If people who wanted a phonebook had to actually take some action - phone call, email, note on the door - to get one delivered, how many would they have to print?
Grab any good coupons out of the back, first. And, maybe, the map that has the streets dead ending properly in it, not connecting through like Google really wants them to do when trying to give you directions.
Map errors: my home street. Google has sent numerous people up a dead end, telling them to turn left at the end and turn right on to a state route. Only it is a dead end.
Direction Calculating Errors: common bugs are: 1) assuming streets that end near each other actually go through when they don't and 2) assuming that IF a highway has an on or off ramp to another major roadway in one direction, it must have another one on the other side.
Example of #1: when it says "continue on unnamed street for 50 yards" WARNING! ALERT. Don't go there - it is assuming that a street goes through to another when it doesn't. I ran into this when I compared the google maps cycling route with an actual map for a neighborhood of Dennis. It did this to me the other day in Chinatown as well.
Example of #2: we were trying to get from the Merritt Parkway to another roadway in NY. Didn't happen - the supposed exit did not exist on that side.
OK, so the phone books are all in a truck. The publisher pays to have the truck drive around and deliver the phone books to people's doorsteps. The people then pick up the phone books and drop them into the recycle bin. Then the city pays for a different truck to drive around and pick up the recycle bins and truck the phone books to a recycling facility.
Wouldn't it be cheaper and more efficient for either the publisher or the city to pick up the phone books at the printing plant and take them straight to the recycling facility?
I really wish they would stop this archaic practice. The phone book is as useful as a rotary telephone on an automated menu!
The white pages are absolutely useless now with cell phones not being listed and the land line's demise. Plus more accurate information is on a multitude of online directories regardless. You can change your number and its up on an online directory somewhere in about 2 weeks, verses an entire year for phone books.
The only time I found the yellow pages to be worth it was when I was looking for a junk hauler to take a truckload of old office equipment away for me. I found that online directories (i.e. SuperPages.com) wasn't very helpful as it wasn't organized like the Yellow Pages, and the phone company (Verizon) seem to put whoever paid the most for ad space in the first few pages of listings, rather than having a mix of small and large ads.
But other than that, I usually will just toss them right back into the blue bin after I get them. I'm not usually all 'green' but this really is a waste of paper.
What's sad is, if they stop publishing phone books, a TON of people will be out of work, that's the only bad part. Drivers, printers, publishers, editors, writers, marketers, sales people, etc etc...
Ahh, the continuing myth of "the death of paper". As predictably as the turn of the seasons, the fatuous green outrage graces us all again.
Online directories are better than paper ones? Maybe someday - but not today. Just a few examples of things I tried just now:
anywho.com still lists my grandfather in Astoria who passed away 25 years ago. My grandmother too, who passed 10 years ago. Doesn't list my MIT living group number, nor the local two year old clothing store I tried. Also threw two hover-ads in front of me in the space of three minutes.
Also, I picked a category at random - it takes far longer to scroll through a list of 30 or so Boston paving businesses online than to look at nearly twice that many in the paper listing. The printed version is higher resolution and can easily be marked for future reference with any pencil or pen.
It's made from primarily recycled pulp - few if any (renewable) trees were explicitly purposed for this use. On the other hand, those cell phones everyone carries around are filled with nigh unrecyclable rare earth metals which require massive amounts of energy and profoundly foul the earth during their extraction, refinement and ultimate disposal, and are taken from the lands and by the hands of exploited dark-skinned folk - many of whom toil and suffer in conditions you and I would find barbaric.
But gosh, we gotta have our smahtphones! And since we don't want to feel like entitled assholes, we'll distract ourselves and hopefully others by getting our panties in a twist about a information delivery technology magintudes more sustainable and time-tested.
Yeah, I have a cell (and a car and a house) - and as a 21st century American, I live like a f'ing Lord of Creation. But I don't lie to myself and pretend that getting blue in the face about a few yellow books makes things square between me and mother earth.
Comments
Don't we get enough lawyer ads elsewhere?
If people who wanted a phonebook had to actually take some action - phone call, email, note on the door - to get one delivered, how many would they have to print?
The Jerk
Did you yell "the phone books are here!"?
Both, But ...
Grab any good coupons out of the back, first. And, maybe, the map that has the streets dead ending properly in it, not connecting through like Google really wants them to do when trying to give you directions.
As if
As if there are any good coupons in phone books these days...
What local Google Maps errors
What local Google Maps errors do you know about?
Not just map errors - direction errors
Map errors: my home street. Google has sent numerous people up a dead end, telling them to turn left at the end and turn right on to a state route. Only it is a dead end.
Direction Calculating Errors: common bugs are: 1) assuming streets that end near each other actually go through when they don't and 2) assuming that IF a highway has an on or off ramp to another major roadway in one direction, it must have another one on the other side.
Example of #1: when it says "continue on unnamed street for 50 yards" WARNING! ALERT. Don't go there - it is assuming that a street goes through to another when it doesn't. I ran into this when I compared the google maps cycling route with an actual map for a neighborhood of Dennis. It did this to me the other day in Chinatown as well.
Example of #2: we were trying to get from the Merritt Parkway to another roadway in NY. Didn't happen - the supposed exit did not exist on that side.
If you submit the corrected
If you submit the corrected directions to google, they'll fix it
Someday
Until then, we will have people roaring to a stop at the dead end and cursing.
It has been about two years of this ... and reporting it to Google seems to do no good.
Which specific streets and
Which specific streets and asymmetric highway interchanges are you thinking of?
Pile of them at work
I noticed a pile of yellow books at an entrance to work last week - and they're still there. What a waste.
Money Saving Idea!
OK, so the phone books are all in a truck. The publisher pays to have the truck drive around and deliver the phone books to people's doorsteps. The people then pick up the phone books and drop them into the recycle bin. Then the city pays for a different truck to drive around and pick up the recycle bins and truck the phone books to a recycling facility.
Wouldn't it be cheaper and more efficient for either the publisher or the city to pick up the phone books at the printing plant and take them straight to the recycling facility?
Direct to recycling, do not pass go
Phone books go from my front steps to the blue bin. They serve absolutely no purpose other than perhaps smacking an uncooperative police witness.
I really wish they would stop
I really wish they would stop this archaic practice. The phone book is as useful as a rotary telephone on an automated menu!
The white pages are absolutely useless now with cell phones not being listed and the land line's demise. Plus more accurate information is on a multitude of online directories regardless. You can change your number and its up on an online directory somewhere in about 2 weeks, verses an entire year for phone books.
The only time I found the yellow pages to be worth it was when I was looking for a junk hauler to take a truckload of old office equipment away for me. I found that online directories (i.e. SuperPages.com) wasn't very helpful as it wasn't organized like the Yellow Pages, and the phone company (Verizon) seem to put whoever paid the most for ad space in the first few pages of listings, rather than having a mix of small and large ads.
But other than that, I usually will just toss them right back into the blue bin after I get them. I'm not usually all 'green' but this really is a waste of paper.
What's sad is, if they stop publishing phone books, a TON of people will be out of work, that's the only bad part. Drivers, printers, publishers, editors, writers, marketers, sales people, etc etc...
What frequently-updated
What frequently-updated online directories are you thinking of?
anywho.com by AT&T is updated
anywho.com by AT&T is updated monthly. (usually as quick as 411 is)
Not updated enough
Ahh, the continuing myth of "the death of paper". As predictably as the turn of the seasons, the fatuous green outrage graces us all again.
Online directories are better than paper ones? Maybe someday - but not today. Just a few examples of things I tried just now:
anywho.com still lists my grandfather in Astoria who passed away 25 years ago. My grandmother too, who passed 10 years ago. Doesn't list my MIT living group number, nor the local two year old clothing store I tried. Also threw two hover-ads in front of me in the space of three minutes.
Also, I picked a category at random - it takes far longer to scroll through a list of 30 or so Boston paving businesses online than to look at nearly twice that many in the paper listing. The printed version is higher resolution and can easily be marked for future reference with any pencil or pen.
It's made from primarily recycled pulp - few if any (renewable) trees were explicitly purposed for this use. On the other hand, those cell phones everyone carries around are filled with nigh unrecyclable rare earth metals which require massive amounts of energy and profoundly foul the earth during their extraction, refinement and ultimate disposal, and are taken from the lands and by the hands of exploited dark-skinned folk - many of whom toil and suffer in conditions you and I would find barbaric.
But gosh, we gotta have our smahtphones! And since we don't want to feel like entitled assholes, we'll distract ourselves and hopefully others by getting our panties in a twist about a information delivery technology magintudes more sustainable and time-tested.
Yeah, I have a cell (and a car and a house) - and as a 21st century American, I live like a f'ing Lord of Creation. But I don't lie to myself and pretend that getting blue in the face about a few yellow books makes things square between me and mother earth.
They stayed on my stairs
They stayed on my stairs until it was time to bring the recycling out.
Physical phone books are archaic.