Pedaling On...

Scoop

At one point in my life, I planned on a career in journalism, and so spent some years studying and learning about the world of newspapers and how they are produced. Because of that, I have some sympathy for people in the newspaper business who are still clinging to the idea that what they are doing...well, that it matters in the way that it once did.


Newspapers don't matter that way any more, of course, and haven't for some time. Whether that development is a good or a bad thing depends upon your point of view. Obviously, if you've spent your whole life assuming that newspapers were A Really Big Deal, seeing the world turn away from them in droves has to be dispiriting. If, on the other hand, you're glad to see print journalism's role as gate-keeper of knowledge and shaper of cultural narratives drastically reduced, well...time to celebrate with some cake!

"You know you can't have that, right?"

It's just a metaphor, killjoy...

One of the curiosities about living in Iowa is that everyone you encounter from other parts of the country assumes you that you either live in Des Moines (or one of its suburbs), or on a farm somewhere. I suppose this explains why anyone outside of Iowa would care what The Des Moines Register has to say about national political issues. If you're so addled as to believe that the Register is "the voice of Iowa" or some such nonsense, you really ought to come visit Iowa sometime. Good luck with finding people who know or care about the Register's editorial positions on just about anything...

You can almost hear the editorial meeting: "Trump is newsworthy right now (God knoweth why), so taking a shot at him might sell a few extra copies of the paper today, might generate some extra clicks on the website, might actually get our parochial little rag mentioned in the same breath as The Big Boys of Print Journalism."

I'm sure that would qualify as a Good Day in Register-land, but the reality is that even The Big Boys of Print Journalism are approaching the vanishing point in terms of cultural and political relevance, if they haven't reached it already. They have no one but themselves to blame for this development, of course. Why bother checking on, for instance, who The New York Times endorses for political office? If there's a Democrat in the race, the Times will be there to offer its support. It has been that way for more than half a century, and it is true of pretty much every big-city daily paper. When newspapers surrendered their independence and objectivity and became house organs of one political viewpoint or another, they did a grave disservice to their readers, and have paid a heavy toll as a result.

To the extent that newspapers have a place at all in The Information Age, that place is reporting on local and regional news. Most newspapers still do a decent job covering those beats. But the editorial page is a waste of everyone's time. They'd probably sell more papers if they filled that space with more comic strips.

So, here's a scoop for you, Des Moines Register: Nobody east of Davenport or west of Council Bluffs gives a tinker's damn (and yes, I did spell that correctly) about your position on Donald Trump. Neither does anyone north of Sioux City or south of Clarinda. And hardly anyone in Iowa does, either. Get over yourselves.

If you want to know about RAGBRAI, though, you can't do much better than the Register's coverage...

Speaking of Bicycles...

...I do actually own one. A little over a year ago, I was shopping at my local Walmart in Atlantic, and as I passed the bicycle display on my way to another part of the store, one bike in particular caught my eye. I took a few minutes looking at it, then went on my way. A day or two later, I was back at Walmart to pick up one thing or another, but while I was there I spent some more time admiring that one bike. After some online research, and a couple of more ogling visits, I decided to take the plunge:

Schwinn Point Beach

"Keen! Do you ride it to the malt shop to meet Betty Lou?"

Joke away, philistine...I heard it all last year when I first got her, and from people lots funnier than you...

I suppose she's just another way of trying to get back in touch with my childhood, and the care-free feeling of those days. Everyone needs a little dose of that from time to time, I think. And she is fun to ride. Not sure there's a lot of exercise value, but there has to be at least some...

Bonus "Thought for the Day"

The quote at the top of the page is a good one, but the runner-up today was too good not to share as well. From Peter Golkin, Public Information Officer of the Arlington (VA) Public Library System:

"My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library."

Can Someone Explain To Me..?

Maybe it's because I was always a Hydrox guy and not an Oreos guy (although I do love the Golden Double Stuf version), but this just makes NO sense to me at all...

Actual photo of new Oreo Thins

I always wondered whatever became of the marketing geniuses who foisted New Coke on an unsuspecting nation. Apparently, they now work for Nabisco. Oreos with almost no filling in them...yeah, THAT will sell like hotcakes, boys!

"Pardon me for asking, but do 'hotcakes' actually sell all that well?"

They are extraordinarily popular with bipeds, yes...

Until Next Time...

Today marks the end of the first month of summer, and already the advertising for Back-to-School stuff has begun (sorry kids). There have been a lot of great songs written about summer, of course, so it isn't easy to pick one for a special occasion like this. I do confess a special fondness for Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69," though. That's probably because I was 16 years old that summer, an age that in some ways was almost perfect for me (and even though Adams calls them "the best days of" his life, he was not even 10 years old that summer).

As so many of my favorite songs are, it is sentimental, and nostalgic as well. Today's send-off is the version Bryan recorded at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York for MTV Unplugged on September 26, 1997. Enjoy...