L u k e n . O r g

I thing Barnes and Noble has a winner here. This is definitely a Kindle killer. It’s as though B&N looked at all the flaws and complaints of the Kindle and ran with it. The interesting feature that I like is that you can share your ebooks with other people, and every book in B&N’s catalog has a free preview. Now match this with the built-in Wifi and 3-ish-G from  AT&T for always being connected, you’ve got a winner. I think I’m sensing a birthday or Christmas gift for myself.

But nothing is without a few issues. First, being an Android device, I’m a bit surprised to the thickness of the product being a 1/2 inch. I guess I was looking more towards that highly thin tablet the Capt. Piccard used to carry, wafer thin. Next, with the always connected ability of the device, why no browser? Or did I miss that? It comes with an MP3 player, might as well throw in a browser, not chewing up much data with that, even AT&T can handle that.

Next, and it’s not their fault, is that being an electronic device, it’s not airplane friendly. I fly quite a bit and have given up trying to use the ebook reader on my iPhone because of outdated rules of electronic devices on planes. have to be turned off when the door closes, and since a lot of flights are delayed, they close the doors and pull away from the gate (so they can claim on-time departure) then sit there for 20 or so minutes. That’s a lot of reading time I loose. Next, you take off and can’t turn on your device until you’re past 10,000 feet. Why not 8634 feet? What’s so magical about 10,000? And the worst part, when you’re within 150 miles of your destination or 30 minutes out, all devices must be off. So I’ve been carrying old fashioned paperbacks with me, and I keep loosing my place in the books. Would love to be able to use an electronic e-reader from start to finish, from the moment I sit down on to the time I get up. I’ll just have to sit in a window seat and keep a look out for the flight attendant I guess.

But with a $259 price tag, is it worth it? I think it’s maybe a little too steep but hey, gotta help America get back on track (although it’s probably made overseas).

Ok, so a quick followup, the first major kink in the armor. Leave it to the content providers to find a way to rub off the polish on the Nook. How, apparently the lending feature is restricted to just one time and even that feature is by the publishers choice. If I buy a hardcopy book, I can lend it as much as I want.

Unfortunately, the “world’s most advanced e-book reader” limits the LendMe feature to one 14-day period per book, ever, and that’s only if the publisher gives permission. You also can’t read the title yourself during the loaner period.

Nook, eBook Reader, eBook Device – Barnes & Noble.

Today, I officially declare my candidacy for congress. Nothing personal but first off, I can care less about you people, I’m not going there to represent you. I’m going for the perks. All I need is to get elected and get sworn in. I promise that right after that, I’ll bring some pork project to Wake County, then resign.  It’s a win-win for us all. You eventually get who you want after I leave, and I get all the perks.

First off, the health plan, why not run for Congress. Take a look at this. This is totally worth lying and kissing babies for.

Personal doctors on call 24/7. Coverage that knows no caps. No exemptions for pre-existing conditions.Those are the sorts of benefits members of Congress currently enjoy on the taxpayer’s dime, and the kinds of benefits Americans on a government-run public health care plan will never see if Obamacare passes.“One thing is certain: Congress will exempt itself from whatever lousy health care system it forces on we little people,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute. “Congress will get better insurance than you do because politicians always get a better deal under government-run health care.”While it’s not news that Congressional health insurance plans are posh, CBS News recently uncovered the details of plans – right as the details of the Baucus health care bill are being hashed out.Members of Congress can choose from five different plans, and have access to both the VIP Bethesda Naval Hospital and a reserved spot Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an elite division usually reserved for military members. Their everyday medical concerns can be taken care of at a doctors office located inside of Congress.Their premiums are the same as those of insurance plans with half the benefits, and the plans last a lifetime; not until Medicare kicks in do ex-Members or loose their Congressional health benefits. Congress has repeatedly voted down any provision that would switch their insurance plans to the lower-grade public option if Obamacare goes through.

That’s just great, regardless what I subject my constituents to whom I’m supposed to represent, I get a premium plan loaded with perks. I also hear that the lifetime pension is a great deal too. So just serve a single two-year term and collect money the rest of my life.

And in related humorous news, check out how it’s going in Britian with their health system. It’s soon to collapse under it’s own weight.

THE National Health Service has spent £1.5m paying for hundreds of its staff to have private health treatment so they can leapfrog their own waiting lists. More than 3,000 staff, including doctors and nurses, have gone private at the taxpayers’ expense in the past three years because the queues at the clinics and hospitals where they work are too long.

via Gateway Pundit.

Ah..the south. At times it’s just a reminder of just how far we have to go. The last sentence just kills me, talk about a self-fullfining prophecy. He should start with himself, then there would be one less problem.

NEW ORLEANS — At least two civil and constitutional rights groups in Louisiana are calling for a justice of the peace to resign after he refused to issue a marriage license for an interracial couple.The head of the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisiana and the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice said Keith Bardwell should quit immediately.Bardwell is a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in southeastern Louisiana. He refused earlier this month to issue a license or marry Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black.Bardwell said he always asks if a couple is interracial and, if they are, refers them to another justice of the peace.He says children of such unions face troubling futures.

via The Associated Press: Groups upset man wouldnt marry interracial couple.

So some history, a few years ago, NC bent over backwards in attracting Dell to come to NC. All kinds of tax breaks and incentives were given to them. So now, the recession hit, they are closing the plant, 900 workers are gone and NC is out literally millions of dollars that they gave Dell. I’ve never liked the idea of a states bidding for business with lucrative incentives like tax breaks. They never work in the states or public good’s favor. Frankly, I think it should be illegal for states to gamble away tax payers money like that. A company should locate a facility based on the merits of the state, the available talent pool, utility costs, land costs, etc. Not by how much money a state can stuff in their pocket. It’s been an ongoing trend here in NC and I just think it’s worth the cost in the long term.

Dell Inc. DELL will close a North Carolina plant, putting some 905 employees out of work, as the personal-computer maker continues its restructuring.The company is in the midst of cutting $4 billion in costs the next two years as Dell deals with slumping profits and still-weak demand, especially among its key corporate customers.

via UPDATE: Dell To Close N.C. Plant, Affecting 905 Workers – WSJ.com.