Confessions of a News Junkie (and a little bit of NFL too)

It’s been a while since I have sat down and did some writing. Maybe it is “writer’s block”. But probably not, since I have written lots of stuff on Facebook – mostly about the election campaign shenanigans going on back in my home country. Which brings me to the reasons I have been too occupied to write about a retired life here in Thailand.

1. It’s the rainy season. And when it rains that means lots of tree trimming and weed pulling. In Thailand a gardener doesn’t need to encourage things to grow, they have to cut things back so they won’t take over the garden.
2. My addiction to politics. I can’t seem to pull myself away from Facebook, YouTube, et.al. And when I hear about ridiculous stuff politicians say I can’t help but comment. One more month and I will have to go cold turkey.
3. The NFL is playing – and what’s more, the Seattle Seahawks have a really good team this year. But to watch a Sunday afternoon game I need to get up at 3am Monday. Mondays are not good days for me.

So because of these obstacles I haven’t been near MS Word for a while but there isn’t a presidential debate today, and the Seahawks don’t play this week, and most of the alien trees have been chopped down and I have a bit of time today.  I thought I might share how I connect up to watching the debates live and news shows live, and the NFL live, since most of these aren’t on Thai TV (although for some reason the first debate was telecast, and they always seem to get the Super Bowl, with Thai announcers though).

Some of this may have appeared in earlier posts but no harm in updating and repeating.

 

Downloading TV shows and movies

 

In a post in Oct 2011 “Keeping Up With Popular Culture While Living in Thailand ” I covered how I download “torrents” from the Internet.  You’ll also see what I was watching on TV 5 years ago. Some good stuff that’s gone now.

Some of the sites I used are now closed and new ones have opened. If you are interested in downloading TV shows, sports, and movies, as well as music, and eBooks (all illegal and we don’t suggest that you would ever do anything illegal) do a Google search on “download torrents” and find out what is presently available.

 

*****

 

TV News

(Mostly American centered news, maybe some people from other countries can tell us what they do)

 

CBSN – Live programming and podcasts. They have televised all the debates live.

MSNBC – Some live programming but many podcasts of their regular shows.

Fox – For people interested in real news this is not recommended.

ABC, NBC – Podcasts

Reuters News – Very good 15 minute news summaries.

Democracy Now – Very good left leaning news and commentary.

CNBC – Economic and Wall Street news.

Ajazeera – Contrary to what you might think, a very good news site. Used to have live TV but have changed recently to written news.

 

*****

 

Radio News

 

BBC World Service – Podcast updated twice daily

National Public Radio – Morning Edition, and weekend editions, and more.

Diane  Rehm Show – Probably the best interview show ever.

You can also do a Google search on your own favorite radio stations from back home and most of them now will steam their shows in the Internet.

 

*****

 

Sports

 

You can download torrents of all sporting events (not quite legal of course). But then you will be a day or 2 late. I used to do this and had to avoid reading the news, especially the sports for 2 or 3 days so I wouldn’t know the results ahead of time. That didn’t work too well. Now I have a new way to do it and I watch sporting events live.

I know some people who pay the NFL to get live streaming. A friend visiting from the U.S. just told me he pays $99 a year and can see all the games, and replay them anytime. I don’t know if it is  available in Thailand, but you can check out NFL Game Pass for availability

 

Betting sites will have live sports feeds where odds are displayed, and one can bet on results. I don’t gamble but I go to the sites to watch just about any sporting event live. Do a search on “vipbox” and see what you come up with. You’ll have to deal with lots of popups and ads but once you get the hang of it It will be fine.  I have not had any problems with viruses or Trojan horses (yet).

 

*****

YouTube

Then there is always YouTube.com for just about everything. Sometimes a debate or sporting show will be available within minutes. It is also where I see The Daily Show, Seth Myers, The Late Show, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. These are shows where I and lots of Americans, get their news fix for the day.