The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[RingTailedLemur]

Why are native  New Zealanders  called  "Kiwis", and does the fruit hail from there as well (and that might answer my question)   )

I assumed NZ people were named after the national bird.  I thought it applied to all NZ-ers, not just native peoples.

[Tea Drinker]

The fruit started being promoted and shipped by New Zealand growers, I think: the old name is "Chinese gooseberry," but if you've ever eaten gooseberries, about the only similarity is that both are green inside.

[Slartibartfast]

Why are native  New Zealanders  called  "Kiwis", and does the fruit hail from there as well (and that might answer my question)   )

In NZ, a kiwi is either the bird, the coin, or slang for a person.  The fruit is a "kiwi fruit." 

[Betelnut]

A really dumb question--can you download/play Angry Birds just on a PC?  My daughter is enamored of the game but I don't own a Smartphone, iTouch or anything like that.

[lady-cereal]

A really dumb question--can you download/play Angry Birds just on a PC?  My daughter is enamored of the game but I don't own a Smartphone, iTouch or anything like that.

on google chrome you can install it from the chrome web store.

[RingTailedLemur]

Why do I get a roaring noise in my ears when something painful is in my eye or I hurt my nose?

[mechtilde]

Why do I get a roaring noise in my ears when something painful is in my eye or I hurt my nose?

Sinuses? I get earache, facial pain, eye pain and toothache with mine. I also sometimes have noises in my ears and trouble with balance.

[jpcher]

I get a roaring noise in my ears (kinda like a freight train or an over-active ocean crashing on the shore) when I get a sudden fright or, for some reason or another, feel light-headed. Whenever I hear that sound it tells me that I need to sit/calm down.

Maybe it's the blood or adrenaline rushing through your system to fix whatever is wrong is what you're hearing?

Interesting question.

[jpcher]

New question -- Nook & Libraries

Stupid because I've had my Nook for almost a year and I should know the answer (but I prefer to buy instead of borrow.) I've looked at the B&N website and can't find out how to do this.

How do you borrow books from the library on your Nook?

Does it have to be a local library?

I'm thinking about getting a Nook for my mother for Xmas and she lives in very-small-town-USA. Does her town library need to have this function available (unlikely) or can she borrow books from any library?

[sourwolf]

Does it have to be a local library?

I'm thinking about getting a Nook for my mother for Xmas and she lives in very-small-town-USA. Does her town library need to have this function available (unlikely) or can she borrow books from any library?

It has to be a library that the owner of the Nook belongs too.  The library is paying for the e-books just like they pay for physical books.  It's actually worse because they are only renting them from the publishers and after X number of people have borrowed the e-books they have to pay more money to continue lending them. 

[jpcher]

Thanks, sourwolf, that's good to know and very much appreciated. I never would have thought about contacting the home-town library.

Due to your response, I looked up Mom's local library web site and sent them an e-mail asking about e-book availability.

Mom is not a buyer of books, she likes her library. But she has commented on how the large books are uncomfortable for her to hold anymore, so I thought a Nook would be a good gift.

[Morrigan]

Does it have to be a local library?

I'm thinking about getting a Nook for my mother for Xmas and she lives in very-small-town-USA. Does her town library need to have this function available (unlikely) or can she borrow books from any library?

It has to be a library that the owner of the Nook belongs too.  The library is paying for the e-books just like they pay for physical books.  It's actually worse because they are only renting them from the publishers and after X number of people have borrowed the e-books they have to pay more money to continue lending them.

Thankfully not all publishers have a set limit on how many rentals per e-book.

[Morrigan]

New question -- Nook & Libraries

Stupid because I've had my Nook for almost a year and I should know the answer (but I prefer to buy instead of borrow.) I've looked at the B&N website and can't find out how to do this.

How do you borrow books from the library on your Nook?

Does it have to be a local library?

I'm thinking about getting a Nook for my mother for Xmas and she lives in very-small-town-USA. Does her town library need to have this function available (unlikely) or can she borrow books from any library?

Overdrive is the "big" e-book lending library.  If your mom's library is smaller, it might belong to a co-op that does Overdrive or another e-book lender.

If you want to PM me her library, I can look it up using a couple different sources.

(Reference librarian here, so I deal with e-books on a regular basis.)

[Luci45]

Most of the Classics are free. I have Moby wingadingdingy, Dracula, Jane Eyre among others ready to go! I have read many Burroughs and Burnette books for free. Haven't looked for Heinline or Clark yet.

Many current books are free. I often download something from a new author (with cellphones and computers being important to the plot)  and end up buying later books for $3-$10.  (I have Kindle for iPad. Daughter-In-Law tells me the same for Nook) I have found that the free current authors are a lot better quality and with fewer typos than occured 2 years ago. Cool! Thank you, authors!

Just a thought. I've never borrowed from our library with OverDrive because I don't want to be limited to two weeks. Some days I can read a book of 300 pages, and then it may take me 3 weeks to read an 200 page book.

My daughter-in-law has a Nook and find the same experience.

If you have the time to help your mom, that is a wonderful gift.

[dawnfire]

It can vary according to the library. My library uses adobe digital editions.(epub). it's good as there are lots of e-books in that format out there for free too.

p.s here's a strange thing about my library is that it's downloadable collection is shared by a library system 2 states away.