tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post3805075709356073501..comments2024-03-29T09:09:33.450-04:00Comments on alien romances: Whither Fiction?Rowena Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-10453493791195204462010-03-28T18:01:45.228-04:002010-03-28T18:01:45.228-04:00Alas.
I hope my pessimism is misplaced, too. I di...Alas.<br /><br />I hope my pessimism is misplaced, too. I did not enjoy "The Modern Depressives" which included Brave New World, 1984, and something about which I only remember a protagonist with a toe that looked like a white slug.Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-38260981246706765312010-03-28T17:47:02.641-04:002010-03-28T17:47:02.641-04:00"However we look at it, I very much doubt tha..."However we look at it, I very much doubt that life is going to improve in the near or distant future."<br /><br />I hope your pessimism won't turn out to be predictive. :)<br /><br />In most ways, my life is better than it was in earlier decades, and as far as technology is concerned, not to mention social factors (such as seat belts being required in cars and smoking being outlawed in most public places, to mention just two), I think life in this country is miles better than it was in my childhood and youth. "Welcome to the Future," a song by Brad Paisley that I think I mentioned in an earlier post, approximates my attitude on this topic.Margaret Carterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08293021955480708191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-19616180548428533192010-03-28T17:36:58.923-04:002010-03-28T17:36:58.923-04:00Goodness, the idea of paying by the minute is appa...Goodness, the idea of paying by the minute is appalling, isn't it? <br /><br />(Just so you know, I wasn't necessarily advocating. Just predicting.)<br /><br />I suppose we did pay by the minute via dial-up, and still do if we Text on Virgin. It all depends on the plan.<br /><br />Also, if one is in an hotel, one pays $4.95 for an hour, or $9.95 for 24 hours unless one uses WiFi in which case, the connection is not at all secure.<br /><br />Already there are murmurings about bandwidth. Some airwaves will be taken away from the TV stations and auctioned off to accommodate paying traffic on cellphones and ipods and so forth.<br /><br />Presumably, we lost some when the government made our rabbit ears useless. <br /><br />Aside: Comcast told us we'd be OK if we subscribed to them, but that was a crock, and we had to get nasty little boxes that don't work very well and that incidentally don't work at all with TV models with built-in videos. They didn't tell us that until it was too late to get a Gvt coupon for a new TV. <br /><br />So, Margaret, it may come down to smaller users subsidizing heavy users one way or another.<br /><br />A standard marketing model is to get a user hooked on a free or cheap service, and then, when they cannot do without it, to raise the cost.<br /><br />However we look at it, I very much doubt that life is going to improve in the near or distant future. As they say, "What goes around, comes around," and "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose."Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-6873935265045993252010-03-28T17:15:21.081-04:002010-03-28T17:15:21.081-04:00Good grief, I would HATE to go back to the bad old...Good grief, I would HATE to go back to the bad old days of paying for Internet access by the minute. I couldn't carry on the basic necessities of my career that way (much less recreational computer use), and I doubt many people could. It would be analogous to reverting to having to pay an annual fee for Blockbuster membership instead of just paying when you rent a movie (for instance), for which customers would laugh in their faces if they tried to reinstate it. I would also scream in outrage if the cable company started charging a la carte for channels instead of offering a couple of single-priced bundled packages the way they do now. (Not that it would be a bad thing to offer a la carte access as an option for customers who want it, but I can't imagine why anyone would -- unless you KNOW for certain you would never want to watch anything but a very few channels, paying by the channel separately would be bound to cost more than subscribing to a package.)<br /><br />This point is entirely separate from the issue of stealing material that is not offered for free or legitimately as part of a package. Of course I'm opposed to that.<br /><br />As for newspapers, we subscribe to two (one morning and one evening, the local paper because otherwise we'd miss out on strictly local stuff and the Baltimore SUN in order to get a "major" daily paper). To me, getting one's news off the Internet misses the whole point of receiving a paper newspaper. I buy the paper mainly to read comics, columns, editorials, etc. -- it is one of the small, routine pleasures of my life. Even on my Kindle, it wouldn't be comfortable to read my "paper" electronically at breakfast and dinner. Also, as far as the actual news items are concerned, to me reading a magazine or newspaper on the computer or an e-reader would be similar to being able to read a book only by looking up words in the index. You have to click on the links for what you KNOW you want to read. It isn't the same as flipping through the pages and glancing at each one, stumbling across articles you DIDN'T know in advance you wanted to read.Margaret Carterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08293021955480708191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-43937807598595641052010-03-28T13:04:59.914-04:002010-03-28T13:04:59.914-04:00I don't believe that the act of giving away a ...I don't believe that the act of giving away a free copy (or e-version) of a book in a particular place, at a particular time results in a forfeiture of copyright.<br /><br />A lot of pirates believe that an ebook becomes "public domain" if it is posted on the internet.<br /><br />This is patently not accurate.Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-82638369624114748332010-03-28T13:01:48.374-04:002010-03-28T13:01:48.374-04:00In regards to copyright and the entitlement mental...In regards to copyright and the entitlement mentality, I disapprove of Amazon's practice of giving away free novels and reporting the gifts as sales.<br /><br />Are all the books that Amazon sells for $0.00 public domain? <br /><br />Or, is Amazon creating confusion about what is public domain, and what is not?<br /><br />Might readers be forgiven for assuming that if Amazon gives it away, it is necessarily public domain?Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-63638792205752051242010-03-28T12:24:53.705-04:002010-03-28T12:24:53.705-04:00If you only use the internet for checking your e-m...If you only use the internet for checking your e-mail occasionally, you could switch to dial-up and pay less. <br /><br />I remember the AOL days of measured service. I paid about what I pay now, and received far less for my money. I think if we went back to some measured service, people who only use a little bit of internet would save virtually nothing, but those of us who use more would pay a lot more. <br /><br />What aspect of Amazon don't you approve of? I don't approve of their bullying, but that doesn't seem to be what you are addressing here. Is it that they give electronic copies of public domain books for free?José Iriartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03653811568201804995noreply@blogger.com