I can't tell you how many commercial projects I've been on where the owners were unwilling to pay to clean things up - do them right - etc. Your argument that Open Source is less fit to deal with this is ignoring something others keep bringing up - reality. The reality is, just because a manager says to do something doesn't mean it will get done, or done well. The reality is, the manager may only be willing to pay and push for more features, etc.
And you say "all carrot, no stick" as if that were a bad thing.
It's funny that the article talks about how much things have changed in the last 20 years. I had a buddy that was a nuke in the navy and when he got out he turned down a nice job offer because he didn't think civilian operations were done well or safely. That was in the mid 90's.
Re:The Improbability of Improbability
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1
I don't disagree - but I would say that I think Harry Potter is similar on that front. (on that front - I'm not saying Potter is in the same league as LoTR)
Re:The Improbability of Improbability
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1
I've been a big fan of McCaffrey ever since I read The White Dragon as a kid. I think she built a great world and writes strong dialogue. I haven't read any of it in some time though, and didn't keep up with all the later Pern stuff that came out. I really enjoyed that what I thought was fantasy was really sci-fi. I've been working on stories for my kids that use the same device. I think it's a clever way to bring magic into a story.
Re:The Improbability of Improbability
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1
IIRC Tolkien was pretty adamant about there not being any meaning or message beyond the story.
Lewis - well it's obvious what he was doing, I think he did it pretty well.
Rowling has some problems and I go back and forth with the Potter stuff. One theme that she pushes through all the books is the idea of doing what is right whether it is pragmatic or not. I see this in my favorite stuff by Stephen King as well. And that alone was enough for me with the HP books - because the bottom line is that I had a blast reading through all of them and loved them.
Re:Wondrous -- but you still want to smack that id
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1
Ah - so there we have it. Thanks for the info.
Re:Like the Unbeliever series?
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1
I hadn't thought of that - but you are right, there are some similarities. I guess the biggest difference is that in The Magicians the reader might not like the protagonist but he likes himself for the most part. The thing that really kicked my butt with Covenant was how much he hated himself. He couldn't do anything substantial without being crushed under a new wave of self loathing. As the parent says- Quentin is more apathetic than anything.
Like I said, I don't think it's a cop-out. I think it is a way for Grossman to look at this stuff from his point of view. From his skill in writing to the stuff that is more his own, it's obvious that he could have done the whole thing with 'original' stuff if he had wanted. He's using the similarities for a reason, I think.
If it were not for the intentional nod to Rowling I'd say the tone made me think more of "A Wizard of Earthsea".
Re:Wondrous -- but you still want to smack that id
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 1, Redundant
Unless someone knows something I don't about this post it shouldn't be modded down. This is pretty insightful and the author obviously has read and given thought to the content of the book.
Re:Interesting
on
The Magicians
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· Score: 3, Informative
There is a section that would probably appeal to the furry crowd. Some is nice, some is mean spirited and cruel. It's graphic - but not in the salacious sense.
It's funny because I tend to try to keep everything matching, but whenever we get a new issue of the Lego magazine, I can see from the photos that kids send in that most don't care about that. I wonder if this is something that changes in becoming an adult or if some of us are just always that way - but most are not.
When the first Star Wars movie came out I was 8 years old. I was completely taken by it. I had figures, comic books, trading cards, etc. It might not be reality based but it is the pirate/cowboy fantasy of a few generations. My son has a ton of fun running around the house with a light saber, or tie fighter - pretending to be someone from the movie. What's been really weird to watch is how the current show and more recent movies make the storm troopers the good guys. My son spends a lot of time pretending to be a jedi or storm trooper that is busy blowing up robots. When I was a kid we were busy pretending to be Luke or Han blowing up storm troopers.
I think one reason (among a few) that the new films upset so many people is that these really are kids movies, and a lot of the upset people weren't kids any more.
Some sets are that way - but most are still incredibly flexible. There are a lot of cool things that can be done with the new sets that couldn't be done with the old. There are a lot more mechanical parts in the basic sets now. My sons Imperial Shuttle kit had some very cool gears and other parts to allow the wings to move up and down. The hinged doors are pretty slick, etc. We've been able to incorporate that into a lot of fun designs of our own.
It really still is an open ended toy for exploration, especially once you have 4 or 5 kits worth of pieces on hand.
Not when you are playing with LEGO Mindstorms NXT. I got my set ( the older version ) when Ed Nisley, writing for Dr Dobbs at the time, recommended them as a way to learn about embedded programming. Here is a great example of how awesome the robots can be.
No - I mean he and I with big piles of legos around us and we are each putting stuff together. When he builds by the directions I help him find pieces if he gets stuck looking for them. We have all his kits in plastic bags, sorted by color which can make it tough to find certain pieces. He does a great job building.
Over the summer his cousin brought some Bionical sets to a family get together so now he really wants some of those. He has one Indiana Jones set - but he's never seen the films and isn't really into it. (When we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show at a local theme park he was bored and kept asking when it would be over and when we'd get to do the Star Wars ride.)
He does like the mission mars sets though.
My daughters like them too - but there really aren't too many girl themed sets that are very good.
My son is 6 and right smack in the middle of the kids they are shooting for. He is obsessed with Star Wars, and loves playing Lego Star Wars. He's collected a few sets now for birthday, Christmas, etc. We have a lot of fun building the kits to the directions, but spend just as much time figuring out new things to build. There are a lot of different shapes that go well beyond the idea of a 'block' and I think it involves a lot more imagination to figure new ways to connect them.
It's something we can do together and have a lot of fun with it. When he's a little older we'll start working with the Mindstorm kit together.
I carried 24 for the last 2 years of my first degree - I was fortunate to be in a position where I didn't have to work and could focus solely on school. It was nice.
The end of last year, a couple videos came out with an American F-15 pilot talking about what it was like going up against the Indian Air Force Su-30MKI. It was quite interesting, as the vectored thrust did offer additional maneuverability but it came at a cost. That isn't to say that this new jet and training wont overcome that advantage, but it was a glimpse into the world of air to air combat I don't think makes it out into the civilian world all that often. The clips were put up on youtube - I'll link to both.
But I wonder is how much longer this will matter. The Lockheed video on their DAS for the F-35 pretty much asserts that the system makes maneuverability irrelevant. I realize that it's a vendor sales presentation, but at the same time I know off-bore-sight missiles are pretty much a done deal. Stealthiness helps some, but I doubt it would be enough as these systems keep improving. It seems soon the primary factor in air to air combat will be the quality of radar and missiles that are available.
When I bring this up with current military folks, they say they think rules of engagement will keep it from going that far. I can see that in situations where one side has complete air superiority - but if it comes to evenly matched sides, I think ROE will be out the window when sticking to it means losing. The whole thing is rather disconcerting as we seem to be developing better ways to kill just as quickly as all our other tech is advancing but I don't see leaps in our ability to live peacefully or get along keeping up with it all.
That may be the case for this company. If so they are using a different part of the river than we did. The section we started on is federally protected and there was a pretty tight window on when we could put in. We were told this was to limit the number of rafts and people on the river at a given time.
It's really a beautiful place and was pretty exciting. We caught the tail end of the season. I guess earlier when there is more run-off it is much more intense. I would like to try to go back and do a run when it is really going. As it was we nearly had our raft flip over at one point.
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I can't tell you how many commercial projects I've been on where the owners were unwilling to pay to clean things up - do them right - etc. Your argument that Open Source is less fit to deal with this is ignoring something others keep bringing up - reality. The reality is, just because a manager says to do something doesn't mean it will get done, or done well. The reality is, the manager may only be willing to pay and push for more features, etc.
And you say "all carrot, no stick" as if that were a bad thing.
HTC will be rolling out a number of Android based phones - in the US - soon. I think they have 4 already.
Suck it, non-pigeons.
It's funny that the article talks about how much things have changed in the last 20 years. I had a buddy that was a nuke in the navy and when he got out he turned down a nice job offer because he didn't think civilian operations were done well or safely. That was in the mid 90's.
I don't disagree - but I would say that I think Harry Potter is similar on that front. (on that front - I'm not saying Potter is in the same league as LoTR)
I've been a big fan of McCaffrey ever since I read The White Dragon as a kid. I think she built a great world and writes strong dialogue. I haven't read any of it in some time though, and didn't keep up with all the later Pern stuff that came out. I really enjoyed that what I thought was fantasy was really sci-fi. I've been working on stories for my kids that use the same device. I think it's a clever way to bring magic into a story.
IIRC Tolkien was pretty adamant about there not being any meaning or message beyond the story.
Lewis - well it's obvious what he was doing, I think he did it pretty well.
Rowling has some problems and I go back and forth with the Potter stuff. One theme that she pushes through all the books is the idea of doing what is right whether it is pragmatic or not. I see this in my favorite stuff by Stephen King as well. And that alone was enough for me with the HP books - because the bottom line is that I had a blast reading through all of them and loved them.
Ah - so there we have it. Thanks for the info.
I hadn't thought of that - but you are right, there are some similarities. I guess the biggest difference is that in The Magicians the reader might not like the protagonist but he likes himself for the most part. The thing that really kicked my butt with Covenant was how much he hated himself. He couldn't do anything substantial without being crushed under a new wave of self loathing. As the parent says- Quentin is more apathetic than anything.
Like I said, I don't think it's a cop-out. I think it is a way for Grossman to look at this stuff from his point of view. From his skill in writing to the stuff that is more his own, it's obvious that he could have done the whole thing with 'original' stuff if he had wanted. He's using the similarities for a reason, I think.
If it were not for the intentional nod to Rowling I'd say the tone made me think more of "A Wizard of Earthsea".
Unless someone knows something I don't about this post it shouldn't be modded down. This is pretty insightful and the author obviously has read and given thought to the content of the book.
There is a section that would probably appeal to the furry crowd. Some is nice, some is mean spirited and cruel. It's graphic - but not in the salacious sense.
Nice word picture.
It's funny because I tend to try to keep everything matching, but whenever we get a new issue of the Lego magazine, I can see from the photos that kids send in that most don't care about that. I wonder if this is something that changes in becoming an adult or if some of us are just always that way - but most are not.
I've never seen those before - they look awesome. Thanks!
I probably enjoy it as much as he does - but not more.
When the first Star Wars movie came out I was 8 years old. I was completely taken by it. I had figures, comic books, trading cards, etc. It might not be reality based but it is the pirate/cowboy fantasy of a few generations. My son has a ton of fun running around the house with a light saber, or tie fighter - pretending to be someone from the movie. What's been really weird to watch is how the current show and more recent movies make the storm troopers the good guys. My son spends a lot of time pretending to be a jedi or storm trooper that is busy blowing up robots. When I was a kid we were busy pretending to be Luke or Han blowing up storm troopers.
I think one reason (among a few) that the new films upset so many people is that these really are kids movies, and a lot of the upset people weren't kids any more.
Some sets are that way - but most are still incredibly flexible. There are a lot of cool things that can be done with the new sets that couldn't be done with the old. There are a lot more mechanical parts in the basic sets now. My sons Imperial Shuttle kit had some very cool gears and other parts to allow the wings to move up and down. The hinged doors are pretty slick, etc. We've been able to incorporate that into a lot of fun designs of our own.
It really still is an open ended toy for exploration, especially once you have 4 or 5 kits worth of pieces on hand.
Not when you are playing with LEGO Mindstorms NXT. I got my set ( the older version ) when Ed Nisley, writing for Dr Dobbs at the time, recommended them as a way to learn about embedded programming. Here is a great example of how awesome the robots can be.
No - I mean he and I with big piles of legos around us and we are each putting stuff together. When he builds by the directions I help him find pieces if he gets stuck looking for them. We have all his kits in plastic bags, sorted by color which can make it tough to find certain pieces. He does a great job building.
Over the summer his cousin brought some Bionical sets to a family get together so now he really wants some of those. He has one Indiana Jones set - but he's never seen the films and isn't really into it. (When we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show at a local theme park he was bored and kept asking when it would be over and when we'd get to do the Star Wars ride.)
He does like the mission mars sets though.
My daughters like them too - but there really aren't too many girl themed sets that are very good.
My son is 6 and right smack in the middle of the kids they are shooting for. He is obsessed with Star Wars, and loves playing Lego Star Wars. He's collected a few sets now for birthday, Christmas, etc. We have a lot of fun building the kits to the directions, but spend just as much time figuring out new things to build. There are a lot of different shapes that go well beyond the idea of a 'block' and I think it involves a lot more imagination to figure new ways to connect them.
It's something we can do together and have a lot of fun with it. When he's a little older we'll start working with the Mindstorm kit together.
you don't remember correctly.
I carried 24 for the last 2 years of my first degree - I was fortunate to be in a position where I didn't have to work and could focus solely on school. It was nice.
yes!
The end of last year, a couple videos came out with an American F-15 pilot talking about what it was like going up against the Indian Air Force Su-30MKI. It was quite interesting, as the vectored thrust did offer additional maneuverability but it came at a cost. That isn't to say that this new jet and training wont overcome that advantage, but it was a glimpse into the world of air to air combat I don't think makes it out into the civilian world all that often. The clips were put up on youtube - I'll link to both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKEa-R37PeU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibgAQ7lv0w
Basically if I understand it correctly the vectored thrust allowed them to turn, but they would lose airspeed and altitude in the process. As the fighter types say - speed is life - and once it happened they were apparently easy pickings. This FlightGlobal writeup about it may do a better job of explaining.
But I wonder is how much longer this will matter. The Lockheed video on their DAS for the F-35 pretty much asserts that the system makes maneuverability irrelevant. I realize that it's a vendor sales presentation, but at the same time I know off-bore-sight missiles are pretty much a done deal. Stealthiness helps some, but I doubt it would be enough as these systems keep improving. It seems soon the primary factor in air to air combat will be the quality of radar and missiles that are available.
When I bring this up with current military folks, they say they think rules of engagement will keep it from going that far. I can see that in situations where one side has complete air superiority - but if it comes to evenly matched sides, I think ROE will be out the window when sticking to it means losing. The whole thing is rather disconcerting as we seem to be developing better ways to kill just as quickly as all our other tech is advancing but I don't see leaps in our ability to live peacefully or get along keeping up with it all.
That may be the case for this company. If so they are using a different part of the river than we did. The section we started on is federally protected and there was a pretty tight window on when we could put in. We were told this was to limit the number of rafts and people on the river at a given time.
It's really a beautiful place and was pretty exciting. We caught the tail end of the season. I guess earlier when there is more run-off it is much more intense. I would like to try to go back and do a run when it is really going. As it was we nearly had our raft flip over at one point.