You awaken in a poorly lit room, with a closed door on each wall. By your side is a GPS device. You turn it on and ask for directions to go home. It tells you to head east and indicates the proper direction with an arrow. You turn in the direction of the arrow, which adjusts to match your new heading. You open it and enter another room. The door shuts behind you. It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. The GPS continues to point you forward. What do you do?
luckily steam has this nice "offline mode" option. I was playing civ 4, l4d2 and bad company 2 this past weekend when waiting for cable in my new apartment
Considering the amount of time and money that Gates has put into philanthropy, I think that someone could make a decent argument for Gates, or at least the Gates Foundation to receive the Peace Prize.
To get ready for the release, I reread the series last month. Like most people who were fans of the series I had been disappointed with the slowing pace and complexity of the story in the later books. What I realized last month was that a lot of that slowness was because of the time between the releases of the books. As the series got longer and longer, I was less likely to reread the entire series before a new book came out. But reading it all at once definitely helps everything work much better. It's not that "nothing" happens in those later books, it's that so much smaller stuff happens, that it's nearly impossible to keep it all in your mind. After rereading the series, I was incredibly excited about TGS.
So I went out and bought it Tuesday after work. I finished it on Wednesday. Sanderson does a great job of channeling the early Jordan. I don't know how much of the text was directly written by Jordan, but in the book several storylines are moved forward and a few of them are actually resolved. (Yes! Really!) The book does primarily focus on Rand, over Mat and Perrin, which was a complaint about several of the later books, but I think anyone who had gotten tired of Rand's attitude and behavior will like how the book ends. Egwene and the split of the White Tower is the other primary storyline that is dealt with, and I think that part of the story is perhaps some of the best since the first 3-4 books. There is still a ridiculous amount of stuff going on that isn't explained (yet), but it all feels like it's building in a way that will resolve itself that will be very exciting to read. With Knife of Dreams, you could definitely tell that Jordan was trying to pick up speed with his story, which makes sense, as he had already been diagnosed with amyloidosis and was trying to get as much finished as he could. And that increasing pace definitely is continued in TGS. There are still points where it slows down, but it's mostly done in short scenes with the other characters, which gives the appearance of that same tension and plot speed.
And there are a couple of very, very big shockers. I definitely can't wait for the next two books.
a government contractor is still a private entity, not a department of the government and therefore, not responsible to FOIA
furthermore, the GP mentions the idea of the gov't holding copyright to an image, which would have let them issue a DMCA notice. however, all images/documents produced by members of the government as part of the duties of their job are part of the public domain (unless classified)
Considering the LoC is just about as far to the east of Yellowstone as you can get in the continental US, and if we're lucky about ash and fallout patterns, hopefully it would be none. In fact, if I hear that it has erupted, I will make maximum haste to reach the LoC to potentially increase my chances of survival.
one of these days, people will realize that the aluminum and tinfoil companies have been coerced by the government into impregnating their materials with microscopic brain-scanning devices and that wearing tinfoil hats has actually been increasing the effectiveness of the governments ability to read the minds of its conspiracy theorist and overly private citizens.
I was dicking around in Raleigh for a few years after graduating from NC State and worked at the Starbucks around the corner from where he lives and saw him almost daily. He was always a pretty down to earth and engaging person. We'd talk about things ranging from new movies to weekend plans to what he thought about last years E3. I don't really have any opinion of Epic and what Cliff has and hasn't done as part of ensuring that the company he works for continues to be successful, so it's possible that he's different when publicly promoting his games/company, but I know that as just some guy on the way to work, or a guy out walking his dogs, he's a pretty cool dude.
looking in from outside, it's hard to tell the difference between a voluntary relocation of scientists to akademgorodok and a forced relocation of scientists to the gulag
no way of judging at this point because they only have a partial engine built. it isn't going to be used for escaping the earth's gravity well though. it'll be launched using a standard lift system and then engaged once in space.
it's a paper that the researchers published last year describing what they had done with the previous version of the engine and what they planned on doing with this version
no fusion is involved here. they ionize hydrogen gas and turn it into a plasma and then heat it even further by applying radio waves (i.e. they basically put it in the microwave) and then they let the plasma out through a ring of magnets which focus and accelerate the exhaust. there isn't much in the way of specific data regarding this, but i don't think that the amount of energy needed to create radio waves or to ionize the hydrogen gas is really that great. the majority of the acceleration force is inherent in the energy of the particles since they are at over 100 million degrees F and that force is then amplified by magnets which themselves likely require little to no electrical power
Slashdot Mirror
You awaken in a poorly lit room, with a closed door on each wall. By your side is a GPS device. You turn it on and ask for directions to go home. It tells you to head east and indicates the proper direction with an arrow. You turn in the direction of the arrow, which adjusts to match your new heading. You open it and enter another room. The door shuts behind you. It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. The GPS continues to point you forward. What do you do?
luckily steam has this nice "offline mode" option. I was playing civ 4, l4d2 and bad company 2 this past weekend when waiting for cable in my new apartment
Considering the amount of time and money that Gates has put into philanthropy, I think that someone could make a decent argument for Gates, or at least the Gates Foundation to receive the Peace Prize.
To get ready for the release, I reread the series last month. Like most people who were fans of the series I had been disappointed with the slowing pace and complexity of the story in the later books. What I realized last month was that a lot of that slowness was because of the time between the releases of the books. As the series got longer and longer, I was less likely to reread the entire series before a new book came out. But reading it all at once definitely helps everything work much better. It's not that "nothing" happens in those later books, it's that so much smaller stuff happens, that it's nearly impossible to keep it all in your mind. After rereading the series, I was incredibly excited about TGS.
So I went out and bought it Tuesday after work. I finished it on Wednesday. Sanderson does a great job of channeling the early Jordan. I don't know how much of the text was directly written by Jordan, but in the book several storylines are moved forward and a few of them are actually resolved. (Yes! Really!) The book does primarily focus on Rand, over Mat and Perrin, which was a complaint about several of the later books, but I think anyone who had gotten tired of Rand's attitude and behavior will like how the book ends. Egwene and the split of the White Tower is the other primary storyline that is dealt with, and I think that part of the story is perhaps some of the best since the first 3-4 books. There is still a ridiculous amount of stuff going on that isn't explained (yet), but it all feels like it's building in a way that will resolve itself that will be very exciting to read. With Knife of Dreams, you could definitely tell that Jordan was trying to pick up speed with his story, which makes sense, as he had already been diagnosed with amyloidosis and was trying to get as much finished as he could. And that increasing pace definitely is continued in TGS. There are still points where it slows down, but it's mostly done in short scenes with the other characters, which gives the appearance of that same tension and plot speed.
And there are a couple of very, very big shockers. I definitely can't wait for the next two books.
Hell, in Myst you didn't even get a manual
Except Gandhi didn't. Neither did Eleanor Roosevelt. And Vaclav Havel hasn't either.
Yo Obama, I'm really happy for you & I'm gonna let you finish, but Mahatma Gandhi had one of the best Nobel Prize candidacies of all time!
Thanks to the prodigious efforts by Big Brother and increased production rates, next year the price will drop to $69.99!
a government contractor is still a private entity, not a department of the government and therefore, not responsible to FOIA
furthermore, the GP mentions the idea of the gov't holding copyright to an image, which would have let them issue a DMCA notice. however, all images/documents produced by members of the government as part of the duties of their job are part of the public domain (unless classified)
missives...the word you were looking for was missives
TIGR! TIGR! burning bright
In the desert city night,
With intel at hand and eye
Our foe will surely fear to try!
Beware of Geeks bearing gifts.
Fixed that for you.
Considering the LoC is just about as far to the east of Yellowstone as you can get in the continental US, and if we're lucky about ash and fallout patterns, hopefully it would be none. In fact, if I hear that it has erupted, I will make maximum haste to reach the LoC to potentially increase my chances of survival.
according to previous releases and a note in the NYT either today or yesterday, falcon 9 is supposed to be fully assembled by dec 31, 2008
What does Joe the Plumber zombie say? Redistribution of wealth! Wait, no. Drrrrraaaaaaiiiins!
I guess we'll find out, won't we?
one of these days, people will realize that the aluminum and tinfoil companies have been coerced by the government into impregnating their materials with microscopic brain-scanning devices and that wearing tinfoil hats has actually been increasing the effectiveness of the governments ability to read the minds of its conspiracy theorist and overly private citizens.
I guess when they finally release a version of WinFS it will be bundled with Duke Nukem Forever?
I was dicking around in Raleigh for a few years after graduating from NC State and worked at the Starbucks around the corner from where he lives and saw him almost daily. He was always a pretty down to earth and engaging person. We'd talk about things ranging from new movies to weekend plans to what he thought about last years E3. I don't really have any opinion of Epic and what Cliff has and hasn't done as part of ensuring that the company he works for continues to be successful, so it's possible that he's different when publicly promoting his games/company, but I know that as just some guy on the way to work, or a guy out walking his dogs, he's a pretty cool dude.
why wasn't more popular in western countries?
looking in from outside, it's hard to tell the difference between a voluntary relocation of scientists to akademgorodok and a forced relocation of scientists to the gulag
correcting myself, they are ionizing argon, not hydrogen
the research triangle park
no way of judging at this point because they only have a partial engine built. it isn't going to be used for escaping the earth's gravity well though. it'll be launched using a standard lift system and then engaged once in space.
check out http://www.adastrarocket.com/Jared_IEPC07.pdf
it's a paper that the researchers published last year describing what they had done with the previous version of the engine and what they planned on doing with this version
no fusion is involved here. they ionize hydrogen gas and turn it into a plasma and then heat it even further by applying radio waves (i.e. they basically put it in the microwave) and then they let the plasma out through a ring of magnets which focus and accelerate the exhaust. there isn't much in the way of specific data regarding this, but i don't think that the amount of energy needed to create radio waves or to ionize the hydrogen gas is really that great. the majority of the acceleration force is inherent in the energy of the particles since they are at over 100 million degrees F and that force is then amplified by magnets which themselves likely require little to no electrical power