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8 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, May 10,2006 Basic Black by Arthur Black All the news that's fit to click A newspaper... like a fish, should be consumed consumed when fresh; otherwise it is not only indigestible, but unspeakable. James Reston So there I was, sitting on a park bench in front of the ruins of a 10th century Moorish castle on the Costa del Sol overlooking the Mediterranean... Mediterranean... And I'm reading a profile of Canada's newest PM, Stephen Harper, in that day's edition edition of the London Times. A miracle?, Kind of. I was at the time deep in los boondocks of rural Spain--about 80 kilometres kilometres from the nearest Spanish city where one might reasonably expect to find an issue of any English-language newspaper. newspaper. But here in my hand was an up-to-the- second edition of one of the best in the world. It was, of course, just ah example of the ongoing ongoing electronic revolution of the internet, a phenomenon phenomenon that is transforming transforming the world we live in. Fifteen years ago, a copy of the London Times would have taken at least three days to reach me by post. In 2006, it's as close as the PRINT button button on my laptop. Closer, even. I wasn't going cross-eyed staring at the flickering screen of a computer on that park bench; I was turning turning the pages of an actual actual newspaper." I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, I live on. a small island off the west coast of Canada -- no bridges, no airport, no streetlights. On a good day I may spot bald eagles, sea lions, even a pod of killer whales. On the same day I can stroll down to the comer store and pick up that day's edition of the Globe and Mail, the National Post--wen the New York Times. I can be reading the same news story in the same newspaper newspaper at the same moment as a reader in North York or Yonkers. Such an experience is about to get even easier. There's a company in Ottawa that's fixing to make it possible for you and me to walk to the comer, swipe our Visa or MasterCard through a vending machine and- walk away with, a fresh edition of... just about any newspaper in the world.. The ' company is International Newspaper Kiosks Ltd., an affiliate of Satellite Newspaper Corporation, which is Classified Business Directory Ross McKenzie Tax & Accounting Services 30+Years Experience Competitive Rates 905-987-5245 Pro Painting Why Wait... Book your spring projects now! - Excellent Rates ~ 905-983-5761 Clifford Francis Fine Finishes by T. Osmond COMPLETE Furniture Repair and Restoration Caning • Veneering • Carving French Polishes & Wicker Repair 905-786-2477 Experience You Can Trust wwMw/le Amo Wreckers and Used Cars JOE MENDONCA Manager Phone: 905-987-4636 91 Cowanville Rd., Newcastle, ON L1B1L9 ADVERTISE HERE! $7.37 lier week Call 983-5301 LARRY JACKSON PLUMBING & WATER CONDITIONING • Pump Repairs & Installation • UV Lights • Water Softeners • Free Estimates For Friendly, Expert Service Call 905-983-6214 Don (5 Christine MacKay ' Residential & Spring Cleaning ~ Window Cleaning ~ 905-623-6044 cmackay2000@rogers.com "We're here to serve you" ROBERT E. JACKSON Heating • Electrical Air Conditioning Authorized Consumers Gas Dealer .Independent Lennox Dealer Furnaces • Air Conditioners and Appliances Main Street, Orono 983-6221 RESTORATION & General Contracting Inc. 24 Hour Emergency Service Water • Fire • Smoke Wind Damage Custom Homes Additions • Renovations. 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BRYON GRUNDY f Smfk 1 STttmir . s 1 i ph r 1 Orono Veterinary Hospital Dr. Derek de Haan Dr. Mathew Stephenson 30 Cobbledick St,, Orono' L0B1M0 Tel: 905-983-9010 Fax: 905-983-5308 I & T Carpenters • Licensed • 27 Years Experience • Custom Homes • General Contracting • Additions • House Trim. • Stairs • Decks •Windows «Doors • Barns And all carpentry- related work. 1VÀN JONES TONY FANARA Orono 905-983-5303 Hampton 905-263-9988 Debra Inglis Interior Design CoitiS" : $jw .... wefT 1 4312 Concir#6rMdal 905-983-5900 Clarington Beech Centre 26 Beech Ave., Bowmanyille Modern Facility Historical Setting Weddings, Banquets, Meetings (30 to 250 people) ' Self-catering kitchen. 905-697-2856 E$ CHATTERTON ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL •COMMERCIAL* INDUSTRIAL POLE LINE CONSTRUCTION Dave Chatterton Orono, Ontario Tel: 905-983-5546 If no answer: 905-983-5940 based in The Hague. What INK Limited offers is the chance to buy any one of 135 (and counting) different newspapers any time of the day or night from a friendly automatic kiosk near you. And I mean different. Want to read the Shanghai Shanghai Dailÿl It's as close as your credit card. So is Libero Sports of Peru, not to mention any of a host of papers in French, German, Italian, Spanish --even Iranian. These print-on-demand papers are updated throughout the day, just like regular editions of your hometown hometown daily. What the Kiosk honchos honchos are homing in on is the comfort factor provided provided by an actual paper-and-ink newspaper newspaper as opposed to the rather sterile on-line virtual, virtual, experience. A couple of decades ago, in the heady first days of the brave new world of the Internet, . cyberspace gurus were confidently predicting the imminent Death of Newspapers. Dailies were doomed, they told us. People in the future would get all their news from their computer monitors. Pretty soon nobody , would buy .newspapers. Well* yes... and no. Millions are relying on the Internet for fast- breaking news these days, but newspapers haven't gone away. The one thing the gurus neglected to notice was that reading anything lengthy on a computer monitor is a huge pain in the...eye. Computers are awkward and temperamental and hard to fold under your arm or stick in your back pocket. They are in a word, uncomfortable. Whereas newspapers are friendly. As Marshall McLuhan said "People don't read newspapers; they get into them--like a bath'." . Reading a real newspaper newspaper is a sensual experience. experience. You don't have to sign on orlog in to anything. anything. There's no worry about passwords or Trojan viruses lurking in the background. All you need is an appositional thumb, a comfortable place to sit and a good source of light. And let me tell you, a park bench overlooking the Mediterranean ain't half bad. Nope, newspapers may have to do some fancy footwork but they're here to stay. Because .they're cheap, informative, entertaining and just plain reader- friendly. Besides, you ever try to swat a fly with a laptop? laptop? w « MORRIS FUNERAL CHAPEL LTD. SERVING DURHAM REGION SINCE 1841 ALL FUNERAL SERVICES PREARRANGED AND/OR PREPAID BURIAL- CREMATION - TRANSFERS ! "WHERE PROFESSIONAL ETIQUETTE IS IMPORTANT" FUNERAL DIRECTORS PAUL R. MORRIS DOUG R. RUTHERFORD GARY M. CONWAY DEBRA D.CAMPKIN 905-623-5480 4 DIVISION ST.. BOWMANVILLE - AT QUEEN ST. r* Lots of Mew gifts ! upstairs, Min time for j Motor's Dcty, j 5340 Main Street, Orono Proprietors; Gary, Carol & Cory Vreeker L,_ ! Closed Sunday and Monday ' ! 905-983-9779 \