The Green Mile Posted
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 by wlofie
Title: The Green Mile
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: BCA
Published: 1998
Genre:
ISBN: CN2984 (maybe)
Stephen King, born 1946, is an American best selling author. (search here for "Everything's eventual" for more bio data)
The Green Mile was originally written as a series of small books, in the way they did old Dickens books. The format has forced some interesting turns into the book but has also divided it, despite that Stephen King has managed to keep a flow and continuity thoughout it. It is written as a story written by an old man remembering back to 1932, and his time as head "bull-goose"(top jailor) of block E, deathrow, the green mile.
Paul, the top jailor, gives you a human look into how he feels, what happens, and how it happens, all the while also telling you parts of what happen now that he is old and in a carehome.
This is a book about good and evil, about how things are not always what they seem, and about inner conflicts. Long ago I was recommended to see the movie, but haven't yet. If the movie is anything like the book, even close(and it should be since Stephen King tends to want some control over how his works are treated), then it will be very good indeed.
All the relationships in the book are well described and how they grow and understanding grows kept at least me locked to this book. Having said that, it is a book that would be good for permanent "bed time readers" due to the fact that it can pretty much be stopped anywhere and restarted, much happens but it has such an easy flow of events that it can be read-pause-read-pause read.
I think everyone will recognize a Percy (the well connected guy who is a deep down coward but a bully) in their lives. As for the rest of the characters there isn't much of a short description one can give without ruining the reading pleasure, and it is a pleasure, so I'll leave it at that.
If it's not obvious: I like this book, it will get a re-read later and most likely make it into my "read now and then on a regular basis" list.
wlofie
Computers will show art to sight impaired: Posted
Thursday, July 18, 2002 by wlofie
See but do not touch is normally the credo for sculptures in museums. But with the help of computers the sight impaired will now experience the cultural treasures of Europe.
Gothenburg Statues from all over Europe will be 3D scanned and converted to data files in the EC supported project.
By holding an object resembling a pen one can then move one's hand through the air and feel the shape of the object even if there is only air.
The pen is really attached to a little robot that give resistance when the hand come into "contact" with the object's surface.
-If you feel with your hand, there is nothing there, but if you hold this pen you can feel the shape of the piece of art, says Gunnar Jansson.
He is a researcher in Perceptional Psychology at Upsala university and the only Swedish person participating in the project.
This weekend he will give a presentation of the project at an international "sight" convention in Gothenburg. The conferance, which is started on sunday is arranged every third year somewhere in the world and approximately 800 visitors from 90 different countries are expected to attend.
-The purpose of our project is to make works of art available to those who have impaired sight, says Gunnar Jansson.
His task is to adapt the technology, which has been developed at an university in Italy, as well as possible to the human sense organs.
The technology itself is called Haptic Display, ie a display that uses touch instead of sight or hearing.
Simpler variants have existed for about ten years and the latest developed ones are used among other things in medicine to train surgeons.
The EC project called PURE-FORM will go on for 3 years.
The scanning of art objects has been started in Italy and eventually a Swedish museum will also participate.
In the long run the intention is that Art objects from museums all over Europe are to be scanned and create a library of virtual statues.
The art objects are then supposed to be experienced in all the museums that have the neccessary equipment to "view" them. The service will also be available to seeing persons but it is primarily intended for sight impaired persons since it might be their only chance to experience the art object, says Gunnar Jansson.
from TTtranlated by wlofie
Arrogance builds no alliances. Posted
Tuesday, July 16, 2002 by wlofie
Arrogance builds no alliances.
Around the world friends of the USA are having a hard time. The American way of forcing immunity for their soldiers in the ICC is an example of old bad superpower arrogance.
Many EEC countries including Sweden and Göran Persson have gone very far on the road of international cooperation that President Bush invited to after September 11th. That time President Bush was eager for all the international support he could get, the support of the UN seemed to be very important.
President Bush's oscillation between the need for alliances and national self-sufficiency is arduous. To choose the question of immunity to demonstrate authoritative politics is incomprehensible. It damages the courts authority and war criminals will now have yet another reason to question an international legal system.
Hopefully the EEC leadership can make clear that it is humiliating to be "beaten into submission" in the way that has happened. USA is the only remaining superpower and is necessary in international peace keeping operations. But as September 11th showed, even the powerful USA is vulnerable. Is the horrible thing that happened fading away even in America? Doesn't the president see that he can end up in a situation in which he has to ask for help, from the international community, yet again?
On Sunday reports from Pentagon stated that: "the military is being urged to be prepared for a preventive attack anywhere in the world without warning". It is possible that the "secret plan" which is being referred to is a part of the nerve warfare USA constantly is involved in, but it is also possible that the plan has substance and really is to be executed, for instance against Iraq.
President Bush will never succeed in his leadership if he doesn't show consideration to a sensible/moderate world opinion. Military action will always be a high-risk venture even for the supremely superior. Short sightedly one can ignore international opinion and lean on the national opinion. Today's world however is an internationally communicating one and what happens in one place can often cause shifts in opinion in another place. For other reasons than the international opinion the national can, as was the case in the Vietnam War police action, suddenly collapse. And in such a situation the mighty president is suddenly very vulnerable.
The president's language of force has weakened alliances and distanced new and old friends. Not even the most powerful nation in the world can afford that.
(from HD (Helsingborgs Dagblad) editorial, 2002-07-15 by Sven Åke Olofsson)
Translated and entered by
wlofie
GreyMatter 1.21C Posted
Tuesday, July 16, 2002 by wlofie
Greymatter 1.21C (perl) (Free/Donationware)
Company or person making it: Noah Grey
Distribution url: http://www.foshdawg.net/gm/
Size of download: Less than 150kb
Support url: http://foshdawg.net/forums/index.php
Genre: perl blogging software with templates, comments and "karma" vote, search, upload and much more
Test Computer: P133mhz with 40 Mb Ram, linux and perl5
The interface is nice, nicer than 1.1, and the upload seems rather logical, the templates and variables have also been expanded but it's still slow, even more so in fact.
Then again, perhaps my p133 isn't supposed to be the platform used. I just feel that a p133 should be able to run blogging soft, re-building all pages when i've got one entry takes up towards 2 and a half minutes, that's way over what I find acceptable.
Still for users with faster computers or a better webhost, I can see the charm.
Missing still (in my opinion) is delete entry, yes there is open (show) and close (don't show) entries, but i want a "delete", remove from server, hasta la gone gone file, /dev/null it, 86 it!
I can see its use for blogging, I can NOT see it's use for a news site.
The rest seems good though, for someone with medium or less level of html knowledge the templates can be a little intimidating but there is a "undo" feature.
wlofie
NewsPro 3.8 Posted
Sunday, July 14, 2002 by wlofie
NewsPro 3.8 (perl) (Free)
Company or person making it: Amphibian web
Distribution url:
http://www.amphibianweb.com/newspro/ alternatively
http://www.elektrik-sheep.com/newspro/
http://wlofie.dyndns.org/devel/download/newspro.zip
Size of download: less than 200kb (including addons)
Support url: http://www.amphibianweb.com/newspro/ and built in online help
Genre: Perl NewsSite (alt blogging) software with templates and comments and inbuilt search or index by date or time period
Test Computer: P133mhz with 40 Mb Ram, linux and perl5
I like Newspro, I may hate installing it, I detest Adding the Addons, but once it's installed its fast, slick, neat and easy handling.
With the addons: categories, comments (ktalk), date(post date entries), spellcheck, glossary, preview, ezhtml and others, you have a web interface that is just bristling with features.
You can create a news message, without knowing any html you can format it, preview it and post it, then later edit it if you wish, or delete it. With multiple authors(3 classes, with different "rights" to edit and delete, and the add on for categories, comments, and so on (all add ons) the limit is the sky. Ever wanted to do your own "at home" slashdot? now you can!
Newspro installation itself can be a bit fiddly but all the addons have detailed instructions, and so does newspro itself, the page seems to suggest that newspro it out of development. There was a version in the works but this might have stopped. Newspro 3.8 though seems planned for open-source release.
Seeing as how it's perl it should be relatively easy to patch anything, and it does have more settings and templates than one could ever hope to use, but this does mean that it is not limiting you, the user.
Amazingly for perl it is not slow, well not compared to other perl programs, rather the opposite it's kind of nippy for a program of this size and complexity.
If it's not obvious, I like newspro, despite its sometimes fiddly installation (part of which can be that I want it installed where I want it and not in the default location).
If you are responsible for an association, company or a group of people needing a good news "letter" this is definately an alternative to a mailing list, it does have email-notification. I don't know if it sends the full article to the user,(untested).
If you aren't afraid of perl, can follow instructions by the readme's and know your system/webhost's system, then it's worth a test run.
wlofie
USA's soldiers granted immunity Posted
Sunday, July 14, 2002 by wlofie
USA's soldiers granted immunity
The UN Security council, passed USA's demand for immunity against indictment of their soldiers in ICC, the exception is valid one year.
New York/Stockholm
The council voted unanimously to allow Americans – and other nationalities who haven’t ratified the ICC – who act on the behalf of the UN, immunity from investigation and indictment by the ICC for a period of one year.
This saves the UN peacekeeping missions from an American veto.
The Security Council immediately granted extensions of the UN polis action in Bosnia and the UN peacekeeping force on the Croatian Prevlaka (halvö).
USA has been met with anger and astonishment from all EEC countries, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina and other supporters of the tribunal (ICC). All of whom think that the world needs the ICC to stop a future Hitler or Pol Pot.
Most likely the immunity resolution has no practical short-term effect on the ICC’s work. It was however instantly questioned whether it is consistent with “international law”.
-We don’t think that the Security Council has the right to interpret agreements made elsewhere, says Canadian UN ambassador Paul Heinbecker.
He was supported in this by human rights organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), who in a press release accused USA of “trying to break” the “basic principle that no one is above the law”.
Another International law issue is the unclarity in the UN’s resolution. This unclarity refers to the ICC’s rules that say that the Security Council can postpone a case for up to one year. But it only applies to individual cases, not whole categories of people such as peace forces, says HRW.
The Security Council will re-examine the resolution in one year, in the resolution the “intent” of the council to extend the exception-principle is stated. The council is not fettered to at a later point in time make the same decision.
USA’s UN ambassador John Negroponte threatened the ICC’s supporters about the possibility of an American being indicted by the ICC.
-If ICC in due time tries to arrest an American, Usa will consider this illegal and it will have serious consequences. No country should underestimate our decisiveness to protect our citizens, he said.
The ICC is a permanent Criminal court that is supposed to be able to act fast against war crimes and stop ongoing crimes. The ICC can only investigate crimes committed after July 1st 2002.
USA withdrew it’s support for ICC at a late stage, which was formally established the 1st of July 2002. The reason for this withdrawal was George W Bush’s government’s concern the countries soldiers would be targets of “politically motivated” indictments.
Source: TT
Comments (2)
Arbitrary/High-Handed USA Annoys the World: Posted
Sunday, July 14, 2002 by wlofie
Brussels
Around the world more and more people are loosing their patience with USA's high-handed acting in world politics. Even the countries close friends are beginning to thing that it would be reasonable for Americans to listen to other people's points-of-view.
The protests against the American politics are adding in strength. The relationship between Europe and USA has reached a new low through the American resistance against the International Crime Court (ICC).
-It's dangerous with a super power, even if the super power position is someone whose values one usually shares, says Stanley Crossick who leads the Think tank: European Policy Centre in Brussels.
Crossick is of the opinion that USA's position as the only super power has added fuel to the American tendency to pursue their own "line" without caring about anyone else's opinion.
-Power Corrupts. It does with every person, or organization. And a super power is the absolute power. The way USA is acting more and more people, are beginning to see USA as a rogue/villain nation, and not only America's enemies, says Stanley Crossick.
The chief of the institution for European studies at John's Hopkins university in Baltimore USA, professor David Calleo, doesn't reject the accusations.
-It is of course an exaggeration, but unfortunately not as big an exaggeration as one would wish. So yes, it has an element of truth in it.
The EEC's British foreign commissioner Chruss Patten, a well known USA friendly person, this week in a debate posting in Washington Post, warned that America's Solo"race" can but hurt the image of USA. He also commented the topic of rogue/villain state with "it's a crazy accusation that disregards America's large contribution to world order" but it doesn't help if USA feeds this image.
More and more however thing that USA whose leaders like to claim that countries they doesn't like are Rogue/villain states, themselves are acting as a rogue/villain state. And the critique doesn't only come as expected from the Arabian part of the world but as often Europe.
The list of areas in which USA has vexed Europe by taking their own route is getting long. The refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty limiting the discharge of greenhouse gases (ozone destroying gases), the cancellation of assorted disarmament treaties, the demand that the Palestinian leader Arafat should be deposed/dethroned, American protective fees on European steel, and now the resistance against the ICC. From the European side there is no understanding for USA's resistance against the ICC and the demand that only American citizens should be guaranteed immunity for warcrimes.
Chris Patten, deplores in Washington Post that USA has taken the ICC as an attack against the country and worries that USA might be accused of setting themselves above the law.
Professor Calleo at John Hopkins university think that USA must choose a collaborative way to avoid being isolated.
-USA has a very simple worldview. There are Good and evil forces, and USA is the general of the good forces.
He hopes that the war against terrorism will make the American leaders see that it needs allies before it finds itself alone against the world.
But as long as George Bush is in the White House, the relationship between Europe and USA can only get worse, thinks Calleo.
Source: TT
Greymatter 1.1 Posted
Saturday, July 13, 2002 by wlofie
Greymatter 1.1 (perl) (Free/Donationware)
Company or person making it: Noah Grey
Distribution url: http://noahgrey.com/greysoft/
Size of download: Less than 150kb
Support url: http://foshdawg.net/forums/index.php
Genre: perl blogging software with templates, comments and "karma" vote
Test Computer: P133mhz with 40 Mb Ram, linux and perl5
The interface is nice, for me it's slow, compared with newspro with all its add-ons, newspro is still about 2-3 times faster. It's not unworkable by any means, just slow.
I found my self having to test 1.1 as opposed to the planned 1.21, because no matter how I tweaked tricked and messed with it, 1.21 would not run. as soon as I went to 1.1 it was a 5 minute installation.
---added---
It seems that the version on http://noahgrey.com/greysoft/
is 1.21b, which would not work, I was "sent" 1.21c by spc
and this works good (expect an upcoming review), the download is
http://foshdawg.net/gm/
---end added---
---addition---
I've partially diagnosed the problem with 1.21b, it uses post in a way that my server doesn't like (or so it seems) if i load the page (login page) then edit source, change form action to full url and form method to submit, preview it and fill in the form it works
I will investigate this further.
grey matter, in my diary
please comment in this entry, not in my diary.
---end addition---
GreyMatter has templates for darn near everything and all are changed in a nice web interface, sure you need to know html to change it, but even so, the interface is nice. I did find myself missing a "Delete" feature, there is a "open/close" entry which hides the entries but what if I want them /dev/null'ed (thrown away)?
As a blogging soft, if one wants to host it oneself, it shows promise, the comment system is fast and intuitive, the karma vote a cute idea and the add entries and "admin" interface is easily navigated. Here is a full list of features. That one can use multiple authors and set priviliges on a per author level is also good, it allows you to use it to set up a news site.
I tried a pre-made template and that did NOT work, this could however be because I'm running 1.1 and not the newest version.
There are many addon's and "hacks" one can do to GreyMatter and the support forum seemed handy, for instance there is a category add on, a email entries to have them appear add on, a spell checker and a email notifier.
All in all it's a nice bit of software, but it is a bit slow (read--processor intensive) even compared to other large perl progams such as newspro.
It is however just like many other perl programs distributed in a file that has the "program" in windows Ascii, forcing the user to ascii ftp the program files to their account. The new (1.21) version has both unix and windows versions, but for the 1.1 version there was only a windows file.
Still,if you are looking for a blogging soft to host yourself or on a webhost that allows you perl .cgi's, give it a try, it's a really easy piece of software to install (setting up the templates could take a while though, not because it's so horribly hard, but because there are so many of them).
My problem with 1.21 was that while I got a login promt, and entered the correct things, nothing happened, whereas if I entered the wrong things I got "user authorisation failed".
Although my problem wasn't mentioned on the forum nor on the page the whole support feels good, it was nicely and simply laid out and it explained it all step by step.
wlofie
Everything's Eventual Posted
Tuesday, July 9, 2002 by wlofie
Title: Everything's Eventual
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: BCA
Published: 2002
Genre: horror/thriller/fantasy shortstory collection
ISBN: CN 103372 (maybe)
Stephen King, born 1946, is an American best selling author. His horror stories are what have made him famous even if he has other strenghts too. He writes about such normal environments in unusual situation which adds to the factor of horror in his works.
These stories range from the totally paralyzed person in the autopsy room, to a short story about Roland the gunslinger and much in between. In this collection Stephen King really displays the full range of his skill.
He also preaches a bit of the "short stories are a dying art" which I think may be true, and this is sad, because nothing can capture me as well as a short well written story, the compactness, the intensity could never be done in a longer format, it would be either a tiring read, boring or just plain "action" for action's sake.
This "Short story sermon" he makes is true and I've thought the same and heard others express the same, it's why I made user posting something of a priority here on this site.
His suggestion is good though, if you like his book, go out and find a good short story collection by another author and buy that and he'll be happy.
These short stories are if anything a good reason and example of why the short story horror, fantasy, thriller and sci-fi genres should be supported.
wlofie
Debt of Honour Posted
Tuesday, July 9, 2002 by wlofie
Title: Debt of Honour
Author: Tom Clancy
Publisher: BCA
Published: 1994
Genre: Thriller
ISBN: CN 2129 (?)
A contemporary American author from Maryland, who has written many international best-sellers ( unbroken best-selling books since Hunt for Red October), amongst others Hunt for Red October, Red storm rising, Patriot games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and present danger, The sum of all fears, Without remorse, Debt of honour, OP-center (with Steve Pieczenik). Tom Clancy is an author who thoroughly researches his books and therefore writes them so that they are true to life, lifelike and realistic. Submarines for example is a non-fiction book that has been/is used by the Swedish (and other international) submarine societies as a reference work during early training.
When USA due to a car accident and the political aftermath of it, decides to apply the Japanese Import/Export Laws against the Japanese, this leads to the Japanese Zaibatsu( major businessmen with political whallop) getting flustered and stressed (economically) and agreeing to Mr. Yamata's (who is another zaibatsu) plan to show the Americans that the Japanese are a power to be reckoned with both politically as well as economically and militarily on the international level.
Debt of honour is written in the usual Tom Clancy manner, with well researched facts, a good storyline (actually more than one since it has multiple activity spheres) which gives it multiple, parallel and temporally parallel storylines.
Since the geo-political situation in which this book is set is: That the USA and former CCCP have destroyed/dismantled their last ICBM's (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) and seriously cut back on their conventional military strikingpower, the Former CCCP due to economical problems and USA due to an overanxious and enthusiastic SecDef's (secretary of defence) savings on military budget. Therefore the United States of America cannot retaliate or defend, the parts of land that the Japanese possibly would be interested in invading/occupying
As usual TC has written an excellent thriller (which if you had seen/heard about it in real life would have scared the pants off most people (and the skirts of those who don't wear pants)).
The environment, person, and activity descriptions are as usual (for Tom Clancy that is) good, deep and vivid, and if you have read TC's books from the "first to the last" ( not in chronological order but in the order that the continuum of story patterns force) you, the reader will notice that TC continues to increase the depth of the personalities, and the interaction between them. The environments are of the type sometimes called "painting", I happen to like the feeling of presence it gives the reader so that (for me) it is only a bonus.
wlofie
Kim Posted
Tuesday, July 9, 2002 by wlofie
Title: Kim
Author: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
Publisher: Leipzig Bernhard Tauchnitz
Published: 1901
Genre: Adventure/fiction
ISBN: N/A
Kipling learned his profession working for British newspapers in India during the 1880 ties. He wrote reports, stories and poems about the British soldiers, administrators, their servants and about snake charmers, fortune-tellers and other persons in the town in which they lived. Later during the Boer war he worked in South Africa. He naturally reflects the British colonial times attitude with at first strong confidence and later jingoistic panic. He was a much more sympathetic writer than this suggests, his sympathies always lay with the subordinates, private soldiers over generals, servants over employers, children rather than adults
This is a story about a boy who shows "The makings of a most perfect devil" in the words of a Hindu cart driver he rides with.
Set in India during the British Imperial Colonial time, it is about Kim, the son of a British soldier. His parents dead, he was raised by a Hindu woman. He becomes a true chameleon; according to his need, he becomes a Moslem, Hindu or a Sahib with equal ease.
Known to some as "Little friend of all the world" he early learned the art of manipulation and begging fending for himself in the streets and alleys of India's towns and villages.
He meets and begins to take care of a "Holy man", a lama from Tibet, who in his turn cares for and educates him.
Mahbub-Ali, The Afghan horse trader, a horse trader he is, but also a player in the "Great
game", working for Colonel Creighton (head of intelligence), in other words Mahbub
Ali is a spy.
Half by mistake, half by will Kim becomes noticed by British military personnel and is "forced" to a sahib's school. Thanks to the lama he can go to the best school instead of an ordinary boardingschool/orphanage combination (the lama pays for tuition). During the vacations he goes to a special school, the headmaster of which is Lurgan, to learn the craftsmanship of a mapmaker and a spy.
All the time Kim has a burning desire to be with his holy man and help him search for the "River of the arrow".
Kim, the book, is written in R.K's usual style, with the descriptions of a road making your feet hurt and giving you a mouth, full of roaddust.
A wonderful story, that I highly recommend both for children and adults, as it truly advocates tolerance for people of other races, religions and colours.
The edition I read was published in the beginning of the 20 th century, in oldish English with some words of Hindi and other common languages in India. This greatly enhances the reading experience (I have read a more recently published version too).
wlofie
Fahrenheit 451 Posted
Tuesday, July 9, 2002 by wlofie
Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher:
Published:
Genre: sci-fi/thriller
ISBN:
(Fahrenheit 451=The temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns.)
Ray Bradbury was born 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, USA and started writing 1932. He is one of the more known names in terror/thriller/sci-fi combinations. Ray Bradbury has protested against the identification of him with Sci-fi.
What happens when a "Fireman" (Montag) in this vision of what could be a future society, meets a girl (Clarisse McClellan) who shows him that the world is full of unnoticed small wonders and miracles (she teaches him to see the world around him). Due to his new-found curiosity and abhorrence of his life, he first steals a book, then reads it. The first a big crime, the second almost if not a capital crime. He suddenly realises the other side of the coin, the side he has been fighting without knowing or understanding it.
For all book lovers as well as everyone who believes in personal and informational freedom this is a truly scary vision of the future. In this possible vision, firemen are no longer the fighters of fire as much as the makers or starters of it, they are charged with burning books because "books makes people think and thinking makes them uncomfortable" ( not to mention harder to control). This book is also a warning of what happens when people become too dependent on ethermedia and "pure" adrenaline pumping action to think about or feel what life is.
The inspiration for this book could come from Hitler Germany's book burnings as well as any other form of censorship.
The persons and environment are built up over the duration of the book and at the end you feel as though you know Montag (the lead character) and the people around him quite well. The coldness with which the medics treat his wife's (Mildred's) suicide attempt and her reaction the day after "Did we party too much last night?" is frightening and so is captain Beatty (Montag's boss), who uses a mixture of government propaganda and some knowledge of some books to try to persuade Montag to surrender the books to the authorities. Granger seems an amiable fellow and professor Faber could be the bravest coward in the literary world.
All said, Fahrenheit 451 is a very socially critical book, which slaps all censors on their fingers with a serious "Don't touch my books". I suggest that you read it not so much as entertainment as a warning of what could happen, if we let censors roam free.
wlofie
The Science of Discworld II, The Globe Posted
Wednesday, July 3, 2002 by wlofie
Title: The Science of Discworld II, The Globe
Author: Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen
Publisher: Ebury Press
Published: 2002
Genre: Fantasy comedy, argumentative science
ISBN: 009 188273 7
Ian Stewart,
A professor of mathematics who has published over 60 books, including "Does God Play Dice?" He has also been awarded the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Medal for furthering the public understanding of science.
Jack Cohen,
A reproductive biologist, he has among others written "The Collapse of Chaos".
The story line in short is:
The Roundworld (earth) now has *gasp* elves, the wizards of course must try to correct this. They try this by a wide range of methods, from attacking the elves to time traveling and changing the history. The problem isn't getting rid of the elves; it's getting rid of the elves while maintaining human civilization (or what ever one should call it).
The book is written in an interesting way, every other chapter is a discworld® chapter and the other chapters are scientific argumentations about the preceding chapter, in biology, physics, time travel, linguistics or quantum mechanics and more.
The Discworld story is perhaps not the best, it is however definitely good enough to read. The science part however, while demanding more concentration than one normally assigns for a Terry Pratchett reading session, is both amusing and interesting.
All this probably make it sound strange or even difficult to read, but it isn't. It's not a "sit back and read while letting mind roam" book, but it is a very interesting book, and even the scientific parts are funny.
The "Scientific chapters" also contains references to other books (sci-fi, fact, fantasy), many of which due to the explanations are now on my soon to read list.
They even use Discworld and other works of fiction as references while they explain and argument. How can they go wrong?
wlofie
New Computers, A health hazard Posted
Monday, July 1, 2002 by wlofie
Nya datorer en hälsorisk - Nya datorer på kontoret är en hälsorisk. Under cirka ett halvår avger de gaser och föroreningar från oljor och annat som sprejats i maskinen. Det har en undersökning gjord av tekniska högskolan i Köpenhamn kommit fram till.
11:52 1 jul
----
New computers are a health hazard - New computers in the office are a health hazard. During approximately half a year they give off gases and compounds from oils and other things sprayed in the machine. This is the conclusion of an investigation done by the Technical University in Copenhagen.
11:52 1st of july
wlofie
Comments (1)