# Not In Front Of The TV Dear



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

It used to be we needed to be careful of what we said in front of the kids. Now that includes the TV.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31296188

*Not in front of the telly: Warning over 'listening' TV*










Samsung said personal information could be scooped up by the Smart TV


*Samsung is warning customers about discussing personal information in front of their smart television set.*
The warning applies to TV viewers who control their Samsung Smart TV using its voice activation feature.
Such TV sets "listen" to some of what is said in front of them and may share details they hear with Samsung or third parties, it said.
Privacy campaigners said the technology smacked of the telescreens, in George Orwell's 1984, which spied on citizens.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

That's a 60" t.v.. Who the f..k needs a 60" t.v. let alone one that you can talk to? That being said, if I was foolish enough to get one of those t.v.s it would only speak chinese like the manual in the last t.v. I got. And the remote wouldn't work.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

Ha, I just bought a Samsung Smart TV last week, (only a 51" Electraglide). I'm not aware of the voice control feature as it's my wife that watches it. I don't think it's been activated and fairly certain now that it won't be.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

'tsok WC....I don't talk to the phone, or the wife half the time....I sure wouldn't talk to a t.v......except maybe to discuss the garbage that's on it. Our big t.v. is a 32 inch dumb t.v.. The one down stairs is 30 inch...it's dumb too. Plus, the price of your smart t.v. would get me another old guitar, an old tube amp and leave a lot of coin left over to buy some of the parts I need for the '81. Depending what you have for a smart phone there's probably an app so that you can turn on your t.v. and change channels from where ever you want. Hey, I could use that. There I am in the shop with the wife watching some donald trump show. If I had a smart phone I could turn it on and presto chango, the wife's watching something else.....like porn. Then whoever was listening on the other end would get one hell of an earful of oral sex......the wife telling me to f... off. Among other things.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Hmm, I just have a stupid TV--and it does the job.


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> Depending what you have for a smart phone there's probably an app so that you can turn on your t.v. and change channels from where ever you want. Hey, I could use that. There I am in the shop with the wife watching some donald trump show. If I had a smart phone I could turn it on and presto chango, the wife's watching something else.....like porn.


Way back, a friend of mine used to work at electronics distribution warehouse.
The local bar he hung out at had the same tv that his place would ship out.
He grabbed a matching remote from work and took it with him. He'd constantly
change the channels at the bar. Drove the owner nuts for about a week.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Steadfastly said:


> ISIS are killing and raping people by the thousands, Syria has lost 10's of thousands in their civil war, 40,000 people die each year due to malnutrition and we could go on and on.


A TV that listens and records if you have the settings on...it's not even on the scale.


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## boyscout (Feb 14, 2009)

Tempest in a teapot.

The TV only 'hears' while a very-visible microphone icon is on the screen, which only appears after the appropriate command to listen has been spoken. Even accidental activation is immediately visible on screen. And if that's not safe enough, the voice activation system can be disabled entirely, which I would likely do anyway. Even the most-advanced of these voice recognition systems (like Siri on Apple devices) can often seem like foreigners with a language barrier.

If only the media and the population would get HALF as excited (and stay excited) about the things that really matter, such as wide-sweeping personal information collection by the NSA and other government agencies in most other countries (particularly including Canada and Britain), by police abuse of powers (including information collection), by court complicity with police (including excruciatingly-delayed softball treatment of murderers, thugs, and other police law-breakers), and other examples of a long slide to governments and authorities subjugating individual rights.

I'm a privacy freak, but I'd much sooner support Samsung's voice-recognition provider hearing my every word (which it CAN'T do now!) and sell me things with the information than I would any of the more dangerous things that have already slipped into the background of most people's minds, and are therefore INCREASING while we slumber.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> Who the f..k needs a 60" t.v.


I have a 60" TV. I was just trying to convince my wife last night that we should get an 80". I don't "need" a tv that big I just want one. Most of the possessions every one of us own are just wants and not needs.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

A large screen that hears you, and might possibly even see you, eventually. Didn't I read about that in a George Orwell book in high school?


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Uhm...Any evidence to support these claims of sweeping personal information collection by the NSA or police abuse of powers and court complicity??? I mean, it's been the subject of many movie and tv show plots but...



boyscout said:


> If only the media and the population would get HALF as excited (and stay excited) about the things that really matter, such as wide-sweeping personal information collection by the NSA and other government agencies in most other countries (particularly including Canada and Britain), by police abuse of powers (including information collection), by court complicity with police (including excruciatingly-delayed softball treatment of murderers, thugs, and other police law-breakers), and other examples of a long slide to governments and authorities subjugating individual rights.
> 
> I'm a privacy freak, but I'd much sooner support Samsung's voice-recognition provider hearing my every word (which it CAN'T do now!) and sell me things with the information than I would any of the more dangerous things that have already slipped into the background of most people's minds, and are therefore INCREASING while we slumber.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Uhm...Any evidence to support these claims of sweeping personal information collection by the NSA or police abuse of powers and court complicity???


NO! None whatsoever. Now take the blue pill and please go back to sleep.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Awesome, that really clears things up. Thanks.



guitarman2 said:


> NO! None whatsoever. Now take the blue pill and please go back to sleep.


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## boyscout (Feb 14, 2009)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Uhm...Any evidence to support these claims of sweeping personal information collection by the NSA or police abuse of powers and court complicity??? I mean, it's been the subject of many movie and tv show plots but...


Edward Snowdon, Glenn Greenwald, Robert Dziekański, G20, Sammy Yatim, recent Walmart employee, Michael MacIsaac, Phuong Du, John Ross, etc., etc., etc. Many stories, many from credible sources. Try using a service called google.com; some of what you'll find is accurate.

But you knew that. Your avatar seems appropriate.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

,


boyscout said:


> Try using a service called google.com; some of what you'll find is accurate.
> 
> But you knew that. Your avatar seems appropriate.


Wow. Childish retorts when all I asked was for you to elaborate on a broad "big brother" statement. Well done.

I tried that google.com service you were talking about and came up with the following info:

*Edward Snowdon* (leaked government information presumably contrary to some form of non-disclosure agreement and now works for the Russians - not a great career move Mr Snowdon)
*Glenn Greenwald* (lawyer/journalist regurgitating Snowdon's information)
*Robert Dziekanski *(sadly died from being tazered by police at YVR. Kind of a situation where one person used poor judgement and everyone followed suit. Then comes the bungled up news releases and disclosures and people trying to cover their asses because they realized they screwed up) 
*G20*?? (ok)
*Sammy Yatim* (shot by police after brandishing a knife and exposing himself - not saying that was ok but if you're suggesting this is "court complicity with police"...I don't know about that. Again seems like really poor judgement and/or incompetence. No conspiracy here.) 
*recent Walmart employee* (what can I say to that. There are a ton of them and I don't shop there. I prefer Amazon.com or local retailers)
*Michael MacIsaac* (that is a very sad story. I feel for the family. Not sure of the officer's training in this case. Tough decision to make - not even sure if it was the right one. I wasn't there. But you know what they say, hindsight is 20/20. Judging someone's actions is a lot easier than walking a mile in their shoes. Maybe you can explain what you would do if a naked man was coming at you holding a table leg) 
*Phuong Du* (another very sad story. Shot by police for waving a 2x4 on an empty sidewalk. I'm not sure what they teaching these officers in terms of use of deadly force but maybe there should be a review. I find their use of force disturbing)
*John Ross* (Chief? Explorer? Academic? or the Insurance Company? Doesn't make sense) 

I don't see any real evidence of a massive government conspiracy. Information is collected everyday by everyone. That's why we all carry points cards. If the NSA or Canada's equivalent want to waste their time monitoring my hydro/natural gas consumption or what I buy at the local Save-on-Foods, have at her. Of course, I don't believe that's happening. Can you imagine how many people it would take just to monitor all of the text messages in one province?! Impossible. Couldn't happen. The best you could do is monitor for key words and even then...good luck.

Here's what I say to people who complain about the above and scream conspiracy "there are a lot of countries in the world that are accepting immigrants, why don't you try one of those since you don't seem to like this one very much. Good luck to you."

As for my avatar. It's simply one of the logos from a small local t-shirt/clothing company whose products I purchase. They're really good quality and kind of retro. The owner is a super nice guy and I like supporting his business. The logo doesn't define me.

PS - I apologize to the OP if I hijacked the thread. :sEm_oops:


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

I didn't get the avatar comment...looks like a strong dude focused on something. I actually visualize him looking at a log of wood as he is swinging an axe.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i don't get how you guys could possibly believe for one second that the information gathered won't be sifted. it's common knowledge that america sifts ALL phone calls and internet traffic worldwide. it's also common knowledge that canada and the uk were somewhat complicit in this. and they acted surprised when the states was caught spying on them too. info is easily available about all the humongous data centers the us gov is building to store all this information long enough to make use of it.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I suspect it was aimed at the goonish quality of the image.


smorgdonkey said:


> I didn't get the avatar comment...looks like a strong dude focused on something. I actually visualize him looking at a log of wood as he is swinging an axe.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I have no doubt the info is being sifted. Absolutely. Just not as much as everyone chooses to believe. Besides, who really cares? I'm not afraid of secret government agents kicking down my doors. I'm not doing anything that's worth watching. I'd rather they sift through info and prevent something from happening than have another 9/11 or something similar. 

You cant go anywhere in an urban environment without being on camera these days. Plus, let's not forget the millions of cellphones out there with people filming everything. 

I am am more concerned with corporate databases like rewards cards and credit card transactions that corporations use to predict our behaviour. To me that's really kind of spooky. But that's the trade off isn't it? They give us useless points that we can collect and redeem and they get to track us and figure out how they can sell us MORE stuff that we don't need. 

I apologize if I'm ranting and don't mean to offend but I just get sick of hearing broad and ignorant statements suggesting we live in a some kind of a police state. 

Done...



cheezyridr said:


> i don't get how you guys could possibly believe for one second that the information gathered won't be sifted. it's common knowledge that america sifts ALL phone calls and internet traffic worldwide. it's also common knowledge that canada and the uk were somewhat complicit in this. and they acted surprised when the states was caught spying on them too. info is easily available about all the humongous data centers the us gov is building to store all this information long enough to make use of it.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Stratin2traynor said:


> I suspect it was aimed at the goonish quality of the image.


I think cause it can be mistaken for the from that movie with the "V". I can't remember for the life of.me.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

adcandour said:


> I think cause it can be mistaken for the from that movie with the "V". I can't remember for the life of.me.


For vendetta. Just came to me


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Awesome... if I had a tv I would run some ads and make some extra cash.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

It seems we do have to be more careful with our technology these days. I remember one case where a guy was able to turn on the camera on people's computers and download compromising pictures of them in the nude or near nude and blackmail them by threatening to post the pictures on the internet unless they did what he asked. He did get caught. When my wife heard this story, she put a piece of tape over the cam on her laptop.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

mhammer said:


> A large screen that hears you, and might possibly even see you, eventually. Didn't I read about that in a George Orwell book in high school?


There were a few books like that aside from 1984. Read that in 1964, seemed far fetched at the time but so did most of the stuff at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Stratin2traynor said:


> I have no doubt the info is being sifted. Absolutely. Just not as much as everyone chooses to believe. Besides, who really cares? I'm not afraid of secret government agents kicking down my doors. I'm not doing anything that's worth watching. I'd rather they sift through info and prevent something from happening than have another 9/11 or something similar.
> 
> You cant go anywhere in an urban environment without being on camera these days. Plus, let's not forget the millions of cellphones out there with people filming everything.
> 
> ...


It's not the little men in black suits you have to worry about. Here is a narrow statement based on fact.....if the police want to find you, they will find you.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Ok but I'm not sure I follow you. I'm not worried about the police finding me either. So what's the problem?? 



Electraglide said:


> It's not the little men in black suits you have to worry about. Here is a narrow statement based on fact.....if the police want to find you, they will find you.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Electraglide said:


> That's a 60" t.v.. Who the f..k needs a 60" t.v.


I do. My family room has a 13 foot vaulted ceiling (the TV sits fairly high and far from my "TV seat") and I sit about 25 feet away from my basement TV (70").

How far do you sit from your 32"? 

PS: those 2" t!tties you've been knocking them out to turn into 10" t!tties as soon as you upgrade. keep that in mind.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Stratin2traynor said:


> I have no doubt the info is being sifted. Absolutely. Just not as much as everyone chooses to believe. Besides, who really cares? I'm not afraid of secret government agents kicking down my doors. I'm not doing anything that's worth watching. I'd rather they sift through info and prevent something from happening than have another 9/11 or something similar.
> 
> You cant go anywhere in an urban environment without being on camera these days. Plus, let's not forget the millions of cellphones out there with people filming everything.
> 
> ...



I agree with you 100%.

I do enough shady things (depending on perspective ) that I should be completely fvcked by now. 

Anyway, people scanning through our shit are pretty incompetent at times from my experience. I'm pointing specifically at our mounted police.

I literally brought a friend of mine to Ottawa to work in an environment with classified information (weaponry/artillery development and testing, etc) and ON PAPER my friend fails to write down where he was for the 9 months he was in the middle east. Not only that - his name is the same as a known terrorist (so he's always pulled aside at airports and finger-banged - at least that's how I picture it). Did they care? Nope. Did they question that 9 months? nope. 

I also purposely send my father through the roof by saying the words terrorist or bomb on our cellphones - that's a canada to the US call right to a arab-accented spaz). When he gets angry, he sounds like jihad (it's hilarious)

I'm not concerned about the royal police spyin on the average dude. I think once you become a focus of their attention, it's another story.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Our first colour tv was 19" and we sat at the other end of a 20' room. Before remotes and stuff dad had a little speaker box wired to the tv speaker and it sat beside his chair... it had a handy volume knob for commercials 



adcandour said:


> I do. My family room has a 13 foot vaulted ceiling (the TV sits fairly high and far from my "TV seat") and I sit about 25 feet away from my basement TV (70").
> 
> How far do you sit from your 32"?
> 
> PS: those 2" t!tties you've been knocking them out to turn into 10" t!tties as soon as you upgrade. keep that in mind.


- - - Updated - - -

Our first colour tv was 19" and we sat at the other end of a 20' room. Before remotes and stuff dad had a little speaker box wired to the tv speaker and it sat beside his chair... it had a handy volume knob for commercials 



adcandour said:


> I do. My family room has a 13 foot vaulted ceiling (the TV sits fairly high and far from my "TV seat") and I sit about 25 feet away from my basement TV (70").
> 
> How far do you sit from your 32"?
> 
> PS: those 2" t!tties you've been knocking them out to turn into 10" t!tties as soon as you upgrade. keep that in mind.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i really think you guys are missing the point. just because you know they don't sift it so they can bust you for smoking a joint, doesn't mean that they're incompetent or that there's not much they could do with what they hear. what that device will here is a hell of alot. it's a goldmine of information about you and the people in your house. what right do they have to know these things about you? what will they do with what they learn? where is it likely to go from here? i'm not suggesting we live in a police state. yet. but i think it will eventually become that. sort of. it's way easier to make huge changes if you do them incrementally. frog in the pot thing. boiled down, the meat of what i'm trying to really say is this: technology is advancing so fast. it's doing things to our culture, our behavior, civilization in general. affecting us in ways we may not be able to foresee. maybe pausing to think about things carefully for a while might be beneficial. rushing headlong into the unknown just doesn't seem like the thing to do, considering the penalty for failure.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I don't like talking to machines. Any time someone's voice system tells me to speak a word to it I start punching 0 until I get a human.

That extends to the voice command systems on my iPhone and other devices.

I don't mind punching numbers to get where I need to go, but I'm not talking to a frigging machine.

Smart TV? Let me know when the smart programming comes along.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I was horrified many years ago to discover that phonesets connected to PBX's (private business-type switches, like Nortel M-series) always had active mics - nothing to do with going off-hook. If you had the codes, you could listen secretly to any conversation in any office that had a phone. And no one but the technical would know.

PBX is pretty much gone, replace by VOIP (that Cisco phone on your desk now). I don't know if VOIP has the same possibilities, but I would be surprised if it didn't have all that and more.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I see what you're saying. But technology affecting our culture, behaviour and civilization in general has been in effect since the beginning of time - the wheel, weapons, cameras, radio, planes, iPhones! We managed to survive all of those advances. 

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm here for 84.5 years (or whatever the NA average is nowadays) and prefer to believe there are waaaayyyy more good people than bad people in the world, including government. And I believe the good people keep the bad people in check - most of the time. If I spent my time suspecting that government agencies were watching my every move, it would make for a pretty long, stressful and shitty life. Don't get me wrong, I recognize there are shitty people in the world and I'll be the first one to call them out on it, but to assume that EVERYONE in government or in a position of power is hell bent on world domination through surveillance of every individual on the planet...well, I have draw the line somewhere. When confronted with issues like this, I ask myself two questions: 

1. Is it possible to... (Maybe in this case - but that's a weak maybe)
2. Is it likely? (hell no)

To be honest, I am more concerned with a hacker doing the things that are being suggested than any government agency.

As for the whole Smart TV thing....I have no interest in those at all. I'm perfectly fine with my 10 year old 50 inch Plasma. Besides I spend enough time sitting in front of a computer (I do keep the camera lense covered) I don't need to sit in front of another screen! I just want more time to play guitar and if the government wants to listen to that...I feel sorry for them cause I'm not that good yet!



cheezyridr said:


> i really think you guys are missing the point. just because you know they don't sift it so they can bust you for smoking a joint, doesn't mean that they're incompetent or that there's not much they could do with what they hear. what that device will here is a hell of alot. it's a goldmine of information about you and the people in your house. what right do they have to know these things about you? what will they do with what they learn? where is it likely to go from here? i'm not suggesting we live in a police state. yet. but i think it will eventually become that. sort of. it's way easier to make huge changes if you do them incrementally. frog in the pot thing. boiled down, the meat of what i'm trying to really say is this: technology is advancing so fast. it's doing things to our culture, our behavior, civilization in general. affecting us in ways we may not be able to foresee. maybe pausing to think about things carefully for a while might be beneficial. rushing headlong into the unknown just doesn't seem like the thing to do, considering the penalty for failure.


- - - Updated - - -

Wow. I didn't know that. I'm sure that system was abused more than once! 



High/Deaf said:


> I was horrified many years ago to discover that phonesets connected to PBX's (private business-type switches, like Nortel M-series) always had active mics - nothing to do with going off-hook. If you had the codes, you could listen secretly to any conversation in any office that had a phone. And no one but the technical would know.
> 
> PBX is pretty much gone, replace by VOIP (that Cisco phone on your desk now). I don't know if VOIP has the same possibilities, but I would be surprised if it didn't have all that and more.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I can't STAND those machines. As soon as I hear "this telephone call is being recorded..." I always say, "I do not authorize the recording of this call". I get into some pretty interesting conversations when I say that to a real person. It throws them for a loop and they don't know what to say. LOL. It offends me that they are possibly recording it the call. 



Milkman said:


> I don't like talking to machines. Any time someone's voice system tells me to speak a word to it I start punching 0 until I get a human.
> 
> That extends to the voice command systems on my iPhone and other devices.
> 
> ...


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I don't think we need to worry yet. This kind of technology would only be useful (to big brother), say, if something like the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion were true. 

...and although it seems like we are acting like the sheep we're supposed to act like, they're not true (I may be just saying that so I don't get shot):sSc_eeksign:


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

adcandour said:


> I do. My family room has a 13 foot vaulted ceiling (the TV sits fairly high and far from my "TV seat") and I sit about 25 feet away from my basement TV (70").
> 
> How far do you sit from your 32"?
> 
> PS: those 2" t!tties you've been knocking them out to turn into 10" t!tties as soon as you upgrade. keep that in mind.


Most of the time I sit about 15' away and 10' below. In the basement, usually with the tv down there turned off. As far as 2" tits turning into 10" ones. Had a girlfriend like that once....possibly the best $5000 she ever spent. Increased her earning potential everytime she danced. And I never knock boobs, no matter what size.


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> .. I never knock boobs, no matter what size.


neither do I .. more than a mouthful's a waste. lol.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

laristotle said:


> neither do I .. more than a mouthful's a waste. lol.


And both hands.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Electraglide said:


> Most of the time I sit about 15' away and 10' below. In the basement, usually with the tv down there turned off. As far as 2" tits turning into 10" ones. Had a girlfriend like that once....possibly the best $5000 she ever spent. Increased her earning potential everytime she danced. And I never knock boobs, no matter what size.


How about 10" turning into 2"? My wife gets a reduction in a few weeks. Sobbing.










Thank god I'm an ass man.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Amen brother .... Knofler nailed that one 



Milkman said:


> Smart TV? Let me know when the smart programming comes along.


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## stringer (Jun 17, 2009)

I have no points cards, and no cell phone. What I find concerning in the common retort re the ever increasing powers of surveillance our authorities are being granted in the name of protection from terrorism and the like. You hear the phrase " well I'm not worried, I have nothing to hide " Sorry I gotta go here and many will dismiss me but many groups felt the same way in Nazi Germany in the 30's and it didn't work out too well for them. I think a great example is the long gun registry here in Canada when overnight many law abiding citizens suddenly became criminals. Smokers next? Don't be so quick to give up freedoms for protection from perceived threats. Whew! I need me some soma now.


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