It's a fortress complex built to control the navigation of the River Avon.
I see four potential heart attacks waiting to happen in that picture.
No, you're thinking of Star Wars.
;)
I've thought about this too. I'm in the cabinetmaking/millwork industry, and the degree of automation, even in the last ten years, is astounding - and we're easily ten years behind the cutting edge of technology.
I see two possible solutions to the problem of mass unemployment:
1) A government provided living wage.
2) Mass ownership of stock, through mandated redistribution.
#1 goes against every fiber of my capitalist, free-market heart, but I think it may be the only solution. I'm sure there will be some combination of the two, but I can't see #2 working on its own. Too many people will squander their nest egg, or lose it to the inevitable upheavals that will follow this revolution. As you said, the paradigm is shifting.
And here, for your viewing pleasure/nightmare fuel, is a robot folding towels.
I love the look, but $75 a pop? I think I'll just strip the skin from my legs.
I see. Thank you for putting down some geekery.
I thought they had won when they took over the facility?
#2: For that matter, why didn't the resistance send through a bunch of soldiers to protect Sarah and son, instead of just Reese?
I understand there's a lot of foaming involved.
Genius!
Yes, the podrace was one of the few scenes I enjoyed in that movie, in no small part thanks to them and their joyful hostility.
Lloyd: I got worms!
Mary: I beg your pardon?
Lloyd: That's what we're gonna call it. "I Got Worms!" We're gonna specialize in selling worm farms. You know, like ant farms.
Mary: I beg your pardon?
Lloyd: That's what we're gonna call it. "I Got Worms!" We're gonna specialize in selling worm farms. You know, like ant farms.
Anything and everything. Military history, all kinds of SF, Patrick O'Brian. I've always read like a fiend.
This was in peacetime, though.
which was always a laugh to see big burly rifle toting soldiers with those books in their rucks
That's funny. I was in during the late '90's (good timing!), but we got sent to one of the Bright Star exercises in Egypt. There ended up being nothing for us to do (long story), and we passed around all kinds of crazy books. I read the first few of the Left Behind books during those weeks. People look at me like I have something growing out of my forehead if I ever let that slip.
You don't want something exclusively military. You're living the life, you don't need some fictionalized version of what you are going through in your off hours.
You want something that is escapism, but with a couple of toes in the military realm. Hyperion is the most obvious book that comes to mind. Not exclusively military, per se, but with plenty of that stuff going on - Kassad's story, of course, and the maneuvers of FORCE versus the Ousters. A lot of the Culture series would work here, too, as they almost always have a black ops type thing going on without it being the entirety of the narrative. You want to see the military stuff contributing to the defense/preservation of larger societal ideals. And be badass and awesome in the process.
Starship Troopers? Ender's Game? Great books, but I don't really want to read their idealized military cultures when I have to council a Lance Corporal for falling asleep on fire watch.
I read these through several times during my term. Great escapism, with enough of a military touch to keep them relevant.
I guess that lady didn't really love Gerry Rafferty as much as he thought.
Now that I think about it, didn't Stephenson include some verbiage about how almost all of the dumb terrorists had already been killed? So Jones' existence was the result of an incredibly explosive round of unnatural selection?
The two clever little things that stick with me:
1) The in-joke about how the opening screen looks a lot like Google Earth, but since they essentially stole the idea from an old science fiction novel (Snowcrash), that didn't bother Richard.
2) During the stand off at the pier, Zula sticks her thumb under the hammer of Jones' gun, so Csongor can get a shot off. That idea has been kicking around in my own head for years, it was nice to see someone else come up with it. Although, now that I think about it, I guess Lethal Weapon used it many moons ago.
Does anybody have any idea what happened to the helicopter pilot?
Me, neither. I have never read one of his books and not felt a sense of regret when it was over. Talk about getting lost in another world.
