Check out this story about household objects with increased intelligence and wireless comms ability grouping up, combining into "blebs" with "surprising levels of Turingosity".
Didn't they do this in the movie version of Johnny Mnemonic?
He picked three images at random for a passcode which he would then not conciously know. Of course in the original short story, it was a spoken phrase...
Cryptonomicon References (Spoilers!?)
on
The Confusion
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Those readers who are still paying close attention towards the end of the book, and enjoyed Cryptonomicon, may catch the "foreshadowing" for some people and place names in Cryptonomicon. (The Cabal's Mr. Foot, Queen Kottakkal, etc.) If you need more help, check out the section in Cryptonomicon where Randy flies to the island the crypt will be on, and note names of the island, the hotel, the sultan, the grand wazir, etc. Allow for spelling changes over the years.
Re:Eswhatian?
on
The Confusion
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's the name of a family in the book. This is a non-spoiler bit of info that, as you have experienced, doesn't really make any sense if you haven't read the book (although the E. family is in Quicksilver). Although, it doesn't make much sense to me, either; I don't really see a parallel between Hamlet and Vrej Esphanian et. al. versus Jack Shaftoe. Anyone?
Re: duc d'Arcachon's diet
on
The Confusion
·
· Score: 1
See this for a brief explanation; follow the links there for more detail.
"Outside Eddy's window, the long ductile wings bent and rippled with dainty, tightly controlled anti-turbulence...the computer assisted wings, under spex-analysis, resembled a vibrating sawblade."
Then later:
"...zipping through midair supported by nothing but plasmajets and computation.... One software glitch somewhere, a missed decimal point, and those cleverly ductile wings would tear right the hell off."
BoingBoing reader Jesse Mazer says, "The guy who put up that Back to the Future DeLorean for auction is actually not the one who made it, and apparently he's using the creator's copyrighted photos of the car without permission, which previously resulted in a similar auction being taken down...also, according to the creator, he sold it to the guy because it had "a totally junked frame". The info is here.
Look again at the pictures - the first two are quite different in quality from the rest. Also, the latter pictures show a BTTF "branded" OUTATIME license plate, the second of the first two shows a Florida license plate (the location of the seller). I suspect the seller only has two (poor quality) pictures of his (possibly poor quality) reproduction, and has used better pictures of someone else's repro, or a studio model, to supplement.
I woke my wife up while reading in bed last night and giggling at his description of the spoon.
Now there you go. That's the kind of person that identifies with the nerdy kinds of obsessive/compulsive behavior and intense attention to minutiae that Stephenson can imbue his characters with, as well as the geeky aspects of the characters and overall story. I think people who are nerds will appreciate the highly detailed and circumlocutive descriptions and sequences. Geeks will enjoy the technical descriptions of concepts that they are not familiar with (and perhaps of those which they are). Those of us who are nerds and geeks will really get it, and see ourselves in both the instructor and the instructed when Stephenson exposits through alluding dialogue. We've been the expert, we've been the novice. We will be thankful for being made to follow these often a-mazing intimations and actually think, rather than being force-fed the point like viewers of most TV sitcoms.
There are only a few so far, and quality control (grammar & spelling) is somewhat low, but I was in contact with one of the creators today and they are getting ready to produce more, of better quality. Of course these are only a starting point, they do not go into detail about the "hard science" behind the stuff they build.
Another thought, along the same lines, would be Larry Gonick's cartoons as seen in Discover magazine. Again, mostly a good starting point for discussion or deeper research.
Bingo. I used to repair printers. People treat them (and fax machines) like they are indestructible - yank pages out too soon, yank jams out, bang on them, repeatedly run jobs when they know the thing is pulling multiple pages and jamming, etc...think Office Space:
You say that as if it were a good thing; no offense, but you sound like an Apple fanatic, the kind of person that would use the same argument against MS:
They have Media Player built in to Windows? Idiots!
You're saying it takes up less RAM because it's built in? Do you mean the RAM it takes in addition to the "built-in" portion that's always running? Is this a good thing? I'm not sure I follow your argument.
Yeah, but I didn't read that till after I watched the trailer...
+1 Insightful for your sig, BTW.
Gee, thanks! Although, oddly enough, I just changed it, and by the time I came back to this thread and saw your reply, the new sig was on my post. But I think you meant the other one...
"The big deal isn't so much that someone killed themselves and has it on tape, this happens all the time."
What does? People killing themselves? Or it being taped? Or the "tape" being released on the internet?
"It's the fact that police officers recieve no privacy training..."
Is that a fact? No police officers ever receive any "privacy training"? Because I really don't know. But rather than state my opinion as a hard fact, I'll respond like this:
I would imagine that most police officers receive some sort of instruction in civil rights, such as the right to reasonable privacy, as a part of their training. It only makes sense.
In addition, based on the article (you did read the article, didn't you?), an additional privacy issue here seems to be the idea that having so many surveillance cameras in these buildings may be an invasion of privacy. But this suicide apparently happened in the lobby; I think a camera there is essentially no different from a camera in the lobby of a bank, post office, grocery store, etc. If there were cameras in individual's apartments, or in hallways or other "public" areas such that they filmed into apartments (with open doors or window coverings), that would certainly be questionable.
The fuck it is! (Please pardon my French.)
(Possibly considered redundant, but worth repeating.)
Classist, perhaps, but this makes no mention of or reference to race. Now, if you have some preconceived notions about who lives in housing projects, then your view may give the title a racial slant. Me, I don't have a clue what race this guy is (not having seen the video, for one, and it doesn't really matter, for two).
"...the cop...most likely is too..."
Okay, now 'the cop' is racist, just because he posted the video? I don't think so. Stupid, inconsiderate, etc., perhaps, but automatically racist? No sir.
"...a total lack of respect for other people."
Now that's more like it. A lack of respect. Definitely. And it is for "other people", not "[insert race here] people".
I just don't get that there Intarweb thingie...tell the people who run it to take the tape off, and leave it off! (As if one person or small group controls all content. Other than the Illuminati, of course.)
And what's with everyone calling it a tape, anyway? Probably was at one point, but since before it was emailed the first time, it wasn't "tape" any more.
Anyone else go to the site and say, "Ooh, who's that reflected in Spidey's eye?...looks like he has something coming out of his shoulders...DOC OCK! COOL!!"
Of course, *real* fan(atic)s probably already knew this, but it was a surprise to me...
When I tried to click the link in the article, I got some crap Disney pop-up ad, and 'unicast.com' tried to send me some cookies. Since I refused their cookies, the link didn't follow. I couldn't even close the damn ad until the whole flashish animation had loaded. And of course I tried again, so I had to get it twice! Blecchh.
One major annoyance with Google lately though... Those stupid results that come back as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th result for evey search I've run in the last month+... You know, the ones that say "Find 'x' using the free 2020 search toolbar", and, "Find 'x' on smartpages.com," and "Find 'x' With Free Websearch Tools."
I've personaly never seen this - perhaps you've contracted some sort of malware that is screwing with your Google results?
Slashdot Mirror
Check out this story about household objects with increased intelligence and wireless comms ability grouping up, combining into "blebs" with "surprising levels of Turingosity".
Didn't they do this in the movie version of Johnny Mnemonic?
He picked three images at random for a passcode which he would then not conciously know. Of course in the original short story, it was a spoken phrase...
The best alternate I've heard:
Who Wants Jack Daniels?
Those readers who are still paying close attention towards the end of the book, and enjoyed Cryptonomicon, may catch the "foreshadowing" for some people and place names in Cryptonomicon. (The Cabal's Mr. Foot, Queen Kottakkal, etc.) If you need more help, check out the section in Cryptonomicon where Randy flies to the island the crypt will be on, and note names of the island, the hotel, the sultan, the grand wazir, etc. Allow for spelling changes over the years.
It's the name of a family in the book. This is a non-spoiler bit of info that, as you have experienced, doesn't really make any sense if you haven't read the book (although the E. family is in Quicksilver). Although, it doesn't make much sense to me, either; I don't really see a parallel between Hamlet and Vrej Esphanian et. al. versus Jack Shaftoe. Anyone?
See this for a brief explanation; follow the links there for more detail.
Kind of:
From Bruce Sterling's short story Deep Eddy:
Then later:
In fact, (from BoingBoing):
BoingBoing reader Jesse Mazer says, "The guy who put up that Back to the Future DeLorean for auction is actually not the one who made it, and apparently he's using the creator's copyrighted photos of the car without permission, which previously resulted in a similar auction being taken down...also, according to the creator, he sold it to the guy because it had "a totally junked frame". The info is here.
Sorry for the repost...
Look again at the pictures - the first two are quite different in quality from the rest. Also, the latter pictures show a BTTF "branded" OUTATIME license plate, the second of the first two shows a Florida license plate (the location of the seller). I suspect the seller only has two (poor quality) pictures of his (possibly poor quality) reproduction, and has used better pictures of someone else's repro, or a studio model, to supplement.
"Drives Like Fun! Saves Like Crazy!"
Maybe Panther can adopt this as theirs - although maybe just overseas...
I woke my wife up while reading in bed last night and giggling at his description of the spoon.
Now there you go. That's the kind of person that identifies with the nerdy kinds of obsessive/compulsive behavior and intense attention to minutiae that Stephenson can imbue his characters with, as well as the geeky aspects of the characters and overall story. I think people who are nerds will appreciate the highly detailed and circumlocutive descriptions and sequences. Geeks will enjoy the technical descriptions of concepts that they are not familiar with (and perhaps of those which they are). Those of us who are nerds and geeks will really get it, and see ourselves in both the instructor and the instructed when Stephenson exposits through alluding dialogue. We've been the expert, we've been the novice. We will be thankful for being made to follow these often a-mazing intimations and actually think, rather than being force-fed the point like viewers of most TV sitcoms.
Try this.
There are only a few so far, and quality control (grammar & spelling) is somewhat low, but I was in contact with one of the creators today and they are getting ready to produce more, of better quality. Of course these are only a starting point, they do not go into detail about the "hard science" behind the stuff they build.
Another thought, along the same lines, would be Larry Gonick's cartoons as seen in Discover magazine. Again, mostly a good starting point for discussion or deeper research.
Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness
Bingo. I used to repair printers. People treat them (and fax machines) like they are indestructible - yank pages out too soon, yank jams out, bang on them, repeatedly run jobs when they know the thing is pulling multiple pages and jamming, etc...think Office Space:
"PC LOAD LETTER? What the fuck does that mean?"
(Printer beating follows...)
because QuickTime is a component of Mac OS X
You say that as if it were a good thing; no offense, but you sound like an Apple fanatic, the kind of person that would use the same argument against MS:
They have Media Player built in to Windows? Idiots!
You're saying it takes up less RAM because it's built in? Do you mean the RAM it takes in addition to the "built-in" portion that's always running? Is this a good thing? I'm not sure I follow your argument.
How he's doing depends on who I am? That's a weird thing to say...how does my identity have any bearing on his general status?
Is he still dating Michelle? (I think that was her name, it has been a while...)
Easy there, ass bandit. By the way, how's your brother John doing these days?
It's in the Synopsis:
Yeah, but I didn't read that till after I watched the trailer...
+1 Insightful for your sig, BTW.
Gee, thanks! Although, oddly enough, I just changed it, and by the time I came back to this thread and saw your reply, the new sig was on my post. But I think you meant the other one...
"The big deal isn't so much that someone killed themselves and has it on tape, this happens all the time."
What does? People killing themselves? Or it being taped? Or the "tape" being released on the internet?
"It's the fact that police officers recieve no privacy training..."
Is that a fact? No police officers ever receive any "privacy training"? Because I really don't know. But rather than state my opinion as a hard fact, I'll respond like this:
I would imagine that most police officers receive some sort of instruction in civil rights, such as the right to reasonable privacy, as a part of their training. It only makes sense.
In addition, based on the article (you did read the article, didn't you?), an additional privacy issue here seems to be the idea that having so many surveillance cameras in these buildings may be an invasion of privacy. But this suicide apparently happened in the lobby; I think a camera there is essentially no different from a camera in the lobby of a bank, post office, grocery store, etc. If there were cameras in individual's apartments, or in hallways or other "public" areas such that they filmed into apartments (with open doors or window coverings), that would certainly be questionable.
The fuck it is! (Please pardon my French.)
(Possibly considered redundant, but worth repeating.)
Classist, perhaps, but this makes no mention of or reference to race. Now, if you have some preconceived notions about who lives in housing projects, then your view may give the title a racial slant. Me, I don't have a clue what race this guy is (not having seen the video, for one, and it doesn't really matter, for two).
"...the cop...most likely is too..."
Okay, now 'the cop' is racist, just because he posted the video? I don't think so. Stupid, inconsiderate, etc., perhaps, but automatically racist? No sir.
"...a total lack of respect for other people."
Now that's more like it. A lack of respect. Definitely. And it is for "other people", not "[insert race here] people".
Yeah, I caught that, too. And how about,
"I want my son's tape off that Web completely."
I just don't get that there Intarweb thingie...tell the people who run it to take the tape off, and leave it off! (As if one person or small group controls all content. Other than the Illuminati, of course.)
And what's with everyone calling it a tape, anyway? Probably was at one point, but since before it was emailed the first time, it wasn't "tape" any more.
Anyone else go to the site and say, "Ooh, who's that reflected in Spidey's eye?
Of course, *real* fan(atic)s probably already knew this, but it was a surprise to me...
Thank you for the link! Slate/MSN fucking sucks!
When I tried to click the link in the article, I got some crap Disney pop-up ad, and 'unicast.com' tried to send me some cookies. Since I refused their cookies, the link didn't follow. I couldn't even close the damn ad until the whole flashish animation had loaded. And of course I tried again, so I had to get it twice! Blecchh.
It gets worse - I submitted this last week (having seen it on boingboing.net, and not having seen it previously on Slashdot). It was rejected.
I guess when someone saw it twice, they decided it oughta be posted again...
One major annoyance with Google lately though... Those stupid results that come back as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th result for evey search I've run in the last month+... You know, the ones that say "Find 'x' using the free 2020 search toolbar", and, "Find 'x' on smartpages.com," and "Find 'x' With Free Websearch Tools."
I've personaly never seen this - perhaps you've contracted some sort of malware that is screwing with your Google results?