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• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  Er, because it isn't a conurbation (a purely physical geographic concept formed by the merger of towns (actually a political geographic concept) by urban sprawl. The last time I did the relevant train trip, it spent at least as long...
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  Computery stuff:- Quite possibly, given sufficient memory and processor power. See anything on "the rapture of the nerds" (lower case advisedly, sorry Charlie and Cory), "I, Phone" already cited up-thread since large bits of it work on virtualisation of London......
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  I'd suggest that could be even less helpful because Edinburgh and Glasgow will positively insist that they are 2 separate cities but they are connected by 2 separate rail routes (3 if we include Inter-city services from Glasgow Central that...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  Well, IMO any form of "art" is potentially rubbish when no-one except a small group seems to get anything out of it. That said, I wonder whether the issue with "conceptual art" is more that no-one seems prepared to explain...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  Ok, how many of the UK candidates (ignore the occasional "Christian church" ones) actually felt a need to state a position on evolution or creationism? Or is the Yousay possibly sleepwalking into becoming a theocracy in all but name despite...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  #92 part2. I can't comment on the film which I've not seen but I gave up on the trilogy after part 1 because I felt that Pullman was introducing a new character as the means of escape every time his...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  During the last primaries, not a single Republican candidate said they believed in evolution. And?? It just wouldn't occur to me to make that statement, because it's irrelevant to a politcal platform rather than because I do not believe that...
• Commented on Neptune's Brood: an excerpt
  Getting hard to distinguish perverse ignorance from trolling here... Similar feelings here. Nojay is not only an engineer, but also an urbanite. I know you're some sort of "environmental scientist" but even so "no generalisation is true, not even this...
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  On the general subject of "our cities are getting more populous", is this really true? I'm defining "the city" as the area inside $metropolis_city_limits. "The conurbation" is the distance you have to drive from one side of the suburbs around...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  Sort of neither of the above; I was referring to the concept of "everyone goes to (a Christian) church every Sunday" and actually believes in the Christian God. Arguments about whether or not a proclaimed aetheist could achieve political office...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  I see your point, but based on my acquaintances, the US "Bible Belt" is increasingly a myth outside of USin politics....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: Glasshouse
  Doesn't it just figure it's your slowest-selling novel, since it's the first I read and the one that made me decide I'd read anything you wrote. THIS!! It's not only the frist of Charlie's novels that I read, and the...
• Commented on Neptune's Brood: an excerpt
  Let's assume that the the payload space is near enough negligable mass. Given that assumption, if you increase shielding mass 100x, and want to maintain journey time as a constant, you increase the required reaction mass and its storage by...
• Commented on Neptune's Brood: an excerpt
  Well, it's up there with "It was the day that my Grandmother exploded." IMO, so it was clearly worth the effort....
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  in the end, the good guys win s/good/better...
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  The most fictional part of "National Treasure" is the claim that there's a large enough volume of solid earth under Manhattan to hide a vault complex that size, right?...
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  I'd suggest "The Crow Road", "Dead Air" or Stonemouth as probably the best stories, but think that "The Wasp Factory" (NB; highly strange warning) and "The Bridge" are the 2 best books he's written ("M" or otherwise)....
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  I'm sorry Dave, it didn't occur to me that people wouldn't recognise the word "spindizzy". I first read "Cities in Flight" back in 1969, and have a copy of it in one of the re-issued "SF masters" imprints....
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  That's actually what post #1 says....
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  It's well worth it IMO; I think the issue is that CP isn't a good "first Banksie novel" rather than it's a "bad book"....
• Commented on The Northern Wild: How to Save New York?
  "I, Phone" by David Wake (Note spellings, available from everyone's favourite large S American river, recommended to fans of either or both of Charlie and Joan) describes a London after a failure of the Thames "barrier", where some areas are...
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  While the chronologically first Culture book is Consider Phlebas, I think most people will be most easily introduced by Use of Weapons, since it follows a surprisingly military sci-fi fold for Banks. Not that he shied from the military side...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Jennifer Morgue
  Para 2 - No generaliation is true, not even that one. This is primarily a Wendyball area despite your comment about it being a Shinty one. From here the next 3 landfalls West are called St Kilda, Rockall, and Canada!...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Jennifer Morgue
  Case in point - There's a girl in Stornaway who wants to work, but can't get enough in wages and benefits to pay her bills!...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Jennifer Morgue
  Many many thanks, and please take note of my 1 comment in "Fvck every...2913"....
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  Let me add a personal tribute that you can say of all too few "famous people" these days:- He always had time for his fans. (Incidentally, and slightly off-topic, but IMO the same thing applies to you Charlie.)...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Jennifer Morgue
  Since people are "registering an interest", add me to the list of people who'd be interested in a discussion on antihypertensives and their side-effects (particularly when taken as cocktails)....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Merchant Princes
  I bought the Tor (US) series on import, and it's now being replaced by the somehow more satisfying re-write. If nothing else, it will help with the delay until Neptune's Brood arrives in paperback. Incidentally, AMZN UK have started shipping...
• Commented on Crib sheet: Accelerando
  Actually, in the light of #104 para 1, I think Greg's view on the definition of "singularity" is "everyone is out of step except for him". I'm happy that Collins' definition #4 (Vis comment #94) extends to a new "#5...
• Commented on Crib sheet: Accelerando
  Collins give "Singularity (n) 1 The state or quality of being singular. 2 Something distinguishing a person or thing from others. 3 Something unusual. 4 Physics The aera inside a black hole where the gravitational forces cause the known laws...