And Another One Bites the Dust

 Newsweek magazine, which has been in print for 80 years, will stop producing a hard copy and be online only after December 31 this year.

This is not the paperless society i wanted.  Not at all.

What i wanted was no need for paper receipts, no tons of files, no wondering where in the world that check could have gotten to.

Newspapers, magazines, and books disappearing -- well, i am not as happy about that, as they seem to be disappearing much faster than the other junk.  (Junk mail can go bye-bye, too, any time it wants.)

The memories go back so far.  My father, in for an hour from the hospital, with another woman in labor awaiting his return, sitting at the kitchen table, trying to shovel in his dinner and catch up on the news before heading back.

Perusing the morning paper in the morning and the evening paper in the evening, all of us sitting at the table, swapping sections as we finished with them..

Now, NOLA, where i grew up, not only doesn't have an evening paper (and hasn't for years), they will soon no longer have a 7 day a week paper.  They will be publishing only 3 days a week.

To me, it's a sad thing.

It also gives me pause as i think, what happens to our society if almost all, if not every, magazine and newspaper does this, and then there is a disaster that wipes out most of it, or makes most of us unable to access it?  Yes, extremist, end-of-the-world thinking, but seriously, as terrorists threaten more and more and are going toward cyber attacks, what's to say an attack on the electric grid wouldn't come in conjunction with an attack to wipe out as much of our information resources as possible, and block them from being able to get back up and running?

Meanwhile, the shift away from paper seems to be moving the wrong way for me.

Even so, i'm keeping the hard copies of my tax returns.  Bills don't need to be kept, non-deductible receipts can go, and once the checkbook is reconciled i don't need to know how much i spent at the local Mom and Pop store, but In the case of the tax man, cover your back.


Today is:

Apple Butter Stirrin' --  Coshocton, OH, US (bluegrass music, crafts, family fun, and best of all, apple butter; through Sunday)

Armilustrium -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of Mars)

Belfast Festival At Queens -- Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland (International arts festival; through Nov. 4)

Bettara-Ichi -- Ebisu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan (Pickle Market Fair, enjoy the pickled radishes, a specialty; through tomorrow)

Constitution Day -- Niue

Dita e Lumturimit te Nene Terezes -- Albania (Mother Teresa Day)

Evaluate Your Life Day -- a day to make sure your life is heading where you want, and course correct if it isn't; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Fall Festival of Leaves -- Ross County, OH, US (celebrate the beauty of nature and of the arts of the region; through Sunday)

Fantasy Fest -- Key West, FL, US (a ten day costume party for grown ups)

Greasy Spoon Day -- internet generated, a day to go revel in the love of your favorite greasy spoon diner

International Human Rights Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

Jesuit Martyrs' Day

National Mammography Day -- US

National Seafood Bisque Day

Samora Machel Day -- Mozambique

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

St. Frideswide's Day (Patron of Oxford and the University of Oxford)

St. Rene Goupil's Day (Patron of anesthetists, anesthesiologists)

Yabusame Festival -- Koyama, Japan (horseback archery, samurai costumes and dragons, oh, my!)


Birthdays Today:

Ty Pennington, 1965
Evander Holyfield, 1962
John Lithgow, 1945
Jeannie C. Riley, 1945
Peter Max, 1937
Robert Reed, 1932
John Le Carre, 1931
Jack Anderson, 1922


Today in History:

Battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus and his Roman legions defeat Hannibal Barca and the invading Carthagian army, BC202
King Gauseric and his Vandals take the city of Carthage, 439
The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Treaty of Thorn, 1466
Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology, 1512
The first general court is held in Boston, 1630
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2PM, end of the US Revolutionary War, 1781
Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow, 1812
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree, 1849
The first 4 blacks are elected to the US House of Representatives, 1870
The USPS first used an automobile to collect and deliver mail, 1914
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic which could treat tuberculosis, is isolated at Rutgers University, 1943
Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points, 1987
Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II, 2003
Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity, 2005
Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb, 2005