In this telephone call, which has become one of the more famous exchanges LBJ
recorded, the President asked a leader of the Haggar clothing company for some
custom-made pants, providing specific (and sometimes graphic) instructions on
how they should be customized for him.
One wonders what the advertising folks were smoking when they came up with this new TV advertisement for SPAM.
// Return the logical disk for the VHD's first partition
property String^ LogicalDisk
{
String^ get()
{
String^ physicalPath = this->PhysicalPath; // Calls GetVirtualDiskPhysicalPath API wrapper
String^ logicalDisk = nullptr;
// Use WMI to get the logical drive for the first partition on the VHD disk
RelatedObjectQuery^ q = gcnew RelatedObjectQuery(String::Format("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2:Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID='{0}'", physicalPath), "Win32_DiskPartition");
ManagementObjectSearcher^ searcher = gcnew ManagementObjectSearcher(q);
String^ firstPartition = nullptr;
for each (ManagementObject^ o in searcher->Get())
{
firstPartition = o->Path->ToString();
break;
}
if (firstPartition != nullptr)
{
// Now see which volumes are related to the partitions
q = gcnew RelatedObjectQuery(firstPartition, "Win32_LogicalDisk");
searcher->Query = q;
for each (ManagementObject^ o in searcher->Get())
{
logicalDisk = o->GetPropertyValue("Name")->ToString();
break;
}
}
return logicalDisk;
}
}
If you thought of organisms as computers with IP addresses, each functional group of cells in the organism would be listening to the environment through its own active port. So, as port 25 maps specifically to SMTP services on a computer, port H1 maps specifically to the windpipe region on a human. Interestingly, the same port H1 maps to the intestinal tract on a bird. Thus, the same H1N1 virus will attack the respiratory system of a human, and the gut of a bird.
Ooh, goodie! I enjoyed The Algebraist
It sounds like a bit of a departure from his Culture and far-future sci-fi, as this one is set on Earth in the (near?) future. It sounds like it may be more like some of Ken Macleod's books (or dare I say it, "The Diamond Age"). There's not really enough info on Amazon's page to know, though. So I guess I should be patient :)
It's available now for pre-order from Amazon (hardcover)... The softcover version will be out later in the year.
There is also an interesting article featuring Banks and other sci-fi authors on the BBC website here. The topic is "Can science fiction keep up with modern science?"
Movie news:
Humour links:
One of the British folks in my team at work mentioned this comedian, whom I had not heard of before: Bill Bailey. Apparently his "Guide to the Orchestra" show is great, and is coming out on DVD in the UK, so I hope it ends up being released across the pond too.
Here are some Youtube links in the meantime:
