The Bowman Pub

A public service announcement for patrons, pub goers and publicans alike...

(The infamous pub scene from the cult classic, Trainspotting…right before everything went horribly wrong.)

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub.
~ James Joyce

Joel Bowman, with an important – if somewhat humorous – public service announcement... 

As with all bootstrapped projects, Notes is very much a “ready, fire...aim!” kind of operation. A one man band, we’re learning by doing, as the saying goes. All of which is part and parcel of running a small business. 

Not only that, it’s germane to the mission...key to the disruptive nature of the greater “information decentralization” trend, whereby Big News and Approved Opinion is being democratized and the stranglehold on “narrative building” arrested from the grubby mitts of the media industrial complex.

But if we are to effectively disintermediate the mainstream, legacy media, we tiny bit players need to up our game... and that includes learning how to run and manage small businesses, with all their delightful hiccups and humbling cockups along the way. 

To that end, we’ve had notifications on behalf of a few dear readers of late, disputing charges to their credit cards. Given that we have no access to our readers’ private financial information (Substack uses a secure, third party payment processor, Stripe), we wondered how this could be...

...until, thanks to the sleuthing of one curious reader, the picture became clear. 

Apparently, something in our Substack description registered our renegade outfit as “Bowman Pub” (intended as shorthand for “publication”), thus leading us to be categorized by some banks under “Alcohol and Bars.” Cue the kind of confusion typically experienced when actually attending such establishments and you get the picture... and the irony. 

Now, while we are certainly not averse to the odd tipple ourselves, even going so far as to occasionally pen these very Notes from bars, cafés and salons around the city, rest assured we are by no means fit for service as a publican. 

Dispute resolution emails have been subsequently sent and regular service is expected to resume accordingly. (Please contact your credit card provider if you believe a dispute has been made in error.)

Thanks for your patience and, especially, to our kindly patron who uncovered the oversight. “Must not let our starving writer actually starve!” wrote he in response to our note of gratitude.

Now, if you are NOT already a member of our pubLICATION, please consider supporting our work by joining us today. We’ve lots planned for the year ahead and your generous patronage makes it all possible...

And please, stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World, tomorrow...