The self publish version has lots of hilarity, like Zar’roc being 5’ long.

If Eragon is 6’ tall and he wears Zar’roc on his waist, then it’ll trail 4’ behind him, by the Pythagorean theorem. :P

Ohhh, I’d forgotten about that one- people always mentioned it, but I looked it up and was like “Um… it’s only 3 feet long.” One of those wonderful little errors that we have real editors for…

Ahhhh, math. Geometry was interesting for me, but only because the teacher is a bit... odd. But real math is so lovely! Everything fits perfectly and if it gets screwed up, it's YOUR fault- the math wasn't mad at you or having a bad day or something. Math isn't subjective, which is why I like it so much.

Weirdly enough, I also love reading and writing. I guess I like subjectivity only in things that can't talk back, then.

Meh, I’m an English nerd. I love classes where we can have long discussions *cough*arguments*cough* about the deeper meanings and the symbolism and the foreshadowing…

Is that the original or the edited version?

I am a huge English nerd, too. SMARTALIENQT, you are in good company!

If we can't get CP we should see if we can get his sister. >:-)

Weird quirky people are always the best.

This is true.

Fourth’d. And no one ever will, my friend. Math doesn’t actually need rules. It’s a conspiracy. You can make it up as you go along and the answer will always be the same. And if it isn’t, it doesn’t really matter in the end. We all die.

Math is more than rules. It’s a way to think through things critically and exhaustively.

ur smart

But we still all die in the end, lol. It’s called sarcasm.

That’s the spirit!

I know that I’ll live forever, because I’m so speshul.

I know I will die when I am sixty. If not by accident, I will definitely have smoked a hole through my lungs by then:P Living forever is boringXD

Well, I'll just get turned into a vampire by *hyperventilates* EDWARD CULLEN!!!!! and then I won't have to worry about it.

What are we even talking about now?

I believe we were talking about CP’s character. Then SlyShy brought up how Eragon’s sword would trail 4 ft behind him, as per a Pythagorean triangle, which brought up math, which brought up death.

To get the conversation back: Is it true that Paolini’s parent’s rummage through his fanmail and pick out the dissenters? Because, if true, that might have something to do with his character.

Parents never shield their children from the truth.

I would think that now, seeing as CP is almost thirty years old, he would be a big enough boy to face the truth.

Truth is scary. Why deal with it? Lets just live in a sparkly world of self-deceit! It has rainbows and unicorns!

my mom never shielded me from anything. I remember that when I finished my first story I have been working on for DAYS, mind you (when you are eleven it feels like ages), kept editing it, cleaning it up, went to the computer, typed it in, which, despite the fact it was not even a page long, took me several hours, printed it out , and beaming with pride, presented it to my mother. She took my beloved brainchild, read it, looked at me and said: "This is bad. There is no plot, the characters just talk to one another and nothing happens." Then she said "Go fix it. Rewrite it. Make it better."

So I am never, NEVER happy with whatever I do, I always think it blows hard, but on the other hand, I can handle criticism. I think. And no, I have no issues whatsoever:P

Truth is scary. Why deal with it? Lets just live in a sparkly world of self-deceit! It has rainbows and unicorns!

my mom never shielded me from anything. I remember that when I finished my first story I have been working on for DAYS, mind you (when you are eleven it feels like ages), kept editing it, cleaning it up, went to the computer, typed it in, which, despite the fact it was not even a page long, took me several hours, printed it out , and beaming with pride, presented it to my mother. She took my beloved brainchild, read it, looked at me and said: “This is bad. There is no plot, the characters just talk to one another and nothing happens.” Then she said “Go fix it. Rewrite it. Make it better.”

So I am never, NEVER happy with whatever I do, I always think it blows hard, but on the other hand, I can handle criticism. I think. And no, I have no issues whatsoever:P

You must be an exceptional women then.

Also, that’s what a great parent should do. Teach their child to think for himself and be independent.

My little sister tells me the stuff I write is great. I go away all chuffed and three months later I realise that she said that to distract me from the fact that SHE WAS GOING THROUGH ALL MY STUFF WITHOUT ANY PERMISSION WHATSOEVER!!!

/rant

Should you? Yes.

My little sister tells me the stuff I write is great. I go away all chuffed and three months later I realize that she said that to distract me from the fact that SHE WAS GOING THROUGH ALL MY STUFF WITHOUT ANY PERMISSION WHATSOEVER!!!

That’s what my brother does. :P

My little sister did that. I threw a fit and my parents were completely unsympathetic. Do I go through any of her stuff? No.

Same with me. :P

I don’t know if this works on Windows, but things like my diary are password-protected in a series of folders.

What REALLY ticked me off was that my boyfriend let it slip that he knew where my diary was (he had it down to the folders and everything). What comes of dating a hacker…

A hacker would not be your boyfriend because you would not find him attractive. Hackers don’t have that personality chicks dig.

A hacker would not be your boyfriend because you would not find him attractive. Hackers don’t have that personality chicks dig.

I am a geek. I’m just as attractive as he is. At least he has contacts, is acne-free, and has never needed braces, unlike his girlfriend.

Hackers don’t have that personality chicks dig.

Little do you know…

Seconded. He’s very sweet, actually.

I once went out with a hacker.

Still better than an economist;)

Hacker or cracker? There’s a difference, you know!

(for the record, I’m neither. Hoping to attain hacker status eventually, though, with the capability to become a cracker if I want)

I never show anyone my writing.

I only did that one time:P Never shown my work to ANYONE until lately. And that was a tiny little snippet.

What is the difference between a hacker and a cracker? This guy used to break security codes on computer games to distribute them freely over the internetz:P

A hack is sort of a clever use of computers or computer code, a crack is where you actually break into something. So I guess that’d fall more under the category of cracking… you don’t hack a computer, you crack one. But if you mod a game or something, that’s a hack.

Hey, my sister married a World of Warcraft player… it must have sent shockwaves through the community, though.

Although he sold his account before they got married. So I don’t know if it counts any more.

Hacking is more than just computers, it’s a lifestyle dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Great hackers can easily do anything in computers, but they can also know many things outside of computers as well. How are you going to hack a quantum processor if you have no clue how it works? How are you going to reverse engineer a new device if you don’t understand the physics and electronics?

Great hackers know plenty of math, science, philosophy, and anything else that catches their fancy. Curiosity is what drives them. A cracker is just someone who uses that knowledge unethically. A script kiddie is someone who uses things without ever knowing how it all works or trying to figure it out.

Script kiddies… those are the types who spread viruses, run spambots, etc. They usually know very little about programming or the Internet, they just copy and paste code from other places to do dumb things. They get all their knowledge from real crackers, without bothering to actually understand why it works. Somebody on, like, IRC that threatens to send you viruses is probably a script kiddie just copying the code from some website.

Crackers break into computers and computer systems, almost exclusively to steal information, mess things up, etc. They’re comparable to “black hat” hackers (meaning their intent is for “evil”, more or less). White hat hackers might break into a system, but only for good purposes. There’s actually some out there who break into servers and websites purely to see what sort of security vulnerabilities they have, but instead of exploiting them, they pass the information on to the site’s owner so they can fix the holes. They really know what they’re doing and are involved with computers because they love them, not because they get anything out of it, really.