Reprise the Past

I was just reading a few of my past post and thought some updates were in order.

Television

Television has been called the "vast wasteland." I stated in a past post that I didn't watch much television. Well, I finally canceled my satellite TV service. $35 per month seemed to be an excessive expense for a couple of hours viewing per week. That works out to a trip a week to the local theaters except I don't do that. I signed up with Netflix and get three DVDs at a time delivered in the mail. Great service, so far, and at half the price of the satellite service.

Don't I miss television? I don't really think about it as the only thing I really watched was the local weather report and the SciFi channel. Since, SciFi dropped Stargate SG-1 and the Dresden Files there wasn't a whole lot I'm missing. I get the local weather off the internet now.

One interesting side benefit is that I don't have the temptation to watch any of "the lastest" from CNN, MSNBC or any of their brother networks. My blood pressure is down!

Site Updates

In June, I said that I'd be updating my sites by the end of August. Well things are running a bit late as I've changed some of the requirements. I've also taken on the task of upgrading and maintaining the family website. Yet more software and images to create and modify! Oh well, life isn't supposed to be easy.

Elections

I don't know about you but with over a year until the elections I have no interest. I don't care which politician is running around locally and I especially don't care for primaries and caucuses that start so early they may take place this year.

I'm beginning to think we need a constitutional amendment limiting national elections to a 90 day period before the general election. Hugh fines and prison terms against the political parties, PACs or individuals that violate the period would be effective in stopping early starts. My thinking is 5 to 10 times the cost of any ad, print or broadcast, with a five year minimum sentence for repeat offenders.

Mass Media

As I said, I don't watch TV anymore. I also don't take newspapers or news magazines. Why bother! You can do the same as I do and do a quick scan of news summaries on the internet. If anything interests you then research back to the primary sources and get the real facts! Bias in the mass media is endemic and you can't believe anything reporters or editors say.

Enjoy,

-phil