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Woe be unto ye
with families and such inscrutable encumberances!
My sister, dog bless her oh so connected heart, somehow got wind of the rumor that I read books and that this is the holiday gift giving season and that I have a birthday coming sometime in the next year or so. So, what does she do? She calls me and says "HEY! putz, the post office says package is too large for PO box and we are going to do something you won't like very much if you don't do something else about it SOON! Huh?, sez I. Go to the damn post office and DO something! Oh.....uh.....o.k. So I hie me to the PO, arrive 5 minutes after the service counter closes, hear voices behind the rollup (or down, as the case may be) window, and knock. Whaddaya want, says a voice. Um, y'all closed? We are if you want to mail something. Well, uh, actually, I want to pick something up.....too big for the box. Oh. O.k. What's your box number. I confess. Window opens, package is shoved forward. Thanks. No problem. (the beauty of small town life.....even the official USPO is casual about hours). I look but do not touch.....could be an Ayrab or a commie in there. Hm.....looks ordinary and safe enough. Matter of fact, looks about the right size and shape to hold......a BOOK! :) I pick it up. Nope. Not a book. Too light for the size of the box (sister is economical and efficient). Hm...... :( No pot of boiling water handy and it's five miles to home.....could go off at any moment. Well then, might as well open it and be done. I was right. Not a book. Quite. (not exactly a bomb either). Actually, a booklike substance. It's a "Kindle." Well.....what the ****? I take it home, staring balefully at the unholy object at odd intervals on the ride. It is not (and has not) moved. I take this as a bad sign. Arriving at the farm, I finish unwrapping and stare at some sort of welcome message (like I'm going to be taken in by that, right?) pasted onto the front of the thing. O.k., I'll peel that off and then get started. Um.....hm.....no loose corners, nothing to grab. And then...... And then the goddamn thing disappears! Not the Kindle, the message! AAAAHHHHH! :( Turns out it was NOT a piece of paper pasted onto the screen......it WAS the screen! Looks exactly like paper with ink on it, sort of like (well, a LOT like) a page from a book, a piece of paper with ink on it. Witchcraft! Sorcery! :( I've had this thing for less than ten minutes (excluding travel time, which really can't be counted under the circumstances) and I'm already liking it!.....and I don't like that. So, what does one DO with this......this.....this bookie thingie? What one does, it turns out, is spend an entire evening ready a tediously long, explicit, and surprisingly sensible user's manual......or parts of it anyway.....it turns out to be amazingly intuitive.....one can skip over many of the details. Ah, but then! Then, they want you to register the thing at Amazon so you can spend your children's inheritence. So, I went to Project Gutenberg and my own archives and downloaded a hundred or so books. Cool. Always wanted to read some of Burroughs' Jon Carter books. O.k., three gigabytes to go. ?! Three gigabytes? That may be more books than I own (excluding illustrations, of course......this baby only does black and white [or shades of gray] so it's pretty much useless for field guides) and who has time to scan and format all that ****? So, o.k., I'm going to have to register and look at Amazon and whatnot all. Maybe even buy more "books" (not REAL books, of course.....ersatz, virtual books). What the hell, I got no children anyway. THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! |
Woe be unto ye
On 05/01/2011 8:22 PM, Giles wrote:
with families and such inscrutable encumberances! My sister, dog bless her oh so connected heart, somehow got wind of the rumor that I read books and that this is the holiday gift giving season and that I have a birthday coming sometime in the next year or so. So, what does she do? She calls me and says "HEY! putz, the post office says package is too large for PO box and we are going to do something you won't like very much if you don't do something else about it SOON! Huh?, sez I. Go to the damn post office and DO something! Oh.....uh.....o.k. So I hie me to the PO, arrive 5 minutes after the service counter closes, hear voices behind the rollup (or down, as the case may be) window, and knock. Whaddaya want, says a voice. Um, y'all closed? We are if you want to mail something. Well, uh, actually, I want to pick something up.....too big for the box. Oh. O.k. What's your box number. I confess. Window opens, package is shoved forward. Thanks. No problem. (the beauty of small town life.....even the official USPO is casual about hours). I look but do not touch.....could be an Ayrab or a commie in there. Hm.....looks ordinary and safe enough. Matter of fact, looks about the right size and shape to hold......a BOOK! :) I pick it up. Nope. Not a book. Too light for the size of the box (sister is economical and efficient). Hm...... :( No pot of boiling water handy and it's five miles to home.....could go off at any moment. Well then, might as well open it and be done. I was right. Not a book. Quite. (not exactly a bomb either). Actually, a booklike substance. It's a "Kindle." Well.....what the ****? I take it home, staring balefully at the unholy object at odd intervals on the ride. It is not (and has not) moved. I take this as a bad sign. Arriving at the farm, I finish unwrapping and stare at some sort of welcome message (like I'm going to be taken in by that, right?) pasted onto the front of the thing. O.k., I'll peel that off and then get started. Um.....hm.....no loose corners, nothing to grab. And then...... And then the goddamn thing disappears! Not the Kindle, the message! AAAAHHHHH! :( Turns out it was NOT a piece of paper pasted onto the screen......it WAS the screen! Looks exactly like paper with ink on it, sort of like (well, a LOT like) a page from a book, a piece of paper with ink on it. Witchcraft! Sorcery! :( I've had this thing for less than ten minutes (excluding travel time, which really can't be counted under the circumstances) and I'm already liking it!.....and I don't like that. So, what does one DO with this......this.....this bookie thingie? What one does, it turns out, is spend an entire evening ready a tediously long, explicit, and surprisingly sensible user's manual......or parts of it anyway.....it turns out to be amazingly intuitive.....one can skip over many of the details. Ah, but then! Then, they want you to register the thing at Amazon so you can spend your children's inheritence. So, I went to Project Gutenberg and my own archives and downloaded a hundred or so books. Cool. Always wanted to read some of Burroughs' Jon Carter books. O.k., three gigabytes to go. ?! Three gigabytes? That may be more books than I own (excluding illustrations, of course......this baby only does black and white [or shades of gray] so it's pretty much useless for field guides) and who has time to scan and format all that ****? So, o.k., I'm going to have to register and look at Amazon and whatnot all. Maybe even buy more "books" (not REAL books, of course.....ersatz, virtual books). What the hell, I got no children anyway. THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! My wife has a Kindle. I have a Kobo. I really like the e-book readers, especially how light they are. Project Gutenberg is also excellent, as is manybooks.net I can also check out e-books from our library. Tim Lysyk |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 5, 9:30*pm, Tim Lysyk wrote:
On 05/01/2011 8:22 PM, Giles wrote: with families and such inscrutable encumberances! My sister, dog bless her oh so connected heart, somehow got wind of the rumor that I read books and that this is the holiday gift giving season and that I have a birthday coming sometime in the next year or so. *So, what does she do? *She calls me and says "HEY! putz, the post office says package is too large for PO box and we are going to do something you won't like very much if you don't do something else about it SOON! Huh?, sez I. Go to the damn post office and DO something! Oh.....uh.....o.k. So I hie me to the PO, arrive 5 minutes after the service counter closes, hear voices behind the rollup (or down, as the case may be) window, and knock. *Whaddaya want, says a voice. Um, y'all closed? We are if you want to mail something. Well, uh, actually, I want to pick something up.....too big for the box. Oh. *O.k. *What's your box number. I confess. Window opens, package is shoved forward. Thanks. No problem. *(the beauty of small town life.....even the official USPO is casual about hours). I look but do not touch.....could be an Ayrab or a commie in there. Hm.....looks ordinary and safe enough. *Matter of fact, looks about the right size and shape to hold......a BOOK! * * *:) I pick it up. *Nope. *Not a book. *Too light for the size of the box (sister is economical and efficient). Hm...... * * * :( No pot of boiling water handy and it's five miles to home.....could go off at any moment. *Well then, might as well open it and be done. I was right. *Not a book. *Quite. (not exactly a bomb either). Actually, a booklike substance. *It's a "Kindle." Well.....what the ****? I take it home, staring balefully at the unholy object at odd intervals on the ride. *It is not (and has not) moved. *I take this as a bad sign. Arriving at the farm, I finish unwrapping and stare at some sort of welcome message (like I'm going to be taken in by that, right?) pasted onto the front of the thing. O.k., I'll peel that off and then get started. *Um.....hm.....no loose corners, nothing to grab. *And then...... And then the goddamn thing disappears! *Not the Kindle, the message! AAAAHHHHH! * * * :( Turns out it was NOT a piece of paper pasted onto the screen......it WAS the screen! *Looks exactly like paper with ink on it, *sort of like (well, a LOT like) a page from a book, a piece of paper with ink on it. Witchcraft! *Sorcery! * * * :( I've had this thing for less than ten minutes (excluding travel time, which really can't be counted under the circumstances) and I'm already liking it!.....and I don't like that. So, what does one DO with this......this.....this bookie thingie? What one does, it turns out, is spend an entire evening ready a tediously long, explicit, and surprisingly sensible user's manual......or parts of it anyway.....it turns out to be amazingly intuitive.....one can skip over many of the details. Ah, but then! Then, they want you to register the thing at Amazon so you can spend your children's inheritence. So, I went to Project Gutenberg and my own archives and downloaded a hundred or so books. *Cool. *Always wanted to read some of Burroughs' Jon Carter books. O.k., three gigabytes to go. *?! *Three gigabytes? *That may be more books than I own (excluding illustrations, of course......this baby only does black and white [or shades of gray] so it's pretty much useless for field guides) and who has time to scan and format all that ****? So, o.k., I'm going to have to register and look at Amazon and whatnot all. *Maybe even buy more "books" (not REAL books, of course.....ersatz, virtual books). *What the hell, I got no children anyway. THIS is what comes of having a family! *I do not recommend it. * * * : ( giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! My wife has a Kindle. I have a Kobo. I really like the e-book readers, especially how light they are. Project Gutenberg is also excellent, as is manybooks.net I can also check out e-books from our library. Tim Lysyk Wow! Manybooks is new to me. THANKS! giles |
Woe be unto ye
On 2011-01-05 22:22:02 -0500, Giles said:
with families and such inscrutable encumberances! My sister, dog bless her oh so connected heart, somehow got wind of the rumor that I read books and that this is the holiday gift giving season and that I have a birthday coming sometime in the next year or so. So, what does she do? She calls me and says "HEY! putz, the post office says package is too large for PO box and we are going to do something you won't like very much if you don't do something else about it SOON! Huh?, sez I. Go to the damn post office and DO something! Oh.....uh.....o.k. So I hie me to the PO, arrive 5 minutes after the service counter closes, hear voices behind the rollup (or down, as the case may be) window, and knock. Whaddaya want, says a voice. Um, y'all closed? We are if you want to mail something. Well, uh, actually, I want to pick something up.....too big for the box. Oh. O.k. What's your box number. I confess. Window opens, package is shoved forward. Thanks. No problem. (the beauty of small town life.....even the official USPO is casual about hours). I look but do not touch.....could be an Ayrab or a commie in there. Hm.....looks ordinary and safe enough. Matter of fact, looks about the right size and shape to hold......a BOOK! :) I pick it up. Nope. Not a book. Too light for the size of the box (sister is economical and efficient). Hm...... :( No pot of boiling water handy and it's five miles to home.....could go off at any moment. Well then, might as well open it and be done. I was right. Not a book. Quite. (not exactly a bomb either). Actually, a booklike substance. It's a "Kindle." Well.....what the ****? I take it home, staring balefully at the unholy object at odd intervals on the ride. It is not (and has not) moved. I take this as a bad sign. Arriving at the farm, I finish unwrapping and stare at some sort of welcome message (like I'm going to be taken in by that, right?) pasted onto the front of the thing. O.k., I'll peel that off and then get started. Um.....hm.....no loose corners, nothing to grab. And then...... And then the goddamn thing disappears! Not the Kindle, the message! AAAAHHHHH! :( Turns out it was NOT a piece of paper pasted onto the screen......it WAS the screen! Looks exactly like paper with ink on it, sort of like (well, a LOT like) a page from a book, a piece of paper with ink on it. Witchcraft! Sorcery! :( I've had this thing for less than ten minutes (excluding travel time, which really can't be counted under the circumstances) and I'm already liking it!.....and I don't like that. So, what does one DO with this......this.....this bookie thingie? What one does, it turns out, is spend an entire evening ready a tediously long, explicit, and surprisingly sensible user's manual......or parts of it anyway.....it turns out to be amazingly intuitive.....one can skip over many of the details. Ah, but then! Then, they want you to register the thing at Amazon so you can spend your children's inheritence. So, I went to Project Gutenberg and my own archives and downloaded a hundred or so books. Cool. Always wanted to read some of Burroughs' Jon Carter books. O.k., three gigabytes to go. ?! Three gigabytes? That may be more books than I own (excluding illustrations, of course......this baby only does black and white [or shades of gray] so it's pretty much useless for field guides) and who has time to scan and format all that ****? So, o.k., I'm going to have to register and look at Amazon and whatnot all. Maybe even buy more "books" (not REAL books, of course.....ersatz, virtual books). What the hell, I got no children anyway. THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Moron. D. |
Woe be unto ye
On 01/05/2011 08:22 PM, Giles wrote:
with families and such inscrutable encumberances! I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long Idaho/Wyoming winters. I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love to see rows of them on my bookshelves. When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that I loved. But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around those words. Lots of those words. August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half. The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading several books). So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but there are lots of others out there. I love my Kindle. Russell |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 5:56*pm, "Russell D." wrote:
I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long Idaho/Wyoming winters. I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love to see rows of them on my bookshelves. When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that I loved. But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around those words. Lots of those words. August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half. The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading several books). So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but there are lots of others out there. I love my Kindle. Russell Great stuff, Russell. I can find only one minor point to disagree with; "It is much easier to carry around than a book...". My Kindle (with cover.....thanks for the advice on that, I'd have followed it, but my sister is nothing if not thorough) is roughly the size and weight of an average trade paperback.....actually, a bit thinner, but otherwise very similar. Not particularly "easier" to carry than a book.....but certainly AS easy.....and, yes, most certainly easier than several books, an affliction we share. Meanwhile, the jury is still out as to whether these things are a genuine damnable threat to our shared love. A year ago I'd have said, hell no. Actually, I did.....although not so moderately. Now, I'm not so sure, for various reasons that would bore the vast majority here. In any case, the extinction of the book (if, indeed, it occurs in the not too distant future.....as seems ever more likely) will be brought about, primarily, by other more sinister agents than a device which, after all, preserves the words you and I love so much. Wolfgang read on bruthas and sistas! |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 12:40*pm, D. LaCourse wrote:
On 2011-01-05 22:22:02 -0500, Giles said: with families and such inscrutable encumberances! My sister, dog bless her oh so connected heart, somehow got wind of the rumor that I read books and that this is the holiday gift giving season and that I have a birthday coming sometime in the next year or so. *So, what does she do? *She calls me and says "HEY! putz, the post office says package is too large for PO box and we are going to do something you won't like very much if you don't do something else about it SOON! Huh?, sez I. Go to the damn post office and DO something! Oh.....uh.....o.k. So I hie me to the PO, arrive 5 minutes after the service counter closes, hear voices behind the rollup (or down, as the case may be) window, and knock. *Whaddaya want, says a voice. Um, y'all closed? We are if you want to mail something. Well, uh, actually, I want to pick something up.....too big for the box. Oh. *O.k. *What's your box number. I confess. Window opens, package is shoved forward. Thanks. No problem. *(the beauty of small town life.....even the official USPO is casual about hours). I look but do not touch.....could be an Ayrab or a commie in there. Hm.....looks ordinary and safe enough. *Matter of fact, looks about the right size and shape to hold......a BOOK! * * *:) I pick it up. *Nope. *Not a book. *Too light for the size of the box (sister is economical and efficient). Hm...... * * * :( No pot of boiling water handy and it's five miles to home.....could go off at any moment. *Well then, might as well open it and be done. I was right. *Not a book. *Quite. (not exactly a bomb either). Actually, a booklike substance. *It's a "Kindle." Well.....what the ****? I take it home, staring balefully at the unholy object at odd intervals on the ride. *It is not (and has not) moved. *I take this as a bad sign. Arriving at the farm, I finish unwrapping and stare at some sort of welcome message (like I'm going to be taken in by that, right?) pasted onto the front of the thing. O.k., I'll peel that off and then get started. *Um.....hm.....no loose corners, nothing to grab. *And then...... And then the goddamn thing disappears! *Not the Kindle, the message! AAAAHHHHH! * * * :( Turns out it was NOT a piece of paper pasted onto the screen......it WAS the screen! *Looks exactly like paper with ink on it, *sort of like (well, a LOT like) a page from a book, a piece of paper with ink on it. Witchcraft! *Sorcery! * * * :( I've had this thing for less than ten minutes (excluding travel time, which really can't be counted under the circumstances) and I'm already liking it!.....and I don't like that. So, what does one DO with this......this.....this bookie thingie? What one does, it turns out, is spend an entire evening ready a tediously long, explicit, and surprisingly sensible user's manual......or parts of it anyway.....it turns out to be amazingly intuitive.....one can skip over many of the details. Ah, but then! Then, they want you to register the thing at Amazon so you can spend your children's inheritence. So, I went to Project Gutenberg and my own archives and downloaded a hundred or so books. *Cool. *Always wanted to read some of Burroughs' Jon Carter books. O.k., three gigabytes to go. *?! *Three gigabytes? *That may be more books than I own (excluding illustrations, of course......this baby only does black and white [or shades of gray] so it's pretty much useless for field guides) and who has time to scan and format all that ****? So, o.k., I'm going to have to register and look at Amazon and whatnot all. *Maybe even buy more "books" (not REAL books, of course.....ersatz, virtual books). *What the hell, I got no children anyway. THIS is what comes of having a family! *I do not recommend it. * * * : ( giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Moron. D. Ah, the hate is back and in full flower. Sounds like someone is on the fast track to full recovery! Well, that's a goddamned shame. g. |
Woe be unto ye
On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), Giles
wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. |
Woe be unto ye
n Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:44:08 -0600, georgecleveland
wrote: On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), Giles wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. I used to travel 20 weeks a yr and I read a LOT as I always had a book I was reading w me I use to search the NY Times Biook review fior paperbacks so that I could carrry them more easily I do not read a s much now If I did I would buy the Kindle or another type reader in a minutye My granddaughter uses hers all the time Now - If I could get music scores on a reader????? Fred |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 10:01*pm, Todd wrote:
On 01/06/2011 06:15 PM, Giles wrote: giles * *who, like he ain't already got enough to do! *Moron. *D. Ah, the hate is back and in full flower. *Sounds like someone is on the fast track to full recovery! Well, that's a goddamned shame. g. Gees Condescending One. *That was not hate. *Calling you a "Moron" is "High Comedy". *I laughed loudly when I read it. *On his recovery bed he brought cheer into my life! Good news. *Not any kind of shame. *And, get a sense of humor! -T Moron. g. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 10:36*pm, "Russell D." wrote:
On 01/06/2011 07:09 PM, Giles wrote: On Jan 6, 5:56 pm, "Russell *wrote: I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long Idaho/Wyoming winters. I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love to see rows of them on my bookshelves. When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that I loved. But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around those words. Lots of those words. August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half. The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading several books). So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but there are lots of others out there. I love my Kindle. Russell Great stuff, Russell. I can find only one minor point to disagree with; "It is much easier to carry around than a book...". *My Kindle (with cover.....thanks for the advice on that, I'd have followed it, but my sister is nothing if not thorough) is roughly the size and weight of an average trade paperback.....actually, a bit thinner, but otherwise very similar. Not particularly "easier" to carry than a book.....but certainly AS easy.....and, yes, most certainly easier than several books, an affliction we share. Yeah, that was worded poorly. Many of the DTB (Dead Tree Books) that I have read in the past couple of years have been rather large. "Einstein," "1776," "D-Day," "Team of Rivals," "John Adams," etc. have all been much larger than my Kindle. That should have read "easier to carry around than *many* books." Ah, books like those, yes, the Kindle is certainly eaiser to carry. And it is easier to carry than pretty much any two books, regardless of size, let alone many. Meanwhile, the jury is still out as to whether these things are a genuine damnable threat to our shared love. *A year ago I'd have said, hell no. *Actually, I did.....although not so moderately. *Now, I'm not so sure, for various reasons that would bore the vast majority here. *In any case, the extinction of the book (if, indeed, it occurs in the not too distant future.....as seems ever more likely) will be brought about, primarily, by other more sinister agents than a device which, after all, preserves the words you and I love so much. Actually, I am now more convinced that they will not replace books for a long time. Many books just do no work well on them. I purchased one book on my Kindle that had a lot of illustrations that text kept referring to. It was very inconvenient to try and go back and forth from the text to the illustration. I ended up buying the book. Also, at least for me, technical books don't work very well on the Kindle. I tend to do a lot of flipping back and forth in books like that and that just doesn't work well on the Kindle. At least yet. But, for novels, biographies, etc. it work extremely well. Ditto. Every word of it. And there's more. The feel of myriad kinds of paper and of the words on the pages. The familiarity of the spines on the bookshelf, recognizable from across the room. Wandering the stacks in a good bookstore or library, picking at random or carefully choosing by title, cover art, author, weight, binding or a host of other factors. The history of each individual volume, written in coffee, wine, cheese, breadcrumbs, ashes, tears, dogears, marginalia, bookmarks, bookplates, inscriptions, dedications, pressed flowers bodily fluids..... A book.....a REAL book.....is a container filled not just with words and ideas, but with all the human effluvia that can find its way onto or between the pages. And I can have fifty or a hundred books circulating in a room occupied by ten or twenty people. Try that with a bucket of Kindles. It simply would not work without some compelling reason. The difference is that books are in themselves sufficiently compelling reason. Wolfgang read on bruthas and sistas! PTB! ? Wolfgang |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 11:44*pm, georgecleveland wrote:
On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), Giles wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! *I do not recommend it. * * * : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. I used a Sony hend-held for several years. It was way cool to be able to download books and carry them around in my pocket. But after the inital buzz wore off, honest evaluation set in. It was a very tedious way to read for many reasons. The Kindle (and others of its ilk, I assume) is a vast improvement. First and foremost, it looks and feels and reads much like a book. This is crucially important. However, I've already noted some things I'd change. First, a book should open to two facing pages. Anything else is just not right. And I'm not crazy about moving about from page to page by pushing a button. I'd much rather "flip" the pages by swiping them with a fingertip. And then there is the matter of pagination. A "page" on the Kindle is whatever will fit on the screen in the given space at a given type size. Which is to say that it can change (easily) in any book. Books shouldn't do that (well, yeah, they should.....but they never have.....it's weird.) It is probably this malleability that lies behind the fact that pages are not numbered (except, perhaps, in PDF files.....I haven't looked at any of those yet. This doesn't feel right, either. To be sure, the Kindle has a way of tracking where you are, and makes it easy to return there if you want to.....but it just isn't the same as having honest and immutable pages. And one needs to have several sizes for different reading situations and evironments. Color graphics would also be good.....at least for some applications.....field guides, for instance. All that said (and there's more) I still like it. Gotta go read now. Wolfgang |
Woe be unto ye
Giles wrote:
On Jan 6, 11:44 pm, georgecleveland wrote: On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), Giles wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. I used a Sony hend-held for several years. It was way cool to be able to download books and carry them around in my pocket. But after the inital buzz wore off, honest evaluation set in. It was a very tedious way to read for many reasons. The Kindle (and others of its ilk, I assume) is a vast improvement. First and foremost, it looks and feels and reads much like a book. This is crucially important. However, I've already noted some things I'd change. First, a book should open to two facing pages. Anything else is just not right. And I'm not crazy about moving about from page to page by pushing a button. I'd much rather "flip" the pages by swiping them with a fingertip. I-Pad does all the above BUT at a price... And then there is the matter of pagination. A "page" on the Kindle is whatever will fit on the screen in the given space at a given type size. Which is to say that it can change (easily) in any book. Books shouldn't do that (well, yeah, they should.....but they never have.....it's weird.) It is probably this malleability that lies behind the fact that pages are not numbered (except, perhaps, in PDF files.....I haven't looked at any of those yet. This doesn't feel right, either. To be sure, the Kindle has a way of tracking where you are, and makes it easy to return there if you want to.....but it just isn't the same as having honest and immutable pages. And one needs to have several sizes for different reading situations and evironments. Color graphics would also be good.....at least for some applications.....field guides, for instance. All that said (and there's more) I still like it. Gotta go read now. Wolfgang For a free reader that works pretty well grab a copy of yBook. http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html Works pretty well, handles a lot of formats, and many customizable items. Drawback is that it only runs on a computer so isn't real portable like the E-readers. -- Steve W. |
Woe be unto ye
On 01/07/2011 08:53 PM, Giles wrote:
On Jan 6, 10:36 pm, "Russell wrote: On 01/06/2011 07:09 PM, Giles wrote: On Jan 6, 5:56 pm, "Russell wrote: I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long Idaho/Wyoming winters. I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love to see rows of them on my bookshelves. When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that I loved. But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around those words. Lots of those words. August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half. The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading several books). So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but there are lots of others out there. I love my Kindle. Russell Great stuff, Russell. I can find only one minor point to disagree with; "It is much easier to carry around than a book...". My Kindle (with cover.....thanks for the advice on that, I'd have followed it, but my sister is nothing if not thorough) is roughly the size and weight of an average trade paperback.....actually, a bit thinner, but otherwise very similar. Not particularly "easier" to carry than a book.....but certainly AS easy.....and, yes, most certainly easier than several books, an affliction we share. Yeah, that was worded poorly. Many of the DTB (Dead Tree Books) that I have read in the past couple of years have been rather large. "Einstein," "1776," "D-Day," "Team of Rivals," "John Adams," etc. have all been much larger than my Kindle. That should have read "easier to carry around than *many* books." Ah, books like those, yes, the Kindle is certainly eaiser to carry. And it is easier to carry than pretty much any two books, regardless of size, let alone many. Meanwhile, the jury is still out as to whether these things are a genuine damnable threat to our shared love. A year ago I'd have said, hell no. Actually, I did.....although not so moderately. Now, I'm not so sure, for various reasons that would bore the vast majority here. In any case, the extinction of the book (if, indeed, it occurs in the not too distant future.....as seems ever more likely) will be brought about, primarily, by other more sinister agents than a device which, after all, preserves the words you and I love so much. Actually, I am now more convinced that they will not replace books for a long time. Many books just do no work well on them. I purchased one book on my Kindle that had a lot of illustrations that text kept referring to. It was very inconvenient to try and go back and forth from the text to the illustration. I ended up buying the book. Also, at least for me, technical books don't work very well on the Kindle. I tend to do a lot of flipping back and forth in books like that and that just doesn't work well on the Kindle. At least yet. But, for novels, biographies, etc. it work extremely well. Ditto. Every word of it. And there's more. The feel of myriad kinds of paper and of the words on the pages. The familiarity of the spines on the bookshelf, recognizable from across the room. Wandering the stacks in a good bookstore or library, picking at random or carefully choosing by title, cover art, author, weight, binding or a host of other factors. The history of each individual volume, written in coffee, wine, cheese, breadcrumbs, ashes, tears, dogears, marginalia, bookmarks, bookplates, inscriptions, dedications, pressed flowers bodily fluids..... A book.....a REAL book.....is a container filled not just with words and ideas, but with all the human effluvia that can find its way onto or between the pages. Exactly. Every word of it. And I can have fifty or a hundred books circulating in a room occupied by ten or twenty people. Try that with a bucket of Kindles. It simply would not work without some compelling reason. The difference is that books are in themselves sufficiently compelling reason. I was reading my Kindle at lunch time in the local Carl's Jr. and was approached by a gentleman and ask if that was a Kindle. He said he was considering purchasing one and would I mind showing him a little about it. I gladly complied and in the process showed him my Kindle "library" of about 200 volumes. It was a fun experience. Wolfgang read on bruthas and sistas! PTB! Sorry. That was a weak play on the "bruthus and sistas." It is "Praise the Books." Russell |
Woe be unto ye
On 01/07/2011 09:45 PM, Steve W. wrote:
Giles wrote: On Jan 6, 11:44 pm, wrote: On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. I used a Sony hend-held for several years. It was way cool to be able to download books and carry them around in my pocket. But after the inital buzz wore off, honest evaluation set in. It was a very tedious way to read for many reasons. The Kindle (and others of its ilk, I assume) is a vast improvement. First and foremost, it looks and feels and reads much like a book. This is crucially important. However, I've already noted some things I'd change. First, a book should open to two facing pages. Anything else is just not right. And I'm not crazy about moving about from page to page by pushing a button. I'd much rather "flip" the pages by swiping them with a fingertip. I-Pad does all the above BUT at a price... The biggest of which is eye strain. Extended reading on a back-lit screen can be very tiring. Russell |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 6, 11:36*pm, "Russell D." wrote:
Actually, I am now more convinced that they will not replace books for a long time. Many books just do no work well on them. I purchased one book on my Kindle that had a lot of illustrations that text kept referring to. It was very inconvenient to try and go back and forth from the text to the illustration. This is where the iPad has the advantage. There is a Kindle app for the iPad so one can access the Kindle library, but with the iPad they tell me one can integrate the graphics in a book on either the iBook app or the Kindle app. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 8, 10:25*am, "Russell D." wrote:
I was reading my Kindle at lunch time in the local Carl's Jr. and was approached by a gentleman and ask if that was a Kindle. He said he was considering purchasing one and would I mind showing him a little about it. I gladly complied and in the process showed him my Kindle "library" of about 200 volumes. It was a fun experience. 200? Many more than I've downloaded thus far. But far from capacity. We have much work left to do! :) Wolfgang read on bruthas and sistas! PTB! Sorry. That was a weak play on the "bruthus and sistas." It is "Praise the Books." Ah! No, not weak. Should have figured it out. Probably would have.....in a few of weeks. Wolfgang who, as must be obvious by now, ain't been to meeting in quite a while. |
Woe be unto ye
On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:56:15 -0700, "Russell D." wrote:
On 01/05/2011 08:22 PM, Giles wrote: with families and such inscrutable encumberances! I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long Idaho/Wyoming winters. I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love to see rows of them on my bookshelves. When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that I loved. But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around those words. Lots of those words. August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half. The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading several books). So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but there are lots of others out there. I love my Kindle. Russell Well, I guess I'll hafta blame it on you, Russell. Bought a Kindle3 today (although it'll be a couple weeks 'til it comes in, as I went for the free shipping - hey! Had to get the cover to protect the investment, so felt I should save some money SOMEwhere!). :) |
Woe be unto ye
On 01/08/2011 08:32 AM, Russell D. wrote:
On 01/07/2011 09:45 PM, Steve W. wrote: Giles wrote: On Jan 6, 11:44 pm, wrote: On Wed, 5 Jan 2011 19:22:02 -0800 (PST), wrote: THIS is what comes of having a family! I do not recommend it. : ( *snippage* giles who, like he ain't already got enough to do! Cool. I looked at my first e-reader this holiday past and I too have to admit that I was impressed. I downloaded books into my Palm Z22 for years and when you had the auto scrolll set right it wasn't a bad way to read books. But the Nook I looked at had fantastic resolution on the print in comparison. I am considering a purchase. Geo. C. I used a Sony hend-held for several years. It was way cool to be able to download books and carry them around in my pocket. But after the inital buzz wore off, honest evaluation set in. It was a very tedious way to read for many reasons. The Kindle (and others of its ilk, I assume) is a vast improvement. First and foremost, it looks and feels and reads much like a book. This is crucially important. However, I've already noted some things I'd change. First, a book should open to two facing pages. Anything else is just not right. And I'm not crazy about moving about from page to page by pushing a button. I'd much rather "flip" the pages by swiping them with a fingertip. I-Pad does all the above BUT at a price... The biggest of which is eye strain. Extended reading on a back-lit screen can be very tiring. Russell Some day, I'll have to retire the old Palm M515 I've been using as a "book" in favor of the real thing. It'd be nice to be able to see more than one paragraph at a time. Still, for now it seems that all I read are college textbooks. I'll wait a few months until I can once again read for pleasure rather than the memorization of facts and factoids. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 8, 5:07*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:
On Jan 6, 11:36*pm, "Russell D." wrote: Actually, I am now more convinced that they will not replace books for a long time. Many books just do no work well on them. I purchased one book on my Kindle that had a lot of illustrations that text kept referring to. It was very inconvenient to try and go back and forth from the text to the illustration. This is where the iPad has the advantage. There is a Kindle app for the iPad so one can access the Kindle library, but with the iPad they tell me one can integrate the graphics in a book on either the iBook app or the Kindle app. The trouble with the iPad (as well as the applications mentioned by Steve W.) is that it isn't a book. Neither is the Kindle, of course, but it looks, feels, and behaves (more or less) like a book. I (and most of the rest of us, I presume) already have a computer or two, a phone with more computing capacity and memory than an Apollo spacecraft, a camera that knows more than I do, and various other electronic gadgets that will, eventually (and probably sooner than later) replace me. And I don't mind any of that.....but I like BOOKS......and if I'm going to use an electronic ersatz book, I want one that looks and feels and behaves much like A BOOK!.....or, better yet, a library which is, after all, simply a book to the nth power. Wolfgang now, if they could just capture that musty old ink, paper, and leather smell. :) |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 9, 5:47*pm, Mark Allread none@none wrote:
Some day, I'll have to retire the old Palm M515 I've been using as a "book" in favor of the real thing. It'd be nice to be able to see more than one paragraph at a time. Still, for now it seems that all I read are college textbooks. I'll wait a few months until I can once again read for pleasure rather than the memorization of facts and factoids. Not to belittle memorization of facts and factoids (as noble a pursuit as most humans seem incapable of imagining.....let alone pursuing or accomplishing), but reading for pleasure (which, it should be remembered, by no means precludes edification) is, at one and the same time, among both the most selfish and most selfless of all the activities that one can engage in. But, as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought. Wolfgang |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 9, 9:17*pm, Giles wrote:
The trouble with the iPad (as well as the applications mentioned by Steve W.) is that it isn't a book. *Neither is the Kindle, of course, but it looks, feels, and behaves (more or less) like a book. *[snip] *And I don't mind any of that.....but I like BOOKS......and if I'm going to use an electronic ersatz book, I want one that looks and feels and behaves much like A BOOK!.....or, better yet, a library which is, after all, simply a book to the nth power. My cheesehead friend, I too prefer books. However the Ipad Kindle app gives you the book behaviors you so mention, but it also shows the illustrations. Neither here nor there, |
Woe be unto ye
Giles wrote:
On Jan 9, 5:47 pm, Mark Allread none@none wrote: Some day, I'll have to retire the old Palm M515 I've been using as a "book" in favor of the real thing. It'd be nice to be able to see more than one paragraph at a time. Still, for now it seems that all I read are college textbooks. I'll wait a few months until I can once again read for pleasure rather than the memorization of facts and factoids. Not to belittle memorization of facts and factoids (as noble a pursuit as most humans seem incapable of imagining.....let alone pursuing or accomplishing), but reading for pleasure (which, it should be remembered, by no means precludes edification) is, at one and the same time, among both the most selfish and most selfless of all the activities that one can engage in. But, as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought. Wolfgang I'll read just about anything. From classic stuff to tech manuals. Started that well before I started school. Had an extended stay in a hospital when I was about 4 and got so bored I started reading anything I could get. I had nurses bringing me in books from home and the local library as well as the ones my parents would bring down. Fast forward a few years to a speed reading course in HS. The teacher there started out with a speed and comprehension study to see where we were starting at. The only problem was that I was way off the top end of the chart. Without skipping words or paragraphs the way she wanted us to do. I ended up taking the final the second day of class. During the same time frame I was also a Literacy volunteer at the local neighborhood center. -- Steve W. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 9, 10:22*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:
My cheesehead friend, I too prefer books. I've seen some of your books. I carried one around for a few days, afraid to touch it and kept awake nights for fear that bandits might be coming for it at any moment. :) However the Ipad Kindle app gives you the book behaviors you so mention, but it also shows the illustrations. Neither here nor there, Neither here nor there is one of the two important things to bear in mind. The Kindle was a gift, a thing I was delighted to receive and am happy to have, but not something I desired or would have gone out of my way to purchase. The second (somewhat less important) thing is that I'd like it better if it behaved more like a real book.....with certain qualifications. Some of the features, like bookmarking, searching across multiple volumes, and other data retrieval and manipulation functions are the cat's ass.....things that would be welcome in REAL books, were they possible. But beyond that, the point of the thing, as far as I am concerned, is that it be a BOOK.....not a computer, one of whose functions is something booklike. The iPad, one of which I have sitting here as I type, is a fully functioning computer, and appears (based on my very limited experience with it) to be a very good one, but I already have a laptop and a phone with more funtions than I'll be able to learn about and use to their fullest effect before it wears out or is superceded by something with even more useless (to me) bells and whistles. The iPad also has a backlit screen. I assume that the Kindle application on the iPad (I don't see it here) cannot get around that; the Kindle's very paper and ink like screen is presumably a different technology. And that screen is, for me, the single most important esthetic feature of the device.....not to mention the matter of eyestrain that Russell brought up. So, again, I'm thrilled with the Kindle.....but there is room for improvement. Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 9, 10:53*pm, "Steve W." wrote:
Giles wrote: ...as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought. Wolfgang I'll read just about anything. From classic stuff to tech manuals. I'll read tech manuals......under either of two sets of conditions. One, I absolutely MUST have the information, and there is no other way to get it or, two, there is absolutely nothing else to do and abolutely no other reading material available. Fotunately, both sets of conditions are rare, and the latter increasingly so as I now have a virtually unlimited set of books available at all times.....no more sitting in the waiting room and suddenly discovering that there are only two pages left! There's other stuff that I won't willingly touch, but not so much that I don't feel justified in claiming rather broad tastes. I've only got a few pages of Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" left. Classic trash.....but trash nevertheless. Luckily, Twain's dictum does not preclude ingestion of materials entirely devoid of nutritional content. :) Wolfgang |
Woe be unto ye
|
Woe be unto ye
Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to the stream. Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 10, 12:51*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to the stream. Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know. Frank Reid |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 10, 12:57*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote: On Jan 10, 12:51 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote: Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to the stream. Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know. Frank Reid In their native range they are plentiful and inexpensive.....like rats. Elsewhere, they breed.....um.....well, like ****in' rats (which, let's be frank here, they are). Bottom line.....cheap ammunition. A few hundred, fired in rapid succession would, at the very least, wreak havoc on bovine traction.....not to mention distraction on an scale impossible for ANYTHING to ignore. However, speaking frankly (oops, just spilled a gallon of wine on the keyboard, breaking an ankle and severing a relatively major artery in the process.....but, no matter) such measures should hardly be necessary for most ordinary mortals. Prevarication, dissembling, circumlocution, joshing, kidding, or outright lying should be sufficient. In short, don't be.....wait for it.....frank. Meanwhile, a day slated for reading from the new device that inspired this thread has turned into a nightmare of trying to sate the monster. I'd already made a trip to Project Gutenberg and downloaded a number of items that had never particularly excited my interest but seemed like the sort of thing that a literate boy SHOULD be familar with. Fair enough.....into the hopper they went. O.k., let's see what we've got. Hm.....roughly 3 gigabytes of capacity remaining. Allright, back to PG. Hm.....Shakespeare. Yeah! That ought to do the trick! Download. Roughly 3 gigabytes left. :( Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Stowe's "Uncle tom's Cabin," and Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Roughly 3 gigabytes left. Gibbon's "Decline and Fall....," Shelley's "Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," and Kafka's "The Trial." Roughly 3 gigabytes left! Ack! Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Swift's "A Modest Proposal," Twain's "Life on the Mississippi," and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves," Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass," the KJV, Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," Grose's "1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Kipling's the Jungle Book," Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil,".....HAH! Roughly 3 gig......AAAARRRGGGHH! So, I bought Twain's autobiography (the 2010 edition....volume 1, as it turns out) from Amazon ($9.95), the Complete Works of Twain (sans 2010 autobiography) 300+ works with active table of contents ($0.99), & the Complete Works of Kipling 100+ works with active table of contents ($0.99). That shou......roughly 3 g WTF!!?? :( help me! Wolfgang who will gladly accept any reasonable recommendations. |
Woe be unto ye
On 01/10/2011 07:42 PM, Giles wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © wrote: On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © wrote: On Jan 10, 12:51 pm, Frank Reid © wrote: Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to the stream. Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know. Frank Reid In their native range they are plentiful and inexpensive.....like rats. Elsewhere, they breed.....um.....well, like ****in' rats (which, let's be frank here, they are). Bottom line.....cheap ammunition. A few hundred, fired in rapid succession would, at the very least, wreak havoc on bovine traction.....not to mention distraction on an scale impossible for ANYTHING to ignore. However, speaking frankly (oops, just spilled a gallon of wine on the keyboard, breaking an ankle and severing a relatively major artery in the process.....but, no matter) such measures should hardly be necessary for most ordinary mortals. Prevarication, dissembling, circumlocution, joshing, kidding, or outright lying should be sufficient. In short, don't be.....wait for it.....frank. Meanwhile, a day slated for reading from the new device that inspired this thread has turned into a nightmare of trying to sate the monster. I'd already made a trip to Project Gutenberg and downloaded a number of items that had never particularly excited my interest but seemed like the sort of thing that a literate boy SHOULD be familar with. Fair enough.....into the hopper they went. O.k., let's see what we've got. Hm.....roughly 3 gigabytes of capacity remaining. Allright, back to PG. Hm.....Shakespeare. Yeah! That ought to do the trick! Download. Roughly 3 gigabytes left. :( Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Stowe's "Uncle tom's Cabin," and Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Roughly 3 gigabytes left. Gibbon's "Decline and Fall....," Shelley's "Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," and Kafka's "The Trial." Roughly 3 gigabytes left! Ack! Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Swift's "A Modest Proposal," Twain's "Life on the Mississippi," and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves," Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass," the KJV, Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," Grose's "1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Kipling's the Jungle Book," Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil,".....HAH! Roughly 3 gig......AAAARRRGGGHH! So, I bought Twain's autobiography (the 2010 edition....volume 1, as it turns out) from Amazon ($9.95), the Complete Works of Twain (sans 2010 autobiography) 300+ works with active table of contents ($0.99), & the Complete Works of Kipling 100+ works with active table of contents ($0.99). That shou......roughly 3 g WTF!!?? :( help me! Wolfgang who will gladly accept any reasonable recommendations. All I know it that "War and Peace" and two volumes of autobiography by Ulysses S. Grant don't make a dent. Russell "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza . . . " |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 10, 8:42*pm, Giles wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote: On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote: On Jan 10, 12:51 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote: Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank. Wolfgang *including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost. Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to the stream. Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know. Frank Reid In their native range they are plentiful and inexpensive.....like rats. *Elsewhere, they breed.....um.....well, like ****in' rats (which, let's be frank here, they are). *Bottom line.....cheap ammunition. *A few hundred, fired in rapid succession would, at the very least, wreak havoc on bovine traction.....not to mention distraction on an scale impossible for ANYTHING to ignore. *However, speaking frankly (oops, just spilled a gallon of wine on the keyboard, breaking an ankle and severing a relatively major artery in the process.....but, no matter) *such measures should hardly be necessary for most ordinary mortals. *Prevarication, dissembling, circumlocution, joshing, kidding, or outright lying should be sufficient. *In short, don't be.....wait for it.....frank. Meanwhile, a day slated for reading from the new device that inspired this thread has turned into a nightmare of trying to sate the monster. *I'd already made a trip to Project Gutenberg and downloaded a number of items that had never particularly excited my interest but seemed like the sort of thing that a literate boy SHOULD be familar with. *Fair enough.....into the hopper they went. *O.k., let's see what we've got. *Hm.....roughly 3 gigabytes of capacity remaining. Allright, back to PG. *Hm.....Shakespeare. *Yeah! *That ought to do the trick! *Download. *Roughly 3 gigabytes left. * * * :( Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Stowe's "Uncle tom's Cabin," and Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." *Roughly 3 gigabytes left. Gibbon's "Decline and Fall....," Shelley's "Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," and Kafka's "The Trial." *Roughly 3 gigabytes left! *Ack! Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Swift's "A Modest Proposal," Twain's "Life on the Mississippi," and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves," Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass," the KJV, Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," Grose's "1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Kipling's the Jungle Book," Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil,".....HAH! *Roughly 3 gig......AAAARRRGGGHH! So, I bought Twain's autobiography (the 2010 edition....volume 1, as it turns out) from Amazon ($9.95), the Complete Works of Twain (sans 2010 autobiography) 300+ works with active table of contents ($0.99), & the Complete Works of Kipling 100+ works with active table of contents ($0.99). *That shou......roughly 3 g * * WTF!!?? * * *:( help me! Wolfgang who will gladly accept any reasonable recommendations.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Hint, try downloading a couple of MS Word documents. That will fill that sucker up in heartbeat. Frank Reid (Just trying to help) |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 11, 10:17*am, "Russell D." wrote:
All I know it that "War and Peace" and two volumes of autobiography by Ulysses S. Grant don't make a dent. Coincidence is the great fundamental organizing principle of the universe. Not that this is a prime example, but..... I've been reading the 2010 edition of Mark Twain's autobiography (volume 1.....apparently the next two volumes may be another 35 years or more in coming.....WTF?). Not surprisingly, Grant has already made several appearances in the first.....um.....well, I don't know exactly how many pages (goddamn kindle!), but not too awful many. Russell "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza . . . " "Well, fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry . . . " Wolfgang |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 11, 5:04*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
Hint, try downloading a couple of MS Word documents. *That will fill that sucker up in heartbeat. Frank Reid (Just trying to help) Already done that. Many of the aforementioned were precisely that. Depends a lot on formatting, I suppose. Back in the "Forgotten Treasures" days, I downloaded almost all of the source materials as Word files......plain text, or something like that. Very compact. I've got thousands of documents (including many hundreds of "full length" books) that take up virtually no space on my portable hard drive. Wolfgang who dreads the day they all turn into videos. :( |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 10, 9:41*am, Giles wrote:
Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank. I am working on getting up there this year. Not been there in a while. Will be good to renew the soul on favorite waters and friends. |
Woe be unto ye
On Jan 14, 9:24*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:
On Jan 10, 9:41*am, Giles wrote: Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank. I am working on getting up there this year. Not been there in a while. Will be good to renew the soul on favorite waters and friends. I'm a bit north of the favorite waters you've shown me.....but not by much. Half an hour from Viroqua. Many promising streams up here. Looking forward to trying some of them with you.....and Joel.....and Frank.....and Jeff.....and, well, John will probably not be joining us for a while. :) Wolfgang |
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