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It’s over in a few hours … but, MAN! I love October! NFL, College Football, NBA, MLB Baseball – even Hockey … All On. It’s incredible!

I am in my office and have 3 games on at once … Loving It.

Just had to say it …

We continously hear from politicians and the religious right (every time there is a school shooting, the topic surfaces) of the dangers of video games on children/youth. With 2020’s news cycle, the topic has obviously been pushed out of primetime for larger, more important issues.

Of note, while there certainly is a link between tv violence and youth impact, other forms of entertainment throughout history consistently fail to prove a strong correlation to youth behavior/psychology.

• There was the music industry’s Parental Advisory hearings of the late 1980s – which still have yet to prove linkage of explicit lyrics to adolescent behavior.
• Even books/novels were considered dangerous in the 18th century as they reached prominence in entertainment.

Video Games look more and more to be joining the realm of Music and Books as a force which fails to show correlation to aggression.

Yet another study from Stetson University (as a follow-up from another 2015 study from the American Psychological Association) shows again – no substantative link. “Dubious at Best”.

Consider this quip at the end:

“Games are now more important than ever for socialization, feeling autonomy and control during an uncertain time, and just de-stressing”

Game On.

So – I travel a lot. Like 2-3 nights a week are in a hotel. Fortunately, my company is pretty good about taking care of me with this – I can stay in some nice hotels and have a per diem that is solid. We work hard, should be taken care of.

But 2 things that have been to mind recently that have made a difference considerably when traveling …

1 – Remember (and use) this IP address: 8.8.8.8. If you are using different hotels (sometimes under the same banner, ie Hilton), this address will reset any cookies that you had in your system and send you to the sign-in page if you are using the hotel’s wifi. Through the years, I have gotten hung-up consistently because the sign-in page I am trying to contact to sign in that night is still hung up on the prior night’s/visit’s stay in another city. Try 8.8.8.8 – it works well.

2 – Really only applies if you are a cord-cutter (we recently ended our 20 year contract with DirecTV and use the Firestick for HULU, Netflix, etc (it’s amazing … did my due diligence on this vs Roku, etc). Carry an extra streaming device in your bag! It’s like bringing your TV with you. You see, when I’m in a non-home city or from hotel to hotel – every market and TV and remote is different. Sometimes it is so fustrating to fumble around to find the ‘guide’ or channel you want … this is just plainly awesome. Plug it in, connect, BOOM! Your channels are right there and you have your handy voice-activated remote. Can’t say just how awesome this has been for me …

That’s all for today …

back to email.

… And this is why we are just about to complete the Cord-Cutting process.

We got 1 Gig speeds a few months back, an Eero mesh system about a month back, I rewired a few outlets around the house to prepare for Rokus, Ethernet, etc. Only step left is our media server setup, a receiver to purchase, some speakers for ceiling surround and patios. Then, just software packages – which I’ve already filtered.

Cutting the Cord gets less expensive/more competitive monthly. My satellite goes the other way.

Received this email this week:

… and you get the urge to attend a taping of the Price Is Right, please refer to this study. You can thank me later (in the form of cash, if you wouldn’t mind).

If you are a regular here, you’ve already read me moan about Monster cables and HDMI. This video further reinforces the scam that Monster cables are. Definitely provides some hands-on evidence.

So … the plane accident in San Francisco on Monday was followed by the following report of names by the NTSB, according to KTVU in CA:

And then, to further complicate the spoof, a newscaster tried to read them off to viewers:

Only to have to apologize later:

It’s official: The internet is now as popular as TV in the US.

And here is his appearance on the show …

So this posting on Reddit appeared today, and within four hours, lo and behold, this was found by a reader …

The internet (and reddit) are amazing things …