Secrets of the City

Max pulls out all the stops in day two, with DeBlog, Ranty and The Deets. Will this stem the collapse? Pre-work day commenting low, visitors definitely in wait and see mode.

Wait, what did I miss? I didn’t realize MNspeak was collapsing! Has the WIspeak cabal had a hand in this? Or is this collapse only in kwatt’s mind.

Perhaps taking away his right to tell us about his bowels and nausea level has resulted in some sort of personal collapse?

@edkohler: the yellow pages’ ad rates are based on distribution. It is more profitable to see only one out of 100 books as wanted, and sell the other 99 as “potential,” than only give them to as many people that ask.

I know you think is waste, and I understand your concerns, but if you read my fictional book More PR Speeches That Knock ‘Em Dead, specifically Chapter 5, Greenwashing, you’ll understand that (company name) is a good corporate citizen that takes great pains to set up collection points for consumers to dispose of their “out of date” books.

Good points, champs. Apparently, you get more greenwashing points if you start at the far end of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle process.

You can’t take credit for recycling things that were never created, so over-producing allows them to boost their recycling volume.

Ed, it is a valiant battle; good luck! When I get my phone book I just recycle it. I’ve never liked the yellow pages, even pre-internet, and now I don’t like the white pages either.

Jane, at some point I’ll come to the realization that they were sending me phone books for my own good. I’ll look back at today and think, those print directory people were ahead of their time.

I used the yellow pages to hold up my old couch that was missing a leg.

They come in that nice bag to carry them back to the recycling bin.
Wasn’t there an article last week about people abandoning landlines like stock in investment banks?

A can of Rotel tomatoes cost me $1.24 this past week at the grocery store. I paid $.84 for the same size can back on September 11, 2006, and $.79 on October 21, 2005.

The cost of Market Pantry diced tomatoes? $0.54

I think part of the phone book problem is that it’s no longer just the phone company sending them out. I not only have a Qwest St. Paul directory, but also a separate Minneapolis one (used to be the whole metro was one book), a copy of the Yellow Pages, plus two additional local phone directories that appear to have been created solely to sell advertising to local businesses.

Oh, and there are now both the Yellow Pages AND Yellow Book.

In the Brainerd area, we now get THREE phone books delivered every year: the “official” CTC directory, plus copies of two other advertiser-supported directories.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve used any printed page to find a person or a business here in the metro because of easy access to dexonline.com. At the cabin, though, we’re more dependent on the phone books.

That was my suggestion, but she said they don’t taste as good.

Rotel tomatoes have green chili in them. They are a pretty good base for ranchero sauce.

Oh, heck. Once you add the spices, who can taste the tomato? lol

My phone books too go from the front step to the recycling bin. So, if you have any success, let me know because in my eyes it is a useless waste of trees.

I blame ethanol AND the smoking ban for the higher cost of a can of tomatoes. That, and the recent food safety scare.

She could — I don’t know — grow her own… They taste much better than canned! Or she could come over and pull some out of my garden, I have plenty.

10 am comment update: Early morning commenting sluggish and on topic. Without really wacky Wisconsin news this could be another down day.

DouglasG could plan a tomato picking party.

I buy regular ol’ diced tomatoes (whatever’s on sale) and blend them with thai chili peppers from my garden. That way the tomato part is a mere vector for the hot chili goodness. Freeze it, forget about it for months, and then have red sauce for spaghetti. Doctor it slightly with black olives or capers? Yum!

10 am comment update: Early morning commenting sluggish and on topic. Without really wacky Wisconsin news this could be another down day.

Things DO seem suspiciously on-topic and amiable today. What gives?

I want to make salsa and can my own red sauce… DouglasG are your tomatoes good for that? I’ve never done eitherand don’t know the first darn thing about tomatoes.

And save some rotten ones to throw at DeRush.

@MB I’ve made a batch of salsa already and some Minestrone. I’ve got 5 or 6 waiting for me to do something with. My plants are still blooming! So, if the frost holds off until February…

You all deserve Rotel. At the next MNSpeak gathering, I’m bringing name-brand chili-spiced diced tomatoes for everyone.

Watch out: It could also include all or portions of his thumb.