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editor
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 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject: Gambling Sci-fi |
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WELCOME!
Gambling Sci-fi:
The Cat's Pajamas
Stories by Ray Bradbury
Hardcover
| Quote: | "Well, here's how it is, Mr. President. There was a meeting of Democratic senators in North Dakota. Thirteen of them went to the Pocahontas Big Red Casino for a night of whoopee."
"You can say that again," said the president of the United States.
"Well, one thing led to another and they wound up giving away the whole damned country."
"In one roll of the dice?"
"No, as I heard it, one state at a time."
"My God."
"To be accurate, sir, they lost New York City first, but the fist state to go was Florida."
"That figures."
"After that it was most of the southern states. Something to do with the Civil War."
"How's that?"
"I don't know. It's still all a little fuzzy. But the Civil War's never been completely forgotten, and it would be just like southern Democrats to deal it back to the reds."
"Then what?"
"Well, state by state, ending with Arizona, and the next thing you know, with a final toss, America the Beautiful, sea to shining sea, belonged to Iron Cloud."
"The Indian chief?"
"Yes. He runs the casino."
The president mused and then said, "If they can drink, so can I. Refill my glass." (From Hail to the Chiefat pgs. 44-45) |
Link to this entry
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Last edited by editor on Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:14 am; edited 12 times in total |
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editor
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| Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Oryx and Crake
Hardcover
By Margaret Atwood
| Quote: | Who could resist her? Not many of the foreigners. Her smile was perfect - not cocky or aggressive, but hesitant, shy, taking nothing for granted. It was a smile with no ill will in it: it contained no resentment or envy, only the promise of heartfelt gratitude. "Adorable," the foreign ladies would murmur, and the men with them would become adorable too; and Oryx would slip the coins into the bag down the front of her dress and feel safe for one more day, because she had sold her quota.
Not so her brother. He had no luck. He didn't want to sell flowers like a girl, and he hated smiling; and when he did smile, the effect was not good because of his blackened tooth. So Oryx would take some of his leftover roses and try to sell them for him. Uncle En didn't mind at first - money was money - but then he said Oryx shouldn't be seen too much at the same locations because it wouldn't do for people to become tired of her.
Something else would have to be found for the brother - some other occupation. He would have to be sold elsewhere. The older children in the room shook their heads: the brother would be sold to a pimp, they said; a pimp for hairy white foreign men or bearded brown men or fat yellow men, any kind of men who liked little boys. They described in detail what these men would do; they laughed about it. He would be a melon-bum boy, they said: that's what boys like him were called. Firm and round on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside; a nice melon bum, for anyone who paid. Either that or he would be put to work as a messenger, sent from street to street, doing errands for gamblers, and that was hard work and very dangerous, because the rival gamblers would kill you. Or he could be a messenger and a melon boy, both. That was the most likely thing. (From the chapter entitled Roses, at p. 130). |
This novel by one of Frostback country's most lyrical love poets makes a previous work, The Handmaid's Tale, a dark and terrifying, futuristic tale of fundamentalism gone mad, look like a comic book.
Campbell Scott, our favorite audio actor, reads it to chilling effect on unabridged CD Audio.
Oryx and Crake
CD Audio
Read by U.S. actor Campbell Scott
Link to this entry
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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Fortune
Magazine Subscription
It's not a game. The 3-D experience
Second Life is a hit with users. IBM's
Sam Palmisano and other tech leaders
think it could be a gold mine
By David Kirkpatrick
Feb. 5/07
| Quote: | | In this realm any resident can become an entrepreneur. There are nightclub owners, jewelry makers, landscapers, and even pet manufacturers. In December, Linden Lab estimated that 17,000 residents had positive cash flows in Linden dollars, with about 450 generating monthly income in excess of #1,000 (that's U.S.). One resident, avatar is known as Anche Chung, has become a celebrity of sorts by claiming to have accumulated a real-world net worth of more than $ million in Second Life real estate. She now employs 30 people in China who build things and otherwise improve the land she buys and develops for resale. Another Second Lifer developed a gambling game called Tringo, a cross between Tetris and Bingo. It became so popular that it has been licensed for Nintendo's Game Boy advance. These days, about $600,000 is spent daily throughout Second Life, for an annual GDP of about $220 million. (-- p. 62) |
More about Tringo and its developer at Wikipedia.
Link to this entry
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editor
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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*Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons
(Opinions)
Hardcover
By the sadly humorous Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
| Quote: | In a Manner That Must Shame God Himself
If I were a visitor from another planet, I would say things like this about the people of the United States in 1972:
"These are ferocious creatures who imagine that they are gentle. They have experimented in a very recent times with slavery and genocide." I would call the robbing and killing of American Indians genocide.
I would say, "The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people do not acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
"Both imaginary parties are bossed by Winners. When Republicans battle Democrats, this much is certain: Winners will win.
"The Democrats have been the larger party in the past -- because their leaders have not been as openly contemptuous of Losers as the Republicans have been.
"Losers can join imaginary parties. Losers can vote."
"Losers have thousands of religions, often of the bleeding heart variety," I would go on. "The single religion of the Winners is a harsh interpretation of Darwinism, which argues that it is the will of the universe that only the fittest should survive.
...Winners...learn how to be pitiless. They understand that the material resources of the planet are almost exhausted, and that pity will soon be a form of suicide.
"The Winners are rehearsing for Things to Come." (-- pgs. 185-186)
...The visitor might say by way of farewell what Charles Darwin seemed to say to us, and we might write his words in stone, all in capital letters, like the words of the mayor of Birmingham:
| Quote: | THE WINNERS
ARE AT WAR
WITH THE LOSERS,
AND THE FIX
IS ON.
THE PROSPECTS
FOR PEACE ARE
AWFUL. |
(-- pg. 206) |
| Quote: | | * Note: Dear Reader: The title of this book is composed of three words from my novel Cat's Cradle. A wampeter is an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve. The Holy Grail would be a case in point. Foma are harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls. An example: "Prosperity is just around the corner." A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings. Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection some of the reviews and essays I have written, a few of the speeches I have made. Most of my speeches were never written down. (Preface, p. 1) |
Link to this entry
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Last edited by editor on Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:27 am; edited 6 times in total |
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editor
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| Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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Category 7
Hardcover
By persons who would
prefer never to be reminded
of having published such
utter drivel
Get this:
| Quote: | She sat back in her chair and crossed her legs with more grace than she normally would, and noticed that the movement wasn't lost on him. Then she wondered what the hell she was doing, flirting with him. "So which of the storms I discussed have you looked at?"
"Minnesota, Barbados, Death Valey, and Simone."
She nodded. "That Death Valley storm gives the whim-whams. It literally came out of nowhere. When I first saw the radar, I would have bet money that it was a false reading." She hesitated then, wanting to continue but not wanting to give him any idea that she was inclined toward the whack-job end of the research spectrum. All that discussion with Richard had made her paranoid about it.
But damn it, the facts are what they are and can't be ignored.
She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice, looking straight into his eyes. "Jake, don't read anything into this, but even if I hadn't been looking so hard at the other ones, that one would have sent my woo-woo detectors into overdrive." (-- p. 213) |
Woo-woos forsooth!
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Paperback
By George Orwell
| Quote: | ... It was nearly twenty hours, and the drinking-shops which the proles frequented ('pubs', they called them) were choked with customers. From their grimy swing doors, endlessly opening and shutting, there came forth a smell of urine, sawdust and sour beer. In an angle formed by a projecting housefront three men were standing very close together, the middle one of them holding a folded-up newspaper, which the other two were studying over his shoulders. Even before he was near enough to make out the expression on their faces, Winston could see absorption in every line of their bodies. It was obviously some serious piece of news that they were reading. He was a few paces away from them when suddenly the group broke up and two of the men were in violent altercation. For a moment they seemed almost on the point of blows.
'Can't you bleeding well listen to what I say? I tell you no number ending in seven ain't won for over fourteen months!'
'Yes it 'as, then!'
'No, it 'as not! Back 'ome I got the 'ole lot of 'em for over two years wrote down on a piece of paper. I takes 'em down reg'lar as the clock. An' I tell you, no number ending in seven --'
'Yes, a seven 'as won! I could pretty near tell you the bleeding number. Four oh seven, it ended in. It were in February - second week in February.'
'February your grandmother! I got it all down in black and white. An' I tell you, no number ----'
'Oh, pack it in!' said the third man.
They were talking about the Lottery. Winston looked back when he had gone thirty metres. They were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems, forecasts and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the running of the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the Party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons. In the absence of any real inter-communication between one part of Oceania and another, this was not difficult to arrange. (-- pgs. 88-89) |
| Quote: | 1984
DVD
A perfect cast of UK actors so authentic it's had to tell where the text leaves off and the movie begins. Top hole! |
| Quote: | 1984
Audio CD
Narrated by British actor Timothy West
Still awaiting this one. Please check back for updates.
|
| Quote: | 1984
Audio CD
Narrated by U.S. actor Frank Muller
A clear, first-rate narration by much-celebrated narrator Muller.
|
Link to this entry
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Last edited by editor on Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:32 am; edited 6 times in total |
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:44 am Post subject: |
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From Impossible Odds:
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
A Trilogy in Four Parts
Hardcover
By Douglas Adams
| Quote: | The Infinite Improbability Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing vast interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.
It was discovered by a lucky chance, and then developed into a governable form of propulsion by the Galactic Government's research team on Damogran.
This, briefly, is the story of its discovery.
The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice cup of hot tea) was of course well understood - and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy.
Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this - partly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties.
Another thing they couldn't stand was the perpetual failure they encountered in trying to construct a machine which could generate the infinite improbability field needed to flip a spaceship across the mind-paralysing distances between the furthest stars, and in the end they grumpily announced that such a machine was virtually impossible.
Then, one day, a student who had been left to sweep up the lab after a particularly unsuccessful party found himself reasoning this way:
If, he thought to himself, such a machine is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea...and turn it on!
He did this, and was rather startled to discover that he had managed to create the long sought after golden Infinite Improbability generator out of thin air.
It startled him even more when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute's Prize for Extreme Cleverness he got lynched by a ranpaging mob of respectable physicists who had finally realized that the one thing they really couldn't stand was a smartass. (From the first of the series, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 10, pgs. 69-70) |
| Quote: | The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
DVD
A classic!
An adaptation so effective, it's hard to tell where the books leave off and the movie begins. |
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=3669#3669 |
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