Recently I read that the Atlanta Journal Constitution has eliminated its book editor position, causing much "Sturm and Drang throughout the Southern literary community." The article I read went on to say that it highlights the continuing demotion of books and literature in the American culture. That leads me to the follow question that came up in this article:How many newspapers in the U.S. have stand-alone book sections?22145231

I have never heard the phrase "Sturm and drang" before. It is very close to Durmstrang which is one of the other schools of magic in the Harry Potter books. Interesting!

I hadn't either, but I thought it sounded very Wordcraftian so I quoted it.

My, my. Two whole responses?! Good Heavens!

I have not voted since it would be a complete guess. I could make a better guess about what proportion of US newspapers have eliminated their international news section ;-)

I haven't voted either, because it would be a pure guess. I haven't got the faintest idea how many newspapers there are in the US (or how many there are in the UK, come to that). The question would perhaps be better phrased as "What proportion of newspapers in the U.S. have stand-alone book sections?" Even then I have no real idea as US newspapers (apart from some of the online versions) are a closed book to me.

Alright then. It is 5. I thought that quite low.

Richard, I know you complained about some local newspaper on your train having no international news. However, most newspapers from large cities do, though I agree they don't have as much international news as European papers do.

P.S. There is nothing wrong with guesses. I am told that many people do just that sometimes in the Bluffing game.

I wish I'd kept the "international news" section of one one the papers we were given on the train. Out of its near 100 pages (probably 80% of which were advertising) was a half page of international news. The lead item was headlined (I paraphrase as I didn't take a note) "Small earthquake in Mexico -no Americans hurt".

The article itself described, in lurid prose, the experiences of an American tourist who had been in a hotel in Acapulco that had been affected by an earth tremor. Presumably the tourist had decided to call the newsdesk of his local paper to report his experiences. In fact, such things are very common in Acapulco; Margaret and I were involved in just such tremor when we were there, although we simply decamped to the swimming pool and sat the night out with a few others and some bottles of Scotch - we did not feel that our experience would be worthy of attention by Reuters!

Incidentally, yesterday there was a small earthquake in Folkestone, about 30 miles from me. Several homes were damaged in this, the worst earthquake here for about 10 years. As I write, some families are still out of their houses as the damage is being assessed, and it is expected that several houses will need to be demolished.

I did hear about that earthquake and meant to ask if it had affected any Wordcrafters. Sorry to hear that, Richard. I assume all is well with your home?

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I assume all is well with your home?

It didn't even wake me. We are lucky in the British Isles as we are not near to any geological faultlines.

However, now that the assessment has begun, reports are coming out that the damage will be measured in millions of pounds. Of course, with houses in that area being worth around 300-500 thousand pounds each, it wouldn't take long to clock up a million.

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damage will be measured in millions of pounds

Yes, the report I read said that it would be "in the low tens of millions of pounds". Presumably the person who drew up that unusually exact press release wanted to avoid scare-mongering by the Press.

With a magnitude of 4.3 the earthquake was slight by most standards, but it was fairly strong for the UK.

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We are lucky in the British Isles as we are not near to any geological faultlines.

Then why the earthquake?