Another reason why internet use doesn't save time is because it's forever allowing us to go off on tangents that are only partially related to the topic at hand. It's the "oh that reminds me" effect. I frequently admit to being a chronic browser in encyclopedias. When looking up a particular topic I'll stop a few pages before that topic and read my way through to the right page, picking up tidbits of information along the way. That sort of behavior has its counterparts in internet use as well, though frankly the randomness of alphabetization has its advantages.

But I started out writing about a tangent and find myself branching off even further. Enough already. Get to the point. Which in this particular case is two points:

My father often claimed that he was convinced there was a conspiracy against him. He subscribed to numerous journals: professional, political, general scientific, and of course he tried to read the daily newspaper as well. Every so often he found, to his surprising delight, that he was almost caught up, that he'd read almost all of what he wanted to from the latest journals that had arrived. But of course immediately after expressing that feeling, a slew of new journals would arrive and he was once again well behind. There had to be some sort of design here, he thought, but why did it have to be against him?

And the other branch? Thirty years ago my brother and I hosted a radio program on a listener supported station in Los Angeles. The program featured highly contemporary music from the western classical and jazz traditions. The name of the program was Catching Up, stemming from a statement by the composer Edgar Varese:

 There is no such thing as an Avant Garde.
 There are only people who are a little bit late.

Go to: Aren't we both!, or
Go to: for the sin of bad page design