Dan L., I finally made it from position 125 at our local library to having recieved the book "Eaarth : making a life on a tough new planet", by Bill McKibben. Last I remember, from a few months ago, you had just begun to read it on an iPad. What did you think of the book? Is it just anther chronicle of humanity's descent into extinction, or did you find hope as well?
It appears that no matter how well we correct our hubris, any damage we have inflicted on the ecosystem will be with us for a long time to come.
How was the experience of reading on a tablet, instead of from paper pages? Can you cut and paste text from the tablet to a word processing program?
I am curious about your thoughts, as I begin my own journey through this barren landscape.
Well I have not read all of the book yet. I get side tracked easily. So far I will say, it is as you say, "just another chronicle of humanity's descent into extinction" not an exact quote, "another" for "anther". Not much hope, but not necessarily a descent into extinction. Humans will adapt to a changing environment, like living on the planet mars. Not much practical advice, like I already use a clothesline instead of a dryer during the summer and use stainless steel canteen for drinking water...
If you watch PBS a lot much of this information is already known that is in his book. The northwest passage is now passable, PH levels of the oceans, trash everywhere shrinking icecaps...
I have an iPad, much much more than an eReader. I am typing this response on my iPad. I now read my news papers, newsgroups, blogs and RSS, emails and books on it. I keep this thing with me at all times and love it!
It's my GPS when I go somewhere, A graphing calculator that blows out my TI89 calculator, does about 70% of what mathematica can do, app cost $20. App's to track my diet and blood pressure. A speaking dictionary. I use Wikipedia a lot when I study mathematics or searching for information on programming. I can save Web articles for offline reading later on. An app called epicures has thousands of recipes. I can watch netflix movies and YouTube on it. I also watch MIT lectures on physics on it. It is my music player, Internet radio in witch I have wireless speakers for listening to music and talk shows. It is my drawing and trackpad for my main computer, sorta like a wacom drawing pad. It is also my chess clock... On and on.. What I do not have on it is games, even those are available. My iPad has a nine and half inch screen, a perfect size for caring around. It cost me $780 US and another $150 for apps. I also have a service called MobilMe that provides me with an extra 20 gigs of online cloud space for data and keeps my calendar and contacts is sync. $99/year.
The negatives, printing is almost none existent. I have an app that claims to print but I could not get it to print directly. I can print using my main computer as a print server. But if I want that I will print using my computer. Also I have not done any printing since I got this toy. No need to print anymore. If I need to print I will use the main computer.
As for books. I cannot cut and paste or print sections of eBooks. Sunlight can washout the screen. But I never found a use to use this outside, except at night I can use an app called "star walk" that can track stars and planets. I believe the Kindle can be used outside, the kindle is an eBook reader only. Kindle is a lot cheaper thou. With eBooks I can change the font size for easier reading, highlight passages, search for keywords and bookmark to show where you left off. It is easier on the eyes reading off real paper. I use to use a sheet of paper to read books as a guide. I cannot do this with a touch screen. If I touch the screen it will change pages, enlarge, shrink or bookmark something.
I have had the kindle app on it. I removed it. One thing about Amazon eBook is is that it has one touch and you just purchased a book! No money back. Apple iBook store requires a password for purchases.
The biggest drawback of this new toy is... PRIVACY! Almost all the apps require an Internet access to run. Everything you search for, your location, what you enter, your viewing habits will be recorded somewhere. For most of the apps I use my dogs name as an email address. Not my real name. I have about five email addresses with different names. However, they can always track the IP addresses to find out exactly who and where your are.
The iPad requires a computer to back up and get it running. I have over one thousand books in my paper library. Many are in boxes in the basement and a pain to look for them, the ones I use often are in one room and running out of space in my home. Also all classic books are FREE with eBooks, Shakespeare... free, Mark Twain free, Edgar Allen Poe free, the Bible all versions free. Winnie the pooh... Free.
The landscape is not barren! I am like a kid in a candy store of life. So many things I want to do and learn. Are you truly beginning this journey? I began my journey from birth. Since my retirement of two months ago, I feel truly free. One item that is side tracking me is my heritage. I am the only one in the family that has technical knowledge to do certain things. Years ago I converted some old family photos to a DVD movie. Since then my Mom 84 years old and not getting younger, has always wanted me to create a family tree video. My mom is the only one left that knows who's who in the old photos I have from the 1800's So I have been on Ansestry.com looking up the family tree and I will create an interactive DVD for the family. I hand them out for Christmas cards. The first time I did something like this my nephews and nieces never knew what their great great great grand parents looked like... They were amazed by it. Family tree starts in 1785 Berlin, Prussia that came to the US around 1805.
It's not barren, just changing, make the best of it. Wow I actually typed all this:)
What is the significance of PBS? I'm not in the US but do get to see PBS news (sometimes). I know what PBS stands for but why is watching PBS (as opposed to any other US network) of relevance to knowing these facts?
I sometimes forget that this is a global forum. PBS, Public Broadcast Service, is an American non profit television network that is funded by the US government and donations. In many ways they have better programming than for profit television. PBS is not concerned about profits and will often "tell it like it is". They tend to favor the scientific communities when it comes to the environment and evolution. For profit broadcasting will lean against global warming or evolution views because of commercial funds from polluting companies and religious programming.
It's our access to BBC programming, and to a lesser extent, Deutsche Welle. It keeps us from looking too provincial, although, recently they have been seeking funding from private companies. One of these companies, Archer Daniels Midland, is heavily involved in making the products that go into junk food (HFCS). Thus, local funding places financial constraints on what PBS dares to say.
One of their reporters was just fired, Juan Williams, after Williams said he is nervous flying aboard airplanes with Muslim passengers. Williams made the comments on Fox News¹s The O¹Reilly Factor. Fox News is our national television station owned by Ruppert Murdoch. You may have heard of him.
It¹s been less than a day since Juan Williams was fired by NPR, yet he¹s already signed a new three-year, multi-million-dollar contract with Fox News, one that greatly expands his role there.
So we can watch Fox News, and know less than someone who doesn't watch TV at all, or we can watch PBS, and (at least for the moment) appear less provincial.
I get most of my national and global news from the internet's RRS feeds. Every morning with a cup of coffee, I scan the headlines and read any topic of interest from the comfort of my easy chair with the local news tv station is on. I use the "Pulse News" and the "Early Edition" RRS news reader apps. I select a balance of feeds for different views. Otherwise PBS is my other choice.
I'd suggest, KPFA (Pacifica), a listener supported radio station out of Bezerkley, CA :o), where the content is for the listener, and not the underwriters.
Yes. Australians tend to boast about the fact that he's no longer an Australian and finds the US a better place to live. However, his mother is an obsolute poppet and a great gardener who has nurtured her garden at Cruden Farm for 80 years. See:
formatting link
've also heard about O'Reilly. I can see why Rupert went to the US.
spans who despise being interrupted when a program gets interesting is that they do all the sponsor messages at the beginning and end of a program. i can't watch regular commercial tv or listen to commercial radio stations because i turn them off when commercials come on (too loud, too obnoxious, too ignorant, etc).
Once read that the less the content the more technical events are needed. Think of technical events as walking in the woods when you hear or see a branch snap. I used to count technical events and point them out to my family but the technical events won out. I used to read books about the elimination of TV or Amusing our selves to death then there is Marshall Mcluhan. So PBS has 15 technical events minute and Fox news has 30 and a regular commercial has 60. Simple as that. Gardening btw has about 3 technical events unless the birds are about.
I run mythtv which does a very good job of autoskipping commercials.
Everything I watch is timeshifted. If a show I like is played at any time on any channel, It'll get recorded. Sometimes a show will go off the air but return a year later and it'll start recording it again.
Thing is, it isn't about your style, or my style (which is usually in bed by 10 PM). The station is for all people with their divergent tastes that want to know what's happening in their community. One thing you won't find, however, is a commercial for Depends, or male erectile dysfunction, or some other glitzy ad that never mentions what the product does. The result, is some programs that you won't like, and some you will love. As far as gospel, there's nuthin' wrong with a little gospel music. It's over by 9 AM. I often get a lick of gospel with "Prairie Home Companion" as well. Like the lady said," You just got to get your hip into it". It would be a great day in the morning, if Jesus could wash some of our sins away. We seem to be up to the tops of our dairy boots in it. Oh, "Happy Day". In any event, it doesn't inconvenience me, as I won't have finished my paper and coffee, and staring out the windows until 9 AM anyway.
I tried Air America, but was put off by their attempt to be left wing reflection of right wing "squawk" radio.
I start my day letting out and feeding the animals, one dog, one cow, five chickens, about thirty minutes. Then breakfast for my self and about 9am i start to read the news on my iPad, TV noise in the background with a cup of coffee.
I do not listen to that station much. I listened to it once in a while for a different point of view coming home from work in my pickup truck. At home I have Internet radio that has over 24,000 live radio stations from the world. I tend to pick some technology stations and sometimes talk shows on gardening. There are Australian stations that I can pickup as well, they use word "mate" allot in their commercials. How about amateur radio, I am N8... if I posted that then every one would know exactly who and where I am :)
I lean toward alternative music for personal listening. I listen to classical music for music for family slide shows. I have a variety of music for dancing: Madonna for hustle, Sinatra for fox trot, Julio Iglesias for tango, Englebert Humperdinck for waltz, My two step is awful, another reason not to like country :)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.