"Nothing really replaces the experience of having a wall of books you have read and curated". I strongly second that.
As a long-time avid reader, over the past decade its been an interesting change going from a wholly physical library to mostly digital, thanks to my Galaxy Note and Kindle.
But something I truly miss is having friends come over and curiously rifle through the books on my shelf and the conversations that were started as they asked about each one (as well as the opportunity to show-off a bit).
Almost as nice an experience was, sneaking a peek at the cover of the book a guy sitting next to me on the subway/bus was reading and going on to discover that it is another good read.
So far, none of the digital bookstores/libraries have been able to sufficiently reproduce this experience for me.. though I have hope they, or something else, will be able to in the near future.
Until then, I will keep a physical copy of any favorites on my shelf for that next curious mind.
I've had many walls of books for many decades, and can only remember a couple incidents where anyone ever poked through them.
Now, I'm in the process of cutting them up, running them through a scanner, and throwing them in the recycling bin. I have apps for ipod and kindle that enable me to browse the books on my lan, and I enjoy poking through them that way from whereever I am in the house.
I'm looking forward to the day that I can store the entire thing on my ereader. So far, that would be 70Gb, but I expect it to rise by at least a factor of 10.
Almost all my friends come over make a beeline for my library and start poking around.
Sometimes, I look at a person and pick out a book that they need. Maybe it is because I am gushing over book X and pressing it into their hands.
If you don't have friends poking around in your library, it's probably best to drop it into the cloud. Those collections get heavy. That's why I am thinking of up designs to draw people into the virtual library.
Just to create an analogy for people not familiar with Chinese web, imagine if there were 2 Youtube's in the US who were both far ahead of the competition but neck-and-neck with each other... and then one-day one acquired the other.
The deal is that big. Youku/Tudou is now THE video site of China's 1.6billion+ population.
The title of the article got me quite frightened for a moment, until I read on and realized the "gun" is more-or-less an audio playback speaker with minor delay.
Early Skype users who made calls to people using their speakers instead of headsets/headphones know how this feels.. disorienting yes, but easily ignored after you get used to it.
I never imagined the effect could be implemented as a directed energy weapon. Just makes me think it would be that much easier to re-make as a DIY project, smaller and cheaper..
Long time CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) language learner here..
I'm wondering, you say it's the app you always wanted but couldn't find, but I'm sure if you looked during your Jpns studies you MUST have heard of Skritter (http://www.skritter.com/) before? They have what I would say is the best app for learning to write Hanzi or Kanji.. curious how would you say your app compares with them?
I will be checking out your app either way, great to have more options!
Actually, I started studying Japanese some 10 years ago or so (time sure flies...), and I don't think Skritter was around then. And actually, I didn't find them when I was looking around lately. My app tries to be as close as possible to real handwriting on paper, so you get nothing more than a blank space to write. For me, it needs to be touchscreen based instead of mouse, but maybe you could get a similar feel with Skritter on a tablet?
One of my absolute favorite short-stories. First came across it when I was on a SciFi reading rampage around the age of 8 or 9yrs old.. it completely struck me then, and still does each time I come across it again.
I owe it in part to SciFi stories and books like this for shattering any chance I had of narrow-minded thinking in life, and bringing perspective to Humans as a species and our place in the cosmos.
Completely agree. I too, discovered this story around that age, and I have always remembered it with clarity and passion. The other scifi short story I will never forget is Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Not the same topic, but the same sort of punch in very few words.
Probably up there amongst the most useful Python libraries IMO. Hasn't it been available for free online for a long time now though?
Anyway, in case anyone reading this missed it, the Stanford NLP class taught by Chris Manning and Dan Jurafsky starting next week (Jan 23rd) will allow programming assignments to be submitted using Python and NLTK, which is really good news.
So now's a good time to get familiar with the NLTK, or for a refresher for those of us already acquainted with it.
This is almost exactly the same path I've taken to learn Python/Django. Right now I'm at where you were at the end of Week2 (stopped at Chpt8 in DjangoBook for same reasons), and have been trying to narrow down a good next step to help me fill-in some gaps in setting up a Django site I had in mind.
'Django by Example' seems like it's what I've been looking for, surprised I missed it when gathering resources.
Good luck building your app and thanks for sharing, will be keeping watch of your blog!
Article's espousal of moving "East" here seems a little misguided to me. I've been working in Beijing for the better part of 2yrs and from what I've seen, basically wouldn't suggest moving out here unless you're in it for the long-haul.
The "white-hot" job prospects the author talks about are mainly for English teachers. If you take a look at the job sites he listed, 90%+ of the positions are English teaching.
That is all well and good as most Eng teachers here DO make easy money, enjoy a good lifestyle, and get to explore Asia, but all the while they are really just killing time... most leave after not too long and very few are able to succesfully use it as a channel to career advancement/development.
The people who should really think about moving East are those who have developed some real skills & experience other than just being a "Native English speaker", and know there will be some kind of deep-relationship with Asia throughout their careers. I would think that these people are likely to learn the language, stay longer, and do a lot better.
For CS grads or people in tech, if you make the move to one of the larger int'l companies you can make up to 3/4 of the salary back home and live a better lifestyle, AND end up saving more.
Again, like other's have said, it's not for everyone, but for some it can be a great move.
The guy organizing it doesn't seem to be around anymore, but could shoot him an email to check.