Spring forward, fall back—it’s the end of Daylight Savings Time.
Jane and I decided to do the ultimate alarm clock—instead of racket, a timed light with a bright bulb.
We couldn’t find fixtures we liked—for ceilings with no wiring-box, but we had a sudden inspiration, looking toward the end of the display toward the porch lights. No few of those have a swag option, just plug in, and they’re interesting-looking and waaaay cheaper than most lighting fixtures.
So Jane picked one which they called French-inspired black iron—if it’s French, it’s New Orlingean French, but I think it looks Japanese, which fits her decor; I picked one that’s a ship’s-lantern style, in old bronze, which fits my room—I’m decorated in piratical style, complete with musket, ship’s wheel, and tricorn—
Well, it works great! That light (6500k white curlycue bulb) comes on, and I wake up instantly without having my circulatory system sped into overdrive by bells and alarms.
We’re both happy with the decor, and we’re just in time for winter dark.
They also make timers that fit in regular wall switch boxes, with just a new kind of face-plate, and Jane valiantly figured those out, installed the switches, and got the things programmed despite the lack of instructions that related to the precise model we bought. We have 6500 k T8’s going in the basement, over the plants we brought in, we have more in the kitchen, and now we have both those systems on timer. We are now automated as the Enterprise, eh?
Funny, seems when I don’t HAVE to get up, I don’t mind rising early. Tomorrow, the new 6AM should be more enjoyable, as the sun will be peeking out.
Changing over to e-books, thought this might be of interest. http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/steal_book.
Interesting.
That’s why we believe in our ‘model’ of owner’s rights.
Lights don’t do it for me. I can sleep through DH putting on all the lights in the bedroom. It’s got to be an alarm.
I have an alarm and a light (40W-equivalent; it’s a curlicue bulb) on a timer. Sometimes that isn’t enough; I’ve gone back to sleep without even registering the alarm, and slept through the light going on.
I am not very fond of this video on demand type model for e-books where you have 14 say to read it or it will self-destruct. Since they no longer have to physically print the book, you would think the prices would be next to nothing. Just enough to cover licensing and make a profit, but this hasn’t happened. You are essentially “renting” the book and people would be more inclined to do so if it were cheap enough that if they didn’t finish it in the time allotted they could rent it again to finish it.
I think a cd-rom format would be more preferable. That way you are still saving trees and can print books as fast as you can copy a disk. Copyright protection could limit the materials distribution and eventually the disk would wear out. And you could also lend and trade like people do with normal books.
To me, that is how an author gets popular. You lend a book you liked to a friend then they read it and are more inclined to buy the next book you publish or tell someone else. This current system seems to be ruled by greed and micromanagement.
I’m not really sure what model you’re talking about. Does it exist in practice? I didn’t realize there was an on demand option out there. Seems a waste since that is what many libraries do for free with ebooks anyway. Who out there is paying to rent ebooks?
CDs are old. That ship sailed back in 1998. They are landfill fodder as it is and copyright protection on them never worked. The under 30 crowd already have no use for them. It isn’t even a regular method of buying software these days.
I very rarely had people loaning me books even before ebooks and I didn’t loan books out often myself because my friends ruined the spines or would never give them back (while also never reading them…arg). If I wanted them to read something I’d buy them a new book for Christmas so I wouldn’t have to be stressed out about my personal copy being destroyed. To find new books I usually read reviews online, browse recs from online friends with similar taste(My rl friends don’t read good books), and then check it out at the library, find a copy on pbs, or just buy them if I was that impatient. I had a librarian recommend CJ’s books to me. An employee at Borders tipped me off to Jasper Fforde. My sister told me to read Dorothy Sayers. A Kindle preview got me into GMMR’s stuff. None of that had anything to do with lending. Maybe I’m an oddball, but I never was part of this book-lending utopia people keep referring to. Maybe that’s why I’m not afraid of ebooks. It doesn’t change anything for me.
Good job on Jane arguing with the switches. I’ve been replacing all our 1970s vintage switches a couple at a time in our house with new rocker panel switches. Every time I do, I manage to sacrifice a few drops of blood to the Wiring Gawds as I gouge my knuckles or fingertips trying to strip the old wires of insulation to connect the new switches. Last time I did, I accidentally blew the server farm offline when I shut down the breaker to work on the wiring; I am still in the process of figuring out which breakers control which outlets and switches, and the UPSes only lasted about 20 minutes. DH was not amused.
Not many publishers seem to care if an author is popular, unless that author has written an expose on some celebrity, political figure, or has come out with the latest technique for tantric sex, or maybe a techno-thriller like Tom Clancy used to write.
Okay, so, let’s look at it like it were a paperback version. Said story gets printed, reader purchases book at local bookstore, online at Amazon.com or SFBC.com, reads book, decides they like this author, and share said book with their friends. The publisher has no more control over the distribution of the book, but fails to recognize that by sharing this book, other potential customers may be garnered and profits extracted from THEIR purchases. I have a degree in Business Management, and it always seems to amaze me how companies make decisions. Sometimes those decisions are logical and reasonable, and other times, they make absolutely no business sense to me at all.
Since I couldn’t control the distribution of a paperback book or even a hardbound book once the reader had finished it, why am I now suddenly worried about controlling the distribution of an electronic version? I’ve made my profit, the author has made his/her profit, no trees have been cut down and pulped, the little plastic disc, or the electronic flash drive contains everything that would be in the printed version. What drives the publisher to start putting “time bombs” on the books? This isn’t software where you purchase a license to use the product, this is a book that you purchase in order to enjoy it. What happens when publishers no longer print books on paper? Will my “library” be reduced to a series of CDs, Flash Drives, or whatever is down the road for data storage? It certainly makes sense from an environmental and space-saving view, but I would expect that I could pick up the “book” at any time and read from it, without having to pay for it again and again. I don’t pay over and over again every time I get into my car and drive away, I don’t pay to enter my house every time I come home, I pay for services on a regular basis, but not for a tangible product such as a book which has a one-time price and purchase. The only restrictions on the printed book are that I cannot make extracts from the book or reprint it myself without the permission of the copyright holder and/or the publisher. But what I do with the book after I’ve read it is my choice and I don’t charge a price to my friends with whom I share the book.
Cynicism will get you nowhere, but at least, if it’s a happy ending, you’ll be more pleased with the result.
Light switches — I really want a separate wall on/off switch for the fan versus the ceiling light in my office bedroom. But I’ll have to get someone to do it for me. (Eyesight, rather than the will to learn to DIY.) As for that piratical decor, yay! The tricorn makes a nice touch.
Rening ebooks. Oh, I won’t even get started on an ebook rent rant. 😉 I have this vision, though, of a shelf full of key cabinets holding flash drives containing ebooks. There *will* have to be a storage medium. — That’s going to get interesting for booklovers, bookstores, and libraries.
My biological alarm clock is confused. It thinks it’s either too early or too late, and can’t tell which. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m a night owl by nature, with a bad tendency toward insomnia. Well, I might end up getting things done tonight. Maybe even some of what I keep putting off!
That Enterprise fancy automation? Naw, you’d have to have a food replicator in every bedroom, and holo-emitters in every room. Can’t you just imagine how startling that would be, to be alone in your cabin, and all of a sudden the blasted EMH or some such pops in and says anything? I would not be amused, and I’m pretty mild-mannered. I can just imagine if that happens while Crewman Redshirt is in the bathroom. I have a feeling the holographic officer would be decompiled right quick. LOL.
(How can a browser’s spellchecker *not* have “decompiled” in its dictionary? Sheesh!)