Thought for the day...

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Marketing gimmick.

I doubt your Forester would hit 150 going downhill.

When people are comparison shopping, cars with higher speedometer readings appear to be sportier, and buyers favor them even though they have no intention of driving over 100. "People really want to see higher numbers," said Fawaz Baltaji,


I have purchase a number of cars in my lifetime and I have never ever looked at the speedometer. I will be looking now. Not for the reasons mentioned in the article but how easy it is to read. Mine sucks.

Also I have a tach. No idea why since it is an automatic. My guess same stupid reason as the speedo going to 150MPH.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-tv-antennas-20181228-story.html
This year, 8.1 million over-the-air TV antennas will be delivered to retailers in the U.S., up 2% from last year and 8% over 2016, according to the Consumer Technology Assn.

Nielsen estimates that 13.8% of U.S. homes depend on antennas to get their TV, up from 10.3% in 2014. Research firm GfK North America puts the number of over-the-air TV homes at 16.4 million.
Broadcast OTA TV is not dying.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Hope not. I have not had cable / satellite TV in years. In my opinion, it is now over priced garbage. One of my favorites was TV Land. I loved all of the old shows. And actually enjoyed the retro commercials. Then the bean counters got a hold of it and ripped out the stations guts. They trimmed shows by adding so many commercials it made watching intolerable. When they added their own orginal programming, it was the last straw. It is a retro channel!!!

Other excellent choices like History, Discovery, TLC were destroyed by "reality" TV. TLC is a joke. TLC is The Learning Channel. There is no learning going on when you watch that channel other than learning how far we have fallen in quality broadcasting.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,878
Hope not. I have not had cable / satellite TV in years. In my opinion, it is now over priced garbage. One of my favorites was TV Land. I loved all of the old shows. And actually enjoyed the retro commercials. Then the bean counters got a hold of it and ripped out the stations guts. They trimmed shows by adding so many commercials it made watching intolerable. When they added their own orginal programming, it was the last straw. It is a retro channel!!!

Other excellent choices like History, Discovery, TLC were destroyed by "reality" TV. TLC is a joke. TLC is The Learning Channel. There is no learning going on when you watch that channel other than learning how far we have fallen in quality broadcasting.
I couldn't agree more. I used to look forward to the occasional trip where I got to stay in a hotel because I could watch cable and it was History, Discovery, CSPAN, and a couple others that I would watch late into the night. But for years when I go I try to find a single thing worth watching and almost always come up empty handed. There have been several trips were I didn't even turn on the TV because I wasn't in the mood for yet another demonstration of how bad things have gotten.

But what scares me is the realization that TV is in the business of serving up large numbers of people want, and if this is what we, as a whole, want, then how far down the crapper things must really be.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,110
I’ve never paid a cable TV bill. Just couldn’t justify it as long as OTA was available. Hotel room cable can be nice for a bit but on the whole it reminds me why I don’t want to pay for it.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I’ve never paid a cable TV bill. Just couldn’t justify it as long as OTA was available. Hotel room cable can be nice for a bit but on the whole it reminds me why I don’t want to pay for it.

Not all hotels have many choices on cable. Last year I came back across country on the California Zephyr. I was supposed to transfer to the Capital Limited that same day. Well we had a series of delays and the train got in late causing me to miss my connection.

Amtrak put me up at the Swiss Hotel. Amtrak only pays $160 for a room but anyone else would pay $250 and up in the summer. The hotel was beautiful. The room enormous. I swear the bathroom was bigger than one of my bedrooms. But they had like 7 stations on cable and four of them were sports. :(

I did not check it out but it would not surprise me if they charged for "premium" cable because they charged for pretty much everything else. $250 for a room and people have to pay for wifi :(
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,110
I did not check it out but it would not surprise me if they charged for "premium" cable because they charged for pretty much everything else. $250 for a room and people have to pay for wifi :(
I travelled a lot on business and it was quite predictable: The more expensive the hotel, the less likely you'd get free wifi. I guess they plan on the expense-account crowd and give up on the regular travelers.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
836
I travelled a lot on business and it was quite predictable: The more expensive the hotel, the less likely you'd get free wifi. I guess they plan on the expense-account crowd and give up on the regular travelers.
Why would I care for wifi when I have an unlimited plan on my phone. I just setup my hotspot and they can shove the extra cost, its why I pay for that plan, when my grandkids are in the car and want connectivity it's no problem, Mom and Dad don't want to pay extra for Data, that's where I step in, at home it's no problem for them.

kv
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
836
Also I have a tach. No idea why since it is an automatic.
My Lexus SC400 has overdrive button, my tach tells me when I should hit the button, I just haven't read the manual to see why I want to switch from Norm to Power?

It's not like I would ever pull a trailer, that's why I have a coupe, speed and comfort.

kv
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
I travelled a lot on business and it was quite predictable: The more expensive the hotel, the less likely you'd get free wifi. I guess they plan on the expense-account crowd and give up on the regular travelers.
I've found that wifi might be limited but the Ethernet cable in the room almost always works at no extra charge. Plug in the laptop and setup a wireless hotspot.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I travelled a lot on business and it was quite predictable: The more expensive the hotel, the less likely you'd get free wifi. I guess they plan on the expense-account crowd and give up on the regular travelers.

Yeah I can't figure that. But cutting back on TV too?
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I seldom watch TV anymore. And never while on a trip, I'd very much rather walk around town, read a book, or hang out at AAC... ;)

I was stuck on the train for 3 hours just sitting in the middle of a corn field. I just want edto veg out. ;)

Wasn't too bad when we were stuck in the Rockies for about an hour but that cornfield can really get to you. I swear I watched the corn grow a good 2 pr 3 inches while we were sitting there. I had a roomette but the AC broke in our car and they transferred us to other rooms. I got a nice bedroom with private toilet. I really felt sorry for all of the folks trapped in coach.
 
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