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Why Do You Think They Call It "Programming"? (Part 1)

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, January 24, 2011, 04:50:23 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 24, 2011, 08:50:49 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 24, 2011, 08:35:04 PM
Sweet.  I might do something with this, and I'd like to throw yours in, as well...With attribution.  If you agree, just let me know how you want to be credited.

PM me with details.

Will do, either tonight or tomorrow.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Don Coyote

Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 24, 2011, 08:40:54 PM
That is incredibly tempting, but my exercise equipment (gamercise stuff) plugs into my TV, and if I shot their TV they'd just start using mine instead.

It's a remote for PEOPLE.

Adios

Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 24, 2011, 08:55:35 PM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 24, 2011, 08:40:54 PM
That is incredibly tempting, but my exercise equipment (gamercise stuff) plugs into my TV, and if I shot their TV they'd just start using mine instead.

It's a remote for PEOPLE.

Coyote Dog got it.

Requia ☣

I think not then.

I could split the difference between Roger and Charlie's solution and shoot the satellite dish though.  It'd probably take a week for them to figure out what went wrong.   :lulz:
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 24, 2011, 08:58:10 PM
I think not then.

I could split the difference between Roger and Charlie's solution and shoot the satellite dish though.  It'd probably take a week for them to figure out what went wrong.   :lulz:

Disconnect wire.

Wobble it back and forth until it goes snap inside.

Reinstall.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Adios

Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 24, 2011, 08:58:10 PM
I think not then.

I could split the difference between Roger and Charlie's solution and shoot the satellite dish though.  It'd probably take a week for them to figure out what went wrong.   :lulz:

Too easy, see those little white caps on the arm in front of the dish? They are called LNB's. (low noise blockers)

A small crack in each one should do it just fine.

The Johnny


Stopped the TV since 11 years ago...

I might have escaped the commercials and the passive-vegetable assimilation process of information... but can we really be freed from the distance we have made from reality? I spend way too much time on the internet, whereas i could hypothetically be doing something else... but i owe the internet a lot of what i know of... maybe one day i will have gotten what i need from it and will be able to cut back on it significantly...
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Adios

Quote from: Joh'Nyx on January 24, 2011, 09:23:56 PM

Stopped the TV since 11 years ago...

I might have escaped the commercials and the passive-vegetable assimilation process of information... but can we really be freed from the distance we have made from reality? I spend way too much time on the internet, whereas i could hypothetically be doing something else... but i owe the internet a lot of what i know of... maybe one day i will have gotten what i need from it and will be able to cut back on it significantly...

On the net you have the choice of what is blasting at you, for now. That's the difference.

Cramulus

Quote from: Joh'Nyx on January 24, 2011, 09:23:56 PM

Stopped the TV since 11 years ago...

I might have escaped the commercials and the passive-vegetable assimilation process of information... but can we really be freed from the distance we have made from reality? I spend way too much time on the internet, whereas i could hypothetically be doing something else... but i owe the internet a lot of what i know of... maybe one day i will have gotten what i need from it and will be able to cut back on it significantly...

I want to point out that I think TV is dangerous because it's passive entertainment. When you watch TV, there's no way to participate, you are simply absorbing somebody else's point of view. I think the internet has the same danger, but at least you have a choice about it. Even though we are all PHYSICALLY isolating ourselves to use this medium, what we're doing here is a creative process, we are interacting with each other -- this is a social medium!

I don't think that the internet is less real than other forms of interaction, it's just different. People get nervous about this medium, but I think a lot of it is based on the incorrect assumption that it's less authentic than face to face interaction.

from warren ellis: http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=9270&start=80

QuoteDave Eggers:

I don't want to wake up and look at a screen. I feel like as a society, we try to put everything on that same goddamn screen, and pretty soon we're going to be eating on the screen or, like, making love through the screen. It's just sort of like: 'Why does everything have to be on the screen?'

Some beardy druid from the oral tradition, a few thousand years back:

I don't want to wake up and look at paper. I feel like as a society, we try to put everything on that same (Brythonic swear word) piece of paper, and pretty soon we're going to be eating on paper or, forsooth, making love through paper. It's just sort of like: "Why does everything have to be on the paper?"

The Johnny


I know that sometimes physical isolation cant be helped, but im always wary of it...
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Precious Moments Zalgo

I gave up TV, for the most part, about four years ago.  Before that I had several shows I watched every week.  It was like an addiction.  I used to be one of those people who turned on the TV as soon as I walked in the door from work.  Now I watch probably fewer than 20 hours of TV a year, and I don't miss it at all.  On the contrary, I like having the time I used to spend watching TV to spend on other things.

The rest of the family watches TV like I used to.  They look like pod people when they are all absorbed into some program.  Of course, I probably don't look any different when I'm on the computer.  

I like Roger's solutions for Requia in principle, but if I were to try something like that then Mrs. Zappathruster would just write a check out of the joint checking to have it fixed, so I'd just be costing myself money.
I will answer ANY prayer for $39.95.*

*Unfortunately, I cannot give refunds in the event that the answer is no.

Eater of Clowns

I've been to the bottom of that well, Roger.  It's a deep, dark and old thing and there's this tiny speck of blue light far away shedding the barest glow on life.  I can't remember if I went down of my own accord or if I fell; if my legs are atrophied or if they're crushed under a big fucking rock.

An ex and I used to sit and watch hours of DVDs of television shows, staying in for days and wasting almost two years in a very beautiful location.  What the hell kind of sad shit is it when a couple 21 year olds would rather pop in the next episode of Nip/Tuck than fuck?  How is it spending any kind of time together to lay around with one watching America's Next Top Model marathons and the other playing Nintendo DS?

So I stopped.  It takes a while to realize that you can just do that, with no repercussions.  I'm not abandoning my family if I don't find out if Jack and Kate ever hooked up on Lost.  Tell that to your cable provider though.  Comcast will charge you more for Internet alone than they will for Internet and basic cable.  It's as much a pushing tactic as the dealer telling you the first taste is free.

What do you know, an open sky is a lot more appealing than a feeble shaft of light.
Quote from: Pippa Twiddleton on December 22, 2012, 01:06:36 AM
EoC, you are the bane of my existence.

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 07, 2014, 01:18:23 AM
EoC doesn't make creepy.

EoC makes creepy worse.

Quote
the afflicted persons get hold of and consume carrots even in socially quite unacceptable situations.

Triple Zero

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 24, 2011, 05:12:49 PM
But programming-type advertisments really came into their own when visual media (television) became widely available, as they could present a standard that was always just out of reach of the average American.

This is true, reminds me of what I read in No Logo, about how before the 80s, advertisements were actually claiming their product (say, laundry detergent) was objectively better than another brand and really did clean your laundry better, because they were still developing stuff (or because they were just claiming it was better). It was not until the 80s [perhaps a littlebit earlier] that they started targeting advertisements at the brands instead, changing the message from "our product is better than product X" into "buying our product will make you happy", "will make you cool like these people", "our product makes you better".
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Triple Zero

Quote from: Sigmatic on January 24, 2011, 07:35:31 PM
Living without television has been liberating.  It frees you.  I can't stand television.  I can't bear to face the reality that there are people who watch commercials.

It's a good thing to have done for a while, "detox" for a month or two. It really felt like that, for me. My old TV broke down many years ago and I was too lazy to get a new one. It felt like getting rid of that tough bit of meat between your teeth, like mental floss.

But nowadays I watch TV every now and then. Usually just when my gf turns it on though.

I gotta admit, Internet is just as bad for me, if not worse, because you are actually engaged in it, doing stuff, even if not accomplishing anything.

Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Cainad (dec.)

Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 24, 2011, 08:37:59 PM
Also, Roger, how the heck do I get *other* people to turn the TV off?  The damn thing never stops when anybody else is in the house.

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php

If you do get it, let us know how well it works.