Any Black Friday buys?

I have decided to buy a new television. I have a fifty-inch 2019 TV at a friend's house in Vegas, but I've been watching on a 36-inch TV at home in Tucson.
I'd thought about a 65 inch model but the state of the art models are expensive, and I can't justify thousands for a tv.
I'd decided on an Amazon Fire 55 model, but after further checking, I found Walmart had a 55-inch set for under $200. It's lacking a few bells and whistles but it is UHD 4K, with Dolby so a big improvement from what I am using.
One of the major players in the comic industry holds its annual scratch and dent sale- blemished books can be had for $1 on books up to $20 and $10 for books priced $60 and up. I sent them a 200 book order but many are one of a kind and it is first order picked getsthe books. Last year, I ordered about 200 and they were only able to fill a third of them.

So far I got an electric blanket and a new toaster. Might sign up for another year of Hulu at 99 cents even though I don't watch it that often.

I don't have anything planned, but I'm open to ideas.
I express a strong preference for online ordering by Monday, rather than queueing for doorbuster deals.
(A number of ex's dragged me around, because "it will be fun!" back in the $5 DVD player days. This, and the subsequent breakfasts at IHOP, pretty thoroughly killed any desire I might ever have to go stand in line for an hour to get a $9 discount.)

Unfortunately, I will probably get sucked in, because I do need to resupply, and my next convenient road trip stop is a Walmart, tomorrow morning (ugh!). I shall sincerely endeavor to make only quotidian purchases, well outside a major metropolitan area.

My shopping was all done online.

My new TV is set up. The most notable difference is the volume. On the new TV, a setting of ten is equal to a setting of fifty on my old set. The max volume on the old set is thirty-fiveish on the new one.

Fire tv. I know it’s difficult to not buy smart tv these days but … your data is being mined and ads will be shown and it sucks

Quote: heatmap

Fire tv. I know it’s difficult to not buy smart tv these days but … your data is being mined and ads will be shown and it sucks
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Who doesn't hate watching ads geared towards things you care for, as opposed to watching ads about stuff you have no interest in?

Quote: billryan

Quote: heatmap

Fire tv. I know it’s difficult to not buy smart tv these days but … your data is being mined and ads will be shown and it sucks
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Who doesn't hate watching ads geared towards things you care for, as opposed to watching ads about stuff you have no interest in?
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Me. I want to see no ads. Whether it be for things I ‘care for’ or don’t.

I am going to buy at least 3, maybe 4 TV’s today for new house. After reading Billy’s story may go to Walmart….

Just perusing the sale listings, I swear that one included a warning that "death or serious injury may occur if ingested".
It was an ad for a television set.

Quote: Dieter

Just perusing the sale listings, I swear that one included a warning that "death or serious injury may occur if ingested".
It was an ad for a television set.
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My tv came with a similar warning, and also advised that children should avoid the LCD something if damaged.

I got a year of Disney/Hulu for an absurd 92% off the regular price and a year of SirusXM for $2 a month.

Hulu - is that the 99 cent per month Hulu with Ads Black Friday promo? Online though at Reddit the word is that Hulu with ads plays ads every 10 minutes. Is this true?

Disney/Hulu promo is 2.99 a month today, but again - ads?

Quote: MDawg

Hulu - is that the 99 cent per month Hulu with Ads Black Friday promo? Online though at Reddit the word is that Hulu with ads plays ads every 10 minutes. Is this true?

Disney/Hulu promo is 2.99 a month today, but again - ads?
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That was my experience.
I felt it was worth the extra (roughly) dollar a day to add Max (fka HBO) and omit the ads.


Unrelated: no lines at the Walmart I just hit up, back in the parking lot in under 30 minutes. Needed water and some salad dressing.
The receipt checker at the door looked to be reconsidering her life choices, despite me being quite warm and personable at 6:30 in the morning in 15°F weather.

A Thanksgiving miracle.

I was out yesterday distributing food to about thirty of my homeless neighbors, and several asked if I had any more of the blankets I'd passed out earlier in the week. I am waiting on a delayed order from Walmart, but then I remembered I had a couple that I'd won in an estate auction a few weeks ago. I hadn't even looked at them, as the weather was nice at the time, and I'd forgotten about them.
I went to my storage unit, and they were sitting in vacuum-sealed space bags on a shelf. I ripped open the first of three bags, and as they filled the air, I realized there was more than one blanket. It turned out there were five wool blankets in each bag. I paid $6 plus 15% for the lot and ended up with 15 vintage wool blankets. One has a label with an Ohio address but no zip code, so these might be sixty years old, although I'm unaware of people vacuum-sealing blankets in the 1960s.
I'd been running low on supplies, as my next shipment arrives Monday, but these will give me something to give out today.

Quote: MDawg

Hulu - is that the 99 cent per month Hulu with Ads Black Friday promo? Online though at Reddit the word is that Hulu with ads plays ads every 10 minutes. Is this true?

Disney/Hulu promo is 2.99 a month today, but again - ads?
link to original post

Hulu's ads are bad, but I watch them so little that they don't bother me. Early in the day, I exercise during the breaks. Most commercials are two minutes long, and by shadowboxing or body blading during the breaks, I get a decent workout.
Disney has ads before the shows start, but they are limited during the actual show.
As I am almost always multitasking while watching TV, ads are a fact of life. When I consider the cost of going ad-free, I think there are better ways to spend my money. Others mileage may vary.

My wife has the NFLX with ads she refused to pay more when they were trying to extort more for the ad free version. However, the NFLX with ads isn't very intrusive, primarily just 2 - 3 straight minutes of ads before the movie starts, so just mute the volume or take off the headphones/airpods and ignore, then mostly ad free for the duration.

What sux is when you aren't paying any attention to the ad, suddenly realize you might like the product but there is no way to rewind the ad.

I just saw an auction for a rare 47-star US flag. Officially, they don't exist, but a few manufacturers produced them in anticipation of their official emergence.
I own a 49-star flag, which is increasingly difficult to find, but vintage 47-star flags are a bit of a grail.

By the way, there is no such thing as an obsolete US flag. The star pattern may change, but any of the former designs are still allowed to be flown, and a 44-star flag should be treated with the dignity a 50-star flag receives.

I find it difficult to watch sports or movies on a regular television now that I have a projector. It's like 110 inches diagonally and a theater-like experience.

The only drawbacks are setting up the screen (I don't have a blank wall in the correct spot) and my projector doesn't cast the image well in bright daylight (the expensive projectors can). Otherwise, a regular TV is like going back to pan-and-scan movies.

Quote: smoothgrh

I find it difficult to watch sports or movies on a regular television now that I have a projector. It's like 110 inches diagonally and a theater-like experience.

The only drawbacks are setting up the screen (I don't have a blank wall in the correct spot) and my projector doesn't cast the image well in bright daylight (the expensive projectors can). Otherwise, a regular TV is like going back to pan-and-scan movies.
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I remember back in the camera shop, we sold silver screens, matte white screens, and glass bead screens. The retroreflective glass bead screens did wonders for brightness, but they did it by cutting down the viewable angle - fine if the projector is basically right behind (or in front of) the couch.

Which kind of screen surface are you using?