[ale] [ot] what's good on TV - cord cutting

[Neal Rhodes]

Now, when people say cord cutting, in my mind, I also hear "technology
cutting" too.    On the occasions when I do have time to watch
something, my immense preference is for something that "just works". 

Being able to come home, open a bottle of wine, start fixing dinner and
just say "Alexa, play some music by Bix Biderbeck" and ... it just
works... is infinitely better than dorking about with yet another
recalcitrant computer for 15 minutes to get music.    (also being able
to holler "Alexa, add mustard to my shopping list" while my head is
stuffed in the fridge, and having that show up on my shopping list on my
phone whilst at Krogers is almost magic. ) 

In a similar vein, while impressed at reading the length to which people
will go to record digital broadcast tv, we have found that a Roku box,
the Amazon Prime video we already have for free with Amazon Prime
shipping, and the Acorn subscription for BBC stuff is more than we would
ever be inclined to watch.   And aside from the $5/mo for Acorn, there
is no ongoing cost, and it truly "just works". 

On Wed, 2017-04-12 at 09:45 -0400, Jim Kinney wrote:
> I saw Rick and Morty the other night.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally, there's a cartoon character I can use as a role model. Thank
> you Rick!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 9, 2017 7:37 PM, "DJ-Pfulio" <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com> wrote:
> 
>         What's good on TV?
>         
>         NOVA, Frontline
>         For example, here's a NOVA episode called "The Nuclear Option"
>         http://www.pbs.org/video/2365930275/
>         
>         It is about thorium molten salt nuclear reactors that burn
>         current
>         nuclear waste to much smaller amounts (about 10% of the total)
>         and leave
>         waste with just a 69 yr half-life, not thousands of years.
>         
>         There's a cool youtube video showing a meltdown for a Molten
>         Salt
>         Reactor in Utah in the 1950s. They had visitors during the
>         test, but
>         when none of the guys working the meltdown test started
>         running, so the
>         visitors figured it must be safe enough. The reactor
>         temperatures rose
>         higher and higher after all reaction controls were removed ...
>         then the
>         reactions started slowing until they stopped - with zero
>         positive
>         controls needed. No power. No pumps. No explosion. Do nothing,
>         you end
>         with a fizzle, not a boom.
>         
>         There are multiple "new energy" companies performing designs
>         of this
>         type.  Nothing full scale in the USA. I've seen a few
>         proposals for
>         20-30 yr modular reactors. At the end of their life, take the
>         entire
>         reactor out for processing and swap in a new one.
>         
>         China is building full-scale versions of these plants now.
>         They are
>         willing to take big chances to solve their power issues.
>         Google for
>         videos on "molten salt Nuclear Reactors china" to find more.
>         
>         NatGeo did a 2 hr episode about these reactors too.
>         
>         I'm pretty excited about a "green nuclear option" for clean
>         power that
>         works at night, without wind, and can produce power for
>         50-200K homes,
>         without the risk of an explosive meltdown due to electrical or
>         pump
>         failures.
>         
>         It is the next best thing until I can have a nuclear reactor
>         under my
>         sink next to the garbage disposal.  Hope they get solid, safe,
>         designs
>         approved and built in the USA, so we can start eating away at
>         all the
>         partially spent nuclear fuel being stored around current nuke
>         plants.
>         
>         Plus these are entertaining:
>         * Rick and Morty
>         * Squidbillies
>         
>         
>         On 04/09/2017 05:20 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
>         > There's stuff on TV worth watching?
>         >
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