The tipping point and other social notes

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Mary Beth Frezon

For survey takers etc, apparently the tipping point which makes owners of trucks consider moving to a smaller, more gas-efficient vehicle is around $4.05 per gallon fuel price. I’ve been beseiged in the past week with folks coming up to look at my car and finding me to ask questions about it, including where to get one. How interesting is that? And PS survey-takers and news reporters, please stop saying that gasoline prices are going down because we sure don’t see any of that happening here.

If I hadn’t seen the fellow walk from his truck over to my Fiat and spend time looking at it in the parking lot, I might have wondered if he was hitting on me in Stewarts this morning. If this is you reading it, grats on figuring out that my license plate is my domain name and see you next time!

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#haiku That moment where someone says:

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Mary Beth Frezon

that’s nice. I liked it. These days: I retweeted it!

That’s what Ray Bradbury was talking about. The person who tells you ‘you weren’t as crazy as we thought. I liked that.’

This haiku I wrote last night got handed around a little. I liked it and it gives me a nice feeling to know others did too:

there just aren’t enough
syllables to speak of it
this love of the sky.

thanks all.

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Day 13 #NaPoWriMo2012

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Mary Beth Frezon

I may have tried the ghazal form before, I know I like it both to read and write. So without further ado, day thirteen’s #NaPoWriMo offering:

21.

We come to you at night and shower you with stars
We dance and sing, eat and drink beneath the stars.

If you’d open your eyes and drink in the night
you’d see us here with you and the stars.

The millions that surround you are shining for all
clear and shimmering this night are the stars.

The cloak of the sky they wear is indigo blue
inky and black and gathering clouds of stars.

The clasp of the cloak opens at your touch
and from it falls showers and showers of stars.

Some fall to the night-laden garden without
as beacons and lanterns shedding light of stars

They twinkle and glow and fly ’round your head
these small earth-bound ones, the summoned stars.

I tire not of seeing the waves and seas of stars
above the hills and in my own garden of stars.

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From the quote box

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Mary Beth Frezon

You are seeking joy and peace in far-off places. But the spring of joy is in your heart. The haven of peace is in yourself. — Satya Sai Baba

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The Digital Library and Bookstore

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Mary Beth Frezon

On the one hand we have libraries and readers reaching out to embrace digital reading:

E-Books Are Easier to Borrow, Just Be Prepared to Wait.

On the other hand we have the mega-corporate-legal-governmental tussle over pricing etc:

Cut in E-Book Pricing by Amazon Is Set to Shake Rivals.

Interesting times. The first article in the NYTimes includes these bits of info:

Libraries are permitted to lend each digital book only one at a time**, under licensing agreements, which is a prime reason for the long waiting lists on highly popular e-books.

The relative ease with which digitized books can be borrowed has left many publishers fearful of declining sales and the potential for piracy. Macmillan and Hachette, as well as Simon & Schuster, refuse to sell e-books to libraries.

Last year, the Penguin Book Group said it would no longer make new e-books available, and HarperCollins set new restrictions, saying its e-books may be checked out from libraries only 26 times, after which they expire.

While the publishers may be wary, consumers have taken to e-readers and tablets with astonishing enthusiasm.

Three years ago, 2 percent of American adults owned an e-reader, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and only a few had a tablet. By January, in the latest Pew survey, 28 percent of adults said they owned an e-reader or a tablet, or both.

** emphasis mine: note that this smacks strongly of the traditional library idea of one paper copy, one loan. Larger libraries might have a few paper copies of very popular books but not always. Looking at the listings for epub books available through our local consortium, there are often multiple digital copies available (and still being waited for) no doubt those crafty librarians taking advantage of slightly lower pricing to purchase additional copies for loan.

My own question continues to be why the cost of digital books is often so close to that of the paper version. I’d like to switch but part of me thinks it could be a little cheaper and still be fair to author, publisher and me. No middle man needed after all. Well, if the publishers would think more outside the warehouse box.

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