CommenTerry

Most People Don't Need to Worry about the Digital Transition

Don't feel pressured to go out and buy a digital television set just because the broadcast switchover from analog to digital might be imminent. If you have cable or satellite service and don't care about high definition TV (HDTV), you can keep your analog TV set, as is, as long as you would like. Cable and satellite providers will automatically convert (non HDTV) digital signals into a format that your analog TV set can process. Now, if you receive your TV signals over-the-air, then you'll have to get a digital TV or a converter for your analog set when the switchover occurs. Also, even if you have cable or satellite, you need a digital HD television or a converter for your analog TV to receive HDTV programming. Try tuning to an HDTV channel with an analog TV and all you'll see is a lot of jumbled pixilation.

Random Rants #35

Dixie Carter should sue her plastic surgeon. From looking at her new face job, it appears that he tried to make her look like Alyssa Milano!      

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Those who can, do; those who can't, become realtors!   

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Here's an idea for a new country music title: "I passed a milestone, then I passed a gall stone."

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The best way to keep someone from interfering with your plans is to not let that person know about them.

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The Internet is without a doubt hurting the sales of reference materials. Within free websites like Wikipedia, Reference.com, Dictionary, and Thesaurus.com, one can find the same information that used to be available only in a bunch of expensive books. 

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Murphy's Soda Law: Whenever you put a soda in your freezer to cool it down for "a few minutes", you almost always forget about it, leaving it to freeze solid before you discover your mistake.

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If I'm afraid of what the answer might be, I won't ask the question. 

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Isn't radio advertising just a form of legalized payola?

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If no one has ever been resentful of you, it's probably because you've never been successful at anything.

The Fallacious Gospel of Tolerance

I was reading a blog the other day in which its author, a gay man, was ranting about the intolerance of the Boy Scouts of America toward gays and atheists. He said he would never donate money to such an organization and would only donate to organizations that do not discriminate against anyone. Oh really? That's his right but I suggest he won't be donating to any organization unless he's a hypocrite. That's because all membership organizations discriminate. Either it's because of age, gender, race, marital status, veteran status, criminal status, geographic location, or what have you, every organization discriminates. For example, let's suppose a known escaped convict attempts to join a given community organization while on the lam. Even though this organization might claim to be tolerant of everyone and not discriminate against anyone, I bet they wouldn't accept him as a member. By virtue of the fact this escaped convict counts as someone, they would be defying their claim and playing the hypocrite.

In addition, every individual is intolerant of someone. It's human nature. Some people just are intolerant of the intolerant. Doesn't this constitute intolerance? In addition, many liberals who pride themselves on being so tolerant are quite intolerant of such people as polluters, those who "don't pay enough taxes", those who seek to overturn Roe vs. Wade, those who advocate drilling for oil on pristine land reserves, wearers of animal fur, religious fanatics, SUV owners, and "Big Tobacco" executives. It should be obvious that when they use the word "tolerant", it's just a code word for accepting people based on their narrow set of pet issues such as gay rights and multiculturalism. All others need not apply.

Hatch Didn't Need to be a Bookkeeper

I wonder how Richard Hatch thought he was going the hide the $1 million he won on Survivor in 2000 from the IRS. Hatch's lawyer claims his client failed to pay the taxes on this money because he "wasn't the world's best bookkeeper." And did he really believe the producer of that show was going to pay the taxes for him? I don't buy it and neither did the judge or jury. I think he just got caught up in pure greed - once he got his hands on that kind of money, he couldn't bring himself to give a big chunk of it up.

However, holding on all of that money wouldn't be worth the trouble to me. I know if I were ever to win a large sum of money, the first thing I would do (before spending a penny of it) would be to write the IRS a check for 35% (the top federal rate) and the State of Virginia a check for 5.75% (the top Virginia rate). That way, I could enjoy the rest of my money without having to look over my shoulder at the tax man.

Center for Pseudoscience in the Public Disinterest

The forever-meddling Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is at it again. Now they are bringing a lawsuit against Kellogg Co. and Viacom Inc. to stop them from marketing junk food to children. They chose a court in Massachusetts as the venue for the suit, since that state's laws are friendly towards consumer protectionism.

This is nothing but an anti-capitalistic power grab intended to involve government even more in our personal lives and take over decisions that should be left to parents. Parents know their children the best. They control the family's purse strings and do the shopping. What's wrong with letting them decide what kinds of food they will purchase for their children? If this lawsuit is successful, our government nanny-state will grow even larger and take one step closer to banning certain types of food. What's next, the government requiring parents to have their kids join health clubs? Don't be surprised.

A Little Sleep, a Little Slumber

"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall they poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man." Proverbs 24:33-34 KJV

Back in biblical days, one of the major causes of poverty was just plain slothfulness or laziness. King Solomon, the wisest mortal who ever walked the earth, knew this and often commented on it the Book of Proverbs. He wasn't concerned about political correctness.

The same is true today, but you wouldn't know it from listening to left-wing Democrats and the liberal media. Why, they'll list just about every reason for poverty that you could imagine, but laziness will not be one of them. That's too politically incorrect. For the most part, they will cite the "lack" of government spending on give-away programs and discrimination against minorities and the poor for the bulk of poverty in the U.S.

True, there are many people living in poverty due to reasons beyond their control such as children born into poverty and those who have suffered from job losses, major medical problems, or mental illness. However, there are many others who are just too lazy to work or cannot get a decent job because they were too lazy to do their school assignments and ultimately dropped out, rejecting the public education that was freely offered to them. In addition, we as a culture have reinforced this characteristic in many people by helping them develop a sense of entitlement. At least in the old days, if one refused to work, he didn't eat.

Random Rants #34

One reason I don't own a gun is because of the plethora of guns laws on the books. I'm afraid I would unknowingly break one of those laws and get into big trouble.      

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Since when did cable TV become an inalienable right?   

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It is supposedly not good for people to get everything they want. At least, that's the trendy and fashionable thing to say. However, no one can convince me that I wouldn't be better off right now, having gotten everything I've ever wanted.

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I'm curious about people who are never outside the mainstream on any issue. I wonder if they actually ever take time to think through anything.

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Have you ever accidentally given yourself a "popcorn crown", as I call it? That occurs when you get a kernel of popcorn stuck to the bottom of an upper tooth or the top of a lower tooth. It feels like a crown that is too "high" and sometimes can be difficult to remove. 

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I understand that Ted Kennedy has written a children's book. Maybe he can read it too!

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Enthusiasm can compensate for a multitude of shortcomings.

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I look older than I am. Therefore, I feel the need to offset this fact by behaving like someone who is younger than I.

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Kudos to Keith Olbermann for continuing to protest the fact that he is required to do silly celebrity stories along with the serious stuff. Maybe next time he'll put something in his contract that will give him veto power over that drivel.

Terry's Trivial Trivia # 9

Not counting leap years, any calendar day will move to the next day of the week the following year. For example, if your birthday fell on a Tuesday in 2002, it fell on a Wednesday in 2003. Leap years make things a little more complicated. 2004 was leap year, so calendar days of March 1 or later in the year, moved two days of the week from 2003. However, calendar days occurring before March 1 do not make the extra day of the week jump until the year following a leap year. So, if your birthday is June 15 and it fell on a Tuesday in 2003, it fell on a Thursday in 2004. Let's say, however, your birthday is February 15. If it fell on a Tuesday in 2003, it fell on a Wednesday in 2004 and fell on a Friday in 2005. Got that?

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Non-leap years always end on the same day of the week that they begin. For example, 2003 began on a Wednesday and ended on a Wednesday.

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From 1975 to 1980, Duke and Clemson had head basketball coaches with the same name: Bill Foster.

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It rains one out of every three days in New York City.

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A new area code can be added to a geographical region via one of two methods: split or overlay. When the split method is chosen, the region is divided in two, with one region retaining the old area code and the other getting the new one. When the overlay method is chosen, the entire region gets an "extra" area code and everyone in that region must then begin dialing ten digits to make local calls.

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Most NFL football players make their homes in or around the cities where they play. Most Major League Baseball players do not.

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No NFL team has ever gone 16-0 or 0-16 in a regular season.

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The NFL has a very obscure rule that has never been utilized in any game I've seen. If a team fair-catches a kickoff, it can request a free-kick field goal attempt from the spot of the fair catch. Under this rule, the kick is attempted just like a kickoff and the other team must clear out of the way and is not allowed to block it. Like a normal field goal attempt, if the ball goes through the uprights, the kicking team is awarded three points.   

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1992 was the last year in which the Winter and Summer Olympics took place in the same year.

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This fall, John Madden will become the only NFL announcer to have done games for all four major broadcast networks. Madden worked the broadcast booth for CBS from 1981 to 1993, for Fox from 1994 to 2003, and for ABC from 2004 to 2005. In September, he will begin broadcasting Sunday night games for NBC.

When Too-Good-to-be-True Really is True

When and if you're ever lucky enough to come across and take advantage of something that seems to good to be true but really is true, try to keep it a secret as much as possible. There are two reasons I say this.

First, too many beneficiaries will ruin almost any benefit. Most benefits work well only if there is a limited number of people who benefit from them. Once everyone jumps on the bandwagon of a given benefit, you can generally kiss it goodbye.

Second, anything that has an inordinately positive impact on one person or one group of people usually has an inordinately negative impact on another person or another group of people. Once the person or group receiving the negative impact gets wind of its existence, they will likely make every effort they can to put the kibosh on it.   

Gimme an F!

A local TV station reported yesterday that the American Lung Association had given the State of Virginia three F's and D for its efforts to regulate smoking. At the end of the story, one of the reporters made a nonsensical remark that Virginia should strive for better grades. Why? I'm proud of those grades. I don't want Virginia to enact freedom-hating, capitalism-suppressing laws that the anti-smoking Nazis have brainwashed other states into passing. I've never smoked and I never will, but I believe the marketplace should decide where people can and can't smoke. Plenty of establishments in Virginia have voluntarily gone smokeless to please their customers. Others have maintained smoking areas to please their customers. People can decide which places they want to patronize. The state should stay out of it. If Virginia were ever to achieve A's and B's, I would hang my head in shame.