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Topic: Big Dumb Object


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In the News (Thu 17 Dec 09)

  
  Big Dumb Object   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
A term used in discussing science fiction, a Big Dumb Object (BDO) is a mysterious artifact (usually alien) in a story which generates an intense sense of wonder just by being there; to a certain extent, the term deliberately deflates this.
Dumb Criminal Acts The dumb criminals acts library is the largest collection of dumb criminal stories on the internet.
Object Oriented FAQ: Object FAQ Comp.Object FAQ (Object FAQ) is the most comprehensive resource on object technology anywhere.
www.serebella.com /encyclopedia/article-Big_Dumb_Object.html   (485 words)

  
 BookThink - Collecting Science Fiction - Big Dumb Objects
In SF, the Big Dumb Object (BDO) is an artifact usually of alien origin, usually large, and usually of mysterious design and unknown purpose.
The BDO is the technological counterpart to the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.
Perhaps the quintessential BDO in SF is the monolith of Arthur C Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
www.bookthink.com /0010/10bdo.htm   (1490 words)

  
 Encyclopedia: Excession   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
The book details the Culture's response to an "Outside Context Problem", the Excession of the title (essentially a Big Dumb Object), is a perfect fl-body sphere that appears mysteriously on the edges of Culture space.
The book details the Culture's response to an " Outside Context Problem ", the Excession of the title (essentially a Big Dumb Object, a perfect flbody sphere that appears mysteriously on the edges of Culture space, is Mysterious and Ineffable for a while, and then disappears).
One of the main plot elements is the relationship between the Culture and a civilization appropriately named the Affront, that tends to view all other sentient beings as tools for their amusement.
www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Excession   (580 words)

  
 Big, Beautiful, Dumb » Whitespace   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
While big does help you focus more on how to more efficiently use your screen realestate I have to feel a bit worried as to why any designer or IA would ever stop worrying about that in the first place.
Thinking that making everything big makes things easier is silly just the same as thinking that making everything small saves the person the trouble of having to move their eyes across the screen.
Big has its place in design, and I think certain elements of web pages and web apps scream for "big." In its current state, though, "big" is merely a trend, just like "small" was a trend in 2000.
9rules.com /whitespace/big_beautiful_dumb.php   (2922 words)

  
 Big Dumb Object Review Quotes » Solar Flare: Science Fiction News   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
Over at Big Dumb Object James is soliciting for glowing reviews.
Big Dumb Object provides intelligent and wide ranging coverage of the science fiction genre.
Its not accidental that Big Dumb Object is one of a very small number of links that feature on every page of this site rather than just the links page.
www.sflare.com /archives/big-dumb-object-review-quotes   (201 words)

  
 Fictionwise eBooks: Chasing Sacrifice by Mark W. Tiedemann
When the alien object just appeared in his path while he was linked to his ship's sensor array, he tried desperately to deal with the imminent calamity, and touched the mind within the huge artifact--
The big supplementals riding behind the usual environs array were stuffed now with artifacts and data, sandwiched with the recovered equipment.
The alarm meant the object was inside the range for safe maneuver and could not be pushed out of the way, but the only circumstance that described was a large mass on a collision vector.
www.fictionwise.com /ebooks/eBook1709.htm   (1048 words)

  
 AmEx's dumb-ass trademark threats   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
Whatever I said, I'm embarrassed to say that I probably used the phrase "scourge of academia." She expressed her dismay over the thousands of dollars this was costing her every semester for her daughter, and I agreed that that was a shame.
One of the amusing/annoying things you begin to discover when you write stuff publicly for a living, is that people who don't like what you write seem to think that just because they don't like your opinion, it means that they have a legal claim against you.
That network of supposedly "dumb" devices at the ends, is likely to beat out the centralized "smart" CEO in the middle.
www.stargeek.com /item/94776.html   (4149 words)

  
 Halfbakery: dumb rocks
Even nuclear weapons (big blunt energy-release bombs if ever there were any) are often designed to tune how the energy is directed (exaggerating the effects of radiation, or EMP, or the shock wave, or whatever is deemed most "strategic").
Given a nickel/iron meteor, which are rare, an object 1 metre in diameter should be big enough to survive reentry.
Considering that such an object would still weigh hundreds of pounds after reentry, that's a *lot* of energy to be released on impact.
www.halfbakery.com /idea/dumb_20rocks   (1846 words)

  
 sffworld.com - Larry Niven, Ringworld and the BDO
One thing I particularly like about it is the cartoon quality of the characters - probably something to do with their vivid descriptions and amusing appearances - which saves them from suffering under the weight of their own cliche and stereotype that can so often affect SF characterization.
Why, a country big and modern enough to make peace keeping a major industry; but not big enough to conquer anyone else or force its will on anyone without the support of a majority of nations; and reasonably well thought of by everyone.
It's just silly SF jargon for a mysterious object, usually a 'world' or a spacecraft of some kind, that serves as both a focal point and backdrop for a story.
www.sffworld.com /forums/showthread.php?t=10732   (2359 words)

  
 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd mistakes, goofs and bloopers
When she is tipping the tour guide, she offers her a modern day $5 bill, despite the film taking place in the 80s.
Factual error: When the guys are playing "it" in the Big A store, you can see Dasani and Mountain Dew Livewire - drinks that have only been around a few weeks/years.
After Lloyd and Harry get ice cream the principal is telling Jessica no one will be looking for her and the side view mirror has gone to a big square truck mirror like welded to the door.
www.moviemistakes.com /film3312   (781 words)

  
 Библиотека Luksian key | Ross Smith. Megastructures in Science Fiction.
Rosette: Several planets or planet-sized objects orbiting each other in a circle; there may or may not be another object at the centre.
The first appearance of such an object in SF (and the only one, to my knowledge) is Tony Rothman's _The World is Round_ (1978).
Topopolis: A long, cylindrical object, rotating for gravity, and wrapped around a star in a spaghetti-like mass (or mess).
lib.luksian.com /textsfnf/engl/129   (2608 words)

  
 Object in TutorGig Encyclopedia
Subject Object Metaphysics is terminology used by the author Robert M. Pirsig to refer to the historically...
Deep sky object DSO is a term used often in amateur astronomy to denote objects in the night sky other....jpg thumb 250px A deep sky object the peculiar spiral galaxy ESO 510 13 in Hydra.
A term used in discussing science fiction, a Big Dumb Object BDO is a mysterious artifact usually extraterrestrial...
www.tutorgig.com /es/Object/5   (941 words)

  
 Niven, Larry   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
I first discovered his work when I was quite young; I'm not now sure which of his stories I first read, though I realised he was a big deal when I first read "Ringworld" in the early seventies (I've since read this Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel at least ten times).
It was reading "Protector" a year or so later that confirmed that: I was fascinated by the whole Known Space future history, though that didn't stop me reading anything else by him that I could lay my hands on.
At the same time, he wrote in such a way that you sometimes had to work out for yourself what was going on in a situation.
www.moss53.freeserve.co.uk /niven.htm   (768 words)

  
 dumbies - KBCafe tag search
Big Dumb Object would like to thank the following people who made the Dumbies possible this year...
The results for the inaugral Big Dumb Object awards (aka The Dumbies) will be released after Christmas and before New Year.
Big Dumb Object is pleased to announced the inaugral Big Dumb Object awards, henceforth know as The Dumbies.
www.kbcafe.com /tags.aspx/dumbies   (380 words)

  
 Science Fiction Book Reviews
The history of Big Dumb Objects, as they are labeled in
The instance of BDO that springs most readily to mind in connection with Reed's books is Clarke's
In both cases, an alien-created craft of mysterious provenance is found by humans, who adapt it to their needs, little realizing that they are leaving deeper enigmas unplumbed.
www.scifi.com /sfw/issue415/books.html   (1006 words)

  
 Big Dumb Object   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
A term used in discussing science fiction a Big Dumb Object (BDO) is a mysterious artifact (usually alien) in a story which generates an sense of wonder just by being there; a certain extent the term deliberately deflates
BDO can also refer to the British Organisation.
Very mellow piano solos, perfect for inspiring your dinner date to cling to you hoping that you will defend her from the heartless world....
www.freeglossary.com /Big_Dumb_Object   (445 words)

  
 Educated Guesswork: December 2005 Archives
One of the big unanswered questions in the whole wiretapping story is why the Bush administration didn't want to to seek FISC approval for their wiretaps--not why they didn't feel they had to, but why they felt it was worth doing something that they must have realized would be controversial if it got out.
Jones's finding that ID isn't science will obviously be a big obstacle for them to overcome in the future, since it will make it hard for anyone to argue that they had a purely secular purpose.
The whole object is to hide the ball and constantly shift and recalibrate the (literal) terms of the debate.
www.educatedguesswork.org /movabletype/archives/2005/12   (7688 words)

  
 Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | You don't have to be dumb to vote for Bush
In this Bedlam of irrational behaviour - the state where the working-classes vote Republican - small farmers vote themselves off the land, proud parents ensure that their kids will never get to college or afford good healthcare and stolid factory-workers vote for closures and regional decline.
The Republicans offer to sell homophobia, anti-feminism and covert racism to the dumb folks of Kansas, but what they actually buy is big-business liberalism and globalisation.
Suppose, first, that they don't buy the economic prospectus unwittingly along with the social populism, but consciously because they actually agree with it - because (and this hurts) it does actually tie in with their concrete experience.
www.guardian.co.uk /uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1298676,00.html   (1011 words)

  
 The Library of Babel
This is eventually traced to waves of "omega clouds," strange cloud-like objects that sweep through the galaxy in waves, attacking and destroying technological civilizations (somewhat indirectly-- they home in on and attack structures containing right angles).
This is sort of a cross between a Space Opera and a Big Dumb Object story.
The clouds are basically BDO's, but the scramble to save the "Goompahs" (as the aliens are christened, based on a resemblance to some beloved cartoon characters) has some of the "plucky band of adventurers thwart an alien menace" feel of good Space Opera.
www.steelypips.org /library/0304.html   (1469 words)

  
 Halo submissions for July - Sept 1999
There's a big grey planetoid, with a much smaller blue-grey planetoid orbiting it (the simulation is moving very fast, as you can see if you watch the first few seconds of the movie).
When an object is spun in a circle (or an object stands on a rotating ring), its velocity is always at a tangent to the circle, along the edge.
Centrifugal force is the equal and opposite reaction of the spinning object against the centripetal force, a force aimed away from the center as the object resists the centripetal force's altering of its velocity.
marathon.bungie.org /story/halo_july99.html   (12720 words)

  
 The Mana Bros. Captain Harlock Memory Museum
has a classic big dumb object from outer space slamming into planet Earth, as an announcement that things are bound for a change.
But Earth in 2976 - despite scientific advance or maybe because of it - is a a place where not even a city destroyed by an alien artefact can sheke the population from its apathy.
Hidden colonies of aliens are also scattered through the planet, leading to some highly climatic - and appropriately creepy confrontations.
www.fortunecity.com /tattooine/zenith/134/ch.htm   (1048 words)

  
 i know i ask alot of dumb shit but heres some more - Car Forums and Automotive Chat   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
06-13-2005, 02:01 AM i say go twin turbo not many have done it mostly because a big fat snail is better than two small one but it would be different and you should be able to for under 2.5k if you go with jy parts and do the fabbing your self.
Thats just me though, since money IS an object I'll just stick with stuff thats tried, tested, and true.
like a cbr650 or umm they hve this big ass cruiser engine thats like 1300ccs.
www.automotiveforums.com /t419443-i_know_i_ask_alot_of_dumb_shit_but_heres_some_more.html   (885 words)

  
 James@The Bloomers: May 2004   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
I think I'll hold off upgrading Big Dumb Object for the moment though seeing as I've just got it live.
Hannah is trying to eat the world, or at least put it in her mouth, nibbling it and spitting it out.
It doesn't matter how big the item is, if she can see it she will try and grab it and then eat it.
thebloomers.blogspot.com /2004_05_01_thebloomers_archive.html   (3917 words)

  
 HL2world.com :: View topic - XSI - probably dumb question...Help?   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
Alright, this is probably a dumb question but I'm new to XSI and I couldn't find an answer elsewhere.
Okay, Select the object (head), and make sure the base of the neck is on the XY or ZY plane.
I used to use gmax until I found out it was pretty much garbage and there was no way I could get stuff into games, XSI is so much different than that program which is why I'm kinda struggling.
www.hl2world.com /bbs/-vp471094.html   (707 words)

  
 Review: Reckoning Infinity   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
is a model case of a Big Dumb Object novel.
Oh, right, the BDO: Dubbed Cantaloupe from its external appearance, it is a 100km-diameter spherical object hurtling at 0.03c towards the solar system.
The exploration ship that first discovers the puzzling object sends down a crew who becomes lost, decimated, and gets to see a lot of bizarre and wholly enigmatic sights while wandering around the mysterious body.
sites.inka.de /mips/reviews/ReckoningInfinity.html   (150 words)

  
 Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan
The rest of the novel is an exploration of this region, your basic Big Dumb Object really.
As with any story of this ilk, there are revelations about the nature of the BDO and what it tells the characters about their universe.
The fact that Egan's physics is more grounded in real physics than most other science fiction cannot excuse the fact that he never graps that sense or awe of wonder that this sort of thing needs.
www.computercrowsnest.com /sfnews2/02_june/review0602_1.shtml   (916 words)

  
 broadband » Forums » New feature requests - Forum » New feature? preview bypass?!
Dumb phrase for what it does...it is not in slightest descriptive of what happens when you click it at all!
It seemed so dumb on a search engine page that I had no interest in exploring it....and now you have that same dumb phrase that doesn't mean anything here!
There has been a bit of talk lately from different mods and members lately about the "dumbing down" and quality of the posting styles in many forums.
www.dslreports.com /forum/remark,8303573~reverse=0;days=30;root=features;mode=full   (1704 words)

  
 Greg Bear: Hegira - an infinity plus review
These structures, "a thousand kilometres tall, a kilometre across each side and as perfectly square as anyone could measure," record the histories, philosophies, and sacred texts of the First-Born; because no-one has ever been able to ascend higher than ten kilometres by balloon, only a fraction of what the Obelisks record has ever been read.
Third, the 'Big Dumb Object' story (think Rendezvous with Rama), in which the technical, motivational, even ontological riddles posed by the existence of an anomalous object provide the story's main interest.
In this case, the world, which is three-quarters of a million miles in circumference yet has earth-normal gravity, seems impossible given the laws of physics which we know.
www.infinityplus.co.uk /nonfiction/hegira.htm   (741 words)

  
 Roger McBride Allen's space war novel, Torch of Honor
It seems the Guardians' Really Big Spaceship (named, of course, Leviathan) is inbound to tip the scales to the side of the Bad Guys.
The last part of the book is a madcap space assault on a variation of the Big Dumb Object sci-fi theme.
The Really Big Spaceship must be stopped, and improvisation is the only game in town.
www.strangewords.com /archive/torch.html   (553 words)

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