Of course The Weather Channel is useful. But I'm discovering increasing numbers of people for whom the channel has some sort of hypnotic, addictive effect. And I can admit that even I am not immune to its charms sometimes.

So naturally I was drawn to their (admittedly well-designed) website, to see if their homepage had the same narcotic effect as their television programming. So far, results are inconclusive. But perhaps there are other afficionados out there who can share their insights as to why the Weather channel is so soothing.

I'm assuming that at least part of the reason I like it is because it features a lot of text, with multiple streams of data on screen. And it's tightly focused on one aspect of information, trying to be comprehensive in that realm. How long until they start promoting it as "Your televised portal to all things weather-related"? Streaming media, indeed.