Blathr Wayne Lorentz

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Showing blathrs with the tag “Newspapers.”

Pardon me…

Thursday, October 19th, 2023 Alive 19,168 days

An error message from nytimes.com

Sad to see the New York Times web site stumble. But itʼs probably the nicest server error message Iʼve seen.

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Paperlate

Monday, September 25th, 2023 Alive 19,144 days

A copy of The Prague Post

In March of 2002, I bought a copy of The Prague Post and told myself, “Iʼll read this later.”

Twenty-one years later, I finally got around to it.

The Prague Post stopped publishing when COVID-19 started marching east to west around the globe. Whatʼs left of its web site appears to have been commandeered by search engine spammers. But the February 27–March 5, 2002 print issue is a window into a different era. This was a time of tremendous optimism in certain parts of the world, and especially among certain classes within the Czech Republic.

2002 was a dozenish years after the Velvet Revolution. People who were in their 20ʼs and 30ʼs at that time were by 2002 experiencing the prime of their lives. And a cadre of people who were too young to feel or understand the oppression of life behind the Iron Curtain were coming of age at the start of a new millennium. For the first time in modern history, the Czech Republic had a generation of people who never knew life in the shadow of the hammer and sickle.

What these people saw, what they experienced, and what they desired was to evolve the Czech Republic from a backwater museum piece of a century-dead empire into a modern state, fully European. A peer with Paris or London or even New York; not its grizzled, awkward grand-uncle shuffling nervously in the corner of the world stage.

There are certain times and places in history that become important and transformative. London in the 1850ʼs. New York in the 1920ʼs. San Francisco in the 1960ʼs. Eastern Europe — and especially Prague — in the early 2000ʼs was one of those places. “You had to be there” sounds pithy and dismissive, but as expressions go, it is also oftentimes accurate. No amount of playing dress-up with bad cigarettes, vile absinthe, or frilly gyration can make someone fully understand La Belle Époque. Prague was on the cusp of its own Belle Époque.

The Prague Post documented that era in a newspaper that was a little International Herald Tribune, a little Le Figaro, and a little Village Voice. It simultaneously chronicled the current lives of former despots, vetted the latest pop culture offerings, and published classified ads for cheap sex. The contents are an awkward goulash of past, present and future. Communist, capitalist, and futurist.

In this particular issue, the big stories are:

  • Hand-wringing over rising political star and maybe-not-quite-a-Nazi-but-his-parents-sure-were Jörg Haider across the border in Austria. A few years later, heʼd go off a cliff and end that particular concern.
  • One of the Czech Republicʼs former communist oppressors being let off the hook by a court for lack of evidence. Opponents howled that the previous 50 years of life in the Czech Republic were evidence enough.
  • Funeral home operators going to extraordinary, and perhaps a bit corrupt, lengths to beat the competition. If it was the New York Post there would be a “body snatchers” headline in there somewhere.

Whatʼs interesting is that looking back from a couple of decades later, a lot of the pressing issues are just the same today:

  • Olympic hockey
  • Gypsies
  • Not-quite-celibate Catholic priests
  • Basque separatists
  • The opera
  • The symphony
  • Restaurant reviews
  • Russia
  • Israel
  • China

While a lot is the same, a lot has changed. There are advertisements for airlines that no longer exist offering flights to nations that no longer exist. Also, in 2002, Dilbert is still published in the mainstream press.

And it is reassuring that a brand new Dell computer feauring a Pentium Ⅲ processor can be had for just 150,000Kč. Thatʼs about $15,000 U.S. dollars in 2023 money.

I take a personal interest in the televison and radio listings because of my history in radio and television. Here are the radio stations available to the average Prague dweller in 2002:

Frequency Station Format
87.8 Rádio Blaník Top 40
88.2 Evropa 2 Top 40
89.5 Country Radio Country
91.3 Čzeský rozhlas 2 Variety
91.9 Rádio 1 Alternative rock, techno and jazz
92.6 Čzeský rozhlas Regina News and music
93.7 City 93.7 FM Top 40
94.6 Čzeský rozhlas 1 Radiożurnál Current affairs
95.3 Radio Vox Top 40
96.6 Radio Impuls Top 40
97.2 Rádio Zlatá Praha Top 40
98.1 Radio Kiss 98 FM Top 40 through the ʼ90s
98.8 Classic FM Classical
99.3 Radio France International French
99.7 Radio Bonton Top 40
101.1 BBC BBC news in English, plus local news from Radio Prague
102.5 Rádio Frekvence 1 Talk
103.7 Radio Melody Country
105.0 Čzeský rozhlas 3 Vltava Classical

In the interest of posterity, here is a list of whatʼs in this issue of The Prague Post. It shows the variety and quantity of news that came out of such a small paper. Iʼve listed the headlines and subheads. In the case of briefing lists, Iʼve included only the first sentence of each brief.

Main Section

  • Mouthing Off
    Zemanʼs political fitness questioned again after Arafat-Hitler remarks
  • Štrougal acquittal provokes protests
    “Horrified” dissidents denounce former communist leader
  • Haider: Headed back to the roots
    Analysts doubt that Austrian rightist will abandon politics
  • Seven Days

    • A Czech chemical unit will send most of its 250 troops to Kuwait by the end of March
    • A key American Republican Party activist has hinted that the return of former Prime Minister Vladimir Mečiar to power could hinder Slovakiaʼs NATO entry bid
    • A man was killed Feb. 23 when a rally car slide off a muddy track
    • The controversial Temeln nuclear power plant in south Bohemia was shut down
    • Hungary called off a March 1 summit of central European nations
    • A number of the armyʼs elite rapid-deployment brigade brutally beat a 17-year-old boy and shouted Nazi slogans at him Feb. 21 in the north Bohemian town of Hlinsko
  • € - $ - Kč exchange rates
  • A list of transit disruptions
  • Svátky
  • Limits on cigarette ads proposed
    Move would ban signs search schools, but critics say that is not enough
  • ODS makes flat-tax campaign promise
    Conservative party suggests 15 percent rate for all taxpayers
  • More police officers charged with crimes
    Improved investigation techniques cited as reason for increase in charges
  • Briefly Noted

    • Russian authorities are denying Czech reports that two Russian nationals extradited from Prague to St. Petersburg Feb. 18 are connected to the 1998 assassination of liberal politician Galina Starovoitova.
    • Foreign minister Jan Kavan says the Czech Republic will back NATO expansion
    • An Athens court has sentenced two Czech citizens to life imprisonment for smuggling heroin
    • The ruling Social Democrats (ČSSD) are supported by 23 percent of the Czech public
    • The German Supreme Court confirmed a lower court ruling that sentenced Anton Malloth, a former SS guard at the Nazi prison in Terezin (Theresienstadt), north Bohemia, for the murder and attempted murder of two Jewish inmates.
    • The daily Lidové noviny reports that five former Interior Ministry employees issued more than 100 false lustration certificates between 1991 and 1993.
    • The last of 400 Czech troops in the joint Czech-Slovak KFOR battalion have left for Kosovo.
    • Prague auhorities will prosecue seven Serbs accused of breaking into more than 100 luxury villas in the Czech Republic.
    • The Social Democrats (ČSSD) and opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) will scrap their power-sharing pact before June elections, according to a report in the daily Mladá fronta Dnes that quotes ČSSD deputy chairman Zdenẽk Škromach.

Opinion

  • Confessions of an Interpreter
  • Death in the line of duty
  • Sunday Music Spotlight, or the day the music died
  • Letters

World

  • World Digest

    • Europe

      • A Milan court convicted four Tunisian men of various terrorist-related charges.
      • Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to his countyʼs powerful trade unions to support a liberalization of labor laws aimed at reducing Polandʼs 18 percent unemployment rate.
      • Italian police believe terrorists were preparing to plant a chemical bomb in an underground passage next to the U.S. embassy in Rome.
      • French President Jacques Chirac called U.S. President George Bush Feb. 23 to urge him to renew pressure for political dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
    • Africa

      • The government of Angola displayed the body of 67-year-old rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, slain in battle with soldiers, on television and urged his followers to surrender and end the countyʼs civil war.
      • A 70-year-old Swiss woman working for a humanitarian agency in Somalia was killed by unidentified gunmen Feb. 22.
      • One hundred of the worldʼs top photojournalists have arrived in Africa for a Feb. 28 photo shoot called ”A Day in the Life of Africa.”
    • Asia-Pacific

      • U.S. military investigators are looking into the cause of a Feb.22 MH-47E Chinook helicopter crash that killed all 10 U.S. soldiers on board.
      • Indiaʼs governing Bharatiya Janata Party was rejected by a majority of voters in crucial state elections Feb. 24.
    • Central America

      • Marxist guerrillas kidnapped a Colombian presidential candidate who defied warnings not to travel a dangerous road in disputed rebel-held territory.
    • Middle East

      • A Pakistani judge ordered that the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping of murdered American reporter Daniel Pearl be held in custody for two more weeks.
    • North America

      • The last day of the Salt Lake City Olympics began on a violent note as riot police fired rubber bullets to disperse a rampaging crowd that broke sup windows, trashed a police car and attacked the courthouse.
      • The air around the World Trade Center disaster site may not be as safe as the Environmental Protection Agency has suggested.
  • Guinness, no Waiting
  • Church Scandal
  • Hunting War Criminals
  • ETA Protest
  • Incriminating Discovery

Business

  • Dead End
    Funeral homes use loopholes to snatch the body business from smaller competitors
  • Uphill battle: Roma who made it
  • Crown prompts call for ingenuity
    CzechTrade urges exporters to increase productivity, efficiency
  • Bizweek

    • Gas utility Transgas made preliminary pretax profits of 5.033 billion Kč ($139.8 million) from May to December 2003, during its first eight months of existence as a joint-stock company.
    • The daily Hospodářské noviny expects the value of the Czech automobile industry to reach 450 billion Kč by 2005, with subcontractor supplies to automobile plants likely to use from 110 billion Kč in 2000 to about 200 billion Kč.
    • The Czech Republicʼs six building societies granted more than 151,000 loans and bridging loans in 2001, a 15 percent year-on-year increase on 2000, when 132,000 loans were provided.
    • Czech steel companies produced 6.3 million ons of cruise steel in 2001, up 1.6 percent against 2000, according to the Czech Steel Federation (Hutnictví železa).
    • The U.S. company SDC International, new owner of Tatra Kopřivnive, plans to lay off 600 of the truck makerʼs 3,100 employees, according to officials at the district employment office.
  • Market summary
  • Můj dům names best
  • Shaken or stirred, drink orders up
    Cocktails become more popular as selection improves, incomes rise
  • Drug makers plan alliance
    Going east is the goal for Slovakofarma and Léčiva as they merge
  • Dilbert cartoon
  • Ernst & Young shuffles leadership
  • Five Questions
  • Wrecks provide ad vantages
    But promotions on four wheels irritate drivers in search of parking spaces
  • Labor Ministryʼs plans called inadequate

Tempo

  • Stravinsky in Red, White and Blue
  • The Town Read

    • Second Hand will no longer appear on these pages.
    • The National Theater has begun pre-sales for all operas, ballets and theater productions in the 2002-03 season.
    • Professor Michael P. Sneg will conduct a seminar on human rights at the International Baptist Theological Seminary March 1 at 4 p.m.
    • The Egon Schiele Art Cetner in Český Krumlov, south Bohemia, has received an Austrian Award for cross-border cultural expression.
    • Pope John Paul Ⅱ has appointed Karel Herbst auxiliary bishop of Prague.
    • The Time4Shareing endowment fund will throw a charity ball to assist the Deštná orphanage March 22.
    • Beef Stew is dead.
    • The annual Days of European Film festival kicks off March 7.
    • The German Protestant congregation at Markus Kirche in Frankfurt am Main has presented the Czech Jewish Liberal Union with silver cup for kiddush — the festival blessing of wine — as a token of friendship.
    • The Czech Audiovisual Producersʼ Association has become a member of the European Film Promosions network.
  • Best selling books list
  • Freedom in Bohemia — or exile?
    Kliment novel poses some tough 1968-era choices
  • The modern press, thugs and rock ʼnʼ roll
    Carl Hiassen cleans the floor with corporate journalism

Sports

  • Valentaʼs jump is highlight of Czech Salt Lake City showing
  • Ups and Downs
    Hockey team trips over Russia, but Valentaʼs unprecedented acrobatics bring Olympic solace
  • Roundup

    • Olympic hockey captain Jaromir Jágr says he may play at the April world championships in Sweden.
    • The Slovak hockey federation managment is considering filing a suit against the National Hockey League (NHL) for failing to allow its best players to perform in the Olympics.
    • Sparta Praha dropped a 2-0 Champions Legaue decision to Panathinaikos Athens in Prague Feb. 19.
    • Slovan Librerec, the only Czech team left in the UEFA Cup, played Franceʼs Olympique Lyon to 1-1 tie Feb. 21 in Lyon.
    • UEFA will rule on the schedule for the Euro 2004 qualifying group that includes the Czech Republic after talks among the five teams broke down in Prague Feb. 18.
    • Two Czech national team players have been fined by UEFA for their conduct during World Cup playoff games against Belgium last November.
    • Pittsburgh Penguins center Martin Straka, whose broken right leg cost him a spot on the Olympic team, has been declared fit to play and is expected to see NHL action soon.

Night and Day

  • The engineer of mighty music
    Roman Bělor takes command of Prague Spring festival
  • The (mis)Marriage of Figaro
    Mozart opera at Stavovské plays for laughs — badly
  • Concert calendar

    • Classical
    • Opera
    • Theater
    • Jazz, Rock, Etc.
  • Playing the fool
    Comedy troupe runs the gamut
  • Boulevard of dreams
    Lynchʼs latest effort is also his weirdest
  • A pure simulacrum
    Old Townʼs new Mexican restaurant has far to go
  • Where the East meets the West
    Grilled king salmon with wasabi whipped potatoes, tomato-ginger coulis and watercress
  • Janetʼs Joint
  • Boxes and blooms
    Apartment window-box gardening
  • Sites to see
    Monasteries and convents
  • The Austrian approach
    A melancholy, self-reflective avant-garde
  • Shedding crocodile tears
    Jiří Davidʼs computer-generated compassion lacks reality
  • Tilt
  • Washington Post crossword puzzle

Classified ads

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Newspaper of record fails

Thursday, August 31st, 2023 Alive 19,119 days

Part of the boilerplate from the Chicago Tribune

It turns out, it is not possible to subscribe to the Chicago Tribune without an e-mail address.

Youʼd think a publication with the Tribʼs circulation numbers would make it easier for people to subscribe; not harder.

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Youʼre a long way from Wall Street

Thursday, August 31st, 2023 Alive 19,119 days

I shall work here today. But first, lunch.

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Squint harder

Sunday, May 28th, 2023 Alive 19,024 days

The New York Times on a TRS-80 Model 100

Weekend project: Coming up with a harder, slower, less-reliable way to read the New York Times. Mission accomplished.

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Saturday, January 7th, 2023 Alive 18,883 days

A page from the January 7, 2023 Houston Chronicle

If thereʼs a feature article in the newspaper about how debutante balls have changed over the years, you may live in Texas.

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I wonder if they had a cake

Monday, October 10th, 2022 Alive 18,794 days

The New York Times in full-disclosure mode

Congratulations to the New York Times for not having to print any corrections on Monday, October 10th.

That sounds bitchy, but itʼs not. Journalists donʼt take corrections lightly. Having issued a few, myself, I can tell you that it hurts a lot, and for a long time.

One difference between bloggers and journalists is that journalists let people know when they make mistakes, and print corrections. They donʼt just pop into WordPress and silently change things.

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Empty news

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022 Alive 18,733 days

An empty newspaper rack at Adams and Dearborn in Chicago

It was just a decade ago that newspapers were fighting for space in Chicagoʼs downtown newspaper racks. Now, nobody cares.

The racks were installed by the second Mayor Daley as part of his efforts to clean up downtown, where busy street corners would sometimes have ten, 15, or even 20 newspaper boxes all chained together, spilling out into the street and blocking both pedestrians and traffic.

The new street furniture brought order, but also controversy. Small and marginal publication accused the city of playing favorites. There was always room for a Tribune drawer, or a Sun-Times drawer, or a Crainʼs Chicago Business drawer; but neighborhood, non-English, classified advertising, and pornography publications couldn't always get in.

Lawsuits were threatened, but I donʼt know if they ever went anywhere. Perhaps simply because right around the same time, people en masse decided to get their news from the internet for free, instead of paying for dead trees. It didn't help that both of the big newspapers doubled their prices (or more) as the internet ate their revenue.

Today, about the only place to get a newspaper in downtown Chicago is in a drug store. And even then, you might have to go to two or three different stores to find one, since so few are printed. There's no need, since work-from-home has made a 2022 weekday lunchtime on LaSalle Street feel like the same location at 6am on a Sunday in 2012.

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Only editions

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022 Alive 18,733 days

The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune

Anyone visiting Chicago can bring home a box of Fannie May, or a Drake Hotel flask. It takes a real professional tourist to hunt down a copy of both newspapers.

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All the news that ℔Ωℹ︎ℌℑ℁℀… NO CARRIER

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022 Alive 18,551 days

An error message on one of the Houston Chronicle's web sites

One of my newspapers didnʼt come today. So I tried to let the Houston Chronicle know it has a problem. Naturally, since the conglomerate that ate Houstonʼs paper of record doesnʼt have customer service people on the weekend, I have to fill out a report online. And, naturally, the web site doesnʼt work.

Even if I had to wait on hold for a while to speak to someone about it, a human being could solve the problem immediately. Instead, I have to remember to call the newspaperʼs customer service people during the week to get credit for the missed delivery.

Remember when computers were going to make our lives better?

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Thinking is hard

Thursday, November 11th, 2021 Alive 18,461 days

A column in todayʼs newspaper suggests, “Try a plant-based sweetener like Stevia” instead of sugar.

So what exactly to millennials think sugar is made from? Rocks? Oil? The dried, ground up bones of boomers?

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Dead tree edition

Monday, September 20th, 2021 Alive 18,409 days

An error message from The New York Times

If the largest newspaper in America canʼt keep its web site running, what chance do I have?

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Upper railing

Sunday, September 19th, 2021 Alive 18,408 days

An error message from The New York Times

The New York Times has “lost” this web page. I guess thatʼs not surprising, since it also lost my newspaper today.

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Sheʼs got legs

Monday, July 12th, 2021 Alive 18,339 days

The front page of the Navajo Times

If your beauty pageant has replaced the swimsuit competition with an animal slaughtering competition, you may live on the Big Rez.

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Loaded question

Sunday, June 27th, 2021 Alive 18,324 days

The New York Times app, with its pants around its ankles

The New York Times app sure knows how to load ads.

Too bad it doesnʼt know how to load the news that I pay for.

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Inky fingers

Sunday, May 23rd, 2021 Alive 18,289 days

Mise en place

Coffee and seven newspapers (thereʼs a Chicago Catholic under there somewhere). My day is set.

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Canʼt argue with that

Sunday, April 4th, 2021 Alive 18,240 days

An explanation of the COVID-19 risk levels in New Mexico

Risk tiers that include the color turquoise are likely to be nonsensical to anyone who does not live in New Mexico.

Albuquerque Journal, March 27, 2021
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A ton of Newtons

Friday, January 29th, 2021 Alive 18,175 days

The New York Times web site incorrectly locating Newton, New Jersey in Kansas

This is what happens when your mapping database doesnʼt have coordinates for a town. It puts the town in Kansas.

In this case, the New York Times map jammed Newton, New Jersey in the middle of Kansas. It probably thinks other towns are there, too.

Never trust any data. Always check for NULL and improbable values.

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Funny, funnier, funniest

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021 Alive 18,165 days

The funnies section of the Albuquerque Journal

My Sunday paper came with three comics sections. I shoulda bought a lottery ticket, too!

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It all makes sense now

Sunday, January 3rd, 2021 Alive 18,149 days

A slightly mangled New York Times

Due to a printing error, someone somewhere is missing the first two letters from page 30 of todayʼs New York Times.

Theyʼre “F” and “o.”

Youʼre welcome.

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Minimally moist

Friday, December 18th, 2020 Alive 18,133 days

The front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal December 18, 2020

You know you live in the desert when the newspaperʼs big front page ballyhoo is over 0.04 inches of rain.

After 240 days, youʼd think we could do better than 0.04 inches, though.

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It is The Onion

Monday, November 30th, 2020 Alive 18,115 days

A screenshot from The Onion's web site

Well, hereʼs a new DGPR fail. Not only can I not decline to be tracked by The Onion, I canʼt even accept to be tracked because the Accept button doesnʼt work.

Maybe this is some kind of subtle humor.

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Navajo times

Saturday, November 21st, 2020 Alive 18,106 days

A clipping from the Navajo Times

Saw this graphic in the Navajo Times today. It says not to make a COVID mask out of leather or coffee filters. I had no idea this was a problem.

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Saturday, November 7th, 2020 Alive 18,092 days

I saw the paperboy for the first time today. She had lots and lots of newspapers in her arms for my building, so I don’t feel like weird old Uncle Bert for getting newspapers anymore.

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What could possibly go wrong?

Sunday, September 20th, 2020 Alive 18,044 days

The Entertainment section of the September 20, 2020 Las Vegas Review-Journal

According to todayʼs paper, you can now crush a car, operate heavy machinery, shoot a machine gun, detonate explosives, drive a monster truck, launch flaming arrows, blast flame-throwers, and drink yourself into a stupor all in one place. Because doing all those separately was too much work.

Oh, and thereʼs a brothel on the other side of the ridge.

I can only assume this started with someone from Texas saying, “Yʼknow, thereʼs just too many rules around here.”

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Adore me!

Sunday, August 16th, 2020 Alive 18,009 days

Annie telling me that itʼs time to stop reading ther newspaper and time to start scratching her belly

Sunday, interrupted.

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Ewe bet

Friday, August 7th, 2020 Alive 18,000 days

An ad in the Navajo Times offering sheep for lease

When Darcie was reading the Navajo newspaper, she mentioned there was a sale on new, low-mileage Rams.

This isnʼt what I expected.

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A one cow town

Friday, July 10th, 2020 Alive 17,972 days

A “Keep one cow apart” sign in the Nevada state capitol

Remember how the Navajo were advised to stay two sheep apart from one another? I guess the Nevada legislature is made up of cowboys, because this sign in the capitol was in todayʼs paper.

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Baaaaack off

Friday, July 3rd, 2020 Alive 17,965 days

An announcement in the Navajo Times advising people to stay two sheep away from each other

Today I learned that a sheep is three feet long.

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It takes more than texting

Sunday, June 7th, 2020 Alive 17,939 days

Today I learned that one of my friends applied for food stamps because of the COVID situation. I found out about it from an interview in the New York Times. I think that makes me pretty much the definition of a bad friend.

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Paper work

Saturday, February 1st, 2020 Alive 17,812 days

Henri reading the New York Times on a Nook. I prefer the dead tree edition.

When I was in J school, we were issued little pamphlets from the New York Times titled How To Read The New York Times. It was very useful, and one of those things that would be useful for people to read today since so many are burdened by information overload.

The instructions went something like this:

  1. Throw away all of the sections you donʼt like.
  2. Put the remaining sections in order of priority.
  3. Look at the headlines on each page. If a headline doesnʼt interest you, move on.
  4. If a headline interests you, read the subhead or the photo caption. If youʼre not interested or arenʼt learning anything new, move on.
  5. Read the first three paragraphs of the article. Move on when you stop learning something new.

This method is still remarkably effective, especially for plowing through a fat pile of Sunday papers.

The only Times sections I toss are the Book Review and the Magazine. I like books, but I want to form my own opinion about them. And the Magazine is just hard to read. The paper is too glossy and the print too small for the stylish lighting in my abode.

Counterintuitively, I find the Sports section quite compelling. Even though I have near zero interest in sportsball, thereʼs always an article in there that is intellectually intriguing. A couple of weeks ago there was a good piece about how “home field advantage” is a thing of the past because teams are so pampered in their palatial practice facilities that even when they play in their home stadium, theyʼre playing on unfamiliar territory. Fun stuff.

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Sunday, September 1st, 2019 Alive 17,659 days

Iʼm sitting in a Starbucks reading the New York Times.

Three children politely stare at me as they await their drinks, while their mother whispers privately to them.

On the way out, the mother quietly explains to me: theyʼve never seen a newspaper.

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Sunday, August 25th, 2019 Alive 17,652 days

At a time when America needs journalism more than ever, there's a sign up at Starbucks stating that today is the last day that it will sell newspapers.

I wish I had a coffee shop alternative, but such is life in an American suburb.

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Suck it, Egon

Sunday, June 23rd, 2019 Alive 17,589 days

There are twelve people at Starbucks this morning.

Three are reading the New York Times. Two are reading the local paper. One is reading a book. The rest are lost in their phones.

I guess journalismʼs not dead after all.

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Friday, January 11th, 2019 Alive 17,426 days

A nook in the Death Valley Inn

I shall drink rum and read a Los Angeles Times here.

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Sunday, December 9th, 2018 Alive 17,393 days

The morning paper

I like living in a place where the front page of the Sunday paper is about the rodeo, and not about a couple of political tribes bashing each other and pretending that one is better than or different from the other.

I call it “America.”

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Monday, October 8th, 2018 Alive 17,331 days

The Navajo Nation Messenger with a note that “This page brought to you by Cowtown Feed & Livestock, Your Local Used Cow Dealer!”

Oh, good. Iʼve been wondering where I can get a fair deal on a quality, low mileage used cow.

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