must read vent • see, this is why I sometimes wanna reach out and punch people . . . . Ian at Lux Mentis has a post up about a $3000 book that came wrapped in well not much of anything at all.

Why do some people mistake TYVEK for KEVLAR? Yes they are both from Dupont but folks they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE.

Who the hell ships a 4 figure book wrapped in paper and plastic? what kind of shit is that?

Tell you what guys lets make a rule of thumb, you and me, right now . . . how about - 30 dollars MUST have a box. Got that . . . . 30 BUCKS EQUALS BOX . Simple, declarative, easy to understand. No recite it, louder . . . I can’t hear you . . . 30 BUCKS EQUALS BOX. Great now write it down and put it somewhere you won’t forget.

Somebody wake me when we get to 09.

The year is still not over still trying to finish the unfinished. Mostly shifting books around, deciding which projects should be just declared dead and buried. Scribbling notes about stuff I need to get done in ’08.

I usually never make new years resolutions, I don’t really see Jan 1st as the beginning of anything except that period where you keep trying to turn a seven into an eight in your check book. But perhaps it’s the whole middle age thing, or perhaps it’s with herself breaking bones, I can actually see a time when I have to move – something I despise down to my deepest dark crunchy center. I have been in this building for 30 years, I have crap stored in every corner of it and every outbuilding and one day I will have to deal with all of it. The only bright side is that it’s not all my crap, Herself and my brother, Himself are both much more pack ratty than I am. I have used them as bad examples and tried to keep mine down to a dull roar.

In no particular order things that need doing before I die, but preferably in 08:
• Sell or give away deadwood books
• Produce a paper catalog for sicpress.com
• Clean out the hoarded reams of paper and cardstock
• Publish a third edition of my book repair book for booksellers.
• Sell that service of 16 of Wedgwood in the basement.
• Make more instruction & demo videos
• Invest in higher end books for resale
• Dress less like a homeless person
• Rebuild the website make it look less homemade
• Sew more while I can still see
• List more items on eBay
• Waste less paper
• Shoot more film

I was supposed to spend the weekend sewing prototypes for a book wrap thungumbob but Even in 50 degree weather New Englanders have to shovel, all those pretty white snowflakes have turned into big honking icebergs melting and draining in to the century old basement. For the last couple of days Hiimself and I have been moving mountains, shifting them from one side of the house to the other. And so now I am back to popping Claritin and washing them down with Nyquil. Crappy part about feeling crappy is you can’t read. All those damn books I have been squirreling away are going to waste.

Vandals rip into Robert Frost home

RIPTON, Vermont (AP) — A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage drinking party.

Homer Noble Farm, a former Frost residence that’s now a historic landmark, was ransacked late Friday night during a party attended by up to 50 people, Sgt. Lee Hodsden said Monday.

The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building — a furnished residence open in the summer — before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned, apparently to provide heat in the unheated building, he said.

Empty beer bottles and cans, plastic cups and cellophane apparently used to hold marijuana were also found, according to Hodsden. The vandals vomited in the living room and discharged two fire extinguishers inside the building, located on a dead-end road off Route 125.

(finish reading if you can)

ironwwater, originally uploaded by jgodsey.

Using this Consumerist Morning Deal post http://consumerist.com/336074/morning-deals
I followed it to Amazon and ordered the Black and Decker Quick Press Iron.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006ZUHPC

It arrived 12/27
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgodsey/2141212443/
and had scratches underneath and was obviously used.

When I called and got their India sales people I was only on a few minutes, they didn’t even question it
they just ordered a replacement and sent me an RA tag

The 2nd iron arrived today 12/31/07
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgodsey/2152050793/
This iron is used as well – this one has water in it.

I went round and round with the girl from India, April for about 60 minutes, being put on hold 8 times.
April seems to have been taught to parrot back the same 3 lines.
“okay, but for now”
“we can investigate that further”
“we cannot process a replacement twice.”
I counted she said them 15 times, no 16 as I type this.
I have been demanding to speak to a supervisor, so far I have asked 7 times and been denied.

They don’t seem to ‘get’ that selling used items as new is illegal
and that of course you can process it twice, or twenty or a zillion until I actually get what i ordered.
My frustration paid off as I was cut off while being put on “hold” again.

then i tried
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/call-me.html
and got connected with Debbie from West Virginia
Who was in total agreement that I can get a replacement for this used item.
I also got put on hold, but eventually Debbie got authorization for a replacement and a RA Tag.

Pray tell me why I had to go through 65 minutes of lying from India,
when the problem could have been solved in a 7 minute domestic phone call?

–
j. godsey
sicpress.com
14 pleasant st
methuen, ma 01844

hop Twitch (Raccoon) Plush Toy

Twitch (Raccoon) Plush Toy

Our Squash-plush range looks like roadkill. Feels like roadkill. And tastes like roadkill. But they’re not. They’re plush toys. Very macabre plush toys. It’s the way we make them that makes them seem so real.

The blood and guts and gore are made using the latest high-tech stuffing and plush, to give it quite a realistic squidgy effect. The body and head and legs are made from specially sourced plush material, that gives them that tactile quality of mangy fur. The body is partly stuffed with beads, to give it extra dead weight. And unlike real roadkill it’s something you’ll want to take home and arrange on your bed.

We’ve tried to make Twitch and the rest of his Squash-plush chums as life-like as possible. But at the end of the day he’s only a stuffed toy. All the plush materials and stuffing we’ve used are made from 100% polyester fibres, and are fully compliant with British safety laws.

Twitch’s body is stuffed with a mixture of beads and stuffing. The beads give the Squash-plush teddy a bit of extra weight, so he can lie spreadeagled in his blood and gut-pool. The blood and guts and gore are made using the latest, cutting edge stuffing. It’s a special new micro-bead stuffing that gives the guts and organs a more malleable, tactile effect. It makes it more squidgy. More gross-out. You can disembowel Twitch by pulling the blood and innards through the zips that line both sides of the teddy carcass.

The body and legs and head are made from specially sourced Squash-plush material. It’s a really good quality Korean fur, and it gives the teddy a convincingly mangy pelt. The Gut-plush, as we like to call it, is a stretchy thin material that squidges and bulges under your fingers. If you’ve ever squidged a Japanese Barbapapa plush toy, then you’ll know what we mean. And the claws that protrude from each of his four grasping paws are made of felt.

Both of his eyes are plastic. The right hand one is bulging out and blood-shot. The left hand one is smaller and cock-eyed. His nose is also plastic. And all of his features are fully safety compliant.

Streaked across his back there’s a tyre print painted on. The effect gives quite a realistic tyre residue. Flip him over and on his underbelly there’s an embroidered red blood splat. In the middle of this blood splat, there are a couple of embroidered organs. From what we know about Raccoon anatomy, it looks like a spleen and a kidney.

He measures a healthy 15 inches from nose to tail, and 10 inches from outstretched paw to paw. And in the middle he flattens out to 2 inches high with the blood and guts stuffed in, and 1 inch high with them out. He weighs a piffling 350 grams. He won’t be the first to admit it, but as his modest dimensions show he was the runt of the litter.

The teddy bodybag is made from an translucent plastic so you can see the gore inside. It has a white zipper down the middle. And it’s 14.5 inches long by 11 inches wide. With a bit of prodding and pounding, it just allows enough space for a run over raccoon.

The toe tag is made out of recycled brown card. It’s attached to the toe with string. And there’s even a sew-in instruction label that’s crusted with blood.

Dear Bibliobull -

I just started selling books and am wondering what an electric eraser is. Is it good for removing underlining by pen in a book? If so, I can see how this could greatly enhance the value of some of my books.

Underlined Ed

---

Dear Undies -

If you are buying a lot of books with underlining already, I think I may have put my finger on your first problem. Books with underlining have almost a negative value, except when buying active college text books from the text book store then it’s like getting free crib notes. Avoid buying books with underlining, unless it’s by someone famous. People don’t like getting them in the mail, anyway. Remember condition, condition, condition If you can be more selective with your purchases, eventually you will raise the entire condition of your inventory and hence their worth.

Regarding electric erasers, they are good for people who have trouble holding smaller erasers and applying enough torque to do the job. Usually they are popular with people who do a LOT of erasing and hence get hand strain.

Electric erasers they come in 2 models, battery and plug in.

Battery models take short white plastic eraser cartridges and are very useful where not a lot of torque is needed. As if you apply more than light pressure, the motor stops. If you let it spin too long, the eraser gets hot and melts, if you use it too much, you go through a lot of cartridges. That’s when you need to move up to the plug in model.

Plug in model cartridges are available in all three erasers: white plastic, pink rubber, and grey rubber. In 30 years I have never found any of them to make a dent on ink unless you don’t mind leaving a paper scar where the ink was.

I loved my plug in electric eraser until I killed it. However they cost upwards of 60-75 US dollars and since I try to buy books in better condition I don’t really need one. I do like the control I have with a stick eraser, however as middle age creeps in dragging its little gnarled knuckles, I may change my tune.

Biblio Bull-

I had a couple of interesting questions so far this week – nothing earth shattering just interesting. First I had one fella want to know the best way to launder money….well WASH it, bank notes like all ephemera shouldn’t need washing but if it does, my research led me to perhaps swishing it around in something ultra harmless like Neutragena then rinsing the hell out of it – is probably the most harmless option.

The other inquiry I am still researching, is how to lift the leather spine off the back of a mid 19th c. big leather bible, I guess not all of them have hollow backs. So far the best I got is to apply heat and hope the animal glues still have enough moisture in them to soften before you start wiggling away with a bladed instrument. Personally moved my steam iron into the workroom 20 years ago and never took it out again.

borrowed from Scott Brown’s fine books and collections blog. The first books from the new Fine Books imprint. good on ya fb&c.

Editions & Impressions

fsmcookies8, originally uploaded by fsmcookies.

Decorate with a bit of icing and voila! Just the thing to leave out for the Christmas Pirate! Arrrrr!