I’m not going to worry about this until it happens. And then I’ll have another reason not to buy someone’s game.

There are ALOT of pinballs I’ve never played and even more that I’ve never owned. I could go the rest of my days never buying a new game. That’s not what I want, But I’ll be damned if I’ll watch ads on something I paid thousands for, for recreation...in my home!

I’d probably avoid these games on route too. Just to spite the motherfuckers.

No comparison. TV only existed because of ads. In fact, when cable and satellite TV originated, their whole pitch was NO ADs. Of course that didn’t last long. The basis for television based entertainment is commercial advertising. It goes with the territory and pretty much always has. This is acceptable to me if not annoying.

Advertising in the movie theatre. This is a drag, but what are you gonna do? You’re a captive audience. Product placement? Who cares.

But one of the reasons I play pinball is to escape those exact kinds of intrusions. That’s part of the zen of it. Advertisements would ruin that. I’m certainly not going to spend thousands of dollars for that. I’m going to reinvent my entertainment practices if that happened.

Now, is a full featured, NIB Stern Pro could be had for $1k, because they reserve the right to advertise, that would certainly be a reasonable trade off, but I’d have to see it in practice before I invested in it, because, again, Being annoyed while playing pinball isn’t part of the equation for me.

Yes, this.

Everybody’s a shill these days, and the current generation doesn’t seem to care. As long as they get paid. Corporations and big business rule the roost, despite the fact that they care nothing about people and society and, in fact, are doing there best to eliminate people from their operations equation. People rail against right and left wing conspiracies, bit few actually question authority. The cops and the military - and the policies directing them - can practically do no wrong, but legitimate media is deemed a sham.

Scary stuff. I play pinball to stop thinking about this stuff, not to be reminded of it.

Fuck media. I’m talking about legitimate journalism and news agencies with dedicated journalists and staff that care about their craft and showing the world as it is. Let’s not conflate clickbait bullshit and pompous sensationalism with real craft and care. Real journalism for chrissakes. Do people even know what it is? Are they that broken?

That so many people want to castigate and deny people that devote their lives to being a lens to reality; a check to “business as usual”; and a counterbalance to the inequities of a status quo is disturbing and shameful.

Please spare me. People trust practically everything in their lives to be ok. Food, water, roads, medicine, medical attention, the clothes they wear, the electronics they buy. EVERYTHING!!

But in the last 10 years or so, certain people, have decided that certain completely valid news organizations - The NY Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, the BBC, the Economist, the London Times, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, and many, many more, are totally biased and untrustworthy. BULLSHIT! Why? Because the people these news agencies expose as liars and hucksters and sociopaths react defensively and cry “fake news”? What a crock of shit. Last time I checked, everyone accused of doing something wrong casts aspersions on their accusers. What about the thousands of people that study and pay dues and devote their lives to investigating and researching the news, and reporting it? These people are liars? These people all have an agenda and are part of some vast conspiracy to lie to EVERYONE else! Bullshit!! They should be lionized! And yet you say “How can I know what’s really true”? Weak sauce jack. Pathetic.

Just fuck off on that. Most of the people that refuse to believe anything or that are crying “fake news” don’t dissect jack shit. They’re spoon fed sheep that suckle on the status quo and haven’t lifted a finger to learn or understand the truth or much of anything that wasn’t fed them by someone they fear for their entire lives. And when the truth hits them square upside the head like a cast iron frying pan they cry “FAKE NEWS”!

Nothing is infallible. Certainly not the media, so if you’re going to start enumerating the things The NY Times has gotten wrong over the years spare me. Donald Trump lies more in a month than The NY Times has gotten wrong in the last 10 years. Probably more.

What do you believe in dude? Your gut? What has your gut ever done to earn anyone’s respect?