Coconut Monkey Cornerclub

[ZedClampet]

@Brian Boru I'm going to take @Pifanjr 's word for it. I'll see what they have when I get my data.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The problem with it being a simple prediction is that the last time I know I had thought about Agatha Christie was, per Steam, July 22, 2016 when I finished the ABC Murders game, and my wife isn't an Agatha Christie person, either, but had just found an Agathe Christie movie on her phone from either Netflix or Amazon Prime. She then asked me if I was familiar with the story. I said I was and that I had always enjoyed Agatha Christie stories in the past. At that point, out of nowhere, I said, "I wonder how many novels she's written?" and went to Google.

As far as I know, before that couple of minutes, there was zero reason for anything to predict I was about to ask about Agatha Christie. Perhaps it knew my wife had wandered past an Agatha Christie movie in the last few minutes on her phone and just took a wild guess, but the simplest solution, Watson, is that something was listening to our conversation.

Now, it could have been one of our phones that was listening, as it's been proven that this takes place, but the fact that I'd given Chrome access to my microphone makes the whole Chrome listening thing rather plausible. There's no reason to think the same people who are listening in on your phone wouldn't also do it on your PC

Not a hill im invested in dying on, if theyre listening directly or not it still sucks.

Ive had a couple of similar experiences when the thing in question hadnt even been spoken aloud before the ads appeared, and most expert articles I can find seem to say that they arent listening for advertising purposes even through Siri or Google assistant. But of course, thats what they would say .

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Speaking of which

AI chatbots can infer an alarming amount of info about you from your responses

This troubling ability could be used by scammers or to target ads.

arstechnica.com

 

[ZedClampet]

My wife wanted to order from McAlister's Deli for dinner, and she wanted a baked potato. I just paid $13.49 for a baked potato. Granted, they are preternaturally huge potatoes, and they put a lot of stuff on them, but they are still just baked potatoes.

****

The grocery was out of my English cave cheese, and they substituted "mature Irish" cheese, which is okay, but not as good. However, I was looking through the cheese options and found a bag of "Cajun cheese curds" which are fantastic.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Frindis yesterday I started getting the YouTube pop-up saying that adblocks aren't allowed. I just shut down the notification and kept going.

That was on Chrome. I switched to Edge today and haven't had any problems. However, I've also started downloading my favorite music videos from YouTube in case I need them some day.

 

[Brian Boru]

"mature Irish" cheese

You what with my jokes?

$13.49 for a baked potato

Spuds rule!

 

[Brian Boru]

yesterday I started getting the YouTube pop-up saying that adblocks aren't allowed

Interesting. I started with those ~10 days ago, but they stopped 2 days ago.

I just shut down the notification and kept going

Same.

Since 2 days ago, some videos don't start playing as usual—then some seconds later, a Skip Ad button appears. Guess is they're testing diff approaches, so may be a while until they settle on a medium-term solution.

I've also started downloading my favorite … videos

I've been doing that for years with anything I might want in future. Learned the lesson 20-25 years ago to not rely on online staying accessible.

 

[ZedClampet]

Interesting. I started with those ~10 days ago, but they stopped 2 days ago.


Same.

Since 2 days ago, some videos don't start playing as usual—then some seconds later, a Skip Ad button appears. Guess is they're testing diff approaches, so may be a while until they settle on a medium-term solution.



I've been doing that for years with anything I might want in future. Learned the lesson 20-25 years ago to not rely on online staying accessible.

Yeah, I've always downloaded videos. My video folder has 864 videos in it dating back 20 years. However, I've been lazy lately with my latest favorite music, so I need to catch up.

I would actually have more videos, but I have a drive that doesn't work from the earliest years of the Internet. One of these days I'm going to take it apart and try to salvage what I can. It was originally a back-up drive for a desktop. The desktop died, and when I got a new PC, I never could get this backup drive to connect. It may have deteriorated too much by now, but since I don't even remember exactly what's on it, I'm not too concerned.

 

[Brian Boru]

I never could get this backup drive to connect

You're fairly tech-savvy if I recall correctly, so we're not talking some basic mismatch like IDE v SATA or FAT v NTFS, right?

Possibly a cheap 'toaster' might help, but probably not.

 

[ZedClampet]

Man loves his MacBook so much, he decided to marry it

A deluded Alabama man who “married” his MacBook computer is suing state officials for refusing to recognize the nuptials. Chris Sevier, who “married an object in New Mexico with female-like feature…

nypost.com

Apparently it holds his porn collection, which he likes better than actual women. He's filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama for not recognizing his marriage, which apparently New Mexico was okay with.

Some more stories of true love:

Infamous man who ‘married’ his sex doll is ‘in love’ with ashtray now

“I liked it — the smell of it, the touch of metal on my skin. It’s fantastic,” he proudly declared. “I like the touch of sharp metal on my skin, it excites me so I think you can u…

nypost.com

Woman Who Married Zombie Doll Gets Police To Verify That Wife Is Not 'Dead Child'

Felicity Kadlec Rossi married the doll in September but when locals claimed the toy was a 'dead child' she took matters to the police

www.ladbible.com

Japanese man who married a Fictional Character doll struggles to bond - Tamil News - IndiaGlitz.com

A “fictosexual” man who wed a fictional, computer-synthesized pop singer four years ago said he’s now unable to communicate

www.indiaglitz.com

 

[ZedClampet]

You're fairly tech-savvy if I recall correctly, so we're not talking some basic mismatch like IDE v SATA or FAT v NTFS, right?

Possibly a cheap 'toaster' might help, but probably not.

I wasn't as tech savvy 20 plus years ago, but I don't believe that was the problem. It was likely just a driver issue, actually, but I hadn't done troubleshooting on 50 peripherals, 10 versions of Windows, and a couple hundred games at that point. The constant headaches of PC gaming have taught me a lot.

 

[Pifanjr]

Spuds rule!

View: https://youtu.be/ad0w59lBfXU?si=1757kzhrNebrndkx

 

[Brian Boru]

@Pifanjr hah brilliant! Zed, download!!

 

[Pifanjr]

@Frindis yesterday I started getting the YouTube pop-up saying that adblocks aren't allowed. I just shut down the notification and kept going.

That was on Chrome. I switched to Edge today and haven't had any problems. However, I've also started downloading my favorite music videos from YouTube in case I need them some day.

I've been meaning to check out third party services that can stream YouTube without ads, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. There isn't that much I watch on YouTube and most ads are skippable after 5 seconds, which is just short enough to be tolerable.

There used to be an app called Vanced that let you watch YouTube without ads, but it seems to have been taken offline. There's also NewPipe, but I'm not sure if that's just for Android or if there's a Windows client as well.

Has anyone here tried any third party apps/programs to access YouTube?

 

[ZedClampet]

View: https://youtu.be/ad0w59lBfXU?si=1757kzhrNebrndkx

@Brian Boru

Guido and I love potatoes. Any time we are playing a new survival game, whenever we start growing potatoes, we declare ourselves the winners.

I would feel pretty much the same way in real life if I were trapped on a deserted island and found potatoes. I'd think, 'Hey, this isn't so bad.'

When Covid started and the grocery stores ran out of everything, I bought two potato sacks to grow my own potatoes.

 

[ZedClampet]

Speaking of spuds, nations flocked to the New World in search of gold and found many things better. Which improves your life more, somebody else having extra gold or

potatoes
tomatoes
chocolate
onions
pineapples
blueberries
avocados
cashews
peanuts
avocados
corn
pecans

and more. They came looking for gold for the few and found gold for everyone, instead.

 

[Brian Boru]

Which improves your life more

Chocolate!

I can't give you onions—but please don't cry—they've been in Africa & Asia 'forever'. But yeah, thanks for the others

 

[Zloth]

So, no apples? Was Johny Appleseed the worst spreader of an invasive species in all mythology?

 

[Brian Boru]

So, no apples?

Nope, those pesky Asians again

I'd like to take advantage of current topic in the thread to pay homage to the tropics worldwide for the coconut. Failure to do so occasionally could leave us susceptible to Death by coconut

 

[ZedClampet]

Chocolate!

I can't give you onions—but please don't cry—they've been in Africa & Asia 'forever'. But yeah, thanks for the others

I didn't think onions were, either, but pulled up a random food history page which listed them as being "new world". I'll take your word for it, though. I'm too tired from my shingles vaccination to do actual research. Maybe it was a particular type of onion that was only in the new world even though the page only said "onions".

*****

My daughter has decided she'd rather be a professor of history than a doctor, so she is dropping pre-med for history. My wife isn't particularly happy about it, but I fully approve of the move. She's clearly inherited my complete disregard for money and an emphasis on what brings you joy. Even better news, she's decided to go to graduate school in Knoxville, so my baby is going to be coming home!

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm not sure shingles is prevalent enough or dangerous enough to merit shortening my life by a week, given that I've been knocked out for 2 days and have to get the second vaccination in 3 months, which is supposed to be worse than the first.

 

[Brian Boru]

Maybe it was a particular type of onion that was only in the new world

That would be it, acc to Wiki:
"onions were taken to North America by the first European settlers, who found close relatives of the plant such as Allium tricoccum readily available and widely used in Native American gastronomy"
I didn't know that either—#2 son was a chef, hence various food knowledge crumbs stuck between my teeth—so another learning layer for us

my complete disregard for … an emphasis on what brings you joy

Oh dear. Please give joy a chance, it can be so… what's that word?

shingles is prevalent enough or dangerous enough

Since you got me on Wiki, here you go.

Only 2 people I know who got it had a very painful time, so seems worth avoiding if the avoidance isn't too onerous.

 

[ZedClampet]

#2 son was a chef

Guido wanted to be a chef from about age 5 to age 17 then suddenly changed his mind. No idea why. It partially might have been my father telling him he would send him to culinary school in New York. After spending his formative teenage years locked inside due to the pandemic, I don't think he was emotionally ready to go off by himself to New York City. Going nearby with his sister sounded a lot better.

 

[ZedClampet]

Dear Chrome,

It's you, not me. When you told me this morning my YouTube player would be blocked after 3 videos unless I disabled my adblock, which you only knew about because it was an extension in your own browser, I said my farewells and moved in with Edge, who I had been seeing on the side for quite some time.

Not only does Edge let me watch as many videos as I want with my adblock intact, but it now can carry on conversations with me, answer just about any question I ask it, and it even draws me pictures. Just this morning it drew pictures it said might help my mood. They didn't help, but I appreciated the effort.

So, Chrome, farewell. Best of luck at hoarding all the money.

Sincerely, Zed

 

[BeardyHat]

My daughter has decided she'd rather be a professor of history than a doctor, so she is dropping pre-med for history. My wife isn't particularly happy about it, but I fully approve of the move. She's clearly inherited my complete disregard for money and an emphasis on what brings you joy. Even better news, she's decided to go to graduate school in Knoxville, so my baby is going to be coming home!

Choosing to major in something I was actually interested in was the best decision I ever made. My degree isn't directly applicable to anything outside a Graduate or PHD program, but it gave me the skills and the knowledge that I needed to get into a career field. If I hadn't had it, I wouldn't have been well rounded enough for people to actually appreciate my other skills.

In other news: Yesterday I received a Flu shot, as well as a COVID booster and I'm thankful I was able to secure some help today, as the COVID booster always knocks me on my ass. Haven't had one yet where I didn't feel like I had the flu (at least the symptoms) for the next day.

The funny thing is, whenever I'm home sick, I get the overwhelming feeling to play old MMORPGs. Right now, I'm sitting here, considering jumping into Project 1999 or Turtle WoW, both private servers for old versions of their respective games. Keep in mind, I don't actually play these outside of these sick days, so it's weird to me that I want this comfort, as it feels like a bit of a waste of time, since I won't be going back to them anytime soon.

At any rate, I may fire-up World of Horror instead, as it's one I've been wanting to pay some more of and now with the full release, it seems like a good excuse, especially when Elden Ring seems like a little much for me right now...