The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero: Comments

Comment on "Describe Myself in Two Paragraphs?"

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:01:33 -0800

I suggest you make both paragraphs stanzas, and use what exists on badpoetry. Include a link to your photobooth set on flickr, and they should have a pretty accurate picture. :D

- JD Huntington

Comment on "Under-exposed Programmer"

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:39:22 -0800

Perhaps a discussion on determining good code from bad, and how to find them among the vast library of OSS is in order?

- Seth Croston Barber

Comment on "Under-exposed Programmer"

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:22:15 -0800

I asked myself the same question when that article came out. My first thought was that since I was reading yegge's article, I might as well look for some of his code too. Since I'm an emacs guy, this was valuable, since yegge writes some awesome elisp.

Aside from that, I've found that github makes this task almost trivial. I found a project I knew about (and whose code I thought was good), looked at all the contributors, then looked at all the projects they've got, and looked at their contributors, and so on with this run-on sentence. There's hundreds of decent codebases there, all of which will probably make a reader better of for having read them.

Just my $0.02

- JD Huntington

Comment on "It's All in the Timing"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:22:36 -0800

Well, this is a bit late and all, but I hope that you get a chance to play....

- Seth Ben-Ezra

Comment on "Video Diary for Your Child"

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:26:44 -0800

If I were to make such a video, I would make it for my child to watch when he/she was grown. So, I would include things that would not only show what I was like during that time, but that may be helpful for the child when preparing for his/her own first child.

- Dowaito

Comment on "What Salary Am I Worth?"

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:11:17 -0800

To Dowaito I ask: "But how do you know your probable worth?"

To JD I ask: "But what about those jobs that don't generate revenue?" Sure you can point to those people and mumble something about not being able to function as a company without them, but the fact remains they are a liability to the budget not an asset.

And let me then pose this question: "When is a raise merited?" If I do the job I am paid to do, and agreed to do at a set price, when am I justified in asking to change that price? Obviously a shift in duties is a great time to bring it up, but are there other appropriate times?

- Seth Croston Barber

Comment on "What Salary Am I Worth?"

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:00:50 -0800

I think a person is worth a portion of what revenue they generate for the company they work for. What that portion is, I can't say since I don't run a business.

In my opinion, justification for a raise is simply showing how one's work has contributed to the company's well-being and ultimately the bottom line.

- JD

Comment on "What Salary Am I Worth?"

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:57:09 -0800

I've never been good at that stuff.
I tend to work at less than I am probably worth until something better comes along.

Occasionally, a boss will recognize my worth and give decent raises and bonuses, but that has been rare.

- Dowaito

Comment on "A Lesson Driven Home"

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:26:25 -0800

Personally I think "Signs" failed in achieving what I'm talking about in that in the end you find out, "Oh, it's just an alien, and a stupid one at that." Had the movie ended with only a glimpse of the threat, but not a clear understanding of what it was, then I think the movie would be a great example of what I'm getting at.

- Seth Croston Barber

Comment on "A Lesson Driven Home"

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:15:43 -0800

Take care to reveal the haunt, and don't let liz roll a bunch of blank die.

On a more serious note, I think 'Signs' was a great example of this. There was so much buildup to the haunt that it actually did surprise a lot of viewers, even though the alien wasn't terribly haunting in its own right.

- JD

Comment on "Monster as Protagonist?"

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:46:51 -0800

I like the idea of having a monster as the main character, and I hope you'll share the story when you're done with it.

As I mentioned in IRC, I don't believe that the monster is the protagonist in the stories I've read (It's usually been the narrator in my opinion), but I think it's a great idea.

- JD

Comment on "Finding Good Horror Stories"

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:35:43 -0800

As to where you'll find it, I haven't the foggiest.

My only worthwhile point of reference is probably the cyberpunk genre of sci-fi. Sci-fi is a pretty broad topic (but maybe not as broad as horror), and it can be hard to find good writings in the specific cyberpunk genre. In fact, in the research I've done (which is basically just asking you questions), I've found that there are four, maybe five authors worth reading. Would it be correct to guess that the "weird fiction" genre is just as limited as cyberpunk?

- JD

Comment on "Finding Good Horror Stories"

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:30:31 -0800

JD,

What places would be the right places though, and how would I find them, and even then how would I be able to measure the story before investing time reading it? My main complaint stems from my inability to get a good handle on a broad genre. It's hard for me to find a good "horror" book, and harder still to find good magazines.

For instance: I know what I will get with a science fiction magazine (Asimvo's) or a mystery magazine (Alfred Hitchcock) or even a fantasy fiction magazine (mostly sword and sorcery stuff). But what will I get with a "horror" magazine? Ghosts? Vampires? Monsters? Gigeresque aliens? Possessed dogs? Some of those appeal and some do not.

I think in the end what I want is not "horror" but "weird" and because I have to look for weird among the horror I'm failing. I think horror stories are authored with an intent to scare, and that's not what I'm reading for. If this is the case the problem lies with me, the audience, and I need to seek a different author . . . but where to find said author?

- Seth Croston Barber

Comment on "Finding Good Horror Stories"

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:42:00 -0800

First of all, I must say I've read nowhere near as much as you have, so take this for what it's worth.

With that said, is it possible that Lovecraft is more one-of-a-kind than you may have thought? Perhaps it's extremely difficult to find lovecraft style writing because no one else has had the creativity to attempt something else.

The record industry springs to mind. . . 90% of the songs that I hear on mainstream stations all sound the same, and they sound like crap. To find music I like, I've gotta go elsewhere, and I know you too like less-than-mainstream music. I recall Lovecraft's story too, where he couldn't get published in the mainstream, and instead was published in pulp fiction (if my memory serves me correctly). Maybe you're just looking in the wrong places?

- JD

Comment on "To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft"

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:52:09 -0800

You could update it... multiple single points of view.

Dracula is mentioned above. It's not all one person. It's multiple single persons.
This works on a character level. Different people see different things in the same picture, why not the same place and time.

Using the Blair witch as an example, they didn't survive, but their account did.
You only need the account to survive.

E.g. E-mails from the edge. Messages from the same source. IM records. Recording transcripts. Blog entries from all concerned, news reports mixed in. Collecting the accounts of the people there. The final ones are the survivors, but you have the others along the way. An account from someone who doesn't make it can hurt more than an account about someone that didn't make it.

Scrap books from the edge. It might get you in to a position that works.

- Will

Comment on "To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft"

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:05:08 -0800

I'm notorious for having a thin skin when it comes to my writing, and since it's a hobby and a passion of mine I don't particularly care to weather the criticism of other people. I'm sure it's something I need to get over, but still . . . it always sucks to find someone who is against you rather than with you.

And in defense of the mailing list poster he wasn't maligning the use of first person narrative, rather the fact that there are quite a few stories in which it is told from the point of view of the only man who survived the horror and now he writes about it, which again is the only kind of story that makes sense and will have the greatest impact (in my opinion anyway).

- Seth Croston Barber

Comment on "To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft"

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:49:53 -0800

One person's opinion shouldn't really affect you so much.

Having said that, here is my opinion. First person accounts are more personal, and have
been a very affective story telling method for macabre fiction, mystery fiction, and every thing in between. Both in written and verbal forms, the first person account is a classic storytelling method. One could say Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fell into a rut of having a witness account of a super human detective who always solved the crime. Such silly comments do not belittle the likes of Doyle or Lovecraft, they point to the ignorance of the wanna be who makes the claim.

And lest I forget, one of the most beloved horror fictions of all time use the first person account to amazing affect. I refer to Bram Stoker's _Dracula_

- Dwight McDowell

Comment on "To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft"

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:49:00 -0800

As an amateur fan of fiction (and a neophyte fan of horror), I have to say that the first person narrative form of Lovecraft's is the single most interesting aspect of his writing that will keep me reading more. I can imagine commenter on the mailing list get tired of the theme after reading a number of stories in a row, but it's not a sentiment I share.

As far as not sharing your stories: if every author ceased writing a style that some twit had critiqued on a mailing list, we wouldn't have any writing left at all.

- JD

Comment on "Another Look at Writer's Block"

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 02:16:47 -0800

It isn't writers block really. Writers block is not the "temp" problem along the way. It's the thing which stops you for years. However you can't tell which it is until you are in the middle of it.

- Will

Comment on "Another Look at Writer's Block"

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:46:45 -0800

Will,

It's funny you make all those suggestions because that's what I usually do. In fact talking it over with my wife helps the most as does just giving it a break and wait for that "Ah-ha!" moment. Still, I do wonder if this can be called Writer's Block or not. . . .

- Seth Croston Barber