I have a “friend” on Facebook that I like less the more he/she shares. This person… that I’ll call “Karen” just for this post — has children and grandchildren that are all perfect creatures about to become — or already are — famous. Like… REALLY big deal famous! Her husband is the best carpenter on the planet and has turned their home into an adorable bungalow. Her life is perfect… until it isn’t.
When things aren’t perfectly perfect, she’s sicker than anyone has ever been. EVER. And then, she spouts her political preferences and if anyone comments in disagreement, she deletes their comment, unfriends and blocks them so they can’t read the awful things she says about them afterward. It makes me crazy!
I need to remember — we can’t take social media so seriously.
Sure, when “Karen” recently shared about the death of 2 people with her versions of their life stories that were horribly negative, I couldn’t help but think how low class it is to post anything like that publicly — especially upon someone’s death. When she got to the part about the awful interactions she had with them more than 25 years previously, I wanted to slap her face.
But if you really think about it… we’re just recreationally offended most of the time. The people she degraded weren’t personal friends or even acquaintances of mine, so it was just noise.
But let “Karen” talk about my little cur dog…
One word about the little starving mutt that now eats lying down and I’d for sure flip my ever lovin’ shit. 🙂
Now you know: Some people are genetically gifted in that they can sleep for as little as 4 hours without suffering from daytime sleepiness or other consequences of sleep deprivation.
Crazy Walmart story incoming because my name is NOT Diane Rimes…
It all started with 3 odd Walmart text messages with the subject line “God of War.” I deleted each one and marked them as spam. Walmart doesn’t text my number about orders so I figured it was a phishing scam. Next thing I know, I have a package outside with no address on it — just “S. Erwin” along with numbers. I open it up and there’s a video game for a PS5 system called “God of War.”
I open Walmart.com on my computer and check my order history. Nope… no accidental purchase there. I look at my CC charges and there’s an unknown Walmart charge for right at $200 bucks!
Help me 1-800-walmart!
The person I got at the toll free number spoke pretty good English and understood what happened. With the numbers written on the package, they were able to see that ole Diane Rimes used my phone number and CC to purchase gift cards and the game. How did this happen?? You guys… I don’t fall for scams — EVER.
Every password I have is long and different, my phone is never out of my possession nor is my CC. My CC doesn’t even have numbers or my name on it. It’s totally blank. I use 2 factor identification for everything digital — I have to respond from my password protected phone that’s always in my possession to authorize all sign ins and purchases.
The grand finale…
My digital number (only for online purchases) was changed and the charges disputed. Walmart contacted me again to let me know it was likely an employee who accessed the info and made the purchases. The local Walmart was notified so video could be pulled for that exact time. I was told to keep the game… donate it or trash it… and I would not be charged. I’m waiting to find out why the account was for Diane Rimes but one item was sent to me.
I don’t know who delivered the package because it was left at my neighbor’s house. She said the person was driving a small gray car and although she shouted for him to stop — he ignored her and left.
I can’t tell you to be careful out there because sometimes that doesn’t stop thieves.
I can tell you my house smells amazing… there’s homemade cinnamon bread in that basket and it’s headed to Tennessee. ❤️
Now you know: Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital.
I’ve used Adobe products for as long as I can remember. I purchased them for horribly high prices when they sold the apps, and I moved to subscribing when they migrated to that business model. Not that long ago, I cut the number of products I was subscribing to which cut the monthly price in half. Since it’s Christmas, they want more of my money… doesn’t everyone?
Is it ethical to nag me to upgrade from a product I pay to use?
screenshot of Adobe’s pushy sales tactic
I don’t want to upgrade! I don’t want the additional apps or the cost — that’s why I just downgraded. See that box at the bottom that says, “Don’t show again for 30 days?” I’ve checked that sucker at least 100 times, but when I open the app, pushy Adobe keeps showing me that same pop-up nag. Every. Single. Time. 🤬
If not for the learning curve, I’d cancel and use a different app, even though I like what I already have.
Because I think it’s really shitty that they’re using a product I already pay for to push another sale down my throat, I’d dump them right this second if there was another comparable app that didn’t take forever to learn. But right now, I just don’t have it in me.
I guess I’m like Dharma — and we all know it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
Now you know: American founding father, Aaron Burr, was an early supporter of giving women education and the right to vote. He was also a notorious womanizer who frequented sex workers and fathered multiple children with many different mothers, including an Indian servant who worked in his house.
Our Google business account includes Gemini – their AI model that competes with ChatGPT. ChatGPT focuses on generating human-quality text, while Gemini claims to generate more creative and nuanced responses, especially in tasks like writing different kinds of creative content. One claim is that it can write a blog post from an image.
Worth a try for fun, right? I tested that claim twice:
In my first test, I uploaded the photo I shared earlier of Perry proudly holding his freshly baked Thanksgiving ham. Gemini wrote a post about the realm of digital puzzles and deciphering hidden messages. WHAT?
Giving ole’ Gemini another chance, I uploaded a photo of the new toilet Perry installed in one of the upstairs bathrooms. The article began with, “The Toto toilet is a popular choice for many homeowners due to its sleek design, efficient flushing, and innovative features.”
Toto toilets cost between $1,100 and $22,000. (Yes, twenty-two THOUSAND DOLLARS for a shitter.) If Gemini thinks my $100 toilet from Home Depot is a Toto brand – there’s a whole lot of work that needs to be done to the platform.
Gemini did a bit better creating an image from text provided.
You can be as specific as you want and the results are decent. As an example, I asked for an article on living with labradors in Indiana. It was good… but was all simply generic content.
Next, I asked Gemini to create a photo based upon the article and to make it of a black lab on a country road in Indiana in the wintertime. (PHOTO ON THE LEFT BELOW). Then I asked for it to be more specific. Make the image a female lab with a red bow on her head on a gravel road (PHOTO ON THE RIGHT BELOW).
Let’s wrap up the testing with a nice red bow.
AI is powerful tool for research — this includes ChatGPT and Gemini. It’s amazing for providing ideas and even learning new things (there’s a learning coach in Gemini). Gemini can brainstorm for inspiration and churn content and images. But at the end of the day… AI can create… but it’s not creative.
Do a few tests on your own — for fun and to see if you get better results. 🙂
When challenges arise, sometimes your response to the problem will require adaptations. Life — and online offerings — sometimes take unexpected turns.
Related posts are currently unavailable. 😞
I created this site as a journal… simply a place where I could share photos and my thoughts. At the end of every post for the past 15+ years you could find a “related posts” offering. I may have been the only one that used it, but it was my favorite thing about having posted for such a long period of time.
Upon publishing, I’d read the new post and often fall in the wayback machine rabbit hole by clicking on one of the related posts offerings displayed below the current post. I’d see a photo and think, “OH! I remember that!” That’s where the clicky-clicky started and reading the old stuff was more fun to me than any other aspect of whatifitdid.com.
Because of the current state of technology — where hackers move faster than developers — that option had to be removed.
I tried adapting first.
I installed at least 5 different options to display related posts and my security plugin flagged them all as a potential threat. Reading further, there’s been an exploit found that’s present in all similar options and no patches have been developed yet to stop the vulnerability.
I had to move on, but I’m hopeful for the future.
Rather than risk the vulnerability, I simply disabled related posts for the time being. If you enjoyed that option too, here’s hoping the code will be patched soon so that bad actors can move on to something else to exploit. 🤬
Now you know: Chinstrap penguins take more than 10,000 micro-naps a day, lasting an average of 4 seconds, for a total of more than 11 hours of daily sleep.
