Newsstand

Clearer skies ahead?

2012-02-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, spring is on its way. We love spring for even more reasons than most, and not just because it lightens up Newsstand Hovels...

No, spring means sunshine and sunshine means no one will be able to read those troublesome digital magazines in the garden. Add that to the obvious perils of reading your tablet in the bath - and the good old print magazine is starting to regain the edge in various parts of the home.

There was an excellent article in The Observer the other day, detailing how print magazines that don’t invest heavily in digital editions are those leading the industry sales increases. This is common sense to us but is a point often lost in the constant clamour of those who insist that print is on its way out. Unfortunately many of the magazine publishers are contributing to this noise (and, as a result, contributing to falling sales). All we can do at Newsstand is keep ensuring we make as many print magazines as possible available to everyone.

There has been the usual highlighting of dropping sales over the last quarter amongst the popular titles (who are often spending obscene amounts of money on developing Android and other digital platform editions), but many magazines who take pride in their print editions are showing tremendous growth. These magazines do not grab the headlines as they are not the big sellers – but they often lead the industry in the more important areas of design and content quality. On this point, we've joined something called Pinterest, just to collate together all the best magazine cover designs we come across - please drop by, I think we are here.

At Newsstand we know the younger generations still enjoy, even prefer, the print magazine. We just hope that the print doom mongers don’t instigate a self-fulfilling prophecy, where publishers feel they must invest in digital, give away print and end up finding it impossible to survive.

So please, keep browsing the smaller titles, get hold of something different and enjoy the sunshine in the garden. Let the others be distracted by the spot on the end of their nose – it won’t be long now.

Gordon

2011-12-05T05:41:00.000-08:00

The world seems to be in a bit of a mess, or at least the capitalist swathe of it. With all the wealth increase over, say, the last 30 years in the UK – we are no happier despite the bigger television and the increase in takeaway meals. So why then does everything the government does, answer to the mantra of economic growth? Is it not time for a new breed of politician to step forward and declare this measurement outdated & defunct, perhaps replaced by a “smiles recorded per week index” on any of the trillion CCTV cameras we have in this country?

I am a bit lax on figures, but aren’t we caught on CCTV some ridiculously high number of times per week? Facial recognition software is now available and really, judging society by the number of grins recorded would be an all-encompassing measure of happiness and of course, progress.

There are flaws, granted, not least the ridiculously poor quality of footage available. Aside from this, there are those who smile incessantly for no reason and those who have trouble bearing their teeth at all, despite all that inner elation. That good old law of averages should see those two problems off, though. Babies with wind was a concern, but their toothless nature should ensure they don't trouble the scorers. Weather conditions and other overriding factors would also need consideration, such as World Cup fourth round defeats and without doubt, Shane Warne’s grin should be multiplied by 58 million and subtracted from the overall tally.

This “Grin Index” would be in harmony with the Government’s big society ideals, as local peaks and troughs could be ascertained and analysed. Instead of the state of livers in the North East, we would understand the happiness index of every county, city and even street with alarming precision. Twitter updates and live blogs could follow. This comparison does raise the issue of alcohol/drug induced grins, but I am assuming the face recognition software would cross check the smile against the eyelids and shut these out.

Of course the Government might look to massage these figures. Comedians with Sour gum sweets would be stationed under cameras in our high streets and any late trains would be counterbalanced by mobile dental technicians roaming the platforms. Perhaps even free magazines distributed to certified miserable areas, what with their proven ability to make people happy. All this would allow politics to continue unhindered, just as we know and love it.

So there you are, the Grin Index Network (GIN) Committee, would obviously need meet on a fortnightly basis to consider, consult, confer and ultimately confabulate the various variables and potential pitfalls of doing something, anything or nothing at all to improve a situation.

Subscriptions for the clever kids

2011-11-23T03:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we worry that magazine subscriptions have developed a bad reputation. The automatic renewal and “pay us later” models used by some publishers can really upset the customer and give the industry a bad name. That’s why we have concentrated all our energy on providing the services that the customers want, without all the strings attached.

So, when it comes to buying magazines as a Christmas present, we think we have the offer just right. You don’t need to “subscribe”, you don’t need to subject the recipient or yourself to ongoing direct debits and constant renewal letters and associated offers. With Newsstand you simply buy the number of issues you would like to send - and that’s it (bar the odd email…but we keep these few and far between). So, whether it’s a single copy or a longer term gift, it’s your call.

What this also allows is much more flexibility and as a result, a much better present. Instead of getting someone a year to one magazine…why not add a bit of unpredictability and buy them 3 issues of four different magazines? There are so many to choose from, you’ll always find a great mixture for anyone you know – and with it the potential to surprise them a few times and show you’ve given the present that little bit more thought! Trust us when we say there are plenty of weird, wonderful and just plain brilliant magazines out there.

We are also always happy to give you some pointers over the phone or via email. We have a pretty good idea what’s hot and what’s not, plus some lovely shiny publications that you will not have heard of. Plus there are the usual offerings like gift cards start date selection.

We want to move this magazine industry on, come with us.

Rare Newsstand newsletter slash email:

2011-05-11T03:25:00.000-07:00

In our quest to become a little more helpful without necessarily selling you something, we have added a few things to the Newsstand magazine website that may be of interest to you.

You can now sign up for cover alerts on any of the 3,500 magazines that we hold, meaning you'll receive a simple email with the latest cover of the magazine you've requested as soon as it is available in the shops in the UK. There's no requirement to purchase and you can stop the emails at any time. We think it serves as a great reminder that a new issue has been published, as well as an overview of the contents to help you decide if it's worth tracking down or not.
We were planning to send you the next new issue based on your past purchases at Newsstand. If you would like not to recieve these cover emails, please click here.

You can now also request a particular magazine if it's out of stock. We'll try and get it for you and email you if it becomes available, with no obligation. As usual, all the onsale dates and recent covers on almost every magazine are available on the site. So if you like your magazines in print, we are the best resource there is online.

All the best,

NS

2011-03-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

Someone at Newsstand recently turned 60 the other day, so, being the pleasant bunch that we are, we bought him a card and a little something. As it was a nice round number, we didn’t think any old card would quite do the job, so we got a large and lively number that set us back £2.99. The lucky recipient works in the office, but postage would have meant the cost of sending this birthday card – albeit a very snazzy one – would have spiralled upwards of £3.50. Now that’s quite a lot of money for something that takes all of 15 seconds to read and… hang on, don’t we send out single magazines with gift cards from around £1.20 upwards?

So, that is what we are peddling with this blog entry… We think sending a single magazine to a friend either as a small present or just a thank you is a really novel idea and seems much less wasteful than sending a, let’s face facts, boring card.

In fact it’s just a really good way of getting in touch these days – almost like a text message on steroids.

You can always find something topical to send, so if you’ve stayed at theirs for a weekend and they’ve admitted an unhealthy interest in poultry, then perhaps send them a copy of Fancy Fowl magazine as a thank you? As you can see what’s in each issue by way of the front cover on the website, it makes it even easier to send them something topical…and we think it would be much appreciated.

The fact that there are hundreds of virtually unheard of magazines available at Newsstand just makes things even better. All budgets can be catered for as well. OK, so they may not appreciate a copy of Take a Break or British Homing World (pigeons, lest you wonder), but there are art magazines and the like right up to £50 a go.

Are you seriously indebted to a keen flower arranger? Bloom magazine will certainly smooth things over. In any case, it’s not just a thank you or birthday present – but simply a “nice touch” for someone you haven’t seen for a while. It’s important to know that you can have all the ease without having to buy a subscription, that’s why we are here.

Just because we run a shop, doesn’t mean we’re good at sales…but hopefully you’ll agree with us that this has something going for it.

Content

2011-02-23T03:31:00.000-08:00

You're always told as a website business, that providing unique and interesting content will encourage other sites to link to you and therefore increase your visibility on t'internet. Those folk at Google even have a sort of mantra for it.

Recently we've focused on magazine covers both current and recent, with the idea being that many blogs or websites might consider placing an automatically updating cover on their own pages. With around 3,500 different magazines available, there is always plenty of scope for finding a topical magazine that will ultimately provide interesting and self updating content for your own site. So, we have set up buttons on the website that make it simple to cut and paste the code anywhere. The backlinks help Newsstand, of course, but all in all we think it's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Here is an example of the content...

More About Elle French

....the current front cover of Elle French is updated each week automatically - so that's what is displayed above. By clicking on the cover you SHOULD get a larger pop up version of the magazine and the ability to scroll through recent covers, which also allows you to read the contents. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this last bit is inexplicably not happening. Which brings us on to another mantra of our own: "The IT keeps going wrong, ohmmm", often used to relax tension or curb violence against the machines.

Whilst we're working on making that a little more snappy, and also fixing the zooming "malfunctionality", do consider using the content on your sites. Just copy the ready made code displayed when you click the "Live Cover Viewer" button under any of the magazines on the Newsstand site.

Plus let us know if there are additions we could make to enhance the offer further, we are all ears, as ever.

Digitalitis

2011-02-18T02:51:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the radio silence (like you've missed it...). We're so old fashioned here, we actually hibernate throughout January.

I tell a lie, it's actually not the weather that makes us go to sleep, it's more the incessant drone of online soothsayers predicting the end of print magazines that has this numbing effect. I don't know whether they have just been sacked by a magazine, or perhaps been given a new iSomething by their friend from London, but there seems to be an awful lot of it going around.

We've all been to a dinner party with those parents who insist that everything in their house runs like clockwork, kids behave like angels and they all have a group hug whilst singing songs from The Sound of Music each morning after breakfast. That's what I think is happening online, it's a kind of therapy where if you tell yourself and everyone else who's listening (anyone?) the same things over and over again, then it might become true. Well, let me tell you, my kids are naughty.

Which is why it's important for magazine readers to actually ask themselves a fundamental question, and to answer it honestly: Is it a more pleasant experience to read from paper or from a screen? I'm not going to continue with all the pros and cons as I'm quite sure you have a brain of your own.

Magazine sales since 2001 have fallen roughly 32% according to the latest sales figures, that's over a whole decade. The FTSE 100 and UK houseprice graphs can make that look insignificant over much shorter terms without too much trouble. I imagine, too, that the iPad Wired magazine sales have had an even more impressive drop since it's launch....?

Aside for the guesswork above, I can divulge that "a decent" percentage of our customers here at Newsstand are firmly from the digitally enhanced generation, (and by that I mean teenagers and not ageing models). So let's not listen to those on their digital devices, banging the drum for their digital devices. Make your own mind up, be assured that the printed magazine will be around for the rest of your life and perhaps consider this whole episode as more of a "rebirth" than the curtains coming down. We do, as it helps us get to sleep at night....

And crucially: Don't buy it just because it's shiny.

PS Any data cited above is cultivated from unhelpfully labelled graphs on dubious websites and therefore may not be at all accurate....

Suitably seasonally embarrassed

2010-12-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

I've just sent a Christmas email out to tens of thousands of people, that mentions that all time favourite story, The Parting of the Red Sea.

Only I, in my haste, decided that the star of the show was Jesus.

A huge seasonal apology to those affected, and of course to Moses.

Forcing the Christmas Issue

2010-12-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

It's certainly that time of year again, the snow is piling down as the emails for this and that come flooding into the mailbox. 60% off, 70% off, one was even giving them away. You'd be forgiven for thinking that these emails were some kind of fraudulant spam, until you see the time and skill that has gone into the graphical explosions within them. There are no tell tale spelling mistakes; these then, are real businesses selling real products at 90% off the retail price...

At this point I'm going to tell you that there are no sales at Newsstand, you won't be getting anything for nuffink I'm afraid. We will excel in service levels, though, that's the way we play the game and we'll be sticking to our guns on this until the bitter end - when only George C Tibbet from Coventry still believes with us in the old adage "you get what you pay for", will we consider shutting up shop.

We find ourselves in this position because we don't align our offerings with any one magazine publisher and the exciting thing about it is that we can break the mould a little.

You could, for example, buy a subscription to a magazine as a Christmas gift for someone, or you could buy them 5 different single magazines that they've never heard of before. We have high quality magazines that are great gifts on their own, some costing well over £20 per copy as well as over 120 different categories that cater for all manner of interests. How about just sending your Gran a copy of this year's Christmas Radio Times, for instance?

I've procrastinated enough this year already, so it'll be 2011 before we create an area for the magazines that we think have that X factor, brilliant content on great subjects. In the meantime, have a look at our new cover browsing area, where we've recreated a newsagents shelf to help you skim across and close in on magazines that might interest you.

Despite all this, sometimes I wonder if we are actually going backwards. The Newsstand online site opened in 1995, way before its' time. Magazine publishers' hadn't really rolled out the subscriptions bandwagon back then and we were out there on our own for many years. If we'd been sharper business "objects" we would have capitalised on that and be sitting on the top table with Amazon.

Instead, this year we've opened a little shop to go with the website. It's in a Canterbury side street and it's completely jam packed full of every magazine you could wish to see. Whereas the Newsstand website is slick and easy - designed for maximum throughput of customers, the shop is exactly the opposite, and it's a joy. Selling a magazine takes at least 4 minutes and is utterly uneconomical, customers do well not to trip over bags and boxes (EDIT: Dear Health & Safety, this has been sorted out now...) - but when you feel like Arkwright the world can seem a wonderful place.

Come and find us, I can't tell you exactly where we are as that would spoil the fun. In any case, today's magazines have turned up - completely against expectations and the run of play - so I'll need to get stuck in with the only other person who managed to brave the 1 whole foot of snow and get into the office today.

Free Ranges

2010-10-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

The UK has one of, if not the, most impressive range of consumer magazines in the world. I’d be guessing, but it would be in the region of 4,500 different titles that are available to buy in the shops around the country.

But when I say available, I have to use the term very loosely, as things have been getting a little crowded in the newsagents shelves recently and something had to give.

In order to try and make these ramblings seem just a little sensible, I’ll need to offer some background at this point, stick with me. You see, the wholesale distribution system in the UK is also pretty “special”. Publishers carve up the country into areas of around 500-1500 retailers in size, and the wholesalers complete a tender process for each area. The prize? A vertical agreement that creates “mini monopolies” across the country, where the retailers have no say in who supplies their magazines, but where the wholesalers can provide an extremely time efficient service for the publishers.

There are distinct pros and cons to this system. One downside is that customer service to retail suffers, you only have to pick up a copy of Retail Newsagent magazine to see that things aren’t like any other industry. A plus side, however, is that all of these magazines had a level playing field when it came to distribution to retail. There was no real advantage to the magazines with higher circulation and titles that sold just a few thousand copies were able to piggy back.

However, over the last decade or more, supermarkets and large chain retailers have started to charge quite hefty fees to display magazines on their shelves, and publishers have started to take more of an interest in the number of copies each single retailer is sent. Without boring your socks off, this combination has meant that larger magazine retailers have taken the lion’s share of popular magazines and smaller newsagents have had everything else literally thrown at them, often without them wanting, needing or requesting it all.

Back to the point I was trying to make in the first place – Tesco et al only have the magazines you already know about and although the village newsagent often has all the more interesting stuff, you’ve no way of finding it as his shelves are just too crowded with all the magazines that cannot afford to get into the big boys’ shops. Added to this, the management of his stock is so difficult, that the virtually tireless newsagent gives up magazines or closes, creating even fewer shops for the 4,000 magazines to prize their way into. If he does stick with it, the actual customer (let’s not forget him) can’t find what he is looking for, and more importantly cannot possibly discover anything new to catch his interest as he can but see the spines of the magazines and no more.

Not good at all. In fact, current magazine sales overall are generally propped up by those publishers who can afford the TV advertising and/or a prominence in major retailers. Cue increasing gap between heavyweights (mainstream) and tiddlers (interesting niche mags). Niche publishers are hurling themselves at digital solutions and the print magazine market is suffering even more. We’re worried about how long this can last.

Brace yourselves for the TV listings analogy:

We all know there is a lot more, great quality programming available to us these days, yet you will consistently hear that “there is nothing good on the box anymore”. One theory goes that as programmes die out, viewers cannot find a replacement as there is just too much out there and the only good “introductory” systems are the trailers and ads on the telly that hook you into the next big thing. The other million and one programmes, as good as they may be, are surplus, unexplored and as a result “not worth watching”. Thus the viewer’s universe shrinks and shrinks and eventually he resorts to reruns of Bergerac, and Yes, Minister.

Back to the magazines and we’re trying hard to resurface the playing field at Newsstand. All magazines get the same airtime, we are adding more and more impartial information on magazines than ever before and we run, screaming from the notion that the best sellers list must contain all the quality.

As we add better browsing options to the site, we hope you’ll see more and more magazines that deserve to get discovered and that keep publishing as a result. The alternatives are grim for all magazine lovers; like the TV reruns, we really wouldn’t want to be selling dog eared back issues and not a lot else.

Landfill

2010-10-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the world of marketing just depresses, especially as the sunshine fades away and the cold grey clouds settle in for the foreseeable future. Winter brings out the worst of our house - it's holes seem to treble in size and the cold wind comes through like it owns the place.

Today we’re talking free gifts on magazines, and they grate. On the face of it, a free gift is just a bit of a nuisance to us (and when I say us, I mean everyone involved in the distribution and retail of magazines). Noone likes a pointless cardboard box, whether you are an anti packaging warrior or a village newsagent (not mutually exclusive, by the way). Add to this Newsstand’s additional task of posting out each magazine individually, and you get the picture.

Having said that, our overwhelming dislike of covermounted gifts is not based around the logistics, but perhaps more the marketing behind it and the landfill that it leaves behind.

We like to think that if you make a magazine good enough, then it should sell based on its magazine qualities (design, editorial etc etc), not because you’ve strapped a football to the front of it. We’ve seen bicycle pumps, cereal bowls, mudguards, cat food, condoms, daffodil bulbs and all manner of other unwanted products stuck onto magazines over the years. The larger of which we always greet with cries of amazement, followed by tears of disbelief. BTW, when we upload a magazine front cover to the Newsstand site, we always remove the gift beforehand in a vain attempt to increase the focus on the magazine itself. We still send all free gifts out to customers, unless (and this is extremely rare) the publisher has excelled itself and attached something that wouldn't fit through a post box in a month of Sundays.

Then there are the children’s magazines, where the gift quality, if not size, plummets to new lows. I’m not going to pretend I know where these toys are manufactured, but I’m pretty sure their airmiles are going to be quite impressive. They are invariably plastic, poorly made and have a useable lifespan of less than a few hours. Certainly the clock is well and truly ticking by the time little Billy has got his mits on them. Marketing to the kids, they excite and then deflate in quick succession. They are often, in a word, crap. If you want to sell toys, please, go and sell toys.

So we don’t need to have looked at the numbers to know they must put sales figures up enormously, I mean it’s not all done for fun, surely? And with this one thought, so the onus is nudged fiendishly back to the consumer, who obviously thinks far better of these little sweeteners than we do. "As long as you continue buying them, we'll keep glueing them on…” is the cry.

So, everyone’s happy? China – tick, Publisher – tick, Distributors – whatever, Parent – tick, Billy – tick. Perhaps other industries are missing a turn on all of this – how can it be that only magazines and Kellogs have cottoned on to this unbelieveable success story? It’s so obvious we should be sticking toys to books, trousers, first class railway tickets and sandwiches at once. Plus let’s get that log fire alight and enjoy a wee dram now the cosy nights are drawing in ‘til Christmas..

(One mission for early 2011 at Newsstand, will be to allow our customers to abstain from receiving free gifts with their magazines as they purchase online - the thought being that we'll get a good idea of how "wanted" they actually are. What we'll be able to achieve with that information is not entirely clear, but we will make sure the gifts removed go to where they are wanted.)

iNonsense

2010-10-12T02:35:00.000-07:00

Now at Newsstand, we are either incredibly intelligent or we’ve completely missed the point.

You see, we’ve launched one of those android apps, allowing you to browse and buy over 3,000 single UK and overseas magazines, even current ones, as well as subscriptions of a length that you can choose yourself (more here).

I hope I know what you’re thinking….Brilliant, reading all those magazines on my phone, I’ll never have to rag around the shops searching for my favorito magazines again.

Only thing is… our app doesn’t let you buy the digital versions, oh no, we show you the front covers and let you buy the print version only – posting it out to you on the same day by first class post. What we don’t know, is whether your average app user is going to be excited about ordering old fashioned paper ‘n’ ink – or just think we’re daft.

Will they want digital only, will it all seem a bit backward – or will they relish the old and new combination like a steel kitchen in a 17th century steakhouse?

We deal only with print versions of magazines because we are traditional bunch, and for a couple of other, probably ill judged, reasons.

Firstly, we aren’t sure what digital magazines are for (did I mention I was a grumpy sort of bloke?) They seem to have no more attributes than a website, and yet are still quite clunky to use, despite all the headway being made. When the digital magazine is finally perfected, will a big penny drop that they’ve actually just created a website? If not, we can only assume it’s a way of converting non paying website users into paid content customers (via digital edition subscriptions), as the likelihood remains that online advertising rates will forever stay in free fallen mode. What will be interesting is the relationship between apple and the publishers as the simmering control issues come to the fore…and of course whether in 5 years time, Newsstand has to start selling oranges.

The other reason we stick to print is just for the love of it; the further it falls out of fashion, the more we love it, (not a great business ethic but we’ll leave that to one side for now). Magazines are here for a long time to come, but they’ll have to evolve; what doesn’t? We aren’t clever enough to say which types of magazines will fare the best going forward, but the romantics division at Newsstand will tell you it’s the tactility, quality and thought provoking content that’s the key to longevity. Quite.

Then there is the publishing world trying to stay ahead of the fellow on his laptop as brilliant ideas such a MagCloud gather pace. The increasing ease with which websites, digital magazines and apps can be not only created but marketed across the web, means that publishers should be running in the other direction. Back to design, back to print, back to the things they know best.

We’re convinced that the printed magazine should rise above all this iNonsense, revel in its position as the oasis in a world where skimming across webpages has become the normal way of reading. The two things are barely comparable products.

As we are told, quite rightly, to re acquaint ourselves with slow and lovingly prepared food, so Newsstand starts the call for slow, relaxed reading with lovingly prepared contents. Where the words and ideas actually sink in, including even the ads. Yes, it’s more expensive, so just buy one magazine a week and make it a damn good one…

Newsstand Magazines blogs belatedly

2010-10-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I have always disliked the word "blog", maybe it's an age thing, I don't know. I'd stick to "online diary" but then I'd sound like a complete plum, so that's not an option either (quiet at the back, please).

That isn't, though, the reason it has taken us at Newsstand several years to catch on and decide that we need to create one. You see, we've just been far too busy trying to break the mould and image of magazine sales online to be worried about gassing off to complete strangers.

Back in 1995, we created the first subscription website, certainly in the UK & Europe, as the wholesale distribution of magazines (of which we were part) had never been the most efficient when it came to the finer details. It has been harder and harder for magazines to get in front of their potential readers ever since. To be fair, the newspaper and magazine wholesale system in the UK, was/is an amazing process and back in the '90s we made a video of it which I will post here if can dig it up...The set up has uniquely allowed thousands of magazines to have their own route to market, regardless of their circulation and sales figures, and is unmatched across the globe.

However, and to cut an extremely long, complex (and sometimes bitterly unfair!) story short, it has become very difficult for smaller magazines to be noticed in the wider retail marketplace as chain retailers charge more and more just to have a magazine on their shelves and smaller retailers lose the will to battle with the inimitable paperwork and delivery charges they are faced with.

The result, publishers slowly start to develop their own subscription offers to customers, but this doesn't cater for those that want to browse and buy a single magazine and not get tied down to the direct debit and increasing charges subscription templates. What's more, these subscriptions are reduced more and more in price until they are even given away for nothing in some instances.

That's where Newsstand comes in. We stock current magazines, over 4,000 of them in fact. We show almost every current front cover and viewers can zoom in and browse over 15,000 covers - a number which grows daily. We've developed an android app (Pocket Newsstand) which allows our customers to buy easily on the move and we are working on many more developments in support of the printed magazine whilst others, including even some of those that produce them, appear to be consigning them to history well before time. And yes, we do make you pay for the magazines and even the postage and we make no apologies. Some of these mags are excellent, they're worth it and not only that - if you've paid decent money you might actually value them a little more...who knows.

Thinking about it, or motto could be: "Publishers meet Readers...Readers, Publishers"., as every magazine is now available through us, in every postcode throughout the world.

It's a tough time for publishing, there's no doubt, but we feel there's plenty to get excited about as British publishers produce some amazing magazines that you will have never even heard of...Newsstand just needs to let off steam every now and then...(which will be done via this online diary in the style of a grumpy old man).