iRiver Ebook Reader?

iRiver’s Korean website — scroll down to see.

Sony: Get busy!

Reference: Flash Video On iPhone

iTransmogrify!

iTransmogrify! is a bookmarklet for iPhone which transforms embedded Flash content into direct links to natively supported formats. That means YouTube videos and MP3s can now be played from the iPhone’s Safari web browser with just a few clicks.

I wonder if this will work with Veoh? MySpace TV? GUBA? Breitbart TV?

If you have an iPhone, try it on those sites and leave a comment.

David Rothman Hearts His XO

The OLPC laptop as a promising school and library machine–plus detailed e-reading tips for people lucky enough to own XOs already

Just as we need balance between books and the Web, however, so do we need it between constructivism and an appreciation of life’s immutable sequences. Fiction and other narrative can provide that; what better place to start than through the reading of such works as David Copperfield, the first chapter of which bears an apt title: “I am born.” Yes, novels can have flashback and other devices, but generally events happen because they unfold in a certain sequence. Isn’t time the ultimate algorithm? The core fact of David Copperfield’s life is his being orphaned . You cannot route around it, Internet fashion. No, you need to absorb this, along with the accompanying emotions, which Dickens can impart better than any textbook or Wiki writer, in order to understand what follows. I’m not suggesting that students on a Peruvian mountaintop start out with Dickens, but surely they can do the same with novelists meaningful to them.

Such thoughts would not seem to relate to the development of vocational skills. But, as educators understandably keep reminding us, is the job of schools just to train worker drones? Besides, by understanding the algorithms of life, which can help students excel as humans, too, they can also be better at work and as citizens. It isn’t enough to be brilliant at Java or spreadsheeting. K-12 students need to understand how one human’s thoughts and actions can influence another’s, or multitudes’; that is what good fiction can provide, not turning us into saints but improving us as people in other ways.

It’s a long piece filled with deep thinking (as shown above). Go read.

Dialog Of The Day

Devilboy and Evil Dad in “A’Marrying We Will Go”

Demonic Step-Daughter: Please! As if you ever cared about anything but money.

Evil Dad: Au contraire! I also care about hookers and wide-screen TVs.

Go now and read it. Your eyes will pop. You will laugh.

— thanks to Nathan Singer, who’s got a new book coming out soon

Blog Notes: Modified Title Banner

I should have had that from the beginning.

Better late than never.

If you support the WGA — and writers in general — feel free to snag that and add it to your site.

The Future Of The U.S. Economy In One Picture

“U.S. Economy Screwed”

The most optimistic forecasts in a NYT gloom-and-doom round-up are for three crappy quarters, regardless of what the Fed does. Less optimistic forecasts suggest that we are, well, screwed.

Thank you, Mr. President, for destroying New Orleans, starting an unnecessary war, smearing our reputation abroad, turning our troops into Nazis at Guantanamo and homicidal civilian killers at home, and all those nice, permanent tax cuts for the rich to complement those huge budget deficits that will kill all the rest of us while the U.S. Dollar becomes the toilet paper of the global economy.

You can go on TV now to reveal that you’re an enemy agent sent to destroy America.

Mission Accomplished!

Blog Notes: Comments Are Moderated Here

That means I see them before they can appear.

Like when you look through a peephole in a door to see who’s knocking.

So the three posts cursing me out and the three posts pimping a Presidential candidate will not be appearing.

Knock, but you can’t come in.

Photos: The Fish From Hell

Photos taken August 2, 2007

Satan Staten Island has decided to add some more wildlife to the ferry terminal. No, the drugged-out homeless that use it as a flophouse during the night just isn’t enough.

Some nitwit got the unbright idea to plant two ginormous freaking aquariums in the middle of the terminal.

See just how big after the break.

Photos: I Fear For My Country

Photos taken August 2, 2007

Aw, what could be more fun than a doll like that?

Have your hair stand on end after the break.

Photos: She Lost The Will To Live

Photos taken November 6, 2007

Having breakfast prior to a doctor’s appointment, I hear this commotion near the front of the coffee shop. I go see. A woman is lying down in the middle of the street, apparently desiring a quick flattening by a passing car, truck, or bus. 911 is called. I had a camera and snapped some photos.

Cropped close-ups after the break.