Meet the Machinists Who Keep the New York Times Running

My friend Todd send this video link to me today.

Two days after I learned four former -- and highly respected colleagues -- from my newspapering days in K-Town accepted buyouts to walk away from gutting of the city's "most interesting newspaper," as our late publisher famously said. This round of news came a few weeks after the newspaper's editor -- a former city reporter with whom I joined the newspaper during what he liked to call "the youth movement of the early 2000s" -- resigned amid the turmoil and clashing with the new publisher. I loved every day I got to work with those five journalists for whom I have tremendous respect and admiration. ... Of course, the newspaper's front page article about the moves was nothing more than a public relations report to notify loyal readers and failed to get into details of their contributions to the newspaper and the community. The articles didn't mention it and I was curious, so I did some research -- the five of them had a combined 151 years with the company, not to mention two of them grew up in K-Town.

I digress. 

Back to the video. This is a relic of the sweat, grinding and beauty that the daily newspaper operation once was. 

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong

I'm not old enough to have experienced the wonder Americans felt when Neil Armstrong made his "giant leap" on to the moon July 20, 1969.

Still, my heart sank a bit yesterday afternoon when I saw the news of his death. On Twitter, of course.

As far as newspapers go, that day in 1969 also gave birth to some of the greatest front pages of all time ...

Still, my favorite "Man Walks on the Moon" front page, hands-down, has got to be that of The Onion ...

I own a copy of it now, but the first time I came across it in the aisle of a bookstore -- I laughed to the point of tears and my knees buckling.

Enjoy. Read as much of it as you can.