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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 21 (2026)

dandy_warhol said:
Cue Twilight Zone music. Hubby and I were reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom this past weekend as well. 👀
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Black And White Vintage GIF
 
The high-top basketball shoes seems to be a dinosaur. I see very few players, if any, wearing a high-top. I would think ankle support would be highly desired.
 
Last night I was trying to use Gemini to see what a large covered patio on the back of the house would look like. I was hyper specific and even uploaded a photo with general lines of where it would go. Each time it either went to far and included other things that I didn't ask for, didn't follow the instructions, or came back with something that wasn't even close to what was there. Finally it reached the limit and I have to wait 24 hours. My thinking was "Well, if you didn't f-it-up so many times, I would not have reached the limit.

At this point I am tempted to just measure everything out this weekend and build a google sketch-up model.
 
michaelskis said:
At this point I am tempted to just measure everything out this weekend and build a google sketch-up model.
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No no! Don't give up on AI. It's our future! Are you trying to put computer programs out of a job? Think of the terabytes!
 
We were flipping around two weeks ago and couldn't find anything to watch with the 10 year old. We ran across Diff'rent Strokes and she loved it. I had forgotten that theme song, but now both of us have occasionally been singing the jingly song at times. I didn't realize the song was written and performed by Alan Thicke.

 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We were flipping around two weeks ago and couldn't find anything to watch with the 10 year old. We ran across Diff'rent Strokes and she loved it. I had forgotten that theme song, but now both of us have occasionally been singing the jingly song at times. I didn't realize the song was written and performed by Alan Thicke.

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Odd fact: Alan Thicke was born the same day as my father, and died the same day.

The joke I have is that Glenn Howerton and I will die on the same day.
 
Maister said:
No no! Don't give up on AI. It's our future! Are you trying to put computer programs out of a job? Think of the terabytes!
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I am so angry that I might get out the scale and a pen!

WSU MUP Student said:
It's time to do my annual dance with SiriusXM radio where they pretend to jack up my price and I pretend to cancel my subscription.
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Even at a lower rate, is it worth it? This is something that I have thought about recently even though we have a family subscription to Spotify. I use that for almost all my music listening. Apple Podcast and Audible fill when I am not in the mood for music.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Son wants to add SXM to his car. I need to do the same dance.
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We used to be loyal SXM users, going back to just XM in the early 00's. But since we both have a gazillion podcasts, and Pandora and Amazon Music, we don't see the need. We haven't had it in a decade or so.
 
None of you will be surprised by - My car does not have a shark fin antenna, so I don't know what I am missing or need.
 
Maister said:
Is that actually a thing?
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Yes and it's been a thing for at least 15 years. You used to have to call and speak with 8 different people and keep getting put on hold and being transferred around and it was sort of a hassle. These days you can do it all online with their automated chatbot (last year was the first time I noticed that) and it takes about 5 minutes. I imagine SiriusXM makes most of their money on fleet/corporate subscriptions, people who forget to cancel and don't call in for a lower rate, and diehard sports fans who pay for the premium package so they can get all their favorite baseball games no matter what market their in.

michaelskis said:
Even at a lower rate, is it worth it? This is something that I have thought about recently even though we have a family subscription to Spotify. I use that for almost all my music listening. Apple Podcast and Audible fill when I am not in the mood for music.
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For the ~$6 a month, SiriusXM is worth it to me. We also have a family subscription to Spotify that my daughter contributes to (with money I give her so that's a wash!) and I use both services extensively. If we're on a longer drive I usually prefer the satellite radio because I like the DJs coming in and talking every few songs or so.

JNA said:
None of you will be surprised by - My car does not have a shark fin antenna, so I don't know what I am missing or need.
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My Jeep does not have a shark fin antenna either. There must be some sort of satellite radio antenna built into something in my Jeep but I have no idea where it is.
 
MD Planner said:
You'll get my SiriusXM when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

I also do the dance every year and that makes it quite affordable.
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I do that with the New York Times. Every time they try to raise my rate, I go online to cancel. The server comes back with a "Wait! Don't go!" offer, which is the same that I had been paying, so I take it.
 
MD Planner said:
You'll get my SiriusXM when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

I also do the dance every year and that makes it quite affordable.
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I love XM and would pay for it if I was in my car enough to listen. When my commute was 50 minutes each way, I could justify that and audible. Now I maintain audible because of my library, but pause it a couple of times a year.

I got a hand me down vehicle a few years back at the city. It was the former Police Chief's and the new chief wanted a new vehicle due to the mileage and because he could. For the first six months it had XM activated and it was great. Apparently, whoever was paying for the subscription eventually cut it.
 
When I guest-host the radio show, management doesn't care if I dump ads due to going over time in a segment, but heaven forbid I should cut PSA's!!!

Apparently they have to have a certain percentage of air time dedicated to PSA's, but the ads can be run any time during a daypart.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We were flipping around two weeks ago and couldn't find anything to watch with the 10 year old. We ran across Diff'rent Strokes and she loved it. I had forgotten that theme song, but now both of us have occasionally been singing the jingly song at times. I didn't realize the song was written and performed by Alan Thicke.

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My husband used to sing the theme song as a lullaby to Itty Bitty. 😁
 
MD Planner said:
You'll get my SiriusXM when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

I also do the dance every year and that makes it quite affordable.
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Let me guess, call to cancel, then have the drop it to $5 bucks a month? Did that dance for many years.. finally I let go as my vehicle had 0 SirusXM support (as well as lacking an am antenna, thanks Elon).
 
arcplans said:
Let me guess, call to cancel, then have the drop it to $5 bucks a month? Did that dance for many years.. finally I let go as my vehicle had 0 SirusXM support (as well as lacking an am antenna, thanks Elon).
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When my niece was about eight, we were at a classic car show. The owner of one car pointed out a number of features, including "an AM radio."

She asked the guy, "Why would you want a radio that only works in the morning?"

A discussion of amplitude modulation vs frequency modulation, and the relative propogation thereof, ensued, until she got bored with it about ten seconds later. When I was eight, I was into that, as well as shortwave and ham!

That same niece is now at the same college I went to, studying nursing. She started out as a city planning major, but switched to nursing due to her love of her night job driving ambulances. Kind of broke my heart that she switched, but I want what is best for her. She just moved into a cute house with her boyfriend and her baby. Yay! She's way ahead of where I was at that age.
 
I listen to a lot of books because I am often in my car for work. I always get a chuckle when I am listening to my book and hear something like, "Finn was not handsome like the Lieutenant but he had a good heart and could make Charlotte laugh like no one else. Charlotte looked at Finn, sighed and said, 'Take the left exit."

Waze likes to interrupt my books at very humorous times.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
It's time to do my annual dance with SiriusXM radio where they pretend to jack up my price and I pretend to cancel my subscription.
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...and the dance is over. It took about two minutes with the chatbot to continue at my $5.99/month rate for the next 12 months.

Interestingly, they did offer a rate of $9.99/month but locked in for the next 3 years and the pitch specifically mentioned that this would be a good rate so I don't have to keep coming back to them to ask for the discount so they definitely know what's up. :rofl:
 
WSU MUP Student said:
...and the dance is over. It took about two minutes with the chatbot to continue at my $5.99/month rate for the next 12 months.

Interestingly, they did offer a rate of $9.99/month but locked in for the next 3 years and the pitch specifically mentioned that this would be a good rate so I don't have to keep coming back to them to ask for the discount so they definitely know what's up. :rofl:
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Thanks! I just reduced mine as well
 
Talk about random...

A FB site was 'suggested' and I looked at the photo without reading any of the details.
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What do you think? What is the approximant date and location? I know the city, but that's it. I wonder what it looks like today.
 
My best guess, based on terrain and all the hotels and clothing shops, would be Hot Springs, Arkansas, divorce capital of the world, circa late 1930's. Not confident enough to bet on it, but that's my proverbial Final Answer.
 
jumbach said:
My best guess, based on terrain and all the hotels and clothing shops, would be Hot Springs, Arkansas, divorce capital of the world, circa late 1930's. Not confident enough to bet on it, but that's my proverbial Final Answer.
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No on date or location...
 
michaelskis said:
Talk about random...

A FB site was 'suggested' and I looked at the photo without reading any of the details.
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What do you think? What is the approximant date and location? I know the city, but that's it. I wonder what it looks like today.
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Somewhere in Ohio... Late 40's to early 50's but not 53.
 
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