TAKEAWAY: A recent power failure in my neighborhood lasted almost 8 hours, so I found myself totally disconnected and reading on my iPad by candlelight. PLUS: De Telegraaf weekend edition follow up
Update #2: Tampa, Florida, Monday, April 9, 08:40
It is not a common occurrence, and I am grateful for that. But a couple of days ago, my neighborhood of Temple Terrace had a power blackout about 3:30 in the afternoon. Not too problematic, since it was clear daylight and a gorgeous, sunny Florida day. As we don’t experience power outages often, I thought it would be resolved quickly. I went about my normal routines, cotinued to read a story about the Titanic to my grandson Frankie, and then proceeded to serve him a snack.
By 6 pm, we still had no power, but by then my neighbor Susan had come in to inform me that she had called the Tampa Electric people who told her power would not be restored until close to midnight.
Incredible, I said, as I started a search for candles, flashlights, etc. for when night came.
Then that is when the adventure began. By coincidence, both my MacBookAir and iPhone ran out of battery about 5 pm, so it was the iPad that remained as my only source of communication to the outside world.
As night came, and as I went to bed, still with just candles to guide me through the house, I found myself lying in bed, reading my books on the iPad (no connection to the Internet at all). The idea of this modern digital platform in front of me, as I lay in bed, with a candle flickering away to my right, seemed a bit strange.
I remember telling myself: Mario, you are reading on the iPad by candlelight.
It occurred to me that I was so absorbed with the book——-J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and his Secrets, by Curt Gentry—-that I forgot about the power failure or the candle next to me.
For about six hours, I experienced old fashioned disconnect, complete with no electricity and the flicker of candle light. And a good story. Not too shabby.
De Telegraaf weekend launch: success
The weekend edition team of De Telegraaf: from left, Babette Wieringa, Hans Haasnoot, Katina Stavrianos and Aranka van der Pol
Here I was last week, taking my own photos of pages of De Telegraaf to prepare for blog post
It is Monday and the reports from De Telegraaf are that readers truly liked and enjoyed the first edition of the new weekend Telegraaf. Hans Haasnoot, art director, says that the reaction has been positive and readers appreciated the new tabloid Weekend supplement with its revamped content.
Of special interest today
The return of the newspaper barons
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/business/media/the-return-of-the-newspaper-barons.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all