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[#] Tue Dec 06 2022 11:12:14 EST from Nurb432

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So kristie alley just died i guess, form cancer.   She seemed like a decent person, for being in Hollywood.



[#] Tue Dec 06 2022 12:54:28 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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She was. One of the few brave Hollywood people who refused to toe the commie line.

[#] Tue Dec 06 2022 15:17:43 EST from fandarel

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She was my first TV crush. I was 12 when she joined Cheers. Dunno how she was in real life but I always liked her on the show, much better than Shelley Long.

[#] Sat Jan 14 2023 16:46:46 EST from Nurb432

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A fiend for mine out of the blue:   "you should look at X' "Um, what is that" "its a channel, on your TV" "um, no" "just check your apps on your TV" "um no, its a TV.. That is all it is"
 
 
Do they not sell regular TV anymore and people are just dumb? A quick look on amazon, they were ALL smart TV crap. 
 
Not saying i'm a Luddite, yet, but this is getting out of hand.


[#] Sun Jan 15 2023 05:35:55 EST from darknetuser

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Do they not sell regular TV anymore and people are just dumb? A

quick look on amazon, they were ALL smart TV crap. 

I would not know for sure, because I don't watch neither regular TV nor internet TV channels at all.

The part about people being just dumb is quite correct, that is for sure.


Also, it looks to me that advertisement space on the streets (such as advertisements in bus stops) has seen regular TV shows kicked out and replaced by shows served over the Internet.

There is a number of countries where the use of a regular TV set is taxed. Maybe people is just kicking the TV sets out in order not to pay the tax and watch shows over the Internet instead...

[#] Sun Jan 15 2023 08:04:24 EST from Nurb432

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i dont either, unless there is some sort of local weather issue going on.  ( assuming my antenna didnt blow away too :) )

I rarely stream. Normally what i watch comes off stored files from a dedicated generic 'media box'. ( used to be DVD but now that drive space is cheap they are all ripped ) If i stream, i can do it via the dedicated box, which is not compromised, and easily replaceable when updates stop, or it catches on fire. 

i just dont want my TV on internet, i dont want the overhead of apps just to watch something, ( i cant imagine all the ads if online, and warnings if not  ) and dont want the additional points of failure. Its like those silly all-in-one PCs..  one little component dies, the entire thing, including your 'monitor' is gone. I could afford buying new ones due to minor failures, but its the principle of it.

I dont want internet on my thermostat, my door knob, my fridge, or my freaking car either.  No assistants, no 100" monitor on my dash.. just some dials for how fast i'm going, and a volume knob for my stereo, not a touch screen with 3 menus deep. 

I'm even ok with manual windows... ( tho i guess in the little car, i cant safely reach the other side while driving due to the center console being there, so power is nice, but id be ok without it too )

 Ok its turning into a rant, sorry :)

Sun Jan 15 2023 05:35:55 AM EST from darknetuser

I would not know for sure, because I don't watch neither regular TV nor internet TV channels at all.


 



[#] Sun Jan 15 2023 08:06:16 EST from Nurb432

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I remember reports of the 'TV cops' driving around in vans looking for unapproved sets...    But I assume a smart TV would be taxed too since they advertise them as "TV"

Sun Jan 15 2023 05:35:55 AM EST from darknetuser
There is a number of countries where the use of a regular TV set is taxed. Maybe people is just kicking the TV sets out in order not to pay the tax and watch shows over the Internet instead...

 



[#] Sun Jan 15 2023 14:48:53 EST from darknetuser

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2023-01-15 08:06 from Nurb432
I remember reports of the 'TV cops' driving around in vans looking
for unapproved sets...    But I assume a smart TV would be taxed
too since they advertise them as "TV"

A smart TV will get taxed, sure. However, you can watch lots of channels using just a laptop and a big screen connected to it, or a projector.

[#] Sun Jan 15 2023 16:09:21 EST from Nurb432

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If i have to replace my TV, i'm leaning towards a projector or a 'monitor' if i run into issues finding a real TV. We dont have a TV tax here, but it would get around the smart-problem. 

But not sure how well a projector would work for me.  I know i have limited success when i have used them at the office.  Always a sub-par experience, but they were cheaper quality.. older boat-anchor style.  ( we actually swapped them all out for 50" monitors last year )



[#] Mon Jan 16 2023 09:30:21 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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Television receivers are taxed in places where the tax money (supposedly) pays for the government-funded television channels. It's a boneheaded arrangement, to be sure. Viewers in England (or whatever it's called) pay a TV Tax to fund the BBC. In the US we are forced to pay for PBS through tax dollars, whether we own a receiver or not.

"Smart" televisions now cost less than televisions containing only a display and receiver because they are subsidized by the inclusion of what computer users would recognize as "crapware". Content providers pay for preinstallation and placement on the built-in directory. Thankfully, you don't have to use that crap, and if you're concerned about privacy you can simply keep it off your network.

I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they began selling heavily discounted smart televisions that have no tuners or video inputs and can only be viewed using the built-in software.

[#] Mon Jan 16 2023 09:52:28 EST from Nurb432

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I thought it was all funded by donors ( of course most are those huge donors/endowment funds trying to manipulate the media, but still donor )

I suppose the tax free part, technically means we pay, but not directly.

Mon Jan 16 2023 09:30:21 AM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
 In the US we are forced to pay for PBS through tax dollars, whether we own a receiver or not.




[#] Mon Jan 16 2023 09:55:04 EST from Nurb432

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Back rooms, alleys, and vans.. "hey kid, wanna buy a dumb tv?"

 

I did have a blue-ray for a few moments that would NOT work without internet. Some sort of SONY product.  It did not stay in my house long.

 

Mon Jan 16 2023 09:30:21 AM EST from IGnatius T Foobar

I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they began selling heavily discounted smart televisions that have no tuners or video inputs and can only be viewed using the built-in software.

 



[#] Thu Jan 26 2023 09:51:04 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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I thought it was all funded by donors ( of course most are those huge
donors/endowment funds trying to manipulate the media, but still

"Viewers like you" make up only a small portion of their funding. The rest comes from taxes.

You might recall about a decade ago there was some talk of defunding PBS.
It was a good idea. But the pushback came in the form of "You want to fire Big Bird!" which was a dumb talking point even then, because Children's Television Workshop has been owned by HBO for some time now -- but that rhetoric landed well with the uninformed people for whom it was intended.

PBS has no reason to exist. At this point, broadcast television in general could be retired. Station owners are deliberately reducing the value of their broadcast systems because they'd rather collect rebroadcasting fees from cable and satellite providers. Yes, that's a thing.
When a cable or satellite company carries a station that was freely broadcasted over the air, they (and the customers) still have to pay.

[#] Sat Feb 18 2023 07:39:12 EST from Nurb432

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Purists may not like it, but Season 3 of Picard at least start out ok. Felt sort of like a modern TNG. Darker, visually noisy, but it is 2023



[#] Fri Apr 07 2023 09:26:33 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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My wife has been watching reruns of Seinfeld on whatever streaming service she has on her phone (netflix or amazon)

It's kind of amusing. Once in a while I overhear some of the audio and remember how Jerry Seinfeld's humor was the signature act of a generation. And I realized that most of the humor is built around people communicating badly. It's notable because the vast majority of the jokes wouldn't work in a world where everyone has a mobile telephone.

[#] Mon Apr 10 2023 18:46:27 EDT from zelgomer

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people communicating badly. It's notable because the vast majority of

the jokes wouldn't work in a world where everyone has a mobile
telephone.


I had a similar thought once, except in my case it was that movies before cell phones were so much better. Cell phones and the internet ruined plots.

Imagine how ridiculous Star Wars must seem to kids today. When they're stuck in the trash compactor, why doesn't Luke just Discord C3-P0?

[#] Sun Apr 23 2023 13:58:04 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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Imagine how ridiculous Star Wars must seem to kids today. When they're

stuck in the trash compactor, why doesn't Luke just Discord C3-P0?

Because he didn't have the wifi password for the Death Star. Duh.

[#] Mon Apr 24 2023 19:50:09 EDT from zelgomer

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2023-04-23 17:58 from IGnatius T Foobar <ajc@citadel.org>
Imagine how ridiculous Star Wars must seem to kids today. When
they're

stuck in the trash compactor, why doesn't Luke just Discord C3-P0?


Because he didn't have the wifi password for the Death Star. Duh.


LOL okay you got me there.

[#] Sat Jul 15 2023 18:39:57 EDT from Nurb432

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Happened to run across a segment of a Fox news show on YT.  They were making fun of Jeep Ducking.  One of them drives a freaking Bronco, he does not even get the right to say the word Jeep. ( a new Bronco, not when they were still respected )

F-those people. I never will even accidentally watch anything of theirs again. I hope they implode and everyone on staff ends up in a homeless camp in California eating bugs.

( ya sort of a rant, but it was a TV show... )



[#] Tue Sep 12 2023 08:01:10 EDT from Nurb432

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...continuation of morning spam about a similar subject.....

 

Back in the early 90s UPN came out with a show called "nowhere man", starring a long haired Bruce Greenwood. ( i hear they crested the show details around him, instead of molding him into the show. ) The entire story is not important, but the basic premise is that a dude unknowingly, and innocently, did something not accepted by 'the man' and then 'the system' came after him, flipping his life upside down. Came after him covertly, physiologically, and physically.  Basically the show revolved him avoiding them winning and trying to find out what the hell was going on. Sort of like the Millennium shadow group in Millennium. Also a show everyone should watch. 

it was a GREAT show and everyone should watch it. Even tho it got killed after season one, which upset EVERYONE ( almost as much as when caprica was canceled, or Farscape ),  the basic premise was explained of what was going on. So while you had a cliff hanger, it wasn't a total dead end to the show ( sort of like 'john doe' was ).. There was a fan club out on Usenet ( wait, wistful nostalgia ? ) and of course after the show died, the group sort of quieted down. 

A bit later ( cant member exact timing now. but not long, perhaps a year ) a guy appeared.  "Hey i work for UPN and i managed to get some of the original films. i'm going to make DVDs of what i have .. anyone interested "   of course no one believed him. But hey, it bought the channel back ti life. so whatever, we can play along, right? 

Over time he started posting some behind the scenes images and stuff that no one would have other than someone at the studios. Later he offered images like 'hey, how do you think this menu looks'.  And promo materials he created, all extremely professional.  He also started getting more paranoid that 'they' were on to him and had to hurry.  Most of us blew that off as being 'in theme' but, it got worse and worse and it sounded believable that he was going to lose his job.  About a year or so in " hey, i did it, anyone want to buy some " and he sold a few copies to the group.  I had to pass, he wanted way to much for me at the time, it was the dark times so food and lights were more important.  

They were legit disks, people got them, then he made some comment about 'they figured it out" and was never seen again.

 

Move to about a year later..   UPN put out a DVD set.. with those menus.. same layout, same promotional materials. ( but 1/2 the price, which i could barely afford. figured i better do it now, i wont get a 3rd chance on something like this )  Ya, we were duped, we fell for it and UPN, well, they sort of took advantage of the fan base. BUT, we did get something out of it, and it was fun, so there was no hard feelings.  They could have just came out and told us the truth and got even more input. But it was still a fun time. 



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