Comments on: H.L. Mencken as a blogger—or nonblogger: Take your pick (and enjoy the free e-book) http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:59:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: D.Rhoden http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-434793 D.Rhoden Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:37:45 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-434793 David, thank you. I had installed the new M.P. Desktop a month or so ago and didn't much like it (I guess when you get older you like familiar things), so I went back to to Pro v4.9 and kept the Companion for converting files for my Cybook. Awaiting your update on the DW375, as I am awaiting my DW375 ordered last weekend. I love TeleRead. deanna David, thank you. I had installed the new M.P. Desktop a month or so ago and didn’t much like it (I guess when you get older you like familiar things), so I went back to to Pro v4.9 and kept the Companion for converting files for my Cybook.
Awaiting your update on the DW375, as I am awaiting my DW375 ordered last weekend.
I love TeleRead.
deanna

]]> By: Robert Nagle http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-431441 Robert Nagle Sat, 23 Jun 2007 20:21:50 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-431441 Garson, I wanted to point out something slightly ludicrous. I appreciate the similarities between weblogs and diaries. However, shouldn't the people converting Pepys and Kafka into blog form be more oriented towards publishing as an ebook? Ebook is much easier and more portable (though without comment capability). If everything were magic, I'd like the ebook on my pda/reading device to update magically (and I'm not simply talking about scooping the latest chronological posts). Garson, I wanted to point out something slightly ludicrous. I appreciate the similarities between weblogs and diaries. However, shouldn’t the people converting Pepys and Kafka into blog form be more oriented towards publishing as an ebook? Ebook is much easier and more portable (though without comment capability).

If everything were magic, I’d like the ebook on my pda/reading device to update magically (and I’m not simply talking about scooping the latest chronological posts).

]]> By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-431244 David Rothman Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:00:40 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-431244 Sure, Deanna. Look for Mobipocket's Import feature and choose PDF. You need to work with <a href="http://mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReader.asp" rel="nofollow">Mobipocket Desktop</a> (free on the site) rather than the old Companion. Get back to me if this isn't detailed enough for you. Happy e-reading. David Sure, Deanna. Look for Mobipocket’s Import feature and choose PDF. You need to work with Mobipocket Desktop (free on the site) rather than the old Companion. Get back to me if this isn’t detailed enough for you. Happy e-reading. David

]]> By: D.Rhoden http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-430750 D.Rhoden Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:15:01 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-430750 Can someone explain for me this... "just remember—use Mobipocket Desktop’s translator from Adobe, rather than viewing it immediately in PDF, or the Mobi converter won’t work" ...from the Mencken post. I have been all over Mobipocket and Adobe sites and can find nothing about a "Mobi translator". The Mobipocket Web Companion only converts HTML and text and as far as I can tell, the Reader does no converting. Or maybe I'm not understanding translating/converting. Thx, deanna Can someone explain for me this… “just remember—use Mobipocket Desktop’s translator from Adobe, rather than viewing it immediately in PDF, or the Mobi converter won’t work” …from the Mencken post.

I have been all over Mobipocket and Adobe sites and can find nothing about a “Mobi translator”. The Mobipocket Web Companion only converts HTML and text and as far as I can tell, the Reader does no converting. Or maybe I’m not understanding translating/converting.
Thx, deanna

]]> By: Robert Nagle http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-430139 Robert Nagle Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:10:16 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-430139 i smell a trend here. i smell a trend here.

]]> By: Garson O'Toole http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-430069 Garson O'Toole Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:55:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-430069 David Rothman wonders if Mencken would have made a good blogger and Robert Nagle poses a similar question about Franz Kafka. Mencken certainly was a robust controversialist and that is important to many blog readers. Wondering how historical figures would adapt to the internet age is engaging. In one case a gentleman who died hundreds of years ago has been refashioned into a contemporary-style blogger posthumously. <a HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys" rel="nofollow">Samuel Pepys</A> inhabited London in the 1600s and he kept a remarkable diary that was published in the nineteenth century. Wikipedia says that the diary “provides a fascinating combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.” Now the diary is <a HREF="http://www.pepysdiary.com/" rel="nofollow">available in blog format</A> with the day of the year synchronized to current dates. Kafka's <a HREF="http://www.metameat.net/kafka/index.php?en" rel="nofollow">diaries are available in blog format</A> too. David Rothman wonders if Mencken would have made a good blogger and Robert Nagle poses a similar question about Franz Kafka. Mencken certainly was a robust controversialist and that is important to many blog readers. Wondering how historical figures would adapt to the internet age is engaging. In one case a gentleman who died hundreds of years ago has been refashioned into a contemporary-style blogger posthumously. Samuel Pepys inhabited London in the 1600s and he kept a remarkable diary that was published in the nineteenth century. Wikipedia says that the diary “provides a fascinating combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.” Now the diary is available in blog format with the day of the year synchronized to current dates. Kafka’s diaries are available in blog format too.

]]> By: Robert Nagle http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/06/21/hl-mencken-as-a-blogger-or-nonblogger-take-your-pick/#comment-430040 Robert Nagle Fri, 22 Jun 2007 06:56:22 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6732#comment-430040 great post. I look forward to looking over this book. (Btw, I speculated once about whether <a href="http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/kafka.html" rel="nofollow">Kafka would have kept a weblog </a>). I haven't read a ton of Mencken, but what I have read compares very well with bloggers of today. I honestly don't know if newspapermen like Mencken or Walter Lippman were able to make a living comfortably in those days, but I'm guessing that Mencken would be weblogging too if he were around today. Mencken's columns remain fresh (and iconoclastic) today. I have to wonder whether the current batch of NYT reporters will ever have the same staying power--I think Frank Rich's caustic columns might stand a chance. But he is the exception rather than the rule. The formula for successful column writing in today's market is to write for free with possibly advertising support, gain a following and having a MSM outlet pay you to join their team. Mencken would be amused, but there is a fairness about this method; at least nobody is being prevented from publishing these days. I for one would like to see more bloggers packaging their essays into ebook format (polishing them a little of course). Maybe that's a business model: essays are for free on the net; an ebook collection of these essays is a $1 or so. One of my fave writers, Mike Royko, wrote in a more personal style and yet he managed to touch upon lots of social and political changes noticed by ordinary people. Writers like Buchwald, Rooney, Cooke (and more recently) Scott Adams will probably be read by future readers more than we would realize..for glimpses into how ordinary people lived and thought and laughed. Finally let me give a plug for the Houston Chronicle which jumped on the blog bandwagon earlier than most. In addition to <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/blogs/" rel="nofollow">putting most of their paid staff on blogs </a>, they've provided free blog hosting to <a href="http://www.chron.com/commons/commons.html" rel="nofollow">many freelancers in the Houston area </a>. Of course, to keep these writers blogging, media outlets probably need to offer incentives...It's unclear whether any future Menckens are soon to emerge from this pack. great post. I look forward to looking over this book. (Btw, I speculated once about whether Kafka would have kept a weblog ).

I haven’t read a ton of Mencken, but what I have read compares very well with bloggers of today. I honestly don’t know if newspapermen like Mencken or Walter Lippman were able to make a living comfortably in those days, but I’m guessing that Mencken would be weblogging too if he were around today. Mencken’s columns remain fresh (and iconoclastic) today. I have to wonder whether the current batch of NYT reporters will ever have the same staying power–I think Frank Rich’s caustic columns might stand a chance. But he is the exception rather than the rule. The formula for successful column writing in today’s market is to write for free with possibly advertising support, gain a following and having a MSM outlet pay you to join their team. Mencken would be amused, but there is a fairness about this method; at least nobody is being prevented from publishing these days. I for one would like to see more bloggers packaging their essays into ebook format (polishing them a little of course). Maybe that’s a business model: essays are for free on the net; an ebook collection of these essays is a $1 or so.

One of my fave writers, Mike Royko, wrote in a more personal style and yet he managed to touch upon lots of social and political changes noticed by ordinary people. Writers like Buchwald, Rooney, Cooke (and more recently) Scott Adams will probably be read by future readers more than we would realize..for glimpses into how ordinary people lived and thought and laughed.

Finally let me give a plug for the Houston Chronicle which jumped on the blog bandwagon earlier than most. In addition to putting most of their paid staff on blogs , they’ve provided free blog hosting to many freelancers in the Houston area . Of course, to keep these writers blogging, media outlets probably need to offer incentives…It’s unclear whether any future Menckens are soon to emerge from this pack.

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