Whats with the animated insect avatars?

[Smivs]

The ladybug has been retired. Say 'Bye-bye'.

[SandJ]

(can you tell I have had no telly since the late nineties?)

Cool... so I'm not the only one to have ditched the one-eyed monster.

Me too!

My wife got sick of me complaining that sci-fi and science documentaries (that was all I tended to watch) are always scheduled after sport so they can be dropped when the sport over-runs yet again.

The TV & video were rented; she sent them back while I was in work some time in 2000 / 2001. So my wife and I were never subjected to the psychological impact of the endless broadcast loop of the Twin Towers collapse (and do not want to, thank you).

A friend of mine had no TV when I met him (actually, I recruited him as a junior Oracle programmer) in 1997 and he has since got married and got children. There is no TV and no internet access in his home and the children are now about 11 and 9. His personal email account expired a few years ago and he has forgotten his LinkedIn password so he has no online presence either. He manages to communicate with his family in South Africa and Australia and Ireland and his friends worldwide perfectly well.

[Mauiby de Fug]

For the last two years, my housemates and I never bothered to get a tv. Simply because anything that we actually wanted to watch we could see online via sites such as iPlayer and such perfectly well, without having to bother with buying a tv licence. And if we wanted to watch something, there was a computer monitor we could hook one of our laptops to. Worked very well indeed. Now we all moved in with some other people, and while it's nice to have a tv to use with games consoles and such, we do find ourselves aimlessly spending more time watching quiz shows...

[SandJ]

anything that we actually wanted to watch we could see online via sites such as iPlayer and such perfectly well, without having to bother with buying a tv licence.

Although that is illegal in the UK, if you were watching live TV.

(Specifically: watching broadcast programmes that are being shown on TV at the same time requires a TV licence regardless of the device being used to watch it. Watching tapes, DVDs, videos, or any other online or offline content that is not being broadcast at the same time - even if watched on a TV - does not require a TV licence. Although the TV Licensing Liar Authority will tell you otherwise.)

[Smivs]

While we're off-topic, I do have a TV, but try to watch it sparingly. I mostly use it to watch movies (either broadcast or via DVD) perhaps once or twice a week, and try to catch Match of the Day on the weekends, but other than that it gets little use. I might watch the odd documentary that interests me, and very rarely myself and Mrs_Smivs will watch some 'trash' for an hour before bed when you don't really want to have to concentrate.

[Mauiby de Fug]

anything that we actually wanted to watch we could see online via sites such as iPlayer and such perfectly well, without having to bother with buying a tv licence.

Although that is illegal in the UK, if you were watching live TV.

Yes indeed. Which is why we watched it later, usually at a better time for us!

(Specifically: watching broadcast programmes that are being shown on TV at the same time requires a TV licence regardless of the device being used to watch it. Watching tapes, DVDs, videos, or any other online or offline content that is not being broadcast at the same time - even if watched on a TV - does not require a TV licence. Although the TV Licensing Liar Authority will tell you otherwise.)

I remember having an argument with one of my housemates about it. He didn't believe me that that was the case!

[SandJ]

I remember having an argument with one of my housemates about it. He didn't believe me that that was the case!

There are plenty of cases of people without a TV paying for a licence because of the nasty, threatening and incorrect letters the TV Licensing Authority sends out.

There is one programme we want to watch live each year, and have done so illegally once online, and that is the Eurovision Song Contest. We couldn't miss the year (2006) when Lordi did "Hard Rock Hallelujah" and it is such a shame Lithuania chose the same year to do the excellent "We Are the Winners".

We keep trying to convince friends to host a Eurovision Party (you need a TV) but nobody believes we are serious.

[Smivs]

There is one programme we want to watch live each year...and that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

[Okti]

Thanks for the support all. But at least one vote was for to delete my Avatar, I will fullfill the request. Back to my boring avatar.

Okti



Edited to add the old avatar.

[SandJ]

Thanks for the support all. But at least one vote was for to delete my Avatar, I will fullfill the request. Back to my boring avatar.

Oh well, It was fun while it lasted.

[Fatleaf]

I too got rid of the time vampire over ten years ago. I find the same as Mauiby de Fug, everything I want, when I want it, even HD programs, online.
I get those letters on regular occurrences and they are written in a very aggressive manner. I used to fill them in and send them back stating I had no TV. but they still sent them with the same regularity. So I started throwing them in the bin without even opening them. They will eventually send one of their investigators round, you just show them you have no TV offer them a brew (they seem to be very pleasant people in person) and a biscuit and the letters stop.

Anyway, time for this Carniflora to munch the spider

Oh, and I love Smivs' new slimmer, fitter, leaner self. I bet Mrs_Smivs is happy

[Rxke]

Rxke stares at SandJ's Avatar for long minutes, suspecting it *will* move, eventually!

[CaptSolo]

Is it cognitive dissonance or is she really unaware those 'reality TV' shows are scripted and use aspiring actors?

I have told her as much be she doesn't care, so now I hold my tongue. Best not to anger "She who I must obey."

[PhantorGorth]

Thanks for the support all. But at least one vote was for to delete my Avatar, I will fullfill the request. Back to my boring avatar.

Okti



Edited to add the old avatar.

No problem. But I think I will stay with my new avatar for a while longer.

[Smivs]

But I think I will stay with my new avatar for a while longer.

Hooray!