I only have myself to blame... Yesterday I wrote: "At least no one has sent me any porn robots yet..." So what do I find in my email this morning - yes indeedy - the R2D2 of the porn industry - its a bit like a vacuum cleaner crossed with a rodeo machine but with several 'attachments'... Do I add this to The List? Thankyou Jane for sharing so much: "Dear Mike - I was just reading your blog and thought it a touch sad you didn't have a single porn robot. Please find attached a photo of the sybian orgasm machine. I've never used one myself but it looks like fun." She goes on to ask: "Why didn't you ever write this kind of thing for the Ottakar's web site? It has to be the worst bookshop website I've ever seen! It could have used some of your input - still, their loss..." Well, I've never been a fan of the Ottakar's website - they never really understood the potential or knew what to do with it... of course I totally agree with Jane - most websites would benefit from my kind of skewed perspective but then again I'm an egotistical maniac. At least the Ottakar's one is still independent (although it only serves as a glorified flyer these days) unlike the Waterstones website which is now simply an Amazon affiliate. That is a fucking disgrace. I'm not anti-Amazon (although I prefer real bookstores obviously) - they simply saw a gap in the market and took it - if the bookstore industry hadn't been as self-serving and anal they wouldn't have got caught out the way they did. But to simply throw in the towel by not having a sales option (the way Ottakar's have) or even worse just allow your site to be taken over by them is just cowardly. There are thousands of truly independent bookstore websites that offer exactly what Amazon cannot and while they are never going to make as much money at least they are still playing the same game. Enough ranting - I haven't even had my morning coffee yet... Let me know about the porn robot... Mike is blogging to the hum of the computer