_Processor_ magazine/newsprint?

[Swift Griggs]

On Thu, 5 May 2016, Sean Caron wrote:
> I kind of miss thumbing through it, like Computer Shopper -- remember 
> that behemoth? :O

I used to trek to the public library in a little town of 800 folks. The 
library was about the size of my living room. However, they got Byte and 
Computer Shopper. I remember one of the librarian ladies who volunteered 
there coming up to me once and asking "How can you sit and look at these 
magazines for so long?" 

That was the same place where I'd go transcribe BASIC programs out of 
magazines and books to see if I could figure out if there was any way on 
$diety's green earth we they'd run on my pathetic Timex Sinclair (but hey, 
I had the 16k RAM pack!) Then I'd go home, find out the code wouldn't run, 
then peek/poke my way to fixing it. I think I still have a bowling game I 
"ported". 

The good side of that now-seemingly-pathetic situation with books and 
magazines communicating the critical bits to learn was this:

1. It was easier to concentrate. There wasn't always a web browser or game 
   client beckoning me away to fun-distracted-time-wasting-land. 

2. Magazines made a nice self-contained little package ("issues") so they 
   are great sources for nostalgia. They are almost little time capsules. 
   The nearly immutable nature of the format gives an interesting 
   perspective. 

3. I explain print media to my (much) younger brothers like this: Imagine 
   a screen that is super-super-cheap, doesn't ever run low on power, has 
   a _killer_ refresh rate (none, it's static), is so thin and light you 
   can carry thousands of them at once, has almost unlimited resolution, 
   and has a shelf-life probably 2x-3x that of the electronic devices they 
   describe. Ie.. the "physicality" of print is worth something to me.

4. Plus, close to 100% of the content is usually somewhat vetted (well 
   maybe not the adverts as much). It's not (usually) just some 13 year 
   old punk spouting off on reddit etc..

-Swift