[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View] [Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
james_nicoll's LiveJournal:
| Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 | |
| 4:12 pm | I've probably asked this before The wonder of the www is that one can off-load computational jobs onto people who actually know what they are doing. A subset of these people will have set up sites with aps that will solve problems for ignorant users like me. Is there a resource that will compute low-accelerations paths in the solar system, something suitable to get an idea how long propulsion systems like light sails and mag sails take to get around? |
| Monday, December 7th, 2009 | |
| 9:33 pm | A decade after Red China gains control of the Panama canal For various reasons related to the inevitable coming ChiCom Atomic IRBM barrage on the United States of Texas, I went looking for the Texas Republican Party Platform. No luck (and I have to leave) but I did find this discussion of the platform, written by someone who will be a familiar name to denizens of the frp newsgroups back in the olden days. I think I rediscover that he does this every few years. Nalle is if I recall correctly the first person ever to offer to pay me for something I wrote. |
| 3:29 pm | price elasticity of demand for novels (and to a lesser extent, collections and anthologies) My Googling skills are clearly sub-par: what is the estimated price elasticity of demand for novels? Surely publishers can't be going on their gut but if this aspect is documented, I have not yet found it. |
| 3:23 pm | On going to a restaurant for the first time in ages You know what I don't miss? Smoking sections. |
| 3:15 pm | Want Advance Reading Copies? Mark Henry has an offer for you, which I will quote here in a manner that is not black print on green. ( Read more... ) |
| Sunday, December 6th, 2009 | |
| 4:19 pm | A note to the makers of Bones I totally didn't notice that was 42 minutes of product placement for Avatar. I guess if I was hundreds of millions in hock for a movie, I'd be pimping it desperately too (or if I thought it was a guaranteed hit, I'd use it to boost ratings on one of my shows). Am I the only one who thinks the sexy tattooed chick hitting on Sweets was reminiscent of Kitty from Arrested Development? |
| 3:43 pm | Blame Canada Canada embraces the Dark Side, which is to say "petrodollars". |
| 3:26 pm | |
| 5:57 am | Rediscovered while looking for something else Imagine |
| Saturday, December 5th, 2009 | |
| 8:15 pm | Because someone asked The TOC for The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction that I found online is as follows: ( Read more... ) |
| 7:57 pm | Wait Mary Marvel is evil now? |
| 7:45 pm | I don't have his autobiography to hand In Bertrand Russell's autobiography, did he state that there was something rather unorthodox about his parents' marital arrangements or am I confused? |
| 6:23 pm | Was this ever resolved in the LSH? What happens Duplicate Boy tries to use his opponent's ability during a scuffle with Nemesis Kid? Ord is dumb as a box of Lalloran rocks so I imagine this would never come up because he'd go for something obvious but useless like Superboy's strength (rather than something obvious and useful like Triplicate Girl's ability to split into three: Nemesis Kid's power won't work at all if he's fighting more than one person [1]). Also, it's clear from Ord's attempt to duplicate Validus' power-set that there's a maximum to the amount of power he can channel and a cost to exceeding that limit. 1: Well, later on it would teleport him away from fights he couldn't win due to a multiplicity of opponents. |
| 6:14 pm | |
| 4:39 pm | The fury of Egg Fu From wikipedia: He was a Chinese Communist agent, inexplicably shaped like an egg the size of a house, with a Charlie Chan-like speech pattern, who used his mustaches as whips against his enemies. ( Read more... ) |
| Friday, December 4th, 2009 | |
| 6:16 pm | |
| 4:19 pm | A minor quirk of FedEx's that I choose to be amused by If I use tracking to find out where my current package is, the FedEx site says: Anticipated ship date Dec 3, 2009 Estimated delivery Dec 4, 2009 by 5:00 PM But if I look at the progress bar, I can see the shipment has been initiated but not picked up yet. I am extremely dubious that a package sitting on a desk in NYC now will be on my desk by 5 PM today. |
| 3:31 pm | I'm not linking to this Because as far as I can tell the thread hasn't turned up on Google groups. Guess the speaker: This comes as a surprise to me, although I suppose it shouldn't. Answer and bonus quotation behind the cut: ( Read more... ) |
| 4:59 am | Wednesday Night D&D It's interesting how little effect our attempts to avoid unnecessary risk have. ( Read more... ) |
| Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 | |
| 11:11 pm | Note to my stomach You just had pad thai so stop telling me you're hungry. |