Yeah, Sumerian gods do seem to have behaved in some radically non-linear ways. Interestingly enough, their non-linearity bears some odd resemblances to the behavior of the early dynastic Egyptian gods and the Meso-american pantheon. Apparently, building pyramids makes your gods crazy.
I don't think the brain works quite the way he seems to think it does, though. Kinda reminds me of Jaynes' Bicameral Mind schtick. Very elaborate, utterly wrongheaded.
The story's kinda chopsocky fun, though. And I'm a fan of Raven's personal violence deterrent.
No shit. I know some geeks, and part of the magic of high level languages is that you don't need binary. I'm too lazy to be a cracker, but you can do some amazing things without needing to know 2^17 in decimal.
(blinking)
I thought you said there was no direct lingual descendant of Sumerian?
I thought you said there was no direct lingual descendant of Sumerian?
The way you can tell it's unrelated gibberish is because it's fusional and not agglutinative.
I'll give Stevenson that -- I know a wee bit more of linguistics thanks to him, but it's not helping his book any.
The way you can tell it's unrelated gibberish is because it's fusional and not agglutinative.
Ah, I see. It's Babble-onian.
RE:
Olivia Joules and The Overactive Imagination
by Helen Fielding. Just finished it. Here are my recommendations if you wish to enjoy this book:
1. Read on beach, patio or similar sunny spot, preferably with large, fruity, alcoholic beverage.
2a. Pretend it wasn't written by Helen Fielding. If not possible,
2b. Try to forget you've ever heard of Bridget Jones, or her diaries.
3. Someone mentioned Mary Sue, I believe, in relation to this book. If you have feelings of hatred towards her, forget above and skip the book.
2b. Try to forget you've ever heard of Bridget Jones, or her diaries.
I am trying to do this as I read the book. There are some glimmers of goodness, but for the most part it is a real dissapointment. Nothing at all like either of the Bridget Jones novels.
I picked up Welcome To Temptation. I needed to go to sleep early, what with the 5:15 wakeup time this morning.
Not until I finished it. It was funny and hot, and I'll be damned -- now that I remember that feeling, I can walk easily away from the two books that are pissing me off/boring me right now.
I just need another book -- my sister mentioned James Baldwin, so maybe I'll hunt him down.
I'm in the middle of Anonymous Rex, and enjoying it. My main issue is that I can't figure out how a dino could function in a human suit -- the proportions would be all wrong! But then I start wondering about millions of years of evolution, etc. I figure if that's what I'm nitpicking, he's done a pretty good job of making me buy into the whole concept.
Cool, cool. That book has intrigued me; I've wanted to read it for some time. I've been a dinosaur freak since I was a kid.
