5 ms·

It looks like this is a web page that then loads a PDF from https://ambition.gratis/ambition.pdf https://ambition.gratis/ambition.pdf -- to what end I'm not su

It looks like this is a web page that then loads a PDF from https://ambition.gratis/ambition.pdf https://ambition.gratis/ambition.pdf -- to what end I'm not sure, though it did screw with my trying to directly save it into a "read offline later" folder.

austinjp 11y ago
Wow 224 page PDF insta-loaded into my phone, thanks OP :) Looks like an online re-edition of a book by the same name, last printed in 2000, author Gilbert Brim. Without poring through an entire book, what's the reason this was submitted, OP? Presumably you feel it has merit, can you briefly say why?
- milkshakes_ 11y ago
  hi austin, OP here (new acct because i noprocast'd myself but wanted to respond). this book was written by my grandfather, with his macarthur genius grant, over 20 years ago. he gave copies of it to our whole family for christmas (he had done this once before, 20 years ago, but we were too young for it then). i have dual motivations here -- i want to share the book with the world, and i also want my grandfather, whose condition is deteriorating, to have a little more joy in his old age. i sent him the google analytics from the site today (he has an HP E-print in his house) and he almost cried. i will likely write more about the process of converting his book, both from a personal and a technical perspective, but i just wanted to get something out there sooner rather than later, and the kindle publishing will take a month or two as the OCR was not so great from the scan so we are retyping the novel. when i read it, i found the writing to be timeless, and wanted to share it with a larger audience (it was popular in its heyday, and i believe it could be popular now). i am in the process of converting the book to kindle format, which is a nuisance because we have lost the original manuscript. as the first step, i scanned the book (1dollarscan FTW). my grandfather desires the book to reach a wider audience as well, so with his permission, i published the scan.
  - cableshaft 11y ago
    Thank you for taking the time to bring something worthwhile to a new generation's attention and helping extend the imprint your family leaves on the world. I don't think there's enough of that in general in this world and it's nice to see someone care enough to do so. I hope someday I have grandchildren that are as caring and considerate. I'll be sure to check out the book when I get the chance. I hope it reaches many new readers and they can all find something useful for their lives in it.
  - austinjp 11y ago
    Excellent, glad you wrote this. Can I suggest you put something like this on the website front page? It's very engaging, and makes the book far more personal. I'll be downloading it and reading.
milkshakes_ 11y ago
hi syntheticnature, thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. i am sorry about the website. frontend is still kind of voodoo to me, even as a software engineer. i wanted my grandfather to be able to see his book on his nurse's ipad. i tried pdf.js but the version i selected seemed to not work with iOS devices for some reason. if you have a better idea for how to deliver the pdf to the ipad, i would welcome any suggestions.
- code777777 11y ago
  Makes sense. Are there any salient points in the book or passages that you'd like to point out. Having experienced some major success and failures I'd be interested in hearing more.
- ameen 11y ago
  If the iPad has a Kindle app (& an account), you can mail the PDF to the username@kindle.com and Amazon has the PDF converted and added to the sent account. You can download the title from the cloud to the device by opening the Kindle app.
- syntheticnature 11y ago
  No need to apologize! I wasn't sure why things were they way they were, but that makes sense to me. In your position I'd be equally clueless as to a better option. Cheers!
jrcii 11y ago
> into a "read offline later" folder. I have a "pretend you will read offline later but never actually read" folder.
- rashkov 11y ago
  Same here, though I find that it still helps a lot with procrastination. Separating the process of discovering content and actually consuming it means I'll only lose 10 minutes instead of getting sucked in for an hour because I'm too afraid to close the tab. I actually got through a nice chunk of my read offline folder during a long car trip recently, but that only justified this hoarding tendency!
- branchless 11y ago
  I need to create a cron job to bzip stuff in mine. I need a dropbox for the after life.
- ameen 11y ago
  Right on. I wish there's internet access in the afterlife.

austinjp 11y ago

Wow 224 page PDF insta-loaded into my phone, thanks OP :) Looks like an online re-edition of a book by the same name, last printed in 2000, author Gilbert Brim. Without poring through an entire book, what's the reason this was submitted, OP? Presumably you feel it has merit, can you briefly say why?

milkshakes_ 11y ago
hi austin, OP here (new acct because i noprocast'd myself but wanted to respond). this book was written by my grandfather, with his macarthur genius grant, over 20 years ago. he gave copies of it to our whole family for christmas (he had done this once before, 20 years ago, but we were too young for it then). i have dual motivations here -- i want to share the book with the world, and i also want my grandfather, whose condition is deteriorating, to have a little more joy in his old age. i sent him the google analytics from the site today (he has an HP E-print in his house) and he almost cried. i will likely write more about the process of converting his book, both from a personal and a technical perspective, but i just wanted to get something out there sooner rather than later, and the kindle publishing will take a month or two as the OCR was not so great from the scan so we are retyping the novel. when i read it, i found the writing to be timeless, and wanted to share it with a larger audience (it was popular in its heyday, and i believe it could be popular now). i am in the process of converting the book to kindle format, which is a nuisance because we have lost the original manuscript. as the first step, i scanned the book (1dollarscan FTW). my grandfather desires the book to reach a wider audience as well, so with his permission, i published the scan.
- cableshaft 11y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to bring something worthwhile to a new generation's attention and helping extend the imprint your family leaves on the world. I don't think there's enough of that in general in this world and it's nice to see someone care enough to do so. I hope someday I have grandchildren that are as caring and considerate. I'll be sure to check out the book when I get the chance. I hope it reaches many new readers and they can all find something useful for their lives in it.
- austinjp 11y ago
  Excellent, glad you wrote this. Can I suggest you put something like this on the website front page? It's very engaging, and makes the book far more personal. I'll be downloading it and reading.

milkshakes_ 11y ago

hi syntheticnature, thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. i am sorry about the website. frontend is still kind of voodoo to me, even as a software engineer. i wanted my grandfather to be able to see his book on his nurse's ipad. i tried pdf.js but the version i selected seemed to not work with iOS devices for some reason. if you have a better idea for how to deliver the pdf to the ipad, i would welcome any suggestions.

code777777 11y ago
Makes sense. Are there any salient points in the book or passages that you'd like to point out. Having experienced some major success and failures I'd be interested in hearing more.
ameen 11y ago
If the iPad has a Kindle app (& an account), you can mail the PDF to the username@kindle.com and Amazon has the PDF converted and added to the sent account. You can download the title from the cloud to the device by opening the Kindle app.
syntheticnature 11y ago
No need to apologize! I wasn't sure why things were they way they were, but that makes sense to me. In your position I'd be equally clueless as to a better option. Cheers!

jrcii 11y ago

> into a "read offline later" folder. I have a "pretend you will read offline later but never actually read" folder.

rashkov 11y ago
Same here, though I find that it still helps a lot with procrastination. Separating the process of discovering content and actually consuming it means I'll only lose 10 minutes instead of getting sucked in for an hour because I'm too afraid to close the tab. I actually got through a nice chunk of my read offline folder during a long car trip recently, but that only justified this hoarding tendency!
branchless 11y ago
I need to create a cron job to bzip stuff in mine. I need a dropbox for the after life.
ameen 11y ago
Right on. I wish there's internet access in the afterlife.