Tonight's diary title is the motto of The Awl, a website that aggregates stories covering news, politics, and culture that may be more worthy of our attention than the ones that grab the headlines and can be seen ad nauseam all over the web. A lot of its content is on reading and writers and the changing literary environment due to the intrusion on traditional "tree reading" by the Internet and e-literature. Like I do in this weekly column, many authors found at The Awl take a look at how our reading life is changing due to the new environment. Anyway, I like poking around the site, and here's something I found. A link to a Scientific American article, Will the Internet Stop Tomorrow?
Betcha didn't know that June 8 is the day when Google, Comcast and others will turn on IPv6 addresses for a 24-hour test. Wave good-bye to IPv4, in place since 1977. But it's run out of 32-digit binary numbers for IP addresses. IPv6 IPs will have 128 digits. Before you panic. . .
Please turn the page.
Most likely the transition will go smoothly. All but the oldest computers and phones can handle both schemes, although the IPv6 option may not be turned on. Old DSL modems or cable modems may not be compatible, says Geoff Huston, chief scientist for the Asia Pacific Network Information Center. In these cases, if you try to access an IPv6 address, you will either experience a delay or never connect. For a few years Internet companies will have to support both formats, which could slow access. “At some point, IPv6 will dominate, and everyone will be optimized for it,” Huston says.
What does this mean for book lovers? More sites that cater to our reading habits, that's what! Here's The Awl's suggestion of
Things to Read.
Readability
Speaking of which, here's a relatively new (in Internet years) site that should interest Kindle owners among us. Readabilty is a website devoted to making online reading a more pleasurable experience. Check it out. If you own a Kindle, you'll want their free browser app, which you can download here. With it, readers can now send any web article to their Kindle for reading at their convenience.
Dignity, a New e-Novel by Ken Layne
Making us less stupid is Ken Layne (yes he of Wonkette) who is interviewed here about his new book, Dignity, a novel of letters that "begins at an inexact point in our current economic/national collapse." As regular readers know, I constantly put forward the meme that reading is a political act. One of the themes in the novel can be best expressed by the author, "it has become increasingly clear that government and industry are decoupling from the discarded masses of unnecessary and increasingly unemployed citizens." Perhaps I should make it a future selection for the e-Readers & Book Lovers Club? [BTW, see you this THU at 2PM to wrap up our discussion of Regarding Ducks and Universes.] The Flying Spaghetti Monster knows, dignity among our politicians seems hard to come by these days. A timely novel, indeed.
It's not just Kayne's novel that will help keep our intellects sharp. He offers some advice about curbing the Internet habit, which can be a dumbing-down experience, no doubt.
For anyone who feels this Internet emptiness chewing at them, I would say, do a little test. Go outside and take a 15-minute walk — around the block, through the park, just a short walk. While you’re doing this, clear your mind of work and of home. Just look at things, birds and cars and trees and the clouds and buildings and dumpsters, and when you think of something internal just say “thinking” to yourself and go back to walking and breathing. Then return to your computer. Do the usual things you do on your computer, like check the news and your email and the blogs you read and whatever people post on Facebook and Twitter.
Do this second part, the computer-looking-at, for just 15 minutes. You can set one of those web timers … hang on, I have one in my bookmarks.
When this stopwatch beeps, honestly ask yourself how you feel. Compare this to how you felt at the end of your 15-minute walk. Ask yourself what, if anything, you learned during those 15 minutes of wasting time on the Internet. Did it help you in some way? Are you better off? This is a question often asked by political challengers: Are you better off than __ years ago? Well, are you better off than fifteen minutes ago? If not, don’t re-elect the Internet.
Longreads
While I was busy wasting brain cells exploring the Inter Tubz so that you don't have to, I lucked into a new way to read longer journalistic pieces that have virtually disappeared from the print magazines where we used to find extensive essays, aka, literary non-fiction. Longreads aggregates the best such work from various sites and puts it all on their website where you can enjoy it. Or not. Remember that handy Kindle app brought to you by Readability? Use it to send one of these pieces to your Kindle and take your reading pleasure with you at your convenience. Tip: You may be inspired by these essays to write diaries of your own -- a good writer's resource.
Internet Archive Digital Library
Finally, before I get to the business of this Group, I invite you to partake of all the free goodness at the Internet Archive Digital Library, which in February announced its program to offer the 80,000 volume e-book collection to be available for lending through public libraries across America. How it works:
Any OpenLibrary.org account holder can borrow up to 5 eBooks at a time, for up to 2 weeks. Books can only be borrowed by one person at a time. People can choose to borrow either an in-browser version (viewed using the Internet Archive’s BookReader web application), or a PDF or ePub version, managed by the free Adobe Digital Editions software. This new technology follows the lead of the Google eBookstore, which sells books from many publishers to be read using Google's books-in-browsers technology. Readers can use laptops, library computers and tablet devices including the iPad.
Once you explore the free content beyond texts at this website, I think it will become one of your favorite bookmarked web resources.
Group Updates
Now to business. It is with a sad heart that R&BLers bids farewell to 88kathy's weekly Monday morning series, "And the Winner Is. . ." Fans of these installments, which taught us about so many international literary awards, will miss finding about who are some of the best writers in the world and how they're being honored. Thanks very much for your valuable series, 88kathy.
Be consoled, R&BLers. I'm happy to make the Birth Announcement of a new series brought to you by The Book Bear that will be appearing SUN at 6PM ET. Debuting June 12, look for "Young People's Pavilion" to appear weekly. Want to know more? Here's how the Editor describes his mission.
My theme will be multicultural education. Books that I write about will include nonfiction and fiction for children and Young Adults; academic texts that examine teaching and learning; and popular books (that have specific uses that I will suggest) for educators, parents, and counselors.
To which I add welcome and say, "Fight 'the stupid'!"
NOTES: As of today, R&BLers has published 1000+ diaries and has over 560 Followers, making us the second-most prolific and followed Group on Daily Kos overall. Be sure to click the HEART symbol next to our Group name so that you don't miss any of the content you see below.
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
DAY |
TIME (EST/EDT) |
Series Name |
Editor(s) |
SUN |
3:00 PM |
Science, Math, and Statistics Books |
plf515 |
SUN |
6:00 PM |
Young Reader's Pavilion |
The Book Bear |
SUN |
9:30 PM |
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club |
quarkstomper |
MON |
8:00 PM |
My Favorite Books & Authors |
billssha |
TUE |
8:00 AM |
Calvacade of Words |
aravir |
TUE |
Noon (bi-weekly) |
The Mad Logophile |
Purple Priestess |
TUE |
8:00 PM |
Readers & Book Lovers Newsletter |
Limelite |
WED |
7:30 AM |
WAYR? |
plf515 |
WED |
8:00 PM |
Bookflurries: Bookchat |
cfk |
THU |
2:00 PM (bi-weekly) |
eReaders & Book Lovers Club |
Limelite |
THU |
8:00PM |
Write On! |
SensibleShoes |
FRI |
9:00 AM |
Books That Changed My Life |
etbnc, aravir |
FRI |
NOON |
Pros and Contests |
Alexi Hershey |
FRI |
9:00 PM (every 3rd week) |
A Book, Its Movie, and a Glass of Wine |
mdmslle |
SAT |
9:00 PM |
Books So Bad They're Good |
Ellid |
Intermittent Diaries |
SUN |
? |
Justice, Not Charity |
Runaway Rose, allie123 |
NOTE: Though not part of R&BLers Weekly Magazine Series, please look for "Indigo Kalliope: Poems From the Left" by various authors republished here every WED NOON by
aravir.
Other than that, nothing's happening.