Biden’s hosting members of Congress for annual picnic at White House, including Republican @SpeakerMcCarthy pic.twitter.com/TdHGJmDFR7
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 19, 2023
Federal govt working to crack down on anti-consumer practices "that raise prices at the grocery store and deprive farmers a fair return," @SecVilsack says at White House.
Biden: "Four supermarket companies control over a third of the market nationwide," leading to higher prices. pic.twitter.com/8r40TUqz65— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 19, 2023
In 2021, @USTreasury noted academic research indicating that the top 1% of earners owe approximately $160 billion in taxes, nearly a third of all uncollected taxes.
WATCH as @RepCasar calls for the funding needed to address this issue: pic.twitter.com/JLu6Ga0Dfx
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) July 19, 2023
BIG news here (in @PunchbowlNews today) about @hakeemjeffries
"House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries raised a huge $29 million during the second quarter, a substantial haul that takes his total amount raised in 2023 to $62.4 million." pic.twitter.com/8a3GnBmrAi
— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) July 17, 2023
Bad news for the GOP:
BREAKING: Chris Sununu just announced that he’s not running for a fifth term as governor of New Hampshire.
This is a massive RGA recruitment failure that will kick off a nasty, extreme and expensive Republican primary for governor — pitting one MAGA extremist against another.
— Democratic Governors (@DemGovs) July 19, 2023
Good news, kinda, for the BRICS summit…
Putin won’t attend leaders’ summit in Johannesburg in person, resolving a potential dilemma South Africa faced over whether to execute an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest if he did come, @thembile_cele reports https://t.co/T4ecnQ9mJT
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 19, 2023
Baud
Interesting news about Sununu. I wonder what his plans are.
But, Jesus, four terms? Are those four-years terms?
Soprano2
@Baud: He must really like being governor!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW bought a new TV yesterday, and he’s busy setting it up and exploring google TV. By the time I get to touch the remote, he’ll be speeding through and I’ll never figure out how to use the thing. I want the same thing from the TV that I want from my car: I can turn it on, it works, I don’t have to think about it.
OzarkHillbilly
We got another 2″ of rain yesterday, bringing our one week total up 4 1/2″, which doesn’t count the 1 3/4″ we got the week before. This after a month and a half of zero rain. This climate change shit is giving me whiplash.
billcoop4
The Governorship in New Hampshire is for a two year term.
BC
Baud
@billcoop4:
Ah. Thank you.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My most common complaint about damned near anything these days because we just HAVE to put computer chips in damned near everything:
“ON/OFF. WHATEVER THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ON/OFF????”
Scout211
Trump pardons only
the highest payingbest criminals!A convicted Ponzi schemer whose sentence Trump commuted after an intense lobbying push is now being charged with defrauding investors, again
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Biden’s inviting the Republicans to the picnic, but he’s putting them at the picnic table with all the bird poop.
@OzarkHillbilly: “Why does my refrigerator need an internet connection?”
I don’t have that, but here are two actual technology things in my house right now: (1) A bathroom scale with a bluetooth connection and (2) a flashlight with a USB port.
The scale is made by Weight Watchers and was supposed to somehow automatically talk to the WW app on your phone via bluetooth and tell it all your secrets automatically. For good or bad, that never worked.
Sanjeevs
@Scout211: Giuliani was selling pardons for $2m each.
Josie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Same here. I dislike complexity in my technological stuff. I can learn to use them, but I don’t have to like it. Harumph.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I don’t know why Biden would treat bird poop that way.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The annoying thing is how three year olds figure it out better than we do. But we can learn from them.
It’s about motivation. :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Your scale is supposed to tattle on you? That’s just mean.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s how we reset the computer chips.
Renie
A single ticket won the $1 billion Powerball last night in California. Honestly, that would be way too much money for me to handle.
WereBear
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: DH’s Fitbit is a real help to him. We got him one of those sitting exercycles and it talks to his device and gives him credit. We didn’t have to do a thing.
That’s how we want it. But it’s also how Skynet happens.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
What part of Weight Watchers is ambiguous?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@OzarkHillbilly: Five people drowned in flash flooding just north of us in Bucks County. I looked at the location on the map and couldn’t figure out how that happened as they were nowhere near the river as far as I could tell.
Then I read that area got hit with something like 5-6″ of rain in ONE HOUR! A wall of water came out of nowhere. They didn’t have a chance.
We had virtually nothing from that same storm system.
WereBear
@Renie: This sick part is that it’s still not enough to party with the likes of Elon and the Zuck.
Just doesn’t go as far…
Josie
@WereBear:
It’s kind of embarrassing when my five year old granddaughter can figure out the complexities of my phone better than I can.
OzarkHillbilly
Heh, my wife works a help desk for a cable company. She quite often deals with desperate who have stuff wired into the internet, everything from fridges to light switches. The cable goes out, and they can’t even turn on the lights.
Anne Laurie
In the short term? Flipping both middle fingers at North America’s Most Annoying Libertarians (in a very crowded field). The feral children running the current NH Libertarian Party have been riding Sununu harder than they have the Democrats, and the Sununu men are not exactly noted for their placid temperaments.
Beyond that… he’s ‘young’ by political standards, and the mouth noises he’s making are those of a politician looking for a nice soft think-tank / lobbyist bench where he can build up funds for his family and favors for his next campaign, whenever that might happen.
I don’t think he’d resist an invitation for, let’s say, a vice-presidential slot with some ‘reasonable’ Repub if TFG keels over dead in the next six months — or a No Labels slot, assuming those grifters can’t find a higher-value show pony. But (I may be too much of an optimist, here) I get the feeling Chris went into politics because it was the family business (barony), not out of any real interest in law-making or governating.
Scout211
Okay, Boomer. 🤣
Or more accurately, welcome to the club, fellow Boomer.
We have a couple of dumb TVs with set top boxes. I tell myself that’s because we have slow and unstable internet out here in the boonies which doesn’t support smart TVs, which is true. But it’s really because I just don’t want to learn how to do another new thing.
With Mr. Scout’s memory issues, I recently figured out how to keep his phone tracked on my phone with find my phone. And I also figured out how to set up air tags to keep him tracked as well. I was exhausted after that. LOL.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Only by unplugging it. Pray for 30 seconds and plugging it back in. Then unplugging it again, praying for a full minute, then plugging it back in. Rinse, repeat.
WereBear
@Josie: I’m sure she’s devoted more time to it. It’s like those elaborate plans, extending over months or years, before a big prison breakout.
When it’s all you want to do, you make the time.
CaseyL
@OzarkHillbilly:
The Internet of All Things always struck me as bonkers: why would you want your appliances on-line?
“So I can make sure via my phone that they’re working when I’m away.”
And… why would you want that? If something breaks down while you’re away, there ain’t a hell of a lot you can do about it anyway until you’re home.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh, it was a 30-minute process just to set up our new TV. I still don’t know what all the buttons on the remote do, because there are no printed guides to anything anymore and I can’t even find information on line or at the manufacturer’s site to tell me!
Geminid
South Africa was able to wave off Putin on account of the ICC warrant. Turkish President Reccip Erdogan is still talking up a visit by Putin to Turkiye next month. But he’s used to ignoring “European” court decisions like the ones calling on him to free jailed political opponents.
Erdogan will get tons of criticism for hosting Putin, but he’s used to that also. I will be interested in Ukraine’s reaction. Presidents Zelenskyy and Erdogan seem to have an understanding, and I have heard little if any criticism of Turkiye from Zelenskyy. Maybe he has to bite his tongue.
Dorothy A. Winsor
There’s a blood bath going on in publishing right now. Massive layoffs and buyouts at Penguin/Random House and closure of imprints at Harper. I have no idea what the underlying reason is, other than not enough profit. I do know printing costs went up recently because my publisher told all its authors that happened.
Brachiator
@Scout211:
RE: Ponzi scheme guy and Trump.
I wonder what the story is on these people and why they were involved. A lucrative racket.
Soprano2
@Renie: And they’ll take the lump sum, for some reason people almost always do. If I were young, I’d definitely take the yearly payments – much smarter in the long run.
Soprano2
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Wow, that’s just crazy! That much rain all at once is never a good thing.
NotMax
No wear-dated hamberders and cold limp fries in sight.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@CaseyL: My younger daughter has a very wired house. They can control the thermostat over the internet (though as you ask, why do you want that if you’re not home?)
They’ve demonstrated to us how they can feed the cats remotely, then keep an eye on them and give Greedy Cat a squirt from a water bottle if he starts to try to poach Meek Cat’s food.
bbleh
@Dorothy A. Winsor: @OzarkHillbilly: @Ceci n est pas mon nym: @Josie: @WereBear: @Scout211: [sigh] On/Off is SO binary! We’re beyond binary now. We’re moving into devices that use quantum superposition, which means they’re always on but also always off, or equivalently, in any of an infinite number of states between on and off, and you never know what state until you try to get them to do something.
Look, I know this is kinda complicated. I suggest you ask your washing machine to explain it to you. They’re very patient.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: My TV messaged me on the screen that it has Alexa built right in, all I have to do is activate it. No thanks, the last thing I need is one of those things listening to all our conversations through the TV!
Soprano2
@Scout211: I’m lucky, all I have to do is track my husband’s vehicle, because he would never walk anywhere from the house. You have my sympathy. My grandfather was a wanderer, and it was hard on us all. He once got out of a locked dementia-testing ward at the local hospital and walked several miles before he was spotted and the police called. It was terrifying for all of us.
Rusty
The Dems have a real chance for New Hampshire governor. Sununu was more moderate than most of the party here. The Republicans have more recently selected the most extreme candidates in the primaries, at the last election for federal seats the Republican winners of the primaries were hardcore MAGA. The senate candidate dabbled in conspiracy theories, and one for congress was a 25 year old Trump Whitehouse intern that wanted to gut Social Security and Medicaid (in a state with the second oldest average population in the country). The Republican primary candidates for governor are likely to be just as crazy, looking to gut the public schools (there is a lot of outside money to set up universal vouchers), fight the “woke”, go extreme on abortion, and guns, guns, guns. On the Democrat’s side, the mayor of Manchester has announced a run for governor and there are likely to be other reasonable candidates in the primary. The Democrats got more votes for their candidates for the state house, senate and executive committee, but don’t control any of them because of extreme gerrymandering. That at least bides well for a statewide race. There are no guarantees, our extreme aversion to any taxes is a universal help to any Republican running, and school funding is likely to be a major issue and how to pay for it. Still, while I don’t understand why Sununu isn’t running, I am glad for the state that we have a chance to stop the worst of the right wing push here.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: I’m impressed.
And it’s true that motivation matters. I’m willing to persist in stuff to do with getting ebooks. And one reason I don’t learn to do stuff on the TV is that Mr DAW does it anyway, so why should I learn?
Yarrow
@OzarkHillbilly:
There’s a fantastic Twitter account called The Internet of Shit that tracks all the really dumb things that have internet access. Been around since 2015. It’s not just dumb but it can be dangerous as IoT (internet of Things) devices aren’t updated so they can become access points for hackers. Here’s a link to the Twitter account via Nitter so anyone can have a look at it for their entertainment.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve been thru a couple storms like that. A friend of mine almost drowned in the middle of Webster Groves in such a storm.
Eunicecycle
@Soprano2: some appliance we bought recently didn’t have a booklet either! You’re supposed to scan the ugly QR code and it takes you to the manufacturer’s site and then you have to know your exact model, and then you get a pdf of a manual that covers a half dozen models, some that have features your model doesn’t have so you have to wade through all that!
Tony G
@OzarkHillbilly: Overcomplicated bad design, in so many things.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Rusty: It’s my impression that Vermont and NH have really different political cultures. Is that true? If it is, do you have any sense why?
Tony G
@Soprano2: In United States now, TV watches you!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Yarrow: I’ve seen scary video of a stranger talking to a kid who was home alone via their home security system. Apparently there are Dark Web sites that collect IP addresses of people’s hacked cameras so anybody can just randomly pick one and watch strangers.
dmsilev
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I have a thermostat like that, the one “smart device” that I have (my TV is old enough to be dumb). Controlling it over the internet is possible, though I’ve never done it. Controlling it from my phone, because it’s too hot at night in the upstairs bedroom and I don’t want to get out of bed and walk downstairs to nudge the set point down a degree or two, yeah I’ve done that.
It works fine if the internet connection dies; you just have to sigh and climb out of bed to change the set point on the unit itself.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I would like to do that to save energy when I’m not home.
Brachiator
@Eunicecycle:
Wow. This is adding insult to injury. I can understand, I guess, saving money by not including a printed manual, but with one gadget I recently bought, the QR code took you to a support area for the specific model and a pdf for the item. A manual that covers a range of products would drive me nuts.
I bought some other product that included a quick start guide, but the text was so tiny, it was unreadable. And there was no online version. Nuts!
Tony G
@Eunicecycle: Decades ago, people used to talk about user-friendly design. Now we have actively user-hostile design. My biggest annoyance these days is all of the devices that have unnecessary internet connections (Internet of Things). As far as I’m concerned, any device with an internet connection WILL, at some point, be hacked with malware.
OzarkHillbilly
Oh my gawd… This reminds me of the latest hellspawn technology: The Fire Stick. It has 3 buttons. That’s it. press them in the correct sequences and it will take you anywhere.
My wife’s cable company is switching all the old modems, whether their customers like it or not, and the new modems are only controlled by a fire stick. She has had to help elderly customers (fellow luddites just like her husband) crying with frustration at how the hell does one work the damn thing.
Yarrow
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Yeah, that video made the rounds a few years ago. Baby monitors are another dangerous access point for that kind of thing. The software isn’t updated and they have cameras.
I remember seeing a story about a couple who owned a small business and their Alexa device in their home apparently interpreted something they said as “send all our email to [person x].” The person was someone who worked for them who knew them well so phoned them up and said, “Hey! Why are you sending me all these emails?” Eventually they figured out it was Alexa. Fortunately they weren’t sent to a competitor or someone who could use them to hurt them.
OzarkHillbilly
So, a schizophrenic Schrodinger’s Cat on steroids. Sounds just wonderful! ly evil, that is.
mrmoshpotato
@Renie:
Thankfully it’s only hundreds of millions after taxes. 😱 Easier. 😁
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Brachiator: I finally realized that PDF manuals are the only thing that actually work for me. I’m terrible at managing paper. I have no idea where any of my carefully-kept manuals are, but I know that somewhere are file folders with manuals from devices I haven’t owned for 30 years.
When I do need a manual, I get the model number off the appliance then Google for a PDF version of it anyway. The computer file system is the only place where I’m close to organized. So why not go with PDF right from the start?
But QR codes? The hell with that. I’ll just lose the paper with the QR code on it.
NotMax
@Scout211
Received an emergency call from Mom earlier this month. Some kind of software update to her fancy-schmancy cable box had glorked the closed captioning, resetting them (why?) to show semi-transparent gray text on a pale gray background.
Barely remembering what her remote of too many buttons looks like I did eventually manage to walk her through, from 6000 miles away, how to change font color, style and size and background color and opacity. Luckily, I’d left her a note about how to do this to show to the technician scheduled to come and replace all the boxes just after I departed last year – and she’d held on to it. Funny thing is at that time she’d asked the technician to follow the procedures and afterwards he told her “I didn’t know that could be done!” Some of the instructions I’d left had since become out of date but it was enough to jog my memory about what to try this time.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
Oh. This is gonna be a hoot!
OzarkHillbilly
I can’t. My wife can but not me.
@Tony G: Yep.
Eunicecycle
@Brachiator: Yes I understand and somewhat agree with getting away from printing out thick booklets for everything-saving paper is a good thing. But make it easy to find! And since it’s not being printed out, make one for every model!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: Your mom has real faith in you to call you from that far away and expect you to fix things. Correctly expect it, as it turns out.
Kristine
The new fridge and range are both dumb. I wasn’t particularly averse to smart stuff though I was concerned about reliability.
I did get smart bulbs for the pendant lights over the breakfast bar. It’s a bit of fun–I turn them on and off with my phone. But the internet connection reliability isn’t rock-solid. You’re supposed to be able to set up your whole house with timers and vacation lights on/off schedules but one internet disruption can mess all that up. I’ll be sticking with those little plug-in things.
My toothbrush has an app that tracks how well you brush and shows you what spots you’ve missed. I bought it because it was smaller/lighter than my old Phillips and much cheaper than a replacement; the tooth tracking was an interesting bonus.
Kristine
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I do the same even if I have the paper version. Paper gets lost.
NotMax
@bbleh
No practical information, just spin.
;)
Ceci n est pas mon nym
My wife has become much more technology savvy over the years.
She used to say “I’m dumb, I just don’t understand computers”.
Now she rants “this is a horrible design, these programmers are idiots!”
It might have come from her gradually realizing that everything she uses is built by the kids she has in her classes.
Uncle Cosmo
As always, Tom Lehrer saw this coming, oh, 60 years back:
Hooray for New Math, new-hoo-hoo math –
It won’t do you a bit of good to review math.
It’s so simple, so very simple,
That only a child can do it!
Brachiator
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I also regularly keep pdf manuals on my computer or in the cloud. Standard practice.
If the QR code will take me directly to the support area for the product, I do it right away so I can throw away all the paper.
Every now and then, I will take a photo of info, like the serial number and any QR code.
mrmoshpotato
@Kristine:
Color me creeped out.
Paul in KY
@Renie: You hire someone to do that.
Paul in KY
@Anne Laurie: Would think he might run for Senator sometime.
Soprano2
@Baud: When I get a new furnace later this summer, I’m hoping to get a programmable thermostat with it so that I can program it rather than just setting it on one temperature all the time. My manager at the bar is looking into thermostats where you have to have a pin code to change anything because I cannot get the customers to quit fucking with them. We put boxes on them; one of the customers actually pulled the box out of the wall! They think it’s like their house, but they don’t pay my utility bill and when they fuck with one thermostat it messes up the whole system. The other night there was at least a 5 degree difference between the zones in the dining room because someone had put both of them on “fan” rather than “auto”. When there’s high humidity the floors get slick if you don’t have the a/c turned up enough. I could feel that the floors were slick, I was afraid someone was going to slip and fall down.
Yarrow
@Kristine:
Internet outage. Power outage. With our increasingly erratic weather power outages are probably going to increase. I guess everyone will need to install a pricey whole house generator.
Paul in KY
@CaseyL: I guess if it was the refrigerator/freezer you either could get someone over to quickly empty it or just know not to open it when you get home. Bout only advantage I can see.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
“Cre-est! Cre-est!”
;)
Baud
@Kristine:
“I’m sorry, Kristine. I’m afraid you missed your left molar.”
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I got an induction range a couple years back that is dumb. My new hybrid electric (heat pump) water heater is smart, and I have the app on my cell phone. I mostly use it to change the temp the water is heated to on occasion. You can do it on the unit itself using buttons but it’s easier to do it using the app. The device has a “vacation mode” for when we’re away and I can use the app to set the water heater to vacation mode from wherever. It saves a little bit of energy although the thing is so efficient it’s a drop in the bucket. My thermostats are all dumb and it’s fine because in the winter I always remember to turn down the heat when I go to bed and turn it up when I get up. Someone is always home these days so it doesn’t get adjusted during the day.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: Not too sure of that. If you get $1 million a year for 40 years, the $1 million in 2063 will be worth less than the $1 million in 2023.
That’s why it is usually taken in a lump sum. Might also be tax reasons. Also. Too.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
@Renie:
It’s why they say to just shut up and sit still and think.
Get a list of how much you want to keep and what you want to give away.
Get lawyers and accountants.
Lump sum is 333 million after taxes.
Layer8Problem
“Things need to be on the Internet. It’ll be cool! Look at all the great features we can give you! Everybody wants to see the state of their dishwasher on their phone, they just don’t know it yet!”
A bunch of appliance manufacturers putting Internet services on household stuff. What could go wrong? These clowns supposedly are all about building good reliable products, and now we get to rely on them having good in-house programmers who code secure servers on their appliances which make secure Internet connections, or outsourcing to solid dependable non-low-bid contractor programming shops that do that. Right. And their user interfaces will be intuitive, and their software will be upgraded and their security flaws patched on the regular. Sure.
I have enough trouble worrying about cable company equipment on my home network. Paranoid, you know. Appliances and cameras and thermostats? Uh-uh, not without a separate firewalled network to keep their traffic and statistics “for quality assurance” from getting out of my control. No Alexas, not even once. And NO phone apps. But I used to deal with networks and network security. Regular normal people, who just want their stuff to work and do cool stuff? At the mercy of commerce and capitalism.
Baud
@Soprano2:
I can’t imagine thinking I could just change the thermostat at a bar like that.
Paul in KY
@NotMax: Well played! Ha!
Yarrow
@Paul in KY: My cousin bought a house and the fridge came with it. It’s got a giant screen on the front. They cannot figure out how to access it. It just randomly shows an email address that isn’t theirs and occasionally shows the weather for somewhere other than their area. It’s a massive screen on the door of the fridge and at night emits a ton of light. They hate it.
Soprano2
@Yarrow: Things like this are why I’ll never have one of those things in my house. I’ve heard they say it doesn’t listen to you all the time, but I don’t believe that for a minute.
Dorothy A. Winsor
My publisher has a book out by EJ Runyon called 900 Miles. It’s about a woman who wins the lottery and manages to keep it secret to avoid predators. But of course, that means she can’t spend the money either. She eventually comes to terms with what she wants to do.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: Had the Nest one on my last house. It worked pretty well I thought.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Rusty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s true, despite being small states right next to each other they have different political cultures. I know there has been at least one book written comparing the two. New Hampshire is relatively bigger, and historically was much more industrialized. Concord, Manchester and Nashua all had large mills powered by the Merrimack River. The Manchester mills were at one time the largest textile mills in the world. Vermont remained much more agricultural, and any industry was significantly smaller. Vermont has no urban areas, NH has smaller urban areas in Manchester and Nashua. More recently there has been a self selection process, people moving to NH because the state lacks both an income or general sales tax, and has just repealed the minimal investment tax. From an economic standpoint, southern NH is now effectively an outer suburb of Boston. This has led to a steady influx of more blue leaning residents, making the state more purple. I think an interesting comparison of the two states are school funding. Both states had law suits about huge disparities in school funding between property rich towns and property poor towns. Vermont imposed a statewide property tax to equalize and has stuck with it. NH implemented a weaker version, and has steadily eroded it to almost nothing under pressure from the politically powerful wealthier towns. The issue is now back in court again because of this.
Ken
Poor design. Two buttons, labeled 0 and 1, are clearly enough to send any command using ASCII codes.
They could even drop it to one button, and use Morse.
Baud
@Rusty: Interesting. The reverse of what you see everywhere else, where agricultural areas are more conservative.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Rusty: That’s really interesting. Thank you.
Paul in KY
@Yarrow: I have seen those. Sounds like it is still ‘connected’ to the previous owner. They probably need to get with the customer help line for that model of fridge and hopefully they can be guided into how to fix it. It probably has a bluetooth connection, etc.
We have a snazzy fridge, but no screen :-)
Ken
And then the murders began.
(Does anyone still use that meme/game?)
Paul in KY
@Ken: All in the name of efficiency…
CaseyL
My phone doesn’t do QR codes. At all. This occasionally is a problem at restaurants, who ushered in QR code menus during the pandemic and seem loath to give them up. (Though I think some are bringing back paper menus, after enough people like me complained about it.)
Baud
@Soprano2: I still don’t know what you do if you’re married to an Alexa.
Layer8Problem
@Ken: “They could even drop it to one button, and use Morse.”
I’ve considered a Morse keyboard on my phone, with the notion that I’d be able to text faster than my fumbley error-laden two-thumb phone keyboard technique allows me. But I’d have to learn Morse.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ken: A good addition to any plot.
Bunter
@Baud: You can change the command. My cousin is Alexa so that was problematic. I changed my Amazon Alexa and it now responds to “Computer”.
Kristine
@mrmoshpotato: @NotMax: @Baud:
Heh–imagines Hal 9000’s voice.
“What do you think you’re doing, Kristine?”
It doesn’t talk. It shows me a diagram. Which I believe is usually wrong because I recall brushing those areas. But it does the job and it was way cheaper than a replacement Phillips.
Baud
@Bunter: Oh good. I’d hate for people to have to choose between their spouses or children and their smart devices.
Yarrow
@Paul in KY: They have spoken with customer service. They have talked to the previous owner – it’s not their email address. My cousin works in tech. They know their way around all this stuff. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it because I know if it could be fixed my cousin would have done it. My cousin’s spouse is really fed up with it but outside of the stupid screen it’s a good fridge so they’ve decided to keep it.
Soprano2
@Baud: The regulars treat it like it’s their own house. I was really mad when I found out one of them pulled the box off the wall. What do you do about that?
Craig
@WereBear: My mum is having a hard time getting Facebook to connect on her iPad, and it’s her only internet device. I told her to go ask her neighbor’s kids to fix it. 12 year old kid for the win. Took him about 30 min.
lowtechcyclist
@CaseyL:
I don’t have any of my household appliances connected to the Web, but if I did, yes, there are things I could do. If my refrigerator or freezer dies while I’m on vacation, I’d tell my pet-sitter to help herself to anything she wants or thinks she can give away before it goes bad, and throw away the rest.
Kelly
I took a boatload of cousins rafting yesterday. A scenic, easy class 2 trip which suited my crew ages 62-69. Classic BBQ afterwards burgers, brats, potato salad and fresh local raspberries and cherries. That’s me in the back about to push off. A good time was had by all.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UtX82HLpKhmKYHir7
Jackie
@Renie: I knew someone would win! Never fails when I break down and buy one. Sadly, it’s never me. That winner should share with me! A paultry few million would be fine! 😂
Baud
@Yarrow: Tape a cover over the screen. Problem solved.
Yarrow
@Soprano2: Put up a sign saying the thermostat is under video surveillance and if you touch it you’ll be prosecuted? Can you move the thermostat(s) to places the public can’t access? Behind the bar, in an office or storeroom?
Yarrow
@Baud: I mentioned that to them. It’s apparently a point of discussion and I’m not going to get in the middle of a marital disagreement. LOL.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Very vaguely calls to mind the original premise of At Home With the Braithwaites.
lowtechcyclist
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Adjusting the thermostat to vacation settings is one of the things I’m most likely to forget to do as we get ready to get out the door.
Chief Oshkosh
I never thought about it that way…
Ken
Right up to the moment you put a broom in their hands.
SFAW
@Renie:
I’d be glad to help you. More than happy to send you my bank account # so an EFT could be arranged.
@Soprano2:
As an old fart, it seems unlikely that a 20-year payout would be worthwhile for me.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
Hahaha!
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow: “Thermostat is slaptastic! Wanna find out what that means?”
lee
@dmsilev:
I’m a programmer. I have two smart devices in my home. I have the thermostat that is connected. I use it the same way. I also have my garage door opener connected. It notifies me when the door is left open after an hour (with teenagers this was a problem).
I’ve been kicking around getting a Ring doorbell but have not yet.
Paul in KY
@Baud: I think Amazon recommends the ‘physical’ Alexa changing their name. Easiest solution…
Paul in KY
@Yarrow: Sounds very frustrating! Best wishes to them on living with the messed up fridge.
Paul in KY
@Kelly: Looks like a wonderful time! Thanks for the pic.
mrmoshpotato
@Paul in KY: Factory reset. Oh crap! Now it thinks it’s a washing machine!
Layer8Problem
@Chief Oshkosh: If there isn’t a Black Mirror episode along those lines yet they’re teeing it up.
NotMax
@lee
“Want some toast?”
Ken
@Layer8Problem: It could be something along the lines of Stephen King’s “Quitters, Inc.”, which was loosely adapted for Cat’s Eye. There was also a 1980s Twilight Zone episode called “The Hellgramite Method,” about an unusual cure for alcoholism.
Soprano2
@Baud: Get a different one! I’ve listened to radio shows where they make it a point not to say that name, because listeners have reported that their Alexa did things based on hearing its name from the radio!
SteveinPHX
@I finally realized that PDF manuals are the only thing that actually work for me. I’m terrible at managing paper. I have no idea where any of my carefully-kept manuals are, but I know that somewhere are file folders with manuals from devices I haven’t owned for 30 years.Ceci n est pas mon nym:
You and I must have attended the same Installation/Operation/Maintenance Manual class!
Soprano2
@Yarrow: They already know that there are cameras watching in the bar. They do it right in front of the staff and the manager! We really can’t move them because they have to be out in their zone. I think the ones that use a PIN are really my only option at this point. I had an HVAC company program them so they work in sync, but when the regulars mess with them it messes up the programming.
Soprano2
@Ken: OH yeah, that’s certainly true!
Kay
I love the smart themostats. Bring the temp down low when you’re away and then bring it back up remotely so it’s warmed up when you arrive.
I put a new smart stove in the house I’m moving to – I haven’t figured it out yet but I might.
I haven’t done any of the surveillance (Ring, ect) because I just don’t want to go down that road but I know it’s everywhere. One of our Democrats solved her missing Biden yard signs mystery with a Ring.
Soprano2
@SFAW: I would take the lump sum at my age (62), but when I hear that people in their early 30’s took it I always think it’s a mistake. To me it would be better to get $5 million every year for 20 years. For one thing, that makes it harder for some unscrupulous money manager to steal it all from you. I kind of feel sorry for someone who wins money like that, it would change your life and not all for the better.
Taken4Granite
@Paul in KY: It would be odd for him to be stepping down as governor in 2024 in order to run for Senate, because New Hampshire doesn’t have a US Senate seat up for re-election in 2024. We just re-elected Hassan, and Shaheen isn’t up until 2026.
Paul in KY
@mrmoshpotato: I would be wild if the screen started displaying the HAL 9000 ‘eye’.
If I ever get one of those, that would be the default screen saver!
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: Can you put some metal contraption over it that locks and thus they can’t get to it?
Don’t use a plastic version, as those can be broken very easily.
Kirk
For what it’s worth in regard to the Internet of things, I’ve always thought it was an attempt to replicate the effect of being rich to those who aren’t so rich.
The presumption is that the defining indirect of being rich is convenience. When you walk to the curb your car is ready. When you get to the restaurant your table is ready. Your clothes are cleaned and in place when you reach for them. So on and so forth.
This iot is the system replication of the difference of send needed to make that happen. You empty the bottle of milk, the refrigerator tells Alexa which makes a grocery notation and schedules grocery delivery when you’re ready. No need to check the basics. You say to the air that you think you want to go to Applebee’s for the salad bar, and Alexa tells your car to start and guides it to be at the curb as you step out, destination programmed. It makes the reservation. So on, so forth.
The missing part is a manipulator – a robot or some other system that puts the groceries and folded clothes away.
The part that nobody wants to pay is the lack of privacy. Different Issue, but still pay off the equation. Servants talk, and anyone who can hear the servants gets to know your details.
Paul in KY
@Taken4Granite: He’d have to wait a bit, but I foresee him running for Senate.
Layer8Problem
@SteveinPHX: Once upon a time, many years ago, I was the self-appointed updater of the IBM mainframe (ok, it was just a 9370, sue me) eight-foot shelf of manuals in my shop. They send the update pages with the changes lovingly noted and the list of what pages get pulled and what pages get stuffed in between the other pages, and I would obsessive-compulsively put it all in. That was when “manual” meant something. With today’s high-function home equipment with many times the computing power and tons more code inside you’re lucky if you get a “New Owner Setup!” PDF of a single sheet with Ikea-grade pictorials.
SFAW
@Soprano2:
I absolutely agree. But I realized a few years ago that the 20-year payout probably exceeds my (non-demented) life expectancy, and changed to lump-sum. Not that I’ll ever see any of it, unless Renie (@16) takes me up on my offer of help (@116).
I am, of course, assuming that it could not be passed on as part of my estate. Were that the case, I’d be OK with my wife and kids getting whatever remained of the 20-year, and switch back.
Paul in KY
@Kirk: Good points. Also could be used by rich & technically savvy people who don’t like the ‘walls have ears’ aspect of human servitors.
NotMax
@Paul in KY
With a digit-sensitive control affixed which when pressed triggers a recording .
“Mo-o-o-om, he keeps touching me!”
:)
Kay
Good poll on Ohio’s Issue 1. We want “NO”
Lol. The 26 % again.
I get rattled because I live in a 75% Trump county so it feels like we’re surrounded, but my SENSE is they finally overreached with this, and I hope voters smack them down hard, especially because Catholic Churches are all but openly campaigning for “yes”. I resent that. If they want to be political operatives I think they should pay taxes on their vast wealth.
Kelly
@SFAW: I’ve also had this daydream. Estate taxes for the entire remaining annual payments are due on your demise. Of course your team of accountants and lawyers can make it work out either way.
Kay
We all ran out of “NO on 1” yard signs too, but I have no idea if that’s because the ODP just underestimated demand or if it’s a good “sign”. They’re very defensive about it in a way that is not productive, I must say :)
Timill
@rikyrah: Here’s the breakdown by state before and after taxes:
One Billion Dollars
laura
@Soprano2: Criminy- have you considered a time out for the regular that banjaxed the thermometer? Our local tavern has really strict rules of conduct zero tolerance for fighting- lifetime ban. Beefing to the staff- two weeks in the sin bin, pissing off the owner, two weeks and a sincere apology upon return. Fun fact- the tavern is owned by the first woman to be hired by Russ Soloman for Tower Records.
cain
@Baud: I was looking at the terms for Texas Governors – Rick Perry was governor for 15 years. Greg Abbott has been governor since 2015 – 8 years. Texas sure loves its GOP governors.
narya
@Soprano2: I’ve seen locked clear boxes over thermostats (where I used to work) that enabled you to see how it was set but to actually touch it unless you have a key.
cain
@Tony G:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY [I always feel like someone’s watching me]
cain
@Baud: or keep the kitties cool (or warm) in case of bad weather when you’re not home. (which apparently is now a thing)
ETA – fuck yeah fuck yeah! #150!
lowtechcyclist
@Soprano2:
They’re pretty much standard these days, AFAICT. Both the new HVAC I had installed last year, and the 2010-vintage HVAC it replaced, came with programmable thermostats.
The one hitch I had no idea to expect with the new one was that they replaced the old programmable thermostat with a new one, as well as replacing the HVAC system.
By the time I found out, the old one was disconnected and I hadn’t recorded what the settings had been; I hadn’t changed them for years so I’d forgotten what temperatures it was set to for different times of day; we’d been happy with them so there was no need to look. So we’re still figuring out what settings make us comfortable now.
Soprano2
@narya: That’s what we have, but one of the regulars (a man, of course) literally pulled the anchors out of the wall in order to get to the thermostat.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
On a family visit, we watched some TV show about people who won the lottery and got to talking about it. I told my young nephew that if he won big, take the annual payments.
Some people just like the idea of a big chunk of money. And they want to do big stuff with it immediately, including helping out family and friends.
But you see some people getting into big debts and having to sell their remaining proceeds at a discount. Insane.
But the annual payments is a larger amount, with less going for taxes, and might make it easier for young people to avoid mistakes.
Paul in KY
@narya: If they are plastic, they can very easily be broken in to. I know.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: If you can ID him, he should get a nice big bill for the damage/fixing/whatever else you can think of.
RaflW
@lowtechcyclist: Check to see if your utility or county or city have an energy saving program. We got a standard Nest programmable for I think $29 (abt $119-129 retail). I think they’re subsidized by either gov’t, or by the utility.
Geminid
@Paul in KY: Trump will likely be on the ballot in 2024 and that would put Sununu the candidate in an invidious position.
It sounds like the New Hampshire Republican party is a train wreck anyway. It may be better for Sununu to step away and avoid flying metal and scalding steam, etc.
Conditions probably won’t be any worse in 2026, and they might even be better. In the meantime, Sununu can make good money in the private sector and pad his bank account.
sab
@Kay: I generally agree with you on the pointlessness of yard signs, but Issue 1 might be different because so few normies seem to be aware of it. Cleveland Plain Dealer has been on fire, but as far as I can tell most of the rest of state news media have mostly ignored it or made it a partisan dogfight, even though virtually every former Republican statewide office holder thinks it’s a bad idea. Even Kasich.
It is weird to see No on 1 signs in prominent Republican yards that usually have the usual array of Republican judicial candidates.
I hope this blows up lying spineless Frank LaRose’s political career.
Citizen Alan
@OzarkHillbilly: I do not understand this disdain for QR codes. You take a picture of it with your phone and then it immediately sends you to the right website without having to type in an address.
narya
@Soprano2: What an a-hole! I mean, who DOES that?? Other than THIS guy.
Kay
@sab:
The GOP base know about it – the 26% in that poll. They’re rabid about it because they’re desperate to stop a vote on whether women get basic bodily autonomy and agency.
sab
@Kay: Abortion isn’t the issue. Women’s bodily autonomy is. Old school Republicans have alert wives who object. Just the new guys are all on board. Did they marry cocker spaniels?
Chris T.
@Renie: Don’t worry, it’s only $300 million after taxes as a lump sum, easy to handle well! 😈
Chris T.
@mrmoshpotato:
For an interesting perspective, $300 million is only about 150 houses in the Silly-con Valley area, where the median house price is approaching $2M.
That’s still a lot of houses, but it’s a way to make it kind of comprehensible.
Kay
@sab:
Anti abortion voting tracks with partisanship but it tracks tighter to negative views of women – a belief that women can’t be trusted, will make poor decisions, are selfish. Anti abortion voters think womens rights “went too far” and now men are disadvantaged.
As you know negative views of women are not limited to men. So not cocker spaniels – just women who think other women are untrustworthy and deceptive and need conservative religious men and women to direct them.
You can see this yourself. Listen to the debates in the statehouses about rape and life of the mother exceptions. The objection to rape and life of the mother exceptions is women WILL LIE about rape and being near death- they will exaggerate. They are not credible narrators/witnesses of their own life and health- someone else has to oversee. They assume all women are liars unless proven otherwise.
This attitude goes back a long way- back to the days where a man had to “verify” what a woman said- vouch for her. It’s the same thing.
Manyakitty
@sab: apparently, Summit County is showing up early. Good turnout for early voting so far and I think that’s hopeful.
Miss Bianca
@Kay:
And yet you want all these women to gestate and, presumably, become parents? Somehow, women who “can’t be trusted” to handle any other aspect of their lives are going to be magically trustworthy as mommies?
Of course not. They can’t explain it or justify it except in terms of “Then a miracle occurs..”.
No One You Know
@lowtechcyclist: You could give that permission before you left, could you not?
I wonder how much of the hype- froth for IoT had to do with our shortening attention spams, readiness to be interrupted randomly, and inability to plan ahead.