Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway

I have very low tolerance for TV journalism in ordinary circumstances, and part of the reason is that the endless repetition of the same two to four points makes me want to jump through the screen and throttle somebody. This is only worse on election nights. If I curl up with New Scientist or Doris Kearns Goodwin's book on the Roosevelt presidency, information will flow to me in a peaceful way that doesn't make me want to scream, "Say something different!" or "Say something sensible!" or "MATH DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT!" (These could be addressed by reading bruce_schneier on making_light for my coverage, but I can skim that for the interesting bits in the morning, no problem.)

Probably it makes a difference that the first two elections in which I voted were 1996, in which I didn't have a TV or internet in my dorm room, so following the coverage was not an option and I didn't miss it, and 2000, and we all know what happened there.