Iselin, New Jersey

Thanks. I try.

I'm sorry - a belated welcome to the country Thomas!

Thank you for fixing New Jersey on that issue, Thomas. Such a good start!

Nothing to be sorry about -- thanks for having me!


You're welcome.

Yes, welcome Thomas! I need to go back and read this thread. I didn't realize you were already here.

I have to tell you that I don't think you need a bit of help from blatham or anyone. Go talk to those Joisey girls and see what happens!

I'm with you there, Thomas. Christmas is is.

'scuse me, I'm just off to re-read "A Holidays Carol" by Charles Dickens.

A happy Christmas to you all !

Whether one believes the story or the sentiment behind it or not, it does indeed express a deeply felt element of the human spirit. There are indeed many analogous applications of this principle in areas that have nothing to do with religion.

The dogmatic enforcers of secular political correctitude are hardly different from their religious cousins.

Amen, brother. And a happy Newton day to you! (December 25 is the birthday of Isaac Newton, my personal savior.)

So I wish you a sack full of N's, Thomas!


(You're quite conservative, sticking on his birthday in the old style, aren't you? (January 4, 1643 it's nowadays ...)

May you and yours make gutten fuss
with shnapps and nog on Newtonmas

Thanks, guys.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling with an entirely different question: When I find an apartment to live in permanently, should I buy a TV for it? I didn't have one in Germany. The furnished apartment I currently live in does, with basic cable. So when I moved in, I spent quite a lot of time channel-surfing, hoping I would run into something interesting.

So far, I found an abundance of trash, and an appalling dearth of quality. In two weeks, I found exactly four shows that might be worth buying a TV to watch: (1) News Hour with Jim Lehrer, PBS. (2) Boston Legal, ABC. (3) Mythbusters, Discovery Channel. (4) BBC news, on a local New Jersey channel whose name I'm uncertain of. That's it so far. Out of 70 channels and hundreds of shows that might theoretically be worth watching.

Can any of you suggest some further shows worth buying a TV for? If not, I'm probably better off without one.

I'm not a fan of the cable approach. I'd recommend looking at what your local satellite providers have on offer. I picked a group of packages that covered my interests - history, science, independent film, news, news, news, and cooking (though I don't care for the U.S. version of the Food Network).

A small television is about $100 here, so it's certainly not an investment item.

thomas

Ain't it amazing! The ratio of crap to worthwhile is continually depressing.

PBS is good beyond the Newshour with NOW and Bill Moyers new show and Frontline and much else. You have to scan listings and experiment a bit.

CSPAN of course though again, one has to survey ahead of time to get the good and skip the not good.

I think everyone should watch some amount of Fox every day as well. My daily news viewing includes some of all the networks/channels but that's part of my media studies and propaganda-delivery interests.

I watch almost no TV drama and what I do watch has been either HBO or showtime which I don't think basic cable will get you. It's usually fairly quickly available for rental in any case. That rental capability (now so much expanded with netflix and blockbuster's similar offering is certainly a positive re having a tv in the house.

If you don't get Fox, you'll miss little treasures like expert John Bolton speaking on global warming
http://www.crooksandliars.com/

I used to love some PBS drama shows, but that was ages ago - remember Dennis Potter and Frederic Raphael as favorite writers. And whoever wrote "name of British series I forget". I got to watch less and less tv in the nineties and in the oughts stopped turning it on except when my niece visited, plus occasional use of the vcr. Oh, and once I was transfixed by the Giro d'Italia... Now I watch DVDs on my computer.

At this point, the sound of tv newscasters and much of tv acting drives me wild with the 'phoniness'. A friend has CSI as a favorite show, and I hate the voices..

When I moved, I gave my good Sony to my garden helper - it was heavy, and I was trying to cull my belongings. I wouldn't mind having a small tv around for the occasional world war, but survive quite well without one. On the other hand, I also don't hear politicians voices on any routine basis, so am missing an audio factor in my take on the political scene... less and less of a problem what with the increasing popularity of videos.

There are occasionally a few features on television here worth watching, however they are very rare. I generally avoid it all, depending on friends and family to alert me to something that might be worthwhile - usually it is the odd old movie. About the only regular viewing I do is after a workout while I am getting out of the sweats & getting ready for a shower. That is usually enough to dissuade me from further exploring.

Bernie likes Fox a great deal.

george wrote

That made me smile. Of course, I deeply despise what it is and what it does. There has been domestic fireworks on the matter as my mate doesn't share some of my media/propaganda interests.

But there is simply no other way to appreciate what this network (or the others, or radio, or a paper) is up to unless one follows them with some consistency and care.

It isn't merely a matter of "know the enemy", though that's a big part of it. It is also (for someone interested) a matter of how, in a modern 21st century media/political environment like the US, is effective propaganda perpetrated. Or, how are large groups of citizens manipulated to bring about some desired (desired by those who wish to manipulate) beliefs or consensus. One can look at how various authoritarian regimes, or at the USSR, or at Goebbels did it in different environments. One can study the history of techniques developed by the marketing/public relations. One can attend to the observations of others, as we do with Orwell. All aid in understanding.

I've just ordered up a new compilation of essays which address aspects of these questions which have come about post-Orwell. By all means, order one for yourself, george
http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586485603

Propaganda is hardly new - it existed long before Gobbels & Orwell. Cicero was an adept propagandist in his political diatribes against Verrus and Cataline, long before anyone thought of Fox news or even CNN or NPR.

Ah, the good old Catalinian Orations...

Yeah but Fox claims to be a news channel.

If it's continuing putting out selective and slanted news and comment, it's not a news channel.

So it's a lie. They should not make these claims.