INTERESTING TIMES

I don't normally watch TV.  When I stay at my mom's house it is running all the time.  My first impression is that the programming is sensational, and that there is very little depth to any of the reporting or storytelling.  There is a lot of redundancy with so-called news programs repeating clips over and over.  Next impression: pharmaceuticals dominate the advertising.  I saw an ad for the "female viagra", and one for Humira that says "don't take this if you have an infection" and others that speak of liver failure and other dire consequence.  Direct advertising of pharmaceuticals should be BANNED.  As a doctor I would rather that people come to me with concern and complaints from their lives, not requests for drugs.  Television programs Americans to be shallow, ignorant, and demanding.  So unappealing.

I don't remember the stats but I saw in the news that most 4 or 5 year old Americans already have a television and a "mobile device" of their own.  Most babies are exposed to mobile devices before age 1.

Here's where you can unsubscribe from catalogs easily:
https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Here you can watch Mr. T defend himself against people who think he might be a homophobe. A snickers commercial that showed Mr T harassing a speedwalker with a candy-shooting gun was pulled from British TV. The ad is in here. The speedwalker's swishing ass is shown, and apparently a lot of gays were up in arms about the implied homophobia of the swish in combination with Mr. T's usual schtick about 'be a real man' and 'get some nuts'. I know of no correlation between speedwalking and gayness. I do find Mr. T's general belligerence distasteful. On the other hand, I love the way Mr. T calls Bill Reilly "Beeul". His dipthong sounds positively east Tennesseean.

from www.3trillion.com

Looks like you really can go shopping for desert islands, if you like.