Job Discussion Forums

[Mia Xanthi]

Oh, dear. I thought there was nothing I really wanted this Christmas until I read this!

[redeyes]

Sure Xanthi, agreed -- however, do you think the Kindle electronic page would give the same satisfaction as a good old paper page?

Maybe I am just getting old....I haven't seen one of these machines -- but wouldn't it be a bit like reading web pages online? I find reading online great for certain things ( news info, quick snippets/nuggets of info ) but when it comes to sustained, thoughtful, considered, reflective reads --online screen reading just doesn't do it for me at all. I can't engage with the text/ concepts as they demand.

Has anyone seen/tried one of these Kindle gadgets? Is it like online screen reading -- or is the interface/screen different somehow?

I'd be very interested to hear.

[johnslat]

Dear redeyes,
Seeing as I now have one (pun intended), I can assure you that reading from Kindle is just like reading from a "real book", not from a computer.
For old eyes (such as mine), you can even adjust the print size.
I'll admit that when I first heard about Kindle I was skeptical - for many of the same reasons that you stated. However, having been given one (I never would have bought one for myself, being "conservative" in my reading habits), I've found it to be a truly amazing little (and I emphasize "little") device.
I can't guarantee that you'd be as equally pleased, but I'm a believer now.
Regards,
John

[zeke0606]

To all on my thread --------

John, you are always a gentleman. And I thank you for your apology. And thank you for this news of a new gadget for easy travel reading. As I can, in Russia, I'll be looking for this contraption.

NCTBA, I have yet to read anything that you have posted that was interesting, up-lifting or even intelligent. You have to be an American - attack everyone and every idea that doesn't fit into your world view.

redeyes, The book list that I was looking for was a listing of newer authors, one's that would never make the American/British Lit 202 list at any university. John's list is grand and includes some of the authors on that list. Just as my list below has some of the authors from that list.
As far as the authors that I am reading now -
Boris Akunin
Martin Cruz Smith
Jonathan Falla
Doris Lessing
Andrea Barrett
Gary Shteyngart
Ilia Beliaev
Khaled Hosseini
Kary Mullis
Haruki Murakami
Jonathan Hull
Christian Parenti
Mary Lawson
Ann Patchett
Carlos Eire

and rereading

James Ellory
Joseph Conrad
Clive Barker
Anne Rice
Jorge Luis Borges

[johnslat]

Dear zeke606,
Thanks for your kind comments. I have to admit, though, that I'm disappointed that a person so widely-read as you are could make a statement such as this:

"You have to be an American - attack everyone and every idea that doesn't fit into your world view."

A generalization such as that is unworthy of someone who has surely learned a great deal from reading such insightful and perceptive authors as you have.

I hope you are not laboring under the false assumption that all Americans are like George W. Bush and his cohorts or under the mistaken belief that
only Americans are accustomed to "attack everyone and every idea that doesn't fit" into their world-view.

And yes - I am an American.

Regards,
John

[Mia Xanthi]

[zeke0606]

As an American, a veteran of the Vietnam war and living outside of the United States for over 12 years - I feel that I am able to state clearly that that one poster NCTBA is all that I said. I am fully aware of the choice of language that I used.

John, etal - did I say all Americans or did I state "...you have to be..."? I seem to recall many posters being dressed down for not reading very critically.... I do remember Cleo, VS and a lot of others really trashing people for the very things that NCTBA said to me -- implying that it was my fault for even posting anything on this forum. Yet, even now you seem to take offense with me.

I can ask all who read this if you have served in the United States military during times of combat, if you have experienced all that life has dealt me and how I dealt with those life experiences, or even can understand any of these verbal/psychological attacks and the misunderstandings and hard feelings that these attacks create. I know posters that quit after being attacked on these forums and refuse to ever return for any reason.

It is to bad that 'Americans' wear their feelings on their sleeves and have hurt feelings at every juncture of their sheltered existence. That is the reason that tort law is so popular in the states!

Zeke

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

MX:

Zeke0606 is a hothead in every aspect of the word...that's why I didn't directly answer the offer that s/he stuck out there for me to bite on.

I thought tht John had encyclopedically (is that even a word?) and generously answered "Zed-aught-six-aught-six"'s query. From there, I saw a more interesting bend in the thread that offered insight into a religion I think that we'd all like to know more of.

The OP'S outrageous outbursts tell more about his/her personality than any C.V. s/he could cobble together. Man, would I love that person on my staff! I would love to see evidence of me attacking "everyone and every idea that doesn't fit into" my "world view".

I'd also be interested in knowing exactly what my "world view" is! Obviously, this person has more insight into my soul than I do!

And, in that spirit, I'll bite: Zeke0606, I know you are, but what am I?

NCTBA

[007]

Well, Teta Mia and Uncle John, don't be disappointed, not every American is supporting Uncle Sam and not every American is a real cowboy!
I know that both of you are Americans, but not like Uncle Sam!

BUT, Uncle Sam wants you, and he said, "you are either with us or against us"!

If Zeke0606 is really a Vietnam Veteran, then I guess he is a Veteran for Peace and is against Uncle Sam.

Here is a poem, from the Veteran for Peace Movement:

HEY THERE UNCLE SAM
WE REMEMBER VIETNAM

VETS FOR PEACE ARE HERE TO SAY
NO WAR WITH IRAN TODAY

BUSH WANT TO ATTACK
SEND THE ARMY TO IRAN
GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY
TIME TO PUT THE GUNS AWAY
THEY WAVE THE FLAG WHEN YOU ATTACK
WHEN YOU COME HOME THEY TURN THEIR BACK

[johnslat]

Dear zeke0606,
I was in Vietnam, too - USMC 1963 - 1967, Chu Lai, 1965 - 1966. And, like you, I also spent a good deal of time living outside the USA, a total of 22 years.
I find it hard to believe, though, that you can't see how what you wrote -

"You have to be an American - attack everyone and every idea that doesn't fit into your world view."

was a generalization about all Americans. The implication is so very clear.
Why does NCTBA have to be an American? Well, because he attacks everyone and every idea that doesn't fit into his world view, and, since only Americans do that, well, then he has to be one of them.

I'm afraid that if you can't see that, then you have to be the one who's not reading critically.

If you want to "trash" NCTBA, that's fine; I expect NCTB is a big boy and can take care of himself. I wasn't trying to defend him, something he can do better than I; I was expressing disappointment that someone so widely-read could write such an obvious fallacy and, whether intentionally or not, insult a whole nation of people (apparently including himself) on the basis of how he felt about one individual.

To call what I wrote an "attack" is, I'd say, a considerable exaggeration, one that someone who has been in actual combat and knows first-hand what a real attack is like should never make.

I doubt, also, that my existence has been too sheltered, having, as I mentioned, served in Vietnam, having been in Iran in 1978 and 1979 during and after the Islamic Revolution there, and having been in Riyadh when we there were Scudded about fifty times by Saddam. If that's a "sheltered existence", then thank God I haven't had an unsheltered one.

I assume that when you wrote about Americans wearing their feelings on their sleeves, you were including yourself, since it seems to me that in the exchanges on this thread, the poster who has been expressing the most feelings is none other than you.

I'm sorry the thread has taken this turn but I will not stand for anyone, American, Vietnam vet or not, to call ME, as an American, someone who attacks everyone and everything that doesn't fit into my world view.

If, however, you would like to express those sentiments to my face, please PM me and I will be glad to supply you with my address.

Regards,
John

[sheikh radlinrol]

John sounds angry! The first time I've seen it.