Fried Turkey Day

Varya spent the prior day cooking several dishes and desserts before Thanksgiving afternoon when we grabbed a 14 lb turkey and my propane deep fryer and headed to Dad and Elaine’s Pearland palace to deep fry that bird and feast upon way too much food prepared by Varya, Elaine, and nearly 35 lbs of 375°F peanut oil.

Deep frying, of course, produces relatively moist turkey meat with a crispy skin relatively quickly (less than 2 hours to heat oil and cook, cool and carve a big bird) and expensively (the peanut oil cost twice as much as the turkey). The result was worth the risk of an uncontrolled oil fire.

Clearly Dad was most excited by dinner, as was one of their identical pair of super poopers, Micky or Ricky (I’m never sure which).

After several hours of frying, feasting, and fun (and the usual senior tech support reconfiguring TVs, iPads and iPhones), we headed home in a triptofan trance…

…only to begin my Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping online (never in person with the mobs). As savvy online shoppers are well aware, at least 95% of the “deals” advertised during the holiday season range from hype to misleading to useless, with obsolete models labeled “doorbusters”, limited bait to fill the store, rarely worth the time or money. So, as in recent years, I made a list of desired targets/presents and rely primarily upon TheWirecutter.com, my go-to product recommendation site throughout the year, to continuously distill and notify me of only the best deals–rare or unprecedented price cuts on the most highly rated products in various categories (less than 5% of advertised deals are worthwhile according to Wirecutter)–and jump when they highlight one of my targets as a recommended deal at Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, REI, Home Depot, etc. Supplementing Wirecutter wisdom are two of my favorite web browser extensions: The Camelizer to track past Amazon price history and send me alerts for a particular item (and confirm how good a deal it really is or isn’t), and Honey to search for all available discounts and coupon codes for a particular vendor’s web site. (SlickDeals is another price tracking/alert site I’ve successfully used in the past to find historic sales.) I’ve made heavy use of these shopping tools to save hundreds of $ over the last few days since deep fried turkey day, and will continue so through xmas.

Cord Cutting

We dumped DirecTV satellite TV several years ago, and have not missed their hundreds of useless, unwatched channels, long term contracts, and overpriced service that frequently cut out during Houston thunderstorms. If you have a fast (> 20 Mbps), reliable broadband connection, consider dumping cable or satellite TV and switching to internet TV, supplemented with broadcast TV. (Yes, broadcast, as in free TV over the airwaves, like the olden millennium, only with far better digital transmission of high-def images and surround sound.) Being a “cord cutter” gives you much more control over exactly what and when you watch, all the better in this golden age of cinema-quality, binge-able TV. Long gone are the days of having to accept the lame programming and rigid schedule of a few broadcast networks. You also may save a little money by replacing your bloated cable or satellite TV contract with a few smaller ($8-40/month) internet app subscriptions…that you can turn on and off each month as you wish (e.g., I pay $25 for Sling TV only during months I want ESPN for particular sporting events).

Brace yourself for the breakup!

When you call a satellite or cable TV company to cancel their service, they usually transfer you to a “retention specialist”, hell bent on retaining you as a customer, perhaps offering you a discounted contract (so, worth doing even if you don’t cancel), keeping you on the phone for however long it takes to change your mind…and thus earn a pay bonus. My DirecTV retention specialist was an impressively persistent but sadly unsuccessful guy named Philip. During our absurdly circular 20 minute conversation, he repeatedly asked, “but why are you giving up TV?!”, as if unaware that TV predated satellites and likely will outlast his company. (I posted my “Ode to Philip” on FB: “we’ve grown apart, Philip…it’s not you, it’s me…you’ll find the right customer someday…”) Be prepared with strength and resolve in your righteous desire to cut their cord.

Hardware & software?

You may need some new equipment and subscriptions for accessing internet TV apps, and a broadcast TV antenna. There are many choices, so I’ll just list what we use and a couple alternatives.

Apple TV: I connect these little black boxes to our internet router with ethernet cables and wifi, and to our TVs with HDMI cables (one box per TV). We use Apple TV to watch internet TV apps (Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go, PBS, Amazon Prime Video, Comedy Central, SlingTV, ESPN, etc.), and to stream video from our iPads and Macs to our TVs.

Roku is an excellent, cheaper alternative (I’ve used a couple), especially for a non-Apple-centric household, with a much better remote control. (Apple makes many great products, but struggles with peripherals such as remotes and mice.)
I have no hands-on experience with Google’s Chromecast or Amazon’s Fire TV, and it has been a while since I last compared them to the more popular Roku & Apple offerings. Ask Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, and see what they recommend. 🙂
You may ask, “why do I need another box when my TV already has Netflix?!” Though most “smart” TVs come with a few internet apps built in, I still recommend using an external box such as Apple TV or Roku for a few reasons:
- Security: Apple & Roku update their software far more frequently than TV makers such as Samsung & LG. In our world of relentlessly increasing cyber-threats, you want rapid, continuous fixing of inevitable bugs & security holes.
- Selection: There are far more apps and games available on Apple TV and Roku boxes, and you can easily download new apps, whereas TVs often are stuck with the few apps they came with.
- Speed: TV makers use cheaper, slower computer chips than Apple & Roku.
Some recent TVs offer built-in Roku or Chromecast hardware. While that’s better than using the TV maker’s crappy interface for internet TV, and may eliminate one remote control, I still prefer an external Roku or Apple TV box, as I upgrade these little boxes much more often than big, expensive TVs. I’ve had my largest Samsung plasma TVs for 6 years, and they still produce great images. During that time, I’ve gone through a few generations of Apple TVs, incrementally improving HW performance and features, which wouldn’t be possible if it were built into my TV.

HDHomeRun EXTEND: this black box by SiliconDust takes the signals from our window antenna and streams broadcast TV channels on our network for easy viewing on our Apple TVs, iPads and Macs (up to 2 devices simultaneously), useful for watching sports and other live network events anywhere in the house.

I subscribe to SiliconDust’s HDHomeRun DVR service, enabling me to record and time-shift shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that aren’t available in Hulu. (We watch all of the late night talk/comedy shows the next morning with breakfast and coffee, almost never when they’re aired at night.)
HDHomeRun’s main weakness is supporting software: the HDHomeRun app for MacOS isn’t great, and the InstaTV app on Apple TV is worse. Both are functional, and slowly improving, but still noticeably crappier in stability, usability and appearance than the big internet TV apps such as Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go. SiliconDust offers decent hardware, but really should step up their software game!
I chose the EXTEND over the other HDHomeRun models for its hardware h264 transcoder which compresses video in real-time rather than streaming raw mpeg2. If you don’t know or care what that means, or you need more than 2 tuners in one box, check out the CONNECT QUATRO with 4 tuners.
The TiVo BOLT OTA with built-in DVR is a well-reviewed alternative to HDHomeRun for viewing and recording broadcast TV, and even has some streaming apps, making it a very limited alternative to Roku or Apple TV.

Antenna: This is the simplest, oldest and least expensive component of cord-cutting. I use two cheap ($20-40), flat, indoor, un-amplified digital antennas–one connected to my HDHomeRun EXTEND box and the other connected directly to my largest Samsung TV for live events–both stuck in a window facing the huge TV broadcast towers in southwest Houston. My 5-year-old antenna models are AmazonBasics and Mohu Leaf, but there are many good brands these days. If you really want the latest “best” option, WireCutter is my goto source for such reviews and recommendations. However, almost any popular, highly-rated digital antenna should provide good HD reception, assuming you’re close enough to TV towers and can point your antenna at those towers.

Range: Buy an antenna made for the distance from your house to your nearest TV towers. More range typically requires a larger antenna size and price, and sometimes a powered signal amplifier. If you live way out in the sticks or mountains, you may be too far from city TV towers for reliable reception of broadcast TV…but you knew that already.
Placement: Place your indoor antenna on the side of the house facing the nearest TV towers, preferably in a window. Larger, longer-range antennas may be placed in the attic, or even on the roof…old school!

Apps: We subscribe to Hulu ($12/month for no commercials), Netflix ($11/mo) and sometimes Sling TV Orange ($25/mo, mainly for ESPN), a total of $48/mo before tax, much cheaper than my old DirecTV bills. Amazon Prime Video is included with my Amazon Prime membership ($10/mo). We use the free version of Comedy Central (mainly for the Daily Show with Trevor Noah), though you could pay for full access. PBS Video is free, though I donate to PBS anyway, because their high quality shows (Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Austin City Limits, etc.). We rent movies in iTunes, and I load up my iPad with rentals before flights. You may subscribe to HBO Now, but HBO Go is already included with my Comcast cable internet/TV bundle ($60/mo for 60 Mbps, recently downgraded from $90/mo for 250 Mbps).

Why would a cord-cutter still have a cable TV bundle?! Comcast makes their Xfinity internet/TV “double-play” bundle cheaper than internet alone–perhaps to inflate their “TV subscriber” numbers for advertisers despite the growing number of cord-cutters–so I technically have Comcast’s basic TV service with HBO included, though I’ve never used their Xfinity TV box…fun and games with Evil Corp, as Elliot would refer to Comcast.
YouTubeTV is Google’s competitor for Sling TV. [Updated 2018-10-21] I recently tried it for a week, and liked the high-res live sports and on-demand access to broadcast network shows. However, I couldn’t stand all of the forced, low-res, repetitive commercials, and canceled my trial. For $40/mo, I expect ad-free on-demand viewing. Check out YouTubeTV’s offerings, as they may have the best value for your internet channel needs, including your local broadcast channels, but be prepared for inescapable ads.
Month-to-month: long term contracts are obsolete in the new world of a la carte internet TV. You may start and stop any of these app subscriptions in any given month. Going on a long trip or taking a TV-free sabbatical? Kill your subscriptions and restart later as needed. In contrast to the old TV “service” companies, the new i-TV norms are convenience and flexibility.
International travel: Unfortunately, many of the paid subscription apps won’t work when they see you connecting from a foreign IP address. You can try fooling them by routing through a US VPN server, but Netflix and others block VPN connections as well. Freebies and podcasts still work, of course, but be prepared to lose access to premium TV apps overseas. Then again, when touring abroad, what the hell are you doing watching TV anyway?!

Cut that cord and say goodbye to Evil Corp!…unless you are stuck with them for internet access due to an abysmal lack of ISP competition in your area.

Use Four Ones

Want your internet browsing to be faster and more private? Use 1.1.1.1 as your Domain Name Server (DNS).

What’s DNS and why change it?

Devices on the internet have numeric Internet Protocol (IP) addresses such as 1.1.1.1. Of course, remembering numeric web addresses would be difficult, so we use more people-friendly, word-based domain names instead. When you enter addresses such as Apple.com and WordPress.com into your web bowser, your designated DNS resolves these domain names into corresponding IP addresses, sort of like an internet directory.

Most people let their Internet Service Provider (ISP)–Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Verizon, etc.–set DNS addresses automatically on their computers, phones and tablets. Your ISP is happy to do this for you, because routing you through their own DNS allows them to track where you go on the internet and sell that information to advertisers…part of the digital surveillance economy, similar to Facebook and Google. Since your ISP wants to watch you and often faces little or no competition in US markets, the speed and security of your web browsing typically are not their highest priorities. Fortunately, it is easy to increase your speed and privacy simply by changing your DNS.

What to do?

Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 is a public DNS that makes queries faster and more secure than your ISP’s default DNS, resulting in faster, more private web browsing. Cloudflare provides more details at What is 1.1.1.1?. For instructions, go to 1.1.1.1 and click the Install button (it doesn’t actually install anything) or scroll down the page to find simple text and video instructions for your particular operating system (iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows). If you already know where and how to change your DNS settings, just copy and paste the following highlighted IP addresses (not the parenthetical text) into your DNS address list, replacing the default address(es):

1.1.1.1 (IPv4 primary)
1.0.0.1 (IPv4 secondary)
2606:4700:4700::1111 (IPv6 primary)
2606:4700:4700::1001 (IPv6 secondary)

Italian Fortnight

Varya and I spent half of July in Italy, traveling from Rome to Florence to Venice and back to Rome on Frecciarossa, staying in nice, well located apartments. Spending four half-weeks in four homes essentially divided our fortnight into quarters, making it feel like four mini-vacations separated by high speed train rides between ancient cities. Our many online photos and videos (most using a Panasonic Lumix ZS100, some with an iPhone 8 or SE) visually describe our entire trip, so here I’ll focus on advice for two Italian holiday essentials: lodging and tours.

I found primo apartments on Airbnb in desirable locations at surprisingly reasonable rates…exclusively from “Superhosts” to better ensure a smooth experience in quality accommodations. Our first Roman terrace had a great view of St. Peter’s dome, lit up at night and greeting us each morning. Our Florentine studio overlooked the Arno River, a skipping stone’s throw from the Ponte Vecchio…bellissimo! Our Venetian apartment had the best decor, just a few steps from the Rialto Bridge. And our final Roman apartment was in the bustling shopping district of Campo Marzio–a short walk from the Spanish Steps and Pantheon–where Varya unleashed her Visa upon fashionable perfume and handbag shops. All of our apartments were in the $100-160/night range, so these premium locations cost a total of $2K over two weeks…nothing to sneeze at, but these Airbnb apartments were cheaper (and larger) than nearby hotel rooms, especially in the peak tourist month of July. Plus, the convenience of having kitchens and washing machines can not be overstated after long days of walking in the warm Tuscan sun.

Normally I’m not interested in slow, constrained group tours with occasionally obnoxious tourists, preferring to strike out and explore independently with a few cool people. (Some of my favorite European vacations have been on motorcycles with 2 or 3 other riders.) However, tour groups can help you skip long public lines at popular sites, and you may learn something new from a knowledgeable guide. So, for better tours, I highly recommend Walks of Italy to Americans for reasons described below. First, however, here are the tours we chose, one per quarter fortnight:

Pristine Sistine gave us early, pre-public entrance into the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, and St. Peter’s Basilica.
After Hours at the Accademia gave us easy, uncrowded access to David and other Renaissance and Medieval masterpieces.
Venice in a Day included the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Basilica, and even a gondola ride after lunch.
Premium Colosseum half-day tour included the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.

Why is Walks of Italy so top choice? Walks limits groups to 15 or fewer tourists–I think ours ranged from 10 to 14–whereas competitors such as City Wonders typically have groups of 20-30, and an in-port cruise ship can choke museum halls with mobs of 50. Smaller groups enable you to interact a lot more with your guide and group, questioning and joking, and to move through crowded tourist areas more easily. A related nit: while our Walks guides carried small, plain, yellow umbrellas–easily seen but unobtrusive when collapsed, and handy sun screens outside–other guides had their flags/advertisements waving high on telescoping rods as beacons for their oversized groups, flags which always seemed to interfere with my photos!

Walks uses local Italian guides who are fluent in history, humor and English, catering to their target demographic of monolingual Americans. This may be explained by the co-founder, Jason Spiehler, being a young American art historian and theology major that I met a decade ago on the Palatine Hill. He was loudly offering “free tour!”, so my ex and I took him up on it and he guided us down into the Roman Forum, explaining everything we saw and didn’t see…so well that we bought his evening walking tour of the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and other magico night sights. From those humble beginnings as a solo tour guide, Jason has built an apparently thriving business, claiming to employ over 100 guides in Italy, Paris and New York. Check out the incredible variety of tours on the Walks of Italy web site, try a couple, and thank me later.

Zero Day

Today I created this WordPress site (with a TWIT discount…thanks, Leo). It’s been over a decade since I created my last web site, before Facebook stole my online attention. Now that I’ve deleted my FB account as part of an overdue online cleansing, it’s time for a personal web presence again.

Once you stop learning, you start dying. — Albert E.

earthrise