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John
https://www.goodreads.com/johnwbh
Everything is big with Rafa. It always was. The biggest bully, the loudest laugher, the charismatic boy, the golden light; as profligate with his anger as his pleasure. Lucas has grown up as his shadow: restrained and precise; honed and
...more
“Ginger: You know what the greatest tragedy is in the whole world?... It's all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they're really good at. It's all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It's all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad plowmen instead. It's all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when it's even possible to find out. It's all the people who never get to know what it is that they can really be. It's all the wasted chances.”
― Moving Pictures
― Moving Pictures
“could have finished faster, but I figured caution’s best when setting fire to rocket fuel in an enclosed space.”
― The Martian
― The Martian
“... the ads made me feel bilious and love-stricken, invaded and debauched by a coldly mechanical lust for whatever fetish the desire machines were pushing at their victims at any given instant.”
― Neptune's Brood
― Neptune's Brood
“You’re going to die spewing your own lungs out of your nostrils, having failed at the finish line because you couldn’t help but prattle about why you killed innocent people, as though your reasons were interesting …”
― Gideon the Ninth
― Gideon the Ninth
“LOG ENTRY: SOL 381 I’ve been thinking about laws on Mars.
Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid thing to think about, but I have a lot of free time.
There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies.
So Mars is “international waters.”
NASA is an American nonmilitary organization, and it owns the Hab. So while I’m in the Hab, American law applies. As soon as I step outside, I’m in international waters. Then when I get in the rover, I’m back to American law.
Here’s the cool part: I will eventually go to Schiaparelli and commandeer the Ares 4 lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m aboard Ares 4 and operating the comm system. After I board Ares 4, before talking to NASA, I will take control of a craft in international waters without permission.
That makes me a pirate!
A space pirate!”
― The Martian
Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid thing to think about, but I have a lot of free time.
There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies.
So Mars is “international waters.”
NASA is an American nonmilitary organization, and it owns the Hab. So while I’m in the Hab, American law applies. As soon as I step outside, I’m in international waters. Then when I get in the rover, I’m back to American law.
Here’s the cool part: I will eventually go to Schiaparelli and commandeer the Ares 4 lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m aboard Ares 4 and operating the comm system. After I board Ares 4, before talking to NASA, I will take control of a craft in international waters without permission.
That makes me a pirate!
A space pirate!”
― The Martian
Logic - Mathematical and Philosophical
— 23 members
— last activity Aug 06, 2011 10:45AM
A group dedicated to the study of logic, both as a mathematical discipline and a philosophical one. Thus it concerns theorems about formal logical sys ...more
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Users of Less Wrong, a community blog dedicated to refining the art of human rationality.
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— last activity Jun 15, 2015 06:03PM
Welcome. This is a reading group for anyone interested in teaching writing. I've set a regular reading schedule that focuses on one book for 2 month ...more
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— last activity Mar 16, 2025 02:47PM
Recommend books, see what other people are reading, start a discussion, what have you. N.B. This group is not actively moderated and doesn't have any ...more
John’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at John’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
911 books
|
198 friends
10 books
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171 friends
895 books
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18 friends
310 books
|
171 friends
301 books
|
163 friends
582 books
|
271 friends
954 books
|
107 friends
1,528 books
|
62 friends
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