On September 11, 2001 I was awakened by a phone call from Mom at about 7:00am HST, which is 1:00pm EDT. By that time all four of the precipitating events of that day had happened three or four hours earlier, so my view of the tragedies was on videotape — over and over and over again. Once the shock had dissipated a little, what I remember most is incessant bafflegab from TV anchors all speculating on “What’s it all mean?”

Today, ten years later, the TV anchors have changed (well, Brokaw is all over MSNBC), but we’re still being treated to repetitive bafflegab. It’s more informed today than it was then, but to my mind it’s still intrusive.