That "we hope" is killing me. Just so you know.

The situation seems to be that somebody got into one of our content management systems & has been sending out spam. NYU, our hosts, were unhappy about this; they've taken the site down (this is currently running on a backup server). Unfortunately, August is when the IT staff of universities tend to go on vacation - so it will probably be a week until we're back and running normally. Content that's added in the interim will be lost when we go back to our regular server. But we will be back, just give us time--

Fix the technical difficulties! There were none to speak of in the distant PAST of the book! Bring us hurtling into the future! Bring us condoms!

I sometimes mention that one of the limitations of screen based reading is illegibility. I am not referring to lack of resolution but to outright un-readability; denial of access, RSS and browser default line length, obscuring pop-ups and transmission interruptions. Even the short delays for a class room waiting for webpage rendering are illegibilities. And the more serious illegibilities are adminstrative, and not technical at all. That seems to be the case here.

Such illegibility is unknown with traditional books. The Gnostic Gospels found at Nag Hammadi were immediately readable by specialists sixteen centuries after their previous readers. Don't try this with computer media.

Today I happen to be talking with a printing plant manager. He mentioned that he preferred looking through print catalogs but always placed his orders on-line. This harmless comment exemplifies a promise of future interdependence of print and screen based reading. Real if:book territory in my view.