please pass the BlackBerry

Tim Egan is right: compared to the world of "Mad Men," we’re clearly better off in most regards. He mentions personal health, race relations, and the dampening of socially-sanctioned sexism. (Frank Rich has interesting thoughts on the subject too.)

But nostalgia for all those years ago is not wholly misplaced: "Breakfast without a BlackBerry next to the blueberries... no rush to tweet or post every idle thought."

Right. Excuse me while I tweet that.

(For the record, and in a belated attempt to avoid the most blatant hypocrisy: I love my new iPod.)