Random Rants: --... ---.. Don't expect others to convert it for you.

[hobbsyoyo]

It's not a particularly challenging book, in part thanks to the narrow libertarian bent. It's not that deep but it had interesting ideas and surprising twists.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Rant: my mother decided to rearrange all my books without my permission when I told her I had them in a certain order for a reason. Now I don't know where any of them are!

Your mother has an unhealthy obsession with your belongings.

My grandmother used to go through my stuff and move things, even throwing out or destroying some of my favorite clothes (with the excuse of "I didn't think you wanted it anymore"). But I've realized that by that point she was in the early stages of Alzheimers.

The proliferation of "geek culture" as a marketing device leading to actual geeks believing that they are the core audience for major studio features and television series with audiences in the tens of millions is only one of the irritants of life in 2019, and a relatively benign one in the grand scheme of things, but, boy, is it persistent one.

Related rant, geeks responding to the proliferation of "geek culture" by turning actual geek culture into a serie of "pro" or "anti" orientations on aforesaid major studios products, instead of actually celebrating its origins in the work of scrappy misfit creators on the margins of pop culture, in the bizarre and wonderful converge of counter-culture weirdos and paid-by-the-word pulp hacks, is probably an even more benign irritant, but one that really gets to me on a personal level.

Geeks take "geek culture" altogether seriously and yet, somehow, not nearly as seriously as they should.

I've been part of the science fiction fan community (a way of thinking about it without using the phrase "geek culture" that has some negative connotations) for 43 years (I count my anniversary as November 28, 1975, when I bought my first Star Trek book). And I would like the above post translated, please, because I don't understand most of it.

Define "actual geek".

Apparently it's anyone into science fiction, fantasy, and superhero comics-related TV shows/movies. For instance, I used to buy stuff from a website called ThinkGeek. I don't anymore because the exchange rate is awful now, plus they don't carry many inexpensive things that are actually practical - and of course there are things they don't ship to Canada for various reasons.

At least I now own a couple of TARDIS fleece blankets (very comfy on cold winter nights), a Fourth Doctor hat and scarf, a fairly large K-9 action figure, a TARDIS cookie jar (complete with a dematerialization sound when the lid is opened so nobody can steal any), a blanket with the Periodic Table of Elements on it, a couple of stuffed planets (Jupiter and Pluto), and a few other things.

People who have made a sincere attempt to read Stranger in a Strange Land before giving up and reading the Wikipedia summary, rather than just going straight for Wikipedia.

I read the whole thing. Didn't like it much, but I read it. Of course this was the version that was deemed okay to publish in the 1960s. The version not published was deemed too radical even for the New Wave SF being published in the '60s, so Heinlein had to change a few things.

Giving up? It's not like it's a hard book?

Yes, it's 400+ pages of a libertarian weirdo expounding on free love and psychic aliens. It is a slog.

Agreed. It's a slog. But it's also a how-to manual for being a successful televangelist. Michael Valentine Smith had bucketfuls of money just laying around his mansion, and the more he preached his "water brother" faith, the more money people gave him.

Jubal Harshaw has turned up in a couple of other Heinlein novels, though thankfully not so prominently.

Small rant: I was reading a fanfiction that was marked as complete, but turned out to have been abandoned instead. This wasn't mentioned anywhere in the summary.

On fanfiction.net, if it doesn't have the word "Complete" in the description, assume it isn't.

On AO3, you have to see if the number of chapters available to read matches up with the number it says it has (some authors state that the story will be a certain number of chapters and the latest is - for example - chapter 5/6 - meaning that there will be one more chapter to come. Or they'll have a "?" in the chapter listing, meaning that they're not sure how many chapters it's going to be.

That's why I prefer to only read complete stories, unless I know for sure the author is going to be posting more chapters (for instance, one of my favorite Voyager stories, "The Gift" is 127 chapters long... so far; the author has been working on it for several years). There are also a couple of Bonanza series of stories that aren't complete, but I know the author adds another chapter or two every few months.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Fun fact: I didn't even know it was "Libertarian" at the time.
Didn't even know what "Libertarianism" was.
I was just between *highschool and *college and was reading science fiction classics.
I still don't understand why anyone would think that Heinlein is in the same league as Niven or Asimov.




the German equivalent of*

 

[Takhisis]

Considering the roof is probably full of organic pigeon waste, I would not want to get deliveries up there.

Have you reached that sweet spot where you have your own homemade guano mines yet?

the German equivalent of*

One is the place for naked activities and the other is the place for wolves, right?

#learningdjerman

 

[GoodSarmatian]

One is the place for naked activities

Gymnasium ?
I wish !

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Have you reached that sweet spot where you have your own homemade guano mines yet?

It's bat guano that's useful in spells, at least according to the 2nd Edition rulebooks. No information about pigeons.

At this point I consider pigeons to be vermin, just like mice and rats, and wish there was a legal way to deal with them permanently (the building manager agrees with me).

At least my balcony isn't the sort that would attract Canada Geese. Some people have balconies with large planters, and the geese look on those as ideal nesting sites. At that point federal regulations kick in and the residents aren't allowed to remove the nest or even get near it. They have to wait until the goslings hatch and can fly away on their own.

I have no planters out there, so it's just a bare space.

 

[Takhisis]

Gymnasium ?
I wish !

That or a sauna.

It's bat guano that's useful in spells, at least according to the 2nd Edition rulebooks. No information about pigeons.

At this point I consider pigeons to be vermin, just like mice and rats, and wish there was a legal way to deal with them permanently (the building manager agrees with me).

At least my balcony isn't the sort that would attract Canada Geese. Some people have balconies with large planters, and the geese look on those as ideal nesting sites. At that point federal regulations kick in and the residents aren't allowed to remove the nest or even get near it. They have to wait until the goslings hatch and can fly away on their own.

I have no planters out there, so it's just a bare space.

OK, I take it that there is not enough guano to make it a vialbe enterprise. What a pity.

I didn't know that pigeons were that bad up north.

 

[The_J]

Geeks take "geek culture" altogether seriously and yet, somehow, not nearly as seriously as they should.

I'm getting annoyed by the fact that I don't know a single geek, and only one real nerd :/.
I think they're mostly myths :/.
(and yeah, I worked in a sort-of CS department/am sort-of a computer scientist, I'm surfing on a Rasperbby Pi right now, I have played D&D, and none of my friends would really qualify as geek or nerd; but I also think that Lennart or Howard from TBBT don't qualify; meh, whatever, it's the rants thread here)

 

[Broken_Erika]

OK, I take it that there is not enough guano to make it a vialbe enterprise. What a pity.

Yes, Vialbe enterprises do have rather large guano requirements.

 

[Takhisis]

I know! So that's one solution for Canada's dependence on non-renewable energy sources off my list.

 

[Takhisis]

Rant: I've just finally realised that Tim's banned.

 

[Cutlass]

Rant: I've just finally realised that Tim's banned.

You know where he can be found...

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

On fanfiction.net, if it doesn't have the word "Complete" in the description, assume it isn't.

On AO3, you have to see if the number of chapters available to read matches up with the number it says it has (some authors state that the story will be a certain number of chapters and the latest is - for example - chapter 5/6 - meaning that there will be one more chapter to come. Or they'll have a "?" in the chapter listing, meaning that they're not sure how many chapters it's going to be.

Marked as complete, but the last chapter ended in an author's note saying they weren't continuing it.

Another rant: I fell again. And hurt my neck this time.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'm getting annoyed by the fact that I don't know a single geek, and only one real nerd :/.

Do you have to be a geek or a nerd to know the difference between a geek and a nerd? Or perhaps a dweeb? Or a dork? Or maybe even a gimboid?

 

[Takhisis]

You know where he can be found...

A tempting proposition. What do I get?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

That or a sauna.

OK, I take it that there is not enough guano to make it a vialbe enterprise. What a pity.

I didn't know that pigeons were that bad up north.

They're part of the urban landscape, and seem to have crowded out the crows and magpies, at least in this area.

I miss the squirrels and chickadees from the back yard when I lived in a house.

I'm getting annoyed by the fact that I don't know a single geek, and only one real nerd :/.
I think they're mostly myths :/.
(and yeah, I worked in a sort-of CS department/am sort-of a computer scientist, I'm surfing on a Rasperbby Pi right now, I have played D&D, and none of my friends would really qualify as geek or nerd; but I also think that Lennart or Howard from TBBT don't qualify; meh, whatever, it's the rants thread here)

You are posting on a forum full of geeks.

Yes, Vialbe enterprises do have rather large guano requirements.

Oh, is that what the UCP/CPC/aka Reformacons are calling themselves now?

Marked as complete, but the last chapter ended in an author's note saying they weren't continuing it.

Another rant: I fell again. And hurt my neck this time.

Aw, that's a shame. And please talk to your doctor about your neck. Those are injuries that need to be looked at.

Do you have to be a geek or a nerd to know the difference between a geek and a nerd? Or perhaps a dweeb? Or a dork? Or maybe even a gimboid?

I think you have to be about 12 to know the difference. Or very, very pedantic about whatever corner of comic book or gaming fandom you belong to.

A tempting proposition. What do I get?

A forum where there is a giant pirate ship (and theme), no Christmas smileys, and if you ask Mary nicely, she would probably make you some virtual cookies.

 

[Takhisis]

A forum where there is a giant pirate ship (and theme), no Christmas smileys, and if you ask Mary nicely, she would probably make you some virtual cookies.

I need third-party confirmation. This sounds too good to be true.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I need third-party confirmation. This sounds too good to be true.

 

[Cutlass]

I need third-party confirmation. This sounds too good to be true.

There is indeed a pirate theme.

 

[H4run]

Rant: I've just finally realised that Tim's banned.

Dang, I wonder why the banned user just not come back with different ID. He also had lots of post and light the life of this forum, it is a lost