Trash — by Tommy Purser

I was looking back at some old issues
of the Ledger when I ran across a column I
wrote some 25 years ago.
I said up front in that column that it
would be about trash.
It was.
On that particular day, I was short on
ideas for a column which today, 25 years
later, remains a problem for me. I continue
to be short on ideas for a column.
Because I, today, am again short on
ideas for a column, I looked back at some
old columns I had written in search for
another idea.
In that column 25 years ago, I explained
that I came up with the idea to go through
the trash can in my office in search of
things I had received in the mail that were
worthy for the trash can because they were
not worthy for publication in the Ledger.
So, I shared with my readers what some
of those trash-worthy offers were about and
from whom they came.
Today, I don’t get much trash-worthy
offers through the mail. Instead, I get even
more trash-worthy offers but not through the
mail — not the U.S. Mail, that is.
Instead, I get those ideas via email at more
than double the old rate. No double is the not
correct multiplier. In fact, the correct multiplier
is difficult to compute.
Twenty-five years ago, I got perhaps 50
trash-worthy items a week through the Post
Office. Today, I get perhaps 50 trash-worthy
items a DAY through email.
Ain’t technology wonderful.