Maybe they're just playing whatever's in the attic?

As though you haven't already heard enough trash talk about AI

Soccer match ruined when AI-controlled camera mistakes ref’s bald head for ball

To make matters worse Scotland is under strict social distancing measures. With no fans in attendance this was the only ways for fans of Iverness and Ayr United to watch the match, and instead they were treated to 90 minutes of head watching.

Lizards lose it at 40ºF*

How frigid lizards falling from trees revealed the reptiles’ growing cold tolerance

*the coldest night in south Florida in a decade

Another of my periodically occasional memos re: link rot

 Clicking on some links in our Work Avoidance Hall of Fame may produce a scary warning, *this connection is not private,* blah blah, and warn against proceeding. This is because your web browser or some browser plug-in is noticing an ancient http address, rather than a newer, more secure https. 

The problem here is, of course, that the people who created the work avoidance web sites have avoided the work of maintaining them. Similarly, although I do now and then check a link or two and delete those that don’t measure up, I avoid the work of maintaining the list as a whole.

Your browser, on discovering all this, will (wisely) advise you to turn around and go back the way you came. You might as well take that advice, since you’ve probably already avoided enough work for today. 

Leave the extreme sloth to the pros.

Oh. It. Is.

 Snowing. This stuff is not coming at us from the west, over the mountains; it's sideswiping us from the sea.

Last time it snowed on Halloween, trees crashed all over town and we lost power in this house for a week. That's because if it snows enough this early, when the trees are still mostly full of leaves, the weight of it all wreaks havoc. 

Not likely to happen this time, at least that bad. Plenty of leaves, but not that much snow in the forecast. Anyway, the tree that fell on us last time can't fall again, and the wires are strung in a better place to boot. 

In this part of the country the slightest glitch of weather, any kind of weather, can knock the power down. That's because we're still using the electric grid the Pilgrims built. But if it happens today, around here, it'll happen somewhere upstream from us, where it will get fixed way faster. 

Still, I'm charging everything chargeable, up. And keeping a few cups of coffee in a Thermos.

Nobody understands us, Facebook says

Thousands Of Biden’s Facebook Ads Are Stuck In Limbo

“We provided the same instructions to everyone, and found advertisers across the political spectrum and both Presidential campaigns were confused by our guidance…"

I've never looked to Facebook for guidance on anything, but still.

Meanwhile the phrase, "thousands of ads," is what Facebook and Google and web platforms in general are up to. That's targeted advertising. That's why you and your next door neighbor and the guy across the street could all be getting different ads from the same candidate at the same time on Facebook. If you like Chinese food, well that candidate is right with you on the pork fried rice, while if the guy across the street prefers pizza, hey, the thinner the crust the better. And none of you the wiser.

While Facebook's guidance may be confusing, its interests are clear.

Hey, if I had any frequent flier miles I'd chip in

Is President Donald Trump a Flight Risk?

Earlier this month, at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, President Donald Trump mused aloud to the crowd about what he might do if he loses the election on November 3. “Maybe I'll have to leave the country, I don’t know,” Trump said.

Who is this Gross Al, and is it too late to vote for him?

Walking home in the rain

I see a cop car parked on the pad of a donut shop that's been closed for six months. Maybe the officer inside is hoping for a miracle, maybe just suffering an attack of nostalgia. It gets me thinking about donuts, myself. 

Maybe the pandemic fatigue thing is getting to be, well, a thing. 

I got one of these calls the other day so it seems an appropriate time to mention

 

What should I do if I get a call claiming there's a problem with my Social Security number or account?

How much with just regular hips?

I'm always pretty confused…

 …but sometimes I run across a sentence that makes everything more confusing, like this one in the current issue of Forbes:

"Most of its franchisees run unprofitable businesses that have worse profitability than the industry average."

Yeah, this is way too spooky for me

Here's the lead graph of a CNN story datelined this moirning, Oct. 27, 2020…

 (CNN)Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign is making a late push into deeper-red states in the final week before the 2020 election, chasing a number of possible paths to 270 electoral votes…

…and here's a NYTimes story dated Oct. 17, 2016 retrieved from my hard drive.

Showing Confidence, Hillary Clinton Pushes Into Republican Strongholds

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is planning its most ambitious push yet into traditionally right-leaning states, a new offensive aimed at extending her growing advantage over Donald J. Trump.

And here we are again.  

And yes, there's still more than two months of 2020 left

 An aggressive turkey named 'Gerald' that terrorized an Oakland neighborhood is safely relocated

Leaves falling everywhere