the Grumbler

the mistake was to blur his face. i would have mad...

2012-02-17T22:37:56.189-05:00

the mistake was to blur his face. i would have made it clear as day. no one can sue you. if they tried it would be great PR.

it is definitely Olivier Zahm, editor of "pur...

2012-02-17T18:07:50.721-05:00

it is definitely Olivier Zahm, editor of "purple magazine." he stays at the standard every time he is in New York

It's.... AUSTIN POWERS!!! What a jerk-off. L...

2012-02-17T12:23:16.066-05:00

It's.... AUSTIN POWERS!!! What a jerk-off. Literally.

In NYC's 20-30 miles of waterfront, there'...

2012-02-17T12:06:57.395-05:00

In NYC's 20-30 miles of waterfront, there's not one clothing-optional beach.

@Marty - haha!

2012-02-17T11:34:48.321-05:00

@Marty - haha!

"Say hello to my little friend!"

2012-02-17T10:42:19.145-05:00

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Would have been titillated if that was a hot woman...

2012-02-17T10:15:29.253-05:00

Would have been titillated if that was a hot woman.

"...yes I'd like to order one Swedish pen...

2012-02-17T09:23:32.662-05:00

"...yes I'd like to order one Swedish penis pump."

Awwh, little guy...

2012-02-17T08:46:32.896-05:00

Awwh, little guy...

"Hi, I'd like to start getting home deliv...

2012-02-17T08:23:43.903-05:00

"Hi, I'd like to start getting home delivery of the New York Times please."

Eh, no.

"Dude, I am so.. No, dude, really. Dude. Check this shit. Dude?"

Hmm.

[In fake French accent] "Room service? I need my bed 'turned down.'"

No.

"911? Yes, I'd like to report that there is a blogger taking my photo while I'm standing here naked looking out my hotel window."

I'm stumped. So to speak.

God, anyway. I HOPE that this kind of thing — no matter how 2009 it is — happens at the Standard East Village. I'm not living in this camper on Cooper Square for no fucking good reason.

Oh God I hope so.

2012-02-17T07:09:20.182-05:00

Oh God I hope so.

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/01/who_needs_books_ny...

2012-02-05T16:08:22.623-05:00

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/01/who_needs_books_nypl_main_branch_re.php

its going to happen. the books @ 42ST nypl will soon be moved to jersey.

Alas, I'm afraid that your perfectly reasonabl...

2012-01-24T09:36:45.452-05:00

Alas, I'm afraid that your perfectly reasonable expectation that Kindle text books would be more affordable might turn out to be only relatively true. I've seen too many examples of new technology being priced at the upper limit of what a consumer can tolerate, regardless of cost basis of production (or some old-fashioned concept such as the value of education & the transmission of knowledge). I'm distressed by how new technology, for all the "green" ads and pc posturing, often is devoid of the least hint of conscience. Consider, for example, Monsanto's "termination technology" seeds genetically engineered to produce plants devoid of their own seeds.

Whatever happened to that tired old cliche conservatives liked to quite about "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach him to fish, he'll eat forever." In this case, teach a man to farm not to further his self-sufficiency, but only a slavish dependency upon a corporation's ruthless corruption of nature. And if his crops fail and he can't afford to buy seeds for the next season, well, as is the sad case in India, there's always suicide.

This is criminal. And it is the kind of criminality of which Bezos and Amazon--with their abusive labor practices--are eminently capable.

I'm really mixed about the Kindle. I got one a...

2011-11-19T13:26:12.253-05:00

I'm really mixed about the Kindle. I got one as a gift and in the last 3 months I've read more books than I have in the past 2 years, simply because it was easier to procure a book and carry it around. Lazy me. There are many things about reading on a Kindle that I don't like - being able to flip around is the primary one. I have trouble throwing away books and maintain a storage space which could probably be cut in half if I got rid of the books, just sitting there getting moldy. The Kindle will help keep that habit down - space is a serious issue. So I'm mixed and struggle with having an opinion that I can back up with action. I feel guilty reading on the Kindle if it means the demise of bookstores. I read less if I didn't have one. Oy.

The irony is what is not available on Kindle (yet) -- college textbooks. I don't think a strong case can be made for paper text books - they are often used once and tossed and have little resale value as professors often choose a different version each year as they are updated frequently. Plus, one would think Kindle text books would be more affordable for the strapped college student (and their parents).

Ennuipoet said above: "we can look toward ope...

2011-11-16T19:46:53.557-05:00

Ennuipoet said above: "we can look toward open source ereaders where simple tools and hacks break the DRM source and liberate the device from the company's control."

I just wondering that when you liberate the device & hack the work are you going to send the author his royalty check?

I bought a Kindle for a monthly long cross country...

2011-11-16T11:53:38.191-05:00

I bought a Kindle for a monthly long cross country trip, and downloaded about half a dozen really large books, then only available in hard cover, plus a guidebook. I don't have space in my apartment for large books anymore, plus I didn't want to lug them with me. The guidebook was an experiment.

I wound up using the guidebook somewhat, though the maps didn't show up well on the Kindle at all. I barely looked at the long books.

The fact is that the technology is still early (I am usually NOT an early adopter, because new tech tends to be released to the market before its ready, and overhyped). The paper codex is still a better reading technology, its quicker to look up things by flipping through pages than using the search feature, its easier on the eyes, and its more robust.

However, I can definitely see e-readers replacing bulky refererence works and text books, along with academic papers and reports. These take up a lot of space, are not read for pleasure, and some of the Kindle features would be handy. I would like to have an encyclopedia downloaded to an e-reader, for example. I'm aware that many people like to buy big bulky books to display in their houses, not to read, but some of these, or at least parts of them, are actually quite readable and would be e-reader material for people who like to read them. Codexes would still be better for anything coming in at less than 400 pages.

See here (http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/11/my-new-kindle-fire.html#comments) for commentary by an early adopter user of the Kindle Fire. Its not that easy to use!

I share your feelings with the ease Amazon has sho...

2011-11-16T08:36:39.469-05:00

I share your feelings with the ease Amazon has shown in pulling content from the Kindle. I don't, however, utterly condemn the ereader, we are seeing the form in it's infancy and already it has opened doors for the people to distribute and share ideas. The publishing houses have long maintained a stranglehold on the creation of books, ideas deemed to radical or just too strange for marketing die on the desk without being seen by the public. Small and independent presses only reach a select market and self publishing has been consigned by the public to amateurs as best and kooks at worst. As we see the form mature and branch out from it's pure corporate roots, we can look toward open source ereaders where simple tools and hacks break the DRM source and liberate the device from the company's control. Even in the for profit environment individuals can access Amazon's distribution and publish their own content with or without profit for the company or the person. That content has the potential to reach millions of readers who would never lay eyes on it otherwise.

As a book lover and ardent collector of books, I see the Kindle as an addendum to not a replacement of paper books. I buy and read a lot on my Kindle but in no way way can it replace the printed word. Yes, the Kindle will most likely kill off the great chain stores for books as people by the mass market reading material of John Grisham airport reads and low brow romantic fiction. The small/independent bookstores might even reclaim their market as people turn back to them for their "book" needs instead of their "reading". It's speculation, granted, but a plausible one.

Finally, I concur, we as a culture have become slaves to screens, the bright and shiny cult fetishes of a modern living hold an unhealthy appeal. Yet, anything which invites a person to read, to exercise their minds above the Pavlovian stimulus/response of Angry Birds or a text message cannot be entirely bad.

Apple fans are the 21st century's moonies.

2011-10-31T02:56:14.416-04:00

Apple fans are the 21st century's moonies.

Too cheap for apple stuff. If I made more money I&...

2011-10-21T23:08:41.198-04:00

Too cheap for apple stuff. If I made more money I'd probably be tempted. Have a horrible laptop that weighs a ton & the ugliest old maroon phone that was 'free' (ha!) with my plan. Sometimes I am almost ashamed of these clunky old products & covet other people's shiny toys, but sometimes I'm relieved by their very mediocrity. What does it really matter? No Facebook (too much like high school or something). No Twitter. I'm practically non-existent!

Re Ennuipoet: I would be careful not to lump the J...

2011-10-17T18:47:03.131-04:00

Re Ennuipoet: I would be careful not to lump the Jobs cult in with the whole history and theology of Christianity; unless Ennuipoet (or Dawkins-Hitchens) can engage with Paul, Augustine, Aquinas and minds much bigger than his (or her) own, I would hesitate before saying something "silly" like Christianity is the "veneration" (wrong theological term) of a "dead man" (also wrong theologically, to Christians) with a"myth" (wrong use of the term myth).

That said, the cult of Jobs is false idolatry at its worst, though nothing new, unfortunately. Slavish adoration attended the cult of the Medici too. Still, plenty of people rolled their eyes then, at all the blasphemous pseudo- and self-serving testimonials given to their idols; and I'm grateful for the Grumbler for doing the same now, and brilliantly.

HI Grumbler, Thanks for that insight into the...

2011-10-17T14:24:48.236-04:00

HI Grumbler,

Thanks for that insight into the hive mind of the tech cargo cult. I've been using Mac since the mid-90's. Hey, it's a great product - but that's all it is. Product. Jobs was an interesting guy who did some interesting things, especially at the beginning of his career. In the early 90's apparently he was very dedicated to finding a way to keep manufacturing in the US. But ultimately, he produced nifty-looking gadgets, manufactured in sweatshops in another country. That's it. Maybe the trajectory of his career - and this absurd worship after his death - says a lot about where we're at as a culture.

Nice to see you back. Keep on grumblin'

T.

I use Apple products (computers only, I haven'...

2011-10-17T13:01:36.438-04:00

I use Apple products (computers only, I haven't surrendered to an iPhone or iPad yet) but I'm also old enough to remember when the word "apple" only brought to mind a healthy snack or a new Beatles album. I miss those days a lot.

"I believe it is more a worship of the thing ...

2011-10-17T11:48:37.311-04:00

"I believe it is more a worship of the thing rather than the man. Jobs was the anthropomorphizing of Apple products. One cannot (quite) get away with creating a shrine to their Shiny Thing, one can worship the man who "created" the Shiny Thing."

I agree with the above commenter.
It creeps me out that a corporation can be worshipped as a deity. Hello Cult of Mac.

Its about time Grumbler. Your blog has been missed...

2011-10-17T11:35:21.926-04:00

Its about time Grumbler. Your blog has been missed and there's been lots to grumble about.

Listen I rely on my macbook and iphone as much as the next guy but I am disturbed by this glimpse into the psyches of the cultists. I always thought that we pay tribute to people like Jobs by buying their products and putting your money in their coffers and that's where the deal ends. Jobs has been handsomely rewarded for his efforts. Spare the idol worship and devotion and spend it elsewhere ye godless geeks.

Three things that will never happen: Me getting a ...

2011-10-17T10:03:15.780-04:00

Three things that will never happen:
Me getting a smartphone
Me going on Facebook
Me using Twitter