Angus & Robertson: pioneers of the book trade!

Via stephen_dedman: most businesses work on the assumption that money flows in one direction when goods or services flow in the other. In the book industry, Publisher might pass a book on to Bookshop, who passes it on to Customer, and meanwhile Customer passes money to Bookshop, who passes some of it back to Publisher.

The clever folk at Angus and Robertson (who are, at least nominally, a bookshop) are attempting to pioneer a brave new business model in which the publisher sends them books and money, which makes a lot of sense as it would obviously boost their profit margins no end. Sadly, the publishing end of the industry is not quite ready to embrace this new paradigm.

Vampire ponderings

Discussion of vampire-killing over on little_details got me thinking about 'Blood and Roses' again.

For those who have purged it from their brainsnot read the whole essay, the gist of it is that vampires symbolise female sexuality, and vampire-killing methods symbolise patriarchal oppression, whether it's the stake thing or a less obvious connection.

Nothing new there, but I got to wondering: does it work the other way around? Would it be possible to resurrect Dracula by holding, say, a feminist rally over his ashes? If played right, I think this has the potential to offend EVERYBODY.

I CAN HAS WURK

Have just got off the phone with a nice lady offering me a job, which I intend to take. It will involve some changes and disruption to our lives, but there are positives too (money, mathematical-oriented work, and what sounds like a nice work environment). And it does not involve poker machines.

Bit more to follow in f-locked post. For now, let's just say that I've been out of work for thirteen months, with all the stresses that entails, so this is very welcome news. Special thanks to everyone who's been supplying moral support in that time :-)