Dramatically reducing imaging-to-recanalization time in acute ischemic stroke: making choices.

columns (go ahead and try it). “Marginalia” refers to notes, comments, and other writings on page margins. Notations by famous persons can add value to a book while those that you or I create probably will not. Computer programs such as Microsoft Word allow comments on the margins of pages and some even allow Web-sharing of this type of marginalia (called “shared annotations”). E-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle are capable of allowing marginalia and other annotations and go further by permitting you to share them with other readers via social networking programs. E-reader pages reproduce basically all aspects of paper, albeit at a higher cost and with increased difficulties when it comes down to marginalia (it is easier to scribble on the margin of a paper page than to type there by using the tiny physical or virtual keyboard found in E-readers). E-readers try to give readers the same experience as print. (I often ask myself why. If I buy an E-reader, it is to have a completely different experience; if not, why not buy the book?) Of course, with digital books, space is no longer a consideration as it was with print and most have variable page and font sizes. Adobe PDFs also imitate the print experience as their software allows you to “leaf” though a document that simulates printed pages. Leafing is a feature found on the iPad (Apple, Cupertino, California) (something that I find anachronous and bothersome while I have heard others say it is cute). Your computer screen is basically a vertical never-ending virtual scroll in which the length of the text matters little. Paradoxically, as the capacity to store and display the written word increases, our attention spans decrease and make it impossible to take full advantage of these media. The evolution of the page seems to have closed the circle: from clay tablets to computer tablets (witness the iPad), from ancient scrolls to scroll computer reading, from parchment pages to E-paper and E-readers. The capacity of the page no longer determines its contents. Margins are becoming superfluous as small screens must be completely filled with text to take maximum advantage of their viewing areas. Marginalia is no longer private with E-readers. I am not a fanatic of a specific medium, but as long as you are reading something, it will be contained within pages.