I have seen a lot of this lately.

People looking at personal electronic devices, everywhere, every age. This obsession isn’t a young tech savy thing, it really as generational reach, though the Jitterbug does exist.

These things seem similar to me

The presentation is similar, a group of four people are presented, each of them have their own little video square, each of them have their zoom in "face time", and whoever is speaking believes they are right and everyone else is wrong. Though the topics are entirely different, aside from the specific content discussed in the videos. One is sports, the other is finance. One doesn't matter (sports), the other does (finance). If the Steelers win the Super Bowl it wont affect society at all, there is a new Super Bowl champion every year. But if our financial institutions collapse people will suffer; hence the rise in unemployment after the housing bubble popped. Then why are these topics presented in the same manner? I believe sports punditry has been around longer than CNBC. To make its programing more entertaining CNBC has turned trading stocks, and using other investment tools, into a sport. This kind of outlook on a topic as serious as finances can be dangerous. When investing one is supposed to be emotionally detached from their investments. Numbers, not emotions, are supposed to drive an investors decision making. So these hyped up CNBC shows are actually doing more harm than good. The financial pundits in the video are way too excited about what they are predicting. Inexperienced investors, the mother trying to put a little money away to pay for her child's college tuition, might be swayed by the emotional rants rather than the numbers. Please for the sake of all of CNBC show some responsibility, be a gate keeper.

I recently watched a movie called Machete. Its a grind house film that exaggerates just about everything. Despite a 2010 release date, the plot is ridiculously topical. There is no way this movie could be released now. I mean the main character, the character that attempts to assassinate a politician says, "Arizona, I'm coming for you." in the trailer... If Machete were in post production it would have to be scrapped. Ironically, it was released to DVD on January 4th, 2011 and topped US DVD sales for the week. Four days later Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Pima County, Arizona, a county that borders Mexico. Did this movie influence Jared Loughner? I doubt it. Does life imitate art? Who cares. Mentioning this coincidence isn't a prelude to either of those questions. It just shows how quickly societies change. A movie can be the best selling DVD one week, then a week later its considered highly offensive... Well, even if Machete weren't so topical, even if the plot were different, it would still be an offensive movie. At one point a man's intestines are used as a rope to swing from one floor of a building to a lower floor; its shown in the trailer at about 1:40. I'll just leave you with that.