I bought an RCA \u201ccolor\u201d TV in 1968 at \u201cLittle Joe\u2019s\u201d in Elmira, N.Y. It cost $300, a virtual fortune at the time. Mad-Man-Dewey had the same set for ten dollars less, but I picked Little Joe because he specialized in electronics and was more than capable of making any repairs or adjustments it might need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the \u201cgood old days\u201d before we turned into a throwaway society. Things broke; we fixed them or got them fixed. I was a high roller (Ha Ha), earning $128 a week, so I opted for the easy payment plan: $25 down and $5 a week. I plugged it in, connected it to our antenna, turned the combination On-Off-Volume switch to on and Presto! A color picture appeared, INSTANTLY! The TV had the highly desirable, \u201cInstant On\u201d feature. Little Joe told me that a small amount of electricity tricked into the picture tube and the circuit tubes, keeping them in a warmed-up state, even when the TV was turned off. You had to unplug it, if you wanted to stop the trickle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of things needed warming up in those days: radios, cars, stereo sets and old men. Not any longer. (Except for the old men.) Today\u2019s electronic devices don\u2019t have tubes that need to heat up before the sound or picture comes on, everything is solid state and snaps to attention the instant you turn them on. BUT here I am, 50 years later, with a TV, twice the size of that old RCA, yet I\u2019m sitting in front of it at the moment and I have nothing to look at, except a notice that says, \u201cPlease wait!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wait for what? The cable is hooked up; the cable box is turned on; the TV is on and has a picture, otherwise, I wouldn\u2019t see the \u201cPlease wait\u2019\u201d notice. Eventually, the waiting will be over, but it could take several minutes, unless I messed up, (or the system did; I\u2019m never sure why this happens) and get the dreaded \u201cInitializing the host platform\u201d message. This usually stays on for a minute or two and then comes the \u201cAcquiring initial application\u201d notice. Several more minutes go by and finally comes \u201cDownloading initial application,\u201d followed by the lie of the century, \u201cYour TV will be right with you!\u201d A circle appears with an 8 in the center. Then a 7, 6, 5,4, 3. You get excited. The end is near. But, it\u2019s not! The \u201c3\u201d stays there for another five or ten minutes before a TV show finally materializes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should be used to this stuff by now. It\u2019s that same \u201cfew minutes\u201d that the airline pilot says you\u2019ll have to wait before he can pull up to the gate and let you get off. Sometimes a pilot will say the wait will take 10 minutes, OR SO. It\u2019s that \u201cOR SO\u201d that always gets you. Ten minutes, OR SO, is never less than 20 minutes and can stretch to an hour or more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are plenty of cases when passengers were held captive on a runway for several hours. Why they don\u2019t revolt, take over the plane and deploy the emergency chutes proves how much we have been bullied by the TSA and the entire airline industry! They\u2019ve turned us into sheep. If we insisted on humane treatment, we\u2019d be arrested and put on the No-Fly list. I\u2019m off the subject, as usual. I\u2019ll get back to it, \u201cIn ten minutes, OR SO.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n