Read _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and _Job: A Comedy of Justice_ before you go to High School.
My folks had a copy of SiaSL, but it was missing the first sixty pages. I didn't read it until my freshman year of college, whereupon I scarfed up (into my brain, folks, not my gut) the rest of Heinlein. Really, really wonder what would have been different if I'd absorbed "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" in my formative years.
There. That's what I'd tell my twelve year old self. Read Heinlein.
Re:In this Post-Columbine...
on
Half Mast
·
· Score: 1
I can't help but think that if I didn't get a coincidental frosty-piss't, I wouldn't have gotten slapped with 'offtopic'. Maybe there's an automatic '-1, Offtopic' for any fr1sty ps0ts...
In this Post-Columbine...
on
Half Mast
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
ObKatz:
In this Post-Columbine world, geeks combine to stand against the sling and arrows of our post-9/11 society. Now, more than ever, their little post-Columbia hearts have turned away from the obsolete symbols of our authority in this post-Taliban world.
What is up with the 'controversy'? I remember being shown the original GTA3, where you could pick up the hooker, get the blowjob/health, beat the shit out of her and take your money back. Yet suddenly Vice City is appearing in various media, and is a Joe Lieberman target. What happened? Did someone troll or astroturf all the parents' groups to drum up controversy?
The problem with this article is that it ignores two things. First, it depends mostly on the statments of Howard Teicher, who is a known liar (and even perjured himself in a sworn affidavit, where he made most of these claims), and second, it mentions NSDD-114 out of context but ignores the contents of NSDD-139, which made "unambiguous" the US refusal to support the Iraqi chemical & biological weapons programs.
Wow! Impressive claims, especially when made against the Post, who are, y'know, an actual newspaper. You'll pardon me if I give them a little more credence than some blowhard on Slashdot who can't be bothered to find references for his opinions.
So, can you back any of that up, or are you just making it up as you go along?
Okay, no library here, and I don't think I can acquire and read the referenced book before the discussion gets archived. So, I'm going to ask you to summarize.
What about the Chines inventing gunpowder, clockwork, beaurocracy while the Europeans were sitting around in caves? What about the entire middle ages in Europe, which were essentially a thousand years of degeneracy and decline?
And how come the middle east is "The West" when it's the cradle of civilization, but "The East" when you want to invade?
After the Enlightenment, there were civilizations more advanced than Europe? Really? I know that `advanced' is the squishiest of terms, but I'm really wondering which ones, since the rest of the world was still stuck with feudalism or tribalism, and didn't have anything like science going on...
It's the coat. It's definitely the coat. Note the return of the badass Spike in 5x07, "Fool For Love", where you see him killing the other two slayers and actually getting the coat.
This is why Star Trek: TNG is so popular in reruns; episodes can be shown in any order, and they make perfect sense. I remember watching it growing up, catching every episode religiously... but I don't think it would have really mattered if I hadn't. The show had tremendous moments ("Q Who", "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light", "Yesterday's Enterprise", etc etc), but didn't do the continuity schtick. Yet the characters slowly but surely evolved over the seasons.
Was the lack of continuity that much of a hindrance?
I think the dark thing started with 2x13--14, "Surprise"/"Innocence", when Angel goes evil. None of the major characters had had any sort of real trouble before that (closest thing was in 2x08, "Lie to Me"), and suddenly we have betrayal, pain and that blue dude getting blown up with a rocket launcher.
Then comes 2x17, "Passion", and the show sets its standard way, way above normal TV. Damn straight. "Sorry, Jenny... this is where you get off."
I was merciless to my sister back during the first two seasons. Oh, I was a mean, mean brother, refusing to watch any episodes and complaining that it was crap when I saw thirty seconds of a single ep.
Then came #buffy-unlimited on EFNet and the year or so it took me to watch all of it. Wow. My sister still reminds me that I was always a naysayer, but my doubts have seriously been put to rest at this point.
"Acting isn't about behaving, it's about hiding. The audience wants to find you, strip you naked and eat you alive---so hide."
Let's hope the series finale gives us everything we wish for from these characters. Although, seriously, it'll be damned hard to beat 4x22, "Restless". We'll see.
Wow, seven *is* the magic number. Star Trek: TNG had seven seasons. DS9 had seven seasons. Even Voyager had seven seasons. Now Buffy. That's kind of frightening.
There are always exceptions, of course. Star Trek: TOS is in syndication still, despite only having three seasons. Of course, those were 29/26/24 episodes, unlike the twenty-ep seasons we're stuck with now. It's almost like four seasons of modern TV... not even counting the fact that each ep was fifty-two or fifty-five minutes long instead of forty-two.
I suppose it makes sense, though it puts a mean limitation on the medium. Then again, what shows haven't sucked after seven years? I haven't gotten to the last two seasons of X-Files, but I heard it got pretty dismal in the last two years...
On the other hand, think of the social change that people in my parents' generation accomplished from 1960 to 1980. Civil rights, the second wave of feminism, gay people being able to live openly, safe and legal abortion. These aren't little things, especially when you consider what happened between 1980 and 2000---not much, especially compared to the previous two decades.
I really think that Reagan's election in 1980 and the rise of the Religious Right was the death knell for the will to change that had marked the nation for those twenty years. I wasn't there, but it stands out as a turning point when you look at it.
Kurzweil didn't start this; he has his own take on the Singularity thing which is a subtle but important departure from Vinge's vision. Kurzweil sees humanity as being empowered and enlightned by the Singularity; Vinge sees it as being replaced.
But hey, nothing like an insta-attack on someone who I wasn't even referencing...
Either something will have gotten there, or nothing ever will. By two million years from now, humanity will have either destroyed itself or achieved the Singularity.
I dunno... there's a kind of loss in not appreciating Heinlein any more because of 'maturity', the same kind of loss that makes one stop writing poetry, or stop writing a journal, or ceasing to be an activist.
I always hope I can keep a little bit of ridiculous juvenile immaturity around. 'Cause without that, we just turn into our parents.
Write once, blue-screen anywhere. Is that the best you can come up with?! Even when faced with MS's abandonment of MIPS, PPC and Alpha with NT4? What about the Linux folks beating them to the punch with ia64 support? Come on, there are a hundred actual reasons why MS's porting strategy/porting support is a joke.
See, the Hummer H2 gets 10/12 mpg. That's not a lot. That's shitty mileage. 22 mpg is not shitty, it's rather middlin'.
I drive a Ford Escort wagon; I get about 27 mpg. It's not a Honda Civic---I'm a very tall and lanky fellow---but it's a responsible kind of car to drive; I can haul a lot of stuff in it too. Everyone remember when families could get away with station wagons? Then they needed minivans and now SUVs. What's changed? Did everyone adopt sixteen new kids?
(Well, there's also (a) the fact that I couldn't afford a Hummer H2, and (b) I couldn't afford to put gas in one if I had it.)
*sigh*. Yeah, well, maybe some marketing exec weenie asked why the only girl in the group didn't have any superpowers. (Not noticing that she leads the group.)
I suppose we'll have some other guy put in charge of the group. Mina will be reduced to just another superpowered caricature, and stripped of that "take no shit from anyone, be it an opium-addicted Quartermain or Hyde himself" thing she had going.
We all have to get used to the fact that the fans alone can't support a big-budget production. A TV series, maybe, but a SFX movie, never. The flick must then appeal to anyone who walks into the theater and says "hey, that's got an 'X' in it! I sure hope their mutants are as cool as the 'X-Men'!".
Somehow, knowing that doesn't make me any less disappointed in seeing a clever and original book dumbed down like this.
Slashdot Mirror
Read _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and _Job: A Comedy of Justice_ before you go to High School.
My folks had a copy of SiaSL, but it was missing the first sixty pages. I didn't read it until my freshman year of college, whereupon I scarfed up (into my brain, folks, not my gut) the rest of Heinlein. Really, really wonder what would have been different if I'd absorbed "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" in my formative years.
There. That's what I'd tell my twelve year old self. Read Heinlein.
--grendel drago
The Gobi, you mean?
I can't help but think that if I didn't get a coincidental frosty-piss't, I wouldn't have gotten slapped with 'offtopic'. Maybe there's an automatic '-1, Offtopic' for any fr1sty ps0ts...
ObKatz:
In this Post-Columbine world, geeks combine to stand against the sling and arrows of our post-9/11 society. Now, more than ever, their little post-Columbia hearts have turned away from the obsolete symbols of our authority in this post-Taliban world.
--grendel drago
What is up with the 'controversy'? I remember being shown the original GTA3, where you could pick up the hooker, get the blowjob/health, beat the shit out of her and take your money back. Yet suddenly Vice City is appearing in various media, and is a Joe Lieberman target. What happened? Did someone troll or astroturf all the parents' groups to drum up controversy?
--grendel drago
The problem with this article is that it ignores two things. First, it depends mostly on the statments of Howard Teicher, who is a known liar (and even perjured himself in a sworn affidavit, where he made most of these claims), and second, it mentions NSDD-114 out of context but ignores the contents of NSDD-139, which made "unambiguous" the US refusal to support the Iraqi chemical & biological weapons programs.
Wow! Impressive claims, especially when made against the Post, who are, y'know, an actual newspaper. You'll pardon me if I give them a little more credence than some blowhard on Slashdot who can't be bothered to find references for his opinions.
So, can you back any of that up, or are you just making it up as you go along?
--grendel drago
Okay, no library here, and I don't think I can acquire and read the referenced book before the discussion gets archived. So, I'm going to ask you to summarize.
What about the Chines inventing gunpowder, clockwork, beaurocracy while the Europeans were sitting around in caves? What about the entire middle ages in Europe, which were essentially a thousand years of degeneracy and decline?
And how come the middle east is "The West" when it's the cradle of civilization, but "The East" when you want to invade?
--grendel drago
After the Enlightenment, there were civilizations more advanced than Europe? Really? I know that `advanced' is the squishiest of terms, but I'm really wondering which ones, since the rest of the world was still stuck with feudalism or tribalism, and didn't have anything like science going on...
--grendel drago
In America, we provide sources for our quotes. That way, it doesn't look like we're making them up.
It's the coat. It's definitely the coat. Note the return of the badass Spike in 5x07, "Fool For Love", where you see him killing the other two slayers and actually getting the coat.
--grendel drago
This is why Star Trek: TNG is so popular in reruns; episodes can be shown in any order, and they make perfect sense. I remember watching it growing up, catching every episode religiously... but I don't think it would have really mattered if I hadn't. The show had tremendous moments ("Q Who", "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light", "Yesterday's Enterprise", etc etc), but didn't do the continuity schtick. Yet the characters slowly but surely evolved over the seasons.
Was the lack of continuity that much of a hindrance?
--grendel drago
I think the dark thing started with 2x13--14, "Surprise"/"Innocence", when Angel goes evil. None of the major characters had had any sort of real trouble before that (closest thing was in 2x08, "Lie to Me"), and suddenly we have betrayal, pain and that blue dude getting blown up with a rocket launcher.
Then comes 2x17, "Passion", and the show sets its standard way, way above normal TV. Damn straight. "Sorry, Jenny... this is where you get off."
--grendel drago
I was merciless to my sister back during the first two seasons. Oh, I was a mean, mean brother, refusing to watch any episodes and complaining that it was crap when I saw thirty seconds of a single ep.
Then came #buffy-unlimited on EFNet and the year or so it took me to watch all of it. Wow. My sister still reminds me that I was always a naysayer, but my doubts have seriously been put to rest at this point.
"Acting isn't about behaving, it's about hiding. The audience wants to find you, strip you naked and eat you alive---so hide."
Let's hope the series finale gives us everything we wish for from these characters. Although, seriously, it'll be damned hard to beat 4x22, "Restless". We'll see.
--grendel drago
Four responses, three trolls (mostly incompetent) and one actual response. What a shitty SNR.
Wow, seven *is* the magic number. Star Trek: TNG had seven seasons. DS9 had seven seasons. Even Voyager had seven seasons. Now Buffy. That's kind of frightening.
There are always exceptions, of course. Star Trek: TOS is in syndication still, despite only having three seasons. Of course, those were 29/26/24 episodes, unlike the twenty-ep seasons we're stuck with now. It's almost like four seasons of modern TV... not even counting the fact that each ep was fifty-two or fifty-five minutes long instead of forty-two.
I suppose it makes sense, though it puts a mean limitation on the medium. Then again, what shows haven't sucked after seven years? I haven't gotten to the last two seasons of X-Files, but I heard it got pretty dismal in the last two years...
--grendel drago
On the other hand, think of the social change that people in my parents' generation accomplished from 1960 to 1980. Civil rights, the second wave of feminism, gay people being able to live openly, safe and legal abortion. These aren't little things, especially when you consider what happened between 1980 and 2000---not much, especially compared to the previous two decades.
I really think that Reagan's election in 1980 and the rise of the Religious Right was the death knell for the will to change that had marked the nation for those twenty years. I wasn't there, but it stands out as a turning point when you look at it.
Anyone who was actually there want to fill me in?
--grendel drago
Kurzweil didn't start this; he has his own take on the Singularity thing which is a subtle but important departure from Vinge's vision. Kurzweil sees humanity as being empowered and enlightned by the Singularity; Vinge sees it as being replaced.
But hey, nothing like an insta-attack on someone who I wasn't even referencing...
Either something will have gotten there, or nothing ever will. By two million years from now, humanity will have either destroyed itself or achieved the Singularity.
--grendel drago
I dunno... there's a kind of loss in not appreciating Heinlein any more because of 'maturity', the same kind of loss that makes one stop writing poetry, or stop writing a journal, or ceasing to be an activist.
I always hope I can keep a little bit of ridiculous juvenile immaturity around. 'Cause without that, we just turn into our parents.
--grendel drago
Heinlein stories as teleplays? Where do I drop off my severed body parts in exchange for this?
Sorry, but I can't quite make out where to get these, and I really want 'em. Can you clarify a bit?
Thanks.
--grendel drago
Write once, blue-screen anywhere. Is that the best you can come up with?! Even when faced with MS's abandonment of MIPS, PPC and Alpha with NT4? What about the Linux folks beating them to the punch with ia64 support? Come on, there are a hundred actual reasons why MS's porting strategy/porting support is a joke.
--grendel drago
You forgot the five thousand developers.
Each person would need to review 50,000,000/(5000*30) = ~333 lines of code per day. Not quite so intimidating.
--grendel drago
From the howstuffworks thingy...
Invented by Robert Stirling in 1816...
--grendel drago
See, the Hummer H2 gets 10/12 mpg. That's not a lot. That's shitty mileage. 22 mpg is not shitty, it's rather middlin'.
I drive a Ford Escort wagon; I get about 27 mpg. It's not a Honda Civic---I'm a very tall and lanky fellow---but it's a responsible kind of car to drive; I can haul a lot of stuff in it too. Everyone remember when families could get away with station wagons? Then they needed minivans and now SUVs. What's changed? Did everyone adopt sixteen new kids?
(Well, there's also (a) the fact that I couldn't afford a Hummer H2, and (b) I couldn't afford to put gas in one if I had it.)
--grendel drago
*sigh*. Yeah, well, maybe some marketing exec weenie asked why the only girl in the group didn't have any superpowers. (Not noticing that she leads the group.)
I suppose we'll have some other guy put in charge of the group. Mina will be reduced to just another superpowered caricature, and stripped of that "take no shit from anyone, be it an opium-addicted Quartermain or Hyde himself" thing she had going.
We all have to get used to the fact that the fans alone can't support a big-budget production. A TV series, maybe, but a SFX movie, never. The flick must then appeal to anyone who walks into the theater and says "hey, that's got an 'X' in it! I sure hope their mutants are as cool as the 'X-Men'!".
Somehow, knowing that doesn't make me any less disappointed in seeing a clever and original book dumbed down like this.
--grendel drago