I live and teach at a New England boarding school. I imagine this will end up being a pretty popular game in the guys' dorms, not for any comparison to actual life at boarding school, but for the amusing parallels that can be drawn with real people. Two characters were already pitted against each other in a WWE Smackdown game,looking suspiciously like two of our wrestling coaches. Should be fun.
I think that if there were going to be conflicts between cities and rural areas, they would stem from privacy and rights violations. If a certain city said that it would systematically begin to search every home and apartment, I imagine many would let them in, many more would resist, and millions would head out to the country.
And we country people don't like city-slicker visitors, 'specially not when they want to move in...
Re:What are your writing plans after Baroque cycle
on
Ask Neal Stephenson
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I believe the connection between the Past (Baroque Cycle), the Present (and recent past) in Cryptonomicon, and the Future (yet to be written?) will be made -- we're just in the middle of it. Enoch Root *is* the same character in the Baroque books and Crypto -- that's what makes them all sci-fi. My guess is that he's a time traveler, though others have their opinions.
The intricate family connections also lead me to believe that the story will continue in the future, not only with the Shaftoes and Waterhouses, but the Kivistiks, von Hacklhebers, and the owners of the Bomb and Grapnel as well. In all, Enoch is the key.
So, my question to Mr. Stephenson: Neal, can you confirm or deny?
...when it comes to Stephenson. Many people love him and don't even *see* those flaws as flaws, and many think he's just an overblown researcher with diarrhea of the pen. Read him for yourself, but don't expect a Hollywood ending.
I, for one, love his endings, beginnings, and middles. As the about reviewer said, he makes me grin like a maniac on a very regular basis. But hey, to each their own -- I hear Pam Anderson book is positively scintillating. Or you could pick up a Dan Brown and relive the stress of hundreds of events and encounters packed into less than a week. Neal's not for everyone, but he *is* an excellent author.
10. An analysis of the screenshots yielded the following results:
293 (approx. 71%) of the screenshots documented active, on-going
games of solitaire.
87 (approx. 21%) of the screenshots documented web site visits, email
subscriptions, and other miscellaneous non-job related activities
consisting mostly of personal financial and stock market research.
29 (approx. 7%) of the screenshots indicated some job related activities,
mostly consisting of an "I concur" in an email response. However, solitaire
was minimized (hidden) for quick retrieval on most of these screens.
1 % or less of the screenshots were inconclusive as far as the type of activity.
No screenshots (0%) documented any job-related activities such as word
processing, spreadsheets, databases, job related websites, electronic
document management, right-of-way plans standards, etc.
Additionally,
5. A screen capture utility was used to automate this process. The utility behaves
like a camera by capturing photographs of the computer screen. The utility did
not target any specific activity or application usage by the user.
6. Screenshots were automatically recorded at times randomly selected by the
screen capture utility. The installer of said utility had no control over the randomly
selected times.
7. Periods of computer inactivity on the part of the user de-activated the utility until
such time that user input was detected. This feature prevented generation of
redundant screenshots at night, weekends, holidays, days off, etc.
8. Also, A minimum time interval of approximately 30 minutes transpired between
screenshots to prevent a large volume of redundant images. The purpose of the
utility was to take a representative sample of computer activity. The pattern of
computer usage on the part of the user ultimately governed the interval between
screenshots. When no activity was detected, screenshots were halted.
I really hope this guy gets vindicated in the end. He did his job, documented his case very well, and got screwed.
I've always enjoyed using JDM Cox's 'USAPhotoMaps' for free: USAPhotomaps -- it downloads terraserver images, allows zooming, panning, path overlay, and spot marking, among other features. Good stuff.
How about clicking the icon in the taskbar and picking the device? Done, 2 seconds.
From Pomfret, CT, outside of Hartford
on
Venus Transit Finished
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I couldn't believe this worked. We were visually observing the transit (Meade LX200 12", solar filter, natch) using an eyepiece, and on a whim, we tried to take a few shots with a little Kodak digicam -- through the eyepiece! It worked pretty well, I thought:
Hundreds of his readers are happy with his endings, including me. Crypto's gold flowing out of the mountain was a fine ending -- it was the end of the line for gold that was involved in the military conspiracy, covered by the cryptography hijinks, and the ultimate funding for the data haven and HEAP project.
My perspective is that you and other Stephenson ending-haters haven't stepped back and looked at the overarching threads and themes of the book, not to mention the plot. Granted, this is hard -- I didn't understand it until my second read-through. No, it's not your pat Hollywood ending; it's a proper ending for a book with big threads. Same goes for Snow Crash and Diamond Age.
Well done -- your take on his books in general is very close to my own. Crypto is still one of my favorite books period, but Quicksilver engaged a *lower* gear as the ending approached. I'm now re-motivated to read it, however, since I want to give The Confusion a chance. He's too good to pass up!
Fame and name recognition. In the year 2050, you'll hear, "On the Chinese front, a Sandstorm batallion was attacked. There were, of course, no casualties, thanks to the autonomous technology pioneered in 2004."
You've got admit that it'd be amazing to be credited with an 'historical' level invention.
Slashdot Mirror
I live and teach at a New England boarding school. I imagine this will end up being a pretty popular game in the guys' dorms, not for any comparison to actual life at boarding school, but for the amusing parallels that can be drawn with real people. Two characters were already pitted against each other in a WWE Smackdown game,looking suspiciously like two of our wrestling coaches. Should be fun.
Not everyone uses this one all that often, but I do: USAPhotomaps, a free and fast way to access images from Terraserver.
USAPhotomaps
"Okay, terrific!"
O&A, on XM premium, is (or maybe eventually will be) the greatest radio show in history.
And we country people don't like city-slicker visitors, 'specially not when they want to move in...
Besides making me take John Titor's claims a little more seriously, not at all (that I know of).
What I want to know is, can you fold this stuff more than 8 times?
Can you fold this stuff more than 8 times?
I believe the connection between the Past (Baroque Cycle), the Present (and recent past) in Cryptonomicon, and the Future (yet to be written?) will be made -- we're just in the middle of it. Enoch Root *is* the same character in the Baroque books and Crypto -- that's what makes them all sci-fi. My guess is that he's a time traveler, though others have their opinions.
The intricate family connections also lead me to believe that the story will continue in the future, not only with the Shaftoes and Waterhouses, but the Kivistiks, von Hacklhebers, and the owners of the Bomb and Grapnel as well. In all, Enoch is the key.
So, my question to Mr. Stephenson: Neal, can you confirm or deny?
...when it comes to Stephenson. Many people love him and don't even *see* those flaws as flaws, and many think he's just an overblown researcher with diarrhea of the pen. Read him for yourself, but don't expect a Hollywood ending.
I, for one, love his endings, beginnings, and middles. As the about reviewer said, he makes me grin like a maniac on a very regular basis. But hey, to each their own -- I hear Pam Anderson book is positively scintillating. Or you could pick up a Dan Brown and relive the stress of hundreds of events and encounters packed into less than a week. Neal's not for everyone, but he *is* an excellent author.
InstaPUNK is excellently written, balls-to-the-wall commentary on the bigger social trends. You make not like it, no prisoners are taken.
I hear 'antique' (or maybe 'antiquing') is a world record holder in official play.
Working version of the article (for now): http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2004-07-23
Repeat after me: He WAS the sysadmin. RTFA.
10. An analysis of the screenshots yielded the following results:
- 293 (approx. 71%) of the screenshots documented active, on-going
games of solitaire.
- 87 (approx. 21%) of the screenshots documented web site visits, email
subscriptions, and other miscellaneous non-job related activities
consisting mostly of personal financial and stock market research.
- 29 (approx. 7%) of the screenshots indicated some job related activities,
mostly consisting of an "I concur" in an email response. However, solitaire
was minimized (hidden) for quick retrieval on most of these screens.
- 1 % or less of the screenshots were inconclusive as far as the type of activity.
- No screenshots (0%) documented any job-related activities such as word
processing, spreadsheets, databases, job related websites, electronic
document management, right-of-way plans standards, etc.
Additionally,5. A screen capture utility was used to automate this process. The utility behaves like a camera by capturing photographs of the computer screen. The utility did not target any specific activity or application usage by the user.
6. Screenshots were automatically recorded at times randomly selected by the screen capture utility. The installer of said utility had no control over the randomly selected times.
7. Periods of computer inactivity on the part of the user de-activated the utility until such time that user input was detected. This feature prevented generation of redundant screenshots at night, weekends, holidays, days off, etc.
8. Also, A minimum time interval of approximately 30 minutes transpired between screenshots to prevent a large volume of redundant images. The purpose of the utility was to take a representative sample of computer activity. The pattern of computer usage on the part of the user ultimately governed the interval between screenshots. When no activity was detected, screenshots were halted.
I really hope this guy gets vindicated in the end. He did his job, documented his case very well, and got screwed.
I've always enjoyed using JDM Cox's 'USAPhotoMaps' for free: USAPhotomaps -- it downloads terraserver images, allows zooming, panning, path overlay, and spot marking, among other features. Good stuff.
How about clicking the icon in the taskbar and picking the device? Done, 2 seconds.
http://tech.pomfretschool.org/~jl/images/venustran sit.jpg
Meh, his mother was going to read it. I'd probably do the same.
That's because you don't know anything about the Hindenburg disaster.
No ticket!
It's not a losing battle, it's a lost battle. Data havens will only make things worse.
My perspective is that you and other Stephenson ending-haters haven't stepped back and looked at the overarching threads and themes of the book, not to mention the plot. Granted, this is hard -- I didn't understand it until my second read-through. No, it's not your pat Hollywood ending; it's a proper ending for a book with big threads. Same goes for Snow Crash and Diamond Age.
Well done -- your take on his books in general is very close to my own. Crypto is still one of my favorite books period, but Quicksilver engaged a *lower* gear as the ending approached. I'm now re-motivated to read it, however, since I want to give The Confusion a chance. He's too good to pass up!
Fame and name recognition. In the year 2050, you'll hear, "On the Chinese front, a Sandstorm batallion was attacked. There were, of course, no casualties, thanks to the autonomous technology pioneered in 2004."
You've got admit that it'd be amazing to be credited with an 'historical' level invention.