I will repeat a couple of emails I sent.
My nominations for Name the Next Houston SF Con.
GulfCon
CapsiCon
ChiliCon
BayouCon
HoustonCon: The Houston Science Fiction Conference
HouCon
ConTex
TexaCon
and bonus write-ins:
None-of-the-above Con
Mission CONtrol
Spiffy Skiffy Con
It's Not the Heat It's The HumidiCon
The Messiah or prophet I am most impressed with is Krishnamurti
He was brought up to be the new Messiah. He had a relatively wealthy
organization behind him with thousands of followers. In 1929
thousands gathered to hear him proclaim a new religion, to preach a
modern sermon on the mount, to hear what they could do to spread his
teachings. There was even a radio broadcast of the speech. For
eighteen years many of these people had been preparing for the new
teacher to shock the world, to bring enlightenment.
What did he say?
Go home.
"Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path
whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. Truth, being limitless,
unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be
organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce
people along any particular path."
"I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow
someone you cease to follow Truth. I am concerning myself with only
one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all
cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to
establish new theories and new philosophies."
He dissolved the organization and for the rest of his life traveled as
a private citizen without a state, giving lectures to people urging
them to think for themselves.
It has been pointed out that Monty Python gave the same message in
'Life of Brian' so maybe I will also induct them into my Holy Hall of
Fame.
Complete speech here:
http://bernie.cncfamily.com/k_pathless.htm
I have avoided posting about my financial situation. I am undecided if that may change. I expect to not post as much.
Monday, December 08, 2003
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Addicted to Blogging
Weblog Award Nominations My relatively popular site is up for some liberal slithering reptile award. I have only 20 inbound links and 59 daily visits recently. This one currently averages 9 views a day. No it isn't, they screwed up the nominations.
My Personality Color Today is Light Cyan.
Weblog Award Nominations My relatively popular site is up for some liberal slithering reptile award. I have only 20 inbound links and 59 daily visits recently. This one currently averages 9 views a day. No it isn't, they screwed up the nominations.
My Personality Color Today is Light Cyan.
#E0FFFF |
Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well. Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation. |
Two Mars Rovers To Land Early Next Year
Bush to announce US moon mission
Wired's New Fun Tech Gear The most interesting real product is Discovery Kids DNA Explorer. Have your 10 year old map genes and determine who's the daddy.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Tracking All the Y'Alls in Texas
"Are yew jus' tryin' to git me to talk, is that the ah-deah?"
Those responses, part of an ambitious National Geographic Society survey of Texas speech, with its "y'alls," "might-coulds" and "fixin' to's," are helping language investigators throw a scientific light on a mythologized and sometimes ridiculed mainstay of Americana: the Texas twang.
Among the unexpected findings, said Guy Bailey, a linguistics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a leading scholar in the studies with his wife, Jan Tillery, is that in Texas more than elsewhere, how you talk says a lot about how you feel about your home state.
"Those who think Texas is a good place to live adopt the flat `I' — it's like the badge of Texas," said Dr. Bailey, 53, provost and executive vice president of the university and a transplanted Alabamian married to a Lubbock native, also 53.
So if you love Texas, they say, be fixin' to say "naht" for "night," "rahd" for "ride" and "raht" for "right."
And by all means say "all" for "oil."
At the same time, the speech of rural and urban Texans is diverging, Dr. Bailey said. Texans in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are sounding more like other Americans and less like their fellow Texans in Iraan, Red Lick or Old Glory.
Much more in this great article.
"Are yew jus' tryin' to git me to talk, is that the ah-deah?"
Those responses, part of an ambitious National Geographic Society survey of Texas speech, with its "y'alls," "might-coulds" and "fixin' to's," are helping language investigators throw a scientific light on a mythologized and sometimes ridiculed mainstay of Americana: the Texas twang.
Among the unexpected findings, said Guy Bailey, a linguistics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a leading scholar in the studies with his wife, Jan Tillery, is that in Texas more than elsewhere, how you talk says a lot about how you feel about your home state.
"Those who think Texas is a good place to live adopt the flat `I' — it's like the badge of Texas," said Dr. Bailey, 53, provost and executive vice president of the university and a transplanted Alabamian married to a Lubbock native, also 53.
So if you love Texas, they say, be fixin' to say "naht" for "night," "rahd" for "ride" and "raht" for "right."
And by all means say "all" for "oil."
At the same time, the speech of rural and urban Texans is diverging, Dr. Bailey said. Texans in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are sounding more like other Americans and less like their fellow Texans in Iraan, Red Lick or Old Glory.
Much more in this great article.
Current guidelines for lowering cholesterol may not be stringent enough
Lower may be better, perhaps even stopping heart disease in its tracks, they say. A new study looking at the growth of plaque in arteries of heart disease patients came to that conclusion.
But there is just one problem. While it has become increasingly easier and more feasible to lower cholesterol levels, most people whose levels are dangerously high either do not know it or are not doing much about it.
Recent national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention illustrate the problem. Sixty percent of people with high cholesterol levels did not know that they were high. Of those who knew, only 14 percent were taking a cholesterol-lowering drug and only 7 percent were getting their cholesterol within the recommended limits.
The guidelines in question recommend that levels of low density lipoproteins, or L.D.L., which carry cholesterol to the arteries, be below 100 for those at highest risk, below 130 for those of more moderate risk, and below 160 for others. Large clinical trials found that lowering L.D.L. to such levels sharply decreases the risk of heart attacks.
A study sponsored by Pfizer, reported last month, indicated that lower may be better. Plaque growth stopped in heart patients whose L.D.L. levels dropped to about 80 while it slowly continued in those with levels of about 110.
After years of trying "every diet I could think of to lower cholesterol" and taking herbs and supplements, Ms. Hament said, she has finally gotten her cholesterol down with a low-carbohydrate diet and a weight loss of about 15 pounds.
Lower may be better, perhaps even stopping heart disease in its tracks, they say. A new study looking at the growth of plaque in arteries of heart disease patients came to that conclusion.
But there is just one problem. While it has become increasingly easier and more feasible to lower cholesterol levels, most people whose levels are dangerously high either do not know it or are not doing much about it.
Recent national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention illustrate the problem. Sixty percent of people with high cholesterol levels did not know that they were high. Of those who knew, only 14 percent were taking a cholesterol-lowering drug and only 7 percent were getting their cholesterol within the recommended limits.
The guidelines in question recommend that levels of low density lipoproteins, or L.D.L., which carry cholesterol to the arteries, be below 100 for those at highest risk, below 130 for those of more moderate risk, and below 160 for others. Large clinical trials found that lowering L.D.L. to such levels sharply decreases the risk of heart attacks.
A study sponsored by Pfizer, reported last month, indicated that lower may be better. Plaque growth stopped in heart patients whose L.D.L. levels dropped to about 80 while it slowly continued in those with levels of about 110.
After years of trying "every diet I could think of to lower cholesterol" and taking herbs and supplements, Ms. Hament said, she has finally gotten her cholesterol down with a low-carbohydrate diet and a weight loss of about 15 pounds.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Food That Makes Even Fearless Robb Walsh Gag
Fermented Stinky Tofu.
I ask the restaurant's owner how he would describe that smell. "Sewage" is his one-word reply. In my new book, Are You Really Going to Eat That? Reflections of a Culinary Thrill Seeker, I make some bold claims about my willingness to eat weird stuff. Now I find news of nasty snacks everywhere I go.
Legend has it that tofu was invented by a Chinese feudal lord named Lu An during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC to 8 AD). Tofu is made by separating soy milk into curds and whey in a process very similar to the way cheese is made from cow's milk. Fresh tofu spoils quickly, and it was long a Chinese tradition for tofu-makers to work through the night to provide fresh tofu by breakfast time.
Stinky tofu was originally fermented as a preservation method. "Old grandmothers claim that tofu was fermented to last through winter, and that deep-frying it removed whatever bacteria that might have developed," according to the article "Joy of Soy" on walkerasia.com. "Some Taiwanese even offer that decades ago, stinky tofu was devised by cooks in military camps as a cold-resisting, yang-boosting staple for soldiers patrolling China's borders." There isn't any reason to ferment tofu anymore, but a taste for stinky tofu persists among the Taiwanese. If you love sauerkraut, as I do, you immediately recognize the parallel. What is sauerkraut or kimchi but stinky cabbage? These are foods that became important when fermentation was a prime method of food preservation. And now their stinky flavors are imbedded in their respective cuisines.
el - a little like the taste of pinesap in Greece - originally the method to make wine bags leak-proof was to use pine-tree resin. The people developed a taste for pine-flavored wine - retsina.
The Taiwanese party with funky tofu; Laotians love incredibly pungent fermented fish sauces made from whole fish; and other Southeast Asians crave durian, the fruit that smells like rotten eggs. The Eskimos relish a putrefied whale blubber that no one else can stand.
If you think Western cuisine is different, you're quite wrong. A friend of mine who was born and raised in Thailand confessed to me that he had been trying for years to eat Roquefort, the stinky French cheese. But try as he might, he can never get it past his nose. To him, it's the most disgusting-smelling food in the whole world. He says it smells like vomit.
Taiwanese Cuisine 9338 Bellaire Boulevard, 713-773-0888. Hours: daily, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Good things to eat include "sautéed chicken with basil," which I try on a subsequent visit. It sounds innocent, and the chunks of chicken look normal enough. But what a shock when you bite into it! Those things that look like half-peanuts turn out to be huge slivers of garlic. And every bite seems to contain a leaf or two of pungent basil and a big flat slice of fresh ginger root. Thanks to the unabashed seasonings, this is one of the most flavorful chicken dishes I've ever had.
The excellent mussels come swimming in inky fermented black bean juice and thoroughly coated with garlic and chive slices. The same profusion of garlic and chives coats the salt-baked pepper shrimp, this time with big slices of jalape?o added. The shrimp are served unshelled with the heads on. It may be the best thing on the menu. My dining companions choose to peel them, but I eat them Chinese-style: heads, shells and all. (Chew carefully -- they're sharp.)
The shrimp appear on a special menu section called "Drinker's Appetizers," along with smoked duck, sautéed oysters, roasted sardines, crispy intestines and pork tripe with pickled greens. Despite its offerings for drinkers, Taiwanese Cuisine doesn't serve alcoholic beverages, so I'm compelled to walk to the grocery store a few doors down and pick up a six-pack of Heineken to complete the experience.
The beer goes especially well with the cold appetizers. We try marinated cucumbers, which taste like freshly made pickles; "roasted" beef, well-done beef slices served cold in a mild sauce and marinated seaweed; and a crunchy seaweed salad with a slightly funky fermented tang.
Duck with mushrooms and dried bean curd skin is very interesting, although the presentation of hacked meat still on the bone makes for slow eating. My tablemates immediately wolf down the giant brown mushroom caps. None of us knows quite what to make of the dried bean curd skin, which looks like unopened flower blossoms and tastes like chewy pasta. It's not an easy dish to love, but it's certainly not boring.
Fermented Stinky Tofu.
I ask the restaurant's owner how he would describe that smell. "Sewage" is his one-word reply. In my new book, Are You Really Going to Eat That? Reflections of a Culinary Thrill Seeker, I make some bold claims about my willingness to eat weird stuff. Now I find news of nasty snacks everywhere I go.
Legend has it that tofu was invented by a Chinese feudal lord named Lu An during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC to 8 AD). Tofu is made by separating soy milk into curds and whey in a process very similar to the way cheese is made from cow's milk. Fresh tofu spoils quickly, and it was long a Chinese tradition for tofu-makers to work through the night to provide fresh tofu by breakfast time.
Stinky tofu was originally fermented as a preservation method. "Old grandmothers claim that tofu was fermented to last through winter, and that deep-frying it removed whatever bacteria that might have developed," according to the article "Joy of Soy" on walkerasia.com. "Some Taiwanese even offer that decades ago, stinky tofu was devised by cooks in military camps as a cold-resisting, yang-boosting staple for soldiers patrolling China's borders." There isn't any reason to ferment tofu anymore, but a taste for stinky tofu persists among the Taiwanese. If you love sauerkraut, as I do, you immediately recognize the parallel. What is sauerkraut or kimchi but stinky cabbage? These are foods that became important when fermentation was a prime method of food preservation. And now their stinky flavors are imbedded in their respective cuisines.
el - a little like the taste of pinesap in Greece - originally the method to make wine bags leak-proof was to use pine-tree resin. The people developed a taste for pine-flavored wine - retsina.
The Taiwanese party with funky tofu; Laotians love incredibly pungent fermented fish sauces made from whole fish; and other Southeast Asians crave durian, the fruit that smells like rotten eggs. The Eskimos relish a putrefied whale blubber that no one else can stand.
If you think Western cuisine is different, you're quite wrong. A friend of mine who was born and raised in Thailand confessed to me that he had been trying for years to eat Roquefort, the stinky French cheese. But try as he might, he can never get it past his nose. To him, it's the most disgusting-smelling food in the whole world. He says it smells like vomit.
Taiwanese Cuisine 9338 Bellaire Boulevard, 713-773-0888. Hours: daily, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Good things to eat include "sautéed chicken with basil," which I try on a subsequent visit. It sounds innocent, and the chunks of chicken look normal enough. But what a shock when you bite into it! Those things that look like half-peanuts turn out to be huge slivers of garlic. And every bite seems to contain a leaf or two of pungent basil and a big flat slice of fresh ginger root. Thanks to the unabashed seasonings, this is one of the most flavorful chicken dishes I've ever had.
The excellent mussels come swimming in inky fermented black bean juice and thoroughly coated with garlic and chive slices. The same profusion of garlic and chives coats the salt-baked pepper shrimp, this time with big slices of jalape?o added. The shrimp are served unshelled with the heads on. It may be the best thing on the menu. My dining companions choose to peel them, but I eat them Chinese-style: heads, shells and all. (Chew carefully -- they're sharp.)
The shrimp appear on a special menu section called "Drinker's Appetizers," along with smoked duck, sautéed oysters, roasted sardines, crispy intestines and pork tripe with pickled greens. Despite its offerings for drinkers, Taiwanese Cuisine doesn't serve alcoholic beverages, so I'm compelled to walk to the grocery store a few doors down and pick up a six-pack of Heineken to complete the experience.
The beer goes especially well with the cold appetizers. We try marinated cucumbers, which taste like freshly made pickles; "roasted" beef, well-done beef slices served cold in a mild sauce and marinated seaweed; and a crunchy seaweed salad with a slightly funky fermented tang.
Duck with mushrooms and dried bean curd skin is very interesting, although the presentation of hacked meat still on the bone makes for slow eating. My tablemates immediately wolf down the giant brown mushroom caps. None of us knows quite what to make of the dried bean curd skin, which looks like unopened flower blossoms and tastes like chewy pasta. It's not an easy dish to love, but it's certainly not boring.
Pat took me out to a new Gabby's BBQ Sunday night.
She had coupons. Was a new model for them - cafeteria style. I realized it was the only time I had red meat in November. It was only OK. I had pork ribs and lean brisket. Pat had beef ribs and pork ribs. We split the vegetables, coleslaw, squash, green beans, and fried okra. I only had two fried okra pieces. I had a slice of wheat bread and some pico de gallo, too. Water to drink. If it was a little off my diet because of the BBQ sauce and probably too much salt and fat in the pork ribs. Squash seemed old. Green beans had bits of beef cooked with them which added no flavor and seemed pointless.
I just realized it is December 1st. Going to be a bad month.
She had coupons. Was a new model for them - cafeteria style. I realized it was the only time I had red meat in November. It was only OK. I had pork ribs and lean brisket. Pat had beef ribs and pork ribs. We split the vegetables, coleslaw, squash, green beans, and fried okra. I only had two fried okra pieces. I had a slice of wheat bread and some pico de gallo, too. Water to drink. If it was a little off my diet because of the BBQ sauce and probably too much salt and fat in the pork ribs. Squash seemed old. Green beans had bits of beef cooked with them which added no flavor and seemed pointless.
I just realized it is December 1st. Going to be a bad month.
This is so Cool.
Amphetadesk is a free news aggregator. It takes blurbs from blogs and news channels and displays them and you can decide if you want to click on them and go read them. It is like google news in some ways but you create what channels you want to subscribe to. With thousands of channels available, AmphetaDesk can shave hours off your day - and you'll look smart to all your friends!
I have had an RSS feed for my Liberal News Digest I generated for other people to use and at least one person does as well as offering it as a news option on his website.
I hadn't had my personal newsfeed reader until now. I found it when looking up something to read the New York Times news feeds as those have the permanent links. If you link to the normal New York Times URLs after a week they direct you to a payment for access page.
So download amphetadesk, add a few news feeds including mine and be smarter.
Amphetadesk is a free news aggregator. It takes blurbs from blogs and news channels and displays them and you can decide if you want to click on them and go read them. It is like google news in some ways but you create what channels you want to subscribe to. With thousands of channels available, AmphetaDesk can shave hours off your day - and you'll look smart to all your friends!
I have had an RSS feed for my Liberal News Digest I generated for other people to use and at least one person does as well as offering it as a news option on his website.
I hadn't had my personal newsfeed reader until now. I found it when looking up something to read the New York Times news feeds as those have the permanent links. If you link to the normal New York Times URLs after a week they direct you to a payment for access page.
So download amphetadesk, add a few news feeds including mine and be smarter.
Who Plays Electronic Games?
Challenging the stereotype that video gaming is the domain of teenage boys, an industry group Tuesday reported that more women over 18 than young boys are playing games and the average age of players has risen to 29.
A poll released by the Entertainment Software Association and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates found 26% of game players are women 18 or older, while 21% are boys 6 to 17.
I haven't played games much since July 3rd when I got involved in the Dean campaign - where I am currently on hiatus. I think I did a few game weeks of conquering the world as Brazil - Pax Latino, in SuperPower a few nights.
There is both a new Civilization modpack out and a World 2004 being released which I should be enthused about but I'm not much interested.
Up at my Dad's for Thanksgiving I did get my butt kicked at computer Poker and tried Hoyle's version of Spades, both in the game pack I gave him. The game was cool in that you could design your own character (avatar) and it actually looked somewhat like you. He says he is getting good at poker and he might continue practicing to then go online.
One of my problems is that my PC is finally obsolete. It took awhile but even the minimal budget recomended system this past week in a Christmas column now has a higher speed than mine.
Hmm, I have a game blog and this and a previous entry really might better belong in it. I'll just link to here instead.
Also Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics - The Bad Movie Reviews
Challenging the stereotype that video gaming is the domain of teenage boys, an industry group Tuesday reported that more women over 18 than young boys are playing games and the average age of players has risen to 29.
A poll released by the Entertainment Software Association and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates found 26% of game players are women 18 or older, while 21% are boys 6 to 17.
I haven't played games much since July 3rd when I got involved in the Dean campaign - where I am currently on hiatus. I think I did a few game weeks of conquering the world as Brazil - Pax Latino, in SuperPower a few nights.
There is both a new Civilization modpack out and a World 2004 being released which I should be enthused about but I'm not much interested.
Up at my Dad's for Thanksgiving I did get my butt kicked at computer Poker and tried Hoyle's version of Spades, both in the game pack I gave him. The game was cool in that you could design your own character (avatar) and it actually looked somewhat like you. He says he is getting good at poker and he might continue practicing to then go online.
One of my problems is that my PC is finally obsolete. It took awhile but even the minimal budget recomended system this past week in a Christmas column now has a higher speed than mine.
Hmm, I have a game blog and this and a previous entry really might better belong in it. I'll just link to here instead.
Also Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics - The Bad Movie Reviews
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Saturday, November 29, 2003
A Review Of Massively Multi-Player Online Games.
Where did these games come from? Why are they designed the way they're designed? What's the deal with the monthly fees? What's the next big step?
GameSpy talked with experts around the globe to get a complete picture of the past, present, and future of massively multiplayer gaming.
Where did these games come from? Why are they designed the way they're designed? What's the deal with the monthly fees? What's the next big step?
GameSpy talked with experts around the globe to get a complete picture of the past, present, and future of massively multiplayer gaming.
"Espresso! My Espresso!"
An Ongoing Internet Novelette Documenting one man's journey into and through the world of coffee.
So far 69 short chapters of a man's journey to coffee knowledge. Unfortunately coffee is now off limits for me.
The key to quality espresso is control of the variables:
Grind
Dose
Tamp
Water Temperature
Water Pressure
Time
An Ongoing Internet Novelette Documenting one man's journey into and through the world of coffee.
So far 69 short chapters of a man's journey to coffee knowledge. Unfortunately coffee is now off limits for me.
The key to quality espresso is control of the variables:
Grind
Dose
Tamp
Water Temperature
Water Pressure
Time
Friends of Fandom for October/November
Clif and Margaret produce a newsletter for Houston and the world science fiction and fantasy fans.
Clif and Margaret produce a newsletter for Houston and the world science fiction and fantasy fans.
Friday, November 28, 2003
For Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure
Aspirin and low-cost blood pressure medicines beat more expensive treatment. You might want to add diuretics as U.S. News and World Report writes in this week's The End of Heart Disease Issue. They think this is a breakthrough time for heart disease treatments.
Aspirin and low-cost blood pressure medicines beat more expensive treatment. You might want to add diuretics as U.S. News and World Report writes in this week's The End of Heart Disease Issue. They think this is a breakthrough time for heart disease treatments.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
My latest weight update.
My stroke-like event was November 4.
Since then my low carb diet I wasn't following well has been modified to add lots more fiber, less red meat, no sugar, no caffaine, and lots more low glc fruits. I mainly eat apples, prunes, plums, pears and grapefruit as my fruit. At least 4 slices of whole-wheat high-fiber bread a day or equivalent such as low-carb high-fiber tortillas and/or bran cereals.
I've lost 10 pounds but have leveled off this past week. I get wrapped up in things and forget I am supposed to be eating six small meals or snacks a day and no big meals. That will be difficult today.
My stroke-like event was November 4.
Since then my low carb diet I wasn't following well has been modified to add lots more fiber, less red meat, no sugar, no caffaine, and lots more low glc fruits. I mainly eat apples, prunes, plums, pears and grapefruit as my fruit. At least 4 slices of whole-wheat high-fiber bread a day or equivalent such as low-carb high-fiber tortillas and/or bran cereals.
I've lost 10 pounds but have leveled off this past week. I get wrapped up in things and forget I am supposed to be eating six small meals or snacks a day and no big meals. That will be difficult today.
Speaking of Hugo's - 2003 Winners
From an email conversation I am having online.
Novel: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor)
- his best book
Novella: Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- modern dark fantasy, creepy - he thought it was a children's book
Novelette: "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (Analog 12/02)
- online: http://www.analogsf.com/Hugos/slowlife.shtml
Short Story: "Falling Onto Mars" by Geoffrey A. Landis (Analog 7-8/02)
- online http://www.analogsf.com/Hugos/Falling.shtml
Non-Fiction: Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary (Between the Lines)
- terrific review with photos and book covers here:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S31E527A6
Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois
- Asimov's and Best SF of the year
-his current recommended reading list
http://www.sfwa.org/reading/rec_dozois.htm
"This list was devised to point younger readers toward older stuff that they might not have heard of, or long out-of-print writers whose work they might be unfamiliar with..."
Professional Artist: Bob Eggleton
- http://www.novaspace.com/ORIG/Egg/Boborig.html
Dramatic Presentation: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Short Dramatic Presentation Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Conversations With Dead People" (20th Century Fox Television/Mutant Enemy Inc.)
- could be more than you want to know
http://www3.sympatico.ca/jenoff/btvs707.htm
Semiprozine: Locus (Charles N. Brown, Jennfier Hall, and Kirsten Gong-Wong)
http://www.locusmag.com/
Fanzine: Mimosa (Richard & Nicki Lynch ed.)
http://jophan.org/mimosa/
Fan Writer: Dave Langford
http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/
Fan Artist: Sue Mason
http://scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Mason,_Sue.htm
http://www.plokta.com/woodlore/
Campbell Award (best new writer): Wen Spencer
http://www.wenspencer.com/
From an email conversation I am having online.
Novel: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor)
- his best book
Novella: Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- modern dark fantasy, creepy - he thought it was a children's book
Novelette: "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (Analog 12/02)
- online: http://www.analogsf.com/Hugos/slowlife.shtml
Short Story: "Falling Onto Mars" by Geoffrey A. Landis (Analog 7-8/02)
- online http://www.analogsf.com/Hugos/Falling.shtml
Non-Fiction: Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary (Between the Lines)
- terrific review with photos and book covers here:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S31E527A6
Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois
- Asimov's and Best SF of the year
-his current recommended reading list
http://www.sfwa.org/reading/rec_dozois.htm
"This list was devised to point younger readers toward older stuff that they might not have heard of, or long out-of-print writers whose work they might be unfamiliar with..."
Professional Artist: Bob Eggleton
- http://www.novaspace.com/ORIG/Egg/Boborig.html
Dramatic Presentation: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Short Dramatic Presentation Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Conversations With Dead People" (20th Century Fox Television/Mutant Enemy Inc.)
- could be more than you want to know
http://www3.sympatico.ca/jenoff/btvs707.htm
Semiprozine: Locus (Charles N. Brown, Jennfier Hall, and Kirsten Gong-Wong)
http://www.locusmag.com/
Fanzine: Mimosa (Richard & Nicki Lynch ed.)
http://jophan.org/mimosa/
Fan Writer: Dave Langford
http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/
Fan Artist: Sue Mason
http://scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Mason,_Sue.htm
http://www.plokta.com/woodlore/
Campbell Award (best new writer): Wen Spencer
http://www.wenspencer.com/
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Something has happened with my main blog. I am unable to post. I wonder if it will spread here?
Added: It appears to be back but no time to update on Thanksgiving.
Added: It appears to be back but no time to update on Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Intel's new process preserves Moore's Law
Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, has achieved an average feature size of just 65 nanometres for its next generation chip. The memory cells produced are half the size of the most advanced manufacturing technology in use today.
If the chip is manufactured by 2005 as planned, it will ensure that the number of transistors engineers can cram into a given area will continue to double every two years.
Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, has achieved an average feature size of just 65 nanometres for its next generation chip. The memory cells produced are half the size of the most advanced manufacturing technology in use today.
If the chip is manufactured by 2005 as planned, it will ensure that the number of transistors engineers can cram into a given area will continue to double every two years.
Monday, November 24, 2003
Not All Underwater Gliders Classified
Years ago a novel came out that revolved around a manned high-tech underwater glider. I've forgotten the name. I suspected then it was like Clancy using the stealth bombers in a novel years before the Pentagon was ready to reveal them.
The fledgling technology, barely a decade old, has produced robotic submarine gliders that move slowly, with the nimbleness of a blimp. Now next-generation gliders are being developed to fly just as gracefully as their airborne counterparts, diving and climbing on broad wings that slice not air but water.
The gliders are as efficient as they are stealthy, which has drawn the interest and backing of the U.S. Navy. Potential military applications include mine detection, surveillance and patrol, Navy officials said.
"What they bring to the table is a persistence, a long-term deployment capability," said Thomas Swean, team leader for ocean engineering and marine systems at the Office of Naval Research.
The aerodynamic principles that guide ocean gliders are the same that apply to airborne gliders, except the underwater versions can climb every bit as effortlessly as they dive.
Years ago a novel came out that revolved around a manned high-tech underwater glider. I've forgotten the name. I suspected then it was like Clancy using the stealth bombers in a novel years before the Pentagon was ready to reveal them.
The fledgling technology, barely a decade old, has produced robotic submarine gliders that move slowly, with the nimbleness of a blimp. Now next-generation gliders are being developed to fly just as gracefully as their airborne counterparts, diving and climbing on broad wings that slice not air but water.
The gliders are as efficient as they are stealthy, which has drawn the interest and backing of the U.S. Navy. Potential military applications include mine detection, surveillance and patrol, Navy officials said.
"What they bring to the table is a persistence, a long-term deployment capability," said Thomas Swean, team leader for ocean engineering and marine systems at the Office of Naval Research.
The aerodynamic principles that guide ocean gliders are the same that apply to airborne gliders, except the underwater versions can climb every bit as effortlessly as they dive.
Over 60% of Major Fast Food Places had a Critical Food Health Violation in Last 18 Months
‘Dateline’ hidden cameras investigate cleanliness of America’s top 10 fast food chains
Taco Bell and McDonalds were the cleanest.
Burger King, Arby's and Wendy's were the least clean and safe places to eat.
The 100 Burger Kings we sampled rang up a whopping 241 total critical violations. Health inspectors cited a Virginia Burger King for 14 separate critical violations: employees not washing their hands, uncovered food in the fridge, grime and debris found on this ice chute, and on the drink machine at the drive-thru widow.
This was a national 'Slime in the Ice Machine' survey that covered about 1 out of 75 major fast food chain restaurant locations.
‘Dateline’ hidden cameras investigate cleanliness of America’s top 10 fast food chains
Taco Bell and McDonalds were the cleanest.
Burger King, Arby's and Wendy's were the least clean and safe places to eat.
The 100 Burger Kings we sampled rang up a whopping 241 total critical violations. Health inspectors cited a Virginia Burger King for 14 separate critical violations: employees not washing their hands, uncovered food in the fridge, grime and debris found on this ice chute, and on the drink machine at the drive-thru widow.
This was a national 'Slime in the Ice Machine' survey that covered about 1 out of 75 major fast food chain restaurant locations.
I have a Yahoo Public Calendar but I don't make most things public.
I am not pleased with the Yahoo Calendar. There is no UNDO, needed because many important settings for events are in a long form that scrolls off the scene. Poor design. For example, you need to check both a 'one time' box and the very seperate 'not a repeating' event box when creating or editing an event in order not to mess up your whole calendar. There is also not a broad enough range of display formats.
I had created this public version to experiment with having one Houston Area SF events listing. That is why all my events aren't published here - this is a temporary Houston SF Book event calendar.
I am not pleased with the Yahoo Calendar. There is no UNDO, needed because many important settings for events are in a long form that scrolls off the scene. Poor design. For example, you need to check both a 'one time' box and the very seperate 'not a repeating' event box when creating or editing an event in order not to mess up your whole calendar. There is also not a broad enough range of display formats.
I had created this public version to experiment with having one Houston Area SF events listing. That is why all my events aren't published here - this is a temporary Houston SF Book event calendar.
Wired 11.12: The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick
How and Why PKD is conquering Hollywood.
Paycheck, opening Chrismas Day is based on a 1953 short story Dick sold to a pulp magazine for less than $200, will bring close to $2 million to his estate.
Interesting quotes: In response to a 1969 questionnaire, Dick described SF's greatest weakness as "its inability to explore the subtle, intricate relationships that exist between the sexes," adding that as a result it "remains pre-adult, and therefore appeals - more or less - to pre-adults."
In a 1978 essay he wrote: "We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudorealities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives. I distrust their power. It is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing."
How and Why PKD is conquering Hollywood.
Paycheck, opening Chrismas Day is based on a 1953 short story Dick sold to a pulp magazine for less than $200, will bring close to $2 million to his estate.
Interesting quotes: In response to a 1969 questionnaire, Dick described SF's greatest weakness as "its inability to explore the subtle, intricate relationships that exist between the sexes," adding that as a result it "remains pre-adult, and therefore appeals - more or less - to pre-adults."
In a 1978 essay he wrote: "We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudorealities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives. I distrust their power. It is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing."
Sunday, November 23, 2003
New York Times Article on HSX - Hollywood Stock Exchange
I used to play this a great deal - I think it is a year since I have checked my money. Hey, It's H$158,384,873.21.
Studios, along with academics, are interested in it as a way to predict which movies will succeed. Traders are working to turn the concept into an actual financial market, like those for futures in corn, oil and other commodities. It has also served as the model for a television show merging trading and music.
All this interest revolves around a fantasy game that allows online players to trade "securities" whose prices forecast the first four weeks of box office revenue for new and yet-to-be-released films. Late last week, traders could "buy" stock in "The Cat in the Hat" (released on Friday), at $130 a share, meaning that the market expected four-week box office receipts of $130 million. Or they could buy "Spider-Man 2," due for release next May, at $235 a share, or even "Spider-Man 3," which has not yet been made and won't be released for years, at $87.
The exchange's appeal lies in the premise that the collective wisdom of large numbers of traders can most efficiently determine the value of properties that would otherwise be hard to assess.
I used to play this a great deal - I think it is a year since I have checked my money. Hey, It's H$158,384,873.21.
Studios, along with academics, are interested in it as a way to predict which movies will succeed. Traders are working to turn the concept into an actual financial market, like those for futures in corn, oil and other commodities. It has also served as the model for a television show merging trading and music.
All this interest revolves around a fantasy game that allows online players to trade "securities" whose prices forecast the first four weeks of box office revenue for new and yet-to-be-released films. Late last week, traders could "buy" stock in "The Cat in the Hat" (released on Friday), at $130 a share, meaning that the market expected four-week box office receipts of $130 million. Or they could buy "Spider-Man 2," due for release next May, at $235 a share, or even "Spider-Man 3," which has not yet been made and won't be released for years, at $87.
The exchange's appeal lies in the premise that the collective wisdom of large numbers of traders can most efficiently determine the value of properties that would otherwise be hard to assess.
Earlier Mass Extinction also caused by meteorite
Deep in the layers of the Earth, ancient rock shows signs of a planet, 250 million years ago, teeming with plants, fish, reptiles and proto-mammals . Then, evidence of life around the globe all but vanishes.
IN A MERE 100,000 years, a blink of the eye in geological terms, 90 percent of the earth’s life disappeared. Now, an analysis of meteorite fragments described in this week’s Science magazine helps confirm one scenario—that space rock crashed into the earth at the end of the Permian period, devastating the environment in a catastrophe much like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 185 million years later.
Deep in the layers of the Earth, ancient rock shows signs of a planet, 250 million years ago, teeming with plants, fish, reptiles and proto-mammals . Then, evidence of life around the globe all but vanishes.
IN A MERE 100,000 years, a blink of the eye in geological terms, 90 percent of the earth’s life disappeared. Now, an analysis of meteorite fragments described in this week’s Science magazine helps confirm one scenario—that space rock crashed into the earth at the end of the Permian period, devastating the environment in a catastrophe much like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 185 million years later.
Saturday, November 22, 2003
The Cat in the Hat Movie Review
I will not watch it on TV,
I will not watch on DVD.
I will not watch on VHS,
I will not watch on CBS.
I will not watch it in a car,
I will not watch it in a bar.
I will not watch it with my dad,
I will not watch it when I'm sad.
I will not watch it in my bed,
I will not watch with my friend Fred.
I will not watch it on a box,
I will not watch it shown on FOX.
I will not watch it on a table,
I will not watch when it's on cable.
I will not watch it in a chair,
I will not watch it anywhere.
I wish I had not paid eight bucks,
This movie really really sucks.
The original source for this is Mark Krosky, first published on the
rec.humor.funny newsgroup and website.
I will not watch it on TV,
I will not watch on DVD.
I will not watch on VHS,
I will not watch on CBS.
I will not watch it in a car,
I will not watch it in a bar.
I will not watch it with my dad,
I will not watch it when I'm sad.
I will not watch it in my bed,
I will not watch with my friend Fred.
I will not watch it on a box,
I will not watch it shown on FOX.
I will not watch it on a table,
I will not watch when it's on cable.
I will not watch it in a chair,
I will not watch it anywhere.
I wish I had not paid eight bucks,
This movie really really sucks.
The original source for this is Mark Krosky, first published on the
rec.humor.funny newsgroup and website.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Berkeley Breathed - The penguin is mightier than the sword
After being surprised to see him and his cartoons in the terrific family movie Second Hand Lions - I see Bloom County will return to newspapers. Sunday only, half-page.
The Salon interview.
> Last we heard from you, via the Onion interview a few years back,
> the odds of you ever doing a strip again seemed pretty slim
> (to put it mildly). What changed?
The world went and got silly again. I left in 1995 with things properly, safely dull, and couldn't imagine why anyone would feel it necessary again to start behaving ridiculously. It would have been at least courteous of the Republicans to warn a few of us inclined to retire our ink-swords that they had King George waiting in his zoom-zoom jetsuit aching to start the Crusades again.
> What are the advantages of a Sunday-only strip?
In my case, having a life. Ever see a seven-day-a-week cartoonist?
This is from his interview in The Onion from 2001.
O: Is the liberal stance of the early strips indicative of your own personal politics?
BB: Liberal, shmiberal. That should be a new word. Shmiberal: one who is assumed liberal, just because he's a professional whiner in the newspaper. If you'll read the subtext for many of those old strips, you'll find the heart of an old-fashioned Libertarian. And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
After being surprised to see him and his cartoons in the terrific family movie Second Hand Lions - I see Bloom County will return to newspapers. Sunday only, half-page.
The Salon interview.
> Last we heard from you, via the Onion interview a few years back,
> the odds of you ever doing a strip again seemed pretty slim
> (to put it mildly). What changed?
The world went and got silly again. I left in 1995 with things properly, safely dull, and couldn't imagine why anyone would feel it necessary again to start behaving ridiculously. It would have been at least courteous of the Republicans to warn a few of us inclined to retire our ink-swords that they had King George waiting in his zoom-zoom jetsuit aching to start the Crusades again.
> What are the advantages of a Sunday-only strip?
In my case, having a life. Ever see a seven-day-a-week cartoonist?
This is from his interview in The Onion from 2001.
O: Is the liberal stance of the early strips indicative of your own personal politics?
BB: Liberal, shmiberal. That should be a new word. Shmiberal: one who is assumed liberal, just because he's a professional whiner in the newspaper. If you'll read the subtext for many of those old strips, you'll find the heart of an old-fashioned Libertarian. And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
Brent seemed to be talking about this last night at the Inner Loop Book Club Meeting.
Dial an Orgasm - attachments to turn your cell phones into sex toys.
Stopped by Kinko's and saw my brother after the meeting at La Madelaine. Didn't feel well and just got word my finances are totally screwed up. Looks like I'll have to sell my car.
Dial an Orgasm - attachments to turn your cell phones into sex toys.
Stopped by Kinko's and saw my brother after the meeting at La Madelaine. Didn't feel well and just got word my finances are totally screwed up. Looks like I'll have to sell my car.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Another Tie - Kasparov vs machine chess series ends
World number one chess player Gary Kasparov's latest attempt to conquer a computer program has ended in a tie.
He drew the fourth and final game of his match against X3D Fritz, which had voice-recognition and virtual reality features.
Kasparov, 40, said after the week-long match at the New York Athletic Club that computer programs were stronger now than the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue he took on in 1996 and 1997, the benchmark for man vs machine contests.
"Machines are getting better but we humans are also learning," said Kasparov, considered by chess experts to be the best player in the history of the ancient game.
"Today, I know much more about computers than six years ago."
The grandmaster and the computer's programmers agreed to a draw in the fourth game after about 90 minutes and just 27 moves, the shortest game of the series that began with a November 11 draw.
X3D Fritz won the second game when Kasparov blundered. The grandmaster won comfortably on Sunday.
In February in New York, Kasparov tied a six-game match 3-3 with Israeli-built world chess computer champion Deep Junior.
A version of German-built Fritz tied an eight-game match 4-4 last year with world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
Azerbaijan-born Kasparov lost his world title to Kramnik in 2000 but is still rated number one in International Chess Federation rankings.
X3D Fritz is a combination of Fritz software that is sold commercially and the New York-based X3D Technologies company's virtual reality software.
World number one chess player Gary Kasparov's latest attempt to conquer a computer program has ended in a tie.
He drew the fourth and final game of his match against X3D Fritz, which had voice-recognition and virtual reality features.
Kasparov, 40, said after the week-long match at the New York Athletic Club that computer programs were stronger now than the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue he took on in 1996 and 1997, the benchmark for man vs machine contests.
"Machines are getting better but we humans are also learning," said Kasparov, considered by chess experts to be the best player in the history of the ancient game.
"Today, I know much more about computers than six years ago."
The grandmaster and the computer's programmers agreed to a draw in the fourth game after about 90 minutes and just 27 moves, the shortest game of the series that began with a November 11 draw.
X3D Fritz won the second game when Kasparov blundered. The grandmaster won comfortably on Sunday.
In February in New York, Kasparov tied a six-game match 3-3 with Israeli-built world chess computer champion Deep Junior.
A version of German-built Fritz tied an eight-game match 4-4 last year with world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
Azerbaijan-born Kasparov lost his world title to Kramnik in 2000 but is still rated number one in International Chess Federation rankings.
X3D Fritz is a combination of Fritz software that is sold commercially and the New York-based X3D Technologies company's virtual reality software.
STATE OF THE ART -- More Megapixels for the Money
To find out just how far we've come in 24 months, I challenged Canon, Casio, Fuji, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Kyocera, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, Samsung and Sony to name their best 2003 cameras with street prices under $300, and then compared the choices.
Looking over their specs, you'd conclude that their makers all worked off photocopies of the same feature list. Except as noted, every model has 3.2-megapixel resolution (enough for spectacular 8-by-10 prints), a 3X zoom lens and a 1.5-inch color screen on the back, a selection of shooting modes (sports, nighttime and so on), a self-timer, a flash, a TV connection, rudimentary digital movies with sound and even a microphone for adding voice annotations to photos. And they're all silver.
Most models now take AA batteries instead of expensive, proprietary bricks that, when spent, end your shooting for the day. Not that you'd ordinarily use alkaline AA's, which die in a digicam faster than you can say "Neveready." No, you should use AA nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) rechargeables, which last much longer. But you'll rest (or shoot) easy, knowing that in an emergency a set of drugstore alkalines will buy you another 15 minutes.
There's a terrific camera in here somewhere for just about every sort of shutterbug, including the technophobe (the Kodak), the style maven (the Minolta), the outdoorsy types (Pentax), the quality diva (Canon) and the bargain hunter (Casio and Samsung).
To find out just how far we've come in 24 months, I challenged Canon, Casio, Fuji, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Kyocera, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, Samsung and Sony to name their best 2003 cameras with street prices under $300, and then compared the choices.
Looking over their specs, you'd conclude that their makers all worked off photocopies of the same feature list. Except as noted, every model has 3.2-megapixel resolution (enough for spectacular 8-by-10 prints), a 3X zoom lens and a 1.5-inch color screen on the back, a selection of shooting modes (sports, nighttime and so on), a self-timer, a flash, a TV connection, rudimentary digital movies with sound and even a microphone for adding voice annotations to photos. And they're all silver.
Most models now take AA batteries instead of expensive, proprietary bricks that, when spent, end your shooting for the day. Not that you'd ordinarily use alkaline AA's, which die in a digicam faster than you can say "Neveready." No, you should use AA nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) rechargeables, which last much longer. But you'll rest (or shoot) easy, knowing that in an emergency a set of drugstore alkalines will buy you another 15 minutes.
There's a terrific camera in here somewhere for just about every sort of shutterbug, including the technophobe (the Kodak), the style maven (the Minolta), the outdoorsy types (Pentax), the quality diva (Canon) and the bargain hunter (Casio and Samsung).
US breadmakers hold crisis talks over impact of Atkins diet
Consumption of bread plummeted in America in the past year with an estimated 40 per cent of Americans eating less than in 2002. The US bread industry is to hold a crisis "bread summit" tomorrow to discuss measures to curb falling sales.
Patrick Davis of the National Bread Leadership Council, which organised the summit, said that it was unclear whether the fall in bread sales was a temporary blip or indicative of a more permanent change in eating habits. The average American eats 54lbs of bread a year, barely a third of the quantity consumed by the French and Italians.
My new diet requires lots of fiber - four slices of whole wheat/bran bread a day, lots of fruit and vegetables, legumes. Carb count the Atkins way - subtract fiber and also consider the GLC index.
Consumption of bread plummeted in America in the past year with an estimated 40 per cent of Americans eating less than in 2002. The US bread industry is to hold a crisis "bread summit" tomorrow to discuss measures to curb falling sales.
Patrick Davis of the National Bread Leadership Council, which organised the summit, said that it was unclear whether the fall in bread sales was a temporary blip or indicative of a more permanent change in eating habits. The average American eats 54lbs of bread a year, barely a third of the quantity consumed by the French and Italians.
My new diet requires lots of fiber - four slices of whole wheat/bran bread a day, lots of fruit and vegetables, legumes. Carb count the Atkins way - subtract fiber and also consider the GLC index.
Family Guy may return
In a sign of the growing importance of DVD sales to Hollywood, 20th Century Fox is considering a plan to resume production of Family Guy, a sometimes crude animated comedy that the Fox network took off the air more than 18 months ago.
As many as 35 new episodes could return in January 2005, marking the first time that a canceled series has been revived based on strong DVD demand and ratings in syndication.
I was surprised at the bitter, cynical, subversive comedy and gradually became a fan after the Cartoon Network picked it up for its adult programming.
Family Guy premiered with a big audience — 22 million viewers — and some controversy after Fox's 1999 Super Bowl telecast. In the pilot episode, Stewie, a talking toddler with a clipped British accent, was openly contemptuous of his loutish dad and bent on killing his sweet-natured mother in a quest for world domination.
In a sign of the growing importance of DVD sales to Hollywood, 20th Century Fox is considering a plan to resume production of Family Guy, a sometimes crude animated comedy that the Fox network took off the air more than 18 months ago.
As many as 35 new episodes could return in January 2005, marking the first time that a canceled series has been revived based on strong DVD demand and ratings in syndication.
I was surprised at the bitter, cynical, subversive comedy and gradually became a fan after the Cartoon Network picked it up for its adult programming.
Family Guy premiered with a big audience — 22 million viewers — and some controversy after Fox's 1999 Super Bowl telecast. In the pilot episode, Stewie, a talking toddler with a clipped British accent, was openly contemptuous of his loutish dad and bent on killing his sweet-natured mother in a quest for world domination.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Current Reviews
DVD The Two Towers- Extended reviewed in Salon "Crime-fighting Ents, the Iggy Pop-Gollum connection, Aragorn's love for a transvestite, and other delights lurk within this ragged, messy extended-edition DVD."
Four Alien Movies on Nine Discs in NYT -- Played end to end, the package runs more than 62 hours.
On the Far Side of Credibility -- Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World is massively historically inaccurate but looks good and wet.
My reviews Sir Apropos on Nothing and The Wold To Wuin. A massive fantasy with more on the way. Peter David, mainly known for his Star Trek novels, creates a cynical anti-hero anti-fantasy fantasy series. Peter tells a good story but the anti-hero main character and length drag the first book down. Surprisingly, he has a very good ending that makes up for a lot in my view. Then he tops it off with a 5 star 20 page epilogue that is a bawdy sendoff of the Lord of the Rings.
Eagerly launching into the sequel The Wold to Wuin you will be disappointed to learn there are only about five additional pages of what happens when Sir Apropos accidentally kills a misshapen dwarf with very large and hairy feet. While searching for any valuables he discovers a large ring magically engraved with "One thing to rule them all" on the inside. Too large to fit on his finger, a detail I noticed from the movie, he soon discovers it is a magical cock ring. The bawdy quest to destroy the ring quickly follows. While this episode is over quickly and is almost a throwaway parody the consequences of being possessed by the ring continue for all of this book and likely the others to follow. What I would call part two combines ownership of a tavern and a long chase leading to him being near death in a desert. Part three resumes with him missing months of memory. He is now an all-powerful barbarian warlord with a magical jewel embedded in his chest and many pages detail his struggle to understand what he has become. The ending did not seem as affective as the first book. The last paragraph is particularly bad and reflects the lack of the depth of David's world.
I am not a big fantasy reader and I judge this series not worth me continuing. Other people may like it better. The character is a typical cynical anti-hero often moving the plot along by losing his temper. The books do score some witty and true remarks about fantasies, but the background lacks depth.
Who might like this series - Peter David fans from Star Trek novels who like fantasies but are cynical about them. Read the first book which includes the parody and you have the best. Ratings SAofN - 3 1/2 stars, TWtW - 2 stars.
DVD The Two Towers- Extended reviewed in Salon "Crime-fighting Ents, the Iggy Pop-Gollum connection, Aragorn's love for a transvestite, and other delights lurk within this ragged, messy extended-edition DVD."
Four Alien Movies on Nine Discs in NYT -- Played end to end, the package runs more than 62 hours.
On the Far Side of Credibility -- Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World is massively historically inaccurate but looks good and wet.
My reviews Sir Apropos on Nothing and The Wold To Wuin. A massive fantasy with more on the way. Peter David, mainly known for his Star Trek novels, creates a cynical anti-hero anti-fantasy fantasy series. Peter tells a good story but the anti-hero main character and length drag the first book down. Surprisingly, he has a very good ending that makes up for a lot in my view. Then he tops it off with a 5 star 20 page epilogue that is a bawdy sendoff of the Lord of the Rings.
Eagerly launching into the sequel The Wold to Wuin you will be disappointed to learn there are only about five additional pages of what happens when Sir Apropos accidentally kills a misshapen dwarf with very large and hairy feet. While searching for any valuables he discovers a large ring magically engraved with "One thing to rule them all" on the inside. Too large to fit on his finger, a detail I noticed from the movie, he soon discovers it is a magical cock ring. The bawdy quest to destroy the ring quickly follows. While this episode is over quickly and is almost a throwaway parody the consequences of being possessed by the ring continue for all of this book and likely the others to follow. What I would call part two combines ownership of a tavern and a long chase leading to him being near death in a desert. Part three resumes with him missing months of memory. He is now an all-powerful barbarian warlord with a magical jewel embedded in his chest and many pages detail his struggle to understand what he has become. The ending did not seem as affective as the first book. The last paragraph is particularly bad and reflects the lack of the depth of David's world.
I am not a big fantasy reader and I judge this series not worth me continuing. Other people may like it better. The character is a typical cynical anti-hero often moving the plot along by losing his temper. The books do score some witty and true remarks about fantasies, but the background lacks depth.
Who might like this series - Peter David fans from Star Trek novels who like fantasies but are cynical about them. Read the first book which includes the parody and you have the best. Ratings SAofN - 3 1/2 stars, TWtW - 2 stars.
Monday, November 17, 2003
How to Prevent Your Blog From Being too Public
The Onion -- In a turn of events the 30-year-old characterized as "horrifying," Kevin Widmar announced Tuesday that his mother Lillian has discovered his weblog.
"Apparently, Mom typed [Widmar's employer] Dean Healthcare into Google along with my name and, lo and behold, PlanetKevin popped up," Widmar said. "I'm so f*cked."
In an e-mail sent to Widmar Monday, Lillian reported in large purple letters that she was "VERY EXCITED :)!!!" to find his "computer diary," but was perplexed that he hadn't mentioned it to her.
Upon receipt of the e-mail, Widmar mentally raced through the contents of his blog. He immediately thought of several dozen posts in which he mentioned drinking, drug use, casual sex, and other behavior likely to alarm his mother.
Have No Fear - Blogger Offers Advice to the Panic Stricken
Use a Pseudonym
Go Multi-Lingual
Change Your Blog Address, Keep Your Readers
Search and Destroy Modify
You know how faces are sometimes blurred on news programs to protect peoples' privacy? You can go that same route with your blog by searching for potentially incriminating keywords and editing for a softer, more Mom-friendly vocabulary. For example: "I got really drunk last night" becomes, "I got really marshmallow last night." It may not make sense, but it does give you plausible deniability, which could help. Every little bit counts.
include a disclaimer on your blog
"Nothing in here is true"
Remove your blog from Search Engines
Of course, my advice is to grow up.
The Onion -- In a turn of events the 30-year-old characterized as "horrifying," Kevin Widmar announced Tuesday that his mother Lillian has discovered his weblog.
"Apparently, Mom typed [Widmar's employer] Dean Healthcare into Google along with my name and, lo and behold, PlanetKevin popped up," Widmar said. "I'm so f*cked."
In an e-mail sent to Widmar Monday, Lillian reported in large purple letters that she was "VERY EXCITED :)!!!" to find his "computer diary," but was perplexed that he hadn't mentioned it to her.
Upon receipt of the e-mail, Widmar mentally raced through the contents of his blog. He immediately thought of several dozen posts in which he mentioned drinking, drug use, casual sex, and other behavior likely to alarm his mother.
Have No Fear - Blogger Offers Advice to the Panic Stricken
Use a Pseudonym
Go Multi-Lingual
Change Your Blog Address, Keep Your Readers
Search and Destroy Modify
You know how faces are sometimes blurred on news programs to protect peoples' privacy? You can go that same route with your blog by searching for potentially incriminating keywords and editing for a softer, more Mom-friendly vocabulary. For example: "I got really drunk last night" becomes, "I got really marshmallow last night." It may not make sense, but it does give you plausible deniability, which could help. Every little bit counts.
include a disclaimer on your blog
"Nothing in here is true"
Remove your blog from Search Engines
Of course, my advice is to grow up.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
While I worry about my diet and prescribed high blood pressure drugs Science marches on:
Scientists create artificial virus that reproduces
Creating living humans "probably won't happen in this decade."
Scientists create artificial virus that reproduces
Creating living humans "probably won't happen in this decade."
Saturday, November 15, 2003
‘Liquid Drano’ for the arteries
Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of “good” cholesterol reduced artery disease in just six weeks in a small study with startlingly big implications for treating the nation’s No. 1 killer.
The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an unusually effective form of HDL, the good cholesterol that helps protect against heart disease by removing plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream.
“This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will have far-reaching implications,” pointing the way toward a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
The surprisingly quick results, though preliminary, shatter a long-standing belief that heart disease is a slow-progressing disease that takes a long time to undo, said Rader, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A pint of Guiness also works.
A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.
Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from Wisconsin University told a conference in the US.
In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, because of its high iron content. This practice continues in Ireland.
Of course, the Mediterranean Diet Fights Heart Disease.
A Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and low in red meat can combat inflammation that silently simmers away for years inside blood vessels, lowering the risk of a heart attack, a new study suggests.
Many people have questioned whether previous benefits attributed to the Mediterranean diet were actually due to other lifestyle factors -- such as increased exercise -- in people following this diet. But the study clearly shows that this heart-healthy effect was independent of any other lifestyle factors, including exercise, says Demosthenes Panagiotakos, PhD, lecturer in the department of nutrition and dietetics at Harokopian University of Athens in Greece.
"The Mediterranean diet, independent of any other factor, reduces levels of inflammation related to heart disease risk," he tells WebMD.
According to Lichtenstein, the heart-healthy benefits most likely came from the Mediterranean diet as a whole, not from specific components.
In addition to having olive oil with most meals, the typical Mediterranean diet is very high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and cereals; moderate in fish intake; and has lower amounts of meat and dairy than the typical American diet. Drinking alcohol is also a frequently practiced dining ritual.
"God knows what sorts of interactions take place within the foods, and we need further research to pinpoint them exactly," Trichopoulos tells WebMD.
"But typically, people in Greece eat twice as many vegetables as Americans -- nearly a pound a day. And you really can't eat a pound of vegetables a day unless you have olive oil to make them appetizing. My advice is to try to double the amount of vegetables and fruits you currently have, and eat more fish, legumes, and non-refined cereals."
Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of “good” cholesterol reduced artery disease in just six weeks in a small study with startlingly big implications for treating the nation’s No. 1 killer.
The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an unusually effective form of HDL, the good cholesterol that helps protect against heart disease by removing plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream.
“This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will have far-reaching implications,” pointing the way toward a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
The surprisingly quick results, though preliminary, shatter a long-standing belief that heart disease is a slow-progressing disease that takes a long time to undo, said Rader, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A pint of Guiness also works.
A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.
Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from Wisconsin University told a conference in the US.
In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, because of its high iron content. This practice continues in Ireland.
Of course, the Mediterranean Diet Fights Heart Disease.
A Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and low in red meat can combat inflammation that silently simmers away for years inside blood vessels, lowering the risk of a heart attack, a new study suggests.
Many people have questioned whether previous benefits attributed to the Mediterranean diet were actually due to other lifestyle factors -- such as increased exercise -- in people following this diet. But the study clearly shows that this heart-healthy effect was independent of any other lifestyle factors, including exercise, says Demosthenes Panagiotakos, PhD, lecturer in the department of nutrition and dietetics at Harokopian University of Athens in Greece.
"The Mediterranean diet, independent of any other factor, reduces levels of inflammation related to heart disease risk," he tells WebMD.
According to Lichtenstein, the heart-healthy benefits most likely came from the Mediterranean diet as a whole, not from specific components.
In addition to having olive oil with most meals, the typical Mediterranean diet is very high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and cereals; moderate in fish intake; and has lower amounts of meat and dairy than the typical American diet. Drinking alcohol is also a frequently practiced dining ritual.
"God knows what sorts of interactions take place within the foods, and we need further research to pinpoint them exactly," Trichopoulos tells WebMD.
"But typically, people in Greece eat twice as many vegetables as Americans -- nearly a pound a day. And you really can't eat a pound of vegetables a day unless you have olive oil to make them appetizing. My advice is to try to double the amount of vegetables and fruits you currently have, and eat more fish, legumes, and non-refined cereals."
Friday, November 14, 2003
Mi Pueblito Restaurant
Details: Changua: $3.50 warm milk, poached eggs and white bread soup with a slice of queso fresco
Bandeja paisa: $6.45 mixed grill well-done steak, chewy chicharrones, coarse chorizo, a perfect fried egg, sweet and gooey fried plantains, an avocado slice and a cold hockey puck -- okay, an arepa
Churrasco: $10.95 exceptional, inch thick and very tender with parsley pesto
Picada para dos: $8 sampler plate for two with chicharrones, well-done steak, gristly chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), candy-sweet fried plantains, starchy fried yucca and delightful little round Colombian yellow potatoes. The morcilla looked and tasted like black boudin.
Trout a la plancha: $10.50 Typical S.A. too done - add limes and salsa from table.
Where: 9425 Richmond, 713-334-4594. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Details: Changua: $3.50 warm milk, poached eggs and white bread soup with a slice of queso fresco
Bandeja paisa: $6.45 mixed grill well-done steak, chewy chicharrones, coarse chorizo, a perfect fried egg, sweet and gooey fried plantains, an avocado slice and a cold hockey puck -- okay, an arepa
Churrasco: $10.95 exceptional, inch thick and very tender with parsley pesto
Picada para dos: $8 sampler plate for two with chicharrones, well-done steak, gristly chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), candy-sweet fried plantains, starchy fried yucca and delightful little round Colombian yellow potatoes. The morcilla looked and tasted like black boudin.
Trout a la plancha: $10.50 Typical S.A. too done - add limes and salsa from table.
Where: 9425 Richmond, 713-334-4594. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Checkmate: Kasparov loses second game of virtual chess series
After a three-hour battle against a computer, international chess master Garry Kasparov made a mistake late in the game and his challenger "pounced."
X3D Fritz, a 12-year-old German program, defeated its IBM rival Deep Blue in 1995. Kasparov was world champion between 1985 and 2000; he beat Deep Blue in 1996, but an upgrade defeated him the following year.
The next match will be Sunday, and Game 4 on Nov. 18. Live on ESPN2.
After a three-hour battle against a computer, international chess master Garry Kasparov made a mistake late in the game and his challenger "pounced."
X3D Fritz, a 12-year-old German program, defeated its IBM rival Deep Blue in 1995. Kasparov was world champion between 1985 and 2000; he beat Deep Blue in 1996, but an upgrade defeated him the following year.
The next match will be Sunday, and Game 4 on Nov. 18. Live on ESPN2.
Great Robb Walsh article on the Pleasure in Eating Crabs in Houston
The difference between an oyster bar and a crab shack has more to do with the attitude than the menu items. Both Captain Tom's and Blue Water serve raw oysters, fried shrimp, stuffed crabs and other seafoods. But nobody lingers too long at an oyster bar like Captain Tom's, and that's why they don't serve boiled crabs here. With all those people waiting in line, you wouldn't enjoy them anyway.
Blue Water Seafood is a crab shack. The staff expects you to come and hang out for a while. Crab shacks are disappearing because they don't turn over the tables fast enough, one crab shack owner told me. According to restaurant industry analysts, the average table turns over in 50 minutes at dinnertime. At a crab shack, the average stay exceeds two hours.
Eating blue crabs is part of an older, more relaxed Gulf Coast culture that's slowly slipping away. "It's too much work," people say. "It takes too long." When it comes to food, we have become a nation of efficiency experts. We know how long it takes to nuke a frozen dinner, and for many, anything that takes much longer is just a waste of time. In other cultures, spending several hours at the table is a normal way of socializing. But for the puritanically efficient eaters we Americans have become, sitting over a meal for hours on end seems sinfully unproductive. And as for conversation, well, if you have something to say, then just say it. We haven't got all day.
To shell and eat a crab, a certain knowledge of its anatomy is required, but after a little practice, it's as easy as eating grapefruit. As we were finishing up, the Simpsons special ended, and something else came on -- so I can say with some accuracy that it took us an hour and a half to eat our half-dozen crabs. Not bad at all, and no major injuries either. Sure, Julia's fingers were all pruney, as if she had just spent time in the bathtub. And I was bleeding slightly from my left thumb where I'd stuck myself with a sharp body part. But we won the war -- I can guarantee that not one skinny little crab leg went into the bucket unsucked.
Eating crabs can't be understood in terms of an effort-to-reward ratio. It's silly to undertake the task with the idea of getting as much out of it as quickly as possible. Rather, it's a culinary pastime, like eating nuts as you crack them with a nutcracker. The point is to take your time and appreciate the slow process of eating as its own form of entertainment.
Pat Van Houte used to go crabbing when she first moved to Clear Lake. She finally decided catching and cooking and eating them was too much like work.
One of my favorites is Stingaree Restaurant and Bar (1295 Stingaree Road, 409-684-2731), a barbecued crab shack on Bolivar Peninsula that looks out over a magnificent view of Galveston Bay (see "Blue Crab Standard Time," September 6, 2001). The idea is to show up and order the all-you-can-eat crab special about an hour and a half before sunset. Then you can crack crabs in the lovely fading light and watch the sun slip into the water. If you're hungry, you may still be cracking crabs when the stars come out.
Blue Water Seafood
Details: Raw oysters (dozen): $5.99
Roasted oysters (dozen): $7.99 (Wow!)
Boiled blue crabs (half-dozen): $10
Boiled dinner: $18.99 (Good, except for soggy corn on the cob)
Fisherman's platter: $15.99 (So-So because of mushy "redsnapper")
Where: 6107 FM 1960, 281-895-9222. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
The difference between an oyster bar and a crab shack has more to do with the attitude than the menu items. Both Captain Tom's and Blue Water serve raw oysters, fried shrimp, stuffed crabs and other seafoods. But nobody lingers too long at an oyster bar like Captain Tom's, and that's why they don't serve boiled crabs here. With all those people waiting in line, you wouldn't enjoy them anyway.
Blue Water Seafood is a crab shack. The staff expects you to come and hang out for a while. Crab shacks are disappearing because they don't turn over the tables fast enough, one crab shack owner told me. According to restaurant industry analysts, the average table turns over in 50 minutes at dinnertime. At a crab shack, the average stay exceeds two hours.
Eating blue crabs is part of an older, more relaxed Gulf Coast culture that's slowly slipping away. "It's too much work," people say. "It takes too long." When it comes to food, we have become a nation of efficiency experts. We know how long it takes to nuke a frozen dinner, and for many, anything that takes much longer is just a waste of time. In other cultures, spending several hours at the table is a normal way of socializing. But for the puritanically efficient eaters we Americans have become, sitting over a meal for hours on end seems sinfully unproductive. And as for conversation, well, if you have something to say, then just say it. We haven't got all day.
To shell and eat a crab, a certain knowledge of its anatomy is required, but after a little practice, it's as easy as eating grapefruit. As we were finishing up, the Simpsons special ended, and something else came on -- so I can say with some accuracy that it took us an hour and a half to eat our half-dozen crabs. Not bad at all, and no major injuries either. Sure, Julia's fingers were all pruney, as if she had just spent time in the bathtub. And I was bleeding slightly from my left thumb where I'd stuck myself with a sharp body part. But we won the war -- I can guarantee that not one skinny little crab leg went into the bucket unsucked.
Eating crabs can't be understood in terms of an effort-to-reward ratio. It's silly to undertake the task with the idea of getting as much out of it as quickly as possible. Rather, it's a culinary pastime, like eating nuts as you crack them with a nutcracker. The point is to take your time and appreciate the slow process of eating as its own form of entertainment.
Pat Van Houte used to go crabbing when she first moved to Clear Lake. She finally decided catching and cooking and eating them was too much like work.
One of my favorites is Stingaree Restaurant and Bar (1295 Stingaree Road, 409-684-2731), a barbecued crab shack on Bolivar Peninsula that looks out over a magnificent view of Galveston Bay (see "Blue Crab Standard Time," September 6, 2001). The idea is to show up and order the all-you-can-eat crab special about an hour and a half before sunset. Then you can crack crabs in the lovely fading light and watch the sun slip into the water. If you're hungry, you may still be cracking crabs when the stars come out.
Blue Water Seafood
Details: Raw oysters (dozen): $5.99
Roasted oysters (dozen): $7.99 (Wow!)
Boiled blue crabs (half-dozen): $10
Boiled dinner: $18.99 (Good, except for soggy corn on the cob)
Fisherman's platter: $15.99 (So-So because of mushy "redsnapper")
Where: 6107 FM 1960, 281-895-9222. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
New State-of-the Art Home Must Have
The Pioneer TiVo-DVD Recorders
The TiVo part means that you can freeze, rewind or instantly replay whatever you're watching; record a show (or, rather, a lot of shows) on its built-in hard drive for instant playback at any time; and skip over ads. Above all, a digital video recorder, or DVR, like TiVo permanently disconnects the broadcast time from the viewing time. By the time TiVo zealots - which is pretty much everyone who has ever bought one - blip over the ads, credits, recaps and promos, they can watch a one-hour show in about 35 minutes. No wonder they never, ever watch whatever junk happens to be on at the moment.
These Pioneers are also first-class DVD (and CD) players, made all the more likable because you control a disc's playback with the same buttons on the remote that you use for TiVo playback. If your TV has so-called component-video inputs (inexplicably labeled Y, Pb and Pr) the DVD player rewards you with progressive-scan output. (Translation: very high video quality found in fancier DVD players.)
But the real magic happens when you highlight a recorded show in the TiVo's Now Playing list and press the Copy to DVD button. A graph of the blank DVD fills up as you select more shows to record onto it. (If a movie is too long to fit on one DVD, the TiVo will even split it onto multiple discs for you.)
Another button press begins creating your very own homemade DVD. That may sound like a serious technical business, but on this machine, it's every bit as casual and effortless as using a VCR. The result is a disc that plays on any standard DVD player of recent vintage.
If this method of burning a DVD sounds simple and obvious, you've clearly never tried one of the other set-top DVD burners. For example, the TiVo already knows each show's name, so you don't have to type in the title of each show you're copying - a grueling exercise on other DVD recorders, given the absence of alphabet keys. This is the only DVD burner that approaches the simplicity of a VCR, and the only one you'd ever wish upon, say, your parents.
And now, an important digression into video-recording quality. Like any video recorder, the TiVo offers a choice of recording speeds. At Extreme quality, which looks spectacular, the "80 hour" Pioneer holds only 14 hours of shows. It holds 80 hours only in the lowest-quality mode, Basic, also known as "yucky."
Now, hard-drive capacity isn't nearly as important on this TiVo as it is on a regular TiVo, because you can always offload your recordings onto DVD's when the hard drive begins to fill up.
Even so, the different recording modes become important when you begin copying shows from the Pioneer's hard drive to a DVD, because the quality setting determines how much video will fit on a disc. At Extreme quality, each disc holds only an hour; at High, two hours; Medium, four hours; and Basic quality, six hours.
Using blank DVD's labeled 2x or 4x, it takes about an hour to burn a DVD. DVD-RW (erasable) discs take longer, and so do the older, 1x blank discs. (In any case, you can continue watching TV and using the TiVo while the burning takes place.)
The Pioneers can record onto both DVD-R discs (about $50 for a 25-pack) and DVD-RW discs, which you can erase and use again. That feature makes it easy and practical to dump some shows onto DVD for, say, a car trip with the kids, and then use the same disc later for a couple of "West Wing" episodes for your plane flight.
A delicious new TiVo option lets you record old VHS tapes and camcorder movies directly onto the hard drive, and burn them from there onto DVD's. In the process, you give your video a new lease on life with a much longer life expectancy. Trouble is, you have to hook up your camcorder by using analog connectors.
Finally - are you lying down? - there's the matter of the price. Pioneer's suggested price for the 80-hour DVR-801H is $1,200 - and for its 120-hour Elite DVR-57H, a staggering $1,800. Has Pioneer gone stark, raving mad?
You can find much better prices online - $725 and $1,400, respectively. But that's still a lot.
And that's not even the whole price story.
To attain your Pioneer's fullest potential, then, you're talking about $725 for the 80-hour box, plus $300 for TiVo Plus. This holiday season, the rafters will echo with the voices of livid spouses: "You want to spend $1,025 on a VCR!?"
One possible counter-argument: "Yeah, but we'd pay pretty much the same amount if we bought the components separately" ($300 for an 80-hour stand-alone TiVo, $300 for the lifetime service, $450 for a DVD recorder). Don't forget that business about saving space, clutter, cables, and remote controls, either.
The bottom line is that the Pioneer TiVo is far better designed and easier to use than any other DVD recorder. The question isn't whether or not people should buy it; the only question is whether or not they can.
The Pioneer TiVo-DVD Recorders
The TiVo part means that you can freeze, rewind or instantly replay whatever you're watching; record a show (or, rather, a lot of shows) on its built-in hard drive for instant playback at any time; and skip over ads. Above all, a digital video recorder, or DVR, like TiVo permanently disconnects the broadcast time from the viewing time. By the time TiVo zealots - which is pretty much everyone who has ever bought one - blip over the ads, credits, recaps and promos, they can watch a one-hour show in about 35 minutes. No wonder they never, ever watch whatever junk happens to be on at the moment.
These Pioneers are also first-class DVD (and CD) players, made all the more likable because you control a disc's playback with the same buttons on the remote that you use for TiVo playback. If your TV has so-called component-video inputs (inexplicably labeled Y, Pb and Pr) the DVD player rewards you with progressive-scan output. (Translation: very high video quality found in fancier DVD players.)
But the real magic happens when you highlight a recorded show in the TiVo's Now Playing list and press the Copy to DVD button. A graph of the blank DVD fills up as you select more shows to record onto it. (If a movie is too long to fit on one DVD, the TiVo will even split it onto multiple discs for you.)
Another button press begins creating your very own homemade DVD. That may sound like a serious technical business, but on this machine, it's every bit as casual and effortless as using a VCR. The result is a disc that plays on any standard DVD player of recent vintage.
If this method of burning a DVD sounds simple and obvious, you've clearly never tried one of the other set-top DVD burners. For example, the TiVo already knows each show's name, so you don't have to type in the title of each show you're copying - a grueling exercise on other DVD recorders, given the absence of alphabet keys. This is the only DVD burner that approaches the simplicity of a VCR, and the only one you'd ever wish upon, say, your parents.
And now, an important digression into video-recording quality. Like any video recorder, the TiVo offers a choice of recording speeds. At Extreme quality, which looks spectacular, the "80 hour" Pioneer holds only 14 hours of shows. It holds 80 hours only in the lowest-quality mode, Basic, also known as "yucky."
Now, hard-drive capacity isn't nearly as important on this TiVo as it is on a regular TiVo, because you can always offload your recordings onto DVD's when the hard drive begins to fill up.
Even so, the different recording modes become important when you begin copying shows from the Pioneer's hard drive to a DVD, because the quality setting determines how much video will fit on a disc. At Extreme quality, each disc holds only an hour; at High, two hours; Medium, four hours; and Basic quality, six hours.
Using blank DVD's labeled 2x or 4x, it takes about an hour to burn a DVD. DVD-RW (erasable) discs take longer, and so do the older, 1x blank discs. (In any case, you can continue watching TV and using the TiVo while the burning takes place.)
The Pioneers can record onto both DVD-R discs (about $50 for a 25-pack) and DVD-RW discs, which you can erase and use again. That feature makes it easy and practical to dump some shows onto DVD for, say, a car trip with the kids, and then use the same disc later for a couple of "West Wing" episodes for your plane flight.
A delicious new TiVo option lets you record old VHS tapes and camcorder movies directly onto the hard drive, and burn them from there onto DVD's. In the process, you give your video a new lease on life with a much longer life expectancy. Trouble is, you have to hook up your camcorder by using analog connectors.
Finally - are you lying down? - there's the matter of the price. Pioneer's suggested price for the 80-hour DVR-801H is $1,200 - and for its 120-hour Elite DVR-57H, a staggering $1,800. Has Pioneer gone stark, raving mad?
You can find much better prices online - $725 and $1,400, respectively. But that's still a lot.
And that's not even the whole price story.
To attain your Pioneer's fullest potential, then, you're talking about $725 for the 80-hour box, plus $300 for TiVo Plus. This holiday season, the rafters will echo with the voices of livid spouses: "You want to spend $1,025 on a VCR!?"
One possible counter-argument: "Yeah, but we'd pay pretty much the same amount if we bought the components separately" ($300 for an 80-hour stand-alone TiVo, $300 for the lifetime service, $450 for a DVD recorder). Don't forget that business about saving space, clutter, cables, and remote controls, either.
The bottom line is that the Pioneer TiVo is far better designed and easier to use than any other DVD recorder. The question isn't whether or not people should buy it; the only question is whether or not they can.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
My Cholesterol Drug Is In The News
My doctor immediately put me on Lipitor to prevent any more 'stroke-like events'.
The latest study compared two popular statin pills, Lipitor and Pravachol. It found that Lipitor did a considerably better job of both lowering cholesterol and controlling the insidious buildup inside the arteries when given to people with serious heart disease.
Exactly why, though, is unclear. Researchers wondered if some other property of Lipitor, such as its stronger effect on inflammation, accounted for its more potent effects.
Medical experts said national guidelines were unlikely to be changed until additional studies found that more aggressive cholesterol lowering resulted in a reduced risk of heart attacks and death.
My doctor immediately put me on Lipitor to prevent any more 'stroke-like events'.
The latest study compared two popular statin pills, Lipitor and Pravachol. It found that Lipitor did a considerably better job of both lowering cholesterol and controlling the insidious buildup inside the arteries when given to people with serious heart disease.
Exactly why, though, is unclear. Researchers wondered if some other property of Lipitor, such as its stronger effect on inflammation, accounted for its more potent effects.
Medical experts said national guidelines were unlikely to be changed until additional studies found that more aggressive cholesterol lowering resulted in a reduced risk of heart attacks and death.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
My Emergency Heart and Blood Pressure Diet.
This is related to the DASH diet and a diet mentioned in one of my Carbo-Addicts books. So far I am losing a pound a day on it. It is supposed to be lowering my blood pressure and preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Link is to my liberal politics and religion blog.
Today I took it easy and went to Crenshaw Park and looked at the ducks, turtles, and people and then took an early dinner at the Noodle House with Pat. I had 1 1/2 spring rolls with mint, vermicelli, shrimp and chicken in rice wrappers with peanut sauce and carrots. (My brother doesn't like spring rolls, he says they taste like condoms.) I also had 2/3rds of a large bowl of Beef Pho soup. Vermicelli is permitted on my diet as well as all the lean meat and fresh greens I add. I guess the traditional eraser meatballs count as lean meat as well.
I also watched Pat's neighbors - two kittens. She is down to two gray cats - one long-hair and one short but a neighborhood cat has had kittens.
I thought I was supposed to go complete my county paperwork but I misheard the day as Tuesday. Wrong - I get to start again tomorrow.
I didn't feel like going to a con meeting. They are discussing a convention for next summer. Either the pills or lack of exercise was making me tired after walking a mile around the lake at Crenshaw Park - about one mile, I took a shortcut.
I think Pat went to get a Perm tonight, first time in three years. She says she is getting ready for job interviews as well as speaking to city council about the Strawberry Road extension. She went to Towne Square mall talking with department store managers this morning to persuade them to contact city hall. The extension will divert traffic away from the Mall - contrary to stated goals of the transportation plan. The 2nd Century Committee have also taken Pasadena Blvd. improvements off the plan which would have helped the mall.
This is related to the DASH diet and a diet mentioned in one of my Carbo-Addicts books. So far I am losing a pound a day on it. It is supposed to be lowering my blood pressure and preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Link is to my liberal politics and religion blog.
Today I took it easy and went to Crenshaw Park and looked at the ducks, turtles, and people and then took an early dinner at the Noodle House with Pat. I had 1 1/2 spring rolls with mint, vermicelli, shrimp and chicken in rice wrappers with peanut sauce and carrots. (My brother doesn't like spring rolls, he says they taste like condoms.) I also had 2/3rds of a large bowl of Beef Pho soup. Vermicelli is permitted on my diet as well as all the lean meat and fresh greens I add. I guess the traditional eraser meatballs count as lean meat as well.
I also watched Pat's neighbors - two kittens. She is down to two gray cats - one long-hair and one short but a neighborhood cat has had kittens.
I thought I was supposed to go complete my county paperwork but I misheard the day as Tuesday. Wrong - I get to start again tomorrow.
I didn't feel like going to a con meeting. They are discussing a convention for next summer. Either the pills or lack of exercise was making me tired after walking a mile around the lake at Crenshaw Park - about one mile, I took a shortcut.
I think Pat went to get a Perm tonight, first time in three years. She says she is getting ready for job interviews as well as speaking to city council about the Strawberry Road extension. She went to Towne Square mall talking with department store managers this morning to persuade them to contact city hall. The extension will divert traffic away from the Mall - contrary to stated goals of the transportation plan. The 2nd Century Committee have also taken Pasadena Blvd. improvements off the plan which would have helped the mall.
Friday, November 07, 2003
My Adventures in Health Care Begin.
The above link is part two of the previous story. Part two is on my much more popular politics and religion blog.
Part one of my adventures since Saturday are below...
The above link is part two of the previous story. Part two is on my much more popular politics and religion blog.
Part one of my adventures since Saturday are below...
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
I Have A Good Excuse
There has been a reason for the lack of posts the last several days. Bear with me for the story.
The Party and The Cold
On Saturday we had a meeting of the Clear Lake Book Group. A little lighter in attendance than usual but not unusually so. It was at Leisa and Angie's house and it was also supposed to be a surprise party for Angie. Originally it was also going to be a costume party and possible sleepover but that got cancelled, or more accurately never planned because of Leisa's busy life. Pat and I came in one car and we had optional costumes in the car, her Red Cross Vest and my Roman Toga. Only Angie was in a witch costume but not wearing the hat.
I almost messed up this surprise party, too. I have a habit of doing that. On my Houston SF event calendar I am playing with I had that meeting LISTED AS SATURDAY PARTY. At first all Saturday meetings were listed as Party because of another mistake. At least it didn't say Surprise Party and Angie had limited Internet access that week.
The party was very good. Angie received gifts from myself, Cherie, and Brent. I gave her two Tanith Lee books, and the Robinson's Star Dance set, all used. Cherie gave her a nice home library set, and Brent gave her a Whelan art book. It turns out the cover of the Whelan art book was an alternate cover of one of the Tanith Lee books I gave her.
I had planned to go to the other Saturday Party held for the Houston Inner Loop SF&F people because I knew that would go on till quite early but the party in La Porte got out late and I was tired.
The next day, Sunday, I had a cold. Headache, slight fever, tiredness, dry cough, slight sinus drainage. I immediately went on aspirin, liquids, vitamins, anti-histamine and lots of rest. I was doing OK, for having a cold, except for the headache, which was doing worse. Sunday night I awoke several times because of the weird headaches which seemed to be getting still worse. The headaches were annoying ice pick sized pains for just a second or two.
Monday morning I decided I needed the next remedy is to gargle with salt water, both throat and nose, but couldn't because I have no regular salt in my house because of my high blood pressure. Instead I would just add the zinc lozenges I skipped yesterday. I also decided that I would switch to Tylenol instead of aspirin and cancel the anti-histamine; both can make sinus conditions worse.
Monday I just felt crappy but also gradually getting better except for those blasted headaches that are usually like quick jabs with an ice pick. Monday night I just have some salad, chicken sandwich meat and yogurt for dinner. Monday night I couldn't sleep because of the headaches.
Slowly moving Tuesday morning I am debating the small Doctor's Clinic down the street because I don't have an illegal source of the good dope for pain. I think I need a trip to Mexico.
Adventures in the Shower
Well, wouldn't the humidity in a nice long hot shower be great for the cold or virus? After a long hot shower, shaving and two shampoos, I was trying to decide if plain warm water up my nose would be good or bad for me when my body rudely interrupted my thoughts. My right side was no longer supporting me. My left side had a problem trying to keep me propped up without help. I don't know if it also got weak or just had problems with the load.
The next minutes are a bit confused. I remember thinking I should carry on with my normal routine. The next thing I would on a normal day is weigh myself on my digital scale that is beside the tub on the left, the right is the shower wall. The scale requires you to apply weight, remove it, and then step on it again. I could kinda move my right arm and leg over the tub rim and onto the scale but couldn't apply pressure to activate the scale. I could do it with my right arm or leg but I realized I would have to come up with a plan to get me on the scale. Fortunately, now I was getting strength back on my right side. I believe I just stood up, tapped the scale, and weighed myself. Yippee, down 2 pounds since yesterday! Too bad it is the average that is important. And then went to my PC and recorded the weight.
This seems like it took ten minutes from the collapse to walking again but was probably less.
The Blessings of Soup
Since I was going out to go to the doctor, I logged online to prevent mailbox overflows as I couldn't remember when I had last been on and I also checked to see if a check had cleared as I needed to pay the rent. After dressing and finding my Mother's cane I walked out and picked up the mail, got in my car, paid the rent, I had the date wrong - it could have waited, went to the Clinic down the street and found he was out to lunch.
I drove down Southmore, lots of doctors around here, but decided part of my overall weakness problem might be low blood sugar. We have a terrible Chinese place on Southmore but they have the advantage of very low prices and OK-to-good soups. One large Egg Drop Soup (huge - maybe four cups) and a large Ice Tea later, I haven't had a head pain in an hour and I feel like a new man.
I also remember since I am unemployed and have been for quite a while maybe I should check out the County Clinic for a lower cost alternative. After walking around a bit at the wrong location, I want the exercise, the County Clinic says to come in at 7:30 tomorrow to apply for a gold card. I go back to the first Clinic that was empty at lunch time. It is now packed. I feel good so I go home and take two aspirin, vitamin C, etc. and fall asleep. No more bad pains. I had chicken and stars soup for dinner, diet C fortified soda, and a lite yogurt.
That night I had a few short headaches but I am not sure if these are sinus-related or not. They are not the ice pick head pains I had at first. They are broader and milder and are no longer only on the right side of the head.
What's the diagnosis? This is a chance for the audience to play doctor.
To be continued, adventures in Health Care begin.
I will say I had been under a lot of stress lately and have shut down my Dean and Democratic activities for the last couple of months for that and to devote more time to job searching. I should shut down watching news and opinion shows because I get mad at hearing at least FOUR lies an hour, I measured one day, from the conservative speakers. OK, it might be a bit high because it included a religious anti-porn crusader who perhaps doesn't know the difference between good and bad scientific studies.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Alien -- The horror, the horror
Unlike its increasingly baroque series of sequels, Ridley Scott's original 1979 "Alien" is a film about human loneliness amid the emptiness and amorality of creation.
Watching these scenes on the big screen, for the first time since cutting high school in May 1979 with a few friends to see the film on the Friday it opened, I recognize how few horror movies I've seen before or since that ever manage to capture such a tangible feeling of menace. "Alien" was only Scott's second feature and it remains his best, even compared to "Blade Runner" (which is a more important film, in the sense that it affected not only the future of movies but the future of urban design).
Strikingly, knowing what's going to happen -- and one can only assume that the audience for "Alien: The Director's Cut" mostly won't be virgins -- does little to dampen the experience. If anything, this digitally cleaned-up and remastered version, with a rejiggered six-track stereo soundtrack (and one grotesque, never-before-seen scene in the Alien's "nest"), makes you appreciate the delicacy of the film's symbolism, the masterly composition of shot after shot, and Jerry Goldsmith's subtly unsettling but never ham-handed score.
When I first saw "Alien" I could see no connection between it and Joseph Conrad's great novel "Nostromo," a philosophical adventure yarn about a corrupted Latin American revolution -- the naming of the ship just seemed like a little literary in-joke. (Nostromo is the name of a revolutionary leader in the novel, not of a vessel.) But nearly a quarter-century later, "Alien" has acquired a classic quality of its own, and seems to offer some of the uncategorizable fatalism and pessimism of the book, even if it's an entirely different kind of story.
I think that accounts for the dread we still feel at the end of "Alien," when Weaver, memorably clad in that bikini underwear, locks herself (and her irresistible cat, Jonesy) back into that plastic egg for the long ride home. She has survived, but toward what end? And the world she is returning to is the one that betrayed her in the first place.
EL Digest of Salon's review. I still think that Aliens 2 is a better film as well as a more crowd pleasing film. But then I like action better than horror. Except for this film I really don't like horror and this had to have a great sequel to grow on me.
Unlike its increasingly baroque series of sequels, Ridley Scott's original 1979 "Alien" is a film about human loneliness amid the emptiness and amorality of creation.
Watching these scenes on the big screen, for the first time since cutting high school in May 1979 with a few friends to see the film on the Friday it opened, I recognize how few horror movies I've seen before or since that ever manage to capture such a tangible feeling of menace. "Alien" was only Scott's second feature and it remains his best, even compared to "Blade Runner" (which is a more important film, in the sense that it affected not only the future of movies but the future of urban design).
Strikingly, knowing what's going to happen -- and one can only assume that the audience for "Alien: The Director's Cut" mostly won't be virgins -- does little to dampen the experience. If anything, this digitally cleaned-up and remastered version, with a rejiggered six-track stereo soundtrack (and one grotesque, never-before-seen scene in the Alien's "nest"), makes you appreciate the delicacy of the film's symbolism, the masterly composition of shot after shot, and Jerry Goldsmith's subtly unsettling but never ham-handed score.
When I first saw "Alien" I could see no connection between it and Joseph Conrad's great novel "Nostromo," a philosophical adventure yarn about a corrupted Latin American revolution -- the naming of the ship just seemed like a little literary in-joke. (Nostromo is the name of a revolutionary leader in the novel, not of a vessel.) But nearly a quarter-century later, "Alien" has acquired a classic quality of its own, and seems to offer some of the uncategorizable fatalism and pessimism of the book, even if it's an entirely different kind of story.
I think that accounts for the dread we still feel at the end of "Alien," when Weaver, memorably clad in that bikini underwear, locks herself (and her irresistible cat, Jonesy) back into that plastic egg for the long ride home. She has survived, but toward what end? And the world she is returning to is the one that betrayed her in the first place.
EL Digest of Salon's review. I still think that Aliens 2 is a better film as well as a more crowd pleasing film. But then I like action better than horror. Except for this film I really don't like horror and this had to have a great sequel to grow on me.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Zillions of Universes? Or Did Ours Get Lucky?
According to a controversial notion known as the anthropic principle, certain otherwise baffling features of the universe can only be understood by including ourselves in the equation. The universe must be suitable for life, otherwise we would not be here to wonder about it.
The features in question are mysterious numbers in the equations of physics and cosmology, denoting, say, the amount of matter in the universe or the number of dimensions, which don't seem predictable by any known theory — yet. They are like the knobs on God's control console, and they seem almost miraculously tuned to allow life.
A slight tweak one way or another from the present settings could cause all stars to collapse into black holes or atoms to evaporate, negating the possibility of biology.
If there were only one universe, theorists would have their hands full trying to explain why it is such a lucky one.
But supporters of the anthropic principle argue that there could be zillions of possible universes, many different possible settings ruled by chance. Their view has been bolstered in recent years by a theory of the Big Bang, known as inflation, which implies that our universe is only one bubble in an endless chain of them, and by string theory — the so-called theory of everything — whose equations seem to have an almost uncountable number of solutions, each representing a different possible universe.
Only a few of these will be conducive to life, the anthropic argument goes, but it is no more surprise to find ourselves in one of them than it is to find ourselves on the moist warm Earth rather than on Pluto.
In short we live where we can live, but those can be fighting words.
Scientists agree that the name "anthropic principle," is pretentious, but that's all they agree on. Some of them regard the idea as more philosophy than science. Others regard it as a betrayal of the Einsteinian dream of predicting everything about the universe.
Dr. David Gross regards it as a virus. "Once you get the bug you can't get rid of it," he complained at the conference.
Dr. Weinberg compared the situation to a person who is dealt a royal flush in a poker tournament. It may be chance, he said, but there is another explanation: "Namely, is the organizer of the tournament our friend?"
"But that leads to the argument about religion," he said to much laughter.
"Those who favor taking the anthropic principle seriously don't really like it," he said, "and those who argue against it recognize that it may be unavoidable."
According to a controversial notion known as the anthropic principle, certain otherwise baffling features of the universe can only be understood by including ourselves in the equation. The universe must be suitable for life, otherwise we would not be here to wonder about it.
The features in question are mysterious numbers in the equations of physics and cosmology, denoting, say, the amount of matter in the universe or the number of dimensions, which don't seem predictable by any known theory — yet. They are like the knobs on God's control console, and they seem almost miraculously tuned to allow life.
A slight tweak one way or another from the present settings could cause all stars to collapse into black holes or atoms to evaporate, negating the possibility of biology.
If there were only one universe, theorists would have their hands full trying to explain why it is such a lucky one.
But supporters of the anthropic principle argue that there could be zillions of possible universes, many different possible settings ruled by chance. Their view has been bolstered in recent years by a theory of the Big Bang, known as inflation, which implies that our universe is only one bubble in an endless chain of them, and by string theory — the so-called theory of everything — whose equations seem to have an almost uncountable number of solutions, each representing a different possible universe.
Only a few of these will be conducive to life, the anthropic argument goes, but it is no more surprise to find ourselves in one of them than it is to find ourselves on the moist warm Earth rather than on Pluto.
In short we live where we can live, but those can be fighting words.
Scientists agree that the name "anthropic principle," is pretentious, but that's all they agree on. Some of them regard the idea as more philosophy than science. Others regard it as a betrayal of the Einsteinian dream of predicting everything about the universe.
Dr. David Gross regards it as a virus. "Once you get the bug you can't get rid of it," he complained at the conference.
Dr. Weinberg compared the situation to a person who is dealt a royal flush in a poker tournament. It may be chance, he said, but there is another explanation: "Namely, is the organizer of the tournament our friend?"
"But that leads to the argument about religion," he said to much laughter.
"Those who favor taking the anthropic principle seriously don't really like it," he said, "and those who argue against it recognize that it may be unavoidable."
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Gadget Enables Individuals To Get All Green Lights
Tired of sitting at endless red lights? Frustrated by lights that turn from green to red too quickly, trapping you in traffic?
Now anyone can breeze through congested intersections just like the police, thanks to a $300 dashboard device that changes traffic lights from red to green, making nasty commutes a thing of the past and leaving other drivers open-mouthed at your ability to manipulate traffic.
But what if everyone had one?
That's the fear of traffic control officials, who believe chaos would take over the roads. That's also the potential facing communities from Troy to Washington Township as Internet-marketed knockoffs of the device -- originally intended only for police and fire vehicles -- have become available to the public.
The knockoffs have traffic engineers investigating whether lockout measures will work against the copycats and whether hundreds of thousands of dollars in traffic technology investments will become obsolete.
Unlike other devices, like radar jammers and certain laser detectors that emit radio signals, the MIRT and other signal changers emit an infrared beam, so it doesn't run afoul of the Federal Communications Commission, said Chelsea Fallon, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Tired of sitting at endless red lights? Frustrated by lights that turn from green to red too quickly, trapping you in traffic?
Now anyone can breeze through congested intersections just like the police, thanks to a $300 dashboard device that changes traffic lights from red to green, making nasty commutes a thing of the past and leaving other drivers open-mouthed at your ability to manipulate traffic.
But what if everyone had one?
That's the fear of traffic control officials, who believe chaos would take over the roads. That's also the potential facing communities from Troy to Washington Township as Internet-marketed knockoffs of the device -- originally intended only for police and fire vehicles -- have become available to the public.
The knockoffs have traffic engineers investigating whether lockout measures will work against the copycats and whether hundreds of thousands of dollars in traffic technology investments will become obsolete.
Unlike other devices, like radar jammers and certain laser detectors that emit radio signals, the MIRT and other signal changers emit an infrared beam, so it doesn't run afoul of the Federal Communications Commission, said Chelsea Fallon, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Monday, October 27, 2003
The Best Search Idea Since Google
Amazon seems to have designed "search inside" to help readers find text in books that they haven't bought yet. But there's just as much opportunity to apply "search inside" to books you already own.
Amazon seems to have designed "search inside" to help readers find text in books that they haven't bought yet. But there's just as much opportunity to apply "search inside" to books you already own.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Latest news on virtual real estate.
Julian is attempting to earn a living auctioning virtual game products.
He says he makes more than as a writer, which doesn't say much.
Julian is attempting to earn a living auctioning virtual game products.
He says he makes more than as a writer, which doesn't say much.
The Creative forerunner to blogs: genius behind FACTSHEET FIVE has a website.
FACTSHEET FIVE was the must-have publication of the zine revolution. It had hundreds of reviews of zines each month and most of it was due to one man.
Of Words and Copyrights
I've been making my living partially or entirely from "intellectual property" (primarily my words on paper, secondarily computer software) for the better part of two decades now. So why is it that I'm at best lukewarm on the notion of copyright and the idea that somehow these very words are "mine"?
Part of the answer comes from the environment where I wrote my first million or so published words: science-fiction fandom (which, I note peripherally, was also the original home of some prominent Open Source advocates). In fandom, words are the lifeblood of the community, and they seem to quite clearly belong to the community. You can (or could, at the time) get most fanzines for "the usual", a bevy of methods of which the preferred one was to swap your own words.
And of course fans, being inept in so many real world ways, generally didn't know a thing about valid copyrights anyhow.
Fandom led me into doing FACTSHEET FIVE, where suddenly I was selling my own words to other people. So, what did I do about copyright? Well, I did copyright FACTSHEET FIVE, mainly because I didn't want to wake up some day and discover that someone else had reprinted a chunk and copyrighted it. But I always included a reprint statement that granted every reader full and absolute rights to reprint whatever they wanted, with or without attribution.
On FACTSHEET FIVE
Factsheet Five was an influential guide to the (mostly printed) small press, or "zine", movement of the 1980s. It was founded in 1982 by Mike Gunderloy, who later called it "the stupidest time-saving idea I ever had." Starting as a two-page dittoed newsletter, Factsheet Five grew into a massive newsprint magazine that reviewed every small publication Gunderloy could get his hands on, as well as music, books, t-shirts and the other flotsam of our creative society. Gunderloy was responsible for hijacking the term "zine" from science fiction fandom and applying it to any small press effort, from which the current term "e-zine" later sprang.
FACTSHEET FIVE was the must-have publication of the zine revolution. It had hundreds of reviews of zines each month and most of it was due to one man.
Of Words and Copyrights
I've been making my living partially or entirely from "intellectual property" (primarily my words on paper, secondarily computer software) for the better part of two decades now. So why is it that I'm at best lukewarm on the notion of copyright and the idea that somehow these very words are "mine"?
Part of the answer comes from the environment where I wrote my first million or so published words: science-fiction fandom (which, I note peripherally, was also the original home of some prominent Open Source advocates). In fandom, words are the lifeblood of the community, and they seem to quite clearly belong to the community. You can (or could, at the time) get most fanzines for "the usual", a bevy of methods of which the preferred one was to swap your own words.
And of course fans, being inept in so many real world ways, generally didn't know a thing about valid copyrights anyhow.
Fandom led me into doing FACTSHEET FIVE, where suddenly I was selling my own words to other people. So, what did I do about copyright? Well, I did copyright FACTSHEET FIVE, mainly because I didn't want to wake up some day and discover that someone else had reprinted a chunk and copyrighted it. But I always included a reprint statement that granted every reader full and absolute rights to reprint whatever they wanted, with or without attribution.
On FACTSHEET FIVE
Factsheet Five was an influential guide to the (mostly printed) small press, or "zine", movement of the 1980s. It was founded in 1982 by Mike Gunderloy, who later called it "the stupidest time-saving idea I ever had." Starting as a two-page dittoed newsletter, Factsheet Five grew into a massive newsprint magazine that reviewed every small publication Gunderloy could get his hands on, as well as music, books, t-shirts and the other flotsam of our creative society. Gunderloy was responsible for hijacking the term "zine" from science fiction fandom and applying it to any small press effort, from which the current term "e-zine" later sprang.
Thera Eruption Now Seen As Far Worse Than Krakatoa
For decades, scholars have debated whether the eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean more than 3,000 years ago brought about the mysterious collapse of Minoan civilization at the peak of its glory. The volcanic isle (whose remnants are known as Santorini) lay just 70 miles from Minoan Crete, so it seemed quite reasonable that its fury could have accounted for the fall of that celebrated people.
This idea suffered a blow in 1987 when Danish scientists studying cores from the Greenland icecap reported evidence that Thera exploded in 1645 B.C., some 150 years before the usual date. That put so much time between the natural disaster and the Minoan decline that the linkage came to be widely doubted, seeming far-fetched at best.
Now, scientists at Columbia University, the University of Hawaii and other institutions are renewing the proposed connection.
New findings, they say, show that Thera's upheaval was far more violent than previously calculated — many times larger than the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, which killed more than 36,000 people. They say the Thera blast's cultural repercussions were equally large, rippling across the eastern Mediterranean for decades, even centuries.
"It had to have had a huge impact," said Dr. Floyd W. McCoy, a University of Hawaii geologist who has studied the eruption for decades and recently proposed that it was much more violent than previously thought.
The scientists say Thera's outburst produced deadly waves and dense clouds of volcanic ash over a vast region, crippling ancient cities and fleets, setting off climate changes, ruining crops and sowing wide political unrest.
For Minoan Crete, the scientists see direct and indirect consequences. Dr. McCoy discovered that towering waves from the eruption that hit Crete were up to 50 feet high, smashing ports and fleets and severely damaging the maritime economy.
Other scientists found indirect, long-term damage. Ash and global cooling from the volcanic pall caused wide crop failures in the eastern Mediterranean, they said, and the agricultural woes in turn set off political upheavals that undid Minoan friends and trade.
For decades, scholars have debated whether the eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean more than 3,000 years ago brought about the mysterious collapse of Minoan civilization at the peak of its glory. The volcanic isle (whose remnants are known as Santorini) lay just 70 miles from Minoan Crete, so it seemed quite reasonable that its fury could have accounted for the fall of that celebrated people.
This idea suffered a blow in 1987 when Danish scientists studying cores from the Greenland icecap reported evidence that Thera exploded in 1645 B.C., some 150 years before the usual date. That put so much time between the natural disaster and the Minoan decline that the linkage came to be widely doubted, seeming far-fetched at best.
Now, scientists at Columbia University, the University of Hawaii and other institutions are renewing the proposed connection.
New findings, they say, show that Thera's upheaval was far more violent than previously calculated — many times larger than the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, which killed more than 36,000 people. They say the Thera blast's cultural repercussions were equally large, rippling across the eastern Mediterranean for decades, even centuries.
"It had to have had a huge impact," said Dr. Floyd W. McCoy, a University of Hawaii geologist who has studied the eruption for decades and recently proposed that it was much more violent than previously thought.
The scientists say Thera's outburst produced deadly waves and dense clouds of volcanic ash over a vast region, crippling ancient cities and fleets, setting off climate changes, ruining crops and sowing wide political unrest.
For Minoan Crete, the scientists see direct and indirect consequences. Dr. McCoy discovered that towering waves from the eruption that hit Crete were up to 50 feet high, smashing ports and fleets and severely damaging the maritime economy.
Other scientists found indirect, long-term damage. Ash and global cooling from the volcanic pall caused wide crop failures in the eastern Mediterranean, they said, and the agricultural woes in turn set off political upheavals that undid Minoan friends and trade.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Zagat Listing Jolted by a Small Brooklyn Spot
Ms. Pachter writing the day's specials on a sidewalk blackboard. "We're just a really good neighborhood restaurant," he said.
The Zagat Survey has always been presented by its publishers, Tim and Nina Zagat, as a statistically accurate representation of consumer opinion based on ratings from tens of thousands of diners, and therefore more reliable than the reviews of individual critics. Diners submit their votes online, rating the food, decor and service on a scale of 0 to 3. Those ratings, averaged and multiplied by 10, result in a number, with 30 the top grade.
In reality, though, a rating, even a superb rating like the 28 that the Grocery and the six other top restaurants received for their food, could be based on a relative handful of votes. To be one of the 50 included in the top food-ranking list takes a minimum of only 100 votes, said Mr. Zagat, a lawyer. He and his wife, also a lawyer, started the survey 25 years ago as an informal poll among friends. They now survey restaurants in 70 cities around the world.
Mr. Zagat said the Grocery deserved its rating.
"I've been there, I think it's a delight," he said. "The food is delicious, very simple."
EL - Only 100 votes? That is more than a stastically valid sample. What they really want to complain about is the tastes of the public as opposed to the critics. Later in the article it is strongly implied that much more than 100 rated this Brooklyn restaurant which has the New York natives in a fuss. From clues I would guess over 400 people highly rated it making it the 7th best restaurant in the New York area.
Zagat has recently also done a top movie guide with the same format. Free with BankAmerica checking.
Mr. Kiely, 37, and Ms. Pachter, 41, are both chefs who met in 1992 when they were working at Savoy in Manhattan (22 in the 2004 guide).
They share a market-driven philosophy with Peter Hoffman, the chef and owner of Savoy, shopping regularly in the Greenmarkets. They opened the Grocery, which serves seasonal American food, in 1999 after spending nearly five years trying to find a space they could afford in Manhattan. Mr. Kiely said he was concerned that their restaurant might not live up to the expectations of people who also dine at Daniel and Jean Georges.
"We're probably the cheapest restaurant on the page," he said. Not on the page, but at least among those at the top of the list. The Zagat surveyors estimate that it costs $46 for a meal, a drink and a tip at the Grocery.
That figure is $90 at Le Bernardin, $100 at Daniel, $76 at Nobu, $82 at Bouley and $90 at Jean Georges.
"It's all pretty simple," Mr. Kiely said. "We don't have the people taking coats. You'll get someone in a dirty apron to seat you. I don't want people to be disappointed, but we're not going to change the way we do things."
Ms. Pachter said that the effect of Zagat has been significant for the Grocery, which entered the survey with a 24 food rating in 2001, rose to 25 the next year and 26 the year after that.
Between 60 and 70 percent of the customers are regulars, Mr. Kiely said. (Danny Meyer said the figure was at least 25 percent at the Union Square Cafe, listed as the most popular restaurant in the survey, and at several other restaurants of which he is a co-owner.)
People who frequent the Grocery say they love the food and call the owners warm and accommodating.
"When I go out to eat, it's my first call," said Carmit Zori, a violinist who lives in Cobble Hill. "The chef is great and the service is wonderful," she said. "And though the prices are not cheap, they are less than Manhattan."
Even if the rating brings a flood of reservation-seekers, Ms. Pachter said, "the size of the room and the limited number of seats control what we can do." She and Mr. Kiely work the kitchen with a sous-chef and a dishwasher.
"We're a true mom and pop restaurant in the modern sense," Ms. Pachter said. "We're cooking, getting ready for service and answering the phones. The phones are the hardest part, just getting through. It's going to be harder now."
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Even if you don't play golf, this is fun.
http://boardwalk.50g.com/golf.html
My Dad send me this link for minature golf online.
http://boardwalk.50g.com/golf.html
My Dad send me this link for minature golf online.
Monday, October 13, 2003
Los Alamos Lab Envisions Space 'Elevator'
"The first country that owns the space elevator will own space," said lab scientist Bryan Laubscher. "I believe that, and I think Los Alamos should be involved in making that happen."
Some Los Alamos scientists are so convinced it can be a reality that they are working on their own time on technical details.
Five to 10 scientists at any given time are analyzing the economics, technical specifications of how the elevator would work and possible health risks to those using it. Laubscher said the grassroots effort hopes the U.S. Department of Energy could someday use the information as a start for investing in a space elevator.
The elevator shaft would be made of a very strong, thin, lightweight material called carbon nanotubes attached to the Earth's equator. The shaft, really a 32 million-story-tall cable, would be carried into orbit on a conventional spacecraft, then gradually dropped down to Earth to be attached to a platform similar to an ocean oil-drilling rig.
Solar-powered crawlers would move up and down the shaft, carrying payloads of satellites or probes to be placed in Earth's orbit or beyond. They also would attach additional cables to the main shaft that eventually would become new elevators.
"It would create huge, huge savings over how we launch stuff now," said Ron Morgan, a health scientist working on the project. "From the top of it, we could throw things off to Mars or to the inner solar system. Launching those things on conventional rockets costs a fortune."
No one has made a carbon nanotube cable longer than a few feet but Laubscher said technology is improving daily, and a cable could be possible in a few years.
A payload on the shuttle costs about $15,000 per kilogram to launch into orbit. A 150-pound person weighs 68 kilograms.
A payload on the first space elevator likely would cost about $1,000 per kilogram, which could drop to $50 to $100 in time, Laubscher said.
"The first country that owns the space elevator will own space," said lab scientist Bryan Laubscher. "I believe that, and I think Los Alamos should be involved in making that happen."
Some Los Alamos scientists are so convinced it can be a reality that they are working on their own time on technical details.
Five to 10 scientists at any given time are analyzing the economics, technical specifications of how the elevator would work and possible health risks to those using it. Laubscher said the grassroots effort hopes the U.S. Department of Energy could someday use the information as a start for investing in a space elevator.
The elevator shaft would be made of a very strong, thin, lightweight material called carbon nanotubes attached to the Earth's equator. The shaft, really a 32 million-story-tall cable, would be carried into orbit on a conventional spacecraft, then gradually dropped down to Earth to be attached to a platform similar to an ocean oil-drilling rig.
Solar-powered crawlers would move up and down the shaft, carrying payloads of satellites or probes to be placed in Earth's orbit or beyond. They also would attach additional cables to the main shaft that eventually would become new elevators.
"It would create huge, huge savings over how we launch stuff now," said Ron Morgan, a health scientist working on the project. "From the top of it, we could throw things off to Mars or to the inner solar system. Launching those things on conventional rockets costs a fortune."
No one has made a carbon nanotube cable longer than a few feet but Laubscher said technology is improving daily, and a cable could be possible in a few years.
A payload on the shuttle costs about $15,000 per kilogram to launch into orbit. A 150-pound person weighs 68 kilograms.
A payload on the first space elevator likely would cost about $1,000 per kilogram, which could drop to $50 to $100 in time, Laubscher said.
Low-Carb Diets Are Working, Study Says
The dietary establishment has long argued it's impossible, but a new study offers intriguing evidence for the idea that people on low-carbohydrate diets can actually eat more than folks on standard lowfat plans and still lose weight.
Over the past year, several small studies have shown, to many experts' surprise, that the Atkins approach actually does work better, at least in the short run. Dieters lose more than those on a standard American Heart Association plan without driving up their cholesterol levels, as many feared would happen.
Skeptics contend, however, that these dieters simply must be eating less. Maybe the low-carb diets are more satisfying, so they do not get so hungry. Or perhaps the food choices are just so limited that low-carb dieters are too bored to eat a lot.
Now, a small but carefully controlled study offers a strong hint that maybe Atkins was right: People on low-carb, high-fat diets actually can eat more.
The study, directed by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of Public Health and presented at a meeting here this week of the American Association for the Study of Obesity, found that people eating an extra 300 calories a day on a very low-carb regimen lost just as much during a 12-week study as those on a standard lowfat diet.
Over the course of the study, they consumed an extra 25,000 calories. That should have added up to about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.
"There does indeed seem to be something about a low-carb diet that says you can eat more calories and lose a similar amount of weight," Greene said.
That strikes at one of the most revered beliefs in nutrition: A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It does not matter whether they come from bacon or mashed potatoes; they all go on the waistline in just the same way.
Not even Greene says this settles the case, but some at the meeting found her report fascinating.
"A lot of our assumptions about a calorie is a calorie are being challenged," said Marlene Schwartz of Yale. "As scientists, we need to be open-minded."
Others, though, found the data hard to swallow.
"It doesn't make sense, does it?" said Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University. "It violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any miraculous metabolic effects."
In the study, 21 overweight volunteers were divided into three categories: Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800 for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an extra 300 calories a day.
The study was unique because all the food was prepared at an upscale Italian restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., so researchers knew exactly what they ate. Most earlier studies simply sent people home with diet plans to follow as best they could.
Each afternoon, the volunteers picked up that evening's dinner, a bedtime snack and the next day's breakfast and lunch. Instead of lots of red meat and saturated fat, which many find disturbing about low-carb diets, these people ate mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils.
Everyone's food looked similar but was cooked to different recipes. The low-carb meals were 5 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 65 percent fat. The rest got 55 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 30 percent fat.
In the end, everyone lost weight. Those on the lower-cal, low-carb regimen took off 23 pounds, while people who got the same calories on the lowfat approach lost 17 pounds. The big surprise, though, was that volunteers getting the extra 300 calories a day of low-carb food lost 20 pounds.
Greene said she can only guess why the people getting the extra calories did so well. Maybe they burned up more calories digesting their food.
Dr. Samuel Klein of Washington University, the obesity organization's president, called the results "hard to believe" and said perhaps the people eating more calories also got more exercise or they were less apt to cheat because they were less hungry.
The dietary establishment has long argued it's impossible, but a new study offers intriguing evidence for the idea that people on low-carbohydrate diets can actually eat more than folks on standard lowfat plans and still lose weight.
Over the past year, several small studies have shown, to many experts' surprise, that the Atkins approach actually does work better, at least in the short run. Dieters lose more than those on a standard American Heart Association plan without driving up their cholesterol levels, as many feared would happen.
Skeptics contend, however, that these dieters simply must be eating less. Maybe the low-carb diets are more satisfying, so they do not get so hungry. Or perhaps the food choices are just so limited that low-carb dieters are too bored to eat a lot.
Now, a small but carefully controlled study offers a strong hint that maybe Atkins was right: People on low-carb, high-fat diets actually can eat more.
The study, directed by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of Public Health and presented at a meeting here this week of the American Association for the Study of Obesity, found that people eating an extra 300 calories a day on a very low-carb regimen lost just as much during a 12-week study as those on a standard lowfat diet.
Over the course of the study, they consumed an extra 25,000 calories. That should have added up to about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.
"There does indeed seem to be something about a low-carb diet that says you can eat more calories and lose a similar amount of weight," Greene said.
That strikes at one of the most revered beliefs in nutrition: A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It does not matter whether they come from bacon or mashed potatoes; they all go on the waistline in just the same way.
Not even Greene says this settles the case, but some at the meeting found her report fascinating.
"A lot of our assumptions about a calorie is a calorie are being challenged," said Marlene Schwartz of Yale. "As scientists, we need to be open-minded."
Others, though, found the data hard to swallow.
"It doesn't make sense, does it?" said Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University. "It violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any miraculous metabolic effects."
In the study, 21 overweight volunteers were divided into three categories: Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800 for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an extra 300 calories a day.
The study was unique because all the food was prepared at an upscale Italian restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., so researchers knew exactly what they ate. Most earlier studies simply sent people home with diet plans to follow as best they could.
Each afternoon, the volunteers picked up that evening's dinner, a bedtime snack and the next day's breakfast and lunch. Instead of lots of red meat and saturated fat, which many find disturbing about low-carb diets, these people ate mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils.
Everyone's food looked similar but was cooked to different recipes. The low-carb meals were 5 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 65 percent fat. The rest got 55 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 30 percent fat.
In the end, everyone lost weight. Those on the lower-cal, low-carb regimen took off 23 pounds, while people who got the same calories on the lowfat approach lost 17 pounds. The big surprise, though, was that volunteers getting the extra 300 calories a day of low-carb food lost 20 pounds.
Greene said she can only guess why the people getting the extra calories did so well. Maybe they burned up more calories digesting their food.
Dr. Samuel Klein of Washington University, the obesity organization's president, called the results "hard to believe" and said perhaps the people eating more calories also got more exercise or they were less apt to cheat because they were less hungry.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
G R E A T E S T M O M - K I S S I N G ,
T R A N Q I L I Z E R - L A C E D -
C O O K I E - B A K I N G ,
S E R I A L K I L L E R R O B O T
I N T V H I S T O R Y ,
D E A D A T 5 4 .
BY SARAH VOWELL
A tribute to Ritter and Buffy in McSweeny's fiction.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
NASA Is Speeding Work on Space Plane
The Orbital Space Plane, primarily designed to carry people, is on a fast track that could make it available as a station rescue vehicle in five years and ready to serve as a crew hauler a few years later, Mr. O'Keefe said at a news conference.
A space plane, however, would not replace the shuttle altogether, he said.
The committee that investigated the Columbia accident recommended that crews be separated from cargo in future space travel, Mr. O'Keefe noted, and the space plane would meet the crew requirement. But carrying cargo to and from the station, and perhaps beyond, requires the capability of the shuttle or other vehicles capable of lifting heavy loads.
NASA is also looking at options to transport cargo that include the shuttle, with possible modifications.
"I don't know if we are accelerating plans to retire it or accelerating plans to extend its life," Mr. O'Keefe said of the shuttle.
"For the immediate near term," he said, "there is no other option but the shuttle."
The Orbital Space Plane, primarily designed to carry people, is on a fast track that could make it available as a station rescue vehicle in five years and ready to serve as a crew hauler a few years later, Mr. O'Keefe said at a news conference.
A space plane, however, would not replace the shuttle altogether, he said.
The committee that investigated the Columbia accident recommended that crews be separated from cargo in future space travel, Mr. O'Keefe noted, and the space plane would meet the crew requirement. But carrying cargo to and from the station, and perhaps beyond, requires the capability of the shuttle or other vehicles capable of lifting heavy loads.
NASA is also looking at options to transport cargo that include the shuttle, with possible modifications.
"I don't know if we are accelerating plans to retire it or accelerating plans to extend its life," Mr. O'Keefe said of the shuttle.
"For the immediate near term," he said, "there is no other option but the shuttle."
Celebrity Libarian for Seattle
Ms. Pearl likes science fiction, she likes 19th-century novels, she likes travel books. She likes, well, everything. "Because I am such a voracious reader and because I really am interested in everything, there's hardly a book you could show me that because of subject matter I would say I don't want to read it," she said. "Well, I don't read true crime because it's too scary. But, for instance, I loved `Moneyball,' by Michael Lewis, and I'm not even that big a baseball fan."
Asked to react to a list of authors ranging from the well known to the somewhat obscure, Ms. Pearl had read them all. She responded with delight to each name, as though hearing the name of an old friend. Francine Prose: "Oh, Francine Prose! I think my favorite is `Hunters and Gatherers.' Oh, no, I think even better than that was `Bigfoot Dreams.' " Denis Johnson: "I love his poetry." Fred Leebron: "Hmmm. I really liked `Six Figures.' He seems to me a cold writer and I think that can be off-putting, but he's somebody whose next book I would read." Wilton Barnhardt: " `Emma Who Saved My Life,' that was a nice novel." Ada Leverson: " `The Little Ottleys'! Oh, those books were all in that wonderful series from Virago with the black bindings." Julian Barnes: "The first chapter of `A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters' is so funny." And on and on.
Confronted with a wealth of books, Ms. Pearl has invented a now-famous tool to cope with the onslaught: the Rule of 50.
"Nobody should ever have to finish a book they're not thoroughly enjoying, but you need to give the book a chance," she explained. "It seems to me that a good amount of pages would be 50. At the end of 50 pages, you ask, `Am I really liking this book, or am I just gutting it out?' This rule worked well for me for many years, until I started to get closer to 50 years old myself. I realized that time was short, and that the world of books is larger than ever."
So Ms. Pearl, who is now 58, came up with this ingenious calculus of reading: "Now I have an amended Rule of 50: If you're 50 years of age and under, you follow the original rule. But if you're over 50, you subtract your age from 100, and that number is the number of pages you have to read. A psychiatrist — not one I was seeing, a stranger — told me, with a straight face, that this is the greatest gift I have given to humanity."
Ms. Pearl likes science fiction, she likes 19th-century novels, she likes travel books. She likes, well, everything. "Because I am such a voracious reader and because I really am interested in everything, there's hardly a book you could show me that because of subject matter I would say I don't want to read it," she said. "Well, I don't read true crime because it's too scary. But, for instance, I loved `Moneyball,' by Michael Lewis, and I'm not even that big a baseball fan."
Asked to react to a list of authors ranging from the well known to the somewhat obscure, Ms. Pearl had read them all. She responded with delight to each name, as though hearing the name of an old friend. Francine Prose: "Oh, Francine Prose! I think my favorite is `Hunters and Gatherers.' Oh, no, I think even better than that was `Bigfoot Dreams.' " Denis Johnson: "I love his poetry." Fred Leebron: "Hmmm. I really liked `Six Figures.' He seems to me a cold writer and I think that can be off-putting, but he's somebody whose next book I would read." Wilton Barnhardt: " `Emma Who Saved My Life,' that was a nice novel." Ada Leverson: " `The Little Ottleys'! Oh, those books were all in that wonderful series from Virago with the black bindings." Julian Barnes: "The first chapter of `A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters' is so funny." And on and on.
Confronted with a wealth of books, Ms. Pearl has invented a now-famous tool to cope with the onslaught: the Rule of 50.
"Nobody should ever have to finish a book they're not thoroughly enjoying, but you need to give the book a chance," she explained. "It seems to me that a good amount of pages would be 50. At the end of 50 pages, you ask, `Am I really liking this book, or am I just gutting it out?' This rule worked well for me for many years, until I started to get closer to 50 years old myself. I realized that time was short, and that the world of books is larger than ever."
So Ms. Pearl, who is now 58, came up with this ingenious calculus of reading: "Now I have an amended Rule of 50: If you're 50 years of age and under, you follow the original rule. But if you're over 50, you subtract your age from 100, and that number is the number of pages you have to read. A psychiatrist — not one I was seeing, a stranger — told me, with a straight face, that this is the greatest gift I have given to humanity."
What are the "Scroll Lock" and other keys on my computer for?
The Straight Dope after a long description of various keys and tricks concludes: One suspects that some oddball keys were put on the PC keyboard (or to be more precise, included in the ASCII character set, most of which found its way onto the PC keyboard) because the developers figured they'd come in handy for something.
On the whole that has turned out to be the case--programmers and developers have found a use for nearly every key on the keyboard, even if that use isn't obvious to the general computing public.
Witness the tilde <~>, which, whatever use it may have as a diacritical mark, now can mean "home directory" or "text omitted," among other things.
Given the pace of change in information technology, there's a lot to be said for designing your user interface for maximum flexibility.
For more complete answers to this and many other questions see The Straight Dope.
The Straight Dope after a long description of various keys and tricks concludes: One suspects that some oddball keys were put on the PC keyboard (or to be more precise, included in the ASCII character set, most of which found its way onto the PC keyboard) because the developers figured they'd come in handy for something.
On the whole that has turned out to be the case--programmers and developers have found a use for nearly every key on the keyboard, even if that use isn't obvious to the general computing public.
Witness the tilde <~>, which, whatever use it may have as a diacritical mark, now can mean "home directory" or "text omitted," among other things.
Given the pace of change in information technology, there's a lot to be said for designing your user interface for maximum flexibility.
For more complete answers to this and many other questions see The Straight Dope.
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