a stream of consciousness

ok so i’ve been looking at lcd tvs / plasma tvs the last few weeks. i’ve done a bunch of research and pretty much decided what i wanted (42-46 in lcd).

it was tough though.

there’s lots of good deals online but you have to deal with shipping and you can’t see it in person.

i want to see it in front of me, like most people and compare.

so online frys electronics has a very good deal on hdtv so today i drive the local one. (if you dont know what frys is, picture a best buy in home depot style)

so i get there and i look at the hdtvs in the back. they are all hooked up to coaxial cable. if you dont know what that means, its the cheapest, shittiest signal you can feed a tv. hdtv should be using a different connector called hdmi in order to get the top picture quality, otherwise it looks shitty.

then i noticed that the biggest (ie most expensive tvs) do HAVE hdmi hooked up to them (the highest quality input).

ok so the store is thinking here:

most people don’t know shit about hdtv so we can:

• hook up shitty signals to the smaller (cheaper) tvs
• hook up top quality signals to the bigger (expensive) tvs

and then the expensive ones will look the best, and therefore sell. i said this to a guy at frys electronics and he admitted it was true.

pretty ridiculous scam.

so frys is a little bit shady. also their prices in stores do not match what is online. online one tv said $1549. then in frys there were two setup with different prices, $2399 and $1999. its like wtf???

anyway they would pricematch to their online prices but you have to ask. again wtf???

then i was bargaining with the managers because they wouldn’t completely match online prices (if the online was out of stock)

a big hassle basically. i found a great tv i wanted to buy but they said $2300 was the lowest they could go (sticker price in the store was $2799), even though a week earlier they had it for $1750 online (which was now sold out)… then i was talking to the manager trying to get him to match online but he was giving me pushback.

then my buddy has a great idea and calls video only. i talk to some salesguy there and he says “How much are they selling it to you for? I can blow that away.” i tell him he better not be lying and i leave IMMEDIATELY

so now i’m at video only and i find “Brian”

he says “Oh hey you got here quick!” i’m like “yeah how much for the tv?” i see the tv setup in the store and the sticker price at video only is $2599. he says “oh i dont even know. i haven’t had time to look it up. i’ll do it right now.”

i’m like wtf? this is fucked up i should have stayed at frys. i’m thinking i fucked up big time. then he comes back and says “i can do it for $2175″ so he’s beating frys, which is the cheapest anywhere by far, by about $125.

that’s pretty good. after a little acting like i dont like that i even get him to throw in an hdmi cable (at least another $20 you’d be spending anyway)

when you visit other parts of the world like europe, asia, or wherever, people are all about bargaining. people will say a price and then you just walk away and they drop it in half. that doesn’t really exist in america, or does it?

it seems like brick and mortar stores are starting to go back to that. i mean they have to compete with online stores and no sales tax and free shipping and shit. that’s tough. i can only hope that starts taking over more and more.

it looks like bargaining, at least on some products, is as strong as ever in america.

mrsilver thought

turns out i had it in html mode. i’m sorry.

mrsilver thought

how about if every show on tv has a trailer to show you what its about… a quick way to peak your interest.

a lot of shows already do this in the first say minute of a show. it will be basically a trailer about whats coming up in the next hour. shows on discovery, tlc, science channel usually do it. also like csi, law and order, etc, those shows give previews too so there wouldn’t be extra work.

what if you could go to a show in the guide and hit:

> View Trailer

then you can decide ahead of time what show you want to watch

a lot of times i am looking at the new shows coming on in 5 minutes and i can’t decide what to watch. if i could watch 3 trailers, 1 of each show, i could decide much more easily.

someone at comcast should buy me lunch

mrsilver thought

it really does. it stopped me from trying it for so long.

it is very delicious. i’m eating it right now. its not even sour at all. its like sweet.

i propose a new name:

sweet cream.

basically if you haven’t enjoyed sour cream yet, you’re in for a treat

mrsilver thought

mrsilver thought

cooking shows are pretty popular, they even have their own network.

i want a new show on the cooking network that has a chef who sabotages the dinner at the end

basically picture the chef as being very friendly and liking. you may even share a few laughs with the chef at home. he has a towel on his shoulder and looks like a legit chef.

then at the end of the show, you’re about to put whatever you’re making in the oven or finalize it and the chef has a rather unusual request.

“OK now go back and grab the vinegar one more time,” “Trust me on this one.”

Every show he’ll get at least one new person.

Then at the end he rubs it in, “Hey if you did that at home what the fuck is wrong with you? Vinegar? All over macaroni and cheese? Are you stupid?”

mrsilver thought

humans have figured things out (learned) through history and then they pass the knowledge down to other humans.things only have to be learned once, for example how to make fire, but then those learnings must be communicated and taught to other humans.

to have learned something. what does that really mean?

it means that you memorized something that other humans either:

1. did (experienced)
2. figured out (theorized)

that’s it. that’s all learning is. memorizing what other humans have already done.
like take math for example.its all computing systems and formulas that other humans figured out and communicated. every subject is like that.

study english…. ok books people wrote or grammatical rules people created.

study science…. same thing, thought up and figured out and written down.

study cooking…. spices, special recipes that taste great, techniques for cooking

humans figured all this shit out and said “hey this is great. here’s how you do this” and the cycle has kept continuing

learn ALWAYS means memorize something humans figured out

if you have an exception post it and i will give you $1

(PS I have a lot of readers)

mrsilver thought

linkin park just had an amazing performance on SNL. wow

i’m pretty sure its not lip-synced… hmmm that would suck

i’m rewinding it right now… be back.

k back. definitely NOT lip synced.

also in addition, somehow i’d never seen the leader singer of linkin park… he does not look like i thought he would. he’s cool i guess.

PS the first performance, not the second.

mrsilver thought

this is fucking hilarious

mrsilver thought

i get plants. i have a great little flowery thing on my deck right now. i water that shit and put it in the sunshine.

i can tell it just loves me and it is flourishing

i was out there giving him a drink with a spray bottle and i told him “we are friends”

and we were…

mrsilver cool, thought