Re: being too much in the book you're reading - I'm working my way through Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" in slow moments on set. I find myself mentally describing the food, scene, fellow extras in a languid yet acid inner voice.
I battle evil. But I don't really win. The bad keeps coming back and getting stronger. Like that kid in the story, the boy that stuck his finger in the duck.
Buffy ,'Showtime'
Natter 69: Practically names itself.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
smonster - Mar 16, 2012 7:36:41 pm PDT #26901 of 30001
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
Steph L. - Mar 16, 2012 8:03:56 pm PDT #26902 of 30001
I look more rad than Lutheranism
Heh. Reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" led to no change in my habits, except perhaps extra vigorous editing at work this week.
DavidS - Mar 16, 2012 8:10:01 pm PDT #26903 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
You know it's illegal to even own a lock-picking set. (At least in California.)
But from what I gather it's using two tools together in conjunction and knowing how tumblers work.
Quick Poll: Who knows who Claude Shannon is? (Obviously taking votes before you click on that link.)
(I didn't know anything about him but as it happens, he's a very important scientist who has affected your life in many ways.)
Tom Scola - Mar 16, 2012 8:11:46 pm PDT #26904 of 30001
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
I used to work at the Shannon Laboratory at AT&T.
DavidS - Mar 16, 2012 8:16:15 pm PDT #26905 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I used to work at the Shannon Laboratory at AT&T.
Cool! But I expected you and Tommy and ita to know.
§ ita § - Mar 16, 2012 8:25:47 pm PDT #26906 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
He pings no specific things for me. Applied math. Cryptography. That's where he seems familiar. Theories. With numbers. And information. But those have not been something I've looked at for years.
DavidS - Mar 16, 2012 8:29:02 pm PDT #26907 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
He pings no specific things for me. Applied math. Cryptography. That's where he seems familiar.
But you knew his name and those elements of his inquiries.
DavidS - Mar 16, 2012 8:34:30 pm PDT #26908 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Oh, yeah, and Jon B. should know him, and probably DXM, Gud and maybe Ginger. And Lori.
But that's off the top of my head.
Anyway, he also invented a flame throwing trumpet and a motorized pogo-stick.
eta: Dag. He's got six statues.
Burrell - Mar 16, 2012 8:35:18 pm PDT #26909 of 30001
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
I didn't recognize the name.
DavidS - Mar 16, 2012 8:36:34 pm PDT #26910 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I didn't recognize the name.
Me neither! That's what's boggling me. Because when you read his wikipedia page you realize, "I should know who this is."
Robert Gallager has called Shannon the greatest scientist of the 20th century. According to Neil Sloane, an AT&T Fellow who co-edited Shannon's large collection of papers in 1993, the perspective introduced by Shannon's communication theory (now called information theory) is the foundation of the digital revolution, and every device containing a microprocessor or microcontroller is a conceptual descendant of Shannon's 1948 publication:[21] "He's one of the great men of the century. Without him, none of the things we know today would exist. The whole digital revolution started with him."