Pet Peeves

[serious crayons]

I was reading about artificial intelligence in TNY, and piqued by a description of Westworld. Anthony Hopkins plays a cyborg in it? Right up my alley.

Anthony Hopkins is in it, but he's not a cyborg, at least not as far as we viewers know so far. But the cyborgs are state-of-the-art (well, actually light years beyond the current state of the art), so it's one of those shows where you can't always tell for sure whether someone is a cyborg or not. The show is about what the difference is between humans and ultra-sophisticated robots and whether there even is a significant moral difference.

I'm a skeptic on that subject, but the show makes about a semi-plausible case. Apparently (in the show) the contents of human brains can be downloaded and uploaded the same way robots' can, so ...? The show is also very confusing because it keeps jumping around in time. One of its creators is Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan's brother, who wrote the short story from which Christopher's Memento was made. The time tricks in Memento compared to Westworld are like checkers compared to 3D chess.

Have you ever seen Blade Runner? I saw the first one when it came out in theaters decades ago, didn't like it that much and never saw it again. But then when my son and I were in Washington last fall we went to see Blade Runner 2049. This time I had a better idea of the concept (though not always exactly what was going on in the plot). Those robots are possibly even more human-like than Westworld's; even the robots don't know they're robots.

I'm a bit behind. . .trying to make it through the second season of Grace and Frankie, but it's slow going.

I got through the second season, but I know what you mean. I don't like the show that much; I don't think it's very well written. But it's fun watching those four stars.

I watch about an hour of TV a night, usually while eating dinner and pretty late in the evening.

I don't just turn on the TV and click around to see what's on. I always know what I'm going to watch beforehand -- either an episode of a currently running TV series or a streaming series or, sometimes, a movie.

Sometimes it's a little over an hour, but rarely. For example, I watched a two-hour movie over the weekend and split it into two nights.

(FYI, it was pretty good: American Made starring Tom Cruise, based on the true story of a skilled pilot who's likable but not that bright and gets caught up in running drugs and weapons back and forth from Latin America in a mysterious covert project that eventually becomes Iran-Contra!)

[CellarDweller]

I would have to have a TV or computer around.   I do enjoy reading, but I like seeing things on TV, or checking stuff out online.

How would I watch cat videos?   

[Front-Ranger]

Pet peeves on Facebook:

1. Misspelling a word (ettiquette) and then spelling it right in another place (etiquette).

But other than that, this article is spot-on:
https://www.katetooncopywriter.com.au/19-things-not-to-do-in-a-facebook-group/?fbclid=IwAR04aKTLdDyHbkWgtIMsTuznELcKdKOXrncEi2L5p56UlbM02M0n2oE6B_M

[CellarDweller]

Pet peeves on Facebook:

1. Misspelling a word (ettiquette) and then spelling it right in another place (etiquette).

But other than that, this article is spot-on:
https://www.katetooncopywriter.com.au/19-things-not-to-do-in-a-facebook-group/?fbclid=IwAR04aKTLdDyHbkWgtIMsTuznELcKdKOXrncEi2L5p56UlbM02M0n2oE6B_M

I would bet there is an unending list of pet peeves for FB!

[Front-Ranger]

Pet peeve of the day: it bothers me when people say they are going to throw out, toss, or get rid of things. I wish they would use a more respectful term. I'm hypersensitive about this and I shouldn't be, but some people are ravenously consuming and make a big deal about how much they throw away. And, where is away, anyway? It's not like the stuff disappears! It just becomes somebody else's problem.

Just consider this my Earth Day rant!

[CellarDweller]

there's so many different ways to donate things, there's less and less that needs to be thrown away.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Two pet peeves, both related to train travel.

The first is people who talk loudly into their phones so that half the car can hear them. I once learned far more than necessary about the relationship between some guy sitting directly behind me and his girlfriend. Then there was the entitled young woman (overweight, very short haircut, hair dyed green and purple) who boarded the train in Lancaster (as did I, of course). She sat two rows in front of me across the aisle and carried on a very loud conversation into her phone. Finally I flagged down a conductor and asked him to ask her if she could keep it down. He did, she replied, "Sure," then went right on talking just as loudly as before.

As for the second, I suppose everyone knows how passenger cars are laid out--two seats together on both sides of the car, with an aisle down the center. What might not be known is that Amtrak cars have a power outlet in the car wall at each set of seats. Yesterday for about half the ride home, I was by myself, seated in the window seat. Then some entitled Gen-whatever took the aisle seat, opened her laptop, and reached right across me to plug in the power cord. "Sorry," she said, "I have to charge this." I kept my cool and merely said that I was getting out at Philadelphia (the train ran through to New York City), and would she like to change seats so she would be right next to the outlet? I did, however, say that I didn't like the cord across my legs. She just said, "Oh, thank you," and we changed seats. This is not the first time this has happened.

[southendmd]

Amtrak's quiet car is a wonderful thing, but I suppose it's only on Acela, not on the regional trains. 

[CellarDweller]

Two pet peeves, both related to train travel.

The first is people who talk loudly into their phones so that half the car can hear them. I once learned far more than necessary about the relationship between some guy sitting directly behind me and his girlfriend. Then there was the entitled young woman (overweight, very short haircut, hair dyed green and purple) who boarded the train in Lancaster (as did I, of course). She sat two rows in front of me across the aisle and carried on a very loud conversation into her phone. Finally I flagged down a conductor and asked him to ask her if she could keep it down. He did, she replied, "Sure," then went right on talking just as loudly as before.

As for the second, I suppose everyone knows how passenger cars are laid out--two seats together on both sides of the car, with an aisle down the center. What might not be known is that Amtrak cars have a power outlet in the car wall at each set of seats. Yesterday for about half the ride home, I was by myself, seated in the window seat. Then some entitled Gen-whatever took the aisle seat, opened her laptop, and reached right across me to plug in the power cord. "Sorry," she said, "I have to charge this." I kept my cool and merely said that I was getting out at Philadelphia (the train ran through to New York City), and would she like to change seats so she would be right next to the outlet? I did, however, say that I didn't like the cord across my legs. She just said, "Oh, thank you," and we changed seats. This is not the first time this has happened.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Amtrak's quiet car is a wonderful thing, but I suppose it's only on Acela, not on the regional trains.

They also have them on the Keystone trains that run back and forth between Harrisburg and New York City. I suppose they also have them on all the Northeast Corridor trains.