The Globe is of course the only remaining spherical newspaper in the world (after the demise of the Atlanta Sphere in the midst of the late 20th century depression). Some prefer the onion-skinning method of peeling a page off at a time, while others prefer flattening the whole thing and reading it as if it were any other daily. Since the New York Times purchased the Globe a couple of years ago, there have been persistent rumors that the new ownership would switch the format but local sentiment (as well the daily tours of the unique Mercury Grace presses) have thus far prevented it.