On Sunday morning mia_mcdavid and our son James left here for a road trip. They drove to Michigan, to see Mia’s mother and other relatives. I have been alone here, except for the cat, who apparently regards me primarily as her servant. So what have I been doing? Continue reading
Every year our church does a book drive does a book drive for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The announcement for the 2011 drive was just posted on several bulletin boards around the building. mia_mcdavid was apparently the first person to take a good look at it. Whoever put it together was evidently in a hurry :-)>
Mildly NSFW pictures behind cut
Apple wants 30% of Kindle App ebook sales
It’s quite amazing how unpopular the move is. Even people on Apple sites are against it.
It’s all rather strange – Unless you consider the fact that people who are reading are not doing things Apple wants them to do i.e. watch movies, grow stupid, become consumers, watch TV, etc.
Books turn brainwashed consumers into free thinkers, and that might be the last thing Apple wants.
More, including comments (many NSFW), at Apple responds: we want a cut of Amazon, Sony e-book sales.
Borders struggles amid rapid changes in book sales
Though only 8 percent of readers surveyed in a recent Harris Poll own e-readers, those owning the devices were nearly twice as likely to buy six to 10 books a year as those who were sticking with print.
Back in November our foster daughter, carpe_noctum_93, introduced me to Half Price Books. This evening we made a family visit to the Roseville store.
Continue reading
Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. The author is brotherguy.
All are recommended to those interested in the respective subjects.
The Galeotti: rowing out of the Barbary Coast
Readers of The Baroque Cycle will recall that Jack Shaftoe was captured and forced into galley slavery by the Barbary Pirates.
Ben-Hur to the contrary, galley slaves were almost unknown in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Back then rowers were free men. Galley slavery was an innovation of the late middle ages. See, for example, The Ancient Engineers, p. 352-354.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 