This isn’t a funny story but I thought this comment was funny if not a bit strange: “At least twice, Manning has been made to stand at attention in the nude at the front of his cell in the morning. Officials at Quantico declined to explain those measures, other than to say it was for his own protection.” Protection from what? I never could figure out the Marines!
BLOCKBUSTER BUSTED: This was not hard to predict. I’ve wondered how they held on this long after posting losses from last November to January of $65 million. They had their day though in the late 80s and into the 1990s when they wiped out the business of every poor independent guy trying to rent films.
As often happens quickly these days, someone came along with a better idea. That was Netflix, who starting in 1999 would allow customers to rent films which were then sent to them by mail. By 2005, there were also the Redbox kiosks in stores like Walgreen’s renting films for low prices.
There is a Blockbuster near me, or at least there was until a few weeks ago when they closed the store which was about 4,000 square feet. I was surprised it took them that long to shutter that dog with the rent they had to be paying. All that is left is the outline of the removed letters on the building.
Things happen fast in our society. With people downloading programs to their computers, can films being mailed by Netflix stay competitive? Will people still drive to Walgreen’s to use Redbox? I’m sure those companies are considering that in their business plans. If not, they can learn a lesson from former record and video stores who went out of business like Tower Records, Sam Goody, Musicland, and Peaches. It wasn’t long ago those stores had thriving locations in all the big malls. Have you seen one lately?
Every mall had a Sam Goody's
The electronics business is always in a growth mode. I’ve seen 8 millimeter silent home movies grow into VCR tapes, DVDs, DVRs and Blue Ray. I remember finally giving up my VCR and buying a DVD player at Circuit City (remember them?). I think that while I was driving home with it the DVR came out and made the DVD obsolete.
It’s the same with music. I remember 78 rpm records, 45’s, 33 1/3, cassettes, and CDs. I’ve heard CDs are now obsolete. Can someone please tell me how I would buy a single song now?
And then, there are TVs but let’s not even get into that. I have a bigger concern at the moment: What the hell is going to be the new name of Blockbuster Pavilion? It can't be Cricket Pavilion; it’s already been called that.
4 comments:
Ashley Furniture Homestore Pavilion
Perhaps Private Manning had to reveal his privates to remind him of the trust he broke by leaking secret documents. His nakedness may protect him from thinking he did the right thing.
While serving with the Army Air Force (1945-1947), my job required me to have “Top Secret” security clearance. This permitted me to have access to various documents that carried this classification. While the content of the documents to which I had access back then did not compare remotely to those Manning made public, the principle of serving the country honorably remains the same. Our government trusted us not to reveal what we read or to share it with unauthorized persons. He failed to honor that trust.
His punishment should be severe. I recommend that he be forced to serve as a clerk at every one of the remaining Blockbuster stores until either he or they perish. I predict their early demise.
Glad I caught up with you here. I can barely stomach reading the AzCentral site anymore and rarely bother.
Haven't played much golf but did manage an 82 at Bear Creek a couple weeks ago. Hope you are well.
Dave Williams AKA JD5847
You're right, the world's change fast, what's new today's obsolete in 15 minutes....That's why I haven't let the wife waste our money on automatic dish or cloths washin machines, or microwave oven doohickeys ;-)
Proud
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