4 Things They Can Do Without

I just look at these things and go, WHY? It's a waste of time.

1. NORAD's Santa Tracker - Not because we know there's no such real person, but because how do we determine the north and south locations of Santa? Does he go from Galena to Cairo, or Cairo to Galena? Besides, noe of the little boys and girls will be awake when the moment strikes.

2. Author pictures on front cover of novels - This isn't the music industry. Nor is this a person's opinion. I've never understood why we see more of a picture of, say, Stephanie Meyer, or the name "Stephanie Meyer" than we do the title. To me, we read things because of what it's about, not because of the author's name. This same philosophy goes for high school sportswriting, IMO.

3. Self checkouts wherever there are regular ones - Maybe it's just me, but it seems longer to go though a self-checkout than a regular checkout. Suppose you just want two things. You have to put them in the bag one-by-one. Then you have to press buttons on a screen, sometimes twice if the screen is touchy. Then you have to put the dollar bill in a certain way, and not fold it, and hope it doesn't reject it. Then there's a pause before your change comes out. Sometimes you-centered things don't work out as well. Plus, isn't there a good chance that shoplifters can foil the system using these things?

4. The ESPN ticker during a rebroadcast of a game late at night - Those who work second shift and miss these games live and hope for an overnight rebroadcast. However, when this happens, you have the ESPN ticker scrolling around. They'll even show you the final score of the game you are watching, and who the stars of the game were.