Reviews by Friends of joanie-P

rsilva says "Loses focus." about Richard Dooling - Rapture for the Geeks: When Ai Outsmarts IQ

rsilva — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:15:42 GMT

Richard Dooling discusses the growing power of artificial intelligence and the possibility of the "singularity", the point at which artificial intelligence could become self-aware.

Dooling is very amusing, tossing out some great one-liners, and bringing together a wide range of knowledge from the fields of technology, science, and philosophy. He discusses Turing tests, the classic test for "true" artificial intelligence, and expounds on the implications of Moore's Law (that computer processing power doubles every two years).

He talks about current dependence on technology and about a future when man and machine become inseparable and indistinguishable, and about the possibility that humans are well on the way toward inventing the species that will supplant us as the dominant life-form on Earth.

This is serious stuff, and it's pretty fascinating, and all told with lots of humorous anecdotes and bits of trivia. If only Dooling could have stuck to the topic.

Instead, he goes off on tangents...

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rsilva says "Fast-paced fantasy that breaks some stereotypes" about The Convent of the Pure

rsilva — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:35:24 GMT

This steampunk fantasy is centered around the relationship between Portia Gyony, a nephilim demon-slayer, and the ghost of her lover, Imogen.

The relationship takes center stage here, as Portia works to unravel a web of conspiracy based in an isolated convent full of sinister secrets. Portia failed to protect Imogen, and she blames herself for her lover's death. Imogen, meanwhile, has been bound to Portia in spirit form, an ever-present voice with the ability to take solid form briefly and with great effort. As one might imagine, this can be awkward. But it's also their only hope of staying together, and neither lover is ready to let go.

Author Sara Harvey does a nice job of getting into her protagonist's head, and she also delivers on the action scenes. Her villains are fun, especially her wonderfully nasty succubus, which she does in a nicely original interpretation.

The book is sensual, but is more action and intrigue than sex. The complexity of the characters is nice to see, particularly...

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Jolie says "buyuggsboot.net is a scam! Ugg Boots from China that are fake." about www.buyuggsboot.net

Jolie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:22:46 GMT

Background on Buyuggsboot.net

A friend of mine at Viewpoints recently passed along a site called www.buyuggsboot.net. She found it online. www.buyuggsboot.net is a web site that sells all styles of Ugg Boots at discounted prices.

We werent certain if www.buyuggsboot.net were the real or not. But after a thorough review of the site, we thought it was legit. Buyuggsboot.net looks like a reasonable reseller of Ugg Boots. The page is designed well, the pictures look authentic and they make claim to having the real deal. They also consistently site throughout the web site having customer satisfaction commitments.

To add to the thought it was authentic, the pricing seemed good but not amazing. As you probably know a typical pair of Ugg Boots cost about $110. On Buyuggsboot.net the cost was $89.00- approximately a $20 savings. Seemed like a good deal, but they werent so cheap that I thought it could be scam. As an aside, last year Nordstrom had a similiar sale on Ugg boots so the pricing seemed...

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rsilva says "Three tales from the Zen tradition." about Zen Shorts

rsilva — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:40:19 GMT

Comic book artist and fantasy illustrator Jon J. Muth goes for something a bit different here with a childrens picture book of stories based on Zen Buddhism.

The framing story involves three siblings who wake up one morning to discover a talking panda named Stillwater in their back yard. Stillwater, who the author based on the 19th century zen teacher Sengai Gibbon, teaches valuable lessons to each of the children in the form of stories.

Addy learns about the value of beauty and the transience of possessions in the story of "Uncle Ry and the Moon".

Karl shows up at Stillwater's home angry about his older brother always bossing him around. Stillwater's story of "A Heavy Load" teaches him a lesson about what can happen when one holds onto bad feelings.

And Michael learns about how luck is in the eye of the beholder through the story of "The Farmer's Luck", which is a traditional story from the Taoist tradition.

The scenes involving Stillwater and the children are gorgeously illustrated in...

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