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gfish ([personal profile] gfish) wrote2008-01-22 07:41 pm
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tanj + survey

I was lazy and left the charger for my laptop in the lab today. Which normally isn't a problem because it has a sizable battery. So after about an hour of working on my Sensorimotor Computation homework, I look down and see the meter is at 50%. I mouse over and it says 1:30 remaining. Argh, what? Turns out Cygwin Emacs was having a seizure in the background, eating up 50% of the CPU. Killing that brought me back to 3:10, but argh.

Also, is "As Cold Restrains and Heat Impels" too wordy and pretentious of a title for a 7000 word fantasy short story? It comes from a 1755 poem describing a Newcomen engine pumping out a mine, and it really fits. Other candidates: Horror Vacui, The Loaded Air, Every Iron Heart Inspire. Thoughts?
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[identity profile] neuro42.livejournal.com 2008-01-23 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
how about just 'as cold restrains...'?

[identity profile] beaq.livejournal.com 2008-01-23 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
It's not too wordy. Archly truncating a quote strikes me as more pretentious than over-informing does. I wouldn't personally use an ellipsis if I went with neuro's suggestion.

[identity profile] peteralway.livejournal.com 2008-01-23 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
An eight-syllable title for a 7000-word story? That's complete madness! Everyone knows that a title should absolutely never have more than one syllable per thousand words of content. That's Blefner's law!

It sounds fine to me, actually, but this is from the guy who calls a 4-minute dulcimer instrumental "Nifty Renaissancy-Sounding Tune Cooked Up while Waiting for a Clouded-Out Observing Session," so my opinion might not be the most valid.

On a completely unrelated topic, you might find Caveman Chemistry (http://cavemanchemistry.com/) interesting. The creator of the site, Kevin Dunn, was Science GOH at confusion this weekend and had some interesting things to say about the sort of recreation of technology from the ground up that you seem to be involved in. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew about him.
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[personal profile] maribou 2008-01-23 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
I think it's a fine title. But I think "The Loaded Air" could also be good. Hard to say which would be better without having read the story.
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