Old versus new, a clear-eyed view: Out with the new, in stays the Old...

“Allow me to be the first…” to clear up some misconceptions (would’ve been a great resolution) about two forecasts for the coming year. The Farmer's Almanac, a mixture of wit, wisdom, and folksy forecasting, that had been around since 1818 (which, I imagine, was designed with us future readers in mind, to ease our minds, at least short-term memory) will soon be out of print, as in “aging out”. The other sagacious Old Farmer's Almanac, around since 1792...containing predictions of "astronomical events, tidal waves (well, trends at least), weather”, and all things "fun and practical" will persist to exist...

"Which is which?" You ask. See, you thought the only ones who are growing up in the digital age, have two many choices...

"The Maine difference" As far as I can tell, looking back, through the pages, is that the newer version is/was (if you didn't yet get your 2026 copy) published in the town of Lewiston -- btw there is a street named after it not too far from here, in case you are interested in such triviality, but isn't that why you purchased an almanac -- "a calendar containing both important events as well as..."  whereas the slightly older (C. 1792) curiously comes to us intellectually curious or those who continue to be in hot pursuit of trivial details, from the town of Dublin, which for the sake of almanac clarity, resides in the state of New Hampshire (not to mention New England connection). How's that for quirky? Which is what you can continue to count on from me. That's both predictable and best I can come up with as far as resolving an age-old question as to why...

(a fun almanac fact: These two were a byte pre-empted by Ben Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" -- the first publication of which was announced in the Pennsylvania Gazette on 12-28-1732 -- an original copy of either these days would bring you a "pretty penny" -- now also out of print)