Today I searched on Flickr for pictures taken recently in Leelanau County, MI. I was surprised to see how many photographers block the sharing of their pictures. Do they not want people to see their photographs? Odd.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Some Get it, Some Don't
One problem with books from university presses is the price. Books by these presss don't make money. They aren't expected to so they can be pricey. What would be a way to bring down the prices of these books and to give access to older books that are out of print? Electronic editions, of course. I decided to see what was available out there.
The University of Michigan Press offers this book in a folio edition for $72.50 and the ebook edition they are selling for $67.50. That just don't make no sense. Not only that but they use the Adobe Digital Editions software and limit how you can use your purchased item. To give you an idea of how backwards this is check out what science fiction author Cory Doctorow is doing with his new collection of short stories. You set your price and there are no restrictions to what you can do with it once you get it. Doctorow published a progress report on his project here. Even Barnes and Noble knows you should charge less for an electronic format of a book. They paper edition of Grisham's newest book is retailing for $15.00 and the ebook version you can get for $9.99. I still think they sell older books at a price higher than necessary but at least they are shooting themselves in the foot overall like the university press. At least they offer digital editions.
The University of North Carolina Press offers a lot of the books on the Barnes and Noble website but for some reason they aren't clear about that on their their website. You can buy their books on Google books also but they aren't too clear on how to get to them. Both Barnes and Noble and Google don't give you much of a discount for the ebook format. I didn't see any older out of print editions available. I'd like to see that happen someday.
The Princeton University Press ebook versions through online retailers for a discounted price. That's not bad. I can even go to the Nook Book section of Barnes and Noble's webpage and do a keyword search for Princeton University Press books.
The University of California Press offers ebooks (but not yet for all titles) and they do seem to give a discount. The few books I found in the ebook format were $5 less than the paperback versions offered. They force you to use Adobe Digital Editions also.
One problem with books from university presses is the price. Books by these presss don't make money. They aren't expected to so they can be pricey. What would be a way to bring down the prices of these books and to give access to older books that are out of print? Electronic editions, of course. I decided to see what was available out there.
The University of Michigan Press offers this book in a folio edition for $72.50 and the ebook edition they are selling for $67.50. That just don't make no sense. Not only that but they use the Adobe Digital Editions software and limit how you can use your purchased item. To give you an idea of how backwards this is check out what science fiction author Cory Doctorow is doing with his new collection of short stories. You set your price and there are no restrictions to what you can do with it once you get it. Doctorow published a progress report on his project here. Even Barnes and Noble knows you should charge less for an electronic format of a book. They paper edition of Grisham's newest book is retailing for $15.00 and the ebook version you can get for $9.99. I still think they sell older books at a price higher than necessary but at least they are shooting themselves in the foot overall like the university press. At least they offer digital editions.
The University of North Carolina Press offers a lot of the books on the Barnes and Noble website but for some reason they aren't clear about that on their their website. You can buy their books on Google books also but they aren't too clear on how to get to them. Both Barnes and Noble and Google don't give you much of a discount for the ebook format. I didn't see any older out of print editions available. I'd like to see that happen someday.
The Princeton University Press ebook versions through online retailers for a discounted price. That's not bad. I can even go to the Nook Book section of Barnes and Noble's webpage and do a keyword search for Princeton University Press books.
The University of California Press offers ebooks (but not yet for all titles) and they do seem to give a discount. The few books I found in the ebook format were $5 less than the paperback versions offered. They force you to use Adobe Digital Editions also.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Tea Party doesn't get what they want
The title of this post is a direct quote from this exchange Rush Limbaugh has with a caller. Later on in the same conversation Rush appears to be encouraging the overthrow of our government but that's a whole other blog post. I think that statement is an excellent example of the Tea Party mindset. They get upset when they don't get what they want. They have a very narrow world view. They want something really badly so they must be right therefore it has to happen and if it doesn't happen then the government is not listening to the people. The Tea Party people seem to be unable to grasp that those who don't view the world as they do have opinions just as valuable as theirs. They give the idea of working together a lot of lip service but, what I have seen from the far right, working together to them seems to mean working with them to help them accomplish their goals. That isn't how government works and I don't understand how they can not know that.
The title of this post is a direct quote from this exchange Rush Limbaugh has with a caller. Later on in the same conversation Rush appears to be encouraging the overthrow of our government but that's a whole other blog post. I think that statement is an excellent example of the Tea Party mindset. They get upset when they don't get what they want. They have a very narrow world view. They want something really badly so they must be right therefore it has to happen and if it doesn't happen then the government is not listening to the people. The Tea Party people seem to be unable to grasp that those who don't view the world as they do have opinions just as valuable as theirs. They give the idea of working together a lot of lip service but, what I have seen from the far right, working together to them seems to mean working with them to help them accomplish their goals. That isn't how government works and I don't understand how they can not know that.
Monday, February 07, 2011
More Photopictures
I don't have anything ready to go so I'll post some pictures I have taken recently.
Greg's band, Motel Glory, playing at Snug Harbor Saturday night. Greg is on the right in the fashionable t-shirt.
The cool ass vintage plastic race care I bought at an estate sale.
Downtown Charlotte. I took this at the Hawthorne LN bridge that crosses 74
Some winter golf with the awesome Barry
I don't have anything ready to go so I'll post some pictures I have taken recently.
Greg's band, Motel Glory, playing at Snug Harbor Saturday night. Greg is on the right in the fashionable t-shirt.
The cool ass vintage plastic race care I bought at an estate sale.
Downtown Charlotte. I took this at the Hawthorne LN bridge that crosses 74
Some winter golf with the awesome Barry
Monday, January 31, 2011
Not Afraid to Mix it Up
Denny Hamlin had a great Twitter post today: "after last nights Pro Bowl i think its safe to say we have the best "all-star" event in sports.. Put a trophy in front of us.. We go get it!" If there is one generalization you can make about race car drivers that may actually hold water is that they are super competitive. I remember sometime back in the 90s they had a seniors race on the infield short track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the guys were told to not worry about the cars and they turned it into a demolition derby. I also remember at some point (I wish I could remember when it was exactly) there was charity race on unmodified lawn tractors and it got out of hand with the beatin' and the bangin'. You can say what you want about the current batch of drivers out there but if you put Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart two equal lawn tractors and laid out a course in your backyard and told them the winner got a trophy handmade by your daughter you can bet each of those tractors will be unfit for duty when they got done.
Denny Hamlin had a great Twitter post today: "after last nights Pro Bowl i think its safe to say we have the best "all-star" event in sports.. Put a trophy in front of us.. We go get it!" If there is one generalization you can make about race car drivers that may actually hold water is that they are super competitive. I remember sometime back in the 90s they had a seniors race on the infield short track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the guys were told to not worry about the cars and they turned it into a demolition derby. I also remember at some point (I wish I could remember when it was exactly) there was charity race on unmodified lawn tractors and it got out of hand with the beatin' and the bangin'. You can say what you want about the current batch of drivers out there but if you put Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart two equal lawn tractors and laid out a course in your backyard and told them the winner got a trophy handmade by your daughter you can bet each of those tractors will be unfit for duty when they got done.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
My first job
I got my first job during football season of my junior year in high school in 1984. The reason I decided to look for a job was for the simplest and most obvious of reasons, I needed spending money. One afternoon after football practice Joe Miller and I went to that restaurant at the intersection north of Cedar, MI. It’s now a family style restaurant where you can get a pretty good breakfast. At least it was this last winter. I hope it’s still in business. In the fall of 1984 it was a restaurant that I never went to other than to use its game room. I remember playing the Red Baron arcade game. I remember thinking those vector graphics were the fershizzle. On this afternoon all my friends were pouring quarters into arcade games. This was one of the first times I had been out with the guys in a social situation and I didn’t have a dime on me. I had to stand there like a schmuck and watch everyone else play these games. It really ate at me. That night when I got home I complained to my Mom about not having any spending money. I think she essentially said, “Get a job.” Mom was always practical.
Where to get a job in rural Northern Michigan? Here’s an aerial shot of my neighborhood. We were located 1.6 miles from the middle of Maple City and 3.2 miles from Cedar. I just really had no idea where to even begin looking for a job. I didn’t know how the real world worked. Which, frankly, has been a problem with me for my whole life. My head is usually in the clouds. The closest I’d come to having a real job was tarp pulling in a cherry orchard that summer with Kevin, Tom and Pat. Tarp pulling is whole story itself. I do remember they paid us around $5 an hour to pull that tarp. That was good money when you’re 16 in 1984 when minimum wage was $3.80 an hour. The summer before that I picked strawberries for a day in a field south of Cedar. My output was so bad they asked me not to come back. I had no problem honoring that request. At some point Kevin Draper had attempted to get me hired as his replacement at the grocery store in Maple City. They let me work for free for a day and told me not to come back. I don’t know if it was called Gabe’s back then. If it’s still owned by the same people they still owe me $50 bucks if you adjust for inflation. Really, who takes advantage of a kid like that? Go ahead and let him think he’s training for a job and when he’s done tell him not to come back and not even pay him for the work? So it goes.
Like my first step into library work back in 1993 the impetus for finally applying for a job at the local ski resort, Sugar Loaf, was my Mother’s idea. I don’t remember too many details of the process. I do remember putting on my best clothes and going to the interview and feeling really grown up. I also remember fretting afterwards for a day or so, wondering whether would get a job. Mom gave me another suggestion. She said that employers appreciated applicants that called them back after a couple of days. She claimed it showed them that you really wanted to work. The next day I followed her suggestion and I was offered a job in the housekeeping department as a houseman.
The position of houseman was not a bad gig at Sugar Loaf. You spent a lot of your time picking up and delivering sheets, towels and washcloths to the maids. When you worked evenings you first emptied the trashcans in the administrative offices and spent the rest of the evening mostly roamed the building picking trash up off the floor, delivering rollaways and extra towels to guests in their rooms, helping the maintenance guy carry stuff or hold the flashlight while he worked and cleaning up the occasional spill. Once I had to clean up vomit. Once in three years isn’t bad. Essentially, if something needed moved or lifted and it was pretty heavy they called one of the three houseman.
I spent a lot of time working the night shift in the winter. I played football in the fall and baseball in the spring and for a couple of winters I spent my time after school roaming the lodge at Sugar Loaf and doing whatever needed to be done. When there was nothing pending I would just mosey. I’d visit the game room in the ski lounge and then do my rounds and come back to the lounge. There were always guys from school hanging out. I remember Anthony Hayes, Scott Scanlon and Alan Popa killing a lot of time at Sugar Loaf. I think it was Anthony who figured out if you kicked the Dig Dug machine just right with your ski boot you could get a free credit for each kick. Alan spent a lot of time playing Dig Dug. Dennis Fleis would be there also, spending hours playing Donkey Kong. He had mad Donkey King skills.
Except for the working at The Cove restaurant during the summer between my junior and senior years I kept that job until I left for bootcamp in August of 1986. Working at The Cove is a whole ‘nother story.
I got my first job during football season of my junior year in high school in 1984. The reason I decided to look for a job was for the simplest and most obvious of reasons, I needed spending money. One afternoon after football practice Joe Miller and I went to that restaurant at the intersection north of Cedar, MI. It’s now a family style restaurant where you can get a pretty good breakfast. At least it was this last winter. I hope it’s still in business. In the fall of 1984 it was a restaurant that I never went to other than to use its game room. I remember playing the Red Baron arcade game. I remember thinking those vector graphics were the fershizzle. On this afternoon all my friends were pouring quarters into arcade games. This was one of the first times I had been out with the guys in a social situation and I didn’t have a dime on me. I had to stand there like a schmuck and watch everyone else play these games. It really ate at me. That night when I got home I complained to my Mom about not having any spending money. I think she essentially said, “Get a job.” Mom was always practical.
Where to get a job in rural Northern Michigan? Here’s an aerial shot of my neighborhood. We were located 1.6 miles from the middle of Maple City and 3.2 miles from Cedar. I just really had no idea where to even begin looking for a job. I didn’t know how the real world worked. Which, frankly, has been a problem with me for my whole life. My head is usually in the clouds. The closest I’d come to having a real job was tarp pulling in a cherry orchard that summer with Kevin, Tom and Pat. Tarp pulling is whole story itself. I do remember they paid us around $5 an hour to pull that tarp. That was good money when you’re 16 in 1984 when minimum wage was $3.80 an hour. The summer before that I picked strawberries for a day in a field south of Cedar. My output was so bad they asked me not to come back. I had no problem honoring that request. At some point Kevin Draper had attempted to get me hired as his replacement at the grocery store in Maple City. They let me work for free for a day and told me not to come back. I don’t know if it was called Gabe’s back then. If it’s still owned by the same people they still owe me $50 bucks if you adjust for inflation. Really, who takes advantage of a kid like that? Go ahead and let him think he’s training for a job and when he’s done tell him not to come back and not even pay him for the work? So it goes.
Like my first step into library work back in 1993 the impetus for finally applying for a job at the local ski resort, Sugar Loaf, was my Mother’s idea. I don’t remember too many details of the process. I do remember putting on my best clothes and going to the interview and feeling really grown up. I also remember fretting afterwards for a day or so, wondering whether would get a job. Mom gave me another suggestion. She said that employers appreciated applicants that called them back after a couple of days. She claimed it showed them that you really wanted to work. The next day I followed her suggestion and I was offered a job in the housekeeping department as a houseman.
The position of houseman was not a bad gig at Sugar Loaf. You spent a lot of your time picking up and delivering sheets, towels and washcloths to the maids. When you worked evenings you first emptied the trashcans in the administrative offices and spent the rest of the evening mostly roamed the building picking trash up off the floor, delivering rollaways and extra towels to guests in their rooms, helping the maintenance guy carry stuff or hold the flashlight while he worked and cleaning up the occasional spill. Once I had to clean up vomit. Once in three years isn’t bad. Essentially, if something needed moved or lifted and it was pretty heavy they called one of the three houseman.
I spent a lot of time working the night shift in the winter. I played football in the fall and baseball in the spring and for a couple of winters I spent my time after school roaming the lodge at Sugar Loaf and doing whatever needed to be done. When there was nothing pending I would just mosey. I’d visit the game room in the ski lounge and then do my rounds and come back to the lounge. There were always guys from school hanging out. I remember Anthony Hayes, Scott Scanlon and Alan Popa killing a lot of time at Sugar Loaf. I think it was Anthony who figured out if you kicked the Dig Dug machine just right with your ski boot you could get a free credit for each kick. Alan spent a lot of time playing Dig Dug. Dennis Fleis would be there also, spending hours playing Donkey Kong. He had mad Donkey King skills.
Except for the working at The Cove restaurant during the summer between my junior and senior years I kept that job until I left for bootcamp in August of 1986. Working at The Cove is a whole ‘nother story.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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