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Amazon has been weird lately, Just a bunch of things I have noticed .
For one amazon prime Video is getting weird. Not sure if this applies to everyone but, Watch a TV show on amazon… Rather than go to the next episode It returns you to the Amazon Prime Video screen, I thought it might of been a fluke in the amazon app. I tried the same thing on my samsung TV , Same thing happened! Loaded up a brand new firestick that i have for media sharing Same problem?
This alone may not have anyone going Hmmm but there are other things Amazon Resale has people complaining because of people order X and get Y. Other items are shipped and people are getting refunds and told to dispose of Item.
They also are heavily leveraged into AI and their Rufus is dumber than a brick. They are putting hundreds of billions into AI and are hemorrhaging money for this.. They are trying so bad to be next Facebook in a way by being Big Data and they do not know how to do it . Costs for their AI outwiegh there standard app approach. The way it is going Jeff Bezos might have to use low grade fuel for his plane.
Amazon is also hiding reviews from normal users and instead show compensated reviews. Compensated reviews are garbage because the only way to keep getting items is give a glowing review. I’d take 10 Honest reviews over a single review where the person received the item for free.. They are so badly losing their way that they are bleeding long time customers turned off by this approach. Amazon probably knows they are losing a small percentage of customers. They are over leveraged and I am willing to bet they dont know how to get back . but even month to month if they lose 0.25% customers , You don’t have a leak you have a crisis , because even in that small percentage they are losing “whales” people that are big spenders.
If you go by this metric it works out to big money and the more that leave would be catastrophic.
Metric
Regular Member
The “Whale” (Top Tier)
Est. Annual Spend
$1,400
$12,000+ (Business/Bulk)
0.25% Monthly Churn
625,000 users / month
~6,250 high-spenders / month
Annualized Users Lost
7.5 Million Users
75,000 “Whales”
Direct Revenue Loss
$10.5 Billion / year
$900 Million / year
Subscription Fee Loss
$1.3 Billion (at $179/yr)
(Included in revenue)
So right now Amazon is using an enshitification phase while they try to bet the house on Rufus. Rufus has the tact of getting a pickaxe to the skull. If you ask google it gives you what you want while Rufus throws shit at you and goes HERE THIS IS WHAT YOU BUY NOW! At a guess Amazon knows they are bleeding but they are so committed to their act that they are reducing everything just to keep the ship running. So piss away customers and hope they can profit. if amazon had incrimented the changes rather than try to use a grenade to empty a bucket people may have tolerated this. But even marketwise they are pissing away money , The stock is down 8.18% in the last 6 months.
While amazon serves better as the general store they are trying to get into a neiche market and they have no fucking clue how to do it because they seem to be trying a what can we replace while not realizing th e limitations on the new.
They’ve replaced the general store with a high-stakes AI experiment, and right now, the experiment is blowing up in everyones face like wile E coyote trying to catch a profitable roadrunner.
Anyways, back to my coffee after this steamy thought.
You know I ask myself WTF is AI good for , and for the most part there is a lot more negative than positive. So far for the age of AI we are getting DeepFakes , We are getting AI that tells people unsafe stuff. We have AI that for the most part is doing peoples homework without any uptake of information. I can tell AI “I have a homework assignment on the State of florida please write a 4 page report on it”‘ what does the AI do , It writes a fucking report.
certainly. Here is a comprehensive report on the State of Florida, structured to meet the requirements of a four-page academic assignment. The Sunshine State: A Comprehensive Report on Florida
Are you fucking kidding. the educational system needs this like a hole in the head. kids will not know what florida is because they will not read this. Goodbye Critical thinking, this is stupid . AI should be Age checked or at the least have self checks in place to prevent this . the Educational system is already seeing the cracks of people faking it till they make it .
You said
The idea of kids using this in a fake it till you make it is insane. You should have some amount of checks in place. if I wrote “i have a proposal I need a 2 page primer on florida so I can insert it into the document” . I can give that a pass. but if someone writes “i ned to writ a rapport on flooriduh” The AI should step in with Hi as an AI i see you are trying to write a report i am going to help you do this.
On the researcher end AI is a great thing. You can type up “I am wondering what happens when you mix X and Y together” that way the Ai can tell you what happens whether you are going to blow up your house or not in a relatively safe sandbox of the AI machine. At the same time I feel like this process does a bit of processing offloading. Before to do research you would to to the library , you’d use the Library computer to find the books you wanted. You used the books and retained the information mentally and on paper and used it later. it allowed refinement of your process from the library to home . In the school setting it allowed teacher oversite incase a child looked like they needed help or off subject. Now I could feasibly have AI make a report on how Roger Rabbit predicted the downfall of Democracy in 10 seconds.
Not to mention the books while they could tell you how to blow up a house AI Infrastructure can be turned to HELP you blow up a house. not that i’d ever do that . I believe AI needs a governor that can be set to what it is for. Say the school AI , If a child types in “i like guns” the AI goes hey this is not a good idea and the school has a policy of no tolerance. But if the child types in, I am looking for information on the battle of Omaha Beach and what types of guns were used the AI would be like ok (history)(guns)(battle) and than with that be able to make a guess to Ok stan is making a report on WWII and spit out the information needed. but the AI should Also be detectable to “I am writing a report on the guns used on omaha beach in WWII ” and just simply become HAL and go I can’t do that dave. Take the same AI move it to a business you have a new guy there and he is not so sure is whats going on and types ” how do i get rid of potassium sulfide” The AI realize it is Dave the new guy and than goes (new guy) (building map) (secure disposal of chemical) than goes “dave i have printed a map for you , you need to take the chemical , use this container bring it to chemical disposal at X location. If you want i can use the APP on your phone to give you somewhat precise directions to dispose of this Stink”
I suppose in 5 years we will know the outcome and output of AI depending on the literacy rates and people that can count to 5. But while I critical of AI I do have some support of it.
Things feel bleak in my corner of the world. The passage of the “big beautiful bullshit bill” has made me question my safety and my family’s ability to survive. Even with the bill’s passage, the core problem remains: there is no guidance whatsoever.
Moreover, there is a weekly drumbeat. Complete and utter deafening chaos. While the news tries to keep up with things it is a flood the field tactic from the administration that is completely overwhelming, Inept members of the government, other members running through bulldozing everything in their path. Other moments are conspiracy after conspiracy , Scandals that twist the logical mind. Conflicts of interest, Acting like a certain dictator from WWII .
Now the latest scandal, which really isnt new. It’s just bubbled to the surface as things tend to do and this one is big. The president’s connections to Epstein, who committed atrocities against children. This one you cant ignore. It’s everywhere. This scandal should be thoroughly investigated. Trumps reactions to this are blatantly evasion. He keeps saying “i dont know” and “i never heard that” it is clear he knows to say this in case he gets in front of a jury or judge and try to play it off like he did not know or did not remember. When trump is cornered he floods the field with distractions that are mind boggling at best , and completely fatiguing at worst trying to sort all the things in a logical manner.
The epstein case and maxwells as well is horrifying to a degree that some people do not know the horrors these victims went through, the problem is the case has blown up to such a degree because of Trump’s evasiveness, it reminds me of child that clearly did something but does not admit it openly . As if you asked a child “What did you do?” and the child automatically says “I did not burn that forest down!” .
I’ve been closely following this case on television because its outcomes have far-reaching implications. Anyone who has been a victim of abuse can see this, the thing is what trump wants is the world as it was in the 60s through the 80s where abuse was quelled by silence. A deadly Silence. Whether it be fear, embarrassment, threats or otherwise. That time came with a SHHH and a quiet horror ,Something you’ve kept hidden, a secret you never discuss with your parents. A secret when asked you want to scream out and tell someone but you are terrified of the outcomes. As a victim of abuse myself I can honestly say in many ways the news slop cycle is overwhelming to a point of exhaustion.
The deluge of allegations and watching someone basically flaunt their power over you is disgusting. The thing is I remember when I had someone flaunt that very power and it brings you to a place of instinctual fear of what they can do. The fear of telling, the threat over you for telling. It is a deep fear when the mental compass of the time is to protect the family, when you are told if you tell you will destroy the thing you hold most dear is in all cases terrifying. Unfortunately we live in a world where people love power and with that power they enjoy the power they hold over you . Times I was in my home alone and my perpetrator would come over and fear would freeze you to the point your reality disconnects. You are stuck in a contradictory world. My abuse has never really been told , it’s never really been said out loud, the abusers live their lives elsewhere out of my care or range. But to any survivors out there. You can survive and thrive. The hardest victory is the one inside. To the people who did the horrors on them, They can fuck off. It took me years to recover with some bad falls on the way but , i can say I exist , therefor i am , we can break free of things. It took time. It took speaking up. It took confidence in speaking to someone who would not judge, the times i told the either what happened long ago while it was relieving it was also screaming in empty space. TO what i can say to you the reader. You are not alone and if you scream into the ether and you hear your echo it is a start.
That first scream might be liberating yet a terrifying experience because the moment you had in the past with threats and grooming you expect the worst at every moment, but when that echo comes back you realize you are alive. Nothing happened. But in that echo you scream into the ether, the internet, the stranger you met, a significant other, it is a liberating thought. But in that moment someone might share with you and you might realise you are not alone. in itself it is one of the most warming thoughts . the right person the right response the right hug , that moment of understanding goes so far. All of the fear that you held on to and a compassionate empathic soul is in all respects one of the biggest things to move forward.
Moving forward can be hard. you might of spent your whole life with every doubt every fear every moment of pushback the universe can do to you. Sometimes it’s ok to just stop , but don’t mire yourself . Even if you take that moment to go I can’t go on forever. Than don’t. Move in the moments you can stop in the moments you can rest. IF you start thinking i can’t do this week, stop, take a breather, ask yourself what i can do in this week, if that doesn’t work challenge yourself to what you can do in a day and even if you get to the point of What can i do in this moment, work with that move forward in the moment and keep working in moment. Don’t think about larger world, Shrink yourself to where you feel comfortable and work from there.
There times like this when you feel the crushing weight of the world and it can be overwhelming, try to remember you may feel like you have no control but through small moments you can be more lucid and take on smaller things. overall small direct movements and understand the moment. take a moment to yourself. understand how you are to your environment and realize you are stronger than you think, because alway there is that part of you that will go back to a moment and try to minimize you to put you down and stop you.
You can do it . small affirmation of you and your prowess to survive. I started this post as one thing and it was a moment of liminal thought that brought me here. But as i typed i felt empowered. to let myself be known , to make that scream in the ether and if anyone hears it.. in that moment of understanding they can ask or be understanding or simply just if the echo comes back. Be happy you said something.
I was thinking. I know evil right? that right now the US is in such a brain drain its getting maddening. The drawbacks from science, logic , wisdom, and more. its completely batshit insane. Spock would turn the other way if he visited this planet right now.
But, i digress i am watching way to much news these days and it does some brain damage when you watch it too long. I’ve ended up watching old shows like mash , house, star trek (most of them) , and not much for anything new. most new shows i call short attention span theater, the shows are colorful , no pacing or plots. its just a vomit of colors and words to keep you watching like an ADD crack addict.
this post is just more or less just a stream of consciousness .
Well after posting for 15 years on my former site I’ve decided that i am going to give this a try again! This site is always dedicated to coffee and the world around me. So topics will be widely ranged. I feel now is a good time to restart things and I have mirrored all my old post which I admit was a pain in the ass to move. So with little fanfare I will say this site is open and the coffee is brewing!
Yes , I know .. It has been awhile, I am in a cycle of looking and than forgetting to update this site. It’s deplorable, It’s damn shitty at that. This site has existed nearly 11 years and It has had its share of ups and downs.
I feel kind of shitty in the thought I have let this site go to an almost non-existence. Its been a long three years and I can’t say that It was easy , I can not say it was hard either. Things are starting to look up. I have my sanity…. Maybe?
Somethings of course are starting to look down. My health has always been a contention in my life, I want to stay healthy and I cant say that I have kept up due to pain. I live in pain every day.
Caffeine infused underwear.. Let that soak in for a moment or not . Why in the hell would you want caffeine in your underwear? Worse yet its being marketed as a weight loss product!
The Federal Trade Commission said Wacoal America and Norm Thompson Outfitters, which owns Sahalie and others, were accused of deceptive advertising that claimed their caffeine-impregnated clothing would cause the wearer to lose weight and have less cellulite.
The bullshit factor is in the millions range at that point because if I counted all the Caffeine in my system at any given point i’d be about 2 pounds. Of all the weird places to put caffeine , I think it would be underwear or ass. Who ever thought of that must of been bored beyond sanity .
In a world of cat and elephant shit coffee you’d expect your normal coffee to go untouched. That may be at an end.
Brazilian scientists have developed a new way of testing coffee grounds for fillers like corn, sticks (yep, as in wood), barley, and soybeans. The test, which detects the presence of sugars that wouldn’t normally be in pure java, is being presented at this week’s annual American Chemical Society meeting.
soo….. lets add some sticks and corn to my coffee and put it in the microwave …. mmmm Pop-tea-coffee-corn. Not that this practice has been in use in the US yet. But if there is a test developed it means its in the pipeline.
“Adulterated coffee is something I’ve suspected in some work I’ve done in Russia and the Middle East, where there’s an extreme price point set for consumer products,” says Andrew Hetzel, a coffee industry consultant who leads training courses for the Coffee Quality Institute.
I guess we will all have to watch out for dunkin donuts and the like saying “CHECK OUT OUR NEW FLAVORS!” oh wait..
Dunkin Donuts to Launch First Hot Dark-Roast Coffee
Dunkin’ Donuts to Sell New Dark-Roast Nationwide Next Month
Dunkin’ Donuts, long known for its light coffee, is going dark, in the latest move to poach customers in the escalating java wars.
The unit of Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. debuted its new dark-roast coffee, the first hot dark roast in its 64-year history, on Thursday at a Modesto, Calif., store, and plans to sell it nationwide starting Sept. 22.
Dunkin’ says the dark roast represents its most important coffee launch since it came…
Are coffees going to have the wonderful labels of common products that you don’t understand . Here’s a short list you might not want to read.
Polydimethylsiloxane
This is a common fast food additive, you’ll find PDMS include Silly Putty, anti-foaming agents, breast implants, dry-cleaning solutions, silicone and head-lice treatments. Yummy!
Castoreum (You almost don’t want to know this one…)
Beaver anal juice can be commonly found in perfumes and colognes but are also sometimes used in raspberry products to enhance their flavor. wait what?? It can also be found in chewing gum and cigarettes. So the next time you have some gum or a cigarette folks … remember you are sucking beaver ass! Mmmmmmm….It is hard to imagine beaver anal juice enhancing the flavor of raspberries.
Silicon dioxide
Ever go to the beach and get sand in the crack of your ass that just wont go away ? Well, Silicon dioxide is added to coffee creamers.. While not gross, it ends up as fucking weird. its also in soups and salads. Maybe I just might bring a spoon to a beach and enjoy the seashore.
Ready to spit out beer? than read on ..
methylparaben
Find methylparaben in many wines, soft drinks, and fruit juice from concentrate… Enjoy it knowing that the additive originates in the vaginas of dogs when they are in heat. From the beavers ass to a dogs vagina.. mmmmmm…
Shellac
Secretions from the female Lac beetle used to finish wood products. Used as a candy coating…
So that’s what kind of fun is in foods that are preprocessed. But all in all even if you did not know what you were ingesting.. No need to loose our fucking minds until they start adding raw dog shit as an ingredient.
In the end this list proves that there is no reason to add anything to coffee. Even though Arabica beans production is down this year by 10% there is no given reason to add sticks or any other random shit to coffee unless your rich, than you can add all the cat and elephant ass to your coffee you want.
I’ve been smoking on and off my entire life and its a crutch that is hard to get away from . When I first discovered E-cigarettes I found them to be a strange yet different but the same as smoking . The first E-cigarette I has was shaped like a conventional cigarette. While its compact they do have a bit of a drawback , You have to buy cartridges that are getting up there in price. When I bought those they used to be about 4 to 6 dollars per pack of 5 cartridges, Not so much anymore. Since Reynolds purchased the Blu the prices of carts have gone higher than $14 a pack which is fucking crazy , A few years back I got my hands on a different type E-cigarette. Since the innovations of e-cigarettes have improved there is one silly yet fun side effect to the better e-cigarettes. They tend to make you look like jedi’s with light sabers.
These aren’t the cigarettes you’re looking for…
“This was the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. More skill than simple sight was required for its use. An elegant weapon. It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster or a fusioncutter—but to use a lightsaber well was a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary.”
―Obi-Wan Kenobi
On the off chance lightsabers become a real thing , you could make some horrid mistake if you grabbed the wrong one. The larger e-cigarettes though have many advantages, namely you do not have to deal with the cartridges. if you’re out and about with the smaller e-cig and your cart goes dry and you do have another on hand , its going to cost 15$ , while with the larger type you can carry a small vial or fluid to refill your E-cig at will. Also you have a much larger battery to your advantage, if you small e-cig goes dead you are stuck, with the newer ones you can just replace the battery with another one, while they are not standard batteries they do pack a punch and will last you most of the day if not more.
Another interesting area with e-cigarettes is where you can “smoke” them… You can go to a lot of places and just bust the thing out and vape away. The rules around them are variable based on where you are. I’ve been in the middle of a bowling alley and vaping away when the manager saw me and came over asking if i was smoking a cigarette . When he saw me smoking an E-cigarette he said those are OK to have inside. Other times with the E-cig it comes down to personal preferences as far if you vape or not.
Though…. There is a stigma to E-cigarettes that both sides need to pay attention too. From the Non-smoker end you have the jackasses , the ones that immediately start hacking a lung 40 feet away from you because they think they see “smoke” . I’ve had some jack assed people start fake coughing because I was “smoking” and it “Stunk” which Instantly made me reply to them. Yes I will be courteous to people who ask nicely but when you put on a show just to control the person around you without knowledge of what something is , Don’t go full fucktard and start running a drama display. I’ve had to ask someone when they complained that my “cigarette” stinks “So the smell of watermelon is offensive , is cowshit appealing to you?” Most times with e-cigarettes the sky is the limit to flavors , When you start you will stick to flavors that taste like a marlboro to you , but further down the line you will be into what ever flavors you fancy at the time and most are appealing to even a nonsmoker and do not leave horrendous smells after. A lot of businesses are putting e-cigarette vapers with smokers, and that point while they both deliver nicotine, the smokers group is alot more stinky .
From the E-cig vapers end they are also causing some issues. if your in a non-smoking establishment and you just vaping clouds and clouds of vapor , you tend to get smokers a bit upset , but not on the surface they are wanting to smoking. When you watch people the smoke and your vaping , You can see them wanting to light up and not to which they tend to get a little itchy over. For me , I tend to ask if i can vape in an establishment before I just bust out the E-cig, It makes it better for all. Other places you just want to avoid altogether vaping. Most airlines have banned the practice for a few reasons. e-liquid can contain materials that can cause allergic reactions (depending on the flavors you can run across many allergy groups). I myself have found myself in a situation accidentally.
Going back to smokers and non-smokers there is another unfortunate area to cover. Bad knowledge. Every now and than you will hear someone shout up and down that E-cigarettes are worse than regular cigarettes . these are the people that make me want to puke fire at them. They hear some random thing on some news source and run with it . One of my favorites is “You should not be smoking that you are smoking anti-freeze.” This came out a few years back and ended up widely debunked but to a small degree true. The problem is while part of the fact is true most it is not. Spouting out this “fact” makes you look more like an ass than trying to be knowledgeable. While Propylene Glycol (PG) Can be considered an Antifreeze, so can a bottle of rum because both have a lower freezing point than water. Also Propylene Glycol is in a lot of everyday products that the average joe does not recognize and will spout that fact any time they can just to villainize the person vaping. In any case you can just ask the person if they have had any Cosmetics, Soaps, Toothpastes, Cleansers, Body washes, Deodorants, Hair care products, Packaged Foods, Lotions, Creams, Moisturizers, Prescription topical medicines, Moist wipes,Shampoo,Shaving gels, sodas, Coffee, Cake, dessert, and brownie mix, Prepackaged cupcakes, donuts, and pastries, Salad dressings (especially ranch), Sauces (steak, barbecue, horseradish, etc), Sour creams, whipped-toppings . At that point you should have a pretty disgruntled person and have put them in there place.
Aside from all this.. I’ve not had a regular cigarette in many many months and I am working my way to stop vaping. Even when I have seen doctors they generally have less of a time harassing me over smoking when they realize that I have been using an e-cigarette vs a real cigarette.
When I learned of cat shit coffee I had a good laugh. 50$ for cat shitted coffee … awesome! Kopi Luwak may be a good tasting coffee but it will not outlive the connotations of where it came from.
A Kopi Luwak maker in action.
Now they are trying to get elephants in on the deal and are selling this coffee at a premium. We can thank forbes for this intuitive article ….
In Thailand, a company called Black Ivory Coffee has 20 elephants eat coffee beans and crap out the seeds. They are then harvested (lovingly, I’m sure) from small mountains of elephant droppings and then processed into coffee that runs $275 for 30 espresso cups, or about half a gallon of coffee on the top end. The company selling it tries to talk consumers into buying a special $299 coffee brewer because, after all, when you’re spending hundreds of dollars on special coffee, you want a special way to brew it.
At some point or another this is going to pique the interest of the lower end coffee companies and they are going off on there own tangent in labs to make strange coffees to scare the average consumer into drinking something else.
At any given point you will see dunkin donuts and starbucks hanging around zoos trying there hand in the top in coffee markets and not really give a shit but they will sure take one to get into this market.
The new Dunkin Donuts fast brew station with miralax speed
Does this coffee taste good? It likely does.. have you ever wanted to tell a stock broker or a CEO to eat shit? You likely don’t have to , They already have and liked it. It must be strange to be sitting around and saying well if cats can make coffee why not elephants. Next thing it will be is Cow Shit Coffee , Ferret fart coffee, Zippy Zebra coffee, As there will be buyers lined up around the block with wallets stuffed if it gets enough fanfare.
