Did paper companies invent the microwave?

Alright, I know they didn't. I know that they were developed after an engineer at Raytheon had a chocolate bar melt in his pocket when he was working around the radar equipment, but my random observation for this week came when I used the last paper towel on a roll I bought at the beginning of August. It was one of those "imagine that" kind of moments when I hadn't thought about it until that moment and then I realized that this roll of paper towels has lasted an extremely long time compared to my previous experience. I figure that I am spilling at more or less the same rate that I did in Indiana, or Pennsylvania for that matter. Even compensating for the fact that I am alone doesn't seem to cover it either. The only major difference in usage rates I could come up with is that I don't have a microwave. Then I remembered that I have yet to buy paper plates down here. We went through about 500 every two months in Indiana. Thus, my question. How did companies that counted on paper plate and paper towel sales make any money before microwaves became the dominant form of cooking in the US? As I thought longer about our use of paper towels in Noblesville, it dawned on me that sometimes the dogs can cause us to use a roll a week. Maybe paper companies invented dogs.

Those of you that have been around me a while know that I have been sleeping to the sound of talk radio since I got a clock radio for Christmas shortly after we moved into 1201 DeCesari. For the past 20 plus years I have used an earphone so as not to disturb my wife, and most recently (again due to very generous gift from said wife) I had been using my portable satellite radio. Unfortunately the location of my apartment (bottom floor , only window faces north) violates every rule for the radio being able to pick up the satellite feed. I went a few unhappy and relatively restless nights before I figured out how to listen to Internet radio to lull me to sleep. Now with a mix of XM radio online and a few different radio stations on www.Live365.com, I can get my typical mix of BBC and NPR radio shows for the over night hours. This morning, I woke up listening to Krista Tippet's NPR show "Speaking of Faith." this is one of my favorite NPR shows (you can check out the podcasts if you are curious www.NPR.org is where you would start). This morning's show was about Autism and the definition of being "human." The special guests where parents of a son with Autism who have just publish a book. The actual content of the show is not really the basis for this observation, however. This show is on in the 5 AM hour here. The parents reminded me about a show I had heard the night (early morning) before on a show called The Parents Journal about danger of "labeling" children, that I wanted to make a note of so I could go back to it for an article I am working on. That is when it hit me that the people that I find the most interesting and beneficial are on the air in the wee hours of the morning. These shows are on when it is LEAST likely that the people that would benefit most (parents with young children) would be awake. This isn't really a rant, just and observation...and maybe a bit of advocacy for the use of podcasts for those with normal sleep patterns.
For those who were curious about this weekend's travels. Sunday afternoon was spent at LuLu's in Gulf Shores. It is an open air restaurant owned by the sister of Jimmy Buffet. There was musical entertainment, good food and perfect weather as we sat river side and watched the pleasure boats and the barges go by. No, Jimmy didn't stop by unannounced (as he is know to do from time to time), but is was a good time had by all anyway.