Category: ranting

So, I got an email today from Amazon… The Economist [economist.com] is now available as a digital subscription on the Kindle [amazon.com]… Too bad it only works the US. If it worked outside the US, even it it was only sold in the US but worked on WiFi or GSM I would buy one. Actually I might have already bought one, but the savings on my Economist subscription would be enough to justify the purchase for me.

I might still buy one when my current Economist subscription is up for renewal at the end of the year. Hopefully the Kindle goes global by then, or better yet Apple [apple.com] releases a 7″ or 10″ iPod Touch (and Amazon releases the Kindle software on for it like they did for the iPhone.)

As much as I like having physical books and magazines I don’t have the space to have the library I would like. And the idea of moving to an all, or mostly, digital existence, at least with regards to music, movies, books and magazines, appeals to me for several reasons. One the the biggest concerns I have had with most e-book readers is the inability to highlight and makes notes, the Kindle has solved this. If only there was a way to digitize my existing library as I have done with my CDs. This is a problem waiting to be solved. Trade-ins maybe?

Now if only Mother Jones [motherjones.com] was available on the Kindle, I’d buy one tomorrow!

2009/07/07 – Update: Then again… maybe I should stay away from Amazon’s stuff.  Within a week of posting this they have done two things that make me think that maybe I don’t want to give them my money, not if they continue down this [slashdot.org] path [gizmodo.com] at least.

[3:32:13 PM] beggs says: i feel like shit…
[3:32:32 PM] D— says: ?
[3:34:01 PM] D— says: whats wrong?
[3:34:10 PM] beggs says: just don’t feel good.
[3:34:19 PM] beggs says: headache… stomach not so good.
[3:34:32 PM] beggs says: think I’ll go home as soon as our call is over.
[3:35:01 PM] D— says: k, yeah should go home and take a 10 day quarantine :-P
[3:35:12 PM] D— says: we don’t want any swine flu patients here
[3:35:24 PM] beggs says: haha…
[3:35:58 PM] beggs says: pig flu has a 5 to 7 day incubation… by the time you have symptoms you’ve infected everyone…
[3:36:01 PM] beggs says: :-)
[3:36:31 PM] D— says: great then we all get 10 days off…..
[3:37:21 PM] D— says: they should quarantine all swine flu patients in Hawaii
[3:42:43 PM] beggs says: Palestine…
[3:43:01 PM] beggs says: the whole pig flu/halal angle is ironic and funny.
[3:43:16 PM] beggs says: we can put the Muslims with pig flu in Israel.
[3:43:24 PM] beggs says: the infidels in Palestine.
[3:43:39 PM] beggs says: and then I’ll run for secretary general of the UN…
[3:44:47 PM] D— says: (rofl)
[3:45:12 PM] D— says: religion is really funny
[3:48:55 PM] beggs says: If I had any of that funny, it’d be going to hell for this conversation…
[3:49:29 PM] beggs says: but I’m a teapot agnostic, ’cause it’s more fun than being a militant atheist

Man must be in space —that is what we are destined for. There is nothing else that we can do.

Majel Barrett

A lot has been said about the hostile rhetoric of the Bush years—something that is thankfully behind us. President Obama’s speech in Cairo [whitehouse.gov] yesterday was a good example of a new rhetoric. Continuing a recent string of improved rhetoric including verbal pressure on Israel to stop the settlement building and calling on China to acknowledge the dead from the Tienanmen Square massacre. Improving the rhetoric of the United States is a good first step, and while Noam Chompsky [chompsky.info] might not be happy [alternet.org] (then again he wouldn’t be very Chompsky if he was would he?) I welcome the change in rhetoric. No one can change the vast workings of the US government overnight —nor indeed in 100 nights. It will take a long sustained effort. Changing the rhetoric is the first and possibly the easiest step. Now the Obama administration needs to continue the backup rhetoric with reality. If Obama and his team can do that, then they will go down in history as one of the best administrations.

Where were you 20 years ago? [wikipedia.org]? We watched all the news reports in school as it unfolded in the days leading up to the final events… not that we really understood the significance of the events (the same can be said for the the other big international development that year [wikipedia.org]).