Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[molson]

One of the nice things about working in the law (at least in public service where you don't have big IT support resources), is that your supervisor thinks you're an absolute wizard if you can put together a PowerPoint and include simple animations.

[NobodyHere]

Canada releases 50 million pounds from maple syrup reserve amid global shortage - MarketWatch

I had no idea there was a strategic maple syrup reserve.

[Ksyrup]

When I saw that a couple days ago, I thought it was an Onion article coming on the heels of Biden tapping our oil reserve.

[GrantDawg]

Canada knows what is actually vital to their national interest. They also have a national beer reserve, and a hockey equipment reserve.

[Edward64]

Have YT and subscribe to YT TV. Watching some good Hog football.

I've noticed that many of YT videos are much more crisp than the TV. Watching CFB and NFL, there's some blurriness? edges not as sharp? etc. So this means those YT videos are filmed at higher resolution than TV (which I think are at 720p, or at least that's what "info" tells me).

Hasn't there been enough time for networks to do everything in 1080p+ or higher?


EDIt: link below says vast majority are 720p or 1080i.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-d..._United_States

Below prob explains why TV isn't as good as YT uploaded videos.

Due to its working principle, 1080p has more advantages than the 1080i format, starting with a superior perceived image quality. Even if an image has the same resolution in both 1080p and 1080i formats, and therefore the same number of pixels vertically and horizontally, the vertical resolution of an interlaced image seems to be almost 60% inferior. This is due to the fact that the even and odd lines of the image aren’t displayed simultaneously. Consequently, a video in a 1080i offers a very similar image quality to that of a file in 720p, meaning you cannot fully enjoy Full HD images.

[cuervo72]

Too much Kate McKinnon.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Too much Kate McKinnon.

way too much

[cuervo72]

I'm currently studying British geography. Every time "Sheffield" comes up I have an urge to google image search Fran Drescher.

[Kodos]

It makes me think of Def Leppard.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Have YT and subscribe to YT TV. Watching some good Hog football.

I've noticed that many of YT videos are much more crisp than the TV. Watching CFB and NFL, there's some blurriness? edges not as sharp? etc. So this means those YT videos are filmed at higher resolution than TV (which I think are at 720p, or at least that's what "info" tells me).

Hasn't there been enough time for networks to do everything in 1080p+ or higher?


EDIt: link below says vast majority are 720p or 1080i.

High-definition television in the United States - Wikipedia

Below prob explains why TV isn't as good as YT uploaded videos.

Even better is Disney+ feed, at least on my TV. I believe that it is 4k, or HDR, or some other terminology that I don't know what it means. But it has the best resolution by far of any service fpr me.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Do your kids eat meatball by putting them on the prongs of the fork then consuming them like a cake pop or are my kids the only ones?

and how does one consume a cake pop?

and what the fuck is a cake pop?

[spleen1015]

Imagine the meatball on the end of the fork and someone taking bites from it. That's what I assume.

[cuervo72]

To really be like a cake pop then shouldn't the kids eat the meatball with a chopstick?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I'm currently studying British geography. Every time "Sheffield" comes up I have an urge to google image search Fran Drescher.

I just think "... Wednesday"

[cuervo72]

Yeah, now that I have a decent handle on the geography over there it probably would be a lot easier to learn the clubs.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Too much Kate McKinnon.

I knew early on that those Verizon commercials would wear on me quick.

[spleen1015]

2 commercials that make me laugh as soon as they start.

The Animal Geico commercial. When he goes running through the kitchen then swings from the celling, is very funny to me. I dunno why.

The other is the Apple snowman commercial. When the snowman gets run over by the bike, I LMAO.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

The other is the Apple snowman commercial. When the snowman gets run over by the bike, I LMAO.

I didn't LMAO but agree its a great commercial.

[Edward64]

Yeah, I can believe there was a relationship and can believe it was somewhat abusive. But com'on, you had so many resources to get out of that relationship. Using that as a defense and one reason as to why you knowingly defrauded so many people, over a period of time, is ridiculous.

I haven't studied the details of the case but from what I've read, you consistently mislead investors. I'm thinking you need to be tossed in the slammer for a long time.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/tech/...ony/index.html

Holmes testified that she later began a professional relationship that turned romantic with former software executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, who would go on to serve as COO of Theranos while they dated. She first met him in China after she graduated high school when she was 18 and he was 38.

When she later disclosed to him the trauma of her rape at Stanford, she testified: "He said that I was safe, now that I had met him."

Holmes went on to paint a picture of how Balwani both coached and controlled her, criticizing everything from the tone of her voice in meetings to her being too feminine and behaving "like a little girl."

"He told me that I didn't know what I was doing in business, that my convictions were wrong, that he was astonished at my mediocrity," she said, adding that he told her that "I needed to kill the person I was" to become successful.

Holmes also alleged Balwani would "get very angry with me, and then he would sometimes come upstairs to our bedroom and he would force me to have sex with him when I didn't want to, because he would say that he wanted me to know that he still loved me."

In court filings unsealed ahead of the trial, Holmes' legal team had signaled that the former Theranos CEO was likely to defend herself by claiming she was the victim of a decade-long abusive relationship with Balwani. Balwani's attorneys have denied those allegations.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

2 commercials that make me laugh as soon as they start.

The Animal Geico commercial. When he goes running through the kitchen then swings from the celling, is very funny to me. I dunno why.

The other is the Apple snowman commercial. When the snowman gets run over by the bike, I LMAO.

I generally hate all commercials, but I continue to be entertained by the "don't become your dad" coach commericals

Also an underdog favorite is the EarGo commercial where the GF is visiting her parents house for the weekend with her BF and is whispering to the BF to ask whether he brought condoms and he can't understand her, and the dad, sitting in the loving room, says, "Condoms, Charlie. She wants to know whether you brought condoms for the weekend." And of course the BF says yes, which gets a hard glare from the GF. That's a great commercial for that product.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I generally hate all commercials, but I continue to be entertained by the "don't become your dad" coach commericals

I felt extremely old when they referenced the "defense wins championships" mantra from 20 years ago in the NFL.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I generally hate all commercials, but I continue to be entertained by the "don't become your dad" coach commericals

The first time I saw the one with nearly-bought-the-shirt-he-was-already-wearing I absolutely roared. I can't remember the last commercial that made me laugh that hard and I still chuckle knowingly every time I see it.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I generally hate all commercials, but I continue to be entertained by the "don't become your dad" coach commericals

I would watch a whole movie about that character.

Though I couldn't tell you what product he's advertising. Insurance I think.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The first time I saw the one with nearly-bought-the-shirt-he-was-already-wearing I absolutely roared. I can't remember the last commercial that made me laugh that hard and I still chuckle knowingly every time I see it.

Not even nearly - he realizes it and then decides to buy it anyway! Which is even better, IMO.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Not even nearly - he realizes it and then decides to buy it anyway! Which is even better, IMO.

I like the airport one about when will Group 2 board.... 2 hours and 58 minutes.

[Lathum]

My wife busts my balls every time about the airport one because I am 100% that guy.

[Critch]

The bad thing about a good advert is that you can be pretty sure they'll beat the idea to death, each new one worse than the one before.

Geico Gecko and Progressive Flo the prime examples.

[Ksyrup]

I still laugh my ass off at the dude who can't stop himself from pointing out the person with blue hair while the guy is telling him to ignore it. That was an early one that isn't on as much but every damn time it came on, I giggled like a school girl.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Not even nearly - he realizes it and then decides to buy it anyway! Which is even better, IMO.

I always figure the life coach stops him lol

[Drake]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Imagine the meatball on the end of the fork and someone taking bites from it. That's what I assume.

In my house, cake pops and some pink milk drink from Starbucks are considered the height of cultural sophistication (by my 13 y.o. daughter).

Because I'm a good dad, I don't say "Oh, fuck off!" more than half as many times as I want to when my daughter lectures me on what is and is not cringe and/or cultured.

[Ksyrup]

As bad as a la carte TV packages are, I feel like online newspapers are a trillion times worse. I kinda wish there was some way to aggregate a few subscriptions into one rather than being required to separately subscribe to each one. I know it's impractical because some of what I'm looking for would include local/regional papers, but I have yet to subscribe to hardly anything because everyone wants a separate subscription. The internet has expanded what "local" means, so I'm not just looking for a hometown paper. And plus, the weird thing is local TV stations put news articles on their sites for free, which is duplicative of much of what local papers offer.

It just seems like an area that's ripe for an innovative solution which would benefit both the public and those who need the subscription model to exist.

[cuervo72]

My wife was paying 9.99/mo for a newspaper in Arizona (not even sure if it is The Republic) just to keep tabs on what's going on out there (because she went to NAU some 30 years ago). They recently sent something saying they were DOUBLING the cost of their subscription. Which I get, but...yeah, you're going to turn some folks off there.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, I kinda want the same options. I live in a small town where we still have a small, once a week newspaper that comes in the mail, but I live near Lexington, work in Louisville, and still keep tabs on things in Tallahassee (because the politics in that town are crazy, plus FSU of course). But I'm not paying for 3 separate newspaper subscriptions, plus Athletic, and then you've got your national newspapers/magazines, etc. Expecting people to purchase multiple of these one-offs is insane. It's why I have ESPN+ and Netflix, and nothing else, as adders to DirecTV. I'm not adding Discovery +, Paramount +, Peacock, etc. to my monthly bill, even if there would be some decent stuff on there I'd watch. No way.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The first time I saw the one with nearly-bought-the-shirt-he-was-already-wearing I absolutely roared. I can't remember the last commercial that made me laugh that hard and I still chuckle knowingly every time I see it.

That is the one that kills me as well.

[Edward64]

Son is on Android and rest of us on Apple so we use WhatsApp for our chat.

PSA. WhatsApp is finally on the PC. Don't know what took it so frakking long.

WhatsApp now has a native app on Windows 11 — how to get it | Laptop Mag

The hotly anticipated native Whatsapp platform for Windows 11 (and Windows 10) is now available. Currently, there's a Whatsapp variant largely based on the web version. According to XDA Developers, the desktop app uses Electron, a framework that brings web technologies to traditional app formats. Unfortunately, the performance substandard.

Now, Windows users can download a new dedicated WhatsApp desktop platform based on Universal Windows Platform (UWP), which fits seamlessly among the landscape of Windows 11's apps (h/t TechRadar).

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I need to get the hell off of FB, however there are groups I'd really like to continue following. Is the best course of action to simply deactivate my personal account and create a fake account to follow groups? I've always said the more I treat FB like MySpace the better the experience, but now I need to follow through with it.

Seems like trying to keep my personal account alive but disconnect individually from people is way too much effort.

So fast-forward about 2.5 months after I decided to deactivate my FB account, and I'm definitely not missing much of the FB experience at all. The one thing I feared, though, has happened, which is that I'm disconnected from all of the interest groups I was a part of and I'm still looking for some way to replace those interactions.

For instance, I completely missed the release of two albums that would have been release day purchases had I known they were even coming out. And I would have known if I was on FB. I was also a part of several running/fitness communities and miss some of the discussions there too. I ran a half-marathon before Thanksgiving and had no one to talk through the pre or post-event experience with (I posted it here but I didn't expect much of a response since that's not much of a focus here).

I really miss the fact that FB/twitter and other social media has largely supplanted the old messageboard experience for particular topics/hobbies/interests. But at this point, the bad still outweighs the good in terms of getting back on FB, so that's not an option. Reddit seems like a potential option, but I have only dabbled in that world.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Reddit seems like a potential option, but I have only dabbled in that world.

If you thought FB and Twitter were toxic, oh mercy

[spleen1015]

You could use FB just for the things you enjoy.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

You could use FB just for the things you enjoy.

That was my initial thought back in September, but I really have no interest in re-installing the app and signing back on, then going through and stripping out like 400-500+ people. In the end, FB is still FB - some of the stuff I like, it's still infected with social media crap. Politics infects nearly everything at some point - not to mention FB ads and them pushing what they want you to see. And some of the running groups are filled with people who just enjoy posting pictures of their bodies for people to like and comment on to make them feel good about themselves, which I find weird (although interesting from a psychological perspective). That's why I won't touch something like Instagram - I already hate pictures as it is (I've still never taken a true selfie and usually end up pissing off my family when they try to force me into group selfies).

Anyway, I definitely prefer the messageboard experience, but finding multiple active boards for a variety of very specific topics these days is almost impossible. It seems like there's no good alternative to social media.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Son is on Android and rest of us on Apple so we use WhatsApp for our chat.

PSA. WhatsApp is finally on the PC. Don't know what took it so frakking long.

WhatsApp now has a native app on Windows 11 — how to get it | Laptop Mag

Signal is a great option too.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

That was my initial thought back in September, but I really have no interest in re-installing the app and signing back on, then going through and stripping out like 400-500+ people. In the end, FB is still FB - some of the stuff I like, it's still infected with social media crap. Politics infects nearly everything at some point - not to mention FB ads and them pushing what they want you to see. And some of the running groups are filled with people who just enjoy posting pictures of their bodies for people to like and comment on to make them feel good about themselves, which I find weird (although interesting from a psychological perspective). That's why I won't touch something like Instagram - I already hate pictures as it is (I've still never taken a true selfie and usually end up pissing off my family when they try to force me into group selfies).

Anyway, I definitely prefer the messageboard experience, but finding multiple active boards for a variety of very specific topics these days is almost impossible. It seems like there's no good alternative to social media.

We're in the get off my lawn crowd. I prefer messageboards, too. I use Reddit some, but it is not very user friendly. When I go back to a thread, I want to easily see what I haven't seen before.

Nothing beats a messageboard like this place.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you thought FB and Twitter were toxic, oh mercy

Reddit can be okay as long as you actively curate your list of interest group subreddits. But it's definitely a huge dumpster fire if you're not a 13 y.o. boy who's into anime boobies.

That said, I'm not above getting hammered on good bourbon and wading into outrage threads just for entertainment purposes.

ETA: To support spleen's "get off my lawn" view, if you want to be regularly horrified about the current and future state of Western society, subscribe to r/Teenagers.

[spleen1015]

The other thing with Reddit is everything has to be a meme. Depending on the subreddit, there's nothing of substance. There's just memes.

[Lathum]

Reddit hurts my head. I can't navigate that site for anything.

[Drake]

My absolute favorite subreddit is r/KidsAreFuckingStupid

I could watch videos of little kids running into things and falling down all day long. I don't know why that's so funny to me.

[Ksyrup]

All I know about Reddit is what I accidentally find through searches, which definitely gives me an incomplete picture of the full site. I only mentioned it because there seems to be sub-sub-topics for pretty much anything, which might be useful to someone like me looking for discussion on specific things. But if those topic discussions are populated by a bunch of assholes, that's no better than FB.

[Ksyrup]

This could probably go in the MLB thread, but it is a random thought...

Chris Russo is the male version of Fran Drescher.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This could probably go in the MLB thread, but it is a random thought...

Chris Russo is the male version of Fran Drescher.

Not even close. It is probably the fact I grew up in NJ listening to him daily prior to him hitting it big nationally, but Maddog is a national treasure.

[GrantDawg]

I use reddit primarily for video game info. Since my games are not that attractive to kids, I don't have very many issues. I also follow the Atlanta sports reddits and a couple of humor groups. I peruse it every morning just before work. Not very active all in all.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Not even close. It is probably the fact I grew up in NJ listening to him daily prior to him hitting it big nationally, but Maddog is a national treasure.

That's the exact reason, because I can't even stand to look at his facial expressions with the sound muted, much less listen to the sound of his voice. He is awful beyond anything I have ever heard on radio or TV. It's definitely a NE thing.