I will preface that I am one of these people who enjoy "hoarding". I like buying books, CDs and DVDs and putting them on my shelves - an ever growing collection gives something of a sense of accomplishment, and it serves as a sort of vanity mirror into your soul, when you can show your guests around and graciously lend them some film or book they always wanted to see or read.
That being said, I am beginning to think this is becoming more and more pointless, with things like iTunes, kindle store and whatnot essentially fulfilling the same role, storing every thing you ever bought on a cloud somewhere. With high speed internet, any movie, album or book is just a few clicks away, not to mention I can now carry them all when going on vacation, without having to fill half a suitcase with books and DVD cases.
So what do you think? Are "physical" collections like this a thing of the past, a mere thing of vanity?
Yes.
What's the point of having a physical medium clogging up space.
No. People like filling space with cool stuff.
And libraries have been around for ages, people still bought books.
Quote from: Tyr on December 26, 2012, 08:05:31 AM
No. People like filling space with cool stuff.
And libraries have been around for ages, people still bought books.
Worst. Analogy. Ever.
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 08:06:29 AM
Quote from: Tyr on December 26, 2012, 08:05:31 AM
No. People like filling space with cool stuff.
And libraries have been around for ages, people still bought books.
Worst. Analogy. Ever.
Worst reply ever. Why?
Its not really an analogy anyway, its talking about the same thing.
With the exception of some mass paperbacks, I've pretty much kept every book I've ever bought since my first year of college.
Which is why, whenever I move, approximately 40% of the total tonnage is books.
And there are some things for which digital media is simply not worth using, and never will be.
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 06:43:17 AM
......
That being said, I am beginning to think this is becoming more and more pointless, with things like iTunes, kindle store and whatnot essentially fulfilling the same role, storing every thing you ever bought on a cloud somewhere. With high speed internet, any movie, album or book is just a few clicks away, not to mention I can now carry them all when going on vacation, without having to fill half a suitcase with books and DVD cases.
.....
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 10:31:47 AM
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
Martin believes in cloud technology, what with being so light in the loafers.
How utterly plebian. Expected of a future pug owner.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 10:31:47 AM
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
Presumably the courts would have ultimate say.
And monopoly doesn't mean what you seem to think it does.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 10:31:47 AM
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 06:43:17 AM
......
That being said, I am beginning to think this is becoming more and more pointless, with things like iTunes, kindle store and whatnot essentially fulfilling the same role, storing every thing you ever bought on a cloud somewhere. With high speed internet, any movie, album or book is just a few clicks away, not to mention I can now carry them all when going on vacation, without having to fill half a suitcase with books and DVD cases.
.....
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
Trust society and be happy. :)
I don't have romantic feelings for piles of pressed dead trees filled with chemical inks and glue. Nor do I have an interest in a "vanity mirror to the soul" (good line BTW) - if I want to feel culturally smug and superior, I just have to check in to the languish drinks thread. The ability to carry entire libraries worth of music of books in a small hand-held device cannot be underestimated.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 10:31:47 AM
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
Not just the "gun nuts" who are paranoid . . .
I am broadly with the progressive crowd here. That being said, I seduced at least one guy by showing him my Gore Vidal books and Derek Jarman DVDs shelf so this cannot be underestimated either.
Of course later on he left me for a chick. :glare:
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 10:31:47 AM
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 06:43:17 AM
......
That being said, I am beginning to think this is becoming more and more pointless, with things like iTunes, kindle store and whatnot essentially fulfilling the same role, storing every thing you ever bought on a cloud somewhere. With high speed internet, any movie, album or book is just a few clicks away, not to mention I can now carry them all when going on vacation, without having to fill half a suitcase with books and DVD cases.
.....
So Marty, you'd be happy to end up just effectively not owning anything, but 'licensing' from some large internet monopoly, who'll have ultimate say on if you should continue to have access to ' your' media ?
:rolleyes:
I keep blu-ray movies and console games on my shelf, but mostly out of laziness. If I had time I'd rip all my blu-rays to my Windows home server and I'd like to get my Xbox games out of the way, but I haven't figured out a way to do so without making it a pain to dig the games out-- and keep my kids from getting into them and scratching up the discs.
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 12:39:06 PM
Of course later on he left me for a chick. :glare:
:nelson:
Some reasons I like physical books over reading the same thing on devices:
- I can read them when there is no power.
- I can read them when there's no net access.
- I can read them during take off and landing while on a plane.
- I don't really need to worry about them getting wet, getting sand in them, getting messy while used in the kitchen, etc.
- It requires much less hardware to conveniently cross reference several volumes simultaneously.
- There are some aesthetic qualities I appreciate about physical volumes.
- Older books have individual history, which I appreciate.
- Some types of illustration and layout works better in physical formats.
That said, there are some significant advantages to e-readers etc, and some of the advantages of physical books can be achieved from a physical format (i.e. printing out a copy of a recipe, rather than brining your reader into the kitchen while cooking). I'm happy to avail myself of new technologies, but so far my preference is still for physical books in most contexts.
I think I need to go fondle my Campaigns of Napoleon again. It has been awhile.
Quote from: Ed Anger on December 26, 2012, 01:33:09 PM
I think I need to go fondle my Campaigns of Napoleon again. It has been awhile.
I'm within 3 1/2 touching distance of mine. :)
Damn I miss the old library copy I took out so many time from my local one, those dark blue boards and this thin, but good quality paper brings back a memory or two; whixh no doubt will annoy JR.
That is one book I'm debating getting the digital version of. 1200 pages just ain't that great to lug around to the can.
I have a Nook (Barnes and Noble). I got the Nook about 1 1/2 years ago and I love it. Very easy to use, compact place for many books. I still get some books in paper form, like reference books because I feel it's easier to thumb through and browse with the book form.
Other than that I still have many of my books, but I occassionally sort through and either donate to the library or into the recycle bin.
I have an ipod too but I still also have many CDs and Cassette Tapes though I rarely listen to the Tapes. The CDs I listen to, as I haven't bought and downloaded all my music to the ipod and likely won't bother. I mostly get music on the ipod that I don't already have, except some favorite albums and songs that I want in both forms.
Quote from: Ed Anger on December 26, 2012, 01:41:54 PM
That is one book I'm debating getting the digital version of. 1200 pages just ain't that great to lug around to the can.
Yes, but the key issue is how well the maps are represented digitally.
Not a good example, but I recently got another miltary history ebook, and after I finished it, I ended up going to the local library to borrow the book so I could see the maps properly, the ebook edition had somehow borked the zoom option.
Quote from: Ed Anger on December 26, 2012, 01:33:09 PM
I think I need to go fondle my Campaigns of Napoleon again. It has been awhile.
Buy one of grumbler's tomes.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 26, 2012, 02:25:37 PM
Buy one of grumbler's tomes.
Did he finally get his diary of the Austerlitz campaign published?
Quote from: Jacob on December 26, 2012, 01:28:19 PM
Some reasons I like physical books over reading the same thing on devices:
Some of these are pretty good reasons for particular kinds of books, such as:
- There are some aesthetic qualities I appreciate about physical volumes.
- Older books have individual history, which I appreciate.
- Some types of illustration and layout works better in physical formats.
But IMO the vast majority of physical books have no special aesthetic quality or unique indiviudal history.
As for the the rest:
Quote- I can read them when there is no power.
- I can read them when there's no net access.
- I can read them during take off and landing while on a plane.
- I don't really need to worry about them getting wet, getting sand in them, getting messy while used in the kitchen, etc.
- It requires much less hardware to conveniently cross reference several volumes simultaneously
Most dedicated ereaders are very stingy power users so this is unlikely to be an issue unless one sepnds long periods of time in environments without access to electric power. Net access is not required to read on an ereader - only to get more books. Takeoffs and landings are an issue but this is a pretty insignificant period of time. Physical books don't do well with water either. It is true, however, for a number of reasons that cookbooks are better in physical form. As for cross-referencing, one advantage of ebooks is the ability to search across a wide number of books for a particular word, name or concepts.
The nice thing is that although there are uses for which physical books are superior, there is an easy solution - just get physical books for those uses. :)
An important issue for me is once I finished a good book, I might want to lend it to a friend, which at the moment, I can't do sort of lending him the actual ebook reader.
Where as with the physical book, I can drop it off, he may or may not read it in 'good time', maybe his wife ends up reading it as well/instead, perhaps the book ends up not being return, but that's no big loss as it's subsumed in to his collection and I've probably ended up with a few books of his anyway. Owning the physical media does have some concrete benefits that I don't want to give up.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 02:49:32 PM
An important issue for me is once I finished a good book, I might want to lend it to a friend, which at the moment, I can't do sort of lending him the actual ebook reader.
You can lend but you can only do it once, and it only lasts for 14 days.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 02:49:32 PM
An important issue for me is once I finished a good book, I might want to lend it to a friend, which at the moment, I can't do sort of lending him the actual ebook reader.
I think Amazon has kindle to kindle lending.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 02:59:29 PM
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 02:49:32 PM
An important issue for me is once I finished a good book, I might want to lend it to a friend, which at the moment, I can't do sort of lending him the actual ebook reader.
You can lend but you can only do it once, and it only lasts for 14 days.
I don't think that's enabled in the UK yet.
And of course it relies on the other person being in the same walled garden as you.
I think Apple e-books can be copied many times over and they got rid of the copy protections. So it is just a matter of honesty (i.e. that you ask your friends to delete the copy once they read it rather than keep it illegally).
I also read stuff on my iPad in the bathtub. :blush:
I just bought an iPad w/ retina display for Christmas. I don't think I'll ever buy another hard copy of a book. The screen is just so... gorgeous. The only exception might be large medical anatomical atlases and such... but those are really just office decoration.
I've slowly migrated to the cloud. For $10 a month I can get 200 gigs of storage from Google. I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there. Right now a terabyte of storage costs $50/mo, but I bet in 5 years it'll be half that.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 03:04:29 PM
And of course it relies on the other person being in the same walled garden as you.
You are focusing on the wrong thing. The "walled garden" is not a big issue for ereaders like it for say tablets. Some readers use open formats so there is no walled garden at all. Amazon does a proprietary format, but it can read using a free e-reader program on virtually any electronic platform in existence.
The real limitations on things like lending and gifting come from the old fashioned publishing companies.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 03:04:29 PM
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 02:59:29 PM
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 02:49:32 PM
An important issue for me is once I finished a good book, I might want to lend it to a friend, which at the moment, I can't do sort of lending him the actual ebook reader.
You can lend but you can only do it once, and it only lasts for 14 days.
I don't think that's enabled in the UK yet.
And of course it relies on the other person being in the same walled garden as you.
You can also just pirate a pdf verison of the book and send it to your friend via email. It'll be less than a 5 megabyte attachment.
Quote from: Fate on December 26, 2012, 03:15:00 PM
I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there.
This is the kind of thing that makes the publishers go paranoid and ruin the experience for everyone else.
Quote from: Fate on December 26, 2012, 03:15:00 PM
I've slowly migrated to the cloud. For $10 a month I can get 200 gigs of storage from Google. I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there. Right now a terabyte of storage costs $50/mo, but I bet in 5 years it'll be half that.
My hard drive has 2 tb of storage space and I don't have to pay any monthly fees. :hmm:
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on December 26, 2012, 03:19:45 PM
Quote from: Fate on December 26, 2012, 03:15:00 PM
I've slowly migrated to the cloud. For $10 a month I can get 200 gigs of storage from Google. I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there. Right now a terabyte of storage costs $50/mo, but I bet in 5 years it'll be half that.
My hard drive has 2 tb of storage space and I don't have to pay any monthly fees. :hmm:
I have multiple devices. It's just so easy to access shit via google drive. It seamlessly integrates my laptop, ipad, smart phone. If I want to use whatever file on a different computer, I can get to at anytime. There's also no chance of losing the physical drive, having it become corrupted, etc.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 03:15:50 PM
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 03:04:29 PM
And of course it relies on the other person being in the same walled garden as you.
You are focusing on the wrong thing. The "walled garden" is not a big issue for ereaders like it for say tablets. Some readers use open formats so there is no walled garden at all. Amazon does a proprietary format, but it can read using a free e-reader program on virtually any electronic platform in existence.
The real limitations on things like lending and gifting come from the old fashioned publishing companies.
Yes, good points, but I think Amazon poses a particular problem as they were first to a strong market position, with perhaps the most restrictive format.
And I have a fair few amazon e-books, that have cause me this problem and as you note, short of going down the route taken by Fate el al, I really have to back out of the amazon walled garden and find a better solution, to mix my metaphors.
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 03:25:05 PM
Yes, good points, but I think Amazon poses a particular problem as they were first to a strong market position, with perhaps the most restrictive format.
And I have a fair few amazon e-books, that have cause me this problem and as you note, short of going down the route taken by Fate el al, I really have to back out of the amazon walled garden and find a better solution, to mix my metaphors.
Epub is probably the best format for you then. I think everything can read it except the kindle.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 03:32:42 PM
Quote from: mongers on December 26, 2012, 03:25:05 PM
Yes, good points, but I think Amazon poses a particular problem as they were first to a strong market position, with perhaps the most restrictive format.
And I have a fair few amazon e-books, that have cause me this problem and as you note, short of going down the route taken by Fate el al, I really have to back out of the amazon walled garden and find a better solution, to mix my metaphors.
Epub is probably the best format for you then. I think everything can read it except the kindle.
Yes, I've come to that conclusion, especially as our library system uses it.
Just need to brave the crowds/high street and buy a Nook.
Quote from: Martinus on December 26, 2012, 12:39:06 PM
I am broadly with the progressive crowd here. That being said, I seduced at least one guy by showing him my Gore Vidal books and Derek Jarman DVDs shelf so this cannot be underestimated either.
Of course later on he left me for a chick. :glare:
Um, this was in Poland? I'm pretty sure
I'd fuck a guy in Poland if he bathed regularly, brushed his teeth, and had a job. That immediately puts him ahead of 99.99% of the population, male or female.
As for me, I make ebook purchases for "trash novels" and such that I'll read once for entertainment. Anything serious is still in physical format for permanence. I'll give up my large collection of leather bound books around the same time I give up my collection of guns, and it'll be defended just as vigorously.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 02:43:28 PMBut IMO the vast majority of physical books have no special aesthetic quality or unique indiviudal history.
I'm probably more sentimental than you when it comes to books.
QuoteAs for the the rest:
Most dedicated ereaders are very stingy power users so this is unlikely to be an issue unless one sepnds long periods of time in environments without access to electric power. Net access is not required to read on an ereader - only to get more books. Takeoffs and landings are an issue but this is a pretty insignificant period of time. Physical books don't do well with water either. It is true, however, for a number of reasons that cookbooks are better in physical form. As for cross-referencing, one advantage of ebooks is the ability to search across a wide number of books for a particular word, name or concepts.
Most are excellent points. Still, to counter them:
- Stingy with power or not, that won't help much if I didn't recharge the gadget for a while and then I'm off for a 14 hour flight where I packed the cable in the check in luggage or whatever. It's not an everyday concern, nor is it a reason not to get an e-reader, but it is still a reason why sometimes a physical book is better.
- As for cross referencing, the ability to search for a particular word, name, or concept across volumes isn't that important to me. What is useful is to have the book open to the page with the rules for Orc combat options, next to the main rule book open to the table of combat outcomes (that the combat options references), while having the map of the realm folded out on another part of the kitchen table. It's a niche issue, for sure, and doesn't impact the use of e-readers to read the most recent novel you like, but it's one that matters to me nonetheless.
That said, I'll probably get an e-reader eventually.
QuoteThe nice thing is that although there are uses for which physical books are superior, there is an easy solution - just get physical books for those uses. :)
Agreed :)
Quote from: Fate on December 26, 2012, 03:15:00 PM
I just bought an iPad w/ retina display for Christmas. I don't think I'll ever buy another hard copy of a book. The screen is just so... gorgeous. The only exception might be large medical anatomical atlases and such... but those are really just office decoration.
I've slowly migrated to the cloud. For $10 a month I can get 200 gigs of storage from Google. I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there. Right now a terabyte of storage costs $50/mo, but I bet in 5 years it'll be half that.
Retina display? Whats that?
My mam just got my a kindle fire for xmas- never asked for one though she knew my kindle had died and she didnt quite understand why e-readers are so good so thought she was just getting me the latest and best version of a reader. I'm quite liking it as a little tablet computer but can't see myself doing much reading with it due to it being a conventional screen...
Quote from: Tyr on December 26, 2012, 04:41:01 PM
Quote from: Fate on December 26, 2012, 03:15:00 PM
I just bought an iPad w/ retina display for Christmas. I don't think I'll ever buy another hard copy of a book. The screen is just so... gorgeous. The only exception might be large medical anatomical atlases and such... but those are really just office decoration.
I've slowly migrated to the cloud. For $10 a month I can get 200 gigs of storage from Google. I keep all my pirated books, movies and music on there. Right now a terabyte of storage costs $50/mo, but I bet in 5 years it'll be half that.
Retina display? Whats that?
My mam just got my a kindle fire for xmas- never asked for one though she knew my kindle had died and she didnt quite understand why e-readers are so good so thought she was just getting me the latest and best version of a reader. I'm quite liking it as a little tablet computer but can't see myself doing much reading with it due to it being a conventional screen...
It's apple-speak for a really high resolution screen. 264 PPI compared to the 1st/2nd generation iPads at 132 PPI.
I don't think they're a thing of the past, at least not for me, yet. I'm quite conservative on all of these.
With books this could be because I have a Kindle, not a tablet so my e-reader experience is more limited. There's a few reasons I want actual copies. If I'm likely to refer to again, to annotate, to follow the footnotes or that has many pictures in then I want a physical copy. I find it easier with books than with the Kindle versions. I'm more strict about clearing my bookshelves every now and then though.
Another reason is if there's a beauty in the book itself. I've a few auction house catalogues or reference books that I can't imagine in any other format. Also there's sort of serendipitous books which, for me, are a physical thing. I never accidentally come across something on Amazon, like I do in a Waterstones or charity shop. Occasionally I get good recommendations from internet sites but it's not quite the same.
I only have DVDs for films. I can watch files on the TV with the PS3, but I only use that for Iplayer or the like. My flatmates download lots but I don't personally get the attraction.
Also I generally only have CDs which I copy over to my computer and ipod. My laptop was stolen a few years ago and for whatever reason my back-up copy wasn't able to fully load everything (they were there and I could see them but couldn't get them working). That's made me have a lot less music but also want to slowly build it back up with physical copies just in case.
I like to hoard stuff too, and I agree that digital mediums are much better than physical ones. I can see the appeal of reading an actual book and flipping the pages rather than reading from a monitor. But I am tired of finding space for the stuff, organising them, and above all, finding the CD/DVD when I want it. The search button is probably the biggest reason why I want my stuff to be in digital form. Having a DVD is no good if I can't find it, or if I need to spend an hour to find it.
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
Quote from: Tonitrus on December 26, 2012, 09:26:17 PM
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
You should have done 25 edits like MadBurgerMaker.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on December 26, 2012, 11:31:14 AM
I don't have romantic feelings for piles of pressed dead trees filled with chemical inks and glue. Nor do I have an interest in a "vanity mirror to the soul" (good line BTW) - if I want to feel culturally smug and superior, I just have to check in to the languish drinks thread. The ability to carry entire libraries worth of music of books in a small hand-held device cannot be underestimated.
See, I can definitely see your argument here. On the other hand, a lot of my kind of books don't exist as ebooks or are extremely heavy on charts, graphs and colour photographs.
Quote from: Tonitrus on December 26, 2012, 09:26:17 PM
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
The solution to these issues is to buy a few external harddrives :ph34r:
Quote from: Tonitrus on December 26, 2012, 09:26:17 PM
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
No, not really; I'm sure there are a few more examples of potential fail points for relying on make-believe stuff like the cloud.
Quote from: sbr on December 26, 2012, 09:31:58 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on December 26, 2012, 09:26:17 PM
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
You should have done 25 edits like MadBurgerMaker.
Not my problem if you're too slow to keep up. :sleep:
Quote from: Monoriu on December 26, 2012, 10:05:40 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on December 26, 2012, 09:26:17 PM
Though having access to a digital medium on a cloud server is just as (or more) useless, if that company that operates it goes out of business/takes it down/gets sued by copyright holders/or is nuked/hacked by the Chinese/North Koreans/Russians.
I think I may have gone overboard with the "/". :P
The solution to these issues is to buy a few external harddrives :ph34r:
That's fine for stuff you can download. Most on-demand media relies on companies or services that could vanish at any time. I wouldn't include in that, pirated movies, YouTube rips, or squirreled-away pr0n.
I find that I can only read on my eReader for so long before my eyes start to get tired. This has never been a problem with a printed book. I'm not sure what the particular problem is - probably brightness on the Nook or something like that - but so long as it's an issue, my Nook is not likely to be my primary source for reading material.
Quote from: merithyn on December 27, 2012, 10:55:26 AM
I find that I can only read on my eReader for so long before my eyes start to get tired. This has never been a problem with a printed book. I'm not sure what the particular problem is - probably brightness on the Nook or something like that - but so long as it's an issue, my Nook is not likely to be my primary source for reading material.
Probably just a sign of genetic inferiority.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 11:03:55 AM
Quote from: merithyn on December 27, 2012, 10:55:26 AM
I find that I can only read on my eReader for so long before my eyes start to get tired. This has never been a problem with a printed book. I'm not sure what the particular problem is - probably brightness on the Nook or something like that - but so long as it's an issue, my Nook is not likely to be my primary source for reading material.
Probably just a sign of genetic inferiority.
Potentially. Let's hope not, though, since I've done such a great job of putting those genes out there via a slew of kids. :hmm:
Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 11:12:36 AM
Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.
Won't she have sold the house in order to get her meth fix?
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 11:12:36 AM
Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.
I'm not sure poor eyesight will force the kids into manual labor, though I'm pretty sure they won't be Top Gun flyers. :(
Quote from: Neil on December 27, 2012, 11:50:13 AM
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 11:12:36 AM
Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.
Won't she have sold the house in order to get her meth fix?
Please. If my daughter ever gets into drugs it better not be something as low class as meth. Better be cocaine proper or some such.
Isn't your disapproval kinda the point :hmm:
Oh another thing that I find frustrating with the Kindle is that I still have to pay over a tenner for a 'hard-back' Kindle edition. I get why they charge like that but it's really irritating given that cost and immediacy are the biggest advantages <_<
One of the main reasons I mostly go with hardcopy over kindle version on Amazon. The price advantage is not huge.
E.g., looking at some bestsellers:
Cloud Atlas (English): €6.99 paperback/€6.29 kindle (same prices as The Hobbit, btw)
Hunger Games box set (English): €17.50 paperback/€19.12 kindle (WTF??)
50 Shades of Grey: €12.99/€10.99
No Easy Day: The Only First-hand Account of the Navy Seal Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden: €16.95/€12.30 (hardcover €15.95??)
Etc.
In average it seems that kindle prices are less than 25% below the hardcopy price. Also, Germany and Austria have book price control, i.e. books by German publishers can only be sold at the price the publisher sets so there's no sales/competition, really. In its early years over here, Amazon used to give book vouchers to their customers - they had to stop doing that as it was considered an illegal discount.
For foreign published books like English imports this doesn't apply, and I've often found the English versions are cheaper than the German ones, thanks to favorable exchange rates.
We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.
So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.
Quote from: Sheilbh on December 27, 2012, 01:47:37 PM
We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.
So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.
Yes I find the kindle pricing somewhat odd.
You know you could always waite 6-12 months until the paperback comes out/the kinlde price settlers lower ?
I travel quite a bit, so a Kindle is much more convenient than actually carrying books around.
And most books I buy seem to be a bit cheaper than the physical version.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 12:39:05 PM
Quote from: Neil on December 27, 2012, 11:50:13 AM
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 27, 2012, 11:12:36 AM
Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.
Won't she have sold the house in order to get her meth fix?
Please. If my daughter ever gets into drugs it better not be something as low class as meth. Better be cocaine proper or some such.
I think the point is to rebel though. The same reason she'll be hooking up with someone terrible and getting those stupid ear-stretching rings and facial tattoos.
Quote from: Sheilbh on December 27, 2012, 01:47:37 PM
We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.
So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.
One problem right off the bat is that the pound is still worth too much.
You Brits keep getting the shaft paying dollar prices but in sterling.
Quote from: Neil on December 27, 2012, 03:48:22 PM
I think the point is to rebel though. The same reason she'll be hooking up with someone terrible and getting those stupid ear-stretching rings and facial tattoos.
Bleh. Wonder what they'll do next-- stretching out their lips with plates?>