Heh. I left a very similar comment on the video before I saw yours. And that's the difference between io9 and the unwashed masses: there's at least a hint of a chance to stumble across other with informed opinions.
Heh. I left a very similar comment on the video before I saw yours. And that's the difference between io9 and the unwashed masses: there's at least a hint of a chance to stumble across other with informed opinions.
For those interested in learning more about how this works (and why it doesn't require every animal to die for a species to go extinct) look into Distributed Cognition:
[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]
Are you not familiar with the Wikihistory short story?
[www.abyssandapex.com]
[www.abyssandapex.com]
Mina Harker, actually.
@LusipherPE: Oh yeah. The books were horrible. Epic in scope, to be sure, but did the middle of each one need to be 300 pages of BDSM via Mord Sith?
The TV series, if taken by itself, was an amusing variation on the Xena/Hercules theme. It wasn't very faithful to the books because it would never get an audience that way. Sure, Zedd was a cariacature, but at least the women in the TV series weren't all fawning for Richard to save them.
The TV series, if taken by itself, was an amusing variation on the Xena/Hercules theme. It wasn't very faithful to the books because it would never get an audience that way. Sure, Zedd was a cariacature, but at least the women in the TV series weren't all fawning for Richard to save them.
@1Grand_Marquis: I commented before I read yours -- check out Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook. It's a system of magic that is based entirely on programming, and it's still Fantasy.
If you like the idea of spells + programming, you may want to try to dig up a copy of one of Rick Cook's "Wizardy" series. The first book, "Wizard's Bane" is part of the Baen Free Library.
Given that the images on Flickr are marked as copyright protected and "all rights reserved", and there's no statement of use or any sort of legal terminology whatsoever on this article ... am I crazy to think that what io9 has done is here pretty much the definition of illegal (via copyright infringement)?
(And no, Fair Use doesn't really apply here: io9 is using high-resolution versions that, instead of linking back to the originals, they have wrapped in their own branding and browser. Double whammy.)
I love io9, but this is just asking for trouble.
Why oh why do people buy and sell faucets that barely come out from the back of the sink? Look at that picture: the flow of water wouldn't get to your palms before your fingers were smacking into the sink.
I mean, it's amusing and all, but it's all but useless as a faucet.
I couldn't disagree more. When you go "future fashion" you get Barbarella. To me, that just gets in the way of the story. Look, we know they aren't actually speaking English in these stories, so why can't (a lack of) fashion be taken as an artistic choice, too?
Think of it as a concession to the suspension of disbelief -- it's just one less thing you have to tell your brain to ignore.
I, for one, liked the relatively drab costuming of the most recent Star Trek film -- it got out of the way and let the story unfold.
Wow. There is a Slashdot-level of bad in this summary.
(1) It's Steven Gould with a "v", not a "ph".
(2) Reflex didn't go anywhere near planet- or time-jumping.
For those who enjoyed Harry Potter and would like to graduate to something more adult, I highly recommend Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. Yes, it had a single season on the SciFi channel, but the books are so much better than the TV show.
The books are well-written and character driven, most of them in a classic detective style. The magic is almost coincidental to the stories, instead of banging you over the head with it as many fantasy series do. Oh, and made-up names? Almost none.
Still not convinced? How about this: the audiobook versions of the novels are read by James Marsters, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Short version: technology is inevitable, and thus not really interesting -- it's the choice around the godlike abilities the technology produces that are interesting.
Duh.
While nerd and geek used to be interchangeable (especially back in the time of Real Genius), they have diverged significantly since then.
These days the geeks are still tech-savvy, but not all that nerdly. All of the online social interaction and infodumps on how to be a normal, socialized person have removed a great deal of the awkwardness that used to make them so nerdly. Similarly, thanks to the removal of much of the social stigma against being a geek, there's no motivation to hide your geekliness, and thus continue to stunt themselves socially. "I'm a geek, and that's okay because it's just one part of me."
The nerds, however, haven't embraced geek culture enough to benefit from all of these social changes. They're too busy being okay with their own nerdliness to move past it and start improving themselves to better interact with society. "Why should I change? I'm just fine the way I am and the world needs to accept that."
@GeneralBattuta: Agreed. You'd need to do a regression to negate the trend in order to then do any sort of meaningful analysis.
I present to you:
Please, please, please let the next story be about how scientists have been able to clone Megalodon back to life.
Because that's about the only shark large enough to attach that frickin' huge laser to its head.
Seconded.
Well played.
![[rickosborne.org]](http://rickosborne.org/images/laser-megalodon.jpg){kind=link}