If you watch way more television than is good for you (and who doesn't?), it's time to consider turning it off, turning on the Web and read instead about all those cathode rays you've shaken off. In this particular niche, the Vidiots publish the best writing around (which, on the Web, isn't much of a compliment). Just consider their particular views on the current war, or, more to the point, on how they've related to its television coverage.

• Turning off the tube on the night Bush's 48 hours concession to Hussein were up and going out for a change.
• Realizing the first images coming from the front were no better than a streaming video on an 56K dial-up modem.
• Reflecting on how, since Gulf War I, the news feeding frenzy has moved from TV to the Web.

This last one offers some food for thought, as it's author considers how, despite the abundance of information, he's "just as in the dark about this war as the last one — but this time it actually hurts."

...there's plenty of war stuff on the Web. But it's curiously distant. It's muffled, like I've got cotton in my head. It's not as up-to-the-minute as I expect, and it's strangely disconnected. The fog of war, or maybe the fog of disinformation...

I can find a few first-person accounts of living in Baghdad. Mostly they talk about being afraid and buying vegetables. It's interesting and important but very limited, of course. And naturally there's government-approved video and photos and everything on sites like CNN.com. But there's something pre-digested about all of that. I want to know what's really going on.

Just because we have all this information (more like data, but that's a whole different subject) doesn't mean we know any more about what's going on. We need to be able to put it in context, to discern its implications, and make connections between it to understand it. Something to consider if you keep getting war updates every minute of the day.

But, really, you should read what these people have to say.

March 20, 2003
The Eve of War in New York City
Chris Rywalt goes to a concert. In New York. As war breaks out. And is very glad about it. / by Chris Rywalt

March 21, 2003
Let Me Rock You, Shock and Awe
Now that we've softened them up, it's time for Chaka Khan to take the Iraqis by storm! Or are we just dreaming? / by Steve Lutz

March 26, 2003
Information Bath
Watching the war shows just how much information sources have changed in the past 12 years. / by Chris Rywalt