Archive for March 2011
reactions to Borders bankruptcy
Economist:
… We can spare a little thought for Borders.
It has a particular relevance for American small towns and suburbs that isn’t apparent in urban centres.
In the latter, the chain bookstores are the impersonal monoliths that destroyed small independents by undercutting them on prices. But elsewhere, the arrival of a Borders would mean that a town was finally getting a bookstore, rather than a rack of paperbacks and Sudoku books at the supermarket.
(Similarly, while Starbucks might have hurt local coffeeshops in, for example, New York, in rural America it has achieved its stated goal of creating a “third space”.) …
L.A. Times – Carolyn Kellogg responds:
It’s an interesting argument, but the only example the Economist provides is a counter: In Austin, Texas, longstanding indie BookPeople successfully prevented a Borders from moving in nearby.
It’s nice to think that Borders provided bookstoreless towns with their first bookstores, creating new community space around books — but I’m not entirely sure that it’s true. …
Borders should die. … But I really don’t think the online experience is anywhere near as good. Yet.
in praise of bloggers
My second and third favourite sources of information in 2011 are audio:
• Audiocasts
• Audio books
I pretty much always have an audio book or two in progress, buying most of those from Audible.com. … Sadly not every book I want is available in audio.
Audio podcasts are still quite crude. The most evolved, however, are superb: RadioLab, This American Life, CBC Spark, Economist Editor’s Highlights, and On The Media. Almost all audio podcasts are still free.
But my main sources of information … my most trusted … my most detailed and nuanced … are blogs.
The best are labours of love by passionate, often amateur writers. Most bloggers are unpaid, spending thousands of hours focused on a specific topic simply because they love that topic.
more photos of bloggers
For example, the best Apple blog is Daring Fireball. I don’t pay much attention to any other.
I do whatever I’m told by Michael Geist when it comes to Canadian government regulation of the internet. A big election issue right now.
There are 4-5 essential blogs on gymnastics, but if I only was allowed to read one blogger it would be Blythe Lawrence.
If you read Kraig Becker, you’ll know more about outdoor adventure than you’ll ever need to know for one lifetime.
… Those are just a few examples. Leave a comment if you’ve got a blog that I should follow.
(blogger photos via Spark)
Blockbuster bankrupt
I recall years ago the CEO of Blockbuster (at the time driving local video stores out of business) mocking an upstart called … Netflix.
Just like Borders, Blockbuster could not adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace.
… Bloomberg News is reporting that the video chain will be making the filing official on Thursday morning. …
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who bought about one-third of Blockbuster’s bonds, will join with a group of creditors in swapping their debt for all of the video-rental company’s stock, …
If creditors get all of Blockbuster’s stock, current shareholders will be wiped out. …
If you have an unused Blockbuster gift card sitting around, use it now.
Which will be the next dinosaur to declare bankruptcy?
One of the big four music labels (I wish), perhaps Sony Music. Amazon will be happy to eat their lunch.
Dad’s fishing boat for SALE
I posted two ads for my Dad, $1650 firm.
At that price, he got a LOT OF INTEREST. … We were flooded with emails and phone calls.
Actually, the price is $16,500. Please excuse my innumeracy.
details with the correct price on Kijiji and Craig’s list
Borders Books bankrupt
I used to drive a milk cart, pulled by a horse.
Those were the good old days.
I used to enjoy lounging around in book stores like Borders, browsing the travel section, browsing magazines. Enjoying a coffee. (… Libraries didn’t allow coffee, back in the good old days.)
Borders is selling at least 200 of their 500 Superstores. The company is going the way of the milk cart.
There should be some pretty sweet bargains … right?
We should swoop down on the corpse. … right?
… At the Borders Group Inc. store on Broadway near Wall Street, box sets of Stieg Larsson’s best- selling “Millennium” trilogy, including the “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” sat on a table near the door last week on sale for $69.39 — a liquidation markdown of 30 percent.
The set costs half as much on Amazon.com Inc.’s website, where it was listed for $34.58 — with free shipping. Amazon’s Kindle e-book editions were even less, priced at $27.97. At Wal- Mart Stores Inc.’s website, the three books sold for $34.96. …
Even in death, Borders can’t compete.
Last week I took my Mom into a Borders to look at the Kindle. … But the e-reader display wasn’t set up. Nobody on staff would have been able to explain it, in any case.
Borders deserves to die.
Why didn’t they rebrand to become an entertainment / food / drink venue, with high mark-up product on the side. That could have worked. We’d go there for book readings, poetry readings, public meetings, etc. … Something like an Apple store.
Hey, isn’t Borders the big, bad company that killed the neighbourhood bookstore in the film You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Some of the local bookstores will survive, I predict. Happy that big box Borders is gone from their city.
Say No to Stuff, Yes to Trips
My favourite blog these days is philosophical adventurer, Alastair Humphreys.
Can money buy you happiness? asked Stephanie Rosenbloom in The New York Times. That depends. Several different studies point to the conclusion:
“Spending money for an experience–concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco–produce longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.” …
details – Say No to Stuff, Yes to Trips
If you are a Shaw Cable subscriber, you can pay your monthly bill knowing that titular Jim Shaw is getting a $16,000-a-day pension.
He can say Yes to Stuff, Yes to Trips.
CANADA – 4 elections in 7 years
… It will be the fourth federal election in less than seven years for Canada, where no party has been able to obtain anything but a minority-government mandate from voters since 2004.
Everybody hates the waste of money and media time … except me.
Oddly I’m interested in this election. I might even vote. So few Canadians vote that I could decide the next minority government. 
I’ll likely vote for the most fiscally conservative party. … … Since we don’t have one, it may come down to the best candidate in my riding – Calgary West.
Currently that’s Rob Anders, Conservative, “the sole parliamentarian to vote against making Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada in 2001“.
He sounds moron hard right.
Who are the alternatives? … Green party candidate Anna Wagner?
Who else?
My pet issue is government regulation of the internet. So far I’ve like the talk of the ruling Conservative party. But they’ve yet to walk that talk.
Perhaps I’ll vote for whatever party is recommended by Michael Geist.
Black Bear Diner
With nearly 50 locations in the Western United States, the Black Bear is my quintessential American family restaurant.
Pork rips and tri-tip (“Santa Maria”) steak combo. Mashed potatoes and some surreal white gravy. Wonderful corn muffin.
That fulfills 33% of your daily caloric requirements, … if you weigh 850lbs.
Pete’s California vacation cut short
PETE DOESN’T FLY.
So we drove to find the SUN on the southern California beaches.
I’m the chauffeur. Dad’s the chef. Mom the gofer.
Pete most enjoys hotel living. And restaurant eating.
Sadly fears of a California superstorm made Pete decide we’d best head home to Parksville, B.C. a couple of weeks early.
Rebecca Black – Friday (music video)
Her parents spent $2000 to put this fun video together for their daughter. So bad, it’s good.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
