My Sick Mind

Some say that the popularity of social networking web sites like Twitter and Facebook is due to the idea that we all want to feel as though we belong to something. Well, maybe I'm the one who says that, but I take liberties with the idea that perhaps more than one of us has the same thought every now and then. Anyway, I think the crux of the matter is that we don't like to feel as though we are alone in the world. Hence the popularity of those so-called "reality shows," where so-called "regular people" partake in contests and other forms of entertainment and are either judged by famous people or kicked off the show because they end up being very annoying. Either way, there are a lot of them, and it's primarily because there are a lot of people who don't like feeling ordinary, and being a part of something with national exposure makes them feel a little less ordinary - for a while anyway. Then, there are the pure thrill-seekers. Those who are ordin...

It sucks getting old. Just ask anyone who depends on Social Security payments to fund their life. For the second straight year recipients will not be getting a cost of living increase because, according to our federal government, the cost of living hasn't increased in two years. As a little exercise, go back to your checkbook or receipts from two years ago and tell me that things aren't more expensive now than they were two years ago. Take as much time as you need. The average benefit is $1,072 per month. Try doing that for a year and let me know how you make out. I'm sure that the idea of giving cost of living increases to Social Security recipients (called COLA) sounded like a good idea when they instituted the plan in 1975. Next year would be only the second year that there has not been an increase. The first one was last year. Things like that always sound like a good idea when the numbers work. When the numbers stop working (as they always do) good ideas are suddenly...

"You'd better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone." - Bob Dylan, "The Times They Are a-Changin'" I grew up in the 1960s, and as a result of my childhood, I believe that television should be free. However, the prevailing notion is that we pay for TV now, and have since the late 1990s. My cable bill used to be $9.95 a month, and for that princely sum I got a push-button box with a lot of the same channels that I got for free, plus something called PRISM that carried Phillies, Sixers and Flyers games - commercial-free. Fast-forward to 2010, and I have invested in a high-definition television and pay $120 a month for cable TV, but I derive much more pleasure from it than I did when I paid ten bucks a month. It's strange how time changes our viewpoint. One of the many things I enjoy about the expense is something called NFL Red Zone , which in some ways defies description. Forced to describe it, I would tell you that it shows every score of eve...