TRUMP!

[Kellemora]

When we get a new TV, we rarely throw away the old one. So over time, you end up with the main one in the Den, a second in the bedroom, which is rarely used, and perhaps another in an office or in the kitchen. We had five old TVs at my house back home, but only have three here.
The way technology is changing, I can see the Tuner Section soon being a separate component, since so many use the HD TVs as computer monitors now too.

We do not pay a direct TV tax like you guys do. But the TV Stations pay taxes, as do the manufacturers, and parts makers and suppliers. So all of the manufacturing taxes are included in the sale price of the TV, of which you pay Sales Tax on the hidden Taxes included in the price.

Broadcast Stations get their revenues through advertising, and Cable TV Companies get theirs from both Advertising and Cable Charges.

When Cable TV first came out, it was touted as Advertisement FREE TV. Then little by little they kept adding more and more advertising, until now, 1/4 of the screen is taken up with continual advertising DURING THE SHOWS they air, and often more than 1/3 of the screen has advertising during a show. The only time they turn off their most annoying advertising is when a paid advertisement comes on, which naturally takes up the whole screen.

I quit watching TV instantly when they started running a small advertisement in the lower right hand corner, because I knew they would soon cover a good portion of the screen. I was right! But there are so many couch potatoes who can't live without being glued to the Idiot Box, they get by with it.

[Icey]

I hardly watch any TV these days. We're just paying for repeats and total rubbish. The best programmes we DO get, are from the US. Our own've gone completely down the pan.

We don't get ads showing on our screens until the ad breaks come on, but during the evenings in particular, these can go on and on for about 8 minutes, although it feels like longer. Luckily, they shove the most boring ones on in the afternoons - life assurance, car insurance, PPI claims ... all the ones with no humour and some person droning on until you ignore them anyway!

[Kellemora]

The frau has a DVR, so all shows she watches she records first, then zips through the commercials. Even so the annoying ads which run during the show are always present. On older TVs you could blow up the image and force this junk off the screen, but the new TVs are all fixed sizes, so you can't do much about the annoyances.
Well, you could tape a piece of cardboard over the bottom fourth of the screen, but the ads still often come above the cardboard when they are using 1/3 to 1/2 the screen.
I have a 3x5 Index Card stuck in the lower right hand corner of the TV I occasionally watch. I think the broadcasters figured this out and move their annoyance to the left side or an upper corner for awhile. No problem, I have several hundred index cards I can use to hide their inconsiderate annoying continually running ads.

[Icey]

No Gary, I don't mean our ads show up in a corner of the screen. Ours take up the entire screen - full-on ads with pics of whatever. The only time we get things running across the bottom of the screen is, for example, when the news comes on, and important breaking news might show.

[Kellemora]

You are lucky!
The only time station ads are not showing on the screen is when a paid commercial is airing.
I quit watching TV when they started using a 2 inch square in the corner, because I knew they would continually expand this until they used a third of the screen during the shows you are trying to watch.
If everyone would have turned off their TVs until they removed the annoyances, they would have.
But as I said earlier, we have too many couch potatoes who only live to stare at the idiot box all day.

[Icey]

Completely agree with you, although I appreciate that TVs might be a lifeline to housebound or disabled people.

[Kellemora]

Ruth loved to watch movies, and our local library had more titles on their shelves than the rental stores.
Plus we had an account at a rental store near us who let us take almost all we wanted each time we were in, due to Ruth being wheelchair bound.
Although we put them in auction before moving south, she probably had amassed over 500 VHS tapes. Most of these came from the rental store for under a buck as they discontinued titles. She only took the old classics, and most of those had been rented out at least two dozen times, which was about the limit for the lifespan of a rental tape.
She got a lot of blockbuster tapes also, because the rental places bought several of the same title and as soon as they ran their course, she bought some which were either never rented out once, or only a few times, before they hit the resale shelf.
Now, we have DVDs and Streaming Satellite, hi hi...

[Icey]

I inherited a few old VHS tapes, but we have hundreds of DVDs, and most of them I've never even seen!

[Kellemora]

At the end of the BetaMax era, I gave away about 50 movies to a fellow who still had a couple of those machines.
Some advertising we did for our business was on C-size Cassettes, used in TV stations during that era.
Picked up that size player used, only to find the format our tape was in, was different. Right size, wrong format.
I'm sure I tossed it when I moved.

[Icey]

Some stuff's worth hanging onto, while others aren't. It's easy to become a hoarder when you hate parting with something - maybe for sentiment value, or you feel something might come in useful, so you put it back again.

You have to be ruthless though. If you throw something out which might become a collector's item later on, it's best to just count your losses, and not hold onto it "just in case".

[Kellemora]

I hear ya Icey. Before I moved south, I called an auction company and told them everything goes, except for some keepsakes I set aside, and items I considered personal items.
I had already boxed up and moved out of the house things I needed to set back up down south here.
But now that I'm no longer in the business, I have a lot of stuff which can now go, as I will never use it again.
I did bring certain inventory items I used heavily in my trade, which I have been selling off a few at a time, mostly to collectors. What wasn't of value, I took to recycling centers. Like all the brass used for the exposed locking system on antique doors, etc. which were missing parts to make them a whole unit.

[Icey]

Awww, well it looks as though it's time to get rid of all the stuff now Gary. Just starting on sorting the boxes out's going to be time-consuming and wearying, but it's best to make an effort and push yourself. You might be surprised at how much you get done. Good luck though. I can't bear to start on mine just yet!!! : )

[Kellemora]

Well, we do go through the boxes one at a time, take out the things which do not go with anything else, or considered a stand alone item.
One thing we did unpack were all the picture frames and put them back in their matching sets, then the frau took them all up to Karm's, a donation supported store. Plus a half carload of other things not considered antiques.
I thought I had auctioned off all of my antiques before moving south. Chuckle, they must not have been antiques yet, hi hi. Also, I was hoping to open a small curio shop after I finished working on my house, but I told you what happened to that already. So I have several boxes of curio type stuff, which as I run across them, we place them in a consignment shop on shelves owned by one of Debi's relatives. The cost is too high for us to get one of our own, so he gets 50% of whatever the items sell for. At least he marks all of his stuff high and it still sells well.

So, we are getting there, except for the big stuff which needs to be collected in one place to put everything back together again, hi hi...

[Icey]

Well that sounds good for starters! Good luck with it, and I hope you make a nice few dollars on the sales.

[Kellemora]

We took a few antique toys over to the relative on Monday, a toy cash register, toy typewriter, and wiggle worm we were going to throw away because the plastic is getting brittle on it, and has signs of cracks.
Figured we would let him decide to dump or sell.
Previously we had brought a toy printing press, complete with all the type and guides. We figured it might fetch 20 bucks, so we would get 10 bucks. He decided to price it at 75 bucks, then reduce it by 5 dollars a week until it sells. It was not on his shelf for more than 2 hours after the shop opened the next morning after he placed it. It fetched the full 75 bucks, and the buyer considered it a bargain, since it was complete.
So, thinking the same buyer might be back, he priced the toy cash register and typewriter at 60 bucks. You can find them on e-Bay and other places for above and below that price, mostly below. He priced the wiggle worm at 25 bucks.
He reduced the price on the cash register to 55 dollars on Wednesday, but left the typewriter at 60 bucks. Debi got a cell phone message from him that both items sold this morning. He was in the shop bringing other stuff in, and dickered with the buyer for an even 100 bucks for both items.
I wish I had more, but this was it on the more valuable toy items.
Someone pushed on the wiggle worm and as we thought, the plastic shattered apart, so he dumped it in the trash dumpster.

I'm not selling any of my curio items that I consider associated with my writing though. I use them for inspiration.
I would LOVE to have an Office that looks like the office Ray Bradbury had as a TV set office.

[Icey]

You did really well with the toys Gary! Keep at it!

[yogi]

As of today, 21 March, Clinton is ahead by 9 percentage points.

[Icey]

It'll be interesting to see what happens.