On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 1:21:16 PM UTC-4, Don wrote:
[snip-snip]
> This excerpt from the J Am Med Inform Assoc touches on the "why:"
>
> "Health information technology: fallacies and sober realities"
>
> The paper persistence problem was recently explored at a large
> Veterans Affairs Medical Center where EHRs have existed for
> 10 years.

The VA has been using EHRs since the 1980s -- see
https://www.oit.va.gov/about/history.cfm

> Paper continues to be used extensively. Why? The
> paper forms are not simple data repositories that, once
> computerized, could be eliminated. [snip]

Cross-industry experience suggests that some computer systems
supplant paper forms completely and comprehensively. Others
not so much.

On Sunday, 17 April 2022 at 12:15:35 UTC+1, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On 16 Apr 2022 at 18:57:55 BST, "Tony Nance" <tonyn...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 12:50:08 PM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Amazon certainly pitches "finds" at me, and they have a decent track
> >> record. Certainly I never would have ended up with a lot of what
> >> I've read in the last few years any other way.
> >>
> >
> > I'm a bit envious - I've ordered so many different things for so many
> > different people, that the best recommendations I get from Amazon
> > are still at the level of "hey - buy #3 in <series>" when I just bought #5. :(
> >
> > Tony
> It's kind of astonishing how bad Amazon recommendations are, given they
> not only have a decade of purchase history but also my product searching
> and browsing history.
>
> If you "follow" an author they'll email you when s/he has a new book
> listed, that's by far the most useful recommend you'll get from them.

I was just looking at books at Amazon by Keith Lemon,
a fictional British television presenter... no strong
recommendations, but my point is that I think there
are 3 or 4 authors of that name.

I wanted to illustrate an argument that as a comedy
character played and improvised by performer
Leigh Francis, Keith Lemon is an alarmingly real
person.

On 2022-04-17, Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 7:15:35 AM UTC-4, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> [snip]
>> If you "follow" an author they'll email you when s/he has a new book
>> listed, that's by far the most useful recommend you'll get from them.
>
> I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
> accurate. Here is a recent example:
>
> New from Terry Mixon
>
> Customers Also Bought Items By
> JN Chaney
> Terry Maggert
> Glynn Stewart
> Christopher G. Nuttall
>
> That's a decent spectrum of relevant authors.

Yes. I don't get the "customers also bought" emails, but that's the
Amazon recommended list that I find useful when I purchase something else.
It's especially useful when I pre-order a book - I very often other
books to pre-order.

Chris

In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b-91b0-529492dc5f95n@googlegroups.com>,
Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
>
>I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
>accurate. Here is a recent example:
>
>Glynn Stewart

An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if they're
any good?
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

Default User <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> writes:

> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 6:15:35 AM UTC-5, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>
>> It's kind of astonishing how bad Amazon recommendations are, given they
>> not only have a decade of purchase history but also my product searching
>> and browsing history.
>
> While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
>

The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.

>
> I wonder how many readers prefer "accidental finds" based on things
> like covers to the current online discovery tools: blogs, forums,
> Amazon/Goodreads reviews, rankings and recommendations, etc.

There was a time (because of COVID) in which you could order books from our local library, but you could not go in to browse. I never ordered anything, but was very happy when they re-opened. (Though on Friday, I was happy to find a book that looked interesting from an author I liked only to go home, start reading it and then realizing I had already read it. At least I did not buy it.

On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 9:58:05 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b...@googlegroups.com>,
> Ahasuerus <ahas...@email.com> wrote:
> >
> >I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
> >accurate. Here is a recent example:
> >
> >Glynn Stewart
>
> An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if they're
> any good?

We had a brief discussion a few years ago:

2019-06-12:
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-5, Brian
M. Scott wrote:
[snip-snip]
> Glynn Stewart, _Starship’s Mage Omnibus_: Magic opened the
> way to the stars, and only some people have the genes for
> it. This is the story of a talented young mage who was not
> born into one of the great mage families and so lacks the
> family connections to land a position as Ship’s Mage --
> until his need complements that of a blacklisted captain in
> desperate need of one.
>
> This is an omnibus of five novellas; in the author’s words,
> it began as ‘a serialized space fantasy adventure, in the
> style of the pulp magazines of old, released in five
> episodes’. Each novella has good closure, but each one
> takes up where the previous one left off, and the whole is a
> very decent if slightly episodic novel. The writing is
> competent, and the novel is a quick but enjoyable read.

After reading this and other reviews of Glynn Stewart's books
here and on Reddit I gave _Starship’s Mage_ a try. It is indeed a
"space fantasy adventure, in the style of the pulp magazines of
old" and would not have been out of place in _Planet Stories_. It
might also make a readable space opera if rewritten by someone like
David Weber.

As it is, I can't recommend it because the author was still
polishing his craft in the early 2010s and it shows.

In article <3f2b4ef7-9352-4665-bbff-7854855e993dn@googlegroups.com>,
Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
>On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 9:58:05 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
>> In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b...@googlegroups.com>,
>> Ahasuerus <ahas...@email.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
>> >accurate. Here is a recent example:
>> >
>> >Glynn Stewart
>>
>> An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if they're
>> any good?
>
>We had a brief discussion a few years ago:
>
>2019-06-12:
>On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-5, Brian
>M. Scott wrote:
>[snip-snip]
>> Glynn Stewart, _Starship’s Mage Omnibus_: Magic opened the
>> way to the stars, and only some people have the genes for
>> it. This is the story of a talented young mage who was not
>> born into one of the great mage families and so lacks the
>> family connections to land a position as Ship’s Mage --
>> until his need complements that of a blacklisted captain in
>> desperate need of one.
>>
>> This is an omnibus of five novellas; in the author’s words,
>> it began as ‘a serialized space fantasy adventure, in the
>> style of the pulp magazines of old, released in five
>> episodes’. Each novella has good closure, but each one
>> takes up where the previous one left off, and the whole is a
>> very decent if slightly episodic novel. The writing is
>> competent, and the novel is a quick but enjoyable read.
>
>After reading this and other reviews of Glynn Stewart's books
>here and on Reddit I gave _Starship’s Mage_ a try. It is indeed a
>"space fantasy adventure, in the style of the pulp magazines of
>old" and would not have been out of place in _Planet Stories_. It
>might also make a readable space opera if rewritten by someone like
>David Weber.
>
>As it is, I can't recommend it because the author was still
>polishing his craft in the early 2010s and it shows.

I am enjoying the Duchy of Terra series though it tends towards over-woke
now and then. I did not like the one Castle Federation book I read. I
believe I have reviewed all those here.

On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 7:52:07 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 3:39:31 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 12:13:25 AM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > “How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero”
> > > https://dnyuz.com/2022/04/15/how-barnes-noble-went-from-villain-to-hero/
> > >
> > > “After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs
> > > are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a
> > > supervillain are celebrating its success."
> > B&N was certainly not seen as a villain when they opened their
> > College Station, Tx store in the late 1990s. With only one other
> > store selling new books in the town (Hastings) it was most welcome.
> [snip]
>
> I suspect that it would be useful to unpack the passive voice, i.e. "was seen".

Well, to put it another way, people I knew seemed excited to have this store, and I
heard or saw no grumbling. I didn't read the local paper, so perhaps the letters columns
were full of complaint, but I doubt it.

The student population enjoyed using it as a large coffee shop, so they could study there
instead of in the soulless emptiness of the Sterling Evans library. Or something.

Over the next couple of years I dropped a few hundred dollars there on books I'd never have
found on Amazon.

I also an anti-Semitic tract in the bargain bin, one by (or allegedly by) Father Coughlin (Once again, America, our apologies). But I suspect that had been dropped in by a believer, not B&N. It was not priced as B&N priced books.

William Hyde

On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 2:17:57 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 7:52:07 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> > On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 3:39:31 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > > On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 12:13:25 AM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > > “How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero”
> > > > https://dnyuz.com/2022/04/15/how-barnes-noble-went-from-villain-to-hero/
> > > >
> > > > “After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs
> > > > are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a
> > > > supervillain are celebrating its success."
> > > B&N was certainly not seen as a villain when they opened their
> > > College Station, Tx store in the late 1990s. With only one other
> > > store selling new books in the town (Hastings) it was most welcome.
> > [snip]
> >
> > I suspect that it would be useful to unpack the passive voice, i.e. "was seen".
> Well, to put it another way, people I knew seemed excited to have this store,
> and I heard or saw no grumbling. I didn't read the local paper, so perhaps the
> letters columns were full of complaint, but I doubt it.
>
> The student population enjoyed using it as a large coffee shop, so they
> could study there instead of in the soulless emptiness of the Sterling
> Evans library. Or something.
[snip]

I see. Typically, those who complain about large stores moving in are
worried about local, smaller, stores being driven out of business.
Perhaps Hastings didn't have a strong following.

On 18 Apr 2022 at 04:12:31 BST, "Joe Pfeiffer" <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu>
wrote:

> Default User <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 6:15:35 AM UTC-5, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>>
>>> It's kind of astonishing how bad Amazon recommendations are, given they
>>> not only have a decade of purchase history but also my product searching
>>> and browsing history.
>>
>> While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
>>
>
> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
> products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.

Yes, the urgency with which they attempt to fulfill my obvious desire to
collect more and more toaster ovens is remarkable.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"Meanwhile, guinea pigs are displaying the survival
instincts of lemmings ... quite astonishingly, 2.86 per
cent of the little blighters have been damaged by a
karaoke machine."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17/pet_wii_problem/

On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 3:37:06 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 2:17:57 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 7:52:07 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> > > On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 3:39:31 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > > > On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 12:13:25 AM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > > > “How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero”
> > > > > https://dnyuz.com/2022/04/15/how-barnes-noble-went-from-villain-to-hero/
> > > > >
> > > > > “After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs
> > > > > are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a
> > > > > supervillain are celebrating its success."
> > > > B&N was certainly not seen as a villain when they opened their
> > > > College Station, Tx store in the late 1990s. With only one other
> > > > store selling new books in the town (Hastings) it was most welcome.
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > I suspect that it would be useful to unpack the passive voice, i.e. "was seen".
> > Well, to put it another way, people I knew seemed excited to have this store,
> > and I heard or saw no grumbling. I didn't read the local paper, so perhaps the
> > letters columns were full of complaint, but I doubt it.
> >
> > The student population enjoyed using it as a large coffee shop, so they
> > could study there instead of in the soulless emptiness of the Sterling
> > Evans library. Or something.
> [snip]
>
> I see. Typically, those who complain about large stores moving in are
> worried about local, smaller, stores being driven out of business.
> Perhaps Hastings didn't have a strong following.

Hastings did fine, it was as much a music/video/comic book store as anything else. It was part of a chain that went under, but not until 2016. I still shopped at Hastings after B&N arrived. Their SF section was a bit better stocked, I thought.

Our used bookstores, half price books and Joe's books, probably profited from more stock being available.

William Hyde

On Monday, 18 April 2022 at 22:05:48 UTC+1, William Hyde wrote:
> On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 3:37:06 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> > On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 2:17:57 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > > On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 7:52:07 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> > > > On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 3:39:31 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
> > > > > On Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 12:13:25 AM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > > > > “How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero”
> > > > > > https://dnyuz.com/2022/04/15/how-barnes-noble-went-from-villain-to-hero/
> > > > > >
> > > > > > “After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs
> > > > > > are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a
> > > > > > supervillain are celebrating its success."
> > > > > B&N was certainly not seen as a villain when they opened their
> > > > > College Station, Tx store in the late 1990s. With only one other
> > > > > store selling new books in the town (Hastings) it was most welcome.
> > > > [snip]
> > > >
> > > > I suspect that it would be useful to unpack the passive voice, i.e. "was seen".
> > > Well, to put it another way, people I knew seemed excited to have this store,
> > > and I heard or saw no grumbling. I didn't read the local paper, so perhaps the
> > > letters columns were full of complaint, but I doubt it.
> > >
> > > The student population enjoyed using it as a large coffee shop, so they
> > > could study there instead of in the soulless emptiness of the Sterling
> > > Evans library. Or something.
> > [snip]
> >
> > I see. Typically, those who complain about large stores moving in are
> > worried about local, smaller, stores being driven out of business.
> > Perhaps Hastings didn't have a strong following.
> Hastings did fine, it was as much a music/video/comic book store as anything else. It was part of a chain that went under, but not until 2016. I still shopped at Hastings after B&N arrived. Their SF section was a bit better stocked, I thought.
>
> Our used bookstores, half price books and Joe's books, probably profited from more stock being available.

And finally I understand that Hastings isn't the
town name.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings>

Nor indeed <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes>

Which someone has been at, I think. "Barnes (name),
a family occupation driven by an unending desire of
naming people (includes lists of people with severe
naming addiction )". I have corrected that.

Seeming more serious: "According to one etymology,
the name is derived from Old English beorn (warrior),
which is in turn of Old Norse origin. In another account,
it was simply an occupational name for a person who
works in a barn, or a topographic name for a person who
lives near a barn."

On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 1:13:45 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 9:58:05 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> > In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b...@googlegroups.com>,
> > Ahasuerus <ahas...@email.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
> > >accurate. Here is a recent example:
> > >
> > >Glynn Stewart
> >
> > An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if they're
> > any good?
> We had a brief discussion a few years ago:
>
> 2019-06-12:
> On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-5, Brian
> M. Scott wrote:
> [snip-snip]
> > Glynn Stewart, _Starship’s Mage Omnibus_: Magic opened the
> > way to the stars, and only some people have the genes for
> > it. This is the story of a talented young mage who was not
> > born into one of the great mage families and so lacks the
> > family connections to land a position as Ship’s Mage --
> > until his need complements that of a blacklisted captain in
> > desperate need of one.
> >
> > This is an omnibus of five novellas; in the author’s words,
> > it began as ‘a serialized space fantasy adventure, in the
> > style of the pulp magazines of old, released in five
> > episodes’. Each novella has good closure, but each one
> > takes up where the previous one left off, and the whole is a
> > very decent if slightly episodic novel. The writing is
> > competent, and the novel is a quick but enjoyable read.
>
> After reading this and other reviews of Glynn Stewart's books
> here and on Reddit I gave _Starship’s Mage_ a try. It is indeed a
> "space fantasy adventure, in the style of the pulp magazines of
> old" and would not have been out of place in _Planet Stories_. It
> might also make a readable space opera if rewritten by someone like
> David Weber.
>
> As it is, I can't recommend it because the author was still
> polishing his craft in the early 2010s and it shows.

You are not wrong -- or at least, I do not disagree -- the first one is
a bit uneven to say the least. However, I will say his writing does
improve - I've only the Starship's Mage series (and he writes a *lot*
of other stuff), but I've read all 11(?), and I look forward to the next
one.

Tony

On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 9:58:05 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b...@googlegroups.com>,
> Ahasuerus <ahas...@email.com> wrote:
> >
> >I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
> >accurate. Here is a recent example:
> >
> >Glynn Stewart
>
> An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if they're
> any good?
>

Last summer, I wrote the following in a thread here:
"The writing is plain and direct, and certainly doesn't get in the way.
It's also thoughtful, or at least, you can tell serious thought went into
what he's writing.

The series I'm reading is basically interstellar space opera, with some
mages integrated in. There aren't a ton of mages around. They have
limits on using their magic, suffering exhaustion after not-all-that-much
magic usage; and there are serious physical consequences (including
long-term or permanent) if they don't heed the limits. For example, ships
need mages to "jump" across space, but a mage typically has to rest 8(?)
hours after a jump.

Anyhow, to me, this series isn't great, but it's good, and I'm looking
forward to reading #11."

And I did enjoy #11, and look forward to #12.
- Tony

In article <b74c24a2-927c-41da-b4f5-ab031870fb10n@googlegroups.com>,
Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>The series I'm reading is basically interstellar space opera, with some
>mages integrated in. There aren't a ton of mages around. They have
>limits on using their magic, suffering exhaustion after not-all-that-much
>magic usage; and there are serious physical consequences (including
>long-term or permanent) if they don't heed the limits. For example, ships
>need mages to "jump" across space, but a mage typically has to rest 8(?)
>hours after a jump.
>
Ah, side-stepping the issue I noticed in the Universe RPG, where
jumps are instant, zero-energy, and as near as I can tell, can be
made one per game-round. A top notch pilot sticking to jump distances
where mishaps are impossble can get to the core of the galaxy
in a hilariously short time (the main limit is how fast the
ship's engineers can swap out a particular part that burns out
after a few jumps). The Universe map is only 60 LY wide.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
> Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
> > While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
> >
> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
> products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.

I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that, they recommended several somewhat different ones.

Brian

On Mon, 18 Apr 2022 01:58:01 +0000, James Nicoll wrote:

> In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b-91b0-529492dc5f95n@googlegroups.com>,
> Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
>>
>>I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
>>accurate. Here is a recent example:
>>
>>Glynn Stewart
>
> An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if
> they're any good?

After discussion about him here(I think) I started reading his Starship
Mage books and later a couple his Vengeance books(I believe I posted here
that the Vengeance books pulled a lot from Traveller). The first Mage
book was very rough,very rough(his first thing published I think) but it
was still interesting enough for me to read the next one and I continued
for the next six and his writing did improve as he went along. I just
forgot to keep an eye out for his next book so now that he has been
brought back to mind I need to check and see what he has been doing.

On 4/18/2022 7:41 PM, Default User wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
>> Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
>>> While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
>>>
>> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
>> products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.
>
> I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that, they recommended several somewhat different ones.
>
Its in case you are dissatisfied with the one you bought.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Mon, 18 Apr 2022 17:53:16 +0000, Ted Nolan wrote:

> In article <3f2b4ef7-9352-4665-bbff-7854855e993dn@googlegroups.com>,
> Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
>>On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 9:58:05 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> In article <012161cd-0381-4b8b...@googlegroups.com>,
>>> Ahasuerus <ahas...@email.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >I find their "customers also bought items by" emails to be reasonably
>>> >accurate. Here is a recent example:
>>> >
>>> >Glynn Stewart
>>>
>>> An author local to me whose books I have not read. Anyone know if
>>> they're any good?
>>
>>We had a brief discussion a few years ago:
>>
>>2019-06-12:
>>On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-5, Brian M. Scott wrote:
>>[snip-snip]
>>> Glynn Stewart, _Starship’s Mage Omnibus_: Magic opened the way to the
>>> stars, and only some people have the genes for it. This is the story
>>> of a talented young mage who was not born into one of the great mage
>>> families and so lacks the family connections to land a position as
>>> Ship’s Mage --
>>> until his need complements that of a blacklisted captain in desperate
>>> need of one.
>>>
>>> This is an omnibus of five novellas; in the author’s words,
>>> it began as ‘a serialized space fantasy adventure, in the style of the
>>> pulp magazines of old, released in five episodes’. Each novella has
>>> good closure, but each one takes up where the previous one left off,
>>> and the whole is a very decent if slightly episodic novel. The
>>> writing is competent, and the novel is a quick but enjoyable read.
>>
>>After reading this and other reviews of Glynn Stewart's books here and
>>on Reddit I gave _Starship’s Mage_ a try. It is indeed a "space fantasy
>>adventure, in the style of the pulp magazines of old" and would not have
>>been out of place in _Planet Stories_. It might also make a readable
>>space opera if rewritten by someone like David Weber.
>>
>>As it is, I can't recommend it because the author was still polishing
>>his craft in the early 2010s and it shows.
>
> I am enjoying the Duchy of Terra series though it tends towards
> over-woke now and then.

I have been reading a series(not great but not awful either) that I would
not call over-woke exactly but it does have some of the most awkwardly
inserted "wokeness" that I have ever seen. In one book one of the minor
characters turns out to be trans apparently only to show that the main
character is fine with that. In another there is a whole segment about
how a murdered girl taught another character that gender and sex do not
matter and that people should just love each other souls. Said dead girl
being a stripper that got herself killed by dumping a corrupt cop to
become a child raping Russian(In Space) mafia leader's kept woman. I
mean who could ever argue with such a font of wisdom?

On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 10:41:25 PM UTC-4, Default User wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
> > Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
> > > While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
> > >
> > The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
> > products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.
> I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that, they recommended several somewhat different ones.
>
>

That's for w hen the one you ordered doesn't meet expectations and
you realize you need a better one....? :)

--
Kevin R
a.a #2310

On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 4:38:54 PM UTC-4, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On 18 Apr 2022 at 04:12:31 BST, "Joe Pfeiffer" <pfei...@cs.nmsu.edu>
> wrote:
> > Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
> >
> >> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 6:15:35 AM UTC-5, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> >>
> >>> It's kind of astonishing how bad Amazon recommendations are, given they
> >>> not only have a decade of purchase history but also my product searching
> >>> and browsing history.
> >>
> >> While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
> >>
> >
> > The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
> > products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.
> Yes, the urgency with which they attempt to fulfill my obvious desire to
> collect more and more toaster ovens is remarkable.

You can turn off Google targeted ads. I've done so, and the online ads
which escape my ad blocker have become much more entertaining, from
suggestive lingerie to obscure pieces of heavy duty industrial equipment.

pt

On Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:41:23 -0700 (PDT), Default User
<defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
>> Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
>> > While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
>> >
>> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
>> products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.
>
>I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that, they recommended several somewhat different ones.

We may not have Artificial Intelligence, but we clearly /do/ have
Artificial Stupidity.
--
"I begin to envy Petronius."
"I have envied him long since."

Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote in
news:fipt5htq5kq8thugh7a41s6d2e4h956km3@4ax.com:

> On Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:41:23 -0700 (PDT), Default User
> <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer
>>wrote:
>>> Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
>>> > While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations
>>> > to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many
>>> > I have investigated further.
>>> >
>>> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly
>>> competing products immediately after I've bought something is
>>> amazing.
>>
>>I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that
>>aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent
>>purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that,
>>they recommended several somewhat different ones.
>
> We may not have Artificial Intelligence, but we clearly /do/
> have Artificial Stupidity.

We've had that for many years. It used to be called "an MBA."

--
Terry Austin

Proof that Alan Baker is a liar and a fool, and even stupider than
Lynn:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration
(May 2019 total for people arrested for entering the United States
illegally is over 132,000 for just the southwest border.)

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

On 18/04/2022 21.41, Default User wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:12:36 PM UTC-5, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
>> Default User <defaul...@yahoo.com> writes:
>>> While certainly far from perfect, I find the recommendations to be reasonably aligned with my history and interests. Many I have investigated further.
>>>
>> The frequency with which they will serve up ads for directly competing
>> products immediately after I've bought something is amazing.
>
> I'm sure it's mostly automated, but some of the things that aren't consumables probably don't need an immediate subsequent purchase. I bought an car battery charger from them. After that, they recommended several somewhat different ones.

Yeah, after I bought a bracket to wall-mount my TV, they kept
recommending more of them for months.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding;
Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind.