Obsolescence

So I've got a question for you guys. Does anyone out there ever use a phone book? Seriously, when was the last time you used a phone book to look up someone's number, or the address of a restaurant, or find a plumber? It probably wasn't in last five years. Hell, for most of you the last time you used a phone book was when you needed to prop open the door of your apartment building when moving. Which I guess is the one convenience of nobody ever using them, they just get left there to act as rather good door jams.

But with that knowledge, why are the phone books still printed? Is there a fear that without a phone book in your house a muscle bound he-man will tear your laptop in half in place of the classic phone book show of strength? And what ass backwards company is paying to advertise in a phone book? Aren't they out of business by now...I wonder if they're all ads for typewriter companies?

So needless to say that I was rather perplexed to find the second phone book at my front door in the past three weeks. After all, there are five separate wireless networks in range of my apartment, who around here bothers with a phone book, let alone two sets of them. So with all the global warming and saving of the rainforests that needs to happen quickly maybe it's about time that whatever company makes the phone book just let it go. After all, what numbers are in the phone book? I haven't had a land line since 2000 and I can't think of many people that still do have them.