This image is dedicated to MrsChili. Shot in Universal Orlando.
So, Sunday afternoon/evening we were watching football and tired of it, so I hit “List” on my cable remote to check out what shows we’d recorded but not watched. No list, rather, a little box saying there was some screwup, and to hi “A” to try again, or just reboot. Well, neither worked, so I called the cable company, who had me reboot again, that failed, and an appointment was made, for Monday (yesterday). So, the lost TV shows are pretty much unimportant (most can be seen on the computer, but not, for some reason “Criminal Minds”).
So the guy shows up yesterday, a pleasant Florida Cracker. He tells me, after our initial discussion, that I should not depower the cable boxes (I have 2) at night because that’s when they update (channels, whatever), and they might not, upon morning reboot, pick up the nighttime chages, and might fail. Hmmm. I asked him whether there was any way I could have known this before his visit, and he said no. I try to faithfully remember to depower both TVs at night, along with any devices hooked to them (power strip switch). I have read various numbers, but apparently about 5% of all domestic electricity use in this nation is via home appliances on standby. TV/home entertainment is the worst culprit. Leaving the things on standby is like leaving a light bulb on 24 hrs. a day, 365 per year. Lots of juice.
So, back to the cable company (BrightHouse). Apparently, in their infinite wisdom, they have decided to employ a device which is harmed by consumers’ efforts to save electricity. This oughtta be against the law (well, are there any laws requiring cable companies to do anything?). I try to conserve, I screw up the box, or, at a minimum, miss out on changes in channel lineups, new HD programs, etc. Of course, if one of their cable boxes goes on the fritz, they’ve gotta come out and fix it at no charge to me. Hmmmm. I say this: I’m gonna continue to depower the things, and let the devil take the hindmost. Since I have two HD/cable setups in my house, if I think a program is important enough (right, important TV!), I can record it twice, and, if I’m so inclined, record it onto my media-center computer (I’ve never done that once), or the DVR recorder (which is in a box in a closet).
In this era, I think it is totally irresponsible for corporations to do things which actively promote wasting electricity. I don’t care if it is just a trickle. It has to be produced (coal, oil, gas, nukes, whatever), and I have to pay for it! I am already shelling out to BrightHouse, don’t pick my pocket even more. Sadly, my defiance here is probably wasteful, because to make a service call BrightHouse has to pollute the world by sending out a vehicle.
