Goodbye Microwave & Cable T.V.

Okay, so I am a huge gadget junkie, and I spend my days coding xhtml, css, and php. Recently I came home to find my wife had shut off cable t.v. My son came home from school (8 years old) starting crying because he was so mad that t.v. was no more. I was ranting and raving like no tomorrow.

After about a week I though to myself; Why not use my hdmi cable from my Macbook to the t.v.? HOLY CARPHOLES... I found myself watching "what I wanted to watch". There was no one telling me "Well here's what's available-you'll love watching re-runs and grade b- movies. Look I love idiocracy, and spongebob but...

It's true. Get a cable for your laptop into the t.v. and you can enjoy music videos, t.v. shows, games, and movies without paying for cable-just internet. You pay for both anyway right?


The Microwave

The other day a chipped piece of paint on the inside of our microwave door caused a malfunction. I covered it with electrical tape, but it melts off after a minute or two. We decided to throw it away since we got a new toaster oven for Christmas. Now, it may have taken me 67 minutes to cook my Marie Calendar's pot pie in the oven, and it may take 10 minutes to heat up a piece of pizza in the toaster oven... BUT I love it!

Food tastes so good when not cooked in the microwave. It's all crispy and juicy. My pizza crust isn't rock hard on one corner either.

Truth is-I can't find a single reason to ever use a microwave again. I can heat liquids on the stove-tv dinners are horrible anyway, I will buy the popcorn that I can cook over the stove, and so. It's like I was brainwashed into removing the nutrients from my food because of convenience. Do we really need to ruin our food to have it faster?

The moral of my story is that we get caught up in certain aspects of technology that we hoped on because of fabs, and wants. When you can stand back away from your vice(s) and scrutinize, you find out a lot of interesting things.

I know there are also horrible things that these technologies can do to us, and I am glad to see it gone.

I think this was is something u wanna keep a secret....don't u think so??

reply to post by ElOmen


Why? Which part?

well good for you!

It's amazing how obvious it all seems when you take a step back and really look at it all hey.

Don't ever go back

reply to post by samlf3rd

After about a week I though to myself; Why not use my hdmi cable from my Macbook to the t.v.? HOLY CARPHOLES... I found myself watching "what I wanted to watch". There was no one telling me "Well here's what's available-you'll love watching re-runs and grade b- movies. Look I love idiocracy, and spongebob but... It's true. Get a cable for your laptop into the t.v. and you can enjoy music videos, t.v. shows, games, and movies without paying for cable-just internet. You pay for both anyway right?

Been there, done that, upgraded to streaming from the pc or network storage to my ps3 then into the tv / home theater.

I can't elaborate anymore as the T&C have been updated to make just about anything I talk about against the T&C. From your wording in your post, you could have just violated the T&C by indicating that you pirate content which is illegal.

But yeah, the more I work with technology, the less I want it in my life. I got a kobo Vox ereader/android tablet for x-mas and that's about as much as I need, i barely touch the desktop now unless it's to download a new show or what not.

Once I find a DNLA streaming app for android, I won't even need the tvs lol

reply to post by samlf3rd


welcome to the club
No cable tv & No nuke oven...
been living like this for over 10 years

I agree with everything u say....but once this goes mainstream people tend to ruin it... cheaging for July and stuff like that....get where I'm coming from??

reply to post by ElOmen


I here you. I think it will take a lot to ruin our good time though. Every major network has free shows all day.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


I guess you're right. I removed the veetle thingyamajig...

I am not saying pirate it, I repair computers and do server networking. I am also a musician. I tell everyone do not download limewire-it's virus ridden, and it's wrong. I used those programs way back in the day. There are t.v. networks that you can watch shows on all day long-with a ton of commercials of course-I hit the mute button and look away.

reply to post by samlf3rd


I only use the miscrowave to head up already cooked food - and thats not often. How on earth people can actually use the microwave to cook food in the first place?

People also need to check their microwaves for radiation leakage every couple of years.

I threw out my cable tv a year ago. Pretty refreshing, I might say! Colleagues and friends stare at me from time to time when they enter into a chitchat about some random popular program they assume everyone must have watched, and I simpy answer by: 'I don't watch TV anymore, so you might have to 'enlighten' me.'

So lately some people dared to ask me: "So what is it that you do, without a TV?" - The most funny part is, that with that question they instantly realized their semi-addiction to the TV. A true mix of reluctance over the possibility of letting the TV go out of their lives, as to the idea seemed somewhat attractive to them as well..

Well I truthfully answer that most of that former TV time is exchanged for Internet time, but I add that since I quit TV, a newborn interest in global society and how the world really works has risen and I therefor read lots of articles on the internet. Most are quite flabbergasted if I point out a few simple things about the current debt crisis, for instance.

Also I just simply add: I decided to form my own opinion about the world, in stead of having it served to me on TV like a TV dinner. It's enough that statements like that get people thinking.

reply to post by CriticalMess


Awesome philosophy! I agree completely. My son has better grades in school too. He actually looks forward to reading books-that aren't even assignments in school!

Originally posted by samlf3rd
reply to post by CriticalMess

 

Awesome philosophy! I agree completely. My son has better grades in school too. He actually looks forward to reading books-that aren't even assignments in school!

Wow! That's just great! The best part is that this is your son's own personal response. *Thumbs Up!*

reply to post by samlf3rd


Good for you! I dropped all but basic cable, but the shows are so stupid that I usually go the network sites and watch what I want when I want, too. Also I have Netflix.

I will buy the popcorn that I can cook over the stove

One word. Airpopper! Never burns always fresh and yummy, without the grease.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

Been there, done that, upgraded to streaming from the pc or network storage to my ps3 then into the tv / home theater.

I can't elaborate anymore as the T&C have been updated to make just about anything I talk about against the T&C. From your wording in your post, you could have just violated the T&C by indicating that you pirate content which is illegal.

Excuse my ignorance, and I, in no way want you to tell me how to do anything illegal, but isn't hooking up your PC to an HDMI cable just using your TV as a monitor?

When I watch TV shows on my laptop, I usually find them with a Google search or go to the network website to find the shows I want to watch, that isn't pirating is it?

Wouldn't my Norton Security warn me if I was at a "pirate" site?

Amen! I converted years ago when I started thinking about the effect of all that radiation on the nutritive effects of my food. I haven't gone back and don't intend to.

And cable? Haven't had that since 2005. You don't even need to get into piracy to extoll the virtues of TV on the computer. Between legitimate streaming and places like Netflix there's plenty of sources of TV-what you want when you want it.

Land line? Forget it. Not since 2004.

Simplify. It's so much better.

reply to post by windword

Excuse my ignorance, and I, in no way want you to tell me how to do anything illegal, but isn't hooking up your PC to an HDMI cable just using your TV as a monitor? When I watch TV shows on my laptop, I usually find them with a Google search or go to the network website to find the shows I want to watch, that isn't pirating is it? Wouldn't my Norton Security warn me if I was at a "pirate" site?

no, merely using your tv as a monitor isn't illegal (yet lol) but I was merely pointing out that, because of some changes to the T&C, simply talking about pirating or hacking is no longer allowed. As such, your post about now getting all your movies/ tv shows and specifically GAMES, could be considered against the T&C.

I'm not going to tell you how to do anything illegal, I was just trying to let you know that you might want to be completely clear when talking about that stuff as if you've made any enemies here, bet on the fact they will alert your post.

Norton, or any antivirus will not tell you if a site is hosting pirated content, they have no ability to even scan for that.

The only way to be sure is to read the information on the site. If the site you are watching is hulu or a similar service, it's completely legal because of the ads, like crackle. the problem is, some sites seem completely legit and even host ads, but are in fact 100% illegal.

I don't know of many networks that allow you to download shows, but most now let you stream them usually the day after airing. I'd stick to those sites when talking about it here.

Anyways, you are in the clear, just wanted to give you a heads up so you don't learn the hard way, some of the PC advice I've given on ATS is now, under the T&C, against the rules and could have me banned.

=====

Anyways, since you've also dumped your microwave, but still love watching movies, here's a tip. Find a local farmer market or similar and find actual on the cob pop corn. You cook it right on the cob on the stove or in the microwave just like normal popcorn, but it's on the cob and a million times better.

We put 1 cob, about the size you'd have at a BBQ, into the microwave and about 2 bags of microwav popcorn is how much we got, and that 1 cob was like 50 cents. Movies deserve the best corn!

reply to post by samlf3rd

Truth is-I can't find a single reason to ever use a microwave again.

Speed?

I mostly use the microwave for a few things.

Heating up leftovers.

Heating up frozen dinners made for the microwave. (this does not include anything that is supposed to be flaky or crunchy, as that simply doesn't work)

Boiling water in a cup (takes 2 min in the microwave, vs. triple that or more on a burner

Steam-bagged veggies (works great for these)

Melting smal amounts of melted candy (when I make homemade candies)

Those things are pretty much all it's good for, but they are fairly common uses I have, so I can still justify it. When I cook at home though, it's usually with the stove or burners. Two simple reasons: 1) stays hot longer, 2) tastes better.

reply to post by Gazrok


I like your input, Speed is something of the past. It does take longer, but I have reheated my meals in the either the toaster oven-Pizza Hut aarggghhhhh, and so on. Speed-not here, taste-here.