My Sick Mind

A few days ago, I wrote about the demise of the rake. Now, another old-time implement appears destined to bite the dust... RICHMOND, Va. – What's black and white and read all over? Not the white pages, which is why regulators have begun granting telecommunications companies the go-ahead to stop mass-printing residential phone books, a musty fixture of Americans' kitchen counters, refrigerator tops and junk drawers. In the past month alone, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania approved Verizon Communications Inc.'s request to quit distributing residential white pages. Residents in Virginia have until Nov. 19 to provide comments on a similar request pending with state regulators. So, there's one more thing in your junk drawer that will disappear. Besides, who knows anybody's phone number anymore? I don't, and couldn't tell you the phone numbers of the people in my cell phone's directory if you held a loaded gun to my head. They go in, and when the pho...

I used to be a voracious reader. Then, I discovered television. Television required little eye movement, there were lots of choices and I could do it while I did other things. I enjoyed music too, and among all those attributes, it required even less eye movement, making it even more appealing. At some point, reading books became less of a habit and more of a chore. I had good intentions. I used to peruse local book stores and pick up something that I thought looked interesting - usually history or some other non-fiction - and I'd run home with it and leaf through it before settling down to watch my favorite TV programs. The book would sit until I finally decided to place it in my bookcase where it would sit in its original, pristine condition, usually with the receipt as the well-intentioned bookmark at page one. Over the years, less and less on television and even less music became appealing to me. Television is full of low-budget junk "reality" shows, and musi...