Facebook is a mixed blessing! On the one hand all those up-dates and improvements (?) are well-meant, but very confusing. On the other hand it helps me keep tags on my family, friends and acquaintances. Apart from that it is brilliant soapbox and I appreciate all useful information churned out by other people.
Sometimes I go off-line. For example today I read a report in Danish magazine about electronic readers and their lack of appeal in Denmark. According to the journalist, this is likely to change in the next few years, when both publishers and the general public catch up with trends in other parts of the world.
There are many advantages.
An electronic reader weighing less than a kilogram can contain a whole library.
No more books that sit on shelves gathering dust.
When you move house there is less to pack and carry.
Easier on the eyes, because texts can be magnified
Many texts can be down-loaded free of charge.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Certainly if you shudder at the idea of not being able to turn a page you will probably disagree with me, but an electronic reader isdefinitely on my shopping list.
However back to square one; Facebook.
Today one of my friends/contacts posted this link, which took me to
an on-line, free of charge and recent Esperanto translation of the short story 'The Overcoat' by the 19th century Ukranian born writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
So instead of doing a few tedious jobs I spent half an hour reading it from beginning to end.
It is the gripping life-story of a respectable and conscientious clerk, who although appreciated by nobody, has his hour of glory and then loses everything. Only after his death is justice done. Although it is an intrinsically sad story, Gogol tells the story in an ironically humourous way.
You can find an English translation here.
If you are wondering why anybody would want to read it in Esperanto, when they could read it in an English translation, please consider the following.
Accordingto this report from 2000, 17.65% of the world's population speaks English.
