the ones i've seen in person=youngish guy, slightly older woman, oldish woman
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:35 (fourteen years ago) link
muddy waters, "oldish woman"
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think her name is muddy waters, but if she's on my bus tonight i'll ask her
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_90_of_waking_hours_spent?utm_source=a-section
― ramón gastro (omar little), Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:50 (fourteen years ago) link
fantastic. that's on par with their best.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:56 (fourteen years ago) link
my main attraction is that I would be able to knit 'n' read at the same time. Now it's a bit hard cause paperbacks don't really lie flat that easily. :-( maybe that's why a lot of your mom's friends are getting these? i know it's a really big hit with ravelers (knit related community)
― I GOTTA BRAKE FREEEEE (stevienixed), Wednesday, 17 June 2009 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I occasionally buy a book for the Kindle app for my iPod touch, but this story made me decide not to buy ebooks from Amazon regularly.
― kshighway, Wednesday, 22 July 2009 23:22 (fourteen years ago) link
can't wait to dig into this story, Nicholson Baker buys a Kindlehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker?currentPage=all
― Mr. Que, Monday, 27 July 2009 14:54 (fourteen years ago) link
I wonder if the Kindle will ever see any sort of mass adoption. Maybe many years from now, some digital reading device will become popular, but I doubt it will be the Kindle.
I think devices like the iPhone will become *much* more popular over the next few years.
This new Apple tablet is probably not going to go mainstream tho: http://gizmodo.com/5323446/financial-times-confirms-apple-tablet-features-september-launch
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 15:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks for that link, Mr. Que. Looks like a good article.
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 15:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'd be curious to hear what a paper hoarder like Baker has to say about the kindle.My head tells me to wait three or four years until they optimize these for comics and crossword puzzles and they shake out the problems. My heart wants new gadgets.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:03 (fourteen years ago) link
i still find this things's potential end result to be unbearably depressing
― omar little, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Agreed.
― gonna be a long hot summer for the MS Word paperclip (the table is the table), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
'Unbearably depressing' makes it sound as though its failure will bring about something apocalyptic...
― bad-boy cartographer (Abbott), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
i dunno, the idea that people won't read actualy books any longer...is not necessarily apocalyptic, but really terribly depressing.
― gonna be a long hot summer for the MS Word paperclip (the table is the table), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:24 (fourteen years ago) link
By "actual books" do you mean physical books? If so, I agree with you that that's sad, but I don't think the Kindle will change how much people read. Those who read will continue to read, and people who don't read probably won't have a Kindle in the first place.
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I thought you meant 'the Kindle failing and sucking ass' wld be the end result. Do you mean not reading the books we all know and love, printed on paper? Or never read anything ever at all?
― bad-boy cartographer (Abbott), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link
bahaha xpost
i don't think books are going anywhere anytime soon
― Mr. Que, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link
My wife and I just ordered one. I'll keep you all updated on our enjoyment thereof.
― NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dude, yessssss! (B.L.A.M.), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
There's nothing like an epic ILX thread where people mourn the fact that no one reads, ever...*crosses fingers*
― bad-boy cartographer (Abbott), Monday, 27 July 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post -- Treekiller. Uh, wait.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle
― omar little, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Kindle App for the iPhone is a far worse experience than just reading a physical book. Haven't used the Kindle itself.
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:28 (fourteen years ago) link
― omar little, Monday, July 27, 2009 12:28 PM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark
Didn't someone try to publish an ILX ebook or book once and it was a shitshow?
Wasn't a thread also published in one of those Best New Music books, and that was also a shitshow? (People not getting paid or something?)
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
we could call it "excelsior: the e-book"...just a thought
― omar little, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
That being said, I would totally buy a book that was a compendium of the best ILX threads.
Truth
Excelsior the book
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link
some underrated Dr. Phil-isms upthread. don't sleep
― Dr. Phil, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Where did the whole "Excelsior" meme come from anyway?
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:36 (fourteen years ago) link
for the ultimate in meta, I only read this thread from my kindle.
― Jaq, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:44 (fourteen years ago) link
btw, Barnes & Noble is giving away 6 free eBooks right now, when you download their eReader (if you have a B&N account). Looks like it manages downloads via iTunes.
― Jaq, Monday, 27 July 2009 17:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Excelsior by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The shades of night were falling fast,As through an Alpine village passedA youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,A banner with the strange device,Excelsior!
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,And like a silver clarion rungThe accents of that unknown tongue,Excelsior!
In happy homes he saw the lightOf household fires gleam warm and bright;Above, the spectral glaciers shone,And from his lips escaped a groan,Excelsior!
"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"And loud that clarion voice replied,Excelsior!
"O stay," the maiden said, "and restThy weary head upon this breast!"A tear stood in his bright blue eye,But still he answered, with a sigh,Excelsior!
"Beware the pine tree's withered branch!Beware the awful avalanche!"This was the peasant's last Good-night,A voice replied, far up the height,Excelsior!
At break of day, as heavenwardThe pious monks of Saint BernardUttered the oft-repeated prayer,A voice cried through the startled air,Excelsior!
A traveller, by the faithful hound,Half-buried in the snow was found,Still grasping in his hand of iceThat banner with the strange device,Excelsior!
There in the twilight cold and gray,Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,And from the sky, serene and far,A voice fell, like a falling star,Excelsior!
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 18:00 (fourteen years ago) link
But more to the point of your question, I always assumed Ned thunk it up.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 18:01 (fourteen years ago) link
you can’t turn the page with one hand. The book is always flopping itself shut at the wrong moment. They’re heavy. You can only take one or two of them with you at a time.
Are you tired of all the hassle of "conventional" books? Hardcovers are just so heavy, and paperbacks never stay open! Does your library look like this? "Conventional" books can be a storage nightmare! And sharp paper pages can be dangerous -- for you, your children, and even your pets. Say goodbye to the hassle of those messy, maddening "conventional" books, and say hello to something new.
― nabisco, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:01 (fourteen years ago) link
No, I'm done. A quick search of the archive will reveal that I don't get mad & say I'm leaving or stuff like that, so this is it. PEACE OUT
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, June 23, 2004 3:10 PM (5 years ago)
― Dr. Phil, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha, no. I believe it was either Tom E. or stevem/blueski who used it for the first such thread, in fact let me check...
Okay, it was stevem, here was the very first thread:
this is the thread where you copy and paste whatever other posts on ilx made you laugh out loud
The second:
this is the ALL NEW thread where you copy and paste the posts that made you laugh out loud
And the third, where Excelsior appeared in the thread title:
i can't believe its another 'posts that made you laugh out loud' compendium thread, excelsior yadda yadda
'Excelsior' itself coming from its use by Stan Lee in Marvel comics news column signoffs.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, thanks Ned! That's great. :-)
― kshighway, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Seriously Ned, I never can figure out how you do that.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 18:19 (fourteen years ago) link
NB in terms of the takeoff of the Kindle I think adoption by actual people is going to be almost insignificant in comparison to the things they could possibly do with education -- I mean, it's a totally killer and totally sensible thing to put coursework and reading on these things (which I think they're doing trials of at the college level, but would make just as much sense for wealthy primary schools, where parents complain about their kids lugging around six big textbooks a day), and I don't doubt that they're totally looking at the potential there to get at people young and make their whole experience of reading Kindle-based
― nabisco, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:31 (fourteen years ago) link
my sister just started a gig as a librarian at a silicon valley college prep private school and I think they're looking to do just that.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 18:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know if it's even humanly possible to be so in love with physical books that you'd rather go to a crowded college bookstore, purchase 15 pounds of Intro to Anthropology reading, carry it home, and scatter it all over your room than just beam it all onto your Kindle in five minutes and then go out drinking
― nabisco, Monday, 27 July 2009 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i had this big conversation with a friend yesterday abt Kindle and material culture, aesthetics, point and purpose and meaning of dif media forms, wasting of paper/trees and etc. i was recalling all the coursepacks and photocopies i'd gone through over the years (esp grad school, holy shiz) and how a Kindle would have been so perfect for all that. (and i wouldn't have all these stupid boxes of files still! digitize now!)so yeah, nabisco otm
― paragon of incalescence (rrrobyn), Monday, 27 July 2009 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Work in libraries a lot = get used to using search terms as effectively as one can.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 July 2009 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, that too, but I meant the candyman thing where you appeared and clarified as soon as your name came up.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, that. Blood sacrifices.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 July 2009 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
gotcha. Hail Satan, Ned.
― im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (forksclovetofu), Monday, 27 July 2009 19:53 (fourteen years ago) link
nedraggetnedraggetnedragget
― NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dude, yessssss! (B.L.A.M.), Monday, 27 July 2009 19:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Two 't's please.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 July 2009 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link