Wednesday 7 April 2010

It's International Snailpapers Day


The China Daily is running a column and cartoon (above) today to mark the first International Snailspaper Day - which is meant to celebrate newspapers.
China Daily columnist Jules Quartly writes: "Right now, you should stop reading this article if you are online, log off and not get connected again for the rest of the day.
"Instead, you are encouraged to pick up a newspaper, savor the feel of natural fibers, enjoy the rustling sound as you turn a page, press your nose to the newsprint and wallow in its inky tones. Savor this multi-sensory reading experience, as it fades away, like papers themselves.
"International Snailpapers Day is the idea of a friend of mine, Dan Bloom, who has graduated from earning his living as a newspaperman to being a blogger and neologist. Based in sunny Chiayi, Taiwan, Bloom has been telling anyone who cares to listen (and he's hard to ignore) that we need a new term for newspapers.
"Don't get me wrong," he says, "I love the old-fashioned newspaper and we must do all we can to preserve it. Calling it a snailpaper might serve some small purpose, even if it is as a historical footnote to the slow death of what we all once loved and cherished." 
Quartly concludes his column: "International Snailpapers Day is an opportunity to pause for a moment and if not smell the roses, inhale a little newsprint, before it's gone forever."

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