Local Plane Crash is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Now that the voting is done, I hope to get around to posting my thoughts about the nominees before the winners are announced on September 5. I also plan to read the other nominated works I didn’t get to before the deadline, but I intend to alternate them with other books on my to-read list.

Now I can get back to my nook and read at a more leisurely pace…

Project Hugo, Finis is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

I wasn’t even in the market for an ebook reader, but just before Father’s Day I had the good fortune to receive enough Barnes and Noble gift cards to make a nook purchase a “no-brainer.” Before pulling the trigger on the nook I did my due diligence just to make sure I’d be happy, and so far I can say that I do not regret the purchase.

I’m not going to write a full review of the nook, but I will talk about some of the things I’ve been up to with this handy little gadget with the catchy little name. I’ve purchased and downloaded Barnes and Noble ebooks directly from the nook; I’ve downloaded ebooks from all over the Internet and “sideloaded” them to my nook with the included USB cable. I’ve gone into a Barnes and Noble store and browsed their “More in Store” content, including coupons for free coffee from their cafe. I’ve even borrowed an ebook from my local library!

There are some other features of the nook, such as ebook lending, that I’ve yet to try because I’m in the middle of reading the Hugo Voter’s Packet that I talked about last time. A minor annoyance that I’m running into with the HVP is that unless PDF ebooks are laid out with the nook in mind, there can be some formatting issues to contend with. I haven’t found any so bad that it makes it impossible to read, but it’s something to be aware of.

If there is one major drawback to the nook right now, I’d have to say it’s the lack of any kind of organization for your book collection. All of your ebooks are separated into two stacks, if you will; your Barnes and Noble stack and your My Documents (Really? Not even My Books??) stack. Each stack can only be sorted three ways; by Title, by Author and by Most Recently accessed. For a device that can hold 1500 ebooks before adding any additional memory (up to a 16 GB microSD card), the lack of organization is inexcusable.

Right now there’s a lot of nook vs. Kindle vs. iPad debate out there on the web, especially with the recent nook/Kindle price cut, but I really haven’t paid it much mind. As always, everyone has an opinion. Mine? There may come a time when e-readers become obsolete. Heck, I can remember reading ebooks on my Handspring Visor 10 summers ago. When was the last time anyone saw a PDA? No device lasts forever. For now, the nook meets my needs and does it well.

You can find out more about the nook at the official nook site and the official Barnes and Noble nook forums.

My Fingertip Library is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Two months after the the nominees were announced, I did something I’ve never done during an entire lifetime of reading and enjoying science fiction – I bought a supporting membership to this year’s WorldCon so that I could vote on the Hugos. I will admit that I did have ulterior motives, however. The folks at AussieCon 4 have put together an electronic Hugo Voter’s Packet, which includes just about every written word nominated for an award this year, and made it available for voters to download.

I’ve already begun my reading, and as the voting deadline of July 31st 2010 draws closer, I will attempt to share my thoughts on the nominated works in each particular category I’m reading. First up will be the Best Short Story category, which I finished about a week ago. Look for that soon, as well as a post about my new toy!

Reading The Hugo Nominees: Introduction is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Editorial

I love war movies. Most guys do. I mean, how can you resist? There are the Good Guys, led by Our Hero. Then there are the Bad Guys, who are working for the Forces of Evil and who always give Our Hero a reason to be, well, Heroic. Mix in a wide selection of guns, armored vehicles and all the different ways of blowing things up nice and loud, and it’s the next best thing to a Sunday afternoon in the fall watching the Eagles beat up on the Cowboys.

How can anyone with a decent amount of testosterone flowing through their body not get goosebumps when George C. Scott talks about winning a war by “making the other poor son of a bitch die for his country” in Patton? Or pump their fists trying to help Jim Brown drop the grenades down the air shafts and run back to the waiting halftrack in The Dirty Dozen, even though we know he will always wind up dead on the ground? Remember Bill Holden slapping the snot out of Nazi plant Peter Graves in Stalag 17? How about R. Lee Ermey’s unforgettable performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket?

War in the movies is like that. Good vs. Evil. Heroes vs. Villains. Allies vs. Axis. In real life, however, it’s not quite that clear-cut. Sure, there will always be the Good Guys and the Bad Guys, but talk to any person from any country in the world that has been involved in any kind of armed conflict and I’ll bet you your paycheck that you won’t find a single person that says that they were one of the Bad Guys.

But this editorial isn’t about the politics of war. It’s not about war movies, either. It’s about the real life people who have to deal with the real life consequences of war. The soldiers. The families. The innocent victims. As you look around the factory today, chances are that your eyes will pass over someone who has been personally touched by the effects of war, whether it be the current conflict in Iraq, Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea, or even World War II.

How many of you reading this have been under fire from enemy guns? Not many, I’d imagine. Have you ever seen a friend die from a land mine explosion? Me either. But how many of you know a family who has had one of their own die or been wounded in combat? How many of you can go to the Wall in Washington, D.C. and recognize a name? How many of you at this very second know someone or know of someone in Iraq? I see a lot more hands going up.

My point is that there are many people, people in our communities, sons and daughters of people that you know, who are willing to put their lives on the line to help ensure the safety of America and Americans. And unfortunately, many of them have made that ultimate sacrifice. And that is what Memorial Day is all about. Remembering that some families have empty places at the dinner table. Remembering that some children will only know their father as a picture on the mantle.

I know that this edition of the Chopper will have gone to press after Memorial Day 2004 has ended. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop remembering the fallen. The Heroes. And thanking them and the families they left behind. And remembering that the work we do here helps to protect our sons and daughters every time they get onto one of our helicopters.

Remembering that Memorial Day isn’t really about the three day weekend or the start of the summer season or trying to beat the traffic down the shore. It’s about the ones who believed enough in what America meant to them that it was worth dying for.

And as we remember, let us give special thanks to the veterans and the fallen from the Allied Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944 as we approach the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

Now that you’ve finished reading this, please take some time to remember those who gave their lives in the service of their country. It’s the very least you could do.

Memorial Day 2010 is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

You can also catch all of the TV and radio calls of the last out of the game on the MLB web site here.

UPDATE: I just noticed that the video of the 27 outs has been taken down from YouTube. The link to calls of the last out is still up at the MLB site, though.

Pitcher Perfect is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Earlier today I took my wife and son to Collingswood, NJ for the town’s 31st annual May Fair celebration. Thousands of people lined the streets to see all the artists and crafters, the musicians performing on the six stages, and let’s not forget the FOOD! I think my favorite was the fresh asparagus and Jersey pepper quesadilla from the Tortilla Press tent.

Unfortunately, while we were in Collingswood we didn’t have a chance to stop at their popular farmer’s market. Living in South Jersey has its advantages, and during the summer having a wide variety of places close by to pick up fresh vegetables and fruits is definitely a plus.

I already mentioned the Collingswood Market. There are many other farmer’s markets throughout South Jersey. We are the Garden State after all! You can also find some of the more popular ones in Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Medford, Sewell, and Salem. And that doesn’t even count the numerous roadside stands that populate the area during the summer months!

To wrap this post up, here’s a picture from today’s May Fair. As you can see, the entire area is excited about the start of the Stanley Cup Finals that begin later this evening! Go FLYERS!

Summertime Again! is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

The Orange and the Black by The Boils

The Orange And The Black is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Last Friday was also the 30th anniversary of the second film in the original Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. I found the following YouTube video while reading through my feeds on Friday and I enjoyed it so much, I had to share. Here is a 60 year old trailer for The Empire Strikes Back!

AOL is celebrating its 25th anniversary by organizing a “Monster Help” Day. Presumably, they’ll be going door-to-door across the country collecting all the discs and CDs they’ve mailed out over the years.

Finally, it’s time to mention Windows 3.0, arguably the first usable and certainly Microsoft’s first successful version of Windows. While we weren’t looking, it turned 20 years old yesterday! Wow. If you do the math, it appears that when 2030 rolls around we’ll be using Windows 11…

Anniversaries is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com

Its replacement was an LG flip phone that I bought through my employee discount program. It didn’t have much in the way of bells and whistles, but I was ok with that. Even though I like cool gadgets as much as the next geek, my frugal nature ensures that I’m usually far, far behind the bleeding edge.

Which brings me to last week. When I went online to check my bill, I was informed that I was eligible for a “new every two” upgrade. Not being knowledgeable about the state of the current cell phone market other than it was pretty much impossible to buy a phone that only made phone calls, I called in the experts – my kids.

To shorten an otherwise boring story, I settled on a Samung Reality phone. I’ve had it less than 24 hours, so I’m still in “learning” mode. The touch screen is frustrating at times because it doesn’t always recognize my fingers when they’re tapping or gliding along the screen. I still haven’t given the web functions a good workout, but I have managed to get online a few times. Sometimes even when I wanted to!

Seriously, it’s just going to be a matter of spending time using it before I’m comfortable with all of the functions. Hopefully before I’m ready for my next upgrade.

That New Phone Smell is a post from: Fuddster Dot Com