James's Weblog

On CableCARD impressions:

• It’s been suggested to me that CableCARDs might seem to have a high defect rate because the process self-selects defective cards. If a customer has issues with one, the cable company probably can’t tell if the card is actually faulty, so it likely throws the card back into the pool of available ones rather than returning it to the manufacturer. This means that if a cable company gives you an unboxed card, it’s probably one that someone else already returned.
• After trying a Comcast set-top box at relatives’ houses, I think as annoying as it is for the TiVo HD to list channels I don’t receive, I’m grateful that I at least can hide them manually. Comcast set-top boxes don’t offer even that. (I’m not sure if they can hide the adult programming channels from appearing in the guide either.)

On Government bureaucracy in action:

• And almost exactly a year after the last jury summons, my dad received another one. At least he didn’t receive an absentee ballot this time.

On Exit excitement:

• I’ve recently discovered that the answer is: no, I haven’t.