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When someone called me yesterday to say that TD Bank's computers were down and direct deposits weren't getting through, I was a bit underwhelmed.

Cut them some slack, I said: The bank is in the process of merging its computer system with the old Commerce Bank.

Well, today it's my paycheck that's lost in cyberspace, and it's a bit more disconcerting.

As of this writing, accounts still haven't been updated with new deposits since Wednesday. Which must be making some old-fashioned folks who shun direct deposit in favor of paper checks feel vindicated: See? Computers can fail.

It's still a lot easier to lose a paper check than a direct deposit. And I'm sure ... really, I'm sure ... the money will be there when the computer system comes back up, which could be any time now. But it does underscore the fragility of our electronic world, and the scariness of how much we rely on it. It certainly sends out a warning about feeling so confident in technology that you mail out the mortgage payment a day or two before your paycheck is due to be direct deposited.

I would never do that, of course.

On another note ... If he were alive today, maybe Rod Serling would be writing about crashing computers and electronic nightmares. But 50 years ago today, the first episode of "The Twilight Zone" aired in a world in which computers were virtually unknown.

"The Twilight Zone," of course, was more than science fiction - it was "a world not just of sight and sound but of mind." Its brilliant writing still resonates today.

This column from The Rutherford Institute describes the 10 favorite episodes of the institute's president and founder. I remember most of them, but most clearly recall the one involving mild-mannered Henry Bemis (played by Burgess Meredith) who survives the destruction of the world by locking himself in a bank vault - and the episode's devastatingly simple, shattering ending.

Feel free to share your favorite episodes.

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