5 ms·
My god, people are morons.
by chadlavi 6y ago
My god, people are morons.
- jasonjayr 6y agoDo keep in mind they are doing this in good faith to try and protect themselves and others and "stop the spread".
- Shared404 6y agoExactly. No, this wasn't a particularly bright idea. However, someone A) Was checking out books from the library. In my opinion, this should always be encouraged, with the possible exception of present events. B) Was trying to protect themselves/their family. Maybe we understand that this is a bad idea, but it was done as an attempt to help. B rephrased what jasonjayr said, so sorry about that.
- ghaff 6y agoSome are. On the other hand, whether it makes you roll your eyes or not, some people are extremely paranoid about anything entering their house that hasn't been sterilized in some form. And, given that, zapping a book in a microwave is not an obviously stupid way to accomplish said sterilization for a random non-technical person.
- jkinudsjknds 6y agoI disagree. If you don't know the likely outcome of putting something in the microwave, you shouldn't do it. I have no idea if this would work for sterilization. I don't know if or when a book would catch fire. Trying to do this to find out by experimentation is stupid on multiple levels. It's not your book. It's a fire hazard. You have no way of verifying if it is sterilized. You can have empathy for someone and still think they're dumb.
- chadlavi 6y agoOr just... don't take books out from a public library during a global pandemic? What are these public libraries that are even still open? My city's libraries have been closed for physical books since March.
- ghaff 6y agoI'm pretty sure libraries are reopened in lots of places. My town library has reopened for curbside pickups and I think may be reopening for browsing in a week or so. And that's in Massachusetts which has been relatively conservative.
- mumblemumble 6y agoMine recently re-opened. Now that we've had some time to research how this virus spreads, and discovered that surface transmission really isn't as big a deal as we initially feared, I'm not so worried about it. You can quarantine them for a few days after checking them out, if you like. Just like mail. Or pizza deliveries.
- GhostVII 6y agoAll the libraries in my city are open for pickup. I think the benefits of people without e-readers being able to take out books from the library far outweigh any tiny chance of transmission via books.
- corty 6y agoFor the paranoid, there is this newfangled tech named "ebook". No chance to transmit biological viruses through downloads.
- luckylion 6y agoYou'll obviously need to microwave the e-reader that's being delivered from outside. I doubt it'll do much better than the physical books.
- sp332 6y agoEbook readers cost money. Getting a book from a library generally doesn't.
- catalogia 6y agoYou don't need a dedicated ebook reader, a phone or computer will work too. Of course some people don't have anything like that either, but I think most probably do at this point.
- arcticbull 6y agoThere’s very substantial smartphone penetration in low income communities as they see them as suitable replacements for a desktop.
- ghaff 6y agoFurthermore, many people who check a lot of books out of libraries on a regular basis are checking out children's books. I'm guessing the Kindle experience isn't the same.
- xellisx 6y agoThe eBook I want is the reMarkable, but can't justify the cost at this time.
- hkai 6y agoI fully agree with you, but the CNN article certainly tries to make a very condescending point. "Let me spell it for you: don't microwave your books!" - and based on just an isolated incident. By writing an article about this they may create an impression that this is a popular trend whereas it's not. In fact, I imagine more people would actually try to microwave their books after reading this article.
- ghaff 6y agoOf course you see the exact same condescension in this thread from the tech people who are so smart that they would never do something that others would think was stupid.
- hkai 6y agoIf we did, we would be proud of it! I once used two razors and a piece of wire plugged into the 220V outlet to boil some water.
- Shared404 6y ago> I once used two razors and a piece of wire plugged into the 220V outlet to boil some water. A) Why? B) Honestly that's pretty cool. Even if this is the only answer to A, this is worth being proud of.
- Barrin92 6y agoIn that case I think it's better to talk with these people about their anxiety and the mental toll of the pandemic rather than encouraging them to microwave random things. You're more likely to set your house on fire by throwing flammable things into the microwave than getting corona-virus