Kindle update

I realize that every 3 months or so I write another piece about Kindle, but it is so much part of my life right now, and it's evolving...



So my first concern about Kindles was that it was great for first reads (want it, it's here, in your home, at the beach, where ever, in your hand, really in an instant!) but I am a frequent re-reader and was concerned about that. But then I really started to make good use of the write your own notes or make your own highlights option. Now as I pass sentences that make me smile or think or just are beautifully written, I highlight them. So if I think of the of book and try to recall the sentence I want, all I have to do is look at my notes, and there it is. No more flipping back and forth through pages getting myself lost. Everything I want, at my fingertips.

I would still encourage Amazon to have pictures besides their title listings - I don't judge books by their covers, but I still remember books more from their covers than their titles. I take most books off my kindle, and down load them as I want. I guess I could hold them in folders on my kindle, but moving them to and fro is effortless and leaves my kindle with all it's memory intact.

I know that I love my kindle, (above is the pretty apple green cover I chose for it) because when I was recently given the choice between reading a book in paperback or on kindle, I chose the kindle. I have evolved :)

New Quote

Somewhere I had read this and had erroneously attributed it to Nelson Mandela, but apparently Marianne Williamson said it. Either way, it's a beautiful piece -

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Beautiful picture is by Ruth Palmer and called Lifeline and you can buy your own copy here

Gay Romance in Video Games

I stumbled across a discussion about a newly released game Dragon Age 2, which, shockingly, allowed for a gay romance option as well as a straight romance option. Some of the (straight male) gamers were distressed. The company replied with a long screed (you can read all of it here) but this is the paragraph that caught my eye:

And if there is any doubt why such an opinion might be met with hostility, it has to do with privilege. You can write it off as "political correctness" if you wish, but the truth is that privilege always lies with the majority. They're so used to being catered to that they see the lack of catering as an imbalance. They don't see anything wrong with having things set up to suit them, what's every one's fuss all about? That's the way it should be, any everyone else should be used to not getting what they want.

It's such a good argument for any majority rule... if the majority isn't specifically catered to, it feels neglected and put upon. I really liked it. If there's that level of thought behind it, I'm almost tempted to go out and buy the game!

Persistence quote

This is how my mind works... I talk with a friend and remember half a sentence from somewhere (some general, maybe a president, said something powerful about perseverance.) Not being a child of this century, I can't look it up there and then on my iphone, even though I own an iphone. What I do, is come home later, google my hodgepodge of ideas and find the right quote. At least I know a quote to look for!


“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
- Calvin Coolidge

And you know something... he's right!

A well written sentence that caught my eye

I read so much, and sometimes the issue is interesting and sometimes the way it is told is what catches my attention and this sentence works both ways:-

There’s a funny moment in Martin Amis’s 1984 novel “Money” in which his narrator declares: “Unless I specifically inform you otherwise, I’m always smoking another cigarette.” About Greg O’Connell, it feels safe to say: Unless I specifically inform you otherwise, his cellphone is always pinging

From a nice story in the New York Times about Greg O'Connell, fixer upper of old neighborhoods, bringing the right energy back...
I like to read about people who know that if you aren't after the biggest amount of profit in the shortest amount of time, you can make a very decent living, being a decent person and improving the world around you. A note to the developers out there - it's not rocket science; just patience.

Jewels

3 things about Jewels



Today I had a radio interview with Deirdre Hughey (I'll put links up to it when she gets them up) and she ends each interview asking for a song that has meaning for you, and I chose Hands by Jewel, I love the line – in the end, only kindness matters… If I had to stand on one foot and describe my belief system, that pretty much covers it...

Secondly, I a beading queen, I collect beads and occasionally make necklaces out of them, and even more occasionally do I wear the necklaces I make, but I've made enough now, so I don't buy other people's jewellery, but I was looking for images for a piece I am writing for my tarot blog, and I came across David Weitzman's designs - and he had some beautiful stuff on it, and I decided rather than just bookmark it and never find it again, I would list it here, and have a better chance of visiting him from time to time...


And finally, the prettiest beading designs I come across, with no spiritual meaning at all, are on Gilt.com - I get emails from them daily and buy something maybe twice a year, but I'm often looking at their designs, thinking, I could make that... and perhaps one day I will

Perfect

People send around these things and some are silly and some are boring and some are just... perfect.



Everything about this charming piece works, from the music to the clock flying through the hours to the list of books used at the end. Enjoy!