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Greetings, Quotaholics:
In
the past Patti and I have both written about Amazon’s Kindle, an electronic
book reader. The Kindle and other such devices represent the latest development
in the realm of electronic books.
For some time however, people have been reading books and magazines on
their computers. A lot of these books were older works that were no longer
in print and efforts have been made to make them available online. Some
however are newer books, still in print and copyrighted, that have been
illegally made available for download.
We’ve all heard a lot about how much illegal downloads are costing the
music industry, but till now I hadn’t heard much about book downloads.
According to an article at the website of Publishers
Weekly, the publishing industry could be losing as much as 3 billion
dollars from illegal downloads.
There is a company, named Attributor,
that monitors such activity. According to Wikipedia,
"Attributor is a subscription based Internet-monitoring web service
targeted at publishers." They scan over 30 billion webpages looking
for content that may be used illegally.
Publishers Weekly states, "Attributor, whose FairShare Guardian service
monitors the Web for illegally posted content, tracked 913 books in 14
subjects in the final quarter of 2009 and estimated that more than 9 million
copies of books were illegally downloaded from the 25 sites it tracked."
"Attributor’s Rich Pearson said he was surprised about how bad the
piracy problem has become since the company became more involved with
book publishing over a year ago. Of the 14 book categories tracked, piracy
was most prevalent in the business and investing segment which had an
average of 13,000 free downloads per title, the report found. The professional
and technical segment was a close second followed by science, and computer
and Internet."
"Still, the survey found lots of illegal fiction downloads with Attributor
finding 7,951 illegal downloads of Angels and Demons and 1,604 downloads
of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In nonfiction, Architect’s Drawings
was downloaded 9,715 times."
Once publishers are aware of the illegal sites they request the content
be removed. And, according to Attributor, 98% of the time the requests
are acted upon. But I’m sure that just like illegally downloaded music,
the removed content just reappears at a different site.
I know that in the past we’ve heard how television, and later video, was
going to put the movie industry out of business. How tape recorders, CD
writers, and illegal file sharing was going to put the music companies
out of business. And maybe this is no different. Still it seems, from
what I read, the publishing business is struggling somewhat these days
and a loss of $3 billion couldn’t be good.
The only book I can remember downloading was Stephen King’s "On Writing"
which was legally available online. But I found it difficult to read on
my computer and too big to print. My daughter finally bought me a copy
for Christmas. Maybe I would be a good candidate for an electronic book
such as the Kindle, but short of that give me a nice old fashioned paper
book.
Do you read books on the computer? Do you know "anybody" (nudge,
nudge, wink, wink) who downloads their books from the internet? Do you
think that downloading illegally shared books is any worse than downloading
illegally shared music? Do you feel that this loss of revenue is just
a cost of doing business in the computer age?
Sharingly,
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“All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater
things.” - Bobby Knight
“Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so.” – Douglas Adams
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Golf Lesson
[Thanks Sied]
A husband and wife
love to golf together, but neither of them are playing like they want
to, so they decide to take private lessons.
The husband has his lesson first. After the pro sees his swing, he
says, “No, no, no,” you’re gripping the club way too hard!”
“Well, what should I do?” asks the man.
“Hold the club gently,” the pro replied, “just like you’d hold your
wife’s breast.”
The man takes the advice, takes a swing, and WOW! He hits the ball
250 yds. straight up the fairway. The man goes back to his wife with
the good news, and the wife can’t wait for her lesson.
The next day the wife goes for her lesson. The pro watches her swing
and says, “No, no, no, you’re gripping the club way too hard.”
“What can I do?” asks the wife.
“Hold the club gently, just like you’d hold your husband’s penis.”
The wife listens carefully to the pro’s advice, takes a swing, and
THUMP. The ball goes straight down the fairway . . . about 15 ft.
“That was good, “the pro says. “Now, take the club out of your mouth
and swing the club like you’re supposed to!”
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“Firmness in enduring and exertion is a character I always wish to possess.
I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint and cowardly resolve.”
“I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour,
offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.”
“Suspicion is a heavy armor and with its weight it impedes more than
it protects.” - All by Scottish poet Robert Burns born on this day in
1759
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And
Sometimes The Bull Loses
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Speak right up!
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Highs And Lows
It is no secret that I have taken every advantage of this body I inhabit.
I have enjoyed contact sports. I have enjoyed adventure in many forms.
I have accepted risks and challenges. I have lived a very active life.
I find that there are dues to pay as I enter my "golden years".
But that hasn’t simply been a recent revelation. Along my life path,
I have tested gravity and lost. I have tested physics and lost. I can,
irrefutably, attest to these things being still present and effective.
Gravity, for example, is alive & well.
When I got to a new doctor, there is the inevitable form to fill out
that asks about allergies, medications, diseases, and medical procedures
I have or have had. I usually have to ask for a blank sheet of paper
to have room to list hospitalizations, broken bones and surgeries.
Even with all the "self-inflicted" injuries resulting from
sports and other recreational activities, there have been occupational
injuries as well. The most severe and most debilitating injury I sustained
was a slip on oil on a concrete floor. Without boring you with the details,
I will suffice it to say my back and neck were severely damaged. At
one point, I had to ride in one of those small electric carts as I was
unable to walk any distance.
Thus far, medical science has been helpful in restoring me to some semblance
of normalcy, unless you count psychological. That remains untreated.
But I digress. I will never be back to what I once was. Age alone will
make sure of that, but even medical intervention, no matter how good,
could do only so much. From my vantage point, it brought me back from
a totally sedentary lifestyle to an active one again, but there are
residual effects.
Aches and pains ebb and flow as weather systems migrate through the
area. High pressure areas seem to make joints and repaired breaks ache
more. They also have an effect on breathing as sinuses begin to secrete
more and drain into the bronchial passages and lungs. Low pressure areas
seem to have a rejuvenating effect. Maybe it is the other way around.
Am I "normal" again? I know I’m not. There are just too many
residual effects remaining. Heck, I doubt that term could have been
applied to me. All I know is I am happy that I have "lived"
during my lifetime, and I don’t plan on stopping until Mother Nature
insists on it.
Here’s your quiz:
Have you had any broken bones?
Do you "feel" the weather changes?
Have you had to have surgery to repair a congenital or accidental situation?
Highs And Lows - Physical And Metaphysical
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Email Kirsten
“If
I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn’t show
up.”
~ Dr. Seuss ~
On Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to leave my husband and
kids at home and go out by myself. I love my family, but it’s nice
to have the occasional afternoon of being able to go to someone’s
house without worrying about whether the kids are ruining the furniture
or setting the place on fire. My husband drove me to the home of my
brother-in-law and his wife, which was great because I was able to
drink wine without worrying about having to drive. The occasion was
a baby shower: the happy couple are expecting their first child about
a month from now.
Prior to leaving for the baby shower, I had to wrap the gift. Since
I got a Diaper Genie that comes in a large box, I needed two sheets
of wrapping paper. I had the first sheet all taped down and was working
on the second when my four-year-old decided to help. As a result,
we ended up with a beautifully wrapped gift taped up with almost a
whole roll of Sellotape. Since my sister-in-law is the kind of woman
who unwraps gifts by painstakingly removing each individual piece
of tape, I knew that we were in for some entertainment. I wrote out
the card and put it in the envelope. I asked my son to draw a picture
of a smiley face on the envelope, and we ended up with something that
looked like an alien. Which means my sister-in-law received an extremely
thoroughly wrapped gift and a picture of an alien.
The shower was good. I got to see a lot of people I haven’t seen for
a long time, and a good many that I last saw at the funeral for a
twenty-year-old. Seeing them in happier circumstances was nice. Best
of all was spending time with the mother of the deceased twenty-year-old.
She has had a horrible time over the last two months, and not just
because of the loss of her son. On Christmas Day she had a pair of
seizures and ended up in hospital. The theory - one that she herself
agrees with - is that the seizures resulted from the sheer stress
of trying to get through a Christmas without her son. A couple of
weeks later, another misfortune befell her. As she was moving an oil
lamp, she tripped and ended up with flames on her clothing. Her husband
literally had to put her out with a fire extinguisher - by some miracle,
she got away with a seriously burnt hand. It could have been worse,
but as I spoke to her, I could not help wondering just how much one
person and one family can take.
Back to the happier aspects of the baby shower, my sister-in-law is
looking great. At eight months pregnant, she has a very nice tidy
little bump. She looks like I did at four months. The baby’s room
is all set up, the playpen and travel system (fancy phrase for “stroller”)
occupy pride of place in the living room, and the white board for
baby name suggestions is filled with ideas. My suggestions - because
the baby will be born during the winter Olympics - were Olympus or
Olympia. Somehow I don’t think my ideas will be close to the top of
the list.
At the end of the day, much fun was had by all. Food was eaten, wine
was consumed, gossip was exchanged. Because this is a large Irish
family who always over-caters for things, food was sent home with
me when I left. We have enough cake, trifle, meatballs, coleslaw and
vegetable things to last us for days. They didn’t send home any leftover
wine with me, though.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
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Tim’s
out today, here’s an archive article from 2009.
It’s been about a year since we hired him, so I thought I’d tell you
how things are working out with the PFY (Pimply Faced Youth). If you
recall, his interview lasted all of about 10 minutes, but I knew he
was the one as soon as I met him. He had a certain "presence"
about him.
I found out during the interview that he was a lieutenant for the
volunteer fire department. That told me two things right there: he
could handle the heat and he could tell people what to do. That’s
important. He would be dealing with some of the "higher ups",
and some of them have an attitude problem. Some believe they should
have everything now, and they would test him. He knows how to say
"no", even if he could have said "yes". You have
to ask us politely.
The kid went to college, so he knew about computers. What he didn’t
know is how to deal with live networks running on multiple operating
systems. It’s pretty simple to me, but I helped create this network.
We have KVMs (Keyboard/Video/Mouse), so he could sit in one chair
and change between 4 different servers at the press of a button. Each
of these servers runs a different type of database. That’s where the
information is, and that’s what’s most valuable to the College.
Backing it up is easy. The ability to *restore* is important. If someone
calls and says they need "document x" back, they are most
likely in a panic. In less than a year, Dan leaned how to calm them
down and in most cases get "document x" back within 5 minutes.
Impressive, since "document x" may be on "server y"
that is backed up by "server z".
One thing I found funny is that he didn’t know DOS. We often buy new
computers for people, and transfer their personal settings from their
old computer to their new one. He walked in to my office one day and
explained that he couldn’t move a file. This is the guy that thought
to throw a server’s hard drive in a freezer when the hard drive failed,
and he couldn’t move a file. I went to see what he was trying to do,
watched him fail, then popped open a cmd prompt and did it in one
command.
I think that impressed him. At least I hope it did. I thought it would
take about five years to teach him everything he needed to know, but
I think he’s going to be better than me in a couple of years.
My life gets easier all the time.
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Yarns
E-mail Dear Tim
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Uses For Coffee Filters
[Thanks Deborah]
Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a
wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
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Got some good ones this time.
Next opening line…
She/He/I was sitting there reading a book…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
This
winter has really been rough…
I’d rather just sit on my duff.
I want to say no
to shoveling snow.
No more of the white stuff, ENOUGH! - Lola |
This
winter has really been rough—
I think that I’ve just had enough—
I’m tired of snowing
my anger is growing
and my mood is becoming gruff. - Cassandra in New York |
This winter
has really been rough…
Christmas shopping, especially tough.
Of the folks on my list,
A few had to be missed.
My paycheck just wasn’t enough! - Ellen |
The winter
has been pretty rough
You might even say it was tough
For when I went out the door
To make a run to the store
I actually had ice on my "stuff". - Bonnie |
Online is
where I spend my time—
I just find it very sublime—
Everything is free—
that works out well for me
because I don’t want to pay a dime. - Cassandra in New York |
The old
man just sat there with a grin
‘Cuz he was with a young lass named Lynn
This is not what it seems
For his eye’s moist and gleams
He’s proud of his graduating kin. - Anne Onimous |
The old
man just sat there with a grin
After he’d plumbed the girl out and in
She said, "Kiss me, hotshot!"
He said, "No, I think not!
For you’ve something dripping from your chin." - E. Cole
Aye |
There was
an Old Man in a tree
And he needed to take a pee
As a lady walked by
She was no longer dry
So said, "Strange weather in the country." - E. Cole
Aye |
The old
lady was sipping some gin
And it started to make her head spin.
She passed out on the floor,
Her head was left sore.
But next Friday she’ll do it agin. - Rae of Sunshine |
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Re: Religious References
"’It’s wrong, it
violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws,’
said Michael
‘Mikey’ Weinstein…
I
would like "Mikey" to show us WHERE in the Constitution
this violation is found.
‘It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists
and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles,’ he said."
I was unaware that we have SIGHTS that can shoot an enemy!
‘It’s literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point
of a gun against the people that we’re fighting. We’re emboldening
an enemy.’
How can one "embolden" a DEAD enemy, (I mean, even our
SIGHTS can shoot them). I think we just need to soak our bullets in
swine piss!
Does the presence of these biblical references make these "weapons
of god"?
If these somehow became "weapons of God", there would
be no jihadists ALIVE to bitch about it! I seem to recall in 2 Kings
20 how a mere angel killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night, so if God
Himself were to sanction these weapons… that’s a can of whoop-ass
that doesn’t take prisoners.
Does it promote the belief that America is involved in a "religious
crusade"?
A friend of mine was a professor of Middle-Eastern studies at
the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and he told me about
the "Islamic Crusades", when moslems went through northern
Africa and killed 140,000,000 Christians. Where is the outrage about
that? Where is the anger about moslems strapping bombs to their little
kids or wives, or hiding in schools or mosques and shooting missiles
from those locations. How about that they usually attack civilians?
The jihadists are camel-shagging PUSSYS, and get no sympathy from
me.
When you’re at war with a fundamentalist religions [sic] group,
can you avoid the perception that you are fighting a religious war?
The fundamental nature of the group is not the problem because
fundamental simply means basic. The problem arises when you have a
group that is rabidly anti "everyone but us" and follows
a dogma of "kill the infidels". Remember, Jesus said, "love
your enemies", so jihad is not justifiably against Christianity,
but rather against everyone who doesn’t follow mohammed. - Bruce in
Colorado
I
am a bleeding heart liberal (ask anyone) and even I don’t see any
big deal here! - mariliz
This is probably one of
the most ridiculous arguments EVER! The enemy doesn’t seem to be insulted
by "In God We Trust" that is on all of our money. Mare in
Ellicott City
It is (as Bill
Shakespeare put it) "Much Ado About Nothing". Some folks
need get a life… - Rich
So what? Now if the inscriptions
were on the bullets…… - Paul
I don’t believe
that any religion’s holy book, should be wrapped in any country’s
flag. I am not anti gun, nor am I anti religion. I am an old hippie
pacifist myself, and frankly, I think putting religious inscriptions
on weapons is just wrong. I am quite sure that the Creator is appalled,
no matter what name he/she is called by. - L&K, herm
Re: Tim’s Tales
At least when you whine,
you do it humorously! - Mare in Mare-land.
Re: Natural Disasters
The natural disaster
was a flood. May 18, 1968. Not one of those catastrophic types that
impact hundreds of homes, just an old river a block away that rose
to what was called the "Hundred Year Flood" level following
about five days of steady rain. It didn’t suddenly flow in a rage,
it was far sneakier. It rose steadily soaking into the land until
that Monday morning when it decided to change its course and flow
down the street, cover the lawn a few inches deep, and cause the old
basement wall along the driveway to buckle and cave in. We heard a
CRACK and realized water was rising in the basement. My husband dashed
down and turned off the gas. Then the fire department drove along
with a bull horn and ordered the entire area to Evacuate! Everybody
in the house quickly dressed ( it was about 5:30 a.m.when this began),
scooped up bags of stuff ( school kids need their Stuff no matter
what), grabbed the two cats and one canary and dashed for the pair
of cars in the driveway. We drove up into town to a friend’s home.
Public assistance came two days later when the fire department sucked
all the water out of the basement and we could confront the mess.
We were extremely lucky! The water level lapped at the top step, but
did not invade the first floor of the house. But there was the matter
of digging out a trench the entire depth of the house and replacing
the basement wall, plus remove literally everything that had been
in the basement. That included a veneered table we planned to refinish.
Didja know that river water silt can turn veneer into a soggy cardboard-like
mass one can literally wring like a rag? I must mention the team of
guys (my daughters’ boyfriends and their pals) who got permission
from school to take homeroom time off and come help us. We hauled
out washer, dryer, tool bench, an old TV set, and loads of stuff.
Thankfully, we had a walk-out basement stair direct to the back yard.
Tools got cleaned in kerosene, but clogged motors were a total loss.
This was about the time when "Alice’s Restaurant" was popular.
We sang and joshed our way through the whole ordeal.
Since we stayed with folks who also had a cat, and one not accustomed
to sharing a home with a caged bird, I phoned a business called Fur,
Fin & Feathers and asked if I could "board" the bird
there until we could get back into our home. They were pleased to
help us. Later in the day I got a call from them telling me the canary
had pneumonia! He remained in their care for about two weeks. Yes,
they healed him! He continued to trill and sing for a few more years.
The other small miracle was the vegetable garden. I had just planted
seeds the week before the rains began and figured I had a wash-out.
But as the soaked yard’s overload of river water subsided, green spouts
appeared in row after row. Silt may destroy veneer, but it’s great
on gardens. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Leno/O’Brien
Have you ever been downsized,
right sized, terminated, let go, or fired? Were you given any sort
of termination package?
Yeah,
my "termination package" was inserted DEEP in my terminal
orifice! After 10 years I got 2 weeks severance because a dickweed
boss, (who hated me when we were peers), was made the general manager
by a boss who liked his obsequious attitude. Now I’m a CEO, and he’s
a 400 pound gorilla at a different business because he sent the one
we worked at together into bankruptcy.
Did that help with the whole fiasco of losing your job?
Not just NO, but mother-F**KING HELL no", and I still would NOT
want the Gov’t to step in to make it "fair".. I’ll fight
my OWN battles!
How much money would it take for you to feel like you never needed
to work again?
Considering my age, I think $200,000,000.00 ought to cover it.
… the fight between Leno and O’Brien??
What the HELL does O’Brien do to his hair to look like a red-headed
Gumby? - Bruce in Colorado Springs
Re: Image’n That
"Bimbo"
is a major Mexican baker who bought Texas based "Mrs Baird"
a few years ago. - jakdroop
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book
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