Comments on: I hates paper

By: Liset

Liset — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:05:25 +0000

I’m writing a paper on health and environment (alot of it dealing with trees, and the timber wars) and i came across the lorax, by dr. seuss. And i just must say, “lorax, please come out of hidding. save the world from useless paper spam. it makes justine sad, which is just no good. but please, please, please, don’t take away my bookies…. i loves them….”

and yes, it’s 1 am.
and yes, i am very very very tired…

does anybody watch the preview while they type instead of the actual typing box, even though it’s way slower? i do….

^-^

By: claire

claire — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:57:32 +0000

justine, i got one of those annoying email forwards from my parents recently which was really useful and satisfying--all about what to do about junk mail. it's kinda long so i'll just link to where i posted it myself. the upshot is: send them their mail back ... at their expense.

By: TexasPatrick

TexasPatrick — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:27:43 +0000

I want an internet powered by hand crank. Not just powered by cranks with time on their hands. Oh my. How many fingers do I have pointing back at myself? Hmm.

By: Patrick, The Space Lord

Patrick, The Space Lord — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:29:24 +0000

I want a mail truck powered by a hand crank.

By: Harriet

Harriet — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:28:34 +0000

Hey Justine

Just a little while ago, Julius Lester was talking on his blog about catalogue pollution. And he mentioned a group called catalogchoice.org where you can get yourself taken off catalogue mailing lists. “Once registered you go to their very extensive database of catalogs, find the catalog you no longer wish to receive, click on it, type in the customer number from the catalog, if there is one, and that’s it. The organization takes care of the rest. They say it can take up to ten weeks to be removed from a catalog’s data base, and if you aren’t, you let Catalog Choice know.” Maybe this would work for you.

BTW, I’m not a big fan of Christmas Cards either.

By: Vir Modestus

Vir Modestus — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:55:04 +0000

Trees are not cut down just to make paper. Paper is made out of the stuff left over after they make everything else they want to make out trees. You know: furniture, houses, that kind of thing. Paper is made out of scrap.

And I’m sorry, but junk mail is like cockroaches. Stop them through snail mail and they come in electronically. I’m really sick of spam even more than I am of the credit card offers.

Justine, here is my christmas card to you. check out http://www.catalogchoice.org/#welcome and get your name off of all of those catalogs you don’t want to get.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:49:25 +0000

I love dead-tree books, but junk mail has got to go. Seeing as the future is in computers, why does everyone insist on sending ads? It’s truly a waste of trees and trees are awesome. We can replant the ones we chops down, but there’s some sort of mistique in an old tree. I will never give up paper books though.
Oh, and Patrick is right. Commenting should be restricted to emotions only. No logic! Logic is evil and burns my eyes when I read it.

By: kim

kim — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:15:41 +0000

me likes getting mail as long as it is not junk mail, so pointless!

justine, do you want a e-card christmas greeting?

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:56:58 +0000

Hilary!: You know what’s funny? This whole rant started because Maureen asked me for my address so she could send me a Christmas card. After several exchanges she said she would send me a paper-eating zombie instead. I’m still waiting for it to show up.

By: hillary!

hillary! — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:51:01 +0000

I gotta say I am very skeptical about this e-book thingy. And I agree junk mail is stoopid and wasteful. And yes, jpgs are better, but postcards are good too when you are getting one of Maureen Johnson’s limited edition Suite Scarlet Holiday Greeting Cards. Only then are post-cards a fun idea.

By: Sash

Sash — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:40:57 +0000

i too hate junk mail, and have one of those handy stickers on my mail box that stops me getting any. but i curse the fact whenever i have a large group of people wanting to order pizza. is there no sticker that says ‘no junk mail except cheap pizza vouchers’? i think there is actually, but the junk mail person would take it as an open invitation to hide 50,000 catalogues inside. all that said, i do love my books in dead-tree format, but after meeting a woman who loves catalogues but does not read, well, she probably kills less trees than me. although she probably wouldn’t mind reading them electronically and printing out any vouchers. why do they persist with electronic book readers but not electronic catalogue readers?

By: scott w

scott w — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:38:36 +0000

Mark: So you’re saying it’s more efficient to cultivate a tree, chop it down, process the paper, print the catalog, then transport the catalog by air and ground to my door, than to email and read the catalog onscreen?

Let’s fact check that, shall we? Computers that display emails have been produced that can be powered by a hand crank. Zero paper mills, printing presses, binding factories, or mail trucks exist that are equipped with a hand crank. That hand crank would be too large.

Some stuff is black and white. That’s why we have the words “black” and “white.”

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:02:25 +0000

That is completely true. No ebook will have that wonderful book smell. I have to admit, that’s one of the things I love about stepping into a bookstore. The book smell. As weird as that sounds, (or reads, actually) it’s totally true.

By: Patrick, The Space Lord

Patrick, The Space Lord — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:20:31 +0000

mark – logic is no fair, please stick to purely emotional pleas. I hope to receive holiday cards via owl.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:14:07 +0000

Nothing is black and white, using renewable resources like forests which can be replanted endlessly seems a much preferable way then stripmining the earth for coal and powering the electricity for your email with massive polluting factories.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:22:46 +0000

robin: by all means love snail mail. All I ask is that you not send me any.

By: robin

robin — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:00:37 +0000

Yes yes, trees are nice, but you will never ever convince me not to love mail. (Not junk mail, real mail.) email’s speedy and all, but I miss letters! And if you ask me, a good letter is just as snuggle-worthy as a book.

By: Kenina-chan

Kenina-chan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:22:03 +0000

I love the smell of books! E-mail is a lot easier for cards and I have three paper cuts on one hand. Also, today isn’t a snow day. : (

*sobs and realizes she has to do her english project superduper fast*

“Knee-high to a grasshopper” is one expression I haven’t heard before, I likeys.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:42:40 +0000

the company that does my water charges a $2.50 fee to pay the bill online but nothing for me to use up an envelope and a stamp and send it in. stupid stupid stupid.

in spite of how cool the kindle looks, i’m still an ebook skeptic. i heart my bookshelf. reading on a glowing screen is not for me. maybe i’ll eat my words someday (ha!) but right now i don’t want to read anything lengthy on a computer. i always print the long stuff.

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:28:15 +0000

oh, justine, you have read my mind and articulated my thoughts even better than i had.

why, why, why must they send us junk mail? why, why, why must there be people out there — however small a percentage they may be — who buy from the ads and encourage these advertisers to keep sending the stuff?

i want to opt out! i want a say in how many trees get cut down because of me, and to what purpose! i think we deserve that right.

paper for books = immense goodness

paper for useless ads and mailbox clutter of all types = horrendous badness

and hey–do i have my time zones wrong, or are you really blogging at 2 in the morning?

~Mary