of ideas on how to prove the existence of the said WMDs, somehow the reason turned to "democracy"
Right because it's almost the same experience...
You can
1) load iTunes
2) search iTunes
3) buy the track from the iTunes store with one click.
4) listen to the track
Or you can
1) Load your web browser
2) search for a music store
3) buy the track
4) load iTunes
5) import the track you just bought (you can FIND it... right?)
6) listen to the track.
Wait... I was wrong. There's a HUGE difference in ease-of-use.
Bah, it's probably just the MPAA's new business model. They know the movie is a piece of crap that won't do well in the theatre... so instead they "leak" it then sue everyone that touches the torrent.
(-1 cynical)
I think they should take the bleeping to the next level some time. just to point out how absurd it is. Maybe something like the following (words bleeped out in [])
Today we're trying trying to see if vinegar and newspaper clean a window as well as actual window cleaner.
Ok, here we've got [Heinz] brand [vinegar] and a big sheet of plate [glass]. We've also selected the [Business] section of the New York Times [newspaper] ... ...
Over here we've got [Parish] brand concentrated [window cleaner] diluted 4 to 1 with [water]
Have the remainder of the segment be one long, continuous, bleep. Perhaps covering up a short rant about how stupid it is that they have to bleep stuff.
Now THAT would be a fun one to see on YouTube.
Space + Swedish bikini girls?
I consider that a win-win.
Only if it's Unix. She KNOWS that.
For consumer photography (as opposed to pro) all that really matters is
- easy to carry around (pocket size ftw)
- takes good pictures without the user having to do more than turn it on
- easy to put pics on the computer/flickr
- easy to get pics printed
- the camera looks cute
- pictures look good when viewed on a monitor and when printed at 4x6 size
A good wysiwyg lcd screen is a serious bonus, but not required.
All the rest of stuff people are bitching about in this thread (colours detected differently by ccd chips, needing more than $stupid_big_number megapix, etc) is NOT something the typical consumer-grade user cares about.
If only there was some kind of forum to discuss and learn how to do that... :-)
Imagine you made a TV show about Han Solo before he and Chewie joined the Rebellion
I would much rather watch that than a new Star Trek at this point. Damn that would be cool.
There's a HUGE difference between an audiobook and a TTS. Like comparing a kids stick figure to a masterwork painting.
TTS mispronounces words like crazy, has very poor pacing and no emotional content. Audiobooks often have sound cues and other content to make the presentation much more like someone acting out the book, rather that simply reading it.
The author revised his number to 8.8 meters per second, or 20 miles per hour
http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/update/
Well, the European Swallow flies an average of 11 meters per second so that's half the answer there.
For some great analysis on the topic, read this: http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/
Yeah let's go. This place is dead anyway.
Me too. I prefer to let other people beta-test the game.
Admit it... you planted that signal to make them go away. :-D
Kids are learning machines. Give a normal (no special software) computer with a net connection to bunch of kids who have no other technology of note... and not only will they teach themselves to use it, they'll also teach themselves English because most of the good stuff online is in that language.
http://ted.org/index.php/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html
Here, normal means
- Modern OS with windowing/mouse UI
- Web browser with homepage pointing to a large portal site (like Yahoo)
- Word processer
- Painting/Drawing app
Where you have to buy two, to get one, which you don't actually get. :-D
Yeah, terrorists with weapons overpowered all those weaponless non-terrorists. Good thing those passengers weren't armed eh? ... they might have been more able to stop the dog fuckers who crashed those planes.
Personally, I prefer Q*Bert
@!#?@!
It's from the "Radioactive Man" episode in season 7. The Wolfcastle (McBain) character is about to be covered in acid and is given a pair of goggles to protect his eyes.
When the acid hits, he cries out that "The goggles, they do nothing!"
<sarcasm>But at least we've stopped GE and Westinghouse from going rouge and building their own nuclear arsenals</sarcasm>
Well, you know what they used to say... "Better dead than red"
It often seems to me that the engineering was the only thing that OLPC got right. Everything else was like a lesson in how NOT to do it.
I find it a great filtering mechanism actually. When you see the same thing showing up in multiple forums... blacklist those forums.
Like muting trolls in irc or reading /. at +3... I find it greatly increases the signal:noise ratio.