Completely open thread Wednesday May 2 2012

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Comments

[Froborr]

Just a quick update before I head home from work: My sister is back home from the hospital and in outpatient care. I spoke with her yesterday and she seemed okay, but now I know that can't be trusted. I am seeing her Saturday, which I am dreading, not least of which because I will be utterly dependent on her for transport between her home and civilization (here defined as anywhere with public transit I can use to get home).

In some good news (if true), my promotion is verbally confirmed to take effect May 14, but I still have nothing in writing.

[MercuryBlue]

Hope she's okay, Froborr, and hope your promotion goes through.

Things that suck: spending fifteen minutes hunting through a mountain of paper to pull an order that needs trashed because the client faxed the don't-process-this rather than calling and therefore I'd already processed the order by the time anybody knew the order shouldn't be processed.

Things that suck worse: spending an hour and a quarter going through three hundred some-odd entries in the system to compare names (because the names are so long that the tail end doesn't show on the entry list and the only difference between the names are the numbers at the tail end), only to discover that there are three thousand such virtually-identically-named entities, and the choice is spend the rest of today and all of tomorrow attempting to figure out whether the one you're trying to file has a name conflict with anything already filed or file it anyway and hope it doesn't.

Things that rock: last month my college was doing a thing where students sign a pledge to graduate, and one lucky person off the list of names would win a Kindle Fire. Guess who won?

Things that suck: it's kind of hard to use a Kindle Fire without supporting Amazon. Not that I've been boycotting Amazon, exactly, it's just that I'd rather not support them if I have an alternative, and what's my alternative? Sell my shiny new Kindle?

[ZMiles]

Good luck, Froborr:

Things I recently read or am reading:

The Cold Equations, by Tom Godwin (http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/). This is a seminal science fiction story, written almost 60 years ago yet still powerful and fascinating (at least, in my opinion). The basic premise is that a space shuttle driver, with (as per regulations) only enough fuel to just barely reach his destination, finds that there's a stowaway on board. This is a problem, since SOP is "jettison the stowaway so that you don't run out of fuel and crash." While I agree with some of the criticisms of the story (see: http://home.tiac.net/~cri_d/cri/1999/coldeq.html, in particular), I still think the story overall merits its great reputation.

The Jig The Goblin series, by Jim C. Hines. Basic premise is a perspective flip on your standard dungeon crawl; the POV character is a runty goblin who doesn't very much want adventurers showing up in his warren and killing everyone in their zeal for treasure. Jig fits many of the standard goblin tropes, so it doesn't feel like Hines is cheating, but he's got a great 'voice' and he's clever enough to stand a chance against the adventuring party. Highly recommended.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong. A lengthy book about a period in Chinese history when the empire collapsed and split into, well, three kingdoms, led by the noble Liu Bei, the clever Cao Cao, and the proud Sun Quan. I'm reading the Moss Roberts unabridged translation, which is excellent -- the footnotes do a great job of filling in historical context and explaining where the novel deviates from history and for what thematic effect (although I do think the one footnote saying, "The rest of the chapter might bore you, so here's a brief summary" was kind of stupid). I'd recommend it to those who like epic fiction.

As for what I'm watching, I just got the first season of Breaking Bad, so I'll probably begin that this weekend. I hear it's supposed to be good.

[Ross]

Sad news on my front. My wife's beloved cat, Kali, was suffering from chronic renal failure. Over the weekend, she weakened to the point that she could no longer move under her own power, and Monday we made the decision to end her suffering. She was eighteen.

[Beroli spamflagging]

Spam at 3:02 AM.

[Beroli]

I'm so sorry, Ross.

[Amaryllis]

@Ross: I'm sorry also.

@Froborr: I hope everything works out well for your family, and I'll be optimistic and congratulate you now on your promotion.

@MercuryBlue: ummm...congratulations? sympathies?
...but from birth
One thing follows another, as is the way of the world.

[Froborr]

Thanks all!

@MercuryBlue: Free ePubs and PDFs from the likes of Project Gutenberg, buying from independent publishers and small press, there are a lot of things a Kindle can display that do not require giving money to Amazon!

@Ross: My sympathies. Hugs if you want 'em.

[Lonespark]

It sounds like win-win to me, MB. Either you get a shiny Kindle and do whatever stuff with it you're ok with, or sell and make some money, or give it as a present to someone who will be reeeeally grateful.

[sarah]

@Froborr: good thoughts to your sister, and congrats on the promotion!

@Ross: my sympathies.

This is sort of random, but a non-profit community center/bookstore in Philly is looking for a new Executive Director. If anyone here's looking for a job and has non-profit experience, you should check 'em out: http://treehousebooks.org/staff/ed-search

[MercuryBlue]

Ross: sympathies.

buying from independent publishers and small press, there are a lot of things a Kindle can display that do not require giving money to Amazon!

Recs? :D?

[truth is life]

@Ross: I'm sorry about your cat's death.

Free ePubs and PDFs from the likes of Project Gutenberg, buying from independent publishers and small press, there are a lot of things a Kindle can display that do not require giving money to Amazon!

True, and indeed you can actually get these through the Amazon bookstore (I have maybe 20 or 30 books that I got in just this way on my Kindle--for the moment, I can't get anything through my computer, so I the only way I can get new books is via the Kindle Store).

Things I'm reading:

Les Misérables (one of those free eBooks I mentioned above); So far (about...3 books, or 11% of the way in), it's good, if slooooooow. You can see that it was originally a serial paying by the word, otherwise why would Hugo spend so much time describing peripheral characters and events?

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius (Another free eBook): Interesting philosophical viewpoint that I have to admit I'm quite sympathetic to. One of the advantages of the free version is that it's an old translation, and I'm learning probably as much about Early Modern English as Stoic philosophy--more, even, given the probably middling at best quality of the translation.

Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek: I know, I know, but I thought I should at least hear him out before condemning him. Besides, the way the forewords put it, he's not all that disagreeable anyways. The forewords being, alas, all I've been able to read so far, since they take up around a quarter of the actual on-disk space.

Since it's finals time, I am of course reading a lot of other material, all physics or math related, but that's not for fun, so I don't think it counts.

[truth is life]

@MercuryBlue: You can search for "free books" and the Kindle Store will pull up a list of ~50,000 results, so the problem is more sorting through to find the ones you're interested in than anything else.

[Mmy]

@Ross: Sympathies about your cat's death. One of our cats died at seventeen of similar problems.

The community in which we live has a pet memorial trail down by the local creek. Local nurseries donate trees and every autumn people are offered a chance to plant a tree in memory of their dead pet/animal companion. People turn out to help others plant the trees and the name of your pet is carved in a community headstone.

The local vets organized the project -- you might ask if there is something similar in your area.

NOTE: It is a very environmentally oriented project -- the area was initially denuded of trees and in the last 10 years the replanting has restored the trees, reduced the seasonal flooding and we have the beginning of a wild life refuge and a dog heaven (trees, wonderful trees!!!)

It is extremely soul soothing to walk there in the evening and look at the various animals who have moved back in and made the area their home.

[Froborr]

The problem with using the Amazon Store is that MB said she is trying to avoid supporting Amazon, and increasing the hit counter on their store helps them.

That said, you can search and download PDFs and ePubs from other sites on your computer, and then transfer them to your Kindle. At least, I can do that with my Nook, I assume the same is true for Kindle.

[Kellandros]

ZMiles- I had read the Cold Equations recently; Baen published a collection of Tom Godwin's works in a single volume. Baen and Eric Flint seem to have been on a kick of bringing back older works into print.

In fact, if you are looking for cheap/free DRM free books(to avoid purchasing through Amazon), they are a wonderful place to look(they have released for free the first volumes in most of their series for free to let people try before jumping in).
http://www.baen.com/library/

I believe Tor has also announced they are going to DRM free.

[MercuryBlue]

That said, you can search and download PDFs and ePubs from other sites on your computer, and then transfer them to your Kindle.

First I have to find a cord with a standard size USB on one end and...I think it's microUSB I need on the other? Eh. I'm sure CompUSA has one and I'm going there Saturday anyway, because Friday I will finally have the money for my new computer! \o/

[Froborr]

First I have to find a cord with a standard size USB on one end and...I think it's microUSB I need on the other?

Huh, I'm surprised the Kindle didn't come with one--there seems to be a trend in personal electronics to use a microUSB port for both data transfer and charging, and package it with a USB cable and detachable head that allows you to plug it into a wall socket. I assume this saves them money. The last four gadgets we acquired (my Nook, both our phones, and our camera) all came with one.

[storiteller]

Does anyone know if the Slacktiverse meetup in D.C. is still planned? I remember there was one being discussed for June, but then I went on my blog fast for Lent and I wasn't sure what happened.

[Froborr]

Also, congrats on the new computer! I have been thinking about it as something I need to scrape together money for in the next few months; my laptop is showing signs of mounting age (the headphone/speaker jack is fried, several keys don't work on the keyboard) and my fiancee has 80% stolen my desktop (it is the only thing in the house with sufficient power to run Photoshop and Vegas reliably).

[MercuryBlue]

Froborr: the power cable plugs into the microUSB port, but I see no signs that the end that goes into the outlet is detachable. Besides, if they don't enclose a data transfer cable, you have to go to actual effort to use nonAmazon sources for content.

[Froborr]

@storiteller: I don't know. I hope so? I have not heard anyone say it isn't happening...

[Ross]

@Froborr: I am thinking this depends on which kindle you buy. My wife's kindle came with a micro USB-to-regular USB cable and no wall charger, as they found it more expedient to sell you one separately for far more than I could comfortably cope with paying.

[cjmr, who will probably figure out her typepad logon eventually]

Middle child and I are still coming to the DC area in June for the big Girl Scouts Rock the Mall event. Since I was on Lenten blogfast, too, I think the planning was stalled at Busboys and Poets on June 9, time to be determined.

[cjmr, who will probably figure out her typepad logon eventually]

In other news, we took Eldest and Middle Child to the orthodontist today and got to learn fun and interesting things like Eldest has two impacted 12 year molars and an impacted upper canine which will require not only braces but also oral surgery sometime this summer. Middle Child won't need braces until next year or in two years, though.

Children are very expensive.

[Froborr]

That is the last thing I remember, too, cjmr. How old is Middle Child? While B&P is pretty alternate-diet friendly from what I've heard, I have never been there and am not sure how child-friendly it is.

[cjmr, who will probably figure out her typepad logon eventually]

Middle Child is going on nine. I was concerned about child-friendliness, too, but given that I'm mostly GF and nut-free, I'm one of the people who need an accessible menu.

I figure she'll probably be tired and cranky and I'll let her sit next to me and play her DS, as long as she eats something.

[hapax]

Children are very expensive.

And they don't get any cheaper as they age.

I could go on a looooong rant here about the way that USian society simultaneously treats children as optional luxury goods AND the only reason that justifies a woman's very existence, alone any choice that she makes...

...but I'm in a pretty good mood this morning, so I'll skip it. It won't be news to anyone, anyhow.

[Mike Timonin]

I have no reason to be in DC in June, and that makes me sad all of a sudden. However, my wife and I (and possibly one or both of the girls) will be in Buffalo at the end of June - last week of June - for the Buffalo Fest (or whatever it's called) and to scout the city, and would be happy to meet with Slactivites in the area for a meal or something. We'd love a native guide of some sort, too (but not a place to stay - we've got that covered this time.)

[truth is life]

Huh, I'm surprised the Kindle didn't come with one--there seems to be a trend in personal electronics to use a microUSB port for both data transfer and charging, and package it with a USB cable and detachable head that allows you to plug it into a wall socket.

Mine certainly did, but it was a Touch not a Fire, so...

The problem with using the Amazon Store is that MB said she is trying to avoid supporting Amazon, and increasing the hit counter on their store helps them.

I don't see how, but I suppose there's some sort of management black magic that somehow turns people looking at your site into profit without you actually getting money from them directly...ads maybe? But I don't remember seeing any ads when I was browsing the store on my Kindle.

Anyways, it's beside the point because as you and Kellandros point out there are many places to get eBooks (and not necessarily just public-domain or freely released ones) which are not Amazon.

[Leum]

I was under the impression that the Kindle only read Amazon e-books. Is this not true?

[Mmy]

@Leum: It is fairly easy to put non-Amazon books on a Kindle -- there is a fairly good discussion of the issues/what is involved in the article How To Put Non-Amazon Ebooks On Your Kindle

[MercuryBlue]

Quoth Wiki re Kindle Fire: "Content formats supported are Kindle Format 8 (KF8), Kindle Mobi (.azw), TXT, PDF, unrestricted MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8." But to get any of those that aren't from the Kindle store, you need a USB-microUSB cable. Which I now have; blasted thing cost me twenty dollars for six feet of cable. What do I need with six feet of cable? Six inches would probably have sufficed.

In other news, new computer is going swimmingly, except that this is the fourth consecutive Linux install wherein my sound does not work, and while I fixed it the other times and am thus sure I'll get it eventually, this time I'm having trouble figuring out what's wrong. Displeased.

[MercuryBlue]

Great. What do I have to allow in NoScript to get Slacktivist on Patheos to behave for me? I can see the comments, I just can't add one or subscribe to the thread or even sign in. And it was working fine yesterday and I haven't disallowed anything since.

[MercuryBlue]

never mind, works now. I didn't even do anything.