marley_station

I have a smart home setup in my bedroom.  As it is the master bedroom, it also doubles as my lab.  Currently, every light fixture in the room is smart, and there is an Invoke for Cortana, a Google Home mini for Google Assistant and an Echo Dot for Alexa.  I use them all, and compare the responses.

In the apps for these Artificial Intelligence (AI) devices, there is an option to group all the smart fixtures based on what room they are in, and to name all the smart fixtures that connect to each other.  With the exception of the Echo Dot, which I have named after a character in Shippuden, all the fixtures have standard names, like bedroom light.  Since they are all connected and managed by a single device, I want them to have names with a common theme.  To that end, I’m taking a page from Bill Gates-era Microsoft, which boasted a number of conference rooms with names that ended with -tion, such as “procrastination”, “motivation”, “synchronization”, etc.  These are just examples, mind you – and boring ones at that.

I want to change the names of the four smart light fixtures in my bedroom to something that uses that theme.  However, I’m short on imagination this evening.  Can you guys suggest some fun/creative/inventive/radical/etc. words that end with -tion?  Thanks.

I have been Christmas shopping...

So… it's Friday night and I'm working on the implementation of my “smartened” bedroom.  I now have smart bulbs installed in all lighting.  For my tiny table lamp, I don't own a smart bulb small enough for it, so it's plugged into a smart switch I purchased on Black Friday.  Now I just have to tell Alexa which light I want her to manage, and she does.  This will certainly come in handy in the mornings… Alexa wakes me up with a song, but I have to get out of bed and turn on the lights myself, a task that is easier some days than others.  *Sigh* maybe I won't oversleep so much now.  We'll see.

I'm having fun with this though.  

OMG WHERE ARE YOU??????

I have been having an issue with uploading images to the Internet for a few weeks now.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  It began with Tumblr – quite a while ago, to be fair.  Then, little by little, it spread to other web sites I frequented.  If I tried to upload a screen capture or update a profile image, I was thrown an error.  Eventually, any site I tried to upload an image file to was throwing the error.

I finally figured out what the problem is.  It’s the browser I was using.

For some reason, Microsoft Edge, in its infinite wisdom, began prohibiting me from uploading image files to any site on the web.  I don’t know if the screw-up is linked to a browser update or what (OS Creators updates, perhaps? *shrugs*). But I know Edge is responsible, because after I updated Firefox to the Quantum version (Firefox 57) I gave it a test drive, using it to upload an image to the web.  Guess what?  It worked exactly as it should have.  Without hesitation, I changed my default browser to the new Firefox.

I am a Windows Dork from the word go – always have been.  But sometimes my loyalty is tested.  There is absolutely no reason the goof-up for which Microsoft Edge is responsible should be happening.  I use that browser with zero extensions installed.  It’s my control browser: I use it to show me what web sites look like and behave in their native form, without browser add-ons restricting tracking/logging or metadata addition or applet execution (note: pop-up blocking is MS Edge default behavior.).  I employ Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 in the same capacity.  If I want add-ons and extensions to sanction my web activity, I install them in Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

I'm actually bummed that I have to use a different browser as my default.  Microsoft’s hard work on MS Edge is not lost in translation.  It’s a very practical browser, a powerful tool that I use with enthusiasm.  But Microsoft needs to do better before I switch back to using Edge as my default.

Okay, I’m done ranting. 

I now have both a Google Home Mini and an Amazon Echo Dot set up in my bedroom.  It’s as weird as it might seem.  Next, I will find compatible hardware in order to engage Cortana in a likewise fashion.  Watch me go! 

It is cold, cloudy and blustery day today, and I don't feel like doing any of the shit I need to get done before Thanksgiving.

This is the essential NaNoWriMo survival kit...

The more things change, the more they don't…

After watching episode 9 of season 3 of SuperStore, I finally get what’s so complicated about health care from the perspective of people who typically go “under-coveraged”.  This is a must-watch episode.

Watching the latest episode of SNL on Hulu.  I must say, Miley Cyrus has some A+ eyelash game.

Martian Manhunter, eh? 

OMGOMGOMG… The Limited is back – and they have plus sizes!

https://www.thelimited.com/plus-size/