one for the insomniacs

[miriam_e]

This has got to be the weirdest audio file I've ever found:
http://librivox.org/the-first-fifty-digits-of-pi/

I'm usually satisfied with using a calculator to get enough digits. If I don't have a calculator handy (rare these days) then the old mnemonic "How I wish I could enumerate pi easily" works well enough (the number of letters in each word corresponds to the first 8 digits of pi). If, for some odd reason I ever need more digits I can always download the Project Gutenberg ebook:
PI to a Million Places
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext93/pimil10.zip
...though other than mawkish interest I can't imagine ever needing it. (Um, yes, I have it already. [blush])

On a slightly more lively tack, librivox have a whole lot of free audiobooks -- 1,301 of them so far. Neat! They have some of the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series up there. A rollicking good politically incorrect bunch of adventures from a time when men were men, women were helpless, and bug-eyed monsters fought with swords. I loved these as a kid. Wonder what I'd think these days... Must have a read of them again. All the text ebooks are up on Gutenberg. (Yep I've got 'em all as paper and electronic. How embarrassing.)

Comments

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I'll double check with my family to see none of them wants them (in fact it occurs to me Sue might have some of the missing ones). If nobody is interested then I'll drop whatever you want in the mail. Free of course.
Email me your postal address.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Look, if you send me all the Mars/Venus/Pellucidor/Caspak(?) books you have I'll refund postage and give you a per book stipend. It's only fair.

I looked through my To Read Cases, and my EBR books are spread across five different formats (some are on collections). I like at least a modicum of consistency, so I'll just take 'em all.
You know they'll go to a good home.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Email your postal address to mim at miriam-english dot org and I'll pop 'em in the mail when I step outside the house next... ummm... sometime this week I expect... or perhaps next week, but most probably this week.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, what reminded me of this thread:
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/03/22/2150244.shtml

(On eBooks.)

I haven't read it in detail, as I like dead tree copies).

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. I left a reply there. It amazes me that people don't seem to realise that one of the biggest shortcomings of encrypted ebooks is that the one guarantee you have with them is that you will be locked out of them. I've had this exasperating experience on a couple of occasions where I'd bought perfectly legal ebooks, installed them and got locked out of them.

The first time I'd delayed reading the book for about a week to do some work and in the meantime the computer crashed really badly. I reinstalled MSWindows and suddenly the ebook didn't believe I'd bought it anymore.

The second time I'd bought an ebook and soon after my hard drive died. I replaced the hard drive and upgraded the computer and the ebook would no longer open for me.

The idiots had locked the book to the equipment. The equipment changes and I can no longer use the book. Dumbasses!

Baen Books (http://www.baen.com/) (SF publishers) have been doing a roaring trade selling unencumbered unencrypted ebooks for some years. All the other ebook sellers with their terrible wares are having a hard time of it. That's gotta say something.

I don't buy encrypted ebooks anymore. I can't afford to waste the money.