The music industry feels like it's trending into the "subscription only" style as well...I wish consumers would fight back against this at some point.
I don't quite know what the solution is, though, for video. I'd like for there to be multiple competitors with similar content that they paid access to, but that seems to be in no one's interest but for the consumers.
I was super excited to watch Picard today.
Things are getting a bit crazy. In no way will I pay CBS a
monthly subscription just to watch a show.
The music industry feels like it's trending into the
"subscription only" style as well...I wish consumers would
fight back against this at some point.
Anyway, thanks for letting me rant.
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 106 1/133 100
I was super excited to watch Picard today.
:)
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 106 1/133 100
This has to be the best SEEN-BY path I have seen today :)
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 106 1/133 100
This has to be the best SEEN-BY path I have seen today :)
That did arrive in your dupe base I hope?
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 106 1/133 100
This has to be the best SEEN-BY path I have seen today :)
That did arrive in your dupe base I hope?
I saw two dupes so far
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 2/100
and
@PATH: 1/151 3/100
Werner Herzog, who is playing the imperial dude with the German accent
on the Mandalorian, said "Piracy has been the most successful form of distribution worldwide"
Some happenin' binkp servers there.. :)
Werner Herzog, who is playing the imperial dude with the German accen on the Mandalorian, said "Piracy has been the most successful form of distribution worldwide":) On that note, Mandalorian is pretty spectacular! Not worth a Disney
On 01-26-20 15:52, ryan wrote to All <=-
So I don't particularly want to be beholden to another stupid streaming service. I looked for ways to buy the episodes independently. Guess
what? They don't exist. Not through iTunes, not through Amazon...you literally have to subscribe to their stupid service to watch episodes.
The music industry feels like it's trending into the "subscription
only" style as well...I wish consumers would fight back against this at some point.
On 01-26-20 17:32, Adept wrote to ryan <=-
The music industry feels like it's trending into the "subscription only" style as well...I wish consumers would fight back against this at some point.
I mean, the music industry did that before, and the result was lots of piracy, until iTunes showed up.
And with videos, Netflix showing up also reduced piracy, because it was easy and convenient enough.
I don't quite know what the solution is, though, for video. I'd like
for there to be multiple competitors with similar content that they
paid access to, but that seems to be in no one's interest but for the consumers.
On 01-26-20 23:40, Phoobar wrote to Adept <=-
Expect something like Pluto TV & such as being the solution. Don't care about watching TV shows/movies with short spots...especially if it's something I enjoy & didn't see back in the day. If this is true...it
may take years for Picard & others to come to this forum.
On 01-27-20 08:27, Oli wrote to ryan <=-
Werner Herzog, who is playing the imperial dude with the German accent
on the Mandalorian, said "Piracy has been the most successful form of distribution worldwide"
The Mandalorian is still not available in Germany ...
Yeah I have no interest in streaming subscriptions. I used to be a regular purchaser of music through services like iTunes and the like,
when I wanted to add to my collection, but now I simply don't bother, because I keep getting redireted to the streaming services. I'll just pull up music videos on YouTube nowadays and put up with the ads. :)
:) On that note, Mandalorian is pretty spectacular! Not worth a Disney subscription, though...I'd still rather buy the episodes outright haha.
Maybe it's because I make music myself, but I still feel like there has
to be a contingent of people who prefer to curate a personal collection
of material, directly supporting the author(s) that they like. I refuse
to believe everything is a throwaway. It just doesn't make sense.
@PATH: 1/151 3/100 4/100 106 1/133 100
:)
This has to be the best SEEN-BY path I have seen today :)
On 01-27-20 15:24, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Maybe it's because I make music myself, but I still feel like there has
to be a contingent of people who prefer to curate a personal collection
of material, directly supporting the author(s) that they like. I refuse
to believe everything is a throwaway. It just doesn't make sense.
On 01-27-20 15:56, Adept wrote to ryan <=-
I think this is why I spend as much as I do on Patreon support.
Mind you, I feel a bit questionable about _Patreon_, but it making it easier to support the small-time creators is a wonder.
The Mandalorian is still not available in Germany ...
It probably is on Bittorrent! :D
Look at all those Frequent Flyer Miles its earned... :)
Yes, I'd like more content cross licensing in the distribution chain.
It would be worth a modest increase in Netflix (etc) subscription rates
to make it possible.
I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
He may be right.
The Mandalorian is still not available in Germany ...
It probably is on Bittorrent! :D
On 27 Jan 2020 at 06:10p, Black Panther pondered and said...
Look at all those Frequent Flyer Miles its earned... :)
It would be an interesting thought experiment to set up an echo
that has but one node up and down in the chain so that we can
create a really really long SEEN-BY ... does that appeal to
those here :) ?
Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Pluto TV is a streaming service owned by Viacom (CBS). Same company
which streams Discovery/Picard. It has commercials & allows you to
watch a running feed like a TV station or pick many of the same titles
to run when you want. Here's their US website:
https://pluto.tv/live-tv/.
You mean PATH?
If that works we can start to introduce different ways if delivery on
the path. HAM, modem, pre-EMSI ... UUCP?
They have a nice phone app; I've been watching the impeachment live from work over it. I'm mulling over cutting my cable off, they have a lot of content to offer over the internet that we'll be watching.
It's probably out there, but the killer app is one that'd aggregate all
of the streaming content on different services into one guide. I have a Roku TV, and the number of streaming channels I had no idea existed is mind- blowing.
Another idea I had/have kicking around would be how to structure things
so that each node in the network could be meshed to others (at least
one) as well as a HUB so as to build further resilience in comms.
Another idea I had/have kicking around would be how to structure things so that each node in the network could be meshed to others (at least one) as well as a HUB so as to build further resilience in comms.
I pay for cable through Comcast in the USA. There's no choice here in the matter; if I want internet, I also have to get cable, so whatever.
So I don't particularly want to be beholden to another stupid streaming service. I looked for ways to buy the episodes independently. Guess what? They don't exist. Not through iTunes, not through Amazon...you literally have to subscribe to their stupid service to watch episodes.
Things are getting a bit crazy. In no way will I pay CBS a monthly subscription just to watch a show.
I mean, the music industry did that before, and the result was lots of piracy, until iTunes showed up.
And with videos, Netflix showing up also reduced piracy, because it was easy and convenient enough.
I don't quite know what the solution is, though, for video. I'd like for there to be multiple competitors with similar content that they paid access to, but that seems to be in no one's interest but for the consumers.
So I don't particularly want to be beholden to another stupid
streaming service. I looked for ways to buy the episodes
independently. Guess what? They don't exist. Not through iTunes, not
through Amazon...you literally have to subscribe to their stupid
service to watch episodes.
*cough* bittorrent *cough* ;)
In all seriousness, this sort of crap is what drves so-called "piracy". Give people what they want when they want at a reasonable price without forcing them to jump through hoops, and they will pay for it gladly. But if you dick people around like this, they'll find ways to buck the system.
Phoobar wrote to ryan <=-
Seem to also remember the guy they broke out of prison was Moss on The
IT Crowd. I could be wrong...but having those flexible horns rather
than an afro threw me off...but that voice.
On 01-27-20 23:49, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yes, I'd like more content cross licensing in the distribution chain.
It would be worth a modest increase in Netflix (etc) subscription rates
to make it possible.
Think we've been talking about BritBox/Acorn to watch decent TV (my opinion). Don't mind paying for what I feel I get value from. For instance...if the BBC would offer a worldwide license to be able to
watch their programming by streaming...many of us would be happy to pay for it. Instead they offer BBC America which mainly plays American
a cheap license to run it...rather than actual British TV. Love David Tennant as the Doctor...but would rather watch the classic episodes
I've never seen...no matter how hokey they might be.
Gotta get something to eat to take my pills...so enough about me
ranting & raving about what I can't get.
On 01-27-20 23:54, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Pluto TV is a streaming service owned by Viacom (CBS). Same company
which streams Discovery/Picard. It has commercials & allows you to
watch a running feed like a TV station or pick many of the same titles
to run when you want. Here's their US website:
https://pluto.tv/live-tv/.
On 01-27-20 23:56, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
They stream cancelled TV shows/movies usually 3 or 5 years old uncut
with commercial spots.
Hate having to do 2 messages...but Mystic was acting funky & not
letting me go past 80 columns.
I agree. I don't really want to pay for yet another service just for another show. I wish they'd air Picard and Discovery on over-the-air TV like they did with the older Star Trek shows.
It would be an interesting thought experiment to set up an echo that has but one node up and down in the chain so that we can create a really really long SEEN-BY ... does that appeal to those here :) ?
I agree. I don't really want to pay for yet another service just
for another show. I wish they'd air Picard and Discovery on
over-the-air TV like they did with the older Star Trek shows.
I'd personally purchase the episodes outright and have no problem at all, but they want to force the subscription model. Which...frankly...is designed so that people forget that they're paying into it, or make it very difficult to get out of. Kind of like a gym.
I imagine Picard will eventually be available on DVD and blu-ray.
Pluto is not bad.. I turn it on when I am bored with everything else.
It's nice to have about 10 movie channels even though they have commercials it's definitely worth the price. ;)
I had Comcast at one point. It's possible to have just internet with
them (at least, it was) - I had internet and basic cable TV. One time I
Seem to also remember the guy they broke out of prison was Moss on Th IT Crowd. I could be wrong...but having those flexible horns ratherHe does have a rather distinctive voice. :)
On 28 Jan 2020, Avon said the following...
It would be an interesting thought experiment to set up an echo
that has but one node up and down in the chain so that we can
create a really really long SEEN-BY ... does that appeal to
those here :) ?
That would be interesting. It sounds like it would be a pain to
get everything set up...
I'd agree. We're lucky here, because we have the ABC, which carries a fair bit of BBS programming, including Dr Who, and it's free, either on air or through its iView streaming service. :)
I haven't seen the classic episodes on TV for a long time. Have to
watch on DVD.
Pluto TV is a streaming service owned by Viacom (CBS). Same companyHmm OK, though I don't see how that solves the problem of the proliferation of services without cross licensing.
Oh, OK. again, how does that stop the current issue of needing to pay
for a gazillion services?
On 01-28-20 10:45, Oli wrote to Vk3jed <=-
28 Jan 20 10:02, you wrote to me:
He may be right.
The Mandalorian is still not available in Germany ...
It probably is on Bittorrent! :D
Did I mention that I already watched Season 1 ;)
On 01-28-20 16:07, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
In all seriousness, this sort of crap is what drves so-called "piracy". Give people what they want when they want at a reasonable price without forcing them to jump through hoops, and they will pay for it gladly. But if you dick people around like this, they'll find ways to buck the system.
I agree. I don't really want to pay for yet another service just for another show. I wish they'd air Picard and Discovery on over-the-air
TV like they did with the older Star Trek shows.
On 01-28-20 23:46, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Seen where they have the same type of services in the UK as well...but here in the US...someone's gotta screw somebody for that all mighty dollar...so we don't have stuff like FreeView & such. Add to that...the
internet access keeps shooting up like crazy every year for slower speeds...while places like Korea & such pay a fraction that we do for blazing speeds. Gotta love all the bribery & payoffs to ensure the "big boys" have no competition to be able to shaft us to their heart's
content.
I haven't seen the classic episodes on TV for a long time. Have to
watch on DVD.
Pluto TV here is playing classic Who...mainly Tom Baker from BritBox
over & over.
On 01-28-20 23:48, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Pluto TV is a streaming service owned by Viacom (CBS). Same companyHmm OK, though I don't see how that solves the problem of the proliferation of services without cross licensing.
It doesn't...at least here in America. Praise be that I MIGHT be able
to watch Picard/Discovery on OTA on my death bed by the time the
licensing is paid. ;)
On 01-28-20 23:51, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Oh, OK. again, how does that stop the current issue of needing to pay
for a gazillion services?
It doesn't...but with the $100 US I pay Nord VPN every two years...they have their licensing issues...while I still be able to watch whatever I want if I can find it.
On 01-28-20 17:24, Captain Obvious wrote to Avon <=-
On 29 Jan 2020, Avon said the following...
Another idea I had/have kicking around would be how to structure things
so that each node in the network could be meshed to others (at least
one) as well as a HUB so as to build further resilience in comms.
Definitely not a bad idea. While I get my main fidonet feed from Mark Lewis, I was getting a bunch of echoes from both Allen Prunty and Bjorn Felten. Same echoes from the two of them. Much faster response times,
much more durable if there was an issue with one of the feeds. Except
for a couple of hiccups early on there were only minor issues with
dupes. Mystic normally would catch them here.
On 01-28-20 12:53, Phoobar wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
They have a nice phone app; I've been watching the impeachment live from work over it. I'm mulling over cutting my cable off, they have a lot of content to offer over the internet that we'll be watching.
Been watching it for a while on the Roku & casting it to my Chromecast from Google.
The 1 thing which bothers me about streaming anything is the telecomm companies are doing their best to screw us over with their damned data caps. I currently have 3MB DSL...rather than Comcrap at 40 because of burning through the 1 TB data cap. At 3 MB...I can burn through that cap...but I would have to really try hard to do it.
It's probably out there, but the killer app is one that'd aggregate all
of the streaming content on different services into one guide. I have a Roku TV, and the number of streaming channels I had no idea existed is mind- blowing.
On 01-28-20 17:06, ryan wrote to Nightfox <=-
I'd personally purchase the episodes outright and have no problem at
all, but they want to force the subscription model.
Which...frankly...is designed so that people forget that they're paying into it, or make it very difficult to get out of. Kind of like a gym.
Another idea I had/have kicking around would be how to
structure things so that each node in the network could be
meshed to others (at least one) as well as a HUB so as to build
further resilience in comms.
Definitely not a bad idea. While I get my main fidonet feed
from Mark Lewis, I was getting a bunch of echoes from both
Allen Prunty and Bjorn Felten. Same echoes from the two of
them. Much faster response times, much more durable if there
was an issue with one of the feeds. Except for a couple of
hiccups early on there were only minor issues with dupes.
Mystic normally would catch them here.
I'd be happy to take part in a meshing experiment. :)
internet access keeps shooting up like crazy every year for slower speeds...while places like Korea & such pay a fraction that we do for blazing speeds. Gotta love all the bribery & payoffs to ensure the "b boys" have no competition to be able to shaft us to their heart's content.
:(
Thanks, Ajit Pai, you piece of crap.
Yes, the US version of capitalism can be particularly nasty at times.
And our government looks up to the US. I couldn't think of a worse economic role model. :/
If OTA is anything like here, it'll be a cesspit of stupid reality
shows. Though at least in Oz, we have the ABC and SBS - two great public broadcasters. ABC, in particular, produces and airs quality content.
It doesn't...but with the $100 US I pay Nord VPN every two years...th have their licensing issues...while I still be able to watch whatever want if I can find it.That's helpful, and another example of them not "getting" the Internet
and its implications. :)
burning through the 1 TB data cap. At 3 MB...I can burn through that cap...but I would have to really try hard to do it.Since the NBN came here in 2017, I've had unlimited data. :)
able to break them. At least Nord doesn't use logs...so if the cops ask for them...there's nothing there.
able to break them. At least Nord doesn't use logs...so if the cops a for them...there's nothing there.
I'm a bit skeptical on that last bit...I've read some security subreddits saying nordvpn is good but not great on that front.
Had Comcrap for over a year with just internet...since any TV I wanted could be streamed. Hated it when they cut off my service after not sending me out a bill for a month. Believe the bill here with 40 M download was around $40 because I had my own equipment. Remember they threw a fit that I got used equipment from a thrift store...rather than using their stuff.
I agree. I don't really want to pay for yet another service just
for another show. I wish they'd air Picard and Discovery on
over-the-air
TV like they did with the older Star Trek shows.
Yes, OTA would be nice, and these days, we can make use of PVRs to time shift it into a better timeslot, if they show it at weird hours. :)
Another channel I like with a better selection is Vudu. Have a ton of movies/TV shows...plus they allow you to buy/rent new releases. With my slow DSL speed...I can choose between SD/HD to watch anything they have.
ACME BBS-Member of fsxNet/WWIVNet/SciNet/SpookNet/FidoNet/MicroNet.
On 01-29-20 12:48, Oli wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I'd be happy to take part in a meshing experiment. :)
Add some mails without msgids, a teaspoon of soft-CRs for the flavour, chop to equal length --> smashing success
On 01-29-20 10:03, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Ajit Pai sold conservatives on killing net neutrality because it would lower the operating costs for ISPs thus making broadband internet
access more affordable.
ISPs, particularly Comcast, have actually done the opposite (surprise surprise). They've invested less in infrastructure and prices for consumers still went up without reason this year. Thanks, Ajit Pai, you piece of crap.
On 01-29-20 11:43, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
It's getting to the point where the lie that you can do/be anything you want by hard work can't even be given with a straight face. Been shown
the only way many here can get by is by marrying into money or having
been born into it. Everybody else...screw them & the horse they rode in on. The only hope is if I/others get sick is we better die quick
because the medical care will take anything we ever hoped to have or we die from something we caught in the hospital.
On 01-29-20 11:45, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Have seen many of the ABC shows which made it over here. As good or
better than the BBC.
As you pointed out..."reality" TV clogs up the airways here as well.
On 01-29-20 11:47, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I think they get it...since Comcrap (Universal/NBC) is the online cops
for anyone torrenting anything...including Linux distros.
On 01-29-20 12:05, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
It's the opposite here in the states. Since the orange turd was elected
& allowed companies to give us the shaft sideways...they started in
2017 putting on data caps...except for fiber (very expensive & hard to find) or if you want to go with a business account. Previously with the idiot who used to live here...paid $45 a month for 1 TB access...then
$50 a month for unlimited on top of that. Very few companies out there with unlimited access...unless you pay out the nose for it. It's
American Exceptionalism at its finest!
On 01-29-20 14:33, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yep.
I had thought about getting a DVR to record TV, but most of the over-the-air broadcast content can be streamed online (at least in the
US) on the TV channels' web sites. And I've found I can also find
those shows on BitTorrent..
That has made me ponder an ethical question: Often, TV content
providers don't like people downloading TV shows via BitTorrent and
such, though DVRs tend to be legal. Is downloading a show via
BitTorrent any worse, ethically, than recording a show via a DVR to
watch later?
DVRs tend to be "warts and all", so the advertising is recorded along with the show, and there's a chance that the ads may be seen (yeah I know many of us do fast forward the ads ;) ). Mose DVRs these days also don't allow downloading of the recorded file. All you can do is watch it on the machine it was recorded on.
There's also those who use Bittorrent to "test drive" shows and movies, before committing to buying the DVD/Blu-ray or subscribing to watch it. In these cases, it could be argues that this can bring _more_ purchasers in some cases. :)
There's also those who use Bittorrent to "test drive" shows and movies, before committing to buying the DVD/Blu-ray or subscribing to watch it. In these cases, it could be argues that this can bring _more_ purchasers in some cases. :)
There's also those who use Bittorrent to "test drive" shows and movie before committing to buying the DVD/Blu-ray or subscribing to watch i these cases, it could be argues that this can bring _more_ purchasers some cases. :)
That's true, though still I doubt content producers like that idea. :)
Why am I not surprised? :/
I think you're right. I haven't had the greatest opportunities for running into money, and I have some significant limitations on working hours - too many hours (even if it's my choice to work more) and I
become susceptible to illness. Found that one out the hard way. :( And the threshold when I was in my mid 30s was somewhere between 38 and 45 hours/week for a few months. Certainly not what mst would consider "excessive overtime". And I was even being paid for those hours and
chose to work them - the boss never said I had to. The extra time
(first thing in the morning) was also quite productive, because I could
do important things without disrupting too many people.
Your general pricing has always been cheaper. I think it's $99/month
for my unlimited, though to be fair, I am with a premium provider, which means my service tends to be better than most during peak times (it
hardly slows down most days). The premium for going unlimited was only $5/month, so that choice was a no brainer. Record usage has been around 2.5TB in a month. :)
pro-life yet don't care if a kid starves because his or her parent is an
I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, literally in the heart of downtown Palo Alto, and I pay almost $160USD/mo for internet that has a cap. We
are by no means cheaper than anywhere else.
(energy companies are the biggest source of unwanted calls). :/
As you pointed out..."reality" TV clogs up the airways here as well.
Yeah, and I tend to avoid those. :)
Thanks, Ajit Pai, you piece of crap.I'm waiting for the South Park episode in which Mr. Pai gets murdered
with a big mug.
(first thing in the morning) was also quite productive, because I could
do important things without disrupting too many people.
Yes, ABC (Australian - not to be confused with the American commercial network with the same initials) and BBC shows are comparable in terms of quality, and tend to be easily shared between the two audiences.
I think they get it...since Comcrap (Universal/NBC) is the online cop for anyone torrenting anything...including Linux distros.That actually shows they _don't_ get it. If they did, they'd be making content more easily accessible by legal means in ways customers want.
Your general pricing has always been cheaper. I think it's $99/month
for my unlimited, though to be fair, I am with a premium provider, which means my service tends to be better than most during peak times (it
hardly slows down most days). The premium for going unlimited was only $5/month, so that choice was a no brainer. Record usage has been around 2.5TB in a month. :)
On 01-29-20 17:19, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
That's true.
I have seen a couple devices on the market that are basically network-enabled DVRs that can record an over-the-air broadcast and then copy the video file to a Plex server, etc.. They can also stream OTR content to devices on your network.
There's also those who use Bittorrent to "test drive" shows and movies, before committing to buying the DVD/Blu-ray or subscribing to watch it. In these cases, it could be argues that this can bring _more_ purchasers in some cases. :)
That's true, though still I doubt content producers like that idea. :)
On 01-29-20 22:15, Lupine Furmen wrote to Vk3jed <=-
This is what I do. I'll download a movie to see if I like it and if I
do then I'll buy the blueray so I can get all the added features as
well as the movie. ---
On 01-29-20 22:02, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Why am I not surprised? :/
I wasn't always a liberal. I went from conservative to libertarian (in
the US that means conservative who isn't religious) to pretty damn far left. The policies of conservatives are so transparent I have a hard
time understanding how reasonable people support them.
On 01-29-20 22:06, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Here's an interesting thought exercise. It's within a generation that
we (humans) may find ourselves in a world where human labor hours are rendered irrelevant, aside from a small number of highly skilled positions.
I think how we deal with this world is a reflection on us as a species.
I, for one, would welcome the opportunity for most of mankind to be
able to be lazy and reap the benefits of the generations that came
before it, spending more time for endeavors like education, relaxation, investment in family.
The other side of the coin is that would be aghast at the idea that a person could get something without working (and possibly struggling) to get it. I'll never come to terms with these people. The same people are pro-life yet don't care if a kid starves because his or her parent is
an underachiever. We're headed for interesting times.
On 01-29-20 22:07, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, literally in the heart of
downtown Palo Alto, and I pay almost $160USD/mo for internet that has a cap. We are by no means cheaper than anywhere else.
On 01-30-20 16:53, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
(energy companies are the biggest source of unwanted calls). :/
I dunno, I reckon centrelink is right up there... :P However if you
have no dealings with them, then you're right gas and electrickery are it..
On 01-30-20 16:58, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
As you pointed out..."reality" TV clogs up the airways here as well.
Yeah, and I tend to avoid those. :)
The reality is, those shows are all rather unreal to say the least....
On 01-30-20 00:20, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Used to work at Pizza Hut back in the late 80's & found coming in @ 7
AM or before meant getting tons of stuff done with only 1-2 people
around you. Not a morning person...but love getting off early in the
day. For instance...next M-F...will be on from 6-11 AM...then going
back to evenings & being a vampire.
On 01-30-20 00:24, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Years ago...used to read the Syndey Morning Herald to learn what was happening here in the US. Now...I listen to the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting) for their news. The funniest thing was living in Colorado Springs, CO while Stargate was on TV. Colorado Springs looks NOTHING
like Vancouver, BC. Out east of the city...it's prairie & flat...while
the west of the city was mountainous.
On 01-30-20 00:27, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The thing about that is in a perfect world...you would be right...but
when they are more concerned with their shareholders/upper management getting their bonuses...the companies don't care. If you remember Idiocracy & the show Ouch My Balls...they would run that 24/7 if it
would get them their money.
On 01-30-20 00:31, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Used to be before 2017 that you got unlimited (no caps) access for the same $40-50 US...but when they are allowed to fee you to death...they
did it. On the other hand...if you have access to fiber...there is no cap...but I can't afford the cost or hope that I'm young enough to
enjoy it when it MIGHT get here.
Your general pricing has always been cheaper. I think it's $99/month
for my unlimited, though to be fair, I am with a premium provider, which
means my service tends to be better than most during peak times (it
hardly slows down most days). The premium for going unlimited was only
$5/month, so that choice was a no brainer. Record usage has been around
2.5TB in a month. :)
I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, literally in the heart of
downtown
Palo Alto, and I pay almost $160USD/mo for internet that has a cap. We
are by
no means cheaper than anywhere else.
I'm in Huntsville AL (Silicone Valley of the South) and pay $60/mth for gigabit Google Fiber. No data caps.
Man I wish I could get Google Fiber. The options where I live are Comcast XFinity or a dish. It sucks.
I have seen a couple devices on the market that are basically
network-enabled DVRs that can record an over-the-air broadcast and
then copy the video file to a Plex server, etc.. They can also
stream OTR content to devices on your network.
I haven't seen those here.
Well, I used to work in IT, and when no one was around was a good time
to do work that disrupted the network.
The mornings would be OK, I hate working evenings. Though I couldn't
work in food/hospitality.
Springs, CO while Stargate was on TV. Colorado Springs looks NOTHING like Vancouver, BC. Out east of the city...it's prairie & flat...whil the west of the city was mountainous.Haha that would be interesting. :)
Idiocracy & the show Ouch My Balls...they would run that 24/7 if it would get them their money.And yet if they played their cards right in satisfying customers,
everyone could win and they'd get their profits. :)
No fibre here, thanks to the bloody Liberal government changing the
specs for the NBN in 2013, which means I got VDSL instead. :(
Seen where they have the same type of services in the UK as
well...but here in the US...someone's gotta screw somebody for that
all mighty dollar...so we don't have stuff like FreeView & such. Add
to that...the
Yes, the US version of capitalism can be particularly nasty at times. And our government looks up to the US. I couldn't think of a worse economic role model. :/
If OTA is anything like here, it'll be a cesspit of stupid reality shows. Though at least in Oz, we have the ABC and SBS - two great public broadcasters.
ABC, in particular, produces and airs quality content.
I'd personally purchase the episodes outright and have no problem at
all, but they want to force the subscription model.
Same here, and if they come out on Blu-ray, we're likely to buy the discs. :)
Years ago I signed up for Netflix thinking I'd be able to watch movies when they came out for rent without actually going to somewhere like RedBox to get a disc. I was wrong. Movies don't seem to be released to streaming services when they come out for rent.
movies/TV shows...plus they allow you to buy/rent new releases. With my
modem. Then they changed their fees such that their internet service
fee increased by $7 and their modem lease fee decreased by $7, so people who owned their own modem would then only be saving $3/month (and people leasing a modem from them would still be paying the same price).
I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, literally in the heart of downtown Palo Alto, and I pay almost $160USD/mo for internet that has a cap. We
are by no means cheaper than anywhere else.
Nah. Want to watch Batman and have Pai play the Joker who pisses off Batman enough where he takes him to highest point in Gotham City & lets
But the best internet I had, on a value basis (well, possibly a speed basis, too) was when on municipal internet because the city figured (correctly) that it was going to be a long while before the local cable/telco companies were going to bother putting fiber in, so they
built their own network.
Reminds me that I'd dearly love for candidates to answer some copyright/patent/trademark law questions, as well as general digital questions. E.g., net neutrality, privacy, control of data, etc. for the latter bit.
But occasionally I think, or have someone say, "Well, maybe it's on Netflix". And the answer is, no, it's not. If you're ever searching for something in particular on a streaming service, it's not there. You can only ever browse until you find something interesting.
I know that's not literally true, but it's close enough that searching is rarely worth it -- barring knowing that something was a Netflix series or something.
I've had the same issue, searching for something on Netflix I want to watch and finding it's not there.
I've actually started to enjoy watching content on YouTube. Since
YouTube doesn't require a subscription, there's a lot of stuff posted there by pretty much anyone who wants to post a video. I can search for pretty much any topic and find a video of it on YouTube.
Reminds me that I'd dearly love for candidates to answer some
copyright/patent/trademark law questions, as well as general digital
questions. E.g., net neutrality, privacy, control of data, etc. for the
latter bit.
Elizabeth Warren's "I'm gonna break up Facebook!" is the left's
version of
Trump's "I'm gonna build a wall and Mexico will pay for it!" It's like...there's no legal reason or framework for making these things
happen,
you're just appealing to the lowest common denominator voter with no critical
thinking skills.
I remember at Def Con last year (or maybe Blackhat) there was an interesting
talk given by a couple of congresspeople. I think they all had CS
degrees and
it was a fascinating discussion about the generation gap in the
government.
You have folks clueless about technology writing legislation about technology. Doesn't pass the sniff test, but...that's the government,
I
suppose.
I've had the same issue, searching for something on Netflix I want to watch and finding it's not there.
When you have a website like Facebook which can literally help you with steering elections or help overthrow governments then *something* has to be done. Facebook is (pardon my language) fucking dangerous and they
know they have this power and isn't afraid to use it. Can you imagine what would happen if they got people to use Facebooks own currency,
Libra, what power Facebook would have in terms of not only tracking the movements and lives of billions of people but also tracking what they
buy and where... it's goddamn scary and I for one am all for breaking
up or even destroying Facebook for good. It's doing anything noteworthy for humanity and as such it is worthless.
Elizabeth Warren's "I'm gonna break up Facebook!" is the left's
version of Trump's "I'm gonna build a wall and Mexico will pay
for it!" It's like...there's no legal reason or framework for
making these things happen, you're just appealing to the lowest
common denominator voter with no critical thinking skills.
I remember at Def Con last year (or maybe Blackhat) there was an interesting talk given by a couple of congresspeople. I think
they all had CS degrees and it was a fascinating discussion
about the generation gap in the government. You have folks
clueless about technology writing legislation about technology.
Doesn't pass the sniff test, but...that's the government, I
suppose.
But the best internet I had, on a value basis (well, possibly a
speed basis, too) was when on municipal internet because the
city figured (correctly) that it was going to be a long while
before the local cable/telco companies were going to bother
putting fiber in, so they built their own network.
Interesting. Call me socialist, but from my perspective the
internet feels a lot more like a public utility (like public
school, for example) than some expensive luxury.
And the moderates have Biden who wants to get rid of Section 230,
because he doesn't like "little creeps" who run some of Silicon Valley's biggest businesses and has "never been a big Zuckerberg fan"
In comparison to Biden's ideas Warrens plan makes much more sense. Regulating and breaking up companies and monopolies which have too much power is something that has to be done from time to time. But it also
can backfire or just not work as intended.
Trump's border wall is just plain stupid and targets people without
power not people and companies with too much power, money and influence. The intentions are very different, but both plans might fail equally. Unfortunately we will never see Warren as a president (woman bevoming predident who wants to disruppt powerful companies led by men. not happening in the next election).
Nothing socalist about it. Why should someone pay more money for internet access than for electricity, water or the usage of roads? everyone
should have access to free or cheap (and fast) internet.
When you have a website like Facebook which can literally help you with
steering elections or help overthrow governments then *something* has to
be done. Facebook is (pardon my language) fucking dangerous and they
know they have this power and isn't afraid to use it. Can you imagine
what would happen if they got people to use Facebooks own currency,
Libra, what power Facebook would have in terms of not only tracking the
movements and lives of billions of people but also tracking what they
buy and where... it's goddamn scary and I for one am all for breaking
up or even destroying Facebook for good. It's doing anything noteworthy
for humanity and as such it is worthless.
This isn't true. Facebook wants to protect free speech and they don't
use
"this power" to do anything. They're deeply concerned about the intersection
of protecting free speech and numbnuts people believing every silly
thing
they read on the internet.
On the one hand, people believing everything they read is a problem of
the
generation that grew up without technology; young people have no
problem
navigating this smartly. SO this is a simple generational thing.
On the other hand, Facebook does collect a ton of data...but do you
have any
idea how stringent they are internally about who can see or touch what data?
Their hands are tied, across the board. They as a company can do
nothing with
it nor can they drive a conversation in one way or another. In fact,
for
something to hit their radar, someone has to flag it. If far-right echochambers don't flag anything, they don't flag anything, and for
better or
worse Facebook is simply trying to protect free speech.
The reason I know about this is because my girlfriend was recently the technical program manager for their election research commission and recently
she transitioned to the elections team, proactively attempting to
detect
nation state activity on the platform to influence elections.
I won't frequently come to the defense of Facebook. I don't have an account,
I've disabled it, but not because of the platform itself, but because
of how
humans that use the platform choose to interact.
Nothing socalist about it. Why should someone pay more money
for internet access than for electricity, water or the usage of
roads? everyone should have access to free or cheap (and fast)
internet.
I heard someone grousing recently about people on welfare owning smartphones. Call me crazy, but smartphones are seriously
important these days. To succeed in 21st century society, it's
damn close to a necessity...like the internet. But yeah. Crazy
set of circumstances these days.
I agree breaking up monopolies is a good idea. Hence why I think
companies like Comcast should be punished for owning
infrastructure and behaving like a cartel so nobody else is able
to invest in a region. But I also don't think I agree that
Facebook is a monopoly; if they are, so is Twitter, so is
LinkedIn, so is any number of tech companies that have a large
degree of success in a market. But none of these companies own
the airwaves, and any "better" idea has the potential to unseat
one of these. I do think the corporate strategy of a company
like Facebook to keep investing in bullshit ideas that really
does more to tarnish the brand image than anything else will
result in more of a backlash than anything the government can do
:)
Put it this way: I'm super glad Hillary didn't get to own that
honor for the rest of eternity, and I think a lot of people that
share my sentiment would much rather someone like Warren own it.
However, I agree that I don't think Warren will be able to pull
it off; she's a bit transparently two faced and the recent
Sanders fiasco didn't end up helping her one iota. But like I
said, we'll see. *shrug*
I've had the same issue, searching for something on Netflix I want
to watch and finding it's not there.
Yeah - aside from the stuff that they produce that you know is good because you've heard about it, you have to sift through 99.999% garbage to find anything interesting. I am hopeful the market swings around to prove that this isn't a viable model of providing content for a fee and that the consumers drive the trends in the future.
Elizabeth Warren's "I'm gonna break up Facebook!" is the left's version
of Trump's "I'm gonna build a wall and Mexico will pay for it!" It's like...there's no legal reason or framework for making these things
On the one hand, people believing everything they read is a problem of
the generation that grew up without technology; young people have no problem navigating this smartly. SO this is a simple generational thing.
Yes, young people are better with newer technology, as has generally
been the case, but the amount of times I've immediately looked up Snopes articles or whatever is legion, and I wasn't doing it exclusively with
the over-40 set.
and don't want a bundle; also, high prices for cell phone plans that include a device lease, and expensive cell phones if you purchase it up-front (the latest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy can cost near $1,000
these days).
And I've heard customers in the US tend to pay the most money for comparatively slow internet service (compared to other countries).
On 01-30-20 11:07, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I haven't seen those here.
I don't think I had seen them in stores here, but I had seen them on Amazon and
such.
On 01-30-20 12:31, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Well, I used to work in IT, and when no one was around was a good time
to do work that disrupted the network.
Did so as well around 20 years ago...before the bottom dropped out of
the business. Many times working into the night to get things done. At least the taco's/pizza were good.
The mornings would be OK, I hate working evenings. Though I couldn't
work in food/hospitality.
Thing I don't like is the job could be done better in the evening when foot traffic was much less than in the AM.
On 01-30-20 12:32, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Springs, CO while Stargate was on TV. Colorado Springs looks NOTHING like Vancouver, BC. Out east of the city...it's prairie & flat...whil the west of the city was mountainous.Haha that would be interesting. :)
Friends would hate it when I pointed out how that's not the town.
On 01-30-20 12:34, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
True...but no matter how cheap a product is...these folks still cry
that it's way too expensive.
On 01-30-20 12:36, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
No fibre here, thanks to the bloody Liberal government changing the
specs for the NBN in 2013, which means I got VDSL instead. :(
They do have fiber here...only in the "correct" part of town. The rest
of us get by with 3 MB down.
On 01-30-20 15:32, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The US government seems to believe in a version of capitalism that
favors businesses more than consumers. It has allowed things like internet & TV bundling that screws customers for pricing if they only
want one service and don't want a bundle; also, high prices for cell
phone plans that include a device lease, and expensive cell phones if
you purchase it up-front (the latest
iPhone and Samsung Galaxy can cost near $1,000 these days).
And I've heard customers in the US tend to pay the most money for comparatively
slow internet service (compared to other countries).
On 01-30-20 15:33, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I still like OTA TV, but I often watch it for news, some game shows and
a couple other shows I like these days (The Orville was on OTA TV, but
I heard it's moving to Hulu).
On 01-30-20 15:34, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I'd be surprised if they don't release Picard on blu-ray. Blu-ray
seems like a
paradox - I keep hearing people say optical discs are dead, yet they
keep releasing content on optical discs.. It's hard to tell.
On 01-30-20 13:44, Joacim Melin wrote to ryan <=-
I live 50km north of Stockholm, in a small village in a rural area, and pay about $45 per month for 1GB/1GB unlimited fiber access to the
internet with a fixed, public IP address. Just for comparison...
On 01-30-20 20:20, Nightfox wrote to Adept <=-
I've actually started to enjoy watching content on YouTube. Since
YouTube doesn't require a subscription, there's a lot of stuff posted there by pretty much anyone who wants to post a video. I can search
for pretty much any topic and find a video of it on YouTube.
But occasionally I think, or have someone say, "Well, maybe it's on Netflix". And the answer is, no, it's not. If you're ever searching for
If only there were a way to know that, if you buy something, it'd still
be there in 20 years. At least at the same rate that, say, having purchased a VHS tape allows you to still play it 20 years on.
...not that I know what people were doing still purchasing VHS tapes in 2000, but still...
Especially with something like this, where they oftentimes also try to make it unreasonably hard to use any modem that isn't rented from them.
Reminds me that I'd dearly love for candidates to answer some copyright/patent/trademark law questions, as well as general digital questions. E.g., net neutrality, privacy, control of data, etc. for the latter bit.
People's answer to that would absolutely get me to jump ship from/to candidates based on their answers.
gap in the government. You have folks clueless about technology writing legislation about technology. Doesn't pass the sniff test, but...that's the government, I suppose.
I've actually started to enjoy watching content on YouTube. Since
YouTube doesn't require a subscription, there's a lot of stuff posted there by pretty much anyone who wants to post a video. I can search for pretty much any topic and find a video of it on YouTube.
account, I've disabled it, but not because of the platform itself, but because of how humans that use the platform choose to interact.
I don't think I had seen them in stores here, but I had seen them on
Amazon and
such.
OK, that just killed my interest. Amazon is such a pain here, because so little of their range is actually available outside the US. :(
I'd be surprised if they don't release Picard on blu-ray. Blu-ray
seems like a
paradox - I keep hearing people say optical discs are dead, yet they
keep releasing content on optical discs.. It's hard to tell.
I think Blu-ray still has some life left. It's (supposedly) more robust than DVD, and can fit a lot of special features.
I heard someone grousing recently about people on welfare owning smartphones. Call me crazy, but smartphones are seriously important
these days. To succeed in 21st century society, it's damn close to a necessity...like the internet. But yeah. Crazy set of circumstances
these days.
Haha I'd just have a giggle. :D As it is, I often comment that a lot of alien planets look a bit like BC, Canada. :D
On 01-31-20 17:38, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
OK, that just killed my interest. Amazon is such a pain here, because so little of their range is actually available outside the US. :(
Well I'm sure they can be found from other retailers too.
On 01-31-20 17:40, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
DVDs often had a good number of special features. It seems like fewer movie releases these days include special features though. One example
is with the Terminator 2 4K release, I was disappointed to hear it
doesn't include the extended cuts that were included on previous
releases (on 1080p blu-ray and DVD). The 3D release of Terminator 2 didn't include the extended cuts either.
On 01-31-20 18:06, ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Haha I'd just have a giggle. :D As it is, I often comment that a lot of alien planets look a bit like BC, Canada. :D
My girlfriend watches "Big Little Lies" which is supposed to take place
in Monterey, California, a location I am quite familiar with :) It
drives me nuts how they always drive southbound when they are already south of Monterey (for the excellent wide angle shots) and still wind
up in Monterey.
When you have a website like Facebook which can literally help you with steering elections or help overthrow governments then *something* has to be done. Facebook is (pardon my language) fucking dangerous and they
know they have this power and isn't afraid to use it. Can you imagine what would happen if they got people to use Facebooks own currency,
Libra, what power Facebook would have in terms of not only tracking the movements and lives of billions of people but also tracking what they
buy and where... it's goddamn scary and I for one am all for breaking
up or even destroying Facebook for good. It's doing anything noteworthy for humanity and as such it is worthless.
in different directions. No - I stand by my opinion that Facebook is bloody dangerous and should be banned - it's a giant advertising machine with enough power to allow people to do really bad things.
DVD these days does have a few issues though. First, it's SD only, and
ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
My girlfriend watches "Big Little Lies" which is supposed to take place
in Monterey, California, a location I am quite familiar with :) It
drives me nuts how they always drive southbound when they are already south of Monterey (for the excellent wide angle shots) and still wind
up in Monterey.
CyntaxX wrote to Joacim Melin <=-
I completely agree. I had a facebook account back when it first started because "everyone was doing it" and quickly realized I don't care what people in my past were doing. So I got rid of it. Then I watched that
talk with Chamath Palihapitiya and Sean Parker both saying they're exploiting human psychology to get people addicted to the site. Pretty shady. Fast forward to recent times and Dr. Robert Epstein's research showing how especially Google can sway votes I'm not convinced big tech has my best interest in mind.
Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Know some are going to scream bloody murder...but I've been using Handbrake for years to go from SD to HEVC with SD quality to get more titles on the drives.
CyntaxX wrote to Joacim Melin <=-
I completely agree. I had a facebook account back when it first started
because "everyone was doing it" and quickly realized I don't care what
people in my past were doing. So I got rid of it. Then I watched that
talk with Chamath Palihapitiya and Sean Parker both saying they're
exploiting human psychology to get people addicted to the site. Pretty
shady. Fast forward to recent times and Dr. Robert Epstein's research
showing how especially Google can sway votes I'm not convinced big tech
has my best interest in mind.
Have you listened to or read Jaron Lanier? He was one of the first
into
virtual reality back in the early 90s and is very outspoken about
what's
broken on the internet.
I have a book of his called "You are not a Gadget" that was an
interesting
read, and he's got a TED talk online that you could find online.
I'm getting interested again in federated social networks, looking
into
Mastadon again. Ultimately I'd like to run my own instance of some
social
network app and control where/how your data is shared.
Have you listened to or read Jaron Lanier? He was one of the first into virtual reality back in the early 90s and is very outspoken about what's broken on the internet.
I have a book of his called "You are not a Gadget" that was an
interesting read, and he's got a TED talk online that you could find online.
DVD these days does have a few issues though. First, it's SD only, and secondly, DVD is not mechanically robust enough. I tend not to bother with extended cuts, but the documentaries on some DVD/BDs have been interesting.
Bad thing about VHS or other taped formats is the tape degrades like floppies & such. My HEVC encoded stuff will still be crisp in 20 years...if the medium I save to is still viable.
Still know people who head to pawn shops & such to buy used VHS players/tapes when their's break down. With no more being built...this
is a future with a certain ending.
That's why I didn't even think about going back to Comcrap...even with their faster speeds & not forgetting some of the BS they did to me when
I was under contract to them.
Not just their answers...but I want to see how much/many of the bribes they have gotten from the companies...along with their voting records.
As we've seen in the Senate with the impeachment trial...there are too many there saying one thing & standing for something else when the money comes in.
because "everyone was doing it" and quickly realized I don't care what people in my past were doing. So I got rid of it. Then I watched that
Someone once mapped the path that Bullitt took in San Francisco - they were (literally) all over the map, almost instantaneously.
Here the lottery is how far you are from the VDSL node. I'm fairly lucky, I get over 90Mbps. My late friend could barely get 10, and he was
probably better off on his old ADSL.
All we use it for is news and the occasional public event. Everything else comes from some dsort of medium.
I think Blu-ray still has some life left. It's (supposedly) more robust than DVD, and can fit a lot of special features.
own productions...which many blew worse than an intern on Clinton.
Haven't had Netflix in about 2 years. This afternoon...just signed up for
SD quality is just fine, and getting filesizes down is more important, untimately than quality.
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
On 31 Jan 2020, Joacim Melin said the following...
in different directions. No - I stand by my opinion that Facebook is
bloody dangerous and should be banned - it's a giant advertising
machine
with enough power to allow people to do really bad things.
I completely agree. I had a facebook account back when it first started because "everyone was doing it" and quickly realized I don't care what people in my past were doing. So I got rid of it. Then I watched that
talk with Chamath Palihapitiya and Sean Parker both saying they're exploiting human psychology to get people addicted to the site. Pretty shady. Fast forward to recent times and Dr. Robert Epstein's research showing how especially Google can sway votes I'm not convinced big tech
has my best interest in mind.
They are a business and driven by money and people's information is their product and I choose not to support that. So much so, that I run browsers that block all sites with tracking scripts from Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.
--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/02/23 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Digital Wurmhole | digitalwurmhole.ddns.net:2323 (21:4/113)
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
We've had a certain level of failures out in the wild. I suspect a large portion of that is burnt disc's not pressed ones though. However it did kind of spell a death knell for using them for backups. I also suspect it has to do with disc quality as much as the format itself. As much as the format might be
solid, if its made cheaply enough it'll fail somewhere somehow.
I think Blu-ray still has some life left. It's (supposedly) more
robust than DVD, and can fit a lot of special features.
Do any of you actually watch those features? They started putting them on DVD originally because there was so much space left, a time when the media was in front of the data quantity being dumped on it.
I've only ever found them a waste of space and time. Give me the thing I wanted you can keep all the extraneous rubbish and save some money :)
SD quality is just fine, and getting filesizes down is more
important, untimately than quality.
Hmm I've been saving stuff in 720 avi's forever... I got a bit lazy for a while
and just kept iso's thought it might be the way, but they chew to much space. My regular TV is still only a 1080i so 720 is just fine. So long as
you keep the data rate up, anything around 96+ on the mp3 compression usually sounds ok,
I watch most of my movies on my phone on lunch hours, on transit, etc -
so SD quality is just fine, and getting filesizes down is more
important, untimately than quality.
Yeah, analog is tricky like that. I imagine the DVDs did better, though it's probably easier to get a degraded VHS tape to work at all than a pitted DVD.
I've been looking at thrift stores for a VHS player (not that I'm sure I could justify _owning_ a VHS player, but I digress), and have not been running across any. I know there was a time when places didn't accept
That's why I didn't even think about going back to Comcrap...even witThey've also been at the forefront of the reasons for network
neutrality, and things like having data caps. 1TB a month was a big
number fairly recently, but living in a household of STEM grads means choosing lower quality on video streams when possible.
There's a reason I'm unwilling to consider Biden in the primaries, and it's not about what he's said of late, it's because he was feted by the MPAA and RIAA for what he did in the senate.
But, hey, none of those facts annoyed me like the entire Armageddon
movie and its beating science to a pulp.
I've had netflix for about 20 days, in another 10 it'll be over. Didn't find anything much to watch. Watching the living daylights out of
Marvel Series at the moment. Daredevil seemed a bit ordinary and slow,
Anyway I just signed on for the FREE 30 day trial. I'm very unsure
it'd be worth $10 a month to me. The plus side is, registration is by email, so if the mood strikes, I can always just use another BBS address :)
More recently, I've heard of the M-Disc standard for optical discs,
which are supposedly more durable, and the data is supposed to last
1000 years.
So I started building an FTN hub with cockroachdb. cockroachdb if you
are not aware, is an RDBMS (like mysql), but distributed in that no node is a master. But quorum is required for the DB to function.
I particuarly like it because the comms between the nodes of the DB was secured with SSL, and SSL was required to connect (it uses postgreSQL as the protocol).
My idea was that nodes could post to the DB (via binkd at a minimum) to any node of the DB, and collect mail (via binkd too) from any node of
the DB - but it would also be possible to pick up packets using other protocols (like http, perhaps nntp, smtp, etc).
I also envisioned that we could join zones together, so that anybody
using the hub, could get any echo that was shared to it. (And yes, zone fudgieness would be taken care of...)
I stopped working on it because of lack of time, and other things I started playing with. Perhaps I should pick it up again. (I think I got
Kinda would be cool - it would be 1980's technology, on 2020 technology
By: Avon to Oli on Wed Jan 29 2020 08:32 am
Another idea I had/have kicking around would be how to structure thin that each node in the network could be meshed to others (at least one well as a HUB so as to build further resilience in comms.
watchable. These days, I can often tell a difference between 720 and
1080 on a TV though. And 1080 should upscale to 4K better than 720 because 4K (3840x2160) is an exact multiple of 1920x1080.
you keep the data rate up, anything around 96+ on the mp3
In the late 90s, I always used to hear 128kbit should be good enough
for MP3 audio, but now I heard people say it should be higher.
I often see MP3s of 320kbit, or down to maybe 160 or 192. And a
while ago, I heard variable bitrate was good, and I re-encoded
my music library (which I've saved in FLAC format) to variable
bitrate MP3 (varying from 112 to 320).
But, hey, none of those facts annoyed me like the entire Armageddon
movie and its beating science to a pulp.
On 02-01-20 06:19, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
DVD these days does have a few issues though. First, it's SD only, and
Know some are going to scream bloody murder...but I've been using Handbrake for years to go from SD to HEVC with SD quality to get more titles on the drives. The quality is way better than what we used to
have with VHS/beta...that's why 99% of my media server for video isn't x264...but x265. I can see the difference which to me looks noticeable
in a good way with a smaller file size.
On 02-01-20 11:43, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Re: Re: Picard
By: Vk3jed to Nightfox on Sat Feb 01 2020 08:14 pm
DVD these days does have a few issues though. First, it's SD only, and secondly, DVD is not mechanically robust enough. I tend not to bother with extended cuts, but the documentaries on some DVD/BDs have been interesting.
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
I like the documentaries too, as well as things like bloopers. I do
like extended cuts sometimes. In the case of Terminator 2, it was
mainly just some short deleted scenes that were put back into the movie for the extended cuts. There were 2 extended cuts of the movie - One
that had the original ending and one that had an alternate ending.
On 02-01-20 19:00, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Here the lottery is how far you are from the VDSL node. I'm fairly lucky, I get over 90Mbps. My late friend could barely get 10, and he was
probably better off on his old ADSL.
I don't know how far I am from the node, or what else is jammed into or how much traffic its taking, but I'm only ~10Mb here.. generally under
10+ is a good day with a tail wind. Well you learn something every day,
at 10's its usually pretty symetrical... Just decided to run another
test now... its pushing 35 down, and 19 up, fastest I've ever seen it. Must just depend on load. But I'm in a block of units/flats too.. so
who knows..
On 02-01-20 19:02, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
All we use it for is news and the occasional public event. Everything else comes from some dsort of medium.
The ouija board or a clairvoyant? :)
On 02-01-20 19:05, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I think Blu-ray still has some life left. It's (supposedly) more robust than DVD, and can fit a lot of special features.
Do any of you actually watch those features? They started putting them
on DVD originally because there was so much space left, a time when the media was in front of the data quantity being dumped on it.
On 02-02-20 08:25, Spectre wrote to Nightfox <=-
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
We've had a certain level of failures out in the wild. I suspect a
large portion of that is burnt disc's not pressed ones though. However
it did kind of spell a death knell for using them for backups. I also suspect it has to do with disc quality as much as the format itself.
As much as the format might be
solid, if its made cheaply enough it'll fail somewhere somehow.
Didn't newspapers do the same thing before the internet?
point going for more on what the connection could do. And with yours,
how are you measuring?
On 02 Feb 2020, Terry Roati said the following...
Didn't newspapers do the same thing before the internet?
They still do! It's all designed to cause anger and division.
--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/02/23 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Digital Wurmhole | digitalwurmhole.ddns.net:2323 (21:4/113)
is.There's a reason I'm unwilling to consider Biden in the primaries, and
it's not about what he's said of late, it's because he was feted by the
MPAA and RIAA for what he did in the senate.
It's not just about this topic. Biden is a scummy arsehole of the worst order. His whole record taken together shows what a scumbag of a "human"
The difference between him & the orange turd is Biden has always beensmarter
and more intelligent.
I don't think Rupert Murdoch would agree, he certainly doesn't have the influence he once had. Funny thing is he pushed both the right and the left, I think he based his bias on personality not politics.
Phoobar wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Got the whole run of The IT Crowd on my phone for my 1 hr lunch. Can
watch 2 episodes & am very famous for my outrageous laughing. No matter what happens the 2nd part of the day...am ready for it.
Adept wrote to Phoobar <=-
There's a reason I'm unwilling to consider Biden in the primaries, and it's not about what he's said of late, it's because he was feted by the MPAA and RIAA for what he did in the senate.
Spectre wrote to Nightfox <=-
More recently, I've heard of the M-Disc standard for optical discs,
which are supposedly more durable, and the data is supposed to last
1000 years.
I chuckle every time I see or hear something like that. There is no
way you could know how close to 1000 years it could last. I've seen
to many premature failures to take that without a half a cup of salt.
ryan wrote to Adept <=-
I love space movies in "zero g" when actors' hairdos aren't flying
around all over the place lol
More recently, I've heard of the M-Disc standard for optical discs,
which are supposedly more durable, and the data is supposed to last
1000 years.
I chuckle every time I see or hear something like that. There is no way you could know how close to 1000 years it could last. I've seen to many premature failures to take that without a half a cup of salt.
Aside from that I'm with you on the rest of the message. You've also got things like win98 vintage cd's that can't be read on anything other than a win98 age machine, after that they just behave like corrupt unreadable disc, so
just lasting time is in itself no guarantee.
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
Too prone to scratches, etc. BD added a tough layer to minimise the amount of damage done to the disc under everyday use.
Interesting, though the benchmark is higher these days. We used to
watch VHS on tiny (by today's standards) screens. Today, the standard
is FHD or 4HD on a much larger screen.
Maybe it's time to change the subject from "Picard" to something else ;).
Earlier in my career, I worked for a company that made Flying Toaster screen savers. The IT crowd set is hauntingly similar to our office at
the time.
Had the show been on back then, I would have painted the storage room
door red.
The thing I still don't understand is none of these stores will take CRT TV's to resell...except for maybe those portable 5" versions. Not
The thing I love about Vudu is being able to pick the quality I want. Am
But, hey, none of those facts annoyed me like the entire Armageddon movie and its beating science to a pulp.
I love space movies in "zero g" when actors' hairdos aren't flying
around all over the place lol
Rupert Murdoch, Jeff Zucker, Mark Thompson, Fred Ryan and anyone cut
from the same cloth should be put on a small island with no food or resources and televise it and see what happens. A new "real" reality tv.
Must see TV folks!
On 02-02-20 23:04, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
point going for more on what the connection could do. And with yours,
how are you measuring?
One of those bodgy ookla tests..
https://www.speedtest.net/
oh and whatever the system that the boys PS4 is using.
It seems to think I'm coming out of iprimus, whic is a tad interesting
On 02-02-20 12:01, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Re: Re: Picard
By: Vk3jed to Nightfox on Sun Feb 02 2020 08:44 pm
What do you mean by "not mechanically robust enough"?
Too prone to scratches, etc. BD added a tough layer to minimise the amount of damage done to the disc under everyday use.
In the late 80s/early 90s, I remember hearing audio CDs were supposed
to have some sort of data recovery/protection that could recover data
when the disc had
been scratched.. But maybe that was just a rumor.
On 02-02-20 12:07, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Interesting, though the benchmark is higher these days. We used to
watch VHS on tiny (by today's standards) screens. Today, the standard
is FHD or 4HD on a much larger screen.
Oh yeah! The TV was curved & hooked up to HD channels. It was in Colorado...so they have the infrastructure built to be able to do this...unlike many other places here in the states. Even had Netflix
with 4D service & that was spectacular.
On 02-02-20 13:10, CyntaxX wrote to Terry Roati <=-
Rupert Murdoch, Jeff Zucker, Mark Thompson, Fred Ryan and anyone cut
from the same cloth should be put on a small island with no food or resources and televise it and see what happens. A new "real" reality
tv.
On 02-02-20 08:05, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to ryan <=-
ryan wrote to Adept <=-
I love space movies in "zero g" when actors' hairdos aren't flying
around all over the place lol
Gravity was especially bad for that.
It does seem odd, now that they're getting into the collectible range,
and people with old gaming systems seem to seek them out.
I could definitely understand it as a rule back when everyone was buying flat screens and getting rid of CRTs.
That said, I suppose there _is_ the issue of CRTs being so darn heavy.
I think it's a standard thing on most services. You can do it on Netflix, though it's hidden. Youtube makes it easy. I assume Amazon Prime can do it, but I wouldn't make a bet on it, because of all the ways that the Amazon site likes to present you with options that you'd love to have filtered out, but there's no obvious way to do so.
I can watch HD here. Most HD around is 720P, with some 1080p. I don't have 4HD capabilities. The Internet could probably handle it, but don't see the point in upgrading the TV until the next natural upgrade cycle, which still looks years away. :)
On 02-02-20 20:39, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
With the data caps around here...don't care what standard there is
because as greedy as these b*s****s are...not going to buy a top of the line monitor & end up paying more every month to these idiots to enjoy
the programming I can't/won't afford.
I haven't experienced that, but I also haven't tried reading many
old discs. However, pretty much all of my old CDs can still be
read, last time I tried. I have a backup of my original BBS on a CD-R
It seems to think I'm coming out of iprimus, whic is a tadinteresting
Who are you with?
That said, I suppose there _is_ the issue of CRTs being so darn heavy.
Anything else from me, is really hearsay, some I'd trust, a lot not much, but the stories float here from time to time. Faulty pressed DVD's.. CD's.. persoanlly I've not seen anything pressed fail, it defies my logic a little, unless the back's trying to delaminate but that's storage issues.. heat, moisture..
On 02-03-20 17:22, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
It seems to think I'm coming out of iprimus, whic is a tadinteresting
Who are you with?
AustraliaOnline, used to call themselves Ozonline once.. used to be a relatively small dialup crowd once. I don't know any relationship with Iprimus but who knows in this day and age. The service has always been good, run and do what you want no questions asked.
Thats beside the point though, the only other interest I've had is that someone
that keeps an eye on addresses that send him mail, because his server drops all mail that comes from any hierarchy that sends him junk mail once. Strange but true. So he won't accept mail from gmail for
arguments sake, to much spam. Anyway he had the IP address pegged as a block that had some strange origins...I can't remember the details now, but at least I could use it
to get him mail :)
Re: Picard
By: Spectre to Nightfox on Mon Feb 03 2020 05:00 pm
Anything else from me, is really hearsay, some I'd trust, a lot not much,
but the stories float here from time to time. Faulty pressed DVD's..
CD's.. persoanlly I've not seen anything pressed fail, it defies my logic
a little, unless the back's trying to delaminate but that's storage
issues.. heat, moisture..
I had often heard that optical media should last a long time, since
it's
basically a piece of plastic (which doesn't really biodegrade). I was often
surprised to hear about optical media degrading over such a relatively short
time (a matter of years).
line monitor & end up paying more every month to these idiots to enjo the programming I can't/won't afford.No data cap for me, but I'm not a fan of subscribing to a gazillion services for one show each.
You should read about disc rot here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot
On 02-03-20 04:33, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
line monitor & end up paying more every month to these idiots to enjo the programming I can't/won't afford.No data cap for me, but I'm not a fan of subscribing to a gazillion services for one show each.
Me either. Am allowing myself 1 service to pay money for.
On 02-03-20 10:16, Joacim Melin wrote to Nightfox <=-
You should read about disc rot here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot
Very interesting stuff.
Me either. Am allowing myself 1 service to pay money for.Yeah, 1 service is reasonable. :)
Gravity was especially bad for that.
On top of its really bad depiction of orbital mechanics - something just
There have been a few space shows that did it properly and filmed their zero G scenes on the "Vomit Comet"
Ok Go filmed a music video on it - hilarious.
--- SBBSecho 3.09-Win32
On 02-03-20 20:21, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Me either. Am allowing myself 1 service to pay money for.Yeah, 1 service is reasonable. :)
When I got Netflix back in 2013...I watched it as much as I watch
Britbox now. At the point I got rid of Netflix last year...hardly
watched it & couldn't see a reason to pay $7.98 with no more Doctor Who
or Mission: Impossible...the other shows I loved watching. Biggest difference I see between the two is the same programs I watched on Netflix...but a better selection of shows I already have on my media server.
On 02-04-20 10:57, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Vk3jed <=-
On top of its really bad depiction of orbital mechanics - something just
I don't recall if the ships went "whoosh" or not.
There have been a few space shows that did it properly and filmed their zero G scenes on the "Vomit Comet"
Ok Go filmed a music video on it - hilarious.
I haven't gone down the media server route, but we do have a very large
I haven't gone down the media server route, but we do have a very large collection of video files on HDD these days. I did look into Plex, but for our use case, didn't see sufficient advantage in it.
On 02-05-20 05:03, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I haven't gone down the media server route, but we do have a very large
I have 4 external HDD's for a total of 20 TB for my stuff. As for Plex...got it running...but it won't update the newest stuff I put up
for the current season. Usually...I just open up Chrome & send it to
the Chromecast.
On 02-06-20 00:20, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I had Kodi installed at one stage. It was in the end a pain in the bunghole. On the one hand it was nice poking through the pretty covers
for something to watch, it seemed to be exceedingly difficult to edit/remove stuff from its database. I ended up turfing it. The NUC
could probably cope with something like that. And the storage is reasonably stable at the moment. Both things that
would be advantageous for it.
We just use media files stored on a HDD.
On 02-06-20 19:25, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
We just use media files stored on a HDD.
Thats what I went back too :)
I have 4 external HDD's for a total of 20 TB for my stuff. As forWe're up to 2 HDDs, with a third coming soon. :)
KISS. :D
On 02-06-20 04:42, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I have 4 external HDD's for a total of 20 TB for my stuff. As forWe're up to 2 HDDs, with a third coming soon. :)
Started off with a 3 TB WD which started to go flaky...so tore it out
of the case & put it in the PC & nothing. Finally just added an 8 TB middle of last year & a 4 TB passport drive right before that.
On 02-07-20 02:58, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
KISS. :D
No.... well maybe, but no tongue...
Started off with a 3 TB WD which started to go flaky...so tore it out of the case & put it in the PC & nothing. Finally just added an 8 TB middle of last year & a 4 TB passport drive right before that.We use standard internal SATA HDDs with an external cradle.
Vk3jed wrote to Phoobar <=-
We use standard internal SATA HDDs with an external cradle.
On 02-07-20 04:50, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Started off with a 3 TB WD which started to go flaky...so tore it out of the case & put it in the PC & nothing. Finally just added an 8 TB middle of last year & a 4 TB passport drive right before that.We use standard internal SATA HDDs with an external cradle.
Very nice. Looked at that...but with the prices of these external drives...I went with the external drives because the 1st one was given
to me.
On 02-07-20 07:10, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Instead of buying a replacement external drive, I found a USB 3.0
quick- change enclosure that I can slide the top off and swap the drive out in a couple of seconds.
I found a BBS backup from 2006!
Internal drives tend to be cheaper here, and the SATA interface is fairly universal. :)
On 02-07-20 17:15, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Internal drives tend to be cheaper here, and the SATA interface is fairly universal. :)
Did end up putting a PCIx PATA controller on my current AMD board. Had
a few of these drives sitting around I was using.
In terms of the external drives...I paid $139 US for the 8 TB & less
than $100 US for the rest of them each.
In terms of the external drives...I paid $139 US for the 8 TB & less than $100 US for the rest of them each.
They're not that cheap here!
I may be wrong, but I suspect there's going to be a drop in HDD
prices soon. I base that on the "Special" price both Officeworks
and JBHiFI have on 4TB USB drives. Both of them are advertising
t he drives at $99. That's $25 a TB. Every other drive is $40 a TB
on average. Once the new drives arrive they'll adjust the prices.
But 4TB drives may not be among them.
Did end up putting a PCIx PATA controller on my current AMD board. Had a few of these drives sitting around I was using.
Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I still use IDE/PATA as boot devices on anything that still supports
them. 3 systems here, although I cheated I have one on SSD.
In terms of the external drives...I paid $139 US for the 8 TB & less than $100 US for the rest of them each.They're not that cheap here!
I still use IDE/PATA as boot devices on anything that still supports
them. 3 systems here, although I cheated I have one on SSD.
I finally got rid of all of my desktop PATA HDDs and CD-R/DVD-R
drives in trying to do a cleanup of my storage space. I have a few
laptop ATA drives I need to go through, since I don't have any more
ATA laptops. I have a Thinkpad Ultrabay that I should be able to
mount them in.
Did get kind of irritated last night looking at the Retro Games site (C64/C64 Mini). Went to the UK Amazon site & in big red letters...the joystick is 20 quid...but CAN'T SHIP IT TO THE US. Was wanting
the new joystick for the Mini...but come to find out that the
company doesn't sell the new system or anything to go with it in the
US yet.
joystick is 20 quid...but CAN'T SHIP IT TO THE US. Was wantingThey using the bog standard C64 digital joystick? I have a box of Quickshots here. I haven't had time to test them, or manufactured a tester yet, but they don't owe me much...
the new joystick for the Mini...but come to find out that the
On 02-08-20 22:38, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
In terms of the external drives...I paid $139 US for the 8 TB & less than $100 US for the rest of them each.
They're not that cheap here!
Oddly enough... I haven't been looking for HD's but apparently 4's
might be going to fall off the pricelists soon... let me find my
friendly heads up email
from SecretSauce..
I may be wrong, but I suspect there's going to be a drop in HDD
prices soon. I base that on the "Special" price both Officeworks
and JBHiFI have on 4TB USB drives. Both of them are advertising
t he drives at $99. That's $25 a TB. Every other drive is $40 a TB
on average. Once the new drives arrive they'll adjust the prices.
But 4TB drives may not be among them.
There we go... 4s might be best bang for your buck for now...depending what you
buy and where of course, I'm guessing these are externals mentioned.
He usually has those, although he's been consolidating into a larger NAS/Server arrangement recently.
On 02-08-20 22:41, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Did end up putting a PCIx PATA controller on my current AMD board. Had a few of these drives sitting around I was using.
I still use IDE/PATA as boot devices on anything that still supports
them. 3 systems here, although I cheated I have one on SSD. Anyway if
your IDE's give you grief, I have half a box full here in a variety of capacities. Mostly small, better as O/S rather than storage. Drop me a line, I'll hunt something up.
On 02-08-20 11:36, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
In terms of the external drives...I paid $139 US for the 8 TB & less than $100 US for the rest of them each.They're not that cheap here!
Being everything is made in China...fully expect the orange idiot to
screw us even further by putting a 100% tariff on any computer parts to show those Chinese & make it where they will be much cheaper where
you're at than here.
Did get kind of irritated last night looking at the Retro Games site (C64/C64 Mini). Went to the UK Amazon site & in big red letters...the joystick is 20 quid...but CAN'T SHIP IT TO THE US. Was wanting the new joystick for the Mini...but come to find out that the company doesn't
sell the new system or anything to go with it in the US yet.
(C64/C64 Mini). Went to the UK Amazon site & in big red letters...the joystick is 20 quid...but CAN'T SHIP IT TO THE US. Was wanting the neI have that problem with Amazon all the time, other than books, most of their stuff doesn't ship to Australia. :(
Hmm, OK. Will definitely have to keep an eye out on prices. :)
ryan wrote to All <=-
only" style as well...I wish consumers would fight back against this at some point.
Vk3jed wrote to Phoobar <=-
On 01-26-20 23:40, Phoobar wrote to Adept <=-
Expect something like Pluto TV & such as being the solution. Don't care about watching TV shows/movies with short spots...especially if it's something I enjoy & didn't see back in the day. If this is true...it
may take years for Picard & others to come to this forum.
Hmm, this needs a bit of explanation. I've never herd of Pluto TV, and I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
ryan wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yeah I have no interest in streaming subscriptions. I used to be a regular purchaser of music through services like iTunes and the like,
when I wanted to add to my collection, but now I simply don't bother, because I keep getting redireted to the streaming services. I'll just pull up music videos on YouTube nowadays and put up with the ads. :)
Maybe it's because I make music myself, but I still feel like there has
to be a contingent of people who prefer to curate a personal collection
of material, directly supporting the author(s) that they like. I refuse
to believe everything is a throwaway. It just doesn't make sense.
Adept wrote to ryan <=-
Maybe it's because I make music myself, but I still feel like there has
to be a contingent of people who prefer to curate a personal collection
of material, directly supporting the author(s) that they like. I refuse
to believe everything is a throwaway. It just doesn't make sense.
I think this is why I spend as much as I do on Patreon support.
Mind you, I feel a bit questionable about _Patreon_, but it making it easier to support the small-time creators is a wonder.
Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
They stream cancelled TV shows/movies usually 3 or 5 years old uncut
with commercial spots.
Hate having to do 2 messages...but Mystic was acting funky & not
letting me go past 80 columns.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Phoobar <=-
It's probably out there, but the killer app is one that'd aggregate all
of the streaming content on different services into one guide. I have a Roku TV, and the number of streaming channels I had no idea existed is mind- blowing.
And if it's the one I'm thinking about, they have a Bond channel and
a RiffTrax channel?
Apple TV kinda does this now...
On 02-09-20 11:30, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
WOW! I rarely use Amazon for anything anymore because of their shipping charges by their 3rd party vendors. Usually...use Ebay with free
shipping. For instance...got a copy of OS/2 for Dummies for $3.99 US
with free shipping...while Amazon wanted to charge me 4-5 times that amount & put shipping on top of that.
On 02-10-20 07:02, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Hmm, OK. Will definitely have to keep an eye out on prices. :)
I think the implication will be, that 4's aren't long for this mortal coil, if they're falling out of externals, I can't see internals being
to far behind.
On 02-09-20 22:24, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Hmm, this needs a bit of explanation. I've never herd of Pluto TV, and I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
Our son & DIL have a television that came with it - pretty cool with
the choice of channels! I found an iPad app of it too, so that's cool
too!
Yes, eBay has become quite good value for a lot of things. A lot of
stuff out of China can come with free shipping. Takes a bit longer, and
On 02-11-20 00:31, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yes, eBay has become quite good value for a lot of things. A lot of
stuff out of China can come with free shipping. Takes a bit longer, and
Usually takes around 2-3 weeks for something to arrive here in the
states. Being closer to the source is the time frame faster from one
Asian country to another?
Usually takes around 2-3 weeks for something to arrive here in the states. Being closer to the source is the time frame faster from one Asian country to another?They quote 2-5 weeks, but usually takes 2-3 weeks, and even known to arrive early.
Usually takes around 2-3 weeks for something to arrive here in
They quote 2-5 weeks, but usually takes 2-3 weeks, and even known to
One of the issues is that the mail often doesn't come direct. Something about mainland China addressing, they send it via Hong Kong or similarThey quote 2-5 weeks, but usually takes 2-3 weeks, and even know
so it has less issues... but of course helps slow things down.
On 02-11-20 12:03, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
WOW! Thought it might get there in a week or so being in the same part
of the world.
Hong Kong is not that close, really. You forget the N-S difference. :)
Noticed when I get stuff in that it usually sits in China at the postal station for several days...then is sent out of country to the states.
On 02-11-20 20:16, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Hong Kong is not that close, really. You forget the N-S difference. :)
One of the things I regret the most is never having the money to have traveled outside the US.
Earlier this year & even longer than that...been getting those job listings from China to teach English. A former teacher I know has done this for several years & loves doing it. Have looked into it closely & found that several of these are hundreds of miles from Hong Kong &
other large cities. Even have a friend who has adopted a couple of
girls from Mainland China & has gone there several times. Part of it is
am fearful of not being able to leave in the case of an emergency. I know...it's unfounded.
To some extent it depends on what the item is, not all postal services will accept all items from all other postal services... sounds like gibberish doesn't it..
from Hong Kong, so phase one of the trip is get it to a service that
will actually deliver... There are other weird things like that too.
I'm sure things will work out if you go over. They'd want to look after you, and like Japan decades ago, China's realised the value of knowing English for commerce, and that's sparked a huge demand for English teachers over there.
I'm looking at the possibility of a trip to Hong Kong in late 2022,
which will be a huge experience. Hopefully, that will be just the start of a period of international travel. :)
On 02-12-20 03:34, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I'm sure things will work out if you go over. They'd want to look after you, and like Japan decades ago, China's realised the value of knowing English for commerce, and that's sparked a huge demand for English teachers over there.
Very true. It's actually a better deal than anything you can come up
with here in the States. You make pretty good money...an apartment &
time off to do whatever you would like.
Years ago...thought about getting my Master's in Education...but when I come to my senses...there would be no way to make it worth the extra 2 years & needing to continually taking classes. I compare it to being a cashier at work. Too many times...I wish someone would hit me with a
2x4 to knock some sense into me for being there.
I'm looking at the possibility of a trip to Hong Kong in late 2022,
which will be a huge experience. Hopefully, that will be just the start of a period of international travel. :)
Very nice!!!
with here in the States. You make pretty good money...an apartment & time off to do whatever you would like.Sounds like what Japan used to offer years ago. Let's hope it has the same effect in China that it did in Japan - manuals becoming easier to read LOL.
Haha, I'm in the process of working out what I want to do for the rest
of my working life. Not as easy as you'd think in my case. :)
Hopefully I'll have some answers soon. :)
Yeah, domestic travel has kicked off a bit, off to Brisbane in April, Wollongong in October and Norfolk Island in January 2021. :)
On 02-12-20 22:39, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
For that matter...a manual in there at all.
Haha, I'm in the process of working out what I want to do for the rest
of my working life. Not as easy as you'd think in my case. :)
Hopefully I'll have some answers soon. :)
Looking for answers sometimes leads someone to places they don't like. With the way my life is now...I keep asking myself WTF I did in a
former life & I hope I don't do it again. ;)
Yeah, domestic travel has kicked off a bit, off to Brisbane in April, Wollongong in October and Norfolk Island in January 2021. :)
Very nice! Used to travel like crazy 20 or so years ago...but
now...hard to get out of town on the 50cc scooter.
For that matter...a manual in there at all.Oh, I've read some pretty good "Chinglish", but like the "Jinglish" from Japan of decades ago, I think we'll see it disappear as English is
taught more widely accross China.
True, but sometimes it's likke training for and racing the 400 metres. You know it's going to hurt and may get ugly, but it's what you have to
go through to win it, and it will be worth the pain! :)
Well right now I'm down to walking and catching the bus. The car is in
Oh, I've read some pretty good "Chinglish", but like the "Jinglish" from Japan of decades ago, I think we'll see it disappear as English
is taught more widely accross China.
Phoobar wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
And if it's the one I'm thinking about, they have a Bond channel and
a RiffTrax channel?
Used to be on there to promote the newest Bond movie...but they discontinued the Bond channel after the 1st of the year.
Vk3jed wrote to Phoobar <=-
On 02-09-20 11:30, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
WOW! I rarely use Amazon for anything anymore because of their shipping charges by their 3rd party vendors. Usually...use Ebay with free
shipping. For instance...got a copy of OS/2 for Dummies for $3.99 US
with free shipping...while Amazon wanted to charge me 4-5 times that amount & put shipping on top of that.
Yes, eBay has become quite good value for a lot of things. A lot of
stuff out of China can come with free shipping. Takes a bit longer,
and similarly, there's a few large book distributors that offer
excellent prices and free shipping. Amazon has a lot of strong competition these days.
Vk3jed wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
On 02-09-20 22:24, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Hmm, this needs a bit of explanation. I've never herd of Pluto TV, and I'm not sure what you mean in the rest of your message.
Our son & DIL have a television that came with it - pretty cool with
the choice of channels! I found an iPad app of it too, so that's cool
too!
Cool, sounds pretty good from what I've been reading here.
On 02-13-20 11:45, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Maybe...maybe not...especially when it means having to spend more money (in relative terms) to have this happen. The big companies...oh
yeah...but some that I buy from...don't see it happening soon enough.
True again...but if you look at my own life...being poor all my life &
not born/married into money...does limit your chances of what's
available. If either of these situations would've changed...my life
would be different.
Well right now I'm down to walking and catching the bus. The car is in
I have been riding a 50cc TaoTao green scooter for the past 3 years.
Want a car...but the tags/insurance are outrageous here in Oregon &
worse in Washington/California. Thinking about spending $200 & getting
my motorcycle endorsement back by taking a required class & getting at least a 150cc scooter. That way...can look for work in other cities & eventually move there when I find a job.
On 02-14-20 07:49, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Way back when, my father had a printing press with the jinglish manual,
it was quite amusing to read but the one thing that still sticks in
mind is adjusting the suction foots.
More recently I was impressed by the "wait for the beer sound" is that
a gurgle
gurgle buuurp? That was with a NAS...
On 02-12-20 23:02, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yep - takes a little bit of time, but I will compare Amazon with
eBay, Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot - etc. before I buy. :-)
On 02-12-20 23:05, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Popped it on when I started the mail run. :-) Watching Dick Van Dyke
now. :-)
Used to be on there to promote the newest Bond movie...but they discontinued the Bond channel after the 1st of the year.Ah - actually just turned it on a few minutes ago. Have Dick Van
Dyke playing now. :-)
yeah...but some that I buy from...don't see it happening soon enough.I have seen some improvements in recent years.
I wasn't born into money, nor did I marry into it, and additionally, my earning capacity has also been significantly limited - something I'm
only just unravelling now. Whether I can change that is uncertain, but hopefully.
I have a hydraulic issue with the clutch, which is why the car is at the garage. Hopefully get it back early next week, and hopefully a
relatively inexpensive fix. The bus network here is slow and
relatively inexpensive fix. The bus network here is slow and
inefficient. I can literally walk across town in the time that the bus takes - both times are in the order of an hour, with walking slightly under. And there's times like earlier this morning and last evening, where the bus wasn't even an option, because they weren't running at
those hours. :/
Vk3jed wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
On 02-12-20 23:05, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Popped it on when I started the mail run. :-) Watching Dick Van Dyke
now. :-)
Cool, that's going back a bit! :)
On 02-14-20 22:31, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
For the docs from American companies...can't tell the difference...but
for some of the toys I get...hope some of these students start sooner rather than later.
Hope you can. If you can keep the Tories or whatever they are called
there from trying the failures from the US...you may be able to do so.
We joke at work that many of the boxes from the appliances we sell
maybe the homes we will live in here.
Used to have a Ford F-150 P/U (lorry) that had to have the hydraulic clutch assembly changed twice. The 2nd time it happened...had to put a brand new clutch assembly into it.
Sure you don't live here??? Sounds like out bus system. For
instance...I take a shuttle from one college to another to see my
doctor. Costs me $1.50 each ride from this town...but free in the other city. Usually just jump the bus & ride around that time to have some
time away from home. No Sunday/evening service here...but the other
city is a major college town...so it runs till after midnight. Wish I could live there...but can't afford to live in a college town.
ACME BBS-Member of fsxNet/WWIVNet/SciNet/VKRadio/FidoNet/MicroNet.
On 02-15-20 00:02, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Popped it on when I started the mail run. :-) Watching Dick Van Dyke
now. :-)
Cool, that's going back a bit! :)
The epitome of classic television though! Family friendly, and his
knack at phsyucial humor is unparalleled, IMO.
for some of the toys I get...hope some of these students start sooner rather than later.Haha yep, or some Chinese brands. :D
Hope you can. If you can keep the Tories or whatever they are called there from trying the failures from the US...you may be able to do soYeah, oddly enough it's the Liberal party. :D
On 02-15-20 12:02, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Hope you can. If you can keep the Tories or whatever they are called there from trying the failures from the US...you may be able to do soYeah, oddly enough it's the Liberal party. :D
Remember hearing that on CBC out of Ottawa recently. I'll try to
remember to add onto my freezer box for your bedroom. ;)
Remember hearing that on CBC out of Ottawa recently. I'll try to remember to add onto my freezer box for your bedroom. ;)Hmm, that reference is lost on me. :/
On 02-16-20 23:39, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The reason is that American news blows & intentionally is paid to lie
to their audience. Learned a long time ago...you want to find out
what's really going on in the rest of the world outside the US...you
don't listen to American news...since they don't care what's happening
On 02-18-20 08:29, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Well it doesn't want to quote for me this morning on this particular message for some reason.. so..
We also have SBS which if anything is probably better than the ABC in
this day and age.
Yep. Here we at least have the ABC (Australian Broadcasting
Corporation), which tends to report fairly factually, and is generally highly regarded.
On 02-17-20 19:55, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yep. Here we at least have the ABC (Australian Broadcasting
Corporation), which tends to report fairly factually, and is generally highly regarded.
Agree with that.If Google had a feed for ABC...I would drop the 2nd headline from the CBC for similar programming from the ABC.
Agree with that.If Google had a feed for ABC...I would drop the 2nd headline from the CBC for similar programming from the ABC.Yes, you could certainly do a lot worse than that for news. :)
I've been watching several episodes of this show, I like it. I think it's well written and is something I can relate to given it's TNG background. Pity it's only 10 episodes. My wife is finding it a bit harder because
she is not used to one story across 10 episodes vs 10 self contained stories in 10 episodes. Interesting eh?
On 02-18-20 19:22, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Agree with that.If Google had a feed for ABC...I would drop the 2nd headline from the CBC for similar programming from the ABC.Yes, you could certainly do a lot worse than that for news. :)
For instance...anything owned/run by Rupert Murdock.
On 02-19-20 22:07, Avon wrote to All <=-
I've been watching several episodes of this show, I like it. I think
it's well written and is something I can relate to given it's TNG background. Pity it's only 10 episodes. My wife is finding it a bit
harder because she is not used to one story across 10 episodes vs 10
self contained stories in 10 episodes. Interesting eh?
I'm just starting eps 4 now I'm a big fan of this format of a 8 hour
film :-)
Picard is quite good, I'm enjoying it. :)
Yes, you could certainly do a lot worse than that for news. :)
For instance...anything owned/run by Rupert Murdock.
Same I have just watched episode 4, I'd love to chat about it (with spoilers) but we would have to preface our thread with some alert
:)
I've been watching several episodes of this show, I like it. I think
it's
well written and is something I can relate to given it's TNG
background.
Pity it's only 10 episodes. My wife is finding it a bit harder because
she is
not used to one story across 10 episodes vs 10 self contained stories
in 10
episodes. Interesting eh?
Same I have just watched episode 4, I'd love to chat about it (with spoilers) but we would have to preface our thread with some alert
:)
You'll have to fire up, FSX_SPOILTREKERS ;)
I like it a lot too, and probably most due to the fact that it isn't
Star Trek in the way we are used to (the bridge of the Enterprise, and
so on).
I watched ep 1-4 quite quickly, my plan is to now wait until all 10 are out and watch the rest over 4-5 days... waiting for a week to go by to
see one ep is a killer :)
On 02-20-20 18:43, Avon wrote to Vk3jed <=-
On 20 Feb 2020 at 12:22p, Vk3jed pondered and said...
Picard is quite good, I'm enjoying it. :)
Same I have just watched episode 4, I'd love to chat about it (with spoilers) but we would have to preface our thread with some alert :)
On 02-19-20 22:56, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yes, you could certainly do a lot worse than that for news. :)
For instance...anything owned/run by Rupert Murdock.
Too bad he & the rest of his brood didn't end up on Tasmania. They could've had devils for pets...got bit & end up like some of the devils with that disease.
On 20 Feb 2020 at 07:27p, Joacim Melin pondered and said...
I like it a lot too, and probably most due to the fact that it isn't
Star Trek in the way we are used to (the bridge of the Enterprise, and
so on).
I watched ep 1-4 quite quickly, my plan is to now wait until all 10 are out and watch the rest over 4-5 days... waiting for a week to go by to see one ep is a killer :)
Too bad he & the rest of his brood didn't end up on Tasmania. They could've had devils for pets...got bit & end up like some of the devi with that disease.And ruin a perfectly decent state. ;)
<insert spoilers here...>
;)
Have you watched Discovery? I'm paying the premium CBS fees for Picard
and may start watching Discovery to justify the expense, lol. Just
curious if it's worth diving into.
So yeah, dive in give a whirl, you may love it, you might go meh... but unless you look... :)
or...
just do a lot of enters on the keyboard before I reply :)
On 02-21-20 08:40, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Too bad he & the rest of his brood didn't end up on Tasmania. They could've had devils for pets...got bit & end up like some of the devi with that disease.And ruin a perfectly decent state. ;)
Totally agree. As a lover of the Bond movies...let us turn our
attention to From Russia With Love. The chess player is killed with
poison after messing up. #1 says we need to find a faster acting poison than one which works in 12 seconds. ;)
Problem would be solved by training the devil's to bite certain areas...but they might just die in less than 12 seconds. Damn it...find
me another method. ;)
On 02-22-20 06:29, Avon wrote to ryan <=-
So yeah, dive in give a whirl, you may love it, you might go meh... but unless you look... :)
Problem would be solved by training the devil's to bite certain areas...but they might just die in less than 12 seconds. Damn it...fi me another method. ;)Oh well. ;)
On 02-21-20 22:54, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I meant the devils. Why should they be the ones to pay for what this
I meant the devils. Why should they be the ones to pay for what thisPoor devils! :D :D
Good point. ;)
On 02-22-20 08:40, Phoobar wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I meant the devils. Why should they be the ones to pay for what thisPoor devils! :D :D
Good point. ;)
Brrrroooother Tony...let's take a special offering for these poor
devils. Afterwards...we cremated the human bodies to send them to Yucca Mountain Nevada to guard the nuclear pile.
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