KIndle: Slayer of...

J K Rowling will have a new book in September. I saw the pre-order tab on Amazon and then it struck me. The reason I pre-order a book is to be certain I get it as soon as possible. That being said, I very rarely pre-order a book.

The Kindle removes any need to pre-order. I pre-order out of a mixture of impatience and concern about availability.

An ebook is effectively available in infinite quantities and is available immediately upon release.

That means the only reason to ever pre-order an ebook is to lock in a good price.

The Best Candidate

Irrespective of policy views (and I mostly respect his policy views) the clear best candidate is not in the Presidential race. Being President takes a certain toll on the office holder.

Which is why Chris Christie is the man most constitutionally suited for the job.

Laws of the Internet

I think I need to propose a variant of the utterly NSFW and infamous Rule 34. The variant is as follows: If there's a holiday for it, then there is a liturgy for it as well (link is SFW).

And for the record, I'd pay good money to hear that 'Gloria' sung.

Expert Opinion

Mitt Romney has said that Newt Gingrich is an "extremely unreliable leader in the conservative world".

I think we have to take his word on that. No one knows more about being an extremely unreliable conservative leader than Mitt Romney.

Sometimes it's best to defer to the experts.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

For my one reader who cares about gaming stuff, I've been playing in the public beta of SW:TOR. It's very pretty. I have a few player related problems (I've been playing solo games lately so keep trying to 'pause' with the space bar). For the rest of it, SWTOR plays much like every other MMORPG.

My major complaint has nothing to do with server unavailability (never an issue for an early bird such as myself). It's that the buttons don't work/are greyed out. I have a life. Sometimes I have to quit the wonderful game. A fair amount of in game functionality isn't working because I can not mash the buttons. It may seem picky, but this is something that should work and doesn't at this stage of the game.

My minor complaint is the lack of customization. Both City of Heroes and Champions got that right. As a result I'm a spoiled MMORPG player. It may be that more options will be added in later, so it's a minor complaint.

Student Loans

I have 'em. So do very many people. The problem I have with OWS is the idea of 'debt forgiveness'. We are all adults and we contracted for this debt. That we owe the money totally sucks, but we did get the fun of spending the money.

What does need to happen is to allow student loans be written off in bankruptcy. That isn't the same as debt forgiveness. Bankruptcy wrecks your credit rating. The value of your property gets applied to your debts. There are other consequences as well.

Bankruptcy makes sense. Forgiveness does not.

Chickenpox

Instapundit has a small blurb about parents mailing each other items infected with the chicken pox virus so they can time their child's illness. All of which is in lieu of having the child vaccinated and places the public at risk because of course the items in question are not packaged as biohazardous material.

What they haven't realized is that you can get a follow up disease later on in life if you had chicken pox as child. Little Mary or Johnny will sure be happy that they got that nasty dose of shingles. Of course Mumsy and Popsicle are probably dead by the time their grown up tots start experiencing some of the worst pain known to medicine.

I really, really hope this turns out to be an Internet hoax.

Modern Hymnology

Schori loves me! This I know,
for the canons tells me so.
Christian ones to her abhor;
she is rich, but they are poor.
Refrain:
Yes, Schori loves me! Yes, Schori loves me!
Yes, Schori loves me! The canons tells me so.

Dorsey loves me! This I know,
as he throws out all his foes,
chucking Lawrence on his knees,
saying, "No diocese for he."
Refrain:
Yes, Dorsey loves me! Yes, Dorsey loves me!
Yes, Dorsey loves me! The canons tells me so

Incest

Given the foofooraw that has erupted with the Episcopal Church's Discipline Board and the Bishop of South Carolina and the revelation that the board's attorney is a Sewanee alum, I thought I'd do a little digging.

Jospehine Hicks is the church attorney. She's also on the board of the Evangelical Education Society.

See who else you recognize. Then feel free to Google the names. You'll be astonished at how often the same names reoccur on different boards.

It's democracy in action!

How To Travel And Keep Your Stuff

I've heard it from several people. Travel with firearms. Apparently that's the single best way to make sure your stuff arrives with you. FWIW, firearms includes flare guns.

NSFW talk follows on the subject:

Deviant Ollam - Packing & The Friendly Skies from Deviant Ollam on Vimeo.

I am the 99%

From here.

Joy!

I want to have that much fun when I'm 90.

Hidden Meaning

The National Cathedral needs gobs of money to even undertake restoration. Thatere's a hidden metaphor in there somewhere.

Good Government Project

Here are some neat photographs from the Depression about the Irwinville Farms project. I used to live and work not fifteen miles from there.

Business Mystery

My laser printer is nearly end of life for its belt and drum. Replacing both would cost slightly less than $200. Currently Office Depot is selling a very nice duplexing wireless laser printer for $100. The belt for the printer on sale is $120.

I'm used to this sort of pricing for inkjet printers. When did the manufacturers start doing this for laser printers?

Eye Trouble

What the headline really said: Town Using Sensors Embedded In Streets To Detect Illegally Parked Vehicles.

What I thought it said: Town Using Senators Embedded In Streets To Detect Illegally Parked Vehicles.

My initial thought was finally someone has discovered a use for them. Which was followed shortly by a sense of crushing disappointment that the headline couldn't be true. Truly heartbreaking and probably a sign I need more sleep and possibly an eye exam.

Slaughter On Tenth Avenue

Starting out the work week with violence...

What's The Problem?

Amazon is pursuing offering a backlist subscription service for ebooks to their Prime customers. Some people find this upsetting. I'm not really sure why.

I suppose it's probably because I'm not a David Foster Wallace fan, or something.

Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest Opening Titles from Roger D. Evans on Vimeo.

This is just way too cool.

Homeopathy Works

Robb Allen has proof.