Book 5 of Charlie Stross's The Merchant Princes. The initial adventure story has, at this point, devolved into a seven-sided war spanning
four universes
which is just the way I like it.
Update: One problem with this series is that Stross appears to have let his political views colour the story, and his political views are asinine. If those aren't his actual views, he's still badly mismanaged that part of the story.
1
I'm through three of those, and sort of taking a break before picking up #4. I like Stross well enough (just got into him midway through last year) but there's something just a bit off-kilter about his storytelling, I find I can only take him in one-or-two-book doses.
Posted by: GreyDuck at Friday, March 19 2010 11:51 PM (7lMXI)
2
There is in some of his books, yes. The more hard-SF ones like Iron Sunrise and the lighter ones seem to be free of this, Merchant Princes has a touch of it, but Accelerando I found unreadable.
I've also got a new Glen Cook SF novel and a new Alastair Reynolds after that, so I think a nice quiet weekend is called for.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, March 20 2010 12:02 AM (PiXy!)
3
Book 6 recently appeared here, I'll get to it shortly, I think. IIRC, it would not be wrong to characterize Stross as socialist, economically speaking, is that what you thought was leaking?
Posted by: Kayle at Saturday, March 20 2010 08:26 PM (hphNU)
4
The basic economics seem reasonable to me (I'm no economist) - a big part of the plot is that the Merchant Princes are running a, what's the term, mercantilist economy, and Miriam is trying to introduce them to capitalism.
On the topic of political economy, particularly with regard to our own world-analogue (he slips in some facts to indicate that it's not precisely our world), he's talking nonsense. And since he appears to actually hold the views expressed by the plot in that respect... Yeah.
Bit of a shame, since he's a fine writer and (I've chatted with him briefly online) a genuinely nice guy. It's not enough to ruin the story, but it still detracts from it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 12:02 AM (PiXy!)
5
IIRC, Stross is some sort of cognitively dissonant left-wing libertarian-anarchist, who's nominally in favor of the free market, but can't resist all sorts of altruistic rentseeking giveaways which necessitate governmental tyrannies, while always pining for pie in the Singularity, in a Marxist withering-away-of-the-state sense.
That, and he's got a simply monstrous case of revolutionary fetishism. It creeps into every one of his books I've read.
What are the facts which set his Earth Prime apart from the real world, Pixy? I didn't notice any in the first four volumes; I've not bothered reading the fifth one yet.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Sunday, March 21 2010 03:30 AM (jwKxK)
6
The Earth Prime-ness doesn't really pop up until the fifth book. I kind of get the impression he wasn't intending it to be that way, but then real world political events meandered away from his plot setup.
Posted by: Mark at Sunday, March 21 2010 05:30 AM (bBxKr)
7
I seem to recall there was something in book four, but can't remember exactly what it was.
But in book five - Chief Justice who?!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 10:58 AM (PiXy!)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, March 18 2010 03:45 PM (mfPs/)
3
That 40% is just through today, btw. You know TRSI and their fondness for rotating studio sales. They treat themselves just like every other studio...
Posted by: Mitch H. at Friday, March 19 2010 02:33 AM (jwKxK)
But the only other option is to buy a 27" iMac and a compatible DisplayPort video card, and the only compatible DisplayPort video cards are the Radeon 4890, which has pretty much been discontinued, and the 5970, which costs as much as this monitor by itself, so the total cost comes out to three times as much.
1
The Imac does cost three times as much. But it does have a computer built into it. I just happen to have one sitting across from me and can testify that it is a great screen.
Not to mention computer. And its not mine.
I got the U2410 before Christmas for an ungodly cheap price. IPS screens are terrific. Especially when they are matt.
(Sorry Imac. I still like you).
Posted by: Andrew at Thursday, March 18 2010 12:20 AM (cB03i)
2
I'm quite fond of Dell monitors, though I don't have one myself. I've never seen/used a bad one, even when they sold CRTs.
Except for the one that caused my eyes to bleed. Literally. That one wasn't so good.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, March 18 2010 08:56 AM (mfPs/)
3
I have two 21" IPS (actually S-PVA, but essentially the same thing) Samsung monitors now, but the new 27" models would give me the same pixel count in a single display.
I was considering splashing out on the 27" iMac, then I learned that the DisplayPort input was basically incompatible with everything else in the world. Don't know whose fault that is, but it makes it kind of impractical.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, March 18 2010 10:10 AM (PiXy!)
4
There are DisplayPort adapters available for VGA, DVI and HDMI. I picked up an DisplayPort - HDMI adapter last weekend from Amazon for about US$12, and was able to hook my MacBook Pro up to my Samsung LCD TV via HDMI without more than a minute or so's worth of fiddling.
Link to Amazon search for "DisplayPort"
Posted by: Rich at Friday, March 19 2010 04:05 AM (2ldMO)
5
Yep. But what I'd need is a dual-link DVI to DisplayPort adaptor. They do exist, but the only one I've seen cost $200, and I don't know if it would work for this.
Easier to just buy the Dell monitor which has 2 x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA. (And component and composite too.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, March 19 2010 10:06 AM (PiXy!)
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How much does delivery to Australia cost? (Presumably by air; surface would take weeks.)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, March 20 2010 10:41 AM (+rSRq)
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It generally ranges between exorbitant and absurd.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, March 20 2010 03:19 PM (PiXy!)
8
Too bad they can't deliver hardware through the internet.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, March 20 2010 05:45 PM (+rSRq)
9
Fortunately in this case, the monitor is actually cheaper (given the exchange rate and sales tax) from Dell Australia than from Dell USA.
Dell's international pricing - I've mentioned this before - is weird. Some specific server components cost twice as much in Australia as the US - and for others, it's the other way 'round.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 12:06 AM (PiXy!)
Stephen Conroy and the Rudd Labour Government are the enemies of free speech and of human rights in general. They are ignorant and dishonest in equal measure, and their only saving grace is that they are neither competent enough nor popular enough to get their abominable legislation passed through the Senate.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Yuuno is a shape-changer. His true form is a cute boy about Nanoha's age. She find that out in ep 7 (or 8?), and her reaction is priceless, in part because he's been sleeping in her bedroom in a basket on her desk and she's been changing her clothes in front of him. Not to mention taking him into the girls-side dressing room at an onsen.
It's something of a trope in mahou shoujo (magical girl) shows that there should be a cute talking animal sidekick for the magical girl, who gives the girl a magical gem that she needs in order to become a magical girl. It's not universal but it's quite common. This series uses the trope, and then subverts it. Yuuno does give Raising Heart to Nanoha, but Raising Heart is a product of high tech and doesn't really fit the mold. (For one thing, sometimes she argues with Nanoha. In fact, she can be very stubborn.)
But this show does a lot of that. The first few episodes of the series make it seem like a rip-off of Card Captor Sakura. Then when Chrono shows up, everything changes (and IMHO improves) and it strikes off on an entirely new path.
In A's, the sequel, Yuuno only uses his ferret form briefly, in the last half of episode 3.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, March 15 2010 10:54 AM (+rSRq)
At the start of the first episode, you see his real form, and then he transforms into a ferret.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 15 2010 12:13 PM (PiXy!)
6
I saw the show name late last night, and was too tired to bother googling it. Sometime around lap 30 of today's race, I finally figured out what you were talking about.
At which point, I choked on my soda. Nicely done!
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, March 15 2010 03:49 PM (mfPs/)
Update: I wasn't expecting that (ep 6) but truthfully, it's the only thing in the show so far that survives the refrigerator test. Of course there'd be something like that.
Update: Odd little show, very uneven, but worth a look. What is with that clock, though?
Update: Only two episodes left to go? That might work out just right.
Update: I haven't found the original that they modeled the clock on, but:
Yeah, it's real. Yeesh, the places people choose to live.
1
Are you watching anything else this season? I have been watching Durara!!, Katanagatari (coming out monthly, each episode is 50 minutes), and a couple of others.
Posted by: Penfold at Thursday, March 11 2010 07:26 AM (1PeEC)
2
So far just Sora no Woto, Hanamaru Kindergarten, and Hidamari Sketch. Oh, and Kimi ni Todoke, continued from last season.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, March 11 2010 10:54 AM (PiXy!)
3
I am watching Kimi ni Todoke as well, I like it, a bit slow paced (which I think is intended), but it is no Toradora! Haven't watched Hanamaru Kindergarten or Hidamari Sketch.
Posted by: Penfold at Friday, March 12 2010 03:03 AM (1PeEC)
4Hanamaru Kindergarten is a nice show; not amazing, but worth a look..
Hidamari Sketch, though, is just wonderful, all three seasons of it. Very highly recommended.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, March 12 2010 09:22 AM (PiXy!)
Okay, my auditory frequency response isn't shot. I can still hear up to about 17.5kHz, which is not much short of the 19kHz or so I could hear as a teenager.
Next time I test my hearing, though, I'll turn the volume down first.
1
Not me; I couldn't hear anything even when the sweep reached 12 KHz. I guess that's yet another indication that I'm old.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, March 08 2010 02:01 AM (+rSRq)
2
I was surprised, I was expecting to be down below 15kHz (normal range for over-forties).
On the other hand, my knees hurt.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 08 2010 02:19 AM (PiXy!)
3
I have teenage normal hearing in my left ear, which is great for someone about to turn 42. I'm literally half-deaf in my right ear.
Eight years of working in the radio biz, and 14 years of theater is to blame. I wore headphones/headsets all that time, and I always made sure I had one ear uncovered to hear what was going on around me. As every theater I was in had the stage manager to the left of the lighting control board, that was the ear that was uncovered. In my first radio booth, the door was on the left, so I left one uncovered and carried on doing so through the years.
So... deef.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, March 08 2010 12:57 PM (mfPs/)
Update: One of the great things about being caught up with Kimi ni Todoke is that I can also catch up on That's absurdly awesome episode-by-episode reviews. DO NOT READ BEFORE WATCHING RELEVANT EPISODES. If you have watched relevant episodes, start here. If you have not watched relevant episodes, watch relevant episodes, then start
here. The fact that they refer to SPOILER as Vichy-tan is perfection.
1
KnT is pretty amazing, but I gave up on it after about 10 episodes. Dunno why.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sunday, March 07 2010 05:23 PM (/ppBw)
2
That's just where I got stuck at first too. The story gets bogged down for a couple of episodes around ep 9/10. But things pick up again just after that.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 07 2010 06:29 PM (PiXy!)
3
I'm following spoilers at Sea Slugs, which seems better than the real thing.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Monday, March 08 2010 04:11 AM (/ppBw)
4
I took a look at the Sea Slugs reviews and didn't think much of them - and I usually like Sea Slugs. That's reviews, on the other hand, are a work of art.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 08 2010 09:06 AM (PiXy!)
Asus almost make a really brilliant little server motherboard, the P7F-E.
I say almost, because it's full of zombies.
See that third ethernet port on the back? It's for remote management - KVM-over-IP. Except that it doesn't actually work unless you add a KVM-over-IP card.
Those eight extra SATA ports? Brilliant! Except that they don't actually work unless you add an eight-port RAID controller. Which, coincidentally, costs more than the motherboard.
Zombie I/O ports. I hate zombie I/O ports.
Update: The same goes for the Z8PE-12DX, which I was going to order for my day job. Now I'll need to budget for a RAID controller as well.
1
Whoa! Recently, I bought Asus computer along with cocktail dresses. My friend told me that Asus is the best. I am not a techie in terms of computer but I need to have this as part of the requirements in out school. I hope that I will not encounter any problems about my new PC. Thanks!
Posted by: Dresses at Friday, March 12 2010 05:00 PM (LyBt6)
They've stopped making the PC-V600, the best small computer case I've ever used. All four of my desktop machines (Haruhi, Yurie, Nagi and Tanarotte) are in these cases, silver for the Windows boxes, black for Linux.
I ordered another two of them while they're still in stock, one of each colour. If I ever end up with more than six desktop machines running, I'll have worse problems to deal with than mismatching cases...
I discovered the discontinuation while shopping around for a decent midi-tower server case, something that seems to be almost extinct. Why the hell do manufactures manufacture cases with 7 5.25" bays and 2 3.5"? Who actually uses 7 DVD drives at once? I'm looking at colocating a small server at a budget colo facility, and it's cheaper and easier to build a tower box than a rack mount one, and costs no more to host.
I did find one case that suits my needs - the Fractal Design Define R2. It has eight 3.5" drive bays behind two 120mm fans (which is far more than the V600's 3 bays, with another 3 via an optional converter that fits 3x3.5" drives into 2x5.25" bays) and room for another 5 120mm fans in various locations. And it's available in three colours. In case I want to run yet another operating system, I guess.
I read about this case several years ago on an AVSForum thread on building monstrously large media file servers. Ah, here's a recent version of the guide... Some people propose building a DAS with these and several port multipliers. The latest version of the guide uses cheaper but less dense cases, the various editions of this guide are useful for ideas *grin*.
Posted by: Kayle at Saturday, March 06 2010 10:43 PM (TDlSn)
Toshiba Australia, You Still Suck, Though Objectively, At Least, Not As Much As You Did Last Month
Subjectively, however, I'm even more annoyed than before.
There's now a model of their neat little T110 notebook available in Australia for $699, much more in line with pricing elsewhere in the world. It has an AMD rather than an Intel chip, but I'm fine with that.
But it's the single core model. The dual core model available elsewhere is only slightly more expensive, has only slightly shorter batter life - and is twice as powerful.
the question is whether they stitched together pieces of multiple takes, which seems likely. If I were ambitious, I'd look at it again and see if the paint stains on the men change as they show up again and again. I bet they do.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thursday, March 04 2010 02:52 PM (+rSRq)
4
You can see piles of broken TVs and at least one broken piano in the background, so I'd say they had a few runs through.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, March 04 2010 04:29 PM (PiXy!)
I have 800 arrays of about 5000 integers each that I need to combine into an array of about 4 million integers. I don't care about the order or anything, I just want one big array.
PHP had used 8 minutes of CPU time and 1.2GB of RAM when I shot it through the head.
1
Feed the sauerkraut to the crazed starving weasels. The sauerkraut goes away, the crazed weasels are no longer starving, problem solved.
Alternatively, cook the weasels with sauerkraut in the pan, then eat the cooked weasels and throw away everything else. I'd suggest putting them on a hot dog bun, and use lots of mustard.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sunday, February 28 2010 06:48 AM (mfPs/)
2
Well, his mom did force feed him nothing but sauerkraut until he was 26 and a half years old.
Though the dozen crazed starving weasels (from a donut shop, if I remember) weren't good in the short term, he did meet the girl of his dreams while those weasels were latched to his face...
Too bad she wanted to join the Columbia Record Club. He was just not ready for that kind of commitment. Just the way things go, you know?
Posted by: nick at Monday, March 01 2010 11:25 AM (ZrgA+)
"PITA" can be read two ways. It's a kind of unleavened bread used for certain yummy sandwiches.
But it's also an acronym for "pain in the ass". You really sure you want your program to be called that?
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, February 26 2010 03:01 AM (+rSRq)
2
Where can I read about any of them? In particular, any whitepapers or API specs for Moca if I were to compare it with Hail? I'm afraid you just code all the time and never document any of it.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Friday, February 26 2010 03:31 AM (/ppBw)
3
Moca is just in the planning stages at the moment. But you're absolutely right that I need to do more documentation.
Steven - yeah, it's called Pita for two reasons. The other slogan is "Pita - databases without the pain".
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, February 26 2010 10:10 AM (PiXy!)
4
I automatically think about any application for or intersection with Hail whenever I see something cloudy. In Hail I'm responsible for implementing the S3-compatible, redunand and replicated data store.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Saturday, February 27 2010 06:30 PM (/ppBw)
(Click for full screenshot. Thanks go to Steam and GOG's insane holiday sales.)
Actually, I'm not; I'm doing work for my day job, making some progress with Pita, reorganising Meta, and have finally come to a design decision on Miko (all parts of the Minx project for those who haven't been paying attention), redoing the documentation in Sphinx - which will itself be supported in an upcoming version of Meta - and planning for this year's server upgrade.* I did play a bit of Dragon Age over the holidays, but games are taking a back seat for a while.** Despite the fact that I have 224 of them currently installed.
* If things go right we'll be moving from a lowly 8-processor (16-thread) 2.26GHz server with 24GB of RAM to a spiffy new 12-processor (24-thread) 2.66GHz server with 48GB of RAM. That's at least partly to prepare for the move to Pita, which loves to store stuff in memory. Because I can just copy the OpenVZ virtual machines across, the move should be quick and painless.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thursday, February 25 2010 10:25 AM (pWQz4)
2
Turtle not have r00t. Me no do r00t. Me go make own baby village. Baby village not have anything, r00t no longer issue.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, February 25 2010 11:26 AM (PiXy!)
3
Well, you shouldn't have any problem getting Brick or Duck or myself to come with. One more and the village is big enough to start getting wandering genin. Not that a few more wouldn't hurt...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Friday, February 26 2010 10:26 AM (pWQz4)
4
While I'd hate to abandon Turtle, if Papa Pixy builds it, I will come. Maybe I'll make an alt to fill in at the Shell.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Friday, February 26 2010 01:56 PM (mfPs/)
5
I've got a character in Turtle to play with you guys in the first place. It doesn't have a great appeal other than that. ('course, my main's in an IR and should loop to S10 tomorrow...)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Saturday, February 27 2010 09:00 AM (pWQz4)
6
Turtle has been accumulating upgrades pretty rapidly of late. I have an alt in one of the big villages, but it's nice to see your village grow.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, February 27 2010 10:22 AM (PiXy!)
1
Now that I knew GA, Hidamari just does not measure up. Yet it goes for the 3rd season. Remember J.Greely on DearS vs Girls Bravo?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sunday, February 21 2010 05:27 AM (/ppBw)
2
Here's the thing, Pete: most people, and apparently most viewers, don't agree with you. Sorry to be blunt about it, but HidaSketch is much more popular because it's a better show than GA. Better characters, better humor, better animation, better writing, better story, better design... but, to be fair, GA does teach you more about art.
Oh, and Sketchbook is better than GA, too. But, hey, keep protesting, man... fight the power and all that.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sunday, February 21 2010 06:36 AM (tm3b1)
3
I bounced off GA, so I can't give an informed opinion other than it didn't catch my attention. But Hidamari is simply a wonderful show. I wasn't sure that they could carry that forward for a third season, but so far it has all the charm of the first two.
As for DearS and Girls Bravo, both of them are terrible.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, February 21 2010 12:33 PM (PiXy!)
In SQL* you say select sum(sales) from accounts where state="NY". In Pita, the way to do this is:
results = accounts.aggregate(state='NY')**
which will calculate for you the count, length, sum, minimum and maximum, as appropriate, for all the fields in the table at once, so the value you need is results.sales.sum. Since the table scan is typically slower than any calculations you're likely to be doing, this seems a reasonable approach.
In addition, I've added a
results = accounts.stats()
which provides all those, plus mean,*** median, mode, standard deviation, and geometric and harmonic means. Aaaaand standard error, coefficient of variation, sample and population variance, skewness and kurtosis. I even sort of know what kurtosis is.
I'm working on two more functions now, group and break, though I may need to come up with another name for the latter because break is a Python keyword. This:
for result in accounts.group('state', country='US'): ...
would give you the aggregate sales figures for each state in the US, sensibly enough. And this:
for result in accounts.break('state', country='US'):
...
would give you the individual sales figures, and then automatically provide totals after the last sales record for each state.
As long as I don't come down with kurtosis...
Update: Kang and jag. Or rather, agg and tab. For aggregate and tabulate.
for line in accounts.aggregate('state', country='US'): ...
will give you one summary line for each state, where
for line in accounts.tabulate('state', country='US'):
...
would give you both detail and summary lines. I need to put subtotal and total flags on the records for tabulate. Have to watch the keywords, there. And keep my closet doors closed.
* Boo, hiss!
** Or indeed
results =
accounts(state='NY').aggregate()Either way should perform the same and produce the same results. I think...
*** Which should come out the same as the average; just one I'm calculating myself and the other I'm pulling out of a stats module.
Okay, yeah, they needed that sharpening filter. That's Minx's built-in upscaling. Quality is not so hot, as it turns out. I'll check on what filter it's using; normally it's only used for downscaling, which works great:
On the other hand, it's a development platform, not a consumer device; it has two 800x480 touchscreens, HDMI out, and a built-in DLP projector; it has two five-megapixel cameras at front and a twelve-megapixel camera at rear; a dual-core 1.2GHz Arm Cortex A9 (superscalar out-of-order SMP); accelerometer, compass, ambient light, proximity, barometric and temperature sensors; Wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS; and easy and open access to all the electronics, networking, and software.
Tech's slate (from the Accountancy story further down) isn't that much more advanced than this beastie.
