Word: planetful
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...those places in the minivan, children strapped in behind you in those church pews--or maybe in a roadster, top down, the wind laughing through the sparse seedlings of your new plug-a-rug--and wondered how a nowhere burg like Dalton, Ga., comes to carpet the planet. Or how a look-fast town, a highway blur, becomes the Garlic Capital (Gilroy, Calif.) or the Storm-Watching Capital (Bandon, Ore.) of the universe (or so they claim...
...less publicized wonders of modern medicine that the planet's most lethal toxin--the one that causes botulism in badly canned vegetables and can make a capable germ-warfare agent--now offers hope for the vain. A less messy alternative to face-lifts and chemical peels, Botox was first approved by the FDA in 1989 for the treatment of spastic eye muscles. It didn't take long, however, for doctors to discover its "off-label" cosmetic applications. Last year, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, more than 65,000 Botox procedures were performed--mostly on women...
...ANIMAL PLANET Unlike those PBS documentaries on cheetahs that high school kids have long enjoyed watching while stoned, the programming on this network is high concept. There is still, however, some gnarly stuff. Crocodile Hunter tracks the boyish-yet-bad-ass Steve Irwin and his wife through Australia, where they pick up snakes and outrun emus. Even those who don't like animals--in fact, especially those who dislike animals--can enjoy Emergency Vets, a cinema-verite take on a Denver veterinary office. Rover and his owner dealing with a run-over paw make great TV. And perhaps the network...
...TRAVEL CHANNEL It is television's responsibility to give us the world without forcing us to interact with it. While the Travel Channel occasionally makes you want to book a flight, it usually cures your wanderlust safely. Lonely Planet, when hosted by energetic Brit Ian Wright, gives you the parts of the world you'd never see even if you decided to use your vacation time to go to Greenland and Ethiopia. Wright will eat anything, climb anything and bother anyone in the cheeriest way possible. Almost as good is Adventure Bound, where insane Australian former bricklayer Alby Mangels delights...
...biggest question facing any prospective buyer is digital vs. analog. Analog phones are often thrown in "free" with service contracts. But digital phones offer whizzy features and last far longer on battery power. Also, digital networks generally provide clearer signals than analog. One day, digital networks will blanket the planet. Now, however, coverage is spotty, with smaller places unserved. Worse, there are three different digital "languages"--one used by AT&T, for instance; another by Sprint; and a third, known as GSM, that is big in Europe and offered here by Omnipoint. Alas, they can't understand one another...