OBSERVATIONS...

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Pals!  Hope your New Year is going well so far!

So... the local newpaper sent out notices a while back indicating they would no longer be publishing five days a week (T/W/H/F/Su).  They would be publishing three days each week (W/F/Su).  I was aware of this due to the fact I maintain my aunt's mail and it was her subscription referenced.  I do not subscribe.  While it is likely true there really wasn't enough newsworthy material to justify five days, I was at least able to justify the newspaper's name... Beauregard Daily News.  After the notice arrived, my mind wandered one day questioning whether two things would change; the subscription cost and/or the name.  I knew the answer without actually posing the question... but I gave things time to happen anyway.

I will tell you now that the subscription cost did NOT change so what used to pay for 260 newspapers now pays only for 156 newspapers.  If you do the reverse math, that is a substantial increase... seems that I would now be paying 67% more on a per paper basis.  WOW!  Imagine if everything increased 67%!!  Your $600/month rent would now take $1,002 out of your pocket.  That $30,000 vehicle... well, it's going to take $50,100 from your checkbook.  I guess since it's not a huge amount, folks don't really think about it much.  I do.

Well, Mary Nell, you ask... has the size of and information provided in the new 3-day-a-week paper increased?  That, of course, should justify at least SOME of the 67% increase, right?  Uh... No.  The paper received on any given day is essentially the same as the paper received on any given day when it was offered five days a week.  I'm not getting any "increase" for the increased cost.  I gave it time and checked it out.

Okay.  The subscription cost is a lost cause.  What about that name?  That has not changed either.  (Are you surprised?)  This led me to that analytical/research moment desiring to find whether a 3-day-a-week newspaper could/should be called "Daily."  Missouri statutes seem to require 5 days with some exception to 4 days when there is a holiday involved.  Idaho seems to agree with Missouri.  My breakdown of terms, checked on Merriam-Webster Online, provides a very succinct definition of "daily", even using "daily newspaper" as an example!!

Now... in all fairness, I did find a few studies (not government statutes, mind you... just studies) where "daily newspaper" was expanded to include as few as 2-day-a-week newspapers.  I'm guessing they just wanted to increase their study size and that was one way to easily do it.

That's it on the newspaper.  The reason I thought of it was a front-page story (with photo!) I saw at my aunt's the other day.  Reading the story just brought me to rolling laughter and the question, "How on Earth could that happen?"

There is a State Highway here that is two-lane, full-shoulder, with a 55 mph speed limit.  There is a railroad track crossing that highway.  The track is not heavily used as it is a spur leading to the paper mill here so the odds of encountering a train on the track are very, very low.  While the crossing does not have the crossing bars typically found, it does have elevated, large print with flashing lights, signage stretching across the highway clearly indicating the very few times there is actually a train using those tracks.  If you are driving on the highway, which is nothing but pure FLAT for 25 miles in either direction, you cannot miss the huge flashing red lights far ahead on the road.  This begs the question of how the 18-wheeler driver could have been crossing the tracks when the train was there?  An even larger question would be whether or not the driver saw the train?  The biggest question of all (and really my favorite) is how the driver managed to get the cab of his truck across the tracks but wasn't able to get the trailer across before being backed into by the train's caboose?!?!?!?!?  Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?  Yep.  The photo showed the trailer, rather substantially dented and shoved aside, along with the caboose, now derailed and requiring some substantial assistance to be placed back on the tracks.  The story relayed the extended period of time during which the highway had to be closed in order to get equipment in from far, far away to accomplish that very thing.  But my favorite tidbit in the story was that the conductor of the train estimated the train to have been moving at 8 miles per hour at impact.  I wish I had been the customer service representative taking that claim report for the 18-wheeler's insurance company.  Clearly no one was hurt or I would not treat this so lightly.  I am glad about that.

Just felt the need to share this with you, my blogging pals.  These are my observations.

Until next post...