Oh look, I get to do this whole 'fourth, story to follow' business.
What fun.

Edit: So, in a bizarre departure from tradition, I'm actually going to tell a story. It's about books. Paper books. Which are hideously outdated, but I still use them anyway because I have, like, three thousand. And e-readers are still shit. I look forward to the day all books are seamlessly electronic, but even then I'll still treasure my old dead trees.

I didn't say it was going to be a good story.

Edit edit: I'm probably also going to use later posts to cram in some bullshit about how human minds are outdated and hopelessly ill-equipped for modern life too, so nyah.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 12:49, 11 replies)

haha
i saw the ninja-edit...
( the pink chicken sniffer sniffs pink chickens., Thu 4 Nov 2010, 12:52, closed)

Curses.
Do I have to change it back then?
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 12:56, closed)

I disagree about books being outdated.
They aren't. They're utterly functional, and that function can't be matched by an e-reader - unless you think, implausibly, that a book is a store of information and nothing else besides.

You'll never be able to pick up an old e-reader and find sand and the stub of a bus-ticket that take you right back to that holiday.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 12:59, closed)

That's such a secondary function it's nearly tertiary.
The technology used to deliver information has moved on from 'printing on paper'. Period.
Nonetheless, you're confirming (what was meant to be) my point here, which is that books are nice. Comforting, solid, tangible, tactile and smelly. Not to mention intensely personal in a way computer files are not.
They're still being inexorably superseded by digital media, which is a bit sad, but on the bright side means that our books will become even more important to us bibliophiles.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:06, closed)

yay for books

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:14, closed)

yay twice

(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:17, closed)

Thirded

(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:29, closed)

Fourthed
And their batteries never run out!
(littlesunshine licked your blinky diodes on, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 14:01, closed)

Fithed
And you don't look like a massive wanker reading one on the tube
(Nanny Pat vote for me, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 14:09, closed)

Or buy a second hand book
...with a message on the flysheet from someone you don't know, to someone else you don't know, and wonder about them. Or a "This Book Belongs To:" sticker.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:59, closed)

It's not even a story.

( Zuowan, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:17, closed)

That's why it's not in a book.

(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:18, closed)

Books are wonderful
They can be read in natural and artificial light, require no power supply, are not susceptible to software crashes or magnetic interference, and can be easily replaced if lost, stolen or accidentally dropped down the bog.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Thu 4 Nov 2010, 18:50, closed)