The focus group used by NASA's marketing arm did try 'mooninites' but decided that 'Moonlets' had a much greater appeal from a plush merchandise angle.
They also help the pack slice their dinner up fairly. For very lazy lions there are now even zebras with perforated easy-claw edges down every third black stripe.
The final link in the summary shows a diagram of how it works. The second 'capped' example shows a load of messy green lines that have some rather neat blue lines placed over the top of them to produce some red hot neat lines that cool to form nice neat green lines.
Rather than doing all that, whatever process they used to make the nice neat blue lines should be used to make the green ones in the first place.
I think this sort of debate is always problematic as it deals with vague concepts of ownership of ideas.
There are many lists on the web of 'the basic 20 novel plots,' there's also the basic 8 and it even gets down to the one basic concept of all novels which is conflict, whether it's an actual conflict between 2 great powers or just the inner conflict inside someone's head, they are all about conflict.
So let's imagine it as a tree. The trunk at the bottom is conflict and it keeps splitting as new additional ideas get added and branch off.
Somewhere up the trunk there is a branch that splits off called 'small seemingly insignificant person we can all relate to gets summoned by marginalised guru and taught their true destiny.' Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and a whole raft of others come off of this branch.
No one owns that branch. BUT, the branch further up that is labelled 'Wizard called Harry Potter goes off to Hogwart's with enchanting consequences' - that branch is the property of Rowling.
You can slide a bit back down the tree and start your own branch off of the 'normal boy becomes wizard/superhero/radioactive chicken' branch without a problem. But if you want to start adding new branches to the 'Wizard called Harry Potter goes off to Hogwart's with enchanting consequences' branch then you need to respect the wishes of the branch owner.
I have written 3 novels and won't name or link to them so that everyone knows I am responding to this thread and not just trying to astroturf a little.
Yes, I have been influenced by other writers, films, news events, songs, things I overheard on public transport, something I misread on some junkmail etc. etc.
Appreciating the literary and cultural heritage of where you are in the long line of all that has gone before is a crucial piece of awareness to possess as a writer, but there is a huge difference between similar concepts and actual specific content.
It really comes down to how much thinking one has to do. If someone takes a similar concept and comes up with something new with it then that's fantastic, but if they just copy, paste and tweak a bit and don't do anything new then that's deplorable.
But just because there are no new ideas that doesn't justify stealing created content, which is different from building upon a similar foundation.
Let's all make a cake... I use flour, you use flour. I add eggs, you add eggs. That's all fine. But if you start slicing into my own cake and eating it then I am going to smack you in the mouth.
After a very nasty system crash I had to rebuild my Mac and so had to go through all the software updates AGAIN and once I had done the last one I was ranting to myself (yes, correct usage of 'myself') and said "Why don't they just have an option to install it and download it at the same time? They could put it up here."
Upon saying the word 'here' I clicked the menu to show where I thought it should go... and there it was already.
Okay, so I don't want to add my voice to the trollship, but the word 'recent' is a little bit ambiguous here. Whenever history of planets is discussed words like 'recent' and 'new' get overstretched.
would it not be clearer if we added a prefix to show exactly how recent an event was?
so you would have megarecent, gigarecent, terrarecent...
So where as you used to just cheekily shout "You've missed a bit!" - now you get to email them with co-ordinates and a satellite photo as proof... and then blog it all.
Sun statement: We have hired a key Python developer, Ted Leung Frank Wierzbicki... We have hired TWO key Python developers - I'll start again. Amongst our Python developers are such key people as..."
Whether or not you see 1984 as a novel or as Orwell's view of humanity, his novel/view of humanity bears a striking number of parallels with contemporary politics/humanity so the original poster's reference stands as valid comment.
What is worth remembering when drawing the comparison is that, contrary to the myth of how people think Orwell's Big Brother government operated, IngSoc never sought to gain control of everybody. The majority of people (the proles) were left to amuse themselves with alcohol and porn. They were free to bitch about the way life was down the pub because IngSoc knew that this was all their protest would ever amount to.
Big Brother sought out the 5-10% of society who were the more radical thinkers and activists and concentrated all their efforts solely upon them. In this regard, what the US and UK governments are currently doing is far more sinister than 1984 due to its scale encompassing everyone.
If he really was responsible for 90% of Windows piracy then I would suggest that what tipped the authorities off were the huge columns of smoke rising from his CD burners.
This story prompted my brother to start off a bizarre game among friends. He emailed out saying that everyone should pick a spot on Google Earth where they think it will crash and whoever is closest will get an Easter egg off all the others.
Trouble is he didn't think it though carefully enough and have a central impartial person to collect the predictions. Now, as he has gone first, everyone else is just placing their predictions in a neat little half mile radius around his. If by a million-to-1 shot he actually wins, he'll have to share his Easter eggs with the others in orange boiler suits around him.
Slashdot Mirror
But it's pronounced 'Throat-Warbler Mangrove.'
The focus group used by NASA's marketing arm did try 'mooninites' but decided that 'Moonlets' had a much greater appeal from a plush merchandise angle.
If you're 'pulling all nighters' then you have no need to attend the Paris Hilton class anyway.
They also help the pack slice their dinner up fairly. For very lazy lions there are now even zebras with perforated easy-claw edges down every third black stripe.
The final link in the summary shows a diagram of how it works. The second 'capped' example shows a load of messy green lines that have some rather neat blue lines placed over the top of them to produce some red hot neat lines that cool to form nice neat green lines.
Rather than doing all that, whatever process they used to make the nice neat blue lines should be used to make the green ones in the first place.
The way he dances around on stage, he always looks like he 'needs to go.'
Further to that...
I think this sort of debate is always problematic as it deals with vague concepts of ownership of ideas.
There are many lists on the web of 'the basic 20 novel plots,' there's also the basic 8 and it even gets down to the one basic concept of all novels which is conflict, whether it's an actual conflict between 2 great powers or just the inner conflict inside someone's head, they are all about conflict.
So let's imagine it as a tree. The trunk at the bottom is conflict and it keeps splitting as new additional ideas get added and branch off.
Somewhere up the trunk there is a branch that splits off called 'small seemingly insignificant person we can all relate to gets summoned by marginalised guru and taught their true destiny.' Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and a whole raft of others come off of this branch.
No one owns that branch. BUT, the branch further up that is labelled 'Wizard called Harry Potter goes off to Hogwart's with enchanting consequences' - that branch is the property of Rowling.
You can slide a bit back down the tree and start your own branch off of the 'normal boy becomes wizard/superhero/radioactive chicken' branch without a problem. But if you want to start adding new branches to the 'Wizard called Harry Potter goes off to Hogwart's with enchanting consequences' branch then you need to respect the wishes of the branch owner.
I have written 3 novels and won't name or link to them so that everyone knows I am responding to this thread and not just trying to astroturf a little.
Yes, I have been influenced by other writers, films, news events, songs, things I overheard on public transport, something I misread on some junkmail etc. etc.
Appreciating the literary and cultural heritage of where you are in the long line of all that has gone before is a crucial piece of awareness to possess as a writer, but there is a huge difference between similar concepts and actual specific content.
It really comes down to how much thinking one has to do. If someone takes a similar concept and comes up with something new with it then that's fantastic, but if they just copy, paste and tweak a bit and don't do anything new then that's deplorable.
But just because there are no new ideas that doesn't justify stealing created content, which is different from building upon a similar foundation.
Let's all make a cake... I use flour, you use flour. I add eggs, you add eggs. That's all fine. But if you start slicing into my own cake and eating it then I am going to smack you in the mouth.
So, for instance, You'd prefer this to this?
Yes, it certainly isn't not one.
Nice to have been able to help.
How did I discover it?
After a very nasty system crash I had to rebuild my Mac and so had to go through all the software updates AGAIN and once I had done the last one I was ranting to myself (yes, correct usage of 'myself') and said "Why don't they just have an option to install it and download it at the same time? They could put it up here."
Upon saying the word 'here' I clicked the menu to show where I thought it should go... and there it was already.
I then rebuilt it all again and did it properly.
Why don't you just select 'download and keep package' from the software update menu and then just routinely burn your packages folder to CD?
Okay, so I don't want to add my voice to the trollship, but the word 'recent' is a little bit ambiguous here. Whenever history of planets is discussed words like 'recent' and 'new' get overstretched.
would it not be clearer if we added a prefix to show exactly how recent an event was?
so you would have megarecent, gigarecent, terrarecent...
I shall bid good day to your good self while I go and discipline myself... and my wife.
It should be "I bought a soda for my wife and me" as per the original correction.
Using the word 'myself' like that is incorrect. See here.
I dropped it on the carpet.
Ah yes, but have you tried out some of them slippery slopes recently? Some of them are really, really slippery.
Perhaps we need to be told WHY this is so cool without being told it's new and shiny.
Scientist: We can now graft a human ear onto a mouse.
Concerned public: Pardon?
Scientist: Well, at least the mouse heard me.
So where as you used to just cheekily shout "You've missed a bit!" - now you get to email them with co-ordinates and a satellite photo as proof... and then blog it all.
In the future will we get billed by the RIAA for singing a song in your head without the proper 'internal cranium broadcast license' ?
Sun statement: We have hired a key Python developer, Ted Leung Frank Wierzbicki... We have hired TWO key Python developers - I'll start again. Amongst our Python developers are such key people as..."
Whether or not you see 1984 as a novel or as Orwell's view of humanity, his novel/view of humanity bears a striking number of parallels with contemporary politics/humanity so the original poster's reference stands as valid comment. What is worth remembering when drawing the comparison is that, contrary to the myth of how people think Orwell's Big Brother government operated, IngSoc never sought to gain control of everybody. The majority of people (the proles) were left to amuse themselves with alcohol and porn. They were free to bitch about the way life was down the pub because IngSoc knew that this was all their protest would ever amount to. Big Brother sought out the 5-10% of society who were the more radical thinkers and activists and concentrated all their efforts solely upon them. In this regard, what the US and UK governments are currently doing is far more sinister than 1984 due to its scale encompassing everyone.
If he really was responsible for 90% of Windows piracy then I would suggest that what tipped the authorities off were the huge columns of smoke rising from his CD burners.
And, of course, "15 helicopter" would have been very impressive... both one and many at same time. Must start actually reading the preview screen.
If they'd had 15 helicopter strung together then maybe...
This story prompted my brother to start off a bizarre game among friends. He emailed out saying that everyone should pick a spot on Google Earth where they think it will crash and whoever is closest will get an Easter egg off all the others. Trouble is he didn't think it though carefully enough and have a central impartial person to collect the predictions. Now, as he has gone first, everyone else is just placing their predictions in a neat little half mile radius around his. If by a million-to-1 shot he actually wins, he'll have to share his Easter eggs with the others in orange boiler suits around him.