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I was browsing books at a local bookstore the other day and stumble upon the Black Widowers[^].
It is a series (70-ish) of small mystery novels written by Asimov in the 1970s.
It is quite different from other Asimov Science Fiction books and quite enjoyable.
Rant/Discussion:
There is nothing on the internets that can better browsing real books in a real bookstore; even the website of that particular independent bookstore does not offer an interesting free-browsing books experience.
Is there a good model of website where book browsing is good? (amazon and others are crap for browsing and discovery new books IMO, but good for buying).
M.
I'd rather be phishing!
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I bought a copy of this, the Foundation series and I Robot a couple of years ago from a marvelous little bookshop in Edinburgh. You're right, you cannot beat browsing around a bookshop.
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I'm pretty sure I've read every book/short story he published at least once (I've read the Foundation series many times) and still thoroughly enjoy them. He is, imo, the greatest sci-fi author, bar none.
Asimov [^]
Pretty badly done site but does contains a complete listing of all of his works.
Since it is dad's day this week I must thank mine for introducing me to sci-fi and Asimov in particular, almost as soon as I learnt to read. Thanks dad. 
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I like Amazon's "Look Inside" feature.
It lets me get an idea of what is in the book. However, it is limited and frustrating. I don't think the web can offer a book browsing experience, because users can just read/screenshot/copy whatever they want from the feature.
I am a bit of a technophobe. I still like books and hate e-readers - I write in the books, flip back and forth between pages for comparing. I still like CDs instead of downloading music. I still prefer to be "off the grid" and avoid social media.
With small kids... I was a bit upset this past Christmas... it seems toy stores have disappeared, and I blame the current generation of electronic gadgets and entertainment. Buying toys for kids now is very frustrating and expensive as the companies don't have a good outlet for reaching consumers. Even at the big box stores... toys are junky and crammed into 1 or 2 small aisles.
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Just wanted you all to know. 
Custom code maintenance for some SSRS reports. Gotta love it.
-- Having the time of my life. 
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Good luck and God speed!
veni bibi saltavi
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For some reason the compiler doesn't like "&&" and ";"
Silliness I tell you, just silliness.
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you can use a ; simply put a ' in front of it, nobody will notice 
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There's an easy fix for those pesky compiler complaints. Start every file with this line:
On Error Resume Next
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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And do you have a point Or are you just moaning?
veni bibi saltavi
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Ernst Stavro Blofeld wrote: Doing a little VB coding currently
Sorry for your luck. 
Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.
In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. – Buddha
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VB is easier to code in so congrats. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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No time to grab your coat - just run for the door as fast as you can! 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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It is not easier to code in if it is not something you regularly do. So, I have to disagree.
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I just had to remediate a few ASP pages...
One of them...this is so difficult to even think about...the writer made a new page every time the user had to navigate away from the current page for something.
Hard to explain...
OK.
Menu -> Login -> DoSomethingPage
but, if the user popped into the DoSomethingPage before logging in, he'd be prompted to log in first before continuing. Like this:
Menu -> DoSomethingPage -> Login2 -> DoSomethingPage
There are 127 ASP pages in this thing because of navigation nonsense like that.
So, yes, VB is easier to code. It also seems to attract people who should be asking if I'd like fries with that.
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GenJerDan wrote: It also seems to attract people who should be asking if I'd like fries with that.
Maybe. But I've seen a lot of bad C# coding too.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: VB is easier to code in
In what universe?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Coder (Hired) wrote: In what universe?
In the universe where typing less syntax is considered easier. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: typing less syntax
- BC30124[^]: Property without a 'ReadOnly' or 'WriteOnly' specifier must provide both a 'Get' and a 'Set'.
- Repeating the property type in the property setter.
End If, End While, End Function, ...- Etc.
Looks like more syntax to me! 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Richard Deeming wrote: End If, End While, End Function
First off, Visual Studio adds those for you so you don't have to type them anyway.
Secondly, I've seen c# code that ended with a bunch of } and the coder had to comment with // end if and // end foreach etc, etc, because of so many } together you couldn't tell what was what.
Yet c# always needs a ";" and always needs (). You gave a couple of examples in VB but c# has extra syntax on nearly every single line. VB compiler does way more for you. Much less typing in VB.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: First off, Visual Studio adds those for you so you don't have to type them anyway.
It's still a more verbose syntax.
RyanDev wrote: the coder had to comment with // end if and // end foreach etc,
Since you're using Visual Studio, there are extensions which will display that text for you without having to add the comment. For example:
http://vscommands.squaredinfinity.com/Features-CodeBlockEndTagger[^]
RyanDev wrote: Yet c# always needs a ";" and always needs ().
Consistent code is far more readable.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Richard Deeming wrote: It's still a more verbose syntax
But less typing and way easier to read.
Richard Deeming wrote: Since you're using Visual Studio, there are extensions which will display that text for you without having to add the comment. For example:
Now you're promoting additional verbosity? 
Richard Deeming wrote: Consistent code is far more readable.
Exactly.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: way easier to read
Maybe if your a VB developer. If you spend all day working in C#, then C# is easier to read.
RyanDev wrote: Now you're promoting additional verbosity?
No. I'm saying that if you want to see what the closing brace refers to, you don't have to type comments to do it. Less typing, less code, less verbositudification. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Richard Deeming wrote: If you spend all day working in C#, then C# is easier to read.
We'll have to agree to disagree.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: VB is easier to code in
In what universe?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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