If I buy a television or radio, plug it in, turn it on and tune it in I am inviting the signal into my house.
But you're forgetting the "Won't somebody think of the children" rule. If I buy a TV just so I can watch Pat Robertson warn me about the evil that gays and *shudder* liberals pose to my existence, what's to prevent my theoretical 5-year old child from turning on the tube and being assaulted by some tripe-spewing volcano of depravity (or an NBA game) coming over the "free" airwaves.
And v-chips? Pshaw I say. I can barely be counted on to form my own opinion when it comes to presidential elections. How am I supposed to regulate what my children watch?
That's the gist of the argument. Any service which you have to invite into your home (in other words subscribe to) does not have to meet the same standards as any service which can be picked up accidently by a supposedly innocent bystander.
IIRC correctly from watching this recently on AMC's "pop-up video" version of this, the reason that the title was changed in the original movie has something to do with Quaker Oats.
"Willy Wonka" was 100% financed by the Quaker Oats Company, a television client of Wolper's who was buying a candy company and wanted to come out with a candy called the Wonka Bar when the picture was distributed so there would be cross-promotion. The name of the picture was changed from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" so the name Wonka could become popular. When the picture was released, the candy was released at the same time. However, the candy had a problem and had to be withdrawn. The picture went on to be successful even though the candy didn't.
Then why did my cable bill go up $3 a month when Steinbrenner's YES network was forced on me? It really irks this BoSox fan that part of my bill is paying Yankee salaries.
Speaking as a 39 year old geek, I'll have you know not all of us old geezers are totally tech-phobic. In-between our Geritol and AARP meetings, we still find time to send out an electric mail or two over one of these new-fangled adding machines.
I remember when we used to send messages with a slide rule. Of course I'd have an onion on my belt while doing it, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...
While I applaud our broadband overlords, I do take issue with the high cost. For me, broadband through Comcast is the only option. I expect to see Dick Cheney join MoveOn.org before I expect DSL in my neck of the woods. The local power company just started providing cable TV and theoretically will provide broadband within a year or two, but I'm not holding my breath. Right now I'm averaging $45 a month for HSI and that's insane.
My other problem with Comcast is their spotty CS. We here in Connecticut just went through a weekend of 50% packet losses and unexplained disconnects. Calls to Comcast resulted in suggestions to power cycle my modem. The problem was obviouisly my fault even though the top thread over at broadbandreports.com was about widespread problems in my state. The patronizing ignorance of most of their alleges techs was astounding.
A few weeks back the guys over at Car Talk had a call from a guy who wanted some advice on how to properly prepare his vehicle for winter.
They asked him what type of car it was, he said it was a kit car. "How much did the kit cost?" they asked. "Oh, about 450 million dollars." replied the caller.
Yes, an engineer from JPL was calling to get some tongue-in-cheek advice on what to do to keep the rovers safe over the martian winter.
I agree. Dark Star has so many classically bad elements (the big orange beachball alien, the quasi-dead Captain, space surfing, etc) that it should an awful movie.
But somehow it ends up being pretty cool. Especially if you get the DVD and watch John Carpenter's original cut (before the studio made him add about ten minutes of worthless plot).
You mean TLC (Learning? Bah! Let us do crappy things to your home's interior design) and Discovery (Science? Pshaw! Watch as we Monster-Up an RV)?
After thinking about it for a bit, I think Adam and Jamie still had a hard time getting CDs to consistently explode at 52X. They had to let the tool run at full speed and I think hook it up to a higher voltage source before they got predictable shrapnel.
They bought a 52X drive and rigged it so that it was visible while working (i.e. no shroud). Then the stressed several CDs by doing bad things to them (leaving them in sunlight, scratching them, putting on half an adhesive label, etc). IIRC, they had a hard time getting any to fail in the drive because they couldn't get the drive to spin up to full speed.
So they rigged a CD spindle onto a power tool (router, drill, I forget which) and put a controller on it so that it would spin at the same speed as a full-speed 52X drive. Then the fireworks started as CDs exploded all over the place. In a twisted move, they modeled a human torso out of balistics gel and put that next to the unshrouded drive. Whee! Flying blades of death.
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If I buy a television or radio, plug it in, turn it on and tune it in I am inviting the signal into my house.
But you're forgetting the "Won't somebody think of the children" rule. If I buy a TV just so I can watch Pat Robertson warn me about the evil that gays and *shudder* liberals pose to my existence, what's to prevent my theoretical 5-year old child from turning on the tube and being assaulted by some tripe-spewing volcano of depravity (or an NBA game) coming over the "free" airwaves.
And v-chips? Pshaw I say. I can barely be counted on to form my own opinion when it comes to presidential elections. How am I supposed to regulate what my children watch?
That's the gist of the argument. Any service which you have to invite into your home (in other words subscribe to) does not have to meet the same standards as any service which can be picked up accidently by a supposedly innocent bystander.
IIRC correctly? Dear Og, somebody shoot me now please before I reveal my PIN number.
Oh look. A link -> http://www.davidlwolper.com/shows/details.cfm?sho
The candy had a problem. That just can't be good.
That's why when I heard that the US government was buying flu vaccine from our friends in Canadia I nearly plotzed.
It's a trap(pist)!
Then why did my cable bill go up $3 a month when Steinbrenner's YES network was forced on me? It really irks this BoSox fan that part of my bill is paying Yankee salaries.
No no.
It mirrors modern society in that if there's a way to milk a cash cow, someone will be standing there with a bucket.
Speaking as a 39 year old geek, I'll have you know not all of us old geezers are totally tech-phobic. In-between our Geritol and AARP meetings, we still find time to send out an electric mail or two over one of these new-fangled adding machines.
I remember when we used to send messages with a slide rule. Of course I'd have an onion on my belt while doing it, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...
Doom is at hand!
Nah, it came out years ago. If you had said DukeNukem4Ever was at hand, well then I'd be concerned about apocralypse.
New CDs cost $10-12, not $17-20.
What's the air like on the planet where you shop? Unless it's in the rack with The Eagles Greatest Hits, most stores charge about 17-20.
Well they are hackable, just not fully supported by Tivo Inc.
While I applaud our broadband overlords, I do take issue with the high cost. For me, broadband through Comcast is the only option. I expect to see Dick Cheney join MoveOn.org before I expect DSL in my neck of the woods. The local power company just started providing cable TV and theoretically will provide broadband within a year or two, but I'm not holding my breath. Right now I'm averaging $45 a month for HSI and that's insane.
My other problem with Comcast is their spotty CS. We here in Connecticut just went through a weekend of 50% packet losses and unexplained disconnects. Calls to Comcast resulted in suggestions to power cycle my modem. The problem was obviouisly my fault even though the top thread over at broadbandreports.com was about widespread problems in my state. The patronizing ignorance of most of their alleges techs was astounding.
A few weeks back the guys over at Car Talk had a call from a guy who wanted some advice on how to properly prepare his vehicle for winter.
They asked him what type of car it was, he said it was a kit car. "How much did the kit cost?" they asked. "Oh, about 450 million dollars." replied the caller.
Yes, an engineer from JPL was calling to get some tongue-in-cheek advice on what to do to keep the rovers safe over the martian winter.
It was pretty cool.
I agree. Dark Star has so many classically bad elements (the big orange beachball alien, the quasi-dead Captain, space surfing, etc) that it should an awful movie.
But somehow it ends up being pretty cool. Especially if you get the DVD and watch John Carpenter's original cut (before the studio made him add about ten minutes of worthless plot).
Pinback is my hero.
Silent Running, with Bruce Dern, Hughey, Dewey, and Louis.
That's okay, he pretty much challenged us to do it.
I bid 40 Quatloons on the newcomer.
You mean TLC (Learning? Bah! Let us do crappy things to your home's interior design) and Discovery (Science? Pshaw! Watch as we Monster-Up an RV)?
After thinking about it for a bit, I think Adam and Jamie still had a hard time getting CDs to consistently explode at 52X. They had to let the tool run at full speed and I think hook it up to a higher voltage source before they got predictable shrapnel.
They concluded that it was really cool!
They bought a 52X drive and rigged it so that it was visible while working (i.e. no shroud). Then the stressed several CDs by doing bad things to them (leaving them in sunlight, scratching them, putting on half an adhesive label, etc). IIRC, they had a hard time getting any to fail in the drive because they couldn't get the drive to spin up to full speed.
So they rigged a CD spindle onto a power tool (router, drill, I forget which) and put a controller on it so that it would spin at the same speed as a full-speed 52X drive. Then the fireworks started as CDs exploded all over the place. In a twisted move, they modeled a human torso out of balistics gel and put that next to the unshrouded drive. Whee! Flying blades of death.
I love that show.
Or the new kid-friendly computer ...
...
wait for it
the EasyMac (one color only)
it is probably not convenient to have your access point close to your chicken.
Am I the only one who thinks this sounds wonderfully dirty?
Lesbian geeks are not to be feared, just worshipped.
I obviously didn't mean you or the poster above you - just, you know, those other women.
Yeah but ...
... off to re-read the DaVince Code and listen to Shriekback
Doesn't parthenogenesis typically produce females?
So does this mean we men have no use anymore?
Besides killing spiders and hooking up the VCR you mean?