What is "real time?"

Spent most of the evening sitting in front of the fire, with the hound curled up by my side.

I am grateful that I can have a fire to sit in front of, and I love my dog, but instead of taking the time to appreciate these blessings, I've got one eye on Al Jazeera on the flat screen and the other on Redd Foxx on the laptop.

After considerable ponderation, I have concluded that your time isn't really real unless you get your face out of the screens.

Stepped out for a breath of fresh air just a few minutes ago. Lo and behold, the night sky is clear, and there are more stars than you could ever count. Standing dumbfounded staring at the sky isn't widely considered a productive use of one's time, but it does help you put things in perspective.

How many of those distant stars have planets whirling around them?

In an infinite sky, there are infinite possibilities.

But rather than considering those possibilities, we would rather retreat to our screens.  

The embrace of the screen is fast upon us

Christopher Ketcham has a dystopian dissertation about screen addiction on view at Counterpunch today. At first read I nodded knowingly. After all, I've been rambling in the wilds most of my life. Still like to hoof the hundred acres here at Falling Downs at least once a week just to see what came down in the woodlot during the latest windstorm.

Then I had to get back to my screen.

Ya. All fine and dandy to foreground screen addiction, but don't let it get in the way of your screen addiction.

By the way, I watched a forty year old George Carlin video tonight in which he mocked cliche expressions like "fine and dandy."

It's just amazing what you can find on the internet.