.
31 Oct 2008: Could be better
Want to see if you would do better? Link.
posted on October 31, 2008 09:34 PM | link | Comments (10) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2008: Marvellous
<sarcasm>After 9 months plus of not touching a drop, this is bloody marvellous news. </sarcasm>
posted on October 31, 2008 02:16 PM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2008: 3am thought of the day/night
A silent star
3am does seem to be the time when I do my thinking, nowadays. Today's item: last night at 3am I was looking out of the window at the stars while feeding Rowan, and it struck me that even though stars are superhot boiling balls of angry, firey hydrogen, they burn in absolute silence (there's nothing for sound waves to exist in). It seems strange, and poetic.
Rob's comment: There's a knack to choosing pictures that enhance the mood of a blog post. This is not one of my best efforts.
posted on October 31, 2008 10:12 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2008: Spooky stories
There's a bit in today's Guardian about George W. Bush's cultural legacy. You can imagine what it's like. Twelve writers piling on the outraged superlatives. I got bored after reading the first few. But then I realised I had spotted a change of my own over the last eight years.
Continue reading "Spooky stories" »
posted on October 31, 2008 08:50 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2008: Out
And speaking of YA fantasy novels (which I peripherally just was), Cory Doctorow's Little Brother is now out in the UK. I've actually read it twice. I didn't mean to, but I really enjoyed it the first time through and happened to glance at it again and an hour or so later realised I was still reading. There are a couple of times in the story where I begin to roll my eyes and wonder why I'm reading something principally aimed at teenagers, but before the thought can properly take hold I get caught up in the book again. If you want to pigeonhole the story, it's like something that might have got commissioned if the ghost of George Orwell possessed an executive at Disney.
posted on October 30, 2008 02:10 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2008: Slow
I imagine you've all seen it, but I rather like the idea of misleadingly populist covers for classics. (See the Guardian pictures here.) Well not 'like' exactly, but I'm amused by the idea. Provided it's for fun. I forswore buying a Jane Austen book a while back (you may remember) because they'd made it look like a YA fantasy novel. I'm also reminded of the downmarket alternative covers some DVDs get sold with that make them look like they've got lots more sex, comedy and ruffty-tuffty action than they really do have. I actually held off buying a copy of Almost Famous because my local DVD shop only had the cover that made it look like a porn movie (which it's not). If you're interested to see what I mean, contrast the US edition with the British one.
posted on October 29, 2008 08:20 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2008: A rankling thought
The Bank of England are estimating the cost of this current market hiccup as being $2,800,000,000,000. That's getting on for three trillion dollars if I've hit the zero key the right number of times. I can't help wondering how that figure compares with profits from the shadow banking sector since the banking rules that were introduced following the 1929 crash were eased about a decade ago. Wouldn't it be ironic/galling/coincidental if the amount of money required to bail out the financial sector was exactly the amount that the financial sector had made off with in profits by doing dodgy deals? Because that would make it clear that those yachts and Porsches and third homes were effectively paid for with public money. And people might ask for some or all of it back. Not that I can imagine that happening. But you combine that three trillion with the three trillion the Iraq War has cost and pretty soon ordinary people are going to start noticing there's a problem. In fact, in America, I think they have. But the proof will be on election day. I have my fingers crossed that the least corporate-sponsored (front-running) candidate of recent years will carry the day. I intend to let off some fireworks to celebrate.
posted on October 28, 2008 01:05 PM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2008: Virtual Inventory
I've got a few thoughts of my own to add to Em's on the subject of merchandising. In case you haven't come across these terms, 'ranging' is deciding which products to sell in a particular store, 'stockholding' considers the quantities of those items you might keep on hand, and 'merchandising' concerns itself with how to arrange those products on shelves. In an old-fashioned general store, there might be very little merchandising; there might be a counter and a man in a brown coat who fetched whatever you requested from the back room. Car parts were still sold that way when I was a nipper and woe betide you if you didn't sound like you knew what you were asking for (c.f. The Two Ronnies, Fork Handles for an illustration of the format.) Modern shops, though, put a lot of their stock out on shelves. Stock is there both as an advert and as a product you can put in your basket. We don't really use the term, but most stores now are 'self-service'. And places like B&Q warehouses are sort of the ultimate in self-service in that they've turned the back room into the shop floor. Palettes of stock stacked to the ceiling constitute the 'display', such as it is. And the dominance of the self-service format is why we've all heard the expression "We've only got what you see on display".
Continue reading "Virtual Inventory" »
posted on October 28, 2008 11:55 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2008: 3am inspiration.
At this morning's 3am feed, with my head lolling back on the headboard, I was suddenly struck with a clever idea to do with dual merchandising and the internet.
Continue reading "3am inspiration." »
posted on October 28, 2008 09:04 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2008: Book of Love review
I quite often don't enjoy reading reviews, even if they're sunny and positive. At the risk* of making a sweeping generalisation, they tend to be badly written. But I found this one very good.
* Rob's comment: I calculate that risk as being in the range "Very High to Virtual Certainty"
posted on October 28, 2008 09:02 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
26 Oct 2008: Back to the Embellishing
Sorry about the lack of photo thumbnails on the blog lately*. I've been on holiday for the last week, in Portugal. Very nice. But I've had almost no internet access: slow dial-up for five minutes every few days. It's completely amazing to me how many times I wanted to look something up and couldn't. Questions arose, intriguing possibilities were considered and no determination could be made. Likewise with news. We watched Al Jazeera English, because it covers stories in parts of the world that AP/Reuters hardly touches and tends not to suck up to the same people as News International and its cohorts, but I'd far prefer to fetch my news rather than have it served up to me. While relaxing on holiday I certainly wouldn't have spent a lot of time in front of an internet connection, even if it had been available, but it still would have come in mighty handy half a dozen times a day, in between walks along the beach. And while England is damp and uninspiring to return to, it's a small consolation being able to find out what my bloggy friends have been up to - and that coyote I like to keep an eye on, of course.
*As you may know, Em and Anna select and publish the books, Em plans for and manages the company and takes meetings, gives speeches, etc; I put the thumbnail photos on the blog.
posted on October 26, 2008 11:02 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
25 Oct 2008: Rowan's photos
I'm sure you wouldn't mind at all if the Snowblog became a showcase for Rowan's photos, with only the occasional publishing-related post. Nevertheless, I've created a flickr account where I'll put his photos instead. Interested parties should go here.
posted on October 25, 2008 10:24 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
24 Oct 2008: Sound of silence
I always thought I was a bit slow for needing absolute, complete silence to work. I mean, to properly work, not to answer emails and do bookkeeping. At school I could never listen to music if I had a hope of taking anything in. In my first jobs, I would have to find ways to stick my fingers in my ears, subtley, if I wanted to concentrate on anything. Now, of course, I work mainly from home in the countryside where the only sound is of the wind and the birds and Rowan breathing (and the occasional tractor.) So I liked this piece in the Guardian today. Hear hear (heh).
posted on October 24, 2008 08:00 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2008: Elasticity
Price elasticity of demand (PED), that is - the degree to which sales are affected by changes in price. As we go into recession, as shoppers become more and more reluctant to open their purses, I think that book pricing should be under renewed scrutiny.
Continue reading "Elasticity" »
posted on October 23, 2008 11:01 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2008: Treasure trove
This is fascinating, and I will spend my hard earned pences on it.
"Rare recordings of some of the last century's greatest writers are to be released for the first time - from F Scott Fitzgerald reciting Othello to Tennessee Williams lambasting critics and Raymond Chandler drunkenly slurring his way through an interview with Ian Fleming."
Sounds highly excellent. Here's a little audio clip about the release.
posted on October 22, 2008 04:43 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
21 Oct 2008: From today's BookBrunch
BookBrunch being a new and excellent news service from industry journo greats Liz Thomson & Nic Clee:
"Fair Director Juergon Boos believed that there was one simple explanation [for a growth in visitor numbers this year]: "Digitisation draws people to Frankfurt. One of the main reasons for the increase in trade visitors is the need for guidance with regards to the new business models and fields of business which digitisation creates.""
Can that really be true? How bizarre that people need to fly to Germany to talk, face to face, with other people about stuff which lends itself perfectly to an online discussion. Nowt so strange as folk, eh.
posted on October 21, 2008 10:47 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
21 Oct 2008: Back
Hello, I'm back!
I have to report that I have given birth to a superior child. Last night, and the preceeding three or four nights, the young master woke only twice in the night. For non-parents of newborns, that is rather super. He is also a pro at feeding. In summary, I have had what feels like a fortnight's holiday (punctuated only by some astonishing hormonal swings) and return refreshed and happy!
posted on October 21, 2008 07:55 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
18 Oct 2008: Nooks
Forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know, but I've only just got round to exploring some interesting subterranean nooks of the iTunes Store. The store itself is pretty familiar. You can't use iTunes without 'accidentally' being taken to the store from time to time as you attempt to navigate what I consider an appalling, though attractive interface. And I knew that the store would sell me over-priced music locked to Apple's DRM system. And I even knew that these days you could download movies and TV shows, as well as applications for your iPhone. But what I didn't realise was quite how many free downloads there were, especially video podcasts.
posted on October 18, 2008 08:02 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2008: Steampunk Guardian
It's sometimes tricky, when describing George Mann's books, to convey the genre in which they sit. One word puts you on the right track, but it's not a word everyone is familiar with. Yet. But a glance at the Guardian today suggests that the ordinary man on the top deck of the Clapham omnibus might soon be tolerably well informed about the term 'steampunk' . The front page of the Guardian's website has a story about the Steampunk phenomenon, which I assume means it's in a position of some prominence within the paper edition. The story explores the musical side of Steampunk, which is an angle I've never really considered. I'm quite familiar with the alternative-world Victoriana that might catch a steampunk's eye in the way of gadgets or outfits, but I've never paused to consider what tunes might reside on their engraved brass iPods. The story mentions Portishead and hints at Eastern European gypsy music (I'm thinking mournful violin laments) which would have been guesses of mine too, and perhaps I'd add The Avalanches for jauntier occasions. Or might steampunks have plundered the future for their melodies using experimental wirelesses combined with circuits from a time machine? Presumably it's a question that many Guardian readers will be mulling today. [image from weburbanist]
posted on October 17, 2008 08:45 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
16 Oct 2008: Frankfurt day 2
Whilst I loll around the house, Anna is striding the halls of the Buchmesse in Frankfurt. And because I'm lolling around the house I have no news to report. Funnily, though, if I shut my eyes I can immediately picture the row that we always have a stand on, and can taste the coffee (not good) and the white bread sandwiches that cost a fiver each. And I can feel the sense of tension in the air as everyone tries to make a buck, strike a deal, forge new partnerships. Thrilling on one level, yes, but far more exhausting than looking after a newborn.I guess the point of this post is: thanks, Anna! I'll get back to my idling, now.
posted on October 16, 2008 10:00 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
15 Oct 2008: I'm not saying he's actually divine, or anything
But he's pretty damn close:
Continue reading "I'm not saying he's actually divine, or anything" »
posted on October 15, 2008 03:27 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
14 Oct 2008: Foxy
The book foxes at Vulpes Libris have posted an excerpt from The Clamour King, in advance of Jenn Ashworth's interview of the author, David Muirhead, which will appear tomorrow. Go here if you'd like to see it. And there's lots else to look at there, besides mention of Snowbooks' books; there's reviews, interviews and even 'special features', but you'll have to visit the site to find out about them.
Update: Ta for pointing it out, Fiona. The interview is now up. It's here.
posted on October 14, 2008 04:01 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2008: (Quasi) Daily Info-Nugget
Today's intermittently diurnal tidbit comes from a book I doubt any of you will want to read: Kinesiology - The Skeletal System and Muscle Function by the improbably named Joseph Muscolino. Nevertheless, this (somewhat paraphrased) extract might be of interest if you're either a habitual carrier of laptops or a female lady of the feminine gender.
Carrying a purse or any type of shoulder bag is an extremely common habit that can lead to postural distortion. Although the weight of the bag is important it is not the most important aspect. Even carrying an empty shoulder bag can cause the muscles that elevate the shoulder girdle to spasm and so distort the posture. The reason is that the natural slope of the shoulder is such that a bag would fall off. To prevent that from occurring, a person will isometrically contract musculature to elevate the scapula. This long-standing isometric contraction eventually leads to a chronic postural problem regardless of the weight of the bag (although greater weight means the muscles will have to contract more forcefully). Wearing a bag that has a strap that goes over the opposite shoulder and across the body is healthier... Just in case there's any doubt what that said: you have to hunch your shoulder to stop a bag, even an empty one, falling off and that messes up your posture eventually. Putting the strap over your head will help a bit.
posted on October 13, 2008 08:28 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2008: Three legs better than two
I'm not much of a photographer, but I read a piece of advice somewhere that said always use a tripod. Not sure how far to trust that, but I have to say if you want to take a picture of something distant when there's hardly any light then it's the only way to go. Can anyone tell what that's a picture of? Click for a larger version. Bear in mind it's misty out.
posted on October 13, 2008 07:28 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2008: Nobel
I have my grumbles with the New York Times, but I'm constantly impressed that they continue to employ Paul Krugman. He says some terrible things that are bound to upset important people. The fact that they're all true, and need to be said, doesn't detract from the outcry, I'm sure. In fact it undoubtedly adds to it. He's one of the few economics pundits whose words I really set some store by. So it's rather gratifying to see that he's just picked up a Nobel Prize. It's not what he won the prize for, of course, but he was also one of the few explaining that a crash was coming and why - while many others called it unthinkable (and continue to claim that no one could have seen it coming). In case you're interested, you can read some of his wise words here in blog form or his columns here (page down a bit). It's people like him who might give economics a good name.
posted on October 13, 2008 04:44 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
12 Oct 2008: Not all bad news
I feel a little bit bad writing a blog post about anything that doesn't directly relate to the new member of Em's family, but out in the big world things are happening. Economies appear to be crashing. Markets certainly are. And viewed from certain angles you could almost find it encouraging.
Continue reading "Not all bad news" »
posted on October 12, 2008 07:16 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
11 Oct 2008: Thank you!
Hello, old pals! Thanks very much for the very kind comments about Rowan's arrival. Ah, what a wonderful few days!
Continue reading "Thank you! " »
posted on October 11, 2008 10:35 AM | link | Comments (11) | Leave a comment
09 Oct 2008: World of Books
A map of the world, from Creative Review, where the size of countries is based on the number of books they sell. Click on the picture to see a larger version. Here's the explanation:
“Each new book published is counted only once on this map, regardless of how many copies it sells… A book is defined as having at least 50 pages; a pamphlet has 5 to 49 pages. Publications with fewer than 5 pages are not shown on this map. Worldwide, about a million new book titles were published in 1999, with the largest numbers published in the United Kingdom, China and Germany. Overall, the map is dominated by Western Europe, which is home to a number of well established publishing houses.” *Books titles published, number per million people, 1999.
posted on October 9, 2008 09:02 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
08 Oct 2008: Miscellaneous
Now then, I've just talked to Em about a few things. This and that. What a nice day it is, etc; And she happened to mention that she'd had a baby. Now this was news to me, although I'm sure she'd mentioned that she was interested in the idea. Apparently details are important in these matters, so you may wish to know that Rowan Michael was born yesterday at 5pm. He weighed 8lb 8oz and had an APGAR score of 10, which we both agreed reflected well upon him and upon the family. If Em is to be believed, the whole thing was a wonderful experience with no complications, disasters or sudden dashes to the hospital. From what I can gather it was a textbook non-traumatic home birth and apparently the littl'un is feeding well in between naps. Em said she was planning to take the morning off - and perhaps even longer - so please be patient if you're hoping for a response from her on anything. I will be raising a glass of ginger beer to mother, father and baby (and slightly puzzled cats) and I'm sure you'll be doing the same. And in conclusion, Hooray!
posted on October 8, 2008 10:35 AM | link | Comments (33) | Leave a comment
07 Oct 2008: XKCD LHC
I wouldn't want either XKCD or the LHC to fall off our figurative radar. Click on the picture to see the whole XKCD cartoon. See other sources of nerdilicious pictorial amusement here.
posted on October 7, 2008 04:51 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
07 Oct 2008: Reasons not to upgrade your monitor
In the corner of my home office sits Snowbooks' server. Like all right-thinking computers, it has a name, and its name is Serenity after the ship in Joss Whedon's superb Firefly series. Since we have to do stuff to the server only rarely*, we don't really need it to have a monitor, but it's so handy to have a little one plugged in the whole time. We use an old, small, useless monitor for this purpose, and it does the job fine. However, it also serves (heh) a far more important purpose: big cat warmer.
Continue reading "Reasons not to upgrade your monitor" »
posted on October 7, 2008 02:28 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
07 Oct 2008: Taxing
I have two observations to make about tax.
posted on October 7, 2008 09:44 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
07 Oct 2008: Promethean Fire (or near equivalent)
I can only assume that someone is getting their liver pecked out daily for this, because it seems clear to me that one of the secrets of the gods has been stolen so that mortals can share in its awesome power. Let me explain. I bought some spray-on label remover the other day and it worked. No, that's not a typo. It even works on labels where you've successfully peeled half of it off and then it shreds and you get a thin layer of paper in your hand leaving a base of glue and paper tufts still attached. It even works if you've scratched at that glue-and-tufts with your fingernails and whatever else is to hand until it's just a gummy disaster area. Spray this stuff on, then wait a minute, and peel the whole horrible mess away. It's so great I've made a little photo story about it.
Continue reading "Promethean Fire (or near equivalent)" »
posted on October 7, 2008 09:41 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2008: Productivity
For a very pregnant lady, I sure do work hard. I worked the weekend (on a totally cool XSL thing which you wouldn't be interested in, though) and today I've shot through my to do list - which means I am allowed a ten minute break to bring you what I think is The Best of The Current Cute Overload postings.
Continue reading "Productivity" »
posted on October 6, 2008 11:43 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2008: Mouse Coda
Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while now might recall that the converted barn I live in was also home to some cheeky mice for a while. And a vole. And not because I invited them in. I thought you might be interested to know that I've seen no sign of them for about four months now. Did I kill them? No. Despite a prevailing view that they would return, Amazing Journey style, if I merely deported them, when I finally caught them I put them outside the front door and they never came back. That might be because Pickle, next door's ghostly white cat, patrols the area (he often leaves me murine carcasses). It might be because getting back in was not so easy, even for these tiny geniuses. Or it might simply be that they felt unwelcome and consequently threw their tiny capes over their shoulders and swept off to find alternative lodgings where they might be properly appreciated. Anyway, for the time being at least, that's the end of the mouse story. Now it's just me, a few invertebrates that I dispatch unmercilessly, and possibly a bat, which I think sleeps in my roof from time to time.
posted on October 6, 2008 07:43 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2008: Coming in from the cold
In my opinion, capitalism is a tractor. Compared with using your bare hands, it's amazing, a marvel. But you have to steer it, whatever the free-market folk tell you. Otherwise it plows up the garden as well as the field and then crashes into your house.
Opinions like mine have been pushed to the fringe for a while, but it seems as though they could become mainstream again. I might no longer be off the left-hand end of the spectrum. Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian today has what I consider to be a lot of wise words on the subject.
posted on October 6, 2008 07:31 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
04 Oct 2008: Ho(a)rding?
[Ta to John A-W for pointing out there's an 'a' in 'hoarding'.] It may be time to admit I've got a hoarding problem. Look at that picture. Click on it to get a better look. The copy of Boxing Fitness is just there for scale. Those boxes are all full of cables, connectors, adaptors and power supplies. There maybe a few computer components in there too. But mainly it's just cables and power supplies. I should really get rid of some of it. But then again, one day someone is going to ask me if I have a spare charger for their phone (or anything else for that matter) and all I'll have to do is go up to the attic, root around in boxes for twenty minutes, and I'll have just what they're looking for. If my ceiling doesn't collapse in the meantime.
posted on October 4, 2008 08:04 PM | link | Comments (6) | Leave a comment
04 Oct 2008: Kindle II
A grainy sneak preview of Amazon's second-generation Kindle electronic book reader. Click on the picture to see a bigger version. More details here.
posted on October 4, 2008 09:11 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
04 Oct 2008: Addicted
For a couple of days now I've been wearing warm layers indoors, say two fleecy tops over a t-shirt, but this morning I turned the heating on. Mmmmm. Delicious. Now I'm addicted. I'm not sure I want to go back to fleecy-tops-layers.
posted on October 4, 2008 08:12 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
04 Oct 2008: Video
Many of you reading this are probably British. That might mean you don't know about the US show the Colbert Report (though it is available to us tucked away on some Sky channel somewhere). I mention this because Naomi Klein was just on that particular show saying a few words about her book, The Shock Doctrine. As you know, I regularly plug the book because I'm a little bit desperate for everyone to read it. But rather than jump straight in with the written word, you could test the waters by watching Naomi talk about her ideas in some TV interviews, and the Colbert Report is probably the funniest place to start. (If you've really never seen the show, you need to be aware that the host is actually only pretending to an extreme conservative. It makes for mighty fine satire.)
[And maybe it's worth reiterating that the book is about unpopular, pro-corporate legislation that can only be pushed through in times of crisis - and we're in one of those now. So if you fancy being forearmed, you know where to find out more.]
posted on October 4, 2008 07:49 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2008: Daily Info-Nugget
A slightly fringe nugget today. Here we go. Life originated underground. That's not the accepted view, but speak to anyone researching the question and there's a lot of hand-wringing about how simple organisms could get their start on the then hostile surface of our planet. There's also the problem that plants are at the base of most food-chains and yet photo-synthesising is not a beginner's trick. Gradually researchers have accepted that the earliest life used simple chemical reactions to power itself and not sunlight. And that it quite possibly lived in undersea vents where there's no sunlight, only very hot water and lots of dissolved chemicals - just like there is deep underground. Really, it's only a hop and a skip to accepting that early life began far below the surface where it's safe and warm, and conditions are stable. It evolved for millions of years until it got the hang of proper cell walls and reliable reproduction and all those other important functions. And as it got more resilient, it began to spread towards the hostile surface. Undersea vents were the halfway house until these ancient organisms had evolved sufficiently to colonise the oceans and the land. If you want to learn more, along with some extraordinary ideas about diamonds, oil, coal and earthquakes, then read the late Thomas Gold's book, The Deep Hot Biosphere.
posted on October 3, 2008 09:15 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2008: A thought has just struck me
A typical person with debts
Continue reading "A thought has just struck me" »
posted on October 2, 2008 01:23 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2008: Thumb twiddling.
So, it's my due date today. And my birthday tomorrow. And then the nice, convenient weekend. Care to lay bets?
Continue reading "Thumb twiddling. " »
posted on October 2, 2008 01:12 PM | link | Comments (26) | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2008: Daily Info-Nugget
Back to Bill Bryson for today's factual treat.
Apparently dinosaurs are rare these days. The truth is that they died out long before Sarah Palin's hominid ancestors walked the Earth (I'm editorialising here; BB doesn't mention SP.) And while they were once plentiful, now there are even fewer of them than you think. For instance, if you've been to the American Museum of Natural History and seen the barosaurus defending her babies from an attacking allosaurus what you've actually seen is a fake. More horrifying for me is that the giant diplodocus just inside the Natural History Museum in London is also a fake. It's made of plaster. Andrew Carnegie had it made in Pittsburgh and offered it as a gift to the museum. I've sat and looked up at it while listening to the irascible Richard Dawkins lecture. I've set scenes from a book next to it (again, I'm editorialising; BB does know about my personal history). To be honest, it's a bit of a blow. But this isn't about nuggets of comforting falsehood. No. This is about daily info nuggets.
posted on October 2, 2008 10:12 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2008: Daily Info-Nugget
Today's nugget comes from Cory Doctorow's book, Content, which I mentioned earlier. Instead of paraphrasing, I'm excerpting (because I have an electronic copy which makes it easy).
"David Blackburn, a Harvard PhD candidate in economics, published a paper in 2004 in which he calculated that, for music, "piracy" results in a net increase in sales for all titles in the 75th percentile and lower; negligible change in sales for the "middle class" of titles between the 75th percentile and the 97th percentile; and a small drag on the "super-rich" in the 97th percentile and higher. Publisher Tim O'Reilly describes this as "piracy's progressive taxation," apportioning a small wealth-redistribution to the vast majority of works, no net change to the middle, and a small cost on the richest few." Interesting, no? A PDF of the paper is here in case you want to read it.
posted on October 1, 2008 10:49 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2008: Giving it away
How could giving away books for free encourage people to buy them? But then giving away songs for free has been encouraging people to buy albums for the last half century. The market for music recordings (records, tapes and so on) exploded when music radio came along. What you can sell, what you should give away and where it's all heading are tricky questions. Cory Doctorow's latest non-fiction book contains a collection of articles that help you think the whole thing through. If it's your job to think about the future of a publishing venture then you should really think about buying a copy. Or you could simply download it for free from here. (But if you do that, consider donating a paid-for copy to a library by clicking here.)
Continue reading "Giving it away" »
posted on October 1, 2008 09:42 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2008: Debugging
I want to share this with you, because you might not know it but there is an enjoyable new hobby for you out there which you may never have considered, and I feel it my duty to enlighten you.
Continue reading "Debugging" »
posted on October 1, 2008 08:35 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment