Search results

So what does the book have to say about Greenland?

I can't speak for the exact costs in the US, but speaking from experience in the Swedish publishing industry, all the paper and distribution costs make up about $3 (US) for a $30 paperbook. So that's the money you actually save when you go digital (well, that money minus the lower but still...

I'm surprised nobody's posted about this? JK Rowling revealed as secret author of new book Apparently, writing under another name was a "liberating experience". After all the hubbub about her last novel, I can believe that. Richard Bachman approves. And just to counter any conspiracy...

^^ Neat. As is this: 47,000-year-old piece of jewelry found The kicker? It seems to have been made by neanderthals. If that's correct, it's the first piece of art* ever found that wasn't made by a member of Homo Sapiens Sapiens. * Not counting "paintings" made by chimps and elephants in...

Sorry about the late reply, but I'm going to have to give this to Occlith - it was close, but I just love the word "blimp". BLIMP!

Good job. I did notice when I was in NYC a few weeks ago that it's virtually impossible to buy any sort of food these days without being told how many calories is in it. Seems to be working.

Re-read Voltaire's Candide. Still one of the most viciously funny satires ever written, and it's kind of sad that it keeps refusing to become irrelevant even after 254 years - if anything, the last few decades' praising of "positive thinking" as a cure for everything has made it more relevant...

What

Depends entirely on the situation. Again, the fact that some Englishmen emigrated to America didn't mean the English became extinct. The entire history of life on earth is one of diversification - ie one species often gives rise to several different species, some of which may remain closer to...

I'm sorry if I was unclear; I wasn't asking about people being let go from positions because they refuse to do the job they were hired to do, I was asking what proof they offered that led to them being fired. Just like I expect a history teacher to not teach children that the holocaust didn't...

Uh, yes it does. If you read the sentence you quoted again, and the context in which it was made, you'll know that I was talking about the origin of life - ie the point where we went from "dead rock" to "existence very primite life" (such as single-cell organisms). The theory of evolution is...

If you want it to, sure. I mean, that's what I'd do if I were a god; I wouldn't personally tinker with every single species, I'd just build a self-replicating programme that knew how to diagnose and improve itself and then let 'er rip. That's not to say there needs to be a god present, or that...

Examples? And again, assuming that's true, why would that bother them if they'd become multi-millionaires? Again, it worked fine for Einstein, Planck, et al. What's the fundamental difference that makes it work in physics (and medicine, and engineering, and... pretty much every single science...

More news from the buried underground lake in Antartctica: teeming with life, apparently. No official word on the city of R'lyeh as of yet, but we're so very very screwed.

Which, again, is quite simply not true, as has already been pointed out to you several times. Not only do we have tons of evidence of it having happened, in the form of speciation, fossils, DNA etc, but we have observed it happening. Why do you think we need new flu vaccines every few years? Why...

It's only a hole in the theory if the theory is meant to explain it in the first place. The theory of evolution is about how life develops and diversifies once it exists, not how it occurs (hell, it's in the title of Darwin's book - The Origin of Species). That's all it's ever claimed to do...

You know, the more I think about it, the more I want to ask questions here. Beware! Warning! Dangerous questions ahead! Things They Do Not Want You To Know! Seriously, how likely is it that a book about British class society, set at a very noble estate during and following WWII, focusing on the...

I mean the fornicating autocensor, of course. Sorry for the confusion. :)

Is it really, though? I'm just asking the question. I think it's an important question to ask. So important, in fact, that I won't accept any answers to it. :P But seriously, I'm mostly annoyed by the debate because I think it misses the point. The author is, in all senses of the word, dead...

Speaking of Shakespeare, I got to watch Kozintsev's 1964 Hamlet yesterday, and I'm damned if it's not one of the best film versions I've seen. A little bit on the operatic side at times, but with absolutely fantastic visuals (his King Lear is brilliant too), with an original score by...