Magazines

Specialized magazines are still one of the best sources for useful information and news on topics one finds interesting. Every month or so you are mailed a magazine with articles & ads on the topic YOU select. This contrasts to the Internet, where one either has to do a search and depend on Google or Yahoo or whatever to find information, or be deluged with spam. Plus, one can comfortably read the magazine on Saturday morning with coffee.

So this morning I picked up a few magazines from my pile - I subscribe to about 30.
"Backwoods Home Magazine" had an interesting articles on the history of crops and on protecting one's home from wildfires. [ www.backwoodshome.com ]
"Vietnam" magazine had an article with data on how the military greatly underestimated US casualties in the battle of Khe Sanh while overestimating NVA casualties, so as to project more success than reality. And an article on how the war in Vietnam can be seen as a strategic success and would have been an even greater one had not Congress defunded providing fuel & ammunition for the government of South Vietnam. Hmmm, sounds like deja vu. [ see www.HistoryNet.com/vn ]
"Physics Today" had a fascinating article on how time-reversed microwaves can be used to focus a beam tighter than the diffraction limit. This research might be ultra-useful for wireless communication in a cluttered environment. [see http://www.physicstoday.org/ ]

There is no way the Internet today can give me the same level of interesting material in one hour on my couch with a cup of coffee at hand.