A clever piece of marketing in the hyper-digital age: B)

 

 

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ikea-pokes-fun-at-apple-in-ad-for-latest-catalog/

I love it!

LOL, very well done.

 

Gotta wonder what strange fruit is in the bowl in the upper left corner though??

My preferred method of reading... I don't understand the hype of doing everything digital apart from it's cheaper and the weight in megabytes instead of grams

Books are great, even in this digital era. On the bus:

 

"What are you reading?"
"Oh its great, its about..."

 

versus

 

"What are you looking at?"
"My phone, ##### is your problem? Can't you see that I'm desperately trying to distract myself with inane social banter with witless friends I don't really like?"

I'm a great lover of dead-tree books. There's just something about the tactile feel of them that's very stimulating.

 

Of course, when I contemplate my inevitable move to a more elderly friendly apartment one day in the now not-so-distant future, my 900+ volume collection of books just might prove to be an obstacle...

 

An obstacle that would be significantly less considering that all of them would likely fit on a single 64GB Micro-SD chip not much larger than the nail on my right hand's little finger!

Thats awesome.

What is funnier, is that I showed this to the wife who is an iphone user....ya...I know....and the only thing she said after, not even laughing was...."Well when are they sending them out? Its only September.". 

 

Sigh.

 

 

An obstacle that would be significantly less considering that all of them would likely fit on a single 64GB Micro-SD chip not much larger than the nail on my right hand's little finger!

 

My wife and I just moved from the US northeast to the southwest. Let's just call it a "pre-retirement, empty nest, time to live where we really want -  move".. After numerous yard sales, donations, give-aways to family, friends and the Salvation Army not to mention trips to the "recycling" center we still had over ten tons of "stuff" to put on the conestoga wagons. A large majority of that (since most of our NE furniture simply couldn't "work" in the desert SW) were book-books, professional journals, CD's and record albums. We did recycle a ridiculous weight in magazines. I think we recycled another ten tons of stuff. So yes, from personal experience, moving the e-version of the "library" is much easier on the 'ol sacroiliac..

 

...but that being said, there is nearly nothing like a good book-book in front of a mesquite fire here in the high desert. Don't even get me started on the mp3's our kids listen to on their phones vs. the sound from a nice thick slab of vinyl...

 

 

 

Skyscraper 

...but that being said, there is nearly nothing like a good book-book in front of a mesquite fire here in the high desert. Don't even get me started on the mp3's our kids listen to on their phones vs. the sound from a nice thick slab of vinyl...

One of my "someday to be done" tasks is to transfer all of my ~300 LP albums to digital format. For this very purpose I bought a turntable some years ago once I managed to find one; it was actually quite hard to source...

 

Now all that remains is setting aside the time needed for the task.

I'm a great lover of dead-tree books. There's just something about the tactile feel of them that's very stimulating.

 

Of course, when I contemplate my inevitable move to a more elderly friendly apartment one day in the now not-so-distant future, my 900+ volume collection of books just might prove to be an obstacle...

 

An obstacle that would be significantly less considering that all of them would likely fit on a single 64GB Micro-SD chip not much larger than the nail on my right hand's little finger!

There's something depressing about decades of personal cultural collecting being reduced to single mundane plastic object as indistinct as the next, bearing none of the personality that the physical collection itself held.

 

Where in the hyper efficient future is the character of libraries or the raw individualism of an LP collection? Digital is so soulless.

 

Even if you have to surrender your physical collection, or at least part of it, there is still something special about used books and albums, something being worn and resold, a total stranger picking it up and using it again. There is no such thing in the digital sphere. I love used books so much more than new ones. Yellowed pages speak to that silent connection to previous readers, and used books are just as cheaps as brand new kindle books if not cheaper.

This is not a true story, but it illustrates how the times are changing.

 

My nine year old grand son and my eleven year old grand daughter (I do have one of those 'things' each) came for the weekend. I felt obligated to entertain them. First I tried with the grand son. I asked him what he knew about astronomy. He gave me the deer in the headlights stare. I said, "planets and stars - that sort of stuff". He looked at me like he understood so I went and pulled a book about the solar system off the shelf, brought it back, flipped it open to a beautiful picture of Jupiter, then spoke briefly about that planet. I then handed him the book and told him if he had any questions at all he should ask. I was hoping for a little shoulder to shoulder question and answer time. He just looked at me and asked, "Where is the button to make the pages change?". He walked away. I found him on his bed playing games on his phone.

 

I tried literature with my grand daughter. I named off all the great classics I had read as I told her a little about each. She actually acted interested! When I finished with that and was about to mention the local library or I could just sit a tell her the story that interested her the most, she interrupted and asked, "Can I get those at the library on Blue Ray?". I said I'm not talking about movies dear. She said, "oh"' and walked off. I found her in her bedroom charging her phone battery and text messaging one of her gal pals.

 

Now I know how all the Scribes of the world felt when the printing press was invented and the word got around.

 

Grandpa is old and out of date they said. I'll show them what old is! I went out in the garden, got some clay, soaked it to liquid and strained it, put it in a cookie pan and the oven. When it firms up enough I'm going to use a pointy stick to scratch their chores into it. Tomorrow when I give it to them I'll also hand them a abacus to figure what their allowance will be.

 

 

 

A clever piece of marketing in the hyper-digital age:

 

I love it! Thanks for sharing!              A Book book, . . . . . . . .with no batteries, what will they think of next! What wonders await, yet to be revealed?

 

 

 

I'm a great lover of dead-tree books.

 

Same here Fr. Bill. I have found that while reading a novel that really captures the imagination one begins to mentally image the story not just read it. The brain translates the story into a movie of sorts and unlike a real movie whose imagery is spoon fed to you. The mind creates its own interpretation and can be very vivid. An example; Charles Dickens, Pudding Lane in old London and what a filthy, stinking and dangerous place it was along with the people who lived there and the way they lived to survive. I swear I could smell the place as I read.

 

Regards to all,

mebull, I do not have any grandchildren yet nor even children. But I would take some measures to make sure they do not become spoiled to electronics and other flaws of the modern world that affects childhood.

 

I'm not in any way telling you how to raise your kids/grandchildren and I know your story is not true. But just in case you've got to be careful because most teenagers I see today on the street are extremely spoiled taking drinks, drugs and destroying our great city with graffiti, even on our monuments of the dead war veterans. Simply disgusting... And what's worries me is that this generation is actually the people who are going to be in charge for the future.

I'm a great lover of dead-tree books. There's just something about the tactile feel of them that's very stimulating.

 

Of course, when I contemplate my inevitable move to a more elderly friendly apartment one day in the now not-so-distant future, my 900+ volume collection of books just might prove to be an obstacle...

 

An obstacle that would be significantly less considering that all of them would likely fit on a single 64GB Micro-SD chip not much larger than the nail on my right hand's little finger!

 

I have about 10 Flightsim Manuals (Sorry - Pilots Handbooks) made with real paper - starting with 'Microsoft Flight Simulator 'For IBM Personal Computers and Compatibles'.

 

These 'Manuals' became thinner and thinner on each release.

 

I still like to read them in the 'Library' - even though the first one is some 33 years old...

I'm sure that I'd find it a little uncomfortable trying to read these manuals on a laptop whenever I visit the 'Library'. (Never tried it yet).

 

...and some 'manuals' as they are titled,  for modern electronic items do stretch the truth a little - half an A4 sheet of paper.

 

Congrats to Ikea - made me chuckle. My family members, two of whom have those items that Ikea was referring to, loved the satirical take on their possessions.

However, they did not ask the obvious question which I suspect may be asked in the not too distant future, 'What is a book, Dad ?'

 

Times are a'changing.

 

Regards

Bill

Wow, what a device this thing called book. So simple and elegant, and you can actually touch it,  i want one!

LOL, very well done.

 

Gotta wonder what strange fruit is in the bowl in the upper left corner though??

 

It's Rambutan