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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,846
Pulitzer
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OP
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,846 |
Hi, Great part.  Jimmy picked it up. “Yeah, it’s computer code… Oh, cool! It’s Lisp – that’s like, AI’s mother tongue, you know,” he said excitedly.
“Lisp? AI? What’s that?” Lois asked.
“It’s – Lisp is - a computer programming language,” Jimmy began, “It’s used in AI – artificial intelligence - programming, among other things. It’s been around a long time – since like the 1950s, I think. It’s almost as old as Fortran. It’s called Lisp ‘cause it’s a list-processing language – get it? L-I-S from ‘list’ and P from ‘processing’. It’s also popular with hackers. It’s better than C or C++, actually, because it’s extremely versatile…” Love it. Where is Clark?  More ASAP, please. MAF :hyper
Maria D. Ferdez.
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Don't like Luthor, unfinished, untitled and crossover story, and people that promises and don't deliver. I'm getting choosy with age.
MAF
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 120
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 120 |
“Fine. Do that, okay? I want to know what this does,” she said. “And why does Dr. Platt have this in his notes? Did he write it? Is it part of the shuttle programming, or is it malicious? He said the shuttles had been sabotaged; what about the space station itself? Oh, and –“
Jimmy was beginning to look alarmed; she waved the scrap of paper she still held at him again, and took pity on him. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Jimmy – go find out what this code thingy does. I’ll find out the rest. Go!”
He went. LOVE IT!!! Poor Jimmy - I can just see the look on his face when he finds himself with Lois Lane on the trail of a story! I've really enjoyed this story so far - sorry I haven't been good with feedback - but know that there are readers out there that are loving this story, whether you've heard from them or not!!! Keep up the great work - I'm looking forward to reading more!!! Shells
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Blogger
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Blogger
Joined: Oct 2005
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I second that. Great job! can't wait to read more.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,627 |
Excellent part! Still reading and looking forward to more!
Jen
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,217 |
Good!! 
"Practice up your shielding spells...and remember to duck if you see green light coming your way." Harry Potter to Wizengamot in OotP trial A Bad Week in the Wizengamot
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
This is another excellent part of a hugely fascinating story. It begins with what happened to Claude after he attacked Lois: Emboldened by Lois’s willingness to testify against Claude, two other young women at the Planet - one in the billing department and one in distribution - came forward with their own experiences of Claude refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer. Both had kept silent out of fear that they wouldn’t be believed. Their tales were similar – too much alcohol and the belief – promoted, apparently, by Claude - that they were to blame by getting into a compromising situation.
Faced with assault charges in his attack on Lois, and with the threat, however thin, of possible further charges in relation to the other two women, Claude accepted a plea bargain that gave him some jail time with several years’ probation. This is really interesting. Claude will apparently do a very short time in jail. I can imagine two reasons for that: one, you want to bring him back into the story, or two, you are simply pointing out that it's not uncommon for men who attack and exploit women to get off very lightly. And even though Lois herself was blameless in the Claude business, she still became the object of office gossip: The story of the set-up, Claude’s attack, and the resultant charges was told and retold around the newsroom for months, with varying degrees of accuracy. While the bulk of the staff felt Claude deserved everything he got, someone coined the title ‘Mad Dog Lane’ for Lois – and it stuck.
She heard the comments, of course, even when she tried not to. The gossip was not necessarily intended to be cruel, but it isolated her further from the casual gatherings around the coffee machine. I love how you explain Lois's nickname, Mad Dog Lane, and how you show us that this makes her even lonelier. This is extremely moving: Sam and Ellen may have disagreed with Lois’s choice of careers, but they both showed grudging pride when she started winning awards.
They never really understood how much Lois loved it, though. She was living a Princess Elizabeth life, making a difference, fighting dragons and exposing corruption. Forcing change for the better. It's so sad and poignant that Sam and Ellen are completely unable to understand Lois. But it's wonderful how you make us see that Lois's journalistic career is really about "living a Princess Elizabeth life, making a difference", taking on and fighting the dragons. And then the entire Lane family is hopelessly drifting apart. This is so melancholy: Gradually, the three of them drifted farther apart. Lois saw Ellen once a month or so, for what had increasingly felt like a duty lunch. Their ideas and goals were so different that it was hard to find any common ground. Ellen wanted to see her safe and settled in a good society marriage, while Lois wanted to keep fighting dragons.
Sam she saw rarely. He and Ellen had finally divorced when Lois was in her third year at the university, and he’d moved to New York. He sent her a card and a check at Christmas each year, and he usually called when he was in town. They would sometimes meet for lunch, but neither of them was good at small talk, so their meetings were uncomfortably stiff and formal. And this is incredibly poignant and at the same time so beautiful: She couldn’t afford to get close to anyone. She needed to accept that loneliness was just another of her… ‘gifts’ wasn’t the right word. But it was just another thing she did – unlimited speed and strength, fire vision, enhanced sight and hearing, flight, loneliness – all part of the package. I completely love this. It's a wonderful, exquisite summary of your Lois. I love it that you come up with your own names for her superpowers - not heat vision but fire vision, for example. And it's incredibly moving that her loneliness is, indeed, just a "part of the package", an inevitable consequence of all those things that irreparably set her apart from other people. Another thing that I love and deeply admire about this story is how you often seem so knowledgeable about what you are writing about. There is that explanation about how a small and slight person must approach self defence as a dance, for example. But this, your description of computer codes, was even better, so much so that I was almost gaping in awe: Jimmy picked it up. “Yeah, it’s computer code… Oh, cool! It’s Lisp – that’s like, AI’s mother tongue, you know,” he said excitedly.
“Lisp? AI? What’s that?” Lois asked.
“It’s – Lisp is - a computer programming language,” Jimmy began, “It’s used in AI – artificial intelligence - programming, among other things. It’s been around a long time – since like the 1950s, I think. It’s almost as old as Fortran. It’s called Lisp ‘cause it’s a list-processing language – get it? L-I-S from ‘list’ and P from ‘processing’. It’s also popular with hackers. It’s better than C or C++, actually, because it’s extremely versatile…”
“Jimmy –“ Lois started.
“See,” he continued, warming to his subject, “it handles complex data structures more easily than other programming languages, using list processing, recursion, and character string manipulation…” I have really no idea of what you are talking about here, but I know one thing - I believe you. And I like it when I can believe in people, when they seem to know their stuff. But now you have brought the Space Station Prometheus into the story, and as most people know, it was when the Prometheus was about to crash that Clark revealed his powers for the first time. I feel, therefore, that we are approaching a critical juncture in your story. Something important must happen. Either Lois will have to reveal her powers to the world, or else Clark will come to her super-rescue. I wouldn't mind the second alternative, but at any rate, I'm so eager to find out what's going to happen next! Ann
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 446 |
Clark? You want her to meet Clark?  This is really interesting. Claude will apparently do a very short time in jail. I can imagine two reasons for that: one, you want to bring him back into the story, or two, you are simply pointing out that it's not uncommon for men who attack and exploit women to get off very lightly. Well, truly, it was the latter. When I was writing that section - and it took a long time to write it to my satisfaction - I couldn't write him into a long sentence at all convincingly. Primarily because I just can't see such a thing happening. Regardless of what I implied about him, this was his first... legally acknowledged offense. You just don't see long or heavy punishments for that, unfortunately. I was iffy about it from the beginning, and LabRat helpfully mentioned that a statute of limitations could conceivably apply to the other two women's claims - leaving only Lois's claim. I love it that you come up with your own names for her superpowers - not heat vision but fire vision, for example. Thank you for picking up on that. In this universe, Lois, unlike Clark in other universes, has had to cope with this all on her own, from essentially early childhood. As Terry said in a comment on an earlier part, this Lois copes partly by reverting to what she remembers about her time with Mama. That includes more childish names for the things she keeps discovering she can do. Another thing that I love and deeply admire about this story is how you often seem so knowledgeable about what you are writing about. Again, thank you. I feel the same way - if I'm going to write about it, I should be able to do so knowledgeably, so that what I say is believable. Accordingly, I spend a lot of time researching some bits - like computer programming - in order to make it as believable as possible. On that note - thank you all who have commented on Jimmy. He's turned out to have a more active role than I originally expected, but he's pretty irrepressible so I've sort of let him have free rein. Part 8 will be posted shortly - as soon as I read through the post for typos. ~Toc
TicAndToc :o)
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"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three."
-Elayne Boosler
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,147 Likes: 3
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,147 Likes: 3 |
Hey, I like Jimmy the babbler! In this "universe," it fits that Lois is not only a loner, but a reticent loner.
And, as a computer programmer by trade, I can attest that everything you wrote about Lisp is absolutely correct. You didn't go into great detail, but you didn't need to, and you presented the concept about Platt's deep involvement in the Prometheus project in a most entertaining fashion.
I still like this story, and I especially like the way Lois got involved in martial arts. And the fighting-is-like-dancing concept is one that I have heard myself from my daughter's previous Tai Kwon Do instructor. (The only niggle I have with this part is that there are three degrees of brown belt, and you didn't tell us which one Lois holds!)
I'm glad to see that Clark is scheduled to appear soon. This is, after all, a "Lois and Clark" fanfiction website, not a "Lois all by herself" fanfiction website. Believe me, I know how FOLCs react to stories about just one member of this famous duo. Y'all leave her alone, okay? This is an excellent story! Let her tell it the way it needs to be told!
So, where's part 8? Why isn't it up yet? Nag, nag, nag!
Edit -- When I started this comment, part 8 wasn't up. When I refreshed the screen, part 8 was up.
I guess nagging works.
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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