AFKBRBChocolate

@AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world

Yet another refugee who washed up on the shore after the great Reddit disaster of 2023

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AFKBRBChocolate,

I know it won’t happen, but what would happen if Trump dropped out after formally becoming the Republican candidate?

AFKBRBChocolate,

Not the first time they’ve done this, but good to see the results replicated. It sure looks like genetics plays more of a part than diet.

AFKBRBChocolate,

In college, I worked at a little aerospace manufacturing place running an NC milling machine, and I really like the smell of the cutting oil/lubricant they spray on the rotating cutters. I now work in software engineering at a company that makes rocket engines, and I like walking through the shop and smelling that smell.

AFKBRBChocolate,

That one bugs me. Should require an engineering degree.

AFKBRBChocolate,

That one is good and much needed.

AFKBRBChocolate,

I appreciate the analytical approach to this. I’ve always thought it was strange how much they’re hated. I don’t love their music, but at worst it seems unremarkable, with a few relatively decent songs thrown in.

I read once - I don’t know if it’s true - that there was a compilation CD made of a bunch of Metal bands (a marketing thing), and they put Nickelback song on it for some strange reason. Metal fans were outraged, and every time the CD was discussed, someone would say that Nickelback sucks, which contributed significantly. That would be another case of #4 on the list, if true.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Oh, interesting tie

AFKBRBChocolate,

Agreed, most scientists figure there’s no way to prove it disprove the existence of god. What idiots like this object to is science proving things that contradict a literal interpretation of the bible - not because they set out to, but because it worked out that way. Evolution is an example: some people figure that if we can see the evolution of man over millions of years, then god didn’t snap his fingers and create man in a day. So that makes scientists assholes.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Democratic representative from Minnesota.

AFKBRBChocolate,

I never like this particular comparison because there are so many people in the world who have nothing, or nothing but debt. Is hard to tell from it how much is the wealth of the top or the poverty of the bottom. It would almost be better to compare to the next group down, or to an average or something.

Maybe a graph with one block being the richest person, and then groups of the next n richest people, however many it takes to equal the richest. And then keep doing that, so there’s more and more blocks to equal the richest. I bet it ramps up really fast.

Our [New Scientist] writers pick their favourite science fiction books of all time (www.newscientist.com)

This is an interesting list. It’s missing some of the true great classics, like Frankenstein, and it has a number of unusual, less well known titles, but there’s a lot to like on it. There’s certainly a lot for people to disagree about, but it may well have your less often cited favorites, too. What do you think?

AFKBRBChocolate,

Thanks for doing that

AFKBRBChocolate,

I haven’t yet read Parable of the Sower, but I read Never Let Me Go recently. This is what I wrote about it in my notes to myself (no spoilers - certainly less than this article):

This is an odd book. It’s very slow paced, and not much actually happens. I think it’s best to read it without knowing anything at all, so I’m going to avoid spoilers. It’s a story told first person by a woman who attended a special boarding school. For a quarter of the book, there are barely even hints that there’s anything unusual going on. We don’t get an understanding of it until halfway, and even then not fully. I feel like this might have been better as a novella. That said, it was highly regarded and even made into a movie (that I never saw). The premise is really interesting, and the story moving, but for half the book we’re just reading a woman reminiscing on her school days.

I did enjoy it, but it’s not one of those books that I’d comfortably recommend to anyone and everyone. It depends on the kinds of things you like and don’t like.

AFKBRBChocolate,

I’ve read quite a number of the books on the list, but hadn’t read that one, so I put it on my list.

AFKBRBChocolate,

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to add that one to my reading list or not. I hadn’t heard of it before, and I’m not at all a sports guy, but it sounds interesting.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Flatland is worth reading, though admittedly it was decades ago that I read it (it may even have been high school). It’s clever; written in the late 1800s as a commentary on Victorian society and social classes. It’s from the POV of characters in a 2D universe, with forays about 1D and 3D universes. As a side note, it has a bit about a potential 4D universe, and it was written before Einstein’s relativity theory got people talking about higher dimensions. As I recall, it’s fairly short.

AFKBRBChocolate,

I’ve read ten of the twenty one. The fact that it was so different than these types of lists tend to be, without being a bunch of fan fiction or whatever, is why I posted it. Just seemed like an interesting list. Of the ones I’ve read, I didn’t dislike any of them, though there are some I certainly wouldn’t have put on an all-time greats list myself.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Which sounds most interesting to you?

AFKBRBChocolate, (edited )

I’ve added the Butler books to my list.

Some of these are on the list of books I’ve read in the last year that I posted recently, in case those notes are helpful at all (some I’ve read earlier, and don’t have notes like this). Here’s what I’ve read since that post, which includes some overlap with this list, along with my notes, just for what it’s worth:

Rule 34, StrossSomewhat of a sequel to Halting State, taking place a few years later. Spammers are being killed around the world, many at the same time. Story mostly follows a detective on the case, a psychopath involved, and a flunky who is unwittingly part of things. Interesting, though as with Halting State, the use of second person seems weird.

Consider Phlebas, BanksBoth sides in a war raging across the galaxy are trying to get to an advanced artificial intelligence. Mostly told from the POV of a human variant who can change appearance. Banks’s first SF novel - pretty good though I didn’t find the main character especially likable.

The Fifth Season, JemisonFantasy - first book in the Broken Earth trilogy. Set in an earth where all the land is one big continent that goes through periods of big seismic/volcanic activity such that there’s well-followed lore about how to get through them. There are “orogenes" who have a power to control the seismic activity to varying extents. The story alternates from the perspective of three female orogenes struggling with their respective situations. Very well crafted and structured. Good.

Never Let Me Go, IshiguroThis is an odd book. It’s very slow paced, and not much actually happens. I think it’s best to read it without knowing anything at all, so I’m going to avoid spoilers. It’s a story told first person by a woman who attended a special boarding school. For a quarter of the book, there are barely even hints that there’s anything unusual going on. We don’t get an understanding of it until halfway, and even then not fully. I feel like this might have been better as a novella. That said, it was highly regarded and even made into a movie (that I never saw). The premise is really interesting, and the story moving, but for half the book we’re just reading a woman reminiscing on her school days.

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory, WellsA short story in the Murderbot series, taking place between Exit Strategy and Fugitive Telemetry (but published well after). This one from the point of view of Dr. Mensah and the after effects of the ordeal in Exit Strategy. Would be good to read in between those books.

The Saint of Bright Doors, CHANDRASEKERAA boy is raised by his mother to kill his father (and others). He has no shadow, and has to work to keep from floating off the ground. He grows up and moves to a big, strange city to escape his mother’s vision for him, but he has a strange destiny. An odd fantasy story, with odd bits of magic, odd characters, and an odd arc. Enjoyable.

The Player of Games, BanksSecond in the Culture Wars series, set in the same universe as Consider Phlebas, but otherwise unrelated. A better book than the first. A man who is somewhat famous for his prowess at playing all sorts of games is recruited to go to a recently discovered empire that has a complicated game that’s central to its culture and structure. Banks does well at creating multidimensional characters, and the story is compelling. The main characters in this book and in Phlebas seem to lack truly close relationships, which is odd.

AFKBRBChocolate,

We used to find them all the time in my area, but I haven’t seen one in decades.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Good point. Also, we played in empty lots a bunch as a kid, but there aren’t many anymore, which is probably part of the problem too.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Just googling him, he’s a practicing trial lawyer in Los Angeles. I’m always surprised when people who have a public business are so outspoken with fringe political ideas. Seems bad for business.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Veteran of many a caturday

AFKBRBChocolate,

Obviously some kind of symbolism, but not sure what. I did some searching, but not finding anything.

AFKBRBChocolate,

Thanks for making me feel better

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