Subj : Re: Old Geek Thoughts... To : TALIADON From : Jeff Date : Thu Jan 06 2022 08:52:20 On 06 Jan 2022, TALIADON said the following... TA> Je> The smallish fees do add up if one has multiple subscriptions, but it TA> Je> very a la carte channel-wise and currently one would have to have qui TA> Je> a few subscriptions to match a monthly cable bill. TA> TBH Jeff, I think there's a distinct paradigm shift in the way we TA> perceive money these days. When I think back to my parent's time, there TA> were only two things guaranteed to separate them from their hard-earned: TA> necessity and value. I'm not sure if they ever forgot wartime TA> austerities, but that generation appeared to perceive 'wealth' as a TA> security rather than a commodity; looking back to mealtimes, I'm TA> convinced my parents observed rationing until the day they died. That, in turn, depends on how one perceives value, though. Does entertainment have value? Does fresh, healthy food have value over cheaper processed staples? Those are questions whose answers vary from person to person and culture to culture. TA> Today, it seems the mere existence of something is in itself reason TA> enough to invest, irrespective of its value. Somewhere along the line we TA> began to value the three empty boxes over the one that is half full. I'm not sure about that. Tha may be a perception caused by differing values. I enjoy learning about, building, and using sub-32-bit (and especially sub-16-bit) computers, but I'm sure there are some that would consider this hobby an utter waste of money. TA> Perhaps value is slowly giving way to ownership, or perhaps this old TA> Brontosaurus is no longer tall enough to reach the trees (thankfully, TA> the Mystic Speller knew how to spell 'Brontosaurus'). I'm not 100% sure what you're referring to here; is it perhaps something to do with owning a library of physical albums versus having a Spotify subscription, for example? Jeff. --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32) * Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180) .