Daily Archives: August 20, 2009
To the Gentleman at Slashdot Who Points Out That R2-D2 Totally Has Jets to Climb Stairs, DUH
Posted on August 20, 2009 87 Comments
When you think employing jet thrusters is a perfectly reasonable way to get a droid up some stairs: a) you may not be grasping the fundamentals of that whole “good design” thing; b) it’s called the “sun.” Get out into it. I have a Slashdot account so I can’t be throwing stones, but, damn, y’all.
Re: The Science Fiction Failure Mode
Posted on August 20, 2009 138 Comments
Since I’m saying it other places, I thought I’d note it here as well: regarding the oh-so-defensive shibboleth that “Star Wars isn’t science fiction, it’s fantasy!”: Well, no. This argument is often provided by people who can’t stand that Star Wars is (correctly) regarded as science fiction despite the fact that its science is so […]
They Are NOT Amused
Posted on August 20, 2009 84 Comments
Some of the denizens of Slashdot do not feel that my AMC column today is in the least bit entertaining. Please enjoy the angry angry comments (and, of course, the less angry, more amused ones as well). I do hope AMC’s servers don’t melt.
Quick Note to Would-Be Interviewers
Posted on August 20, 2009 15 Comments
I’ve recently been getting a number of interview requests where the interviewer wants to do the Q&A with a procedural “hook” — i.e., some gimmick ostensibly to make the interview more fun and and interesting (“Answer as if you’re in the middle of being waterboarded!” “The questions are in the form of palindromes!” etc). Well, […]
Still Life With Cat and Book
Posted on August 20, 2009 18 Comments
Because who doesn’t like cats? And books? Illiterate dog-fanciers, I suppose, but there’s not much chance of them coming here. Aside from giving the increasingly unruly Ghans ogh Ghlaghghee a gheline ghix, this post also serves notice that according to Subterranean Press, who would know, the print version of METAtropolis is now out and shipping. […]
It’s a (Bad Design) Trap!
Posted on August 20, 2009
Today at AMC, I post up ten examples of truly bad design in the Star Wars universe, of which R2-D2 and C-3PO are just two examples. Yes, they are very poorly designed indeed. Search your heart. You know it to be true. I explain all there. Head over and feel free to agree with me […]
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Whatever Everyone Else is Saying