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851

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on September 17, 2017, 08:10 AM »

Satirical spoof of Forest Gump:

852

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CHS latest version thread - feature re table capture/paste (Part 3 of 3).

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 10:14 AM »

(...continued from Part 2)

Spoiler

      Puzzle - to ask @mouser for help - re CHS:
      This is the Google Earth Pro window displaying installed and version information:I used OneNote image clipping to capture it into OneNote.
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-16 15:10
      I wanted to put this into a table. I didn't have to do this, as OneNote indexes and searches text in images.
      I used the usual OneNote OCR feature to extract the text from the above image. The text was extracted in a linear fashion to Clipboard/CHS, rather jumbled-up. So, I pasted that into OneNote. This is the result (linear extraction of text, with OCR errors):
      About Google Earth
      
      Google Earth Pro
      7.3. O 3832 (32-bit)
      8/18/2017
      
      Microsoft Windows (6.2.9200 O)
      NVIDIA corporation (00021.00020.00016.04542)
      16384K 16384
      
      Google Earth Pro
      Build Date
      Build Time
      Renderer
      Opera ting System
      Video Driver
      Max Texture Size
      
      available memory 4095 MB
      kh.google.com
      
      I then laboriously (manually) put that text into a table. The OCR errors were corrected as I went. This is the table produced:
      About Google Earth
      Google Earth Pro
      7.3.0.3832 (32-bit)
      Build Date
      8/18/2017
      Build Time
      9:42:13 am
      Renderer
      OpenGL
      Operating System
      Microsoft Windows (6.2.9200 0
      Video Driver
      NVIDIA corporation (00021.00020.00016.04542)
      Max Texture Size
      16384x16384
      available video memory
      4095 MB
      Server
      kh.google.com
      
      Out of interest, I then:
              (a) used ASR (ABBYY Screenshot Reader) to OCR the text directly from the Google Earth Pro window, to the Clipboard:
             
              This resulted in a similar jumbled-up linear list of the words/characters read, but without any OCR errors.(Previous comparative tests with ABBY found it was very accurate - less error-prone - compared to OneNote.)
              (b) used ASR to OCR the text directly from the Google Earth Pro window, to the Clipboard, but in table (columnar) format:
             
      
      This is the text that went into CHS at (b): (Table --> Clipboard)
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-16 15:47
      
      If I then then paste (format paste) the Clipboard contents into OneNote, this is the result (non-linear text, arranged  in table form):
      Google Earth Pro   7.3.0.3832 (32-bit)
      Build Date   8/18/2017
      Build Time   9:42:13 am
      Renderer   OpenGL
      Operating System   Microsoft Windows (6.2.9200.0)
      Video Driver   NVIDIA Corporation (00021.00020.00016.04542)
      Max Texture Size   16384x16384
      available video memory 4095 MB   
      Server   kh.google.com
      
      But if I instead Paste (formatted paste from Clipboard) into the same clip in CHS, below the existing text, this is what the CHS clip contents then look like: (notice the "smart" translation of the server URL)
      
      (I know this formatting feature is regarded as something of a "bug" in CHS.)
      This formatted table can be repeatedly pasted into CHS (i.e., it is in the Clipboard), but not into OneNote - where it pastes as just text. The table contains text that can be edited and new lines added in CHS and without destroying the format. However, the table grid lines seem to be fixed in position - i.e. the table grid lines are not draggable.
      For example:
      
      
      However, because CHS is text-based, the formatted table does not persist (it is transient), and if the CHS focus is moved to another clip and then back to this one, this is the result (see red box highlighting the text) - the residual text from the little formatted table is all there (including the smart URL), but the table grid formatting is lost:
      
      
      Question to @mouser: Is there any way of doing this? (following):
              It would be an extremely useful time-saver (saving the tedium of reconstructing the table in OneNote) if I could copy the little formatted text table from the Clipboard, directly into OneNote (or another application) and have draggable grid lines, but this seems impossible. The little table only seems to exist briefly as a visible, formatted table in the CHS clip - as long as focus remains on that clip in CHS - i.e., it seems to be transient (not persistent) in CHS. Which is what one would expect.
              However, whilst it is still there in CHS, I would like to be able to somehow Paste that little formatted table  into a document.
             
              If this is not possible, then I have figured out a wrorkaround, which saves a bit of time but is a bit kludgy in that it uses Excel as an intermediary:
                      § Use the method of either the Table to Clipboard (Method #1) or Table to Microsoft Excel (Method #2) options in the ASR:
                     
             
                      § If the former (Method #1), then open Excel, open a new Excel spreadsheet, and Paste the Clipboard contents into the spreadsheet. Copy --> Paste the table from the spreadsheet into OneNote (or other document). Example below:
                      Google Earth Pro
                      7.3.0.3832 (32-bit)
                      Build Date
                      8/18/2017
                      Build Time
                      9:42:13 AM
                      Renderer
                      OpenGL
                      Operating System
                      Microsoft Windows (6.2.9200.0)
                      Video Driver
                      NVIDIA Corporation (00021.00020.00016.04542)
                      Max Texture Size
                      16384x16384
                      available video memory 4095 MB
                     
                      Server
                      kh.google.com
                     
                      § If the latter (Method #2), then the ASR will automatically open Excel in a new spreadsheet and Paste in the Clipboard contents. Copy --> Paste the table from the spreadsheet into OneNote (or other document). Example below:
                      Google Earth Pro
                      7.3.0.3832 (32-bit)
                      Build Date
                      8/18/2017
                      Build Time
                      9:42:13 am
                      Renderer
                      OpenGL
                      Operating System
                      Microsoft Windows (6.2.9200.0)
                      Video Driver
                      NVIDIA Corporation (00021.00020.00016.04542)
                      Max Texture Size
                      16384x16384
                      available video memory 4095 MB
                     
                      Server
                      kh.google.com
                     
                      § Of the two methods, Method #2 seems to be the more efficient.
                      § In the output of both methods, the table grid lines are draggable.
                      § The differences between the output from the two methods are minor, and, interestingly, in neither one does the "Smart" URL occur - which seems to me to be a loss, as it would be clickable - i.e., http://kh.google.com - and this is arguably what one would want (especially considering the Wiki-like hyperlinking facility already built-in to OneNote Notebooks, by design).

(This is the end of the 3 related comments.)

853

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CHS latest version thread - feature re table capture/paste (Part 2 of 3).

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 10:14 AM »

(...continued from Part 1)



(Continued in next comment...)

854

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CHS latest version thread - feature re table capture/paste (Part 1 of 3).

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 10:13 AM »

@mouser: wondering whether you can help with a feature requirement here:
(Text is in the spoiler below the last image posted re this.)


(Continued in next comment...)

855

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes 3.0 out

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 06:09 AM »

is there any chance (risk) it could be because of the overwhelming number of security updates (approx 60) for Microsoft Office 2010 that came a couple of days ago? I know my Waterfox turned from good to bad at that exact point in time, while my Firefox stayed okay.
_______________________

-Curt (September 16, 2017, 02:39 AM)

My 1st experience of this problem was about 6 months ago, since when there have been several MS Office updates and some Win10 major updates, so I suspect an MS Office update would be unlikely to be a main causal factor of the problem, though I suppose it could have been ancillary to it at some stage. We'll likely never know. The developers at Malwarebytes don't seem to know what is causing it, anyway.

856

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 02:45 AM »

Wikihistory copyright © 2007 Desmond Warzel
I think it should have a copyright date of 2107 to make it more credible.
_______________________

-Arizona Hot (September 15, 2017, 03:50 PM)

Well spotted!     

857

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes 3.0 out

« Last post by IainB on September 16, 2017, 02:36 AM »

@4wd:
Very interesting. Thanks for your comments above.
Same as you, I ran the invasive analysis software and looked over the reports, and then realised that I could censor/redact the confidential bits before sending the reports to the Malwarebytes forum, but then I decided NOT to send the reports anyway as I could see that - with or without the confidential bits - the reports clearly gave no useful information that would help in problem analysis/resolution. So Malwarebytes were just jerking the users around.

Also, same as you, I went back (last time was a while ago though) to see if there were any developments on the problem resolution. There was zilch.
Oddly enough, I did actually play around with my RAM disc in temp, wondering whether that might be the causal problem - because it had been a known (avoidable) problem in the scripts that install/start up Google Drive. However, I still couldn't get the MBAM installer to work. Tried again last week.
Hmm...odd. If it worked for you though, then it should work for me (OTBE), so I may have made a mistake somewhere. Shall re-check today.

858

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes 3.0 out

« Last post by IainB on September 15, 2017, 10:28 AM »

Yes, that error is seriously annoying.
Malwarebytes support forum people seem to have no idea as to what causes it either. All they do is feebly tell you stock answer No. 25 - to run some invasive software that looks all over your system and then you send them the resulting report(s).
Like that's going to happen.

I am fed up to the back teeth with it - had enough - and am currently investigating potential alternatives to MBAM.

859

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on September 15, 2017, 09:36 AM »

SF fans might find this amusing: Wikihistory

860

Living Room / Re: irma-geadon

« Last post by IainB on September 14, 2017, 01:14 PM »

Interesting look-back: Surviving Irma - The Lessons Learned Post (Sep. 13, 2017)

861

Living Room / Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!

« Last post by IainB on September 14, 2017, 01:06 PM »

I can't find this online. I need to know the author's name.
______________________________

-Arizona Hot (September 14, 2017, 11:46 AM)

No, I already searched quite a bit, but I couldn't find it online either. The thing is, I read it when I was preparing for GCE "O" levels (Oxford local) years ago, and I don't recall the author's name(s) or the year it was published/republished. The book itself might well have survived in my library (I rarely threw any book away) had it not been - a few years later - for "The Year Of The Great Fire", when I lost everything I owned in a fire which also totalled my - by then - not insignificant library of books. I never had the heart to rebuild it, and anyway, I didn't want to become too attached (or re-attached) to "things", after that fire.
Sorry about that.

862

Living Room / Re: Jumpy: Animated videogame short

« Last post by IainB on September 14, 2017, 06:36 AM »

A psychologist might say something to the effect that the funny little red "Jumpy" character reflected the difficulties that could be encountered in dealing with life events by someone who exhibited passive-aggressive tendencies/characteristics, and whose response, when faced with a disturbing reality to which they were cognitively blind (unwilling to perceive) was to escape by stepping into a dreamworld (unreality) that matched their cognitive bias, and which, because it made them happy, was deemed a personal success, even though the now-occluded (or denied) reality was - for them - a failure state.
However, I couldn't possibly comment.
In fact, some people (not me, you understand) might say that psychologists might well say something like that (above), as psychologists are very often just talking straight-out BS, but, again, I couldn't possibly comment.

863

Living Room / Re: irma-geadon - @MilesAhead was lucky.

« Last post by IainB on September 14, 2017, 02:13 AM »

@MilesAhead: Well, it seem that you may be statistically relatively lucky if you've been relatively unharmed by Irma.
I say that because it seems that Irma 2017 Cat.5 was potentially quite a bit worse than Harvey 2017 Cat.4 - having a much lower air pressure (giving it greater potential energy).
Irma is thus tied 7th in the league table (with a 1928 hurricane) and Harvey tied 18th (with two other hurricanes, one in 1898 and one in 1954).
You are probably also statistically unlucky in that you happened to be in one of the only two US landfall areas hit by hurricanes so far this year - Irma and Harvey look as though they broke the 12-year hurricane quiet period since 2005 (Rita and Katrina, both Cat.3).

I only realised this after seeing this recent tweet from Philip Klotzbach - a meteorologist at CSU specializing in Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts. (I learned to keep a weather eye on my barometer and meteorological forecasters some years back, whilst working on computerised data-driven weather forecasting mathematical models in the UK.)

Copied from: Philip Klotzbach on Twitter:
"Table of all hurricanes with landfall pressures <= 940 mb at time of U.S. landfall. #Irma was 929 mb and #Harvey was 938 mb. https://t.co/suhreEDMr3"

864

General Software Discussion / Re: Search in a dictionary incomplete words software

« Last post by IainB on September 13, 2017, 09:04 PM »

I have added an edit to my post above:

EDIT 2017-09-14:
The plain text in the above image is in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

      LOGOS - The Word-Searching Application.
      Notes for @Contro:
      There is a brilliantly useful little word-searching application called LOGOS that I have used for years in helping solve crosswords with partial words, anagrams, "hidden" words and palindromes.
      Just click the link to get the installer (the link is on Wayback): Logos 2.3 for Windows (Build 124) Released 27/2/2002
      <http://web.archive.org/web/20020603035830/http://homepage.ntlworld.com:80/jeremy.riley/Logos/Downloads.html>
      Install and start up.
      To find your word, I selected the Crossword tab in the Logos GUI, typed in Gua*la*ra, and Logos promptly displayed "guadalajara":
      
      The Logos download installs the English dictionary by default.
      There are other languages for the user to download, but I haven't tried those.
      The application is portable (can go in any directory), but the files need to be filed in and follow the structure of subdirectories as below:
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-13 07:43
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-13 07:43
      
      The application has a trial licence that does not expire.The Help file is very informative.

After some further searching, I have found that there is a newer, but inactive website for Logos: <http://www.moorscape.com/logos/>
 - where one can download what seems to be the latest version: Logos 2.6 for Windows (Build 127) Released 20/12/2005 - which version seems to install and work just fine.
However, the website seems to have not been updated since 2005, and at the Order page <http://www.moorscape.com/logos/Order.html> it says the software is no longer being updated and there's no need to register (pay) for use:

Due to other commitments I am no longer developing or updating Logos. I have therefore suspended new registations (sic) I don't want you to pay and be disappointed that there are no updates. However please contact me if you have any queries.

865

General Software Discussion / Re: Search in a dictionary incomplete words software - Logos 2.3 can do it.

« Last post by IainB on September 13, 2017, 01:28 AM »

Suppose the word Guadalajara.
I know about that word this Gua*la*ra
How can I search for all the words tha begin with Gua, have "la" inside and finish in "ra"...
________________________________

-Contro (September 07, 2017, 02:43 AM)

Sorry, I only just now read/understood this query.
Check out Logos: Logos 2.3 for Windows (Build 124) Released 27/2/2002



EDIT 2017-09-14:
The plain text in the above image is in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

      LOGOS - The Word-Searching Application.
      Notes for @Contro:
      There is a brilliantly useful little word-searching application called LOGOS that I have used for years in helping solve crosswords with partial words, anagrams, "hidden" words and palindromes.
      Just click the link to get the installer (the link is on Wayback): Logos 2.3 for Windows (Build 124) Released 27/2/2002
      <http://web.archive.org/web/20020603035830/http://homepage.ntlworld.com:80/jeremy.riley/Logos/Downloads.html>
      Install and start up.
      To find your word, I selected the Crossword tab in the Logos GUI, typed in Gua*la*ra, and Logos promptly displayed "guadalajara":
      
      The Logos download installs the English dictionary by default.
      There are other languages for the user to download, but I haven't tried those.
      The application is portable (can go in any directory), but the files need to be filed in and follow the structure of subdirectories as below:
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-13 07:43
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-09-13 07:43
      
      The application has a trial licence that does not expire.The Help file is very informative.

After some further searching, I have found that there is a newer, but inactive website for Logos: <http://www.moorscape.com/logos/>
 - where one can download what seems to be the latest version: Logos 2.6 for Windows (Build 127) Released 20/12/2005 - which version seems to install and work just fine.
However, the website seems to have not been updated since 2005, and at the Order page <http://www.moorscape.com/logos/Order.html> it says the software is no longer being updated and there's no need to register (pay) for use:

Due to other commitments I am no longer developing or updating Logos. I have therefore suspended new registations (sic) I don't want you to pay and be disappointed that there are no updates. However please contact me if you have any queries.

866

General Software Discussion / Re: Picasa to be 'phased out' (Updated file link)

« Last post by IainB on September 12, 2017, 10:03 AM »

I just edited my post above, thus:
______________________________

EDIT 2017-09-12:
The download source at Filehippo.com (above) apparently no longer hosts that Picasa file.
However one can still obtain it from here, and it works just fine: picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe

867

General Software Discussion / Re: Give yourself at least another 26 unique hotkey combos with Microsoft's remapkey

« Last post by IainB on September 12, 2017, 09:33 AM »

Just thought to mention/confirm in this thread that in Win10-64 (Standard and Pro), major Windows Updates sometimes expunge the Registry settings made by remapkey.exe, restoring the keys to the relevant system defaults. So, the user needs to re-run remapkey.exe and repeat the settings changes all over again, then reboot the PC.

This is no trouble for me as I only remap the CapsLock key as described above, and I also remap the RightCtrl key (which one usually tends to have little or no use for) to Del - if the keyboard in question does not already have a delete key near that position, as increasingly seems to be the case with laptop keyboards (they tend to have the Del key in the Numpad.

Cross-posted from: Re: Mini-review of 1-hour software by Skrommel: CAPshift v1.7 and ShiftOff

Note that Microsoft's remapkey.exe can still be downloaded from here: remapkey.exe (click the link).
The contents of the file cannot be displayed. Just press the "Download" button when you get to the link, and it downloads with that file name.

-IainB (September 12, 2017, 09:25 AM)

868

General Software Discussion / Re: Mini-review of 1-hour software by Skrommel: CAPshift v1.7 and ShiftOff v1.2

« Last post by IainB on September 12, 2017, 09:25 AM »

Note that Microsoft's remapkey.exe can still be downloaded from here: remapkey.exe (click the link).
The contents of the file cannot be displayed. Just press the "Download" button when you get to the link, and it downloads with that file name.

869

Living Room / Re: Thoughts in remembrance of 911 - on 2017-09-11

« Last post by IainB on September 12, 2017, 03:35 AM »

TRIGGER WARNING: The usual suspects may feel inclined to want to vomit about this - if so, then kindly follow these directions:

...Therefore, I would request that, if anyone of whatever religio-political ideological persuasion feels inclined to vomit their personal and peculiar negativism, vitriol, bile, hatred, theories or strongly-held opinions on this matter, or otherwise defecate on it in some way, could they please refrain from doing so here and do it in the Basement thread: 911 HATE - hate what you hate or what others like or dislike about it.

(Don't worry, they have a toilet down in the Basement too, if you can't seem to stem the flow once you get started, but please bring your own toilet paper.)
___________________________________

-IainB (September 15, 2014, 07:40 AM)

Since there has apparently been a pause of 2 years in any remembrance on this topic, in this thread, I thought I would pass on a lovely remembrance that I spotted at Townhall.com:

870

Living Room / Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!

« Last post by IainB on September 10, 2017, 12:45 PM »

Cross-posted from Re: Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

Post below is from the Well-wishing site. Note the period of three days (starting 10 Sep 2017), open for a free Kindle copy of Vol. 1 of ‘There Will Be War’.

Well-Wishing
This page is for site visitors to post remembrances and thoughts at the time of Dr. Pournelle’s passing (8 Sep 2017).  Your thoughts can be added using the form at the bottom of this page. Comments that are not related to words of encouragement or condolences will be removed.

Dr. Pournelle’s family appreciates those that have taken the time to send encouragement and well wishes.

(Note: the site is experiencing a very high visitor count, so things are a bit slow, and you may see errors. Site admins are working on the problem.)

For those that are interested in Dr. Pournelle’s books, please see the e-books  page or the Amazon page at http://amzn.to/2xliy73 .

Vox Day has announced that as part of a memorial the first volume of ‘There Will Be War’ will be free on Kindle for three days (starting 10 Sep 2017). See here:  http://amzn.to/2famw7N.

-IainB (September 09, 2017, 08:16 PM)

871

Living Room / Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!

« Last post by IainB on September 10, 2017, 12:19 PM »

...but I think you don't know what trash is until you have to write something and get someone else's opinion of it.
___________________________

-Arizona Hot (July 21, 2017, 07:49 PM)

Well, you could be right, of course, but my experience is quite different to the case that you give.
When I was preparing myself for GCE "O" Levels at secondary (high) school, and because most of my teachers didn't seem up to much (like many teachers, I suppose), I spent a lot of time in independent research aimed at gaining familiarity with doing/passing the exams - mostly by practicing - i.e., working through model answers to past exam papers/years.

However, that seemed to be good mostly for papers (exams) in fact-based and logical subjects like science (chemistry biology, physics), maths., and English grammar, where one could get by if one simply understood the facts, principles and related material, but it didn't help too much for papers where one had to basically write intelligible and concise explanations of something - e.g., (say) an essay in English, or the steps in a chemistry experiment.
Then I came across an excellent and most useful book - it was called "How to Pass Exams Easily", or something, and was written by a teacher who had also been an examiner and who had examined and marked many exam papers from students. I studied this book and re-read it a couple of times, practicing what it directed. Some of the main points that it made included (from memory):

• that exams in several/most subjects required the student to have decent essay-writing skills.
• the essay was thus the student's opportunity to use and communicate his/her knowledge in constructive, entertaining and intelligible fashion, which demonstrated competence to the intended audience (the examiner), and for which marks were correspondingly awarded.
• examiners get sick and tired of ploughing through students' boring, rote-based repetitions of knowledge, and will tend to give higher marks for interesting, well-crafted essays that demonstrate competence.
• thus, if you couldn't write a good essay, then you couldn't communicate your competence as well as if you could write good essays, and so you would gain fewer marks, and vice versa.

I thought this all through long and hard, and put it to empirical test by experimenting with my homework to my teachers.
We were occasionally required to write essays on stuff that we had dreamed up out of our heads - e.g., for English homework and economics - and I noted when and why this got a positive response from my teachers and when it didn't. Empirically, I found that the advice in the book seemed to hold good - i.e., it seemed to be generally true - but the real test would be in what I wrote as an anonymous student in a GCE exam paper to an examiner whom I did not know.

When I was doing my English GCE "O" Levels, they gave us two hour-long exams for Eng.Lang. - one for language/grammar, and one to write an essay - which latter had to be based on one of several subjects that they gave us at the start of the exam. The list they gave at my exam looked as dull as ditch-water. I spent a couple of minutes thinking and looking at it in disgust and then picked "Camping". Being a country boy and an active hill-tramper and ex-Boy Scout, I knew a lot about and was well-experienced in camping and hiking over the hills, but I recognised that a factual, descriptive essay, though easy for me to write, would probably be ho-hum for the examiner.

So I decided to write a fictional story. It was a diarised first-person account of a reporter attached to a rather depressing Himalayan expedition that was trekking up Mt.Everest hoping to recover the bodies of the missing members (nobody had returned) of an earlier expedition. The reporter was writing his diary recording events to date - the climb to the base camp location, the setting-up of the tents and his involvement in that, and his thoughts about the missing expedition members. He was writing this whilst he was sat safe in a tent in the base camp. He had been left there on his own whilst the expedition team proper (he was no mountaineer) went up to search the first leg of the dangerous route that the missing expedition members had been taking. The uncertain weather had held up well and remained good for the search.

My imagination, under pressure, suddenly popped the story, plot and all, into my head. It had a surprising twist at the end. My sole purpose - what I thought it would do - was to interest/entertain the anonymous examiner whom I imagined would be reading it. I wrote it all down, reviewed it, and finished with some time to spare. It seemed complete and sufficient as it stood at that point, so I tried not to worry about using surplus time to pad the thing out.

I won't describe the story any further here, but when I was at dinner that evening, my housemaster asked me what exams I had done that day and I told him that it had been the Eng.Lang. essay. He was an English teacher (not mine though) and, being interested, asked what I had written.
Well, you should have seen how his face fell as I told him!
"Oh dear. I don't think it was a very good idea to write that." he said, and more along those lines.
So, I left the dinner-table feeling a bit wretched, but told myself, what the heck, it was done now and irrecoverable, and just maybe my housemaster, being a teacher and a likeable idiot, was wrong. We would see, one way or the other.

I should stress here that I was my English Lang./Lit. teacher's bête noire and he had predicted in no uncertain terms that I would certainly fail the Eng.Lang. paper, and probably only scrape through Eng.Lit.
When the results came through a few weeks later, I had to smile. I only got a "1" for Eng.Lang."O" level (which included the essay paper and a grammar paper) - which is the best (top mark) a student can get. And I got a "3" for Eng.Lit. - a respectable pass.
I suspect that my Eng.Lang. essay (story) wasn't so much a good story as it was a welcome breath of fresh air for the examiner doing the marking - a slightly imaginative sparkle amongst the greater mass of hundreds of dreary essays that he/she had to plough through and mark.

The point I would make here is, not that I was a particularly brilliant student (I don't consider that I was), but that if a motivated child can do it (I wanted a high pass mark for the exam), just by following and practicing some good, tried-and-tested advice and by focusing always on the intended outcome - i.e., the intended audience's potential receipt of and welcome response to the written material - then so can any child/adult. Practice makes perfect. In the end, all one needs is a half-decent storyline to apply and practice with.

It's arguably a bit like painting by numbers. I reckon that Isaac Asimov (whose writing I have always enjoyed) did much the same with his SF, except I often wondered whether he padded out some of his writing unnecessarily, as though he were being paid by the word, or something. I don't know whether he did that in any of his textbooks though (I don't recall that I ever read any). Of course, the difference with Asimov was that he had such an amazing imagination for complex storylines - and I have read probably most/all of his SF output, and most of that at least twice. It was his story-telling that was practiced, and if you read them in order from oldest to latest, it was rather as though, with each successive story that he wrote, the better they seemed to get as he went along, over the years.

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Living Room / Re: Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

« Last post by IainB on September 09, 2017, 08:16 PM »

Post below is from the Well-wishing site. Note the period of three days (starting 10 Sep 2017), open for a free Kindle copy of Vol. 1 of ‘There Will Be War’.

Well-Wishing
This page is for site visitors to post remembrances and thoughts at the time of Dr. Pournelle’s passing (8 Sep 2017).  Your thoughts can be added using the form at the bottom of this page. Comments that are not related to words of encouragement or condolences will be removed.

Dr. Pournelle’s family appreciates those that have taken the time to send encouragement and well wishes.

(Note: the site is experiencing a very high visitor count, so things are a bit slow, and you may see errors. Site admins are working on the problem.)

For those that are interested in Dr. Pournelle’s books, please see the e-books  page or the Amazon page at http://amzn.to/2xliy73 .

Vox Day has announced that as part of a memorial the first volume of ‘There Will Be War’ will be free on Kindle for three days (starting 10 Sep 2017). See here:  http://amzn.to/2famw7N.
_______________________________________________

EDIT 2017-10-11: Info (edited/abbreviated) from Amazon.com added:

Link: There Will Be War Volume I eBook: Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Robert Heinlein, Gordon R. Dickson, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, John F. Carr: Kindle Store
There Will Be War Volume I Kindle Edition
by Jerry Pournelle  (Author, Editor), Larry Niven (Author), Robert Heinlein (Author), & 4more
4.3 out of 5 stars    58 customer reviews   
See all formats and editions
Kindle $5.55

Length: 368 pages

Created by the bestselling SF novelist Jerry Pournelle, THERE WILL BE WAR is a landmark science fiction anthology series that combines top-notch military science fiction with factual essays by various generals and military experts on everything from High Frontier and the Strategic Defense Initiative to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It features some of the greatest military science fiction ever published, such Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” in Volume I and Joel Rosenberg’s “Cincinnatus” in Volume II. Many science fiction greats were featured in the original nine-volume series, which ran from 1982 to 1990, including Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Gordon Dickson, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Gregory Benford, Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, and Ben Bova.

33 years later, Castalia House has teamed up with Dr. Pournelle to make this classic science fiction series available to the public again. THERE WILL BE WAR is a treasure trove of science fiction and history that will educate and amaze new readers while reminding old ones how much the world has changed over the last three decades. Most of the stories, like war itself, remain entirely relevant today.

THERE WILL BE WAR Volume I is edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr, and features 23 stories, articles, and poems. Of particular note are “Reflex” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the original “Ender’s Game” novella by Orson Scott Card, “The Defenders” by Philip K. Dick, and a highly influential pair of essays devoted to the then-revolutionary concept of “High Frontier” by Robert A. Heinlein and Lt. General Daniel Graham.
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873

Living Room / Re: Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

« Last post by IainB on September 09, 2017, 07:57 PM »

I remember his column in the old Byte magazine.
________________________________

-mouser (September 09, 2017, 07:44 PM)

Yes, I used to read that sometimes - when I could get my hands on a copy. He always wrote about something useful/interesting.

874

Living Room / Re: Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

« Last post by IainB on September 09, 2017, 07:48 PM »

I did a site: search of DCF and found 3 references to Pournelle:
Re: Is the party over for Microsoft?
Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Yes - "Fallen Angels"
Re: What books are you reading?

I have had his website in my BazQux reader for over a year now, I think, and it seemed to indicate that he was, or had been, in and out of hospital quite a bit and was maybe heading for the Exit lounge, but he seemed pretty stoic about it.
I think of him regarding his SF writings and his Chaos Manor website(s). He had a good mind.

875

Living Room / Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

« Last post by IainB on September 09, 2017, 07:21 PM »

Notice at JerryPournelle.com/Chaos Manor:

Passings….
  By TheWebGuy | Sep 8, 2017 - 5:01 pm | Updated: September 8, 2017 - 10:06 pm | View
From Jerry’s son Alex:

I’m afraid that Jerry passed away
We had a great time at DragonCon
He did not suffer.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Readers may use the Well-Wishing page for remembrances.  (Note: the site is being accessed by many of Dr. P’s fans and friends….you may see timeout errors because of that extra load. Site admins are working on the issue.)

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