Billy wrote:
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?

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...

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.

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...

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 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.


I am curious about your thoughts, as I begin my own journey through
this
barren landscape.

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

--
Enjoy Life... Dan L (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)