Monday, December 28, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0019

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0019.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Ray McKinnon, actor, The Blind Side
  • Rob Knight, GorillaSuits.com
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man in The Heart of The America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0018: The Meshach & Malik Christmas Special

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program. A very special Christmas edition. A Christmas show unlike any you've heard before!

For a program list of the songs included in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0018.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • The Meschach & Malik Christmas Special. Probably the most irreverent children's show you've ever heard! It features the kind of holiday tunes that make kids laugh, and probably some adults cringe, and it's hosted by a nine year old and a five year old! Destined to become a holiday perennial. Feel free to download it and play it over and over for years to come!



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, December 14, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0017

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0017.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Andrew Fazekas, The Night Sky Guy
  • Adam Paulson from UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com
  • Stuart Nulman with Book Banter
  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0016

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0016.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Rene Ashton, author of How to Stop Hating Your Ex . . . So You Can Co-Parent in Peace
  • Tank Black, author of Tanked: Behind the Scenes with the NFL's Biggest Stars by the Game's Most Infamous Super Agent
  • Stuart Nulman with Book Banter
  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, November 30, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0015

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0015.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Paul JJ Payack, The Global Language Monitor

  • Oliver Bishop Young, designer, Skip Conversion Project

  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0014

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0014.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • William Gladstone, author of The Twelve.

  • Tom Reuter, creator of the website ShotgunRules.com.

  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0013

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0013.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Chris Epting, author of Roadside Baseball.

  • Jon Thompson, creator of the website RestRoomRatings.com.

  • Stuart Nulman with another edition of Book Banter.

  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, November 9, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0012

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0012.











To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Stewart Stanyard, creator of the website The Twilight Zone Archives & author of Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone.

  • Andrew Fazekas, The Night Sky Guy.

  • Odile Rault, creator of the website UseMyAccent.com.

  • A check of the Mailbag.

  • Steve Walsh, Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0011

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0011.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Seth Menachem, filmmaker/actor & creator of the website LifeAdviceFromOldPeople.com.

  • Evan Beard, creator of The Girlfriend Keeper App.

  • A check of the Mailbag.

  • Stuart Nulman with another edition of Book Banter.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0010

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0010.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Howard Fine, famed Hollywood stage & screen acting teacher and author of Fine On Acting: A Vision of the Craft.

  • Scot Nery, comic actor & professional juggler.

  • A check of the Mailbag.

  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0009

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0009.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Al Bigley, cartoonist - he's the co-creator of a new comic book superhero that you can get online called Geminar.

  • Peter Holder (another one), a teenage rock climber from Britain who cheated death.

  • Remembering the late Soupy Sales.

  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.




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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0008

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0008.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Greg Kohfeldt runs Greg's Auto Repair in Florence, New Jersey. If you stop by his establishment, you'll be able to use Hitler's toilet.

  • Robert Ferringo is a sports handicapper who guides bettors on docsports.com.

  • A check of the mailbag.

  • Stuart Nulman reviews another book on a new edition of Book Banter.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0007

Welcome to the latest edition of the program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0007.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Marc Abrahams, editor, Annals Of Improbable Research, the folks behind the Ig Nobel Awards.
  • Brian Heiler, who runs the website PlaidStallions.com.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0006

Welcome to the latest edition of the program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0006.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Naya Rivera, actress & one of the stars of Fox's Glee.
  • Steve Truitt, author of Stop Waiting For Permission.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0005

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0005.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Mike English, president of Llama Caddy.
  • Tom Van Daele from the website CardsOfChange.com.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • A Stuph File Moment In History.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0004

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0004.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction writer & author of FlashForward.
  • Yvette Nicole Brown, actress & one of the stars of NBC's new comedy Community.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0003

Welcome to the third edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File section, or just follow this link to #0003.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Mike Armstrong, Quebec correspondent, Global National.
  • Walt Noon, flea circus operator.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0002

Welcome to the second edition of the Stuph File Program.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File section, or just follow this link to #0002.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"

Featured in this episode:

  • Steve Gillman, creator of the website UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com.
  • Jason Peffley, creator of the website RegretfulMorning.com.
  • A check of the mailbag.
  • Steve Walsh: Our Man In The Heart Of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation.



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If you have any comments or suggestions, or items for the mailbag, feel free to click on the "Comments" link below to add your thoughts.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Stuph File Program - Episode #0001

I have toyed with the idea of doing a podcast, so I have tentatively created a version of what I think it might sound like. Basically, it would be a weekly, one hour version of the old radio show. Give it a listen. Let me know what you think. This is only the first one. There could be many more, or it could become a collector's item. Only time will tell.

For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Stuph File Program section, or just follow this link to #0001.









To download the podcast, right click here and select "Save Link As"


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The inaugural show features, among other things, an interview with Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image; a feature on video tombstones and the return of Steve Walsh: Our Man in The Heart of America Checking The Pulse Of The Nation. For a program list of the items included and all their accompanying links in this one hour show, you can find the information on my website in the Podcast section, or just follow this link to #0001.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

It Was A Fun Ride While It Lasted

Well, it’s been just about a month since that dark day in early August when the radio show I had done for 20 years came to an end. It was a great ride. It’s also been since that time that I haven’t written any blog pieces, updated my Facebook status or tweeted. It’s been a self imposed communications blackout on my part.

The downside of such a blackout is that people start speculating as to what has happened to me. Have I turned into a hermit like Howard Hughes? Well in a nutshell, the answer is no. I have not been collecting my fingernail and toenail clippings or urine, I don’t wear Kleenex boxes as slippers and I have not started to collect an unusually high number of cats (and if you’ve read past blog posts you know the latter would never happen!)

It’s amazing that with today’s technology people seem to have less and less actual personal contact yet appear to be more connected with each other from a distance. I have no idea who my neighbours are and I couldn’t pick them out of a line up if my life depended on it, but people who are essentially total strangers are starting to hypothesize that I must be lying under a heap of vintage newspapers with mail piling up outside my door just because my Facebook hasn’t been updated over the last little while (I’m surprised some people didn’t start checking hospitals and morgues). Both my website and my blog had the highest traffic on them that they have ever had and again, that’s without me writing one word or changing a single pixel in a month!

Truth be told, there are two reasons as to why I haven’t been online for awhile. The “day of the long knives” was the first Wednesday of the month and the end of the week was supposed to be the beginning of my vacation. Little did I know that my employers wanted my vacation to start earlier and last a lot longer! So I decided that since I had a couple of weeks scheduled off that I would treat the time just the way I had initially planned and do nothing that had anything to do with, or involving work (or due to the current situation, looking for work).

The second reason was for me, due to some surprising turn of events. As mentioned, I have been inundated with emails, social network messages and phone calls in the last month and it’s been nearly impossible to respond to all of them (especially with the aforementioned self imposed exile already in place). The reaction to the article in the Montreal Gazette concerning my termination was overwhelming. As someone who was always more concerned about the show itself, as opposed to my own personal image, frankly the attention, while gratifying, is somewhat embarrassing.

And now that a month has passed, I still don’t have any answers to the questions that many have attempted to ask. What am I going to do in the future? I don’t know. Am I going to do another radio show? I don’t know. How do you get the Caramilk in the Caramilk bar? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’m not going to rush into anything. I’m going to take some more time to continue to play online poker, watch daytime soaps and contemplate the future (I know, I know, there are some people out there who think this is worse than collecting your own urine!)

I know that I will still continue to search for the kind of stories that I used to share on the air regularly and write about here on occasion, so the blog will continue in one way or another (and I’m open to suggestions from you fine readers out there as to what the future could possibly bring, both online and elsewhere).

On another note, besides lamenting the demise of the radio show, many listeners expressed outrage at the sudden ending of the broadcast. While I do not agree with the termination itself, I do have to defend the station concerning the speed in which it was handled (oh, how I loathe to have to do this because after all, “boss” spelled backwards is “double-S-O-B”) .

People who do live radio do not and should not get a chance to say goodbye. With 50,000 watts of raw power on two radio stations beaming across all of eastern Canada, into three Border States and beyond, no broadcast outlet in their right mind would give a talk show host who is about to be shown the door a chance to vent their spleen. That would be tantamount to being let go from a major corporation in a major metropolitan area and right after they escort you to the curb of their shiny high rise at high noon, they hand you a bull horn.

As I said in the newspaper article (the link to which you can find above) broadcasters are like professional sports coaches – they are hired to be fired. And firing is all they can do. They can’t kill you. About the only thing I’ve been surprised about, as this whole situation unfolded, is just how other people who are in the business seemed to be . . . surprised! You’d think after seeing this type of thing happen time and time again, they’d realize, it’s just radio!

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Death of Michael Jackson: Good Career Move

I am reminded of the day back in August 1977 when Elvis Presley died. It was said that an unnamed industry insider, upon hearing of the untimely death of the 42-year-old hip-shaker, was quoted as saying, “good career move.”

As history shows, truer words were never spoken. In the years since his death, Elvis has become wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Too bad he’s not around to enjoy it. And in a world that is obsessed with lists, which follows closely behind the other obsessions of money, youth and thinness, it should be noted that Elvis regularly topped the list of room temperature money earners up until 2006 when Kurt Cobain became the top annual earner of cold, hard cash, while cold and hard himself.

Well, Cobain now has to look over his shoulder, not at the still top earning King of Rock & Roll who is at number two, but at the newly deceased King of Pop. Michael Jackson, who himself was quoted as saying many years ago that he didn’t think he would make it to 40, surpassed his own prognostication by a decade to make it just two months shy of his 51st birthday.

Jackson’s place in history is now secure. He already had the largest selling album of all time in Thriller, with very little chance of anyone coming close to catching it and now with his death you can surely tack on the several million more copies that will be flying off the shelves in the next little while.

Jackson was working hard for his upcoming farewell concerts in London – concerts that were a necessary comeback due to his alleged precarious financial situation. He had some major debts, creditors hunting after him like wild villagers with pitchforks and torches and an armada of lawyers who were always squelching the revolving door of lawsuits that seem to highlight his career. Plus his extravagant lifestyle did come with a cost.

Well now, it’s just simple Economics 101: Millions upon millions of dollars will now be coming in, and Michael won’t be around to spend them. No more wild shopping sprees, no more clothes for chimps, no more hyperbaric chambers, no more plastic surgery. Jackson’s death might just turn the economy around, and without a bailout! Everyone and their sister will probably try to cash in on Michael’s death (hey, I might make about a whole eight cents myself from blog traffic!)

And let’s not forget how prolific and talented Michael Jackson was. For everything he released, that turned to gold, there has got to be a plethora of material, in various stages of completion, that is locked away somewhere. If Tupac Shakur can somehow manage to crank out albums long after his last breath, just think about what the “Gloved One” could churn out.

Since his death Elvis Presley has spawned an entire industry of Elvis impersonators . . . oh, sorry . . . tribute artists, who have done quite well for themselves over the last 30 years. Well Jackson has had many impersonators while he was still breathing! Imagine how that’s going to mushroom now posthumously!

Something else that is secure will be our memories of Michael. As freakish as he may have become in the last few years, I would have to believe that it would have only gotten worse in the years to come. Michael Jackson would not have aged gracefully and youth is a virtue that is put on a pedestal in our society. Those who have died relatively young, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Bob Marley, James Dean, Bruce Lee and even John F. Kennedy, have had their images enhanced because of an early demise. Their pictures never age. They are forever young.

Although we still think of Mohammad Ali as “The Greatest” and film footage and posters take us back to an earlier time of his power, you’d have to admit that there is a slight tarnish of his image only because of his more recent Parkinson’s-riddled appearances. How could this be the same man who was standing over Sonny Liston taunting him to get up?

Jackson no longer has the opportunity to continue to turn himself into a living version of a Salvador Dali painting (just what would the stats listed on a Michael Jackson driver’s license be anyway?) He kept altering himself like a tailor with ADHD. After years of being “under construction” we sadly now have the final product.

So let’s not say goodbye to Michael. He’s really not going anywhere, except onto the Forbes list of money making dead people. Let’s just hope that this tortured man with the Peter Pan complex will finally achieve the peace that clearly eluded him in life. Let’s enjoy his catalogue of existing music and listen with a jaded ear to what’s sure to be a vault-load of previously unreleased “Jackson classics” because as far as careers go, Michael Jackson has just hit the mother lode.

And finally, if you believe that there is a heaven, then just imagine what this week’s Tonight Show is like on the other side of the Pearly Gates. Ed is back with Johnny, Farrah’s on the couch and Michael is performing. What a show!

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Does Anyone Play Solitaire With Actual Cards?

As I am writing this, I am currently sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room for yet another appointment (I seem to be doing that a lot lately). As I look around the cramped outer office I am both comforted and disturbed by the fact that, as usual, I appear to be the youngest person waiting for the doctor.

I have my iPod and of course my laptop to pass the time away, but there is one serene older lady who when she sat down she simply opened her purse and pulled out knitting needles and proceeded to furiously knit away. I don’t know if she was knitting baby booties or a car cozy. All I know is that she was blissfully in her own world and with very little technology to do it.

It got me to thinking what a wait in a doctor’s office or airport would be like 30 or 40 years from now. Would people be content with simply reading a book or quietly knitting or would technology take over with everyone hooked up to a giant monolithic computer somewhere doing their own thing rapidly typing on keys and moving around a mouse, assuming we still have those archaic rodents by then.

It got me to thinking about the game of Solitaire. Is there anybody out there who actually plays Solitaire with a deck of cards? I’ll bet there are some people who don’t even know how to play the game with a deck of cards. I’ll bet there are some kids out there who don’t even know how to shuffle a deck of cards.

Something else that I noticed at the doctor’s office is that the receptionist had a city telephone book and the Yellow Pages by her desk. These are two back breaking tomes that are delivered annually to homes and offices everywhere. The growth in population has facilitated the increase in size of the phone books, while simultaneously shrinking down the font so that all the names and numbers can fit. This sadly coincides with my aging eyes which are now starting to have problems with the font, designed to make everything fit but is impossible to read.

Luckily for me, like so many people, the last time I cracked open a phone book was around the time that I played Solitaire with real cards. What’s the point? Everything that’s in the phone book is online, in a much easier to read fashion and, in most cases, more up-to-date than the dead tree version. It seems to me that each year all I seem to do is pick up the new phone books as they are dropped at my door with a thud, only to throw them out twelve months later just as pristine as they were upon arrival. It’s about time we put an end to these doorstops.

Still, there is one aspect of technology that I just don’t have use for. It seems that these days our urban society is obsessed with GPS units. It wasn’t that long ago that in the war between the sexes you could hear the battle cries of many an exasperated wife saying, “Why, don’t you just stop and get directions?” To which you would hear the male response of, “Why don’t you learn how to read a map, and for the love of God, can’t you fold it back properly?”

But technology has wrought upon us the GPS, the joy of every gadget freaked male. Problem is, some people are depending on their units way too much and forgetting the simple rules of common sense, such as look at the road in front of you. I have come across a myriad of stories recently of dimwits who insist on following their GPS instructions come hell or high water or cliff.

In the UK, while driving along a narrow, steep path in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, businessman and human lemming Robert Jones was anal-retentively following the instructions of his satellite navigation unit when it told him to turn down an offshoot road. End result? His BMW went down the path, smashed through a fence above a railway bridge, and dangled precipitously off of a sheer cliff.

Earlier this year in Bedford Hills, New York another auto lemming trusted the GPS in his rental so much that he apparently thought it was perfectly reasonable to follow the directions directly onto a set of train tracks. That didn't exactly work out so well, for his car or the oncoming train. It is sad to say that he wasn’t the last person to have his vehicle cubed on the exact same track. Another man followed his GPS onto the very same set of rails and, while he did get out in time to make a surely embarrassing 911 call, that apparently wasn't enough to prevent a commuter train from slamming into the car a few minutes later.

And back in the UK, drivers going through the village of Luckington have driven right into the river by following their navigation systems. This is despite all the warning signs that the bridge has been closed. The village has had to tow two cars a day on average.

Are we headed for a point when people won’t be able to make a move without a computer? It is important to remember how to drive on our own, to use our own common sense and to tax our brains enough so that they don’t shut off completely. We need to remember where the road ends; just as we need to remember how many cards make a deck. Because if we continue to abdicate from our minds behind the wheel, then we might as well just sit in the passenger seat and play Solitaire.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it.