The clues eventually lead him to join a Masonic club that enables members to channel-surf strangers' private lives.

Would you channel-surf your big-screen TV for URLs so you could Net surf them later on your computer?

I flop on the bed and click the TV on to channel-surf when I notice that, just under the screen, sits a minibar.

So in effect, Akin and Cruz have given some conservative activists a reason to channel-surf when the Republican convention is on TV this month.

Or if I hadn't been so bored that I'd been channel-surfing through Korean newscasts.

I think it's that wiring that means I almost never sit mindlessly channel-surfing when watching TV.

My father channel-surfed in the living room, raising the volume to compete with the kitchen activity.

Grabbing the remote, he channel-surfed for more news coverage of the assassination attempt, another story about Tom Lance.

Years later I channel-surfed past a show about cowboys and recognized the weird stick Michelle had been holding that night.

But if you have channel-surfed during the small hours recently, then you are likely to have come across ITV's The Mint.

Favreau channel-surfed for a while, and when he hit on the Wright clips, he thought, Oh, Jesus, this is going to be bad.