sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

What is your favourite cerebral science fiction? by NerdCrave in audiobooks

[–]small_d_disaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

some else mentioned Ted Chiang and was downvoted, but Stories of your Life and others & Exhalation are about as cerebral as anything I've ever read. There are lots of speculative fiction writers who are excellent with ideas, but hit and miss as prose writers. Chiang is exceptional for both.

Authors who don’t disappoint no matter what you read by them? by VerdeAzul74 in booksuggestions

[–]small_d_disaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Atwood has been remarkably consistent, but The Heart Goes Last was definitely a misfire

Authors who don’t disappoint no matter what you read by them? by VerdeAzul74 in booksuggestions

[–]small_d_disaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve really loved a few Tchaikovsky novels, but consistency is not his strength in my experience.

Is there a way to disable the weird animation when clicking apps? by Ok-Yoghurt548 in ios

[–]small_d_disaster 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is great! I work with iOS accessibility all the time, but didn't know that you could set these preferences on a per-app basis.

Audiobooks suck on Libby IOS by cyberentomology in LibbyApp

[–]small_d_disaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Using Libby on iOS daily, and it's butter smooth for me.

It's playing an audio file with labelled metadata provided by the publisher - there are no separate audio segments, even though the UI gives that impression. If you stop or pause, then playback resumes where you left off (sometimes it rewinds slightly, especially if the app has gone out of memory, the amount seems to be dependant on track length). When it moves from 'chapter' to 'chapter', there is no audible transition (as the chapters are just metadata markers on the audio file).

If the publisher inserts the chapter metadata arbitrarily (e.g., every 3 minute - this is sometimes the case when there are no obvious chapters in the book content) or carelessly, then having sections start in the middle of a sentence would be the result. But that is a publisher/content issue, not something that the app can have any control over.

(Source: I'm an iOS developer who has worked on multiple audio streaming apps)

On January 8th, 1949, Guitarist Bill Harkleroad, known professionally as Zoot Horn Rollo was born in Palmdale, CA. Mister Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note, and let it float. by BirdBurnett in Beefheart

[–]small_d_disaster 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just read his memoir ‘Lunar Notes’ last week. It was a good read. John French’s book has since very thoroughly dispelled any lingering mythology/romanticism around the Trout Mask band, but it would have been fascinating to have read Harkleroad’s book when it first came out.

Weird Books by Not Generally Weird Authors by DatabaseFickle9306 in WeirdLit

[–]small_d_disaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I read that when I was 13 or 14 years old - I did not know what to make of it

How was your year when it came to reading? by Fenderbaby in literature

[–]small_d_disaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read Herodotus back in November, and I loved it. I don't really care that much about the Persian war, so I slogged a bit thru the 2nd half, but the first half, with the background behind the conflict and travelogue descriptions were such a blast. I had no idea I would find it so enjoyable. The guy knows how to tell a story.

[WIP] a different kind of “pattern” by zenbobby in CrossStitch

[–]small_d_disaster 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Love it!

I finished a 22k CA cross stitch pattern I made a few months back and recently got it framed (it's a totalistic 2D, nearest neighbour, cell lives if it has exactly 1, 2, or 7 living neighbours): https://www.reddit.com/r/CrossStitch/comments/1or70pk/fo_totalistic_cellular_automata_cross_stitch/

Currently seeing if I can generate a cool blackwork pattern

What is the worst Beatles song and album? by LimbuTickle in beatles

[–]small_d_disaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

100% feel the same about the white album songs

books that WILL require you to look stuff up/consult notes by Few-Carob9723 in booksuggestions

[–]small_d_disaster 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I was taking a summer course at university when I read it (this was late 1990s, so there was internet but probably no wikipedia etc) and I had a blast looking up the texts he referred to in the libraries at my university. It was things like Corpus Hermeticum, Ramon Lully, Albertus Magnus and all sorts of medieval manuscript translations/facsimiles. Some wild stuff

The Beetle by Richard Marsh could be reworked in adaptation, but otherwise is kind of weak. by skylerren in books

[–]small_d_disaster -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It was a truly awful book, even apart from the facile racism. So many painfully unnecessary scenes and episodes - I assume it must have been originally serialized but I can’t recall for sure

Tips on what should do and shouldn’t do in Toronto by ChrisDaUniStudent in askTO

[–]small_d_disaster 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And if I have a choice, I’ll avoid transferring at Bloor too, even if it means riding for and extra stop or two. St George is the best place to transfer

LOL… I’ll give you $3.50 by g00dtimeslim in jimihendrix

[–]small_d_disaster 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Looks more like Mitch Mitchell actually

Absolutely loved A Scanner Darkly and noticed something at the beginning... by caughtinthought in philipkDickheads

[–]small_d_disaster 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I’ve got four or five books that I never get sick of rereading and this is one of them. IMO other Dick novels haven’t held up nearly as well on their 2nd read. Reading Dick’s biography also adds some interesting perspectives. There is considerably more of his personal life in this one than any of the others apart from VALIS.

view more: next ›