Phew! I wish I knew more about all this whizz-bang paraphernalia that's going on beneath
our very noses, the subtle way it's being done in the name of 'good' is one helluva way to
get access to your private information.
(Oh no, one of Boy In A Dress' antiquated ramblings...?! Yes, but a true one)
When it was decided to have cable television installed here in the UK, I was surprised by
the lack of news coverage regarding the installation of the wiring that needed to be done
in thousands of roads and streets throughout the towns and cities of Britain.
Comcast -the company at that time, quietly went about digging a narrow channel in the
pavements (sidewalks) and then laying a network of cables that ended at the edge of
everyone's property.
The mainstream media were quiet about it and I was surprised, considering that the BBC
must have surely seen it as an encroachment on the monopoly they'd enjoyed since back
in the 1920's.
ITV, a British independent television network, they didn't ring any warning-bells and I was even
more surprised to see that Sky didn't make a song-and-dance over this secretive, low-keyed
operation. After all, Sky was well underway convincing the public that satellite dishes were
the way of the future.
But I decided to got for it and requested the whole package. Telephone, television and
internet access. I wanted all the channels... the whole kit-and-kaboodle.
I'm not a 'techy'-person and even though I think Ninurta and I are of a similar age, this stuff
has left me behind, where as the winter-hardened mountain-man has embraced it.
Even if it was with deep caution!!
So the chaps turned up one morning and after surveying the situation, decided that three
separate cables would be needed from the Main box further up the street, to get me the
service I wished for. Luckily, I'd been changing my front garden from a moss-ridden lawn
that yearned to hold grass into a stony, 'Arizona-desert-style' terrain with boulders and
stuff called 'Beach Cobble'!
So putting in the wrist-thick cables wasn't such a disruption.
As the two men went about their work, I asked them how all of this is installed, I didn't want
walls being knocked down or terrible-looking contraptions blinking on and off taking up the
house!
Remember, the mainstream media hadn't really spoken of it -except for one half-assed 'quiet'
discussion programme I'd seen on the BBC one Sunday morning, and Comcast hadn't certainly
used any advertising on the television that I was aware of.
It had come through leaflets through the letter-box.
They explained that the cables would go to a little box fixed to the side of my house and from
there, feed whatever service I'd asked for. Up to this point, I would suggest that like many
others, I'd have gone into the house and waited for the flashing lights, bells and whistles to begin.
But being a weird assho... being someone who tends to look at the world with a slightly-askew
perception, I began chatting to them about what effect they thought this communication system
would have on the country and I was totally 'gob-smacked' by the response from one of the
engineers.
He explained that -with all respect to myself, this was about accessing peoples homes.
It was about being there after the current family was gone. It was about an invasive continuity.
Whether the next family used cable or not, it was there... it had made it into your house!
The engineer didn't go into it too much, but I understood the kernel of what he was saying.
It's all about thrusting the controlled aspects of communication towards you and slowly-ever-so
-slowly, taking away areas where your choice would be just that, choice.
Think Libraries, think about the book you chose from a random shelf that now sits there on a table
before you, does it call to you in the same way a website does? If not, why not??
The many social media sites are a breeding ground where folk argue and joust on inane topics
and I'd dare to say some of these places, points of views are altered. Yet in the real world, would
you be really concerned about your opinion being accepted by others?
Of course, you choose where to go on the internet and you choose what to read, but has anyone
else noticed the general hostility that seems to be the norm across the many sites these days?
Is it part of a programming agenda or are do we just like to bicker with someone we will never
meet physically?
What are the social benefits from this interplay and if he we learn from using the internet, what
do we learn? Can there be more to all of this than just acquiring relevent information for marketing
purposes?
The television programmes are there for you to enjoy, to be convinced to function a certain type
of way and to perceive the world has others would have you see it. The many 'beneficial' services
in regards of television viewing, are set up to suggest programmes you'd enjoy and even record
them whether you access them or not.
The box in the corner suggests you buy, gamble and make decisions based on the information
presented, I would suggest the internet to some extent, does the same.
The internet access is merely a conduit to take your browsing, fire it up into the satellites and
through them, to the wonderful places you might wish to go.
But who owns the satellites...? who originally put them there?
I'm not saying we should pull the cables from the backs of our computers and turn off the lights
and I'm not suggesting we should perceive all communication appartus as tools of sinister
agencies. No... that would be silly, wouldn't it?... I mean, wouldn't it?!!
(Takes off tin-foil hat)
Finally, when the technicians arrived the next day to install the internal parts of the cable viewing,
the first image I saw (my family were away at a Great-Grandmother's 100th birthday shindig!)...
was the second plane hitting the towers.
Good thread.
our very noses, the subtle way it's being done in the name of 'good' is one helluva way to
get access to your private information.
(Oh no, one of Boy In A Dress' antiquated ramblings...?! Yes, but a true one)
When it was decided to have cable television installed here in the UK, I was surprised by
the lack of news coverage regarding the installation of the wiring that needed to be done
in thousands of roads and streets throughout the towns and cities of Britain.
Comcast -the company at that time, quietly went about digging a narrow channel in the
pavements (sidewalks) and then laying a network of cables that ended at the edge of
everyone's property.
The mainstream media were quiet about it and I was surprised, considering that the BBC
must have surely seen it as an encroachment on the monopoly they'd enjoyed since back
in the 1920's.
ITV, a British independent television network, they didn't ring any warning-bells and I was even
more surprised to see that Sky didn't make a song-and-dance over this secretive, low-keyed
operation. After all, Sky was well underway convincing the public that satellite dishes were
the way of the future.
But I decided to got for it and requested the whole package. Telephone, television and
internet access. I wanted all the channels... the whole kit-and-kaboodle.
I'm not a 'techy'-person and even though I think Ninurta and I are of a similar age, this stuff
has left me behind, where as the winter-hardened mountain-man has embraced it.
Even if it was with deep caution!!
So the chaps turned up one morning and after surveying the situation, decided that three
separate cables would be needed from the Main box further up the street, to get me the
service I wished for. Luckily, I'd been changing my front garden from a moss-ridden lawn
that yearned to hold grass into a stony, 'Arizona-desert-style' terrain with boulders and
stuff called 'Beach Cobble'!
So putting in the wrist-thick cables wasn't such a disruption.
As the two men went about their work, I asked them how all of this is installed, I didn't want
walls being knocked down or terrible-looking contraptions blinking on and off taking up the
house!
Remember, the mainstream media hadn't really spoken of it -except for one half-assed 'quiet'
discussion programme I'd seen on the BBC one Sunday morning, and Comcast hadn't certainly
used any advertising on the television that I was aware of.
It had come through leaflets through the letter-box.
They explained that the cables would go to a little box fixed to the side of my house and from
there, feed whatever service I'd asked for. Up to this point, I would suggest that like many
others, I'd have gone into the house and waited for the flashing lights, bells and whistles to begin.
But being a weird assho... being someone who tends to look at the world with a slightly-askew
perception, I began chatting to them about what effect they thought this communication system
would have on the country and I was totally 'gob-smacked' by the response from one of the
engineers.
He explained that -with all respect to myself, this was about accessing peoples homes.
It was about being there after the current family was gone. It was about an invasive continuity.
Whether the next family used cable or not, it was there... it had made it into your house!
The engineer didn't go into it too much, but I understood the kernel of what he was saying.
It's all about thrusting the controlled aspects of communication towards you and slowly-ever-so
-slowly, taking away areas where your choice would be just that, choice.
Think Libraries, think about the book you chose from a random shelf that now sits there on a table
before you, does it call to you in the same way a website does? If not, why not??
The many social media sites are a breeding ground where folk argue and joust on inane topics
and I'd dare to say some of these places, points of views are altered. Yet in the real world, would
you be really concerned about your opinion being accepted by others?
Of course, you choose where to go on the internet and you choose what to read, but has anyone
else noticed the general hostility that seems to be the norm across the many sites these days?
Is it part of a programming agenda or are do we just like to bicker with someone we will never
meet physically?
What are the social benefits from this interplay and if he we learn from using the internet, what
do we learn? Can there be more to all of this than just acquiring relevent information for marketing
purposes?
The television programmes are there for you to enjoy, to be convinced to function a certain type
of way and to perceive the world has others would have you see it. The many 'beneficial' services
in regards of television viewing, are set up to suggest programmes you'd enjoy and even record
them whether you access them or not.
The box in the corner suggests you buy, gamble and make decisions based on the information
presented, I would suggest the internet to some extent, does the same.
The internet access is merely a conduit to take your browsing, fire it up into the satellites and
through them, to the wonderful places you might wish to go.
But who owns the satellites...? who originally put them there?
I'm not saying we should pull the cables from the backs of our computers and turn off the lights
and I'm not suggesting we should perceive all communication appartus as tools of sinister
agencies. No... that would be silly, wouldn't it?... I mean, wouldn't it?!!
(Takes off tin-foil hat)
Finally, when the technicians arrived the next day to install the internal parts of the cable viewing,
the first image I saw (my family were away at a Great-Grandmother's 100th birthday shindig!)...
was the second plane hitting the towers.
Good thread.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.