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I don't watch enough YT videos to especially care about the ads or to justify a subscription. Right now, the problem for me is, the videos simply won't load or play on my computer. LibreWolf didn't solve that, nor other browsers I've tried. I suspect I'll have to completely remove FF from my computer, including the AppData files. That's something I used to do every so often when FF malfunctioned, and I would put this in the malfunction category. I think something in a recent build of FF or maybe an extension triggered the issue. I could be oh-so-methodical and go extension by extension, but don't really care to spend a lot of time fiddling with it. I can still watch videos on my phone. The weird thing is, mobile FF accepts no extensions and even that seems to do pretty well at blocking ads (naturally not on YT). I should probably make an account to give likes and follows to the folks I do watch, but with AI polluting everything, I wonder if it's just too late to bother.
Update! I found a plugin that is intended to fix Error 153 on embedded players. No, it didn't work for that. Yes, it did restore my ability to watch videos. And it also worked for LibreWolf, suggesting there is some data sharing there.
Meandering across the web, I stumbled onto the actual and surprisingly obvious reason it seems like so many programs and apps I use are being infected with AI nonsense. It turns out, AI companies are paying other companies to add AI features. And, well... Duh! I just never really thought about it.
Very true! For a long while, I was getting ad free Disney+ from my phone company for $10/mo. When we updated our plans, it was changed to ad-filled-to-overflowing. I tried watching a 30 minute episode of a program and there were so many commercials and the viewing experience was so odious that I immediately cancelled the plan. I was actually going to pay for an ad free tier directly from Disney to feed my Disney-owned-IP viewing habits, but then Things Happened and I delayed the decision. That became, I will never watch enough to justify the cost and I don't need another bill. So, no Disney+. Oh well.
Disney, bah humbug. I've been to all the Disney parks in Florida and California many times between the '70s & 2000's. Been there done that for decades. But recently, decided it's day has passed. Their movies are flops. The parks too expensive, and their shine has worn off, too old, too complicated to even get in, too crowded, understaffed. Will never go again. Kids should be weaned from Disney. It ain't what it used to be. Walt is rolling in his grave.
However, Universal Studios parks.
Complaint: I hate it when my personal finances spreadsheet is unbalanced by some unfindable tiny quantity. Today, I've been chasing $24.09 through 20.40 to 3.60. The first two were category errors (numbers in the wrong account). The $3.60 is a complete mystery. Ran down each line in my checkbook, spreadsheet, and bank statements for the last three months. Complete mystery. Two hours wasted and yet another "UNKNOWN ADJUSTMENT" line in the spreadsheet & checkbook.
It does now that my previous FF install is working with YT again, which is why I think there is some sharing or overlap between them. LW is a branch of FF. I assume it would have worked better if I completely wiped my old FF install off my system. I do think LW is very clean compared to my full FF install - The difference between a sleek sportster and a large RV, perhaps. But if I loaded LW with all the extensions, bookmarks, etc I have on my FF install, they might both seem a bit bloated.
Haha! Disney owns SW, Marvel, all of 20th Century Fox including Alien, Predator, etc. So, they own many properties that I enjoy and interest me. The movies are movies. Some are box office gold, others not so much. Star Wars movies have really lost their shine. Unfortunate! Marvel still puts out some winners, but some losers, too. It's normal. I enjoyed recent Alien and Predator offerings. I'd like to see more. The parks are a different proposition. Anyway, much of what I've read suggests Disney as a children's brand is past its prime, if not past its expiration date. One of the company's challenges is to capture the hearts and minds of new generations of kids, and they're having problems with it. So maybe kids are weaning from it on their own. I personally would not spend too much effort lionizing Walt, but YMMV.
The amount looks small enough to be either a foreign transaction or banking charge or a coffee at Starbucks?
Walt was a product of his time, the good and the bad. But in the beginning, at the time, his star shined. The gleam has gone. Although, admittedly I was at EPCOT on opening day, and still have the ticket. While I lived in Orlando for a year, during the '80s, we had annual passes ($100/yr at the time) and often went to any of the parks when we were short of cash, because entrance and parking was free. However, the last time I went to EPCOT was in 2013. Heck, I even got to spend a night in a signature Disney hotel, on someone else's dime once. Wheee...
And it was kind of unusual to come out onto my 2nd floor balcony at that hotel in the morning and face a giraffe eye-to-eye
However, overall, the spirit of Walt Disney has left the building.
As someone who currently has two kids... Disney still has lots to offer the younger generation, and I enjoy the heck out of many of the new movies as well. (And hey, at least with the new ones I don't have to explain the horrific amounts of racism that's rampant in many of the "classics"!) Those who don't enjoy are welcome to not partake.
@3DIO I'd have been tickled pink if LW fixed it. It really was the error 153 plugin that did it for both FF and LW
Try specialty coffee beans or just add milk.
Try iced drip coffee; it can eliminate 90% of the bitterness.
When I'm on a tight budget, I drink Moccona instant coffee and occasionally add some milk; it's the only brand I've ever tried that I consider decent.
Non-complaint: Today was my first free Saturday since June. I made the most of it, running errands that badly needed to be run. It helped that the weather wasn't too extreme today.
Complaint: Had to stop in my old hometown (Glendale) and was sad to see that the one remaining independent apartment complex was bought out recently by Corporate America. Glendale is a small city full of apartments- there are almost no houses- and until maybe 20 years ago all of the complexes were under local ownership. They're all owned by conglomorates now and sadly, it shows- minimal repairs and upkeep, maximum rents.
Non-complaint: Ace Hardware came through again with the odd-sized toilet flush valve flapper I needed. It can be hard to find parts for a 98-year-old toilet.
Just out of interest, which Glendale? You have about three dozen of them over there
Non-complaint: Fireworks: I don't know why, but at precisely 9:00PM I started hearing explosions outside. The first few sounded like rifle shots, which are not uncommon around here, this time of year, but they persisted. I got up and looked out the kitchen window and watched a heavy display of aerial fireworks, at least one every three seconds for precisely 15 minutes. It finished off the last two minutes with a continuous bombardment, and at the very end there were about a dozen blazing white retorts high in the sky. A well planned program. This was not amateurs in their backyards, this was coming from the fireman's picnic grounds next to the creek in the center of town. I'm just two blocks away and could see above the trees, every shot. Cool, but why? Did the town have some excess fireworks to get rid of, leftover from 4th of July? It was easily several thousands of dollars of fireworks. I'll have to toddle up to the local store tomorrow and see if anybody up there knew what the occasion was. Cool, but weird!
End of summer maybe? Back to school "celebration"? Scare the bears? Weird!
So, of course I asked GoogleAI, and it came up with the report in the image below. So, then I followed on with a second comment and it came back with a "bummer" answer. How did it know that's my favorite word? Scary!
I really like the new movie, Hoppers. And I thought the 2020 movie Soul was really good.
I haven't seen those two yet! (What I see is mostly dependent on what Little Dude is interested in having on. And then we watch Elemental for three weeks straight, for example.) Will have to put them on my list.
non-complaint: I found the baby snapping turtle before someone ran over him with a bike or wagon
complaint: I'm pretty sure I was too late to save him, regardless. He was super lethargic. I relocated him right next to the lake so he'd have water, food, and cover, but it was hot one today, and I think being on the pavement like that baked him more than a snack and a drink can fix. The tragic thing is that he must've been there for a while, and it's a high traffic area. If just one of the dozens of people who walked by had taken a couple minutes to help, he might've had a fighting chance.
I know, circle of life, and what dies becomes that which helps others live... but that's a stupid, awful reason to die. It's not the turtle's fault that people put a giant, wide path in the middle of his home. Poor thing wasn't even as big as a quarter.
Snapping turtles are aquatic, sounds like it might have hatched out and it was trying to reach the nearest body of still water. They don't normally lay eggs too far from a nearby pond. And if that pond has fish or ducks, it probably won't have them for long.
Circle of life sometimes seems cruel, but if snapping turtles live, other living things will die.
"Hatchlings and Juveniles: Young snapping turtles are primarily carnivorous. Because they are growing rapidly, they need high amounts of protein. They actively hunt for small aquatic insects, worms, tadpoles, minnows, and small crayfish.
Adults: As they grow larger, they become opportunistic omnivores and scavengers. Adult snapping turtles will eat almost anything they can fit into their mouths, including fish, frogs, snakes, birds, small mammals, and even other turtles. Plant Matter: Up to one-third of an adult's diet can consist of aquatic plants, algae, and submerged vegetation. They use plants both for nutrition and as foraging cover."
Yes, I know they're carnivorous and hatch near water. They're also in the "special concern species" category in my state. So nope, no regrets. The circle of life is already kicking their butts. They need a helping hand.
And that lake's in no danger of running out of fish or ducks. It's about 240 acres, with 5+ miles of shoreline, and 50 feet deep in places.
It does sound safe enough where you are, I was speaking from my own experience. I have been on my family's farm where I've lived since I was eight, we started building a herd of cattle shortly after we moved into the new house my parents built on land that was purchased/inherited from my Father's Father and has therefore been in the same family for well over 100 years and is being passed on to my Brother's baby girl who has become our tireless helper these last six years or so, along with her rock-solid husband, so it is staying in the family into the future.
But back to eight year old me. In the years following, we built the farm up, adding chickens and cattle, and eventually built a barn, and dug a pond. And that's where my experience is.
It became necessary for the sake of our farm to eliminate pests, one of which was a couple of alligator snapping turtles, and other assorted pests like Virginia Opposums.
My Father had a full-time job as a Watchmaker in the nearest city all of those years and I stayed and helped my parents as they grew older, working full-time for the same company for more than 30 years during which we wound down our little farm until we were just making a vegetable garden because small farming was something that was no longer profitable. Then Dad passed, then Mom, and my Brother came home to live with me again.
And we're headed for our next adventure - in assisted living, where I hope we don't run into any more of these guys.
On Coffee: When I was a teen, I wanted coffee, which had always been forbidden to us kids. My mother was a heavy coffee drinker and it was always available on the kitchen counter and in her cup, all day. So, when I finally asked, she said "OK, but you will drink it black, so that you can tell when you have a good cup. No sugar, no cream, black". I've drunk it black my whole life. Yeah, yeah, I have tried sugar & cream and flavorings, but always went back to black. When I went to Europe I couldn't find a cup of coffee that didn't disgust me with its bitterness. So super strong, blech. No wonder people flood it with sweeteners & emulsifiers. I used to brew coffee at home, but for the last quarter century I've been using Folger's instant (red jar). Enough flavor, not bitter, more pricy than some other brands, but not much (momma bear situation), and easy. One cup at a time. No fancy machine required, no exhorbitantly priced one-use modules to add to the garbage. I could never understand the attraction of Starbucks other than as a status badge, or watering hole for morning flocks on their way to work. Or pompous showoffs using faux Italian to design their special concoction. For me, their coffee was undrinkable. And to the people who need massive amounts of caffeine to get through a day, and require coffee the consistency of Hershey's chocolate syrup, I say, "get help".
I used to use Folgers Instant also and I thought it was good. But then I discovered the Keurig machine and use Maxwell House K cups -- Much better flavor!
In that case, I feel quite certain my coffee would gross you all out. The coffee itself you'd probably like. The add ins, certainly not. But they do all serve a purpose and you can't get what I make from Starbucks or anywhere else.
Of course, I've "stirred the pot" so to speak and have probably trampled on religious toes, and will probably be "roasted" over my concept of coffee, but I like what I like.
And of course due to my recent infatuation with GoogleAI, it and I have been having a conversation about coffee concepts around the world. I have been educated about bitterness, sourness, blackness, adulteration, cultural norms, misconceptions, bean features, price ranges, inconsistencies in harvesting, ageing and brewing,etc. And even GoogleAI says, that despite Folger's ground coffee being the biggest selling in the US, their instant, despite its mid-range price and rapid-dissolvability feature, is often graded low satisfaction unless using double the dose. (*sigh*) But still, for me, for a pleasant, relatively inexpensive coffee, I MUCH prefer it over anything I get from Maxwell House or other similarly priced instants. Brewing a pot, for me, is wasteful, and I'm not interested in overpriced coffee mechanisms. And true, my European experiences (England, Amsterdam, Berlin) were often the simple act of asking for a cup of coffee at a casual restaurant and getting a hot, watery milkshake, and when specifying "black" coffee, getting a confused stare as if I were insane.
I can't drink coffee at all unless it's half hot cocoa. But since Dunkin's discontinued that (they called it a Dunkacchino), I don't drink any type of coffee. At Dunkin's or Starbucks I get a strawberry refresher, and at home I mostly drink flavored water or the occasional cup of chai.
Always bet on Black.
I agree with Charlie Charlie Judge that, as far as Keurig pods go, Maxwell House has gotten something right that Folgers has gotten wrong. And this is disappointing because the best part of waking up is supposed to be Folgers in your cup.
I am one of those people who depends on caffeine to get through a workday. I had briefly managed to use less coffee, and was starting to transition from coffee to tea. Then some big meany said we can’t work from home anymore, and caused me to get two hours less sleep every day. Now I’m back to coffee.
Keurig machines have to be one of the worst things to ever happen to our environment. But they do make coffee easy. So easy. And the coffee from some of those pods isn’t as bad as people think. Not all pods are the same.
The machines aren’t the same either. My $60 Cuisinart branded Keurig machine seems to do better than the $120 Keurig branded Keurig machine it replaced. And when the Keurig machine failed after like three months, it wasn’t the moving parts or heating element that failed. It was either the electronics or the programming. I think it was the programming.
A few years ago, I came home to find a whole bunch of little turtles in the street in front of my house. Didn't know what they were. Some were already squished. I helped a few get across, though I wasn't sure which side to which they were heading. I just put them on the side to which they were nearest. Took a photo of one with my phone and searched later. Found out they were baby snapping turtles. We have a pond across the street. But, it isn't fed by a stream. It was a retention pond made by the developer while building this development, in case of a fire. It developed a life of its own. And reportedly, someone stocked it with some fish. It was deemed protected by the proper agency and cannot be built upon. But, it's basically stagnant water. Rises and recedes based on the rainfall we get each year. Visitors include Canada Geese, Mallards, occasional Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, once I saw a Belted Kingfisher, and maybe an Egret or two. I loved seeing these birds now and then. Only saw those Snapping Turtles that one time, but saw a Box Turtle a couple of times. Once, one was in my yard, crawling along the fence. I guess it was looking for a good spot to lay eggs.
On coffee. When the weather is cold enough, I have been known to crave coffee. The rest of the time, I just want caffeine so if I want a hot cup of tea, I use what tastes good to me. I get a big mug and dunk the teabag so that know the bag has thoroughly soaked and then squeeze out the bag because I like the way it tastes. I sip that, and I relaxxxx...
Sometimes it feels like I can see through time.
Mostly I get my caffeine from Diet Coke (I'm trying to cut down, but caffeine).
John
From my perspective, the coffee preferences in this group are remarkably boring. I've no doubt you all like what you like, and that's fine. But nothing said so far is any cause for excitement or even anything more than polite interest. That probably sounds really snobby. It might be! But it's not meant that way.
I see coffee as a base ingredient for so many other possible drinks and even food items. Also, the coffee world has a great many roasts and blends which offer a variety of flavors while still being coffee. Of course, I have my go-tos and none have been mentioned or even hinted at In the discussion so far.
I also enjoy chai, but I avoid the syrup-based dessert drinks served at the usual commercial outlets. Far too much sugar and not nearly enough spice or tea in those! But people must like them or they would not last long on the menu. Clearly I'm the outlier. I'm ok with that, too.
Our pond had some of the fresh water mussels common to our creek that lies at the back border of our farm. Dad told us to pick up mussels, periwinkles, and even crawdads (crayfish) and throw them in the pond. Over the years, those fresh water guys became very prolific, and we in short order had leopard frogs, and began getting visiting great blue herons, who left neat little heaps of opened shells. Canada geese, mallards, wood ducks (those little guys found a woodpecker cavity in a dead tree that leaned over the pond and built a nest there and I actually observed the ducklings jumping out of the nest to join their mother in the water through binoculars - a thrill for a 12 year kid!) and a menagerie of rabbits, deer, feral hogs, etc. all come to drink the water. This kind of life was why I studied Biology for a Bachelor's, and art became a hobby.
Dang, I'm getting so long-winded, I apologize.
John
In my conversation with GoogleAI, it informed, me about deliberate snob-like behavior in Berlin regarding coffee in proper coffee places. The comment it had was a warning about Berlin's "global reputation for a specific type of hip snobbery combined with Berliner Schnauze (a famously gruff, no-nonsense Berlin attitude)". Yep, that's what I had noticed (blank stare of incredulity) despite just trying to get a basic cup of coffee in my hotel during breakfast. In London, I just drank the hot watery milkshake.
Our conversation also included Australia which it reported was similar, but different to England. But surprisingly, when I was in Australia for 5 weeks, I had no complaints about coffee that I remember, so maybe I just gave up and drank the hot watery milkshake there too.