I have changed my mind.
It has always been my contention that the single biggest invention - the one that had the greatest effect on our everyday lives - is the TV remote control.
Yes, kids, there was a time when you had to actually get up, walk across the room, and twist the knob to change the channel.
Channel surfing?
Didn't happen, unless you wanted to stand there at the TV as you scrolled through the channels.
The remote changed all that - and changed our lives.
It had an effect on our lifestyles - making us that much more sedentary.
Suddenly, we no longer had to get up off the sofa to change the channel.
It also radically changed advertising.
Back then we were in large part captives to popular programs - and the advertisers knew it.
For instance, shows immediately before and after extremely popular shows would themselves get a boost simply because people would not want to get up to change the channel.
There also was no such thing as flipping channels when an ad came on - unless of course you wanted to get off off the your LazyBoy.
But this morning I have a new nominee for MVI. That would be Most Valuable Invention.
That would go to the person who invented heated car seats.
It was 4 degrees out there this morning.
Enough said.
Thankfully, this is not going to last.
We're expected to recover into the 30s by Friday and we'll zoom into the 50s before the weekend is over.
Can't get here soon enough.
In the meantime, I'll be in the sofa, giving the remote a furious workout.
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