Said "Goodbye" to an old friend

[sofadoc]

For the first time in over 35 years in my life, there isn't a Dallas Morning News on my doorstep. No, they didn't fold (not yet, anyway). I just realized that I don't read it anymore. I get all my news from the net. The print edition of the newspaper goes right into the trash most days. I still going to get the online edition for $10 month.

Many large US cities don't even have a major newspaper. Remember when they were as thick as a Webster's Dictionary, which I also don't need don't use anymore (it's at the bottom of my closet, next to the encyclopedia set, the Roladex, and the film camera).   

[Mike]

Ya ive vot a old 35 m camera somehere and a casset disk. Vider  recorder. I remeber my first cell phone a clip phone i thought was like startrek. Omunicators then.

Never thiugh of the stuff i. COuld do jow on a phone alone

[kodydog]

I stopped getting the Gainesville Sun about a year ago. Only thing I miss is the comics.

[Rich]

I thought this was interesting:
http://www.newser.com/article/da3i2t600/orange-county-register-defies-trend-of-shrinking-newspapers-expands-to-lure-new-subscribers.html

Rich

[Darren Henry]

(it's at the bottom of my closet, next to the encyclopedia set, the Roladex, and the film camera).

I don't know where they used to get them, but about this time of year my friends whose sign shop I worked in while transitioned into my own shop got an e-mail? or downloaded something? with a list of what people born 18 years ago had never not had. And a list of what they had never seen or heard of. Dial telephones, milk delivery, etc where on the second list. Video games,computers,etc where on the first.I'm just rounding out my first half century and afraid that any day now some paleontologist will have me dug up for research  :(

I remeber my first cell phone a clip phone i thought was like startrek.

I remember when  a phone was black,hung on the wall and had the handset cradled on top,the crank on the side (to get the operator's attention) and two 6 volt (?) batteries in the basement. I recently bought one of the "newer" phones from after automation where you could dial the other guy's number and Ethyl didn't have to connect you. Mine is the sporty model that sits on your desk. You can move it as far as the cable allows. You "Lifers" who know me well enough will laugh. I USE IT!  ;D. Sure enough, technology has advanced to the point that I can't dial anymore, but if my cordless-magic jack gets flakey, I have it connected as well and get better sound quality.(You can hear me with less hang time). I just dial out on my keypad and my 2008 -ish gadget hooks my 197? gadget right up via the internet. 8)

[gene]

My mother-in-law used to get the newspaper. I would see a story on line in the morning, and that story would be in the newspaper the next morning - same picture and text.

It's interesting how liberally biased newspapers tend to be. There were a few headlines in the last two elections where a newspaper endorsed a Republican or a conservative. This made the news!

One big sun spot and we'll be back to cutting down trees like there's no tomorrow.  :D

gene

[west coast]

My dear wife still likes to take the paper on the weekends for the tv listing section and flyers but I find all my news online and barely read any delivered paper. What I am finding now though is any online newspaper that i care to read has installed press pass and will only allow a certain amount of free articles to be read and then they want to charge you for articles that with a minimal amount of effort can be found freely all around the net. I suspect its the last gasp of a once very profitable business, Craigslist and the Free used sites are what have really kicked the heck out of the paper business as those classifieds were the real cash cow next to the advertising. I use the free sites for advertising as well as selling used goods etc.
I guess I am as much of the problem as anything but in this day and age to pay hard earned coin for info that is freely available  seems silly. It was not that many years ago I absolutely had to read my paper with breakfast and heaven help the paperboy if it was not on my doorstep by 530 in the morning.

[BigJohn]

I just signed up for the Arizona Republic they have a deal for around 7 bucks a month, for that I get Sunday and Wednesday print additions and total access to the Net edition all month long. The Sunday & Wednesday papers have all the adds and a rehash of the rest of the week.!

                                                            BigJohn

[Mike]

My dear wife still likes to take the paper on the weekends for the tv listing section

theres another thing, remember the little tv guide mag  now you have all that info on your tv(remember free tv)  or I can get it all on my phone and set the dvr remotely

[Darren Henry]

I haven't bothered with television since before the old lady left me { :-\,maybe I should have kept it. She watches it 24/7 so may not have noticed how long I spent at the shop if she could waste her day in front of it  :-\},But I go to Dad's and watch him rifle through the on screen menu for his satellite T.V and shake my head. By the time you find a program you want to watch it's half over.

When I were a tot; we got the TV times and we planned our week around it --sort of. Nine O'clock M*A*S*H as a family, Benny Hill---me and Dad (the girls didn't get his humour so they went elsewhere ), Dad's watching the Brier (curling championships) next Thurs.----tune my bike or borrow his van ????.It took about ten minutes to plan your entire week.

[JuneC]

Ah, the good ole days before staged reality TV.  Haven't had regular TV service in over 2 years now.  I get my news from on-line news sources (free ones) and get my entertainment from always-on-demand Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.  I haven't seen a TV commercial in over 2 years.  New items on store shelves surprise me!  I have to look up all about it when I get home via Google.  I don't know if I could take regular TV anymore.  :-X

June 

[gene]

We got rid of cable TV a few years ago also. But then the Ruku box showed up with Netflix, Amazon, and Crackle.

I've gotten away from following the news on a regular basis. Any news I get, I get whilst surfing the internet.

I heard about the shootings at the elementary school in Conn. 3 days after it happened.

It's difficult for me to listen to the radio any more because of all the commercials. If I want "peace of mind" I need to buy my tires at this store. If I want "happiness" I need to shop at this grocery store. If I want a fulfilling life I need to eat at this restaurant.   ???

It is amazing how much of our entertainment is centered around violence. No one has a problem with two people having sex and then a maniac cutting them up with a chain saw. But show 2 people having sex and enjoying it, OH MY GOD! We can't have THAT on TV!!!    :-\

gene

[byhammerandhand]

Gene, you must be a communist?

Local news seems to be shootings, fires, car crashes, sports, and weather.   Cincinnati weathermen try to out-panic each other.   We have "winter storm warnings" when there's 1 inch of snow predicted (and we get 1/4". )  No winter weather is complete without live reports from the salt depot and some poor reporter (or 5 or 6) standing out with traffic driving behind them.    Then for the next 10 days, they have promos telling us about the weather authorities and doppler radar they have.  My grandchildren, who are growing up in a town that gets 150 inches of snow a year, are someday going to snicker about our weather reporters, "You can call that snow??? This is snow!"

I used to listen to AM radio, then I started listening to public radio and now can't stand the 15 minutes of commercials every hour.  It's well worth the 50 cents a day I contribute.   Gene, maybe you need to tune into Teri Gross?

[sofadoc]

Both of my daughters do the Hulu/Netflix thing at their homes. And they say that most of their friends do the same.

I don't think that cable TV is ever going to be replaced by services like Netflix. But they are certainly carving themselves out a nice slice of the market.

If it weren't for live sports, I'd probably watch very little TV.

I took my grandson to see "The 3 Stooges" last year. That's the first time that I've been to a movie in over 5 years.
I think that the old fashioned movie theatre will soon be on life support like the newspaper.

At my wife's company Xmas party, everyone was talking about their favorite new show...........Duck Dynasty.
I watched about 10 minutes of it one night. If I'd watched any longer, I would've put a pistol in my mouth, and splattered my brains all over the wall behind me.

[Mojo]

I am seriously considering dropping cable when my contract is up. We have just a few shows we enjoy watching and that is about it. I refuse to watch commercials so all shows are recorded on DVR and then we play them when we want.

I can remember when cable was $ 19.99 a month. Now they want a bloody fortune. Screw em.

Chris