Ah, well, it’s Tuesday..

These past few days, I have been running a “silly little poll”, which asked who is/was the better TV Private Investigator, Rockford or Magnum. I have to say, the results of your voting, so far, has surprised me a bit..

One thing (that surprised me) was, I was expecting at least one “who?”, as both those shows date back to Ancient History.. you know, way back in the dark ages, well before there even was an Internet?

In fact, the older show (The Rockford Files, 1974-1980) dates back to when the pocket calculator and telephone answering machines were the ‘latest greatest tech’. (In later episodes of Magnum P.I. (1980-1988), at least, you can see IBM 286 units getting hooked up to telephone-cradle modems..)
I didn’t think too many would even remember Tom, or Jim.

Another surprise was.. (again, so far) Jim is leading the race.
Now, here’s a couple facts: Jim got beat up, knocked cold by a blow to the head, involved in a car chase, and arrested by the police in every single episode. I think I remember he got shot a couple’a times too.. (In fact, the actor suffered actual physical effects as he did a lot of his own stuntwork..)

Ouch.

Magnum did get shot a couple times, and almost died.. and I think Tanaka arrested him once.. and there were those silly episodes where Tom and the gang would chopper in and fight small armies with Uzis.. But life for Tom was not as rough and tumble, seedy, “gritty”, and error prone as it was Jim.

And Jim drove a Pontiac, while Tom drove a Ferrari.

.. well, I am going to leave the poll up. (Please, if you want to vote for “other” do so by leaving a Comment.. don’t try to write it into the poll itself.)

What I will tell you about how I voted is, well, I’ll only say, I’d rather watch an old rerun of a detective story (or legal/mystery, like Perry Mason, or Matlock) than I would the *stuff* they’re airing nowadays — Bridezilla? Big Brother? No thanks.

(When rating a TV detective, I don’t think you can use % Cases Solved as a criteria [they seem to solve them all] .. So car “cool factor” is a legit consideration, IMHO.)

For the Holiday Shopper: Top Tech Gifts For Under $10 Includes free shipping.
(Um.. not everything there is ‘tech’, sorry.)

Today’s Tech Reading:

* The Internet transcends borders, at least for a while longer

“Make no mistake, the forces of darkness will be back. We The Internet will be waiting for them. This is our playing field, our rules. Our Internet.” Read more..

* The 2012 iGeneration roundup

“This year’s most popular posts range from porn stars to iPads, as well as copyright infringement and Apple’s status as a religion.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.” ~ Alexander Fraser Tytler

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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