I haven’t watched TV in a long time. Yes, I’m one of the handful of people in the US that don’t own a TV (and don’t yearn for it either). I’m visiting my parents’ house, and yes, they have several TVs.

It really is easy to just turn it on an let it entertain. After not watching for a long (and I mean, long) time, I’m floored by how shallow the content is. Not to sound elitist, but TV content is just bad, plain and simple. Sure, there are a few things on that do inspire some sort of original thought. However, most of it is irrelevant fluff that disappears from my mind the second the phosphours fade from the screen.

MTV doesn’t play music (actually, I’m not even sure how to describe the content anymore), Emeril makes the same jokes, the News is still sensationalistic, Reality TV is as banal as it always has been. The only positive things are a few laughs from tried and true comedies, and some good science on the Discovery channel and Alton Brown’s Good Eats on FoodTV.

But TV is so ubiquitous. Even if you don’t own one, you most likely see one in your local walmart, hotel, and waiting room. For that, there’s the universal off switch.

I’ve never really understood why any windows system would allow a change of focus without user permission. I hate it when I’m in the middle of typing something, and some annoying window (whether it be AIM, or an install) obnoxiously grants itself focus. This is even more annoying when I accidentally type something into the newly focused window.

I say a windows system should never be allowed to switch focus if I’ve been typing in the last X seconds. This would prevent much frustration.

Another thing that needs fixing is the loss degrees of freedom in the shower. I’m here at my parents’ house, and they have one of those shower dials that combine the water temperature and volume into one dimension. Therefore, I can’t ever have high volume cold water, or low volume hot water. Not that I ever want those situations when I’m showering, but I’d like the option in case I’m cleaning the tub. Is it really that much more expensive to install dual knobs?