We’ve been watching old episodes of MacGyver on DVD. I really remember them being a lot better as a kid, but they’re still charming in their own way. All the 80s hair and shoulderpads!

It’s not just the fashion that’s changed, however. Tonight’s episodes had our hero Angus MacGyver sneaking into Afghanistan to retrieve a spy satellite before it got into the hands of the soviets, and had a bright young computer hacker who was being chased by some bad guys and by the federal government. The standard “you can’t come in here without a warrant” and “what charges would you arrest me on?” conversations struck me as outdated as the clunky electronics in the episode. It’s one bit of progress I can do without.

I was also amazed at how low security “high security” prisons in North Africa are, and (as usual) how much every country manages to look like Southern California.