In some ways, things were better in the old days. Once I was young, working on the Illinois Tollway for $6 an hour (in 1972 that was really good money), gas was $0.39 a gallon, and I received retroactive back pay as a loyal member of Teamsters Local #705. Companies provided pensions to retirees, there were no terrorists, and there were no PCs in my house requiring security updates every week. Yeah, life was better then.
But there is one thing that is much better today than it was back in ’72 — the television viewing experience. Whereas once we were lucky to get three broadcast channels — and only if you were in a major market — now virtually everyone has access to hundreds of channels of content from available satellite dish systems and cable offerings. There is something for everyone, from cooking channels to fishing shows to classic TV series that we can automatically record for later viewing (“Combat!” at 3 a.m. on MeTV is a particular favorite). We can watch TV in high-definition (HD), download movies over the Internet, and watch Blu-ray DVDs.