According to some statistics, the average adult in the U.S. spends 7.6 hours per day at work.

Some folks out in the Midwest probably think of prairie dogs as pests. It’s not like you don’t have enough to contend with what with dodging tornados, staying afloat during floods, and dealing with other biblically inspired plagues. Still there are many a cattle rancher with a freezer full untimely steaks because some poor bovine broke a leg in a prairie dog hole.

If you ever come up on a prairie dog hole in the wild (hopefully sans the cow) you might want to back off a bit, grab a pair of binoculars, an icy 6-pack of whatever pleases you, and settle in for the show.

Prairie dogs are smart little buggers and watching them can be more entertaining than Sex in the City, Heroes, and Six Feet Under all rolled into one.

Meerkats are the African cousins to the prairie dog and they are even more fun to watch; so much fun that they even have their own show on Animal Planet called Meerkat Manor. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the show, there’s a free episode available on the iTunes Store called Science of Meerkats, and it’s pretty good.

?They talk about the trial and tribulations of meerkat research.

Research?

Absolutely! Meerkats, like prairie dogs, are more than just burrowing balls of fur. They possess true personalities and have the ability to make fairly complex decisions about life, family, friends, and the meaning of it all. I wouldn’t be surprised if researchers found them building little altars for virgin sacrifice (Finding a virgin would be tough, but that’s true for most societies.). Altars and sacrificial killings implies religion, which implies existential thought, and that would mean these little fur balls would be self-aware and becoming aware of the world around them.

Of course, they haven’t built any altars, but still, watching them is like watching proto-humans decide there’s more to life than eating, sleeping and making little proto-humans a zillion years ago.

Good stuff, so grab Science of Meerkats at the iTunes Store.

OK, change of subject: Have you noticed that Hollywood is on a super-hero kick lately?

This year alone we have Iron Man (which rocked), The Incredible Hulk (a do-over), Batman: The Dark Knight (a double do-over), Hitch Hancock, and probably one or two others waiting in the wings.

Super-hero movies are today’s westerns; the bad guys are easy to spot, the good guys always wear something interesting, and usually the day is saves and the hero gets the girl.

Kids TV shows very often had super-heroes in them, so it should be of no surprise when ABC Family offers up yet another: The Middle Man. The pilot episode is available for free on the iTunes Store, and if it is any indication of the other episodes, they might be onto something.

Think of it as Get Smart and Inspector Gadget meets Iron Man and you get the gist of the show. I snickered while watching the pilot and that’s a good thing. Usually shows like this are so dumbed down that it becomes painful for any sane person to watch. That’s not to say that The Middle Man doesn’t have it’s dumb moments, but the show manages to bring a bit of freshness to a tired genre.

Take a look at the pilot episode for free at the iTunes Store.

One more subject change: What if you made a show that was like the hit show The Office, but all of the action takes place on a factory floor? Wouldn’t that be a riot?

That’s probably what the creators of Factory thought, and it sounds good on paper, but the execution is, um, well..., let’s just say it’s OK, and leave it at that.

I like that they didn’t decide to add an ethnic guy or a woman to the main group of characters, the only odd one in this odd bunch is Gus and it’s his weight that makes him different. The four main men, Chad, Gus, Smitty, and Gary are all White and they all work for a living, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The jokes are middle class which, unfortunately means that there may not be enough people around who’ll understand them.

I like the idea of Factory, I just hope future episodes are better. Check out the free pilot at the iTunes store.

OK, that’s a wrap for this week. Stop by next week for more Free on iTunes.

Here’s more freebie at the iTunes Store (with links):

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.