Amusing ourselves to death

I'm going into full curmudgeon mode today after seeing some info on HD for Indies about downloadable TV shows for your iPod. I don't think this is available in Canada yet, but you can be sure it's coming. 99cents to download Law & Order or countless other shows. (Didn't TV shows used to be free?-now we pay for them on DVD and iPod)

Are we really so pathologically unable to enjoy the world around us that we need to watch TV on a 1 inch screen everywhere we go?

Meanwhile, everyone makes a big fuss over the possibility of an Xmas election, like we couldn't possibly deal with the distraction of having to take 10 minutes out of our holiday season to vote. I don't think it's the time involved. I think people just object to having to do all that pesky thinking. Maybe people won't mind voting so much now that they can watch TV in line.