Actually, no, the literal definition of a firewall is a wall built to block the spread of fire, like the wall between the engine and passenger sections of a car. Not a wall made of fire, lol.
I find it very very sad that this is marked +5 informative....
Trying to teach in fuzzy alternate ways, teaching by trickery, emphasizing word problems or case study, teaching two or three paths at the same time, all of that stuff does not work for technical and mathematical subjects, pure and simple.
In the real world all problems are word problems. Teaching mathematics divorced from its applications is probably the main reason why so many people think of math as boring, and consequently avoid its further study or use. I've heard more than one math professor state that math is reality. It's not. It's a language like english or any other, and like any other imperfect and incomplete. The funny thing is, it's well known that learning a language works better and comes easier when you immerse yourself in the language and use it in real situations as opposed to studying it only in the abstract, via books, audio or video. Yet this is exactly how math is typically taught. A word problem gives you a reason to reason. A purpose for the problem, and for at least some of us that makes it interesting.
They also block, youtube, myspace, flicker, and several other site, and anything that comtains music or video. It is beginning to suck working here.
Wow, when did you find time to work between all that youtube, myspace, and flicker browsing before they blocked it?
BTW, companies frequently pay a lot more for a lot less bandwidth than you have at home, because it has to be reliable, and a handful of users surfing youtube, or listening to streaming audio can block that pipe completely, preventing actual revenue generating traffic from getting through. Oddly enough the ROI from surfing youtube never seems to justify the additional bandwidth costs, silly isn't it.
Maybe you shouldn't just assume that when "IT" is not helping you they're just sitting around twiddling their thumbs or playing WOW. It's pretty standard for IT departments to be severely understaffed, particularly since much of what they do is invisible if done right, and invisible things don't tend to rack up the $$ at budget time.
We've rolled out forums at least 3 times, guess what? Nobody uses them and they get dropped because we can't afford to waste the time maintaining something 3 people out of 1500 bother to use. Of course a year or two after we dump it, some new pointy-hair decides that's just what we need to solve all his departments problems, and we go through the whole process again.
I don't think most people are really ready for serious science fiction right now. I understand that sounds very elitist. What I mean is not that people aren't smart enough for it; they just want to see some escapist entertainment.
But that's exactly what's wrong with the dreck SciFi channel produces. It's not entertaining at all. I have no problem with cheap, no problem with unrealistic, no problem with low-brow stories. The problem is they're boring. I've never been able to sit through more than 15 or 20 minutes of one of their movies. They're just dull.
A lot of the comments here, as well as the CNN people in the story, and even Roblimo seem to be looking at the problem the wrong way. Everyone seems to be having an issue with the reader not knowing that there was a different, earlier version of the story. This will in almost all cases be insignificant.
The worse assumption is that of the CNN people, that I'm going to come back and read the same story again. If I do I doubt I'll have any problem realizing it has changed. However unless there is some notice that the story has been updated or changed why on earth would I read it again if I think I already have?
The problem is that most people wont read it again and may then proceed based on earlier, possibly incorrect, information the gained from a prior version of the story.
LDAP is a large part of my job, I've written dozens of scripts for handling various LDAP chores. And whatever you do I strongly recommend that as much as possible for any scripting, use something like Net::LDAP instead of using or wraping shell scripts around any of the OpenLDAP utils. Maybe it's just a project maturity thing or something, but the OpenLDAP people seem to have an infuriating habit of changing the behaviour/output of ldapsearch which means you will end up having to tweak or rewrite every script that uses it if you ever upgrade. That said the OpenLDAP utils are quite handy to have around, no matter which implementation you're running as your actual LDAP servers.
Also if you're running iPlanet/Netscape's directory server grab their resource kit, the ilash util which can do a lot of things, has a really nice feature in that you can drop an entry into vi and edit it. ud or whatever it's called in the OpenLDAP utils can sort of do that, but only for certain hardcoded
attributes, and not the ones you're likely to need either.
So are you saying you think giving money is worthless? Some people can spare money more easily than time, should they just forget it and go on about their business? Are those whose talents and time are directed elsewhere unworthy of free software somehow?
You know some people would consider users making bug reports and feature requests to be participating and helping out. (Though of course not all of them have the sense to be respectful and appreciative when doing so.)
Yeah, there are people who whine and bitch and think everything should be handed to them on a silver plater. I'm sure most of them don't confine their whining to matters of software, free or otherwise.
Statements like yours, while I don't expect it was your intention make it sound like input of any kind from non programmers is unwelcome.
The days of buying a product for a fixed fee with which includes lifetime support and upgrades are over.
That's not the problem, that stuff shouldn't be free. The problem is it's becoming impossible to buy a product WITHOUT support or upgrades for a fixed fee. And it's a very rare company who's software support is worth the time it took to talk to them, much less any actual money.
Comparing the price of Flatland to a Stephen King book isn't exactly apples to apples. Or if it is' it's like Granny Smiths to Red Delicious. Flatland is maybe 1/10 the size of a Stephen King book and the Stephen Kings of the world take a much bigger chunk of the gross than your average writer will get. I don't have the figures to know if or how much the profit margin on books has changed over the last 15 years. I'm not sure about $5 and $12, but I know say your typical SF or Fantasy novel I could by for $3 as a kid costs $7 now. But the average size of a novel has increased greatly as well. Where as most used to be around or under 300 pages, 500 seems to be the low end for a fantasy novel, and a large percent are in the 700 - 1000 page range.
Anyway my main point was simply to refute somewhat the previous poster's statement that materials cost was irrelevant in the publishing industry.
I agree with those who feel that an eBook should cost a lot
less than a paper back. I'm getting less in my opinion and there is no materials cost for an eBook, just the same type of prepwork that would go into a paper book and the bandwidth to download it.
You're also forgetting that most of the cost of a book, CD, etc has nothing to do with the physical representation of the object. You think that the $50 for a copy of, say, the 3rd Camel book is paper costs?
It has more to do with it than you think. You should check out paper prices sometime, they've increased immensely over the last 10 or 15 years.
I don't know about computer books in particular, but generally speaking, say fiction, or your big non fiction areas like biography or business books, the markup on books is only like 40-50 percent, which may sound like a lot, but in comparison to other types of products like clothing, for instance, is nothing.
It's been about 10 years since I worked in the industry so my percentages may be a bit out of date, but I doubt it's changed that much.
Here is a message for musicians, writers, entertainers. I don't want to enjoy your art if you're only interested in making money. If you aren't willing to give your art away for free, then you haven't put your entire soul into the work and, as a consequence, the art will not be as good.
I don't know what world you live in, but in this one, artists, musicians, and writers are biological beings and need to eat among other things. While it's true that if the creator of a particular piece of art is only interested in making money, the work is probably going to suck. But that will also be true if the art is only done to send a message, or only as a hobby that they can afford to give away for free.
To say only art that's free is worth anything is ignorant at best. Making good art takes time and effort. I should certainly hope that any ethical person who enjoys another person's art would not only not shirk, but indeed want to do their part to help support that artist so that they'll have the time and resources to continue producing the art you enjoy.
It's one thing to rebel against price gouging and unfair controls the publishing industries try and get away with, but to thumb your nose at the artists creating the content you're enjoying is just contemptible.
Re:I have to disagree with those statistics
on
Disconnected
·
· Score: 2
So, we had to come up with a unique methodology to implement. And I bet you'll never guess what we used:
bathroom breaks. We installed cameras in the ir-activation mechanisms on those automatic toilets the company
had installed two years previously, and we cross-matched bathroom-goers with the company facebook. It turns
out, so-called "corporate isolates" are more likely to take frequent bathroom breaks, where they can escape the
banter of coworkers (and decrease productivity at the same time). Like I said, the range came out to about
"40%-60%", and needless to say, management was not pleased.
Apparently it never occured to you that there are
as many legitimate reasons for frequent bathroom visits as there are for skipping company picnics.
Think medical. Think caffiene. Those are just
2 examples.
And perhaps it's just me, but I find I get MUCH more work done when I'm isolated in my cube, than when I'm trapped in a hall listening to the drivel of the company gossip mongers.
Re:"Corporate Culture"
on
Disconnected
·
· Score: 2
Apathy is always bad.
I would dispute that statement, but I cant be bothered.
Re:So what are your definitions
on
Disconnected
·
· Score: 2
What does the Namibian tribesman actually posess that would be of any value to a person engaged in something that is done in the modern world.
Hmm... a good number of large pharmaceutical companies among others seem to think tribes like them have something worth spending millions of dollars to go looking for. And that's just one example.
Clearly the plot, while perhaps not a literary masterpiece, was too much for Katz. I found the main characters very likeable, and the story was fun. While the Drej effects stood out at times, for the most part the effects sequences blended very well with the hand-drawn animation. The chase scene through the hydrogen forest of Sessharim was just one of many enjoyable examples, as well as being one of many action sequences in the film. Moreover I was very pleased by the fact that the movie was not "kiddified", one character's neck is broken in full view of the audience, and more than a few others are violently killed. (In addition to those who die when the planet's blown up:).
The design of the film was very interesting on a non-cgi level also. Alien designs were by Wayne Barlowe, who most scifi buffs should be aware of, and the lifestyle and living conditions portrayed are of the grity run-down-future variety.
While I'm not usually a fan of american feature length animation, I think anyone who enjoys animation and/or science fiction at all should see this film and get an idea of what american animation can be.
Nice attitude. Exactly what we don't want, and don't need. Why don't you take your distro of linux, go into your closet, and have a ball. We'll see how long you like being so elite and secluded.
Meanwhile, linux users in the real world want to see more applications (I was using games as an example; video players like Quicktime and many other apps are needed) developed for linux.
I simply can't understand how people think linux is going to compete with, let alone defeat, windows when they don't want it to grow commercially viable. Linux needs support from software vendors, the more the better. Software vendors want numbers, the more the better. I'm sorry if the idea companies charging money conflicts with our utopian "free FTP for everything" system, but money is what makes their world go round.
Media type apps would be nice. Drivers for hardware DVD decoders would be nice. You're forgetting though that while it's easier to get companies to put out or provide info for drivers with more users and more attention, linux was doing pretty good before all the hype too.
As far as how you "can't understand how people think linux is going to compete with, let alone defeat, windows", you're making the exact same mistake Connell was. Linux isnt competing with windows in the sense you seem to think. It does compete in the small server market, but not seriously in any other area, certainly not the "desktop" market. Someone could quite possibly build a frontend for linux that allowed it to compete in that area, but they havent yet. I worry if they do they will force changes in the process that are upleasant, (like the mess RedHat's made of their/etc directory).
I run linux because I want to run UNIX at home, not because I hate windows, (although I do). I like tweaking config files and tracing bugs in my scripts, but that's not for everyone, and neither is linux. It's not necessary to be the a Microsoft to get support or to be successful, and certainly not to be happy.
Not everyone shares your goals or your reason for doing things, and that's a GOOD thing. Get used to it.
So lets sum up. You think I should want linux used by the masses so more companies will make linux ports of games.
Okay... except that I dont play games on my computer other than the occasional mahjongg set to kill time while waiting for something else. So guess what, I still dont care.:)
Re:Too much Spam, too many forums
on
Is Usenet Dying?
·
· Score: 2
Ive been on the Net since early 97 and havent really used Usenet to get answers. If I have a question about my Mac, I go to a Mac forum, if I want to know something about webdesign, I also know where to go. Its simply quicker and easier to get into web forums.
I've never found an answer in a web forum, I generally end up with hits on a bunch of web forums when I search for something on google or wherever, but all I ever find is a bunch of other people asking the same question I am, and no one ever seems to have answered any of them. I have much more success with Deja.com.
Also, for some reason, fantasy has been exploding while SF has been declining. I'm not a huge fantasy fan, so this has been really depressing for me.
Is there that much more of a demand for fantasy books rather than good ol' SF?
Maybe it's because its OK to be unoriginal in fantasy (the themes are generally timeless), but how many books about a "ring around the sun" can be done? Perhaps were just running out of stories to tell.
Well this is probably stating the obvious, but I think it's largly because fantasy is easier to write. "Science" has expanded greatly in the years since the so called Golden Age of SF. It's gotten much harder to be a well rounded generalist. A fantasy writer pretty much only has to be self-consistent, mess up a fact in SF and you'll get slaughtered by your readers. I'm not putting down fantasy writers by any means, I read both, and for me the hard thing is not finding SF but finding readable SF. Publishers demand much higher page counts than they did in the past, probably a consequence of Tolkein's success. But while cool ideas can carry a book thru 2 or sometimes 3 hundred pages, get much over that and I need some character to keep my interest. Sadly most SF writers cant hold a candle to the Fantasy writers when it comes to characterization. There are exceptions of course, but as a rule...
There's something to what you say about fantasy being unoriginal too but perhaps not in the way you mean. (Most) Fantasy writers dont deliberatly reuse plots and such out of laziness, familiarity and certian themes/moods are an inherent quality of what their readers are looking for. Fantasy is a "comfort" literature to a large degree, which is not to say it cant tackle issues, but a reader expects to be left with a certain type of feeling from the experience. SF doesn't promise that.
SF will never die, it may get harder and harder to write, but unless they kill of everyone who loves a good mind-stretch it'll never go away.
Wow, I bet the TI'll be raking in the bucks tho when all those high school kids find out the new TI graphing calculator lets them look at their favorite porn sites in class!:)
TI's just desperate to have a consumer product again, so they'll latch on to anything. I have no use for a PDA in their current form. Give it an eyeglass based heads up type display and an input glove for typing and you'll have my interest. No voice recognition for me tho, until it's sentient I dont want to talk to my computer.
I look forward to the day when I can insert a 1 GigaFlop anal suppository with a scrotal feedback module it to my rectum. This is the future of computing, and seeing as I am among the few eL1t3 developers working on this very technology, I will make millions. You will all bow to my superior mind after the IPO.
Suppositrodes:) One of the Bill, the Galactic Hero novels IIRC. Not sure if it was one of the Harry Harrison ones or the later ones by differing authors.
Hey I read Henry V at 13, it was great. I still remember it: "We few, we merry few, we band of brothers.." It is the best speech Shakespeare wrote.
Maybe the reason many 7th graders can't read Shakespeare is because they don't. (I know that is a tautology) If you are convinced any book is too hard you can't, even if it is Dr. Sues. Let your kid try, Verne he writes good work. If he can't he will stop, but if he can that is great.
By all means let the kid try whatever she likes, just never force. One of the best things I think you can teach a child with regards to reading, is that you dont have to finish a book just because you started it. If it doesnt interest you put it down, try something else. Maybe you'll come back to it later, maybe not. The thing is, if you make reading "a chore" they wont want to do it.
As for Shakespeare, I was assigned several of his plays in 7th grade. I cant recall which ones off hand, other than that "Taming of the Shrew" was one of them. I didnt have TOO much trouble with the language, tho a lot of the class did, and even for the brightest of us it was frustrating sometimes. I think had we been given an annotated version it would have helped. I think Shakespeare is just too much of a strugle to read for the majority of people when they are forced to read it. Then again, plays are not meant to be READ, but performed. It would be much more appropriate (and I think successful) to show 7th graders Shakespeare than have them read it. Kenneth Branagh's film versions are quite good. If you must have them read it, doing so as a group, assigning different people to read different characters always seemed to help in classes I was in.
Slashdot Mirror
I find it very very sad that this is marked +5 informative....
In the real world all problems are word problems. Teaching mathematics divorced from its applications is probably the main reason why so many people think of math as boring, and consequently avoid its further study or use. I've heard more than one math professor state that math is reality. It's not. It's a language like english or any other, and like any other imperfect and incomplete. The funny thing is, it's well known that learning a language works better and comes easier when you immerse yourself in the language and use it in real situations as opposed to studying it only in the abstract, via books, audio or video. Yet this is exactly how math is typically taught. A word problem gives you a reason to reason. A purpose for the problem, and for at least some of us that makes it interesting.
1. Ranch
2. BBQ
3. Salt & Vinegar
4. Nacho cheese
5. Ridges!
Wow, when did you find time to work between all that youtube, myspace, and flicker browsing before they blocked it?
BTW, companies frequently pay a lot more for a lot less bandwidth than you have at home, because it has to be reliable, and a handful of users surfing youtube, or listening to streaming audio can block that pipe completely, preventing actual revenue generating traffic from getting through. Oddly enough the ROI from surfing youtube never seems to justify the additional bandwidth costs, silly isn't it.
Maybe you shouldn't just assume that when "IT" is not helping you they're just sitting around twiddling their thumbs or playing WOW. It's pretty standard for IT departments to be severely understaffed, particularly since much of what they do is invisible if done right, and invisible things don't tend to rack up the $$ at budget time.
We've rolled out forums at least 3 times, guess what? Nobody uses them and they get dropped because we can't afford to waste the time maintaining something 3 people out of 1500 bother to use. Of course a year or two after we dump it, some new pointy-hair decides that's just what we need to solve all his departments problems, and we go through the whole process again.
But that's exactly what's wrong with the dreck SciFi channel produces. It's not entertaining at all. I have no problem with cheap, no problem with unrealistic, no problem with low-brow stories. The problem is they're boring. I've never been able to sit through more than 15 or 20 minutes of one of their movies. They're just dull.
The worse assumption is that of the CNN people, that I'm going to come back and read the same story again. If I do I doubt I'll have any problem realizing it has changed. However unless there is some notice that the story has been updated or changed why on earth would I read it again if I think I already have?
The problem is that most people wont read it again and may then proceed based on earlier, possibly incorrect, information the gained from a prior version of the story.
LDAP is a large part of my job, I've written dozens of scripts for handling various LDAP chores. And whatever you do I strongly recommend that as much as possible for any scripting, use something like Net::LDAP instead of using or wraping shell scripts around any of the OpenLDAP utils. Maybe it's just a project maturity thing or something, but the OpenLDAP people seem to have an infuriating habit of changing the behaviour/output of ldapsearch which means you will end up having to tweak or rewrite every script that uses it if you ever upgrade. That said the OpenLDAP utils are quite handy to have around, no matter which implementation you're running as your actual LDAP servers.
Also if you're running iPlanet/Netscape's directory server grab their resource kit, the ilash util which can do a lot of things, has a really nice feature in that you can drop an entry into vi and edit it. ud or whatever it's called in the OpenLDAP utils can sort of do that, but only for certain hardcoded attributes, and not the ones you're likely to need either.
So are you saying you think giving money is worthless? Some people can spare money more easily than time, should they just forget it and go on about their business? Are those whose talents and time are directed elsewhere unworthy of free software somehow?
You know some people would consider users making bug reports and feature requests to be participating and helping out. (Though of course not all of them have the sense to be respectful and appreciative when doing so.)
Yeah, there are people who whine and bitch and think everything should be handed to them on a silver plater. I'm sure most of them don't confine their whining to matters of software, free or otherwise.
Statements like yours, while I don't expect it was your intention make it sound like input of any kind from non programmers is unwelcome.
The days of buying a product for a fixed fee with which includes lifetime support and upgrades are over.
That's not the problem, that stuff shouldn't be free. The problem is it's becoming impossible to buy a product WITHOUT support or upgrades for a fixed fee. And it's a very rare company who's software support is worth the time it took to talk to them, much less any actual money.
Anyway my main point was simply to refute somewhat the previous poster's statement that materials cost was irrelevant in the publishing industry.
I agree with those who feel that an eBook should cost a lot less than a paper back. I'm getting less in my opinion and there is no materials cost for an eBook, just the same type of prepwork that would go into a paper book and the bandwidth to download it.
It has more to do with it than you think. You should check out paper prices sometime, they've increased immensely over the last 10 or 15 years. I don't know about computer books in particular, but generally speaking, say fiction, or your big non fiction areas like biography or business books, the markup on books is only like 40-50 percent, which may sound like a lot, but in comparison to other types of products like clothing, for instance, is nothing.
It's been about 10 years since I worked in the industry so my percentages may be a bit out of date, but I doubt it's changed that much.
I don't know what world you live in, but in this one, artists, musicians, and writers are biological beings and need to eat among other things. While it's true that if the creator of a particular piece of art is only interested in making money, the work is probably going to suck. But that will also be true if the art is only done to send a message, or only as a hobby that they can afford to give away for free.
To say only art that's free is worth anything is ignorant at best. Making good art takes time and effort. I should certainly hope that any ethical person who enjoys another person's art would not only not shirk, but indeed want to do their part to help support that artist so that they'll have the time and resources to continue producing the art you enjoy.
It's one thing to rebel against price gouging and unfair controls the publishing industries try and get away with, but to thumb your nose at the artists creating the content you're enjoying is just contemptible.
Apparently it never occured to you that there are as many legitimate reasons for frequent bathroom visits as there are for skipping company picnics. Think medical. Think caffiene. Those are just 2 examples.
And perhaps it's just me, but I find I get MUCH more work done when I'm isolated in my cube, than when I'm trapped in a hall listening to the drivel of the company gossip mongers.
I would dispute that statement, but I cant be bothered.
Hmm... a good number of large pharmaceutical companies among others seem to think tribes like them have something worth spending millions of dollars to go looking for. And that's just one example.
Clearly the plot, while perhaps not a literary masterpiece, was too much for Katz. I found the main characters very likeable, and the story was fun. While the Drej effects stood out at times, for the most part the effects sequences blended :).
very well with the hand-drawn animation. The chase scene through the hydrogen forest of Sessharim was just one of many enjoyable examples, as well as being one of many action sequences in the film. Moreover I was very pleased by the fact that the movie was not "kiddified", one character's neck is broken in full view of the audience, and more than a few others are violently killed. (In addition to those who die when the planet's blown up
The design of the film was very interesting on a non-cgi level also. Alien designs were by Wayne Barlowe, who most scifi buffs should be aware of, and the lifestyle and living conditions portrayed are of the grity run-down-future variety.
While I'm not usually a fan of american feature length animation, I think anyone who enjoys animation and/or science fiction at all should see this film and get an idea of what american animation can be.
Nice attitude. Exactly what we don't want, and don't need. Why don't you take your distro of linux, go into your closet, and have a ball. We'll see how long you like being so elite and secluded.
Meanwhile, linux users in the real world want to see more applications (I was using games as an example; video players like Quicktime and many other apps are needed) developed for linux.
I simply can't understand how people think linux is going to compete with, let alone defeat, windows when they don't want it to grow commercially viable. Linux needs support from software vendors, the more the better. Software vendors want numbers, the more the better. I'm sorry if the idea companies charging money conflicts with our utopian "free FTP for everything" system, but money is what makes their world go round.
Media type apps would be nice. Drivers for hardware DVD decoders would be nice. You're forgetting though that while it's easier to get companies to put out or provide info for drivers with more users and more attention, linux was doing pretty good before all the hype too.
As far as how you "can't understand how people think linux is going to compete with, let alone defeat, windows", you're making the exact same mistake Connell was. Linux isnt competing with windows in the sense you seem to think. It does compete in the small server market, but not seriously in any other area, certainly not the "desktop" market. Someone could quite possibly build a frontend for linux that allowed it to compete in that area, but they havent yet. I worry if they do they will force changes in the process that are upleasant, (like the mess RedHat's made of their
I run linux because I want to run UNIX at home, not because I hate windows, (although I do). I like tweaking config files and tracing bugs in my scripts, but that's not for everyone, and neither is linux. It's not necessary to be the a Microsoft to get support or to be successful, and certainly not to be happy.
Not everyone shares your goals or your reason for doing things, and that's a GOOD thing. Get used to it.
So lets sum up. You think I should want linux used by the masses so more companies will make linux ports of games.
:)
Okay... except that I dont play games on my computer other than the occasional mahjongg set to kill time while waiting for something else. So guess what, I still dont care.
Ive been on the Net since early 97 and havent really used Usenet to get answers. If I have a question about my Mac, I go to a Mac forum, if I want to know something about webdesign, I also know where to go. Its simply quicker and easier to get into web forums.
I've never found an answer in a web forum, I generally end up with hits on a bunch of web forums when I search for something on google or wherever, but all I ever find is a bunch of other people asking the same question I am, and no one ever seems to have answered any of them. I have much more success with Deja.com.
Also, for some reason, fantasy has been exploding while SF has been declining. I'm not a huge fantasy fan, so this has been really depressing for me.
Is there that much more of a demand for fantasy books rather than good ol' SF?
Maybe it's because its OK to be unoriginal in fantasy (the themes are generally timeless), but how many books about a "ring around the sun" can be done? Perhaps were just running out of stories to tell.
Well this is probably stating the obvious, but I think it's largly because fantasy is easier to write. "Science" has expanded greatly in the years since the so called Golden Age of SF. It's gotten much harder to be a well rounded generalist. A fantasy writer pretty much only has to be self-consistent, mess up a fact in SF and you'll get slaughtered by your readers.
I'm not putting down fantasy writers by any means, I read both, and for me the hard thing is not finding SF but finding readable SF. Publishers demand much higher page counts than they did in the past, probably a consequence of Tolkein's success. But while cool ideas can carry a book thru 2 or sometimes 3 hundred pages, get much over that and I need some character to keep my interest. Sadly most SF writers cant hold a candle to the Fantasy writers when it comes to characterization. There are exceptions of course, but as a rule...
There's something to what you say about fantasy being unoriginal too but perhaps not in the way you mean. (Most) Fantasy writers dont deliberatly reuse plots and such out of laziness, familiarity and certian themes/moods are an inherent quality of what their readers are looking for. Fantasy is a "comfort" literature to a large degree, which is not to say it cant tackle issues, but a reader expects to be left with a certain type of feeling from the experience. SF doesn't promise that.
SF will never die, it may get harder and harder to write, but unless they kill of everyone who loves a good mind-stretch it'll never go away.
Wow, I bet the TI'll be raking in the bucks tho when all those high school kids find out the new TI graphing calculator lets them look at their favorite porn sites in class! :)
TI's just desperate to have a consumer product again, so they'll latch on to anything. I have no use for a PDA in their current form. Give it an eyeglass based heads up type display and an input glove for typing and you'll have my interest. No voice recognition for me tho, until it's sentient I dont want to talk to my computer.
I look forward to the day when I can insert a 1 GigaFlop anal suppository with a scrotal feedback module it to my rectum. This is the future of computing, and seeing as I am among the few eL1t3 developers working on this very technology, I will make millions. You will all bow to my superior mind after the IPO.
:)
Suppositrodes
One of the Bill, the Galactic Hero novels IIRC.
Not sure if it was one of the Harry Harrison ones
or the later ones by differing authors.
Hey I read Henry V at 13, it was great. I still remember it: "We few, we merry few, we band of brothers .." It is the best speech Shakespeare wrote.
Maybe the reason many 7th graders can't read Shakespeare is because they don't. (I know
that is a tautology) If you are convinced any book is too hard you can't, even if it is Dr. Sues. Let your kid try, Verne he writes good work. If he can't he will stop, but if he can that is great.
By all means let the kid try whatever she likes, just never force. One of the best things I think you can teach a child with regards to reading, is that you dont have to finish a book just because you started it. If it doesnt interest you put it down, try something else. Maybe you'll come back to it later, maybe not. The thing is, if you make reading "a chore" they wont want to do it.
As for Shakespeare, I was assigned several of his plays in 7th grade. I cant recall which ones off hand, other than that "Taming of the Shrew" was one of them. I didnt have TOO much trouble with the language, tho a lot of the class did, and even for the brightest of us it was frustrating sometimes. I think had we been given an annotated version it would have helped. I think Shakespeare is just too much of a strugle to read for the majority of people when they are forced to read it.
Then again, plays are not meant to be READ, but performed. It would be much more appropriate (and I think successful) to show 7th graders Shakespeare than have them read it. Kenneth Branagh's film versions are quite good. If you must have them read it, doing so as a group, assigning different people to read different characters always seemed to help in classes I was in.