Posted On: Saturday - June 5th 2021 5:40PM MST
In Topics:   Music  TV, aka Gov't Media  Artificial Stupidity
That was weird. At the hotel, I'd been in the room for 3 hours, when the TV just came on out of the blue. I don't even touch them anymore since about 5 years ago when reruns of Seinfeld quit coming on regularly. The remote on this thing was right where the housekeeper left it (no more idiotic COVID wrappers, as Peak Stupidity reported on last year in Stay away from the remote!. I just had to take that one home to scan it.)
The sound was on, but there was no picture besides the initial welcome screen - they are computers now, after all. Besides being pissed that anything was coming at me out of the idiot plate, I was kind of worried that this might happen again in the middle of the night. I went to the outlet behind and below the thing and pulled out the thickest AC cord, which looked like it traced out to the TV. The TV was still on.
Wait, OK, there was another cord going to a transformer, but the TV needs AC, right? I pulled that other one anyway. The TV was still on! Whoaaa! It was getting eerie by this point, and yeah, that DC power just went to a box on the back for processing the signal, anyway. The sound was clear. Fine, in case I was missing some other outlet, I pulled AC power out of the back of the TV. I said "you've GOT to be kidding me", to nobody there, as I STILL heard the TV. (I believe it was a hockey game, so I guess it could have been lots worse.)
I went back around the front of it and finally noticed that there was no picture, but the sound was on ... but, oh, OK, coming from another TV in the little living room area! Whewww, there was no ghost in the first machine, anymore, that is. I had to go the the 2nd TV and unplug its AC power out of the back of it.
Silence, yea! I guess they had both been turned on via a remote control in another room. The whole thing was still a little ghostly.
I am reminded by that of the old Police album Ghost in the Machine. Those red LED segments on the album cover were still pretty modern-TECH-like back in that time. They were supposed to be the heads of the 3 band members. The biggest hit on that album was Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, a good song, but maybe I've heard it too much. This one today is an obscure one, but another good one. Rehumanize Yourself was written by the drummer Stewart Copeland, along with Sting (who wrote most of the songs).
This album was recorded by the band on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean and partly in Quebec, as the band wanted to get far away from the record company people, 40 years ago now, from January through September of 1981.
I would call the heyday of The Police the period of their 1st three albums, the 2 French-named ones and the latter made of nonsense words, Outlandos d'Amour*, Reggatta de Blanc, and Zenyatta Mondatta. That was over just 3-year period, 1978 through 1980. Of course, they were still good for a long time afterward, but most rock bands had only a few prime years, it seems to me.
* "Outlaw of Love"
** OK, part French, with the meaning said to be "The White Race" or a play on words to mean "White Reggae".
Comments:
Moderator
Tuesday - June 8th 2021 11:19AM MST
PS: Good idea, Alarmist, and it's been quite a while since I've read that term. (I used to go on the prepper sites a lot.)
Moderator
Tuesday - June 8th 2021 11:18AM MST
PS: Adam, I'll see your off-topic graph of used car prices, and raise you one just as off-topic. I went to a new car dealer today to pick up a friend whose old van was in the shop for something. We hung out for a bit in front looking at new Jeeps.
Of course a sales lady came out there, and another guy with us asked about the Rubicon for a friend of his. Holy crap, $62,000, and this is from a sales lady who wants to give you a before-added-charges number to get you interested.
No wonder people want to buy used!
Of course a sales lady came out there, and another guy with us asked about the Rubicon for a friend of his. Holy crap, $62,000, and this is from a sales lady who wants to give you a before-added-charges number to get you interested.
No wonder people want to buy used!
The Alarmist
Tuesday - June 8th 2021 7:24AM MST
PS
@Mr Moderator, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to pen a post entitled “Has the World Started to Go Galt?”
;)
@Mr Moderator, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to pen a post entitled “Has the World Started to Go Galt?”
;)
Moderator
Tuesday - June 8th 2021 5:12AM MST
PS: Thank you again, Adam, for all the work to help this poor blogger out! I have that movie ready to watch now.
I'll have that site in mind for other movies too.
I'll have that site in mind for other movies too.
Adam Smith
Monday - June 7th 2021 1:38PM MST
PS: Yet another off topic comment...
https://publish.manheim.com/content/dam/consulting/ManheimUsedVehicleValueIndex-LineGraph.png
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https://publish.manheim.com/content/dam/consulting/ManheimUsedVehicleValueIndex-LineGraph.png
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Adam Smith
Monday - June 7th 2021 1:21PM MST
PS: Good afternoon Mr. Moderator...
Never knew about this website before.
Found it thanks to Stan Adams reply to your Idiocracy comment.
It streams videos much like youtube or such.
Here's a copy of this is the end...
https://ok.ru/video/1510626363942
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Never knew about this website before.
Found it thanks to Stan Adams reply to your Idiocracy comment.
It streams videos much like youtube or such.
Here's a copy of this is the end...
https://ok.ru/video/1510626363942
☮
Adam Smith
Monday - June 7th 2021 7:28AM MST
PS: Good morning Mr. Moderator...
The last supper pics are the same as on post 1935. It is a little bit down the homepage and I didn't know if you saw the ghetto version.
Torrents don't stream. Your device would need a bit torrent client to download the links. It will download the whole movie (or album or whatever) before you can watch it. It's a bit like old napster or even older audio galaxy, but with movies, tv, music and books. There is a ton of stuff out there. It's a convenient way to watch movies and collect music and books.
Some people say you should use a vpn so your isp doesn't notice you're downloading copyrighted material. If you are not sharing a giant collection of copyrighted material you're unlikely to have a problem.
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The last supper pics are the same as on post 1935. It is a little bit down the homepage and I didn't know if you saw the ghetto version.
Torrents don't stream. Your device would need a bit torrent client to download the links. It will download the whole movie (or album or whatever) before you can watch it. It's a bit like old napster or even older audio galaxy, but with movies, tv, music and books. There is a ton of stuff out there. It's a convenient way to watch movies and collect music and books.
Some people say you should use a vpn so your isp doesn't notice you're downloading copyrighted material. If you are not sharing a giant collection of copyrighted material you're unlikely to have a problem.
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Bill H
Sunday - June 6th 2021 10:30PM MST
PS Diesel submarine, WW2 vintage.
Moderator
Sunday - June 6th 2021 9:12PM MST
PS: Bill, I take it that is your blog. Thanks for the story. What type of ship was that?
Mr. Blanc, wiki says" Gilbert Ryle (1900–1976) was a British philosopher,[7] principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." Ahaaa, never had heard of him before.
Adam, are all 3 of your new last supper pics the same? I couldn't tell the difference. Thank you for these. I had a friend who would get lots of old TV shows via bit torrents - it's like the old Napster, but I guess x 10,000 bitwise, as it's video vs. audio. I didn't want to hit the links on that torrent site with this tablet, without asking you if the device would download all this data at once, or stream it. No, I don't know much about it.
Mr. Blanc, wiki says" Gilbert Ryle (1900–1976) was a British philosopher,[7] principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." Ahaaa, never had heard of him before.
Adam, are all 3 of your new last supper pics the same? I couldn't tell the difference. Thank you for these. I had a friend who would get lots of old TV shows via bit torrents - it's like the old Napster, but I guess x 10,000 bitwise, as it's video vs. audio. I didn't want to hit the links on that torrent site with this tablet, without asking you if the device would download all this data at once, or stream it. No, I don't know much about it.
Adam Smith
Sunday - June 6th 2021 12:27PM MST
PS: Also off topic...
https://i.ibb.co/v3TjGHZ/The-Last-Supper.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/prhDSzZ/The-Last-Supper2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/0JFvq7f/The-Last-Supper3.jpg
☮
https://i.ibb.co/v3TjGHZ/The-Last-Supper.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/prhDSzZ/The-Last-Supper2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/0JFvq7f/The-Last-Supper3.jpg
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Adam Smith
Sunday - June 6th 2021 9:53AM MST
PS: Good afternoon Mr. Moderator...
Off topic, but I noticed in Sailer's comments that you'd like a copy of that movie "This is the end".
Do you know how torrents work?
https://thepiratebay.org/search.php?q=this+is+the+end
https://transmissionbt.com/download/
☮
Off topic, but I noticed in Sailer's comments that you'd like a copy of that movie "This is the end".
Do you know how torrents work?
https://thepiratebay.org/search.php?q=this+is+the+end
https://transmissionbt.com/download/
☮
MBlanc46
Sunday - June 6th 2021 7:50AM MST
PS Shades of Gilbert Ryle.
Bill H
Sunday - June 6th 2021 7:39AM MST
PS Brings to mind an submarine experience in which a diesel engine was smoking badly, so the Captain ordered it shut down. I shut it down and told the engine room to start a different one, but a while later the Captain calls down to ask why I hadn't shut down the smoking engine. Good question. I thought I had. The mystery was eventually solved. Full story here:
http://billsandiego.blogspot.com/2012/02/subron-8-black-smoker.html
http://billsandiego.blogspot.com/2012/02/subron-8-black-smoker.html
Moderator
Sunday - June 6th 2021 5:05AM MST
PS: Alarmist, that's the way to go. For the phones though, it's not so easy. I don't see any mic jacks on our ones, that could be used to either send in noise, or ground out (if that's what it takes) to override the regular mic.
Moderator
Sunday - June 6th 2021 5:02AM MST
PS: The more I think about it, Rex, I think this was one of the places in which the TV seems to be on when I arrive, annoying as that is. Maybe it was on a timer, as I got there a good bit earlier. I'm like this with anything that resembles a computer: Not gonna cooperate? We're starting ove.
The Alarmist
Sunday - June 6th 2021 3:49AM MST
PS
First thing I did when I bought my last idiot box was to open it up, find the microphones and cameras and disable them.
It’s really creepy to walk into one’s hotel room and be greeted by name, because it reminds me of the cold war days when we were told to be wary of bugs and cameras in our hotel rooms when holidaying abroad. They know who you are, and they are watching.
When I was dating Mrs. Alarmist, who is European, I scandalised her by repeating the French words for the track “Hungry for you” (j’aurais tojours faim de toi), which roughly translates to “I would always be hungry for you.” It is not a subtle pick-up line.
First thing I did when I bought my last idiot box was to open it up, find the microphones and cameras and disable them.
It’s really creepy to walk into one’s hotel room and be greeted by name, because it reminds me of the cold war days when we were told to be wary of bugs and cameras in our hotel rooms when holidaying abroad. They know who you are, and they are watching.
When I was dating Mrs. Alarmist, who is European, I scandalised her by repeating the French words for the track “Hungry for you” (j’aurais tojours faim de toi), which roughly translates to “I would always be hungry for you.” It is not a subtle pick-up line.
Rex Little
Saturday - June 5th 2021 8:11PM MST
PS Today's TVs are controlled by microcomputers running built-in programs. Even if there are control buttons in addition to the remote, those are sensed by the software, which gives the orders to perform the actual function (On/Off, channel, volume, whatever).
What sometimes happens is, a power glitch or a bug in the program causes it to "go into the weeds"--run from a part of memory which has something other than legitimate program code. This will cause strange, random behavior, like turning on by itself with sound but no picture. It will certainly not respond to control buttons or the remote, and the only way to turn it off is to unplug it like you did.
What sometimes happens is, a power glitch or a bug in the program causes it to "go into the weeds"--run from a part of memory which has something other than legitimate program code. This will cause strange, random behavior, like turning on by itself with sound but no picture. It will certainly not respond to control buttons or the remote, and the only way to turn it off is to unplug it like you did.
https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2021/05/18/2021-jeep-wrangler-392/
It looks like a nice jeep, but holy price tag.
The one he reviewed stickered at 73,500...
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