HyperBored |
How many ADHD brothers does it take to write a blog? |
You thought sitting around and waiting for the mailman was bad before. Try waiting for him after a bio-terrorist attack.
Image by Tac Anderson via Flickr
Amazon and the Kindle have killed the bookstore. Why? Because people who buy 100 or 300 books a year are gone forever. The typical American buys just one book a year for pleasure. Those people are meaningless to a bookstore. It's the heavy users that matter, and now officially, as 2009 ends, they have abandoned the bookstore. It's over.I'll be the first to admit that I buy a good majority of my books on Amazon. I'm a Prime member just so I can get free shipping. But I also paid to be a part of Barnes and Nobles Member program for the in store discount. I'm obviously an addict but there are worse vices to have. I've looked at the Kindle and I've thought really hard about the Nook. I'm sure I'll get one at some point but I doubt I'll buy fewer books. Over the years I don't have the time to read as much as I used to. When I buy books I don't buy softcover books anymore if I can help it and I'm upset when it's not a First Edition printing. If anything I see myself reading more magazine and newspaper articles on an e-reader. But like the audiophiles who learned you can't stop the flow of digitized media I know that I'm an outlier and for once I'm not at the front of the change I'm the holdout with the hardcover. There will always be demand for first edition hardcover books but it'll be niche. If you need me I'll be in my room smelling my books. Related articles by Zemanta
This is the most cool/freaky thing I've seen in a while: Embedded Augmented Reality contact lenses. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="504" caption="AR Contact Lenses"]
In the last couple of years though, the word has changed again. The "geek" accolade is a badge of honor, people are proud to call themselves one. It's now used to describe someone with a Twitter account, a wide selection of iPhone cases with Mario characters on, a Tumblr log-in or a penchant for ironic t-shirts. The girls read GeekSugar, the boys search eBay for old Dreamcast games, and they all think they're pretty cool—and different to everyone else. It's become such an overused—and misused—word that it's lost its meaning along the way. Now, a geek is just someone who's vaguely techie, knows how to use the internet properly, and has an appreciation for ironic throw-backs to their childhood. It also suggests a pride behind the intelligence one possesses, but with everyone throwing it around willy-nilly, the meaning has become extremely muddy.What makes someone a geek?Is it something you can claim? Is it something that has to be awarded to you like being an "expert"? Rob Diana claims to be a regular geek. (As opposed to an irregular geek) Hutch Carpenter claims to not actually be a geek. (Apperantly he get's accused of being one.) My own brother and fellow blogger, Jeremy - aka Guy Magnificent, hates geeks (actually he hates nerds but it's close). On one hand I don't fit the profile of a geek. I don't game much anymore (with the exception of Lego Star Wars with my kids). I have an MBA (that probably disqualifies me right there). I can't code beyond basic HTML (and I usually have to cut and paste that). On the other hand I am accused of being a geek with my "normal" friends. I own (and use) 3 cell phones. I have and keep updated 4 blogs (but when something goes really wrong I have to get help). I run all 3 major operating systems at home (but when one crashes hard I take it to someone else to fix). I collect first edition Steam Punk novels. Or is being a geek more of a spectrum? I propose that we all have some geek in us. Some of us celebrate the geek within. Some people try to ignore their inner geek. Some things make us "geek out" more than others. We're all geeks. Some of us just embrace it more than others. How much of a geek are you?
When I first saw this I thought it was brilliant. Basically it turns the back of the truck into a TV. They could even run adds on there to offset the cost. It's a camera mounted on the front of the truck and displays the image on the back. This could undoubtedly save hundreds of lives.
[W]e have become symbionts, says Katherine Hayles, author of “How We Became Posthuman.” Just as a lichen is the marriage of a fungus and an algae, we now live in full partnership with digital technology, which we rely on for the infrastructure of our lives. “If every computer were to crash tomorrow, it would be catastrophic,” she says. “Millions or billions of people would die. That’s the condition of being a symbiont.”Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Smart mobbing and enjoying the garden We can't see the forest for the T-Mobiles - washingtonpost.com Maybe we're Symbiotic Cyborgs? Cyborg Symbionts? Symborgs? Either way we have become our own scifi story. Now I just need a cool soundtrack for my iPod to go with that.
alright, so i posted my first blog. or blogged my first post. now i just need to see what others are saying, or invite others to see what im saying. not that im saying anything anyways. my brothers feel this would be a good idea for us to be able to say what we want. wow, all this time needing a soapbox to screech from, and now i have one. which brings on the aged old question: how does one rally the troops? so we'll see about this. more to come. captains' log out. ha ha
so, this makes my head spin. where does one start. i've spent so long staying out of all of this, now it's come to this, i feel like my parents did when the programable device with remote controls...this makes my head spin. it's like u have to be ADD to be able survive in this market.
Ward's specialty is in mass extinctions. And having studied death on a grand scale, he has his own theories on what causes it. Specifically, Ward claims that four of the five great extinctions since the rise of animals weren't caused by volcanoes or meteors, they were caused by life itself.And you thought Paleontologists were boring. The article doesn't give much insight into his book so I checked out Amazon:
Ward . . . adopts the tone of a planetary mortician gruesomely interested in his subject's decease. Ward is an expert on mass extinctions, and the subject seems to have infected his general outlook. He does not come across a happy camper.[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="106" caption="The Medea Hypothesis"]
It's like peanut butter and chocolate. What if Tyler Durden was Morpheus? What if "Jack" was Neo. That'd be awesome.
I just can't get enough Fight Club. It's the anthem of Gen X.
