Sephy’s Platzish

An idea that’s been floating through my head after thinking about the kinds of shows I watch (and realizing that I don’t watch all that much American TV, and a lot of foreign TV) is one of what channels would you have if you could have any channels available in the world.

For me personally, it would be a heavy focus on two areas - news and sports. Before I get to my channel list, let me set out the challenge to you: What if you had your own TV service? What channels would you want to have if money, time and satellite coverage were not issues?

So, without further ado, here’s my channel list.

Local Channels

A note about local channels: There will be multiple listings for some channels and networks because of the fact some stations in my area carry multiple signals, plus the local channels would all be brought in by antenna, so the actual list would vary from day to day

• WISC (TV3, Madison - CBS; no subchannels)
• WTMJ (Channel 4, Milwaukee - NBC, 1 subchannel - 4.2, Weather Plus)
• WITI (Channel 6, Milwaukee - Fox, no subchannels)
• WGN (Channel 9, Chicago - CW, no subchannels; for sport in HD)
• WMVS (Channels 10-1 through 10-7, Milwaukee -  various PBS networks)
• WISN (Channel 12, Milwaukee - ABC, no subchannels)
• WMTV (Channel 15, Madison - NBC, 1 subchannel, weather)
• WVTV (Channel 18, Milwaukee - CW, no subchannels)
• WHA (Channel 21, Madison - PBS, varying subchannels)
• WCGV (Channel 24, Milwaukee - My Network, possibly 1 subchannel)
• WKOW (Channel 27, Madison - ABC; no subchannels, NO logo over all pictures!)
• WMVT (Channel 36, Milwaukee - PBS HD)
• WMSN (Channel 47, Madison - Fox, unknown subchannels)
• WDJT (Channel 58, Milwaukee, 2 subchannels - WMLW & Me TV)
• WYTU (Channel 63, Milwaukee, analog only, Telemundo)
• And some religious channels that I can’t be stuffed listing

Entertainment channels

Now, all of these channels would be in HD or Widescreen, when possible. Note that this is definitely not an exhaustive list as I’m probably not aware of all the channels in the world.

• A&E
• Discovery Channel
• Discovery Home & Living
• TLC
• Animal Planet
• Cartoon Network
• Boomerang
• Nickelodeon (the channel that airs the good shows)
• TV Land
• HDNet
• TBS
• TNT (not so much for the programming, but for the six races in summer)
• UKTV (Aust.)
• Other UKTV Networks (UK)
• G4TechTV (Canada)
• How-to Channel (Aust.)
• Discovery RealTime (UK)
• BBC America (before it went to pot)
• Travel Channel
• Comedy Central
• Fox8 (Aust.)
• Lifestyle (Aust. - probably just a sample for a while)
• National Geographic (US)
• GSN

News Channels

• CNN (US)
• CNN International
• CNN Headline News
• CNBC (US)
• CNBC World
• MSNBC
• BBC World News
• BBC News Channel (formerly News 24)
• Sky News UK
• Sky News Aust.
• Fox Business Channel
• Fox News Channel
• Sky Business Channel (Aust.)
• Euronews
• CBC Newsworld (does that even exist anymore?)
• Bloomberg
• Times Now (India/US)
• Al-Jazeera English
• Weather Channel (US)
• Weather Channel (Aust.)

Sports Channels

• All Regional Channels (i.e. the Fox Sports Net channels, Comcast Sports Network, etc.)
• Setanta US
• Cricket Channel
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPNews
• ESPN Classic (US)
• ESPN Classic (UK)
• ESPNU
• ESPN360 (internet service)
• ESPN Deportes
• Speed
• Versus
• NASCAR Hot Pass
• Motors TV (UK or mainland Europe)
• Fox Sports 1, 2, 3 (Aust.)
• ESPN (Asia/Pacific)
• Zee Sports (South Asia/India)
• Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, Xtra (UK)
• Sky Sports News (UK)
• Fox Sports News (Aust.)
• Fox Soccer Channel
• Eurosport News
• Eurosport 1, 2
• Fox College Sports
• Rogers SportsNet (or whatever the main Canadian regional sports net is)
• GolTV

Spanish Channels

• Univision
• mun2 (if that’s still on the air…)
• Telefutura
• Galavisión
• Azteca América
• Fox Sports en Español

Movie Channels

For the most part, the Movie channels are for the shows aired on there, such as Dexter and Flight of the Conchords (and apparently Summer Heights High is coming to HBO this year)

• I think I’d have all of them available in the US, just because there might be a time when I find a movie that I haven’t watched (not that there are many of those out there, eh? )
• Turner Classic Movies
• Fox Movie Channel
• Sundance Channel
• Independent Movie Channels

Music Channels

• VH1
• VH1 MegaHits (though that ain’t coming back )

Yeah, that’s about it…I’ve never been one for watching music videos; if I want to listen to music, I’ll listen to it on the computer or the radio.

So, there you go. 25-plus local channels, 24 general entertainment channels, about 60 sports channels, 20 news channels, dozens of movie channels, at least 6 Spanish Channels, so a total of about 150 channels, plus the obligatory Video-On-Demand probably.

Also, I’d have to have about a 3-terabyte DVR to record all the stuff I’d never watch anyway, but think I had time to watch.

What do you think? Am I just crazy for wanting to have all of these channels? How much do you think this would cost? For some reason I don’t want to think about it because I know it would probably be in the hundreds of dollars a month, just for the various equipment, such as PAL-> NTSC converters (or just a PAL TV )…

It’s not surprising that there is the occasional deer around in the area - in fact, I’ve posted pictures of them before. However, one of the biggest dangers out there on our roads is the high number of deer that go running around at will - and they have the right to, since they were here before we were, and to be honest, we’re encroaching quite heavily on their habitat. However, the strange thing is that since I drive every night in the dark, I’ve seen deer at least 4 times now - and they’ve always been in the same spot - which is good and bad for a couple of reasons.

It’s good because I then expect to see them there, however, it is bad because I’ve gotten kinda paranoid about it, so I go really slow through there now, which could mess things up for other traffic. That is, if there was other traffic on this road - I think I’ve only encountered one or two cars the whole time I’ve driven on that road (it’s not the most frequently travelled road, since it’s a mile to the east of a main road, and cut off at the freeway).

I know folks in Australia have to constantly be on the lookout for the different animals that are out there, and I gotta say that even though I know the damage deer can do to a car (thanks to having heard tons and tons of car v deer accidents on the radio), the though of hitting a kangaroo is one of those things that I would not want to experience when I go over there.

One last little riddle for y’all, which I don’t expect an answer for. I’ve been listening to radio broadcasts from World War II, and as a lot of you may know, the whole nation observed Daylight Saving Time year-round during the war. However, instead of referring to it as "Eastern Daylight Time", it was referred to as "Eastern War Time". What I’m curious about is why they chose to call it war time and not daylight time…

This is something that I’ve learnt over the last day or two since I’ve been writing things down more in a notebook (hopefully, you’ll see what I’ve been working on in future posts). I’ve done some doodling while doing my job (don’t worry, everyone does stuff like that while working where I work, so I won’t get in trouble ), however if I’m writing anything, my whole concentration can go off.

The result is usually that my writing will slow way down to one letter at a time, or I’ll just stop writing for a moment or two to regain focus on the main task.

I don’t know if this is a trait that is common, but the reality is that it surprised me that this happens to me. However, I can see why it’s not surprising that this is happening. If I had to guess, the reason that it happens is that my mind is telling me "Hey! Pick a task here - either job or writing!" It’s the first time that I can think of that my multitasking capabilities have kinda faltered.

Does anyone else notice this happen to them when they’re trying to combine talking and writing? I’m guessing that it is something specific to the mixing of these two activities, since I’m fine with moving around while talking, and even walking while talking and the famous walk and chew gum at the same time.

In my line of work, I have the opportunity to talk to a lot of people - young, old, middle age, parents with small children, even children. In fact, it is the children that I talk to which can create a bit of concern for your home security.

While it’s true that kids can say the darndest things, this youthful exuberance might be leading to potential trouble if the information were to land in the hands of the wrong person. I don’t mean to rag on this one youngster, but one story that I was told recently has stuck with me. Obviously, I’m not going to say where these folks are, or use any of their names, but if you’re a parent and you allow your kids to answer the phone, it’s important to tell them what not to say on the phone.

When I called this house, the phone was answered by a kid, I don’t know how old they were, but not old enough to stay home alone. However, what I was told that the kid’s parents weren’t home, as it was their date night, and that this person was at home alone with their babysitter. Naturally, my reaction was to, after hanging up, have a laugh and share what happened with my neighbors in the cubes. However, thinking about it, there is an important lesson to be learnt there.

If you have children (or plan to), it’s important that, if you go away for the night, you tell them the rules for answering the phone. Hopefully, you’re able to have Caller ID on there, so that you can say to them, only answer phone calls from these numbers. Otherwise, let it ring until it stops. To someone calling, getting a voicemail or messagebank is just a sign that a person is likely too busy to get the phone, or else they’re monitoring their calls.

By having a child answer the phone, and then go on to tell a complete stranger that they were home alone (well, at least with a babysitter), is a major security flaw.

Unlike talkback radio hosts who will go on for hours complaining about the situation, and not really giving any solutions, here’s my simple solution - if you’re planning on leaving the kids answer the phone, and they wind up talking to a stranger who asks where a parent is - have them say that they’re not available. That way, if it is (and the chances of this happening are quite small) someone who has bad intentions, they think that the parents are around, just not able to get to the phone at the moment. In lieu of that, simply have the babysitter answer the phone.

They say that parenting doesn’t come with a manual; just think of this as one of the pages, heh

Now that I’m working, I’ve been noticing a few little mysteries popping up every now and then - for example, the other day I noticed that the plastic had been taken off of the windows, since the worst of winter was now over (other than the possibility of another snowstorm), but the mystery that I came home to tonight was one that doesn’t make any sense at all.

Thanks to the weather finally being decent (i.e. temperatures higher than freezing for an extended period of time, and longer than one day or so), almost all of the ice has been melted away, and I have to take time to chip away at what is left to clear it out. Naturally, when you have a large area of ice that is actively melting, there is a concern about where to put all the water that is being released.

For most of the day, it had been collecting in the areas that were clear of ice, and that made the water rise to a level of about two inches - nearly enough to completely cover the foot of my boot (imagine if I had been wearing my hiking shoes - my feet would still be wet! ) - and enough that even the most powerful summer sun would not be able to evaporate all that in the course of one day.

Now, imagine my surprise when I come home, and try to park the car on the opposite side of the house to where all this standing water was, only to get stuck in the mud when trying to turn it around, then spend 10 minutes to get it unstuck, but not only that - all the water that was there just a mere 5 hours ago was gone! I could see where I had spread the kitty litter that I bought from the store in an earlier futile attempt at soaking some water up, and I could even see the gravel that was below all the water.

There were no obvious signs that a canal had popped up as a surprise to clear this water away, and I know that there wasn’t a channel created in some of the other ice to allow flowage, so my question is - where in the world did the water go? It surely couldn’t have been soaked into the ground, considering that it is oversaturated already. I bet that tomorrow the water will be back, and it will be a pain in the neck again.

The good thing, though, is that my feet should stay dry if I just use my boots again.