aqsalose (books) @aqsalose
Likes: science fiction, genre, comics, also classics and "literature".
Also
https://mathstodon.xyz/@aqsalose (=main) and
https://scholar.social/@aqsalose
@LienRag * I don't actually _know_ who ...
(me accidentally words, sorry :P )
@LienRag I don't know either, but I do notice that 1) Bookwitty is running an older version of Mastodon (1.4.4, https://bookwitty.social/about/more), the other instances I'm on have 2.2.0, 2) I don't actually who is/are the people running this instance?
Does Bookwitty actually federate?
I see things in the Federated timeline so it must at least be partially federating, but I don't see posts from people I follow outside Bookwitty nor do they see my posts...
@dvadell How are you liking it?
Foundation and Empire was one of my childhood favorites, but I have not read them in recent years.
I always liked to imagine that the Asimov's "far future" science fiction (including Foundation stories) take place in a universe that looks like the original Star Wars trilogy...
@LienRag I would have no idea? This is first time I hear about him.
Fascinating: https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-pop-culture-obsessed-with-battles-between-good-and-evil
" [..] authors started changing the old stories to make a moral distinction between, for example, Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Before Joseph Ritson’s 1795 retelling of these legends, earlier written stories about the outlaw mostly showed him carousing in the forest with his merry men. He didn’t rob from the rich to give to the poor until Ritson’s version [..]"
Sad day indeed:
File770: http://file770.com/?p=40158
Reading A Wizard of #Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan were highly influential esxperiences when I was a teenager. "Who knew that fantasy could be like *this*"
David Mitchell on Wizard of Earthsea: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/23/david-mitchell-wizard-of-earthsea-tolkien-george-rr-martin
Anyway, here is a great essay on aspirations and dreams and importance of encouragement that is not only empty words but *concrete*. By SF author / historian Ada Palmer from her reddit ama.
Answering the question, "What's the most effective way for someone today to encourage space exploration and colonization of other planets?"
TV, democratization of reading and future of literary #fiction:
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/05/the-novelists-complicity/
"Amazon and Goodreads ratings [..] have all contributed to and reflected the democratization of the arbitration of literary taste.
[..] The democratization of reading tastes has gone hand in hand with the demise of the critic, and with that, the idea of reading a novel because certain people with discernibly good judgment think that the book is worth reading"
Unexpected Mody Dick reference: the 19th century whaling industry is surprisingly similar to manned Mars missions.
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-the-whalers-of-moby-dick-could-help-put-humans-on-mars
@eliasg Nope, but I got recommendations for both (the Netflix series and the original books), and I thought I'd start with the books.
Finished reading the Leviathan Wakes (the first book in the Expanse series).
It was fairly good and well done space opera / science fiction thriller. Probably looks gorgeous on TV with modern SFX.
But then I looked up the series in the Wikipedia and when I saw that the author(s) intend the series to be in total 9 books + extra short fiction, I realized "nope, I'm not going to read 8 sequels just to find out what happens next in the Plot".
I already forgot where I originally found this, but it was a fun read:
http://spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson
#sciencefiction short story on the topic of public domain and copyright.
@Bookwitty are there plans to upgrade the #mastodon version? seems like this instance is way behind 😑
Why should we subsidise unsuccessful writers? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/01/subsidise-writers-lost-plot-literary-fiction-authors-readers-story
"What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2018?
Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1961"
https://law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2018/pre-1976/
What book would you recommend to someone looking to learn C++ for game dev (specifically engine/graphics) these days? Looking around Amazon, and I'm not finding much that's not packed with the "undesirable" aspects of the modern language. Ideally the book would be firmly planted in computer architecture, not be STL-all-the-things, tend towards C-like C++, yet cover the applicable parts of C++11, and so on. #bookshelf
@aqsalose Ubik also predicts the modern IoT “smart home,” and it’s worth reading just for the chapter where a guy is trapped in his apartment because he doesn’t have any money to pay his AI door. He gets in an argument with the door, tries to disassemble the door, and the door threatens to sue him.
Famous #comedy sketch they've been watching in Germany every New Years Eve since the 1970s.
"Dinner for One"
A very old lady is having her birthday dinner but all her friends have died. So she has a tradition where her butler pretends to be her 4 dearest friends.
https://youtu.be/b1v4BYV-YvA [10:40]
#lol #newyears #nye2018 #newyearseve #video
@elias Watching it is also a tradition in Finland!