[Clock King]

NEWSPAPERS

Yes and no. People aren't going to carry a computer around with them on their daily commute or hunker over one at breakfast unless they become as light and disposable as paper. You don't want to spill coffee on your laptop. I thought Babylon 5 had the right idea (their Universe Today paper): the newspaper is customized for the reader at the vending machine. You select your favorite topics, and a newspaper is printed on the spot customized to you. If we can get printing of disposable/recyclable paper very fast (<20 seconds) into a kiosk or vending size area, I think this idea could work. We have printers that are fast, but can they print on newspaper-grade paper? Anyone up to developing this with me?

[Clemenza]

GAY BARS: As The Orlando Sentinel noted in a recent article, around the country gay bars have been going out of business as gay men and women have been gaining greater acceptance in society. What used to be a hangout for people who felt unwelcome elsewhere is becoming less necessary.

Really? Doesn't seem to be a rash of closings in the NY area. You do see alot more "straight" folks, especially women, hanging out in restaurants flying the rainbow flag, however. Besides, I don't take the word of a newspaper in the sh-thole that is Orlando as being ahead of the cultural curve.

[sauron]

What about LIBRARIES?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

RECORD STORES: Record stores are closing in, well, record numbers. One of the most prominent music retailers, Tower Records, shut down all 89 stores last year after concluding it couldn't withstand the onslaught of online music stores and chains like Wal-Mart, which can offer lower prices and sell other items to offset the smaller number of CDs being sold. Odds of survival in 10 years: Great, if you consider Wal-Mart a record store.

I predict WalMart won't be selling many CDs in 10 years either. The RIAA continues to push mediocre acts while suing it's customers and pressuring tech companies into hindering consumer electronics. The independent music scene is growing because independent artists either give their music away to promote their tours or charge some nominal price for downloads. As for established artists, they're going to be carefully watching Radiohead's experiment with voluntary pricing for downloads. It's possible that Radiohead will make far more money doing this than they ever did selling CDs through a label. The record store is dead - whether it's named Tower or WalMart.

And I went ahead and bought the $80 box set. Been a huge Radiohead fan since their first album.

[Revolting cat!]

Elvis Impersonation, Inc will go out of business sooner or later too. Don’t believe it? How many Rudy Vallee impersonators do you know?

[death2tyrants]

Guns: Once the Democrats enact enough anti-gun legislation, then there will be no more need for guns and we can have a peaceful society./s

[TriGirl]

I actually needed a payphone last week... Could not find one anywhere. I ended up asking someone if I could use their cell phone.

[Fresh Wind]

COIN-OPERATED ARCADES:

The demise of the arcade is a tragedy, and the near disappearance of the pinball machine manufacturers that supply them is too.

Video games suck. They have always sucked and will always suck.

Pinball rules!

[RinaseaofDs]

Newspapers will be around. As long as they still make Sunday Mornings, and as long as we are still using toilets to do number two, they’ll be making newspapers. Liberal newspapers? There will be a big shakeout.

[HungarianGypsy]

I like Used Bookstores. They are a wonderful way to spend a few hours. I still haven’t been able to find Mr. Rabbit’s (or Bunny’s) Cook and Color Book. It was a coloring book with all sorts of recipes that I got from the grocery in the late ‘70s. Stupid me let my high school’s child development class borrow it and forgot to get it back. It was never sent to me even though my name and address were inside. :(

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.  

[qam1]

- Global Warming Advocate

[BunnySlippers]

TYPEWRITER REPAIR

[CodeToad]

They can have my piggy bank when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

[P.O.E.]

Nothing like browing in a used bookstore and finding something new - some book you never would have looked for, but found fascinating.

[BurbankKarl]

new york times...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

USED BOOKSTORES: They've been closing fast, and those that are still open are relying on what's making them obsolete: the internet. A used bookstore used to be the place to find that beloved, out-of-print children's book you used to read 17 times a day until your little sister flushed it down the toilet. Now you just type that title in a search engine and order it within minutes. Odds of survival in 10 years: Some of them will still be eking out an existence, but the handwriting is on the wall.

Disagree.

Two reasons. Most UBS take trade. On-line stores don't. For people who are bibliophiles this is important. They may lose the guy looking for one book but the person who goes through 20 a month is still going to come in.

Second, most UBS customers are not looking for a certain book, they are looking for BOOKS. They honestly don't know what they are going to walk out with. You can't do that on the internet.

[mamelukesabre]

I would like to add:

neighborhood grocery stores.
Neighborhood liquor stores.
Neighborhood candy stores.
neighborhood public swimming pools
goodrich dairy
bicycle repair shops
Lawnmower repair shops

The first three might be extinct already. For instance, I havn’t seen a neighborhood store that specialized in candy for at least 20 years. I remember neighborhood grocery stores that were literally houses converted into grocery stores. Same with liquor stores and gun shops and lawnmower repair shops. These are extremely rare nowdays. When I was a kid, if your bike got ran over by a car, you could take it in to a shop and they could fix the whole thing without replacing any parts except maybe the spokes. They were pretty darn near a blacksmith. Try finding a bike shop like that nowdays.

[Larry Lucido]

COIN-OPERATED ARCADES

Frogger, RIP.

Seinfeld ping. If you want to be on or off this list, yada yada yada . . .

[okie01]

But commercial airlines are increasingly taking business away from the small, independent crop dusters.

Somehow, I don't see American Airlines displacing Ed's Aerial Service...