*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

Like Books? Want a nice one for a Good Price, shipped to your home, maybe even from overseas?

http://bookfinder.com is the place I go to, search and find the best deal. New or used, paperback or hardcover. Price with or without shipping, in your own currency.

Lovely site, clean and has Advanced Search if you want to tune down to a specidfic type, maybe an author signed copy even!

Some examples of a search and results follow. I am using the wonderful "Cryptonomicon" novel by Neal Stephenson as a search item. (I do have it, discovered the talent of the author and have been a fan for years)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

Frist step, head to BookFinder, fill in title, author or ISBN, select your country as destination, what currency.

In my screenshot -- I used an Advanced search (not required) since I wanted a Hardcover edition, check marked on pic.

Search results on the next post!

@zsc @_lunawinters

here's the current shipping costs for Awesomebooks.

Note that there's a flat fee charge for the first book, it's UKP 2.99, the prices showing in the picture are in Canadian Dollar at today's exchange.

For North America, first book pays 2.99 UKP fee, any additional books no charge. Good incentive to place a larger order!! 😺

I have received tons of books from them, an order of say 5 or more is usually shipped in envelopes with one or two books to limit bulk and weight, Delivery right to my front door.

info from : https://www.awesomebooks.com/help/shipping/

@zsc @_lunawinters

Bookfinder is excellent. They link to Abebooks, Thriftbooks, Amazon in various countries, plus smaller book sellers in the UK and Europe.

I have bought many boks from searches there. The search results show seller price, including shipping to my locale.

Some nice large UK sellers are good to know too, https://awesomebooks.com is one I have bought probably over a hundred books from. They do ship overseas, their books are UK editions, lovely quality.

I buy hardcovers mostly. Recommended. 😉

A lot of their stock comes from charities like Oxfam and others, collected by local donations.

@zsc I am using a nice HP Elitebook, lovely machine, I don't carry it much so the hefty weight doesn't matter to me. Best laptop I have, takes zillion tabs open in browser, image editor, other things in complete stride.

I replaced the original HDD with an SSD, and that makes it nicer than most machines for sale today.

Love the quality, design. Aluminum body, milspec design, and not for the high price MBP goes for.

@freemo LOL, so true. I visit and travel slowly, backpackign and staying in hostels or small hotels. Travel by train whenever possible, a joy in itself, we can rarely do it here in North America.

History everywhere, castles in mountaintops, signs of the presence of other cultures like the Moors that were so advance in their time, cultural and scientifically.

Here, distances are huge and I doubt I can find accommodations for similar prices. So, I take a plane and enjoy time abroad.

Live with what I have on my backpack, eat local foods, delicious and affordable, lots of choices, meet interesting people from all over the world.

Spring is when I usually take off. Love the season, and it arrives at least a month sooner in southern Europe, compared to my region here.

@cowanon @freemo @pschwede

The analisys and reporting on criminality and poverty in minorities neighbourhoods was an excellent example. Agreed it can be pulled either way, in extreme ways.

@freemo Agreed, I think Europe is currently the best place to live, Wish I could convince my kids to consider moving there, quality of life and happiness seem much more attainable.

Even myself, I am sorely tempted to once again move countries completely.

@zsc Oh, man, sorry to hear that. 😞

Compounds your loss, all these tries and no luck, plus expenses. Replacing an LCD is not something I have done, and it has to be the right part, plus the cabling is so fragile.

Hope you do get it back! It's a nice machine. Good luck!

@freemo
I find the reporting done by The Guardian to be detailed, extensive and always lnked at the bottom of the article to other relevant, related articles and topics.

I see the world from a similar perspective, and don't mind reading a source like The Economist, which I also like a lot, or ocasionally WSJ, which is very pro capitalist, but does a competent job in reporting (although their bias shows ocasionally).

What I find really irking is some of the low quality outfits that report in sound bites, tweet length sentence and paragraphs, interspersed with imagery including screenshots from social media.

Irrelevant and attention deficit servicing. I saw a perfect example here yesterday, a post linking to a source, talking about left wing media dropping a news item when the stats quoted were found to be from 2015. Obama's admin times.

That fact could be worth reporting, but not in the haired brain way it was done. There's a lot of manipulation and obfuscation going on.

@pschwede

@zsc Oh, it's your own device. Oh, man, sorry to hear about it.

Can it be repaired? Replacing the LCD panel, not cheap but maybe worth it.

I love Thinkpads, still have a collection of older ones I used over the years. Nothing so new as yours there, but great design and build.

@pschwede @freemo

Number 2 on your list is spot on, and matches my leaning.

Also enjoy the NY Times, The Atlantic, New Yorker.

Like Washington Post, but couldn't get around their paywall so far. They do have a nice discounted yearly online membership, USD$40, which i am considering buying.

There is going to be much to watch for in the coming year with the federal election in US.

@zsc OMG...

Almost crying here, that's a X1 Thinkpad on the second photo. Ugh, poor thing. 😢

@freemo Good points!

I think governing a very large sized country is also more difficult. US, Brazil, Russia for example.

European countries have more compact sizes, a more homogeneous culture with long history and an interesting way of life.

I enjoy visiting and observing, many things that I think they do really well, it's sad to take the plane back.

Yes, I think you are right, corruption can and does happen at any level.

@pschwede @freemo You have to be choosy, yes, but in English speaking media there is a huge variety of high quality journalism.

People restricted to their own country's media by language have a much narrower choice.

UK's Guardian is my fave, goto source.

@zsc @_lunawinters
Have you seen https://bookfinder.com ?

It's where I usually look for when wishing for a book. Has prices for both new and used copies.

You can select country so price will include shipping too.

recommended.

@freemo Those cookie cutter subdivisions and the watching eye of the neighbourhood association are a nightmare for me too. Yuck.

I have some concerns about local politicians dipping in, bringing friends and family to the payroll and running important public services in support of their agendas.

It could work, and work well, if people had decency and integrity. Let's hope these qualities come back in fashion and are valued as the important things they are.

In theory I think the idea is good, to have more local empowerment.

@mngrif Wow, what a travelogue. Have a nice flight!

Trans Pacific is a long route, haven't been in that region yet.

And you are coming from the South, Aus, makes the flight path even longer.

San Francisco is a fun city, but the airport is a bit far off. There's a train you can take to get downtown and back, they might be a good way to spend your time in town. Caltrain I think it's called.

Welcome back to North America. 🇦🇺

@_lunawinters
Hello Aaditi, good morning/evening!

Girls and ladies are indeed beautiful, in many senses.

I really enjoy their conversation and company, their way of thinking is different from mine and I enjoy observing and learning with them.

Big moment for you, I hope you remember and your day is peaceful and enlightened.

@freemo

@shivangigupta
Hello, and welcome to Qoto.

Enjoy the network and all it has to offer. If you are new to using Mastodon, there's a good guide here: https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

Have a good day!

@freemo

@freemo Well said and argued.

I am not sure if spreading out government to local areas would work out well in most areas. Ideally, yes, it could be closer and more responsive to people's requests and feedback.

But it could lead to nepotism and no larger vision.

About a month ago I took a trip across the border to USA, and had the pleasure to take a long drive along the Interstate highways.

Remember noticing how well planned they are, and the "Eisenhower Interstate System" sign that was posted occassionaly.

Now, that was a man to look up to - today's Republicans should be ashamed of allowing the circus currently in Washington, just for the sake of attaining power.

Eisenhower was a real leader, and left a huge legacy. Surprisingly for a top level military commander, he made public statements warning the public about the Military Industrial complex, and how it could take the country and taxpayers on ways that benefited it.

Intellectual capacity, honesty and leadership.

All in the same country where Mr T currently presides, via twitter and TV pronouncements.

Shameful times for a proud country.

This next year could be very tense, there's so much division and an armed population, being incited by self serving interests.