Month: August 2007

Get your books Netflix style

Here’s a great idea, BookSwim.com, allows you to borrow books similar to Netflix. You pay a monthly fee and they mail you the next book or books in your cue. Once you finish reading them, put the books back in the shipping package, mail it back and you’ll get the next book in the mail.

BookSwim is the first online BOOK RENTAL LIBRARY CLUB lending you paperbacks and hardcovers directly to your house WITHOUT THE NEED TO PURCHASE! Whether it’s New Releases, Bestsellers, or Classics, we’ve got 150,000 titles to choose from, with FREE SHIPPING BOTH WAYS! Read your books as long as you want. — no late fees! Even choose to purchase and keep the titles you love!

I tried the site the other day and it was pretty much down due to the huge surge in traffic they’ve been getting from the media publicity – they were also looking for investors – probably to increase their server capacity.
I hope to take a look at it and see if it’s worth the investment for the books I normally read – because as I’ve mentioned before, the Waxahachie Library never has anything I’m looking for.
Of course the downside is, you’re borrowing the books and not keeping them so my habit of underlining and making notes may have to end – I always have trouble with that anytime I borrow a book from someone else.

Does it get any cooler than this?

googleearth.jpg
Google Earth has released a new beta version, 4.2, that gives you the power to search the stars from your desktop.
Seriously very cool. Simply change your view to stars and you have the galaxy at your fingertips.
From the Google Earth blog…

You’re viewing the stars as if you were using a powerful telescope from earth.
I think I’ve found a new time waster… I’m sure Brian will have trouble focusing on work now.

RightNow

I just found an article from Rightnow Campaign founder Brian Mosely, who I think sums up some of my overall feelings right now…

Unsure of what step to take next, I contacted 40 mission organizations to see if there were any openings for a producer.
Instead of responses that were personal and specific to my inquiry, I received 39 packets of “Dear Friend” letters and brochures. Meanwhile, I watched as an accountant friend of mine was heavily recruited by the biggest accounting firms in the country. He was taken to dinner, golf, bowling … whatever it took to communicate his worth and importance.
Those experiences in 1998 and 1999 opened my eyes to a harsh reality. If you are interested in working in corporate America there is a good chance the companies will come to find you. If you are interested in using your passions to serve others, you will have to be extremely proactive. Instead of seeing my personal experience as a dead end, I formed the Rightnow Campaign in 2000.

The Rightnow Campaign looks very interesting… I’m looking more into their site right now.
You should too: www.rightnow.org

McCain 840, Thompson 167

Christianconservative (that’s christianconservative.wordpress.com not blogspot.com) reports on legislation written by former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson during his term in the Senate.
Looks like Thompson wasn’t too busy when it comes to headlining a bill or writing amendments and the like – or maybe his ideas just weren’t that popular.

A scouring of he legislative website of the Library of Congress, from 1995 to 2002, when Mr. Thompson was in the Senate, yields a total of five bills that became law for which he was the head sponsor. A sixth passed the Senate and was replaced by an identical House bill that was eventually signed by the president.
The bills include the naming of a post office and courthouse in Cookeville, Tenn., a private bill that granted permanent residency status to a young Bolivian girl getting treatment for cancer and her family and several other minor pieces of legislation. A quick comparison with Senator John McCain, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, for the same period turns up 17 bills that became law for which Mr. McCain was the lead sponsor.

If you look at all the bills, amendments or resolutions each sponsored the score is McCain 840, Thompson 167.