Books and Fish

Independent booksellers have been in the news recently. They are obviously concerned about the rise of the e-reader and pissed off at those people making money from a new technology. I think, on the whole, I like e-readers. You have all the obvious benefits of not having to store or carry books. And then there are other things, like the environmental aspects. Sure there is some effort making all the plastics and electronics, but I wonder how many trees you have to make into books to have an equivalent environmental impact?

I don't have an e-reader, but that is simply because I read so few books it would be 5-10 years before it paid for itself. However, I have no sympathy for these book-selling people.

Back in the 80s, instant photography consisted of Polariod. And there were lots of people making a livelihood from making and selling all the equipment involved. Then digital cameras are invented and they are all our of a job. Oh well, that is progress, right? I am not sure some of the people involved in the book industry (I am looking at you - really old man running an independent book shop) wouldn't recognise progress if it hit them in the face.

There will always be a place for real books, but there will be far fewer of them. And the industries built around them will change accordingly. I think it will be more like vinyl than Polariod. People still make and sell vinyl music, but most of it is digital.

It really grinds my gears when I see someone on the news who has had the same job for years complaining when they loose their job, not because they were bad at it, but because the world has decided that industry is too big. Get a new fucking job. And the example that irritates me the most are the fishermen. They like to bicker amongst themselves, and blame the spanish fishermen. But when you look at it as a whole (which we must do) then you see that we have shagged the seas to the point that there is little left. There are more fishermen than fish, so some people are going to have to find new jobs.

Go get a job in a call-centre you whining little turd.