One of my favorite PBS series ever is Sherlock.

This smart, clever, funny, well-written, and well-acted TV show is based on the original stories about “the great detective” written in the early 20th century by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And this British reimagining is so well-done, it’s worth a second or third (or more) viewing.

It’s hard to say that about most stuff that makes it to the tube.

One of my favorite bits concerns Sherlock’s ignorance about the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, not vice versa. The detective’s explanation for this apparent oversight is that knowing what revolves around what doesn’t matter to his everyday life or his work. He prefers to fill his head with important stuff such as how to diffuse a bomb or how to maintain his mental road map of London.

I believe that Sherlock’s philosophy has quite a bit of validity in this time of the decaying internet. That’s why my laptop’s delete key has become the single most important button I push every day.

In fact, that’s how I start my day, with a cup of tea in one hand while the index finger of my otherwise unoccupied hand hits the delete (and unsubscribe) key over and over again.

That’s not to say that I delete everything. It’s just that I’ve become very, very selective.

Before I hit delete or unsubscribe, my question always is: Do I need to spend precious minutes on yet more political appeals to my wallet or Amazon’s need to sell me its bogus Prime products or on yet another boring story about the evil child living in our vandalized White House?

Nope. Delete.

The sensation is delightful.

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Speaking of Amazon, here’s a link to a great article in The Guardian about the rot at the core of Amazon. So well worth your time: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish