2/22/2010

Are you feeling ok???

 

My husband and I are avid readers.  A visit to the book store was always good for lots of points on the credit card (that’s the good news; the bad news is obvious).  
Lately, we are spending far less time in the bookstore, but that’s not to say we are cutting back.  We are still reading just as much as ever.  But we found a way to reduce the dollars (good news) and the points (bad news) on the credit card bill and reduce the piles of books covering nearly every surface in the house.  We gave each other refurbished Kindles for Christmas.
If you have a Kindle, you know how this works.  You buy a “book” from Amazon, and download to your Kindle.  When you finish reading it, you put it back into your “archives” (a sort of virtual bookshelf with your name on it).  It can then be downloaded onto any other Kindle linked to that bookshelf/account.
OK, so last night, I wanted to read a book that was still on my husband’s Kindle.  I asked him to put it back on the shelf so I could get it.  He sent it back into the archives, and within 30 seconds, I had it on my Kindle, this gizmo in my hand that’s connected to nothing.  Unbelievable.
Now, I’m a very visual person.  So I picture this book, flying back up into the great cloud called Amazon (whoosh!), and then flying back down into my Kindle seconds later (thunk!). 
And that makes me think of all the other stuff that has to be flying around out there in the ethersphere (swish!  whoosh!  zoom!  screech!  bam!).   I have this overwhelming desire to shout “Duck!  Incoming!”
I’m sure I’m missing a bunch, but these come to mind.  We have constant TV and radio signals, some flying up to satellites and back.  There are short wave radio signals and CB radio signals.  We have an ever-increasing number of cells phone conversations going on at any one time.  Add to that the texts (I read recently that the average teenager sends 2900 texts per month!) and tweets and pics and downloads that cell phones are shooting out like sparks.  Computers and other devices add WiFi to the mix, and whatever stuff it is that makes it possible to have a real-time conversation (in voice or text, with or without video) with someone half a globe away.  There are signals from GPS devices and services like Onstar and LoJack.  Geez, there are even tracking signals emanating from those ankle cuff devices they slap onto people under house arrest.  And one shudders to consider what governments (ours and others) are firing out into the air. 
With all this invisible stuff crashing about in the air around us, I don’t know why we aren’t all sick.

11 comments:

  1. Fortunately, there is little documented effect on us by all of the RF out there. (RF = Radio Frequency) I prefer to think of where we would be without it!!!

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  2. I'm glad this post whizzed through the tubes and into my reader :)

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  3. Patti, I love this post, I laughed out loud!!! I don't know if you read my blog, titled "Tweet Tweet Blog Blog Ribbit Ribbit" It's from Jan 27, and in regards to how I am amazed at technology today! I love the way you think of your husband shelving his book and your sound effects. I have made a new habbit since the fall to go to our public library. Like you, I am an avid reading and visual...I love the feel and smell of a great book! Thanks for a fun post!!! Elaine

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  4. Thanks for visiting and for your comments, Lou, Ti, and Elaine.

    Lou: I agree. Back in November, I wrote about how I much I count on technology. It hasn't hurt me yet. It's a little like flying. The less I think about it, the better I am!

    Titanium: I'm just glad it went smoothly into your reader, and didn't hit you upside the head on the way. ;-)

    Elaine: I'm happy I gave you a laugh. I love the feel and smell of books too. I thought I would really miss them when we got the Kindles. It's been six weeks now, and I'm surprised to say I'm getting used to (and a little spoiled by) the ease of using the Kindle. I'll check out your post of January 27.

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  5. Ha ha ha... I was having visions too. lol
    I love the way you make your life so exciting,
    so animated lol.
    I love the way your mind works and DANCE!
    hugs
    shakira

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  6. I have done a tribute for you,
    just a simple cinquain, hope you like it.

    http://justmeshakirack.blogspot.com/2010/02/honesty-is-best-policy-honest-scrap.html

    hugs
    shakira

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  7. I absolutely adore my Kindle. My husband gave me one for Christmas so the roof from the second floor doesn't fall on his head from all of my books. While I still by certain books, I power through novels on the Kindle. I was so busy reading I haven't checked out the whole situation. I suspected but didn't know you could share. Way cool.

    RnPB Update

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  8. beautiful post,
    I am happy to see people such u who make ordinary things epcial or exciting..
    cheers, ;)

    come from Shakira's blog.
    http://www.jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com
    welcome

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  9. Those Kindle's sound awesome. I understand another company is going to bring out something similar, that is like a big iPhone.

    Love your reflections about all the various radio waves etc flying around everywhere...

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  10. The latest issue of Popular Science says the jury's out on the junk in the air and its connection to our health. It also points to a whole bunch of folks who are sick as a result of concentrated use of cell phones over the last 10 years. So we are the living experiment, I think. That's great you can get your husband to "virtually" put stuff back on the shelf. That is fun.

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  11. Shakira: Thank you!

    Nessa: I am a book lover. Even before I could read, I used to spend time in the basement just handling my parents' stored books. I was really skeptical about giving up that physical relationship with books, but I love my Kindle too. (Side note to Titanium: Perhaps this is the "old love I could go back to" and the new "one who reminds me of how far I have come.)

    Ji: Thank you!

    Peter: I think that may be the iPad from Apple. I bet it's slick and elegant, like everything Apple does (those guys really understand the word "design."). But I think it would be too big for me. Kindle comes in a larger size; my husband chose that because he reads a lot of newspapers. I find his too large for me to be comfortable holding it in one hand.

    Sandy: I'm not really worrying about the health consequences of all our electronic gadgets. But like I said, it's best I don't think about it too much. ;-) (duck! incoming!)

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Thoughts? I would love to hear from you.