Television

I came to this country in 1957. When I left Hungary we, none of my friends and acquaintances had achannels. tv set. I knew what television was, kind of. There was a government owned electronics store in Budapest and in their windows there were TVs that played. Programming was sparse in those days. 

My Mom had her first tv set in around 1962 and, she loved it. I had my first set, a Zenith in 1960. There was a funny episode in the Honeymooners tv series with Jackie Gleason when he bought their first set. Him and his friend, Art Carney stayed up all night, at least trying to and watched the Late Show, the Late Late Show and on and on.

I don't know about others but we did the same thing in the first few days. It was such an event, a cultural revolution that we just had to watch everything that was broadcasted even if programming was not so hot back then.

Now, I can not imagine life without television. It takes the place of a good book, it substitutes for going to the movies and certainly it replaces newspapers. Watching tv news is cleaner than reading a paper. One doesn't get his fingers dirty from the printing.

Broadcasting is done on a gigantic scale. The Summer Olympics was broadcasted on at least seven channels. The Taliban captured Afghanistan and Kabul and it is shown live in living color. When the Palestinians were bombing Israel we were able to see it live as the rockets were falling on Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. There is no place in this world (except maybe N. Korea) where the tv cameras don't reach to.

The advantage of an advanced age is that one sees and lives through a lot and experiences many changes. Not all good, but in hindsight, necessary.

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Today is my best friend's wedding anniversary. 58 years of wedded bliss! In today's world this is almost unheard of. I was his best man at his nuptials and I remember how nice it was. 

He is the best friend I ever had and hope to have for a very long time.

I will write about that wedding next time. This time I just want to wish them a long and happy life and congratulate them on this fantastic accomplishment.