Laughter

IMHO (which I believe is short-hand for “in my humble opinion”), while there are many excellent television programs, there is also a lot of junk interspersed with commercials. So we seldom watch live TV anymore, taping the things we want to see so we can speed through the commercials. Even if we are home at 7 pm for Jeopardy, we wait and watch it a bit later so we can fast forward through the commercials.

The commercials during Jeopardy clearly assume an older viewing audience, relating as they do to treatments for illnesses that primarily effect aging baby boomers. Perhaps someone should tell the advertisers that many of us have figured out how to skip the commercials.

But I have seen enough to be quite amused by comedians making fun of this sort of targeted advertising. We have started to record Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. We may not always agree with him politically but he does have interesting guests with whom he engages in thought-provoking conversation. Much of the material is quite humorous, as was this line, taken from a bit last week that we only got around to watching last night.

So yes, welcome to the brave new world of micro-targeting, which, look, is often harmless. No one gets hurt if my computer tells me "ïf you bought James Taylor's greatest hits, you might also enjoy this pillow and some sleeping pills."

(Real Time with Bill Maher, 21 February 2014)

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am a HUGE fan of James Taylor, so you might think I would find this insulting. But I thought this was hilarious, and I would like to think that James is sufficiently self-aware to have the same response.

I still remember fondly a speech given by a friend at the celebration of her newborn daughter some years ago. She spoke of the attributes of many of the friends and family who had gathered and expressed hope that each of these would be passed on to her daughter. To this day, I am deeply touched by the memory of her including my sense of humor on that list. I like to think that sense of humor has served me well throughout my life, but particularly during these past two years. Solomon had it right when he said

To every thing there is a reason, and a time to every purpose under heaven…

A time to weep, a time to laugh…

May you find time to laugh every day!

Love,

Rebecca