We had the Miami Herald and the Ft. Lauderdale News my dad brought home every day. Dave Barry in the Herald's Parade Sunday insert magazine. Can't say I miss the ink stains, since eating while reading it was a bad habit. Patrick Lawrence's Journalists and their Shadows is an excellent insider's take on becoming a reporter, up from cub to columnist.
Interestingly, lamp black and mineral oil is a fine anti-bacterial, so despite appearances it was quite healthy, especially for wrapping food. Dave was a favorite and I had occasion to meet him once many moons ago. I've been meaning to read Lawrence's book for some time and I'm glad you reminded me. I'm going to go find it now. Cheers!
When you start looking at the BoDs and major shareholders, it all becomes clear. The media are the sales division, the Big Pharmas are the R&D division, and the agencies are the security and compliance division. Once you get above the performance level, you see it's all a single intertwined and interrelated entity.
Nice follow up to your Woebegone piece. My grandfather got two papers delivered in his little box by the farm fence. The Washington Post, and Grit. Reading your essay helped me recall there are a couple of rites of passage related to newspapers. One is when you can finally hold it and organize the folds to read it casually without pages getting discombobulated. Another is being able to complete the crossword puzzle. Newspapers also forced you to be skillful at mental cataloguing: "gotta remember to read the rest of this article when I get to D2." I like to think news was 'better' back then, more honest, although I cannot find any logical reasons to think so.
Ah, yes, dexterity. That was something I learned with a deck of cards, but I can certainly appreciate the challenge for small hands and arms. I was more of a jumple fan, than crossword. The jumble appealed to my dyslexic brain.
Grit, now there's one I haven't thought about in donkey's years. I never subbed to it, but I frequently bought a copy at the bookstore along with my copy of National Lampoon. I think newspapers seemed more refined. You didn't have to look at blow-dried baubleheads reading Tele-Prompt-Rs and trying to "think" on the fly. I could imagine serious journalists behind the Underwood uprights slavishly banging out copy with a phone receiver on each ear.
Great article. I've always liked newspapers. For 2.5 years I was a paperboy for the Lincoln Star. This was the morning paper and I was up at 5:30 AM seven days a week to deliver the papers in all kinds of weather.
My best friend, Patrick, moved to Los Angeles. His first job was at the LA Mirror/Times. His job was to streamline the printing shop and bring it into the digital era using computers. Many in the print shop weren't happy about this. LOL! A lot of the printers lost their jobs.
Patrick sent me an antique wooden in-tray from the Mirror-Times. I still have it.
Typesetting is one of my favorite things to see -- the upper case with all the big letters, the lower case with all the small letters. The linotype machines were a huge innovation, but slugs or sticks, it was a gritty physical process. Digital printing has greatly enhanced the process speed and accuracy, but a true artform was lost in the process. And if it weren't for the cases, we'd never have gotten Joseph Cornell.
Thank you, Bernard, for rekindling the memories. Mine are of the 'New York World-Telegram and Sun' and the 'New York Herald Tribune' on Sunday afternoons once my Dad had finished with them.
My favorites were the funnies at first, and later the classified ads in the back pages of the Sports Section. Strange and wonderous things for sale. Earl Scheib would paint 'Any Car, Any Color!' for $19.95! There were Lugers and Walthers for the same price, mail order, if one was 18 or older. Jungle hammocks, entrenching tools, canteens, camping cookware and shelter halves. Everything to fulfil the life of a 9 year old scout in the 1950's.
Occasionally I'd read the Times, left on the seats of the Long Island Rail Road cars by someone who got off before I did. I never bought one, though.
Ah yes, the classifieds! Amazing for all the reasons you mention, plus the strange and cryptic messages in that one section..."Missed Connections" I think it was. Right next to "Romance". That was the predecessor to TwiX...150 words, 50 cents/ day, or something like that. I bought several cars and guns through the classifieds. The really fun papers were the underground rags. We had the Houston Press, which is where I first encountered "Bloom County" and "Life in Hell" strips. Offbeat reviews, club listings and the occasional hard hitting piece. Look! Over there! It's Memory Lane!
I've heard several variations on that one, but usually it's attributed to Norman Mailer, though I've head Hearst too, though it doesn't sound like anything he'd say.
You may well be right, though as noted there are several versions of the quip. As for Rogers, the quote I have internalized is, "The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.".
"Missed Connections"! LOL!! Still available on craigslist and just as entertaining.
Btw, my regular reads back in the day were Cal Thomas, Pat Buchanan and Jimmy Breslin. I remember seeing a current pic of Pat and realising he'd been using the same photo for the last 100 years. Got into Fred Reed later when I discovered him.
My favorite strip was Pogo "We Have met the Enemy and He is Us" Possum. Favorite line: "I'm a Boxer. Work over at the packing house boxing mushmelons." The wit and wisdom of Pogo, Albert Alligator and Howland Owl.
Pogo was the best! If you get me started on the funnies, we'll be here all night. I was a fan of Katzenjammer Kids, Snuffy Smith and Wizard of Id, and later Doonesbury.
Read all of them, except Pat. He was a regular guest at the house, so I listened to him more than read him. In the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, we should also mention the girls -- Ann and Abby, and my personal favorite Erma Bombeck.
Oh yes, Breslin's book had an honored place when I had a physical library. Another favorite was P. J. O'Rourke, whose book, "Don't Vote - It Just Encourages The Bastards," has become a personal motto. At the pinnace of personal favorites, of course, was Christopher Hitchens, though I suppose strictly speaking he wasn't a columnist.
I preferred the Rocky Mountain News, purely for navigational advantages, and carried the Denver Post until they refused to stop charging me for more papers than I was delivering.
I vaguely remember the RMN. Used to pick it up in Santa Fe on occasion. Denver Post was easily available at any newsstand. And that's another thing that got dodoed...the newsstand. The ones in London were a national treasure, and the ones in New York approached them in fun factor.
I've heard of that one, but never experienced it. Since Indonesians don't read, there's no tradition of newsstands, and the surviving newspapers are pitiful shadows of the Great Merkan newspaper. There are a kind of newsstand in Singapoor and other countries, but nothing like the wooden shack bespangled with blaring headlines and glossies. Que sera!
I haven't even seen a Barnes & Noble in 20 years. The closest thing to a bookseller in Indonesia is Gramedia, and they are rather pitiful even at selling books. The one outlet here that had 2 floors and what might be thought of as a newsstand got whacked by the Damnpanic, shut down the second floor and consolidated everything, which killed the newsstand. There might be one in Bali, since the foreigner traffic is much higher, but I've never seen nor heard of it.
That's true. The police and military don't like competition. On the plus side, this is the place to be if you have leg trauma. The surgeons have a lot of practice repairing gun shot wounds to the thighs and calves. On a side note, ganja is one of the prime ingredients in Banda and Padang food, so there's always that.
We had the Miami Herald and the Ft. Lauderdale News my dad brought home every day. Dave Barry in the Herald's Parade Sunday insert magazine. Can't say I miss the ink stains, since eating while reading it was a bad habit. Patrick Lawrence's Journalists and their Shadows is an excellent insider's take on becoming a reporter, up from cub to columnist.
Interestingly, lamp black and mineral oil is a fine anti-bacterial, so despite appearances it was quite healthy, especially for wrapping food. Dave was a favorite and I had occasion to meet him once many moons ago. I've been meaning to read Lawrence's book for some time and I'm glad you reminded me. I'm going to go find it now. Cheers!
Doesn't go into covid at all, but calls out the eager complicity of the media with National Security messaging.
When you start looking at the BoDs and major shareholders, it all becomes clear. The media are the sales division, the Big Pharmas are the R&D division, and the agencies are the security and compliance division. Once you get above the performance level, you see it's all a single intertwined and interrelated entity.
Nice follow up to your Woebegone piece. My grandfather got two papers delivered in his little box by the farm fence. The Washington Post, and Grit. Reading your essay helped me recall there are a couple of rites of passage related to newspapers. One is when you can finally hold it and organize the folds to read it casually without pages getting discombobulated. Another is being able to complete the crossword puzzle. Newspapers also forced you to be skillful at mental cataloguing: "gotta remember to read the rest of this article when I get to D2." I like to think news was 'better' back then, more honest, although I cannot find any logical reasons to think so.
Ah, yes, dexterity. That was something I learned with a deck of cards, but I can certainly appreciate the challenge for small hands and arms. I was more of a jumple fan, than crossword. The jumble appealed to my dyslexic brain.
Grit, now there's one I haven't thought about in donkey's years. I never subbed to it, but I frequently bought a copy at the bookstore along with my copy of National Lampoon. I think newspapers seemed more refined. You didn't have to look at blow-dried baubleheads reading Tele-Prompt-Rs and trying to "think" on the fly. I could imagine serious journalists behind the Underwood uprights slavishly banging out copy with a phone receiver on each ear.
Great article. I've always liked newspapers. For 2.5 years I was a paperboy for the Lincoln Star. This was the morning paper and I was up at 5:30 AM seven days a week to deliver the papers in all kinds of weather.
My best friend, Patrick, moved to Los Angeles. His first job was at the LA Mirror/Times. His job was to streamline the printing shop and bring it into the digital era using computers. Many in the print shop weren't happy about this. LOL! A lot of the printers lost their jobs.
Patrick sent me an antique wooden in-tray from the Mirror-Times. I still have it.
Typesetting is one of my favorite things to see -- the upper case with all the big letters, the lower case with all the small letters. The linotype machines were a huge innovation, but slugs or sticks, it was a gritty physical process. Digital printing has greatly enhanced the process speed and accuracy, but a true artform was lost in the process. And if it weren't for the cases, we'd never have gotten Joseph Cornell.
Wiping away a tear.
Thank you, Bernard, for rekindling the memories. Mine are of the 'New York World-Telegram and Sun' and the 'New York Herald Tribune' on Sunday afternoons once my Dad had finished with them.
My favorites were the funnies at first, and later the classified ads in the back pages of the Sports Section. Strange and wonderous things for sale. Earl Scheib would paint 'Any Car, Any Color!' for $19.95! There were Lugers and Walthers for the same price, mail order, if one was 18 or older. Jungle hammocks, entrenching tools, canteens, camping cookware and shelter halves. Everything to fulfil the life of a 9 year old scout in the 1950's.
Occasionally I'd read the Times, left on the seats of the Long Island Rail Road cars by someone who got off before I did. I never bought one, though.
Ah yes, the classifieds! Amazing for all the reasons you mention, plus the strange and cryptic messages in that one section..."Missed Connections" I think it was. Right next to "Romance". That was the predecessor to TwiX...150 words, 50 cents/ day, or something like that. I bought several cars and guns through the classifieds. The really fun papers were the underground rags. We had the Houston Press, which is where I first encountered "Bloom County" and "Life in Hell" strips. Offbeat reviews, club listings and the occasional hard hitting piece. Look! Over there! It's Memory Lane!
Rufus: Who was it who said, "The only truth in a newspaper is in the classifieds."
I've heard several variations on that one, but usually it's attributed to Norman Mailer, though I've head Hearst too, though it doesn't sound like anything he'd say.
Rufus: I think it was the comedian Will Rogers.
You may well be right, though as noted there are several versions of the quip. As for Rogers, the quote I have internalized is, "The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.".
Rufus: That's a good quote though it isn't true anymore as Congress can "claw back" money from estates of dead people.
I found this quote from Will about newspapers. It's kind of roundabout and I don't think people would understand it today:
“All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance.”
― Will Rogers
"Missed Connections"! LOL!! Still available on craigslist and just as entertaining.
Btw, my regular reads back in the day were Cal Thomas, Pat Buchanan and Jimmy Breslin. I remember seeing a current pic of Pat and realising he'd been using the same photo for the last 100 years. Got into Fred Reed later when I discovered him.
My favorite strip was Pogo "We Have met the Enemy and He is Us" Possum. Favorite line: "I'm a Boxer. Work over at the packing house boxing mushmelons." The wit and wisdom of Pogo, Albert Alligator and Howland Owl.
Pogo was the best! If you get me started on the funnies, we'll be here all night. I was a fan of Katzenjammer Kids, Snuffy Smith and Wizard of Id, and later Doonesbury.
Read all of them, except Pat. He was a regular guest at the house, so I listened to him more than read him. In the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, we should also mention the girls -- Ann and Abby, and my personal favorite Erma Bombeck.
Erma Bombeck. Her book, The grass is always greener over the septic tank.
This is bringing back memories....
Jimmy Breslin's book, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight and the movie they made of it.
Let's not forget Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoons.
Oh yes, Breslin's book had an honored place when I had a physical library. Another favorite was P. J. O'Rourke, whose book, "Don't Vote - It Just Encourages The Bastards," has become a personal motto. At the pinnace of personal favorites, of course, was Christopher Hitchens, though I suppose strictly speaking he wasn't a columnist.
I preferred the Rocky Mountain News, purely for navigational advantages, and carried the Denver Post until they refused to stop charging me for more papers than I was delivering.
I vaguely remember the RMN. Used to pick it up in Santa Fe on occasion. Denver Post was easily available at any newsstand. And that's another thing that got dodoed...the newsstand. The ones in London were a national treasure, and the ones in New York approached them in fun factor.
Rufus: I think the newsstand at the Pike Place Market in Seattle is still there. I would buy newspapers from all over the world at that newsstand.
I've heard of that one, but never experienced it. Since Indonesians don't read, there's no tradition of newsstands, and the surviving newspapers are pitiful shadows of the Great Merkan newspaper. There are a kind of newsstand in Singapoor and other countries, but nothing like the wooden shack bespangled with blaring headlines and glossies. Que sera!
You have never been in a Barnes and Noble bookstore?
I haven't even seen a Barnes & Noble in 20 years. The closest thing to a bookseller in Indonesia is Gramedia, and they are rather pitiful even at selling books. The one outlet here that had 2 floors and what might be thought of as a newsstand got whacked by the Damnpanic, shut down the second floor and consolidated everything, which killed the newsstand. There might be one in Bali, since the foreigner traffic is much higher, but I've never seen nor heard of it.
The only thing I know about Indonesia is that one can be executed there for possessing a recreational drug.
That's true. The police and military don't like competition. On the plus side, this is the place to be if you have leg trauma. The surgeons have a lot of practice repairing gun shot wounds to the thighs and calves. On a side note, ganja is one of the prime ingredients in Banda and Padang food, so there's always that.