I guess I’m a fair weather Oscars watcher. I watched the QAL opening (posted about it so I won’t revisit it) and tuned back in for the big 4 at the end. Somehow the prospect of diversity creeping in wasn’t enough to get me to sit on the edge of my seat to wait and watch for 3 1/2 hours to see who won costume design, etc. for films I haven’t seen.
So BB, I’ve got a question about DTV over the air. Before the switch we had 5 channels we could receive over that air. Is the status quo what I could expect with a digital antenna or is there more or less signal floating around in the air than before the transition?
Trump delays increase in tariffs on China, citing progress in trade talks
President Trump said Sunday that he will delay a scheduled increase in the tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to allow negotiators more time to reach a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing,the most significant sign yet that Trump is eager to resolve a trade spat with China that has rattled markets and companies around the globe.
The president’s decision to delay the increase in tariffs, which would have taken effect March 2, represents a gamble that his personal intervention can smooth the way to a final deal and quiet skeptics who fear he may be too quick to capitulate to the Chinese.
Writing on Twitter Sunday evening, Trump said the United States had “made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues.”
Trump, who did not set a new date for the tariff increase to take effect, also said he plans to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, to finalize terms of the agreement, should the talks continue to make headway. That meeting, which the president had mulled publicly on Friday, is expected late next month.
Pogo – You will find many more over the air digital channels. The spectrum allows for what I would call sub-channels, which can be other offerings of the station, the owner, or every shopping channel imagined. There are also channels which are not on cable. Analog you would receive channel 9, with digital you receive 9 along with 9.1, 9.2, 9.2, 9.4 and more. The main issue is focusing the antenna to the source. Digital is very precise, so depending on your location you may need a rotating antenna. In Denver there is one spot with all the antennas. Where I live now I need to rotate to the D.C. stations, the Baltimore stations and Delaware stations.
Yup… we saw Green Book… enjoyed it… glad it won. The controversy and boo hoo hoos over the aftermath is just so much noise.
Patd… Rick’s truck was totaled and he decided he didn’t need or want another one. We went to the local Subaru dealership this weekend and he bought a new Crosstrek. They were still doing prez day sales… the place was mobbed! We were told that it was people wanting to buy new cars before the tariffs caused the prices to go up.
The only movie I want to see is the story behind Jace’s musical selection from a week ago. I hope it appears on teevee sometime in the foreseeable future.
President Trump accused Spike Lee of doing a “racist hit” on him after the director said during the Oscars that viewers should “be on the right side of history” when they vote during the 2020 election.
“Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President,” Trump said in a tweet Monday morning.
That, BTW was from the NYDailyNews today. Doesn’t SFB have some other things to do rather than gin up racist BS against Spike Lee? And I do plan to be on the right side of history in 2020 – this side of 1968.
BB, in East Bumfuck it will be interesting to see where signals originate. How much we’ll get will depend on the distance the signals are usable. Potential broadcasters are 10, 30 and 100 miles away. The 100 milers are in opposite directions but would have the most numerous stations.
“South Korea is costing us $5 billion a year. And they pay — they were paying about $500 million for $5 billion worth of protection.”
This is false. South Korea in 2018 paid the United States about $830 million under the burden-sharing agreement, covering approximately 40 percent of the cost of the U.S. deployment. So the total cost for the United States would be somewhere around $1.25 billion, not $5 billion. The U.S. share became greater than South Korea’s in 2010.
“Under the current five-year SMA [cost-sharing agreement] that expires on December 31, 2018, the ROK provided approximately $830 million per year,” according to the State Department. (Because of fluctuating currency exchange rates, the South Korean contribution for 2018 has been pegged at $830 million to $860 million.)
“They’ve agreed to pay $500 million more. … That was, like, two phone calls.”
False. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump administration officials sought a 50 percent increase in South Korea’s contribution. What they got was a much more modest 8.2 percent, with the Korean contribution increasing to $925 million under a one-year deal signed Feb. 10. (It didn’t take “two phone calls,” but rather many rounds of negotiations spanning nearly a year.)
“Although the U.S. spoke highly of the ROK’s contribution for the alliance, it demanded the ROK to significantly increase the total amount of contributions corresponding to the ROK’s national status and economic power,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in announcing the deal Feb. 10. “However, the ROK Government agreed on an 8.2 percent increase, the same level as its defense budget increase for 2019, comprehensively taking into account USFK’s contribution for the defense of the Korean Peninsula, the ROK’s financial capability, and the security circumstances of the Korean Peninsula.”
The Defense Department, the White House and the South Korean Embassy in Washington did not respond to emailed questions about these costs.
Trump is not alone in raising concerns about the cost-sharing agreement. The Senate committee’s report from 2013 noted that “contributions from the South Korean government … have not kept pace with U.S. costs” and questioned several projects on which the funds were being spent at the time.
“U. S. contributions to the cost of maintaining forces in South Korea grew by more than $500 million between 2008 and 2012,” according to then-Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee when the 2013 report was released. “By comparison, South Korea’s contributions under the U.S.-Korea Special Measures Agreement grew by about $42 million during that same period.”
On the other hand, South Korea covered 90 percent of the cost of a new military base that came with a $10.8 billion price tag. It’s the largest U.S. military base overseas. The country has increased its defense spending at a faster rate than the United States over the past decade, reaching $39 billion in 2017, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“We have 40,000 troops in South Korea.”
A Pentagon spokesman told us that the number is actually 28,500. That’s roughly what the Defense Department’s Defense Manpower Data Center reported as of December. The number was about the same the previous year. “There are roughly 28,000 service members in South Korea, deterring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” according to a Defense Department news release in December 2017.
NYTimes: Trump and Kim May Declare End of War at Summit, South Korea Says
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials on Monday indicated that President Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could agree on a joint political statement declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War when they meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, later this week.
“The possibility is open,” said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, referring to the results expected from the Trump-Kim summit meeting scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. “We still don’t know exactly what format the end-of-war declaration will take, but there is an ample possibility of North Korea and the United States agreeing to such a declaration.”
Mr. Moon has strongly advocated an end-of-war declaration to build trust between North Korea and the United States and to prod the North to move toward giving up its nuclear weapons. The North and the United States have remained technically at war since the Korean War was halted in a truce in 1953, and Washington still keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to prevent the war from rekindling.
[…]
American and South Korean analysts have expressed fear that declaring an end to the war would give Mr. Kim reason to demand that the United States withdraw its 28,500 troops from the South while the North remains a nuclear-armed state.
But South Korean officials said the declaration would be merely a “political statement” that would “give the North Koreans some comfort.” North Korea has long argued that it was forced to develop a nuclear deterrent because of American “hostility,” and that it would keep that deterrent until it felt safe from American aggression.
Mr. Kim, the South Korean presidential spokesman, said on Monday that an end-of-war declaration would not replace the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement but rather serve as “an entrance point” for starting complex negotiations for replacing the armistice with a formal peace treaty. Mr. Moon has also said that an end-of-war declaration should not affect the American military presence in South Korea or his country’s alliance with the United States, which he said served a broader role in regional security.
South Korea had earlier hoped that an end-of-war declaration would be made in the presence of Mr. Moon and even China’s president, Xi Jinping. China fought for North Korea during the war, while American troops fought alongside the South Koreans.
But on Monday, Mr. Kim, the presidential spokesman, said that unlike a peace treaty that should be negotiated among the two Koreas, the United States and China, a bilateral end-of-war declaration between the United States and North Korea could be enough. The United States and South Korea now have formal diplomatic ties with China, making such a declaration irrelevant to Beijing. South and North Korea have signed military and other agreements in recent months that Mr. Kim said were tantamount to a nonaggression treaty.
“The North and the United States are the only ones remaining, and if the two declare an end to the war, it will mean that all the four countries that fought war on the Korean Peninsula have declared an end to war,” he said. “Our government welcomes an end-of-war declaration no matter what format it might take, as long as it helps encourage and advance denuclearization.”
But the spokesman said an end-of-war declaration is “different from the peace treaty.” The peace treaty could be signed only “at the end stage of denuclearization,” he said.
Mr. Moon on Monday urged his people to prepare for a possible fundamental shift in relations on the Korean Peninsula after the Hanoi summit meeting.
“If the upcoming summit produces results, now is the real beginning,” he was quoted as saying during a meeting with his senior presidential staff. “Standing at the center of history, not the periphery, we will take the lead in preparing for a new Korean Peninsula regime — one that is moving from war and confrontation toward peace and harmony, and from factionalism and ideology toward economic prosperity.”
Pleased about Green Book. Loved the movie. Hated that Glenn Close was snubbed. Olivia did an excellent job in The Favourite, but it was basically 3 supporting roles in a three woman film not leading actress.
pat… he did experience a bit of dizziness a few days after the accident. He called his doctor and was sent for numerous tests. All came back negative. He was told to act like he had a mild concussion and stop watching tv or be on his computer for a few days. He could read though… it was something about the background lighting on screens.
He was going to buy a new vehicle this coming Sept. when I go on Medicare anyways. So to him the biggest problem is that his skis went flying out of the truck and got damaged. We are leaving this coming Saturday for our yearly ski vacation at Loon Mt. He will buy a new pair up there.
A former staffer of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign accused him of kissing her without her consent at a small gathering of supporters, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
Alva Johnson is suing Trump after he allegedly grabbed her hand and tried to kiss her on the lips before a rally in Tampa on Aug 24, 2016.
Pogo-
…no such thing as a “digital” antenna, the signal is digital. You can make an antenna out of a potato, scrap-wire, kitchen implements- whatever. I made a “Gray-Hooverman” and get 60 hi-def channels with it. The height of the antenna is the most important factor determining how many channels you’ll get with yours, as long as it’s fabricated to a minimum standard of quality. Have fun!
…the signal isn’t more “precise”, it’s the same frequency broadcast from the same towers they were using 30 years ago. Gotta get it as high as possible to limit physical obstructions of it between you and the tower. I don’t have to move mine at all, it’s omni-directional- cost me $2 to make because i had to buy a “balun”.
Acting on a tip, the FBI combed the country for people who exhibited fine handwriting, but still Whitey Bulger eluded them. However, this operation wasn’t fruitless. Fugitives turned up included a retired schoolteacher, Marjorie Blatt, who in April of 1958 had uttered a bum check written on a Federally protected bank in Missoula, Montana, and Reinhardt Fenster the “Polite Conman” who had twice, successfully but illegally, sold the Statue of Liberty to Persian Gulf businessmen. The arrest of Roscoe Glier, the maker of ‘museum quality’ twenty dollar bills, put ‘the icing on the cake,’ according to operation chief Leonard Boxalt.
I use amplifiers on the HD antennas because I am in a forest and it would take one hundred foot mast to get the antennas over the tree tops. On my sailboat I use a plain old HD which sort of works but there are obstructions at low tide. The big boat is out of range of signals.
It was a heck of a night on board the big boat. We were rocking and rolling, tossing and turning, all evening, night and morning. Rough night for sleeping for Gale, but I did good for four hours.
Just saw a post that a Russian is on his way to join SFB and the super criminal in the conference. Bets are on that SFB will end the Korean War and declare super victory. What he does not know is he is only one of several votes to do that.
If there were a Nobel Prize for being suckered, trump would have won it last year for is meetings with babykim and putin. In 2016, the winners would have been the republican party, who treated trump as one of their own. This year it’s trump supporters, who after two years of embarrassments and failures continue to believe in trump’s literal inerrancy.
BB-
Signal amplifiers do more harm than good because they amplify the interference, also. Remove it from the line and try a reflector behind the antenna.
With digital signals, you’re either receiving enough data to build the image, or you’re not- it’s not like analog where signal strength determined image quality.
who? what? oh no, missed another Oscar celebration? here’s a recap:
I guess I’m a fair weather Oscars watcher. I watched the QAL opening (posted about it so I won’t revisit it) and tuned back in for the big 4 at the end. Somehow the prospect of diversity creeping in wasn’t enough to get me to sit on the edge of my seat to wait and watch for 3 1/2 hours to see who won costume design, etc. for films I haven’t seen.
So BB, I’ve got a question about DTV over the air. Before the switch we had 5 channels we could receive over that air. Is the status quo what I could expect with a digital antenna or is there more or less signal floating around in the air than before the transition?
meanwhile, twit cries “chicken”
wapo:
Trump delays increase in tariffs on China, citing progress in trade talks
President Trump said Sunday that he will delay a scheduled increase in the tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to allow negotiators more time to reach a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing,the most significant sign yet that Trump is eager to resolve a trade spat with China that has rattled markets and companies around the globe.
The president’s decision to delay the increase in tariffs, which would have taken effect March 2, represents a gamble that his personal intervention can smooth the way to a final deal and quiet skeptics who fear he may be too quick to capitulate to the Chinese.
Writing on Twitter Sunday evening, Trump said the United States had “made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues.”
Trump, who did not set a new date for the tariff increase to take effect, also said he plans to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, to finalize terms of the agreement, should the talks continue to make headway. That meeting, which the president had mulled publicly on Friday, is expected late next month.
[continues]
Chinese stock markets soar on signs that the trade war with U.S. could be ending
Pogo – You will find many more over the air digital channels. The spectrum allows for what I would call sub-channels, which can be other offerings of the station, the owner, or every shopping channel imagined. There are also channels which are not on cable. Analog you would receive channel 9, with digital you receive 9 along with 9.1, 9.2, 9.2, 9.4 and more. The main issue is focusing the antenna to the source. Digital is very precise, so depending on your location you may need a rotating antenna. In Denver there is one spot with all the antennas. Where I live now I need to rotate to the D.C. stations, the Baltimore stations and Delaware stations.
Yup… we saw Green Book… enjoyed it… glad it won. The controversy and boo hoo hoos over the aftermath is just so much noise.
Patd… Rick’s truck was totaled and he decided he didn’t need or want another one. We went to the local Subaru dealership this weekend and he bought a new Crosstrek. They were still doing prez day sales… the place was mobbed! We were told that it was people wanting to buy new cars before the tariffs caused the prices to go up.
The only movie I want to see is the story behind Jace’s musical selection from a week ago. I hope it appears on teevee sometime in the foreseeable future.
And in the stupid news category, the winner is SFB.
That, BTW was from the NYDailyNews today. Doesn’t SFB have some other things to do rather than gin up racist BS against Spike Lee? And I do plan to be on the right side of history in 2020 – this side of 1968.
BB, in East Bumfuck it will be interesting to see where signals originate. How much we’ll get will depend on the distance the signals are usable. Potential broadcasters are 10, 30 and 100 miles away. The 100 milers are in opposite directions but would have the most numerous stations.
Patd,
Thanks for the post.?
Fact Checker on SFB’s wild BS about US troops in SK, the cost thereof and SK’s contribution.
JHC…
renee, that’s good news about rick’s new car. NHTSA gives Subaru crosstrek a 5 star overall safety rating.
how’s he doing now? any aftereffects of his accident other than spending a lot of $$$ on a new car?
Here is a google search to find the various maps to search out signal sources. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=over+the+air+television+reception+map
more on the Oscars from NY Times:
The Best and Worst Moments of the 2019 Oscars
NYTimes: Trump and Kim May Declare End of War at Summit, South Korea Says
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials on Monday indicated that President Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could agree on a joint political statement declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War when they meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, later this week.
“The possibility is open,” said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, referring to the results expected from the Trump-Kim summit meeting scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. “We still don’t know exactly what format the end-of-war declaration will take, but there is an ample possibility of North Korea and the United States agreeing to such a declaration.”
Mr. Moon has strongly advocated an end-of-war declaration to build trust between North Korea and the United States and to prod the North to move toward giving up its nuclear weapons. The North and the United States have remained technically at war since the Korean War was halted in a truce in 1953, and Washington still keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to prevent the war from rekindling.
[…]
American and South Korean analysts have expressed fear that declaring an end to the war would give Mr. Kim reason to demand that the United States withdraw its 28,500 troops from the South while the North remains a nuclear-armed state.
But South Korean officials said the declaration would be merely a “political statement” that would “give the North Koreans some comfort.” North Korea has long argued that it was forced to develop a nuclear deterrent because of American “hostility,” and that it would keep that deterrent until it felt safe from American aggression.
Mr. Kim, the South Korean presidential spokesman, said on Monday that an end-of-war declaration would not replace the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement but rather serve as “an entrance point” for starting complex negotiations for replacing the armistice with a formal peace treaty. Mr. Moon has also said that an end-of-war declaration should not affect the American military presence in South Korea or his country’s alliance with the United States, which he said served a broader role in regional security.
South Korea had earlier hoped that an end-of-war declaration would be made in the presence of Mr. Moon and even China’s president, Xi Jinping. China fought for North Korea during the war, while American troops fought alongside the South Koreans.
But on Monday, Mr. Kim, the presidential spokesman, said that unlike a peace treaty that should be negotiated among the two Koreas, the United States and China, a bilateral end-of-war declaration between the United States and North Korea could be enough. The United States and South Korea now have formal diplomatic ties with China, making such a declaration irrelevant to Beijing. South and North Korea have signed military and other agreements in recent months that Mr. Kim said were tantamount to a nonaggression treaty.
“The North and the United States are the only ones remaining, and if the two declare an end to the war, it will mean that all the four countries that fought war on the Korean Peninsula have declared an end to war,” he said. “Our government welcomes an end-of-war declaration no matter what format it might take, as long as it helps encourage and advance denuclearization.”
But the spokesman said an end-of-war declaration is “different from the peace treaty.” The peace treaty could be signed only “at the end stage of denuclearization,” he said.
Mr. Moon on Monday urged his people to prepare for a possible fundamental shift in relations on the Korean Peninsula after the Hanoi summit meeting.
“If the upcoming summit produces results, now is the real beginning,” he was quoted as saying during a meeting with his senior presidential staff. “Standing at the center of history, not the periphery, we will take the lead in preparing for a new Korean Peninsula regime — one that is moving from war and confrontation toward peace and harmony, and from factionalism and ideology toward economic prosperity.”
Pleased about Green Book. Loved the movie. Hated that Glenn Close was snubbed. Olivia did an excellent job in The Favourite, but it was basically 3 supporting roles in a three woman film not leading actress.
pat… he did experience a bit of dizziness a few days after the accident. He called his doctor and was sent for numerous tests. All came back negative. He was told to act like he had a mild concussion and stop watching tv or be on his computer for a few days. He could read though… it was something about the background lighting on screens.
He was going to buy a new vehicle this coming Sept. when I go on Medicare anyways. So to him the biggest problem is that his skis went flying out of the truck and got damaged. We are leaving this coming Saturday for our yearly ski vacation at Loon Mt. He will buy a new pair up there.
BB- 3 strong signals and one moderate one – I may try it, but it’s actually more limited than our old over the air signals were.
But on to SFB. The hits just keep on coming from the Daily Mail.
renee, his doc gave good advice for all of us to consider whether we have a concussion or not:
stop staring at screens (TV, computer, tablet, smart phone etc)
read more books
add to that more in the flesh interactions and discussions with real people
pogo, thanks. here’s more about that “kiss”
Pogo-
…no such thing as a “digital” antenna, the signal is digital. You can make an antenna out of a potato, scrap-wire, kitchen implements- whatever. I made a “Gray-Hooverman” and get 60 hi-def channels with it. The height of the antenna is the most important factor determining how many channels you’ll get with yours, as long as it’s fabricated to a minimum standard of quality. Have fun!
…the signal isn’t more “precise”, it’s the same frequency broadcast from the same towers they were using 30 years ago. Gotta get it as high as possible to limit physical obstructions of it between you and the tower. I don’t have to move mine at all, it’s omni-directional- cost me $2 to make because i had to buy a “balun”.
Last week i learned: the criminal and fugitive Whitey Bulger had possibly the best penmanship i’ve ever seen. Everybody has a talent!
Found this article while looking at what stock market was doing today over CNBC.
Investors counting on a big rally when China and US trade talks conclude could be disappointed.
Bloomberg:
Most economists see U.S. recession by 2021, survey shows
Acting on a tip, the FBI combed the country for people who exhibited fine handwriting, but still Whitey Bulger eluded them. However, this operation wasn’t fruitless. Fugitives turned up included a retired schoolteacher, Marjorie Blatt, who in April of 1958 had uttered a bum check written on a Federally protected bank in Missoula, Montana, and Reinhardt Fenster the “Polite Conman” who had twice, successfully but illegally, sold the Statue of Liberty to Persian Gulf businessmen. The arrest of Roscoe Glier, the maker of ‘museum quality’ twenty dollar bills, put ‘the icing on the cake,’ according to operation chief Leonard Boxalt.
I use amplifiers on the HD antennas because I am in a forest and it would take one hundred foot mast to get the antennas over the tree tops. On my sailboat I use a plain old HD which sort of works but there are obstructions at low tide. The big boat is out of range of signals.
It was a heck of a night on board the big boat. We were rocking and rolling, tossing and turning, all evening, night and morning. Rough night for sleeping for Gale, but I did good for four hours.
Just saw a post that a Russian is on his way to join SFB and the super criminal in the conference. Bets are on that SFB will end the Korean War and declare super victory. What he does not know is he is only one of several votes to do that.
If there were a Nobel Prize for being suckered, trump would have won it last year for is meetings with babykim and putin. In 2016, the winners would have been the republican party, who treated trump as one of their own. This year it’s trump supporters, who after two years of embarrassments and failures continue to believe in trump’s literal inerrancy.
Thx for the Bulger backstory, xrep.
BB-
Signal amplifiers do more harm than good because they amplify the interference, also. Remove it from the line and try a reflector behind the antenna.
With digital signals, you’re either receiving enough data to build the image, or you’re not- it’s not like analog where signal strength determined image quality.