Indeed. Looking back to when I was that age, what I'd really have loved to learn, was something that was not just theoretical and sedentary, but had an immediate, tangible effect; it could have been anything, like growing things, making things from natural sources or whatever. It could have been flint-knapping and basic survival skills, like how to make fire, how to extract useful fibres and build a shelter or a boat - there is no end to the fun and useful things one could do; or now-a-days it could be guerrilla gardening or playing with robots or whatever. None of these are, of course, marketable as such, but they teach you a very valuable confidence in your own abilities, which is infinitely better than learning to program.
Right, so women are supposed to walk around at all times with a gun in their hand, never setting it down for anything, and have a proximity radar to warn them if anyone is approaching them where they can't see so that she can pump them full of lead?
Why, I bet the gun will just shoot the rohipnol right out of drinks too!
The percent of rape cases in which having a gun could have helped is probably in in the single digits. And with it of course carries the risk of escalating the risk of getting you seriously injured or killed.
And a gold sash? I watched that yesterday.
I should add that the Strauss-Kahn red meat is getting old. First off, most of the descriptions of the case are way off, partially inspired by the prosecutors switching from overplaying the case against him to overplaying the case for him. To be clear:
1) If an accusation is made, and the accused is convicted, the legal system has been determined that the person is guilty.
2) If an accusation is made, the accused is not charged, and the accuser is convicted of making a false accusation, then the legal system has determined that it was a false charge.
3) If an accusation is made, the accused is not charged, but neither is the accuser, then the legal system has made no finding in any direction due to insufficient evidence to match the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in either direction.
This should be obvious, but for some reason, many people are always fixated on interpreting #3 (by far the most common scenario) as #2.
As for Kahn? Since then he's been caught up in one sex related charge after another - and has admitted to parts of them. He's currently out on bail awaiting trial for running a prostitution ring; the trial begins a couple days from now.
Key phrase: "If Gates sold all of his stocks "...
Well, that's certainly what the submitter was trying to imply with the two sentences of flamebait about Strauss-Kahn tacked onto the end of an essentially unrelated news story.
I used to have a car with a back seat truly the size of a sofa, a 1960 Dodge Phoenix (2dr dart... before they shrunk it). But alas, although I actually was having sex regularly, the car had no working parking brake so I couldn't do it in the car. Haven't had a vehicle with a big enough back seat to get my freak on since. I may never lose that purity point.
Martin has something like two or three times as many plots going on, and he must spend have his time keeping the plotting straight.
Apparently a lot of writers have Wikis now, if he doesn't have an equivalent he's only fooling himself.
I imagine actually drawing the conflict out from early to late on a whiteboard if I were trying to construct a work of any kind of scope, so I could simply look up and see it any old time, taking pictures as I meddled with it so I could see where I'd been.
I may actually be the only person who actually likes God Emperor Of Dune, but I get many peoples' observations that after the third Dune book, the series changed pretty substantially. Being a big fan of Herbert's work, what I saw was that the later Dune books began in many respects to resemble his other later era books in prose style, and it was that which likely turned off many people.
I can tell you right now that if I was a successful writer, doubtless making a meaningful, but still modest wage, and someone waved the big bucks in front of me to make my unfinished series into a major multinational television production, I would not hesitate for the briefest moment in taking the cash.
I'm not a fan of the television series, but do enjoy the books. The only thing that really pisses me off is that there is such a length of time between each book that I end up having to reread the entire series from the start just to remember all the characters and story lines. Thus far I've read the first three books three times.
Eagerly awaiting the sequel series:
A Poop for Penguins
A Tit for Tyrion
Another Tit for Tyrion
A Gaggle of Geese
Yet Another Tit for Tyrion
A Bunghole of Bratwurst
"Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller than the both put together."