Tag / Google

by admin

Tired Discourse – Irish Goodbyes

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the next question on their list:

Irish Goodbyes

First, let’s define what this is.  Google’s AI bullshit says an Irish goodbye (also known as an Irish exit) “is the act of leaving a social gathering or party quietly and unannounced without telling the host or other guests.”  The term originated in America in the 19th century as a derogatory idiom despite bearing no relation to the behavior of actual Irish folks.  So, is it acceptable?  I guess it depends on the size of the gathering.  If there’s, say, 20 or more people at said gathering, feel free.  Nobody should particularly notice.  If it is a smaller gathering, then you should probably just face the music and say a proper goodbye, even if it is to the group as a whole.

by admin

Tired Discourse – Polyamory

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the next question on their list:

Polyamory

First, let’s define what this is.  Google’s AI bullshit says it is “the practice of having more than one romantic or sexual relationship at the same time. It requires the full knowledge, agreement, and consent of all people involved. It is a form of ethical non-monogamy that focuses on open communication and honesty.”  As long as everyone involved is aware and consenting, you do you, player.

by admin

Tired Discourse – Followback Culture

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the next question on their list:

Followback Culture

First, let’s define what this is.  Google’s AI bullshit says “Follow back culture is the social media practice of returning a follow when someone follows your account, often driven by community expectations, reciprocal growth, and perceived politeness.”  At one point in time, I think this was an appropriate expectation, back when social media was populated by actual people.  If somebody gave you a follow and there was no overt reason not to follow back, it was certainly the polite thing to do.  That said, in today’s world, where 99 out of every 100 posts you see is coming from a Russian bot designed to destabilize the foundations of America’s democracy or trying to push their AI-generated OnlyFans page, that expectation is out the window.  Follow me if you like, but I’m not following you back.

by admin

Fitbit 12 – Week 19

Nearly two years ago, Google did away with the web interface for Fitbit, leaving the mobile app as the only way to access one’s data.  Last week, they revamped the app once again, doing away with the Fitbit name and rebranding it as Google Health, losing even more functionality along the way.  The new graphical representation of the weekly step totals looks a little ridiculous and, with the battery on my current device slowly failing, it may once again be time to revisit my step-counting solution going forward.

Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to sixteen despite a lingering cold.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, as a visit to my sister’s house to celebrate Danny’s upcoming move left me with 4500 steps.  A Memorial Day trip to the ballpark on Monday pushed me up to 4900 steps.  A small decrease on Tuesday, ended just 17 steps away from 4900.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a walk to Walgreens to pick up some cough medicine which left me 34 steps shy of 5900.  A busy day of work on Thursday dropped me back to 4400 steps.  Friday needed only 7 additional steps to reach 5000.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday thanks to another visit to Rate Field, falling just 17 steps short of my daily goal of 7500.

Total steps: 37,061

Daily average: 5294.4

by admin

Fitbit Year 10

A year ago, I set a goal of 2,730,000 steps, an average of 7500 steps per day. Thanks to a combination of old age and my weight finally getting the better of me, I fell quite a bit short of my challenge, finishing well more than a million steps behind with only 1,540,581, the sixth straight year I’ve failed to surpass my yearly goal.  My average step total per week was 29,626.56, which comes out to about 4232.4 steps per day. The median weekly step total was 29,185.  My best week was Week 26, which just so happened to correspond with my trip to see Val in Amsterdam, propelling me to only 49,240 steps for the week.  My worst week was Week 28, where work woes took a toll.

For reasons I don’t completely understand, I’m going to keep things as is for the upcoming year, now that I have finally managed to stop the downward trend, if only slightly.  I am leaving my goal for steps per day at 7500, which would again bring me to a yearly total of 2,730,000 steps. Hopefully this seventh attempt is the one that sticks.

Also, as you may recall, Google, the parent company of Fitbit, has done away with the web interface completely and left the app as the only way of accessing one’s step data.  The app does not allow me to select a year period that does not match up with the calendar year, which is why there is no graphic to accompany this year’s post.

by admin

FB10: Week 25

Before we begin, you may notice some changes with the graphics this week.  Fitbit, or, more accurately, their parent company Google, has done away with the web interface and left the app as the only way of accessing one’s step data.  I personally find the options through the app to be somewhat lacking, but I’m sure this move saves them a quarter or two. Since that web interface is what was keeping me in the Fitbit ecosystem and away from the Apple Watch and the native iOS options, it may be time to revisit my step-counting solution.

Things continued trending in the wrong direction this week, falling further below the 30,000-step plateau.  The week got off to a slow-ish start on Sunday, as I wrapped up the holiday weekend with 4000 steps.  Monday saw a slight improvement, coming in just 9 steps shy of 4200.  Tuesday fell back slightly, needing 36 more steps to get to 4100.   A busy day at work on Wednesday cratered, coming 35 steps away from 2200.  A decent improvement on Thursday pushed me back up to 3700 steps. Friday pushed me back up over 4000 steps.  The week ended on a high note on Saturday with 4700 steps.

Total steps: 26,909

Daily average: 3844.1

by admin

Another Speed Trap

It has been more than three years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 22 Mbps over the previous test.  Can I expect a similar jump now, with the amount of people working remotely?

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot. Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a mere than 4.5 Mbps of download speed over the past 41 months. Upload speed has stayed pretty consistent.

Microsoft Edge

Things were a little better on the Microsoft side of the house. The Edge test finished just a smidge over Chrome, but added nearly 10 Mbps from the last test. Upload capabilities were again pretty much the same.

by jim

Speed Trap

It has been nearly three years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 4 Mbps over the previous year.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot.  Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a more than 22 Mbps of download speed over the past 31 months.  Upload speed has stayed pretty consistent.

Microsoft Edge

Thing are a little worse on the Microsoft side of the house.  The Edge test finished a good 6 Mbps behind Chrome, gaining a little more than 6 Mbps from the last test.  Upload capabilities were pretty much the same.

by admin

Full Speed Ahead

It has been nearly two years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 40 Mbps over the previous year.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

2016speedtest-chrome

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot.  Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a measly 4 Mbps of download speed over the past 22 months.  Upload has also increased by a single Mbps.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge

Thing are a little better on the Microsoft side of the house, though this test used the new Edge browser as opposed to Internet Explorer.  The Edge test broke the 100 Mbps barrier, getting a good 10 Mbps more than Chrome and gaining more than 15 Mbps from the last IE test.  Upload capabilities were pretty much the same.

by admin

Full Speed Ahead

It has been exactly one year since I took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 20 Mbps since the previous February.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

Google Chrome

Google Chrome

Wow.  Last year, using Google Chrome, I had download speeds of 56.44 Mb/s.  That has jumped up all the way to 95.08 Mb/s, which is an increase of almost 40 Mb/s.  My upload speed has more than doubled, from 10.25 to 23.34.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Just like last year, the results with Internet Explorer are a little worse than Chrome, but still a tremendous upgrade over last year.  The way this is going, I will be able to download an HD movie in 5 seconds by this time next year.