Brian C. Veteran Bookseller

Along with another of their well-known songs, The Boxey.

Meatspace is a computer/sci-fi nerd term that's been around for a long long time, a tongue-in-cheek inversion of "cyberspace", but I'd say it's use has historically been somewhat ironic and self-deprecating, for those people who feel more at home in a virtual world.

Just don't forget to hook up the doll...

I keep saying that we can't resist fascism using the tools of the oppressors. There is no use case for AI other than the subjugation of the human experience to machines whose sole purpose is to print money for oligarchs.

I bought the blu ray of Luc Besson's Dracula: A Love Story on the back of these threads, and none of it was lies. It's every bit as bonkers as it sounds.

I once worked in a refurbed computer shop. Customer complained their "new" PC didn't work. Had them return the base unit for testing several times, couldn't find a single problem. Eventually did a housecall to prove it.

Turns out the *mouse* was faulty; sending garbage data & preventing boot-up. 🤷‍♂️

Figured it out btw - I didn't have a country set as my billing address.

(The website didn't require me to do that during account creation, nor did it tell me that was the problem after failing to complete the purchase)

Sci-Fi's Greatest Arc Belongs To A Character With Only 5 Episodes Part of what made Babylon 5 a unique sci-fi experience is that J. Michael Straczynski wrote the entire story in … Continue reading "Sci-Fi’s Greatest Arc Belongs To A Character With Only 5 Episodes"

Saw this headline and thought "Hmm. 🤔 They must be talking about Neroon".

(They are talking about Neroon)

www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/scifi/ba...

A partial screenshot of the Kobo store checkout page which reads "Cannot continue. Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later."

Thanks, but still no dice. I only created my account last night and PayPal is my only saved payment method, so maybe there's still some handshaking that needs to take place. 🤷‍♂️

(Completely different book btw, but I do have the nice US sprayed-edge hardback of Swordheart 😊)

I've been trying to buy my first kobo ebook for about 10 hours (last night and this morning) and I keep just getting an error message (UK).

You mean it's been completely calved out? 🙁

TalosCowboy

This is how Ender Wiggin must've felt.

I installed Gwent on my tablet and was enjoying it until I realised I was playing against real people.

A 4-frame collage illustrating a scene from the animated series "Rick & Morty". Rick's latest newly-sentient robotic creation asks him "What is my purpose?", to which Rick replies "You pass butter." in a disinterested tone. The tiny robot responds despairingly "Oh my god.", which prompts Rick to say "Yeah, welcome to the party pal."

A job so dehumanising it caused an existential crisis in a robot.

Just kidding btw, congratulations on the book!

A history of firearms written by a Fletcher? 🤔

Sounds like it might be a bit biased...

Watching it in HD: Dick Sharpe

Man, I have got to watch this movie.

The chapter in Max Brooks' World War Z that deals with the UK was rather rose-tinted.
Britain's ancient castles and fortifications reawaken to their original purpose, becoming sanctuaries against the hordes, and the Queen stays in London to galvanise the nation's spirit rather than fleeing.

Just got my dispatch notice that mine is on the way! 🗡️

I'm not proud. It's only possible because I have near-zero obligations and responsibilities.

In complete contrast, I exist in a bubble of time that extends about 48hrs into the future.

I rarely know what shift I'm working the next day until I check in the afternoon.

I let the Area administrator assign my annual leave, so every week off is a surprise.

It's crazy that "Amateur" has derogatory overtones when it literally means doing something for the sheer love of it.

A photo of my hand, holding up four photo-postcards from the UK Limited Edition 4K UHD release of Wes Craven's Swamp Thing (1982). The postcards all prominently feature actress Adrienne Barbeau as Alice Cable. In three out of the four she is wearing the low-cut silk negligee which the villainous Anton Arcane forces her to wear for the movie's third act.

Whoever designed the postcards for the new Limited Edition 4K UHD release of Swamp Thing (1982) from 88 Films certainly understood the assignment...

The kind of "eureka" moment we had was when Andrew Harrison, the original designer, made the suggestion we take off specular highlights, which are the way the light reflects of surfaces in 3-D. [That way we] keep the integrity of the paint, and the characters would marry better with the painted background.

A close-up shot of R2D2 from the 2008 feature-length animated movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which served as a pilot for the TV series. It shows how the even metallic surfaces of the droid were rendered with a matte texture.

Because there wasn't enough computing power back in 2007/2008 to render a weekly cg-animated show with reflective shiny surfaces, Star Wars: The Clone Wars' animation models were given a matte, painterly texture, complete with visible brush strokes, that became the show's trademark visual style.

The most interesting finding was that having a cat at age 4-5 was associated with more mental health problems. Having other -animals – such as hamsters, rabbits, turtles or fish - consistently throughout early childhood seemed to have a protective effect on boys and girls alike.

They fuck you up, your childhood cat,
They might not mean to (but probably do).

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/h...

A photo of a pint of Guinness I got served once at a small pub in Coulsdon, Surrey. It is about ⅓ head.

My beard has reached a length such that, when eating noodles with chopsticks, I have to tilt my head back and drop them in like I'm feeding a baby bird, otherwise I end up eating my beard as well.

I posted the same comment - should've checked the replies!