> Sounds like this company is upset that their "good enough" tools can't compete with free tools that are also "good enough".
I downloaded and tried UNA at both work and home. I was not impressed. The interface was not intuitive and it did not make things easier. Also, it took over my entire screen, so that I couldn't even see the Windows task bar, which I have set to always be visible even when applications are maximized.I gave up and uninstalled it.
Then, I downloaded and tried Code::Blocks.
My only irritation with Code::Blocks is that their full screen functionality iss not really full screen, and there is no hotkey for it. I rarely use full screen anyhow, so it's a minor issue. Other than that, I'm impressed. I could use it right away without having to look at any documentation, mainly because its UI is similar to other IDEs I've used in the past. Not a snowball's chance in hell I would ever pay for UNA.
So are their games. I stopped playing D&D when WotC bought TSR. Stopped playing Magic when WotC made it clear that what was important was increasing profits and not the quality of the game.
[Begin rant] As for the marketing BS, that's what you get from every business in America. They're not answering your questions to be nice, they're answering them with marketing-speak in the hopes that this will appease you enough so that you'll feel you can't live without whatever they're selling.
If you want to know what's really going on, find someone who used to work there and no longer cares about their bottom line. Oh yeah, and make sure it's not someone who used to work in marketing.
WotC likes to market to kids. They've dumbed down both D&D and Magic since the 90s in order to sell more product. [End rant]
Code that was hard to write should be commented. However, there is no such code in Java
I disagree. While Java itself is well-done and useful, there is still code that is "hard to write", or more accurately, maybe took the author lots of research to find the proper algorithm, etc. In this case, when you add in bad variable naming and little or no commenting it is a maintenance nightmare. At the very least, the author should state the general purpose of the class itself. Without that at least, you end up being more of an archaeologist than a programmer, trying to dig through the code to see what's supposed to be going on, and making assumptions. I'd much rather have well-documented classes/methods. If I know what it's supposed to do, then it makes things easier when trying to track down bugs. While well-written code in and of itself is somewhat self-documenting, it's nice to be able to run Javadoc on a file and have a quick reference of what's going on. Otherwise, time is wasted in the long run.
Of course, part of my problem with my last contract is that it was quite easy to tell that the Java code was written by people used to writing COBOL or C. The COBOL programmers wrote thousand line methods. The C programmers had cryptic variable names and you could tell they learned using punch cards. That can be forgiven to an extent.
What shouldn't be forgiven, however, is the utter lack of typing skill found amongst most programmers. I type 50 words a minute, so it is not at all painful for me to write good Javadoc. Ask a programmer who types with two fingers, slowly, to do that and it really becomes a big hurdle for them to do it well. I think anyone who uses a keyboard for a living should know how to use it correctly. Especially if they are being paid by the hour
You should use Java instead (or another easily readable and understandable programming language).
It doesn't matter what the language is if the programmer doesn't know how to write/comment properly. I just finished a contract at a Java shop where they had uncommented/un-javadoc'd methods with parameters like s, s1, s2. Unless you can track down who wrote the code, it's a nightmare.
This place also believed in commenting, but they did it stupidly. There were no descriptions of what code was supposed to do, or why. But, there were idiotic running comments like if(x == null)//see if X is null. It was a nightmare. Needless to say, I am glad that contract is over.
If the commenting/variable naming is good, then I don't necessarily have to be an expert in the language to figure out what's going on. For instance, I am no Perl expert, but I can get an idea of what a properly commented Perl script is supposed to do. This is important because maybe someday code will be maintained by a junior programmer who is unfamiliar with the code, and possibly the language. I was in this situation myself once, so I try to make my comments clear. I also try to make my variable names clear as well. A variable named x is quick to type, but accountBalance is a lot clearer. If it was hard to write, then the programmer should make it easy (easier) to read by using proper variable names and comments.
Do you believe God made the Universe, Heaven, Earth, and everything in it?
No. There are no gods. There are only beliefs used to comfort people about things they do not understand.
Science is the word we use to describe our research trying to find God through evidence of his Creation.
Nope. Sorry. Science is a methodical way of obtaining evidence of how things work. See the Science entry at Wikipedia
You think Man authored the Laws of Physics which scientists hold so dear? Think again. No man set Avagadro's constant, or any of the other parameters of our observable universe.
No god set it either. If God created the universe, who created God? Don't answer with "He/She/It has always existed either. Because the simpler explanation then, using Occam's Razor, is that the universe always existed.
If God did create us, did he intend us to try to find Him, or mull around like a bunch of obedient ignorant sheep doing the bidding of those who take it in their mind to control us?
Religion, of any type is a form of mind control. It doesn't matter which religion. Galileo was put throught the Inquisition for stating that the Earth revolved around the Sun. A Heresy in his time, but true nonetheless. Religion blinds people to the truth, it doesn't show it to them.
Scientists are trying to understand God's creation and what our place in it is supposed to be.
Scientists are trying to understand the world we live in, NOT "God's creation" as you put it. Some scientists are atheists, you know.
As for understanding our place in it, that is for philosophers to debate, not scientists.
Am I supposed to believe there is a God up there somewhere who tells various factions all over the Earth to gather in his name and smite the other ones?
Yes. Read the old testament. The whole thing. Add up how much smiting goes on. Plenty of smiting just in the first five books.
Or does simple knowledge of human behavioural psychologies and obedience structures indicate the Gods of Religion are just some entity created by men so they could use it to control other men?
Now you're getting it.
If God created me with sufficient intelligence to seek Him, why is he gonna hold it against me for doing exactly that?
Okay, next exercise. Read your Bible. I am assuming you own one. Now, look at all the contradictions. If you need help with that, look here The Skeptic's Annotated Bible to find all the Biblical contradictions you could ever want.
It wasn't for Ronnie Raygun anyway. Sorry, I forgot, none of the/. crowd are old enough to remember him:-|.
It wasn't an issue for Nixon either. He didn't win the gubernatorial race in California, but did manage to forget that breaking and entering was a crime while he was president. He probably could have used some extra creatine in his diet.:-)
I agree whole-heartedly. I took Freshman English at the University of Connecticut, which is where the OP is planning to teach. That was 1985. We didn't need computers then.
The problem I see with most non-technical classes these days is that the profs get so enamoured with the technology that they lose sight of what's important - the content.
That said, the computer could be used for online collaboration, peer review, etc. However, I would limit the use of the Internet connection to the outside world to non-class hours. It's useful if you're in your dorm and need to check something at 2 a.m., but students should not have the added distraction of an active connection to the outside world during class.
An EKG is excellent at recording when electrical activity in the brain occurs
I believe you mean EEG or electroencephalogram. An EKG is an electrocardiogram, which measures electrical activity in the heart. You do make some excellent points, though.
I think the computer gender gap is not nearly as broad as it used to be. If this were 1985, I'd say, yeah, you won't meet any (good looking) females. Back then, the gender gap in technology was huge and the only people I knew who even owned computers were guys. The women just didn't see the point. They would rather be at the mall than installing a sound card.
But, it's 2003 now, and people (especially younger generations) have grown used to technology. Heck, I didn't start using IM until my 14 (at the time) year old niece showed me how useful it was, and I'm a programmer.... On top of that, the technology has become increasingly user-friendly, so it lends itself to more users of both genders.
You'll always have a gender gap in certain activities, but don't turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. You may be surprised what you can learn from the other side.
Slashdot bachelors might not understand this concept.
Some of us with married friends do. Usually because our buddies with wife and kids are always complaining about how the wife is never in the mood, and even if she is, it's impossible to have quality time in the bedroom with a toddler pounding on the door. A couple I know has 5 kids (teens to toddlers) and they *need* to get away every once in a while just to keep their sanity. When I spend time at their house, it's the best damned "scared single" program I could ever hope for.:-)
Funny thing is, though, I wouldn't mind having those kinds of problems. Even with all that chaos. Guess I'm just a family man - wannabe.
Usage Note: The use of impact as a verb meaning âoeto have an effectâ often has a big impact on readers. Eighty-four percent of the Usage Panel disapproves of the construction to impact on, as in the phrase social pathologies, common to the inner city, that impact heavily on such a community; fully 95 percent disapproves of the use of impact as a transitive verb in the sentence Companies have used disposable techniques that have a potential for impacting our health. ÂIt is unclear why this usage provokes such a strong response, but it cannot be because of novelty. Impact has been used as a verb since 1601, when it meant âoeto fix or pack in,â and its modern, figurative use dates from 1935. It may be that its frequent appearance in the jargon-riddled remarks of politicians, military officials, and financial analysts continues to make people suspicious. Nevertheless, the verbal use of impact has become so common in the working language of corporations and institutions that many speakers have begun to regard it as standard. It seems likely, then, that the verb will eventually become as unobjectionable as contact is now, since it will no longer betray any particular pretentiousness on the part of those who use it. See Usage Note at contact.
Even though verb usage is commonplace, most people still hate its verb form.
Yes, it is. My statement was a general one, not one particular to this book.
Re:Ironic place for political correctness
on
How to be a Programmer
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I have to agree. Why can't people just accept that in English the pronoun "he" is used for both male and undetermined gender. Instead, the author uses "she" as a pronoun, which, in normal, non-PC usage, refers only to females. It annoys me to the point of distraction. At the very least, he could have used "he or she" or, if that would add too much to book length, "s/he" might have been a more acceptable alternative. Personally, I avoid buying books where the author is obviously trying to be PC just for book sales, especially in a male-dominated industry.
While I agree that your post should have been modded up, I would have chosen Insightful instead of funny. I actually do drink a ton of water all day, and do have to get up frequently to recycle it. It's a good rest for the eyes as well as helping your veins. According to my optometrist, those in the computer field should follow what she calls the 20-20-20 rule. That is, every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. The walk to the men's room accomplishes that admirably.
People generally have brain surgery because their mind is malfunctioning.
No, psychiatrists are used when the mind is malfunctioning, but the brain itself may not require surgery. Brain surgeons are used when there is something wrong with the brain that can only be corrected by surgery, such as a tumor. A condition such as that may not necessarily cause a malfunction of the mind, it could be causing physical symptoms instead, such as headaches, paralysis, etc. So, it is possible to be in your right mind and still require brain surgery. In which case, I'd feel more comfortable with Linux. The question, of course, then becomes, "Which distribution do you trust most to drill into your skull?"
As an aside, Microsoft's motto for a similar product would probably be, "Where do you want to drill today?":-)
It rings a lot and half the time I don't want to answer it. But I've got to check the Caller ID to see if I want to answer it or not. How do I ally myself with this technology? Answer: technology. A talking caller-id box, for example, would save me the trouble of rushing to a caller-id box to figure out that I do or don't want to rush to the phone.
I've found a great solution to be a cordless phone with caller ID. The phone is always nearby so I barely have to move to see the caller ID. That system works pretty well during the day or on weekends. If I really don't want to be bothered, like when I'm trying to sleep, I'll forward my calls to my cell phone, which I'll have turned off. If someone wants to leave a message they can, but I can review it on my own time.
In addition, the cell is always with me during the day and also has caller ID, along with a lovely Ignore button that will send callers straight to voice mail.
Finally, I use the cell for non-work-related friends and family. No one else has my cell number.
So, you are correct. You can use technology to stop the frustration of technology.
To be honest, it's been several years since reading anything by Card, so I don't recall who Bean was. I do notice however, that the more good books I read, of any genre, the more critical I become. It makes it difficult to pick up much of anything new, and I find myself re-reading some of the good sci-fi out there, like Dune. When I'm done, I will be re-reading a copy of Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage, which, like Dune was required reading in high school. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school where we could pick our English classes, so all my required reading was sci-fi. It was a great year.
One favorite I've had for a while is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series
I know one or two people that like these as well. I've heard good things, but haven't read any. Guess I'll have to add these to the list.
Now I'm wishing I were back at home with a decent library that stocks sci-fi.
I've got the opposite problem. I live between a Border's and a Barnes and Noble. I can walk to both. Plenty of sci-fi, but I've got to watch the budget. I guess it's a good thing I've become so critical lately. It's really gotten to the point that I'll go to Amazon.com to read the reviews on stuff and then go to B&N to save myself the shipping cost.
And, in particular, does not pull some "magic" super-gizmo out of a hat that suddenly resolves a horribly tangled storyline. It makes me feel like the author was too lazy to finish the book. (Sorry, this is my worst pet-peeve with modern books.)
Most of the literature I've read on how to write fiction well emphasizes this point. A reader wants to walk away with a sense of reward and satisfaction. Miracle endings, in any genre, are a bad idea. I have not run much of this in sci-fi lately (I'm currently re-reading Dune), but would be interested to know if there are any other titles which you have an issue with. It would certainly save some of us from spending time and money on books with unrewarding miracle endings.
I found Ender's Game entertaining, and even Speaker of the Dead was okay, but I couldn't finish Children of the Mind. It seems some authors like to beat a storyline to death. It's one thing to be comfortable with the characters, it's another to just use them as a crutch instead of coming up with something fresh.
In any case, just to remain on topic, here are some of my favorites:
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. This one is currently out of print, but can be found in used bood stores.
Brave New World by Alduous Huxley
Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Most works by Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke
Stuff I didn't care for includes Orwell's 1984. While the concept was good, I could never get into the story. Never finished it. Domain by Steve Alten was okay, except for two things. He didn't research how psychiatrists are trained, and he has an annoying habit of writing in the present progressive instead of the past tense.
Yes, the price is high. For now. As pointed out by other posters, the price will eventually drop if the market is there.
I can see a market for this device for people like myself, who live in the retail district of a city with no subway system and really busy streets around the holidays. A bus or cab is useless, they still have to wait in traffic. My area is so busy, Domino's won't deliver to my apartment between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I could potentially hop on a Segway to get to work, and not worry about being sweaty from a bike ride when I get there in addition to not having to fight traffic to get there.
As far as theft is concerned, I would keep the Segway in my office. I doubt I'd use a $5000 (USD) Segway to go to the mall with. Still need the trunk room of a car for that.
I can see at least one potential use for the Segway for me, which is why I originally put myself on Amazon's early distribution list. However, my income isn't disposable enough to spend 5 grand on one. I'll fight the traffic for now, but if the price dips below $2000, I'd seriously consider purchasing a Segway.
Slashdot Mirror
I downloaded and tried UNA at both work and home. I was not impressed. The interface was not intuitive and it did not make things easier. Also, it took over my entire screen, so that I couldn't even see the Windows task bar, which I have set to always be visible even when applications are maximized.I gave up and uninstalled it.
Then, I downloaded and tried Code::Blocks. My only irritation with Code::Blocks is that their full screen functionality iss not really full screen, and there is no hotkey for it. I rarely use full screen anyhow, so it's a minor issue. Other than that, I'm impressed. I could use it right away without having to look at any documentation, mainly because its UI is similar to other IDEs I've used in the past. Not a snowball's chance in hell I would ever pay for UNA.
> damn that was sanitized
So are their games. I stopped playing D&D when WotC bought TSR. Stopped playing Magic when WotC made it clear that what was important was increasing profits and not the quality of the game.
[Begin rant]
As for the marketing BS, that's what you get from every business in America. They're not answering your questions to be nice, they're answering them with marketing-speak in the hopes that this will appease you enough so that you'll feel you can't live without whatever they're selling.
If you want to know what's really going on, find someone who used to work there and no longer cares about their bottom line. Oh yeah, and make sure it's not someone who used to work in marketing.
WotC likes to market to kids. They've dumbed down both D&D and Magic since the 90s in order to sell more product. [End rant]
Code that was hard to write should be commented. However, there is no such code in Java
I disagree. While Java itself is well-done and useful, there is still code that is "hard to write", or more accurately, maybe took the author lots of research to find the proper algorithm, etc. In this case, when you add in bad variable naming and little or no commenting it is a maintenance nightmare. At the very least, the author should state the general purpose of the class itself. Without that at least, you end up being more of an archaeologist than a programmer, trying to dig through the code to see what's supposed to be going on, and making assumptions. I'd much rather have well-documented classes/methods. If I know what it's supposed to do, then it makes things easier when trying to track down bugs. While well-written code in and of itself is somewhat self-documenting, it's nice to be able to run Javadoc on a file and have a quick reference of what's going on. Otherwise, time is wasted in the long run.
Of course, part of my problem with my last contract is that it was quite easy to tell that the Java code was written by people used to writing COBOL or C. The COBOL programmers wrote thousand line methods. The C programmers had cryptic variable names and you could tell they learned using punch cards. That can be forgiven to an extent.
What shouldn't be forgiven, however, is the utter lack of typing skill found amongst most programmers. I type 50 words a minute, so it is not at all painful for me to write good Javadoc. Ask a programmer who types with two fingers, slowly, to do that and it really becomes a big hurdle for them to do it well. I think anyone who uses a keyboard for a living should know how to use it correctly. Especially if they are being paid by the hour
You should use Java instead (or another easily readable and understandable programming language).
It doesn't matter what the language is if the programmer doesn't know how to write/comment properly. I just finished a contract at a Java shop where they had uncommented/un-javadoc'd methods with parameters like s, s1, s2. Unless you can track down who wrote the code, it's a nightmare. This place also believed in commenting, but they did it stupidly. There were no descriptions of what code was supposed to do, or why. But, there were idiotic running comments like if(x == null)//see if X is null. It was a nightmare. Needless to say, I am glad that contract is over. If the commenting/variable naming is good, then I don't necessarily have to be an expert in the language to figure out what's going on. For instance, I am no Perl expert, but I can get an idea of what a properly commented Perl script is supposed to do. This is important because maybe someday code will be maintained by a junior programmer who is unfamiliar with the code, and possibly the language. I was in this situation myself once, so I try to make my comments clear. I also try to make my variable names clear as well. A variable named x is quick to type, but accountBalance is a lot clearer. If it was hard to write, then the programmer should make it easy (easier) to read by using proper variable names and comments.
Do you believe God made the Universe, Heaven, Earth, and everything in it?
No. There are no gods. There are only beliefs used to comfort people about things they do not understand.
Science is the word we use to describe our research trying to find God through evidence of his Creation.
Nope. Sorry. Science is a methodical way of obtaining evidence of how things work. See the Science entry at Wikipedia
You think Man authored the Laws of Physics which scientists hold so dear? Think again. No man set Avagadro's constant, or any of the other parameters of our observable universe.
No god set it either. If God created the universe, who created God? Don't answer with "He/She/It has always existed either. Because the simpler explanation then, using Occam's Razor, is that the universe always existed.
If God did create us, did he intend us to try to find Him, or mull around like a bunch of obedient ignorant sheep doing the bidding of those who take it in their mind to control us?
Religion, of any type is a form of mind control. It doesn't matter which religion. Galileo was put throught the Inquisition for stating that the Earth revolved around the Sun. A Heresy in his time, but true nonetheless. Religion blinds people to the truth, it doesn't show it to them.
Scientists are trying to understand God's creation and what our place in it is supposed to be.
Scientists are trying to understand the world we live in, NOT "God's creation" as you put it. Some scientists are atheists, you know.
As for understanding our place in it, that is for philosophers to debate, not scientists.
Am I supposed to believe there is a God up there somewhere who tells various factions all over the Earth to gather in his name and smite the other ones?
Yes. Read the old testament. The whole thing. Add up how much smiting goes on. Plenty of smiting just in the first five books.
Or does simple knowledge of human behavioural psychologies and obedience structures indicate the Gods of Religion are just some entity created by men so they could use it to control other men?
Now you're getting it.
If God created me with sufficient intelligence to seek Him, why is he gonna hold it against me for doing exactly that?
Okay, next exercise. Read your Bible. I am assuming you own one. Now, look at all the contradictions. If you need help with that, look here The Skeptic's Annotated Bible to find all the Biblical contradictions you could ever want.
It wasn't an issue for Nixon either. He didn't win the gubernatorial race in California, but did manage to forget that breaking and entering was a crime while he was president. He probably could have used some extra creatine in his diet. :-)
BTW, LBJ was pres when this slashdotter was born.
The problem I see with most non-technical classes these days is that the profs get so enamoured with the technology that they lose sight of what's important - the content.
That said, the computer could be used for online collaboration, peer review, etc. However, I would limit the use of the Internet connection to the outside world to non-class hours. It's useful if you're in your dorm and need to check something at 2 a.m., but students should not have the added distraction of an active connection to the outside world during class.
I believe you mean EEG or electroencephalogram. An EKG is an electrocardiogram, which measures electrical activity in the heart. You do make some excellent points, though.
But, it's 2003 now, and people (especially younger generations) have grown used to technology. Heck, I didn't start using IM until my 14 (at the time) year old niece showed me how useful it was, and I'm a programmer.... On top of that, the technology has become increasingly user-friendly, so it lends itself to more users of both genders.
You'll always have a gender gap in certain activities, but don't turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. You may be surprised what you can learn from the other side.
Some of us with married friends do. Usually because our buddies with wife and kids are always complaining about how the wife is never in the mood, and even if she is, it's impossible to have quality time in the bedroom with a toddler pounding on the door. A couple I know has 5 kids (teens to toddlers) and they *need* to get away every once in a while just to keep their sanity. When I spend time at their house, it's the best damned "scared single" program I could ever hope for. :-)
Funny thing is, though, I wouldn't mind having those kinds of problems. Even with all that chaos. Guess I'm just a family man - wannabe.
I still have the same digital alarm clock (no radio) I had in 1983 and it still works just as well.
From dictionary.com:
Even though verb usage is commonplace, most people still hate its verb form.
Yes, it is. My statement was a general one, not one particular to this book.
I have to agree. Why can't people just accept that in English the pronoun "he" is used for both male and undetermined gender. Instead, the author uses "she" as a pronoun, which, in normal, non-PC usage, refers only to females. It annoys me to the point of distraction. At the very least, he could have used "he or she" or, if that would add too much to book length, "s/he" might have been a more acceptable alternative. Personally, I avoid buying books where the author is obviously trying to be PC just for book sales, especially in a male-dominated industry.
While I agree that your post should have been modded up, I would have chosen Insightful instead of funny. I actually do drink a ton of water all day, and do have to get up frequently to recycle it. It's a good rest for the eyes as well as helping your veins. According to my optometrist, those in the computer field should follow what she calls the 20-20-20 rule. That is, every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. The walk to the men's room accomplishes that admirably.
No, psychiatrists are used when the mind is malfunctioning, but the brain itself may not require surgery. Brain surgeons are used when there is something wrong with the brain that can only be corrected by surgery, such as a tumor. A condition such as that may not necessarily cause a malfunction of the mind, it could be causing physical symptoms instead, such as headaches, paralysis, etc. So, it is possible to be in your right mind and still require brain surgery. In which case, I'd feel more comfortable with Linux. The question, of course, then becomes, "Which distribution do you trust most to drill into your skull?"
As an aside, Microsoft's motto for a similar product would probably be, "Where do you want to drill today?" :-)
I've found a great solution to be a cordless phone with caller ID. The phone is always nearby so I barely have to move to see the caller ID. That system works pretty well during the day or on weekends. If I really don't want to be bothered, like when I'm trying to sleep, I'll forward my calls to my cell phone, which I'll have turned off. If someone wants to leave a message they can, but I can review it on my own time.
In addition, the cell is always with me during the day and also has caller ID, along with a lovely Ignore button that will send callers straight to voice mail.
Finally, I use the cell for non-work-related friends and family. No one else has my cell number.
So, you are correct. You can use technology to stop the frustration of technology.
Almost 500 years, according to Merriam Webster. The first entry sets the date at 1560 AD.
To be honest, it's been several years since reading anything by Card, so I don't recall who Bean was. I do notice however, that the more good books I read, of any genre, the more critical I become. It makes it difficult to pick up much of anything new, and I find myself re-reading some of the good sci-fi out there, like Dune. When I'm done, I will be re-reading a copy of Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage, which, like Dune was required reading in high school. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school where we could pick our English classes, so all my required reading was sci-fi. It was a great year.
One favorite I've had for a while is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series
I know one or two people that like these as well. I've heard good things, but haven't read any. Guess I'll have to add these to the list.
Now I'm wishing I were back at home with a decent library that stocks sci-fi.
I've got the opposite problem. I live between a Border's and a Barnes and Noble. I can walk to both. Plenty of sci-fi, but I've got to watch the budget. I guess it's a good thing I've become so critical lately. It's really gotten to the point that I'll go to Amazon.com to read the reviews on stuff and then go to B&N to save myself the shipping cost.
Most of the literature I've read on how to write fiction well emphasizes this point. A reader wants to walk away with a sense of reward and satisfaction. Miracle endings, in any genre, are a bad idea. I have not run much of this in sci-fi lately (I'm currently re-reading Dune), but would be interested to know if there are any other titles which you have an issue with. It would certainly save some of us from spending time and money on books with unrewarding miracle endings.
I found Ender's Game entertaining, and even Speaker of the Dead was okay, but I couldn't finish Children of the Mind. It seems some authors like to beat a storyline to death. It's one thing to be comfortable with the characters, it's another to just use them as a crutch instead of coming up with something fresh.
In any case, just to remain on topic, here are some of my favorites:
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. This one is currently out of print, but can be found in used bood stores.
Brave New World by Alduous Huxley
Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Most works by Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke
Stuff I didn't care for includes Orwell's 1984. While the concept was good, I could never get into the story. Never finished it. Domain by Steve Alten was okay, except for two things. He didn't research how psychiatrists are trained, and he has an annoying habit of writing in the present progressive instead of the past tense.
Check it out here for $17.99 USD.
Morticia was just Herman in drag. One of Grandpa's experiments gone horribly, horribly wrong. :-)
Me too. When they said no, I didn't bother to argue. I just typed in
Morticia Addams
1313 Mockingbird Lane
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
It was only a part-time summer job, so I didn't really care about getting fired. No one ever caught on either. Screw the marketing weenies.
What is this, reverse penis envy? Leave it to geeks to be proud of whose is smaller.... :-)
I can see a market for this device for people like myself, who live in the retail district of a city with no subway system and really busy streets around the holidays. A bus or cab is useless, they still have to wait in traffic. My area is so busy, Domino's won't deliver to my apartment between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I could potentially hop on a Segway to get to work, and not worry about being sweaty from a bike ride when I get there in addition to not having to fight traffic to get there.
As far as theft is concerned, I would keep the Segway in my office. I doubt I'd use a $5000 (USD) Segway to go to the mall with. Still need the trunk room of a car for that.
I can see at least one potential use for the Segway for me, which is why I originally put myself on Amazon's early distribution list. However, my income isn't disposable enough to spend 5 grand on one. I'll fight the traffic for now, but if the price dips below $2000, I'd seriously consider purchasing a Segway.