Because Wile E. Coyote has gone way higher than this guy did. Unfortunately he bashed his head through an overhanging ledge, which then broke off and fell on him when he plummeted to the canyon floor below.
The epistolary form requires the reader to put additional effort into understanding the author's intent. It died out as a viable form more than a hundred years ago as authors realized their readers didn't want to put that much effort into reading. So they came up with the "omniscient narrator." (Hey, cool, now I don't have to think at all, the author is telling the story as if he were god, so I can trust everything he says!) I doubt that people today are much more interested in putting effort into their reading than they were 100 years ago. My predicition is that the DEN will not revolutionize writing.
I wrote a short story for my son and recorded it at a local studio.
After hearing about TellTale Weekly on NPR I decided to see if they'd post my story.
They did.
They set the price to cover bandwidth costs and still give me some pocket change. It's a 20 page story which reads in just under 30 minutes. The price was set at $1.50.
I think that the biggest detractor for this medium is that most people don't realize how long it takes to read things out loud.
I read books on tape for the blind through Minnesota State Services for the blind. Even a book which is written with the intent to be read aloud takes more time than just reading through it to yourself.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw in a shameless plug for my story, with hopefully some insights into the whole process.
A sentence is basically a linear construct. But the way our brain processes a sentence is non-linear. We skip forward, we refer back. We process the sentence in this "looping" fashion until we comprehend it (or not, sometimes we just read it in linear fashion and move on to the next sentence in hopes that it will provide more context for us).
I seem to remember reading a story by Voltaire in college where the philosophers looked around for happiness and they found that the happiest person around was the dumb, ignorant washer woman.
Therefore, they determined that to be happy, they would have to give up their knowledge and become dumb, ignorant washer women.
Of course, none of them found this an acceptable course of action. I also doubt that many IT professionals would find it acceptable to give up their IT jobs to become hairdressers.
The article starts out with a statement of how terrible it would be to haul around a 70 lb pack. That was considered a light load when I was in the Special Forces. Double that capacity and you'll have something the Army might be really interested in.
Everybody is all excited about finding water on Mars because that increases the odds of finding life on Mars.
But the big excitement of finding water on Mars means that manned missions are possible. Not the one-way missions that were discussed previously here on slashdot, but the kind where we go in light and process our own fuel for the return trip.
Based on the RIAA's arguments for initiating these lawsuits, I would think that the only "proof" that they are working would be an increase in CD sales.
Classifying this guy's dissertation isn't going to prevent someone else (from anywhere on the planet) using the same tools he did to do the same things he did.
It will prevent law-abiding Americans from doing it.
When I was in Special Forces School many years ago, I had a classified class on landmine warfare. The instructor used pictures he'd gotten from Jane's Defense. By using those pictures in our class, he effectively made it illegal for any of us to purchase that copy of Jane's.
My father served on nuclear submarines for many years and loves to read Tom Clancy submarine novels. I'll never forget a few years ago when he told me that he was sworn to secrecy on many of the things that Clancy blabbed right out loud in his best-selling novels.
Classifying information is a lot like putting up a minefield. The intent is not to stop the enemy cold, just slow him down a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
Because Wile E. Coyote has gone way higher than this guy did. Unfortunately he bashed his head through an overhanging ledge, which then broke off and fell on him when he plummeted to the canyon floor below.
Sure Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it will eventually run out.
For a real long-term solution, I propose an energy model built on porn, spam, political promises, and Slashdot karma!
My point was about when the omniscient narrator edged out the epistolary novel, not about when it originated.
So you finally get a chance to put that English Lit. major to use, eh? ;)
Actually, I've never had a chance to stop using it!
The epistolary form requires the reader to put additional effort into understanding the author's intent. It died out as a viable form more than a hundred years ago as authors realized their readers didn't want to put that much effort into reading. So they came up with the "omniscient narrator." (Hey, cool, now I don't have to think at all, the author is telling the story as if he were god, so I can trust everything he says!)
I doubt that people today are much more interested in putting effort into their reading than they were 100 years ago.
My predicition is that the DEN will not revolutionize writing.
I wrote a short story for my son and recorded it at a local studio.
After hearing about TellTale Weekly on NPR I decided to see if they'd post my story.
They did.
They set the price to cover bandwidth costs and still give me some pocket change. It's a 20 page story which reads in just under 30 minutes. The price was set at $1.50.
I think that the biggest detractor for this medium is that most people don't realize how long it takes to read things out loud.
I read books on tape for the blind through Minnesota State Services for the blind. Even a book which is written with the intent to be read aloud takes more time than just reading through it to yourself.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw in a shameless plug for my story, with hopefully some insights into the whole process.
It's called Ah Sunflower
A sentence is basically a linear construct. But the way our brain processes a sentence is non-linear. We skip forward, we refer back. We process the sentence in this "looping" fashion until we comprehend it (or not, sometimes we just read it in linear fashion and move on to the next sentence in hopes that it will provide more context for us).
Here's a partial list of what I found there:
- 3 free White Castle burgers (coupon)
- 1 free candy bar from Hersheys
- 1 free biggie fry from Wendys (coupon)
- 1 free frostee from Wendys (coupon)
- Free bag of Skittles
- Free frozen dinner from Michelinas (coupon)
- Free six pack of Pepsi product (coupon)
- Free birthday meal from Denny's
- Free appetizer at TGIFridays
- Free sample of Pringles chips
Enjoy!Yeah, but at least the rovers don't have to deal with Mormons.
Oh, the Mormons don't cause near as much corrosion as the salt.
Isn't all that salt going to be bad on the rovers? I know it was hell on cars in Utah when I lived there.
Because god knows insurance is NOT a fun and exciting job...
Jim, is that you? You're missing our product development meeting!
I seem to remember reading a story by Voltaire in college where the philosophers looked around for happiness and they found that the happiest person around was the dumb, ignorant washer woman.
Therefore, they determined that to be happy, they would have to give up their knowledge and become dumb, ignorant washer women.
Of course, none of them found this an acceptable course of action. I also doubt that many IT professionals would find it acceptable to give up their IT jobs to become hairdressers.
The coolest thing I saw last year from my apartment balcony was a cop pulling over a Segway rider to give 'em a ticket.
So far this year the coolest thing I've seen was a guy sitting in a Starbucks, eating wilted salad from an old CoolWhip container.
This is all a round-about way to explain what people really mean when they say Apples are "cool".
T. F. Gumby: Are you the brain specialist?
Specialist: No, no, I am not the brain specialist. No, no, I am not... Yes. Yes I am.
The article starts out with a statement of how terrible it would be to haul around a 70 lb pack. That was considered a light load when I was in the Special Forces. Double that capacity and you'll have something the Army might be really interested in.
Everybody is all excited about finding water on Mars because that increases the odds of finding life on Mars.
But the big excitement of finding water on Mars means that manned missions are possible. Not the one-way missions that were discussed previously here on slashdot, but the kind where we go in light and process our own fuel for the return trip.
So we need competion.
And not just a friendly $1 million dollar prize to whoever gets to Mars first type competition.
We need national prestige and possibly national security to be at stake before we establish a permanent settlement on either the moon or Mars.
Of course, if the Chinese get their lunar colony up before us, that would spur us on to action.
One of the first rules of war is to secure the high ground. (Read your Heinlein.)
Other than that, where is the competition, the REAL competition going to come from?
Since the site is /. let me give you the answers to all the scintilating questions which were posed in the teaser . . .
Who cares.
One Utah judge used that "extreme remedy" already today in dismissing the IOC bribery charges.
Take this story and combine it with the analysis of the root cause of the big Northeast blackout this year.
Put a relatively small one of these babies near a power line in Ohio and you could cause a similar cascading blackout.
Now place a few of these suckers in strategically diverse locations throughout the grid and you might wreak some real havoc.
Based on the RIAA's arguments for initiating these lawsuits, I would think that the only "proof" that they are working would be an increase in CD sales.
Has that happened yet?
Wow. This Google thing sounds really cool. Wish we would've had it back during the war.
(BTW--what's an internet?)
I think that someone should propose legislation that makes it illegal for film makers to create triple-trilogies.
It should probably be a capitol offence. Or, the perpetrator should be put in a cell with an inmate who believes he's Jar-Jar Binks.
But seriously, screw Lucas.
What does outside the US mean? Can users download only from the 50 states? What about Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands?
If I'm in the military and stationed on a base in Germany, can I use the service?
Classifying this guy's dissertation isn't going to prevent someone else (from anywhere on the planet) using the same tools he did to do the same things he did.
It will prevent law-abiding Americans from doing it.
When I was in Special Forces School many years ago, I had a classified class on landmine warfare. The instructor used pictures he'd gotten from Jane's Defense. By using those pictures in our class, he effectively made it illegal for any of us to purchase that copy of Jane's.
My father served on nuclear submarines for many years and loves to read Tom Clancy submarine novels. I'll never forget a few years ago when he told me that he was sworn to secrecy on many of the things that Clancy blabbed right out loud in his best-selling novels.
Classifying information is a lot like putting up a minefield. The intent is not to stop the enemy cold, just slow him down a bit.