Has anyone noticed that the Sony Reader has a funny "Q-like" symbol on it at the bottom, and on the cover? Nobody seems to have mentioned it yet, probably because it's subtle in pictures. But it's actually pretty obvious in person.

It could simply be an odd "E" for eReader. It could be a Q for something like "Quality Reader". Or maybe it's a reference to Q, the technology guru in James Bond movies?!

Let's have a little fun with this. Here's my question... can anyone make up a great story for what the Q "should" mean?

(If you don't know what I mean, take a look at the bottom of this picture, for example... Picture with the "Q" (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1590).)

Bob,

I think it's stylish E - "E" Reader. It also looks like Greek "α" (Alpha). Sony released this year Alpha DSLR. The third possibility - it is "Q" - the leftover from Qualia products (http://www.google.com/search?q=sony+qualia) :)

I starred at it for two minutes and couldn't decide. Is it a Q? Doesn't make much sense, does it? It could be an E, but it's not really an E either. Perhaps an E and an S intertwined, as in Sony E Reader. Well, I am clueless! ;)

PS: I love your avatar, Slava. Did you draw it yourself?

LOL I have thought many times to myself..what a strange "e". My idea:

In electric engineering "Q" stands for electric charge. The Sony Reader uses e-ink technology that works with negative and positive electric charges (black & white). So Q-Reader stands for: Electric charge reader.


So what do you think? :D

I think it looks like the e from IE, making some sort of reference to electronics and internet all in one, hehe. :)

Thank you :) I wish I could draw like that.

The Reader image "screen captured" from the Manual (Page 19). Then I just painted it. I'm attaching both - template and avatar to this message.

Bob,

From what you have playing there I have to ask: Are you a John Ringo fan? :)

My story, its the brand logo for Sony's DRM'd ebooks. This ebook can be read on any device displaying this logo <insert eReader logo here>

From what you have playing there I have to ask: Are you a John Ringo fan? :) Hmm, don't know what you mean, so must be a coincidence. I've never read him, but his name does keep coming up and being recommended to me, so I really should try one of his books! I'll have to find a good one to start with.

Here's a bigger pic :)

I saw a trademark notice in the manual somewhere (sorry, don't remember precisely) about an "AE" trademark. Is that what this is supposed to be?

Bob, I'd recommend There Will Be Dragons (http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/07-LookingGlassCD/LookingGlassCD/There%20Will%20be%20Dragons/index.htm), as good starting place. :smile:

On the 4th of September, 2003, Aarlsbaad Sligfast, the new President of the Sony Ebook Division, was taking a short walk after lunch. As he strolled along the Fenback Heath (the Fenback Heath near Morrissey, not the other one by Ostramm) he was approached by a stranger dressed in a black suit with orange accents.

The stranger accosted Aarlsbaad and lifted his hand in a gesture that was either threatening or meant to ward off an attack by vultures. Aarlsbaad found this equivocal behavior to be most interesting - especially since the nearby birds were all goshawks, not vultures. Now why, thought Aarlsbaad would someone attempt to ward off vultures if none were present and further, if the stranger was not warding off vultures, why was the stranger threatening him?

Impelled by an overwhelming desire to have an answer to this question Aarlsbaad addressed the stranger thusly: Why, O Stranger, do you engage in equivocal warding/threatening behavior in the absence of vultures and the presence of goshawks?

The stranger replied at great length. Unfortunately because of his orange accents Aarlsbaad was unable to understand a word he said, except he could make out an utterance that sounded like "Q".

Later that year Aarlsbaad needed to name his new ebook reader. As there were no vultures around at the time the machine was to be named (and not even any goshawks) and as nobody was threatening him at the time the machine was to be named, he decided to add the stranger"s "Q" utterance to the beginning of the product name - so that whenever he looked at the machine he would be reminded of both the lack of vultures and threat at the time of its naming.

Such is the true explanation of the "Q" symbol affixed to the product.

I really should try one of his books! I'll have to find a good one to start with.

"March of Cambreadth" is a song he's effectively worked into three of his Universes so far. The first books of each are: "There Will Be Dragons", "A Hymn Before Battle", and "Ghost".

A common theme to all three universes is a single soldier, or small group of soldiers, facing asymmetrical combat situations and racking up incredible body counts to achieve victory. He also seems to have a fascination with "Toroidal Effects" in thermo-nuclear detonations and how these effects might allow one to survive at ground zero. :)

Ah, I see why you thought that Bob had been reading Ringo, scotty1024! That's one of my pix that Bob linked to, and one of the test files I took to SD with me. :grin:

That'll teach Bob to link your photos. :D

That'll teach Bob to link your photos. :D
:laugh4: Bob is welcome to link my photos, and so is anyone else who'd like to. The idea is to share this stuff not keep it to myself, after all. :grin:

Looks like an "e" with shadow.

Hmm, don't know what you mean, so must be a coincidence. I've never read him, but his name does keep coming up and being recommended to me, so I really should try one of his books! I'll have to find a good one to start with.


Bob, check out the Baen Free Library http://www.baen.com/library/ (http://http://www.baen.com/library/)
There are four free John Ringo books you can download. While there check out Baen's "WebScription" ebook prices. :scholar:

Looks like an "e" with shadow.
I think you nailed it, slayda!

It is indeed an 'ae' - look in the 'About' tab under Settings - it says that "(t)he "ae" symbol is a trademark of Sony Corporation."

I see the 'a' in gray on the left and the swooping lower case 'e' in black on the right.

Still doesn't explain what it stands for. A Google search brings up this thread, and that's it regarding the mysterious "ae".

"Æ" is known as a "grapheme." According to Webster's dictionary, "æ" means "one," from Middle English roots. According to Wiki, the Latin "æ" is used like the long "i". When using the Latin-1 or Unicode character sets, the code points for Æ and æ are U+00C6 and U+00E6, respectively, or 198 and 230 in decimal.

So Sony must be using it because...

um...

uh.

...I got nothin'.

And Oxford English Dictionary sez:

æ -

(usually written as a digraph or ligature, but also, and in the earliest times, separately ae) was in OE. the symbol of a simple vowel, intermediate between a and e. When short, as in glæd, fæder, it represented orig. Teut. short a, and had the power of modern Eng. a. in man, glad; when long, as in s{aeacu}, fl{aeacu}sc, the same sound prolonged, as in a common American pronunciation of bear, hair, there. After 1100 the short æ was generally replaced by a (though sometimes by e); the long {aeacu} continued to be written æ in the 12th and early 13th c., the OE. eá passing into the same sound and symbol, but in the development of ME. this symbol died out, and was replaced by simple e or ee. Thus OE. s{aeacu}, fl{aeacu}sc, eár, eást are in Ormin and Layamon sæ, flæssh, ær, æst, but afterwards se(e, flesh, ere, eest. The symbol æ, which thus disappeared from the language in 13th c., was re-introduced in 16th c. in forms derived from Latin words with æ, and (this being the Latin symbolization of Greek {alpha}{iota}) Greek words in {alpha}{iota}; as ædify, æther. But this æ had only an etymological value, and whenever a word became thoroughly English, the æ or ae was changed into simple e as edify, ether. The æ or ae now remains, only (1) in Greek and Lat. proper names as in Æneas, Cæsar; even these, when familiar, often take e as Judea, Etna; (2) in words belonging to Roman or Gr. Antiquities as ædile, ægis; (3) in scientific or technical terms as ætiology, æstivation, phænogamous, Athenæum; these also when they become popularized take e, as phenomenon, Lyceum, museum, era.
Æ initial is thus to be looked upon as an earlier spelling of E, and will here occur only (1) in EE. words that became obsolete, before changing to e, as æ law (OE. {aeacu}), æ river (OE. eá); (2) in words directly adopted or formed from Latin and Greek which became obsolete before changing to e as ædituate; or have not changed to e because they indicate ancient things as ædile, ægis, or are technical as ægilops, ægrotant, ætiology. All other words will be found under their later form in E.

mod.Sc. form of northern ME. a, OE. án, one, used adjectively. See A adj.1
In ME. and early Sc., a was used bef. a cons., an, ane, bef. a vowel, and absolutely; in mid.Sc. ane was used in all positions and constructions; in mod.Sc. ae (the Sc. spelling of final a long) is used bef. a n. however beginning, ane only absolutely: ‘he has ae hand, only ane.’

Obs. A river, a running water.

Obs. Law, especially the law of nature, or of God; hence, legal custom, rite, marriage.

I know, I know

The one Reader to rule them all :)

Interesting stuff, y'all, but the copyrighted/trademarked "AE" not "æ" -- I'm not sure we're in the right area....

And "AE" is also used by Sony for AutoExposure, isn't it?

I GOT IT! I GOT IT!!!

"Alliterative Electronica"

Why... it's so simple... a child could think of it... a child could think of it... :D

Yet if you read the About in the CONNECT software you get the trademark notifications for the Sony (the standard lettered logo), the CONNECT logo (the purple thing), and the CONNECT Reader logo (must be the AE thing as it is the only one left.)

Word Mark AE
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: hand-held electronic book readers with liquid crystal displays for displaying non-fictional and fictional electronic publications; computer programs for displaying, editing and managing of non-fictional and fictional electronic publications; pre-recorded integrated circuit memory cards featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects; pre-recorded optical discs featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles or any and all subjects; pre-recorded magneto-optical discs featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects; pre-recorded magnetic tapes featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects
Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM
Serial Number 78742172
Filing Date October 27, 2005
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Sony Kabushiki Kaisha also trading as Sony Corporation CORPORATION JAPAN 6-7-35 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku Tokyo JAPAN
Attorney of Record Robert B.G. Horowitz, Esq.
Description of Mark The mark consists of a stylized combination of the letters "a" and "e".
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Ooooo. Nice dig up there, chesstron! And an excellent debut here at MobileRead to boot. Welcome. :nice:

A lot of folks seem to have trouble seeing the separate letters, so here's a bit of an assist, courtesy of Paint Shop Pro. :)

Awesome chesstron!

But I hate to say... I still don't get it! Why did they pick the ae symbol??

-Pie

Must mean something to somebody. :shrug: Probably wanted to combine the ideas of some word that starts with "A" and some other word that starts with "E" or some such. Who knows with marketing types? It could be the names of children or pets. :laugh4:

Sir Howard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Stringer)'s kids are named David and Harriet, so that's not it. :grin2:

I Think it IS a Q...

The reader was actually created by the Omnipotent yet slighty capricious character named "Q" from the Next Generation mythos.

Brilliant yet tweaked. He laughs at our pathetic attempts to use the impossible connect bookstore and smirks as we cuss the lack of folders on the menu!

Yet brilliantly done.

It's a lower case, poorly written cursive e, as I see it.

[Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: hand-held electronic book readers with liquid crystal displays for displaying non-fictional and fictional electronic publications; computer programs for displaying, editing and managing of non-fictional and fictional electronic publications; pre-recorded integrated circuit memory cards featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects; pre-recorded optical discs featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles or any and all subjects; pre-recorded magneto-optical discs featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects; pre-recorded magnetic tapes featuring non-fictional and fictional electronic publications, namely, books, magazines and articles of any and all subjects
Right... that's what "Alliterative Electronica" means... in lay-terms, of course...

Ok, I'm pretty sure I got it after a bit of Googling. It relates to the devision responsible for Material Productions, Sony has been labeling each of its divisions with short, easy to identify acronym(?). Here's the quote from a carbon-nanofibers abstract that lists each division. May be more to follow if I find more details; i.e., why start with AA and sequentially go up, why not use AM - Applied Materials, PP - Physical Product, etc.

Why they'd brand the front cover of the device with such a label, who's to say? I'd initially (and still think) that it's there to simply imply eReader, since that is what I had heard the device being originally called. Of course it could also be the initials of something in Japanese that has been written in romanji and stylized, since Sony is a Japanese company... maybe it's their hanko for the product? :stars:


Title:
Carbon nano-fiber growth on the anode during hydrogen DC arc-discharge
Authors:
Kajiura, Hisashi; Huang, Houjin; Tsutsui, Shigemitsu; Murakami, Yousuke; Miyakoshi, Mitsuaki
Affiliation:
AA(Materials Laboratories, Sony Corporation) AB(Materials Laboratories, Sony Corporation) AC(Materials Laboratories, Sony Corporation) AD(Technical Solutions Center, Sony Corporation) AE(Materials Laboratories, Sony Corporation)
Publication:
American Physical Society, Annual APS March Meeting 2003, March 3-7, 2003, , abstract #C1.029
Publication Date:
03/2003
Origin:
APS
Bibliographic Code:
2003APS..MAR.C1029K

Abstract
{snipped}

Source URL: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003APS..MAR.C1029K

Yeah, definately looks like "ae."

Ok, so... what does "ae" stand for???

always ere... no, can't be it. "Absolutely Exceptional Reader". hmm... too verbose. "An e-Reader." No... too literal.



No, wait! I think i got it! It's a dipthong. ae=æ=I. So... It's an iReader... without the trademark infridgement! Fn sony, i knew it'd come to this...

According to http://www.answers.com/topic/--549
in the card game Magic, "The Gathering uses Æ regularly in Æther, a form of energy between planes from which creatures are summoned."

So for the Sony Reader, it could represent a form of energy between planes (front screen and backplane) from which "characters" are summoned.

I think it's stylish E - "E" Reader. It also looks like Greek "α" (Alpha). Sony released this year Alpha DSLR. The third possibility - it is "Q" - the leftover from Qualia products (http://www.google.com/search?q=sony+qualia) :)

Yes, Slava, I think you are onto something. In spite of the overwhelmingly and temptingly rational explanations found in this thread, I am going to swing with "Qualia", and thus the symbol "Q".

What could it mean? For each of us, the act of reading carries with it a subjective feeling that we value. It is possible that for each of us the feeling is different. Maybe none of us will ever experience the color green in exactly the same way either. Perhaps we will never know.

Qualia are the subjective components of experience that distinguish them. I assert that Sony is gently reminding us of the unique feeling of settling in with a good book.

There once was a man from Hemphelflieter,
Who settled down to view his Reader,
With his paraphernalia,
Immersed in his qualia,
He forgot himself almost completer!

Others have expressed trouble seeing the A E thing, which I see fine, but I'm not seeing a Q at all. :shrug:

In spite of that, the explanations fielded here for the Q thing do make some sense, except for minor detail: they specifically list a trademark that "consists of a stylized combination of the letters 'a' and 'e'." (both as chesstron found for us, and as the Reader's own manual notes), but there's no mention of any "Q." If that were what it was, I'd think they would have trademarked some sort of "Q" thing. :shrug:

Perhaps if we quickly trademarked a "Q" . . .

Free ebooks forever anyone?

Nah, they'd just stop making the things, and that's no good. :laugh4:

Are you sure this isn't an "a"??
Still don't know what it would stand for, but could mean "alphabet" since all of those letters are used in the Reader.

Are you sure this isn't an "a"??Reasonably sure.

The same logic applies to just an a as to a Q -- if it were just an a they'd've trademarked the a rather than the a joined with e thing. :shrug:

You can see in post 26 how they're both there. :nice:

According to http://www.answers.com/topic/--549
in the card game Magic, "The Gathering uses Æ regularly in Æther, a form of energy between planes from which creatures are summoned."

So for the Sony Reader, it could represent a form of energy between planes (front screen and backplane) from which "characters" are summoned.The ae sound, like in aether, is pronounced "ee", maybe it's just a neat way to trademark the "e" in eReader (which if you pronounced correctly, would use a short 'e', and sound like "ehReader", so aeReader is actually a more correct spelling for how we pronounce internet things with a leading 'e'.)

That's really clever, bkilian, I like that one. :nice:

Okay, I think it's time to stir up the pot again. Here's some more possibilities to consider, now that we know it's "AE" in some way.

Wikipedia says it's used as "Age at death".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86

So maybe it's a play on the death of paper books, and the date is to be filled in later!?Æ as abbreviation

Æ and æ were quite commonly used as abbreviations for Latin aetate or aetate sua meaning, roughly, "at the age of" N years (the implied construction being an ablative absolute); also the genitive aetatis suae, Nth year "of his/her age". In inscriptions and records, the most common use is for the age at death.

George William Russell, the fin de siècle Irish poet, signed himself Æ meaning "Æon".Interestingly, Aeon was the name used for this cool phone...
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/08/nokias-aeon-full-surface-screen-cellphone-concept/

Or from these vast lists, maybe it's "Analog Electronics" or paper "Alter Ego"...
http://www.acronymattic.com/results.aspx?q=AE
http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?acronym=AE
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/AE

Or if you look at this page,
http://www.aescir.net/bfi/bfi_lucid.htm
it says that Æ is "a symbol for 'consciousness'"
The word "Æther" is an ancient Alchemy term originally used to name the underlying conscious fabric of the universe. It provides one of the two roots for our new word. The first syllable of Æther (Æ, used as a symbol for "consciousness"), combined with "scir" (the root word of "science"), gives us Æ + scir: Æscir(tm), science of consciousness. The Æ character is pronounced the same as the "short e" in "best"; the word is pronounced "esher". Then we build on Æscir to get a full set of descriptive terms regarding our world-view and its applications.

hmm... apparently in english ae IS pronounced as "ee." But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is "i."

So now all I have to do is travel backward in time or just visit the Vatican, and I can be the first guy with a Sony iReader. People will be as confused and subtly excited as when Sony released a white version of the aural canal penetrating headphones.

hmm... apparently in english ae IS pronounced as "ee." But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is "i."

So now all I have to do is travel backward in time or just visit the Vatican, and I can be the first guy with a Sony iReader. People will be as confused and subtly excited as when Sony released a white version of the aural canal penetrating headphones.Sure, and by "i", you mean the short i sound, which is pronounced as a shortened "ee", right? As in "it", "illiad", "in". I at the start of a word is normally the "ee" sound (unless you're the US president, and you say "I-rak"), so "iReader" should be "eeReader" too. As well as "eePod" and "eePhone" :)

Since we have very few recordings of 2000 year ago latin, I doubt if anyone knows with certainty whether aether would have been pronounced ayther (long A), Ither (long I), or eether (long E).

I at the start of a word is normally the "ee" sound....Not necessarily: incident, implement, iteration, ill, ingenious, id (the personality component, not the abbreviation), identification, island, ice. :wink:

Okay, for the record, I still like "Alliterative Electronica"! But I concede, I can see (and hear) "Æ" as a stylized representation of the the "E" sound in "E-Reader". The Æ Reader. Yup. I like it.

steve, where's the alliteration in alliterative electronica?

anyway, the "Æ Reader" brand was probably abandoned because no one knows how to pronounce the character.

If you just try to pronounce the two separate letters and say the "a" as, well, "the letter a" and then "e" as in, well, "ee" then you get the Fonzie Reader.

:thumbsup:

"March of Cambreadth" is a song he's effectively worked into three of his Universes so far. The first books of each are: "There Will Be Dragons", "A Hymn Before Battle", and "Ghost".


I really, really like most of John Ringo's books, but I'm afraid that "hateful" is the only word I can use to describe the "Kildar" series, of which "Ghost" is the first. It's one thing to "demonise" aliens, and make light of killing them, but when you transfer that hatred to real people and refer to them by derogatory names, as "Kildar" does to people of the Islamic faith, I think you've crossed a line that is a lot better "un-crossed". I honestly can't imagine who these books would appeal to - I don't think I'd like to meet them, whoever they are!

I haven't even tried the Kildar series, myself. I got exactly the vibe you're describing, Harry, just from the cover blurb, and just decided to steer clear of them. :shrug:

"But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is 'i.' "

If you mean long "I" (as in the English word "eye"), I learned the same in my Latin studies. This "classic-Latin" pronunciation is different from the Italianate or "church Latin" more commonly used nowadays. "V" was pronounced like English "W", "C" was always hard like English "K," and so on. E.g., "Julius Caesar" was pronounced "YOO lee uhs KY sahr."

How do we know how Romans spoke two millennia ago? We can't know absolutely, but scholars can make pretty good guesses based on hints like rhymes in poetry and cross-referencing to other languages such as Greek. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_spelling_and_pronunciation for more than you ever wanted to know about classical Latin pronunciation. ;-)

But most westerners pronounce that glyph as "EE" nowadays. And one of this, of course, explains why Sony prepended the AE diphthong to the name of their product, of course. It could be an attempt to evoke the long "E" sound, as in "e-Reader"...or perhaps it's just another instance of Japanglish (http://www.jun-gifts.com/others/japanglish/japanglish.htm).

steve, where's the alliteration in alliterative electronica?

um...

(Hey, maybe that's why Sony isn't returning my e-mails...)

It could be an attempt to evoke the long "E" sound, as in "e-Reader"....The only hitch I see in that logic is that they were very careful to clearly tell us that the device is the "Reader" to them, with the express stipulation that it was not the "e-Reader." :shrug:

harry, muslims are out to destroy western civilization with their faith, fertilizer bombs, box cutters, and bahklava. All our weaponry is useless against this foe and our last defense must come from our hearts. Novels which portray the correct understanding of their race serve our nation a profound service!

I'd send you to guantanamo if i could :angry:

Alex,

I am deeply saddened by your total lack of understanding of what Islam is all about, but this really isn't the place to discuss such matters. Let's just agree to differ. I honestly do not think that books that appear to set out to actively encourage xenophobia and hatred of those with different beliefs are at all helpful in achieving understanding between different cultures. Having spent some time working in the Middle East I know a little about these cultures and, to my mind, the "they're all out to get us" picture that's portrayed in some of the more right-wing American media (and these books) is completely false and misleading.

Thankfully, in the UK at least, disliking a particular book is not a crime.

Please let's focus on e-books and leave religions out of it. :sweethear

I have an itch to comment on the religious discussion, but I think I'll just agree with TadW instead, as this really isn't the right venue. :nice:

You mean - gasp - we were in danger of getting off-topic? Phew - that was a close escape! :grin:

And maybe starting an Accidental Jihad to boot. :laugh4:

"An Accidental Jihad" ... sounds like a good story title, actually. :thinking:

Alex,

I am deeply saddened by your total lack of understanding of what Islam is all about, but this really isn't the place to discuss such matters. Let's just agree to differ. I honestly do not think that books that appear to set out to actively encourage xenophobia and hatred of those with different beliefs are at all helpful in achieving understanding between different cultures. Having spent some time working in the Middle East I know a little about these cultures and, to my mind, the "they're all out to get us" picture that's portrayed in some of the more right-wing American media (and these books) is completely false and misleading.

Thankfully, in the UK at least, disliking a particular book is not a crime.

I have no intention to comment on the content of the book in question -- lest we get even farther off topic. I would like to note, however, that John Ringo described the first book in that series as "the wanker book" (pardon my language), and only wrote it because it wouldn't get out of his head at a time when he was on deadline for something else entirely. Thus the entire series is a "research free zone" with no attempt to resemble reality.

So, although John is politically someplace to the right of Atilla the Hun*, the usual warnings about associating the politics of books and their characters with the politics of the author most definitely apply here.

*His own description!

It's a lower case, poorly written cursive e, as I see it.

That is what I always thought as well. Makes a lot more sense than Æ.

So, although John is politically someplace to the right of Atilla the Hun*, the usual warnings about associating the politics of books and their characters with the politics of the author most definitely apply here.

*His own description!

Please let me clarify. It's the contents of the books that I find objectionable - I'm certainly not suggesting that they represent the political views of the author. I have the greatest respect for Mr. Ringo as an author and very much enjoy all his other books.

It's a lower case, poorly written cursive e, as I see it.That is what I always thought as well. Makes a lot more sense than Æ.Yeah, that would make more sense, but it also would be to easy, I guess. :shrug:

Please let me clarify. It's the contents of the books that I find objectionable - I'm certainly not suggesting that they represent the political views of the author. I have the greatest respect for Mr. Ringo as an author and very much enjoy all his other books.I, too, couldn't stand the contents, every page I read made me want to beat John Ringo with a tree stump for right wing stupidity, however, I couldn't stop reading them. That must be what it's like when people get into these stupid reality shows I've never understood.

Then again, if you read the James Bond books, they're just as bad, and just as addictive.

I do find it amusing though that Ringo would love the March of Cambreadth, a song written from the perspective of the irish pagans when the christians invaded their country.

I, too, couldn't stand the contents, every page I read made me want to beat John Ringo with a tree stump for right wing stupidity, however, I couldn't stop reading them. That must be what it's like when people get into these stupid reality shows I've never understood.

Then again, if you read the James Bond books, they're just as bad, and just as addictive.

I do find it amusing though that Ringo would love the March of Cambreadth, a song written from the perspective of the irish pagans when the christians invaded their country.
It remonds me of Howard Stern. When he was just starting to get his stride, his ratings kept going up. When they were looking at the demographics, it was people who bloth liked him and disliked him. The reason they kept listening was said.. "because they wanted to find out what he had to say next".

omg, you guys are ridiculous. muslims destroying us with their faith? and bahklava? i'd send you to guantanamo?

and then astra_lestat gives me karma with 'could not agree more.' dunno what that was about...

terrorism is the biggest bullshit story of our times. The number of people who die from terrorism vs from murder (not to mention car accidents) is insignificant. terrorists aren't even TRYING to blow us up. They're barely even plotting! with all our wiretapping, etc, the only arrests we've made is of people who brainstorm about doing research on learning how to perfom terrorist acts. And then we shut down airports and stop people who want to carry lube onto planes. Seriously, terrorists are not trying to hurt america despite the fact that it is still extremely easy. I can carry on a computer power supply or cd-rom drive or other metal box that is impenetrable to xrays and packed with explosives or knives or whatever. Yet no one is trying! Who was the last person who ACTUALLY smuggled something onto a plane? The idiot who couldn't light his shoes. And the one before that? Guys with boxcutters. And before that? Oh, wait, I don't think there was anyone.

terrorists are nothing more than a bunch of punk kids who pose a smaller threat to national security than actual punk kids (the ones crashing their cars or running around playing gangsta). no, seriously, terrorism is bullshit.

p.s. we didn't invade iraq to get oil. (damn the stupid hippies who say that.) we invaded iraq to cut oil off. opec doesn't get rich by drilling wells.

p.p.s. anyway, you guys probably wish i'd stuck to sarcasm. it's only single-paragraph then ;-)

and then astra_lestat gives me karma with 'could not agree more.' dunno what that was about...

:oops2:
I believe there was a big misunderstanding then :smack:
Too late to withdraw the karma though :p

I am not going to comment on off topic though, otherwise I will be labeled as a racist :disappoin

I think we need to drop this line of discussion.

Like right now, and completely.

Agreed. :2thumbsup

Please folks, let's keep discussions relevant to e-books and gadgets. Talking about religion is just nerve breaking, and it doesn't help to foster our positive community spirit :D