Uncouth PerspectivesNot on the rug, man.

I am going to file this under “What the hell?”

http://www.kctv5.com/news/14034556/detail.html

A small bookstore in Kansas City burned thousands of books. The primary reason for this seems to be that they simply have too many books and people will not take them. However, the owner has been quoted as saying the wants to talk about the declining in reading.

“We hope to spark a conversation about the importance of books in the
face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste
streams of actual books,” said Prospero’s Books owner, Tom Wayne.

I have to admit that I am torn on the idea of declining readership. I will not argue that people are reading less and that this is being supplanted by other forms of media (video, music, TV, etc). What I am not convinced of is that the internet and technology is part of that. If you want to talk about how the children don’t know a good story because they only have enough attention to watch an ad on TV, I’m with ya. Do not even get me started on the quality of a lot of the media out there. But looking all the forms of media (if you were include books in this category), I just think there are more forms of literary competition for books (take for example, a complete shot in the dark, blogs and blog readership).

I’m a old-fashioned reader in these enlightened days. I like to take a good book and a warm drink and snuggle up until I fall asleep. Hell, I have a reading chair. I cannot soak my stories in over the dull refresh rate of a monitor (much to the anger of my wife when she’s trying to get me to read a story she’s written). But I am not going to be so dense as to suggest that it’s not possible or worthwhile to get quality online or in digital form. I know many people who do their reading online and, well, more power to them.

Another important fact is that, in whatever form you are talking about, there is a lot.. a LOT.. of crap. And there are a lot of crap books. Whether we’re talking about the latest serial romance novel (Does my bias on things ever show through?) or the latest “how to feed your employees cheese and make money!” book. So just because I’m not reading your crap book does not mean I’m not reading.

I just have a hard time believing that we are in the dark days of literacy. I find it more likely that things are general the same as they’ve been. The intellectual elite read. Those who are interested read. The “masses,” in whatever their form, find easy and simple ways to be entertained, which may or may not involve reading. Some people just do not want to read.

I’m not going to say which class I fall into, but suffice to say I’ve a story about an assassin and his pet dragon calling my name.

Technorati Tags: books internet reading

Under no circumstances take the SUV “offroad” or use it for any “sports” type use.

Be sure to never use your turn signals to make a lane change, and make them often.

The more sporadic and imprecise your driving, the more people will respect you. SUV’s are tough to drive after all.

It is mandatory that you use your cell phone as much as possible. The more dangerous the driving situation, the more important it is you keep yourself distracted. (If you don’t have a cell phone why are you driving an SUV?)

The larger the SUV, the more you need to park in those good spaces marked “Compact Only.” Try and take up two or three if you can, you’re important.

I have hopefully done three things here. 1) Properly demonstrated the use of sarcasm. 2) Sent a message of distaste for SUV’s or their drivers. 3) Gotten somebody killed because a person reading this actually believed me…

I like SUV’s. I really do. For offroading. For what they are designed for. I am bothered by the fact that the SUV has become the trendy Mini-Van. And they keep getting bigger. Do we need a car the size of a small house? (Unless you plan on using it as a house, NO!).

I, however, do not like most of the drivers. I am going to touch only slightly on driving in general, and how it actually does involve communication (Communication is not a lie), how we need to work together, how we do need to be careful, and how we all need to have the ability to drive.
The average SUV driver I have witnessed bears none of the characteristics.

I went to the mall today. My friend was driving, and we parked his little Honda into a compact space. I could barely get my door open. Wanna guess why? All the other SUV’s (Expeditions and Explorers in this case) that were parked there. In this strip of 10 spaces, there were only 7 cars parked with no more room to park. 5 of these cars were SUV’s. I will say no more.

I have lost count of the numerous times the SUV nearest me (they are ALWAYS there…) swerves for no reason. Is it that hard to drive in a straight line? (I guess when you car is bigger than the lane, it might be a problem…). Or lane changes. I watch those drivers. They don’t even look. Or use their turn signal.

Do you know what the turn signal does? It’s a little flashy light that signifies you want to turn. Signifies… Hmm. Sounds like communication. That’s bad stuff. Or, wait, no, that is what human relations is!? Communication! This is a simple example of how people fail to communication, or even want to communicate, with each other. And failed understanding of the system presented.

Anyways, back to SUV’s. I like them. I do. But, please, learn to drive and perhaps even get a car that you need and not one that just looks appealing.