Tobby Hagler

I'm sitting here watching Superbowl 43 and surfing the web, and it occurs to me that as technology progresses, there are inherent flaws in all systems that are more obvious as time passes.

We tend to notice that the closer to perfection that a thing gets without quite reaching it, the more noticeable the imperfections. Look at all the Japanese androids -- the closer to human they appear, the more evident the flaws that make them non-human.

Similarly, the more a particular technology fills a need, without anticipating every possible nuance, the more glaring the flaws. It's a paradox, but the smaller the flaws get, the greater it seems.

So I'm watching the Superbowl, tweeting away, and I have to pause it. Now, I wish that I could pause the Internet (specifically Twitter updates). There's nothing worse than pausing a game and seeing that some awesome ad just played, or that the Cardinals just came from behind in a mind-boggling feat of athleticism and luck (hypothetically speaking, obviously).

To make the point even more, while it's paused, I start reading an article about that miscreant Gaeta and why he's taken such a turn for the mutinous on io9. I just watched that episode an hour before the game. Again, I myth'ed it (I didn't Tivo it -- I'm not sure what you'd call that when you use a Myth box), and I was a couple of days behind.

So, MythTv, Tivo, and all the other PVRs out there allow people to timeshift their favorite shows, and this is an obvious need as lives get more and more complicated. But then flaws like updates from the Internet creep in and cheapen the advancements that PVRs offer.

Normally, I would just skip ahead during commercials. But this is the Superbowl, and that's half the reason I'm watching. I guess I could always just put the laptop down, but let's just say that's not likely to happen either.

So I guess for now, I'll just hope I don't get tweets saying "biggest comeback evar!"