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San Francisco, 2:16 PM
Sun Dec 20
13 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Counterglow Counterglow
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    Just a shout-out to an old high school librarian who's probably dead now. His last name was Johnson. We called him "Wimpy" because of a slight resemblance to the character in "Popeye". On many occasions, somebody would ask him a question about some topic or other, and he'd not only tell you what books to get and EXACTLY where they were in the library (as in "three shelves down, five from the left"), but the pages and paragraphs of the information you wanted. He couldn't always supply that level of detail, but it was far from uncommon, and he was never wrong as far as I know. And he never sent anybody looking for a book that had been checked out.

    He was a truly astonishing man who worked without fanfare in a nondescript job in a small Canadian high school.
     Reply
    Grey_Area promoted this comment Edited by Counterglow at 12/07/09 7:42 PM Counterglow was starred Counterglow was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    12/07/09

    @Counterglow: Okay, way off topic, but fine librarians such as this deserve a shout out. Rock on "Wimpy" Johnson, wherever you may be.

    Io9 Commentariat, SALUTE!!
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Counterglow Counterglow
    12/08/09

    @Grey_Area: Thanks for getting into the spirit. I was reading about all those methods of accurately storing all kinds of information in your head, and here was a guy who kept a whole library up there.

    Funny...he didn't LOOK like a mentat.
     Reply
    Counterglow was starred Counterglow was unstarred
    Image of hwilam hwilam
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    Anne McCaffery's Pern books create an entire catalogue of teaching ballads to remind humanity of the tasks necessary when the red star comes near.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment hwilam was starred hwilam was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    Dan Simmons used the diary bit in Hyperion with the girl who was ageing backwards. That always creeped me out.

    "See you later alligator."
    "In a while crocodile."
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    Buckaroo Banzai: write it on your palm, lick your palm, slap your mentor on the forehead so he gets a copy too.
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of RoboBagins RoboBagins
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    Gundam is only an acronym in alternative universe of Gundam Seed.

    In fact, I'm not sure of where it comes from in classic Universal Century (UC). In UC Lunar Titanium is renamed to Gundarium alloy after being used to armor the Gundam.

    ok. enough Gundam babbling from me.
     Reply
    RoboBagins was starred RoboBagins was unstarred
    Image of techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    OH GOD TVTROPES

    Thanks io9, for making me fail this semester!!! XD
     Reply
    techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte was starred techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    12/07/09

    @techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte: I freakin love tvtropes. They do such a great job.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    12/07/09

    @techgoddess: Only .002 cents per byte: Someone linked tvtropes in a comic article last week. It totally OBLITERATED my afternoon.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    the 'Method of loci' is, and always will be, the coolest way to remember things...
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    12/07/09

    @goldfarb: I've never heard of this method before. I wiki'd it, and I have decided that this method, or close to it, got me through high school and college.

    When taking a test, or writing an essay, or even verbally answering something, I would recall various pages in the text, and remember where on the page I had seen it, I.e: pg. 53, 3rd paragraph, 4th sentence. (Even where I had read the passage originally [library, bedroom, etc.]) After that, I could remember the necessary information (or quote) almost verbatim.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/07/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me: cool...
    sometimes it's called Cathedral Memory...because everyone knew all the different places in a church (nave, apse, altar etc) they could place items to remember is specifics spots...then just walk through their Cathedral to remember things...
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    12/07/09

    @goldfarb: I read a book when I was younger about a mage that recalled spells much like Cathedral memory, except it was a Manor house, with multitudes of rooms. I likened it to a real-life version of that.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/07/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me: and I think Sagan refers to it in Cosmos...
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of firstofnormalin firstofnormalin
    12/07/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me:
    I do somewhat of the same thing when I'm memorizing lines (especially from Shakespeare--I mean, I swear Old Bill sometimes didn't write English...) Anyway, I visualize where the line is on the page and it jogs my memory. I also learn the last line of two of someone else's speech that leads into mine. I'm finding that now I don't need to know that I know the line--the line is there, even if I can't remember it until I need it. Mostly I use something that's close to hypnosis--progressive relaxation then repeat the line in my head. just before I go to sleep.
    BTW, the guy who's credited with the "memory palace" where objects are associated with furniture, etc. was Simonides of Ceo, back in 500BC.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me promoted this comment firstofnormalin was starred firstofnormalin was unstarred
    Image of Belabras Belabras
    12/07/09

    In reply to How To Jog Your Memory, The Science Fiction Hero Way
    I thought of another one, but I forgot it.
     Reply
    Belabras was starred Belabras was unstarred
    Image of cletar cletar
    12/03/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    Where the hell are the flying cars?
     Reply
    cletar was starred cletar was unstarred
    Image of Vulcan Has No Moon Vulcan Has No Moon
    12/03/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    Christopher Reeve :(

    I will refrain from commenting on those who did their damnedest to ban stem cell research.
     Reply
    Vulcan Has No Moon was starred Vulcan Has No Moon was unstarred
    Image of Kishi Kishi
    12/02/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    AOL? Even in 2000, it was a laughing stock among my friends, best known for having those free CDs at every register in every store- grab a handful each time you were at the store, and in a few weeks you had enough to decorate a dorm room door!
     Reply
    Kishi was starred Kishi was unstarred
    Image of Dimbo_Sama Dimbo_Sama
    12/03/09

    @Kishi: 'Good news everyone, a few years ago I tried logging into AOL... and it just went through!'

    This joke was written in 1999
     Reply
    Trystero promoted this comment Dimbo_Sama was starred Dimbo_Sama was unstarred
    Image of Dresan Dresan
    12/02/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    Dunno why this post kinda depresses me :S
     Reply
    Dresan was starred Dresan was unstarred
    Image of geesejuggler geesejuggler
    12/02/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    I would to comment about the changes in the past and future but really, I'm still ticked off about not having a jet-pack.
     Reply
    geesejuggler was starred geesejuggler was unstarred
    Image of Bill-Lee Bill-Lee
    12/02/09

    @geesejuggler: According to my mom, who came of age in the 50s and 60s, we were supposed to have flying cars and jetpacks by the magical year 1987.
     Reply
    Bill-Lee was starred Bill-Lee was unstarred
    Image of Starlionblue Starlionblue
    12/02/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    "Airlines will modernise, and increase their efficiency. Nope. Instead, we're stuck with aging fleets, hidden costs, and increasingly insane behavior from the TSA."

    Hang on. That's a very US-centric view. Out here in Asia, and indeed in Europe, the airline market has been evolving rapidly towards modern and efficient in the last 10 years.

    "Computer processors will hit 10GHz by 2010. We haven't even seen 4GHz yet. Whose law"

    Actually this one is correct, if not in the specific number. Instead of just increasing the MHz, chip makers have expanded out into multiple cores, in effect achieving the same increase in processing power. 4 cores with 2.5 GHz is, in all the ways that matter, the same as 1 core with 10GHz. Also, every MHz nowadays is probably more efficient.
     Reply
    Darklighter promoted this comment Starlionblue was starred Starlionblue was unstarred
    Image of Darklighter Darklighter
    12/02/09

    @Starlionblue: 4 cores with 2.5 GHz is not the same as 1 core with 10 GHz. Taking full advantage of a quad-core processor requires a shift from the way programs are traditionally written. More importantly, this silly prediction shows that 10 years ago, the press didn't have a clue what was going to be important in computing today.
     Reply
    Darklighter was starred Darklighter was unstarred
    Image of Starlionblue Starlionblue
    12/02/09

    @Darklighter: It's not the same in architectural terms. However I think you could argue that in terms of processing power we are already beyond a hypothetical single core 10GHz Pentium 4. In other words, the essence of the prediction was correct. Unless of course they were unwise enough to try to predict actual numbers.
     Reply
    Starlionblue was starred Starlionblue was unstarred
    Image of Darklighter Darklighter
    12/02/09

    @Starlionblue: That all depends on how you define processing power, and there's more than enough debate on that. But the fact of the matter is that the software hasn't come close to catching up to changes in architecture, so trying to draw any sort of equivalence between hypothetical super-fast single core processors and existent multi-core processors is useless.
     Reply
    Darklighter was starred Darklighter was unstarred
    Image of Starlionblue Starlionblue
    12/03/09

    @Darklighter: Ok. Ok. I give up. ;)
     Reply
    Starlionblue was starred Starlionblue was unstarred
    Image of GothAlice GothAlice
    12/02/09

    In reply to Millennium Predictions That Got Things Right - and Those That Didn't
    "Computer processors will hit 10GHz by 2010. We haven't even seen 4GHz yet. Whose law?"

    Moore's. We have 7GHz single-core processors (admittedly liquid helium cooled) and 2-cpu 4-core 3GHz boxen. 2*4*3 = 24GHz of processing power. Or 4-core 6.5GHz (26GHz) if you want one really fast liquid cooled CPU.

    Due to the fact that the die printing process is continually getting smaller (22nm?) we continue to adhere to Moore's law, which has more to say on transistor density than on raw clock rates.
     Reply
    Darklighter promoted this comment GothAlice was starred GothAlice was unstarred
    Image of Darklighter Darklighter
    12/02/09

    @GothAlice: First, that's not what Moore's Law says. Second, CPUs*cores*frequency is one of the stupidest metrics of performance one could possibly come up with.
     Reply
    Darklighter was starred Darklighter was unstarred
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