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Nov, 21, 2008
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Elliot B. Gertel:
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Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia
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Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic
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Nov, 12, 2008
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by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers
Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks
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Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?
Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate
Nov, 10, 2008
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Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist
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Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy
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Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism
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By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes
Nov, 5, 2008
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Nov, 4, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law
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Nov, 3, 2008
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Jonathan Tobin:
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Oct. 31, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Our Immutable Noble Essence
Caroline B. Glick: Running against Bush
Oct. 30, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: The End of the Special Relationship?
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Oct. 29, 2008
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: GET US THE TAPE THE L.A. TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE, AND WE'LL GIVE YOU CASH!
Dr. Ari Korenblit: Making The Write Choice for President
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Oct. 27, 2008
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by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Are tax deductions for charitable donations moral?
Jonathan Mark: The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote
Oct. 24, 2008
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Caroline B. Glick: Testing Obama's mettle
Oct. 23, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Obama Would Fail Security Clearance
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by Linda Gassenheimer: A fast chicken dish with an Asian accent
Oct. 20, 2008
Gary Rosenblatt: Still One Torah
Jonathan Tobin:
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Oct. 17, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Sukkos and the Great Meltdown
Caroline B. Glick: The disappearance of law
Oct. 16, 2008
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March 22, 2007
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Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 17, 2005
/ 14 Tishrei, 5766
Turn on, tune in, tune out
By
Mitch Albom
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last week, Apple announced that, with its newest iPods, you can download TV shows. That's right. For the low, low price of just $1.99, you now can watch the most recent episodes of "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" or select other ABC programs simply by downloading them into your iPod. The advantage, as the advertising boasts, is that you now can see your favorite shows whenever you want.
It's a funny phrase, "whenever you want." It reminds me of when Holly Hunter accuses William Hurt of declining ethics in "Broadcast News." She says, "You totally crossed the line," and he says, "They keep moving the little sucker, don't they?"
It's the same with "whenever you want." You think you get it. But then that little sucker moves again.
For example, I'm sure whoever invented the VCR was figuring you now could watch your favorite programs "whenever you want."
And whoever invented TiVo really must have figured he'd cornered the market. After all, you actually could watch the start of a program while the finish was happening live. Talk about "whenever you want!"
But they keep moving the little sucker, don't they?
And now you don't even need a TV set.
Now "whenever you want" means on a bus, on a plane, in the office or in line at the bank. Whenever you want, you can stick those little white buds in your ears and you can watch Eva Longoria or Teri Hatcher or those beautiful, sweaty people lost on an island.
I keep waiting for the day when you can see your favorite programs while you sleep. All you do is press a button and your own boring dreams are replaced by "The West Wing."
To be honest, it's happening already. What used to be time to think, to talk, to imagine yes, even to daydream now is seen as "wasted minutes" that could be better filled, meaning another episode of "The Sopranos."
There is no premium on quiet time. Quite the opposite. Standing in line, sitting on a train, riding in the back seat that's all time you could spend watching those important programs you missed. And what were you doing when those programs were on?
Probably watching other programs.
What we've created here is a world that can tune out reality every minute of the day. Check pro athletes as they leave a locker room. Half the guys have their ears covered in giant headphones, swaying to their private music, looking blankly at fans as if they were scenery.
Check out an airplane, with so many people on headphones or mini-DVD players the flight attendants' most frequent sentence is no longer "Something to drink?" but "Excuse me! Hello?"
When we were kids, we used to tease our grandparents about their addiction to soap operas. Who watched TV during the day? Only old people or housekeepers, right?
Now we're grown, and, apparently, we are more eager to sit in front of a screen than our grandparents ever were. We'll watch "SportsCenter" for breakfast, "Oprah" for lunch, "CSI (pick a version)" for dinner and now thanks to iPod pretty much anything else any other time of day.
It is hard not to "ooh" and "ahh" at such technology. But those words should be followed by a few more. Like, "what for?" Even the people who invented TV programming back in the 1940s never thought about going all day and all night. They went to a test pattern, presumably because it was understood that certain hours were for entertainment and certain hours were for the rest of life.
Now, all of life's a stage and each of us merely here to watch the players. Anytime we want.
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© 2005, THE DETROIT FREE PRESS
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