The documentary talks about the development of the suburbs and suburban sprawl, and how necessary cheap oil is to make such a system function. Essentially, American civilization and the institutions we’ve become so dependent on are built on a house of cards balanced on top of oil derricks, and once the oil stops being abundant, cards are going to start falling one by one.

Can Big Brother succeed where Weight Watchers, Nutri-Systems, the Atkins Diet and Dr. Phil have failed? Or is a new scapegoat for spiraling health care costs being created?

The Maine National Guard is offering military families life-size cardboard cut-out photos of their loved ones stationed in the Middle East.  These cut-outs, know as "Flat Daddies," (or, presumably, mommies) are supposed to help families connect with their loved ones thousands of miles away.  According to the article, these cardboard cut-outs are "toted everywhere from soccer practice to coffee shops to weddings."

My first response was to the picture was, "This is creepy."  My second response was, "It's not the cardboard cut-out that's creepy."

I ran into a woman my age who owned the framing gallery across the hall from my office and she said, “Go home, Steve. Go home. It’s getting too creepy here.”