[svlug] DTV transition, and SVLUG [rant]

[Daevid Vincent]

[rant]
Okay, maybe James (or someone else) can explain to me why I am bombarded
with all these damn TV commercials every hour about this switch (from
Comcast, DirectTV, Tivo, and everyone else it seems). Who f'n cares?!
It's TELEVISION. How tragic that middle America won't be able to get the
latest Simpson's episode if their TV goes dark. Or watch some stupid
"reality" show (which are completely scripted anyways). OMG, whatever
will they do?! Jeesh, just fork over the $30-$60 for a converter box if
you really don't have cable TV by now (welcome to the 80's). Problem
solved. Why is so much money and time being invested to "inform"? The
media doesn't spend this much time informing us about corrupt
politicians and disastrous presidents who rape us of our God given
rights and wipe their ass with the Constitution! Maybe if some of those
people that truly can't afford cable TV, stopped watching so much
television and their 5 basic channels of crap/reality shows/sitcoms, and
actually got jobs or read a book and educated themselves they could
someday save up the $30/month it takes to switch over to cable. And if
they're desperately that poor then perhaps TV is the least of their
worries...

When the computer industry switched from CGA to VGA then to SVGA I don't
recall anyone giving me a free video card? When the floppy drive became
obsolete, I checked every day in my mailbox for my free zip drive and
CD-ROM which never came. My Dell i8200 notebook has a "removable" nVidia
card, but good luck if I can replace it as they don't make anything else
that size. Every year or so it seems that AMD/Intel change their formats
from slots to chips with various number of pins. You buy a motherboard
that claims that you can upgrade in the future, but a few months later,
the new chips are a different bus speed or form factor or something, so
you just buy a whole new computer anyways. I have a grip of old VHS
tapes and when DVD came out, ain't nobody tryin' to give me a DVD
player. Why is it the taxpayer's burden to make sure EVERYONE can watch
TV? This should be a consumer problem, not a government one. I wanted to
watch HD as there were all these channels on Comcast that I could HEAR
but not SEE... Comcast didn't buy me a HDTV, nor did the government, *I*
saved my pennies and one day went shopping.

My problem with this is that it feels like the government cares more
about the sheep out there being good little consumers and watching their
insipid commercials than it does about REAL matters. I've read estimates
that this conversion will cost anywhere from $1.2 to $22 BILLION
dollars. How about putting that money into some health-care or education
or "stimulus packages" or paying off some of our debt to China? Why does
it matter if a TV station continues to broadcast in analog anyways? The
infrastructure is already in place and I'm sure has been paid for many
times over (it is 60+ years old). Where does it say in the Bill Of
Rights "We the people shall all have digital television"? Was this an
11th commandment, "Thou shalt watch DTV, forsaking all analog"? Why is
Congress involved -- at all!? Seriously, don't they have countries to
get us out of (or invade)? Don't they have recessions to solve? Is
ensuring digital television really such a concern? And don't even get me
started on the cost to the environment of even a portion of these 73
MILLION "old analog" TV's being dumped into land-fills, leaking toxins.

This reminds me of the whole bank bailout debacle. John Stewart said it
best, "It seems we've privatized their profits, but socialized their
losses". Why is Bobbie-Jean Backwoods' or Roger Refrigeratorbox's
inability to watch "the new digital" television anyone else's problem
but her/his own. I've lost my job several times do too 9/11 and the
recessions and each time to cut expenses, I canceled my cable tv
service... I survived just fine. I even made some new friends and got in
shape from working out with my new free time. The unemployment office
didn't say, "here's your weekly UI check, and here's a little somethin'
extra for your cable bill".

Sorry, but this whole thing is really infuriating because in my head I
know it boils down to $$$$$. When I'd like to think the government is
really FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE and OF THE PEOPLE. But the reality
is the government is FOR THE CORPORATIONS, BY THE LOBBYISTS and OF THE
POLITICIANS...

BTW, my problem isn't with digital TV at all -- I think it's great and
look forward to the new clarity and content. I also get that the FCC
wants the spectrum back to "resell" -- that's fine too.
[/rant]

flame on... :)

On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 15:07 -0800, Rick Moen wrote:

> Passing along to help out James, who's not yet a member of this mailing
> list (but I've invited him to join).
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from svlug-owner at lists.svlug.org -----
> 
> Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 16:43:06 -0500
> From: James Miller <James.Miller at fcc.gov>
> To: svlug at lists.svlug.org, volunteers at lists.svlug.org
> Subject: Wednesday December 3 Meeting
> 
> I am a former Unix / Network Admin in the Bay Area currently employed at
> the Federal Communications Commission and serving as the DMA Coordinator
> to the North State California Chico-Redding area and working on special
> projects.  I am interested in providing an information session on the
> Digital Television (DTV) Transition that will occur nationwide on
> February 17, 2009 and especially the role that technically savy
> volunteers can play in helping folks at risk in the transition.  As you
> know when the DTV transition occurs all full-power Television Stations
> will cease analog television transmission and transmit only DTV signals.
> Analog televisions will not be able to display those signals without a
> "converter box" and the FCC is currently conducting a variety of
> outreach efforts throughout the nation.
> 
>  
> 
> I will be in the SF area over the course of December through February
> and in SF area the week of 11/30-12/4 and am speaking with LUGs and
> other groups in the area (Aside: spoke to Nacho-who's sadly in Boston
> this week--and Peter at SMAUG.) 
> 
>  
> 
> My experience working in the Bay area in the late nineties was that many
> folks active in LUGs were also doing a variety of volunteer activities
> in their communities, such as refurbing old PCs for people in need and
> providing training or other educational activities for people in need--I
> worked at Resonate in Mt. View at the time and was over in East Palo
> Alto on occasion.  My hope is that folks active in the technical
> community doing such work might also inform at risk communities about
> the DTV Transition and also offer some help for folks who have yet to
> get converter boxes or are otherwise unprepared for the transition.
> 
>  
> 
> If you're on the list and are doing something that we could help partner
> with or would have time to discuss and offer any ideas I'd greatly
> appreciate talking with folks.
> 
>  
> 
> (Hope this is an appropriate crosspost to svlug and volunteers...)
> 
>  
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
>  
> 
> --
> 
> James Miller, Attorney Advisor
> 
> FCC Office of Engineering and Technology 
> 
> Private and Confidential Attorney Work Product
>  
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> _______________________________________________
> svlug mailing list
> svlug at lists.svlug.org
> http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/svlug


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