That may be .. my point is that arrogant assholes like that guy see an unemployed person (I was in that boat for a while few years ago) and often assume lack of skill/laziness etc, which really rubs me the wrong way.

Saying somebody's unemployed in IT therefore they must without skills is rude and idioitic. There are different people in different circumstances and there is a thousand reasons the guy could be unemployed (staring with illness). So yeah, in my book the the guy is an asshole.

wow .. you sir are an asshole

well seems to me in Singapure they give up some personal freedoms and get clean streets. In US they give up some personal freedoms and get... (definitely not clean streets)

Corporations are people. Stem cells are people. Therefore, by transitivity, corporations are stem cells

no .. because it's not our job.. he's the writer after all nobody is disputing the fact that it's hard... but if you compare him to ANY other writer of that format he comes out looking like an amateur. Look at erickson, sanderson, king .. they manage to write books of comparable size/quality on regular basis... The fact that each book does not have a story arc that stands on its own coupled with the fact that he takes forever is what really pisses me off. If he made his books be good enough to stand on their own merits, have a decent conclusions, maybe we wouldn't mind waiting so much ... That's in my opinion a mark of a great book: being a part of a bigger story but also being a complete story in itself... Anyways, maybe he doesn't owe us anything per se, but I still feel cheated.

ok ... we're screwed...

I second that .. that one blew me away ... I'd also recommend brett's painted man

if only we weren't there before ... he's been almost done for years now.... at this point if Martin told me sky was blue I'd go outside and check

I think of his books as shorter more concise versions of martin books: more action, faster pace but not as good world building. I also recommend peter brett and maybe brent weeks ( not as good as abercrombie though). ps. just finished Brandon Sanderson's way of kings and it simply blew me away.. liked it even more then Malazan empire books and that's saying something...

I agree that Martin was a better writer then Jordan .. I gave up reading WOT after book #9 (path of daggers), but I disagree that Martin was that much better. Some characters were amazing but some were just boooring. At this point I have a hard time motivating myself to care... I don't really remember what happened in the last book so I'm not sure I'll bother reading dance of dragons.. besides by now the bar is set higher with so many good new writers (Erickson, Lynch,Abercrombie etc) ps. now that Sanderson is finishing WOT I'm actually debating with myself whether I should finish reading the series ... If only I could skip books written by Jordan ...

truth is its own reward

that ship has sailed ..

People have been drilling in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico for decades, with admittedly a couple of nasty accidents but so far things have gone pretty well. And do you know what? No-one had oil spill prediction software when they started. They relied on the skill and experience of the people operating the rigs.
How reasonable does it sound now?

wow .. and this actually works??