# Do we really want everyone to know about Kindle?!?



## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

So I found myself sitting in the back of a meeting today about state policy and advocacy is the insurance sector and found that I was bored to tears (considering most of the meeting was a repeat of a meeting from last week). Since I knew that if I was called on to speak, I would know what to say, I decided my total, undivided attention did not need to be on the meeting itself, so...I pulled out my Kindle and proceeded to read for the 2 hours.  I know, BAD BAMBI. But I couldn't help it. I was in the back and Avalon was just sitting there in my purse, so lonely. And I figured that since most of the people in the meeting had probably never heard of Kindle, much less knew what one looked like, I felt I was relatively safe. 
*So I figure that as more people become familiar with the Kindle I will be able to do this less and less, but until then... *
And to all of those out there about to admonish me (which I probably deserve ), think of the times that you have sat in a meeting with your laptop and been on the internet or checking email on your Blackberry!! 
Sitting in the corner, 
Bambi


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Oh, I absolutely agree with you.

I was on a project for a week back in June where we cooped up in a basement room, no internet, no cell phone, for a week. It was a "hurry up and wait" type deal...we needed to wait for users to come in and test some equipment. 99% of the users came in between 11:30 am - 1 pm (lunch) and for the rest of the time (8 am to 5 pm) we were sitting around. I'd pull out my Kindle and read the New York Times from cover to cover every day, then dive into whatever book I was reading. None of the others dared to pull out a paper or book and sat around and tried to look busy. I was SO GLAD I had my Kindle...it paid for itself 10x over that week.

You are right, as it becomes more common, some of these opportunities may vanish. Another plus for being an early adopter!

L


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

More Kindle sales = more books being made available in the format.

If publishers can't sell enough ebooks to make a lot of money, they will soon ignore the format.

Steve


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Admonishment?  Here?  I seriously doubt that.  We are actually very efficient enablers.  LOL.
I'm sure plenty of us have secretly kindled when they should have been listening more intently.
debbie


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm figuring I could email a work document (if I was still working in an office) to the Kindle, and if I could keep it so the "back" key took me to that document within a few clicks, I could always tell people what I was doing was work related.  Anyone remember the "boss" key that could call up a Lotus spreadsheet in case the boss was coming by?  Not that I ever used it....     Anyone remember Lotus?  Quattro Pro?

Betsy


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'm figuring I could email a work document (if I was still working in an office) to the Kindle, and if I could keep it so the "back" key took me to that document within a few clicks, I could always tell people what I was doing was work related. Anyone remember the "boss" key that could call up a Lotus spreadsheet in case the boss was coming by? Not that I ever used it....  Anyone remember Lotus? Quattro Pro?
> 
> Betsy


I use Lotus Notes for my email, calendar, etc. I think it has a boss key.

But I also remember Lotus 1, 2, 3 and Quattro. Also SuperCalc.

L


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Actually, now that I think of it, sending work docs to the Kindle is a pretty cool thing to do.  And I wonder how it would work for speaking?  Big font, a few lines per screen.  Hit the button to go to the next screen.  No note cards to drop and mix up......

Betsy


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> More Kindle sales = more books being made available in the format.
> 
> If publishers can't sell enough ebooks to make a lot of money, they will soon ignore the format.
> 
> Steve


I know, Steve...I did a minor in economics. And I totally agree!  But I really liked being able to read without anyone knowing!!


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

drenee said:


> Admonishment? Here? I seriously doubt that. We are actually very efficient enablers. LOL.
> I'm sure plenty of us have secretly kindled when they should have been listening more intently.
> debbie


I am sorry... could you repeat. I was Kindling. Darn, I should pay attention more!


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'm figuring I could email a work document (if I was still working in an office) to the Kindle, and if I could keep it so the "back" key took me to that document within a few clicks, I could always tell people what I was doing was work related. Anyone remember the "boss" key that could call up a Lotus spreadsheet in case the boss was coming by? Not that I ever used it....  Anyone remember Lotus? Quattro Pro?
> 
> Betsy


Totally great idea!! And yes, I remember Lotus. I also had A, B, C instead of Word for awhile.


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

Oh yes.  Lotus, Symphony, Excel.  And I do remember the Boss key.  My bad trick when Word Perfect was new and put on all our computers, when folks were out to lunch I put the butterfly on their screen.  Many didn't know how to get it off.    But now I am just a nice lil ole lady.  that is an LOL


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## ConnieK (Jan 7, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Actually, now that I think of it, sending work docs to the Kindle is a pretty cool thing to do. And I wonder how it would work for speaking? Big font, a few lines per screen. Hit the button to go to the next screen. No note cards to drop and mix up......
> 
> Betsy


That is a terrific idea!


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## bosslady402 (Nov 6, 2008)

BambiB said:


> So I found myself sitting in the back of a meeting today about state policy and advocacy is the insurance sector and found that I was bored to tears


yes! I was in a franchise advertising board meeting on Wednesday, and someone on the board was rambling on and on about stuff that had nothing to do with me, so out comes the kindle... nobody thinks anything of someone taking out an electronic device as long as it doesn't make any noise, but pulling out a paperback would definately cause a scene. So the next day, same meeting but for all the franchisees, and since I had heard it all already, got a chance to finish the wall street journal...

I remember doing term papers using Quick Brown Fox on a Vic 20, with a cassette tape drive. Then we graduated to a Commodore 64. (I think we actually still have them somewhere in the basement - DH just can't part with his first computer) Then at my first job, using Lotus on computers that you had to use a boot disk and floppys for everything (no hard drives). DH remembers having to program on punch cards at school, but luckily by the time I got there we all had terminals. Kids today have *no idea* how far technology has come in just 25 years.


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## ScottBooks (Oct 28, 2008)

In high school "shuffling someone's deck" was about the meanest thing you could do to them. Especially if it was a really high number of cards (400 or more...).


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

If asked by the police, I will swear I never read this thread and can't remember any of your names. In fact, I was out of the country and couldn't access a computer. Someone else must have logged in under my name. The Kindle is used for all good things. Now we are introducing THE DARK SIDE of the Kindle. Folks, do not be seduced by the dark side Luke (oh no, that's a movie). Be strong my fellow Kindlers. Only use your special powers for GOOD. We are THE CHOSEN ONES.  (The Power of Three, The Power of Three - oh, that was a TV show - I'm getting so confused. Pru, Buffy, Chubacca, where are you?).

Steve


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

bosslady said:


> I remember doing term papers using Quick Brown Fox on a Vic 20, with a cassette tape drive. Then we graduated to a Commodore 64. (I think we actually still have them somewhere in the basement - DH just can't part with his first computer) Then at my first job, using Lotus on computers that you had to use a boot disk and floppys for everything (no hard drives). DH remembers having to program on punch cards at school, but luckily by the time I got there we all had terminals. Kids today have *no idea* how far technology has come in just 25 years.


One of my first comps had no monitor (you plugged into the TV) and used cassette tapes. Of course I was using all of this at 2 yrs old (ha ha), so really I am not that old!


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## bosslady402 (Nov 6, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> Be strong my fellow Kindlers. Only use your special powers for GOOD.


well, it's good for _us..._



BambiB said:


> One of my first comps had no monitor (you plugged into the TV) and used cassette tapes.


yeah, that's what we had. We plugged it into a 4 inch balck and white TV. Could barely see a whole sentence on the screen at one time.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I downloaded and converted IRS Publication 17, so if anyone ever catches me kindling, I can show them that I'm really working.  It is important to keep that 'book' on the front page, of course.  

Actually, in a week or so I won't have any time at work anyway. . . . .

Ann


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

BossLady,  I like your son's oil painting.  Does he have a website?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

ScottBooks said:


> In high school "shuffling someone's deck" was about the meanest thing you could do to them. Especially if it was a really high number of cards (400 or more...).


I used to like using the punch card machine and making the punch cards. The clack-clack-clack had sort of a zen like soothing quality. I punched in all the data for my thesis. I think I had 2000+ cards.

L


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## bosslady402 (Nov 6, 2008)

BambiB said:


> BossLady, I like your son's oil painting. Does he have a website?


no, he's just a sophmore in college right now. His goal is to get his teaching certificate, but he also said something recently about a minor in jewelry design, so we'll see what happens in the next couple of years!



Leslie said:


> I used to like using the punch card machine and making the punch cards. The clack-clack-clack had sort of a zen like soothing quality. I punched in all the data for my thesis. I think I had 2000+ cards.
> 
> L


I remember everyone was trying to find something to do with all the leftover punch cards. For a 4-H project we twisted them around and stapled them to a board in the shape of a wreath, spray painted it gold, and hung ornaments from it. pitiful. But I think we got a blue ribbon for it!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

For those young'uns that have no clue what we are talking about:

Here's the machine:










It produced this:










which produced this:










Ah, the good old days! LOL

L


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

You guys are hilarious!  Of course my first thought is that if everyone had a Kindle, the Kindle and the books would be cheaper.  I never considered the flip side.  

You are all devious


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## chiffchaff (Dec 19, 2008)

I remember punch cards too - when I was in grad school we did have other options, but only a few terminals were available on campus so one of my profs chose to use punch cards instead (less competition for machines).  I agree there was a certain Zen quality to doing things that way.  You certainly wanted to think things through carefully before doing a run.

I think I could get away with using my kindle at work more often if it wasn't for the Oberon cover and water lilies skin.  Doesn't look quite so techie with all that!


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

Okay gotta admit. I sit in class with my laptop on the desk for notes and my kindle propped up right next to it. In my more boring classes, which I took in high school (sociology) or the discussion class periods (but the discussions are just a repeat of what we were lectured on the class before)...I sit in the corner, but (only if I am bored) I am on the KB via laptop....or as most ppl assume taking notes. then I am kindling, but my class mates think I am referring to the notes I upload to the K. It works pretty good. So don't feel too bad BambiB.


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## scrappergirl (Dec 28, 2008)

Ha Bambi I was thinking the very same thing today that if only my Kindle would hurry and get here as I'm at work most of the people are out or left for the day and I'm trying to figure out how I can hide my book I want to read 

Alot of people don't know about the kindle so they wouldn't have a clue.  I think when mine gets in I may have to keep it under wraps for awhile so that I can play with it without anyone knowing what I actually have.


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2009)

VA:  I'm sorry you have a dull Sociology teacher.


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## Kelly G (Dec 18, 2008)

The great thing about punch cards and early PC's with a raging 128 or 256 K ram (if you paid out the nose for the upgrade) along with either no HD or a meg or two of HD is that programming was elegant, it had to be.  Tight, concise code is a lost art I fear.  When you need a couple of gig of ram to run the OS gracefully, something is dreadfully wrong.  Yea, there is a lot more functionality, but the overhead is ridiculous.  It's sort of like the linear rule of junk - the amount of junk you keep is proportional to the amount of space you have in which to keep it;  more space, more junk.  More memory - more sloppy code.  Or, it could be a conspiracy by the memory manufacturers... nah.  

Having said all that, I don't want to return to the days of the IBM PC XT with the 20# cases - processor, HD, minuscule green screen, all locked up in a cabinet so wandering hands couldn't find the amazing machine.  Or, the Compaq "luggable" portable computer with the very tiny amber screen.  They were great in their day, but we are too spoiled to return.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Leslie said:


> For those young'uns that have no clue what we are talking about:
> 
> Here's the machine:


I remember it so well. Had to punch a big stack of punchcards and submit them to the queue of other batches from other students. In a day or two or three, I would get a Fortran printout back. Those were the bad old days.

Steve


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

wow! That's a lot of work to do get work done. I think I like the 21st century computers...


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I'd pull out my Kindle and read the New York Times from cover to cover every day, then dive into whatever book I was reading. None of the others dared to pull out a paper or book and sat around and tried to look busy. I was SO GLAD I had my Kindle...it paid for itself 10x over that week.


So far, I haven't run into anyone who's actually seen a Kindle before ... unfortunately, several folks have commented on that lovely M-Edge cover - and, oh by the way, what in the heck is this thing inside of it? LOL I fibbed, told them it's a memo-writer - just taking notes on all the important stuff in this meeting 
Glynnis


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Kelly G said:


> It's sort of like the linear rule of junk - the amount of junk you keep is proportional to the amount of space you have in which to keep it; more space, more junk.


Also, "Work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion."



Glynnis said:


> LOL I fibbed, told them it's a memo-writer - just taking notes on all the important stuff in this meeting
> Glynnis


Except, of course, you could, conceivably, take notes on it. . .so maybe it's not really a fib.

Ann


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

chiffchaff said:


> I think I could get away with using my kindle at work more often if it wasn't for the Oberon cover and water lilies skin. Doesn't look quite so techie with all that!


Well just consider the fact that Oberon does make organizer covers and people use those for professional purposes. With that logic in mind, why wouldn't Oberon make a cover for official, only-used for work, great asset to the company (and maybe sometimes you read on) Kindle!  Ha ha!


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## idolguy (Dec 31, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> ...Anyone remember the "boss" key that could call up a Lotus spreadsheet in case the boss was coming by? Not that I ever used it....  Anyone remember Lotus? Quattro Pro?
> 
> Betsy


Hey, am I showing my age if I answer yes? I remember when many programs including Lotus, had a boss key. Lotus was the first program I ever used. It was so powerful because of its macros. We took pride in getting Lotus to do everything...database, primitive wordprocessing.

This was back when programs were *incredibly* expensive...


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

Leslie said:


>


Well, if that doesn't make me feel older than dirt, I don't know what will  I worked for a company during the time that they converted from a punch card system to a first generation desk-top system (remember "dumb" terminals?). We had to do all the data entry twice - both the old system and the new - for months ... I quit before they figured how to get it all to reconcile.

Kindle is such an interesting niche in technology - incredibly new and amazing, but in many ways as comfortable as an old glove ... puts me in touch with the universe in the click of a button, and, just as easily, takes me back to the ancient classics. IMO, things could be a whole lot worse than having a rapidly growing population of Kindleholics ... and it takes up so little space!
Glynnis


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

My wife worked as a key punch operator for a bank . Another thing to remember about these; no Backspace or Delete Keys! Accuracy in keying was paramount. A mistake could take a while to find and fix.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

bosslady said:


> I remember doing term papers using Quick Brown Fox on a Vic 20, with a cassette tape drive. Then we graduated to a Commodore 64. ... Then at my first job, using Lotus on computers that you had to use a boot disk and floppys for everything (no hard drives). DH remembers having to program on punch cards at school, but luckily by the time I got there we all had terminals. Kids today have *no idea* how far technology has come in just 25 years.


This thread brings back memories - Key punch machines for writing Fortran IV programs, paper punch tape, 6 - 8 hour turnaround on programs written for class, using Vic 20 and 300 baud modem to dial in to college computer for COBOL class (22 characters across on the screen to display 80 character COBOL line  ), dumb terminals, software and OS changes over the years, listening to my father tell stories about programming analog computers (rewire computer to change program), writing database program on Vic 20 with cassette tape storage to run on parents Comodore 64 with floppy disk drive, typing game programs into computer so that 2 year old daughter could play them, etc.
Anna


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2009)

If you have ever seen me in chat with no 'spillker'(spellchecker) you are familiar with my typing skills(lack of).  Now combine that with the precise keying needed to copy a basic program out of a magazine and you'll see how traumatic my midtwenties were.  

I had and Atari 800 and I always tried to type in those cool little free games and I rarely ever got them to work right.  I'd see people write in to the magazine explaining how to make the code better and I was always just amazed.

I have poor language skills.  Learning any foreign language is difficult to me.  That includes machine language.


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## chiffchaff (Dec 19, 2008)

BambiB said:


> Well just consider the fact that Oberon does make organizer covers and people use those for professional purposes. With that logic in mind, why wouldn't Oberon make a cover for official, only-used for work, great asset to the company (and maybe sometimes you read on) Kindle!  Ha ha!


hmmm, good point. Most everyone I work with carries a planner and they come in all sorts of cases. Maybe I've been needlessly denying myself kindle time!


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> I had and Atari 800 and I always tried to type in those cool little free games and I rarely ever got them to work right. I'd see people write in to the magazine explaining how to make the code better and I was always just amazed.
> 
> I have poor language skills. Learning any foreign language is difficult to me. That includes machine language.


Oh Vampy, that brings back memories. I never could get those games to work either. I would always transpose some of the code and so after hours of typing, I would spend like two or three times that trying to figure out the minuscule mistake!!  It was always so annoying.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> I had and Atari 800 and I always tried to type in those cool little free games and I rarely ever got them to work right. I'd see people write in to the magazine explaining how to make the code better and I was always just amazed.


Remember trying to load games into a computer using a cassette deck. That was the new high tech.

Steve


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

(enter file name here) RUN *.*


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> If you have ever seen me in chat with no 'spillker'(spellchecker) you are familiar with my typing skills(lack of). Now combine that with the precise keying needed to copy a basic program out of a magazine and you'll see how traumatic my midtwenties were.
> 
> I had and Atari 800 and I always tried to type in those cool little free games and I rarely ever got them to work right. I'd see people write in to the magazine explaining how to make the code better and I was always just amazed.
> 
> I have poor language skills. Learning any foreign language is difficult to me. That includes machine language.


Know what you mean, in my case it was for the Comodore 64. Hours of typing, then hours of finding the mistakes to play a game of making a stick character go through an obstacle course by jumping over or sliding under its in its path. Those were the days, huh?


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Visicalc - I thought that was the single greatest program ever written. Then when Lotus 1,2,3 came out I KNEW that was the greatest program ever written. I got an Apple II so that I could write a program to keep my video list. (I was big into the early collecting of video tapes). The very first sort routine that I wrote was a simple bubble sort. I would run the sort before I went to bed at 11PM, and if I was really lucky, it would sort my collection overnight and be finished by the time I went to work at 7:30 am. As my list got bigger, I had to write a binary sort because the bubble sort eventually took more than 24 hours to finish. As my binary sort time grew, I found that someone had written a machine language sort which I purchased for a few dollars (it ran much faster).

Don't you feel old reminiscing about all this stuff.

Steve


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> I have poor language skills. Learning any foreign language is difficult to me. That includes machine language.


I've been trying to learn French during the last year for my trip this summer. I still can't remember more than three words.

Machine language must be my native tongue. You don't have to worry about things like past tense verbs when you only deal with zeros and ones. I while ago I had to get an application that prints barcodes to work with a new printer (think of all the little lines on the shelf labels at a store like Target). It got so I could read those little lines without using one of those silly little scanners. (yea, I'm a geek)


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2009)

BambiB said:


> Oh Vampy, that brings back memories. I never could get those games to work either. I would always transpose some of the code and so after hours of typing, I would spend like two or three times that trying to figure out the minuscule mistake!!  It was always so annoying.


Yes, and if, if(!) I ever got the game to work, it was never worth all that effort. 



kim said:


> I've been trying to learn French during the last year for my trip this summer. I still can't remember more than three words.
> 
> Machine language must be my native tongue. You don't have to worry about things like past tense verbs when you only deal with zeros and ones. I while ago I had to get an application that prints barcodes to work with a new printer (think of all the little lines on the shelf labels at a store like Target). It got so I could read those little lines without using one of those silly little scanners. (yea, I'm a geek)


I can believe that. After all, they just represent 10 numbers, 0-9.



stevene9 said:


> Visicalc - I thought that was the single greatest program ever written. Then when Lotus 1,2,3 came out I KNEW that was the greatest program ever written. I got an Apple II so that I could write a program to keep my video list. (I was big into the early collecting of video tapes). The very first sort routine that I wrote was a simple bubble sort. I would run the sort before I went to bed at 11PM, and if I was really lucky, it would sort my collection overnight and be finished by the time I went to work at 7:30 am. As my list got bigger, I had to write a binary sort because the bubble sort eventually took more than 24 hours to finish. As my binary sort time grew, I found that someone had written a machine language sort which I purchased for a few hours (it ran much faster).
> 
> Don't you feel old reminiscing about all this stuff.
> 
> Steve


While I recognize all of those names, I never used any of them. My main interest in computers has been gaming. The first game I bought was "Temple of Apshai" on a cassette tape for the Atari 800


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## Jesslyn (Oct 29, 2008)

BambiB said:


> So I found myself sitting in the back of a meeting today about state policy and advocacy is the insurance sector and found that I was bored to tears (considering most of the meeting was a repeat of a meeting from last week). Since I knew that if I was called on to speak, I would know what to say, I decided my total, undivided attention did not need to be on the meeting itself, so...I pulled out my Kindle and proceeded to read for the 2 hours.  I know, BAD BAMBI. But I couldn't help it. I was in the back and Avalon was just sitting there in my purse, so lonely. And I figured that since most of the people in the meeting had probably never heard of Kindle, much less knew what one looked like, I felt I was relatively safe.
> *So I figure that as more people become familiar with the Kindle I will be able to do this less and less, but until then... *
> And to all of those out there about to admonish me (which I probably deserve ), think of the times that you have sat in a meeting with your laptop and been on the internet or checking email on your Blackberry!!
> Sitting in the corner,
> Bambi


Hmm....I will remember that. I can't always do it at work. I'm in IT and Isabella was subject to much examination right after I she arrived (and a few adopted some Kindles of their own). However, I did pull her out during a few of the less exciting family get togethers over the holidays.


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> While I recognize all of those names, I never used any of them. My main interest in computers has been gaming. The first game I bought was "Temple of Apshai" on a cassette tape for the Atari 800


Mine used to be a game called "Ball Blaster" and "Alley Cat". I remember it fondly, but cannot find anyone else who has ever heard of it. And I had a summer Olympics game that I just loved, but I played it on the internet not too long ago and I couldn't remember what I liked so much about it?!?


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## Tbarney (Dec 28, 2008)

I also get a little leery when others ask me about it, because then I would blow my cover and not be able to read it at meetings.  As more and more peole ask me about it, it becomes more difficult for me to sneakily use.


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