George R.R. Martin - A Song of Fire and Ice Amazon link
The Wheel of Time is a ten book series so far (Book 10 just came out) and the first six books are great, but the last few get a little repetitive. I'd recommend them all the same.
A Song of Fire and Ice is the hottest fantasy series out right now. It's three books so far and the fourth is out in April, I believe. It's a much more contemporary setting than most fantasy, but it's also much better. Highest recommendation.
I own this DVD player (the 631CF) and it was the smartest electronics purchase I've ever made. I think it cost something like $130 total from Amazon and it looks like they're running a rebate special now.
The player plays everything I've thrown at it, SVCD/VCD/MP3/DVD/CD, with no problems. The hard drive mod is as easy as described on area450, and it's totally worth it once you download a movie, play it, and delete it quickly and painlessly.
The other major hacks, region-free and de-macrovision, are easily applied via a simple firmware patch and are also very worthwhile.
I'd highly recommend this DVD player to just about anyone. Also, I'm completely unaffiliated, just a happy user.
About a zillion readers wrote in to tell us about all the commotion over at the Blizzard site. Following a countdown, they've announced the latest Starcraft game, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Starcraft 2.
I've been a Netflix member for a while, and unless something has changed, this is impossible. I used to have every major anime series in my queue, but they were all on Long Wait and never actually showed up at my door. A friend had Cowboy Bebop in his queue for EIGHT MONTHS before getting the first disc.
That being said, Netflix is a fantastic service and a great deal and I'd highly recommend any serious DVD watcher sign up. I've watched a lot of movies through Netflix I never would've bought/heard about otherwise.
I just finished my first year of college, and I took my CS final two days ago. The test was pretty fair, I thought, and broke down about as follows:
30% multiple choice ("What is a valid form of a call to this function?") 30% analysis ("Study this recursive implementation. Will it work as described? Why or why not?") 40% coding ("Write some code that/whatever/")
I feel that tests along these lines are the most fair. You aren't going to be shot down immediately if coding with pencil/paper isn't your strength, but it certainly helps. And I definitely agree with the posters that think coding by hand on paper is an excellent precursor to coding in the lab; the times I bothered to figure things out before I headed to the lab, I spent far less time on problems than when I sat down and started coding, fixing errors along the way.
I agree completely. I'd categorize myself as an advanced Windows user (I was the guy on my floor everyone came to when they had a problem) and I've just installed Mandrake 8.2 on a triple-boot system to play around with.
For the most part, I haven't gotten anywhere.
I had three days to goof around with it before I had to start studying for finals, and in that time, I couldn't get sound working (Mandrake installer said it recognized my soundcard, too), get it to read CD-ROM discs, or do any number of tasks that are either automated or one-click chores in Windows.
I wanted to try it out A.) Because I'm a CompSci major, I felt obligated and B.) Because I've been reading Slashdot regularly for a few years now and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So far, I haven't been impressed. And this is Mandrake, supposedly one of the easiest installations to use.:)
All I'm saying is, I'm the guy people come to when they need help with computer things (maybe I should add a caveat that I only do Windows now...) and I couldn't honestly recommend a Lindows-based PC to anyone, because I might even have trouble using it.
Placing an image file named mozilla.bmp in the same directory as mozilla.exe doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone else have trouble getting this to work?
I realize this is a very trivial issue, but does anyone know if they're planning to enable the Back/Forward buttons on my mouse for use in Mozilla? I recently switched over from using IE full-time (I really like the tabbed browsing), but this is the only real caveat I have, despite it not being a really big deal.
Any help or info anyone could give would be appreciated. Thanks.
Nothing is *wrong* with Rowling, per se. I've read and enjoyed all four of the books so far, and I'm anxiously awaiting the fifth. But I was also one of the people who was outraged when she won. Why?
A quick perusal of the list of winners reveals an easy answer. Sure, the Potter books are good, but mostly because, as you said, they're easily accessable. Keeping the list of past winners in mind, giving her the award because she's "technically sound" is crap. Just because someone can manage to tell a decent story doesn't mean they belong on the same list as the forefathers like Clarke, Niven, Heinlein, Dick, and Asimov, or even with some of the newer authors like Gibson or Vinge.
Check the list of winners at Amazon.com and see if it doesn't put her winning in a new light. Personally, this year, I'd like to see Gaiman win, just for overall contribution to the genre.
And as an aside, yes, The Hobbit was written for children, and the differences between it and the full trilogy, for which Tolkien is better known, are astounding. The full trilogy deals with issues of philosophy and delves far deeper into the ideas of good vs. evil than does The Hobbit.
They don't pay extra for them in the U.S. I used to work at one and we frequently ordered new books from Amazon, as a matter of fact. They (this was roughly two years ago) gave libraries a nice discount on top of the discount they already gave for anyone who happened to buy the book.
Actually, I was a Musicland employee at the time of the acquisition. The reason we were acquired wasn't so much because we were competition, but because Best Buy only had stores in bigger cities. Musicland has a branch called On Cue (this is where I was employed) that was especially targeted at smaller towns; this was a (the) main reason behind the purchase. Also, our warehousing techniques were much more efficient than theirs and they wanted a part of that.
At the same time they bought us, they bought two other companies whose names elude me (one was a dealer in ultra-high-tech home stereo systems). Neither of these were direct competitors with Best Buy (they didn't/don't offer stereo equipment on the level that the company they purchased does).
So they weren't really acquiring solely based on competition, but I imagine that was a part of it. Probably off topic, but just a bit of insight .
Slashdot Mirror
If you're into fantasy stuff like Weis/Hickman, I'd recommend the following series:
Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time
Amazon link
George R.R. Martin - A Song of Fire and Ice
Amazon link
The Wheel of Time is a ten book series so far (Book 10 just came out) and the first six books are great, but the last few get a little repetitive. I'd recommend them all the same.
A Song of Fire and Ice is the hottest fantasy series out right now. It's three books so far and the fourth is out in April, I believe. It's a much more contemporary setting than most fantasy, but it's also much better. Highest recommendation.
Hope this helps a little.
I own this DVD player (the 631CF) and it was the smartest electronics purchase I've ever made. I think it cost something like $130 total from Amazon and it looks like they're running a rebate special now. The player plays everything I've thrown at it, SVCD/VCD/MP3/DVD/CD, with no problems. The hard drive mod is as easy as described on area450, and it's totally worth it once you download a movie, play it, and delete it quickly and painlessly. The other major hacks, region-free and de-macrovision, are easily applied via a simple firmware patch and are also very worthwhile. I'd highly recommend this DVD player to just about anyone. Also, I'm completely unaffiliated, just a happy user.
Speaking of Microsoft throwing cash around...
- 10 -23
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000
About a zillion readers wrote in to tell us about all the commotion over at the Blizzard site. Following a countdown, they've announced the latest Starcraft game, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Starcraft 2.
Starcraft 2?!? Where?!?
I don't see any review at that IGN link. It's their first impressions of the final version.
There is a difference.
I've been a Netflix member for a while, and unless something has changed, this is impossible. I used to have every major anime series in my queue, but they were all on Long Wait and never actually showed up at my door. A friend had Cowboy Bebop in his queue for EIGHT MONTHS before getting the first disc.
That being said, Netflix is a fantastic service and a great deal and I'd highly recommend any serious DVD watcher sign up. I've watched a lot of movies through Netflix I never would've bought/heard about otherwise.
I just finished my first year of college, and I took my CS final two days ago. The test was pretty fair, I thought, and broke down about as follows:
/whatever/")
30% multiple choice ("What is a valid form of a call to this function?")
30% analysis ("Study this recursive implementation. Will it work as described? Why or why not?")
40% coding ("Write some code that
I feel that tests along these lines are the most fair. You aren't going to be shot down immediately if coding with pencil/paper isn't your strength, but it certainly helps. And I definitely agree with the posters that think coding by hand on paper is an excellent precursor to coding in the lab; the times I bothered to figure things out before I headed to the lab, I spent far less time on problems than when I sat down and started coding, fixing errors along the way.
I agree completely. I'd categorize myself as an advanced Windows user (I was the guy on my floor everyone came to when they had a problem) and I've just installed Mandrake 8.2 on a triple-boot system to play around with.
:)
For the most part, I haven't gotten anywhere.
I had three days to goof around with it before I had to start studying for finals, and in that time, I couldn't get sound working (Mandrake installer said it recognized my soundcard, too), get it to read CD-ROM discs, or do any number of tasks that are either automated or one-click chores in Windows.
I wanted to try it out A.) Because I'm a CompSci major, I felt obligated and B.) Because I've been reading Slashdot regularly for a few years now and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So far, I haven't been impressed. And this is Mandrake, supposedly one of the easiest installations to use.
All I'm saying is, I'm the guy people come to when they need help with computer things (maybe I should add a caveat that I only do Windows now...) and I couldn't honestly recommend a Lindows-based PC to anyone, because I might even have trouble using it.
Placing an image file named mozilla.bmp in the same directory as mozilla.exe doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone else have trouble getting this to work?
I realize this is a very trivial issue, but does anyone know if they're planning to enable the Back/Forward buttons on my mouse for use in Mozilla? I recently switched over from using IE full-time (I really like the tabbed browsing), but this is the only real caveat I have, despite it not being a really big deal.
Any help or info anyone could give would be appreciated. Thanks.
Nothing is *wrong* with Rowling, per se. I've read and enjoyed all four of the books so far, and I'm anxiously awaiting the fifth. But I was also one of the people who was outraged when she won. Why?
A quick perusal of the list of winners reveals an easy answer. Sure, the Potter books are good, but mostly because, as you said, they're easily accessable. Keeping the list of past winners in mind, giving her the award because she's "technically sound" is crap. Just because someone can manage to tell a decent story doesn't mean they belong on the same list as the forefathers like Clarke, Niven, Heinlein, Dick, and Asimov, or even with some of the newer authors like Gibson or Vinge.
Check the list of winners at Amazon.com and see if it doesn't put her winning in a new light. Personally, this year, I'd like to see Gaiman win, just for overall contribution to the genre.
And as an aside, yes, The Hobbit was written for children, and the differences between it and the full trilogy, for which Tolkien is better known, are astounding. The full trilogy deals with issues of philosophy and delves far deeper into the ideas of good vs. evil than does The Hobbit.
Mark
They don't pay extra for them in the U.S. I used to work at one and we frequently ordered new books from Amazon, as a matter of fact. They (this was roughly two years ago) gave libraries a nice discount on top of the discount they already gave for anyone who happened to buy the book.
Actually, I was a Musicland employee at the time of the acquisition. The reason we were acquired wasn't so much because we were competition, but because Best Buy only had stores in bigger cities. Musicland has a branch called On Cue (this is where I was employed) that was especially targeted at smaller towns; this was a (the) main reason behind the purchase. Also, our warehousing techniques were much more efficient than theirs and they wanted a part of that.
At the same time they bought us, they bought two other companies whose names elude me (one was a dealer in ultra-high-tech home stereo systems). Neither of these were direct competitors with Best Buy (they didn't/don't offer stereo equipment on the level that the company they purchased does).
So they weren't really acquiring solely based on competition, but I imagine that was a part of it. Probably off topic, but just a bit of insight .