Is print media dead?

Let me start by saying, when I say “print media” I don’t include books and I am not sure I would include magazines. What I am talking about is “newspapers”. With the “Rocky Mountain News” here in Denver Colorado being up for sale or worst just going away, I asked my self why? I also found that even my own local paper that I read (The Colorado Springs Gazette) had gotten smaller and the over all format changed a bit from what it once was.

With that said I started to look around and what I found was very surprising to me. In my search to find out if newspapers were going out of business or reducing staff (layoffs), I found the answer to be a very big YES! When I did a Google search and put in “Newspapers going out of business” I got a staggering amount of hits (31,700,000). All of the ones I checked out said the same thing, newspapers were dying or dead. It seems that newspapers all over the United States where doing several things. A lot of newspapers were reducing the size of their papers and changing the format, and even charging more for the ads they ran. This seems to be the start down the road to the end for them. Others were doing those things plus reducing their staff by getting rid of extra editors, sports writers and anyone else they deem as not being needed or areas in the paper the public was just not reading much anymore. Even the comics section has been reduced or in some cases even eliminated (Darn them!). News papers that are at this point are half way down the road to the end. Finally, there are the newspapers that have reached the end. They have done all the other things I have listed above and they are now dying a slow death. They have started lying off the upper management and reduced the over all staff by at least half. The number of pages has been reduced to less then half of what they once were and for the most part there are no ads left and most of the readers are gone. Over all these newspapers are dead.

So, what is the reason for all these newspapers dying? I think the reason can be found in three areas 1: the economy 2: less readers & TV 3: the Internet. Let’s start with the least of the three, the economy. With the economy in as bad a shape as it today, people have had to adjust their budgets. This includes companies that use the newspaper to advertise. Many of the big companies have had to reduce their advertising or in some cases even eliminate it all together. With some newspapers reducing the over all size of their papers and charging more for advertising, small companies can’t afford to advertise any more and the bigger companies in most cases are not willing to pay more. Then there are the readers. With the economy in bad shape even they have had to change their budgets as well, which would include only getting the Sunday paper or even eliminating getting the newspaper all together.

This brings us to the second reason why newspapers might be dying, less readers and the TV. With satellite and cable TV, people now days can get the news and everything else almost instantly. With things like CNN and Headline news running 24 hours a day, people can tune into the news when ever they want to. People can now get their news as it happens and don’t have to wait until the next day to find out what the big news events were or what the score was when it came to the big game. Now days we seem to want everything right when we want it and we don’t want to wait for it, and things like Satellite TV, Cable TV and even the Internet seem to be more then willing to give us just what we want.

Now we come to what I think is the biggest reason “print media” is dying, “The Internet”. Like I stated before, we have become a society that wants our news right now and we don’t want to wait. So, along comes something we all have grown to love “The Internet”. This in my opinion is one of the biggest reasons that print media is dying. With the Internet everything is now instantaneous; everything from local news to major events can now be found on the Internet within seconds and include videos in most cases. With everyone from bloggers to professional journalists writing about everything that is going on in the world, it’s getting harder for news papers to compete. Now I must say that some news papers have started to post things on their own web sites. That might save them from going away completely, but the print part appears to be reaching the end.

In conclusion, I think that the news paper is starting to slowly fade away into history, which is very sad. Now you can call me old fashion, but there is just something about getting your paper in the morning and then sitting down with a good cup of coffee and reading it before you start your day. Do I think that news papers will go away completely? No not really. But they will change with the times; this is something they must do to even have a chance of surveying. So as your favorite news paper starts to get smaller and you see the ads get fewer and fewer, just remember it’s just a sign that times are changing and the news paper as we now it, may some day fade away just like the DVD and CD’s did to the VHS and the cassette tapes.

This is why the court system is so backed up!! (Stupid People)

Today I was looking for some material for my Web show called “What Say You Live” seen on Sundays at 9 pm (that was a shameless plug), I happened to find tons of articles about some of the stupidest law suite known to man. So I decided it would be fun to look at and to post the top ten stupidest law suites. I did not write these law suites, they came came from a web site called “Ask Men” (Ladies please no comments). So here they are, read them and have a good laugh, but remember it’s law suites like these that are really clogging up the court systems.

Number 10 (What?, just wait till this one comes here)

Expensive sperm

Igor Lehnberg, a Swedish man who was friends with a lesbian couple, wanted to help the ladies have children so he donated sperm for artificial insemination and soon the women had three kids. After breaking up with her significant other, however, the mother of the children filed a lawsuit against Lehnberg for child support -- and won. In early 2002, the Swedish court ruled that the man was undeniably the biological father and was therefore condemned to pay a monthly allowance of approximately $280 US.

Number 9 (What, Really?)

Restless convict

Robert Lee Brock is reportedly the most legally active inmate in Virginia. "Two Souls Walker," as he is also known, has burdened the legal system over the years with frivolous suits complaining about prison life and its poor conditions. This 1995 endeavor was against himself.
Brock claimed that he violated his own civil rights and religious beliefs by getting drunk enough to commit crimes and getting arrested. He wanted $5 million, but the real kicker was that he was demanding that the monies be paid by the state on his behalf since he doesn't have an income while incarcerated. For the record, all his previous grievances have also been rejected.

Number 8 (don’t attack vending machines or this will happen to you)

Murderous soda

Sometimes, being frugal can cost you more than anticipated. While apparently trying to steal a soft drink from a vending machine in 1998, 19-year-old Kevin Mackle was rocking it dangerously. Suddenly, the weight shift was too hot to handle and the contraption fell on him. The man died following the accident. His relatives sued Coca-Cola Co., two other companies, and Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec (for about $660,000 US in damages and funeral costs) alleging that the machine was not secured and bore no warning signs.

Number 7 (My college degree being used to it’s fullest)

The moon fall

College life is all about having fun and freshman Hank Reinfeld was making sure of that when he was mooning some friends from a third-floor dormitory window. Unexpectedly, the window gave out and the young man fell out. After having suffered fractures, cuts and bruises, he sued the University of Idaho stating that the institution did not provide a safe environment and that he hadn't been warned of the dangers of such activities. The lawsuit was unsuccessful.

Number 6 (I have an old truck, do think I could do that and win?)

Pricey Beemer

Pollution doesn't just effect the environment. In 1995, Dr. Ira Gore, the proud owner of a new BMW 535i, discovered that parts of his automobile had been repainted after having had it detailed in 1990. He found out that the Alabama dealership had done so to conceal damage due to acid rain, so he filed a complaint and was awarded the amount of $4 million. BMW of America appealed the verdict but the German car aficionado still walked away with $4000 in damages and $2 million in punitive damages.

Number 5 (All I can say here is finally a judge with common sense)

Rack attack

Bachelor parties can be hazardous to your health. Paul Shimkonis, a physical therapist from Florida, learned this the hard way in September 1996. During his own bachelor party, he got whiplash while getting a lap dance from a stripper (a.k.a. "Tawny Peaks") sporting a 69-HH chest.
The 38-year-old claims that she assaulted him with her breasts, slamming them on his head and almost knocking him out. He said it felt like cement blocks had hit him, and claims that he suffered bodily injury and mental anguish, among other complaints. Still in pain, he sued the topless club, Bloopers (a.k.a. Diamond Doll's) for $15,000, on TV's People's Court no less! Judge Koch ruled that the man was not injured by the dancer.

Number 4 (Oh come on!! McDonalds again?)

McLawsuit... over billions served

Some people just love courtrooms. In 1993, a New Jersey man thought he was making great use of his time by eating and driving at the same time. Having propped a milkshake between his legs, he leaned over to the passenger seat to get his food from a McDonald's bag.
As he did so, his thighs inadvertently squeezed the frozen liquid out of the cup. The sudden shock distracted the driver and the car veered into another. The blame was put on the fast-food chain, which should have warned the man against eating while driving. Unfortunately for him, the case was fruitless.

Number 3 (stupid peeping tom!!)

Plumbing problem

It was March 1995 and Robert Glaser was pretty excited about attending a Billy Joel and Elton John concert at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. When his bladder called for him to relieve himself, he was confronted with the stadium's unisex bathroom policy. Approaching the urinals, he noticed a woman using one.
He visited a number of other bathrooms in the stadium but discovered women in all of them. He was embarrassed and claims that emotional distress prohibited him from being able to "go," and he therefore had to hold it in for around four hours. He sued the stadium and the city for $5.4 million, but lost in the end.

Number 2 (This is a new one, nice try for a soon to be dead man)

Resentful killer

In the recent past, an author was sued for $60 million because of what he had written. Surprisingly, this wasn't a libel suit; the writer was telling the truth. The plaintiff was a convicted killer and he alleged that he was innocent of the 16 murders the author had written about, making it quite thorny for him to find employment in the future. I guess the man didn't realize he was on death row. The judge eventually threw out the case.

Number 1 (So that’s how they become gay, what an idiot)

Sexual accident

A 27-year-old man from Michigan was involved in a rear-end collision. Four years later, he sued the owners of the truck that was responsible for the accident. Having suffered minor injuries, he stated that from then on, his sexual relationship with his wife deteriorated, as he was unable to maintain their sex life.
He claimed that he had been so affected by the crash that his personality had been forever changed. In fact, he maintained that the accident turned him into a homosexual. He left his wife, moved in with his parents, began hanging out in gay bars, and became a fervent reader of gay literature. He won his case and was awarded $200,000, while his wife received $25,000.

Congratulation to Matt Kenseth the 2009 Daytona 500 winner!!

Here is a NASCAR video salute to the 2009 season.



Congratulations to Matt Kenseth the 2009 Daytona 500 winner for a great race. This is shaping up to be one heck of a year for NASCAR. good luck everyone.

What Criminals want you to know about gun control

If the Criminals would only follow these signs, what a better world this would be (NOT!)



This is what is number 1 on every criminal's wish list.

Both these videos are funny, but if the current government has their way it could become reality. they may never out right ban guns, but they could tax them so high that no one could afford to buy a gun or the ammo to go with it.

Holding them to a higher standard

By now, we have all heard about Michael Phillips’s incident with smoking dope. This is nothing new, for years celebrities that we have made role models have been doing stupid things like using dope, DUI’s, Assaults and in some cases even murder. We have people like Brittney Spears and Lindsay Lohan with their drunken / dope parties, Michael Jackson and the horrible things he was accused of involving kids, Madonna and her …..Well we know all about her. We also have people like O J Simpson committing murder; we have NBA & NFL stars involved with everything from Drugs and alcohol to even gang activities. Then we have the music industry, there are the country singers with their DUI’s, the rock stars with their dope smoking drunken parties and lets not forget the Rap singers (if you could call it that). They have everything from Drugs to shootings and even open involvement in gang activities. We even have seen politicians that lie and cheat on their taxes and their wives, even the Church gets caught up in these kinds of things, as we saw with the fall of Ted Haggard at new life church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Any time we hold these celebrities up as role models or we just look up to them, we should hold them to a higher standard, but where is that line? When do we say enough? I will say this, people like OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, etc. have gone way over the line. But what about the others? what about those who have a one time laps in judgment? Lets say they get a DUI one time or they smoke a little dope one time, they get busted for it. Then they come out and tell everyone they were very sorry (Which they are) and then become one of the best spokesman for not doing dope or drinking. The question then becomes are we willing to end their career because they slipped up one time?

Again I come back to the question, Where do we draw the line of higher standards? Do we say that if you commit murder, have a DUI or you do dope, then your career is over. The reason we hold these people to a higher standard is because they are a very big influence on our kids. With that said, then maybe the standard should include other things like Their language, I know I don’t want my kids repeating the things they hear them say. then there is the attitude they show in public. A lot of times they show a total disregard for the police and anyone in authority. They give the appearance that they are so much better then any one else. Is this the type of thing you want your kids to look up to? The last thing that might be on the list would be the way they dress or the lack of it. In some cases the female celebrities hardly dress at all and the guys ware their pants down around their knees. As a father of a 4 & 7 year old I know I don’t want my kids to be like these people.

So where do we draw the line of higher standards? I believe there are some things that we as a civilized society just can’t allow and yet other areas were we should maybe give them a break once in a while. Remember, no one, not you, me, them, NO ONE is perfect. The big thing that counts is what happens after the mistake is made, that should be the thing that we base our judgment on as to rather to ruin some ones career or give them a second chance. So, where is your line of higher standards, when do you say enough?, When are you willing to ruin some ones career? Here is your chance to voice your opinion “What Say You?”

My 2 favorite Super Bowl commercials

I can relate to this one.




This one was just out right funny.