Last time I checked, Western Union was still delivering telegrams, albeit with the distinct air of just going through the motions.
But no more: The final telegrams were dispatched on Jan. 27, 2006.
“Discontinuing this service completes our transformation into a financial services company.”
Those are the words of Victor Chayet. Mr. Chayet, who is not the […]
The Marshall Field’s brand name will be thrown in the trash, as new owner Federated Department Stores announced today that the stores will take the Macy’s name.
Shoppers “will continue to benefit from regional buying that remains attuned to local preferences and lifestyles, plus enjoy the distinctive merchandise and shopping experience that’s part of the […]
What does Katrina, and its aftermath, look like from South Africa?
Horror travels surprisingly well, it seems. People here are stunned by it, of course, as they are everywhere, and far too many South Africans remain, even today, conversant with despair; though this tongue, they would have thought, is but rarely spoken in America. (When […]
Ice cream for dogs is now the most profitable product line for America’s biggest ice cream company.
Q. When my society becomes decadent, how will I know?
A. People will keep saying things like: “We did some studies and found that all dogs love peanut butter;” and, furthermore, will regard such utterances as perfectly normal.
Who doesn’t like olive oil? Dip everything in it, you’ll live forever, no problem at all. Except for the small matter of horrible, $8 french fries.
What we do know is that trans fat has got to go. The FDA says so. New York’s health commissioner says so, this week urging restauranteurs to make the switch […]
Bathtub reading, favored affectation of Zooey Glass, finally gets recognition as a for-profit venture. A small New York publisher has patented the waterproof book.
If you’re a tub reader, or if Alice Munro makes you cry, perhaps DuraBook is for you.
If you want thousands to show up for the opening of your new big-box retail emporium, here’s what your ads should say: DON’T shop. DON’T spend.
It worked in Prague.
Related:
Zagnut bars and PBR by the can: It’s the house of misfit groceries
Have you had it with hipsters? Well, good, because hipsters have had it—or so they say.
“I think people are exhausted by trends that have the half-life of a millisecond,” says John Leland, author of “Hip: The History.” “You live in a state of perpetual whiplash, in which the minute you’re up on one trend […]
The internet isn’t so big, if you’re small. To find out how much children understand about the net and its complexity, researcher Zheng Yan gathered responses from 83 kids.
One five-year-old-boy said “Um, it has two computers on it. It is ten square feet large. It wouldn’t hurt you”.
The children aged between nine and ten appeared […]
It’s almost reassuring to know that Western Union, whose relentless TV commercials strain to make it seem natural that you should wire wads of cash to the hapless, maintains its legacy telegram business, albeit halfheartedly.
You can even send a telegram via their web site. (But where would you send it? To 1946, perhaps?) They […]
A chemical in Teflon may cause cancer, according to the EPA (which evinces a sudden willingness to maybe actually Protect us).
Here’s how the part of GE that makes TV news reports the story:
WASHINGTON - With five kids, it seems Barbara Andrukonis always has something cooking in a pan. But it’s the chemical compound used to […]
What is the best way to sign your email? The closing, I mean. I’ve long wondered, and one day a long while back I was quite struck by the notion of asking Susan Sontag—because, well, she’d know. Now it’s too late, of course. She would not have written back, in any case, and so on […]
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which gives us doomsday in handy clock form, is holding a contest to design displays for its virtual museum. Winning entries will depict the eighteen settings of the clock’s hands, which have tracked worldwide nuclear anxieties since 1947.
The magazine’s board moved the clock two minutes closer to […]