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Title: CBS Badly Misplayed Their Hand By Making 'Star Trek: Discovery' A Paid Streaming Exclusive
Source:
Forbes
URL Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insert ... eaming-exclusive/#3f36b6cd1318
Published: Nov 1, 2017
Author: Paul Tassi
Post Date: 2017-11-01 14:18:20 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 3730
Comments: 46
I was excited to watch Star Trek: Discovery last night, CBS’s return to a “true” Star Trek show in the age of JJ Abrams blockbusters. I set my DVR and gave it viewing priority over Fear the Walking Dead, because all the early buzz I’d heard was stellar. But while I really did like the show, the process of watching it was a total disaster. Though I’d set the recording earlier, football pushed all of CBS’s programming out of whack so that 20 minutes of some Oprah special aired during the Star Trek: Discovery recording. I watched anyway, as there was extra time in the recording, so I thought maybe cable had adjusted according and squeezed in the full show by slimming down commercials or something. It did not. The last quarter of the episode had not recorded. While I knew that Star Trek: Discovery was a CBS All Access streaming exclusive, a service you have to pay for, I thought that CBS.com would at least have the episode of Discovery they had literally just aired available to watch so I could see the ending. But no, even the pilot that had just been broadcast was locked behind a paywall. You can sign up for a “free trial,” but one that will immediately start billing you when that period ends. I am not signing up for a CBS paid streaming service, so the only way it appears I’m going to be watching Discovery is if the show goes up on Amazon or iTunes to be purchased directly (I have no idea when or if that is happening). Others may just resort to flat-out piracy, and given my experience last night, it’s hard to blame them. CBS really misplayed their hand with Star Trek: Discovery. While I understand that aging networks want to get their own piece of the Netflix/Hulu pie and have people pay them directly for programming, making Star Trek: Discovery an All Access exclusive misunderstands the market and their own viewing audience. Even without the ridiculous viewing hiccups last night, Discovery being a paid exclusive was never going to fly with me. Why? Am I just a cheapskate who can’t afford $6/10 month? No, but I am someone who already subscribes to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO and for some reason, actual cable still, having not yet cut that cord. If I’m going to add anything else to that list, you had better be damn sure I’m going to get value out of it, and I cannot see that happening with one CBS show they’ve decided to make impossible to view elsewhere. The Star Trek issue is frustrating because this is the first time I’ve actually been interested in a CBS show since Supergirl (which was later taken off CBS for underperforming and moved to The CW). CBS may still put up big numbers for many of its shows, but their audience is aging quickly. A few years ago, reports said the average CBS viewer was 55. Soon, that will be 60, if it isn’t already. Star Trek was a chance to get younger viewers watching the channel for the first time in ages. I was hooked by what I saw of the first episode, and knew immediately it was a show I wanted to continue to follow if I could. The production value is fantastic, the cast is great and it really does address that Star Trek itch that we’ve been waiting years to scratch. But it’s hilariously boneheaded to me to finally have a show that appeals to a younger demographic, and hide it behind a paywall. Yes, the younger crowd is used to paying for streaming services, but almost no one ever signs up for one for one show. Oh, and did I mention that the $6 tier of CBS All Access still includes ads? Sure, Netflix and HBO are a bit more expensive than CBS All Access, but I’m watching many, many exclusive shows, miniseries and movies across those services every year, making the price worthwhile. For CBS, there is literally nothing else I care to watch on All Access (the complete collection of The Big Bang Theory and Two Broke Girls episodes just aren’t doing it for me) nor do I have any idea if the future will provide more All Access-only shows I want to watch like Star Trek: Discovery. In short, there is no way in hell I’m going to pay $72/120 a year to a channel I never watch for one exclusive show that finally managed to catch my interest. Will I ever watch Discovery in full? I have no idea. If it’s ever for sale by itself, I’ll pick it up, and I know international viewers are actually getting the show on Netflix. But CBS really took a wrong turn here, taking one of their most promising shows in ages and locking it into one of the most unappealing subscription services I’ve seen. And they even botched the “teaser” debut so I couldn’t even finish watching the damn pilot without having to subscribe. There are ways for old media companies to adapt to the new media landscape, but CBS is doing it poorly, and I will be amazed if Discovery gets anything even approaching a respectable viewership locked in a tower like this. This was a bad call, and I hope it’s reversed down the road. Poster Comment:
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#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
It's virtually an all-girl cast. The star is a black woman who was disgraced and in prison but pulled out of prison by the captain. Only three males on the show: the captain and the doctor and chief engineer (but Doc and "Scotty" are gay lovers). The Klingons are badly imagined and break with previous shows in many ways. Now they eat humans for fun and nourishment after killing them. The series is set about ten years before the original Star Trek series. Yet they have a biologically-based star drive that can transport them anywhere in the universe in a split-second. When it's working. It's all a big disappointment, possibly worse than Deep Space Nine and Voyager which I didn't like. I did like Enterprise and the original series and ST:TNG. Another good reason to use VPN so you can route your internet connection overseas.
No... the chief of security is a guy also... and it looks like he might be developed into a "love interest" for the black gal...
I use PrivateInternetAccess.com. It is a premium VPN. No person has ever been traced via them. They keep no logs at all. They've been around for a number of years. You subscribe to it and they email you a user name/password. You download their VPN client program and install it and enter the user name/password. Then you just select where in the world you want to connect via. It's quite easy. They also have clients for various platforms (Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad/AppleTV, Android phones & Android TV boxes. I've used it on my Mac and my iPhone and iPad and AppleTV and on my Android Kodi box. You do have to update the client program every 2-3 months, it seems. They update it when they detect that someone is finding a way to penetrate it. PIA's client also has an option to lock your internet connection if the VPN is compromised or drops. This is so you don't "leak" your info even if their servers go down, like if you're torrenting so you don't get exposed and traced. My guess is that PIA and other VPNs are not secure against NSA and CIA. Some of them are almost certainly CIA fronts, just like some of the supposed secure encrypted email programs turned out to be. But probably these VPNs are secure against FBI and other police agencies and MPAA/RIAA snoops. When you read reviews of various VPNs, they often compare themselves to PIA's service. Sometimes they have a feature or two that PIA doesn't, may offer more VPN endpoints in various countries, etc. From using USA VPN endpoints, my 2Mbps connection generally can do 1.5-1.8Mbps downloads. So that is a pretty good rate, considering the latency of any VPN connection. Right now, I'm connected via an IP address in Elk Grove, IL. I also use a Midwest connection or a Texas one now and then. If I go overseas, it does slow a bit but once you establish a streaming connection or download connection it still runs pretty fast once you get past the latency of starting the connection. About 10 endpoints here in the States, a few in Canada, a few in England and a few in Australia, one each in the major EU countries, India, Turkey, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand. PIA is weakest at offering Asian endpoints.
The rumble is that he is playing a dual role, that he is also playing the albino Klingon as well. And that he will turn out to be an infiltrator, trying to destroy Discovery. I'm kinda hoping he succeeds. But maybe some chocolate lovin' will bring his white Klingon supremacy back from the Dark Side. See, it all sounds so stupid.
You should check out VPN reviews. Keep in mind some of these are sites run by VPN companies just to promote their own services. Lots of VPNs come and go. PIA just keeps hanging on. Which could mean it is a CIA front. LOL
It is a premium VPN. No person has ever been traced via them. They keep no logs at all. They've been around for a number of years. Thanks for the info 2Con. I'll look into this stuff in detail soon, as college basketball season is nearly here and I want to see some games of interest that ESPN seems to have a monopoly on. I cut my satellite/cable about 5 years ago. Thanks again.
PIA is pricey at $40 a year. Hardly any other service costs as much. But it gets consistently high marks from sites like Lifehacker and ArsTechnica. They also have payment via gift cards. So you can go buy a $40 gift card at Dollar Store or Walmart with cash and use that to pay for PIA. Pretty hard to trace you then as there is no financial trail back to you for the account. They also include other extras like proxies and adblocking if you want that.
I didn't care much for TNG or DS9... but Voyager & Enterprise were good (7-of-9 & T'Pol made them easier to watch, LOL!) Anyway, I can forgive minor divergencies from the original timeline... the computer graphics & special effects that they have available today make it worthwhile... plus I expect they'll probably have more adult-oriented scripts that the network censors wouldn't permit on broadcast TV... It should be interesting...
I dug out a recent YouTube review of PIA. As they mention, it is consistently one of the top three VPN services on the market Head-to-head of the top 4 VPNs in 2017, including PIA.
Yeah... but that's cheap if it helps circumvent subscribing to a bunch of other overpriced crap... Don't get me wrong... I don't mind paying for what I actually watch... I just don't like buying a subscription that also includes a pile of worthless crap that I wouldn't want to watch even if you paid ME...
It's a lot cheaper than paying off DMCA notices, that's for sure. Not that I ever have, just sayin'. You should never torrent without a VPN. It's just not safe. BTW, PIA is one of the few VPN companies that makes a nice VPN client for Linux.
I haven't done any torrents for at least a dozen years... except to occasionally download a new linux iso... but for file sharing? I vaguely recall apps like Napster, Gnutella, Limewire.... but I don't know if any of them are still out there, or if they're defunct or evolved into something else.... LOL! Lost track of all that when I was hospitalized a few years back... It just keeps getting harder and harder to keep up in my old age...
Torrenting is dying out, at least the public sites are. Big sites like KickassTorrents are gone. Only PirateBay and a handful of others remain that are public. Demonoid got busted and came back but is a ghost of its former self. I belong to some private torrent sites that are very impressive but I half-expect them to disappear over the next year or so. At any rate, everyone uses VPNs now if they torrent. If they don't, they get DMCA nastygrams from their ISP very shortly.
Only three males on the show: the captain and the doctor and chief engineer (but Doc and "Scotty" are gay lovers). Hmmm,sure sounds to me like Millenials and their puppies are the target audience. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Good guess on the NSA,but the CIA don't give a damn because they can't and don't operate inside America. Why would they even need to,when if something happens in America that is related to something of interest to them where they are operating,all they have to do is request the NSA forward a copy of the person/persons of interest to them that are related. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
It's my half-assed understanding that it has something to do with enabling Chinese and/or Iranian dissidents (or other foreign nationals) to communicate outside their countries when their own government limits their access to the outside world... or something like that...
It's my half-assed understanding that it has something to do with enabling Chinese and/or Iranian dissidents (or other foreign nationals) to communicate outside their countries when their own government limits their access to the outside world... or something like that... Nah,there are so many communications streams that the NSA has no chance at all of live monitoring them all. What they do is have machines listen/watch for some key words or phrases,and the equipment automatically "keys" on and notifies a NSA employee who then takes over and does a more in-depth search. They will mine their records and other sources for your previous messages to see if you are linked to other known threats,etc,etc,etc. You have to really be doing some weird shit to attract their attention,but once you do it's over for you because you can't make a phone call,send or receive a letter,send a email,or do anything else other than talk to yourself without them knowing every word you spoke. They will gather the info and turn it over to the Feebs,Treasury,Customs,BATF,or what other branch of law enforcement deals with those issues,and several somebodies with badges and guns will come a-knock,knock,knocking at your door. Or carrying a battering ram and do the knocking with that,depending on what it is you have been saying and who you have been saying it to. You have to seriously be "out there and foaming at the mouth" to attract their attention,though. They only have so many employees,and there are only 24 hours in a day. As for the CIA,they flat have no interest in what you say. Their entire focus is in other countries. And "No,they don't "fudge" a little. Domestic spying is the Feebs turf,and they guard it like a Doberman with a soup bone. One thing the Feebs and the CIA have in common is that if they come knocking at your door,you are screwed. They have all the evidence they need to lock you in a small room for the rest of your life before they leave the office. You better have somebody to rat out that is above you in the power chain,or get used to wearing orange and living in a tiny cement cave. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Is this guy 12 years old? Star Trek? I came here to read the business case for what they're doing (does See?BS! really think they can charge $6/month for a single show, ignoring the reruns of crap he mentions?), but this emotionally-stunted guy really seems to be into this kids show. And don't come back at me about all the deep 6th-grade-level philosophy of Gene Roddenberry and how we can all learn to live together like Klingons and normal people if we pay attention to the message.
The chick in blue in the photo? Is that the gal who croaked in Walking Dead last season? She's hot. But I'm assuming the scripts and acting are as bad as Star Trek was when I was actually young enough (13) to watch with interest and without feeling ashamed.
I think you grok the essence of Star Trek. And Star Wars, come to think of it.
I was making it sound more glamorous and interesting than it is. I left out a whole lot of sucky plot details. It's already one of those shows that I watch, just hoping they'll kill everyone. I'm at that point already with those Walking Dead shows. It usually takes me several seasons to want the cast dead but ST:D has gotten there before the first season ends.
You're naive if you think that all the foreign espionage services have to do to get the CIA off their trail is to move their operations inside the States. The FBI operates all over the world, not just the U.S. And the CIA operates world wide as well, including the U.S. When we say the CIA doesn't operate in the U.S. by its charter, we only mean is the CIA isn't allowed to attack or subvert or knock off our own federal government. But counter-espionage against all the foreign embassies and foreign agents operating in this country? Of course that is the CIA's job. FBI can't possibly keep up with them and isn't qualified to and doesn't have the top security clearances in national security that are needed. When needed, the CIA has the FBI make arrests for it here in the States for espionage but the legwork is still the CIA's job.
Yes it's Sasha from TWD.
Not paying for crap. Will wait for the crap to reach Netflix.
I'm thinking it gets cancelled. Unless the SJW faction at CBS can manage to keep it on life support for a second season.
Yeah... that's what I'm getting at... I'm speculating that they might be the ones who are providing VPN software to the dissidents so that they can circumvent the Great Firewall of China erected by the Chicom government. But my tinfoil hat isn't very tuned in to this VPN stuff since I'm just learning about it...
Well in addition to some original programming and perhaps some live sporting events, CBS All Access has "25 Hidden Treasures" that you can stream... and if you don't care for those moldy reruns, I think they have a lot of other crap in their inventory that you can watch, including old movies... so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds... But when you're already shelling out a small fortune for Internet Access & cell phones & cable TV & different cable TV premium packages plus yadda, yadda, yadda... it all starts adding up... not just the cost, but it'll also drive you nutz wading through all the garbage just to find what you want to watch
And here I was,thinking I was the only one! THANK YOU! In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
I think Roddenberry's philosophy is more commercially successful & entertaining than El-Ron Hubbard's Scientology...
Yup! That's me,alright. EVERYBODY tells me I am naive. Then again,*I* don't think that anti-American intelligence agents only operate IN the United States. Nor do I think the Feebs have the capability,assets,or training to run undercover intelligence operations outside of the US. I also know that when the Feebs deploy to a foreign country,they run their operations out of the US Embassy there. NOBODY would think to look for them there,right? I guess they can just move in to the embassy and run ads in the local papers looking for spies,and for the potential spies to apply at the US Embassy from 9-5 Mon-Fri? What do YOU know about intelligence operations from personal experience? Ever ran any covert operations in a foreign country or been a part of a covert team? When the Feebs go to a foreign country they are there to investigate crimes,not kill traitors or recruit agents. The CIA,on the other hand,couldn't care less about prosecuting crimes in court. They are there to recruit and run agents. In some cases,they are there to oversee and supervise the pay and equipping of locals trying to overthrow governments hostile to US interests. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=billy+waugh&sprefix=billy+waugh%2Caps%2C2033&crid=19TKLC123LOHS Go to the link above and buy Billy Waugh's book and introduce yourself to reality. Billy Waugh was in his 70's when he went to Afghanistan to live in the mountains and work with and train tribal insurgents long before war broke out in Afghanistan and the US Army was sent in. He was also personally responsible for the arrest of Carlos,the Jackal. He asked for permission to kill him,but the Clinton WH refused,and made him tell the French police which villa he was staying in so they could arrest him instead. I knew Billy when he was a MSG in the US Army,and all this happened long after he retired and he was working as a contract agent for the CIA. The CIA does NOT operate inside the US,and you just look like a clueless fool every time you spout that nonsense. When we say the CIA doesn't operate in the U.S. by its charter, we only mean is the CIA isn't allowed to attack or subvert or knock off our own federal government. But counter-espionage against all the foreign embassies and foreign agents operating in this country? Of course that is the CIA's job. Are you REALLY that freaking ignorant? FBI can't possibly keep up with them and isn't qualified to and doesn't have the top security clearances in national security that are needed. Yeah,I guess you really ARE that freaking ignorant. WHO do you think it was that had the phones tapped at the Russian embassy in NY,and was reading all the Soviet mail that lead to the arrest of the Rosenberg's,as well as created the list of traitors names,MANY in the entertainment and/or news business that Senator McCarthy read and made public? It is laughable that you don't think the FBI has top security clearances. I was just a nobody special lowering ranking 20 year old NCO in the US Army,and I had Top Secret/Crypto/Code Word clearances. Do you REALLY think that FBI agents working counter-espionage can't get the same security clearances as a lowly US Army Sergeant? I can't ask you "Do you know the size of the counter-espionage FBI teams,including the technical branch people?",because I suspect the truth is that probably very few people know that because the Feebs like to keep their business quiet until arrests are made. Where the HELL did you "learn" such nonsense,anyway? In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Wouldn't surprise me to learn that some NSA front company wasn't a partial owner of one or more of the services. OR learn that the CIA were buying the hardware and delivering it to dissidents. That IS one of the things they do. The CIA wouldn't be involved with collecting the digital data,though. That's the sole job of the NSA,and they are VERY,VERY good at what they do. Not saying that somewhere down the line in countries near and far that the CIA won't be making moves based on the digital data mined by the NSA,though. If you are living in America and the NSA develops an interest in you,they will turn over what they find to the Feebs,and they will be the ones knocking on your door and seizing all your bank accounts and other assets. Generally speaking,you are screwed beyond belief once the Feebs have decided they have enough info on you to prosecute. They do NOT like losing,and don't make a move until they have a slam dunk case. The only questions will be "which prison you go to,and for how long". In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Hard to say. Both of them made millions. I will admit that I was a fan of the first Star Trek teebee series,back when it was in black and white,and I only had 3 channels to choose from. Mostly because it wasn't "formula teebee". Also LOVED The Twilight Zone,which at times wandered into Sci-Fi territory. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Your TV and/or network affiliate may have been B&W but 1966 was the year that NBC put its entire primetime lineup in color including Star Trek. Recall that peacock logo in color? Even the original 1965 pilot The Cage (later remade into the two-part Menagerie) was in color.
Nope. Other than a 6-8 month break,I was somewhere in Asia from 1965 to 1970. Don't think I watched 15 minutes of televsion in all that time,even though it was all around. It just didn't hold the same level of attention as my job or the girls in the bars downtown. In fact,I didn't even own a tv until 1977. Only reason I bought one then was because the female airhead I was living with wanted one so she could watch "I Love Lucy",and similar shit that made my head want to explode. Which should have served as an "Early Warning Device" for me. Let's just say she wasn't a deep thinker,and leave it at that. Maybe the worse 35 bucks I ever spent. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
OK... you convinced me... I got PIA installed on my computer (linux Mint) and my Android phone... and it seems to be working OK... later this afternoon I'll give it a try on my Android tablet & TV box as well... (supposedly one subscription is good on multiple devices, so I'm happy I don't have to pay for each one separately)
Woh. I'm surprised you took my advice. But it has been trouble-free for me on multiple platforms over a stretch of a few years now. You can do up to five devices at once. For the price and features, it's hard not to like PIA. There are much pricier VPNs that don't offer more. However, some of those offer double-encrypted links which adds another layer of untracability to your internet connection. It's more hacker-level VPN. It doesn't make you untrackable but it does help a lot. And you can use public wi-fi a lot more safely than just connecting directly. And a standard VPN like PIA offers all the VPN features the majority of users are looking for. You have to be fairly paranoid to spring for a $100 a year VPN connection just so it is double-encrypted. BTW, on your Linux you can probably use more features than on the Android versions. So if your streaming gets slow, you can select a lower level of encryption if your Android device gets bogged down from decrypting and displaying a stream. Each of the five devices can use different encryption settings so you might want to keep that in mind.
I haven't done it on Linux. Was it quick and easy? Did you enable the MACE adblocking and tracker blocking? That can be interesting, more so with the Android devices that don't have such good adblocking software on them. If PIA is blocking the ads and trackers for you, it makes your phones and tablets run faster and use less bandwidth.
What about the ad/tracker blocker? Is it good enough that I can disable or remove the other adblocker I normally use with my browser? Or is it best to use both so as to give all of the crapware the old 1-2?
It was different, but easy enough to follow the instructions.. I had to download a tarball, then open up a terminal & decompress the tarball and then run an installation script.... and then enter my linux password and then my PIA username and password when the PIA window opened up... But it went smooth
It's pretty good, about like AdBlock Plus is, I guess. One thing: if PIA filters it for you, even your desktop computer will browse faster simply because it doesn't have to do all of that filtering itself, much of which involves little networking handshakes. It makes sense for PIA to do pretty good filtering as that reduces the total bandwidth needed to operate the VPN connections. IOW, PIA doesn't really want to pay to transmit all those ads and tracker traffic back and forth to you. So filtering is really in their best interest as well as yours. A happy alignment of the interest of the customer and the service provider. Anyway, just keep in mind it is at least possible that a few sites won't like you operating with an adblocking VPN connection, perhaps blocking some of their content (video especially) or even preventing you from login (only on very badly designed sites). I'd say you just have to try it and see what you think. If you think a site is being blocked in some way so it doesn't work for you, you can always submit a request to PIA for them to fix that site to work for you. But I've never needed to. It handles every site as expected.
Comments (41 - 46) not displayed.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest If it’s ever for sale by itself, I’ll pick it up, and I know international viewers are actually getting the show on Netflix.
#2. To: Tooconservative (#1)
Only three males on the show: the captain and the doctor and chief engineer
Another good reason to use VPN so you can route your internet connection overseas.
Any recommendations?
#3. To: Willie Green (#2)
Any recommendations?
#4. To: Willie Green (#2)
No... the chief of security is a guy also... and it looks like he might be developed into a "love interest" for the black gal...
#5. To: Willie Green (#2)
(Edited)
#6. To: Tooconservative, Willie Green (#3)
I use PrivateInternetAccess.com.
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
#8. To: Tooconservative (#1)
It's all a big disappointment, possibly worse than Deep Space Nine and Voyager which I didn't like. I did like Enterprise and the original series and ST:TNG.
#9. To: Fred Mertz, Willie Green (#6)
(Edited)
and they've been around a long time, longer than any of the others that I know of.
#10. To: Tooconservative (#7)
PIA is pricey at $40 a year.
#11. To: Willie Green, All (#10)
#12. To: Tooconservative (#11)
You should never torrent without a VPN. It's just not safe.
#13. To: Willie Green (#12)
#14. To: Tooconservative (#1)
It's virtually an all-girl cast. The star is a black woman who was disgraced and in prison but pulled out of prison by the captain.
#15. To: Tooconservative (#3)
My guess is that PIA and other VPNs are not secure against NSA and CIA.
#16. To: sneakypete (#15)
Why would they even need to,when if something happens in America that is related to something of interest to them where they are operating
#17. To: Willie Green (#16)
Why would they even need to,when if something happens in America that is related to something of interest to them where they are operating
#18. To: Willie Green (#0)
(Edited)
#19. To: Tooconservative (#1)
The star is a black woman who was disgraced and in prison but pulled out of prison by the captain.
#20. To: Tooconservative (#4)
See, it all sounds so stupid.
#21. To: Hank Rearden (#20)
#22. To: sneakypete (#15)
Good guess on the NSA,but the CIA don't give a damn because they can't and don't operate inside America.
#23. To: Hank Rearden (#19)
#24. To: Tooconservative (#1)
#25. To: redleghunter (#24)
#26. To: sneakypete (#17)
As for the CIA,they flat have no interest in what you say. Their entire focus is in other countries.
#27. To: Hank Rearden (#18)
(does See?BS! really think they can charge $6/month for a single show, ignoring the reruns of crap he mentions?)
#28. To: Hank Rearden (#18)
And don't come back at me about all the deep 6th-grade-level philosophy of Gene Roddenberry and how we can all learn to live together like Klingons and normal people if we pay attention to the message.
#29. To: sneakypete, Hank Rearden (#28)
deep 6th-grade-level philosophy of Gene Roddenberry
#30. To: Tooconservative (#22)
You're naive if you think that all the foreign espionage services have to do to get the CIA off their trail is to move their operations inside the States.
#31. To: Willie Green (#26)
(Edited)
Yeah... that's what I'm getting at... I'm speculating that they might be the ones who are providing VPN software to the dissidents so that they can circumvent the Great Firewall of China erected by the Chicom government. But my tinfoil hat isn't very tuned in to this VPN stuff since I'm just learning about it...
#32. To: Willie Green (#29)
I think Roddenberry's philosophy is more commercially successful & entertaining than El-Ron Hubbard's Scientology...
#33. To: sneakypete (#32)
I will admit that I was a fan of the first Star Trek teebee series,back when it was in black and white,and I only had 3 channels to choose from.
#34. To: Tooconservative (#33)
1966 was the year that NBC put its entire primetime lineup in color including Star Trek. Recall that peacock logo in color?
#35. To: Tooconservative (#11)
PIA is one of the few VPN companies that makes a nice VPN client for Linux.
#36. To: Willie Green (#35)
(Edited)
#37. To: Willie Green (#35)
I got PIA installed on my computer (linux Mint)
#38. To: Tooconservative (#36)
#39. To: Tooconservative (#37)
I haven't done it on Linux. Was it quick and easy?
#40. To: Willie Green (#38)
What about the ad/tracker blocker? Is it good enough that I can disable or remove the other adblocker I normally use with my browser? Or is it best to use both so as to give all of the crapware the old 1-2?
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