Manny wrote: "Jurafsky and Martin is universally agreed to be The Book... "

It looks perfect! Thanks so much.

Kyle wrote: "In my linguistics class, my professor cut out the section on computational linguistics, claiming he was "lucky to get the damned thing turned on," and hence ill-suited to teach us about it. Do you ..."

Jurafsky and Martin is universally agreed to be The Book...

In my linguistics class, my professor cut out the section on computational linguistics, claiming he was "lucky to get the damned thing turned on," and hence ill-suited to teach us about it. Do you have any good intro/survey-level book recommendations on computational linguistics?

Peer, I have replied on this review - thought it would be better to create a separate thread.

Manny, as I see it you already had collected and preserved your favorite reviews by making your book. (Of course the same functions could be accomplished by simply copying to your own harddrive or even printing them out.). I think it's cool that you decided to make a book out of them and I certainly don't object to you charging a few dollars.

On the other hand it really kind of bothers me that you put up a "pay wall" where your reviews are no longer accessible to people like me. That seems to me a separate issue from the gr amazon deal making.

Now I will be clear, it's not my business really what you choose to do. On the other hand as someone who has looked up to you and appreciated your contributions to the community, I'm having a "Say it ain't so Joe" moment with you using the amazon acquisition as a pretext to "monetize" your writings.

I certainly feel some sense of betrayal due to the amazon acquisition of gr. on the other hand I'm still thinking about what it means to me and have been reading other people's postings on the topic with interest. I would certainly like to hear your opinions on the topic as well. But I wanted to register with you personally my feeling of disappointment with your choice.

Peer, I respect your opinions, but I am collecting my favorite reviews and preserving them where our new corporate masters are unable to tamper with them. They are available as nicely formatted PDFs or as printed books. I am just asking for a few dollars to recompense me for the time my editor and I have invested.

I strongly encourage others to do the same thing. There are plenty of people on this site whose reviews I would be prepared to buy on similar terms.

I propose we boycott Manny till he returns his content to the community that fostered him with our "likes". Let's hit him where it hurts and refuse to "like" any more of his reviews and even remove our old "likes"!

Thank you Michelle! You are possibly making the right choice. I don't know why, but several people who read my review of Bishop Barnes's 715 page Scientific Theory and Religion and then bought the book have unaccountably expressed disappointment. It's very strange, but facts are facts.

Hi. You don't know me, I'm a lurker :) But I just wanted to say I really enjoy your reviews, even when I have no intention of reading the books they were about! LOL. I'd 'like' them more often, but my GR app on my phone doesn't allow it O_o

Well, anyways, hope you're having a good one! =)
MK

I am never quite sure of the rules here. Thank you, that was very reassuring.

You do know that 'The Bible' and 'Burt Reynolds' Five Steps to Perfect Chest Topiary' don't count, right? You are forgiven.

Thank you Pixie! That is one of the nicest things anyone has said to me this week. In the interests of complete honesty, I do have a couple of books on my shelf with covers featuring bare-chested men, but you may have to search carefully to find them.

Thanks for the add. I noticed you through a mutual friend, and the mixture of your erudition and the lack of books on your page covered in flowery fonts and bare-chested man vomit was refreshing.

MJ wrote: "Your name anagrammizes to: A merry nanny."

I prefer "Emmanuel Rayner" = "My unreal rename"

Your name anagrammizes to: A merry nanny.

oops! Belated Happy New Year to you and yours - all the best for your 2013 Projects and beyond.

Thank you Helton!

Thanks for accepting my request, I really appreciate your reviews.

Marvin wrote: "Manny since we discussed it before I thought you would like to see the major changes in the DSM.

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/dsm-v..."

Hey, thank you Marvin! Very interesting reading, and I am indeed surprised that they failed to include Internet Addiction Disorder. I wonder what the reasoning was?

Manny since we discussed it before I thought you would like to see the major changes in the DSM.

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/dsm-v...

The big surprise to me is Internet Addiction Disorder did not make the cut.

I just don't know what to say! If only I knew how to assemble the makings into a more complete version of the real thing, I would try to do so. Meanwhile, thank you!

Manny, the sparks of genius reside within that majestic head of yours, and the makings of a gentleman within that valiant chest.

Rowena wrote: "I just received your book today :)"

I am glad to hear that Lulu are so efficient!

I just received your book today :)

Nice to be friends, Linda! I've been seeing you around as well :) If you're looking for an update on our UFO-expert guest, I've reviewed his book here...

Thank you for accepting my friend-vite. I have been following you for a while, so thought I might ask. A while ago you mentioned a dinner - I can't find if you posted results about how it went. Something about alien abductions I think?

I've only just found this link. Well, I suppose it must be a Good Thing. The only thing worse than being listed in Forbes is not being listed in Forbes, right?

Congratulations: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidel...

Oh no... despite my constant refusals, the Green Things have finally invaded my update feed. Where's the Don't Want To Read button?

But wouldn't we have noticed that amount of inflation by now? The value of the US dollar has declined, but surely not as much as you'd get from printing $16T of new money?

By the way, I noticed that A.D. White, who wrote the excellent History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, also wrote a book on fiat money. If it's anywhere near as good, you might want to check it out.

I know nothing about it beyond what I learned in the course of a ten minute Google search! But $16T is such a staggering amount of money that it's hard not to feel suspicious. If there isn't some kind of multiple counting going on, as the 'Squashed' article suggests, how could even the Fed have that much available to lend out?

Bird Brian wrote: "This may be of interest to Quigley readers (and others)."

Just been looking around. This page claims the story is bogus...

Bird Brian wrote: "This may be of interest to Quigley readers (and others)."

I am struggling to believe it. First question: is this genuine?? Second: what implications for the election?

Subjects needed to test Swedish-language software

I am looking for a few subjects to test some Swedish-language software. It takes less than an hour and many people have said it's fun. We need people with varying degrees of expertise in Swedish, from beginner to native speaker. As a thank you, I would be happy to send you a paper copy of my recent book What Pooh Might Have Said To Dante, or another book of equal value if you prefer!

If you're interested, full details are available here. It needs to be done before Thursday evening though, due to a conference deadline.

Kris wrote: "Thanks so much for accepting my friend request!"

Thank you for sending it!

Thanks so much for accepting my friend request!

Bird Brian wrote: "Your discussion of Galeleio and Copernicus (sp?) reminds me of this cool graphic:

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-comp..."

That is indeed rather good! Though I am not sure I agree with Russell's placing. He should be closer to Frege, Quine and Wittgenstein.

Manny wrote: "Bullet chess is all about getting confused! If you're not confused, you're doing something wrong. "

LOL, well, at least playing it with a 'real' person makes for lots of fun and laughter!

You must find the Tao of Chess and think without thinking. .."

I like that thought, and am glad you introduced me to the concept of Bullet Chess, Manny!

Bullet chess is all about getting confused! If you're not confused, you're doing something wrong. The trick is to be less confused than your opponent... and yes, it's patterns, patterns, and more patterns. You must find the Tao of Chess and think without thinking.

Manny wrote: "Play on the internet using a chess site! They only let you play legal moves and track the time rigorously. Everyone agrees that it's the only way to play on very fast time limits - there's a discussion of that right at the beginning of the Bullet Chess book...
.."

Oops. Ok, you caught me out on not reading the book yet. ..but i'm rather relieved about your implied insinuation that i'm not the only one to eventually get mixed up and all flustered when having to move so fast.

My confused bits seem to especially come back to the way horses move, and another mix-up seems to come with pawns moving forward but capturing diagonally.. things we thought we had sorted out years ago when we started out with the game, seem to jump back at you when the pressure mounts, when the brain has to try and do a whole bunch of computations in spans of time you're simply not accustomed to.

..but i imagine one becomes better accustomed to the whole thing with a bit of practice?

I imagine it must be pretty good practice for recognizing patterns fast, but whew! It's a totally different style of play from what i'm accustomed to!

(And no time for hatching evil plots, which is the part of chess i tend to enjoy most)

Traveller wrote: "LOL, I have to tell you something funny. Inspired by your enthusiasm for Flash Chess or Speed Chess or whatever you want to call it, my son and I decided to do an experiment where we each only get..."

Play on the internet using a chess site! They only let you play legal moves and track the time rigorously. Everyone agrees that it's the only way to play on very fast time limits - there's a discussion of that right at the beginning of the Bullet Chess book...

LOL, I have to tell you something funny. Inspired by your enthusiasm for Flash Chess or Speed Chess or whatever you want to call it, my son and I decided to do an experiment where we each only get literally 2 seconds to move. It's like immediately after the other person moved you have to immediately pick up, and no time in the air either!

Well.. i got so flustered after about 10 moves, that i ended up taking my own pawn with one of my horses.

Needless to say, we had to call a break in proceedings because we were laughing so much....

I'm going to need a lot more practice... oh, the pressure!

Thank you Jason! You too :)

Hey Manny! Thanks for friending me. btw I dig your beard.

hope you have an awesome week!

-Jason H.

Nick wrote: "I have never been able to read "Stanislaw Lem" without thinking I've read "Stan Ulam" for a few seconds. argh!"

Oddly enough, I was reading about Ulam just last night. His contributions to the development of thermonuclear weapons do indeed deserve to be more famous!

I have never been able to read "Stanislaw Lem" without thinking I've read "Stan Ulam" for a few seconds. argh!

Cheers for the add! :)

David wrote: "Dear Manny,
I think we should knock out a parody entitled "50 Shades of Twilight." We could write it in about two weeks, you know, about the same time it took each author to write her novels. Just ..."

Dear David,

I am tempted by the idea, but notgettingenough has unfortunately promised to shoot me if I do anything similar. I can only blame myself, since the request originally came from me and was made of my own free will. None the less, since she is a woman who considers that her word is her bond, I must regretfully decline.

I shall be more circumspect in future when entering into one-sided suicide pacts. I just hadn't thought it through.

Manny

Dear Manny,
I think we should knock out a parody entitled "50 Shades of Twilight." We could write it in about two weeks, you know, about the same time it took each author to write her novels. Just need Chapter headings. Solicit chapters from Brian, Ian and Paul, as well and share the royalties. A major creative hardship would be having to study the original books.
Cordially,
David

Shovelmonkey1 wrote: "Woo hoo friend number 695. You may just refer to me by my number in future if that's easier..."

Thank you, but I find your real name easier to remember :)