Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Cheapskate

After picking up .5 of the Sunday Times on Saturday night (I turned down a night at a disco to - yay - check emails...what was I whingeing about earlier...).

Thus when Sunday proper came I had to make do with .5 of the Sunday Times. I've finally secured the whole Sunday Times, and nothing but the Sunday Times, so help me Johncom. Actually, that's not quite true, I also took a copy of Business Times.

Some people are chocaholics. I tend(ed) to buy newspapers on a daily basis. Even in Korea. So it makes sense to work for a company where I am at the source, so to speak, of such chronic deforestation (AKA newspaper making).

It's a relief to live in a city where I am not forced to read one Afrikaans paper: My Daaglikse Brood. The local alternative ranges from The Times, to The Star and Sowetan. What's quite interesting is with online versions of all these papers (in fact most newspapers out there) it's not always necessary to buy the paper.

But something can be said for a bedside read, or an after dinner mint sucked while browsing through a large paged newspaper. A time may come where we do this (only) while sitting beside our notebooks, but they have suggested the end to books and paper.

The thing is, computers will always represent a virtual world. Including the world of thoughts and subliminals. There is something reassuring about a paperback, or a book, or magazine. You can feel it. You can tell how far through it you are. You can feel from its weight something about what went into it. Online is faster and more clinical. If it's sheer info you're after, go online. If you're after more of an atmosphere, paper can be good. Of course the 'video' and 'podcasting' nature of the internet is giving it more of an 'ethos'.

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