Superstition, Reading, and So-Called Smartphones
I apologize for WVU’s loss on Saturday night. I knew I’d better not watch the game, but did anyway. And they were beaten, as feared. I don’t watch sports very often anymore, and when I do, the team I’m pulling for always loses. Always.
So, you see, it’s my fault. If I’d just watched Curb Your Enthusiasm or Rescue Me on Saturday, the Mountaineers would have played for a national championship last night. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.
Of course I’m joking, but only sorta. I really did think to myself, “Should I watch the game tonight? ‘Cause if I do, they’ll definitely lose. As sure as a Sunkist soda will trigger a frantic drive to the poop-hoop.” But then I dismissed that kind of thinking as ridiculous, idiotic superstition.
Yeah, and we all know what happened next…
Are you superstitious about anything? I am, but only mildly so. I’m aware, if you know what I mean. I take things as signs – good and bad – but don’t fully believe any of it. I don’t make decisions based on it, or anything like that. But I’m always aware.
For instance, if I look at a clock and it says 7:11, I’ll stop and try to remember what kind of ridiculousness I was just thinking about. Because 7:11 are good numbers, and I might want to follow-up on what was passing through my head at that time. You know, that sort of thing.
What about you? Are you superstitious at all? Tell us about it in the comments, won’t you? Do you make life decisions based on it? We need to know.
I was listening to a podcast at work a few nights ago, and the guy cranked off some amazing statistics about the reading habits of Americans. I don’t know if they’re accurate, but I suspect they are. Here ya go:
58% of adults never read another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book after graduation.
80% of families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of adults have not been in a bookstore during the past five years.
57% of new books are never read to completion (page 18 is the average stopping point).
I find those numbers to be amazing. How is it possible? Books are fantastic, one of the best things in the world. I always have at least one going, at all times, and lately have been reading two or three at a time.
In fact, I polished off two (really good) books about editing fiction last week alone. They weren’t huge, but they had a lot more than 18 pages each.
I love books, and buy ‘em a lot faster than I can read them. I do my best to keep up, and sometimes do a better job than other times (I’m running wide-open at the moment). I can’t imagine NEVER reading. Why would you never read? It makes no sense to me.
And I hope you don’t think I’m pretending to be highbrow here, sitting around reading William Faulkner and James Joyce with half-glasses way out on the tip of my nose. ‘Cause that ain’t it. I read all manner of stuff, including many novels that are designed for pure entertainment, and nothing else (aka “trash”).
And I also love bookstores. I could spend hours wandering around a good one, if I had hours at my disposal. Just like when I was nineteen, loving record stores and the whole record store vibe.
Which is why those podcast numbers blew my mind… Do you think they’re accurate? What are your own reading habits? Are you like me, and consider reading a natural part of the day? Or have you never read another book since teachers stopped requiring it? I’d be interested in knowing.
So, there you go… I’m superstitious, yet very well-read. Make of that what you will. And actually, I’m not all that well-read. There are lots and lots of “the classics” that don’t interest me at all. Life is too short for the Scarlet Letter, for instance. Far too short.
And just so you know, I got my Droid on Friday afternoon. I’ve been playing around with it, and have already gotten into a habit of checking the exact same things, over and over.
I fear I’ll get locked into this cycle, and will only take advantage of 5% of the phone’s capabilities. So, if you have one, or any so-called smartphone for that matter, what out-of-the-ordinary things do you use it for? Please help me avoid the 5% cycle!
And that’s all I have time for today, boys and girls.
I’ll see you again tomorrow.
Now playing in the bunker
Filed under: Daily
Yo
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222222222222222222222222222222222!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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TIRD??
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Hiya!
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Always reading, all the time. I may not be able to pass a test on whatever I’ve read two hours later, but I’ve always got a book going. Magazines too, but maybe that doesn’t count.
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My reading habits: Like Jeff, I buy way more books than I’ll ever read in my lifetime. I usually have about 3 or 4 books being actively read at any one time, but I feel guilty that I’m only able to devote about an hour or two to book-reading per day. (That doesn’t count the hour I spend with a newspaper every morning, and whatever time I can squeeze in for the too-many magazines that I subscribe to.) So I, too, cannot fathom why so many people would never read a book after high school or college. But the reality is, most people lack curiosity, and many people are just plain stupid.
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Oh, and I hate the number 13. I don’t let the fear of it rule my life, and I even once proceeded to board an airplane shortly after getting change and a receipt in the amount of $13.13 at an airport restaurant; but I nonetheless hate it when I’m confronted with that number.
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Superstitious? Not really, but I’ve been known to knock on wood (my head, mostly), and I hex the opposing team when they’re trying for a field goal. That’s about it.
The book numbers do not shock me. I don’t get it, but it doesn’t shock me. I used to buy lots of remainders and have them delivered to work instead of sitting on my porch in the rain until I got home and I would get all kinds of comments from co-workers. Oh well.
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And if you want to feed your OCD, I highly recommend LibraryThing.com. I hang around there and feel like Burgess Meredith in that episode of The Twilight Zone.
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We have books in every room in our house, mostly in bookcases but sometimes just stacks. We’ll never be able to read them all but we’ll try.
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Sadly, the statistics are probably accurate. Everybody seems to be getting dumber, if you ask me. I just read a somewhat disturbing article this morning about the supposed demise of the Humanities.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/235894
As for myself, I have read an alarmingly small amount of fiction upon leaving college. But that’s because I was an English major. There ought to be a warning that comes with studying literature: Will burn out on all fiction after four years. But I’ve read a ton of non-fiction since. That, at least, calms the urges to dissect protagonist motivations, call out deus ex machinas, and/or draw allusions to Proust or Joyce like an annoying twat. But yeah, I can’t see going through life without being an active reader of something, even if it’s just the articles in Playboy after a good, er, rubdown.
READ A BOOK! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZhJlGV2s_k
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I would never (NEVER) let a hat sit on a bed. I’ve seen what can happen: Remember “Drug Story Cowboy”?
I reckon I enjoy reading as much as the next guy, but don’t really read more than about a dozen or two books a year, as well as the Sunday NYTimes Week in Review section front-to-back every week. Over the past six months or so I have been reading kid’s novels to my 5-year-old, in the hopes that he takes an interest in reading as he gets older. We are working on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer right now. That Injun Joe is one scary dude!
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I READ A LOT!!! i hated to read when I was a kid but as an adult I read a lot. Sometimes I go for months without picking up a book but then i will read several in a row. last week alone i read 2 books. I cannot imagine those statistics are correct. I don’t know too many people who don’t read.
Supersticious?? i probably am more than I would care to admit allthough neurotic and OCD are more an issue than actual supersticions.
So there it is if you are interested.
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I have a feeling the Surf Reporter crowd are avid readers, but I am sad to say that a lot of my friends and aquaintances are not. I am afraid those numbers may be true.
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I have a feeling the Surf Reporter crowd are avid readers, but I am sad to say that a lot of my friends and aquaintances are not. I am afraid those numbers may be true.
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I am superstitious…I knock on wood when I claim, “That’s never happened to me,”…and I have been a weary around ladders, opening umbrellas inside, I throw coins in fountains and make a wish, but that’s about it. Oh and I also make a wish at 11:11.
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As far as books, I like to read scary stories. Stephen King does it for me, and I recently got done reading a Dean Kuntz novel about some crazy guy who thinks hes a demon and goes around raping and killing woman because he thinks they are possessed by his dead abusive mother…that was a weird one…I like the scary stuff, but rape and stuff, not cool. Otherwise, I like to read, as Jeff describes it, ‘junk’. Funny, pointless stories that help feed my thirst for a good laugh every day.
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Sorry about that multiple post up there….
I would like to say that I am a reasonable, logical person with no superstitions, but I can’t.
I see a penny face up, I have to pick it up. Face down, I turn it over and leave it for the next person. Can’t stop myself.
Also, the hockey gear has to go on left side, then right side. Always.
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Hello All, Long time reader (since 2002), first time poster. I picked up a droid the day it came out last November. I use mine for a lot of web surfing, checking email, you know the usual things. There is a cool app called ‘where’ you can download for free from the marketplace. If you find yourself in a strange town and want something to eat you can go to the app, select a type of food and will tell you what restaraunts complete with reviews that are nearby. It will also give you info on lowest gas prices, movies, weather, and traffic. Make sure to update your google maps and you should get an app called ‘goggles’ with the google map update. Then you can use your camera to take a picture of something, the phone will search the web for the image and then tell you about it and its history, etc. Weatherbug is good on the phone as well for all my fishing trips. Don’t get stuck in a rut, there are a lot of cool apps in the marketplace but a lot of shit apps as well. Sorry my first post is so long.
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My comment’s awaiting moderation. Phooey!
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I love reading. Can’t live without books.
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Here is some book news for you:
The printed book market just doesn’t seem large enough for Borders anymore. Borders is the second-largest bookstore chain in the U.S. behind Barnes & Noble. Unfortunately for these companies, bookstore chains are going the way of the dinosaur with Amazon digitizing books and becoming the largest online seller of books in the United States. Borders is developing a Kobo e-reader to try and compete, but with e-book readers from Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble, Borders may be living on borrowed time.
How troubled is Borders? The company’s stock currently sells for under $2 dollars a share. Borders has to repay a $42.5 million dollar loan due on April 1. If Borders can raise this money, the bookstore chain still faces a $360 million dollar note payment due July 2011.
Perhaps the most damning sign was that the company’s CEO left to take a job at a supermarket chain. The company’s short-term hopes lie in getting creditors to refinance debts. The best hope for long-term survival is an acquisition by a larger bookstore chain like Barnes & Noble.
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I would never put green on a race car or eat peanuts in the pits…
I’m sure the reading poll is right on and would explain the number of uneducated people out there. I am always reading something. bought a 722 page novel the other day thinking it would last awhile and finished it in under 5 hrs. as soon as I find the right ereader I am going to own one just for the fact you can actually download books from the local library for 2 weeks. I would probably spend more time in bookstores but I hate the smell of coffee….
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I always cross out cats when I’m in the car–driver or passenger. Finger dotted with spit.
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I am about the same with superstitions. I’ll throw some salt over my shoulder, but don’t really have any anxiety or faith related to the act. I guess I’m more aware of the existence of a superstition or three, but not ruled by them.
I read constantly. Even without the school work.
But I believe most of the stats (with the exception of the page 18 thing). I think Sawami was right when he said most people lack curiosity, and many people are just plain stupid.
I know that while I was in school we were told that about half the patients we would encounter would be functionally illiterate and close to 75% would have the skills necessary to read and understand discharge instructions.
For that reason, most patient focused handouts are supposed to be written at the 3rd grade level. Even then, a lot of people just can’t grasp the info.
Of course that’s no surprise here. The Detroit Public Schools are known to turn out graduates who are unable to read. And their graduation rates are somewhere in the 30-40% range, if I recall correctly. Sad.
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Jeff – the WVSR Classic PIC… vein-aghetti. Wow. Didn’t need to see that. The Celery Barbie made things stir… the Classic picture today just sorta made the beast say “nope. ain’t happenin, and probably not for a long time”.
I have three things of a superstitious nature and they’re all pretty unique I think.
1) gotta say my prayers – which would shock the fuck out of anyone who knew me – or else there shall be retribution of a terrible and heart wrenching nature
2) gotta say “that’s some bad had Harry” at the end of House or else bad things will happen. Been that way since season 1
3) gotta tell the girl (she’s 15) “BED” meaning go to bed now!!! at the end of Survivor but right after Jeff Probst says “Stay tuned for scenes from…..”. If I don’t, again with the terrible things happening. Been that way since season 1 too. I have no idea why for all three…
Scary though that I think Fox, NBC and God all have the same power to punish me – stupid – when we KNOW it’s really only FOX that has all the power.
I love to read (and am sorry to hear others miss out on the enjoyment) but only the main stream kind of stuff – Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham…
It’s the stuff the guys write outside their main genre I enjoy the most (King – Shawshank, Stand by me, Green Mile; Grisham – Playing for Pizza, The Broker and A Painted House)… The whole tribe loves to read and it’s not entirely unusual for the 4 of us to be in separate parts of the house on a weekend reading with a Schnauzer or two sharing a blanket with one of us.
When I started writing this I would have been number 10 but I rambled… and rambled…
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I guess I should use that Borders gift card.
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I don’t like to use the word “never”, as in “I’ve never (broken a bone, had a heart attack — insert catastrophic reference here). That’s just tempting the Fates, asking them to make you a victim.
As for the reading thing…. I have a feeling that the numbers are accurate. Have you seen the general population of mouthbreathers out there? And have you listened to recent college graduates who are unable to form a complete, grammatically-correct sentence? The DVD section and computer terminals at the local library are jumpin’, but take a look at the stacks and you’re more likely to see a chupacabra than a human being. Sadly.
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Reading is my favorite thing to do. I go through at least a book a week, sometimes as many as three. I can not, however, read more than one book at a time. Each novel requires my entire focus until I’m finished.
My Kindle has changed the way I shop for books. I don’t go to book stores very often now, which I do miss. Like others have stated, I can spend hours there, and a gift card to Border’s or Barnes & Noble is just about the best present someone can give me.
As far as the podcast numbers are concerned, sadly, I’m not even a little bit surprised. I teach English literature to sophomores and juniors in high school. Many of them, the majority in fact, tell me they hate books and do not do any reading at all outside of school. I doubt that changes as they get older, as an appreciation for literature begins at a very early age. It has been my experience that if the student didn’t love books as a young child, he or she never develops the desire. It’s discouraging and sad. I keep thinking about all the great stuff they miss because they refuse to pick up a book.
Their writing skills suffer as well. Those who read well and often tend to write well, and obviously the opposite is true for those who don’t.
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If you’re like me and spend way too much time and money at the bookstore, use the Android program called “Barcode Scanner” and the Google Books website to catalog all your books. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do with my list of books now that I’ve completed it, but at least it was easy to generate.
You can also use Barcode Scanner, or another program called ShopSavvy, in the store to scan a product’s UPC code and compare the in-the-store price to on-line prices, or even to prices at other stores. Nifty!
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All the books I read come from the library. I use to buy books, but I don’t really have the space any more to store them.
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Good Afternoon Surf Reporters…..
Don’t read as much as I’d like to. Of course, I spend most of my day reading off the internets all day at work, so by the time I get home 12 hours later, I’m all read out.
A few superstitions. I’ll knock wood, I throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder if I spill some. When I golf, I only carry one quarter in my pocket. Everything else comes out of my pockets and into one of the pockets in my golf bag. I always sit in the same seat, position wise, when I play poker(both online and live games).
On a side note, I know Jeff would never reveal the source, but I’m wondering whose store bought titties those are in the WVSR Classic link?
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Superstitions: I have a few more than I’m willing to admit
Reading: At most two books a year…I believe the stats
Smart phones: it has the nickname “crackberry” for a reason. I can’t put mine down. I’ve developed an unhealthy OCD fixation with the damn thing…I start to sweat and panic if I can’t find it. It is a fantastic blessing and a horrible curse…enjoy!
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1) Read books. Lots of book readers out there for free (prolly for Android too). There are many books on Rapidshare and Torrent sites, and you can get new releases from B&N in various file formats. I hear Amazon has this too, but have not tried it yet.
2) Watch DVDs. I use Handbrake to rip dvd’s down to about 400 megabytes in 3GP format on a micro SD card. For iPhone, it should be MP4. I am watching the entire Deadwood series on my phone!
3) Surf the web. On a mobile you can’t beat Opera (shuddup you apple nerds – Safari is inferior), even though I don’t like the desktop version too much. Anxiously waiting for Chrome!
Watch youtube videos.
Netflix – Manage my queue with netflix app.
Facebook app – update/view facebook.
Sync Mail, calendar, contacts with GMAIL on the fly.
4) 4INFO.com!!!! Send text (free) to 4INFO and get sports scores, weather, flight status and times, movie times, stock quotes…etc. You get the idea…. Just text something like “American flight 101″ and it will tell you departure and landing times. Really neat.
5) Tracking software – FREE. This is the first thing I did. Downloaded RTTracker. This will set up a hidden process to listen for coded text messages. If My pnone is stolen I will:
1. Locate it. I send a text and the phone activates GPS and sends a text back with a google maps link where it is. If there is no GPS signal it will tower-locate.
2. Listen in. Send a phone to call and it will silently call you so you can listen in on what is going on around the handset.
3. Take a Picture. I can tell it to take a pic and send it to me MMS.
4. Send me outgoing and incoming call/text/email history. It will tell me everyone who has had any contact with handset.
5. Erase phone data.
6. Sim Change Notify. If crook changes sims, it will notify a pre-defined phone # and tell you the new phone # so you can keep tracking it.
7. Remote operation. Have your phone send its IP address and I can use a virtual phone screen on my computer to remotely control it. Uses freeware MYMobiler.
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O, yeah. the tracking software is awesome prankware! I install it on a friend’s (or enemy) phone and track it at random times during the day.
I then text them and say, “HEY! What are you doing at Wal Mart?” or “That’s not your girlfriend’s apartment!” or “Does you girlfriend know you called the SEX SHOP 3 times last week?”
This will definitely freak out your mark.
Since they are getting normal text messages from you, they NEVER suspect that the phone is tracking them with your SECRET text messages.
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0.1% of the population read books about writing books
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Couple books a week. Robert Crais, Robert B. Parker (until he got so damn boring), Lee Child. That kind of hard-boiled stuff. Read all of the Travis McGee series years ago.
I feel sorry for people that don’t read. Think of all the new little worlds they are missing.
Superstitious? Not really, though I feel it is going to be a good day if Canadian Geese fly over my car. That’s just stupid, not really superstition.
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I’m not superstitious but the number 666 comes up all the time when I buy stuff. Maybe it’s me that’s evil?
I read all the time. Every night when I crawl into bed is ME time and I read for a good 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
I got a Sony Reader for Christmas so I haven’t bought a real book for myself since then. I still buy regular books for my kids. My oldest secret will have 5 books going at once but I prefer to stick to just one at a time. And if it is a series, I have to read the entire series in order before moving on to a different book or series.
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I think many people will say “who has time to read?”. So, I believe the statistics.
In general, I only read in bed before going to sleep. It takes me several weeks to finish a book, but it’s better than nothing, and I do enjoy it. Often my best reading comes during those nights when I wake up and can’t get back to sleep.
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I have been reading the Federalist papers lately. There is some good stuff in there about the necessity of a strong Fed Government, but most is bullshit.
Oh, and Alexander Hamilton is a dick-ass-butt-face douche bag.
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when i look at the clock and it 11:11 i close my eyes and make a wish and if its still 11:11 when i open my eyes the wish wil come true, if it turned to 11:12 than it will not. this is crap though because i asked for some pretty simple things that never came true. yet i continue to do it.
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I’ve read 19 books this year alone (yes, the current year that is 96 days old).
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Oh – And FUCK DUKE. The cheating assholes…..
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I guess I’m superstitious. I do all the usual things….throw salt over the right shoulder if I spill it; knock on wood, only pick up a penny if it is face up. Sometimes I have it in my head that if I DON’T do something a specific way something bad will happen. OCD? Drives me nuts sometimes.
Lee Harvey Ramone: What’s the deal with leaving a hat on a bed?? Never heard of that one.
I LOVE going to Barnes & Noble just to get away. Years ago, to get away from my evil Ex I would go just to hide. Kind of like a stress relief.
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The last book I finished (last Tuesday) was Stephen King’s 1,060+ page-turner called “Under The Dome”. It took me 6 straight calendar days to finish it.
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How can one not read? I’ll never understand that. I also don’t understand how one can read more than one book at a time. I’ve tried and it seems to be impossible for me. I’m a fast reader, though, so I blow through books pretty fast. Dont’ don ANY fiction, except Stephen King and I have to buy his books the day they come out. Don’t ask coz I don’t know. It’s been that way since I was in high school.
Not terribly superstitious, although is buying Stephen King books the day they come out some sort of superstition? Don’t know.
Happy Tuesday, Surfers!
We sold our house and bought our tix – we’re outta here May 19th! Finally!
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I use to go a Borders in PA that had an entire bottom floor full of cds. They even had the Grandpa’s Boy cds.
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Sunshine,
I too just read Under the Dome. and it also took me 6 days. Pretty good book I thot. At least the pace was good…didnt lag much.
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I am a Bookaholic. Read about 3 books a week but have about 100 TBR’s in the spare room. (To Be Read) My favorite authors just keep writing – darn it.
My husband is a dabbler – buys books and reads bits and pieces.
But we go to local bookstores a couple times a month and ALWAYS try to visit local bookstores on our travels. (Which due to the economy and a $7K plumbing job coming next week will be VERY LOCAL)
When I was young, my parents were broke but a couple of times a year they would take us out to dinner and then a bookstore where we would EACH get to pick out a paperback book. We had an hour and it was delightful agony trying to decide . . .
That started it … .and of the 3 of us – 2 are avid readers.
We did this with our daughter but it didnt work – it breaks my heart – she’s 23 and rarely reads. Granted she is still in school but spends her extra time on the PC, texting, Facebooking etc. . . . . . .damn technology!
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Mr. Moo and I are avid readers. The house is chock full of books. Both of us have favorites we revisit again and again and we have plenty that are TBR. I read anywhere from 1 to 5 novels a week depending on the available free time and the length of the books. I couldn’t imagine living without them.
I am a bit superstitious even though most of them just sound like good advice that your mother would give you with a little ‘fear’ to help you remember: Don’t put your shoes/hat on the bed, pick up the free money, don’t walk under a ladder…
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Thanks for reminding me about the wvu game. I made a vow that I would not read the sports section or watch espn for 2 weeks. Same thing I did after the Pitt game a few years ago.
As far as reading goes you should try paperbackswap.com (referred by chett if you wish). For each book you mail to another member you get to choose a book that gets mailed to you. Good selection too
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I use the kindle app on my iPhone a lot. I
love being able to whip out my iPhone and start reading where ever I am.
I am a binge reader. I can go for months without picking up a book but then start devouring whole “trashy” series one after the other until I can’t see straight.
I knock on wood when I tempt fate by saying something like “It has been years since I have gotten a speeding ticket.” Knock! Knock!
And since I work in a hospital I know that the full moon is a bad MF.
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I’m superstitious about having sex in a tunnel with strange midgets. That can only lead to continued bad luck.
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I won’t eat green eggs and ham in a house, or with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere.
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To my knowledge, I am not superstitious. I’m probably wrong, though.
When my husband and I end up with a rare date night, we always end up at a bookstore. It’s my favorite place in the world.
I’m always reading at least one book, and I’m not a fan of the Classics. I’m also rarely a fan of Oprah Book Club Selections. My current selection includes two books on writing, one book on death, one on health and wellness, and some Roald Dahl and Lucy Maud Montgomery with my daughter.
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Well apparently my comment did not meet with approval as it’s no longer awaiting moderation, it’s completely gone. I don’t remember it all now, but the gist of it was that being an English major burnt me out on reading fiction books yet I read plenty of non-fiction works. I believe there was an exciting bit about James Joyce, a Playboy magazine, and a hand puppet, but I guess it was too racy for the WVSR. Oh well.
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Gretchen…if I can write about having sex with midgets in a tunnel…you were probably ok. By the way…how tall are you?
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Man, I wish I could read. All these people reading books and I only have COPS to comfort me…
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I’m a total print junkie. I count at least 65 linear feet of full bookshelves, some double-layer filled, others with extra books stacked on top of or in front of the shelf occupants. There’s a 12″+ stack of library books in my living room. I have two books currently being read (one novel, one how-to on knitting), which is unusually low for me. My PDA has hundreds of e-books (most on theology) which are duplicated on my laptop. Last time we moved, my husband asked me if I thought we maybe had too many books. We only had 18 boxes at the time (yes, the collection has grown), which is less than my mother got out of a mobile home when she moved.
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As for the general population, I’m firmly convinced that “Idiocracy” is a very accurate look at the future if present trends continue. I’ve met “people” who consider reading a waste of time, but won’t miss an episode of any MTV “reality” sleaze-fest.
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the beatles are way over rated
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I am an avid book reader- there are piles of them all over the house. I get on author kicks and buy everything he / she wrote. I have at least a 1/2 dozen authors on my must read first week list. I’ve even paid money to see one of my favorite authors, Nelson DeMille, talk about a book.
I totally believe the statistics you cited. I once lived in a very blue collar area and few of my son’s friends parents had books in their homes, not even a dictionary. We were pretty much the local library to some of these kids. For the past 10 years I have worked in media and communications and been surrounded by readers.
A more disturbing statistic in my opinion is this one: “The average IQ of Los Angeles County high school GRADUATES is 85″. A score of 85 equates to Dull Normal. Ever wondered why some people slow down when they see a police car or a construction vehicle on the other side of a divided highway? Well if they are Dull Normal they are probably fascinated the same way a small child would be. Basic rule for IQ mental age X 100 = score. so an 85 IQ has the mental age of 8 1/2. I don’t want to drive with a third grader.
Put that together and you understand why they aren’t reading.
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I ain’t got time to not read.
I don’t recommend stuff to folks I don’t even know, but I’ll say this about The Scarlet Letter: the first forty or so pages are a gut-busting discussion federal bureaucracy. Odd, but true.
Not always, but often enough classics are classics for a reason. I do draw the line well before Finnegans Wake, though.
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I think I read a lot, but I don’t have a book going at *all* times – just “often”. I tend to go for the big novel series type stuff: Foundation, Gunslinger, Outlander, Baroque Cycle, Known Space. Basically escapist fiction.
I totally don’t get this “never read” thing. Why would you not read? It’s enjoyable! Provided the book doesn’t suck, of course. A good book beats movies to a bloody pulp.
This has been a lifelong thing; my parents always had *lots* of books around, and they both usually had a book going, so I grew up thinking it was normal to read. They had the complete set of Narnia books just sitting on a shelf waiting for one of us kids to discover them, which I did. In 4th grade I got busted in school for having a Heinlein novel hidden inside my reader.
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Here’s a big list of cool Android apps. I’ll email via FB as well where it may display better.
anyhow:
Aldiko Book Reader – nice public domain selection
Any Cut – to put dialer shortcuts on the mainscreen (for once touch dialing)
Astrid – task manager that can integrate with gmail via an add-on and also with Thunderbird via a plugin
Bonsai Blast – fun addictive game
Buka – cute game
Coin Flip – neat flip a coin app
Dayz – nifty countdown to or count up from different dates
Easy Note nice app to take quick (and categorized) notes
Google Maps – turn by turn too!
Google Sky Map – neat for star gazing (hold it up and it show the sky and moves on the screen as you turn it
Google Voice – if you have a google voice number
GPS Speedo – neat to see your speed (like a digital speedometer in the car)
Guitar:Solo – nifty guitar twanger
IMDB Top 250 – keep track of the IMDB top 250 movies (what you’ve seen and such)
Kaloer Clock – Night Clock – turns charging phone into a clock for the nightstand.
Key Ring Reward Cards – store all those damn store rewards cards
Labyrinth – neat guide the ball through the maze by tilting the phone
Linda File Manager (helps to send files other than pics via gmail)
Pandora – online music
PhoneFlicks for Netflix
Psycho Droid (just awesome!) – make sure to enable blood then slash away!
Rotary Dialer – for old school dialing
Shazam – hold the phone to a speaker to sample a playing song and it will send it to a server and tell you what the song is… very nice for discovering new music (“This is great. I wonder who it is…” not anymore!)
Solitaire – gotta have, card games
Slide Puzzle – slider puzzle goes up to 8X8
Twidroid for twitter
Twisty – love me some Interactive Fiction!
UPS Mobile – new app recently available, can even ship a package and it will email the label as a pdf to print out, very nice
WeatherBug – so I know the weather outside when I’m stuck at work
Vintage Comic – neat, old comic reader with pretty good selection of old comics (most I’ve never heard of, no superman or batman etc)
Zombie, Run! – fun game when walking around the mall or the neighborhood
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@fryguy…Oh, I know of that! I’m a lifelong pit crew guy for my younger brother. I came back from the concession stand one evening eating a candy bar. He said, “Waht are you eating? To which I replied, A Snickers bar.” He promptly told me to go fininish my candy bar somewhere else because it had peanuts in it!
Superstitions for me, probably “13.” I launch weather balloons for a living and if the instrument package I pull off the shelf ends in the number 13, I’ll put it back and take the next one, “14.”
I can’t for the life of me envision a life without having a book going every day. My wife and I both read constantly, a trait that, fortunately, our oldest daughter has picked up. I still come home from work each night at midnight to find her laying in bed with a headlamp on, trying to squeeze out the last few pages of the current book she is reading.
My 10 year old, on the other hand, is NOT big into books. She likes books, but she likes to have the read to her at bedtime. Hopefully she’ll pick up the love of reading for herself at some point in the future.
…My prayers go out tonight to the families of the miners killed in West Virginia yesterday. WV is a tough place to live, but has such wonderful people.
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Who doesn’t read?? I live for my books, and need to have one going or I feel like something is missing. My husband though, is one of those people. Can only recall reading one book in school front to back. Never again. He might have had undiagnosed ADD, because in those days you were just Trouble. lol.
What people are missing. sigh. Too bad really, and I have met some of these people, I really do believe it. We have books everywhere, my kids get books all the time(In Easter basket, today is my sons 3rd bday and yes he got a book.
ugh. I hate stupid people.
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forgot my last ). yes. lump me with the dumbos. haha
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Superstitious to a point… I try to stay away from 13′s and 666…won’t walk under ladders. I am a reader though… Typically 3-4 books a week, mainly WWII and Vietnam biographies, histories and interviews. Also a big Tom Clancy and John Grisham. I also feel for the families of the miners in WV — clean coal always comes at a cost, and the big mine owners need to take care of their people. I feel like there are more people that read than that statistic… But quick research at work says 50% of a major cell phone companys sales reps haven’t read anything since 8th grade.
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….not really gonna get an acc-yer-right answer asking people who read THIS if they read a lot……..
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Good Morning Surf Reporters……..
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Jeff,
If Gretchen wants to go blue on your site, whatever her height, I can’t construct or imagine a cogent argument for censoring her. I know we’re playing in your yard, but if she has come to a point in her life where she is going to get all Redd Foxx on us, what better place to do that than among friends?
Of course I don’t know how dirty she got, having not read the comment, but that’s part of the point. Prior restraint is discouraged by the first amendment and even that outlaw Federalist Alexander Hamilton might find your actions a little high-handed. (Of course, he was materially responsible for the imposition of a whisky tax to help finance the American revolution ex post facto, so what the hell does he know?).
In any case, if this site gets banned in Boston as a result of some filthy comment by Gretchen, before her Lenny Bruce phase has run its course, I will be happy to fly to Bean Town and place a lantern in the steeple of the Old North Church to remind them that a little revolution now and then is a good thing, and that they just need to let some things go. Hell, Bill Buckner already knew that.
best regards…
jtb
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I just calculated my mental age using girlgoyle’s formula (“Basic rule for IQ mental age X 100 = score”), and my IQ the last time it was measured (1962, just before the idea of an “intelligence quotient” was discarded as absurd by every reputable educational organization).
Turns out I have a mental age of 1.4 … That explains a lot.
jtb
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Brynhildr…
Thanks for reminding me of the chupacabra. I used to work for one of those guys and, besides being a little parsimonious with the days off and a little fanatical about the blood drives, he was a real goat sucker.
jtb
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I just got Cubs – Cardinals tickets right behind home dugout for a game a Busch this summer. Badass.
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JTB: I was being purposefully obtuse yesterday about my lost comment so as to titillate. It probably wasn’t that racy at all. It may have had been rejected, either automatically or manually, because it had two links in it. I’m wondering if I yet again stompled all over blog etiquette. Whoopsie. In the hopes that the Powers That Be accept one link, here’s the hand puppet portion, from the defunct cartoon “The Tick” (though perhaps I’m the only one here who watched it back in the day):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZhJlGV2s_k
READ A BOOK!
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BTW JTB, I’m going to try and incorporate “goat sucker” into a sentence today at some point. I could have used it last night when the Yanks beat the Sox thanks solely to errors.
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No superstitions.
I read constantly, but like Gretchen university killed my love of fiction. Currently I read four or five newspapers and three or four scientific papers daily, and I have at least one book on the go at any given time.
The survey doesn’t surprise me but it sure saddens me.
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Gretchen,
I assume you are aware that my rant to Jeff about your going blue was tongue-in-cheek. You don’t actually strike me as the Redd Foxx type, and I can’t imagine Jeff actually banning content unless it’s hate speech or obviously slanderous.
Brynhildr gets credit for goat sucker, the literal translation from the spanish chupacabra. Check it out on Wikipedia when you have the chance. It’s a pretty weird phenomenon.
I recently reread “Fridays with Red”, a pretty good baseball book if you appreciate the generational and cultural continuity of the game. I learned about baseball sitting with my grandfather in the 1950′s, watching Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean broadcast the Game of the Week. From Dizzy and Pee Wee I learned about squeeze plays and the double steal. From Grampa I learned how Pee Wee was willing to put his life on the line for Jackie Robinson.
Have a good day and try not to go blue at work.
jtb
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JTB: Oh absolutely I knew you were being tongue in cheek. I think just about every Surf Reporter here speaks in tongues….so to speak. But I thought I’d come “clean” anyway. As for the “censorship”, I’m just assuming it was a computer glitch, unless Jeff has an unspeakable love of Proust and Joyce, whom I backhandedly referenced. I had loads of trouble logging onto the site yesterday, so I just assumed somethin’ was up there.
As for baseball books, I read “Crazy 08″ last year. I can recommend it if old timey baseball, with it’s badassery and nicknames such as Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown, pique your interest.
Speaking of censorship, the other day some dude rolled up beside me in his big boat of a car blasting bad rap music. Said rapper tried rhyming something with “cajones” and I burst out laughing, loud enough for Dude to hear me. Needless to say, he sent me a withering stare across two lanes of traffic. However, I still think the refrain doesn’t hold a candle to my favorite bad rap line evah:
I’m with some nasty hoes
Eatin’ pistachios
And that’s Ludicris on an Outkast album, no less. They should know better. I still want it on a t-shirt, though.
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FYI Jeff, I’m now following you on my droid via reader.google.com. And if you have a google calendar, it will push to your phone with very little setup. Quite handy, if I do say so myself. I’m still learning the little tricks with mine.
By the way, I’d gladly pay you thursday for a hamburger today…
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I always have a book going. But I don’t care for fiction.
I also like reading bathroom walls. “James Smith is a fag!” and then, “Whoever wrote this is a bitch. I’m not gay. Tell me who you are so I can kick your ass!” and then, “I’m the doctor from the ER that removed the coke bottle, lightbulb, and cucumber from your ass.” (no response)
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The husband and I read pretty much anything we can get our hands on. We love bookstores, and especially used book stores-you never know what hard back treasure you may find. Every time the movers come, which is about every 3-4 years, they are fine with the house until they come to the “library”. There is usually a shock and awe reaction, 84 book boxes last move, the collection has grown since. I also read regularly from the library, but the husband seems incapable-he must OWN every book.
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Oh and…GOD I’m loving the Baroque Cycle! Which reminds me, I need to get our copy of The Cryptonomicron back from my brother…
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Books, smooks, who has time to read?
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Ahh, books are the greatest! Tried reading on a Kindle last Thanksgiving and didn’t like it too much. I prefer the hands-on mode. I’m always backtracking to a particular part of a book and I gauge where I need to be by the thickness of the pages read.
Just finished the 13-book “Sword of Truth” series. Not bad. I’ll have to start up on Stephen King again. I’m behind by about 3 or 4 books.
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