In Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson employs an effective tactic for shifting perspective from third-person to first-person narrative. As he has a character observe the world, he will shift from description to explanation. He uses this primarily with the Waterhouse characters, mathematicians whom I suspect most Stephenson fans readily identify with. Typically, a description […]
Monthly Archives: September 2003
More about water
September 14, 2003 – 12:00 am
I write this sitting in the (a?) Phoenix airport, where America West has seen fit to deposit me en route to Seattle. Ah, the glorious efficiencies of the hub-and-spoke model.
Flying over Arizona, I couldn’t help but notice a few things. Almost all of the surface water is contained in manmade structures, mostly canals […]
Water
September 13, 2003 – 12:00 am
Moments ago I watched a neighbor grabbing a case of bottled water from his trunk (of his Volkswagen, to take up to his loft living the stereotype). I thought idly to myself that I prefer the filtered water from my fridge to most bottled, but I do like having a bottle to carry about. […]
Speaking of water—-
September 13, 2003 – 12:00 am
Heather has wondered what’s so bad about NICOwater? Well, nothing, really.
Fun facts:
NICOWater contains 4mg of nicotine per half liter
Nicotine emulates acetylcholine, a NT that appears early in several pathways, including the endorphin-induced runner’s high, and raises glutamate levels, which are suspected to be involved in the “writing” of memories. When I first […]
The bazaar needs fewer experts
September 11, 2003 – 12:00 am
Novices require simplicity. Microsoft has to dumb down its tools for the novice developer, but the Java community often seems to feel no such compulsion. I’m watching some coworkers struggle to become fluent in Struts. They are rightfully offended by how often they have to learn some little workaround rather than the […]