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Today in the Chicago Tribune one of their columnist wrote about reading his first e-book on his Blackberry. If I remember correctly the columnist, Steve Johnson, covers television and the Internet, so I think we’re safe to call him a techie. And what did this techie choose as his first e-book? A recent bestseller, such as "The DaVinci Code" or a Grisham novel? Something TV focused such as a re-printing of Minow’s "The Vast Wasteland." He could have chosen something related to current affairs…is there a presidential candidate that isn’t hawking a book too? Nope, to easy.
Instead, he chose a classic as his first e-book. He chose the classic — Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. He writes about discovering the joy of e-books and the joy of Austen (he doesn’t say if this is the first Austen he’s read). In fact he writes: "I liked it all so much, I’ve moved on to Austen’s
"Persuasion" and am, frankly, halfway annoyed at having to take time
away from that to write this. What comeuppance will the vain
spendthrift Sir Walter receive, and will his deserving daughter Anne
find satisfaction?" I so agree that work can seriously get in the way of good reading!
I’ve tried a few e-books on my old Palm device and enjoyed it for the most part, but got tired of the constant page turning, i.e., clicking a button. (That might be a reflection more of the Palm and the reader I was using than e-books in general.) Now that Apple has agreed to let other vendors develop applications for the iPhone and iPod touch, I’m hoping there will be some excellent e-readers for these devices. Scrolling through the pages would be an improvement. The idea of taking notes or highlighting favorite passages, as discussed by Johnson, is also appealing. Not that I’ll ever give up my beloved paper-filled books, but anything that will create more reading opportunities and doesn’t have to be dusted is welcome.
You can read all of Johnson’s column here. And since he probably didn’t write his column as late at night as I’m writing this blog (and for numerous other reasons)…trust me, it’s a better read than this.
Next weekend, June 9th to be precise, Cars, the newest Pixar movie, opens in U.S. theaters. In preparation, today’s Chicago Tribune included an article to help us non-race car followers better understand the lingo and inside jokes. Here’s a link to the article, which might "expire" in a few days as they tend to charge for viewing older articles.
Rev up the engines, spin the tires, and enjoy the show.
The Chicago Tribune is running a fun and informative series called the "7 Blunders of Chicago." Today’s blunder, the 3rd in the series, is the Great Chicago Flood of 1992 that caused an estimated $800 million in damages and lost business. Yeah, a bit of a blunder that.
The article is an interesting read detailing exactly what happened to cause the flood. To summarize: tunnels built below the Chicago River (not too smart); flood doors removed from the tunnels (really pretty dumb); pilings pounded through the river bed (oops, should have measured twice and pounded once); city officials ignored early warnings that pilings had caused tunnel leak (politics as usual); April 2, 1992: complete tunnel breach at 550 gallons per minute flooding downtown Chicago (gives new meaning to "Chicago underground").
To read the Tribune’s interesting article, and see the first two installments about "Dewey Defeats Truman" and "Malling of State Street" click here. The website contains some pictures and a video link, which didn’t work just now. There’s also a link on this page to their previous series on the "7 Wonders of Chicago."
I’m going to be really disappointed if Ritchie Daley’s "X-Marks the Spot" bulldozing of Miegs Field doesn’t make the 7 blunders list! (As the total ramifications of this action aren’t known yet, it probably won’t make the list. But it SHOULD!!!)
Maybe I should figure out the "7 Blunders of Missy;" hmm.
The Chicago Tribune listed their choices for the "Top 50 Web Sites" in today’s "Tempo" section. We’re proud to announce that Missyisms, this very blog you are currently reading, was right up there with all the other great websites that just missed the list! We’re like the want-to-be professional athletes invited to training camp for a tryout and told, "Kid, you would have been our next selection if the draft had only gone one more round." All kidding aside…since we have a relative working for the Tribune, Missyisms just simply wasn’t eligible. Them’s the breaks.
I haven’t read the entire Trib list, but they did mention TelevisionWithoutPity, which is a great laugh, Flickr, whose blog I enjoy, and Google Maps, which is both helpful and lots of fun to use. For example, where else could I find a picture of my first elementary school? Shown here is Google Maps’ God’s eye view of Key Elementary School in Tulsa, OK. Even though I only attended kindergarten and first grade at Key, I remember those never-ending hallways. My kindergarten class was at the end of the long hall at the bottom of the picture. What I don’t remember about this school is the out buildings spelling "hi" and the purple roofs! (Which seems odd considering how many times I was sent to the roof for bad behavior exhibited in the out buildings. Hmm.)
But, the Trib also mentioned some clunkers. I’ve heard of Bad Sweater Guy, but this is the first time I’ve looked at the site. In less than five minutes I was finished; maybe I missed the weave.
Missyisms 