You would be thermodynamicists always give me a swift pain with this trival over simplified conceptualization. Saying "Energy in = energy out" as if it is a profound solution to the problem of obesity, in a system with as many feedback loops and mechanisms as a human body has make as much sense as trying to control the speed of a modern computer controlled fuel injected car by restricting how much gas you put into it.
Heinlein predicted it before Asimov. In "Time for the Stars", they landed on a planet orbiting Tau Ceti, theny named "Constance". They planned to colonize, but it was inhabited by hostile creatures who made them feel unwelcome, so they had to leave
If your family was not in law enforcement, it's much more likely you'd have have a bad encounter with a cop. Cops divide people into 3 groups - Cops, Cops' families, and scumbags. If you have cops in your family, you are likely getting a pass on all the bullshit a normal citizen has to put up with from law enforcement.
The Microsoft folks who visit here where I work at RealBigCo are all universally chirpy and cheerful describing how wonderful Windows 8 is going to be, and how we'll love using it so much. Their expressions fall like a newby chef's souffle when I pipe up and say "I heard it's going to be just like Vista crossed with Zune and Kin". I love poking at them...
I always assign myself my own title and enter in the company's Exchange Global Address list, the place this outfit stores titles for people. I make it "System Programmer", my favorite old school IT title, or if I'm feeling expansive, "Master of the Devices" or "Final Interpreter of the Dogma".
I'm, a Libertarian, so I vote that party where possible. If there's no Libertarian candidate in a race, I vote republican, since Republicans are (very narrowly) more Libertarian than Democrats. But, when it comes to judges, if there's no Libertarian, I pick the Democrat, since on the whole, Democrats will be more reasonable in drug cases than republicans. For what it's worth....
"The price of 2.5-in solid state drives have dropped by 3X " Hmmmm.... where I come from, if something is reduced by 1X, it's at zero. Perhaps he meant it's dropped by 1/3, or 2/3".
He slotted the Chinese virus, paused, then drove it home.
`Okay,' he said, `we're on..."
`Christ on a crutch,' the Flatline said, `take a look at this.'
The Chinese virus was unfolding around them. Polychrome shadow, countless translucent layers shifting and recombining. Protean, enormous, it towered above them, blotting out the void.
`Big mother,' the Flatline said.
He wore the most screamingly funny science fiction book ever written - "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers". A parody of Doc Smith's books. It's worth te the trouble to find.
"Blue. Tally Isham blue. The clear trademark blue they're famous for, Zeiss Ikon ringing each iris in tiny capitals, the letters suspended there like flecks of gold."
I dunno why everyone thinks Brave New World was depressing. It sounds like a utopia to me. I figure I'd at least be a Beta, which means I'd get some easy office job. Plenty of casual sex and drugs, none of conventional society's problems - what's not to like? A gram IS better than a damn. Everyone belongs to everybody else - paradise!
He would be...but not of your memory. It's the Howard Foundation, not the Long Foundation. Lazarus Long was a member of the Howard families, and Lazarus Long wasn't even his real name, just one he adopted during the Masquerade. His real name was Woodrow Wilson Smith.
it's funny this is starting in 2012, because, in the assorted Lazarus Long based books, the Howard Family members often mention the mysterious goings-on that happened at the Howard Families annual meeting in 2012.
The "difference between hard and soft science fiction is mostly fluff" - if you don't know anything about science and engineering. Heinlein was famous for being a stickler about technical issues in his work - for example, the middin' long discussion of the physics of space flight in Have Space Suit Will Travel, or the star fields in one of his movies. Poul Anderson managed to integrate facts about the chemistry of magnesium and radioactive transmutation of elements...into a FANTASY novel, no less. Hal Clement's stories taught me more Physical Chemistry than my teachers did. "Technical mumbo-jumbo", this ain't - it's the real deal, the clear quill.
As to whether I believe English teachers are always wrong - not at all - but I can absolutely guarantee that they are far from authorities on what makes good science fiction....
Ray Bradbury wrote touchy feelie, technologically very light science fiction. As a fan of the hard stuff (Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke et. al. - I prefer SF that requires a working knowledge of vector calculus and differential equations to really appreciate) his stuff always seemd pretty fluffy fare. I always summed it up as the science fiction beloved by English teachers everywhere, becuase if you took an English course in the 60s and 70s, and any SF was going to wind up on the reading list, it was inevitable that it would be Bradbury...
Cowboys didn't get into simstim, he thought, because it was basically a meat toy. He knew that... the cyberspace matrix was actually a drastic simplification of the human sensorium, at least in terms of presentation, but simstim itself struck him as a gratuitous multiplication of flesh input.
Slashdot Mirror
You would be thermodynamicists always give me a swift pain with this trival over simplified conceptualization. Saying "Energy in = energy out" as if it is a profound solution to the problem of obesity, in a system with as many feedback loops and mechanisms as a human body has make as much sense as trying to control the speed of a modern computer controlled fuel injected car by restricting how much gas you put into it.
Yes, you're wrong. A manufacturing FFL is not required to make a receiver for your own use. One is reuqired to make one for sale.
Heinlein predicted it before Asimov. In "Time for the Stars", they landed on a planet orbiting Tau Ceti, theny named "Constance". They planned to colonize, but it was inhabited by hostile creatures who made them feel unwelcome, so they had to leave
It's like they say - Twitter is stupid, and Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read.
We already have flying cars...they are called helicopters.
Great story about this from years back http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/
If your family was not in law enforcement, it's much more likely you'd have have a bad encounter with a cop. Cops divide people into 3 groups - Cops, Cops' families, and scumbags. If you have cops in your family, you are likely getting a pass on all the bullshit a normal citizen has to put up with from law enforcement.
The Microsoft folks who visit here where I work at RealBigCo are all universally chirpy and cheerful describing how wonderful Windows 8 is going to be, and how we'll love using it so much. Their expressions fall like a newby chef's souffle when I pipe up and say "I heard it's going to be just like Vista crossed with Zune and Kin". I love poking at them...
I always assign myself my own title and enter in the company's Exchange Global Address list, the place this outfit stores titles for people. I make it "System Programmer", my favorite old school IT title, or if I'm feeling expansive, "Master of the Devices" or "Final Interpreter of the Dogma".
I'm, a Libertarian, so I vote that party where possible. If there's no Libertarian candidate in a race, I vote republican, since Republicans are (very narrowly) more Libertarian than Democrats. But, when it comes to judges, if there's no Libertarian, I pick the Democrat, since on the whole, Democrats will be more reasonable in drug cases than republicans. For what it's worth....
"The price of 2.5-in solid state drives have dropped by 3X " Hmmmm.... where I come from, if something is reduced by 1X, it's at zero. Perhaps he meant it's dropped by 1/3, or 2/3".
He slotted the Chinese virus, paused, then drove it home. `Okay,' he said, `we're on..." `Christ on a crutch,' the Flatline said, `take a look at this.' The Chinese virus was unfolding around them. Polychrome shadow, countless translucent layers shifting and recombining. Protean, enormous, it towered above them, blotting out the void. `Big mother,' the Flatline said.
He wore the most screamingly funny science fiction book ever written - "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers". A parody of Doc Smith's books. It's worth te the trouble to find.
"Blue. Tally Isham blue. The clear trademark blue they're famous for, Zeiss Ikon ringing each iris in tiny capitals, the letters suspended there like flecks of gold."
I dunno why everyone thinks Brave New World was depressing. It sounds like a utopia to me. I figure I'd at least be a Beta, which means I'd get some easy office job. Plenty of casual sex and drugs, none of conventional society's problems - what's not to like? A gram IS better than a damn. Everyone belongs to everybody else - paradise!
I hated Country Music until Rap came along. Now I fear that what comes next will make me long for the good old days of Rap...
He would be...but not of your memory. It's the Howard Foundation, not the Long Foundation. Lazarus Long was a member of the Howard families, and Lazarus Long wasn't even his real name, just one he adopted during the Masquerade. His real name was Woodrow Wilson Smith. it's funny this is starting in 2012, because, in the assorted Lazarus Long based books, the Howard Family members often mention the mysterious goings-on that happened at the Howard Families annual meeting in 2012.
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/users/parmega/articles/neon/
It's Valentine Michael Smith, not Michael Valentine Smith.
Lenny Bruce used it in the 60s, before Hunter S. Thompson did. His famous line - "There's nothing sadder than an aging hipster".
Yep. Remember, the Bill of Rights isn't perfect....but it's a lot better than what we have now.
Yah, everybody knows Republicans never care about anyone's freedom. Lessee, what party was that guy who freed all the slaves in?
The "difference between hard and soft science fiction is mostly fluff" - if you don't know anything about science and engineering. Heinlein was famous for being a stickler about technical issues in his work - for example, the middin' long discussion of the physics of space flight in Have Space Suit Will Travel, or the star fields in one of his movies. Poul Anderson managed to integrate facts about the chemistry of magnesium and radioactive transmutation of elements...into a FANTASY novel, no less. Hal Clement's stories taught me more Physical Chemistry than my teachers did. "Technical mumbo-jumbo", this ain't - it's the real deal, the clear quill. As to whether I believe English teachers are always wrong - not at all - but I can absolutely guarantee that they are far from authorities on what makes good science fiction....
Ray Bradbury wrote touchy feelie, technologically very light science fiction. As a fan of the hard stuff (Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke et. al. - I prefer SF that requires a working knowledge of vector calculus and differential equations to really appreciate) his stuff always seemd pretty fluffy fare. I always summed it up as the science fiction beloved by English teachers everywhere, becuase if you took an English course in the 60s and 70s, and any SF was going to wind up on the reading list, it was inevitable that it would be Bradbury...
Cowboys didn't get into simstim, he thought, because it was basically a meat toy. He knew that ... the cyberspace matrix was actually a drastic simplification of the human sensorium, at least in terms of presentation, but simstim itself struck him as a gratuitous multiplication of flesh input.