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less laughter posted:The future looks pretty bright actually: https://singularityhub.com/2016/06/27/why-the-world-is-better-than-you-think-in-10-powerful-charts/ these powerful charts from singularityhub.com have really opened my eyes
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Sep 8, 2017 06:35
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Most of those charts are made by public institutions and international organizations and such, their sources are mentioned underneath them.
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Sep 8, 2017 07:36
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this one chart says that only 49% of sub saharan africans are now in absolute poverty, forcing me to conclude that capitalism is actually good
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Sep 8, 2017 14:49
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On a global scale it decreased from 53% (over half the world population) to 17% in a mere 30 years.
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Sep 8, 2017 16:44
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Anyone looking for a fun fantasy book about humans who happen to be wizards, check out John Bellairs The Face in the Frost. Enjoying his writing so far.
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Sep 8, 2017 16:50
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Something something marxism something something imaginary fantasy novel society 
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Sep 8, 2017 18:36
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I gave in and read Blackwing by Ed McDonald, was pretty good. Same vein as Richard Morgan, Joe Abercrombie etc. Give it a read.
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Sep 8, 2017 19:54
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those charts are bullshit because quote:Absolute poverty is defined as living on less than $1.25/day. Over the last 30 years, the share of the global population living in absolute poverty has declined from 53% to under 17%. doesn't mean poo poo.
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Sep 8, 2017 21:34
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From the original source: "adjusted for inflation and for price differences across countries"
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Sep 8, 2017 21:46
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less laughter posted:From the original source: "adjusted for inflation and for price differences across countries" But did they adjust it for the inflation of deserts and oceans 
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Sep 8, 2017 22:12
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don't matter if you go from having $1 a day to $3 a day if you ain't got clean water to drink, food to eat, fuel to cook, air to breathe, or a home that is not underwater  https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/the-coming-global-water-crisis/256896/ increase capital -> increased income -> increased QoL is an extremely limited and outmoded supposition of liberal internationalism PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Sep 8, 2017 |
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Sep 8, 2017 22:44
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lol at linking to a website called "singularityhub" and they're advertising workshops in SV - quote:Design Your Impact I'm the exponential leader
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Sep 8, 2017 23:00
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What the gently caress am I doing reading D&D?
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Sep 8, 2017 23:01
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:What the gently caress am I doing reading D&D? you're reading science fiction
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Sep 9, 2017 00:05
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I honestly can't tell if that's a corporate leadership Workshop, an immersive reality game, a religious recruiting message, a design-based engineering training retreat, or what. But $5,000 is very much in line with any of those.
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Sep 9, 2017 05:11
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This just popped up in my feed and I couldn't help it https://twitter.com/TorDotComPub/status/906215577777315841
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Sep 9, 2017 06:12
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coyo7e posted:This just popped up in my feed and I couldn't help it It's the SECOND in a series. The first, RIVER OF TEETH, has this amazing synopsis. quote:In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true.
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Sep 9, 2017 06:16
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Who could resist that I mean really
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Sep 9, 2017 06:27
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Someone please tell me whether that is just terrible or so terrible that it is awesome. edit: Doesn't matter, is only $3.99 on Kindle.
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Sep 9, 2017 06:29
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I don't know, I was burned by Knights on Dinosaurs, but drat. Mercenary Hippo Wranglers are calling.
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Sep 9, 2017 06:32
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If it's a decent Western it could be very fun, but I've never read a bayou Western. Either way now I want to look up the history of the aborted attempt to import hippos for a meat source. Edit holy poo poo this is amazing and weirder Than Fiction quote:This week in The Atavist, writer (and WIRED's Mr. Know-It-All columnist) Jon Mooallem describes the hippo ranching scheme and the story of two fascinating men behind it: one a modest frontiersman and soldier of fortune, the other a self-aggrandizing con man. Both were spies. Each was sworn to kill the other. But the great cause of hippo ranching brought them together. https://magazine.atavist.com/american-hippopotamus-podcast coyo7e fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 06:38
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Apparently they would serve the additional purpose of countering an invasive plant species. Wired is fine, right?
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Sep 9, 2017 06:43
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GreyjoyBastard posted:Apparently they would serve the additional purpose of countering an invasive plant species. Jesus Christ the Boy Scouts base their entire idea of a perfectly rounded man after Burnham, and when Burnham wrote his autobiography he wrote two copies: one labeled "boastful" and one labeled ccnot boastful" and at the end of the one labeled not boastful he apologized for being so boastful. The boastful one was extremely boring. Check out that podcast link!
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Sep 9, 2017 07:02
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Jerry Pournelle died.  Comments by John Scalzi: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2017/09/08/rip-jerry-pournelle/
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Sep 9, 2017 07:21
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coyo7e posted:This just popped up in my feed and I couldn't help it withak posted:Someone please tell me whether that is just terrible or so terrible that it is awesome. Proteus Jones posted:I don't know, I was burned by Knights on Dinosaurs, but drat. Mercenary Hippo Wranglers are calling. I wanted these books to be good, but the first one was...very bad. Nonsensical plot, unbelievable characters, just really not good. Much like the Knights on Dinosaurs book Proteus Jones mentioned, it's a super cool idea that just fails in execution.
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Sep 9, 2017 07:50
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navyjack posted:I wanted these books to be good, but the first one was...very bad. Nonsensical plot, unbelievable characters, just really not good. Much like the Knights on Dinosaurs book Proteus Jones mentioned, it's a super cool idea that just fails in execution. Like basically most sci-fi/fantasy novels then. Ideas are nothing compared to actual story telling.
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Sep 9, 2017 08:10
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What would this thread say to someone who inhaled the Foreigner series and said "alright, more of that, but this time with more guns"
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Sep 9, 2017 08:32
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kznlol posted:What would this thread say to someone who inhaled the Foreigner series and said "alright, more of that, but this time with more guns" I would say "Inhale more books, you might choke."
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Sep 9, 2017 12:08
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I'm going to be sad when James Gunn dies, he's 94. Kampus will live forever though.
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Sep 9, 2017 14:08
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:What the gently caress am I doing reading D&D? Dragonlance and related stuff is totally on topic for this thread.
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Sep 9, 2017 15:59
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coyo7e posted:This just popped up in my feed and I couldn't help it This must be what they call 'biopunk'.
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Sep 9, 2017 16:20
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Replace hippos with camels & replace bayou with the mojave desert, and that sorta happened for a few years.
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Sep 9, 2017 17:22
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Finished the latest Max Gladstone, basically still the same opinion: it's good but somewhat bloated and a lot of Zeddig's storyline could have been got rid of with no negative consequence; it takes a long time to get going and the payoff isn't much (although the finale is spectacular, as usual in this series). I still think it's his weakest book so far. Giant spiders from outer space hellbent on eating us all are still coming, too.
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Sep 9, 2017 17:43
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navyjack posted:I wanted these books to be good, but the first one was...very bad. Nonsensical plot, unbelievable characters, just really not good. Much like the Knights on Dinosaurs book Proteus Jones mentioned, it's a super cool idea that just fails in execution.
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Sep 9, 2017 17:50
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:This must be what they call 'biopunk'. No, that's the Kameron Hurley series where bugs form the basis of all technology (and also food) on some ghastly colony world wracked by an endless series of horrible religious wars (using bug weapons). Honestly got bored of both the very slow-feeling plot development and the overabundance of bug-related technology, but I should try and pick it up again at some point.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:02
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Ideas like 'knights on dinosaurs' or 'hippo western' aren't really ideas for a story, they're aesthetic gimmicks. Stories are all text, so if it's a bad writer it's just a boring dude talking at you about big animals. The ideal format for them is 3-10 images by a skilled artist, who doesn't need to worry about hanging a coherent narrative together.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:51
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Peel posted:Ideas like 'knights on dinosaurs' or 'hippo western' aren't really ideas for a story, they're aesthetic gimmicks. Stories are all text, so if it's a bad writer it's just a boring dude talking at you about big animals. This sums up my problems with Cherryh's Rider at the Gates. She's come up with this amazing sci-fi western setting of carnivous, empathic horse-aliens that the characters have to bond with and work with, then goes with a standard western/horror story. Which is interesting to read, but nowhere near as compelling as those wild, weird horses demand.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:58
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Kesper North posted:No, that's the Kameron Hurley series where bugs form the basis of all technology (and also food) on some ghastly colony world wracked by an endless series of horrible religious wars (using bug weapons). I couldn't get through God's War because everything was just so bleak and so ruthless that I couldn't find the energy to persevere with the protagonist's PoV. Other than one of the antagonists, a teen girl whose little brother Nyx murdered after seducing her, , I couldn't find anybody to root for. "rooting" isn't a very literary way to approach reading a text, I know, but I suppose I've become conditioned by pulp. There was an interview (or maybe a blog post?) with Hurley about how she'd noticed an additional gendered double-standard besides the usual ones that people talk about in genre books. Namely, that even female antiheroes and villain-protagonists are expected to be a bit softer than their male counterparts, that you never find a female protagonist as hosed-up and brutal as, say, Conan. In God's War, Nyx is sorta supposed to be that. That's a smart observation and is not something I'd thought about before. But, then again, I could never get into Conan either. I should probably try God's War again at some point, since I'm sure there were other interesting social and political themes to explore that I didn't pay enough attention to while I was distracted by the brutality of everything. PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 19:32
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Rebecca Sharp is a way more hosed up anti-hero than Conan. Conan never betrays anyone, rules fairly, and would undoubtedly be a cool dad. Rebecca Sharp makes a living by betraying others, is corrupt, and neglects her child. Conan does not kill unprovoked or unjustly. Rebecca Sharp totally poisoned someone for money. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 19:45
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Kesper North posted:No, that's the Kameron Hurley series where bugs form the basis of all technology (and also food) on some ghastly colony world wracked by an endless series of horrible religious wars (using bug weapons). I couldn't get into God's War either, but if you want something that's just as disturbingly moist and ichorous but a lot faster-paced, check out The Stars Are Legion.
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Sep 9, 2017 22:06
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