Fade to Black(berry)

Ah, one could hear the cries of anguish and withdrawal all over North America today, as service on the ubiquitous Blackberry suffered a massive outage.

I didn't even notice. Not til I saw this article. By then I was safely ensconced in the family room, trolling restlessly for news while Gabe watched an episode of Family Guy that he must already have seen five times.

I feel somewhat reclusive, even misanthropic lately. I let loose a muffled hurrah when networks go down or airports grind to a halt in abysmal weather. I'm cheered by empty big-box stores and feel strangely vindicated by abandoned, unfinished condo developments. I confess that, when in this frame of mind, I even find plunges in the stock market reassuring: after all, I think to myself, if everything's going to go to hell in a handbasket, why shouldn't it be obvious?

And speaking of where everything's going -- get a load of all the alarming (alarmist?) medical news: the long decline in heart disease rates is over, it appears; and those of us who lost our virginity either quite early or quite late are going to suffer more health problems and greater sexual dysfunction.

Take your pick: the moral of the story is --

• Too much information is bad for the soul
• Too much information distorts the truth and makes every finding sound like an ominous trend
• Nothing matters as much as everything seems to matter
• Get yer head outta yer butt
• Explicit movies and lyrics are a plot by Big Pharma to sell us Viagra
• It's all one, big Oliver-Stone like conspiracy
• I'm not getting enough sleep

--T.A.

Comments

[Mom]

Try this from Paul Rand (can't remember where I found it):
"Simplicity is not a goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations." Oh, I don't know. I've been thinking a lot about Psalm 19. They're saying rain here tomorrow and maybe Wed.

Love,
Mom

[Steve Yastrow]

The "too much information distorts" ... did I mention Michael Pollan's new "In Defense of Food?" He shows how the hype/manipulation by the food industry, (guessing) scientists and media contribute to what he calls "nutritionism," where we've been brainwashed into thinking that the key to healthy food is a label of "less carbs" or "more omega-3's." Sure, omega-3's are good, but a lot of what we've been told isn't, including the false "lipid hypothesis."

He best illustrates this by saying that the avocados and apples are sitting quietly in the produce section, making no health claims, and two aisles away the Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes are shouting "MORE VITAMINS!" "GOOD FOR YOUR HEART!" and "LOW FAT!"

He says ignore this info overload, and then sums up all we need to know in one phrase. "Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants."