h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We had some great monstrosity of a console for many years. And my mother still has a ton of ancient (from teh 30's I think) 78rpm albums of varrying nature.

MR - Tudor England is better than One-dor England BWAH HA HA

sorry, couldn't help it.

Courtesy

After listening to this one gap commercial 10 000 000 times, I'm ready to bring a certain love chain to a full stop. Argh. Crappy ad campaigns.

Sporky, I thought I was the only one ready to rip my ears off if I heard that stupid ad one more time!

But I was hoping for a 4-door!

I think that all of the Gap commercials are annoying. Too many record companies selling out the rights to the music. It is one thing to make moeny, and entirely different thing to sell out.

MR was a deadhead!!

My first album (vinyl) was the Chad Mitchell Trio, live somewhere or other, and there was a banner overprinted across the top saying that it was a STEREOPHONIC RECORDING. This was 1963. Many years later the record was quite a collector's item because the backing musician, on banjo and guitar, was Roger McGuinn. My other albums of the time were Judy Collins and some other folk groups. Several years later I began buying Joni Mitchell and Beatles, and Chad and Jeremy.

I'm so old I can remember when you had to get up and go over to the TV to change the channel.

You've found me out, Lil. Yes, for a brief (okay, 6 or 7 years) time, I was a deadhead.

Now you know.

Lil -

I remember having to get up and change the channel. In my family the closest person to the TV was the one who had to get up and change the channel, so inevitably there was desire to sit as far from the TV as possible.

Luckily we were a good Catholic family and were used to sitting in the back of the church

Courtesy *who procrastinated on a school project and is now working through the night to get it done by tomorrow*

Remember having to get up to change the channel? I remember that - and only having a black-and-white TV when I was a kid - and there were only 2 channels, and only one news show, and most of the childrens' films were Russian animated puppets films...

In spite of having a coffee table weighed down with remotes, its never the right one, so on occasion someone still has to do the physical thing. We have one of those all in one things too, but H never got around to completing the programming.

I have started drinking green tea as it's meant to be good for the metabolism, my thyroid gland went on indefinite leave. Anyone know how many s I should drink in a day for it to be worth it?

I think we are still living in Tudor England, MR. Simon Scharma amd Michael Starkey have written books on the subject recently following on from tv programmes.

[Munchkin]
First LP (and it was on vinyl too) - Queen, Greatest Hits
First 45 single - Doctorin' the Tardis, a Dr. Who novelty song that I still enjoy singing along to, by The Timelords who were actually the KLF in disguise.
Tudor England, that was the bit where the Welsh tried to rule England before we Scots came along and sorted them all out.
Remote controls, my parents got a TV with remote about the time I went to university. At that time we had two spare TVs kicking about, both of which were black and white and had a tuning knob rather than settable buttons. The older one also had a button to choose between UHF and VHF.

[Amy]

Fine tuning knobs, horizontal and vertical controls (oooh! those were frustrating!), early morning test patterns...

I'm working just about all day today -- see you all this evening.

I think my first 45 was Red Rubber Ball by Cyrkle.

And life was easier when we only had 3 channels on telly.

[spk]

My first 45 was a hand-me-down from my dad..."She Wore an Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" backed with "Purple People Eater"

Our first TV was also B & W, and had rabbit ears with tin foil on the top. I remember the UHF/VHF dial, and watching Sesame Street in B & W...I was shocked to find out that Big Bird wasn't gray.

Courtesy, welcome to the boat. I, too, am faced with the daunting task of working furiously to finish a paper.




Oops.

First album (vinal)was Boney M Nightflight to Venus - I am quite proud of this.

Second album (tape) was Five Star. I am thouroughly embarrassed about this.

My parents still have only a crumbling tape and record deck. We had a black and white TV until I don't know when, and then the colour one was a 15 inch screen until... last year, apparently. We got a video when I was about 16.

On the other hand, my Dad got our kludged together computer hooked up to the internet before I even knew what it was called. It took at least half an hour to download one page. And we do have a working ZX81, which was hooked up to the black and white monster for years and years.

Oh, and this is a tad worrying. Should we be lobbying?

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,858003,00.html

I think the BBC is in a bit of a corner over this. Because of the licence fee they are expected to be "distinct and a public service". Basically this allows any commercial broadcaster to whinge that "We also show news/sport/drama/web services so tell them to stop" I seem to remember the gist of the report on BBC 24 (The BBC's news channel here in the UK) was that it was too like Sky, so the BBC has to change. Of course, then Sky can just do the new bits the BBC do and whinge to get them changed again.

Munchkin, I hardly watch anything not BBC so am a bit biased. Oh and they sometimes buy me beer.

I am at a loss to understand how the BBC operates. It is a quasigovernmental orginization correct? It taxes you for a fee to view (how that is enforcable I don't know). And BBC programs do not have commercials?