"The economy is fucked."
"How do you figure that out"
"The Breakfast rolls have gone down from 50 sold in a morning to 20 a morning"
Together with Issac Asimov he was one of my favourite authors when I was growing up. One of the reason's I'm a little suspicious of "childrens fiction" is I read adult fiction from the age of about 11. Together with Robert Heinlein he and Asimov were THE big 3 Science Fiction authors. Asimov and Clarke are the people who set fire to my imagination.
Quotable Quotes
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- "Life is just one big banana. Science fiction allows us all to peel open the reality and discover the yellow truth inside."
- "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
- "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
I wanted 6x4 prints. Aldi don't do 6x4 but the others do. So I divided my 150 snaps in 3 and went ahead. The experience was interesting to say the least. Photobox and Snapfish use java tools to help you upload as well as a local tool you install. Aldi gets you to download an application. I found the Aldi application a pain. It was incredibly user unfriendly and I ended up downloading two differnet applications and visiting the site at least 3 times to figure out what was going on. That said once it was installed and running it seemed quite straighforward to use. Oh they offer a discount on the first set of orders but unlike the others the cupon comes via email after you register so I missed out on that for the first order. Like all of them it depends as to whether I will order again or not.
The process is very similar in the case of all three. Upload, review, order the size and go ahead.
Estimated 1-2 days to process and a few more days to deliver. Sounds OK. All confirmed the order and all confirmed the processing within 24 hours (one at 4am in the morning).
Anyway I was delighted to see the Snapfish envelope when I arrived home the other day. First through the door. Delighted until I opened the envelope. The first disappointment was the size. Not 6x4 as ordered but 5.something x4 and the slightly smaller size (which is what Aldi will deliver is not great). What was worse was the quality of the photos. They were universally dreadful. Lets be blunt. This is the worst set of photos I have ever received with a digital camera. They all had a terribly washed out look to them. Its very hard to put my finger on but there is a serious quality problem. My wife agrees. They are not the same as the original digital prints and my only conclusion is that I will not be using Snapfish again. For comparison purposes I'm going to get the set of 50 reprinted using foto.com to see if there is a noticable difference (particularly as they both use Kodak paper).
So we await the Aldi and Photobox prints with baited breath.
The photos were created with a Canon Powershot S5IS in case anyone is interested
]]>So all the psychiatrist needs is a machine with Internet connectivity (and seriously does any serious researcher look for articles in paper any more). As to the issue of impact. I think with studies like this one the PLoS Medicine will be failry high impact fairly quickly. ]]>
- Open access. All material published by the Public Library of Science, whether submitted to or created by PLoS, is published under an open access license that allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Excellence. PLoS strives to set the highest standards for excellence in everything we do: in content, style, and aesthetics of presentation; in editorial performance at every level; in transparency and accessibility to the scientific community and public; and in educational value.
"Pity the land that has no heroes," says Andrea, a pupil of Galileo. "Pity the land that needs heroes,"
Galileo, by Bertold Brecht, translated by Charles LaughtonStill though maybe the moaning will stop for a few months.
Somehow there seems no reason in this day and age not to be able to check this out on the fly in the studio. Why don't they have web access in the studio? Then you gotta ask the question about whoever texted in. Why didn't they Google the answer (not web literate, not aware?). So I guess the question is what is someone bringing to the show thats of value of an evening. The questions seem trite - is such and such available, when is such and such out, - go visit entertainment.ie or aint'itcoolnews or IMDB or Amazon.com.
There has to be something different offered by these programs or else there is no point if I can get it all from Google.
]]>The West screwed up badly when the denunciation of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie was not closer to unanimous. (I will never forget or forgive the shameful silence of some writers who shunned the invitation to join in a firm but not hostile rebuke.) The West screwed up badly again when the Danish cartoons were not reprinted world-wide. What many didn't understand was that the staged riots were a political strike against moderate Muslims, not non-Muslims. The "tolerance" urged by many voices outside the Muslim world played into the hands of the radical Islamists. Now we get a third chance to come to the aide of moderate Muslims all over the world, but so far, I haven't heard much outcry. Several days ago I sent the following letter to the Boston Globe, which has not yet indicated that it will publish it: The conviction and pending execution of an Afghani student, Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, for blasphemy is an appalling circumstance, but it offers an opportunity that we should all seize. The time has come for Muslims to step up to the plate and demonstrate that Islam is a great faith that has no need for violence or intimidation to maintain the loyalty of its congregation. And we outside Islam must make it crystal clear that we cannot respect or honor a religion that would consider blasphemy a capital crime, no matter how ancient the tradition from which this decision flowed. Muslims who support–or refrain from condemning–the conviction and sentence of Kambakhsh must be made to realize that they share responsibility for bringing dishonor to their cherished heritage, and if we non-Muslims do not speak out, we too must share in the blame. Friends don't let friends commit, or condone, evil. The best way of showing our good will towards Islam is by helping it shed an indefensible aspect of its legacy. Every religion has much to atone for, but that is no reason to button our lips and tolerate fresh grounds for atonement. There is no need, yet, for anger. Let us all just remind Muslims everywhere of what they must surely know: blasphemy is not a capital crime in any society worthy of respect. It is now up to Muslims to prevent some of their number from defiling their own precious culture.]]>