Category: General

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You know, I don’t think DirecTV gets it.

I saw an ad for DirecTV today. The ad is selling the ability to stream DirecTV content via the internet.

You can see what I’m talking about at directv.com

Their big selling point is that you don’t have to have a dish on your roof. Uh… big deal! Their little dish is the least of the problems with them.

First and foremost in my mind is that I’d still be locked into one of their bullshit programming packages that forces me to pay for channels that I will never be interested in or watch. BET? Uh Nope! Zero Interest! I think I flipped through once a decade ago and needed subtitles to understand the language being used.

All I could think of, was the scene from Airplane where Barbara Billingsly says, “Excuse me stewardess, I speak Jive.”

I looked at their cheapest package which ends up being around 85.00 a month because you have to rent their box and the channel lineup was for shit! Oh they include SyFy, but SyFy doesn’t show Science Fiction anymore. It’s all reality shows and honestly stupid shit.

I can stream local channels without DirecTV. Heck I can and have been streaming local TV channels from places that I think I’d like to live. It’s great to listen to their news and see what’s happening. The human interest stories tell me about the communities. The crime reporting (or lack thereof) give me information about the safety of the area. There’s also a fair amount of information to be gleaned from the political reporting on their local level and how they report on national news.

So why do I need DirecTV? Oh, right I need to rent their box, plug it into my internet, and then buy a nearly $200 package per month to “Experience” all they have to offer. But wait… I already pay $80 a month for internet… So NOW you’re talking $280. For that, I get all their channels, a fair number of which I am not ever going to tune into.

I don’t speak Spanish, so I’ll never use the Spanish channels. I don’t speak Ebonic, so I’ll never watch the BET offerings. I’m not a Catholic and honestly have never enjoyed televangelists. If I’m gonna go to church, I’m going to get up, get dressed, and actually go to a church. So all the church channels are off the plate.

If you start talking about the “Premium” channels… HBO, Showtime, Max, Disney, and all those channels aren’t gong to do much for me because generally speaking they all play the same thing at different times of the day. I can also order those channels through the internet directly, and once again I don’t have to have DirecTV’s box. I’d have to do the math, but I think I can have them on a subscription basis for less as well.

CNN is included on all the packages and MTV is apparently still around. CNN I will not watch, and MTV? Haven’t even thought about that channel for at least 20 years.

I might be interested if I could pick and choose my channel lineup. Let me construct my own package of channels in blocks of 10. Charge a fair price and have a Premium Block where the HBO, Showtime, etc live.

Make it easy for the consumer to change the selections, make it web based, or better yet ON the DEVICE the user has to rent, so no-one has to listen to crappy English from a call center 1/2 way around the world who will inevitably screw things up worse each time the consumer calls about their service.

10 Channels cost X.
20 Channels cost Y
30 Channels costs Z
Premium block of 5 or 10 costs some higher price 

Make the cost per block predictable and easy to select.

Then DirecTV streaming service might have a chance in hell of surviving.

I could see myself easily with the 4 or 5 local channels, the local PBS stations, WGN, and TCM and that would about fill out my first block of 10. 

The point is, suddenly the viewers via their selection of channels implement a merit based system. Neilson would know which channels and what shows work instantly.  Hollywood could then create entertainment that actually entertained instead of throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks.

It will never happen.

What’s sad is DirecTV just trying to reboot the same tired old paradigm of the cable days and thinking that’s innovation.

I have to ask why they’re doing this now? I can only imagine that their current satellites are running out of fuel and will soon be unable to maintain orbit, or their relative positions in orbit, both critically necessary to maintain coverage.

The cost to launch new satellites is prohibitive and If memory serves, they’ve lost a few on launch recently. Some of the oldest units have probably become non functional or DirecTV has been forced to de-orbit them prior to failure, to burn up in the atmosphere or crash into the ocean so they don’t crash down on populated areas.

Eventually, the constellation of DirecTV satellites will become too thin to provide coverage. I think this is a “Hail Mary” move. DirecTV is trying to do a sort of “Bait & Switch” on consumers. They’ll get everyone who is already using their services to switch to their “Faster more reliable” service.

“New!!! Improved! Now with zero downtime due to weather conditions or blockage of the dish.”

Because so few people understand how so much of our technology actually works they’ll keep writing the check instead of thinking it through and looking for alternatives.

There’s very few channels that can’t be streamed. Most newer smart TV’s have the applications built in. Or An Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, FireStick,  or PlayStation can be loaded with the appropriate applications to access the streams.

Why do I need DirecTV again?

Don’t fall for it, Don’t subsidize shitty programming that you’ll never watch because of a crappy bundling scheme on the part of Cable or Satellite providers.

Show them you’ve got a brain!

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One of those nights…

I was winding down for sleep, then boom! I’m wide awake again.

I finally saw “Bros” today. It’s a cute movie, a somewhat predictable romantic comedy. But I like Luke Macfarlane as an actor. I’ve liked him since KillJoys and it was nice to see him playing something other than one of the Jaqobis boys.

He’s done a shit load of movies but Bros is the first one I’ve seen.

I looked up the website of the SCUBA trip organizer I traveled with in 2008. They’re still at it, and they’re heading to Bonaire in October. That’s a tempting get away. It’s unlikely I’ll go because there may simply be too much to deal with this coming year. That being said Bonaire is someplace that I enjoyed. I suppose my going, or not is going to depend a lot on finances and living situation. I could really use some tropical time, and some SCUBA time.

It’s been literally years since I got wet. I should plan on a refresher course and I need a new dive computer. Yes the Apple Watch Ultra has the ability to act as a dive computer, but honestly the way the sensors and algorithms get changed via software, I won’t bet my life on my Apple Watch.

My Apple Watch has too often behaved in arbitrary ways after software updates. I’m leaning more toward an air integrated single purpose dive computer. Let’s have the life support equipment focus on being life support equipment.

Perhaps I’ve been sitting in front of screens too much lately. Perhaps I’m spinning a little toward the manic and that’s why I can’t sleep. I’m trying 2 fingers of Jack, jotting down some story notes, and trying like hell to find the insomniac net on the Ham radio. Sometimes the late night “nets” are interesting, I might have the wrong night or… it’s not late enough yet.

I’ve been having some interesting thoughts about life, moving, starting over, and what happens next. Maybe these thoughts are just dealing with such monumental questions and worries that my poor addled brain is spinning up, instead of spinning down.

Jesse has gone out to the couch which is odd because usually he’s sleeping on the bed whether I’m there or not. On these late nights, I have to work my way into the bed and find space around him. Once he’s out, he’s dead and grumpy weight to move.

It’s raining now, we might see a little bit of snow but at this altitude it’s probably going to be more rain than anything. I’m hoping for rain that is strong enough to make that thrumming sound on the roof that I like. I’m not sure I’d hear it though because there’re still large patches of snow piled on the roof.

Right now It’s Phutureprimative Mind’s Eye playing while I sip my bourbon, and try to clear my head. I think Mind’s Eye may be one of Phutureprimative’s best albums. Check it out if you can.

I see that the weekly backup of my computer is running. That’s estimated to complete in an hour or so. Right now there’s not enough change on a daily basis to justify backing up to the server hourly. The server spend most of its time in sleep mode. That’s probably just as well since the drives spin down and stay spun down sometimes days at a time.

I think part of that is that on my computer there’s 2 TB of disk, so I’m never going to be fighting for space. Typically if I’m transferring to the server, it’s a huge block of files all at once for archival purposes instead of tons of transfers during the day. 

Jerry was always transferring stuff to the server. 

I’m beginning to envision a future. It’s funny, that wasn’t ever a problem when I was young. I had absolute faith that I could regenerate, rising like a Phoenix from the ashes and that I’d be okay. I could recreate myself with ease.

After the house burned, I realized that it was a lot harder to rise. As time went on, I found that I just didn’t have the energy. I was able to create an apartment life in San Diego. But that was an extension of my home here. If shit went sideways, I knew I always had a place to retreat. Selling and moving is a much different proposition. There’s no anchor, no retreat. I’ll be floating raw, naked, with no tethers and whatever I do, must work flawlessly.

Or mostly flawlessly. I can recover from imperfection… I’ve done it before, to do so requires only the application of money. Since money is finite and also in short supply I’d like to avoid as much imperfection as possible and thereby unnecessary expense.

I’m still spinning. I’ve been refraining from firing up the PlayStation for a few rounds of Call of Duty. That would probably amp me up more.

Not that I mind shooting bad guys, I could see myself joining an online game and really getting amped up because the avatars I’d be shooting are representations of real humans. When they respawn, they tend to have a bit of a grudge. I’m a shitty player… even I get lucky from time to time. Most of the time I’m taking a dirt nap waiting to respawn.

I miss having the friends from my Military Contractor Job to play with. We trash talked each other and played brutally. I used to be able to take my boss down in the game without fear… Well, until he respawned and came hunting me. We laughed a lot, swore at each other and had a ton of fun.

I noticed when I activated my PS5 there were all kinds of rules and regulations against trash talking each other. It’s a pity that so many people are that thin skinned or that so many people abused the shit out of communications.

All our trash talk at each other was nothing more than male bonding. I guess that’s something a lot of gay people and especially female to male transgenders simply wouldn’t understand.

There was nothing more gratifying than shooting my boss in the game and having him say “FUCK!!! I’m coming for you when I respawn!” 

I’d reply, “Yeah, but you have to find my ass first boss!”

The next morning at work we’d all be laughing and talking about the awesome shots we’d taken, or why it was we were dancing in one spot against a wall.

We all used to teabag each other in Halo. Imagine… teabagging your boss and him not being pissed about it the next morning.

Well, here we are at 2 AM. The weekly backup is complete.

Now what?

2nd glass of Jack hasn’t really hit. 

Games? Bust a Nut? Or just go climb between the sheets and hope the warm bed takes me to dreamland.

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Too Conservative for California…

Adam Schiff continuing to hammer away on Steve Garvey with that tag line started me thinking.

In the latest ad, it looks like Schiff has updated the attack on Garvey to include the other two democrats running against Schiff.

I thought it was an odd tactic. Schiff is portraying a unified wall of Democrats against the lone conservative Republican. I wondered if this might not backfire in a couple of ways.

1) Americans in general love an underdog.  We also used to love baseball. Especially in Garvey’s time. 

2) Schiff’s ad with the tagline “Too Conservative for California” and Democrats lined up against Garvery making his choice to vote for Trump sound like a crime. Who cares if Garvey voted for Trump? What does that matter? That Schiff’s ad uses Garvey’s voting history as it does, embodies perfectly why I personally have felt like I need to get out of California for years.

I too am “Too Conservative for California” 

I’ve felt more and more unwelcome in California. A place I spent all of my adult life in. A place where I worked hard, and with my partner carved out a bit of the American dream. I naively believed that California would always feel welcoming and like a place of opportunity.

California has become very Judgmental, on a personal level. 

I remember when it was okay to discuss politics and not have the discussion devolve into an argument and hurt feelings. I remember a time when Democrat and Republican / Liberal and Conservative could actually have a discussion where both sides listened to the nuance of the points being discussed.

Now, expressing a non-sanctioned or unapproved opinion can get you thrown out of a bar or restaurant or worse. Walk into a public place and declare you’re Pro-Life and anti “transing” a child under 18. See what happens, you might want to make sure your health and life insurance are paid up…

Democrats agree.Seeing the image of Porter, Lee, and Schiff, with a tag line, something like Democrats Agree, Garvey is not right for California, really crystallized the issue.

California actively HATES anyone with a different opinion. California HATES the individual, the business person, the farmer, and even the entrepreneur. 

California demonstrates that hatred with the ubiquitous high taxation, fees, regulations, and business tax prepayment requirements. Then the State of California continues to demonstrate its contempt for its citizens with a deficit budget, lawlessness, and spending in ways that do not help the citizens of California or the United States, for that matter.

Adam Schiff, in producing this ad might have told the truth for the first time in his career, albeit inadvertently.

Adam Schiff and the Democrat party of California are inviting any and all  Conservatives to leave.

There’s no winning against these Democrats. I think all conservatives and Republicans should simply stop trying.

It’s time to let California go. 

Eventually even the farmers will be driven out. Rest assured, California will enact regulations that prevent ranching, and farming at scale. California will try to implement the “Green” policies that European Farmers have been protesting for at least the last year. 

The Central Valley Famers don’t have the numbers to stand up against the Dazzling Urbanites of the Coastal cities. The farmers can’t win a vote for better government in California. They don’t have the voting numbers to break away from the dank denizens of the Coastal homeless and open air sewage encampments.

California has also mastered the art and weaponization of regulation.

Regulations are not laws, they’re not subject to the same scrutiny as a law. Regulations, nonetheless can have the power of law. The issue is that regulations are concocted by unelected bureaucrats hidden in office warrens and cubicle farms. They have no accountability and never directly see or feel the effects of their regulation. These bureaucrats don’t ever concern themselves with the question of a regulation working as intended, so long as the fee from that regulation keeps being collected. 

As a result of regulation, I’ve allowed my yard to look like the surface of the moon. At one time, my yard was in bloom from spring through fall. I had all the colors of California. It was work that I enjoyed. Walking into the yard always made me smile. Jerry would keep an eye on me and call me in for a drink of water and rest about every hour or so, because I’d get lost in what I was doing and forget things like drinking or eating. My weekends were pleasurable and happy.

That was all before the county decided to “protect” us with inspections backed up with fines that if left unpaid, would result in liens on our property and county contractors showing up to clear our property of offensive plants. These contractors have the ability to charge double or triple their normal rate, they bill the county who passes the charge along to the property owner with interest accruing monthly. 

I got tired of the county sending “Inspectors” who knew nothing about native plants indigenous to the area, coming up onto my property and fining me for planting and maintaining, flowering, drought resistant, landscaping.

Oh and these “Inspectors” were on par with every fucking ‘Karen’ I’ve ever encountered in an HOA! After a while, I simply got tired of fighting with them.

Each year, it was the same shit, I was sending photos and plant identification of the California Natives and writing dissertation after dissertation explaining that these plants were not fire hazards, they were in fact far enough away from the structure, they were drought resistant and therefore ecologically responsible.

But we all know how “Karens” are… They can never be wrong! Their opinions and beliefs are absolutely and always correct. I’d no sooner win one battle, then the Karen’s would change the rules to “prove” they were right and I was wrong.

There came a year when I looked at Jerry and asked if just let the yard die, would he be okay with it. He said, “Yep”. He was just as tired of the bullshit as I was.

I simply didn’t turn on the irrigation system that year. Any plant that dared to sprout, I cut down with the weed whacker. The Karens from the county fined us to clean up some pine needles that weren’t on our property.

My response was a letter back to them, stating that I’d already plowed under all the California natives on my property thereby devaluing the property tax assessment and informing them that if they chose to make me responsible for other properties, I would use my chainsaw to cut down every single tree on my property and surrounding properties to make them stop harassing us.

I don’t think my letter had nearly the impact of the letter one of Jerry’s attorney friends sent.

All we ever wanted was to live in a pretty place have a nice yard, small garden, look up at the stars at night, and be left the fuck alone. But regulation and regulators, needed to be made and employed didn’t they?

I chose to be 70 miles away from LA and Orange County to AVOID HOA fuckwads. I was successful with the damn HOAs but Jerry and I couldn’t avoid the damn California bureaucrats. Nor could we avoid fighting with the county for almost 20 years over their flood control people destroying the road in front of the house, and destroying the environment in and around the wash.

Now that I’m contemplating selling the place, I’ll buy some cheap plants that won’t survive the summer, pretty the place up, collect the proceeds from the sale and head for California’s border. I don’t think I’ll be looking back either.

California may well be the state closest to a full communism regime in the United States. The state is not quite there but if you ask yourself dangerous questions like;

“What do I really get for my investment of taxes, and fees?”

“Is my family any safer?”

“Are the roads better?”

“Can I walk or drive the streets of major cities in the state without fear of being victimized?”

“How long does it take for police to get to my home? “

“How long does it take for paramedics to get to my home? “

“How long does it take for me to see a doctor at an Urgent care or Emergency Room?”

“Why does it take the time it does? What state policies impact any of these issues?”

If you ask those questions and do not immediately leap to “The solution is more government” Then you’re probably not welcome in California.

Hate to tell you this, but you’ve been contaminated by conservative thoughts… It’s only a matter of time before you start asking other questions. 

“Do these elected officials represent me or my community’s best interests?”

“Why do I find my fellow Californians and / or Democrats so annoying lately?”

“Why don’t I like being at rallies for leftist causes anymore?”

Contrary to popular leftist / Democratic dogma. Asking these questions does not automatically mean you’ll be seeking to join the nearest Neo Nazi party. Trust me you’ll not be doing Nazi Salutes or be drinking the MAGA Koolaid from Trumps dick.

It means that you’re actually doing a cost / benefit analysis and realizing that it’s coming up short. The % of your income given to government does not equal the value returned by the government.  Oh you’ll realize it’s not just the state of California, it’s the federal government too. 

You’ll simply understand that by leaving California where conservatives are not wanted, you’ll be able to dial down the % of your income taken from you from which you derive no benefit. You’ll essentially be able to focus on fighting ONLY the taxation and wasteful spending of the Federal Government.

I suppose I should thank Googly eyes Schiff for clarifying the position of the DNC in California. 

They’re saying “GET OUT! We don’t want your kind here…” 

Message received!