last night on the Amazing Race (S32, ep. 9)

[Questor]

Blah blah blah blah blah detour, blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah roadblock,
blah blah blah blah blah...

Has the Amazing Race become so routine that noone has anything to say about it?
I know that Usenet has long been declining in active participants, but the
sound of crickets this season has been overwhelming. There used to be a handful
of regulars that posted... where have they all gone?



Did anybody wonder why the length of the fishing net was 3280 feet? It's just a
little over 6/10s of a mile -- i.e., one kilometer. I guess the producers were
concerned that Americans wouldn't understand the metric system.

I don't like it when the race goes to temples, etc. and involves religious
people in handing out clues at route info points. It's one thing to involve
costumed locals and the like at historical sites and other locations of
interest, but I think it's disrespectful to have monks or whatnot do it -- as if
it was just another tourist attraction to be used for the benefit of a
commercial operation. Have a clue box outside in front of a temple, sure -- get
that scenic camera shot. But don't go inside, and don't enlist the faithful
religiious adherents in what is decidedly a secular enterprise.

Something I've noticed in recent seasons, and particularly this one, is the use
of the "thumbs up" gesture by locals when racers successfully complete a detour
or roadblock. AFAIK, it's largely an American-only move, one that is actually
viewed as obscene in other parts of the world. In some countries it means
something like "sit on it" or "up yours." Clearly the producers have directed
this action. I wonder what the people who live in such countries think of this.

As we know, racers aren't allowed to help their teammate in any way during a
roadblock. Often, as with last night's tile-making task, they are close enough
to be able to watch and yell encouragement. It occurred to me that racers could
create a secret way to communicate with their partner to assist them. For
example, if they say "you can do it, babe," that would mean their partner should
look or move to their left. If they say "you can do it, honey," that would mean
their partner should look or move to their right. If they say, "you've got this
(name)," that might mean they're missing something and should look at the
sample again. All these seemingly innocuous comments could actually be
transmitting instructions. I wonder if any teams have thought to do this, or
actually done it.

[Frosty Winnipeg]

On 2020-12-03 3:35 p.m., Questor wrote:
> Has the Amazing Race become so routine that noone has anything to say about it?
> I know that Usenet has long been declining in active participants, but the
> sound of crickets this season has been overwhelming. There used to be a handful
> of regulars that posted... where have they all gone?

There are three answers...

1. They've just seen enough of TAR to move on. They might still watch it
but don't feel the need to get on the net and talk about it. That's me.

2. Facebook. Official site puts up a question and they get hundreds of
responses.

3. Outside of people downloading tv/movies from Usenet it's been a dying
medium for years.

[Questor]

On Fri, 4 Dec 2020 13:19:58 -0600, Frosty Winnipeg <FrostyW...@outlook.com>
wrote:

>On 2020-12-03 3:35 p.m., Questor wrote:
>> Has the Amazing Race become so routine that noone has anything to say about it?
>> I know that Usenet has long been declining in active participants, but the
>> sound of crickets this season has been overwhelming. There used to be a handful
>> of regulars that posted... where have they all gone?
>There are three answers...
>
>1. They've just seen enough of TAR to move on. They might still watch it
>but don't feel the need to get on the net and talk about it. That's me.
>
>2. Facebook. Official site puts up a question and they get hundreds of
>responses.

Oh right. Facepage. Well, it wouldn't be the first newsgroup they've ruined.

As you might guess, I don't use it. Never have. I recognized it as evil years
ago when they would periodically change their privacy options and location,
burying them in new menus. In the process, they would reset users' settings
to the least restrictive. Dunno if they still play that shell game.

And there's Zuckerberg's stated philosophy that everyone should have a single
identity on the Internet, in stark contrast to how most people conduct their
relationships. As if he talks to his wife in the bedroom the same way he talks
to the directors in the boardroom.

I could rant on, but instead here's funny video of comedian Don McMillan, who
"proves" mathematically that Facebook is evil. (Skip ahead to about 4:55 if you
can't wait.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYE3GtXqDV0

>3. Outside of people downloading tv/movies from Usenet it's been a dying
>medium for years.

Yeah, I know. Still...

[Guardsman]

>>>>> Frosty Winnipeg writes:

> On 2020-12-03 3:35 p.m., Questor wrote:

>> [...] There used to be a handful of regulars that posted... where
>> have they all gone?

[...]

> 2. Facebook. Official site puts up a question and they get hundreds of
> responses.

[...]

Yeah, or other sites. I don't go there, but reddit seems pretty active
and had hundreds of comments for the last episode:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/

--

[Questor]

I'm not sure that's what Tim Berners-Lee had in mind... that *everything* on the
Internet should be a web site, accessed via a browser. Whether it's
Facepage or a discussion web site, it does centralize control of the discussion
and institutes de facto gatekeepers. The advantage of Usenet is that it's
de-centralized, open, and not subject to any one entity's control. Of course,
some people might say that those are disadvantages.

[Frosty Winnipeg]

Well I think in all likely hood this was the last TAR so with that in
mind. 19 years, 32 seasons, 1 million miles. It was quite the run.
Thanks once again to all who care.

[Questor]

On Mon, 21 Dec 2020 23:58:38 -0600, Frosty Winnipeg <FrostyW...@outlook.com>
wrote:

>Well I think in all likely hood this was the last TAR so with that in
>mind. 19 years, 32 seasons, 1 million miles. It was quite the run.
>Thanks once again to all who care.

While there may be a delay of a couple of years, I don't see a reason why there
wouldn't be a season 33, possibly airing in late 2022 or 2023. They already got
the green light, they won't have to scrap too much of what was already done, TAR
is a modest yet steady ratings earner, and the network is still going to need
new programming in the future.