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National TV Turn Off Week
beforewisdom writes "Next week (April 19th - 25th 2004) is National TV Turn Off Week in the USA. Among the many benefits claimed by tvturnoff.org is that 90% of the people who participate in a TV Turnoff Week successfully reduce the amount of television they watch permanently."
...is it being televised?
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
National TV Turn Off decade?
if I just Tivo everything this week and watch it all next week?
Does this include watching episodes of the Simpsons I downloaded off BitTorrent?
But I think what most slashdoters (Including myself) need is a turn off cumputer week...
And 100% successfully reduce the amount of tv they watch that week.
:)
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Do I have to stop tivoing too? It' would be more like "national watch it next week" ... week.
I'd probably get more done if I had a turn-off slashdot week.
-- Mein Systemadminstrator hat einen großen schwarzen Moustache.
The More Reading, Less TV (MRLTV) classroom program motivates school children to put down their remote controls and pick up books.
In other words, stop watching Discovery Channel, read a Hustler instead.
It just means that the load on slashdot will be higher than average for that week.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
I can turn off the TV whenenver I want.
Maybe later...
But what will we do when an annoying family member tries to talk to us?
Vote for new mod!!! Score:-2,Imbecile
Wooohooo!!!!!
More TV for me!!!
TowerDave
What about American Chopper??
"I have found a lot of other interests that I normally wouldn't have, [including] drinking."
Ditch TV & become an alcoholic? There's a campaign slogan.
I don't own a tv.
It's not just entertainment that you'll be missing out on if you participate in thie 'Blackout'. Lots of news, current events, sports, and informational programs will be lost due to this turnoff. Do these organizers realize that? Yes, you can read newspapers to get by, but having moving pictures in your home is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Why would you want to abstain from it for some enlightend purpose?
These people just need to get a life. It's just like that don't-buy-anything blackout. Some people don't like the choices others make, and try to bust your chops to be like them.
Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.
But I don't even have a TV to turn off you insensitive clods!
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Yeah, give up T.V. and take up drinking :-)
"REAL PEOPLE"... I remember that show! It was hilarious!
...or maybe not.
By Bill Watterson:
...It means Karl Marx hadn't seen anything yet...
Calvin: : It says here, "Religion is the opiate of the masses."...What do you suppose that means?
TV:
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
From Erik of oldmanmurray (may it RIP):
"People who don't watch TV love to mention it and never fail to pair that statement with the fact that they read books too. But as long as they're patting themselves on the back for simply not doing something, it seems to me that there are lots of worse things you could be taking credit for not doing. For instance, next time someone decides to lord over you the fact that he doesn't watch TV, go ahead and tell him "Good for you!" Then while everyone around you is reflecting on his massive intellect, up the awful-things-you-don't-do ante by mentioning that you don't rape people and then add that you watch lots of television instead. Not only does that make you a better person - after all what kind of psychotic jerkoff wastes his time not watching TV when he could be busy not commiting violent sex crimes? - but it gives you sort of an air of barely suppressed operatic rage, which makes you more like Batman."
linkified.
This is great. Just think of how much more Everquest I'll be able to play with no TV.
But I still believe that it's gay mariage that is endangering families the most.
Absolutely.
With the law of Conservation of Marriage, there are only a fixed number of marriage licenses available. That's why divorce rates have soared as the population has increased--there just aren't enough stable marriages to go around. Now with homosexual marriages starting in a month in Massachusetts, there will be roving bands of homosexuals roaming the streets forcing people to divorce at gunpoint.
Please Governor Romney, defend my marriage!
On second thought, keep on watching. Watch to your heart's content. The bike paths are already crowded enough, and I shudder to imagine what some of your kind would talk about around the water cooler if it weren't for "Survivor".
What nobody seems to realize is that the world needs mindless drones--lots and lots of mindless drones. I don't want a deluge of sensible, enlightened, productive non-TV watchers. For one, it'll wreak havoc with my sense of superiority. What's more, it'll mean that I'll face stiffer competition both in the workplace and in my pastimes as more and more people wake up and become thoughtful, productive individuals. What, you think I want more competition for that promotion?
If you stop watching TV, you won't be able to roll your eyes at me and my freakish, elitist, hippie lifestyle. Similarly, I'll be unable to fire off snide insults about your sedentary, mindless lifestyle. Why ruin the fun for both of us?
I encourage you to watch as much TV as you want, and to share that time in front of the tube with your children, as well. You'll be happier, I'll be happier, and everything will work out wonderfully.
Hugs 'n' kisses, AAiP
(hint: tongu_ in ch__k. Buy a vowel...)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
(like the entire Dune series, including prequels) - Now, I'm sucked back in watching reality TV ... bah .
Tonight on the Arrakis Broadcasting Company (ABC): "The Kwisach Haderach". 220,000 originally applied, but tonight only one will by chosen by Trump-Gesserit as the Kwisach Haderach. Tune in and spice up your life!
Over on Tech TV, yet another panel discussion about how Tech TV will survive once the Butlerian Jihad reaches its completion. Quote from Leo LaPorte: "A Vic-20 does not count as a thinking machine, does it?"
Over on the other network, there is Fear Factor. Yet another worm-swallowing episode. I doubt the typical outcome with the worm swallowing all the contestants in one gulp will ever be altered.
Also, on CBS (Caladan Broadcasting System), there is "Survivor". Find out who survives when the royal family is dumped on a harsh desert planet.
On CNN, an interview concerning the ongoing search for Shaddam IV's weapons of mass destruction.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Welcome back to the world of the thinking.
In the third week of januaray 2004, it's reported that there is an unusual increase in % child birth...
4. I have $50/month more to spend on other things that I enjoy to do (i.e. food, drinking, girlfriend, etc).
Your girlfriend charges you a monthly fee? Where I come from, there's a word for that...
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Most people do not want to be free of TV. You have to want to not watch TV and see that your life could be better without it.
That's why we never disconnect anyone over 30. Their minds simply can't handle it. -The Matrix
For those that participate and manage to deprive themselves of their precious idiot box programming, let me bring you up to speed on what you'll be missing:
... DID YOU KNOW NORTHERN BATH TISSUE IS THE SOFTEST?
* Soaps: Wife secretly sleeps with husband's brother who's being blackmailed by their chauffer who is actually a
* Talk Shows: All this week: Crack Whore Makeovers on Jenny Jones, plus a special appearance by... AMAZING NEW WEIGHT LOSS PILL!
* Survivor: This week contestants swim through shark-infested waters with dead fish in their mouths; winner receives one sock and... TRY NEW CREST CHEESECAKE-FLAVORED TOOTHPASTE!
* Saturday Night Live: Woman with nice boobs hosts; cast members create skits so they can cop a feel; musical guest... THE NEW NISSAN XTERRA HAS A V8 AND FIVE (YES FIVE) CUPHOLDERS!
* News: War going bad; war going good; one guy says other guy will tax everyone into poor house; some dude in Peoria is suing Wal-Mart for $5B for... ISN'T IT TIME YOU TRIED VIAGRA?
* American Chopper: Paul Sr. continues to abuse Paul Jr.; Mikey explodes after all-night twinkie binge; OCC scapes the bottom of the barrel looking for politically-correct bike themes with their new chopper commemmorating the lawyers who set up the 911 Red Cross fund. Special appearance by... HALLIBURTON.. SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.
* Monster House: Team of dysfunctional contractors install a 12' bong and jacuzzi filled with Patchoulli in new "Hippie House"; owners are stunned when they peek in and discover... CHEVY, AMERICA'S TRUCK
* Talk Shows: Jay Leno's special guest: Billy Bob Thorton; tonite on Conan: Billy Bob Thorton; tonite on Late Night: Billy Bob Thorton. Check out Billy Bob's new movie about... HIENEKEN BEER - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEER
CHAPEL HILL, NC--Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers--as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
v ision.html
"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the establishment's wall-mounted TV. "I don't even own one."
According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward television whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.
"A few days ago, [store manager] Annette [Haig] was saying her new contacts were bothering her," Elkins said. "The second she said that, I knew Jonathan would pounce. He was like, 'I didn't know you had contacts, Annette. Are your eyes bad? That a shame. I'm really lucky to have almost perfect vision. I'm guessing it's because I don't watch TV. In fact, I don't even own one."
According to Elkins, "idiot box" is Green's favorite derogatory term for television.
"He uses that one a lot," she said. "But he's got other ones, too, like 'boob tube' and 'electronic babysitter.'"
Elkins said Green always makes sure to read the copies of Entertainment Weekly and People lying around the shop's break room, "just so he can point out all the stars and shows he's never heard of."
"Last week, in one of the magazines, there was a picture of Calista Flockhart," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. Calista who? Am I supposed to have heard of her? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"
Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for television.
"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I made some kind of Simpsons reference," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was from a TV show, he just went off, saying how the last show he watched was some episode of Cheers, and even then, he could only watch for about two minutes before having to shut it off because it insulted his intelligence so terribly."
Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I saw something on the news, and he started in with, 'Saw the news? I don't know about you, but I read the news."
Green has lived without television since 1989, when his then-girlfriend moved out and took her set with her.
"When Claudia went, the TV went with her," Green said. "But instead of just going out and buying another one--which I certainly could have afforded, that wasn't the issue--I decided to stand up to the glass teat."
"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen."
"If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out."
Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit--or, shall I say, addiction--eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."
Source: http://www.theonion.com/onion3604/doesnt_own_tele
I thought there already was a campaign to get everyone to turn off their TV's??? It's called "reality tv"...
We do where I come from too. The word is "wife."
I think the question is the quality of the entertainment. Spend your life in front of a tv and you'll never know that richer more rewarding types of entertainment, like reading for one, are available.
I watched Mythbusters last night. I got far more reward from that one hour than from a day or so of reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. Sturgeon's Law applies to books, too...
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
Since then, I pretty much only watch Discovery/History channels with a rare forray into the SciFi channel.
... beware, everyone - not watching T.V. for a month may turn you into a no-life nature nerd like my father.
Holy shit
No TV???
Then how do you know what direction to point your furniture?
Not watching TV has had the opposite effect on me. I haven't had cable or broadcast in my house for a year now. Whenever I go over to a friend's house, I am completely enthralled by the production value that they can put into every advertisement now.
OMG!@~! It's TIGER WOODS AGIN!
Holy crap! That charbroiled quarter pounder looks DELICIOUS!
I'd say I felt like a kid again, but I was way more jaded when I was a kid.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
And I'm pretty sure that most people would consider sitting on your ass during all your free time to add skinning capabilities to a calendar that maybe three people use a total waste of time.
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
A quote from my father:
This internet thing is killing the art of watching television.
(I don't have one either).
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Not owning a TV stops being cool the moment you feel you need to tell people you don't own a TV.
So what exactly did people do before they had television?
Beats me. Maybe they all sat on the couch, staring at an empty wall, thinking "Gee, I sure wish we had something to watch. And something to watch it on."
So I dont have a TV in my house
So what do you point all of your furniture at?
Make money with Real Estate Investing
Years ago, my mother was visiting my wife and me. We don't generally watch much TV, but it was Babylon 5 night, so she watched it with us, companionably. She claimed to enjoy it.
Then later that week, Friends was on (I think in its first season, since I had never heard of it before), and she made us watch it, saying
"You should watch this show! These people are like you."
I still have no idea what she meant by that. But I guess those are the people who watch Friends...people who are *just like them*. (Or who think their kids are just like them.)
Of course, this is the same woman who said to me, "I watched that Brazil movie you were talking about, and I was wondering...are you depressed?"
He decided to just watch the government, and kind of scale it down to size, and run his life that way. --Laurie Anderson
I don't believe it.
What does she do with her life?
I don't read or respond to AC posts
The funny thing is, the way the picture is displayed seems to hypnotize people. Scientific studies have shown that, within about 10 seconds of watching TV, the brain slips out of alpha waves and into beta waves (like you're sleeping).
You want to know what the funny thing is? About 10 words into your post my brain slipped out of alpha waves and into beta waves.
... watching TV on plasmas and TFTs? Since they don't form a picture by updating one dot at the time, you would by your idea be less prone to advertisement?
As well as tortious interference with pre-existing contract. I'm quite sure that consumers watching tv is the basis for the business model of TV networks. Telling people to not watch their TVs interferes with that business model. Clearly those who buy TVs have an implied contract to watch them (and the commercials). Since interference with a business model when electricity is somehow involved (e.g. electronic devices) is a DMCA violation, this is a DMCA violation. Also, tortious interference with contract. Let the lawsuits begin. Sadly I'm only half kidding.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
odd... didn't see that reported on the news tonight... I'll watch again at 10, maybe it'll be on the late news.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone