Slashdot Mirror
Canada's Largest Cities Seeing the End of the Phone Book
innocent_white_lamb writes "Telephone directories are available on the Internet, and many phones even store their own directories. There is less and less demand for a printed phone book, so residential phone books will no longer be printed and delivered in Canada's seven largest cities. Do we now expect everyone's grandma to look up phone numbers on the Internet? Of course, the Yellow Pages, where businesses pay for a listing, will still be delivered."
I am currently using mine to support my futon, the middle leg snapped, and the support bar is bent so this book sits below to prevent the bar from bending further.
Dang. I'm gonna miss this annual event:
Navin R. Johnson: The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!
Harry Hartounian: Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing.
Navin R. Johnson: Nothing? Are you kidding? Page 73 - Johnson, Navin R.! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.
[the Sniper points to Navin's name in the phone book]
Sniper: Johnson, Navin R... sounds like a typical bastard.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
If only I had that option...
This year when we got the usual pallet of phone-books delivered to the building we out of spite built a little hut out of them using duct-tape :-p
Alas I did not have a functioning camera phone at the time or I would have posted pictures of our awesome construction...
(we did wait 2 weeks for people to get the book if they wanted it, we played with the leftovers :-p)
Get Grandma an iPad with a white pages app. That way she'll thank you for not being a cheap fuck trying to pawn off your 3rd rate, 10 year old massive desktop computer with a 50 ton CRT she can't hope to move without a crane on her while indoctrinating her in the ways of Linux as if she cared or understood and she might actually leave you in her will.
I had to physically wrestle the phone book delivery guy to the ground and beat him senseless with my unwanted phonebook before he would take it back. I got a knock on my door from my neighbor the next morning saying they'd delivered two to his door. :shakes fist at phone book gods:
moox. for a new generation.
My grandparents are all dead. So what now?
Look up your local necromancer in the Yellow Pages?
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Couldn't you just write a small script to parse through Google results and return valid options for delivery? I mean, what the hell exactly are you doing during these late night hacking sessions? Working?!
PS: If you get caught working on a pizza-delivery filter, just claim it's a "development tool". Technicalities are fun! ;)
Not everyone out there is a complete cold-hearted dick when it comes to their elders
Especially when there's a chance one might be remembered in their will.
Loose lips lose spit.
Well maybe if they reduce the font size they don't need to waste that much paper
how long until
Do we now expect everyone's grandma to look up phone numbers on the Internet?
Of course not, they expect them to call 411 and find out the number for $1.45 per request, rather than look it up in the phone book for free. It's what the pointy-haired phone company execs would call "monetizing informational resources". Yeah, there are free 411 services like Google's but many people don't even realize these services exist.
But, of course, to make up for that, the phone companies will now pass the savings from eliminating the phone book on to the customer through lowered rates!
I mean, if they were introducing a phone book, they'd pass the cost on to us. Obviously they're going to pass the savings on to us as well. Right?
Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City
Quebec City no longer has an NHL franchise. They don't belong on the list.
Unless Canadian phone companies are currently sending phonebooks to Denver.