Visual Description: They’re still nice to have on the wall.
KREBRO = BROKER, TCEEND = DECENT, LETHEM = HELMET, TAULCA = ACTUAL, WPAYMS = SWAMPY, EEDILY = EYELID — Giving us: BRRDNEMEUASWYEED
Clue/Question: The puzzle-calendar factory was still profitable, but its – – –
Pre-Answer: Three Words (4-letters) (4-letters) (8-letters)
Answer: DAYS WERE NUMBERED
(Ahh. One of those literal/figurative puns! Very good. Likely because I’m NOT a kid, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to be overly reliant on the various handheld devices. But, clearly you cannot tell these Gen-Xers and Millennials anything, because . . . they know better. Well, guess what? Having an old fashioned, published, or personally maintained, phone book comes in handy when there’s a power outage, the internet is down, or your cell phone is dead, or there is satellite interference. The same thing applies to a landline. There is the added cost with it, but it’s generally worth it, just for the peace of mind, if for nothing else. Don’t get me wrong. I do utilize many of the conveniences of my cell phone, but I make a point not to rely on them. I can still follow written directions, and I can still figure out a road map. And, I can tell which way I’m heading based on where the sun is. Not too many of the younger generations can get by without their GPS. And, so many of them don’t know/remember any phone numbers, because they feel they don’t have to know them! The Contacts list on their little handheld computer does that for them, and that is pretty sad. But, I guess every generation kind of surrenders a bit of their common sense and self-reliance to convenience. So many of us can’t cook anymore, because of microwave ovens and fast food. And, one reason why so many of us are overweight is because of the ubiquitous remote control. Once upon a time we were forced to get off our rumps, and walk over to the TV, and manually change the channel, by twisting a knob. And, you had to be fairly careful not to twist it too fast, or you’d strip the darn thing. Now, there are far too many channels for any knob to accommodate. Back when there were only 3, 4, 5, or 6 channels, television was more structured. There were only certain shows at certain times of the day, and you had to wait for things like the news, and prime time shows. And horrors, cartoons were only on Saturday mornings! Now, pretty much everything is available on demand, between cable TV and the internet, so who needs that little thing called patience anymore? To a large extent, I think technology has outpaced man’s ability to handle it all. But, the proverbial genie has been let out of the bottle, and there – seemingly – is no putting it back. I certainly don’t want a return to foraging for nuts and berries, but it might be nice if we could all hit that big PAUSE button, and just let things return to the old normal for a while. A return to things like patience and tolerance might do us all some good.
Back to the Jumble stuff! No new clue words today, but five of the jumbles did come up as new. We’ve all seen “lethem” before. I really liked the jumble for “actual”. I think today’s answer letter layout was outstanding. Nothing obvious about it. Beautifully detailed cartoon. Note the little desk calendar on the manager’s desk! Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
Well said on helplessness due to dependence on electronic devices. Remember the futuristic scenes in Wall-E with the people who were pampered by robots and unable to do basic tasks?
For a while after adopting GPS, I left it on all the time, even driving familiar routes. After just a few months of that, I found I was losing skill at things like natural sense of compass awareness and direction, visualizing a route, remembering street names, and so on.There’s a use-it-or-lose-it concept that applies in brain mapping. Now I just use GPS occasionally, when going somewhere new. I did get my former skills back once I used GPS minimally.
Dad didn’t really have to get up to change the channel. He just told me to do it. 🙂
And, you’re a better man for that, Damid! — YUR 😉
Great jumble!!! EYELID is a nemesis! Didn’t we have it recently??? Helmet gave me pause, but not for long.
I think some calendars are keepsakes and/or tradition — like the Daily Jumble calendars and the Mary Engelbreit monthly calendar. Something that you always get for Christmas. It wouldn’t be the same without them.
I don’t trust the online/phone calendars at all. My boss always had some kind of calendar gizmo from the gitgo. I think he had them all through the years.. I surreptitiously kept a pocket calendar with everything on it for when his would crash. And it always crashed! I would hand him the pocket calendar and a pencil. And today I always have a paper backup of my calendar. And I keep them … I can look up all kinds of stuff. I love I can do that!
David, you are so right!!! That’s funny Damid. But thinking about it, I believe we were all probably the early “television remote controls.” Linda Lee