Is here. I will admit, I’ve wondered many times what my life would be like if the Internet had never been invented. My main conclusions are that I would have read more books, be less well apprised of current events, and have less geographically dispersed and less interesting friends. I’ve also wondered many times how growing up in rural Iowa would have been different had there been e-mail and the Web back then. There, presumably, I would have grown up feeling much less–shall we say–unusual, probably with both good and bad consequences.

The most farfetched part of It’s a Wonderful Life is the idea that Donna Reed would have ended up a spinster librarian if not for George Bailey.