More than a decade ago, I saw Douglas Coupland on a book tour and at one point in the reading he suddenly asked "Why do people still wear watches?". He got a big laugh, I guess because this was a new thought for many people. The tour was promoting Girlfriend In A Coma, so it must have been in 1998 or so.

You don't have to imagine anything. The Spanish chess master Leontxo Garcia is commenting (in Spanish) live on the games on the site.

Sadly, the Guardian sells next to nothing despite it being by far the best newspaper.

Perhaps that was the case back in the days when it was still called the Manchester Guardian, but it hasn't been a decent newspaper for many years.

Just look at the home page of their website right now, and what to do you see? A piece on the opening of the New York branch of Topshop (a tatty British fashion chain), another comparing the trailers of the new Quentin Tarantino and Hannah Montana movies, a third on TV detectives (one of whom is Scooby Doo, for crying out loud)...

Nope, the Guardian these days is no different from any other paper.

What you need is a Slashdot Car Analogy(TM). Ask your clients whether they would feel more comfortable driving a regular car, or a car where the hood was welded shut so you couldn't open it and check out the engine. Has been said many times before, I know, but at least it should get them thinking.

You mean you haven't heard of the Lingerie Bowl?