THIS JUST IN...

It's getting weird out there.

WHEN JIM MORRISON TRIED TO OVERTHROW THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Our good pal Steve sent this video clip from the BBC that provides an amazing insight into the levels of paranoia which the British Government and their grim minions in the Special Branch – the Brit anti-terrorist equivalent of the FBI – viewed the anti-Vietnam War movement and the belief of some right-wing extremists that The Doors were behind it all.

As Steve writes…
Loads of official documents obtained by the Beeb about the 1968 protests. Some fascinating stuff -- apparently we were making Molotov cocktails out of lightbulbs (!) and filling eggs with acid and hiding them in lunchboxes to avoid detection. And, of course, the whole shebang was orchestrated by the Doors (those rascals)...

Click to watch this quite extraordinary video.
And if you want to see a rerun of me on another show talking about the same events click here.

Younger readers might well comment that this was all back in the day, and would hardly be possible here in the 21st century. I can only agree. Today, those in power appear twenty times more paranoid.

The secret word is Insanity.

Meanwhile, back at LA CityBeat I talk about the quality of Barack Obama’s suits. (But my run at CityBeat is almost done. More about that in the future.)

I DON'T THINK THIS IS WHAT BOB DYLAN HAD IN MIND

DON'T FUCK WITH NIKOLA TESLA (#7 in a series)

“The spread of civilization may be likened to a fire; First, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.”

And, having rolled out of bed, facing a morning of the mundane, I feel unnaturally energized, wondering as I walk from room to room, feed the cat, check the mail, if the fight for freedom and the metaphysical are the flint and steel to kindle the true spark of the revolution I crave. Thus I post a picture of Nikola Tesla and go about my business wondering, hoping. I have the strength to hold this thought and act upon it.

The secret word is More

THEY DON'T MAKE FILMS LIKE THIS ANY MORE

“Fortunately Bob Dylan, unlike like Johnny Cash, was too busy reinventing rock & roll to appear.”

(Yes, Farren has been busy writing so he’s posting a picture to cover the continuity.)

The secret is A Thousand Words

Sydney Pollack -- RIP

WHERE'S THE DOPE? WHERE'S THE DOPE?

“Never send a dog to do a narc’s work.”

Officials admit that an unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport unknowingly walked away with 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, A customs officer hid a package of dope in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security. Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in. (Click for full story from Valerie)

The secret word is Aroma

SMOKE 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM

"When peace comes (if ever) you won't be able to smoke any fucking place."

MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE

Which would be to force George Bush and his grasping cronies to pay veterans and their families, and the serving troops for that matter, decent pay and benefits.

BUT WE'RE BACK ON MARS

I, for one, are damned glad we’re back on Mars. Space is, of course, (as Sun Ra once put it) the place. Admittedly I’d be a whole lot happier if we found some Martians. Maybe the Phoenix Lander should just try following the canals.

The secret word is Thark

DON'T FUCK WITH THE BLENDER (#6 in a series)

"Werrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

The secret word is Liquefy

SAVE THE PANDA!

As pandas are saved from the Chinese Chinese mega-quake, it might raise the ethical question of whether we first save Pandas or humans, but I will not engage in it. Me, I’m with the pandas. (Click for video)

“BOBBY KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED IN JUNE IN CALIFORNIA”

For Hillary Clinton to blurt out these now notorious words on camera in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that inevitably linked Barack Obama, Bobby Kennedy, and the specter of assassination, surely must be the termination of any plausible political career. I supported Hillary in her run for the Senate, I was a huge fan of her husband, but, these eight words opened a door on a character so insensitive and single-minded in her hopeless quest for power that I would hate to see this woman anywhere near the White House. And if you might wonder why such words are so dangerous in modern America, just read on…

A car dealership in Butler, Missouri is offering a free handgun with every vehicle sold. The car lot in question, Max Motors, says sales have quadrupled since the start of the offer. The reason for the somewhat grim promotion? Owner Mark Muller explained "We did it because of Barack Obama. He said all those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive. We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns." Click for the rest of the story (Sent by Valerie)

The secret word is Firepower

MARILYN AGAIN

At Doc40 we can’t go for more than a month or so without posting a picture of Marilyn Monroe. This one of her when amazingly young is from Tom Sutpen

TWO CASH FACTS

HCB send over the following facts (or maybe trivia) about the late lamented Johnny Cash…

Fact 1 Johnny Cash was the first American to learn of Stalin's death. As an expert Morse code operator in the air force during WWII, Cash was at the keys when he intercepted a message that Stalin had died.Source: BBC Radio, World Service.

Fact 2 One of the most criminal myth-making episodes on record concerns the 'live' recording of Johnny Cash's song "Folsom Prison Blues." When he sings "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" the room full of real prisoners, and some real murderers, was dead silent. To create excitement, Sony added cheers of delight as the line was delivered. The source is Michael Streissguth’s book "Johnny Cash at Folsome Prison."

The secret word is Sue

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR CALIFORNIA

VOTE NO ON PROP 98!

***(Yes on Prop 99)***

Vote on Tuesday, June 3rd

THIS IS IMPORTANT! It's just a minor primary election that normally goes unnoticed... but if you are a California voter -- particularly if you're a California renter -- this could be the most important vote you'll cast all year!
Proposition 98 purports to protect private property rights and to limit abuses of the government in seizing property for eminent domain. But that's not all it does. Prop 98 would eliminate rent-control laws on a statewide level. Even if your city or neighborhood has rent control, this law would make those laws irrelevant. Rent would be completely deregulated, allowing landlords to jack up prices any way they wanted.Even if you're a homeowner, it's still important to vote NO on 98, because these changes could also affect the stores you shop in and the businesses where you work. (Most businesses rent from property owners.) If you even think that you or someone you care about may ever have to rent a property in California, it's urgent that you vote NO on Prop 98.This item was put on this summertime ballot specifically because its supporters knew turn-out would be low. (If you don't believe me, watch this YouTube video where the head of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association gloats about how the low turn-out will help them win.)The greedy bastards behind this law are depending on the fact that no one pays attention to this summer election.They're counting on you not showing up. Over a dozen California cities have some form of rent control law. These cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Monica, and San Jose. In addition, about 100 cities and counties have laws limiting the rent mobile home park owners may charge people who lease space in their park. Altogether, about one million California households live in rent-controlled apartments or mobile home parks.Please pass this onto every California voter & renter you know.Please vote NO on Prop 98 on June 3rd.Please vote YES on Prop 99. (This is a law that seeks to limit eminent domain abuses without eliminating rent control. Voting "yes" on 99 will help us defeat 98. If 99 gets more votes than 98, Prop 98 will never go into effect.)
MORE ON 98
MORE ON 99


The secret word is Homeless

EINSTEIN WAS AN ATHEIST

Religious true believers have always claimed Albert Einstein as their own, largely because of the famous quote, "God does not play dice with the universe." A handwritten letter, however, that the great physicist wrote to the philosopher Eric Gutkind in 1954, a year before his death at age 76, suggests he had serious problems with organised religion. "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends, which are nevertheless pretty childish."

The secret formula is E=MC2

BEWARE THE INSECT TRUST

“We’re fleas, not ants. But we look real menacing and you’ve yet to discover what we have planned.”

Uncle Bill Burroughs always warned us how the planet was drifting to random insect doom, but doom seems to be a hell of a lot closer with the arrival in Texas of crazy raspberry ants that like to attack computers and other electronic hardware. The following story from The Daily Tech was forwarded for our education and concern by some girl…

"A new species of ant has arrived in Houston and is believed to have come to Texas via a cargo ship that arrived at the Port of Houston. The ants are called crazy rasberry ants. The ants get the odd name from the fact that they tend to move erratically around in search of food rather than moving in orderly lines like typical ants." Click for full story

The secret word is Formic

CHE IS STLL WITH US

In this week’s LA CityBeat I have a reflection on how the image of Che Guevara (perhaps as a symbol of global resistance) is still potent after more than forty years. (Click to read.)

The secret word is Comandante

POPE DIGS EBEs THE MOST

Elf Hellion sent over the following, and it makes me very happy that the Catholic church is okay with aliens. But I worry somewhat that an underlying motive might be that the greys do kind of resemble a fetus.
"VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures." (For the full story)

The secret word is Indulgence

GODDAMNED POLITICS

“I mean, wouldn’t you want to see a woman president?”
But Bob said nothing.

And if you’re wondering why Doc40 hasn’t joined the Democratic primary fray, it’s because the total saturation of the news media is becoming, to say the very least, fucking tired. I just wish it was January 2009, Barack Obama was being inaugurated, and George Bush indicted.

ON HER MAJESTY'S OCCULT SERVICE

This is a book. Buy it!

In the Renquist Quartet – my four-novel cycle centered around the character Victor Renquist, the debonair, erudite, thousand year-old vampire – I made numerous references to how Renquist, at various times in his long nosferatu existence, hired on with the occult divisions of a number of intelligence agencies, from the sixteenth century creation of Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham to a World War II group formed by Winston Churchill to mess with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis’ Aryan paranormality. All of this came from my own fevered imagination (plus maybe a bit of borrowing from Dennis Wheatley) but now I discover that there are folk out there who make a serious historical case for it all being real. (Except, of course, for the dark eminence of Renquist.) All of which makes me all the more determined to delve into an investigation of morphogenetic fields (see yesterday) or, at least, pseudo- morphogenetic fields.

The secret word is Cryptoid

DOC 40’s NEEDLEWORK CORNER

THAT OLD MORPHIC RESONANCE

“Morphic resonance is a term coined by Rupert Sheldrake in his 1981 book A New Science of Life. He uses the expression to refer to what he thinks is "the basis of memory in nature....the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species."Sheldrake has been trained in 20th century scientific models--he has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cambridge University (1967)--but he prefers Goethe and 19th century vitalism. Sheldrake prefers teleological to mechanistic models of reality. Rather than apply his scientific knowledge and training to, say, trying to develop a way to increasecrop yields or a way to heal the sick, he prefers to study and think in terms outside of the paradigms of science and inside the paradigms of the occult and the paranormal. One of his books is entitled Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals. One of his studies is on whether people can tellwhen someone is staring at them. (He says they can; others have been unable to duplicate his results.*) Another tests the telepathic powers of a parrot. He prefers a romantic vision of the past to the bleak picture of a world run by technocrats who want to control nature and destroy much of the environment in the process. In short, he prefers metaphysics to science, though he seems to think he can do the former but call it the latter. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that he sees no borderline between science and metaphysics.'Morphic resonance' (MR) is put forth as if it were an empirical term, but it is no more empirical than L. Ron Hubbard's 'engram', the alleged source of all mental and physical illness. The term is more on par with the Stoic's notion of the logos. Bergson's notion of the élan vital, or Plato's notion of the eidos than it is with any scientific notion of the laws of nature. What the rest of the scientific world terms lawfulness--the tendency of things to follow patterns we call laws of nature--Sheldrake calls morphic resonance. He describes it as a kind of memory in things determined not by their inherent natures,but by repetition. He also describes MR as something which is transmitted via "morphogenetic fields." This gives him a conceptual framework wherein information is transmitted mysteriously and miraculously through any amount of space and time without loss of energy, and presumably without loss or change of content through something like mutation in DNA replication. Thus, room is made for psychical as well as physical transmission of information. Thus, it is not at all necessary for us to assume that the physical characteristics of organisms are contained inside the genes, which may in fact be analogous to transistors tuned in to the proper frequencies for translating invisible information into visible form. Thus, morphogenetic fields are located invisibly in and around organisms, and may account for such hitherto unexplainable phenomena as theregeneration of severed limbs by worms and salamanders, phantom limbs, the holographic properties of memory, telepathy, and the increasing ease with which new skills are learned as greater quantities of a population acquire them.*While this metaphysical proposition does seem to make room for telepathy, it does so at the expense of ignoring Occam's razor. Telepathy and such things as phantom limbs, for example, can be explained without adding the metaphysical baggage of morphicresonance. So can memory, which does not require a holographic paradigm, by the way. The notion that new skills are learned with increasing ease as greater quantities of a population acquire them, known as the hundredth monkey phenomenon, is bogus.In short, although Sheldrake commands some respect as a scientist because of his education and degree, he has clearly abandoned conventional science in favor of magical thinking. This is his right, of course. However, his continued pose as a scientist on the frontier of discovery is unwarranted. He is one of a growing horde of "alternative" scientists whose resentment at the aspiritual nature of modern scientific paradigms, as well as the obviously harmful and seemingly indifferent applications of modern science, have led them to seek their own paradigms in ancient and long-abandoned concepts. These paradigms are not new, though the terminology is. These alternative paradigms allow for angels, telepathy, psychic dogs, alternative realities, and hope for a future world where we all live in harmony and love, surrounded by blissful neighbors who never heard of biological warfare, nuclear bombs, or genetically engineered corn on the cob.”

The above was sent by Elf Hellion and, while still digesting most it, an idea threatens to take form in the swirling mist that this could be a factor in one hell of a monster creative adventure if one could tap into a "morphogenetic field", or even synthesize one, mayhap? Keep watching this quadrant of the skies. We have nothing to lose but our brains.

The secret word is Kinesis

THE FINAL WORD?

“I have had quite enough of all this nonsense about lipstick in space. There is only one place for lipstick.”

BACK IN THE GROVE, BACK IN THE DAY

A few years ago, I started working on a compilation CD project that was intended to showcase the best and most bestial bands that came out of my old neighborhood – London’s notorious Ladbroke Grove – during its pre-gentrification heyday between the psychedelic late 1960s and the punk rock of the late 1970s. Sadly, before the collection could be completed, my contact at Sanctuary moved on and the idea was shelved. I thought that was the end of one more cunning scheme that never quite took flight, but, as luck would have it, our old pal Nigel Cross breathed new life into the concept, and it has now come to fruition in the form of a double CD titled Cries from the Midnight Circus – Ladbroke Grove 1967-78, and includes tracks by, among others, the Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, the Pretty Things, Sam Gopal, Mick Farren and the Deviants, Tomorrow, Motorhead, Mighty Baby, High Tide, the Action and Misunderstood, Steamhammer, Cochise, Bob Calvert, the redoubtable Michael Moorcock, and many, many more.

A glowing review can be found on Phil McMullen’s Terrascope Online – plus a link to Nigel’s excellent booklet notes – and, if that wasn’t enough, Nigel emailed me that the 2CD set had been nominated for best compilation album for the 2008 Mojo Awards. Ain’t we the business?

And while we’re all stroking our egos, Suzy from Bomp forwarded the following from a character called Snogsdog. “It was when I heard Mick Farren /Deviants /Fairies /Kim Fowley, etc [late 70's] when I was around 12 -14 years old that I realized that I wasn't alone on this rock in space anymore...and that's the truth...so I always owe a million thanks especially to Mick for that..."

The secret word is Smug

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 42

IS THIS THE END OF BORDERS?

The following commentary about Borders -- the US uber-bookstore -- came from our good friend Alan Beatts, who, along with Jude Feldman, owns and operates Borderlands Books, a truly fine specialist bookstore in San Francisco. Extracted from his monthly newsletter, it’s kinda long, but it's crucial information for all who read and write books, and will have a major impact on how the latter will sell their work to the former.

"First off, a quick disclaimer -- I don't like Borders. I like them better than Barnes & Noble but still, like any independent bookseller, I don't like them. Despite my intention to be as objective as possible in the article, I'm sure that my bias is going to creep in here and there. But, if you were looking for objective, dispassionate news, you wouldn't be reading this I'm going to start with what has been going on with Borders over the past year, then I'm going to talk about the implications, and I'll finish off with the reasons that it matters to everyone who loves books.What's Been Happening - At the beginning of 2007 reports indicated that Borders had a poor holiday season and that their same-store sales were down compared to the 2005 holiday season. Same-store figures are one of the best measurements of sales since they compare sales at stores that have been open for more than one year and cut out the (usually huge) sales increases that are typical at a store that has just opened and is still in the "honeymoon" phase of a rapidly growing customer base. To be fair (and clear) the drop wasn't very large, somewhere around 1%, but in the world of big business that's serious. What was even more serious was that Borders' showed a loss of $151.3 _million_ in 2006 (that's compared to a profit of $101 million in 2005). Most of that loss was a result of their overseas operations (over $100 million) but the domestic side wasn't doing very well either.Borders' reaction was very strong -- they decided to close or sell all their overseas stores, close more than 120 of their shopping-mall oriented Waldenbooks locations (they started 2006 with 678 Waldenbooks stores and ended 2007 with 490) and started a massive redesign effort for their flagship stores. This store redesign is based on stocking _fewer_ books, providing all sorts of high-tech, multi-media services (vanity book publishing, photo album design and ordering, eBook and music downloads and more), and, according to the original plan, a stronger focus on CD and DVD sales (which changed to a much _weaker_ focus on CDs sometime last year when they realized that music downloads were killing the CD business). The multi-media services come along with staff specifically trained to give assistance to people who aren't terribly comfortable with computer stuff.This process moved along slowly (the first of the redesigned stores opened this January and they still haven't found a buyer for their overseas stores anywhere except in the UK) and, as last year progressed, it seemed to be too little and a bit too late. By the end of last year, Borders' management was really hoping for a good holiday season. Which they didn't get. At the beginning of this year, Borders was short enough on money that they set up a loan from Pershing Square Capital Management (an investment fund and one of their major shareholders) at a very high interest rate. Exactly what Borders needed the money for is beyond the scope of this article but, to put it very simply, companies are just like you and I -- they don't take out loans at a high interest rate unless they really need the cash and don't have another place to get it. Based on Borders' recently released shareholder report . . . wow, did they need the money. Their loss in 2006 was $151.3 million, right? In 2007 the loss was up -- $157.4 million. In two years, Borders has lost over three-hundred million dollars.As of last month they managed to get better terms on the loan (still not great though -- around one-and-a-half times the current, usual interest rate for businesses) and they've gotten themselves some breathing room so that they can, in the words of Borders' CEO George Jones, "review their strategic alternatives". But they're still in financial trouble and everything hinges on whether their new business model is going to work (and if they can manage to make their interest payments). If it doesn't, they're very likely on the way out.What Might Happen - It's possible that Borders' current plan will work. Closing less profitable stores and their new super-store format should reduce their losses and open up new sources of income. But closing stores isn't a cure-all. Closing a store creates other types of loss (selling off the fixtures at a loss, returning inventory, and getting out of leases which are far from expired) as was clearly demonstrated last year when closing their overseas stores produced an enormous loss. This may be a little graphic but closing stores is a little bit like cutting off a mangled limb -- the blood loss and infection stops but the patient is still missing the leg.The new super-store format is very smart in a couple ways: The plan to reduce stock by eliminating titles that sell slowly (or not at all) instead of trying to have everything that any possible customer might want is a technique that has worked well for independent stores that were struggling (Cody's in Berkeley and Kepler's in Palo Alto are two prime examples). Offering computer services, free computer time, and tech help for people trying to build a "digital lifestyle" are all things that make a bookstore both a destination and hang-out spot. The best-case assumption is that these services are going to both attract shoppers as well as creating a new source of income. Of course, attracting shoppers is only useful if they buy something but in principle it's a good thing.The flip side of the new store format is that it's still predicated on selling books, DVDs and (to a much lesser and perhaps vanishing degree) CDs. A fair amount of Borders' current troubles came from the unanticipated (at least by them) crash of the music CD market (their CD sales were down more than 14% last year) and, based on plummeting CD sales, they abandoned the CD-heavy element of their new store design and have been shrinking their CD sections in all stores like crazy. But may DVD sales go the same way? Apple is busily building their movie download market and Amazon is working on a similar project (more about Apple and Amazon's competition for downloadable media next month). If DVD sales follow CD sales then Borders can expect another huge revenue hit in the next couple of years.As for book sales, Borders is still facing competition from on-line retailers (21% of overall book sales last year) and places like Target, Walmart, and CostCo (9% of sales). Though the last two outlets are not likely to increase their sales, internet sales will probably continue to grow over the next few years, especially as some towns are left without a bookstore as Borders continues to close Waldenbook locations. Overall 33% of book purchases are at chain bookstores. In comparison, independent stores get 3% of sales. Though it's possible that the sales going to the internet will come from independent store customers, it seems unlikely since the majority of people who shop at independent stores do so for qualities that the internet cannot provide, whereas shoppers at chain stores are often motivated by price, convenience and selection -- three qualities that on-line companies have in abundance. In summation, one of the three lines that Borders concentrates on is pretty much gone (CDs), one of them may be on the way out (DVDs), and the final one is certainly not going to grow and is likely to shrink (books). They are building a new service-based income source (on-demand book printing, photo album printing, download services, and etc.) that, while useful to many people, is dependent on a customer base that doesn't have the knowledge to do it themselves. The catch here is that, if their customers get educated, they evaporate, since everything that Borders is offering can be had on-line at a lower cost and with greater convenience.As my brother, the bank-guy, said, "_I_ wouldn't invest in them".So, let's say that Borders continues to have financial trouble. What happens? My bet is that they close. I'm pretty sure no-one is going to buy their business, neither the whole company or piecemeal (i.e. a local chain buying up three or four locations). The only business that might be interested in buying Borders as a complete business entity would be Barnes & Noble and, to be blunt, there's no reason that B&N would want it. Most places where there's a Borders there's a B&N nearby so B&N wouldn't buy Borders to add to their markets. Borders' inventory is very similar to B&N's and the same goes for their staff. Borders doesn't own any of their buildings so there is no real estate asset that would be attractive. In short, Borders doesn't have anything that B&N would want, other than its customers. And, if Borders goes out of business, all B&N needs to do to get the customers is wait. It's possible that some other company would want to buy Borders but essentially all that Borders owns that's worth anything is its inventory and store fixtures. That's not enough value to be worth the trouble of buying the company. The same argument applies to the possibility of Borders being broken up and sold piecemeal to other bookstores. There just isn't anything that Borders has that's unique or particularly difficult to duplicate.Without a buyer or a source of capital, continuing losses for Borders probably means bankruptcy. In cases of bankruptcy like this, it's very common for creditors to be paid somewhere between 30 and 70 percent of what they are owed by the bankrupt company (though it can go as low as 10% or less in some cases). That would mean that almost all of the publishers in the US could lose as much as 14% of their _total_ accounts receivable. To put that in real-world terms, imagine what your personal financial situation would be like if your employer cut your pay by a similar amount (i.e. instead of making $40,000 a year you made $34,000). The effect on publishers would be at least as bad.What Are The Consequences - If Borders declares bankruptcy and closes there will be a cascade of effects. Publishers will lose a great deal of money owed to them. The five major US publishers (Hachette, Macmillan, Peterson, Harper and Bertelsman) and the the big distributors (Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Diamond Books, and so on) will be able to weather it without too much disruption but all the smaller publishers in the country are going to be hurt. Many of them may be hurt badly enough that they'll close. Publishers closing has the immediate effect of reducing the number of books that get out to the consumers and also reduces the number of places that authors can sell books.These effects will be amplified by the loss of bookstore shelf space nationwide. Here's a simple equation -- the ability of a publisher to purchase a book from an author and print it is determined by the number of copies the publisher believes will sell. The format (i.e. hardcover, large-size softcover, or paperback) of the book is also determined by expected sales. You would think that the number of copies that will sell is simply based on the number of readers who will buy the book but it's not that simple. For a reader to buy a book, they have to find it and the most common way that readers find a book is on a shelf at a bookstore (though word of mouth and publicity are also important). If there are fewer shelves and fewer stores in the country, fewer books will sell. So, in the immediate aftermath of Borders closing, fewer books will be sold in the US. Perhaps a great deal fewer -- remember, of every six copies of a book that are sold anywhere in the country, Borders sells one of them.So, on the heels of financial losses as a result of a bankrupt Borders not paying its bills, there would also be a potentially major decrease in book sales over all. Which would cause more independent publishers to go out of business. Consequently even fewer books are published, authors have more trouble selling their books and readers have less choices in reading. It's also possible that print runs would get smaller, which means less money for authors. Less income from writing means that some authors won't be able to spend as much time doing it, which also means fewer books out there for readers.Which brings us to the final consequence -- readers' access to books. Borders and Barnes & Noble have been so successful over the years that there are many towns and cities in which the only bookstore is either one or both of those chains. If Borders closes, there are many towns that will be without any bookstore of any sort or, if they do have a bookstore, it will be Barnes & Noble. In the first case, the residents will have the choice of either ordering books on-line or driving long distances (in these days of four-dollar-a-gallon gas) to get to a store. In time, a local store might open or B&N might move into the area but it could be a long time coming, if at all. In the areas that have a B&N as well as a Borders things will be better but there's a catch - the buying decisions for chain bookstores are made at the corporate level. In other words, for any given section (like SF and fantasy for example) one person decides for all the stores not only what books are going to be stocked but also how many copies each store gets. As far as I know, the buyers for the chains are all nice people and they really care about books but they are still individual people with all the assumptions, biases, and foibles that you'd expect.Let's say, for example, that the science fiction buyer for B&N decides that British hard SF is too complicated for an American audience and therefore won't sell. In a world without Borders, that might mean that a huge number of readers wouldn't be able to read Iain Banks or Alastair Reynolds since the only store near them wouldn't have their books. Even worse, without significant orders from B&N, it's quite possible that those authors wouldn't even be published in the US. And there would be no way of proving that the authors would be popular since the books would simply be unavailable (though people might order them from British outlets). If this seems farfetched, consider that A) that comment about "too complicated" is an exact quote from a US editor and that, due to their huge market share, B) both Borders and B&N have enough influence with publishers to get cover art and even book formats changed, pretty much on a whim.To sum up, Borders closes. Some small publishers close. Book sales drop. More publishers close. Number of books published per year drop. Print runs get smaller. Authors sell fewer books and get less money for the books they do sell. Fewer books get written. Many areas are without bookstores or only have a representative of the one remaining chain. Readers have less access to books and the books they do have access to are increasingly the product of a single corporate "style".Who loses in this scenario? Publishers, authors, and most of all readers. And who wins? To some degree, independent bookstores since some portion of Borders' former customers would end up going to them. But the big winners are Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com when they divide up what's left. However many of the pressures that have been squeezing Borders are going to affect B&N as well, so how long will they stay profitable? And then we're left with Amazon. Who is making a huge bid to avoid the fate of their non-virtual competitors."

The secret work is Stack

ONE BIG UNION!

DON'T FUCK WITH FRANK ZAPPA (#5 in a series)

"What’s the ugliest part of your body?
What’s the ugliest part of your body?
Some say you nose,
Some say your toes,
But I think it’s your mind."

Meanwhile, Doug the Bass send over this gem from The Baltimore Sun. Seems like the good folk of Baltimore can’t make up their minds if the city should have its own a statue of Frank Zappa, and the Sun are holding an online referendum. Vote Now. Vote often.

The secret words are Help I'm A Rock

Irvine Robbins -- RIP

MEANWHILE, BACK AMONG THE CYLONS

“We definitely don’t wear lipstick. We leave that to the skinjobs.”

Aeswiren sent us the following rumination before I took my recent enforced break…

"Thinking about the Cylons etc. and your growing preference for them v the humans of the Twelve Colonies etc. ...The persistent fear and loathing of robots is one of those interestinglittle windows into the human mind, yeah? Think of positive robot stories. I Robot in print, Robbie in Forbidden Planet, the "good" artificial person played by Lance Henrikson in Aliens, Data in Trek "Generation," some other books from here and there....And then the negative ones-- overwhelming numbers... Terminators,Cylons, inexplicable giant alien machinery, e.g. Kronos (1957)-- fucked up human-mades like Hal, or Ash, the "bad" artificial person in Alien-- it's endless. H'wood even reversed Asimov's entire concept to let Will Smith do battle with evil minded machinery.Is this perverse Luddism? We hate and fear the machines, even as they make our lives more comfie? Or is it a deeper fear of being replaced?AI-- Spielberg's yawnfest, circled around this stuff, but then veered down his canyon of sentimentality into total tedium. Neuromancerworked the territory, but Gibson is always too clever to actually take sides. T2 & 3 offered a little nuance on the subject-- some machines might be reprogrammed to save us rather than exterminate us.But the core emotion, the primary color, is that we know in our gut that they will do that. Exterminate us. Or sideline us and take control of the Earth, or whatever's left of it. Or, if by some miracle we've actually done the right thing and moved out into the Solar system,they'll wage war on us to take that over.Glossing over the problem of machine intelligence becomingself-willed-- which may be possible, but then again, may not-- aren't we confronting the basic duality of human social existence, here?We love ourselves-- officially. Human self-glorification sells stuff galore.But we hate ourselves-- for our selfish, ugly, fucked up, worthless,weak stupidity.And even as we celebrate human accomplishments we're aware that we're eating the world down to the pips, that we're as superstitious and ignorant as mediaeval peasants, and if we did produce a bunch of Cylons they would just be so much better than us, so much more in control of their hungers, their needs and desires, that they would fucking well deserve to replace us. Yeah?"

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 41

I guess the secret word would have to be Suspended

An easy Sunday. Nothing too strenuous.

DON'T FUCK WITH TOM DUNSON (#3 in a series)

"You're soft, you should have let 'em kill me, 'cause I'm gonna kill you. I'll catch up with ya. I don't know when, but I'll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect to see me, 'cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there. I'm gonna kill you."

THE CONTINUING QUESTION OF LIPSTICK IN SPACE

“All I wear in space is lipstick, pasties, a bubble helmet, and a plastic bag.” (Send by Valerie against her better judgment.

The secret word is Microgram

IS NOTHING SACRED? #2

Last week he had the dubious sex movies of Marilyn Monroe supposedly blowing some unseen male – possibly a dead Kennedy. This week we have "Jimi Hendrix: The Sex Tape." At least the alleged Marilyn video was supposed being kept under wraps and away from the public. The Hendrix sex tape, on the other hand, is being marketed by porn giant Vivid Entertainment. Obvious doubts have been raised as to whether this really in Jimi en flagrante or some piece of fakery. The expert witnesses called in were Pamela Des Barres and Cynthia Plastercaster, both who vouch for the clips authenticity. Click for the whole story.

According to legend Elvis Presley acquired himself a video cam just before his death and taped every thing that squirmed, writhed or whimpered. Will this be the next to emerge?

The secret word is Tiretracks

A FORTUITOUS SUICIDE?

As the news filters out about how “DC Madame” Deborah Jeane Palfrey hung herself at her mom’s house in Florida, I can’t stop the nagging doubt. Is this shit on the level? Okay so I’m a paranoid cynic with an unhealthy love for a good conspiracy, and yes, she was facing horrendous hard jail time, but her own reported words have an ominous ring. At various time Palfrey has repeated…

"If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized, rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," And on another occasion, "No I'm not planning to commit suicide," and she added that she was “at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. If she was found dead it would be murder." "I'm planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government,"

The secret word is Decriminalize

MAY 1ST – UP THE WORKERS!

THIS BLOG IS STILL PROTECTED BY...

ALBERT HOFFMAN -- RIP

(Thanks Munz)

Albert Hoffman died at 102. Another young life cut short by psychedelic drugs.

DON'T FUCK WITH BLACK TRIANGLES (#2 in a series)

“2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113.”

AND THIS FOOL WANTS TO RACHET UP THE DRUG WAR

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has decided he wants to "send a message" to youngsters that smoking reefer "unacceptable". Previously Cannabis was downgraded to class C drug in the UK which made possession largely a non-arrestable offence. This, however, isn’t good enough for Brown, he claims he’s worried about the "more lethal" (lethal????) use of skunk - a strong form of the drug. Click for the full story. (Thanks Ed.)

The secret word is Dope

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 40

“The lady below is totally correct. No one goes into space without lipstick.”

MY WHITE BICYCLE

It was, of course, a tune by the 1960’s band Tomorrow (for whom the dubious Twink played drums) but, much more important it was a scheme of the Dutch Provos by which white bicycles were left all over the city and were free for anyone to use, and then, having taken to the free ride, to leave for the next person needing no-cost transport. Sadly it was one of those great counter culture ideas that faded with the 1970s – and was also beset by an odd geographic entropy whereby the bicycles seemed to ultimately wind up in the outer suburbs of Amsterdam and have to be rounded up with great trouble and expense, which was hardly the original idea. The idea has, however, been resurrected in a number of European cities, and is proving particularly successful in Paris. Munz has sent a full report.

The secret word is Pedal

YOU MELTED OUR HOME, YOU BASTARDS!

This blog is still affiliated with The White Panther Party

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 39

“In space we always wear lipstick.”

WHEN THE FOOD RUNS OUT

I still have not martialed my thoughts about the world wide food riots. All I can say is that it’s just another scene from the science fiction movie I have seen over and over. I also find it hard to not fly into a rage when I read that one of the multiple causes of the crisis – aside from the bloody oil barons and their controlling sheiks – is the corn to ethanol boondoggle in which more than a quarter of the last crop cycle was eaten up by this ineffective and criminally wasteful piece of greed. And this is not even to take into account endemic Western obesity. For relevant details read Daily Kos

The secret word is Larceny