How old are you?

I don’t need links to tell me what this was like when I vividly remember.

Yea, cable television first became available in 1948. Regular middle class families did not have cable television for a long time after that.

Mobile phone service was available in 1959. Guess how many people had it? A good friend of my family had a car phone in the mid 70s. Guess how common that was?

You can’t go by invention dates on stuff like this. You’ll be amazed at how long some things take to gain market acceptance.

I mean, I’m not going off a belief, I actually lived this.

Yes, the clear reception vs bunny ears was awesome, but that was also limited on televisions like this, and I’m talking specifically about the content.

My family were always early adopters of technology (I started gaming in ‘79 with both the Intellivision and Atari – Intellivision was far superior). We had HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime as soon as they were available.

I’m talking about the late 70s and early 80s when they were commercially available to the masses and the cable wars began.

The late 70s were absolutely the early days of commercial cable tv.

In the early days they didn’t; that was the whole point of them. You paid a subscription specifically not to have ads like free broadcast television did.

It only lasted like a decade, but it was their whole selling point.

e: keep in mind, too, that broadcast tv at the time was where all the good content was. HBO only showed movies that had already been in theatres (thus the name Home Box Office) and Showtime’s hook was soft-core porn. (‘Do your parents have Showtime?’ was sleepover code for ‘can we watch kinda-porn after the ‘rents have gone to sleep?’) There wasn’t the dearth of original shows/movies we have now. They weren’t studios back then.

e2: sorry for multiple edits, but also bear in mind that when HBO first came out, people were watching their content on televisions like this, which was so inferior to movie theatres that ‘it’s in your home advertising free!’ was basically their whole selling point at first.

And when are they appropriate or inappropriate?

This is my big problem. In a group where people are telling stories about themselves, when it’s my turn, my stories are inappropriate somehow. In 50+ years, I still haven’t figured out what I say that’s wrong,

I’ve spent ages analysing my stories compared to others and I can’t figure out the difference, and no one will tell me. Is it the content (seems comparable) or how I tell it?

It seems better to just say ‘pass’ in those situations and stop engaging.

Omg I want to print this out and staple it to my chest. I’ve been accused so many times of being a ‘one-upper’ when I’m just doing my best to relate to people.

I also need a label like sandpaper has – I’m like 60 grit abrasive.

Oh god, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?

Neat. I cancelled Hulu a few months ago, and this doesn’t make me regret my decision. I like some Disney content, but they’re corporate vultures and, based on their practices, they don’t deserve any loyalty.

And Comcast, of course, can fuck themselves to death. I wish this wasn’t an amicable takeover and Comcast would lose badly, but that’s just my murderous mouse fanfic.

I’m old enough to remember when HBO’s entire point was you paid for cable so you wouldn’t have ads. That was their business model.

Then sometime in the late 80s or early 90s (I dunno, that decade’s kind of a blur) they started sneaking ads in between shows, but not in the middle of shows. But you were paying a higher price, with a few ads. Then they started showing ads to everyone, and still making you pay. I’m still salty about that.

This was always going to happen. They’ll compound paying PLUS ads, and you’ll like it, because what choice do you have if all services are doing it?

Fuck them all . 🏴‍☠️

e: massively borked that first sentence

Technology Connections sounds straight up my alley, thanks!

PBS Spacetime is already a standby. I’ve seen all of them at least twice. I’m always up for more watches.

Shit serves a purpose. You need it to live. It’s so important, after you’ve had an operation they make sure you can do it before they let you go home.

Ted Cruz serves no such purpose. He’s literally less useful than shit.

Grandpa Munster looks happy and has open, welcoming eyes. Meanwhile the actual social vampire looks like Munster after a week-long coke bender.

Nothing about him looks happy or welcoming. He looks like the guy who assures me he’s the carpool for Sunday school so it’s totally cool he’ll pick up my kids but lol no. I’ll take half a day off instead.

Lol. What a dumbass.

I just want to hug you all. Happy whichever holiday you’re celebrating right now. Loving all of you.