Two weeks ago I blogged about the Joy of Print. I talked about the exacting standards that print poses for writers and editors. Print still has a sort of permanence about it that electronic media lack. I called editors, "...the high-wire acts of the publishing world, risking all on every permanent word." I also asked you to check your mailboxes and let me know how we fared. 

Last week I blogged about our then-upcoming March-April issue and told you about the stories running in that issue. Today the two blogs come together. Instead of expectation of the next issue, there is realization. Instead of prediction, fulfillment. So yes, read the new articles and let me know what you think. 

One author already found transposed words, which we will fix online. And the eworld has already taken notice of the new issue. @nei_inc tweeted Peter Curtis' column about direct current in the data center. 

In this way and others, do worlds collide. Ari Adler wrote about the Joy of Print at his Here Comes Later blog. In it, he takes time to preemptively defend me from those who might think me a Luddite for taking joy in print. Thanks Ari. I would have thought that blogging, tweeting, and social networking would be adequate defense, but I can be naive. 

I'm probably due for a Joy of Emedia blog post, but for now I just want to point out that while print is still a slow process, like smoking a meat, computer networks and electronic distribution mean potentially wider audiences for well written and faster distribution. And, as an editor, I certainly enjoy these qualities too. They mean that more people can read--and respond to--the written word. And more people can join discussions like the one between Ari and me can. That's certainly a new dimension to the written word.