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November 23, 2005 |
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING
For your use on this wonderful
holiday, a quote:
Thanksgiving Day, a
function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when
those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for
- annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their
neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of
getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day
became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years
drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be
mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's
side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual
annual compliments.
-Mark Twain
Here are a few others if this
one doesn't sit right with you.
Our rural ancestors, with
little blest,
Patient of labour when the end was rest,
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain.
~Alexander Pope
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For each new morning with
its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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We can only be said to be alive in those
moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
~Thornton Wilder
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Thanksgiving Day—A day devoted by persons
with inflammatory rheumatism to thanking a loving Father that it is
not hydrophobia.
~ H. L. Mencken
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To give thanks in solitude is enough.
Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows
much more about it than you do.
~ Victor Hugo |
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The wild turkey is to the Thanksgiving offering what
the tiger is to the tabby: a creature that knows better than to trust
a human.
~ New York Times |
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Adrian: It was Thanksgiving.
Rocky: Yeah, to you, but to me it’s Thursday, right?
~ Sylvester Stallone |
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Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when
eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of
attesting piety and gratitude.
~Ambrose Bierce |
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Some hae meat and canna eat, -
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
~Robert Burns |
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What we're really talking about is a
wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one
diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
~Erma Bombeck |
Posted by Seth |
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November 21, 2005 |
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NEITHER GAIN, NOR
CHEAT, NOR FLAT OF RATE...
The
Amazon Sellers Soapbox
is a message board where booksellers can and do make a host of declarative
statements about anything they damn well please, whether about books or
not. Like message boards all over the
cyber-net-web-sphere-space-dimension-universe, etc. (ad naseum,
abusus non tollit usum, ad absurdum, me
vexat pede), there are an abundance of
mindless nitpickers who have way too much time on their hands.
Fortunately, even the novice user can quickly learn to avoid the silliness
and find bits of good information.
Today, I found
a post
that presents an interesting moral question dealing with the United States
Postal Service. The post office provides a service called "Priority
Mail", for which delivery is expected between three to five days.
Part of the service is a flat rate option that allows the sender to ship anything
under four pounds that he or she can get in a special cardboard envelope. The flat rate envelopes are free
for the taking
and can be had at any post office. Some booksellers (and others I
would guess) use the envelopes when sending non-Priority mail by turning
them inside out or putting them inside another envelope. That is a
no-no according to the post office. Going to the trouble of turning
them inside out or covering them with another envelope may seem silly to
someone who does not ship books on a daily basis, but these flat rate
envelopes are very attractive to those who do. You see, they are
made of a lightweight cardboard, which affords a surprising level of
protection from damage, and are big enough to handle all but the most
oversize of books. They fit neatly into a pile and provide a certain
freedom from packaging clutter while allowing for a custom fit to a book
by folding rather than cutting. Very convenient.
While
I do not make it a regular practice, I have to admit that I have used the
flat rate envelopes on occasion when a little extra protection is in
order. Comic books and magazines are two items where I find the flat
rate envelopes to be the bees knees. So is it kosher to use these
"free" envelopes by turning them inside out or putting them inside other
envelopes? The quick answer is a solid "no." However, there is
some grey area, in my opinion. First off, the post office could very
easily fix the problem by charging the postage in advance of receiving the
envelope. This is what I think will happen, and therefore my
transgression becomes one of exploiting a soon to close loophole rather
than a flagrant disregard for procedure and thinking only of my own
convenience.
I love it when a justification
comes together.
Since the postal service is run
with government dollars and the production cost of these envelopes cannot
be more than a few cents (I reserve the right to change this statement
when I find out that some ridiculous government contract allows for an
equally ridiculous price) it seems to me that the post office will spend
more money inspecting packages and trying to stop the problem than it
would just printing more envelopes. They could also sell similar
envelopes in bulk for cost. It would add some jobs and help out
legitimate mail order businesses like myself. The USPS exists to promote
commerce, so I don't see a big problem in using those envelopes
incorrectly every now and then.
Ite, missa est
Posted by Seth |
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November 16, 2005 |
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I MUST BE IN THE
FRONT ROW!
The
Rochester International Jazz
Festival Club Pass for 2006 is now on sale. I got mine! Do
you have yours? The 5th Annual RIJF will happen June 9-17, 2006 in
various East End venues.
My pal Ken and I have attended many
of the events together during the last few years. Check my June 2005
posts for some entries about this year's festival. If the upcoming
event is even close to the last two years, it is worth the price of
admission.
Posted by Seth |
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November 6, 2005 |
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WHAT I HAVE FOR SALE
Book Description from Amazon.com:
George W. Bush became president under some of the most unusual
circumstances in U.S. history. After a contested election in which Bush
lost the popular vote, many people felt that he would have difficulty
establishing his legitimacy to lead. The events of September 11, 2001
transformed the Bush presidency, as his domestic policy agenda took a
back seat to the international fight against terrorism. Considering the
Bush Presidency is the first broad-ranging scholarly review and analysis
of the George W. Bush presidency. Written by leading political science
scholars, it covers such topics as presidential leadership of Congress,
public opinion leadership, the symbolic presidency, presidential war
powers, the Bush transition, staffing the Bush presidency, executive
privilege battles, and Cheney as vice president. It examines the
remarkable events and the leadership of an administration that has
already become one of the most important to study in the modern era.
Posted by Seth |
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November 5, 2005 |
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NEW TECHNOLOGY
  
Technology, in its infancy, is
never correctly or fully analyzed. Penicillin was supposed to end
disease. Atomic energy was supposed to end energy problems and then
destroy all life on the planet. Free trade was supposed to end
global poverty. Well.
Amazon
intends to make sections and even single pages of books available for
purchase on its website. Google is in the process of being sued by
the Author's Guild
and the
Association of American Publishers over its proposed
Google Print. It is
opening access to public domain works this week. Microsoft has
announced that it will digitize 100,000 books from the British
Library. It seems that the book as we know it is having a tough
year. Guess I better put everything on sale fast!
What is going to happen to books?
Something, certainly, but who knows what. Some are predicting that
all this digitizing will be
good for the book industry, while others are trying to
stop it. The Amazon Seller Message board contained only one
thread on the subject when I looked a few minutes ago, and no one was
going all Chicken Little.
It seems to me that the expanded
access to information is good for society and should be moved forward.
I see real similarities with the music industry. The big record
companies and publishers want to protect the sales of Britney Spears and
Dan Brown. That isn't really what copyright laws are all about.
These large companies will give you nightmare scenarios about musicians
dropping their digital voice enhancers and authors uninstalling their plot
design programs. According to them, music and writing will come to
an end.
We need to embrace these
technologies and wrest our copyright laws away from Walt Disney's frozen
hands. Tell your congressperson and vote on Tuesday.
Posted by Seth |
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November 2, 2005 |
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WHAT I HAVE FOR SALE
Since Yuriy Yekhanurov, the
Ukraine Prime Minister, is in Washington and meeting with President Bush,
here is a hard to find book by Ukrainian historian Stanislav Kulchytsky.
Nation Building in the Independent Ukraine was published in 2003,
but as the Ukraine is still feeling out its independence, as evidenced by
the bizarre "Orange
Revolution" that led to the election of President Viktor Yushchenko as
well as recent scandals in the government, it still holds some valuable
information and viewpoints.
Posted by Seth |
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November 1, 2005 |
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A MUCH OVERLOOKED
SUPERHERO
My apologies for the overemphasis
on orange and teal. No, this has not become Cup O' Miami Dolphins.
Mason, my one and a half year old nephew, was
Aquaman for Halloween
last night. Watch out all you wannabe
Sub-Mariner's out
there! My nephew is on the left below, by the way. Aquaman was
one of the original members of the Justice League as featured in
DC Comics. True comic fans
will know that he goes back to 1941 and have a definite opinion about who
would win the battle between Sub-Mariner and Aquaman. Tonight, as
interpreted by my nephew, Aquaman wins hands down. Just look at that
wicked finger move! Dig the yellow duct tape belt!
Aquaman by Alex Ross
Posted by Seth |
