It’s so hard to put some things to rest. The media keep them before our eyes constantly and we often complain that they focus too much attention on certain people and events.

But let’s be fair about it. The media show us what we want to see, what will attract viewers and keep them. I don’t care if I never hear about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears again, but it’s unlikely that I can escape. Although they have gone from sex symbols to jokes to tragic figures - the perfect “don’t let this happen to you” example for young girls - the media keeps them ever before our eyes.

Even the fact that the AP vowed not to report any Paris Hilton news for a week made news. So while the AP weren’t talking about her, everyone was talking about how they weren’t going to talk about her.

Anna Nicole Smith’s continuing death saga captivates the public’s attention equally. In death she has risen above the sordid details of her life to evoke public sympathy, become a tragic figure and inspired a kinder and gentler opinion, especially from women. All those who sneered at the Playboy Playmate who at age 26 married an 89-year-old oil billionaire, no longer viewed her as a bleached-blonde golddigger but as a young woman who had lived a hard-knock life and was being cheated of her due by the son who fought her bid for a share of his deceased father’s estate.

There was only slight interest when Anna Nicole gave birth to her daughter 5 months ago. But when her 20 year-old-son died mysteriously in her hospital room just 3 days later, the tragic spin of her life and the media coverage of it was set into high gear. Speculation about the paternal parentage of Dannielynn took center stage with even Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband claiming to have fathered the baby.

But Anna Nicole’s death three weeks ago stunned everybody. It has been three weeks of investigation and speculation, court dates and arguments over custody of the body and burial location. After all this, the only thing we knew three weeks ago that is still true today is that Anna Nicole Smith is dead.

Now, finally, pallbearers have carried Anna Nicole to her final resting place. I hope the media obsession is buried along with her.

It’s not easy to panic a boomer.

Boomers grew up in the uncertainty of the Cold War. In 1949, The Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear device and the US was no longer the only country with “the bomb”. The government worked very hard at two things: raising public concern about being ready for nuclear attack, and trying to allay public concern by producing civil defense plans. The fact that these civil defense plans advised “Duck and Cover” - the advice to hide under your desk in case of nuclear attack - make them seem laughable today.

But the nuclear attack didn’t happen and as weapons proliferated, the concern was MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. So far, that hasn’t happened either.

Then we moved on to the population explosion. Overpopulation has been a concern since Thomas Malthus proposed that human populations would grow until they exceeded the ability of the earth to produce enough food for all of them. Of course he predicted this in 1798 and it was supposed to have happened by the mid-19th century. Boomers had their own Malthus in the person of Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, published in 1968. Ehrlich is known for his many accurate predictions such as: hundreds of millions of people worldwide would starve to death between 1970 and 1985; that life expectancy in the US wuold drop to 42 years due to the use of pesticides; and by 1999, there would only be 22.6 million of us left. In fact, the US has recently zipped past the 300 million mark for population and is still growing.

Fast forward to December 31, 1999 as the entire world held its breath waiting for the computer meltdown that would cause widespread power outages, water shortages, possible nuclear warhead launches and financial catastrophe. As the clock ticked over in each and every time zone, those cowering in their bunkers - surrounded by their cans of food, bottles of water and Y2K compliant flashlights - were left feeling mighty foolish.

The popular threat of today is global warming. It appears the earth is going through such a rapid increase in temperature (all our fault, by the way) that scientists have been able to find something to attribute to global warming on a nearly daily basis. Even the fact that the plains states are in the grip of their third blizzard of the season is a sign of global warming. I read a headline on ABC News that read “Unseasonable weather jolts Northeast”. I live in the Northeast and I can tell you that when you walk out of your house in January and are greeted by single digit temperatures and minus zero wind chill factors, you can feel a bit jolted. But walking out today into the sunshine and the balmy 74 degrees farenheit didn’t bother me in the least.

Ah, but you say that these record high temperatures are proof positive of global warming. Consider then, this bit of information available on the Drudge Report:

NYC had record high of 68F on Jan 13, 1932. 70F on Jan 14, 1932 and 67F on Jan 15, 1932…

1932 it was equally as warm during this same month and yet in the early 1970s, an imminent ice age was being predicted.

CNN has a story on their website entitled “Ancient ice shelf breaks free”. It has been up for several days now. Apparently nothing else was happening in the field of science. The truth is, they just want to make sure you see it. In case you missed it, they will leave it there so at some point, curiosity will get the better of you and you will read about this ancient ice shelf breaking free and …

Within days, the floating ice shelf had drifted a few miles (kilometers) offshore. It traveled west for 50 kilometers (31 miles) until it finally froze into the sea ice in the early winter.

It froze again somewhere nearby. Bet you didn’t expect that. Because by now global warming should have taken it out into the ocean where it would melt away, raising sea levels, drowning millions and proving them right. But never fear, the fact that it didn’t do that doesn’t mean global warming isn’t happening overnight.

The doomsayers have been around forever. The fact that things keep getting better doesn’t seem to dissuade them in any way from their dire predictions.

But never fear, the government is putting out a new video about global warming. It seems that if the polar ice caps do melt, you should duck and cover.

Talking of being thankful for blessings, one of the things we in our fifties can be grateful for more than most is the personal computer. We remember a time when there was no such thing and so we can appreciate more than other generations how it has changed our lives and made them easier.

The growth of the internet that computers have made possible has multiplied the benefits available to us too. Now we can shop without ever leaving the house, pay bills with a few simple mouse clicks, communicate with friends, expand our interests into previously unexplored fields, read the news that interests us without having to wade through the stuff we don’t want, and so on almost forever. The list is endless.

One of the possibilities realized by younger generations very early on in the history of computers was their capacity for entertainment. We have watched the growth of the computer games industry with bemusement, amazement and sometimes alarm. Our children exist in a world that accepts new computer games as normal and they constantly ask for more. No longer is the computer game a thing for children - they have grown up and demand games that have grown with them into adulthood. And the industry happily meets the need. We watch and worry about addiction and time wasted, rather in the same way our parents worried about the television.

Yet the clock cannot be turned back. And, as long as the thing is out there, we might as well make use of it. We may not be able to cope with the huge, graphic adventures made for the young, games that require teenager reflexes and an insatiable desire for action, but there are quieter and more reflective games available too.

Most of us like puzzles in which there is no time pressure and it is just our brains against the machine. And the wonderful thing about the internet is that there are plenty of puzzle games that cost nothing at all. Just google “free puzzle games” and you will be presented with an inexhaustible list of relevant sites. The old standards like chess, checkers, mah jong, etc. are usually completely free, while others may add some advertising or be time-limited demonstrations of the full game.

In the coming weeks, I will be looking at a few of the gems that I have found - and I like games that take up no more than ten or twenty minutes of my time (I use them as a brief relaxation from the usual daily round). You may be the same or prefer longer, more involving games; if you have any suggestions or favorite games, why not tell me about them in the comments system?

On September 8, 1966, television viewers set out to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before. It was our first trip aboard the Starship Enterprise.

40 years later, Star Trek is a classic, a series that NBC cancelled in its third season, yet around which a cult following sprang up. The series went into reruns, and became more popular than it was during its brief run in prime time. It spawned 5 additional Star Trek series, and 10 movies, six of which featured the original stars.

Now some of the original props are up for auction. Christies in New York will auction off some 4,000 items from the original series. The items include models of the Starship Enterprise as well as costumes and communicators. You can even buy the bridge of the Enterprise - estimated selling price is about $20,000.

I was thinking of buying one of these little items, but then, we all know the trouble with tribbles.