It's a beautiful day! Even now we've got the windows open in the flat. It's an odd mix of trees thinking it's autumn, and being beautiful colours, and the sunshine meaning swimming outdoors is still brilliant, not chilly.
We all walked Snoopy this afternoon. Well, obviously Sherlock held the leash, as is his duty. But we all went, kicked about in the park, stopped for coffee (me), tea and cake (John. I may have helped a little bit with the cake...) and cake and a milkshake (Sherlock, although he had a sip of my coffee too).
Now he's very studiously putting all his drawing materials into precise colour order, I'm meant to be doing paperwork - some Italian - because I really, really don't want to have to go over there and testify for the inquest, but really I'm wondering what - if any - things John and I could have done to us on our weekend away. Massage? Relaxation? Different weird sort of massages with hot stones or oil or aromatherapy? Floatation? Dry floatation? It's like speaking another language. Feel free to offer opinions if you've ever done that sort of thing.
John is reading a book, and answering Sherlock's questions on colours. And agreeing it is annoying that the paint/plastic colour of a pencil/pen doesn't match the actual colour...
As for you lot, in the last poll exactly half of you agreed blaming John was the right thing to do, really. Even though some of you wouldn't allow Sherlock to fly the plane. A lot of you found religion, and a surprising number would have put him in restraints.
221 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 221 of 221Becca, I compromise by using a very old iPod Touch on the subway. No self-respecting thief would bother to steal it, and it also allows for the proper elbows-in position. :) And if I want to read on the subway, I through a paperback into my bag.
THROW, not "through"! I THROW a paperback into my bag! *argh*
Also--yikes, a second page of comments!
On the Nook, you can loan books to other Nook users. Just FYI.
And you can read magazines. :D
Trying for the third time to post this... Argh.
For all those worried about e-books putting printed books out of business, I direct you to Baen Books Free Library. They've made -more- physical book sales since they started putting books up for free. Also, I direct you to the biggest 'problem' for book sellers worried about the trade of books online without the benefit of people paying for them, the public library. I don't see anyone complaining about them... When someone loans you a book, are you more likely to go and get it for yourself? I know I am.
As I said, I have about half my library on my Nook, which means I bought those books -twice-. I want to have physical copies of everything I've got on there because there is nothing like a real book, and there never will be. But the Nook is a convenience. Nothing more.
I have to have my text books in physical form because I flip back and forth between sections and I rely on the feel of how many pages I have to flip to do it.
As for battery usage, the black and white Nook lasted me for a couple days of solid reading before I had to recharge it. It doesn't use battery power in between 'page turns' so while you read, it's just printed there on the screen and not using any power. Yay e-ink!
I've carried my Nook on the subway without problem, possibly because I also stay aware of my surroundings and make sure it's firmly in my purse when I have to change trains or get off the train to go wherever I'm going. But seriously, it takes an hour to get downtown and I haven't knitted anything in ages, so reading it is!
Sally: As someone who has the stripper name of Candy Washington, I think your name is just fine. You could use it as an alias if you ever had to go undercover! I could only use mine if I was going undercover as a stripper or prostitute :P Yours has potential for many more occupations.
So long as B&N permits it--because you really aren't buying the book. (It is a nice feature, though.)
I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to read free stuff-- either stories online or out-of-copyright classics (gutenberg.org FTW!) on my Kindle. I've paid for maybe 5 books in the 10 months that I've had my Kindle.
Re: Amazon reclaiming books: as far as I know, that only happened once, though I'm certainly no expert. Yet another reason to supply your own books!
As for battery life, my Kindle will last me at least a week of heavy reading/class usage (it's on and active for 3-5 hours/day). I think the batteries have improved exponentially in the last couple years.
And REReader, I do appreciate a well-designed book! When it's something that I love and reread frequently, I'll usually have both a paper and an electronic copy.
Well, one, I don't buy books for ereaders. I use them to read (legally) free material. Two, only Kindles have, at this point in time, exercised their right to pull content. Which is not to say that the other ereader companies won't pull content, but they haven't thus far, and I'd rather go with someone who doesn't have that history.
The thing about electronic books, while cool, is that it limits access of poorer people to books and information. I'm all for it as an interesting toy/useful tool, but as a substitute for physical copies, no. More platforms and more access is always my motto, not substitution of one for the other.
I'm with Piplover on the Kindle - I love mine, but I love my hardcopy books too. Two years ago I took 5 kilos of books on holiday (one of them, Anathem, in hardback, was 3.5 kilos on it's own! And I know how much they weigh in kilos because they put me over my baggage allowance, even though I usually pack light). This year I took my Kindle and read about half a dozen books.
Most of my ebooks are either free (legally), or cheaper new releases. There's something Not Quite Right about paying as much for digital ephemera as for a hardcopy book, I think. OTOH, I have dozens of short stories on my Kindle that I would never have bought in hardcopy, so that's at least one author I would almost certainly never have read if it wan't for my Kindle.
I'm not convinced it has to be either/or. Books I love, I will buy in hardcopy as well. I have one set of classic short stories and novels that I particularly enjoy in three or four different versions, including ebook and one short story in the original magazine annual from the 19th century.
I would never claim that books should be phased out. I love books excessively. However, I work at a school where we provide ereaders to all of our students for them to access their textbooks. It's been a minor miracle. And I've had no problem with accessing information via my Nook. I will admit a definite preference for my Nook color over my sister-in-law's Kindle. I can get 8 to 10 hours of active screen time and it will read any microsoft file, PDF's and epub files.
Overall, I think ereaders are a good thing, though books remain one of my favorite parts of my life. They've been especially helpful with my students. But that's just me.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Bronwyn
In the US, some state legislatures are issuing iPads to their members so that they can stop printing out hundreds of copies of hundreds of book-length bills. Or so they say.
(I think it's really so they can all play Angry Birds while they're attending committee meetings.)
'...then we planned a revolution to make things better for all time,
When Guevara said that was crazy, and ordered up a bottle of wine...'
Just stopping by briefly to say that I very much liked The Levellers references you've got here! If you're quoting from the song I think you are, then it's one of my favourites of theirs - it always makes me smile even when my day is being decidedly less than beautiful.
Hope the case is going... as well as can be expected, I guess.
Re: Batteries on eReaders with ePaper screens (the b&w/grayscale screens that aren't backlit). They literally only use power when you change the page. The display is actually mechanical, not LCD. That's why it's much closer to paper and many find them much easier to read. The color eReaders are LCD and therefore use power at a much higher rate.
It definitely doesn't need to be e or paper. We're in a time of transition with all sorts of media right now, and one of the advantages (along with the pains of paranoia, absurd pricing, format issues, and industry change-over) is that you can feel free to indulge in everything on offer - old and new! So enjoy without guilt or defensiveness! (I hate those articles saying "The book is dead!" or the companions from a few years ago "The ebook is dead!" Stop!)
I'd like to put in a plug here for your local library and their (possible) eCollections, as well as tangible collections. Borrowing eBooks from your library is a great way to make use of your eReader w/out paying through the nose for new content. (Yes, I'm a librarian. How did you guess?)
Libraries are wonderful for things like that. My mother is able to borrow mp3s of books on tape that she downloads onto her iPod and listens to on her drive to work.
I've never tried an e-reader. Does Mycroft have one?
My stripper name is Phaedra Victoria, which sounds more like a romance novelist... :p
I can't play in the stripper-name sweepstakes, because I never had a pet, but my street name is Florie Farm, which I think sounds like the name of a pretty mediocre stripper all on its own.
Kate L - I was indeed. They're not, generally speaking, the sort of band I listen to. But they have produced some very fine lyrics. And that song in particular is an anthem to the summer, I'd say.
I'd be Chaton Burndale. Heh. My second cat was (no lie) named Watson, which I think would rather detract from the stripper-tastic ness.
On the dreaded front, there are pros and cons. I work for a publisher, and so am most definitely a hard copy book person. But I own a Sony eReader, and for work I have an iPad2.
Benefit is being able to eat and read much more easily since the eReader will stand on it's own and you can turn the pages with s click/swipe. Also really good for a substitute for massive books --- I'm reading the Millennium Trilogy right now, and each book is 1000 pages long in the paperback format I have. Much lighter in my bag.
It's also brilliant as a publisher's rep because I have the entire text of all the books on our list on one device. If any profs have questions as to content or style, it's right there to call up. The iPad is brilliant for quick navigation and crisp images/text, but it is backlit. Bit of s pain in bright sun and can make your eyes tired like a computer screen (vs the Sony or Kindle, which are not backlit --- just can't read them in the dark).
Cons -- batteries, for sure. Also the fact that you can't use any electronic devices when taking off or landing on a plane, which is when hard copy books win out for sure. I also find I remember books better when I read them in paper copy, because I have a physical sense of what happened when and where in the book. That could just be me, though. :),
its. One defect of the iPad and all apple products is the autocorrect to add an apostrophe.
Very late to this one but I love that my stripper name is Misty Bismark.....
I have read up to the current mostly and commented many times. But I wanted to reread some of this (the boys are so BIG... I got nostalgic) and came across stripper names, and realized I hadn't shared mine at the time.
-tresta
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