Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for October 06, 2009

Been there, done that. Get a book and read it, much more interesting.

The rest of Danae’s family is reeeeeeeally looking forward to that coma …

It’ll probably be another 51 hours, 45 minutes before she goes comatose.

Satellite TV I can tolerate since I watch so little. But satellite internet sucks. Don’t think, for example, that you can check you’re email if it’s raining or there are heavy storms to the southwest. It’s one of the low points about country life.

FUN-KNEE!

Is the internet still working ? Mine keep going of………

Who needs TV when she has a talking horse & adventures to places like Mars

LOL dapperdan61! :) And agreed MurphyHerself… Books are much more interesting…

Absolutely agree on books. Our children never were allowed to watch TV on school nights, and we limited their weekend viewing. Guess what, three intelligent young adults all successful in their careers! Having to think up entertainments for themselves from a young age; and not expecting the “boob tube” to entertain them helped them. OH, and they are all avid readers!

Glad I didn’t loose my satelite duriing last night’s Packers/Vikings game. Reading about it next day just isn’t the same.

I thought that was going to be a good game and it was.

My wife raised her kids without a TV and they have grown up with the love of reading books and both have graduated university with honors.

Can’t always blame the TV guys. Though I don’t watch it myself anymore, I was allowed to watch as much as I wanted when I was younger and still enjoy reading books a heck of a lot more. It has more to do with the parent’s attitude towards reading in my opinion. My fondest memories of childhood are being rocked and read to at night. I also remember seeing my parents read a lot themselves. Little ones love to imitate their elders! Books on tape are great too, if you have a kid struggling in the book department, I’ve seen that kick start interest in books in many kids who never had an interest before.

At least satellite usually comes back on its own within 15 minutes, unlike cable that requires a repair crew to be dispatched to your neighbourhood sometime in the next few days…

Vexatron - I agree, not only was the tv on all the time, so was the radio. Mom played the radio in the kitchen and we all had radios in our rooms. Started reading solo by reading the comics every day in the paper. Taught my daughter to read the same way. Sprawled on the floor, dictionary at the ready for any unknown word. It was always a rule in our house that unknown words had to be looked up and were never given verbally. We always wound up reading the dictionary for half an hour or so once we finally found the word we wanted. Sneaky way to get us to use reference materials, but it worked. I bet if someone read to Danae she’d snap out of her coma!

Now is a good time to read the anarchist’s cookbook or the poor man’s james bond.

For those who need help with Books .

Why didn’t Danae make a call about TV problem by herself instead of asking someone else to call for her? Sheeshhh!

Forget the cable company……call an exorcist!

52 hours? okay, i’ll bite. why would it take exactly 52 hours?

Don’t forget, in a book (UNillustrated) or on radio, the pictures are better!

As a teacher, I agree with all the folks who recommend books. But, vexatron 1984, states the key to becoming a good reader. The example of parents. It is impossible to over state the importance of that. And I too started reading the newspaper, laying on the floor in the kitchen reading the comics, then the sports, then entertainment and finally the news. But, on top of that, I have images of my dad engrossed in a book in the evening, looking like he was content, and even having a good time. I wanted to look and feel like that, too. And yes! Recorded books are a brilliant idea for the reluctant reader. Only until a kid reads, (or listens to) a book that they really, really enjoy, can they understand the pleasure of reading, and why people do it for fun… Once that happens, they will be readers for life. MatureCanadian, great strategy…pbarnrob, yes the pictures are way better…

Another interesting and not-so-common trick is to activate the closed-captioning option on your TV. I first became used to this, (and even prefer it now) because my sister is mostly deaf, and so it is usually on in our house. I had a theory that it would help our children learn to read, and by golly, it seems that it did. Our 6-year-old twins love it, and read far above their age group, startling us every day with new words. One of our girls even asked her Grandpa if she could watch TV “with the words on the bottom”.

I would like to know why the creator of “For Better or For Worse” has started back when Michael and Elizabeth were small. What happened to Michael being married with two daughters and Elizabeth maybe getting married?

Yes, started reading to my kids and grandkids at an early age. But senior daughter is a real bookworm; junior daughter only reads if she wants to or has to. Now senior grandson is also a bookworm, but junior grandson is struggling with reading. It helps, but it doesn’t always work out.

madKanga, you might try music. Lyrics are available online now if you search them out or sports illustrated! For the more physical child go for whatever interests them. I started my daughter on comics, but moved rapidly on to magazines, then books as her interests changed and she became more prolific.

Morning Star - The creator retired, and it was the choice of the fans to start the series again from the beginning, because we didn’t want it to end. Great write-in to newspapers all over Canada convinced Lynn Johnston to allow the papers to carry her old series. Actually, was sort of glad she ended it when she did, as the next “big” thing to happen would have been the death of Grampa and I don’t think I (or any other fan) could have handled that.

WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?? ~ JACK

@vexatron - Count me in that group too. I even watched TV while doing homework (on occasion) but my love of books has not diminished. I still read newspapers and yes I refer to the dictionary from time to time.

(now about Danae, I guess video games are banned in her house?)

I don’t do TV too much, nothing new on it is any good.