http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books?hl=en
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Today's topics:
* Mandelbrot on efficient markets - 4 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/496fa77e4c853268?hl=en
* The Hemlock to Oscar - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/b2e4a39fec3f919f?hl=en
* One Perfect Gem of a Little On-Line Find - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/f9c68bb732de1e84?hl=en
* Cheaper Kindle - 15 messages, 11 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/83369cb7977feb61?hl=en
* Bookstores Around the World (rec.arts.books) (FAQ) (IMPORTANT UPDATE) - 1
messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/92153a6882249799?hl=en
* A Nobel Prize Well Deserved - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/1f9ef1d2515a7ba8?hl=en
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Mandelbrot on efficient markets
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/496fa77e4c853268?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Wed, Oct 7 2009 11:37 pm
From: Marko Amnell
On Oct 8, 3:37 am, spudnik <Space...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> the lecture that I saw, at UCLA, was extremely general
> and boring; I was the oly one with a technical question
> about his M-set.
Well, Mandelbrot's MIT lecture is pretty general too.
Here is one exchange that addresses the issue of
trying to predict financial prices in a bit more detail.
It was brought to my attention in an email reply to my post.
Guy Sorman, author of "Economics Does Not Lie:
A Defense of the Free Market in a Time of Crisis"
His presentation at the New York City Harvard Club is available at:
Transcribed starting 42m 15s into the presentation
he is asked a question:
Kay Ajerman? of Commentary Magazine:
"You quoted Mandelbrot twice approvingly in his characterization
of the market and of wild randomness yet in the beginning of
your speech you said that economics grounding as a science has
been solidified by the ability of data and the application of
mathematical and statistical models which I would think
Mandelbrot probably would take contention with. Do you believe
that in addition to helping economists verify their hypotheses
or check them empirically against reality the reliance on, or
should I say over reliance on, mathematical models is a blind
spot in the circles of academia in economics and it fails to
take into account the wild randomness and the unpredictability
of financial and economic cycles and do you think it trumps
sometimes common sense and a healthy account of human nature?"
Guy Sorman:
"Um Hum. Um, there are at least three questions in your
question so I try to make a distinction. Starting with the
notion of wild randomness. What Mandelbrot says and tries to
show is that in nature you don't have wild randomness, you have
what he calls mild randomness. Physical events can be predicted
to a certain extent. And he has built a mathematical model, I
don't want to be too technical there, on the fractal model.
Fractal models show that many chaotic events, like noise for
example, do follow a mathematical pattern and can therefore be
predicted and the consequences have been extremely important,
for example in telecommunication. The Mandelbrot mild
randomness mathematical model applies to nature and physical
events. Okay? Chaos is not that chaotic, that is what he says.
Then he tried and many others tried to transfer his model to the
financial market and when looking at the data, and we have data
since the late 19th century starting with the cotton exchange in
New York which are the oldest financial data which are available
it appears that no pattern ever appears, it is completely
random. And any mathematical model which tried to introduce
kind of a prediction in the evolution of the prices and the
market, all these models have been proven wrong, including many
models which have been used these recent years, at least not to
lose money. And these models were attempt to predict the
evolution of the prices. They all failed. And the conclusion
of Mandelbrot is to say at that stage we have no mathematical
tool or not enough knowledge to predict the financial market,
therefore randomess is mild in the physical nature, in the
financial world randomness is complete or wild. This is what we
know at that stage. Okay? And I won't elaborate, but you have
many mathematical models I am sure which come to your mind
which have been extremely popular until the recent stock exchange
crisis and these models are proved not to be extremely precise.
..."
Copyright =A9 2009, National Cable Satellite Corporation.
Powered by Zen Cart
== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 3:03 am
From: "Arindam Banerjee"
Nothing other than queuing theory is good for commenting upon the behaviour
of markets. Differentiations of the response profiles along various time
trajectories are a reasonably good predictor for singularities, as I found
out to my own benefit, using the tool I constructed for dimensioning and
optimising the performances of call centre networks.
But I doubt if anyone in the world will take me seriously... heh-heh
Cheers,
Arindam Banerjee.
"Marko Amnell" <marko.amnell@kolumbus.fi> wrote in message
news:c2a5b04a-760d-46e5-aaad-d9dc94e77e90@r31g2000vbi.googlegroups.com...
On Oct 8, 3:37 am, spudnik <Space...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> the lecture that I saw, at UCLA, was extremely general
> and boring; I was the oly one with a technical question
> about his M-set.
Well, Mandelbrot's MIT lecture is pretty general too.
Here is one exchange that addresses the issue of
trying to predict financial prices in a bit more detail.
It was brought to my attention in an email reply to my post.
Guy Sorman, author of "Economics Does Not Lie:
A Defense of the Free Market in a Time of Crisis"
His presentation at the New York City Harvard Club is available at:
Transcribed starting 42m 15s into the presentation
he is asked a question:
Kay Ajerman? of Commentary Magazine:
"You quoted Mandelbrot twice approvingly in his characterization
of the market and of wild randomness yet in the beginning of
your speech you said that economics grounding as a science has
been solidified by the ability of data and the application of
mathematical and statistical models which I would think
Mandelbrot probably would take contention with. Do you believe
that in addition to helping economists verify their hypotheses
or check them empirically against reality the reliance on, or
should I say over reliance on, mathematical models is a blind
spot in the circles of academia in economics and it fails to
take into account the wild randomness and the unpredictability
of financial and economic cycles and do you think it trumps
sometimes common sense and a healthy account of human nature?"
Guy Sorman:
"Um Hum. Um, there are at least three questions in your
question so I try to make a distinction. Starting with the
notion of wild randomness. What Mandelbrot says and tries to
show is that in nature you don't have wild randomness, you have
what he calls mild randomness. Physical events can be predicted
to a certain extent. And he has built a mathematical model, I
don't want to be too technical there, on the fractal model.
Fractal models show that many chaotic events, like noise for
example, do follow a mathematical pattern and can therefore be
predicted and the consequences have been extremely important,
for example in telecommunication. The Mandelbrot mild
randomness mathematical model applies to nature and physical
events. Okay? Chaos is not that chaotic, that is what he says.
Then he tried and many others tried to transfer his model to the
financial market and when looking at the data, and we have data
since the late 19th century starting with the cotton exchange in
New York which are the oldest financial data which are available
it appears that no pattern ever appears, it is completely
random. And any mathematical model which tried to introduce
kind of a prediction in the evolution of the prices and the
market, all these models have been proven wrong, including many
models which have been used these recent years, at least not to
lose money. And these models were attempt to predict the
evolution of the prices. They all failed. And the conclusion
of Mandelbrot is to say at that stage we have no mathematical
tool or not enough knowledge to predict the financial market,
therefore randomess is mild in the physical nature, in the
financial world randomness is complete or wild. This is what we
know at that stage. Okay? And I won't elaborate, but you have
many mathematical models I am sure which come to your mind
which have been extremely popular until the recent stock exchange
crisis and these models are proved not to be extremely precise.
..."
Copyright =A9 2009, National Cable Satellite Corporation.
Powered by Zen Cart
== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 3:13 am
From: "Arindam Banerjee"
"Arindam Banerjee" <adda1234@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:_Nizm.46170$ze1.5207@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Nothing other than queuing theory is good for commenting upon the
> behaviour of markets. Differentiations of the response profiles along
> various time trajectories are a reasonably good predictor for
> singularities, as I found out to my own benefit, using the tool I
> constructed for dimensioning and optimising the performances of call
> centre networks.
>
> But I doubt if anyone in the world will take me seriously... heh-heh
>
> Cheers,
>
> Arindam Banerjee.
Well, if they don't want to die from bushfires they'd better take me
seriously, so that it will be possible to give reliable early warning as a
result of build-up of phone calls. The rates of increase are a very serious
factor, in order to distinguish between isolated bursts or catastrophic
situations. I was working on that for Telstra, when I got sacked.
I think that a mathematical approach that makes calling such a breeze (who
remembers the foul frustrating engaged ring tones of the past?) should be
taken seriously - but seriousness lies with engineers, not novelists,
economists, beautiful people, ugly pols, etc.
Cheers, and yes I am replying to my own post, so you are not alone in your
senility, Marko.
== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 3:38 pm
From: David Bernier
Marko Amnell wrote:
> On Oct 8, 3:37 am, spudnik <Space...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> the lecture that I saw, at UCLA, was extremely general
>> and boring; I was the oly one with a technical question
>> about his M-set.
>
> Well, Mandelbrot's MIT lecture is pretty general too.
> Here is one exchange that addresses the issue of
> trying to predict financial prices in a bit more detail.
> It was brought to my attention in an email reply to my post.
>
> Guy Sorman, author of "Economics Does Not Lie:
> A Defense of the Free Market in a Time of Crisis"
>
> His presentation at the New York City Harvard Club is available at:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yb4lphy
>
> http://www.booktv.org/Watch/10705/Economics+Does+Not+Lie+A+Defense+of+the+Free+Market+in+a+Time+of+Crisis.aspx
[...]
I recently had a look at a book on monetary regimes and inflation:
"Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic
and Political Relationships", by Peter Bernholz.
It was reviewed here by Pierre Siklos:
http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/0649
Also, cf.:
http://books.google.com/books?id=tt8ip6gienYC
One general idea from that is that too much stimulus spending financed
by too large budget deficits will lead to some inflation,
but cutting back stimulus spending will decrease consumption,
and tend to increase unemployment short-term (say when
stimulus spending is used to try to get out of a
recession "faster") ...
David Bernier
==============================================================================
TOPIC: The Hemlock to Oscar
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/b2e4a39fec3f919f?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:27 am
From: J Seymour MacNicely
Gutenberg has just made available Oscar Wilde's _A Critic in Pall
Mall_ . . .
There are essays on every subject from Yeats and Keats, Swinburne and
Whitman, even to no less than two singing of his delight in the
writings and carrying's on of his "Great Lady," George Sand.
What's more, a real curiosity is here to be found in something he
penned under title of POETRY AND PRISON, as published in the Pall Mall
Gazette, January 3, 1889, some six years before his own plummeting
descent into the darkly Dantesque climes of Reading Gaol, 1895.
And how very poetic of Justice, if not prophetic of Wilde that he
should be found musing over such matters as . . .
"Prison has had an admirable effect on Mr. Wilfrid Blunt as a poet
[busted in 1888 as a conspirator in the cause of the Irish rebellion].
The Love Sonnets of Proteus, in spite of their clever Musset-like
modernities and their swift brilliant wit, were but affected or
fantastic at best. They were simply the records of passing moods and
moments, of which some were sad and others sweet, and not a few
shameful. Their subject was not of high or serious import. They
contained much that was wilful and weak.
"In Vinculis, upon the other hand, is a book that stirs one by its
fine sincerity of purpose, its lofty and impassioned thought, its
depth and ardour of intense feeling. 'Imprisonment,' says Mr. Blunt in
his preface, 'is a reality of discipline most useful to the modern
soul, lapped as it is in physical sloth and self-indulgence. Like a
sickness or a spiritual retreat it purifies and ennobles; and the soul
emerges from it stronger and more self-contained.'"
[Yet how tragic if Wilde, taking inspiration from Blunt, quite falsely
imagined he was made of the same stern stuff as this expatriate fellow
Irishman of a North African horse-trader. But how damnably sad, that
when being in face of the same fate; even as his own family came to
him like the friends of Socrates, pleading with him to flee, instead
he stayed, not heeding their advice nor availing himself of their aid,
to be getting off in exile to France--where he wound up anyway
terminally broken in the end. But had it been this poetry which
emboldened him to stand and take a punishment he'd not been made to
bear? And what if it were indeed the verse of Wilfred Blunt which
served the deadly draught of hemlock to the dearer poet, Oscar Wilde?]
"To him, certainly, it has been a mode of purification. The opening
sonnets, composed in the bleak cell of Galway Gaol, and written down
on the flyleaves of the prisoner's prayer-book, are full of things
nobly conceived and nobly uttered, and show that though Mr. Balfour
may enforce 'plain living' by his prison regulations, he cannot
prevent 'high thinking' or in any way limit or constrain the freedom
of a man's soul.
They are, of course, intensely personal in expression. They could not
fail to be so. But the personality that they reveal has nothing petty
or ignoble about it. The petulant cry of the shallow egoist which was
the chief characteristic of the Love Sonnets of Proteus is not to be
found here. In its place we have wild grief and terrible scorn, fierce
rage and flame-like passion. Such a sonnet as the following comes out
of the very fire of heart and brain [one can hardly fail in the
context to think of the _Pisan Chronicles_ of Ezra Pound]:
God knows, 'twas not with a fore-reasoned plan
I left the easeful dwellings of my peace,
And sought this combat with ungodly Man,
And ceaseless still through years that do not cease
Have warred with Powers and Principalities.
My natural soul, ere yet these strifes began,
Was as a sister diligent to please
And loving all, and most the human clan.
God knows it. And He knows how the world's tears
Touched me. And He is witness of my wrath,
How it was kindled against murderers
Who slew for gold, and how upon their path
I met them. Since which day the World in arms
Strikes at my life with angers and alarms."
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30191/30191-h/30191-h.htm
--
JM http://doo-dads.blogspot.com
==============================================================================
TOPIC: One Perfect Gem of a Little On-Line Find
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/f9c68bb732de1e84?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:29 am
From: Just Me
On Oct 8, 1:01 am, Just Me <jpd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Gutenberg has just made available Oscar Wilde's _A Critic in Pall
> Mall_ . . .
A more complete treatment of this matter is to be found in the post,
"The Hemlock to Oscar".
--
JM
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Cheaper Kindle
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/83369cb7977feb61?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 4:59 am
From: "William F. Adams (willadams@aol.com)"
On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
and don't worry about such.
FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
The Sony readers (and a number of others) use GNU/Linux and/or various
opensource utilities, and there is an effort to create an opensource
alternative firmware, OpenInkPot:
William
== 2 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 5:17 am
From: netcat
In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
@l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
> > Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
> > under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
> > unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>
> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
> and don't worry about such.
I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
home.
> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
wireless connection be disabled?
rgds,
netcat
== 3 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 8:30 am
From: "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
netcat wrote:
> In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
> @l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>> and don't worry about such.
>
> I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
> home.
>
>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>
> I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
> paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
> wireless connection be disabled?
Faraday cage.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
== 4 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 8:37 am
From: Bill Snyder
On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:30:12 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
<seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>netcat wrote:
>> In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
>> @l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>>> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>>> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>>> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>>> and don't worry about such.
>>
>> I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
>> home.
>>
>>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>>
>> I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
>> paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
>> wireless connection be disabled?
>
> Faraday cage.
But how do we trick them into going in?
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]
== 5 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 8:41 am
From: "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
Bill Snyder wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:30:12 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> netcat wrote:
>>> In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
>>> @l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>>>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>>>> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>>>> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>>>> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>>>> and don't worry about such.
>>> I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
>>> home.
>>>
>>>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>>> I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
>>> paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
>>> wireless connection be disabled?
>> Faraday cage.
>
> But how do we trick them into going in?
>
Choose the right flavor quarks for bait.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
== 6 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 8:42 am
From: mikea
In rec.arts.sf.written "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> netcat wrote:
>> In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
>> @l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>>> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>>> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>>> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>>> and don't worry about such.
>>
>> I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
>> home.
>>
>>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>>
>> I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
>> paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
>> wireless connection be disabled?
>
> Faraday cage.
Convert a tinfoil hat into a tinfoil envelope. It's difficult to read
through it, but it should serve as an RF shield. Add a Mu-Metal envelope
if you also need to protect against magnetic-field attacks.
--
On the movie "Highlander II": "In an experiment to determine the
precise amount of beer required to enjoy this film, I passed
out." -- dave o'brien, in the Monastery
== 7 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 10:16 am
From: Kurt Busiek
On 2009-10-08 05:17:52 -0700, netcat <netcat@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> said:
> In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
> @l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>> Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>> under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>> unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>
>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>> and don't worry about such.
>
> I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
> home.
>
>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>
> I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
> paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
> wireless connection be disabled?
It can be turned off, if that's what you mean.
It's not required -- you can buy stuff, download it to your computer
and put it on the Kindle by hooking up your Kindle to your computer;
the phone link is a convenience rather than a requirement, so you could
theoretically leave it off at all times.
In normal use, you kep it turned off most of the time anyway, because
it drains the battery quickly while in use, so the way you get that
two-week battery time they promote is to leave it off when you're not
actually buying something.
kdb
--
Visit http://www.busiek.com -- for all your Busiek needs!
== 8 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:00 pm
From: William George Ferguson
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 15:17:52 +0300, netcat <netcat@devnull.eridani.eol.ee>
wrote:
>In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
>@l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>> > Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>> > under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>> > unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>
>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>> and don't worry about such.
>
>I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
>home.
>
>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>
>I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
>paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
>wireless connection be disabled?
On the original Kindle, there's a Wireless On/Off switch on the back of the
device (beside the Power On/Off switch). On the Kindle II and the Kindle
DX, there's a menu selection to turn the wireless connection on/off.
Basically, it's there for power usage conservation, you more than cut your
power usage in half by not having the wireless connection on (from personal
experience with the DX, it takes the battery about two days to run down
with the wireless connection turned on, and about a week with the wireless
turned off, if you are reading it regularly).
If you're really paranoid, you could leave the wireless connection turned
off all the time, send any kindle item you buy to your computer, and
download it to your kindle from your computer with a direct USB connection.
I haven't seen anything yet that says Amazon can remotely activate your
wireless connection if it is turned off at your end. I don't think you
could get the level of energy savings that are present if the device was
regularly turning the connection on to phone home (I don't think I could
get four times the battery charge life using it regularly with wireless off
if it were periodically turning the wireless back on to phone home).
--
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Bene Gesserit)
== 9 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:49 pm
From: "Taemon"
With the Kindle you can only read books from Amazon, right? Is it possible
to read books from Amazon on another e-reader, specifically iRex's Iliad?
T.
== 10 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:58 pm
From: Lawrence Watt-Evans
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 21:49:06 +0200, "Taemon" <Taemon@zonnet.nl> wrote:
>With the Kindle you can only read books from Amazon, right?
No.
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
I'm selling my comic collection -- see http://www.watt-evans.com/comics.html
I'm serializing a novel at http://www.watt-evans.com/realmsoflight0.html
== 11 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 1:16 pm
From: Kurt Busiek
On 2009-10-08 12:49:06 -0700, "Taemon" <Taemon@zonnet.nl> said:
> With the Kindle you can only read books from Amazon, right?
No, you can read books in the DRMed Kindle format, but you can also
read a variety of other formats, including unprotected Mobipocket,
plain text and some others.
I've gotten stuff for my Kindle from Amazon, Project Gutenberg,
Fictionwise, MyBookstoreandMore and other places.
> Is it possible to read books from Amazon on another e-reader,
> specifically iRex's Iliad?
I doubt it.
I expect there are ways to break the DRM and then do it, but as far as
I know, you can't even buy Kindle books without having a Kindle account
in the first place.
kdb
--
Visit http://www.busiek.com -- for all your Busiek needs!
== 12 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 4:41 pm
From: "Stanley Moore"
"William George Ferguson" <wmgfrgsn@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:hlcsc5do1ehv1k0bllh9pgtb07at4nhrna@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 15:17:52 +0300, netcat <netcat@devnull.eridani.eol.ee>
> wrote:
>
>>In article <6821cddd-a198-4b5a-a72e-23e30f032051
>>@l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>, willadams@aol.com says...
>>> On Oct 7, 4:09 pm, nos...@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
>>> > Do any of these alternatives offer an operating system that is not
>>> > under remote control? i.e., no files can be deleted from the device
>>> > unless the operator of the device deletes them?
>>>
>>> That's the nature of DRM. I simply choose not to read any DRM files
>>> and don't worry about such.
>>
>>I woulda thunk it more the nature of always-online devices that phone
>>home.
>>
>>> FWIW, Amazon just settled a lawsuit and promised not to do that again.
>>
>>I don't want promises, I want it to be physically impossible for them to
>>paw at the content of my device whenever it suits them. Can the Kindle
>>wireless connection be disabled?
>
> On the original Kindle, there's a Wireless On/Off switch on the back of
> the
> device (beside the Power On/Off switch). On the Kindle II and the Kindle
> DX, there's a menu selection to turn the wireless connection on/off.
> Basically, it's there for power usage conservation, you more than cut your
> power usage in half by not having the wireless connection on (from
> personal
> experience with the DX, it takes the battery about two days to run down
> with the wireless connection turned on, and about a week with the wireless
> turned off, if you are reading it regularly).
>
> If you're really paranoid, you could leave the wireless connection turned
> off all the time, send any kindle item you buy to your computer, and
> download it to your kindle from your computer with a direct USB
> connection.
>
> I haven't seen anything yet that says Amazon can remotely activate your
> wireless connection if it is turned off at your end. I don't think you
> could get the level of energy savings that are present if the device was
> regularly turning the connection on to phone home (I don't think I could
> get four times the battery charge life using it regularly with wireless
> off
> if it were periodically turning the wireless back on to phone home).
>
Plus, even it Amazon could do it (which I doubt) why would they? <G> Like
Amazon is that interested in everyone's Kindle stuff. I keep my wireless off
unless I want to buy something and it works great. I normally use my PC to
order stuff (the keyboard on the DX is too small to be practical) and then
turn on the wireless to automatically download the book. Take care
--
Stanley L. Moore
"The belief in a supernatural
source of evil is not necessary;
men alone are quite capable
of every wickedness."
Joseph Conrad
== 13 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 4:43 pm
From: "Stanley Moore"
"Kurt Busiek" <kurt@busiek.com> wrote in message
news:halhb8$lsm$1@solani.org...
> On 2009-10-08 12:49:06 -0700, "Taemon" <Taemon@zonnet.nl> said:
>
>> With the Kindle you can only read books from Amazon, right?
>
> No, you can read books in the DRMed Kindle format, but you can also read a
> variety of other formats, including unprotected Mobipocket, plain text and
> some others.
>
> I've gotten stuff for my Kindle from Amazon, Project Gutenberg,
> Fictionwise, MyBookstoreandMore and other places.
>
>> Is it possible to read books from Amazon on another e-reader,
>> specifically iRex's Iliad?
>
> I doubt it.
>
> I expect there are ways to break the DRM and then do it, but as far as I
> know, you can't even buy Kindle books without having a Kindle account in
> the first place.
>
With the Kindle DX you can also read PDF format which is nice. Take care
--
Stanley L. Moore
"The belief in a supernatural
source of evil is not necessary;
men alone are quite capable
of every wickedness."
Joseph Conrad
== 14 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 7:37 pm
From: nospam@nospam.com (Paul Ciszek)
In article <GLGdnS8GlK4j5FPXnZ2dnUVZ_oGdnZ2d@giganews.com>,
Stanley Moore <smoore20@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>Plus, even it Amazon could do it (which I doubt) why would they? <G> Like
They cared enough to delete everybody's copies of 1984. One fox attack
is good enough reason to look for a henhouse door that can be locked.
--
Please reply to: | "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is
pciszek at panix dot com | indistinguishable from malice."
Autoreply is disabled |
== 15 of 15 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 11:45 pm
From: "Taemon"
Kurt Busiek wrote:
> On 2009-10-08 12:49:06 -0700, "Taemon" <Taemon@zonnet.nl> said:
>> With the Kindle you can only read books from Amazon, right?
> No, you can read books in the DRMed Kindle format, but you can also
> read a variety of other formats, including unprotected Mobipocket,
> plain text and some others.
Very nice, thank you. Do you know if your typical Mobipocket book is
protected?
>> Is it possible to read books from Amazon on another e-reader,
>> specifically iRex's Iliad?
> I doubt it.
Ah, pity. Not that I really considered exchanging my iLiad for a Kindle, but
one must look ahead when it comes to book supply. My iLiad is only a year
and a half old (and it was quite expensive) and it works beautifully and has
a far bigger screen than the Kindle. Also, my newspaper subscription is tied
to it. But it is so slow... when the time comes that I can justify for
myself buying a new reader I want to be prepared! Thanks for the
information.
T.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Bookstores Around the World (rec.arts.books) (FAQ) (IMPORTANT UPDATE)
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/92153a6882249799?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 9:13 am
From: "Stanley Moore"
"William December Starr" <wdstarr@panix.com> wrote in message
news:haibgc$hpj$1@panix3.panix.com...
> In article <14CdnQ69c4jAaVXXnZ2dnUVZ_sednZ2d@giganews.com>,
> "Stanley Moore" <smoore20@comcast.net> said:
>
>> Now that was a truly hateful screed <G>. Texas is like nowhere
>> else. Yes, it has problems; what place doesn't? Yes, there are a
>> few blowhards; where can you not find them? Sure there are some
>> drug dealers as well as very nice hardworking Hispanic
>> families. But all in all there is nowhere I'd rather live. You
>> have immense diversity of landscape, cultural orientation, and
>> Texas is well renowned for its friendly people. Take care
>
> I noticed this a few days ago...
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/yboo6jb>
>
> <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/texas-judge-rules-gay-mar_n_307532.html>
>
> Texas Judge Rules Gay-Marriage Ban Violates U.S. Constitution
> MATT CURRY | 10/ 1/09 11:43 PM | AP
>
> DALLAS -- A Texas judge cleared the way for two Dallas men to
> get a divorce, ruling Thursday that Texas' ban on same-sex
> marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal
> protection under the law.
>
> Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he'd appeal the ruling,
> which he labeled an attempt to strike down the ban approved by
> voters in 2005.
>
> "The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define
> marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman,"
> Abbott said in a written statement. "Today's ruling purports to
> strike down that constitutional definition - despite the fact
> that it was recently adopted by 75 percent of Texas voters."
>
> [ remainder of article deleted ]
>
> ...which gives the impression that Texas is blessed with an Attorney
> General who believes that a 75% plebiscite by state voters suffices
> to override the United States Constitution.
>
> (Oh, and I see that judges are elected there too -- a malfunction
> that's hardly unique to Texas, of course -- and this particular
> Dallas County judge, a Democrat, is up for reelection in 2010.
> I predict a sedate, civilized campaign.)
>
> -- wds
>
It is not entierly clear that Texas's (and many other state) constitutionals
bans on gay marriage do violate the US Constitution. On the amendment in
question I voted against as I would like to get married but I expect it will
be a good long while until I can here in Texas. Take care
--
Stanley L. Moore
"The belief in a supernatural
source of evil is not necessary;
men alone are quite capable
of every wickedness."
Joseph Conrad
==============================================================================
TOPIC: A Nobel Prize Well Deserved
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.books/t/1f9ef1d2515a7ba8?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Oct 8 2009 12:13 pm
From: Just Me
From Publisher's Weekly on _The Appointment_, by Herta Müller
--
'The narrator, an unnamed young dress-factory worker of the post-WWII
generation, has been summoned for questioning by the secret police;
she has been caught sewing notes into men's suits destined for Italy,
with the desperate message "marry me" along with her address. Accused
of prostitution in the workplace (and told she is lucky the charge is
not treason), she loses her job, and her life becomes . . . a chilling
picture of human adaptation and survival under oppression.'
In only so much as its first few pages you'll discover all the more
reason why such prose as this should win the prize, as here you find
her narrator on a city bus, lost in an interior monologue of
commentary and complaint, "and the only bulges in his trousers are the
bags around his knees." Is it not about time for a Real Woman to step
forward for the Prize? Yes. Indeed, how can the heart not go out to
the kind of Nobel Prize winner who likes looking for bulges in men's
trousers on a city bus?
--
JM
http://jpdavid.blogspot.com/
http://bobbisoxsnatchers.blogspot.com
http://vignettes-mackie.blogspot.com
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Has laoreet percipitur ad. Vide interesset in mei, no his legimus verterem. Et nostrum imperdiet appellantur usu, mnesarchum referrentur id vim.
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