Unless you've been living underneath a rock these days, you'll have heard that the State of New Jersey is about to begin drawing up the plans necessary to build an ark. A very large ark. Large enough to march all the people in two-by-two and still leave enough room for the animals. We'll definitely have to leave enough room for the animals. Franklin, our cat, has serious separation anxiety and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to get left behind.
There's been a lot of complaining about this rain. It isn't really an anomaly though. It's pretty typical to have a rainy spring. I remember when it used to snow until mid-late April. One Easter, we went to church and it had started snowing and by the time we got out there was 3-5 inches on the ground. Pretty cool. But, I was talking about the rain.
Even the animals don't like it - except for the ducks, of course. Animals don't say much but their body language speaks volumes. Birds fluff themselves up and shudder in the branches of my budding forsythia. The squirrels and chipmunks are surprisingly absent and even the resident feral cat is hardly seen. Farm animals don't look thrilled either. Horses stand closer to their barns, shoulders hunched and heads down. Cows and sheep don't appear to venture out at all.
I don't mind it much. I know it will pass and soon in about 3 months everyone will be hollering about how there isn't enough rain. Besides, a lot of rain makes you really appreciate the sun.
I commute every day from one extreme (near NYC) to the other (the mountains near PA). It's about 45 minutes and it's a pretty nice ride. Completely against traffic and I've got my Audible books downloaded to my Garmin StreetPilot so the time passes nicely. It's a pretty ride too once I pass the mid-point from Suburbia into Rural. Old houses, farms and fields.
Last week, we had a sunny day. Not just any sunny day. A gloriously, full blown warm, breezy, in the high 60s, "fooled you into thinking it was really spring" day. I had the sun roof open, a lightweight sweater on, listening to my latest book and enjoying that sun. The light energizing me and the heat making me a little lethargic all at the same time. I made my regular turn off the highway onto the back road with its mix of old rural horse farms and new development (that new development for people who think they want to live in "the country" until they get there and begin complaining about the farm smells and how remote everything is).
I round the bend in the final stretch to the office, getting ready to pass the horse farm on my right where every single day I watch these lovely palomino-colored horses. They've looked absolutely miserable lately in the pouring rain, blond manes plastered against their coats, schlepping through the mud, or just standing under the trees at the edge of the fencing trying to hide from the constant downpour. At first glance, they appear to be missing and I'm thinking, "On this day of all days! It's a glorious, sing at the top of your lungs with the radio day! A cavort in the fields day! Where are you?"
A little further up in the pasture the field is absolutely flooded with sunshine. There they are. There, in the middle of the field, stretched out comfortably on their sides, an occasional tail flick or a nostril quiver to indicate that they're alive, relaxed and happy. Soaking up the power of the sun.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The hand wringing over eReaders and eBooks
I'm going to step out of my comfort zone here and get confrontational ... hee-hee.
There are an awful lot of opinions floating around these days over eReaders. Some of it is from people that have physically seen, touched and tried one (through friends or retail stores), some of it is from people that actually own one, but a lot of it is from people that have done neither. Some see these as wonderful, environmentally friendly devices, others see them as the complete demise of books as well as the publishing industry. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Just as we have not abandoned our 42" flat-screen TVs for laptops, I seriously doubt that we'll all, every last one of us, completely ditch our beautiful bookcases with all of those beautifully bound (and not so beautifully bound) volumes of knowledge, pictures, and stories for a 9x5 piece of plastic and metal.
The publishing industry appears to be pretty anti-eBook, which is a bit odd because, while it does hurt their 40% retail store margin, it also reduces their production and inventory costs (which, in turn, reduces overhead and their carbon footprint). And, with DRM (digital rights management protection) it pretty much reduces or eliminates the secondary/used book market, that also hurts their profits and is something the industry at large has been whining about and fighting for years, especially in the textbook market. You'd think they'd all be jumping for joy.
There seemed to be an awful lot of complaining about Amazon setting the prices for eBooks but there doesn't seem to be the same outrage over Apple setting the prices, which now appears to be the case as it is their higher prices for eBooks that started the firestorm over eBook pricing in the publishing industry in the first place.
Now, I don't necessarily need to be president to have an opinion about whether I approve of the job he's doing or not (which, by the way I do approve of the job he's trying to do) but I certainly wouldn't listen to my opinion as a way to make a voting or any other political decision. Nor would I expect anyone I know to actually go out and buy the type of car I own. I'd go to the source, read their material, and find myself some experts. Now sure, going to the source is going to get you a certain amount of "advertorializing" (did I just make up a word...), but I'd kick the tires a little and then decide. I certainly wouldn't rely on any news outlet with ratings agenda.
Sorry, I digressed a bit. So, I would recommend that anyone exploring the possibility of purchasing an eReader like the Kindle,iPad, nook or Sony Reader make sure that they read posts and reviews from people that actually own one or those who have extensively tried one.
Some have free wireless access, some have paid wireless access or no access at all. Most of them have some multi-function capabilities (MP3 listening), some have replaceable batteries and memory cards, some don't. Most of them allow you to make notes or highlight content as well as having a look-up feature for that word you're not quite sure of. Generally, they all (at least for now since there's no set standard) lock you into purchasing newly published books from the same company you purchased the device from. All of them have the ability to download books in the public domain (have a hankering to read The Scarlett Pimpernel or The Cricket on the Hearth?) from free online sources such as Feedbooks or the much-touted Google Books.
There's also a lot of complaining about eBook standards also but we seem to co-exist these days pretty well with both Apple and Microsoft. We also still have BlackBerry, iPhone and Palm and they co-exist and interact relatively comfortably also (okay well maybe not so comfortably but you can't have everything). Like any breakthrough technology it will take a little while for the dust to settle but long term, some genius will find a way for us to be able to use whatever machine we like in whatever way we like and make it easy for them to politely co-exist. You say tomAto, I say tomAHto......
They're not for everyone. I love mine, but I'm not about to burn any of my printed books or tear down my gorgeous custom made bookcases anytime soon, if ever. If you're an occasional reader or the reading you do is scientific-type journals, graphic novels, cookbooks, coffee table books, etc., then an eReader probably isn't for you. But if you read A LOT (1-2 books a week) and prefer non-fiction and fiction, are a book buyer not a book borrower, can't stand getting your New York Times or Washington Post 3 days late; then the cost of an eReader and the books themselves (even with the current eBook price hikes by Hachette and Macmillan) makes them a perfect adjunct to all of those other books sitting on your shelves. And if a new device is still too expensive there are plenty of used one popping up out there.
But don't take my word for it. Check them out for yourself.
There are an awful lot of opinions floating around these days over eReaders. Some of it is from people that have physically seen, touched and tried one (through friends or retail stores), some of it is from people that actually own one, but a lot of it is from people that have done neither. Some see these as wonderful, environmentally friendly devices, others see them as the complete demise of books as well as the publishing industry. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Just as we have not abandoned our 42" flat-screen TVs for laptops, I seriously doubt that we'll all, every last one of us, completely ditch our beautiful bookcases with all of those beautifully bound (and not so beautifully bound) volumes of knowledge, pictures, and stories for a 9x5 piece of plastic and metal.
The publishing industry appears to be pretty anti-eBook, which is a bit odd because, while it does hurt their 40% retail store margin, it also reduces their production and inventory costs (which, in turn, reduces overhead and their carbon footprint). And, with DRM (digital rights management protection) it pretty much reduces or eliminates the secondary/used book market, that also hurts their profits and is something the industry at large has been whining about and fighting for years, especially in the textbook market. You'd think they'd all be jumping for joy.
There seemed to be an awful lot of complaining about Amazon setting the prices for eBooks but there doesn't seem to be the same outrage over Apple setting the prices, which now appears to be the case as it is their higher prices for eBooks that started the firestorm over eBook pricing in the publishing industry in the first place.
Now, I don't necessarily need to be president to have an opinion about whether I approve of the job he's doing or not (which, by the way I do approve of the job he's trying to do) but I certainly wouldn't listen to my opinion as a way to make a voting or any other political decision. Nor would I expect anyone I know to actually go out and buy the type of car I own. I'd go to the source, read their material, and find myself some experts. Now sure, going to the source is going to get you a certain amount of "advertorializing" (did I just make up a word...), but I'd kick the tires a little and then decide. I certainly wouldn't rely on any news outlet with ratings agenda.
Sorry, I digressed a bit. So, I would recommend that anyone exploring the possibility of purchasing an eReader like the Kindle,iPad, nook or Sony Reader make sure that they read posts and reviews from people that actually own one or those who have extensively tried one.
Some have free wireless access, some have paid wireless access or no access at all. Most of them have some multi-function capabilities (MP3 listening), some have replaceable batteries and memory cards, some don't. Most of them allow you to make notes or highlight content as well as having a look-up feature for that word you're not quite sure of. Generally, they all (at least for now since there's no set standard) lock you into purchasing newly published books from the same company you purchased the device from. All of them have the ability to download books in the public domain (have a hankering to read The Scarlett Pimpernel or The Cricket on the Hearth?) from free online sources such as Feedbooks or the much-touted Google Books.
There's also a lot of complaining about eBook standards also but we seem to co-exist these days pretty well with both Apple and Microsoft. We also still have BlackBerry, iPhone and Palm and they co-exist and interact relatively comfortably also (okay well maybe not so comfortably but you can't have everything). Like any breakthrough technology it will take a little while for the dust to settle but long term, some genius will find a way for us to be able to use whatever machine we like in whatever way we like and make it easy for them to politely co-exist. You say tomAto, I say tomAHto......
They're not for everyone. I love mine, but I'm not about to burn any of my printed books or tear down my gorgeous custom made bookcases anytime soon, if ever. If you're an occasional reader or the reading you do is scientific-type journals, graphic novels, cookbooks, coffee table books, etc., then an eReader probably isn't for you. But if you read A LOT (1-2 books a week) and prefer non-fiction and fiction, are a book buyer not a book borrower, can't stand getting your New York Times or Washington Post 3 days late; then the cost of an eReader and the books themselves (even with the current eBook price hikes by Hachette and Macmillan) makes them a perfect adjunct to all of those other books sitting on your shelves. And if a new device is still too expensive there are plenty of used one popping up out there.
But don't take my word for it. Check them out for yourself.
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