>>It is almost as annoying as the trend for nearly all newcasters to end a segment (just before commercial) with "We're back - right after this"
>
>Esp. if they say "...right after these important messages". Talk about euphomisms!

But they never say for whom are these messages. Most of them are for some moron with severe Alzheimer's. Maybe there was one for me among them, maybe I missed something, but well, they have my subscription number, and since they are also my phone company, they got my phone number as well - so if it was important, I guess they'd call.

Amazingly, they still have to drive those bulky tapes by trucks and cars. I remember when I was a kid, and there was a cinema (aka movie theater) just three blocks away, I'd see a guy on a bicycle carrying six or seven pizza-sized tin boxes. He was bringing the next movie. Nowadays, almost anything you see is "brought to you by ..." and then there's a name of a vehicle. Talk about overkill - once upon a time a single guy on a bicycle could bring all seven reels, and now the 30-minute video casette or a DVD needs to be brought by a truck? And, in case nobody noticed, these things are probably digital - couldn't they just download them? Must be them driver unions trying to keep their people employed, but then why do we care what do they drive?

Oh wait... I missed "brought to YOU" part. Funny. I never see any cars coming and going, nobody's knocking to deliver anything. I think they got this wrong - I still get it through cable.

Next rant: nothing ever begins on a day of a week, or in any month. It now all begins THE day or THE month. I can't remember when was the last time anything was scheduled to start "on Monday". Now it "starts Monday". Take note of those things, and if your Monday just won't start, you'll know whom to call.

Next rant: I admire the guts of people at NPR - they are facing unsurmountable odds every day. Whatever they do is initially impossible, until the last moment when some good enterprise lends a hand and "makes programming possible". And, um, can we just have programming back if it's so impossible to you? We know how it's done.

Next rant: well not really a rant, more of a puzzle. On PBS, they pretend not to have "these messages", but they don't fool me - the sound is off. They still send messages to me, and one of them is "viewers like you". Well I knew they like me, but how the paradise do they know? Are they spying on me?