Category Archives: prose

and then there’s the Rule of Five

Just found again, by chance, something that crossed my mind the other day. The author of The Bible Code responded thus in 1997 to the obvious criticism that you can find anything if you massage random data enough: “When my … Continue reading

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1892

John J. Miller alerts us at The Corner that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born eleventy-one years ago today. Which reminds me of yet another of my oddball notions. I don’t like the word eleventy-first (or even twenty-first), because the … Continue reading

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orcses is peoples too, preciouss

Better late than never– Garrett Moritz responds (June 19) to Elvish propaganda: Elves want to save the world because it is a world that benefits them, and they’ve constructed a useful typology of good and evil which serves their ends. … Continue reading

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twelve good algorithms and true

“Jury Service” is an amusing transhuman story by Charlie Stross and Cory Doctorow.

Posted in futures, prose | Leave a comment

Orthanc and Minas Ithil

Anyway, I saw The Two Towers yesterday, and I must say some puzzling liberties were taken with the plot. The transformation of thirty Rangers (and Arwen’s brothers) riding from Rivendell into hundreds of anonymous Elf archers walking out of nowhere-in-particular … Continue reading

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teeming, with orcs

Straight Dope Message Board – If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else!? (ten pages so far; I’ve only looked at the first and last, but those are quite good on the whole) Update: The entries have been more neatly … Continue reading

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matters not reported in the Red Book of Westmarch

Ever wonder about the economy of Middle-Earth? Like: What do Rangers eat, where do their children sleep, and how do they pay for their beer at the Prancing Pony? What do the goblins of the Misty Mountains eat between dwarves? … Continue reading

Posted in economics, prose | 4 Comments