…may be viewed at the UW’s collection of historical Seattle-area restaurant menus. See the mementos of meals gone by at such fondly-recalled spots as the Dog House, the Cloud Room, Frederick & Nelson, the Jolly Roger, Maison Blanc, and the original Olympic Hotel; plus the still-extant Space Needle and Ivar’s Acres of Clams. Bon Appetit!

BusinessWeek has proclaimed the death of the “Mass Market” in the U.S.

With the rise of tertiary cable channels, ultra-specialized magazines (my current fave: Physicians’ Travel), and the Web, advertisers are increasingly moving to media that target specific audiences. Caught in the resulting fiscal death spiral: Network TV, local TV, and daily papers.

Perhaps you won’t miss the days when half the country watched the same sitcoms, and 80 percent of households received “the paper” (typically a dully-written, Republican-partisan sheet) every day.

But if Procter & Gamble or General Motors wishes to no longer support general-interest journalism, who will? Not web ads, not sufficiently, at least not yet.

A lot of us lefties have had our beefs against the news coverage from the networks and the daily papers this past year and a half. To a great extent, the big media’s superficial, authority-driven war coverage was driven by the twin drives to keep costs down and to gain readers/viewers with spectacular stories/images. Thus, the mania in 2003 for “embedded” reporters, who got to cover the war up close as long as they saw and said what the White House wanted them to see and say. Undercover, investigative stuff is much more labor intensive, and doesn’t guarantee any flashy payoff.

As a long-term-unemployed journalist myself (will someone out there please hire me please?), I’ve seen the long-term effects of this shift in ad support. It’s undoubtedly the real reason the Seattle Times wants to end its joint operating agreement with the Post-Intelligencer. It’s the real reason chain-owned radio stations are decimating their news departments, and national magazines are buying fewer freelance articles. It’s a trend that won’t be fully reversed even when the general economy improves.

So what’ll save quality news in the U.S.? Pledge drives? Church subsidies? Foreign imports?

I haven’t the answers. If you have, lemme know.

Unsorted shots for your pondering pleasure.

…of certain cranky old hippies, images as well as words have always been a part of human communication. You can meet hundreds of these images, from astrology, mythology, hobo culture, meteorology, the military, and more at Symbols.com.

…utter coolosity factor: The huge, graphic cigarette warning notices.

…the most negative campaign ever?

I WAS ONCE one of those who scoffed at the Folklife Festival as the “Forklift Festival.” That was back during the apex/nadir of smug boomer culture, when I’d come to define myself by my rebellion against the hammered dulcimer and everything it stood for.

But in my own creeping middle age (birthday next Tuesday, hint-hint guys!), I’ve come to appreciate the festival’s broad range of acts. The costumed dancers, the bagpipe players, all the accordion players, the tile artists, the butoh and kabuki troupes.

Besides, folk culture is the original DIY culture. It’s by the people, of the people, and for the people. And it’s the original bastion of female creativity.

So let’s all be, as the cable show says, queer as folk.

(on the back of the wrapper for a Brown & Haley Carbs-In-Line “Chocolatey Indulgence with Mint” candy bar): “Excessive consumption may have a laxative effect. Individual sensitivity may vary.”

…there’s a drive within Britain’s Parlaiment to ban junk food ads aimed at kids. MPs were particularly miffed by Cadbury’s “Get Active” promotion, in which schools could get free playground equipment if students donated enough candy wrappers. Fortunately for advocates of free speech (and of some of the only decent food-like products that nation produces), a ban now seems unlikely.

I say: When Tony the Tiger is outlawed, only outlaws will be grrrr-eat!

…(no apparent relation to former Meet the Press MC Lawrence Spivak) wants progressives to stop being so darned defensive. She says the left has to do more than just react against the right; and it has do do so through old-fashioned marketing.

…for the sleaziest, dirtiest, most despicable campaign ever.

…are so cynically resistant to sales pitches, even video-game companies don’t know how to sell to ’em!

PHOTO PHRIDAY TODAY begins with some standard beautiful cityscapes.

I’ll miss University Used and Rare Books, closing after 40 years. It was your classic college-town used-book store, complete with tall shelves, cats, grizzled customers, and that amazing out-of-print cult classic you’d never seen before.

Major League Baseball is selling ads on the bases.

…I’ve just decided, appears to run on the New Age principle that you become what you think about.

This site has spent a lot of verbiage obsessing with, and complaining about, the political right. Google’s server computers catch these references, but don’t catch that I’m criticizing the right. They only recognize that I talk about right-wingers a lot.

Therefore, these servers assume I’m praising the right by talking about it so much, and hence feed me text ads for right-wing websites.

So, to try to set things straight, here are some keywords. You needn’t attempt to read them.

democrat democratic progressive liberal lib pinko leftist lefty gauche french-lover pacifist peace environment living wage clean air clean water free love gay rights gay marriage freedom liberty open-mindedness open minds thinking intelligence intellectual smarty love peace love peace love back to work american jobs tree hugger ecology ecologist green liberalism left action initiative we the people anti-corporate anti-monopoly generosity welfare awareness aware conscious radical paradigm shift advocate assistance health creativity expression individual individualism together the people united we stand cooperation new deal take back America crusade reforestation principles perserverence triumph memory heritage freedom dignity humanity diversity human rights civil liberties equality tolerance spectacle daring adventure celebration joy equality parity justice truth heretic birth control pro-choice revolution beautiful radiant things hope possibility progress farmer-labor bertrand russell emma goldman eugene debs sojourner truth michael moore molly ivins renewal liberation yes yes he said yes