I met a guy a couple of yers back who owns some small banks in Western Kansas. Bob. Nice guy. Had a home in Colorado. He'd drive up there on the weekend and his wife would read aloud to him from The Economist.
Bob's wife may be caught up in the net of technological unemployment. The Economist now offers complete audio downloads, no extra charge for subscribers. I had taken on the task of making hamburgers and lasagne this morning for a family outing so I figured I'd give it as try. The verdict: on the whole, it works, although it's not the greatest thing since canned cheese.
I had a bit of trouble getting configured but that's a detail; I finally downloaded to a grungy old laptop which I positioned safely (I hoped) away from flying fat. Then I started at the beginning: 91 segments, from "Introduction" to "Special Report."
The first conclusion is that if you're thinking this kind of thing will save you time, it won't. I don't know how long it would take to listen to all 91, but by noon, I had listened to less than a third of them. Of course that's not straight through; you have to deduct for the inevitable detritus of living: answering the phone, dropping a skillet, tending to the stove, whatever.
Second conclusion, perhaps more important: I must say I did find myself listening to stuff I probably wouldn't have had the patience to stick with as a reader. Example: there's a longish segment about the new physics research facility in Switzerland; with some remarkable background on the current state of physics research. I have to admit I probably wouldn't have stuck with on paper, but with the audio, I stayed through to the end.
This is not to say I understood it: quite the contrary the mean thing I learned from the listen is that I don't know much about modern physics, and if I really want to understand what is going on here, I'll have to go read it in print. Which I may do, but haven't so far.
More tellingly, a piece on the collapse of the Doha round. Now, there is a topic I think I know a tiny bit about. But once again, I have to admit the presentation somewhat exceeded my comprehension. So if I'm realy goibng to get it, I'll have to give it a second go, either audio or in the magazine.
But for lots of other, more straightfoward stuff, I'd have to say it worked pretty well. Danes in recession--who would have guessed? Oh: housing. India only going to get seven percent growth this year? The poor things.
In short, a pretty goood way to idle away the time while chopping an onion, but really useful only if I disciplin myself to do some followup. I suspect the biggest problem is that oral is slo-o-ow. We've got a lot of this sort of thing around the house these days: Teaching Company tapes, audio books, now dowloads. Back in the days when I was doing regular 90-mile commutes, it was a godsend. Now that I do less of that, I find I don't have the kind of constrained idleness that makes it really appealing. Be interesting to see whether I do it again. I think maybe, but it's not likely to become part of the regular routine.
Bob's wife may be caught up in the net of technological unemployment. The Economist now offers complete audio downloads, no extra charge for subscribers. I had taken on the task of making hamburgers and lasagne this morning for a family outing so I figured I'd give it as try. The verdict: on the whole, it works, although it's not the greatest thing since canned cheese.
I had a bit of trouble getting configured but that's a detail; I finally downloaded to a grungy old laptop which I positioned safely (I hoped) away from flying fat. Then I started at the beginning: 91 segments, from "Introduction" to "Special Report."
The first conclusion is that if you're thinking this kind of thing will save you time, it won't. I don't know how long it would take to listen to all 91, but by noon, I had listened to less than a third of them. Of course that's not straight through; you have to deduct for the inevitable detritus of living: answering the phone, dropping a skillet, tending to the stove, whatever.
Second conclusion, perhaps more important: I must say I did find myself listening to stuff I probably wouldn't have had the patience to stick with as a reader. Example: there's a longish segment about the new physics research facility in Switzerland; with some remarkable background on the current state of physics research. I have to admit I probably wouldn't have stuck with on paper, but with the audio, I stayed through to the end.
This is not to say I understood it: quite the contrary the mean thing I learned from the listen is that I don't know much about modern physics, and if I really want to understand what is going on here, I'll have to go read it in print. Which I may do, but haven't so far.
More tellingly, a piece on the collapse of the Doha round. Now, there is a topic I think I know a tiny bit about. But once again, I have to admit the presentation somewhat exceeded my comprehension. So if I'm realy goibng to get it, I'll have to give it a second go, either audio or in the magazine.
But for lots of other, more straightfoward stuff, I'd have to say it worked pretty well. Danes in recession--who would have guessed? Oh: housing. India only going to get seven percent growth this year? The poor things.
In short, a pretty goood way to idle away the time while chopping an onion, but really useful only if I disciplin myself to do some followup. I suspect the biggest problem is that oral is slo-o-ow. We've got a lot of this sort of thing around the house these days: Teaching Company tapes, audio books, now dowloads. Back in the days when I was doing regular 90-mile commutes, it was a godsend. Now that I do less of that, I find I don't have the kind of constrained idleness that makes it really appealing. Be interesting to see whether I do it again. I think maybe, but it's not likely to become part of the regular routine.
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