Comment Re:Shockwave Rider (Score 1) 213
by John Brunner, predates cyberpunk by half a decade and features strong themes of government secrecy and surveillance.
RTFA, newb!
by John Brunner, predates cyberpunk by half a decade and features strong themes of government secrecy and surveillance.
RTFA, newb!
Exactly. A week from now, this will be one of the hottest phenomenons on the web.
Ahh, but a month from then, it will be passé.
Smart guns need smart owners, that's the problem.
All guns need smart owners. But gun owners are human. Not all are smart, and those that are, are not always so. That is the real problem.
Of course, the word "smart" is completely interchangeable with "educated", "sane", "law-abiding", "sober", and any number of characteristics desirable in those entrusted with the responsibility of owning a lethal weapon.
What if I have blue balls?
In that case, Scuzzlebutt's *Rim shot* may help.
Peasant: What I object to is you automatically assume superiority.
WillAdams: Well I do write with a fountain pen!
Peasant: Oh, fountain pen? Very nice! An why do you do that, then?
WillAdams: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft MontBlanc from the bosom of the water. Signifying by divine providence that I, WillAdams, shall be placed above the hordes of Bic-toting plebeians. That is why I am your better!
Peasant: You can't expect to become an elevated being just because some watery tart threw a pen at you.
WillAdams: Be quiet!
Peasant: Strange women lying in ponds distributing writing implements is no basis for a system of class distinction.
WillAdams: Shut up!
Peasant: I mean, if I went round saying I was enlightened because some moistened bint had lobbed a Schaeffer at me, they'd put me away!
WillAdams: Shut up, will you. Shut UP!
If you lived in the other supercontinent and had to crank out some code, you'd be out of luck.
Not really. The Laurasians simply outsourced all their code-cutting to Gondwana - part of which would later become known as...
(Finishing that sentence is left as an exercise for the reader)
Yes, and unlike you, I also used my brain: Chopping something that's lighter than water in half doesn't change the fact that it's still lighter than water. Repeating a process a thousand more times and expecting a different result isn't just wrong... it's the very definition of insanity.
Brain use is good, but things aren't always as simple as you think. Some plastics are heavier than water, but float anyway. Polystyrene is a classic example. It is actually slightly heavier than seawater (around 1.05 gm/cm3 vs 1.03 gm/cm3) therefore, it sinks. Expanded polystyrene (aka styrofoam) is comprised of exactly the same polymer, but has minute cells of air incorporated into its physical structure, thereby reducing its effective density to as little as 0.035 gm/cm^3. Now, that stuff floats. The more finely you divide a piece of styrofoam, the more cells you rupture and the closer you will get to each piece being solid polystyrene which will, as we have established, sink.
British people have sexual fetishes involving urine (so called "golden showers") at the highest rate per capita in the world. Most Brits have engaged in it at least once in their lives. Something with such a strong cultural association is bound to creep into slang eventually, that's all.
Do you really want to play that card without citation?
Consider the number of uses of "ass" and "butt" that have not just crept in, but become firmly lodged in US slang. I'll get you started...
Now consider the strength of the cultural association that let to such popularity of usage. Finally, consider again whether you really want to tug at that thread.
God help those who do not help themselves. -- Wilson Mizner
