Imagine with me a moment. Think of a book where the heroine’s best qualities seem to be that she is quiet, controlled and, quite honestly, boring. She is longsuffering, putting up with family and friend’s antics. She is in love with someone who others in society think is not a good match for her, but she loves him. They separate, and she flirts with someone else because she thinks her true love doesn’t love her. But, instead, she runs after him and then they realize they’ve loved each other all along and get married.

Twilight? Yes. But it’s also the plot to Persuasion by Jane Austen.

I had to read this book for a class, and I ended up telling my professor I thought it was like Twilight for the Romantic era. To me, it’s just another bland romance that is focused on the relationship between the two most boring people in the entire story. I wish the book had been about Admiral and Mrs. Croft’s adventures on the high seas, or maybe focused more on why Charles and Mary got together.

Instead the entire book is Anne wangsting about her lost love without doing anything to actively pursue it. She’s willing to give up without even trying. The only reason she gets together with him is because he writes her a letter explaining how he feels.

I understand. This book is supposed to represent the social mores females had to traverse during that time period. But that doesn’t make it a great piece of literature. It just makes it relevant to the time. And also, really really boring.

Today’s paranoia lol comes from Friends of Irony.

I wrote an opinion piece for my school’s paper.

The Apple iPad. Besides being poorly named, what is it? It’s too big to work as a phone, but too limited to replace a regular computer. The iPad is Apple’s foray into the realm of tablet computers.

But the iPad, to some, seems to be just a larger, more expensive version of an iPhone unable to make calls.

Although detractors say using the iPhone’s operating system, only allowing Apple approved software onto the device is a mistake, the result is the iPad is easy to use.

For most computer users, the iPad won’t replace the need for a traditional computer, but people who only need a computer for emailing and web surfing might be convinced by the iPad’s accessibility and make it their primary machine.

With its relatively low cost, the iPad might be able to make a dent into the netbook market as well. Apple announced its productivity suite, iWorks, would be available on the iPad, allowing people to create documents and presentations while lounging on their sofas.

But I think the true potential of the iPad is the possibilities it makes on the publishing industries.

It’s no secret book sales have been lagging, and Amazon has tried to combat it with their e-reader, the Kindle. At $499, the iPad costs just $10 more and offers many more features.

While the Kindle might be for people who are voracious readers, the iPad is a gadget for everyone, but is even more vital to those who sell books.

Although some might complain the backlit iPad’s screen is harder on the eyes than the Kindle’s black and white “e-ink,” the fact is the Kindle is only for reading things. It’s not just books-you can get a newspaper subscription on the Kindle-but you could also read the newspaper’s website on the iPad for free.

The Kindle tries its best to imitate reading a book. The iPad has the potential to go beyond that.

Just like the iPod has more capabilities than just re-playing music, the iPad has more possibilities as an eReader than just showing the pages on the screen.

With Internet connectivity, there could be chats built right into the book or special videos created by the author to discuss what’s happening in the chapters. As the Apple App store has shown time and time again, the possibilities are only limited to the creativity of the designers.

While it won’t, and wasn’t intended to affect desktop sales much, the iPad might prove to be a tough competitor for the netbook market, and will definitely give the Kindle a run for its money.