The things we pay for.

As a frame of reference (pun) here's that Weatherscan channel that I'm paying extra for on my digital cable.

At the bottom left is a 3-hour radar. The main screen rotates between a two-day forecast, current conditions and a bigger version of the 3-hour radar. Great, huh? Ten bucks a month for me to find out that it's 52 degrees in Lakehurst. Our local cable company obviously sees no shame in charging people for something as basic as the weather. I'm not sure if that's more shameful than my paying for it.

It's important for me to know that at 10:00pm the visibility is 10 miles. Plenty of advance warning for those air-to-ground missiles being launched out of Lakehurst in the dark.

But, I also get ESPN News. And I got the rose bushes. I definitely got the rose bushes.

Ten minutes to Wapner.

Meanwhile, over on Yahoo Sports, this little ad popped up. "Young women looking for older men." Something tells me that it wouldn't be necessary for young women to take out an ad saying that they're looking for older men. I think the older men would find them on their own.

In fact, the older men might pay the women, rather than the women having to take out an ad. That's just a guess. Of course, they do, indirectly.

And I'm also guessing that the "younger woman" pictured in the ad won't turn up under your Profile Search. Another guess. She appears to have suffered some sort of blunt-force head trauma.

Nobody ever lost money underestimating the desperation of men in search of women. The Internet provides tons of opportunities, so they say, for eligible men and women to hook up. I've seen the TV commercials, so it must be true.

It's kind of pathetic that some people need to resort to paying for such things. They're supposed to be able to find their "soul mate" by entering answers to questions and posting a photo. I'd have to think that it's more complicated than that, but for 30 bucks a month, I suppose you get what you pay for. They run ads with happy couples (for now) and tout the millions of members they have - presumably still searching. I think the ads should be balanced so that we hear from all the people that are still looking.

Charging people to find a date seems like they're taking advantage of one of our basic instincts, and just like wanting to know the weather, they'll pay for it because it's necessary.

Just as I'd like to see those junkers that the Pimp My Ride show fixes up, I'd like to see the couples a year after they've been fixed up. It's the same sort of thing: Irreparable social misfits dressed up and made to look attractive, even though the body rust and years of abuse have been masked-over by a fancy paint job. Can you window-dress a person and make them desirable?

After all this time, I'm guessing that some of us need to admit to being social misfits and deal with it rather than forcing ourselves on society. That's another guess.