[mythtv-users] Things I've learned from mythtv-users

[Dewey Smolka]

On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 12:56 AM, Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
> I've been reading mythtv-users for more than two years now. In those
>  two years I've learned tons about how to improve my MythTV
>  setup. However, along the way I've also received an education in so,
>  so much more. Highlights include:
>
>  * Those who are unaware of the Mac mini are condemned to reinvent
>   it. (In an uglier and larger form that does less and costs twice as
>   much.)

But what if I *want* something larger, uglier, louder, and more expensive?

>  * The MPAA is the most-powerful lobby in Washington DC, with even more
>   reach than the NRA, trade unions, or trial lawyers. Every single
>   institution is controlled behind closed doors by it, including the
>   White House, Congress, the FCC, and the Forest Service.

Don't forget the Catholic church, the Masons, the left-wing media
conspiracy, the NOAA, and most (though not all) state lottery boards.

>  * Ordinary people are so stupid and blind that if, one day, their
>   Blu-ray players and cable boxes started delivering non-HD video to
>   their HD displays, they'd never, ever notice. Or, if the sheeple
>   ever did, all it would take is the MPAA to tell them that it's being
>   done for their own good and they'd willingly cooperate.

Hell, I call the MPAA at least once a week to ask personal advice on
what would be good for me. I haven't got an answer yet on whether I
should paint my flat this spring or wait for summer.

>  * Everyone is out to get you. "Everyone" includes the MPAA, Best Buy,
>   cable companies, satellite companies, Microsoft, and Frito-Lay.

But all of those companies *are* out to get me. Especially Frito-Lay.
And Pepsi-Co, which you forgot to mention. Luckily when I leave the
house I take my full-body Faraday cage.

>  * That TiVo charges $15 a month is the worst crime of the century.
>  * That Schedules Direct initially wanted to charge $60 a year was the
>   worst crime of the millennium.

Anyone charging any money for anything is a crime against humanity.
Except for me selling my services. That's Okay.

>  * Hollywood makes nothing but garbage.

They also make pap, swill, rubbish, crap, dreck, and hogwash.

>  * Cable TV is a necessity of life on par with food and electricity,
>   even when "things are tight."

It's a necessity even on par with sex. That's why I built my
bicycle-powered dynamo -- perfect when the power goes out, or I've
decided that the cable bill is more important than the electricity
bill.

>  * No one knows any more why comma splices are bad. (This can be
>   reworded as "No one knows any more how to use semicolons or
>   conjunctions.")

This is exactly the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.

>  * Asking a question gives me the right to "bump" it again within 12
>   hours, since it's obvious that the only reason I haven't received an
>   answer yet is that everyone else on the list must've had
>   catastrophic system failures that prevented them from seeing it the
>   first time. (Or the questioner uses Gmail.)

I know that this list is populated by hundreds, maybe thousands of
people whose job it is to answer my questions as soon as I have them.
I never wait more than an hour before "bumping" all my posts, and I
hold responders personally responsible if they don't understand my
question or give me improper advice. My system's problems are their
fault.

>  * The sentence "I've Googled the Internet for hours about this
>   question" usually uses a definition of "Internet" that excludes
>   <URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/>.

I do Google for hours before posting here, but most of my queries
involve the word "boobies".

>  * A message that complains that "The MPAA is evil for trying to
>   prevent me from making high-quality recordings. Doesn't Hollywood
>   know that there are many legitimate, legal uses for doing so?" is
>   guaranteed to occur close by another that begins "So I'm trying to
>   play TV episodes I downloaded with BitTorrent in the Internal
>   player, and . . ." (Bonus points when the sentences occur in the
>   same message.)

Perfectly legitimate uses for BT, like downloading the latest distro,
entirely justify my God-given right to a 0-day Blue-Ray screener for
Hogwash IV: Unclogging the Drain.

>  And, last but not least:
>
>  * The restrictions on CableCARD devices are another step toward the
>   *overthrow of the government of the United States*.

The US government has already been overthrown. It happened in 1991,
haven't you noticed. Or have THEY gotten to you TOO?