[Sasha]

You know, I just get so sick of hearing all the whining. If you have to be photographed and fingerprinted to come here so what??? If you are not guilty of anything it shouldn’t matter.

Whine whine whine.

But just as soon as someone blows up a building it’ll be criticism as to why we didn’t protect everyone.

I don’t hate muslims. I don’t hate christians. You are all entitled to your own beliefs. I just hate the people that use their religion to try to make the world your own.

I have always been a middle-of-the-road voter. I have voted democrat and voted republican. Depends on the candidate and what I believe is necessary in that office at that time.

My peronal opinion is that a Democrat in office at this time in history puts our country more at risk from terrorists. THAT is more important to me than whiners who don’t want to be photographed and fingerprinted coming into the country. If I have to be photographed and fingerprinted going to another country, fine. It’s their rules and I AM VISITING THEIR COUNTRY. I follow their rules.

Sorry – felt the great need to vent. I don’t post here often, but I do read the board. And frankly, all Maurice’s whinings get on my last nerves.

[Sasha]

Previously I would just lament losing “another good show”. Two shows I actually sent in letters (and money) to try to save. Farscape and Firefly.

I received NO response from Fox on Firefly emails, but I did receive a nice response from one of the advertiser’s of the show that I emailed stating they were glad they liked the show and my support of them advertising on it.

Unfortunately, the “ratings” system is still run by Nielsen. Because I was once a “Nielsen” family (albeit briefly) I know how the procedure USED to work. I was sent a “diary” and had to note every single program I watched for more than 15 minutes. With today’s attention span I don’t think 15 minute blocks were small enough! LOL And it was really hard to remember to record EVERYTHING you were surfing. Not to mention I knew of someone else that actually MADE UP stuff they watched to make themselves “sound more impressive”. Egads.

Anyway – I pulled the following from their website. As you can see – 1.6 million are STILL done by diaries! Unbelievable. Only 5000 by electronic metering system.

nowadays Nielsen Nielsen Media Research uses People Meters, set-tuning meters, paper diaries, and telephone interviews (called telephone coincidentals).

People Meter

The People Meter is an electronic metering system placed in randomly selected households – 5,000 households for nationwide audience measurement. The meter measures three things – the tuning station of the TV set (on, off, time), what channel/station is being tuned, and who is watching. The People Meter is used to produce household and persons audience estimates for broadcast and cable networks and nationally distributed barter-syndicated programs.

Who is watching television is measured by the “People” part of the meter. A fixed box is placed on or near the television, and each member of the household is assigned a personal viewing button (often, a remote clicker is also personalized). These personal buttons, allow Nielsen Media Research to determine “who” is watching which program.

Set-Tuning Meter

In 49 of the nation’s largest markets, an electronic metering system is used by Nielsen Media Research to provide set-tuning information on a daily basis. The TV-set-tuning information is collected from a sample of homes in these 49 markets (separate than the People Meter), and overnight household tuning ratings are reported on a daily basis for these local areas. This meter is placed onto the back of each television set in the home and monitors the tuning status of each TV set in the household.

Diary

Diary measurement is used to collect viewing information from sample homes in every television market in the United States. Each year we process approximately 1.6 million paper diaries from households across the country for the “sweeps” ratings periods. The standard report months – the “sweep” months – include November, February, May and July of each year.

The paper-viewing diaries are mailed out to randomly selected households in all 210 local markets in the U.S. Each household’s member in the diary sample is asked to write down what programs and channels they watch over the course of that one week.

[Sasha]

Hi Caz!

I am a fellow “newbie” to this board as well…having been a lurker for about a month or so first.

I do rather enjoy it.

I finally admitted my sci-fi-ness in public two years ago after attending my first DragonCon convention.

I receive many “YOU like Sci-Fi?” comments – and others such as my signature line (which happens to be my favorite.)

I hope you enjoy this board as much as I am. It is entertaining and, from what I have witnessed, a pretty good group!

[Sasha]

I have a good friend who was in the US Air Force and held top secret clearance.

She has alluded to things but says she cannot outright say anything.

When in conversation someone stated “I think we’ve gotten all this advanced technology from the crashed alien craft,” she replied with an enigmatic smile and “What makes you think they aren’t working WITH us?”

That was the most I have ever been able to get out of her. Whether or not she just likes pulling our chains, who knows! 🙂

[Sasha]

Lexx – You have successfully convinced me to delurk and say hello.

I have been browsing for about a month. I knew when I bookmarked the site I was hooked. 🙄

The people here appear to be a great community. Of course, no matter where your travels take you, you tend to find drama. We wouldn’t be humans without it. Oh – sorry – don’t mean to offend any of the non-human species! 😀

Now that I am officially out of the lurker closet, there may be times you will want to shove me back in – I do tend to ramble at times….

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[Author]

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