Things worked out well today. The cloud cover negated the heat, and the rain held off long enough for the floating bookshop to score some gains. Susan, a senior and regular customer, kicked things off by purchasing the H.G. Wells classic, The Time Machine, as well as a modern sci-fi novel whose title escapes me. Then a lovely young woman asked if I had anything with a psychological edge. I've grown so accustomed to selling books other than my own that I completely overlooked Close to the Edge. Duh! Chances are, given the way people are not spending, she would have passed, but my main reason in being out there is to promote my own work. Geez. Fortunately, she bought three books, including a non-fiction on forensic evidence and Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Moon. And, just before it started to rain, another Susan stopped by with a significant donation, lots of horror, chiefly Stephen King and Dean Koontz. She really went overboard. The bag was heavy and she lugged it a fairly long way. Thanks, ladies.
Are you hoarding incandescent bulbs, preparing for the ban on them scheduled to begin in 2012? I haven't started yet, hoping Congress will come to its senses and kill the law, which is ridiculous even by their standards. From the reports I've read, the new bulbs need time to reach full illumination and emit a light many have found lacking and unpleasant. And they cost four times as much! How so like politicians this edict is. It will benefit the few at the expense of the many. The winners will be GE and China. How infuriating that GE, in which I hold stock, has closed American plants that manufacture the old bulbs and opened one in China, where labor is cheaper. They stand to make huge profits from this government-mandated travesty. I am tempted to sell my shares in protest. So far I've resisted, fearing it would be a cutting off of the nose to spite the face. The new bulbs will supposedly save energy and last far longer. That remains to be seen. They are toxic, filled with mercury. There is a whole rigmarole to follow when one breaks. And, since they don't give off any heat, they are a danger in traffic signals in winter. They won't melt snow, so the signals get completely covered during heavy storms. At least one death has been reported because of this problem. How many of the famous unintended consequences will there be?
Speaking of H.G. Wells, I just received a copy of Steven Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds, courtesy of the good folks at Zoom Panel surveys. Thanks.
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