All three branches of government are now controlled by a rapist who campaigned on purging the country of nonwhite immigrants and driving trans people out of public life, supported by a Nazi billionaire, I think maybe you can ease off the Has Woke Gone Too Far beat for a while
for those of you not on twitter anymore, the anti-aging billionaire guy posted a timelapse of his failed attempt to inject "fat-derived extracellular matrix" into his face and I thought you might want to see that
Indeed. When they rounded up the Japanese Americans, myself and my family included, for internment during WWII out of fear over Japanese spies and saboteurs, two thirds of us were U.S. citizens. Don’t think it won’t happen again when they come for the “undocumented.”
THIS IS BEING BUILT UP STILL. CHECK OUT THE STARTER PACKS BELOW TO JUMP START YOUR SPORTS FOLLOWINGS.
Dribble. Pass. Shoot. Throw. Dunk. Touch Down. From WAY Downtown. Hail Mary. Serve. Slam. Bonk. 1st Down. Torn ACL. Pitch. Football AND Football. Flibbed It. Own Goal. Fandom. The Wave. Home Run. GOAT. Elite. The Hole. Post Game Interview. Dingers. 4th and 27. Scorigami. The CBS Jacket Patch. The Diving Catch Your One Friend Did In Little League. Opening Day. The Playoffs. Shredding. Bball With The Boys. The Catch. 3rd Concussion Of The Season. Losing Your Savings On Betting Apps. Communal Joy.
It’s juicing, as they say. Bluesky is gaining a million users a day at this point, including some very cool and very nice and very famous people. Celebs even: A, B, C, and D List (non-derogatory). See a list of celebrities and other famous people currently posting on Bluesky below.
Bluesky is now hitting a critical mass. As of writing this it just hit 14 million users, with 5x increases in follows, likes, etc. Some politicians are starting to become more active again, including AOC. Check below for a list of some of those politicians. More coming soon.
I also include some group and individual activists that are worth following a well.
Note: I tried to include people who were active in last 3 months or so, but a few less active accounts might be included. Hopefully they will come back soon.
Bluesky recently released “Starter Packs” which are just groupings of users, made by Bluesky Users. They are intended to help new users find their people. Below is a list of different Starter Packs by Category.
Spooky/Scary/Slasher season is upon us. Time to watch those movies, baby. I’ve been trying to do one a day. I binge watched five episodes of the show Castle Rock on Hulu and had a night of nightmares, which is rare for me!
Anyways, Tubi has some great Horror options this October. Check out 5 of my favorites and see the full list here:
About: As a youngster I didn’t really care for scary movies but this is one I recall watching with a group of fellow 20 year olds and finding it quite scary! Always remember: if you are out in nature (forest, desert, etc.) there are people out there watching you. Always.
About: A surprise Jack Black is in this slasher sequel. It’s meh, but good 90s vibes in it, if you’re looking for that sort of thing. Takes place mostly at a Bahamas resort.
About: Not “boo”/jump scary, but the alien people in this are super well crafted and fun. What’s really scary it turns out, is capitalism. A classic movie that you should watch if you’ve never seen.
About: For about 7 years I actually lived in the neighborhood this was largely filmed in. If I ever want nostalgia for that time in my life, I watch this great scary/creepy movie. You won’t have sex for weeks after watching this movie.
About: I’m new to knowing about and watching this movie, and it has become an instant love of mine. I’ve rewatched 3 times in the last 6 months. Such a good mix of cult, Scottish, and boobs.
Boo. It’s scary movie watching season. And Amazon Prime is not f-ing around this October with their Horror movie options. Some new and old classics included. Check out a list of 8 great Horror movies currently on Amazon Prime, with 5 bonus movies at the end.
Direct links to the movies on the Title and the Image.
About: Barbarian is a very rewatchable movie. Maybe stay away if you have a scary basement. Justin Long’s character is an irremediable piece of shit, but man it’s hard not to love his opening scene in the movie (prior to him answering the phone, where it’s all down hill from that).
About: As a The Shining lover, when I first watched Doctor Sleep, I wasn’t holding my breathe for something I loved, or even liked. HOWEVER, despite realizing it’s not “great”, I really do enjoy this movie. Ewan McGregor and Kyliegh Curran are both excellent in the film. Probably helps if you’ve seen The Shining, but I think you can pick up on the whole Shine plot either way.
About: This was my first and only Cloverfield movie, so far. Not Bad. Have to love John Goodman. I think this would be considered a “Bottle Movie“, and I think it works well.
About: I’m going to be strong enough to watch this movie this October. I’m going to be strong enough to watch this movie this October. I’m going to be strong enough to watch this movie this October.
I just watched the trailer and it frankly looks very scary. VVish me luck.
About: I know real Horror and Film heads will probably hate this take, but I found the original 1977Suspiria essentially unwatchable. However this 2018 version from Luca Guadagnino is very good and very rewatchable. What’s with me and all the rewatchability stuff??
About: John Carpenter’s masterpiece? Probably. Such a great flick. So great in fact, I’m going to go put on The Thing (1982) on Amazon Prime, right now!
I’ve never been Across The Pond, to the land of “chips” and “mates” and Lords and Queens. But I have previously admitted my love and romanticism of London and the UK, largely because of their TV Shows (Series). I also need having TV shows, and other noise-y stuff on in the background, as I work or paint or clean or whatever.
Something the YouTube algorithm served me up a few months ago has been life changing. London bus videos.
As a lover of buses and cities, it has been incredibly soothing and interesting watching the city of London from the top of a Double Decker bus. Seeing the communities, parks, people of London living their lives. And compared to America (Chicago), significantly less cars and significantly more density and public transportation. I can’t get enough.
My two current favorites are Wanderizm and Kidney Beans Global Check them out both below!
Wanderizm shares a few videos a week, and they are really high quality. I also like at the beginning each video he shows the date and time, temperature, and the route of the bus. A small thing that adds a lot of context to the videos. Here are two recent videos I have enjoyed.
London Route 189 – From Brent Cross to Marble Arch in Central London 🚌 (A night route!)
London Bus Ride, Route 27 from Camden to Hammersmith Point-of-view 🚌
They update every week or so with new videos. They also have a Live Stream of their videos which is good to pop into from time to time. Check out the live stream and another of the good routes they have up.
Live London Bus Stream
London Bus 57 🎾 Wimbledon Station To Streatham Hill 🎾 Wimbledon 2024 Bus Ride
Be sure to give them both a Subscribe. Happy Bus Watching.
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The Tubi user base continues to grow (74 Million+), as do their Live Channels and Movies/TV Shows available to stream. Below are 8 movies recently added on Tubi, with some Bonus movies. Check them out!
About: There are multiple of these Die Hard movies on Tubi currently. However, just watch Die Hard: With A Vengeance because it is easily the best one. NYC. The Summer. Germans. Samuel L. Jackson.
About: Maybe not the best of the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly movies (Step Brothers probably?), but man if 17 year old me didn’t etch lines of this movie in my brain for the rest of my life. Lil’ baby Jesus, and the rest.
About: A sexy (eh, sorta), funny (eh, sorta), thriller (eh, sorta). Look it’s not the best nor the most coherent nor the friendliest to women or Middle Easterners, BUT it’s pretty fun. Turn that brain off and hit play.
About: A campy, fun 80’s horror movie, based of the Stephen King book of the same name. I like this movie, but I HATE Corn Children.
Bonus Movies: 8 Mile, Pan’s Labryanth, Selena, You Got Served, Hacksaw Ridge, How High. And find all Recently Added To Tubi Movies Here: https://tubitv.com/category/recently_added
Happy Tubi-ing!
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How many streaming services are you paying for? How much a month do they add up to?
And that likely doesn’t even include what you are paying for high-speed internet! And commercials now too! Boo! They have fully Cable-ized streaming services.
It sucks and you likely are paying for some you aren’t even using, or if you are, maybe just few times a year when a new season of a good show comes out every 1 to 2 years.
Here’s my trick to minimize the money you are giving to these ghouls.
Quick note before we get into the step by step guide: Some of these platforms/services have yearly options, and these can have discounts compared to paying by month. If you know it’s a platform you use frequently, it may be better option to go the yearly route.
Step 1: Unsubscribe from every service with a monthly fee.
Spotify. Washington Post. Netflix. HBO Max. Uber Gold. Tinder. ESPN+. Disney+. Every Patreon. Everything.
You want to start with a clean slate. Go through all of your cards/accounts/etc. and make a list of the monthly payments that are coming through for these different services. Then spend the 20 to 60 to 120 minutes going through, logging in, and unsubscribing/cancelling future payments.
Step 2: Take Notes On All The Services
From the list you made above make notes of their monthly cost (or discounts for yearly), and realistically how much you enjoy/need them. Is it a “must have”? Did you forget you even had been paying for it? Do others use your login info? etc.
Step 3: Think of how you can substitute some of these services.
Can you share logins with others? Have you been looking for motivation to start reading again? Maybe do a daily walk? Start-up that COVID hobby again that fell off?
Do you have a local library you can easily use? You can borrow not only books, but DVDs/Blu-Rays! Some will even have free streaming services you can get access to, such as Hoopla or Kanopy.
Step 4: As you need, start resubscribing to the services when you need them
Absolutely can’t make it without your nightly, 17th time through rewatch of F.R.I.E.N.D.S? Go for it girl.
Commute and need your pocasts ad-free, or just want to support them because they make 45 minutes each morning bearable? Right on. Slap that Join button on Patreon.
You’ll notice you will not immediately resubscribe to everything. But you’ll slowly build at least some of your previous subscriptions.
Step 5: As soon as you resubscribe to a service, UNSUBSCRIBE
This is a crucial step. Your subscription will last for the month, and then next month you repeat Step 4. There could be some services you subscribe to immediately, some you wait a month or two, or some you never subscribe to again!
Using this method I’ve successfully cut back my monthly subscriptions by ~75%, and I’m doing just fine (arguable, mike). Give it a try. Save some money. Touch some grass. Read some books.
Find this helpful? Consider sharing it with friends, or posting it on social media!
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Ever since the Jackson Lord Of The Rings films came out at the turn of the century, Tolkien’s world has been in the zeigiest non-stop. And with with the Rings Of Power show on Amazon coming out in 2023, the internet is buzzing with Hobbit talk, and the like. Elvish even. Check out these subreddits on reddit related to Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power, and The Hobbit.
Bluesky has a small (and growing!), but thriving comic creator community, with many of them being very active. Below are 10 creator, writers and illustrators of comics that are active on Bluesky.
Microsoft has a Rewards program, where you get points if you do things like use Bing as a search engine, buy Xbox games, or purchase items in the Microsoft Store.
I don’t game much these days, and don’t use any Microsoft products, so I don’t get any points via those avenues. All the points I do get it are from using Bing Search. I set it as my defaults for my browsers, and also have the Bing app on my phone.
Many of these points I get each day are from me just using the internet as I normally would, but I’ll also spend a few minutes each day doing additional searches, to hit the maximum points I can get for the day. There are also bonus points you can get based on frequnecy, searching specific topics, or doing a poll/quiz.
With these searches I get points to trade them in for roughly $10 a month in Amazon gift cards.
You can trade the points in for many things including an actual Xbox(!), sweepstakes, food gift cards, or even give to charity.
Examples of options to redeem your Microsoft Reward points.
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Well how much does this damage from the storms cost the US?
“An analysis from the reinsurance company Munich Re found that severe thunderstorms in the U.S. caused $45 billion in losses from January to June [2024], $34 billion of which were insured. That makes 2024 the fourth-costliest thunderstorm year on record, based on the first six months.”
Also maybe not a surprise but 2023 was also a Historic Year for storm damage cost.
Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, 2023, United States, NOAA
“There were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, tallying a price tag of at least $92.9 billion. This total annual cost may rise by several billion when we’ve fully accounted for the costs of the December 16-18 East Coast storm and flooding event that impacted states from Florida to Maine.”
“The costliest 2023 events were the Southern / Midwestern Drought and Heat Wave ($14.5 billion) and the Southern and Eastern Severe Weather in early March ($6.0 billion).”
It turns out a show with comedians on it, doing funny things, is very enjoyable.
Let me be clear, none of these series are bad. I would happily watch any of them again. And I will. However some have more contestant chemistry, or better themes, or tasks that just hit harder. Oddly even the “bad” tasks provide the laughs. I’ve probably lol’ed (legit lol) in ever episode of Taskmaster I’ve watched, including all rewatches.
Live tasks were often low points for me so I do not include any in the top tasks. One caveat for that, the Knappett Fall in Series 7 is maybe one of the funniest things I’ve see on TV.
The starred ** contestants were my favorites, but again, there is not one I “hated”.
Best Task: Work out the circumference of the caravan in baked beans. Episode 1.
Best Gag: Phil Wang bartering for each prize task. James calling him a pussy while trying to open the box. James not saying “hi” to Alex ever. The Knappett Fall.
2. Series 16
Great tasks, contestants, and contestant chemistry.
Contestants: *Julian Clary*, Lucy Beaumont, *Sam Campbell*, Sue Perkins and Susan Wokoma
Best Episode: Episode 7: I’m off to find a robin.
Best Task: Present a piece called “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. Episode 6.
Best Gag: Sue getting mad at Alex. Sam being a weird guy. The team of three is funny. Sam wearing all gray/grey outfits in every studio show.
3. Series 1
It’s only six episodes. It’s honestly surprising how good this series is, and how little the show actually changes over time. It’s a little clunky at points, but it holds up super well even 10 years later compared to the newer seasons.
Contestants: Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan and *Tim Key*
Best Episode: Episode 1: Melon buffet.
Best Task: In the lab, there is a watermelon. Eat as much watermelon as possible. Episode 1.
Best Gag: Tim Key getting caught cheating. Romesh getting mad at the prize tasks. Josh having to do counting tasks.
4. Series 14
Good tasks!
Contestants: Dara Ó Briain, *Fern Brady*, *John Kearns*, Munya Chawawa and Sarah Millican
Best Episode: Episode 5: Chip Biffington.
Best Task: Place one luggage trolley a certain distance away from the line. Then, starting behind the line, strike that trolley with another luggage trolley. Episode 5.
Best Gag: John having bad Prize Tasks.
5. Series 3
Only five episodes. Great tasks. It was really hard for me to choose top episode or task.
Contestants: *Al Murray*, Dave Gorman, *Paul Chowdhry*, Rob Beckett and Sara Pascoe
Best Episode: Episode 2: The dong and the gong.
Best Task: Get to the microwave in as few steps as possible and open the door before the microwave dings. Episode 1.
Best Gag: Paul’s deadpan humor and how Greg responds to it.
6. Series 4
A great season, with solid contestants. The first of the new standard of ten episodes.
Contestants: *Hugh Dennis*, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, *Mel Giedroyc* and Noel Fielding
Best Episode: Episode 3: Hollowing out a baguette.
Best Task: Make a trailer for Taskmaster The Movie. Team task. Episode 3.
Best Gag: Hugh Dennis coming in last for the Prize task 6 out of the 8 episodes.
7. Series 8
This one grew on me more as I watched a second time while listening to the official podcast.
Contestants: Iain Stirling, Joe Thomas, *Lou Sanders*, Paul Sinha and Sian Gibson
Best Episode: Episode 3: Stuck in a mammal groove.
Best Task: Alex is on that bridge in the distance with lights on his head. Get as close as you can to Alex without him noticing you. Episode 1.
Best Gag: Alex asking Paul Sinha questions about history. Ian and Lou being confrontational on team tasks.
8. Series 11
Also a Covid Pandemic Series, and I think it hurts the tasks in this one, which is understandable.
Contestants: Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack, *Mike Wozniak* and *Sarah Kendall*.
Best Episode: Episode 5: Slap and tong.
Best Task: Build a tower, then topple your tower so that yogurt lands in a numbered square. Episode 9.
Best Gag: Jamali getting irritated with Alex (and others) a lot.
9. Series 2
Only five episodes.
Contestants: Doc Brown, *Joe Wilkinson*, Jon Richardson, *Katherine Ryan* and Richard Osman
Best Episode: Episode 5: There’s strength in arches.
Best Task: Get this potato into the golf hole. You may not touch the red green. Episode 1.
Best Gag: Jon Richardson being embarrassed constantly.
10. Series 17
This is the first one I watched without bingeing, and I think that honestly hurt my viewing experience some. Great contestants and I had fun watching.
Contestants: Joanne McNally, John Robins, *Nick Mohammed*, *Sophie Willan*, and Steve Pemberton
Best Episode: Episode 8: The umbrella wink.
Best Task: Hoopla Gary before he crosses the finish line. Episode 1.
Best Gag: It was kind of annoying at first but Nick being dressed like Dracula.
11. Series 12
Another (and the last) Covid Pandemic series. Good tasks! They figured out the Covid Tasks.
Contestants: Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, *Guz Khan*, *Morgana Robinson* and Victoria Coren Mitchell
Best Episode: Episode 3: The end of the franchise.
Best Task: Write and perform a 30-second jingle. Episode 7.
Best Gag: Victoria being teased for being a nerd.
12. Series 9
It starts off a little slow, but increasingly gets better as the series goes on. The contestants have better chemistry at the end.
Contestants: David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, *Katy Wix* and *Rose Matafeo*
Best Episode: Episode 6: Bready bready bready.
Best Task: Serenade yourself. Episode 6.
Best Gag:
13. Series 5
Contestants: *Aisling Bea*, Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, *Nish Kumar* and Sally Phillips
Best Episode: Episode 5: A wind-dried puffin.
Best Task: Generate a watercooler moment involving this watercooler. Episode 5.
Best Gag: Mark Watson sending texts to Greg everyday for 5 months.
14. Series 15
Contestants: Frankie Boyle, Ivo Graham, Jenny Eclair, *Kiell Smith-Bynoe* and Mae Martin
Best Episode: Episode 6: It’s my milk now.
Best Task: Invent an imaginary companion, then complete a domestic task with your imaginary companion. Episode 6.
Best Gag: Kiell and Alex going at it. lol
15. Series 10
First Covid Pandemic series. I think it starts mid-filming tasks. Doesn’t affect it too much.
Contestants: *Daisy May Cooper*, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring
Best Episode: Episode 1: God’s haemorrhoid.
Best Task: Silently, make the tastiest and prettiest cocktail with the coolest name. Episode 6.
Best Gag: Katherine Parkinson saying “we” all the time and Alex correcting her.
16. Series 13
Good tasks and first post-Covid Pandemic series.
Contestants: *Ardal O’Hanlon*, Bridget Christie, Chris Ramsey, *Judi Love* and Sophie Duker
Best Episode: Episode 3: I think I’ve got this.
Best Task: Display the shoe Alex is thinking of. All the other shoes must be out of sight at the end of the attempt. Episode 4.
Best Gag: Judi getting Alex to do a bunch of stuff for him. Sophie being annoyed by Alex, and talking about death all the time. Judi never winning.
17. Series 6
Some good moments but overall one of the weaker series :(. Sorry :(.
Contestants: Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard and Tim Vine
Best Episode: Episode 10: He was a different man.
Best Task: Do something manly with this cardboard box. Episode 4.
I recently made a list of things I want and at the top of the list was “to visit London”. The last few years I have, like much of America, have been steeped in British Media. The Great British Bake Off is probably the most popular, but there is Peep Show, Taskmaster, the growing hate of the Monarch, and so on.
This year has been British heavy for me, even compared to other years. Here is what I have been watching and listening to.
Taskmaster [TV Show/Podcast]
Between November and February of last year I watched all (at the time) episodes of Taskmaster. I almost immediately started a rewatch, this time doing a ranking of the season (coming soon!). It’s truly a silly and pointless show, but it is legit one of the funniest things I’ve watched in the last decade. And you know what’s great, you can watch it all for free on Youtube!: https://www.youtube.com/@Taskmaster
Oh! And they have an official Taskmaster Podcast, hosted by one of the former contestants, Ed Gamble. I’ve only recently just started listening, but I have a feeling I’ll be listening to it frequently in the near future. https://www.taskmaster.tv/podcast
Trying [TV Show]
I have no longing for having kids, but I do think an accidental pregnancy would fix me. Trying is about a couple desperate to have a child, and struggling to do so. It starts off with fucking on a bus, but the last episode I watched, I think the couple was in like 3 scenes together. It’s a fun enough show, and I like all the shoots that take place in actual London, but I’m finding series 4 a slog. I think couples would have a fun time watching this though.
Slow Horses [TV Show]
Slow Horses is an Action/Drama about British spies (MI5) mostly spying on themselves. The cast is great, and works so well together. Topped off with Gary Oldman as the alcoholic, cynical, old man yelling at clouds. He’s great.
It’s a quick 18 episodes over 3 seasons.
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster [Podcast]
Sometimes you just need to hear two to three British people talking for an hour or so. They have a good mix of British guests (Paul Hollywood, Jamie Oliver) and American guests (Jason Mantzoukas and Paul Rudd). It’s fun to hear the slight and sometimes significant differences in the two cultures as well. Why isn’t curry a bigger part of my life?? (Oh because America didn’t colonize India probably, huh?)
I want Kevin McCloud to follow me around my day to day life and critique every decision I make. I would be 100x the person I am now if he did. It’s not quite Taskmaster Easy to watch, but it’s pretty easy. Some seasons are at times available on Netflix and Amazon Prime. You can watch a 24/7 channel of Grand Designs on Amazon’s Freevee. AND you can also find on Youtube a lot through non-sanctioned channels. Try this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grand+designs
If you love houses, you’ll love this show.
Would I Lie To You [TV Show]
The British are really onto something here: another show where all, or at least a good chunk, are available for free on Youtube. I think all TV Shows should do this.
Would I Lie To You is a short and sweet celebrity panel show that’s low stakes and fun. Look at those three blokes, what’s not to love. Give it a watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@WILTY_TV
What am I missing? Please tell me the good British shows to watch. I can’t get enough.
Need help implementing, managing, understanding, or creating dashboards for website traffic data from Google Analytics? I have 13 years experience with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google’s Looker Studio. Email me with questions or freelance opportunities. 🙂 mikeeschmee at gmail
Google Analytics says they will be deleting all old reporting for the free users on the Legacy Google Analytics starting July 1st, 2024! If you want to have any of this data for reference, archives, etc. there is a semi-easy way to export this data to Excel files/Google Sheets. These can be basic traffic by month for the last ten years, or hyper specific with multiple dimentions/metrics invovled.
Step 1: Open up Sheets, and Add the Extension to your workbook. Go to Extensions>Add-ons>Get add-ons. Once that opens, search “google” and install the add-on called “Google Analytics”.
Step 2: You will now have the Google Analytics option under Extensions. Click Create new report.
Step 3: Create your new report. Name it, select the correct View, the metrics and dimensions. Then click Create Report.
Step 4: This will create a new sheet, with the configuration options. These can be manually updated, including: Dates, Order, Filters, and Limits. You can also mass run the same report across many different views. Once you have it configured, copy and past everything under View ID, and then update rows 2 and 3 with that Views details.
Step 6: View your reporting! Each column you have set in the configuration sheet, will be a separate sheet. I’ve run these up to like 75 different columns, and they can go sometimes slow, but as long as it’s not too large of a request, like 1,000 rows for each column, it should complete. I’ve had some with each report had 500 rows of data that stopped midway. If you then delete the columns that did finish, you can re-run the report and it will get the others.
And that’s it! I was happy to find this when I was trying to save some basic data for those 75 sites noted above, and this made it very quick.
Once I got the first one setup for all the sites, I was able to quickly edit the manual configuration with copy/paste of each new report I wanted. Thanks, bye!
Need help implementing, managing, understanding, or creating dashboards for website traffic data from Google Analytics? I have 13 years experience with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google’s Looker Studio. Email me with questions or freelance opportunities. 🙂 mikeeschmee at gmail
I take some efforts to limit my plastic used: no bottled water, bring my own bags for groceries, get limited takeout/to-go boxes and when I do try to limit to places that don’t use plastic containers, etc. But plastic in the world we live in is inevitable, even if you don’t use directly. Every moment you are breating you are indirectly using plastic. Hell, even after you’re dead!
If I stop to think of even my limited daily use of plastic, and I multiply that by just the USA population of 330,000,000 or so, it is an absurd amount of plastic, which I frankly can’t even comprehended.
So I had some questions about plastic use by humans, and I found some answers. Check them out below.
How much plastic waste do Humans create each year?
The world produces around 350 million tonnes of plastic waste each year.
How much of the worlds produced plastic ends up in the Ocean?
One-quarter of that – 19 million tonnes – is leaked to the environment. 13 million tonnes to terrestrial environments, and 6 million tonnes to rivers or coastlines.
1.7 million tonnes of this is then transported to the ocean: 1.4 million tonnes from rivers, and 0.3 million tonnes from coastlines. The rest of the plastic waste that was leaked into aquatic environments accumulated in rivers and lakes.
That means that around 0.5% of world’s plastic waste ends up in the oceans.
What is the carbon footprint of the plastics industry?
Indeed, plastics are made from fossil fuels and cause greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of their life cycle. The plastic industry’s global carbon footprint in 2020 was 1.3 billion metric tons — twice as big as Canada’s — and it’s expected to grow as fossil fuel companies seek to offset declining demand for oil and gas used in the power and transportation sectors.
I loved British TV ever since I was able to start watching it due to streaming around 2010. Luther, Skins, Top Gear, and Peep Show were some of my early favorites. The amount of shows available, although across a significant number of streaming services, has only grown in the last decade plus. Check out these shows from the Live Channels on Freevee. At this very moment of me writing this, and probably you reading it, I am watching Grand Designs. Can’t get enough of Kevin and his house takes.
About: In the last 3 months no human on earth has watched more Grand Designs than I. My Guinness World Record award is currently pending. I can’t get enough of this show: the genius and the hubris of these people that decide to “build their own homes”. I loathe some of them, but often I find the perseverance of them inspiring. Also there is Kevin, who holds back no punches on their lack of qualifications and often times insanity. I original got hooked on this show during first few months of Covid Pandemic, but that love has never gone away, and now you can watch 24/7 on Freevee.
About: Do I hate cars? Yes. Do I find one of the hosts of this show on par with Piers Morgan for British Unlikability? Yes. Do I love to see the stupid cars go vroom vroom? Also Yes. Duality of man. I contain multitudes. Etc. Some of the episodes are pretty meh, but often they are pretty fun.
About: The whole BBC gang showed up. We got Home and Garden. We got Scifi. We got Comedy. We got Travel. We got Earth. Imagine if the United States’ Public Broadcasting Service was as well funded as the BBC. These could all be PBS channels. A Ken Burns PBS Channel??? The dream.
About: If you thought American Antiques Road Show was pretentious, you ain’t seen nothing yet sister. I actually didn’t know the American Antiques Road Show (PBS!) was based on a British version! Well anyways, the British version is fun because 1) the accents, obviously and 2) the UK is just so much older than the US, and I think old things are just neat.
About: I can’t stop looking at the poster. I know it’s small, but look at it. Beautiful. I recently saw people razzing on this movie on Bluesky but in a fun/supportive way. If you like horror movies and you haven’t yet watched this, you gotta. You gotta watch Malignant.
About: There is something about movies where Dudes Are Getting Things Done that I can’t get enough. And as much as I dislike American Car Culture, this is a well paced, and action filled movie with Men Being Men. Remember when Dudes were Men?
About: Skyscraper didn’t make my Top Disaster Porn movies, but that doesn’t mean this non-sense idea of a movie isn’t semi-entertaining. Need to turn your mind (and heart?) off? Skyscraper is the movie for you.
About: A little British Bear wearing a little coat and a little hat, and doing little British Bear things in London? Your kids are going to love it. You’re going to love it. Cozy up with blankets and popcorn and have a nice family evening in. 🙂
About: The first three John Wicks are currently streaming for free on Tubi. Murder. Car chases. Guns. More murder. More car chases. These John Wick movies have it all.
About: Many years ago a friend told me this was their favorite movie, so one night I impulse bought it on Amazon. It’s pretty good but “favorite” seems like a stretch. YOU can now watch it for free (with commercials) on Tubi. Or buy it on Amazon!
About: Has a movie ever felt more 2008 than Wanted (2008)? (non-derogatory). It’s honestly still a pretty fun action movie, with curving bullets, and a hot Angelina Jolie. Give it a watch.
About: It has probably been a decade since I’ve watched this movie, but I’m guessing it holds up (mostly). A cheeky PG-13 flick, that the whole family can enjoy.
About: A classic. If you haven’t watched this movie with your children yet you have failed them. You are despicable. BUT, you can change that today. Fun for the whole family.
Just shipped: Bluesky posts embeds! Now you can see Bluesky posts in their natural habitat.
Simply right-click on the post you want to embed, or paste its URL in embed.bsky.app for the code snippet.
Alrighty then, let’s get into some of the good recent posts on Bluesky.
Phone Bad. Children lazy nerds.
This started from Discourse about a book by some guy who basically says “phones are the problem for why kids don’t leave the house enough these days”. Apparently it ignores….***CARS***.
Anyways, keeping your distance some discourse of dumb shit is good, but I loved this many years old graphic that Doug Gordon (of The War On Cars fame) shared.
Just shipped: Bluesky posts embeds! Now you can see Bluesky posts in their natural habitat.
Simply right-click on the post you want to embed, or paste its URL in embed.bsky.app for the code snippet.
DETECTIVE HARRY HOLE: Its me, norways famous detective, Harry Hole. in Norway it's a normal name.POLICE CHIEF: Hole, I'm glad you're here, and that your name is normal, in our culture. this is a hell of a murder
Might as well post that picture of my son when he was a baby. The one where he look like he was born playing darts. In 1957. Looking like he just got some bad news about a tractor trailer his nephew was minding for him. With a face like my dad's when I tell him about my podcast.
When magazines were fun (and had money): I was going through a drawer and just found one of the more lunatic things I ever greenlit. These are outtakes from a 1996 Oscars photo shoot we did at Entertainment Weekly–one if Babe won an Oscar, one if it didn't.
100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers. 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers.
Beef.
Turns out if you get a nice burger from a local restaurant once a week at $13 (+drink(or two) and tip), that money adds pretty quick!
Luckily I found these frozen burgers at Aldi a few months ago. At about $12 for the entire bag, with cost of the bun and other toppings, I’m eating ~$2.00 burgers at home. Those are savings you can take to the bank. And also, arteries you can be assured are being clogged.
Listen, we (Americans) eat too much red meat. It’s killing us all, slowly. Including me. With the ease it is to cook these, how cheap, and ultimately a satisfying dinner, I often try to switch out these 100% PURE BEEF Beef Burgers with the frozen Turkey Burgers Aldi’s sometimes carries, or frozen chicken breasts. Both can be classed up a bit, easy to make, and are also the “burger” handheld form, which can’t be beat.
Alright, so the preparing and toppings…
Burger: Largely follow the instructions on the bag to cook in oven. 400 Degrees. I place the one or two burgers in a aluminum foil “pan” I create so the juices are easy to clean up, and don’t need to clean the sheet pan. Roughly 7 minutes on one side, flip, about another 6-7 minutes. THEN flip again, and put cheese on burger, for roughly another 1 minute in the oven. Check on until cheese as melted as you’d like. I actually typically put diced onions on the burger and then the cheese on top of that, so the cheese melts around the onions. Very good.
Toppings: As noted above I’ll go with some cheese (swiss or provolone usually), diced or not-so-diced raw white onions, tomato slices, mayo on the side of one bun, and ketchup on the other. If I’m feeling especially unhealthy, and I have them on hand, I’ll put a layer on each end of Kettle chips, for that extra crunch texture.
Rating: 3.5/5. Not bad. Tastes about what you’d expect from any frozen burger. Class it up with your bun and topping choices, and you’re having a good time. And remember, moderation!
About: Maybe the most perfect Camp Thriller movie of the year 1997 (and even all of the 90s)? Great performances from both Cage and Travolta. A must watch if you have never seen.
About: Recently watched this and it absolutely slaps. It doesn’t feel like a 3 hour and 15 minute movie. Remember the dual VHS version of this from when it was first released? Take me back.
About: Jon Stewart showing up is a surprise, but not as much of a surprise as how he meets his end in this late 90s Teen horror/thriller. You should watch it. Now. Go.
About: I don’t keep up with the DC Universe but thought this movie was fun enough. Lightning and running around. Turn your brain off for a couple of hours.
About: It took me a couple of watches but I came around to Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Paul Dano and the rest of the stacked cast has a lot to do with that.
About: There has never been, and never will be again, a better use of a Queen song in a “Middle Ages Film”. I beg you to watch this 2 minute Youtube clip from A Knight’s Tale (no spoilers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hi8IWqic0U. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Last Duel could never.
About: An incredibly cute and wholesome movie. Fun for the whole family. Or in my case, a 36 year old man home alone on a Friday night with little else to do.
Don’t worry about seeing Paddington 1 first, it’s pretty easy to get: there is a cute little bear that lives with a family and he’s nice and he gets into his little hijinks.
I love me some British TV. I’ve recently been on a Taskmaster and Grand Designs binge. But also enjoy some of their Crime/Drama/Thriller shows. Tubi has quite a few of the best. Check out the list of Best British Shows To Stream On Tubi below! Want to jump directly to the British Crime TV listings? https://tubitv.com/category/british_crime_tv
About: Arrest me, Scully, I’ve been a bad, murdering boy. (Come on, Mike. get it together.). The Fall is a great serial killer thriller. Series 3 is a bit of a snooze but first two are nail-biters.
About: A detective that fully engulfs himself into his work because he’s flawed and ultimately unhappy with his life and himself? You got it. When I first got Netflix steaming in around 2009, I recall this being one of my first introductions to British TV.
About: Two detectives that fully engulf themselves into their work because….you get it. This shows has some truly upsetting plot lines but it’s the best I’ve ever seen David Tennant, and Olivia Colman has been doing the work (well) for decades. Probably my favorite from this list.
About: For how much I hate cars, it’s puzzling why I enjoy this show so much. Not to mention how much I loathe Jeremy Clarkson. But before they went full non-sense and military propaganda, there was some great TV in there.
Every year Ben & Jerry’s puts out their top flavors of the year based on sales. You can see that list here: https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2023/12/top-flavors-2023. But America is wrong. These are actually the best flavors ranked, by me, Mike.
See my rankings 1-10 below, with the top flavor sold from the Ben & Jerry’s list in ().
1. Americone Dream (Stephen Colbert’s) (8)
The Best! The Caramel swirl. Oh! The chocolate covered waffle cone. OH BABY. This is my go-to flavor in my once-per-month pint of Ben and Jerry’s.
2. Chocolate Fudge Brownie (5)
So chocolatey but oh so good. This one I can take in only short bursts, which is good because it slows down my consumption of it!
3. Half Baked (1)
Would definitely be ranked 2, maybe even 1, if it weren’t for those damn “cookie dough” chunks. nasty!
4. The Tonight Dough (Jimmy Fallon) (6)
Would be one higher if it wasn’t for Jimmy Fallon’s goofy face and name on the pint.
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5. Phish Food (7)
This flavor is grooooooovy, man. 🙂
6. Milk & Cookies (10)
How have I never actually had this flavor before?! Cookie chunks (two kinds) sounds so much better than awful “cookie dough”.
7. Strawberry Cheesecake (4)
I have not yet had this flavor, but cheesecake (in moderation) is a top tier pie/cake and strawberry is a top tier berry (in all amounts), so I’m excited to give it a try this year.
8. Cherry Garcia (2)
Not a cherry fan (flavor is usually good) so sadly putting this near the bottom.
9. Chunky Monkey (9)
As an on-off banana lover, I’d love to love this super fun-ly named B&J flavor but I loathe walnuts. NO THANKS.
10. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (3)
Cookie dough in ice cream is disgusting. What an awful, malting texture. You all need to Find God.
Bluesky continues to grow and be a good site to hang out on and post. Check out some of the best recent Bluesky posts in mid to late March 2024. *Be sure to follow all of these users!*
I’m a Pluto.tv virgin, but damn if they don’t have a great lineup of free movies available to watch. I think I’m going to start with Congo. Check out Congo and some of the other new additions in March 2024 below!
About: Part Jurassic Park. Part Indian Jones. Part The Net. Annnnd you’re already gone, off watching Congo (1995). Stop back in when you’re looking for your next movie on Pluto.tv.
About: This movie is stacked: Foster, Whitaker, and Stewart. Thankfully Pluto.tv has the No Leto Cut of this great thriller. Crazy to think this was Fincher‘s movie between Fight Club and Zodiac, both of which seem and are so massive, where this largely takes place in one Brownstone in NYC’s Upper West Side. (Filmed on a Hollywood Studio lot, sadly.)
But for real, I think Gattaca is a bit of a “cult classic”, after not having box office success, but I don’t think it’s had the wide-spread love that it deserves. Watch it if you haven’t seen.
About: Imagine the world was watching you waste your life away reading this stupid shit, instead of like going for a walk, or talking to your kids, or being a contributing member of your community.
Wait, now I’m imagining them watching me WRITE this drivel. oh my god. i’ve wasted my life
About: Awful poster. Now that I think about this film I recall almost all advertising I saw for it being bad. Probably 10 years after it originally came out, I caught it on Netflix, and you know what? It’s pretty good!
About: Mikey likey, Mikey want to watch a 90’s comedy classic that he at one point knew nearly all the words to. Relive your childhood with me, and let’s watch TB tonight.
My microwave recently died. I thought it would be fun to live without one for awhile. So far it has been going A-okay. Fine. Not that much of a disturbance. Biggest problem has been melting coconut butter, and also reheating coffee. Both are easy enough with a stove-top pan, and just drinking cold coffee, respectively.
BUT I recently purchased these frozen White Castle Cheeseburgers and it came as a surprise that the only instructions on the box are for the microwave.
As I don’t have one, and I wanted to eat these shitty, cheesy, sliders I had to cook in-the-oven based only on my wits and frozen meal experience (which is sadly pretty extensive).
Here’s what I did:
Oven at 350 Degrees F. Put in for 5 minutes. When I took them out the breading was starting to get semi-crisp, however the middle was still quite frozen. I cut them all in half, flipped, re-spread out on the cookie sheet, and threw in the same oven for another 3 minutes.
At that point the middle of the entire half-cheeseburgers was melted and non-frozen.
I then plated, and ate them. And you know what…delicious. Crispy buns, and melted cheese insides. So good. Eat this trash.
(I am not a doctor, nor a chef, nor an expert on food-borne illnesses. Cook in the oven at your own risk.)
Enjoy!!
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I started watching Taskmaster (UK) around Thanksgiving last year and now, about 5 months later, I essentially haven’t stopped. I’m on rewatch two. I love it so much I’m working on a ranking of the series for this site, as I do my rewatch.
Each episode starts with the prize task. Some of them are stolen pants, or subscriptions to cloud picture emails, or it turns out, some things you can actually buy online. Below is a list of the Taskmaster Prize Tasks that you can actually buy. Some of them quite cheap!
(these links are affiliate links where I will make pennies if you purchase something from amazon.com)
The Spinning Nose Elephant On A Bike – Bob Mortimer – S5E6
One of the silliest (and surprisingly cheap) little prize task prizes, is this little elephant on a bike where the top spins as the wheels turn. Bob Mortimer uses this prize twice, once with broccoli on it, and another where it’s a lil’ sausage. Both very funny (and cute!). Oddly this was a “best thing you’ve made yourself” task, which this is clearly not. ha. You can actually buy this for fairly cheap! $16 at the time of writing this: https://amzn.to/3vaHi1m
This is one of those clips that you truly hope is sincere, and it feels like it actually is. A fucking laminator lol. The reactions are great. I guess the category of “most magnificent stationary” makes it make some sense. Buy a similar lamintor here: https://amzn.to/490JDtw
50 Ways To See Through People [Book] – Lou Sanders – S8E6
Okay this one is actually less buy-able. It’s only used and *very* expensive. Still a pretty fun/stupid prize for the task of “The best see-thru thing”. See the options to buy used: https://amzn.to/43hdDAe
Cute Cat Toy With Eyes That Pop – Hugh Dennis – S4E5
In this series Hug Dennis’s prize tasks were hilariously bad and 6 out of 8 times came in last place. Good gag. In this episode for “the Cutest Thing” thing he brought in this cat with eyes that bulge out. I think Greg was a little harsh on him, but still funny. Buy a version here! https://amzn.to/3v5ZWaJ
You should really watch this clip below. The story of Phil haggling for the prize (a gag he did in every episode which was very funny), and then James Acaster’s outburst with Greg taking him aside. All very funny. The category was “the most confusing thing”. Buy similar boxes here: https://amzn.to/3ICDk4B
This is also from the “bring in the cutest thing” category that was also above. I think this is actually legitimately cute, but Greg was a little rascal about it. It’s Three Peas In A Pod! https://amzn.to/3PozJLf
OSHA(Occupational Safety and Health Administration) comes out with a list of the top standard citations they give out each year. These come out roughly in April for the previous Fiscal Year, which happens to be Oct-Sept for the previous time period. So in this case, the 2022 Fiscal Year citations listed below are from October 2021-September 2022.
The 2023 list should be coming out this April 2024, showing the 2023 Fiscal Year citations from Oct 2022-Sept 2023. (See that list here!)(coming soon!)
Fall Protection addresses things like the use of guardrails on worksites (temporary guardrails, scaffolding guardrails, and around stairs), properly covering holes, safety net systems and more. Read more about Fall Protection in construction settings over on the OSHA website. https://www.osha.gov/otm/section-5-construction-operations/chapter-4
No one tells you that one of the scariest parts of living in a city, after cars, is scaffolding. Walking under it is scary. Seeing people up on it is scary. Windy days are especially scary for scaffolding. Not to mention the likely mob connection to scaffolding being installed. Be safe: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.451
6. Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry – 2,139
This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees. This standard establishes minimum performance requirements for the control of such hazardous energy.
7. Powered Industrial Trucks, general industry – 1,896
Are you Fork Lift Certified? I hope so! Here are the vehicles included: fork trucks, tractors, platform lift trucks, motorized hand trucks, and other specialized industrial trucks powered by electric motors or internal combustion engines. See more here: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.178
About: A coming of age tale in Sacramento, written and directed by Greta Gerwig (of Barbie fame). It’s a cute and funny movie. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf both kill it. The movie was nominated for countless awards. Watch it if you haven’t seen before.
About: David Fincher does it again. Other than two scenes I skip past because they are very upsetting, I love this movie. Can’t beat a Scandinavian murder mystery/thriller where they speak English the whole time (hello The Snowman).
About: This is a *safe space*, right? Okay, good. I have never seen Friday. However I did just watch on Youtube “friday best bits“, and you know what, I think I/you should watch this movie.
Really astonishing how funny a person Chris Tucker is. I hope he’s doing well. *me ignoring the last decade in his Personal Life on Wikipedia*
About: An incredible good (and fun! 🙂 ) critique of Class as we slowly transition to our Climate Emergency future. Written and Directed by Bong Joon-ho, of Parasite fame.
About: An incredibly cute and wholesome movie. Fun for the whole family. Or in my case, a 36 year old man home alone on a Friday night with little else to do.
Don’t worry about seeing Paddington 1 first, it’s pretty easy to get: there is a cute little bear that lives with a family and he’s nice and he gets into his little hijinks.
About: I haven’t seen it but I’m guessing the girl in the middle turns sixteen and sheds her adolescence. And then finds a love or two with those couple of fellas? Movie pretty much writes itself. But good try, John Hughes, I guess.
Gotta watch your stories. I get it. I’m watching one of my stories right now. Need help with your LG Magic Remote that came when you purchased your LG TV? See below!
Battery
Installing The Batteries
*Please read this manual carefully.
*Press the top of the battery cover, slide it back, and lift the cover as shown below.
*To replace batteries, open the battery cover, replace alkaline batteries (1.5 V, AA) matching and ends to the label inside the compartment, and close the battery cover. Be sure to point the remote control at the remote control sensor on the TV.
*To remove the batteries, perform the installation actions in reverse. Don’t mix old or used batteries with new ones. Close the cover securely.
*Open the battery cover to find the label.
Battery Precautions
*After replacement of the batteries, pair the remote control and use it in accordance with user manual.
*If the unit does not operate after replacement of batteries, reattempt pairing in accordance with the user manual.
*If the remote controller is not being used for prolonged period of time, remove the batteries from the unit.
*Do not dismantle or expose the batteries to heat.
*Do not drop or exert extreme impact on the batteries. This may cause the case to be damaged.
*Do not immerse the batteries in water.
*There is danger of explosion if batteries are inserted incorrectly.
*Properly dispose of used batteries.
*Failure to match the correct polarities of the battery may cause the battery to burst or leak, resulting in fire, personal injury, or ambient pollution.
How To Use
How to register (pair) or deregister (unpair)
To use the Magic Remote, first pair it with your TV.
*Put batteries into the Magic Remote and turn the TV on.
*Point the Magic Remote at your TV and press the Wheel (OK) on the remote control. *If the TV fails to register the Magic Remote, try again after turning the TV off and back on.
How to deregister (unpair) the Magic Remote
1. Press and hold the (HOME) and BACK buttons at the same time for five seconds, to unpair the Magic Remote with your TV.
2. Pressing and holding the GUIDE button will let you cancel and re-register Magic Remote at once.
*Shake the Magic Remote slightly to the right and left or press (HOME), (INPUT), or (Q. Settings) buttons to make the pointer appear on the screen. (In some TV models, the pointer will appear when you turn the Wheel (OK) button.)
*If the pointer has not been used for a certain period of time or Magic Remote is placed on a flat surface, then the pointer will disappear.
*If the pointer is not responding smoothly, you can reset the pointer by moving it to the edge of the screen.
*The Magic Remote depletes batteries faster than a normal remote due to the additional features.
Bluesky has “the juice” as the people who post too much on Bluesky say. Check out some of the recent posts in February/March 2024 that were good. Be sure to follow all of these posters too.
It is far too easy for fascists to speak and be heard in the last 5 years. In big part thanks to the likes of Elon Musk. Why are you still logging into Twitter again?
I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot since Dr. Damien P. Williams posted a version of it a couple of weeks ago. With parents reaching their 70s, and myself having two weeks of lower back pain, it’s hard not too.
You will get old. You will die. (Probably with your body slowly, and then very quickly, breaking down.)
The first question you might be asking is “why does AI use water at all?” You might also wonder at the end of this, “we are using all of this energy and resources for really shitty “art” and straight up wrong answers to questions we ask? Seems silly and bad, huh?”
Check out the four questions and answers below!
How much water and electricity will A.I. use in the coming years?
Researchers at UC Riverside estimated last year, for example, that global AI demand could cause data centers to suck up 1.1 trillion to 1.7 trillion gallons of freshwater by 2027. A separate study from a university in the Netherlands, this one peer-reviewed, found that AI servers’ electricity demand could grow, over the same period, to be on the order of 100 terawatt hours per year, about as much as the entire annual consumption of Argentina or Sweden.
To put that in perspective? Per the Atlantic, that’s approximately the amount that a total of 670 Goodyear families would consume in a year combined. And though that’s a lot of water anywhere, it’s especially material in a place like southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, where a drying Colorado River and property development loopholes have led to an increasingly dire water crisis.
Academics suggest that AI demand would drive up water withdrawal — where water is removed from ground or surface sources — to between 4.2bn and 6.6bn cubic meters by 2027, or about half the amount consumed by the UK each year.
[…]has suggested that requesting between 10 and 50 responses from the company’s popular ChatGPT chatbot running on its older model GPT-3 would equate to “drinking” a 500ml bottle of water, depending on when and where it is deployed.
GPT-4 had more parameters and required more power, so it would likely use more water, said Ren. Detailed information about the model’s energy use has not been made available.
How much of the world’s overall energy use will be AI tools in the coming years?
“You’re talking about AI electricity consumption potentially being half a percent of global electricity consumption by 2027,” de Vries tells The Verge. “I think that’s a pretty significant number.” But de Vries says putting these figures in context is important. He notes that between 2010 and 2018, data center energy usage has been fairly stable, accounting for around 1 to 2 percent of global consumption. (And when we say “data centers” here we mean everything that makes up “the internet”: from the internal servers of corporations to all the apps you can’t use offline on your smartphone.)
How has energy use by Google, Microsoft, and Meta increased since their AI tools became available?
In 2022, the latest period for when figures are available, Microsoft increased its water consumption 34 per cent, Google 22 per cent and Meta 3 per cent as a result of their growing use of data centres.
Bluesky now has over 5 million users. I’ve been over there a year plus, since Elon Musk took over Twitter.
We’ve done a few posts over here specifically about Bluesky, check those out below and then sign up for Bluesky. And please stop logging into the site owned by Elon Musk.
As I admitted in my recent post about my most rewatched TV Shows, I said that Psych is my second most watched TV Show. I love that silly trash.
About a dozen years ago or so I had started a site called thenamesofburtonguster.com and cataloged all of the nicknames that Burton Guster is called in the show. I still have the domain, but didn’t keep up with managing the site. I was able to recover most of it from the Internet Archive, and you can see that in these links! See a few of my favorites below.
“Oh, you might not want to do that. Doctor Guster just inseminated an Appaloosa. All the way up to the elbow.” – Shawn, 3:00
Fingers
“You’re 36 months into a subscription for Modern Safe Cracker Magazine, what’s the point?” – Shawn, “I’m an amateur, Shawn.” – Gus, “Well, It’s time to go pro, Fingers.” -Shawn, “Fingers?” – Gus, “Twist it up.” – Shawn, 29:45
S03E03, “Daredevils!”:
Die-Harder
“Actually, I’m Die-Hard. He’s Die-Harder. We have two other guys in our crew, but they aren’t nearly as good as us.” – Shawn, 9:10
“Yo, El Diablo! What’s up, man? [I’m] Shawn Spencer, this is my partner, Squirts Macintosh. Just have a couple sort of serious questions for you.” – Shawn, 15:10
S04E09, “Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark”:
Donut Holestein
“My name is Shawn Spencer, this is my associate Donut Holestein.” – Shawn, 11:00
I’m taking my 8th(?) Amtrak trip in a couple of weeks, and I can’t get over how much easier and more relaxing it is vs. driving or flying. Check out the map below and if you have any upcoming trips, consider the train!
If you saw my last post about starting the music blog site in college, I sort of became obsessed with how you get people to websites, and then also seeing The Number Go up each month. So I became semi-well versed in SEO, backlinks, and analytics tools.
This continues today to this day with this site. And my 9-5 job.
With the recent switch to GA4 from the Universal Analytics tagging, I loathe the in-app reporting now available in Google Analytics. Because of that I created a quick and easy report I can look at daily in Looker Studio (also Google…yay, monopolies…and free products).
Well, the point of this is to share the Looker Studio report. See below. I didn’t go as stylized as I might in my 9-5, because I’m the only one looking at this, and what’s in the reporting is far more interesting/useful to me.
Are you and your website still struggling to figure out how to navigate analytics tracking in GA4, and setting up reporting in Looker Studio? Email me at blobblobnews at gmail dot com. My rates are extremely fair. 🙂
Back in 2009/2010 I wanted to start a website, and despite having limited love or knowledge of music, I decided it would be smart to start a music blog with a friend. I was recently going through the Internet Archive for the site and read a couple of the posts/reviews. Expecting to be completely mortified, I was only partially mortified. I think this joke review of an album I never actually listened to, wasn’t that bad (but not great ha)? Or my writing/humor just continues to be as bad as this, and I don’t know the difference. Anyways, see the review below!
And check out that background of the site in the featured image. I still think it was cool as hell. (I did not make it)
The Zac Brown Band – The Foundation
Posted April 1, 2010 by Mike E Schmee.
It has happened. I have turned to the Dark Side. I like LOVE a country album. One that isn’t even J. Cash, because we all know he isn’t actually country anyway.
I decided to give the Zac Brown Band’s first full length album The Foundation a chance since they won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Oh how the Grammy Awards were spot on again. This album gives a whole new meaning to country with lyrics like, “Not a worry in the world/A cold beer in my hand” from Toes and “You know I like my chicken fried/A cold beer on a Friday night/A pair of jeans that fit just right/And the radio up” from the awesome track, “Chicken Fried”.
The ZBB is reinventing the genre with mind blowing lyrics about lost love, drinking, starry nights, and chickens. I’m not shitting you, chickens: “Sic ‘em on a chicken/And watch them feathers fly”. They are also doing this thing with their voices and guitars that just sounds so, I don’t know, I guess I would call it twangy? It takes a little getting used to but damn if it doesn’t make you want to get up and start line dancing.
If you’re getting sick of your favorites like Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, and all of those other honky tonk greats I would open up your truck windows, park in a field, crack open a fresh case, throw in one of those tasty wintergreen dips and crank some ZBB.
Disclaimer: This should not be taken seriously. Look at the date. I did not even listen to the album for fear of suicide. Reading the lyrics was painful enough.
I had included Exploring Alternatives on my 6 Alternative Ways To Live post last year, but I’m finding myself watching a lot of the videos recently, and dreaming of building a cob house.
Listen, this post a day thing gets hard when you [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. I’m trying to make it at least 30 days. Getting close. BUT there will be some duds. There will be some bullshit. There will be some trash.
Welcome to dud/bullshit/trash city.
(These are affiliate links. I will get pennies on the dollar if you buy these duds, bullshit, or trash.)
I’m not a coffee snob, but a coffee snob enough to know that the Folgers sludge my mom drinks is bad. After a few years of trying better, beaned coffee, which I grind prior to putting into my French Press, this Stumptown variety has become my favorite.
I read this book over a year ago and I still can’t stop thinking about it. Care about climate change? Think about how oil executives [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]? You should read this book!
It’s not the best, but it’s what I use. That Stumptown Coffee up above, morning British black tea, nighttime chamomile tea, trying to unclog drains with hot water, my HB 1.7L Electric Tea Kettle has seen it all.
