Over the years I've gotten requests for a poster of an alternate design of the Periodic Table I created back in the early 90s. I encouraged these people (who possess excellent taste) just download the gif file, take it to Kinkos and get a poster printed. I toyed with the idea of getting a batch of 50 or so printed and selling them from my home. But the capital costs and hassle of handling the money, tubes, and postage always dissuaded me.
Enter CafePress. Now anyone can sell an image on T-Shirts, posters, coffee mugs with minimal hassle. CafePress also will press your band's awesome CDs and print that novel you wrote in college - all on demand. They make it, ship it, and handle the money. All those "Long Tail" obscure designs can now have a home. You just upload your image and they make the items to order. Check out my store at CafePress.com/MayanPeriodic and the www.MayanPeriodic.com which explains the design.
I like this new web2.0 concept of everyone can do what only a small minority could do in the past, but is this a good thing?
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