Indeed.
John Scalzi is one of my favorite authors. I buy his books. Whether or not he joins the subscription service, I'm still going to buy his books. Piers Anthony, R.A. Salvatore, the authors I like - I will buy their books regardless.
This service just opens them to a wider audience.
I looked at your smashwords link. I'm an avid reader.
Your summaries make me think of Douglas Adams born and raised in South Africa....
Which may appeal to a certain group of readers. That may not be your intent, but that's what I get from your summaries.
Young'uns can have taste too!
It's a sign of solid parenting. Would you rather they had come in singing Nicki Minaj's [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs]Anaconda[/url]?
Egads, how does one embed a link on Slashdot?
Some words are more made up than others, irregardless of your opinion.
Gods, it hurts my brain to even type it.
It kind of begs the question about what the US is still doing in South Korea anyhow. South Korea is a rich country. They can afford their own defense, but its convenient for them for Uncle Sam to pick up the tab. I have stood on the North side of the DMZ and it is clear that the US is just a thorn in the situation making everybody tense. There is no doubt that the South Koreans can adequately defend themselves against any potential "invasion" from the North. There is no reason for the US to be there. The constant presence of US marines on the DMZ make the North Koreans nervous that the South will invade them.
Alright troll, you sucked me in.
1. You've been on the North side of the DMZ looking south, and from your vantage point three feet from the border in peace village...it was clear to you that the US is a thorn in the situation? SERIOUSLY?!? You deduced all that at a glance?
2. I'm going to presume you've never been to North Korea, and educate you about a few things.
a.) First and Foremost, that's the U.S Army at the DMZ, not the Marines. Specifically, the 8th Army. The infantry units there come from the 2ID, (2nd Infantry Division), with Republic of Korea attachments (referred to as ROKs). Tank support comes from the 72nd armor regiment, artillery support from...you get the picture. Army units. Not Navy (marine) units.
b.) There are an estimated 13,000 - 17,000 artillery pieces on the border, pointed at Seoul, which happens to be ~120 miles away from Pyongyang.
c.) Seoul is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
d.) If the US was not present, a war between North and South Korea would last 2-3 hours and would look like this:
d1.) Hostilities ensue.
d2.) Within the first hour, North Korea has obliterated most of South Korea's population centers.
d3.) South Korea retaliates with nuclear force, and levels Pyongyang.
d4.) Other stuff, largely secondary given that North and South Korea are largely depopulated.
e.) The presence of the U.S - TODAY - is not as relevant as 3/5/10 years ago. However, U.S. foreign policy takes an incredible length of time to change.
f.) North Korean guards on the border to not "look bored." The half cant of their eyes is because of their asian heritage. Both North and South Korean guards on the DMZ treat it like a ceremonial position - like being in the 3rd Infantry in D.C. stationed at Ft. Myer doing military funerals, or Tomb of the Unknown, or ceremonial duties.
I *have* been to North Korea. I've been to Kijong-dong, and I *have* stood on the North Korean side of the border at the DMZ. If you'd like to see what it *really* looks like there, google it. Google, "Korean DMZ." You'll see pictures of guards on both ends of the border standing at perfect attention.
I'm trying to figure out how the man also controls time. He was indicted in 2011, and successfully served a 5 year prison sentence. That means it's 2016 man!!! Where did the last two years go?
And it was outdated news here on Slashdot yesterday.
I'm too lazy right now to google for you, but every one of the "news" networks has a slew of equally incriminating indictments against their journalistic integrity. You don't actually think that Fox is alone in this, do you?
I submitted a public comment even though I'm not Australian.
--
Dear Australia:
Congratulations from the USA on making the international news - apparently you're debating a new bill, which includes as part of it reversing the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
We've done some newsworthy things in the last decade about restricting freedoms and civil liberties, but no one on this side of the pond has dared touch that one yet.
The bill *does* make sense in a way - Australia was started as a colony of criminals - might as well presume everyone *is* one until proven innocent!
Congrats again on your new found powers of oppression.
Competition works. Look at your shoes. Did they need to pass regulations to make your shoes not terrible? No. Competition did it. You as a consumer check out the shoes in the store and you only buy the ones that are worth your money. You don't buy the ones that are bad. The same principle can work in almost infinite applications.
If you want the analogy to serve internet....what if the only shoe providers in the whole country were Nike, Reebok,and Adidas, and depending on where you lived in the country, you could only buy one brand of shoes - and you weren't allowed to shop online or travel to buy a competitor's pair?
What kind of shoes do you think you would be wearing then?
Except that the spanish law forbids this from taking place to prevent a repeat of Germany....where this did take place.
If you were to RTFA linked in the summary, you would find two things:
1. The Spanish Newpaper Lobbyist Group (AEDE) is behind the legislation.
2. Corruption in Spain is rampant, in every aspect of life.
Ah.....I just laughed my balls off.
Well played.
Good lord, the first world problems that people complain about.
OP: You're not suffering a disease. What you're describing is self-induced lack of mental discipline. Find someone who isn't a tweenie-wanna-be-hipster to slap you in the face a couple of times, drink a glass of cold tap water (not bottled water packaged in environmentally friendly recycled plastic), and sleep it off.
As far as technology goes, what I observed from the episodes 1-3 is that they had better technology available than they did in 4-6, like double bladed light sabers, unlike the paltry one bladed ones available in the future. It's almost like their society is failing and their technology is limited to only what has already been produced and hasn't been destroyed yet. They should count themselves lucky to have TIE fighters.
Give it time. Disney won't kill the franchise, so look forward to:
Star Wars Episode 10: Jedi facing a crisis of lightsaber shortages. Lightsabers handed down generationally.
Star Wars Episode 15: Re-introduction of kinetic weaponry. Jedi learn to their horror that when a lightsaber blocks a kinetic round, they get splashed with plasma and liquified metal.
Star Wars Episode 18: Droids across the galaxy are falling into disrepair without the technology to repair them, and people with the ability to calculate the logistics and plotting for hyperspace routes grow fewer - they form into a guild called "Navigators."
Star Wars Episode 22: Droids are gone, kinetic weaponry and explosives dominate, Jedi lightsabers are a thing of legend, and interstellar travel requires the help of the navigators, whom no one actually ever sees.
Star Wars Episode 24: A boy with unprecedented midiclorian levels is born on the planet Calidan. Legend foretells that he will save or destroy the Universe.
Star Wars Episode 25: A New, New Hope: The spice.....must flow....
HELP!!!! I'm being held prisoner in /usr/games/lib!
