society

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1,800 US newspapers have closed since 2004
Half of the 3,143 counties in the United States now have only one newspaper, usually a small weekly, and almost 200 counties in the country have no newspaper at all.
"The people with the least access to local news are often the most vulnerable -- the poorest, least educated and most isolated," the report said.
More than half of all newspapers have changed ownership in the past decade, and the largest 25 chains own a third of all newspapers.
"The consolidation in the industry places decisions about the future of individual papers, as well as the communities where they are located, into the hands of owners with no direct stake in the outcome."

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Photo courtesy AFP Photo / NATALIE BEHRING

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Martin Cooper, who made the first cell phone call in 1973, holds a Motorola DynaTAC, the first prototype of a cell phone. The first commercial call wasn’t made until 10 years later.

Our reliance on cellphones began 35 years ago today
With 95% of Americans owning a cellphone, it can feel like we’ve been calling, texting, and tweeting on the go forever. But the infrastructure supporting our cellphones has actually not been around that long. While we’re now on 4G networks, it was only 35 years ago today that Ameritech (now part of AT&T) launched 1G, or the first commercial cell phone network.

That network, called the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), went online on October 13, 1983, allowing people in the Chicago area to make and receive mobile calls for the first time. Ameritech president Bob Barnett, who made the first call, decided to make the historic moment count by ringing Alexander Graham Bell’s grandson. A little more than a year later, UK’s Vodafone hosted its first commercial call on New Year’s Day. Israel’s Pelephone followed suit in 1986, followed by Australia in 1987.

7 October 2014: There are officially more mobile devices than people in the world
The world is home to 7.2 billion gadgets, and they’re multiplying five times faster than we are.
The number of active mobile devices and human beings crossed over somewhere around the 7.19 billion mark.

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Photo courtesy AP Photo / Eric Risberg

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10 of Benjamin Franklin’s Lesser-Known Feats of Awesomeness
4. HE WAS NO DEBTOR.
Franklin was terrified of debt and viewed it as similar to slavery because he believed that, through the acquisition of debt, man essentially sold his own freedom. He was so anti-debt that he often spoke (seriously) about forming an international organization called The Society of the Free and Easy for virtuous individuals who, among other things, were free of debt and, therefore, easy in spirit.

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Image courtesy pearlsofprofundity.wordpress.com

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There is only one Blockbuster still surviving in the entire United States. Employees mourn the closure by leaving candles outside the store: Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video rental stores are closing this weekend -- leaving only one Blockbuster store open in the United States. 7/13/2018 Alaska’s last two Blockbuster stores — community gathering spots and nostalgic tourist attractions that got a big plug from HBO’s John Oliver — are shuttering. That leaves just one of the once ubiquitous video rental hub open in the entire U.S. The franchises in Anchorage and Fairbanks will close for rentals after Sunday night and reopen Tuesday for video liquidation sales through the end of August, said Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska.

7/18/2018 "Making the trek to this "last standing" Blockbuster Video Store is a must do!" (Yelp review)
Oh my how the blue and yellow Blockbuster Video Storefront has changed since 2004 when there were 9,000 Blockbuster outlets. By 2013, all corporate-owned stores closed and fast forward to July 18, 2018 -- this family-owned Bend, Oregon store has earned the distinction as the last Blockbuster in operation since the two remaining Alaska stores closed their doors this week.  read more »

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SCOTUS rejects warrantless cellphone location tracking in Carpenter v. United States.
In a blockbuster 5-4 decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that warrantless government tracking of cellphone users via their cellphone location records violates the Fourth Amendment. "A person does not surrender all Fourth Amendment protection by venturing into the public sphere," declared the majority opinion of Chief Justice John Roberts. "We decline to grant the state unrestricted access to a wireless carrier's database of physical location information."

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Photo courtesy reason.com

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Simon Cowell confessed he switched off for the sake of his mental health
In an astonishing confession, the television mogul revealed he had become so distracted and irritated by his phone that he made himself uncontactable for the sake of his mental health and happiness.

He told The Mail on Sunday: 'I literally have not been on my phone for ten months.

'The difference it made was that I became more aware of the people around me and way more focused.

'The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting everyone's on their phone - and I was probably in that place too. You can't concentrate.

'It has been so good for my mental health. It's a very strange experience but it really is good for you and it has absolutely made me happier.'

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Photo courtesy REX / Shutterstock