24 Things About to Disappear in America

http://www.dennyburk.com/?p=3638
Doug:

I agree with more than a sagging economy (a real, deep “crash”) those things could/should go. Also, though, the recession could just “do in” some of the items as well (as Dreher points out) as advertising in digital is faaaaaaaar cheaper than print (in many cases).

Also, while (during a recession) we should be cutting back and doing just the things you mentioned, I think that America and the current culture has bred such a mentality in us that we see these things as “necessities” now. Take, for example, a friend of mine who offered that she and her husband were looking for their internet provider and got a cable package bundled together because “I mean it was only a few bucks more a month”. The alarming thing to me and my wife is that her husband is out of work (has been for almost a year now), nor does she work (young mother). Internet is vital for many industries these days and is becoming an invaluable (if not borderline necessary) tool for job searching, but it was unthinkable to this couple to do without internet at home (Library or coffee shops, anyone?), and, honestly, cable tv was viewed as a near necessity. Just a mentality.

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Other thoughts (that have little weight in anyone’s world ;-):

Yellow pages: This is sad since the digital versions are terrible in many ways, comparatively. Maybe with the reduction of print the online versions will get better, but I don’t see how.
Blue crabs: And fishing along the African coast. That is very tragic.
Ash Trees: Fascinating baseball note.
The Milkman: Never knew they still existed!
Hand-Written Letters: This is sad as well. E-mail and text replaced it, and, in several big ways, not for the better (see Challies today).