I got tired of waiting and sent my suggestions off.

The worse part of waiting for somebody else to see something is that they might not see what's right in front of their eyes.

Nor do they get the hint, no matter how broadly it given.

So I decided to stop namby-pandy-ing about, making suggestions about fixing the medium of what will soon no longer be called the press.

I wrote to the most eminent editor, writer, newsman, that I could think of, Sir Harold Evans.

Then I wrote to Mr. John E. Potter, the US Postmaster General.

I wrote them both about my idea of what a collaboration between the post office and the publishers could accomplish.

If I get a reply, it will be a miracle, but you never know.

Basically, I wrote to Sir Evans was:

Separating “News” from “papers” is the first half of the problem..

That would cut the costs of reporting “news” to the barest minumum.

Google indexing of news is a non-issue. It can definitely be handled without a problem by co-opting them while hanging onto the “news” and letting go of the information when its the “olds”.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds can let people know that there is some new information file somewhere while keeping that file hidden from Google. The generation of the RSS feed can be automatic and consist of an alphabetical list of the words of interest in the information and a snippet of the content after which a person can decide whether it is of interest or not. The information file itself is instantly accessible, but on a subscription or a one-time-charge basis.

The other half of the problem is finding a partner to handle the money aspect.

Someone who:
• nobody expects to work for free,
• is quite used to small sums,
• can act as a non-lending bank,
• can issue small denomination pieces,
• has the required international agreements,
• has the necessary IT infrastructure to handle RSS requests,
• is already in the business of information distribution for “franking” or FOR MONEY.

That someone sounds an awful lot like “The Post Office,” doesn’t it?

If you want the “news”, you pay for it, from your “news” provider, paid for through the Postal Service.

If you just want the “olds” you can use Google to search for it.

What I wrote to Mr Potter is more complicated, more detailed and covers the expenditure requirements and the income opportunities of such a joint venture.

Sadly, I didn't get to gather together all of the information I'd put out there before sending it off, so regretfully I don't have it here for you to read.

But you can rest assured I was on my best business behavior.

No more pussyfooting around.