Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 03, 2014

I see a rodent Danae down front.

If this were Tom & Jerry – after chasing each and destroying the house, everyone would settle down on the couch with popcorn and watch TV.(Danae, Lucy & mice).But this is Wiley – it couldn’t be as simple as that. Could it?

I know better than to predict the mind of Wiley, so I’ll just watch the end game and enjoy.

All you need is a big magnifying glass. It worked in “Brazil”…

Is this deja vu – or is this arc a repeat from the very recent past?

The mice have built a better Danae trap.

The mice on Ziggy looks cuter. However watching theses mice imitate humans is funny.

My father didn’t allow a television in the house ( actually, I don’t think we could have afforded one ) until 1956, which for an 11 year old boy, was an eternity, since all my friends ( and even my grandparents ) had one.What I didn’t realize until many years later, that my parents, by not having a television, gave my brother and I the greatest gifts possible. Foremost, a love of reading books which I carry to this day, and secondly, the ability to use our imaginations, creating games on our own, and finally,the joy of listening to some of the great radio programs of the late 40’s and early 50’s.

@LinguistMy father limited the time I could watch TV on nights before school and there were some shows I wasn’t allowed to watch such as “Leave it to Beaver”, “Dennis the Menace” and “Twilight Zone.” He did his duty as a parent and as somebody concerned with society. Also, he revealed the ways filmmakers make illusions, create unlikely situations, create and spread misconceptions, etc. Most parents won’t supervise their kids. And those who don’t may just as well throw their kids to the corporate wolves.

Oh rats, what now?

No, really, tell us what you think….

@Linguist: same here, my friend. I would still rather read than watch almost anything; and the stuff on radio today is almost as bad as TV.

My father refused to repair the tv in 1961. We missed out on so much as a 6yo. We were given a tv in 1969. I got called into the principal’s office a couple of times, because I would not watch the current event shows that the teacher gave as homework. We lost the space race and most of the vietnam coverage. A TV is a tool for society. If you don’t have one, you get passed by. Can you imagine what life is like for school age children whose parents won’t have a computer and internet?

That is exactly what I think of Fox News and the people on it. Talk about spewing hate!

@route66PaulI believe a TV could be used as a tool for society. For-profit TV is a tool to help wealthy people get wealthier. And yes, I can well imagine a home without TV and internet; several examples can be found today without those contraptions. Humanity existed well for decades without ’em.

I have this theory that there is only so much good TV that can be generated per day: about 9 hours’ worth. Now back when there were only 3 stations, that worked out to be about 3 hours per channel.

Now that there’s 99 channels on cable, actually satellite (whatever), that works out to be about .09 hours per channel or about 5 minutes and 27 seconds. However it still takes 3 hours to broadcast it with the modern day number of commercials.

“Fair & Balanced”…RIGHT ?

I still have various family photos showing the evolution of TV as I grew up……most of the older ones had the vaccuum tubes…and took forever to warm up…..but if anything went wrong repair was possible. Today, however , is no deposit no return.

M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

@ puddleglum1066: Actually, Baird worked primarily on electric Television.

If you really want to get into Nicola Tesla-style seat-of-the-pants, garage-entrepreneur Electro-punk territory, try mechanical television. That had an interesting history…