Author Archives: bluedepth

Pure Michigan

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“Michigan Legislature Moves To Ban Domestic Partner Benefits”

I live in Michigan. I am a gay man. This bill is proof that the state in which I live in regards me as unequal under the law. Everyone else can be married and share benefits but this will not be the case for me and my partner of FOURTEEN years. We are excluded from equality with everyone else in this state.

If this bill passes and becomes law, I know that I for one will never forgive any born-and-bred Michigan resident for their inaction on this heinously bad bill. It will become a statement of fact that people like me are less than other Michigan residents. Who I am, what I am, and who I love will be the basis on which the state agrees that my rights do not matter.

I am not personally seeking to share “Domestic Partner Benefits” with my partner, but this bill, if it becomes law, sets a precedent that gay people are second-class citizens within the borders of Michigan. If this bill passes and becomes law then I will have no choice but to begin looking at migration away from Michigan. This is of course not really a threat as I have for a very long time been considering leaving this state for good and returning to New York.

Funny that my birth state respects my rights and my equality more than my adopted state does. It’s clear to me now, even without this bill being passed into law, just what the surrounding Michiganders feel when it comes to people like me. I am not seeking your permission to lead my life how I see fit to lead it, the only thing I really ask for is to honor equality under the law. With a vote of 27 to 9, it is clear to me that the people of this state, through their state representatives behavior and choices think of me as unequal.

You are free to take this bill, if it becomes law and use it to look down upon my kind, it is a free country after all. But know this, that people like me have measured you as classless hateful bigots. What we say when we refer to you all will not be pleasant or complimentary. That is the nature of discrimination, the majority that suppresses the minority are on display as the slovenly bigots that they truly are. I can only hope that when you look into the mirror that you can stand what you see staring back at you. We will see you for what you are. It’s not pretty.

Green Jade

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“What’s the number one thing you want for Christmas?” This question started me thinking on the nature of wanting things and the challenge of gift-giving during the holiday season.

When I was a kid it was easy, I wanted a toy or a gadget, something that I absolutely had to have. Over the years, as I grew up probably, this desire for things started to mutate. It went from wanting when I was very young to sometimes needful things as I got older. As I continue to age along my path I discover that I want things less and less. I think it’s partially because of the poor economy – I can’t really ask anyone to get me anything because times are tough, unemployment is high, and nobody should feel awkward about not being able to get that perfect gift for someone else. We are all bound to budgets and we either use our savings or we borrow to make sure that someone has a “good Christmas”. I have found that I’d rather send cards and holiday greetings, spend time with people that I want to spend time with, rather than receive some token object of affection. It’s an impossible road to tread, because the culture is so wound up in giving things to each other that you feel awkward making a list and then you feel even worse if you don’t have a list to give in the first place. It’s kind of like a trap, in that regard.

A lot of the old standbys just aren’t as attractive to me any longer. Music is mostly artificial flotsam and jetsam, pounded into shape by machines, delivered either by an object like a CD or virtually, on iTunes. Much of modern media follows this bend that music has taken. Most of it is utter crap, and while it’s nice to have things that are good and you do enjoy, the chances that you already have what you like is almost a certainty. The issue here is there isn’t anything really new or notable when it comes to a lot of modern media choices. It is best exemplified by how people make and enjoy the media. In the 21st century most media is faucet-delivered. This has two angles to it, not only is what comes out of the faucet kind of bland, dull, and uninteresting, but in many respects opening the faucet and leaving it run doesn’t cost anything. In music, you have Spotify. A free account with which you can listen to nearly anything at all anytime you like. Faucet Music. Netflix. Faucet Movies. GameFly. Faucet Games. I don’t seek out music any longer, the artists I like are dead or have moved on to survival employment and no longer make music. Movies? They are the essence of faucet media. You find a production company, a script put together in a crayon-by-numbers way and as long as it makes its initial investment back you’ll be on a permanent treadmill of meaningless sequels. I don’t really like going out to the movies anymore, there are so few movies out there that interest me. There is a very tender balance between how much bullshit I’m willing to put up with and how much that bullshit costs, all balanced on a fulcrum where on the other side is what I could be doing with my time if I wasn’t enduring said bullshit. So there is no point in buying a BluRay of anything and wrapping it up as a gift. Most of the dreck that Hollywood secretes is recycled monumental bullshit. Remember Avatar? Try Pocahontas, try Fern Gully. It would be one thing if this was an isolated example, but it isn’t. This sort of derivative bullshit soaks modern media to the dripping point.

So I stand back from all of this and think about what I really want. What do I want for Christmas? I want time. Time to do what I want to do. It’s the only thing I lust after these days – time enough to read, time enough to do whatever else it is that I want to do. Time is impossible to buy, and utterly irrational to try to wrap up for someone else. Really all that matters for the holidays is to be with the people you truly want to be with. Sometimes you can’t make it and you feel bad because there is so much space between you, and sometimes you don’t make it because life is better when it’s lived apart.

This entire line of reasoning is a terrible thing for retailers who make their money on selling things, and for that I am sorry. But things aren’t want-ful much anymore. Sometimes they are need-ful, sometimes they are like-ful, but only in a rare set of instances is a thing actually want-ful. In some ways perhaps, the faucet services like Spotify and Netflix have done more damage to their subject media than they ever intended to. By making everything available, the value of that everything drops to zero. Just leave the faucet running, it doesn’t matter.

Work Doing

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I won’t ever forget anything at work ever again.

It all comes down to adhering to a rather involved procedure to keep my work tasks organized, people connected, and to leave a cookie trail behind me so that if I have to ever refer to what happened in the past, there is an easy way to get at it.

At work I use the Mail.app on Mac OSX Snow Leopard, on my work iMac. Technically since I use IMAP the application itself is irrelevant, but this is where I do most of my work tasks day-to-day. WMU provides a web-based interface called Webmail Plus, but I really prefer to not use that. I get more mileage out of Mail.app.

Everyone has learned that the best way to alert me and my staff to things that they need is by email. Email creates a kind of digital documentation, a little slip of virtual paper that people write up and tack to our door. It doesn’t get lost and serves as a reminder of things we have to do, with details that we need to complete the tasks. It’s really the best way to go since email is so ubiquitous.

I get tasks in Mail.app whenever I run the app or bring it to the foreground. Because it’s IMAP whatever I change in the account is reflected everywhere else I have a connection to that account, like a window. So my iPhone, my iPad, my MacBook, my home Mac Mini, or my work iMac always has the right list of emails in my Webmail Plus Inbox.

When I get a new task in Mail.app I use the key combination Command-Shift-E, which in Mail.app redirects the incoming email so I can send it somewhere else. It’s better than forward, it resends the message as if it was originally sent to where I want it to go. I redirect all my tasks to my Toodledo account’s email address. Right before I send the redirected message, I tack on to the subject of the task a little bit of text “@work #today” which informs Toodledo to make a new task for me, set it in my Work Context, set the due date for Today (or really whatever day I want) and then hit send. Doing this keeps my Webmail Plus Inbox blissfully empty. I get tasks and punt them forward to my Toodledo to track them and organize them.

Once the task is in my Toodledo list, I configure the list to show me Work tasks, organized by due-date and then by priority. I don’t really enrich the tasks with priority data so the principal sort is actually alphanumeric beyond the due-date sort. It’s in Toodledo that I spend a majority of my time. Toodledo captures everything, the text, any attachment files, you name it. This way I am sure I am not missing any tasks. I may be late with a task or two, but none should fall off the edge. As I work tasks I complete whatever it is the task requires and then I copy the body of the task, which is the body of the redirected email into a new email and then tack on some pleasantries like “Task complete” or some-such and on the CC line I include the email address for my department WordPress.com blog, and right above the signature line on my outgoing email to the task requestor I include a WordPress [tags] and [end] blocks to keep the usually messy signatures from clogging up my blog and setting all the tags so that when people ask me about a certain thing I can browse the tag-cloud on the WordPress blog and find the task, the time and the date it was completed. I don’t have to muck about with Sent Items or any of that malarkey. As an added extra, WordPress automatically creates pages for tags and sets up RSS feeds for tags so interested parties can just browse to the tags they are most interested in to see what is going on. Most people aren’t interested and the WordPress blog ends up mostly being for me. I quite enjoy it, I no longer have to spend time trying to remember when I did whatever I do and so I can sort of mindlessly chug through tasks without having to waste any precious brainpower on any of it. WordPress, Toodledo, and Mail.app do all the heavy lifting and storage for me, all delightfully complimentary.

In the morning I adjust a search on Toodledo to find all the tasks in Toodledo that I have completed the day before and then I use Toodledo and Byword to quickly markdown the tasks as a numbered list and then ship that off using MarsEdit off to the blog. The overall goal is to free myself as much as possible from the headache-inducing parts of my job as I can manage. Did I do something? When did I do it? Was there some kind of trick in fixing something or other? It’s all in the blog. In many ways I have replaced the need to form new memories about my work off to WordPress, so I really don’t know in a day-to-day way exactly what I have done here. I don’t want to know it. WordPress knows it for me. The only thing I bring to the table are my skills and abilities. Everything else has been farmed out elsewhere.

There is something very secure about such a way of managing my life. I can’t answer any questions posed to me about my job. I don’t form any long-term memories about this place. I’ve gotten used to the relaxed almost meditative way that I chew through my days. Technology keeps the things I find irritable or troubling. In many ways, doing it this way has vouchsafed the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. My spotless mind.

Winter ArtHop

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I am very tired of driving.

On Friday, after work I left Walwood and the overzealous front door swung back too fast and destroyed a piece of pottery that I bought for myself for Christmas. So already I was starting the weekend a little grumpy and bent out of shape. Thankfully it was the only thing that suffered damage so that’s at least a blessing in and of itself.

On Friday we attended ArtHop in Kalamazoo. ArtHop is a frequently held Friday event throughout downtown Kalamazoo. Many downtown galleries and art installations open up and host residents and tourists alike. Many places provide snacks and some provide complimentary glasses of wine. On most wintertime ArtHops it’s bitter cold outside and blazing hot once you get into these art installation galleries. Even with the front door open a shop can be jammed packed with people and be significantly warmer inside than you think. Dressing for these events is a challenge because you want to make sure you dress properly for the bitter cold and have a way to throw off layers if you are going to spend more time in the thick of a gallery or browse some curio shop. This season the weather has been off. Winter ArtHop was in the middle of mid-40’s temperatures, so that changed the playing field a lot and made the whole layer-up/layer-down switch almost pointless. There were lots of interesting art to see and all of it could be purchased but I didn’t see anything that I thought I had to have, or anything I wanted to give as a gift. Some places show off their interiors or use ArtHop to push their services. Some places just have unexpected things inside them, such as this:

Galloping Too Fast

And other places don’t actually have any art to sell, but use it to push their business. A few of these included salons downtown that specialize in fancy personal styling. The people behind the desk have exceptionally fancy hair and other places just push DJ’s:

Trying too hard

After we left these places and started to traverse the walking mall right smack dab in downtown Kalamazoo we realized we had run out of time to do the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts or Park Trades Center. So we instead toured the one place that didn’t have running hours because it doesn’t have walls. Bronson Park, right in the center of town (image by youngavenger) :

Christmas Tree in Bronson Park

Right along with this tour it struck me that I was outside at night and it was a cloudless night. Unfortunately the environment wasn’t good for actual skywatching. There were really only two objects visible in the entire night sky and that was the Moon and a very bright star. Originally I thought it was Venus, but after I used my iPhone’s StarWalk app I discovered to my chagrin that it wasn’t Venus but rather Jupiter.

After our time downtown and not seeing any convenient place to find a restroom we went back to Walwood Hall and dealt with our need of restrooms there. We were originally going to head to Red Robin down in Portage but since we were so close to downtown we changed our mind and went to Olde Peninsula Brewpub instead.

Senate Bill 1867 Sections 1031 and 1032

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Sometimes cleverness is a valuable trait and sometimes it’s just more bullshit. In this case, I revise my earlier statement about the ACLU claiming that S.1253 could lead to the indefinite incarceration of US Citizens in light that the actual bill has been resubmitted and altered as S.1867. It would have been helpful to know that this bill was what the ACLU was carrying on about and not S.1253.

So what is the problem with S.1867. Section 1031 LACKS the paragraph that S.1253 Section 1031 had. In both bills, 1032 still has it’s prohibition however the difference is quite upsetting.

According to OpenCongress.org the bill is still being considered by the Senate. It is important to clear up the confusion between these two bills. It appears that S.1253 is dead and S.1867 is moving forward.

Now that the confusion has cleared up, the ACLU was correct to raise an alarm for S.1867, but not for S.1253. These bill numbers are important!

Senate Bill 1253 Sections 1031 and 1032

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I caught myself in a mistake that I’m trying to correct. I accidentally shared a link to a web article that states that Senate Bill 1253 (Also apparently Senate Bill 1867) which is called the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 has two sections which have everyone really bent out of shape, including me, erroneously, until I READ THE BILL.

Section 1031 has most peoples attention, the bill text excerpt online lacks a vital section that exists in the raw material of the bill itself. For this I blame THOMAS at the Library of Congress for omitting it.

Section 1031’s Prohibition

20 (d) CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATION ON APPLICA-
21 BILITY TO UNITED STATES PERSONS.—The authority to
22 detain a person under this section does not extend to the
23 detention of citizens or lawful resident aliens of the United
24 States on the basis of conduct taking place within the
1 United States except to the extent permitted by the Con-
2 stitution of the United States.

Last I checked the only exception that I can reason out is the set of laws established by the US Constitution. I have lived quite well under those old laws and I don’t see how this text has ANY wriggle room to do what the ACLU claims it does.

Section 1032’s Prohibition

(b) REQUIREMENT INAPPLICABLE TO UNITED
12 STATES CITIZENS.—The requirement to detain a person
13 in military custody under this section does not extend to
14 citizens of the United States.

This one is utterly inescapable. It’s printed in BLACK AND WHITE. I can’t for the life of me see how either section would enable the government to indefinitely incarcerate any US Citizen at all. Such a thing would be a gross violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, to say nothing of violating the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution!

After reading this blog, which pretty much states what I see as a gross display of fear-mongering by the ACLU and adherence to the bombastic bullshit claims that this bill somehow puts our civil liberties at risk. The text is clear for both sections, if you read the text itself!

I did a cursory search on Google for the phrase S.1253 and there are just too many sites all repeating the same bombastic bullshit. Claiming that the ACLU knows, or that Lindsey Graham said this or that, but nobody can show me in the text where the proof of their argument lies. I have read the bill and those two paragraphs, for both sections seem to me to be perfectly acceptable when it comes to protecting my civil liberties as a US Citizen.

If I am right, that means that the ACLU is guilty of misleading the public and engaging in misinformation. If that is the case, I can’t trust anything else they say because if they lied once, what proof could there possibly be that they are honest about anything else? They put their necks on the line over this bill. Frankly, just the fact that I doubt the ACLU’s veracity on this subject makes me reject everything else they say – but when it comes to the court of public opinion, if they are caught, it could ruin their credibility.

Responses

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I wrote a lengthy response to a blog entry I just read called “I’m Christian, unless you’re gay.” and I’ve included it below:

I just read your article, Dan, and thank you for writing it. I was raised as a presbyterian by my parents who had all the best intentions. When I was eight years old, waiting in the church library for my parents to retrieve me after sunday school I had a crisis of faith and subsequently lost it completely. Always after that it was just a mechanical pursuit, go to church, go through the motions… the callousness of children. As I grew up I was confused and kind of terrified by gay people. They weren’t anything but ‘other’ and for the most part I didn’t want to know and elected to avoid the subject as much as I could.

When puberty hit me, square in my too-short-jeans (they always seemed to be too short, because I was growing so fast) I discovered that my own sexuality was starting to develop around me. I say this in hindsight as a 36 year old gay man now, but back then, I had no concept at all about sex other than some vague ideas which entertained anyone I asked when it came to sex education. Mostly met with laughter and a shrug, it was uncomfortable for every adult I ran into. Over the years I found myself looking at other males and having feelings for them, females were there but they weren’t anything more than just people. I wanted more with the other males. I tried lots of ways to suppress and destroy what I was becoming. I would masturbate until the feelings I had went away and that was a way to cope for a while, then I thought if I found the right girl, she could save me from being gay. I tried very hard to be what I thought of as normal, and it all culminated in a really uncomfortable attempt at losing my virginity with my at-the-time girlfriend. I was so conflicted and so worked up that I never got to actually lose my virginity with her. A few days after my 18th birthday I was in college. I was online. I met another boy, also 18, another student and we started to talk. It was a few hours after that, sitting in the late-night-nobody-around student union atrium that I made my first overtly homosexual act. I reached out and laid my hand on the other boys leg and it was an incredible feeling. I finally found what I was supposed to be. When years of pain, agony, confusion, and suppression suddenly lift – it was as close to an epiphany as I think anyone can really have. Ever since then my life has felt good and right and correct. That this was what I was supposed to be. That in a very relevant way, this is how God intended me to be. That’s how it felt.

As I said, I lost my Christian faith, but I started to build another around me. Instead of buying into things I could not possibly believe (affectionately called the hocus-pocus of Christianity) I started to read. I read about Christ, about Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddha, about Moses and Mohammed. I wandered and ranged over as many religions as I could get books on – Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Wicca… you name it, I had read at least something about it. Over the years I have synthesized my own faith and it struck me that the core of almost every faith on Earth can be summed up by the Golden Rule. In so far as you would do, do as you would have others do unto you. That was all I needed. I found that every religious “teacher” was basically shaping this one rule into differently shaped and colored packages and selling that to their believers. I felt uniquely good. I knew myself, I knew what Jesus was trying to teach me (along with the others) and I knew I wasn’t wrong for my feelings. Shortly thereafter I had several other epiphanies including one which revealed my purpose in life. So I know why I’m here and what I’m supposed to do. That’s incredibly comforting.

As I grew up I was regularly exposed to a nebulous menace from the established religions. They didn’t want me, they didn’t love me, they thought I was broken. They called what I did with other men a sin and as I got older I started understanding things better and this understanding helped me avoid “Jews” and “Christians” and “Muslims” because they were toxic human beings who were uniquely unpleasant and unhealthy for me to be around. I loved that in America, with it’s secular approach to everything I could deal with people right up until I had to really know who and what they were. I didn’t come out of the closet to them, and life moved along well. Deep down I was filled with a kind of deep sadness. I knew what the teachings of Christ were, but everyone was muddled in Leviticus and completely confused about what the story of Sodom and Gemmorah was really about. It wasn’t about sex. It was about treating guests well and honorably. As I got older and my thoughts and tastes refined through education and experience I came to see modern Christians as hypocrites. I went thru an anti-Christian phase where I actively hated the shape of chuches and the people I saw spill out of them on Sunday mornings. My anger was rooted in my disbelief that people can go weekly and hear sermons of love and tolerance and then when it’s all over, they go back to their mean wretched vile little lives. It was anger at just how meaningless their faith had become. They were the clockwork drones of the Church. They went, they heard, they sang, they got all dressed up and all of that, but they never really listened. Once service was done, they went back to what they really were– Horrible human beings. From my mid-twenties thru my early thirties I actively cultivated a marvelous misanthropy. I hated my kind. I hated human beings. We were monsters. The very worst possible thing ever created. Satan doesn’t have shit on us, we’re so much better at his game than he ever was.

In the past few years I have mellowed on my misanthropy. Most people don’t really care as long as their little lives are not upset. I also got over my sadness that nobody had listened to Christ, or any of the others. We were all so busy killing, cheating, maiming, and otherwise blowing each other up – and that life trudged forward helped dissolve all my sharp edges about religion. It doesn’t matter if religion tries to make people better, they’ll be what they really want to be and life will just keep on going.

Then the gay marriage flap started. Generally I don’t care one way or another, but on a more civics-minded level all I really do care about is equality. I don’t care for tolerance, I’m not looking for love from strangers. I’m just actively interested in them keeping to their own little lives and not trying to hurt me or kill me for who and what I am. I’ve been in a loving relationship with another man for 14, soon to be 15 years. This relationship has lasted longer than my parents relationship did and longer than many straight relationships do. Yet I cannot get married. It’s fine actually. It was a shock to me just how much people don’t really care when it comes to certain things… I was hospitalized recently and the hospital, a methodist-linked hospital at that had no qualms about respecting my partners rights and even went so far as to have a lawyer handy to help me fill out medical power of attorney for the both of us. So, Hospitals don’t give a flying rip. I asked my Credit Union if my partner could have an account based on our relationship and once again, they didn’t care and were fine with it. I could fill out my last will and testament and that would set my wishes after I die, that really isn’t an issue either. Neither is the religious angle of a marriage as I would prefer to have a pagan handfastening ritual than anything else and I have a priestess who’s ready to rock-and-roll if given the word. So what does it come down to? That CONTRACT that you all (the intolerant, so don’t feel upset, if that isn’t you) don’t want me to have access to. That’s all I’m missing. I’ve got 14 years down, all of this other stuff too, everything but equality with the rest of you.

In the end, life will trudge forward. Perhaps the intolerant will die off and we’ll eventually be equals under the law. I will always hold out hope that someday Christians will wake up and listen to Christ. Maybe not be so monstrous and evil and horrible.

And as for you, Dan, and your article. You have woken up and I thank you for what you wrote. I’m sorry that so much pain and horribleness has to be in our world and that you have to be the lone voice of love and compassion that Christ was all about. I try my best to imagine that other people feel as you do and that feeling fills me with hope for the future. You seem like such a dazzling and wonderful gem, and so much a minority, so very alone in being so awake.

Gays are not monsters. We’re just people. We cry and we hurt. We hurt when you ignore your messiahs lessons about love and compassion. And we hurt the most when we can’t celebrate the people we love like you can all because you keep us under your heels. It hurts when you declare that God hates us, it hurts when you deny us basic equality. Next time you look in the mirror I hope you see yourselves for who and what you are and you weep for what you have become. Feelings are everywhere. Step lightly.

Remarkable

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Several months ago I went to a UA Outlet and bought for myself a few new shirts. A blue polo and a pink one. The pink shirt had the pink ribbon embroidered on the right sleeve and it’s rather hard to see unless you are staring right at it. I brought the shirts home and started to wear them as part of my regular workplace wardrobe.

I have to admit that while I wear the pink shirt I receive a remarkable number of compliments from women. They go out of their way when the see me wearing the shirt to compliment me on it. At first it was a surprise and now it’s become a kind of game to see if it keeps on happening or not. I don’t know exactly why they respond the way they do. I have some good ideas, perhaps it’s that men usually don’t wear pink unless they are gay or particularly secure in their own sexual orientation. I don’t think they see the pink ribbon on the sleeve because it’s hard to spot unless you really are looking for it, but it’s a definite possibility.

Something to note for men, whether you are straight or gay, that the right shade of pink can draw an unbidden compliment from a woman, so if you are straight and looking for attention from said woman, it can’t hurt. If your gay, well, enjoy the attention even if it won’t go anywhere beyond social niceties. 🙂

Inconstant Heart

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Reading the most recent report about how neutrinos have been observed moving faster than the speed of light. An entire section of both classical and quantum physics is founded on C, the symbol for the speed of light, to gracefully be the maximum limit that any physical object can move in our universe. Now we see that this may not actually be the case, at least for neutrinos.

This got me thinking about a few things that are upsetting about science. First is this, second is the classical reference for a kilogram is somehow decaying and isn’t what it used to be. I have to admit to not being a expert but I think I may have spotted a pattern. Perhaps the values for these constants are not constant. Perhaps the expansion of the universe is itself having an effect on the overall shape of spacetime. Perhaps that with expansion comes a vastly fluctuating (or maybe dropping) of all physical constants. Perhaps everything is “on the move”, so you have h, C, G, and other constants that aren’t really cemented down but actually drifting around with the universal shape of spacetime. As the universe expands, the shape changes. We think of C and G at least as perfectly constant, but what if that isn’t the case? What if C and G were vastly higher in the deep past and their rate of change is imperceptibly slow, however still occurring? What does that mean for all these mathematical structures we’ve developed, when the constants that we have come to depend on fluctuate over time? E=MC2, when C isn’t a constant?

Perhaps if G isn’t a constant, and it was much stronger in the past, then could that explain why when we look at the most distant objects in the universe, and therefore backwards through time itself be the cause for every object to be so redshifted? Perhaps the “expansion” of the universe isn’t like we imagine it, perhaps that the universe is indeed a static size but that the dimensions are changing all on their own, that the overall size of the universe is static, but that spacetime geometry itself is changing (somehow) and causes these previously thought constants to shift. That the value of G, which is now 6.67×10-11 N. What if it was something like 2.7×10-2 N in the deep past?

If the geometry of spacetime is indeed changing over time, perhaps that would help explain why string theory which demands eleven or more dimensions in order to work properly may have been very obvious billions of trillions of years ago but over time these dimensions have shrunk down to almost nothing. We can’t prove our theories about the structure of the universe and the physics of it easily because we’re so “late to the game”.

I have to believe that I am not the first person to think about this possibility and I have to assume that there is something I’m forgetting or don’t know that would preclude this possibility. In either case, it is engaging to think about before I’m shot down by a real physicist. 🙂

Nook Tablet Review

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Nook Tablet Review

Unboxing

The box for the Nook Tablet strongly resembles the boxing for all the other Nook devices. Two compartments, the top compartment for the device and a bottom compartment for the charging/data cable and the charging block. The device still uses microUSB as a connector type, which is just like home if you already have a nook or a more-recent release Blackberry. The Nook Tablet is couched in high-density shipping foam.

First Look

The Nook Tablet weighs in at an even 400 grams. My first-generation iPad with Apple slipcover comes in at 865 grams. Already this device has the iPad beaten on mass. The device is wrapped in a matte or brushed aluminum finish and the texture of the case is not slippery but rather grippy. The power button is on the top left corner, the volume buttons are on the top right corner and the microSD slot is cleverly established under the “nook” flap underneath the carabiner-clip part of the case. In the upper right corner, along the top is a standard headphone jack. The rear of the device is wrapped in a dull metalic finish darker than the edging and equally textured. Not slippery, but grippy.

Power On

The power on sequence brings you to the same screen that the Nook Color has, although I can’t recall if the Nook Color had sound effects like this device has upon power up and unlocking. The first thing I noticed in the Library was a video called “New Years Eve” after playing it I noticed that the video was bright and the sound good, except when I turned the display the video was paused and the screen rotated. I had to manually restart playback. Not a showstopper, but worthy to note. The included Spiderman Graphic Novel showed off the Nook Tablet’s color and excellent resolution and the display responded to both my pinch-open and pinch-close finger gestures. The glass surface has some friction to it, nothing upsetting, but worth noting. Through the library feature at least, comic books on the Nook Tablet have the same convenience as reading them on the iPad using Comic Zeal, there isn’t any guided panel-by-panel view that you’d expect with a Comixology app.

Networking

Accessing Wifi is not a problem, at least with plain-jane WEP. Once connected to the network the device can be used to browse the web, and the browser is very fast and actually more responsive than the iPad. The only issue I ran into was a run-away inertial bug in the flick gesture for websites. If you flick too forcefully the Nook Tablet web browser will advance the page faster than you can read and faster than you want. You have to have a very gentle way of gesturing for the built-in web app.

Apps

App downloading is quick and tidy. The update command to check for updated apps is plainly visible on the App Screen. The device comes with a series of standard apps which include:

  • Angry Birds (lead-in to download)
  • Chess
  • Contacts
  • Crossword
  • Email
  • Grooveshark
  • Hulu Plus
  • Music Player
  • My Media
  • Netflix
  • NOOK Friends
  • Pandora
  • Showtime (lead-in)
  • Solitaire (lead-in)
  • Sudoku

The App Store access is easy to find and the app store itself has many apps that I recognize from the Apple App Store, so I didn’t feel like a stranger in a strange land. One notable absence which I did notice was that there was no Comixology app for the Nook Tablet. I suppose it will take just a little bit of time for this app to make it to the Nook App Store.

NetFlix

NetFlix loaded very quickly and I was able to browse my instant queue immediately. Starting a movie was problem free. The display is very bright and the colors are gorgeous. While I watched the movie I decided to test the device with my Apple iPhone earbuds. These have play controls in-line with the wire and I attempted to control volume and playback using them and the Nook ignored this attempt at control. I would hazard that the Nook Tablet cannot understand in-line headphone wire controls. Listening to the movie had only one mild issue and that is as you hold the device in the landscape orientation you can accidentally occlude the devices primary speakers. While these are acceptable for general purpose use, when you have your hand covering the grille to these speakers the sound is muted and muddy. Keeping your hands clear is obviously the answer, but it makes holding the device a little tricky.

Reading

Reading on this device is similar to reading on the iPad. The weight savings alone make it more pleasant to use than the iPad for long-duration reading, and the spoiled-rotten brightness of the display makes reading in any indoor environment very pleasant. The font selection for reading contains:

  • Century Schoolbook
  • Dutch
  • Georgia
  • Ascender Sans
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Gill Sans

Looking up a word brings up the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition with the usual high quality dictionary detail you come to expect. There are two other controls along the bottom in the Lookup Feature, a icon for Google Searching and an icon for Wikipedia Searching.

Accessing new books via the Nook store is a given. However accessing new books via Project Gutenberg is something that I’ve found to be hit-or-miss on these devices. Accessing the web on the Nook Tablet is easy enough, browsing to Project Gutenberg is likewise not an issue. I downloaded Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” as an ePub with images. The file downloaded to the Nook Tablet just fine and the Nook Tablet had no qualms displaying this freshly downloaded ePub, including it’s images. The only thing that I have a qualm about is that the downloaded Books only appear in My Files, under “My Downloads” and can’t be integrated with the primary device library. Because of this limitation you cannot add your downloaded ePub file to a Nook Shelf or browse it in the Nook Library, you have to go out of your way to find what you just downloaded.

Directly importing ePub files to the Nook Tablet however does provide a way to “have your cake and eat it too”. You have to use your computer to download an ePub book and then plug the Nook Tablet into the computer. You can then move whatever ePub files you wish to the Books folder and they will appear in your Library. With this, you can view the book in your Library and add it to Nook Shelves without a problem. One oddity I did uncover was trying to open the new ePub file the first time lead to an error from the Nook Tablet that it could not open the book. Subsequent loads of the book did not display this error. I am unsure whether this was a glitch or a bug. Subsequent loading of ePub material shows this to be a one-off glitch and therefore shouldn’t appear again, I hope.

Reading with Kids

The Nook Tablet has a portion of the library devoted just to kids books. I explored this feature, along with the “Play Along” mode and the “Record Along” mode for the sample book, which is a Winnie the Pooh story. While the “Play Along” feature was pleasant enough, a cross between a childs book and an audiobook with cute little animations peppered in, the “Record Along” feature is really quite something. A parent can record the entire book in their own voice and their child can play it back whenever they like, and read along with their parents voice. There is a certain power in your parents voice, especially for kids and people who never let their inner child fade away. After I recorded a page or two of the Winnie the Pooh story I thought about how this would work in a home with actual children. The Nook Tablet would either have to be the childs device or a home device. I imagine this feature would have the most poignant effect if a parent recorded the book, and then when the parent is on a work trip or otherwise unavailable the child can open the story and hear their parents recorded voice read-along with them. This is the extreme of niche features but the way it’s arranged and the way the interface is constructed to facilitate such a thing is absolutely breathtaking. If you are a parent who has a young child just starting to read, the Nook Tablet, for this one feature, is worth every penny that you’ll spend on it. I am impressed, and that takes a lot.

Opinion

The Nook Tablet is a very compelling device and at the price point of $249 dollars, when compared to the iPad at $499 it does pose a certain competition to the Apple device. There are some really outstanding features which already make the Nook Tablet a great device:

  • Reading is easy, not as easy as a Nook Simple Touch, but more pleasant than an iPad, mostly due to the weight and size.
  • Access to both the built-in Dictionary, Google, and Wikipedia deserves an standing ovation.
  • Ability to import your own ePub files, and I presume if you insert a large microSD card, putting your books that you already own on the Nook Tablet is a non-issue.
  • Access on-the-fly to Project Gutenberg is a delight to see. There is a certain freedom in not being tied to the Barnes & Noble Bookstore with this device and you cannot quibble with free books.
  • The audio is clear, and the sound effects for both turning on and off the device replicate very well the sound a dusty tome would make if you opened it and closed it quickly. It’s these little touches that you appreciate as you reflect on your experience.
  • The “Record Along” feature is absolutely outstanding. Parents with young children just starting to read really should look at this device for this feature.

Some of the problems with the Nook Tablet:

  • Immature App Store – Comixology has an app for Android, but it is not in the Barnes & Noble App Store yet. Barnes & Noble should pour resources into their App Store and corral developers to bring more meat to the party.
  • Speaker Placement – The speakers placed where they are makes watching a Netflix movie on the device a little bit irritating as you really can’t hold the device like you really want to without occluding the speakers and either muting or muddying the sound.
  • Headphone Insensitivity – Headphones with in-line controls should be respected and honored. People are going to attach these accessories to this device and expect it to work, and so far, it won’t. I don’t know if it’s a firmware adjustment or if the device lacks the controller to process such an accessory. The Nook Tablet also does not stop playback when the headphones are plugged in or removed. If the headphones are accidentally removed during playback, at least with the NetFlix app, the speakers resume playing sound.
  • Font Problems – My favorite font is not present. Helvetica Neue. It is present on the Nook Simple Touch but not on the Nook Tablet. I hope this is an oversight by the developers at Barnes & Noble Booksellers and that an upgraded firmware update to the Nook Tablet will eventually fix the issue. The Nook Tablet has a similar set of fonts to iBooks on iOS. This should be on B&N’s list of things to fix soon.
  • No satellite charging – The Nook Tablet refuses to charge when plugged into a USB port. I am unsure as to why, since the device was plugged into a MacBook and I know for a fact that this particular computer supports low-current USB and high-current USB, enough to charge an iPad – so why can’t it charge a Nook Tablet?
  • Gesture bugs – There are a few places where gestures with your fingers produce unwanted results. Specifically browsing the web, if you flick-gesture too strongly you end up in a warp-speed scroll to the end of the document. On really long documents this can become annoying quickly. While not really a design fault, it will require some experience to master, especially if you have grown used to flick-gesture-with-inertia that Apple has mastered in their iOS run devices.

All in all, the Nook Tablet is well worth the $249.00 pricetag. The device is solid and constructed well and I think it will withstand the kind of use that kids can throw at it. I couldn’t test this demo unit to destruction however I can’t imagine that something this solidly built can be harmed easily. If you are in the market for a tablet, but don’t have the cash on hand for an iPad, this is the next natural option. This device will get better with time, with firmware updates and the later refinements that come with customer feedback to the developers. This device will truly shine when the Nook App Store bulks up. Right now, I would advise anyone looking for a tablet, or parents looking for a device like this to buy it as quickly as you can.