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User: Strange_Attractor

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Comments · 107

  1. Re:James P Hogan on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    I always point to "Inherit the Stars" as a great example of the way science and the scientific method really work. It's a blast, too.

  2. Re:Subjectivity on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    Verhoeven's Starship Troopers was only dullwitted if you ignore its entire point - a venomous satire of propaganda and groupthink.

  3. Re:I'm panicking! on Google+ Already At 10 Million Users · · Score: 1

    Can someone hook me up, please? steve(AT)raimis(DOT)com TIA!

  4. Solving Boltzmann, the New Way... on Boltzmann Equation Solved, the New Way · · Score: 1

    I wanna earn $14 - the hard way!

  5. Re:what kind of word is this? on The Areas of My Expertise · · Score: 1

    You should check out the Austin Lounge Lizards' song "Big Rio Grande River" (Amazon link, has audio samples if you use one of the supported players), just about the last word on this sort of repetitious, redundant, reiterated, and redundant circumlocution.

    Oh, and "Grunge Song" on the same album (Never an Adult Moment) is pretty great, too.

  6. Sample Message on Video Tombstones · · Score: 1

    "Hi, I'm dead right now and can't come to the phone. Ever"

  7. Trend???? on Genetic Discrimination in the IT Workplace · · Score: 1

    in what could be a troubling trend, one employer...

    One data point - yep, that could make it a trend.

  8. Re:Sure there is... on Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered · · Score: 1

    Nothing beats the lunch buffet at Pizza Nut!

  9. Re:Could be ok on Keystroke Logging Declared Illegal in Alberta · · Score: 3, Funny

    the toilet belongs to my company, and I don't want them watching me pinch a loaf

    So, you ARE against monitoring vis a vis logging!

  10. Big up to Cory Doctorow on Coming Soon, Roadcasting · · Score: 1

    Development of this very idea is a plot point in Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow. He has a turnpike waive the toll for any driver hosting more than 20K songs (details may be approximate). Apparently, science is now catching up with SF in less than 2 years - nice!

  11. Re:Potentially Interesting Finds, and a correction on Breakthrough Decodes 'Classical Holy Grail' · · Score: 1

    I was exposed to this idea around the age of 9 (actually, I found out while getting the URL that I must've been 17, based on the publication date), when I happened across "Motel of the Mysteries by David Macauley (writer/illustrator of The Way Things Work) - it's about an archeologist 200 years from now trying to understand the remains of a Holiday Inn. The strip of paper sealing the toilet bowl was only part of the elaborate religious ritual he "reconstructs".

  12. Re:Mistaking his wife for a hat on Mapping the Mind · · Score: 1

    A bit OT, but I always really liked the National Lampoon parody, "The Man Who Mistook His Ass for a Hole in the Ground".

  13. TV's Wonder Wom(e)n on Joss Whedon to Write/Direct Wonder Woman · · Score: 1

    Actually, I was disappointed with Lynda Carter as WW. Now Cathy Lee Crosby, who played her in the TV movie pilot - THAT was a hottie!!!
    I know, I'm really showing my age...

  14. Producer Joel Sliver? on Joss Whedon to Write/Direct Wonder Woman · · Score: 1

    Creator of Blade and Razor's Edge, no doubt.
    Did he create that Sharon Stone/x Baldwin brother crapfest Sliver as an autobiography?

  15. Re:Appropriate use on GPS-Enabled Criminals In Massachusetts · · Score: 1

    Maybe it was in Total Recall, too (tho I don't think so), but that's the central premise of a TV movie called Wedlock, starring Rutger Hauer and Mimi Rogers.

  16. Re:What?? The 24th is my birthday!! on Monday, January 24th to be Worst Day of the Year · · Score: 1

    Me too. Actually, getting presents has always cheered me up on 1/24. Add to that my 3-week-old first child, and Monday the 24th is going to be way sweet for me!!

  17. Beat it into the ground... on Ask Wil Wheaton Anything (Part Deux) · · Score: 1

    0s or 1s?

  18. Just me? on Hannu H. Kari Gives The Internet 2 More Years · · Score: 4, Funny
    When I read the title of this post, I thought it was referring to someone who'd taken as his alias the John Lovitz character from SNL:
    On Hershel, on Moishe, on Schlomo...

    Says Hannu K. Hari, eight days a year

  19. Re:an email about KFC i got yesterday:) on Genetically-Modified Everything · · Score: 1
    Oh, come on - this has been around (and thoroughly debunked for years). 10 seconds on Snopes and I found this page, last updated in 2000. A few selected extracts:

    Versions of this legend have been circulating for several years now, as indicated by the e-mail's reference to Kentucky Fried Chicken's "recent" name change, an event that occurred back in 1991. Earlier versions of the tale featured six-legged chickens ("How do they taste?" "Dunno; no one's ever been able to catch one") or birds so plumped up by chemicals that their gigantic breasts made it impossible for them to keep their balance well enough to walk...

    Nothing like the Frankensteinian laboratory scenario described here is taking place, however. Raising chickens that have been genetically modified so that they are born without beaks, feathers, or feet, or with additional legs is still beyond the reach of modern science for the time being (although selective breeding has been used to enhance some features, such as breast size), nor did the University of New Hampshire perform a "study of KFC." As well, the claims about Kentucky Fried Chicken's name change are easily belied...

    Links on KFC's web site (such as the About KFC page and the KFC Nutrition Facts pages) clearly describe their product as "chicken" numerous times, something they could hardly get away with if the government were prohibiting them from using that word. And the KFC web site can also be reached through the domain name kentuckyfriedchicken.com.

    Last updated: 9 October 2000
    The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.htm

  20. Re:Add to the question about book endings!!! on Ask Neal Stephenson · · Score: 1

    For the record, only the last paragraph was mine. I was quoting most of what you criticize here (though I take your point, I'd still like some substantial response to this issue. When reading Snow Crash and Diamond Age especially, I felt like I was racing 200mph and suddenly slammed into a wall).

  21. Add to the question about book endings!!! on Ask Neal Stephenson · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Also, I'd asked you this in person when you had given a talk at Georgia Tech - about the endings of your books, to which you had replied that you were quite happy with them the way they were.

    But -- if you could have ended them differently, what kind of alternate endings do you think you would have come up with?

    Moderators and editors - PLEASE add this thought to the highly-moderated question earlier about Neal's endings. I'd rather hear this followup, rather than waste one of of 10-12 questions on a reiteration of "I'm happy with them the way they are".

  22. Re:why i'll buy into Sirius. on Stern Will Jump To Sirius In 2006 · · Score: 1

    Well, I'm one who alternates listening to NPR and Howard Stern, and I'll bet I own a Sirius setup by the end of 2005. BTW, Bob Edwards now has his own Sirius show, too.

  23. Re:Already predicted in this Wired Mag article: on Stern Will Jump To Sirius In 2006 · · Score: 1

    I think the smaller subscriber number is a big reason Stern chose Sirius - the audience he'll bring will be an enormous impact there, which will give him far more clout (and bragging rights). The market's in its infancy - going with the big guy now would be like hedging his bet. He'll rule Sirius if/when he quadruples (or more...) their audience. All the more so if Sirius becomes the market leader and he can claim credit.

  24. Detroit non-mainstream theaters on The Long Tail · · Score: 1

    Just a li'l nitpick - the Maple's in Birmingham, not Troy. I can't think of any alternative theater venues in Troy. Closest would be the 20+ years extinct Somerset Theater (I saw Stooges and Little Rascal midnite marathons there), but even that was a mainstream place.
    Actually, several places in the Detroit area do cover more indie fare - the Main in Royal Oak (fortunately, THE closest movie place to my house) is also in the Landmark chain now (bought up along with the Maple), there're a few screens at the new Birmingham theater, and there's always the Detroit Film Theater at the DIA (more than 25 years and going strong).

  25. Cheap irony alert on Air Force Researching Antimatter Weapons · · Score: 4, Funny
    The end of the article:

    Besides, Lynn is enthusiastic about antimatter because he believes it could propel futuristic space rockets. "I think," he said, "we need to get off this planet, because I'm afraid we're going to destroy it."
    Maybe if we lay off building the antimatter bombs...