Recent comments in /f/newjersey

Jraz624 t1_j5q6ud8 wrote

Not going to give the best response here but it was much faster this time around. First leave was Spring 2020 (sorry everyone but Covid was my fault). This time around I started in November and I get approved and I am getting paid regularly every few weeks.

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imMakingA-UnityGame t1_j5q460m wrote

NJ played a HUGE part in computing in general, Bell Labs is responsible for creating a LOT of the stuff still used today.

To name a few:

The transistor

The Laser

The solar cell

The fields of radio astronomy and information theory

The GUI

UNIX operating system (still at the core of most machines running today, even new ones)

The C programming g language (still at the core of most machines running today, even new ones, countless programming languages abstracted ontop of/out of this)

There are many im forgetting I’m sure. It has had like 9 Nobel prizes come out of it i think. Today it is a shell of its former self but Bell Labs is more or less to thank for the modern world of computing. Without C and Unix, computers being so accessible to the masses wouldn’t have happened.

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imMakingA-UnityGame t1_j5q42s3 wrote

That is AWESOME! Please take good care of this, you’ve got a real piece of history here.

Should consider loaning it to a museum temporarily or something but I do understand the personal value to you so can’t blame you for not wanting to.

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throwawayjonesIV t1_j5pptdj wrote

Sorry meant to get back to you. I would say only jump into Pynchon if you're up for a serious challenge, but it is a rewarding one. A few of his books in particular are the most difficult, dense novels ever written. I thought I had read challenging literature before Pynchon, and I had, but not in the same way.

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That disclaimer aside, there are a couple places you could start. Some folks say Inherent Vice is a good entry point, and I don't totally disagree. It's a very unconventional detective story with a disorienting, complex plot, but a whole lot of heart and some beautiful prose. That said it is certainly his most accessible and maybe least dense. There is a wonderful film adaptation from a few years ago.

The Crying of Lot 49 is a short novella and his first published "long" work. It has many of the themes that would come to permeate his career and the prose will give you a good idea of what to expect from his more challenging stuff, while still being rather short.

Gravity's Rainbow is probably his most difficult, but is worth reading at least for the absolutely transcendent prose. I did not know english could be written in such an inventive, elastic way until this book. It is my favorite novel. It is not a book that is about a simple plot that is easy to follow and at the end it all makes perfect sense. It is at times opaque, bewildering, and esoteric, but in such an enchanting way.

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Wherever you start you will be in a good place. I would suggest not starting with Mason and Dixon, however. It is incredible but it's written in 18th century style that is wonderful and unique, but is really the only example of it in Pynchon's oeuvre. Vineland also is regarded as not as strong as his other works, so maybe not a great start. Anyways, hope this helps.

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g_ppetto t1_j5pps7o wrote

Make sure your vehicles are listed on your account. re: replenishment - we had some excessive tolls over a short period of time, all valid, but they bumped up the replenishment amount significantly. You can can the amount reduced but it takes a call to them.

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