maybe it's because I lived that history. My first computer was an Apple ][e in 1983. I programmed it and learned so much. I've watched the show and remembered so much. It was great. I loved the characters, and how they left and came back to each other all because of technology that they wanted to create. The show embodied that spirit of just making something and turning that passion into a business or to try to. This still happens and will continue because we will continue to want to make something. Why did no one like it? Maybe it had more geek spirit than the general audience cared for.

I've done it. I ha[d|ve] AT&T U-verse. I hated paying $10 for HD service when SD service no longer exists anywhere except for cable-land so they can continue to charge extra for it. Unless I purchase 400+ channels that I don't want to watch and can't even watch. So, I downgraded to just Basic cable. This month, I finally finished the upgrade to the antenna system, Plex media server upgrade, and verified that I average 600 Gb/month on internet traffic with all the changes. Plex serves the HD antenna live stuff to my TVs (Amazingly, AT&T basic is only 20 channels but with the HD antenna I'm picking up 45 local channels). And I can pause, record with it. I have SlingTV for "cable" channels that I do care about which is probably about half of what they offer.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. I called AT&T to cancel Basic since I'm up and running fine through my own implementation, and they guy was telling me I would be data capped to 1TB since I wouldn't have a TV service to keep it unlimited, cue scary music. When I told him that I didn't need to worry as I verified that I avg 600 GB/month and have never come close to 1TB. Then the song and dance of how great cable was and that I should at least keep the box and the basic for $19. I still told him no and then he said if I didn't cancel cable he would give it to me for $10. I asked for how long and would I need a contract? Lifetime of the service (barring the usual increases). The answer was no. When I said that I didn't have a box to view it and my Smart TV doesn't have a tuner card and I didn't want to rent a box. And he said that would be included in the $10 and no contracts. And since I kept Basic, the cost of my internet speed at 75 Mbps (top tier for Uverse in my area), would continue to be discounted and I pay $10 (the cost of HD) for unlimited internet which according to the customer service guide, is $10-15 cheaper than paying for Internet access alone and I'm back to unlimited.

So, I'll conclude that cord cutting is freaking out (at least AT&T) the cable companies because how they bundle stuff and change are just absurd. It's not like I don't want cable but I don't need 15 different copies of the same channel, Honestly, with Netflix/Hulu/SlingTV, all my needs have been met for under $50 plus the cost of Internet access which I don't include because I would pay for that regardless of cable. The reality is I believe is that I received cable for $10 because it's more important to them to have a subscriber. I'll just call the $10 backup TV (if ever needed the box isn't even hooked up) and keep my Internet unlimited and costs down.

So, am I still a cord cutter? As far as I'm concerned yes. Will, I stop paying for Basic? Yes. I'm in Charlotte and I'm waiting for Google Fiber to finish the roll out here (please let them finish) and then I'll get faster Internet and no longer need to carry $10 for unlimited.

Every time I read another X is bad and is changing our kids I think of this xkcd comic. https://xkcd.com/1601/ People need to find specific proof. Are cellphones, computers, tablets, changing our brains? Umm, yes. Anything new that are brains have to learn will create new pathways and change our brains. Is that bad? Really, is any learning something new bad? I mean why else have a brain if not to use it and learn new stuff and change our patterns of behavior. Will all patterns be good? Good question, go ask someone, a neurophysiologist, or heck a good old fashioned experimental psychologist will work. If it is good, or bad. Of course, every time I mention that people tell that those scientists don't use terms of good, or bad.

And there is the point of politics. There has to always be a good, or a bad. How else can politicians tell us that they are protecting us.

I know the guy going for this isn't a politician but he falls into that camp that the government needs to protect us from this new fangled technology that is changing our kids brains. Once again we pull our the tried and true, let's protect the children.

Even though we have no evidence of what harm all this stuff is doing. We just don't know that changing our brains is supposed to be bad.

If the Government would just legalize drugs and tax them then it would solve a big problem with the "dark net/deep web/whatever they call it now"!