My favourite site which is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment is under attack. The person running it has just over two thousand registered members. And while the focus is on soaps, most of which you can find scattered about in one place or another, it was becoming much more ambitious, and there were series, and specials, and fun things to watch, which--- if you aren't on the continental US... is forbidden and blocked by the major networks, because they want to sell them at very high prices to nations abroad. Which is ok, but most of it is such junk, no one here would buy it anyway.
The set-up is such, you register as a guest, and you get a lot of something for nothing. So now, after about a year, there were restrictions, because few wanted to contribute ten Euros to be a VIP member and have unlimited access to everything. I saw that it was worth doubling down for two days, and did so voluntarily, because the people running it were diligent, fast, and it was a one-stop place to get my fix and see a mess of things I wouldn't have had access to.
Ten Euros for a year as VIP is NOT coming from someone out to make a killing and there are running costs for such a site, as it is connected to other storage sites.
Judging from the instant message box... a mess of the people who have been thrilled about it were members of service people in the armed forces stationed abroad, where their on-base stations aren't delivering their 'stories' (read: Soaps). And especially the horrible HORRIBLE analphabet mess called 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. They were so grateful to watch that monstrosity. And YES, it gets all the Emmys, but it's a train wreck in slow motion. But that is beside the point.
INSIDE the US, these poor people can access CBS.... which offer full episodes with ads.... BUT. You click the link--- and the strangest thing just happened.. typing, my window disappeared, and I was on CBS all of a sudden... who hacks whom, here? That was weird... (GOOOGLE! shakes fist).
Whatever, you click one of their links and get a message that you are not in a region where that is allowed.
So... from what I have read, it seems that members of US servicepeople feeling estranged and in foreign cultures could get their 'fix' and see 'their stories' and were very happy about it. That accounts for about two-thirds of one-thousand people, give or take a few dozen.
There ARE people who are Europeans and sort of crazy and enjoy their Soap fixes. And not having to wait ten years to see a series that finally got cheap enough for local stations to buy.
My all-time favorite 'guest' was a woman in Germany who couldn't use the pay-pal for ten Euros for a year of being a VIP because... her husband would see it on his credit card statement, and he had forbidden her to watch 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. So the owner granted her VIP status. I cannot IMAGINE... well, perhaps I can, thinking of HJ...a German so tyrannical and cruel as to do that. SHE must have a marriage made in hell if that is the only thing that keeps her afloat. Can you imagine this poor Hausfrau sneaking onto her husband's computer to watch that, and THAT is the height of her day???? Oh, the humanity...
Well, mistakes were made. The owner got 'ambitious', and began ripping dvd's of the soaps, mostly, for sale. And I thought, 'uh-oh...' It probably was that no one wanted to become a VIP member. A month ago, only 140 people had signed up for it. So I would guess it was a way they thought of to cover costs, but that is way dodgy.
The second mistake was trusting that people enjoy, but don't necessarily rat out anyone, especially on the net. And as far as I can tell, someone with cotton candy for BRAINS and the temprement of a 14 year old went onto a CBS fan board, and let people know where they could see full episodes.
And YES, a B&B fan. Who has no life of his/her own, and just needed to share.
Gewalt, hey!
This got the owner into so much trouble, it's a catastrophe. But it is interesting to see how the sharks work. It sounds like the person running it is having a nervous breakdown right about now.
And you know what? It won't stop. Other sites will pop up and give access to what people want to watch. Instead of making a deal, and letting people see what they want to see for ads, or stuff like that... hell, MSNBC has ads you can't skip, but I still go there... they want to take down someone who for over a year now has given a bunch of people an opportunity to tune into the window of US broadcasting that they block from the outside world.
I know that most of the people signed into it are US troops or their families. How does that support them?
Here's what it looks like when you break a conglomerate rule---and by the way, I can't watch most of the vids on Huffington Post, esp. Bill Maher, because 'it isn't available in my region'. But catch things anyway.
And on second thought... I guess I shouldn't be quoting that letter. Whatever, some of the decisions made just weren't wise.
Sharks, and what you shouldn't do on the internets....
You Do NOT wanna go there....
I've been killing time till my Soap comes up on YouTube. And being BORED, I googled myself. It was 'unsettling'. If you write things, it's out there. And THIS came up from 1996. Talk about a flash-back.
Huh... my first pc, and I was desperate. Brings back loads of memories. And the answers upset me more than I can say. And yeah, my full name is in there in the thread. So what.
I did survive Lyme's disease, but you really don't want to know about it. Some friggin' bug stung me one August night a couple of years earlier, woke up thinking I'd slept in a draft, had tremendous back pain, and one fine day, I was out in my garden, and started to have facial paralysis. It was extreme. First I couldn't feel the cigarette on one side of my lips, then my eye started drooping, and it got worse and worse, and I went into the house and said, 'Peter, something is very wrong... I have to get to hospital.' And took the tram out. And feeling the lameness getting into my sides, and my arm.
Skeery, right?
It turned into a nine-week nightmare. They thought I would die, at first. They did so many spinal taps, I wanted to KILL them. And the first one... that woman was so incompetent, she ruined me for the rest of my life, but I didn't know it then.
The first night, I was put on a bed in the middle of freshly delivered stroke patients. They thought I would die. Peter came in, and was devastated. Just devastated. I thought it was all over, but it wouldn't have been me if I hadn't moufed off. It nearly killed me to see his pain. At the time, I was thinking, 'Ok, I've had a good life and done some amazing things, so if this is it... I'm fine with it.'
They pumped me full of antibiotics that at the time would have cost $2,500.00 dollars a pop. For two weeks. The paralysis went away, I had facial massages, and therapy. And never saw a bill for it. I was just angry.
I was totally cut off from any communication, hated it, but there was nothing I could do. Peter was there every single day for me.
Every single day.
The only other people who visited were my boss' kids, just to ascertain I was really so fucked up, and near the end, my boss... who brought me potatoe chips, because she knew they were my snack of choice at work. That latter was a miracle. She NEVER visited hospitals, having had enough of it in her earlier life, and taking care of her sister who had had polio. I understood it for what it was, and it was a wonderful gesture.
I understand it now even more.
They pronounced me 'cured', and life went on, but with a lot of pain. We had just moved into our new home. But I was debilitated. And went from one doctor to another, and they said it was all in my head... or something. Believe me, you can't make shit like that up. I was hurting, and badly.
When I got into the help group, I was grasping for something, anything that would make it go away. So I had my first PC, and got some answers, but they weren't encouraging, oh no, Preciousses. I talked my head off with doctors, and they were of the opinion I was 'cured'. 'So why do I have excruciating pain in my lumbar region?' Well, I was imagining it, of course....
It took another three years, and as serendipity would have it... a doctor specialised in Tibetan medicine turned up at the Ho-tel. He saved Peter's life. Two years later, I c onsulted with him in one of the weirdest things I've ever done. Had to turn up with a urine sample... after which he told me I'm a 'wind' type... (who would have guessed, ha...) and spent over ten minutes reading my pulse... ten minutes on each arm. Dr. Barry was really amazing, let's leave it at that.
So he prescribed a month's meds, and after three weeks, I was to fax him, and give a report--- what is better, what hasn't changed, and the next month's meds came per mail with some slight variations. It was expensive.
But after three months, it went away, like magic... poof. And those damed little balls were BITTER, so it wasn't 'Fun'.
Now there are some people who will tell you I had an hysteric reaction, and others will say it was all in my head. All I can say is that to this day, several years of pain disappeared, and I no longer have to lie down for an hour because I could hardly walk.
Teeth-clenching pain.
MY take on it is... you don't have a system of medicine for over five thousand years if it isn't worth anything.
Poor Peter was so upset back then, he had me checked in as a private patient overnight, and what did I get? Another spinal tap, and antidepressants. RIIIGGHTT. It set him back over one thousand dollars.
They found residual Lyme in my spine----'but not enough to cause what you are claiming'.
So I got my PC, and started looking.
There are so many people out there who need help, and Lyme's disease really isn't 'funny' or a figment of the imagination.
So I lucked out, seemingly. A lot of people do not.
And that is the story behind that. I wish it on no one. And sometimes it is better not to Google yourself. It can bring up very bad memories.
Preview What to think about when you visit the internets...
I totally love it that Rachel Maddow is a lesbian vampire....
Man, there is a line I am looking for, and wish I could quote....
Part of it is, 'Demons will hound you, everywhere, I don't care, but from now on? Nothing will harm you... not while I'm around.'
Some will know it's from Sweeney Todd, one of the sweetest numbers from it.
Tja...... sigh... this isn't the musical, I don't have a guardian angel to protect me, and this isn't about the musical.
Ok, one of the things I absolutely hate is opening my snail-mail post, I do. Because it is full of ads for things I can't buy, do not need, bitching stuff.... Fehhh, I open it, throw the junk away, and shake my head in disgust.
Now if one has half a brain, one would go to the bank, which drives me absolutely bonkers, AND.... you take care of your running costs and have them automatically withdrawn from your account, and the rest is what you have to life on for the rest of any given month.
It is the most sensible advice I can give to anyone. You have no bills in the mail-box which you might forget about. You know what you have to live on for the rest of the month for groceries, and so on, it's a win-win 'sitivation', and you don't worry..... mostly
Occasionally some additional things come in which are valid, but not so much. Which I hate.... they should calculate more correctly...
But it is never all too much, and that is fine. However: Demons are prowling, everywhere.
This is the THIRD time I have gotten a bill from Germany, never the same place. For 101 Euros!!!!! The first time was from an internet site I had never heard of, the second had to do with an Auto routing site, and we all know I have never driven in my life, and now... a contact service.
My goodness, or badness: I have never heard of this place before, nor do I wish to, nor was I ever there or signed a contract of any sort. Ever.... It seems I am on a hit-list.
In other words, I know what to do. As in: not pay it, it is a scam aimed at people 60 or over. So what if my faculties aren't 100% , and I can't remember and go panicked and pay these grifters? Well, that is some of the most predatory practices I have ever seen.
And I am thinking here, these poor people may not be fully aware, and the predators go in and scare them to death with false bills.
I KNOW where I go very day, and it is mostly MSNBC, and CBS, and progressive blogs. I haven't been to contact sites in years, want to be left alone.
Under the motto, 'I don't know you, you don't know me.... let's leave it that way.'
These people are slime.
