Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Return of the Three-Letter-Acronym

My little "reward" for having stopped smoking (cigarettes that is - the steam still comes out of my ears at times of high stress) was a nice flat-panel LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TV ... at six times the size of the last computer monitor I bought, and maybe even more significantly half the price of the monitor. No wonder our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is in such a state.

Anyway, now I have access to an EPG! Golly gee whiz! I even looked it up, and found that this was an electronic program guide - which we already had through our cable TV connection (CTV). Pffft, thought I (onomatopoeic, not an acronym), we've had that facility in libraries for decades with our OPACs (which is four letters, and therefore obviously a much higher class of acronym - although not quite as trendy).

I can't see much use for the PLS (Parental Lock System), given that our at-home children are far more technologically advanced than we are - and to attempt to engage the PLS can only provoke acts of retaliation which would ultimately render us not only humiliated, but locked out of viewing anything at all.

I'm still pondering the relative merits - or indeed the existence of any difference between - a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) in comparison to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), but I guess as the glossary lists both without any See Also reference, there has to be at least a modicum of difference, regardless of how vague and tenuous.

At least now we don't need a STB (Set Top Box) given the OEA (Outrageously Expensive Aerial) we had installed. The last TLA (Three Letter Acronym) doesn't actually appear in the glossary in the current edition, but I'm going to suggest it to the manufacturers for their next revision.

Of course, this is all diversionary self-delusion (DSD) whilst still awaiting more important information (MII) on that other matter (TOM) which is hanging like the Sword of Damocles (SoD). WTF, do I hear you ask ... but no, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (WTF) have not yet been fruitful to date. But then again, Monday is only 18 hours away.