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A Fond Farewell

farmersalmanac.com

111–120 of 225 posts

Re: A Fond Farewell

#111
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-233-years-and-st... They appear experienced at navigating this confusion

Damn, I would expect at least a word of courtesy towards a fellow multicentennial publication.

We all know they're popping the champagne

Re: A Fond Farewell

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like it’s not a case of a fork and but rather of different publishers all trying to serve a common need with a well understood formula. There used to be many almanacs, then there were two, now there is one.

On the other side of the pond there are more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanack in England published since 1697 and a similarly named one (without the k) in Ireland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanac since 1764

In Italy, where I grew up, my grandparents used to read the Almanacco di Barbanera; the first edition came out in 1762. It is still around https://www.barbanera.it/

Re: A Fond Farewell

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Degrees Kelvin has its place, just as leading zeros. The Farmer's Almanac may have a point but if they do I can't see it and to put a leading zero in front of a year is just annoying. Think about it: how would you pronounce the dates from now on, are you really going to say 'Today is the 7th of november of zero-two-zero-two-five'? And why stop at one zero, really forward thinking people should start counting from the…

> Degrees Kelvin Not degrees. The unit is simply the kelvin.

You are right.

Re: A Fond Farewell

#114
post #15

This press release has a bit more explanation: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/end-of-an-era-farmers-almanac... > This decision, though difficult, reflects the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the Almanac in today’s chaotic media environment.

Hardly an explanation, what is meant by chaotic media environment?

Their audience is old people who buy the book at the cashier line at Walmart.

Both their customer base and sales outlet is dying off.

These things are really magazines that run once a year. The notion of a magazine is a weird concept that doesn’t compute for anyone younger than 35.

Re: A Fond Farewell

#115
post #15

This press release has a bit more explanation: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/end-of-an-era-farmers-almanac... > This decision, though difficult, reflects the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the Almanac in today’s chaotic media environment.

Hardly an explanation, what is meant by chaotic media environment?

I think they simply don't know what to do next. In the past century, you could write a book with good content, put it on a shelf, and people would pay money for it.

Then at some point, book stores stopped existing. Some turned into gift stores where the book was some decoration you'd put on the shelf to add aesthetic to the room.

So a lot of things went digital. But nobody wants to pay for digital information. You'd think almanacs would be popular in the era of overinformation.

What channel next? YT shorts? TikTok? Do farmers even use LinkedIn? How do you deal with bots that grab all the information you put out there and repackage it into a $20/month subscription?

Re: A Fond Farewell

#116
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say how everyone has the internet in their pocket, news and entertainment being one and the same, and the fact that nobody reads books anymore

Book sales in general (across all formats) are up I think - so there are still many, many readers around. We just have many new formats (EPUB, audiobooks, reader devices, etc.) and of course population is increasing over the globe. I'm pretty sure we have the highest number of readers on the planet right now than ever before in absolute terms.

I'm not sure that's still correct. There was an uplift because of Covid and people having more spare time, but whatever more recent (2024 - 2025) sources I can find suggest the trend has reversed.

It's worth also considering demographics. If you narrow the focus to just younger generations (who, we can guess, are more addicted to smartphones) then the numbers look pretty bad. E.g.:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/05/report-fall-in...

Re: A Fond Farewell

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Book sales in general (across all formats) are up I think - so there are still many, many readers around. We just have many new formats (EPUB, audiobooks, reader devices, etc.) and of course population is increasing over the globe. I'm pretty sure we have the highest number of readers on the planet right now than ever before in absolute terms.

I'm not sure that's still correct. There was an uplift because of Covid and people having more spare time, but whatever more recent (2024 - 2025) sources I can find suggest the trend has reversed. It's worth also considering demographics. If you narrow the focus to just younger generations (who, we can guess, are more addicted to smartphones) then the numbers look pretty bad. E.g.: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2…

My son, who is away at college as a freshman this year, recently phoned me and apologized for calling me a bad dad and thanked me for not allowing him to have any devices in his bedroom after bedtime growing up, as it made him become a reader. He said he was amazed when he got to school and nobody else reads for pleasure.

Re: A Fond Farewell

#118
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly an explanation, what is meant by chaotic media environment?

I think they simply don't know what to do next. In the past century, you could write a book with good content, put it on a shelf, and people would pay money for it. Then at some point, book stores stopped existing. Some turned into gift stores where the book was some decoration you'd put on the shelf to add aesthetic to the room. So a lot of things went digital. But nobody wants to pay for digital information. You'd…

Book stores did not stop existing. They are everywhere. Book sales are up in recent times.

Re: A Fond Farewell

#119
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly an explanation, what is meant by chaotic media environment?

I think they simply don't know what to do next. In the past century, you could write a book with good content, put it on a shelf, and people would pay money for it. Then at some point, book stores stopped existing. Some turned into gift stores where the book was some decoration you'd put on the shelf to add aesthetic to the room. So a lot of things went digital. But nobody wants to pay for digital information. You'd…

Despite the name "farmers" I doubt the majority of customers were farmers, at least not in the last 50 years or so.

Re: A Fond Farewell

#120
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m guessing there’s a history here involving a fork. This is no direct relationship. Just a case of a competitor deciding to compete in the marketplace.

Seems like the original already named it wisely. If it’s 1820 and I’m a farmer, I’m definitely getting my almanac from an “old farmer”.

Stands to reason, not just in name, but because The Farmer's Almanac was a spin on The Old Farmer's Almanac that was geared more towards the growing urban population.
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