The "...And You Get All Of This For $1.50" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Most days tend to be like that when you enter your twilight years such as I have.  Day began just like every other day when I unlocked the front door, opened it and grabbed my morning newspaper that was standing against the front door.  Wrapped nice and tight in a clear plastic baggie.  My wife and I moved to our current retirement community a few months ago and I still can't get over how nice the paperboy wraps my morning paper.  Today's paper arrived sometime before 7:00 AM, since I almost always open the front door to retrieve it around 7:00 AM.  Some days the paper has two sections to it while other days it might have three or even four sections.  But, what amazes me the most about my daily paper is the multitude of stories that the newspaper company seems to find on a daily basis.  Today's "A" section consisted of 18 pages of newsprint in both black and white as well as color photographs.  The lead story was titled "THE SKY'S THE LIMIT" with a sub-head that read "County-based Quub expanding after working with military, SpaceX."  Lost me for a short time until I began to read it.  About a fellow who tinkered in his basement, ordering stuff with his credit card on Amazon, to $1.4 million in standing contracts right now!  Not Bad."  I could go on and write more about the fellow, but I'm not sure I understand exactly what he is doing and how he does it.  Another story on the front page told of a local man whom might be operating as an unlicensed vet after sedating a dog and neutering him.  Hey! I didn't make up any of this stuff!  And, to top this off, there was our daily story about this guy named Trump who was sparing with a host over issues!  All this on page 1 of my daily newspaper which I get for $1.50 each and every day...except Sunday!  The next few pages have headlines that read..."Swifities prime target for scams",  "York County Dog Wins Reserve Best," "Classroom To Creek" and "Dueling Lawsuits Over Disney."  Naturally, there was over half of each page covered in advertisements which is OK with me since I have found some good buys by reading these advertisements.  Then came the "Nation & World" section with a big headline that read "Santos says not guilty, won't resign," with a second headline that read "Britain has 1st babies born with DNA from 3 parents."  Doesn't all newspapers have stuff in them like my newspaper does?  But wait...on page A8 there was a story with a headline that read..."A crackdown on Fruit Roll-Ups."  Sub-head read, "Country's obsession with the snack that has led to shortages, profitable smuggling."  Written by a reporter with the New York Times and began with...."Welcome to the age of Tik-Tok-influenced smuggling."  The snack seems to have been a recent big obsession in Israel since people want their treats to crunch, and they are willing to pay.  Story had to do with fruit roll-ups and how they crunch!  Must had needed to fill some space in the paper today!  Well, the Opinion Section and the Letters to the Editor followed and did make for some interesting reading. The final story in the Opinion Section was titled "Federal verdict against Trump represents progress for women."  One small paragraph that was highlighted read "The outcome offers a gratifying measure of the imperfect progress that women have made in bringing claims of sexual assault and harassment."  The Sports section followed and shortly ended on page 12.  The final section was titled Entertainment Lancaster and filled 8 pages of newsprint.  It was perhaps the most interesting with "7 Events for a fun Weekend," the Dear Abby column, Wordy Gurdy, Jumble, Sudoku, Jumble and Royal Stars.  The cartoons filled two pages and the back page of the paper had a story titled "Country star's hit keeps top spot" and an interesting story titled  "Lancaster-based artist creates surreal, mirage-like landscape in Philadelphia."  Quite a bit of reading for a Thursday and most articles were interesting!  Can your newspaper top that?  And...all for $1.50.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.!