Orson Scott Card on the Ender’s Game’s Reviews at Amazon

Orson Scott Card, on reviews of his book Ender’s Game, on Amazon.

To quote him:

First, I’m embarrassed, as the author, that I have to give a rating in “stars” in order to comment here. But since I do have to do so, I’m not about to bring down the average by rating my own book any less than five .

I have often wondered if writers ever read reviews of their books at Amazon.com, apparently some do, and some actually respond.

What I also found amusing is 51 out of 52 people say they found that review (which is just Orson Scott Card’s comment on his style, and what people had to say about it) useful. How did it help them in choosing the book, I wonder. Perhaps, like me, they thought it was neat that an author cared enough to read the reviews and write a response. Perhaps, they wanted everyone to see he had responded and said they found the “review” useful.

Tool to Generate List of Acronyms in MS Word

Acronyms Master is a tool for MS Word that can create a table of Acronyms, optionally with their “discovered” definitions/expansions at the end of the the document. No, sorry, the table can’t be anywhere except at the end of the document. However, if all you want is a list of the acronyms/abbreviations in a document, it is the perfect tool. Saved me a minor headache, and I hope it comes in handy for those who are dealing with their thesis/dissertation/papers/documentation etc.

Edit: The tool is not free. The first time you use it, it’s free, and then you have to purchase it. I remember it as being free for personal use, but now it’s not. Something else might suit you better if you are looking for free software.

Breeding Pictures - Genetic Algorithms Can be Fun :)

PicBreeder is an ongoing effort at UCF (where I study/work) to create images using Genetic Algorithms. It is a community-based website where you can create an account and breed your pictures. I saw Mutating Pictures doing the rounds, and thought of how PicBreeder deserves some attention too. For one, you have more options for fun at PicBreeder, and you can turn a Butterfly into a Bat!

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