WOW. Wasn't aware that/. filters the AC's to the bottom of each string. I had no idea what you were talking about and wondered if they had been edited out from above. That's a hell of a FP.
Still, is the word misogyny not a wee bit overblown? Even jokes in poor taste are jokes, despite what Freud might have said. On the same subject, I might really dislike a female coworker without it necessarily meaning that I'm secretly attracted to her. This is not a fancy way of saying "lighten up", but seriously, do we not take a thousand-fold more blase attitude toward violence directed at men? Actually, I think he said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar./derail
Exactly -- this is why they stand there while you collect your data, and, presumably, have some idea what you're doing with it while watching over your shoulder. They can't give you the chance to alter/erase what's there, which is what many would do if given half a chance.
Rather like audits of a law office -- and mark, this is why you want to ensure that whatever lawyer you go with if you need one has an impeccable filing system and a realistic/pessimistic attitude. In Canada, the auditors stroll in and say "tell us what's solicitor-client protected" and if you can't tell them right then, they take everything, files, computers, the whole lot. Trial this afternoon? Too bad. All that confidential info? If you just have data separated by client, you won't have time to determine what's confidential and what isn't, and they aren't buying "everything".
Same reasoning applies -- the law isn't in the business of providing time to alter/destroy evidence.
Tell me whether they've been successful when the last page is turned. We're a long way from there yet, with more than enough nukes to keep track of. And when it's all said and done, be prepared to show me that more weapons pushed us further from war than toward, because it won't necessarily simply show in the end result, with so many other factors in play.
If giving every single person a gun and ammo prevented killings today through sheer paranoia, would that be the end of the story? What about tomorrow?
Preparation for war makes war more acceptable in our own minds. Theirs, too.
It just feels that way with sci-fi, because the bad stinks oh so bad.
Sci-fi is like red wine, compared to, say, mainstream "literary" fiction as white. A bad white wine still isn't all that bad. I'd rather skip straight to vomiting than drink a really bad red.
How bad can a bad literary novel be? You say the main character slept with both sisters? Oh how unoriginal. Sci-fi? (and god, fantasy, too) You say the main character became his own father, and then went further back in time and killed his mother because looking back, having sex with her was pretty icky though kinda fun at the time?
I'm not commenting on KSR in particular, but I don't see the point in extrapolating science, especially to the point where it will reshape human experience, without extrapolating culture or society, too. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the "what will 'human relations' be like" question sometimes gets a little out there, but judging from what used to be unacceptable human behaviour a hundred years ago, a hundred years from now is going to be a little out there, too.
If I want to read only about rockets, I'll pick up a text, not a novel.
Can I look you in the eye and tell you his science fiction sucks? Huh? Can I?
Re:My biggest complaint about McDevitt (and others
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
Where are these people's editors??
Re:Ecology of Slashdot comments
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
That's simply not the way I mod. Recently I jumped into a thread that was eleven pages long. I started on page 5 and worked my way down, looking for quality, overlooked comments.
I mean really, something has to be absolutely fall on the floor funny for me to spend a point to make that +4 funny into +5. Plus, someone else is probably going to do it.
Not to mention, this is suggested methodology in the tips for moderators spiel (yep, some people read em).
argh. I have mod points but have already posted in this thread.
well said.
isn't it always those with wider tastes that "like trash" and those with narrower tastes that "are stuck up"? ditto morals, cleanliness, and just about everything else. as if where you are is *the* spot to be, in the world of subjective experiences.
Re:We seem a little tender today, don't we?
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
One of the grandparent posters hit it -- this is constrasting praise with disdain so as to make the praise brighter.
You hear it in commercials all the time, so as to "demonstrate" that the person was a convert to the product: "I normally don't use Irish Spring. In fact, I never used to shower at all. But now..."
Re:Piers Anthony advocates DRM
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
Harlan is the ultimate proof that you can be talented and a prick and be grudgingly liked, but the talent better be in proportion because we'll only put up with so much.
Asshole.
Re:Play nice with Piers Anthony
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
If by the time I make it to the last book in a series, there has been more than one added to that number, I give up unless they're really worth it.
Incarnations. Shannara.
Come on, guys. Come up with something else. It's like Back To The Future Part XIII with you guys.
That's a great book. Been trying to order it for ages, but no one will seemingly deliver it to a Canadian address, so all I do is browse the 2nd hand bookstore shelves...
but they also have value because they are at least somewhat rare
No, they're not valuable because they're rare. An-almost extinct species of bear might shit in the woods and its crap wouldn't sell as a commodity. We give diamonds and gold value, we bestow it upon them, use them as currency, because of the inability (untill recently) to replicate.
Let's say we used twigs as currency. But only these hundred original twigs, mind you, in our little village. Well, you'll just go pick one up from under that tree over there, won't you? We need something that can't be faked, hence rarity and value become associated (aside from the human heuristic of "scarce resources should be valued more" as a psychological aside).
You're buying into the "valuable because they are" line of thinking. Diamonds and gold have uses, but their price (not their value) reflects rarity and good marketing rather than anything else (just like this limited-edition rookie card blah blah blah)...
Don't worry -- the tables will be turned in the opening season when the head Cylon says "No man can kill me" and Eowyn hacks him down, then slays the rest of his army single-handedly, with a haughty look on her face. I'm sure you'll be glued to the tube, then.
Re:Previously Read Books?
on
King Rat
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· Score: 1
I thought American Gods was so-so, and Neverwhere was one of the most awful books I have ever read. If there was ever a book that relied on stereotypes (not archetypes) as building blocks, this was it. "Her skin was the colour of burnt caramel, and her smile would have stopped revolutions." "Hunter raised a perfect eyebrow." And let's not forget: She folded her arms beneath her breasts, planted her legs a little apart, and looked for all the underworld like a statue of a woman not going anywhere, cast in brass and in bronze and in burnt caramel."
Ok, ok, we get it. So she's gorgeous and statuesque. But wait, she's deadly, too, and tough as nails. Hmm. Let's not let this become mere charicature -- we need depth. Let's give her... a phobia! Yes! That's it! She can't go to the surface! So now she's a super, drop-dead gorgeous, deadly heroine, with a phobia. But now we need something to make her truly original -- an inspired, utterly unexpected twist. Oh god, I know! She's a lesbian!!!
The man has never stopped writing cartoons. That's all he knows how to do.
Interestingly, whenever I see both he and Clive Barker (whose writing I find to be far more original, which isn't necessarily saying a lot), it's Neil who has the interesting things to say and Clive who wades deep in shallow cliche.
Slashdot Mirror
WOW. Wasn't aware that /. filters the AC's to the bottom of each string. I had no idea what you were talking about and wondered if they had been edited out from above. That's a hell of a FP.
/derail
Still, is the word misogyny not a wee bit overblown? Even jokes in poor taste are jokes, despite what Freud might have said. On the same subject, I might really dislike a female coworker without it necessarily meaning that I'm secretly attracted to her. This is not a fancy way of saying "lighten up", but seriously, do we not take a thousand-fold more blase attitude toward violence directed at men? Actually, I think he said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Exactly -- this is why they stand there while you collect your data, and, presumably, have some idea what you're doing with it while watching over your shoulder. They can't give you the chance to alter/erase what's there, which is what many would do if given half a chance.
Rather like audits of a law office -- and mark, this is why you want to ensure that whatever lawyer you go with if you need one has an impeccable filing system and a realistic/pessimistic attitude. In Canada, the auditors stroll in and say "tell us what's solicitor-client protected" and if you can't tell them right then, they take everything, files, computers, the whole lot. Trial this afternoon? Too bad. All that confidential info? If you just have data separated by client, you won't have time to determine what's confidential and what isn't, and they aren't buying "everything".
Same reasoning applies -- the law isn't in the business of providing time to alter/destroy evidence.
Umm, ok this is all fine and well. I think we all understand the physics principles in play.
What if the rock is spinning?
We're still quite far away from having things like this be applicable to modern day but think about when you too can say, "I know Kung Fu"!
Lots of people can say that. They just did the work.
Anchoring, baby. You're using ridiculously little of your mnemonic capabilities as well. (not to get personal)
Tell me whether they've been successful when the last page is turned. We're a long way from there yet, with more than enough nukes to keep track of. And when it's all said and done, be prepared to show me that more weapons pushed us further from war than toward, because it won't necessarily simply show in the end result, with so many other factors in play.
If giving every single person a gun and ammo prevented killings today through sheer paranoia, would that be the end of the story? What about tomorrow?
Preparation for war makes war more acceptable in our own minds. Theirs, too.
It just feels that way with sci-fi, because the bad stinks oh so bad.
Sci-fi is like red wine, compared to, say, mainstream "literary" fiction as white. A bad white wine still isn't all that bad. I'd rather skip straight to vomiting than drink a really bad red.
How bad can a bad literary novel be? You say the main character slept with both sisters? Oh how unoriginal. Sci-fi? (and god, fantasy, too) You say the main character became his own father, and then went further back in time and killed his mother because looking back, having sex with her was pretty icky though kinda fun at the time?
I'm not commenting on KSR in particular, but I don't see the point in extrapolating science, especially to the point where it will reshape human experience, without extrapolating culture or society, too. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the "what will 'human relations' be like" question sometimes gets a little out there, but judging from what used to be unacceptable human behaviour a hundred years ago, a hundred years from now is going to be a little out there, too.
If I want to read only about rockets, I'll pick up a text, not a novel.
David Brin??
David frigging Brin? of "Earth" fame?
Can I look you in the eye and tell you his science fiction sucks? Huh? Can I?
Where are these people's editors??
That's simply not the way I mod. Recently I jumped into a thread that was eleven pages long. I started on page 5 and worked my way down, looking for quality, overlooked comments.
I mean really, something has to be absolutely fall on the floor funny for me to spend a point to make that +4 funny into +5. Plus, someone else is probably going to do it.
Not to mention, this is suggested methodology in the tips for moderators spiel (yep, some people read em).
argh. I have mod points but have already posted in this thread.
well said.
isn't it always those with wider tastes that "like trash" and those with narrower tastes that "are stuck up"? ditto morals, cleanliness, and just about everything else. as if where you are is *the* spot to be, in the world of subjective experiences.
One of the grandparent posters hit it -- this is constrasting praise with disdain so as to make the praise brighter.
You hear it in commercials all the time, so as to "demonstrate" that the person was a convert to the product: "I normally don't use Irish Spring. In fact, I never used to shower at all. But now..."
Harlan is the ultimate proof that you can be talented and a prick and be grudgingly liked, but the talent better be in proportion because we'll only put up with so much.
Asshole.
If by the time I make it to the last book in a series, there has been more than one added to that number, I give up unless they're really worth it.
Incarnations.
Shannara.
Come on, guys. Come up with something else.
It's like Back To The Future Part XIII with you guys.
That's a great book. Been trying to order it for ages, but no one will seemingly deliver it to a Canadian address, so all I do is browse the 2nd hand bookstore shelves...
Man, Futurama desperately needed to do a Paranoia spoof episode.
Ok, well, I desperately needed to see one.
Price of carboard, price of typesetting, price of expensive, glossy inks, price of art
Typesetting and ink? Bub, though speakest out of thine ass.
As for artwork, I didn't realize they were getting them to paint each box individually now. Another plus for video games -- they support the arts!
What glue was I sniffing? Just so.
Wow, dude, I'm Canadian, and last time I checked, 10^3 was a thousand.
You must hit the jackpot on scratch tickets on a regular basis.
but they also have value because they are at least somewhat rare
No, they're not valuable because they're rare.
An-almost extinct species of bear might shit in the woods and its crap wouldn't sell as a commodity.
We give diamonds and gold value, we bestow it upon them, use them as currency, because of the inability (untill recently) to replicate.
Let's say we used twigs as currency. But only these hundred original twigs, mind you, in our little village. Well, you'll just go pick one up from under that tree over there, won't you? We need something that can't be faked, hence rarity and value become associated (aside from the human heuristic of "scarce resources should be valued more" as a psychological aside).
You're buying into the "valuable because they are" line of thinking. Diamonds and gold have uses, but their price (not their value) reflects rarity and good marketing rather than anything else (just like this limited-edition rookie card blah blah blah)...
Cut down on packaging costs, yes, but $10-20 per box??!
How much does cardboard cost where you come from, son?
And to you, sir, for the Spot-the-obvious-English-as-a-Second-Language-post er.
Bravo.
Don't worry -- the tables will be turned in the opening season when the head Cylon says "No man can kill me" and Eowyn hacks him down, then slays the rest of his army single-handedly, with a haughty look on her face. I'm sure you'll be glued to the tube, then.
I thought American Gods was so-so, and Neverwhere was one of the most awful books I have ever read. If there was ever a book that relied on stereotypes (not archetypes) as building blocks, this was it. "Her skin was the colour of burnt caramel, and her smile would have stopped revolutions." "Hunter raised a perfect eyebrow." And let's not forget: She folded her arms beneath her breasts, planted her legs a little apart, and looked for all the underworld like a statue of a woman not going anywhere, cast in brass and in bronze and in burnt caramel."
Ok, ok, we get it. So she's gorgeous and statuesque. But wait, she's deadly, too, and tough as nails. Hmm. Let's not let this become mere charicature -- we need depth. Let's give her... a phobia! Yes! That's it! She can't go to the surface! So now she's a super, drop-dead gorgeous, deadly heroine, with a phobia. But now we need something to make her truly original -- an inspired, utterly unexpected twist. Oh god, I know! She's a lesbian!!!
The man has never stopped writing cartoons. That's all he knows how to do.
Interestingly, whenever I see both he and Clive Barker (whose writing I find to be far more original, which isn't necessarily saying a lot), it's Neil who has the interesting things to say and Clive who wades deep in shallow cliche.