Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

i dunno, the idea that people won't read actualy books any longer...is not necessarily apocalyptic, but really terribly depressing.

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.

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?

bahaha xpost

i don't think books are going anywhere anytime soon

My wife and I just ordered one. I'll keep you all updated on our enjoyment thereof.

There's nothing like an epic ILX thread where people mourn the fact that no one reads, ever...*crosses fingers*

x-post -- Treekiller. Uh, wait.

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

Kindle App for the iPhone is a far worse experience than just reading a physical book. Haven't used the Kindle itself.

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

― 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?)

we could call it "excelsior: the e-book"...just a thought

That being said, I would totally buy a book that was a compendium of the best ILX threads.

Truth

Excelsior the book

some underrated Dr. Phil-isms upthread. don't sleep

Where did the whole "Excelsior" meme come from anyway?

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

for the ultimate in meta, I only read this thread from my kindle.

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.

Excelsior by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A 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 rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of 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 rest
Thy 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 heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered 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 ice
That 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!

But more to the point of your question, I always assumed Ned thunk it up.

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.

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)

But more to the point of your question, I always assumed Ned thunk it up.

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.

Ah, thanks Ned! That's great. :-)

Seriously Ned, I never can figure out how you do that.

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

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.

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

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

Seriously Ned, I never can figure out how you do that.

Work in libraries a lot = get used to using search terms as effectively as one can.

Yeah, that too, but I meant the candyman thing where you appeared and clarified as soon as your name came up.

Oh, that. Blood sacrifices.

gotcha. Hail Satan, Ned.

nedraggetnedraggetnedragget

Two 't's please.

ZS could do wonders with a photo of an ilxor in a mirror w/r/t this

with evil eye dog in background

i mean, i really like the record. and yeah, there's both good and bad experimental psychedelia, just like any other kinda music. But it doesn't seem to me that this particular Sandy Bull album is any-more self-induldgent or boring than something like Vision Creation Newsun or some Xenakis album. But all three of these albums were made for different audiences at different times, who obviously had different expectations.
I just think it's weird that a guy who clearly doesn't have an affinity for the style would review the record. I dunno. Where is Ned Ragget or someone to write a better review?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:30 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

HI DERE
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:31 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not creepy at all.
― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:32 AM Bookmark

Hahah

LOL

mr que otm - the idea that books will die just seems impossible - that's like saying 'now we have photos/computer screens/etc. painting will die'. the way i see it, who cares if kindle-type things overtake mass-market paperbacks? why are mass-market paperbacks so precious or somehow culturally superior? and i say this as someone who loves the physical-ness and materiality of books, and someone who has spent obscene amounts of money on books.

there's no way i'm forking out several hundred for one of these things anytime soon - but if some better comes along in the next few years, and the price drops below $150, i will def be getting one. the idea of being able to carry around several books on a little gadget makes me very happy.

I think Ned was mentioned in one of the football-by-which-I-mean-soccer topics but failed to creepily emerge*. Disappointing.

*I tried to find a gif of Homer gliding through Ned's hedge, but no luck.

Ned's December 2005 HI DERE just gave genuine workplace lols - great stuff.

On a thread related note, the University I work at is also seriously looking at this kind of device as well for all the reasons upthread; the potential satchel-lightening (esp for science courses) would be amazing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574277041750084938.html#printMode

At colleges, trials of e-textbooks and readers have been mixed. When Northwest Missouri State ran its trial with the Sony Reader last fall, dozens of the 200 participants bailed out after about two weeks. “The students more often than not either suffered through it or went and got physical books,” says Paul Klute, the assistant to the university’s president, who oversees the e-book program. Students didn’t like that they couldn’t flip through random pages, take notes in the margins or highlight text, he says.

Penn State ran a pilot program last fall with 100 of the Sony Reader devices in honors English classes, and found similar results as Northwest Missouri State. The devices are good if you’re using them “on a beach or on an airplane,” said Mike Furlough, assistant dean for scholarly communications at Penn State University Libraries. “But not fully functional for a learning environment.”

guessi should add this part to be fair, last few paragraphs

ony’s newest model, the Reader 700, now features note taking and highlighting, says Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business. The Reader, he says, “is not a multipurpose device, it is designed for focused reading.”—something that many educators are looking for in a world where students’ lives are filled with digital distractions.

Northwest Missouri State has since decided to pursue e-books that can be read on small laptops known as netbooks, rather than just a single-purpose e-reader. “A tablet netbook that is sturdy and is as fully functional as a PC has the ability to do word processing and run other programs,” Mr. Klute says.

Some Northwest Missouri State students say they remain fans of digital reading. Eric Pabst, 21, used his laptop to read e-textbooks in his finance class last year. “It’s cool because we don’t have to lug around a huge book anymore,” he says.

hm, if i were studying, writing papers, doing research, i would totally want a stand-alone reader, rather than have it integrated into my laptop

this is all going to be so much better/functional/pleasant when screens and cpus are paper-thin

I think Ned was mentioned in one of the football-by-which-I-mean-soccer topics but failed to creepily emerge*. Disappointing.

Sorry about that, I might have been asleep.

(haha i have no idea why i used the term 'cpu'. do people still use that word even? i mean processor, motherboard, keyboard, battery, all that circuitry stuff)
xpost