Reading tiny segments
Howard Brazee
_Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
pique my interest, but it fails.
Does it work for you?
--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
- James Madison
netcat
how...@brazee.net says...
> http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow?s
> _Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> Does it work for you?
Methinks I'll wait until it's as complete as it gets and then read it.
rgds,
netcat
David Goldfarb
Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> wrote:
>http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow�s
>_Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
>I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
>I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
>pique my interest, but it fails.
>
>Does it work for you?
While I'm not all that impressed with the book, I'm having no problem
dealing with the serialization and plan to read it through to the end.
--
David Goldfarb | "No-one in the world ever gets what they want
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | And that is beautiful.
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | Everybody dies frustrated and sad
| And that is beautiful." -- TMBG
Matthias Warkus
> http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow�s
> _Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> Does it work for you?
This has worked in newspapers for countless people over c. 2-1/2
centuries, and it's the way many if not most of the greatest French
novels (don't know about other countries) were first published. At
least one of the big national German newspapers still runs novels in
daily instalments.
mawa
Don Bruder
> http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow,s
> _Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> Does it work for you?
No. In fact, not just "No", but *HELL NO!*.
Despite the fact that I was a semi-rabid Stephen King fan at the time,
when he pulled that stunt with "The Green Mile", I VERY deliberately
decided I wasn't going to have anything to do with it until such time as
it was available as a single, complete volume. If it isn't fit to
publish as a complete story, it isn't fit to be read until such time as
it's completed.
I *DESPISE* cliffhangers. If you're going to tell the story, then tell
the damn story! Don't dink around with "here's a piece - come back next
week and maybe I'll give you another piece" in hopes of getting my
interest up. It ain't gonna happen. Exactly the opposite: It's going to
drive me away.
Which is also why, for the most part, I ignore episodic television shows
that can't be watched as a complete story per episode. 24, for instance,
had a reasonably good idea, but an implementation that drove me away.
It's one thing to have a story-arc (or two, or three, or...) that flows
through the entire series, ala X-Files, or Babylon 5, but when the tale
is deliberately broken into disconnected pieces, you lose me right from
the git-go.
Another thing I hate is "artificial suspense" - like what's currently
being over-used in the most recent "see how rotten people will be to
each other for some seemingly large sum of money" reality show, "There
Goes The Neighborhood". Typical end:
Host: "And the neighborhood supports..."
...
... (Pseudo-dramatic camera-swoop on one of the "at risk" families)
...
... (Pseudo-dramatic pan to the other "at risk" family)
...
... (Pseudo-dramatic cut back to the host)
...
... (Me: Ohfercrissake, show the damn picture and say the name already!)
...
... (Pseudo-dramatic cut to a long shot of all the families)
...
... (Me: Come, ON! This is just getting stupid!)
...
... (Cut back to the host, looking all serious.)
...
... (Me, glancing at watch: Sometime tonight, guys...)
...
... (Cut back to all the families)
...
... (Me, reaching for the remote: Screw it. Not worth waiting-)
Host: "The XYZ family!" (Me: -to find out. It's about time! Note to
self: Next week, see if there's something else better on in this
time-slot.)
--
Email shown is deceased. If you would like to contact me by email, please
post something that makes it obvious in this or another group you see me
posting in with a "how to contact you" address, and I'll get back to you.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> Does it work for you?
I haven't read anything by Doctorow, but I do follow 40 webcomics
that tell stories very slowly (Lackadaisy is averaging 1.5 pages a
month).
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgae...@tx.rr.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> Howard Brazee wrote:
>> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
>> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
>> pique my interest, but it fails.
>>
>> Does it work for you?
>
> I haven't read anything by Doctorow, but I do follow 40 webcomics
> that tell stories very slowly (Lackadaisy is averaging 1.5 pages a
> month).
>
I follow several webcomics myself. Two of them recently finally got me
to drop them, though, by going on far too extended annoying furloughs:
GPF and UserFriendly. GPF substituted another comic for at least a
couple of weeks that I found just plain annoying, and UserFriendly just
did reruns of several-year-old stuff for several weeks.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
Wayne Throop
: Host: "And the neighborhood supports..."
: ....
: .... (Pseudo-dramatic camera-swoop on one of the "at risk" families)
: ....
: .... (Pseudo-dramatic pan to the other "at risk" family)
: ....
: .... (Pseudo-dramatic cut back to the host)
: ....
: .... (Me: Ohfercrissake, show the damn picture and say the name already!)
: ....
: .... (Pseudo-dramatic cut to a long shot of all the families)
: ....
: .... (Me: Come, ON! This is just getting stupid!)
: ....
: .... (Cut back to the host, looking all serious.)
: ....
: .... (Me, glancing at watch: Sometime tonight, guys...)
: ....
: .... (Cut back to all the families)
: ....
: .... (Me, reaching for the remote: Screw it. Not worth waiting-)
: Host: "The XYZ family!" (Me: -to find out. It's about time! Note to
: self: Next week, see if there's something else better on in this
: time-slot.)
Variations on that are common, and getting commoner.
That's why I so rarely watch shows live. Even if I intend to watch it
in its original timeslot, I'll dvr it and wait until I have 20 minutes of
skippin-buffer saved up before starting to watch.
Well... among other reasons. I suppose I'd be doing that anyways, what
with commercials, but artificial suspense and/or yawny cliche moments
occur even in material obtained from adverdisingless sources. And you
know, I find a long car and/or foot chase really suffers extremely little
if you watch it at 4x speed. And for whatever reason, closed captioning
seems to continue to work at 2x speed. Sometimes.
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
David Mitchell
> : Don Bruder <dak...@sonic.net>
> : Host: "And the neighborhood supports..." : ....
> : .... (Pseudo-dramatic camera-swoop on one of the "at risk" families) :
> ....
> : .... (Pseudo-dramatic pan to the other "at risk" family) : ....
> : .... (Pseudo-dramatic cut back to the host) : ....
> : .... (Me: Ohfercrissake, show the damn picture and say the name
> already!) : ....
> : .... (Pseudo-dramatic cut to a long shot of all the families) : ....
> : .... (Me: Come, ON! This is just getting stupid!) : ....
> : .... (Cut back to the host, looking all serious.) : ....
> : .... (Me, glancing at watch: Sometime tonight, guys...) : ....
> : .... (Cut back to all the families) : ....
> : .... (Me, reaching for the remote: Screw it. Not worth waiting-) :
> Host: "The XYZ family!" (Me: -to find out. It's about time! Note to :
> self: Next week, see if there's something else better on in this :
> time-slot.)
>
> Variations on that are common, and getting commoner. That's why I so
> rarely watch shows live. Even if I intend to watch it in its original
> timeslot, I'll dvr it and wait until I have 20 minutes of skippin-buffer
> saved up before starting to watch.
Absolutely - I can't bear live TV, never watch it any more.
> And you
> know, I find a long car and/or foot chase really suffers extremely
> little if you watch it at 4x speed. And for whatever reason, closed
> captioning seems to continue to work at 2x speed. Sometimes.
My digital receiver is supposed to blank the sound at all accelerated
viewing speeds; but it doesn't always, and dialogue at 4X or even 10X is
pretty funny.
--
=======================================================================
= David --- If you use Microsoft products, you will, inevitably, get
= Mitchell --- viruses, so please don't add me to your address book.
=======================================================================
Nigel
> On 2009-09-02 15:08:41 +0200, Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> said:
>
> > _Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
> > I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> > I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> > pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> > Does it work for you?
>
> This has worked in newspapers for countless people over c. 2-1/2
> centuries, and it's the way many if not most of the greatest French
> novels (don't know about other countries) were first published. At
> least one of the big national German newspapers still runs novels in
> daily instalments.
>
Some of Dickens' works were published like that. In the case of _The
Old Curiosity Shop_, it was the nineteenth century equivalent of soap
opera as Dickens didn't know where the story was going when he started
it.
Cheers,
Nigel.
netcat
sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com says...
I used to follow UserFriendly daily for some years, but nowadays I find
it easier to have one big catchup day a year, usually when I'm home sick
or something.
I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
looking at?
rgds,
netcat
Juho Julkunen
Spoor) (sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com) says...
UF on account of death in the family, I believe. It's back on schedule
now, though.
--
Juho Julkunen
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Hard to say. I follow Girl Genius, Sinfest, Something*Positive, Schlock
Mercenary, Sluggy Freelance, and The Dreamland Chronicles.
Wayne Throop
: I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
: running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
: looking at?
Gunnerkrigg Court.
Haha! Not just cows, laser cows! They keep the grass trim.
Just like real cows! Only with lasers.
--- http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=604
netcat
> : netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee>
> : I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
> : Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
> : running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
> : looking at?
>
> Gunnerkrigg Court.
>
> Haha! Not just cows, laser cows! They keep the grass trim.
> Just like real cows! Only with lasers.
>
> --- http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=604
Looks very promising. Thanks.
rgds,
netcat
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Oh, it's wonderful, but you really truly want to start at the
beginning and read it straight through.
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
I'm selling my comic collection -- see http://www.watt-evans.com/comics.html
I'm serializing a novel at http://www.watt-evans.com/realmsoflight0.html
Chuk Goodin
>I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
>I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
>pique my interest, but it fails.
>
>Does it work for you?
Yes, but I definitely prefer the longer sections to the shorter ones.
_Makers_ is particularly annoying that way, it's sometimes around 400
words and sometimes several thousand. I was reading Max Barry's _Machine
Man_ but the sections were far too short and I lost interest, I'll wait
for the full release.
--
chuk
Jaimie Vandenbergh
wrote:
>On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 15:51:21 +0300, netcat
><net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
>
>>In article <12519...@sheol.org>, thr...@sheol.org says...
>>> : netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee>
>>> : I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
>>> : Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
>>> : running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
>>> : looking at?
>>>
>>> Gunnerkrigg Court.
>>>
>>> Haha! Not just cows, laser cows! They keep the grass trim.
>>> Just like real cows! Only with lasers.
>>>
>>> --- http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=604
>>
>>Looks very promising. Thanks.
>
>Oh, it's wonderful, but you really truly want to start at the
>beginning and read it straight through.
The print version of the first 300 or so is very nicely presented.
Cheers - Jaimie
--
"Don't drag me down to your level, meat." -- Red Robot #C-63
Szymon Sokół
> netcat wrote:
[----]
>> I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
>> Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
>> running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
>> looking at?
>
> Hard to say. I follow Girl Genius, Sinfest, Something*Positive, Schlock
> Mercenary, Sluggy Freelance, and The Dreamland Chronicles.
How about www.xkcd.com and www.phdcomics.com?
(I do not mention Garfield or Dilbert because almost everyone knows those
anyway)
--
Szymon Sokďż˝ (SS316-RIPE) -- Network Manager B
Computer Center, AGH - University of Science and Technology, Cracow, Poland O
http://home.agh.edu.pl/szymon/ PGP key id: RSA: 0x2ABE016B, DSS: 0xF9289982 F
Free speech includes the right not to listen, if not interested -- Heinlein H
Szymon Sokół
> On Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:16:16 -0400, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
>
>> netcat wrote:
> [----]
>>> I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
>>> Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
>>> running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
>>> looking at?
>>
>> Hard to say. I follow Girl Genius, Sinfest, Something*Positive, Schlock
>> Mercenary, Sluggy Freelance, and The Dreamland Chronicles.
>
> How about www.xkcd.com and www.phdcomics.com?
I haven't noticed the OP was asking about "webcomics that tell stories very
slowly"; neither xkcd nor phdcomics has much of a story. But still I
recommend these two.
Wayne Throop
:: Looks very promising. Thanks.
: Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net>
: Oh, it's wonderful, but you really truly want to start at the
: beginning and read it straight through.
Definitely. Looking at recent pages, there's usually at least one
reference to prior material per page; often more. The pages make
minimal sense in and of themselves, but there're always wheels within
wheels.. You definitely want to be introduced to Sir Eglamore,
Reynardine, the various robots, and the various denizens of Gillitie Wood
in proper order.
And you can also see the drawing style evolve, which is interesting
in and of itself. I must admit I didn't much like the art style at
first, but a) it grows on you (or at least, it did on me), and b) the
more recent style he's tending towards is... is... really quite nice imo.
Of course... part of that is the evolution of Antimony from the cold
affectless child she starts out to the slightly more socially
adept (but still painfully shy and reclusive) persona she now exhibits.
And even further; there are ofen sly references to things that haven't
happened yet... so it'sone of the few I *re*read from the beginning
now and then, to see how recent material has illuminated the prior art.
And I must say, it's done without stinking of retcon, neither.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
I'd have liked a larger page size, though.
Wayne Throop
: I haven't noticed the OP was asking about "webcomics that tell stories very
: slowly"; neither xkcd nor phdcomics has much of a story. But still I
: recommend these two.
Actually, I based my recommendation on the Mad Science from Freefall,
GG and MoS, combined with the personal interplay from Questionable
Content and A Girl and Her Fed, combined in turn with the
surrealism of AGaHF and Templar Arizona, and out popped
Gunnerkrigg Court from my unconsciousness.
The fact that GC like the other stories is large and slow-moving (when
read waiting with baited breath as one does for such things) (and I wish
I knew how to bait my breath more effectively), is mostly coincidental.
( Bate? Why would I want to bate my breath? Need fully oxygenated
brain tissues to adequately follow plots like these... )
Dorothy J Heydt
If, as I suspect, by MoS you mean A Miracle of Science, you
might (if you haven't already) look at Afterlife Blues,
by the same people.
It's frequently a day or several late right now: the artist
has been plagued by (a) workload, I believe; (b) moving, and
now (c) illness. But the plot is a-movering along.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at hotmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the hotmail edress.
Kithrup is getting too damn much spam, even with the sysop's filters.
Wayne Throop
:: neither xkcd nor phdcomics has much of a story. But still I
:: recommend these two.
: I based my recommendation on the Mad Science from Freefall, GG and
: MoS, combined with the personal interplay from Questionable Content
: and A Girl and Her Fed, combined in turn with the surrealism of AGaHF
: and Templar Arizona
One way to put it is that they all have an oh-I-dunno, "Poul Anderson"ish
feeling about them, while xkcd is more Nivenesque.
( There might be a better example than Poul, but can't think of one... )
David DeLaney
>> netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee>
>> : I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
>> : Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
>> : running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
>> : looking at?
>>
>> Gunnerkrigg Court.
>
The A Miracle of Science guys have finally gotten around to their next
project, Afterlife Blues, at http://project-apollo.net/ab/index.html - it's
a medium chunk of pages in already.
Schlock Mercenary, Evil Inc., Order of the Stick, ErfWorld, xkcd, Sequential
Art, Irregular Webcomic!, The Whiteboard, Starslip (A Completely Accurate
Portrayal of the Future), Something Positive, 8-Bit Theatre, diesel sweeties,
Keychain of Creation, Shortpacked!, and/or Wondermark - An Illustrated
Jocularity, out of what I follow, might come near some edges of interestingness
for you. Possibly also goats the comic strip, or Yet Another Fantasy Gamer
Comic.
Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Dorothy J Heydt
David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>
>The A Miracle of Science guys have finally gotten around to their next
>project, Afterlife Blues, at http://project-apollo.net/ab/index.html - it's
>a medium chunk of pages in already.
....
I may as well append my list. Schlock Mercenary, Kevin and
Kell, Freefall, User Friendly, A Girl and Her Fed, Afterlife
Blues, Girl Genius, What's New With Phil and Dixie, Something
Positive, Questionable Content, Girls With Slingshots, Punch
'n' Pie, Flo & Friends, 9 Chickweed Lane, Pibgorn, Luann, Two
Lumps, Penny Arcade (though half the time I don't know what
they're talking about), The Brasse, The Watering Hole, and
Doc Rat.
Those I've read in the past and abandoned include PvP, Sluggy
Freelance, Gunnerkrigg Court, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and probably
some others I've forgotten altogether. Girls With Slingshots
are likely to join them pretty soon, if they don't get less
vicious.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> I do follow Freefall, GG, A Girl And Her Fed, Questionable Content and
> Templar, AZ though. At least 3 times a week. And I loved MoS when it was
> running. Is there anything else, based on that, that I should like
> looking at?
Omitting the ones you list and any that haven't updated in more than
a month, here's what I follow: (+ = updates at least twice a week)
Afterlife Blues
+ Blip
Breakfast of the Gods
Cold Iron Badge
Crimson Dark
Dark Red
+ Darths & Droids
+ Digger
+ Dr. McNinja
The Dreamer
+ Dumnestor's Heroes
+ Ellie Connelly
Erfworld
Family Man
+ Faux Pas
Flaky Pastry
+ Flipside
Galaxion
+ Garanos
+ Gunnerkrigg Court
+ Haru-Sari
+ Knowledge is Power
Lackadaisy
+ Looking For Group
Lovecraft Is Missing
+ Magellan
The Meek
Order of the Stick
+ The Phoenix Requiem
Roza
+ Shadowgirls
+ Skin Horse
+ Thunderstruck
What's New with Phil & Dixie
+ xkcd
The Zombie Hunters
Everything except What's New and xkcd are SF story comics.
Here's that same list with links:
http://www.comic-nation.com/users/show/895
Wayne Throop
: Those I've read in the past and abandoned include PvP, Sluggy
: Freelance, Gunnerkrigg Court, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and probably some
: others I've forgotten altogether.
Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing. I don't
think it has the the usual suspects, like cruelty to cats, extreme gore,
etc, etc, and imo shouldn't in eight-deadly-words country. Those I
suppose those words can strike in a no-accounting-for-taste sense
(as in, "no accounting for people caring about these characters").
But more generally, I suppose I'm a *little* surprised at nobody
putting Wapsi Square on their list. I can see lots of reasons to
omit it (intermittent gore, eyerolling personal dynamics, whatnot),
but I wouldn't expect *everybody* would omit it. Which I suppose
meets with my expectations, since I'm mentioning it now, ain't I?
Mike Schilling
> Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing.
Some people consider RAII too valuable to give up.
Dorothy J Heydt
>: djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
>: Those I've read in the past and abandoned include PvP, Sluggy
>: Freelance, Gunnerkrigg Court, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and probably some
>: others I've forgotten altogether.
>
>Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing. I don't
>think it has the the usual suspects, like cruelty to cats, extreme gore,
>etc, etc, and imo shouldn't in eight-deadly-words country.
Nope, not for the most part. But the eight deadly words are
what I ultimately pronounced. I didn't care any longer what
happened to those people. Perhaps I'm just getting old and
stupid and the convolutions of the plot are no longer within
my grasp? At any rate, at some point the strip became
completely incomprehensible to me and I gave up on it.
>But more generally, I suppose I'm a *little* surprised at nobody
>putting Wapsi Square on their list.
I've seen it mentioned now and again. I'm sure I've gone to
it and taken a look.
/goes and takes a look again
Nope. I looked at a few weeks' worth of recent strips and I
looked at a week or so at the beginning. It just doesn't
grab me.
#include <oatmeal.std>
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at hotmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the hotmail edress.
Kithrup is getting too damn much spam, even with the sysop's filters.
I can see lots of reasons to
Dorothy J Heydt
OK, I googled RAII and found all sorts of things that don't
seem to mean anything relevant.
Then I googled Gunnerkrigg Court RAII and found one
reference: this post of yours to which I'm now replying.
So, what's RAII in this context?
Konrad Gaertner
>
> In article <h7pok0$5o1$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Wayne Throop wrote:
> >
> >> Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing.
> >
> >Some people consider RAII too valuable to give up.
>
> OK, I googled RAII and found all sorts of things that don't
> seem to mean anything relevant.
>
> Then I googled Gunnerkrigg Court RAII and found one
> reference: this post of yours to which I'm now replying.
>
> So, what's RAII in this context?
Googling on "raii gc" (without quotes) found lots of links about
memory management programming.
Dorothy J Heydt
Konrad Gaertner <kgae...@tx.rr.com> wrote:
>Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>
>> In article <h7pok0$5o1$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >Wayne Throop wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing.
>> >
>> >Some people consider RAII too valuable to give up.
>>
>> OK, I googled RAII and found all sorts of things that don't
>> seem to mean anything relevant.
>>
>> Then I googled Gunnerkrigg Court RAII and found one
>> reference: this post of yours to which I'm now replying.
>>
>> So, what's RAII in this context?
>
>Googling on "raii gc" (without quotes) found lots of links about
>memory management programming.
Now I'm really stumped. It's a software reference?
(My husband is the programmer, not I.)
Charlton Wilbur
DJH> OK, I googled RAII and found all sorts of things that don't
DJH> seem to mean anything relevant.
DJH> Then I googled Gunnerkrigg Court RAII and found one reference:
DJH> this post of yours to which I'm now replying.
DJH> So, what's RAII in this context?
In addition to standing for Gunnerkrigg Court, GC also stands for
garbage collection, where variables and objects created in computer
programs are deallocated as soon as the computer can ascertain that they
are no longer being used. RAII stands for Resource Allocation Is
Initialization, which is a design pattern in C++ that ties the
allocation of computer resources (memory, disk, network sockets) to the
lifespan of variables.
For RAII to work usefully, the programmer has to be able to know when an
object will be destroyed. However, most GC approaches are
nondeterministic in that the programmer can know when the *earliest*
point at which an object will be destroyed will be, but there is no
guarantee that it will be destroyed then, or even at all.
This is visibly true in C++, where the RAII concept originated, and in
Java, which has such a nondeterministic GC; beyond that, both are
commonly known languages, so people often understand the RAII vs. GC
debate in terms of idiomatic C++ versus idiomatic Java.
And that probably killed the joke dead, and I hope it was sufficiently
clear for you to at least appreciate what the joke was.
Charlton
--
Charlton Wilbur
cwi...@chromatico.net
Mike Schilling
> In article <h7pok0$5o1$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Wayne Throop wrote:
>>
>>> Hm. I wonder what it was about GC that made it unappealing.
>>
>> Some people consider RAII too valuable to give up.
>
> OK, I googled RAII and found all sorts of things that don't
> seem to mean anything relevant.
>
> Then I googled Gunnerkrigg Court RAII and found one
> reference: this post of yours to which I'm now replying.
>
> So, what's RAII in this context?
It's a geek joke, one of those things that is funny if you get it and
if you don't, the explanation will put you to sleep. (Picture a pun
based on knowing the details of the Arcot, Wade, and Morey series.)
Hal might get it, but IIRC he's mostly a COBOL programmer, and nether
Garbage Collection nor Resource Allocation Is Initialization applies
there.
Dorothy J Heydt
Ohhhh. Yes, thanks. Better a dead joke than a completely
incomprehensible live one.
Wayne Throop
: Nope, not for the most part. But the eight deadly words are
: what I ultimately pronounced. I didn't care any longer what
: happened to those people. Perhaps I'm just getting old and
: stupid and the convolutions of the plot are no longer within
: my grasp?
Eh, not a necessary hypothesis. Convoluted plots can be
annoying whether you *can* follow them or not. On the other
hand... I guess I didn't see GC as "convoluted" so much as
"lots of mysteries and secrets left still to discover".
Of course, that can have the same effect; if you have
to read every panel wondering if there's some subltle clue
and/or reference to one of the many secrets floating around,
and you're missing it... well, see "annoying" above.
And maybe not worth the effort. It's a danger of big,
long-lived, mystery-laden stories, to be sure. (I will not,
of course, suggest that GG can strike some folks that way...
well OK, I will too; just consider how folks here pour over
every frame and cross-reference a zillion past pages everytime
a mimmoth pokes its snout into frame (or whatever excuse).)
Anyways, thanks for expanding a bit.
Dorothy J Heydt
>long-lived, mystery-laden stories, to be sure. (I will not,
>of course, suggest that GG can strike some folks that way...
>well OK, I will too; just consider how folks here pour over
Nitpick: "pore."
>every frame and cross-reference a zillion past pages everytime
>a mimmoth pokes its snout into frame (or whatever excuse).)
It's all relative, I guess. I don't care what happens to
Antimony and friends, and I do care what happens to Agatha
and friends, and enemies, and innocent bystanders ....
David DeLaney
>It's a geek joke, one of those things that is funny if you get it and
>if you don't, the explanation will put you to sleep. (Picture a pun
>based on knowing the details of the Arcot, Wade, and Morey series.)
Like the transparent molecular-drive foreign car?
Dave "Fiat Lux" DeLaney
netcat
> If, as I suspect, by MoS you mean A Miracle of Science, you
> might (if you haven't already) look at Afterlife Blues,
>
> http://project-apollo.net/ab/
>
> by the same people.
>
> It's frequently a day or several late right now: the artist
> has been plagued by (a) workload, I believe; (b) moving, and
> now (c) illness. But the plot is a-movering along.
I did discover it at one point and read it in one lump to the point it
had progressed to then (they had just arrived on the planet, IIRC).
Neither the story nor the characters grabbed me, and I found the art so-
so. This goes in the check-it-once-a-year-when-you're-snowed-in bin for
me.
Other things I forgot to mention I used to follow and then stopped were
Sore Thumbs (I figured most of it's appeal went with Bush leaving
office), Sorcery 101 (can't remember where I last left off, and seems
like too much trouble to find the right place), and way back when some
IT-related comic featuring a blonde BOFHy girl (anyone remember what
that was?).
Then there was Airshell, which one day just vanished (due to the author
getting overrun by a car, as I found out later). Airshell was a prime
example of a _very_ slowly developing story. Got very, very annoying in
it's later stages when it was already long clear what was going on, but
it still kept featuring slo-mo talking heads - although they were
gorgeously drawn talking heads.
For more gorgeously drawn stuff I recommend http://gottgauss.viviane.ch/
Of course I know Garfield and Dilbert. But Garfield in comics form is
very boring (I recommend http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/ to make it
more interesting). And I don't need to follow Dilbert, I'm living it.
rgds,
netcat
netcat
Drat.
Any chance of any of these staying accessible until I retire... or
something?
rgds,
netcat
Jack Bohn
>http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow�s
>_Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
>I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
>I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
>pique my interest, but it fails.
>
>Does it work for you?
I steal in a paragraph or two of whatever book I'm reading at
work, so interrupted flow is not a problem, although I haven't
taken it as far as one or two paragraphs a day. (Not to mention
the extreme of Snoopy reading _War and Peace_ one word a day.
That seemed to be working well for him until Woodstock came along
and wanted him to start over.)
I do try to pause, at least, between individual items in
collections of comic strips and comicbooks (at least those from
back in the day, before "writing for the trade".)
--
-Jack
Anthony Frost
netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
> like too much trouble to find the right place), and way back when some
> IT-related comic featuring a blonde BOFHy girl (anyone remember what
> that was?).
"Helen - Something of the Internet"? Her parents ran a greek restaurant
and her sometime boyfreind was a journalist?
Anthony
netcat
I didn't remember that, but the name Helen sounded familiar. Yup. That
was it. Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet. And looks like it went off
the air a long time ago. Only available on Amazon as a collection.
http://www.amazon.com/Techies-Unite-Helen-Sweetheart-
Internet/dp/0071360735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252067414&sr=8-1
rgds,
netcat
Anthony Frost
netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
> In article <dc2a789550%Vu...@kerrier.vulch.org>, Vu...@vulch.org says...
> > In message <MPG.250b0cacd...@news.octanews.com>
> > netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
> >
> > > like too much trouble to find the right place), and way back when some
> > > IT-related comic featuring a blonde BOFHy girl (anyone remember what
> > > that was?).
> >
> > "Helen - Something of the Internet"? Her parents ran a greek restaurant
> > and her sometime boyfreind was a journalist?
>
> I didn't remember that, but the name Helen sounded familiar. Yup. That
> was it. Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet.
Bet that doesn't get credited as a YASID. :-)
I have a vague memory of it either going subscription only or moving to
print where the new publisher didn't want a free online version running.
Anthony
Default User
> In article <dc2a789550%Vu...@kerrier.vulch.org>, Vu...@vulch.org
> says...
> > In message <MPG.250b0cacd...@news.octanews.com>
> > netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
> >
> > > like too much trouble to find the right place), and way back
> > when some > IT-related comic featuring a blonde BOFHy girl (anyone
> > remember what > that was?).
> >
> > "Helen - Something of the Internet"? Her parents ran a greek
> > restaurant and her sometime boyfreind was a journalist?
>
> I didn't remember that, but the name Helen sounded familiar. Yup.
> That was it. Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet. And looks like it
> went off the air a long time ago. Only available on Amazon as a
> collection.
It ran on GoComics for a long time.
Old strips are still available on Zale's web site:
<http://www.peterzale.com/helen/index2.html>
Brian
--
Day 214 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project
Jon Schild
> http://www.tor.com/ contains excerpts from a novel is Cory Doctorow�s
> _Makers_, today is Part 26 (of 81).
>
> I have a couple of Cory's books and probably would like _Makers_. But
> I can't read two paragraphs per day. I suppose it is designed to
> pique my interest, but it fails.
>
> Does it work for you?
>
Those two paragraphs are not the day's part. Click on the title. It
will take you to where the whole part is. Some are rather short, some
much longer.
David DeLaney
>Other things I forgot to mention I used to follow and then stopped were
>Sore Thumbs (I figured most of it's appeal went with Bush leaving
>office), Sorcery 101 (can't remember where I last left off, and seems
>like too much trouble to find the right place), and way back when some
>IT-related comic featuring a blonde BOFHy girl (anyone remember what
>that was?).
Helen,_Sweetheart of the Internet. (From my defunct_comics bookmark folder.)
Dave