The SoapBoxers

Some states have have are making written driver’s license exams only available in English. This is clearly a method to deny licenses to illegal aliens. However, the advocates of this change often insist that this is a safety issue, and is unrelated to immigration. So let’s set aside the immigration issue and answer the basic question: must someone be fluent in English to be a safe driver?

The first thing we should do is look at the actual street signs you encounter over the course of a day. Some of them have no words at all and other signs have obvious visual clues. If you see an octagonal red sign, you don’t need to see the writing on the sign to know that this is a stop sign. Exclude street signs for a moment and count the number of different words you encounter. It’s a tiny subset of the English language.

Why are we excluding street signs? Because it’s not actually necessary to understand a street sign. You simply need to recognize the name. If I was in Paris looking for Rue Montorgueil, I wouldn’t need to understand what those words mean – I’d simply need to look for those words on a street sign.

Rue Montorgueil or Main street, it makes no difference. Comprehension is not required; only the ability to match a pattern.

So now we have this relative handful of important words. I could take someone who speak Spanish, French, or Italian and explain the concepts to them in their native language. After this lesson, they would know how to react to these signs.

So I would argue that the English fluency necessary to be a safe driver is relatively low. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to many people, as many of us probably know some functionally illiterate people who are able to drive without significant issues. Likewise, I’m sure that I could learn and understand Mexico’s traffic signs well enough to drive there, even though I know only a few words in Spanish.

Could I pass a Spanish language test on Mexico’s driving laws, though? Of course not. The level of fluency necessary to understand the test would be far higher than the level necessary to understand the signs. If I wanted to, I could create a test on your state’s driving laws that the vast majority of people would fail. I’d test simple concepts, but use words that very few people know.

The key takeaway here? A large vocabulary does not equal a better understanding of the laws.

There is actually a danger to denying licenses. If you look through the crime logs in your city, you’ll likely see a number of people cited for driving without a license. Lack of a license does not prevent many people from driving. However, it DOES prevent them from getting insurance – so they become uninsured drivers.

Last Friday, a gunman killed twenty kids and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut. From Columbine to Sandy Hook, there have been several tragic shooting at schools across the United States. Many parents wonder if they should pull their kids out of schools. Are schools a dangerous place for kids?

How dangerous are schools?

There are about fifty five million students attending the more than one hundred thirty thousand schools across the country. Add in three and a half million teachers and various other employees, and more than sixty million people could be in schools at any point and time. That’s nearly one in five Americans.

How safe are schools? Let’s look at some statistics from The Institute of Education Sciences within the National Center for Education Statistics. Between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 (latest period for which full statistics are available) seventeen students were killed at school or school related functions. That’s seventeen too many.

During the same time, 1562 kids between the age of five and eighteen were victims of homicide (citation: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/crimeindicators2011/figures/figure_01_2.asp). Wow.  That’s the equivalent of more than 50 Sandy Hooks in a year. As incredibly tragic as school shootings are, they tiny fraction of the total number of kids being murdered every year.  It’s the very tip of the iceberg.  A child is far more likley to be killed by a parent than by a gunman at school.

Veterans in schools

One suggestion I’ve seen from Republicans friends of mine is to employ 3-4 veterans as security at every school.  At first glance, that’s a very interesting idea.  Let’s take a moment to run the numbers.  Let’s assume four at each school.  Let’s assume an average salary of $25,000 with total employment costs (health insurance, FICA, etc) at around $35,000.  This would add  more than a half million people to government payrolls, at a cost of $18 billion.  That’s an interesting suggestion from the party that believes in smaller government.

I’m also not sure how effective it would be.  Would shooters just decide not to kill anyone?  Or would they just move on to softer targets?  If you take a moment to think of all the times when groups of children are in vulnerable situations, you may not be able to sleep tonight.  Would heavily guarded schools simply transfer the death toll elsewhere, with the net outcome to society the same?  I don’t have a good answer to that question.

Take away all the guns

Should we just ban all guns?  Even if we wanted to do this, it’s not feasible.  There are a huge number of unlicensed weapons in this country.  Weapons have always been a part of American life, and many guns have been handed down from generation to generation.  Tracking down all these guns would be impossible.

Of course, the criminals would keep their guns … and would probably employee some machine shops to manufacturer guns for them.  The manufacture of the most basic guns is not exactly rocket science.

Guns don’t kill people.  People kill people

This is true. 

However, guns make it easy to kill quickly, and from a distance.  In China last week, someone injured 23 people in a knife attack.  How many died?  Zero.  It takes far more effort to kill twenty people with a knife than with a gun.  First, you must get close to the victim, which allows them to fight back (or others to tackle you).  Second, it takes more time to perform the actual kill.  It’s not just a matter of pulling a trigger.

While it’s not practical to ban all guns (and would violate the 2nd amendment), let’s spend a moment discussing guns with high firing rates / high capacity.  I’m not a firearms expert, so I’m not going to give a specific definition for this.  A simple revolver won’t with this category, an AK-47 will.  At some point between those two weapons, there is a line of demarcation.

I’m not a gun expert, but my thought is that there are three basic uses for a gun:

• Defense – Includes self-defense and many law enforcement situations.
• Hunting/Sport
• Offense  – Includes military, extreme law enforcement situations (siege), and homicide.

My basic question is the purpose of high capacity weapon in these situations. 

In a self-defense situation, it seems a bit unlikely that one of these weapons would be more helpful than a more traditional weapon.  If you have to fire a hundred rounds in a defense situation, you have some very serious problems (such as being under attack by an entire regiment of the Canadian Army).  Maybe there have been real life situations where someone has needed this sort of capacity in a defense situation.

I also wonder about the need for such a weapon in a hunting situation.  If you have to fire a hundred rounds to kill an animal, doesn’t that diminish the skill aspect of hunting a bit?  I’d also consider sport uses of firearms to be secondary to safety concerns. 

So, then, is there a need for high fire rate / high capacity firearms in the hands of civilians?  And if so, what is that need?

Newtown, we grieve with you.

James Patterson comes out with a new book as often as some people change their underwear.  I won’t name any names, but you know who you are.  Calling him prolific underestimates the scope significantly.  He released 13 books in 2011 and is scheduled for a total of 13 in 2012.  Don’t worry, there are already 5 books planned for release in 2013.  By comparison, Stephen King has released two books this year.

How does Patterson do it?  I’ve been aware of his secret for quite some time, but Parade Magazine spilled the beans to a broader audience yesterday.  Patterson collaborates with a number of authors to co-write most of his books.  Grab a random Patterson book – most likely you’ll see his name at the top and the other author’s name lower on the cover.

The breakdown of work is essentially this:

• Patterson comes up with the idea and generates an outline
• The other author fleshes out the outline into a first draft
• Patterson tweaks as necessary and hands off to the publisher

I’m not sure of the exact agreement between Patterson and the other authors.  My assumption is that Patterson gets the lion’s share of the money.  Is this a fair deal for the other authors?

It sounds like other authors are doing a lot of the work – and they are.  However, we shouldn’t underestimate Patterson’s contributions to the books.  Coming up with a good idea for a novel is hard, as is determining that path the plot will take.  Edison once said that genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.  It’s important to remember that both aspects of genius must be in place for it to work.  Just as inspiration without perspiration will fail, so will perspiration without inspiration.

Most importantly, though, is the value of Patterson’s name.  Putting his name on a book guarantees premium placement in book stores, a huge number of sales, and likely a top spot on best seller lists.  This is due to a strong reputation Patterson has built up over the years.  While Patterson’s collaborators are doing a lot of the work, they are also reaping huge benefits by associating themselves with him.  They may get a considerably smaller chunk of the pie than they would if they created the same book independently, but they are getting a slice of a much larger pie.

For whatever reason, Patterson is an author I like best in audio format.  I don’t often grab his books and read them.  There’s no explanation for this – there are other authors I enjoying reading and dislike listening to their audio books.  Probably my favorite Patterson book is The Jester, which he co-wrote with Andrew Gross.

I first saw the term Black Thursday in the comic strip Retail.  The strip makes a serious point, though.  Is Thanksgiving just a year or two away from become a complete afterthought?  Will people begin completely ignoring tradition and just head the stores at 5 AM on Thanksgiving instead of eating turkey and watching football?  Battling other shoppers for the the best deal on a flat screen TV at Wal-Mart seems to reduce the rest and relaxation aspect of a holiday.

I avoid the Black Friday craziness.  Sure, you may save a few bucks, but what’s the cost of standing in line and getting shoved around.  I hate crowds (not a phobia, just a dislike) and really don’t like to wait in line for more than about 10 minutes.  Waiting hours in line in the freezing cold for a store to open?  No thanks.  I’ll stay inside where it’s nice and warm.

And for the people shoving others to the ground and trampling them (this happens every year) – what the hell are you people thinking?  Would you behave like this on a random shopping day in June?  If it’s not appropriate behavior then, it’s not appropriate behavior on Black Friday (or Black Thursday) either.  Behave like civilized people.

Need to get some shopping done but wary of the crowds?  Amazon has everything 🙂

Sports stuff

Another reason I’ll be staying home today is that there are two interesting football games on TV.  Nebraska vs. Iowa (my wife’s team) followed by West Virginia vs. Iowa State (my team).  A win by my Cyclones would get us to 7-5 on the year.  We lost one of our best defensive players (Jake Knott) earlier in the year, and he could possible be back for a bowl game.  This would allow him to finish his career on a high note (although he was conference defensive player on the week in his last game – playing with any injury sustained the week prior) and put on a show for any NFL teams that may be watching.

Everyone’s talking about the Lions losing a game because their coach challenged a touchdown by the Texans.  By rule, all scoring plays are reviewed, and challenging the play is an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and negates the review.  The officials made the right call according to the rule book.  Strange rule, though.  I can see having the 15 yard penalty, but negating the review seems odd.

The Patriots scored 21 points in less than a minute in their game.  That’s hard to do – especially since there were no onside kicks involved.  The Patriots scored, then quickly caused a fumbled and returned it for a touchdown, then the kick returner fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Patriots scored on the play.  Strange.

For a few years now, Martin Kelly has been participating in NaNoWriMo.  This year, I’m also taking the plunge.

What are the odds of me hitting the 50,000 word goal by the end of the month?  Not good.  Not good at all.  However, I’m hoping that the exercise will allow me to find small pockets of writing time and take advantage of them, so that I can continue the good habits after November is over.  I have several book ideas at the moment, but have struggled to find time to write.

If you want to buddy me on the site, go ahead.  Here’s my profile.

My book is tentatively titled “Shuffle”.  My main idea behind the book is that the main character’s life has been shuffled like a deck of cards and he’s going to live the time out of sequence.  This is likely triggered by an event in his 20s, to avoid having his youth messed up to much.  In a nutshell, one day he’ll be 42.  The next day he’ll be 25.  A few weeks later, he’ll be 70.  The idea came from the combination of several things – Quantum Leap, Memento, 11/22/63, and more importantly, the “random” button on XKCD.

The one thing missing at the moment is a plot.  I came up with this idea on the spur of the moment a few days ago.  Is the main character the protagonist or the antagonist?  If the story is going to be interesting, there really should be some sort of conflict.  But what sort of conflict?  Romantic troubles, or someone trying to kill the character.  (On second thought, those two ideas really aren’t mutually exclusive).  Heck, I’m not even settled on the gender of the character, much less the name (although I could always just go with Pat).

OK, need to finish this up and get back to my writing.  My word count at 11:30 on the first day of NaNoWriMo?  7.

Hurricane Sandy

Many in the northeast don’t have to go to work or school today.  But that’s not a good thing.  it’s because Hurricane Sandy is about to come ashore and could hammer the region for several days.  Early estimates of damage are in the neighborhood of $50 billion – and those estimates may end up being conservative, based on the path of the storm.  Sandy is a slow-moving storm, which is a horrible thing for a hurricane, and it means that the storm will dump rain on the region for a long period of time.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie put it best when he gave this succinct advice:

Don’t be stupid. Get out!

The Election

The timing of the storm also comes just a week before election day.  President Obama’s performance in some battleground states – notably Virginia and North Carolina – could depend on how he handles reaction to the storm.  There’s really not much Romney can do in this case, other than volunteer to fill sandbags somewhere.  At this stage, he’s a private citizen and has no authority over emergency response.

For reasons that elude me, people continue to report on the national polling numbers.  Maybe there’s more national interest in these numbers, but they are completely irrelevant.  Large majorities in some states will make a candidate look good in the national polls, but doesn’t help them in the electoral college.  The game is all about winning the battleground states.  What the candidates do in Texas and California does absolutely nothing to move the needle. 

World Series

Late Sunday night, the Giants finished off the Tigers in extra innings.  This capped an incredible post-season run by the Giants.  They are a hated rival of mine, but I applaud their ability to overcome a myriad of obstacles and win their second World Series in three years.  Marco Scutaro drove in an ecstatically sliding Ryan Theriot with the winning run.

College Football

A notable story in college football this year is the poor performance by the Big 10 conference.  In the latest BCS rankings, just a single Big 10 team made the rankings.  (To avoid kicking my Big 10 friends while they are down, I won’t point out how many Big 12 teams are in the rankings.  But it’s easy to find out.)

One wrinkle in the BCS is that a team from a non-automatic qualifier conference earns an automatic berth is they finish in the top 16 and also finish above the champion of any of the automatic qualifier conferences.  (I think only one team can take advantage of this per year).  Here are where some teams currently fit in the BCS standings:

• 19) Boise State
• 20) Nebraska (highest ranked Big 10 team)
• 25) Louisiana Tech

I like Boise State well enough, but I’m pulling for Louisiana Tech to crash the BCS party this year.

I’m also hoping for Notre Dame and Alabama to lose in the coming weeks.  Maybe have a nice batch of losses for the SEC and end up with an LSU-Louisiana Tech BCS game …

The big injury news on Saturday was standout South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore, who dislocated his knee and suffered ligament damage in the game against Tennessee.  On the positive side, Lattimore did not break any bones.  He could possibly sit out 2013 as a redshirt year and then return to the field for the Gamecocks in 2014.

NBA

Reigning sixth man of year James Harden was traded from the Thunder to the Rockets.  Several picks and a few players were involved, but I’m not enough of an NBA fan to break down all the details.  However, I find it interesting that Harden left Oklahoma City because of money.  He’ll get a “max deal” of $60 million over four years from the Rockets.  Harden was offered $55.5 million over 4 years from the Thunder?

Wouldn’t you take a few less dollar for the opportunity to chase some titles with Kevin Durant.  (I guess I shouldn’t tell them that I like Durant – Durant!”)

BPA is bad for you, we’ve been told.  It was banned from baby bottles in the US and Canada.  Then came an even bigger scare – a study that showed that a mother eating food packaged in BPA could cause lower thyroid levels in boys!

The something funny happened.  Concerned parent Sarah points out that the government of Canada released a study that says that consuming products packaged in BPA does not cause a health risk.

Sarah asks whom we would trust – the researcher who is dependent on grant money or the government of Canada.

I’ll take this even a step further and point out the existence of what is known as “publication bias”.  The studies that appear in journals – and thus are far more likely to end up in the mainstream media or be noticed by legislators – are more likely to be the results that are shocking or unexpected.

For example, let’s say that we’re studying whether or not drinking a quart of orange juice every day can prevent the growth of tumors.  Ninety nine studies do not show any link, but one study appears to show that drinking the orange juice does indeed prevent the tumors from growing.  Guess which one is going to end up in a scientific journal?  Certainly not one of the boring ones – the one with the surprising result is going to be published.

A basic concept with science is that an experiment must be repeatable by other scientists before the results can be considered valid.  This is to prevent unrelated factors (such as human error) from creating the result. 

The same concept applies to scientific studies.  When one study appears to shop a certain result, it’s very difficult to know of this is causation or merely correlation.  It’s possible that the result could be attributed to other factors, or even to selection bias.  In our hypothetical orange juice – cancer study, perhaps the control group and experimental group were located in different geographical areas.  The OJ drinkers received treatment at one hospital whereas the non-drinkers received treatment at another.  It’s possible that the OJ doctors were simply more effective in treating cancer, and that the orange juice really had no effect.

In a nutshell, exercise caution when you read about scientific studies.  Check to see if there have been other studies on the topic, and check to see what the results of those studies were.  Look at the entire body of work on the topic, in other words, and not just one study.  We’re in an age where we research topics with just a click of the mouse.  Put that power to work for you and become more educated on the topics you care about!

Much Ado About Nothing???

Golden Tate’s Disputed “Catch”

Ok, I get it, the “replacement” NFL officials are very poor. It is difficult to watch some of the calls, incorrect rules interpretations, and general comedy of errors that are occurring in many of the NFL games. It is clear that these guys are over their heads.

Last night might be just the straw the “real” officials are waiting for to end the lock out.

In case you missed it, or have not read a newspaper or listened to any sports talk radio or television today, the final play of the Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers game came down to a last second heave from Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson in the general direction of wide receiver Golden Tate on the final play of the game. The problem is that Green Bay Packer defensive back M.D. Jennings actually fell to the ground with possession of the ball, and then Tate – basically reached in with one arm and got a bit of the football and then the official on the field ruled it a simultaneous catch.

I remind you that I have no allegiance to either team, but I am sure the Packers and Seahawks fans see this play each in their own completely different light.

Where does this one rank?

If you look at sports in general there are a ton of lousy calls that could determine the outcome of games, or even titles or seasons for that matter. Here is a short list of my personal top 5 worst calls ever, but remember, my views are tainted by my team allegiances as well. Not sure where this call ranks on an all-time list, and you might get other arguments but here are my personal top 5 worst calls of all time.

1. Penn State vs. Nebraska – Beaver Stadium – 1982 – Keep in mind I was 12 years old at the time, and this one is still blazed into my memory 30 years later. During the final drive was aided by a Nebraska personal foul on the kickoff and the “questionable” call on the 15-yard sideline pass to tight end Mike McCloskey. Both McCloskey and Penn State Quarterback Todd Blackledge admitted years later what all Husker fans already knew long ago. He was like 2 yards out of bounds when he caught the ball to give them a first down and keep the drive alive. Then Blackledge hits Kirk Bowman on a catch…errrrr…trap….in the end zone to seal the win with 4 seconds left. Penn State eventually wins the National Title that Osborne should have garnered.
2. Colorado’s 5th Down – One of the worst ever (obviously or it would not be on my list!). Colorado is awarded not 4 but 5 chances to punch it in after a first and goal to beat Missouri on the last play of the game and go on to claim a share of the National Title. I would call them cheaters, but the officials made them do it!
3. Put Some Time Back on the Clock…TWICE – The U.S.S.R. somehow gets the officials to put time back on the clock – – not once, but TWICE at the end of the game allowing the Soviet Union a couple of do-overs to score a basket at the buzzer and win the gold medal with a 50-49 victory in the final of the 1972 Games.
4. Missouri’s Loved or Hated Man – The most controversial call in World Series history, first base umpire, Don Denkinger calls the Royals’ Jorge Orta safe at first base in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1985 Series against the Cardinals. Replays clearly show that St. Louis pitcher Todd Worrell clearly beat Orta to the bag. Denkinger’s call allows a two run rally by the Kansas City Royals who then pull off a 2-1 victory. Kansas City goes on to win the Series in seven games.
5. Head or Tails? – The easiest call in any football game is the coin flip, unless you are NFL official Phil Luckett. During the 1999 Thanksgiving Day game between the Steelers and Lions the teams come out for the overtime coin flip. Steelers captain Jerome Bettis calls “tails”, but Luckett hears “heads”.  I can still see the looks on Jerome Bettis’s face…”WTF” – The Lions win the toss and go on to win the game. The NFL changes its procedures forever after this monumental turkey day gaffe.

Bottom line when it comes to what all of us fans think is poor officiating…..If you don’t like getting screwed at the end of the game, play better and don’t put yourself in a position to get screwed.

Stat of the Weak (weak)

Johnny Goodman’s Fantasy Football teams, known for countless league titles and copious amounts of lifetime earnings are a combined 0-6 to start the year.

Heisman Trophy Watch

• Nick Florence – QB – Baylor – Can the Bears pull off back to back Heisman winners. Ni-Flo is on fire leading the NCAA is total offense with 174 rushing and 1004 passing in just 3 games.
• Stephon Jefferson – RB – Nevada. Explodes onto the list. Through four games he has 11 rushing TD’s and 699 yards rushing to lead the nation in yards per game rushing.
• Rakeem Cato – QB – Marshall – Stays on the list leading the nation in passing with 10 TD’s and just 2 interceptions along with 1481 yards through 4 games.
• Geno Smith – QB – West Virginia – Should be able to continue to pad his numbers in the normally wide open Big XII. Barely behind Florence of Baylor in total offense per game at this point, but has a much stronger supporting cast than the other candidates on this list.

Stay Classy Nashville, Tennessee (Golden Tate’s Hometown).
 

It’s the end of the week.  Time to dump brain fragments into an article.

Should we hate Muslims?

In recent days, there has been more anti-American violence in the Middle East, including the killing of our ambassador to Libya.  Some are are quick to blame the Muslim world, or Islam in general, for the violence.  This is not the case.  It is violent extremists within the muslim community who are perpetrating the violence.  In fact, there were peaceful pro-American protests in Libya following the violence.  Violent extremists – be they Muslim, Christian, or Atheists – are the true enemy of society.

The typical Muslim is much like you or me – working to make sure there is food on the table, enjoying sports (although this may be soccer instead of football), and spending time with family. Your average muslim isn’t staying awake nights plotting ways to kill Americans; she’s staying awake because the baby won’t stay asleep.

If you don’t want to be judged by the words and actions of Pat Robertson and the Westboro “Baptist” Church, then don’t judge the Muslim world by the words and actions of a few.

Bacon Barter

Oscar Mayer is sponsoring a comedian’s trip across the United States.  He’s pulling a trailer with 3000 pounds of bacon.  He must trade the bacon for everything he needs – lodging, food, gas, etc.  I’m not really seeing the challenge.  People will gladly give you stuff in exchange for bacon.  If the guy had nothing but 3000 pounds of spinach … now bartering THAT for everything he needs would be a challenge.

Random Ken Griffey Jr. note

Ken Griffey, Jr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m attempting to become an Up and In .9er and was listening to episode 3 (from 2010) the other day.  They were chatting about Ken Griffey Jr. and how some younger fans don’t realize how good of a player he was in his prime.  I’m 37 and was discussing this with a 29 year old friend.  He had no clue that Griffey was a once-in-a-generation player before injuries took their toll.

How good was Griffey?  So good that he’ll waltz into the Hall of Fame despite a .260 batting average and a relatively modest 192 homers in his last 10 seasons – and a paltry 11 stolen bases.

In his first 12 seasons (starting at age 19) he hit .296 with 438 homers, 197 steals, an MVP award (top 10 six other times), eleven all-star appearances, and ten gold gloves.  438 homers is a good career for most players – and he was still just 30 at the end of that stretch.

Ignore the national polls

You’ll see news reports about about Obama or Romney leading or trailing by a couple of points in the national polls.  I’m never really sure why people care about the national polls.  We don’t have a national presidential election.  We use the Chuck E. Cheese model.  There are 51 smaller elections, and the winner of each of those elections gets a fixed number of points.  Collect 270 points and trade them for the big prize.

Realistically, 3/4 of the states aren’t in play.  Obama isn’t going to win Texas, nor is Romney going to win California.  It really boils down to handful of battleground states where either candidates have a realistic chance to win – and where the voters will be bombarded by ads and candidate visits.  While voters in some states might welcome a visit, most people I know here in Iowa just try to figure out a way to avoid traffic issues caused by visits.  I was delayed last Friday because they shut down the interstate to allow the presidential motorcade through – and I needed to find an alternate route home.

Baseball races

I still don’t like baseball’s extra wild card spots this year (I feel that it cheapens the playoffs), but it is certainly adding some drama to September.  The Phillies, long since given up for dead, have crawled out of their coffin to get back into the race.  The Dodgers and Cardinals are currently’s facing off in a four game series – if they split the series it could give the Phillies an opportunity to make up more ground.

In the American League, the Yankees have been slumping and the Orioles actually have a shot to win the East.  Baltimore is 19 games above .500 (81-62) despite being outscored by 20 runs this year.  The performance of their bullpen is allowing them to win a lot of close games.

Love my Kindle(s)

I picked up a “new” Kindle this week.  A friend is upgrading to a newer Fire – so I bought the old one (very lightly used) off him for substantially less than the new price.  That’s similar to the approach I used when buying my current Kindle Keyboard (I’m the third owner, and apparently the one one who did much reading with it).  The Fire was mostly bought as a tablet (poor man’s iPad) but may also give my wife the opportunity to test out eReading.

I bought another Lawrence Block book the other day.  I have a somewhat staggering 26 books (some are novellas) of his on my Kindle.  What would be really cool would be for Amazon to realize that I’m a fan and give me the option to buy all his other books (to complete my collection – I’m missing more than I have) at a reduced price.  Maybe offer a flat rate to buy all the remaining books as a lot.  Perhaps 40% off the current price?  They wouldn’t get as much for each sale, but they might make it up in volume – enticing people to buy books they might not have otherwise bought.

On a slight tangent, newer authors could offer lifetime subscriptions.  I like a guy’s first couple of books and I drop a couple hundred bucks and get the opportunity to download anything else he publishes in his lifetime.  Could be a good way for some younger authors to get some cash flow.