Seniors Still Need Print Media

An email arrived a few minutes ago.  It was from a co-worker and contained a forwarded joke:


I was visiting my son last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

"This is the 21st century," he said. "I don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPad."

I can tell you this, that damn fly never knew what hit him.


I was mildly amused.  But how about this?

“Grandma,” my nephew said to my mother, who handed him a Ladies Home Journal to amuse him, “this is broke… the pictures don’t get bigger when I try to stretch them.”

But score one for granny because newspapers have many functions beyond crossword puzzles and swatting flies.  They’re great for cleaning windows and laying out cookies, too!  Most importantly, they’re impervious to electromagnet pulses, which could be a big deal some day.  An enemy E.M.P. blast could easily melt the microprocessors inside iPads and computers and phones – and nearly every household appliance made in the last 30 years.  The ever-shrinking micro components inside all new devices -- and the infrastructure on which most of them rely -- are all extremely vulnerable.  Well-placed interference could cause the complete collapse of all communication systems – including the press.