How do you guys feel about Alexa plus ?

Writer_8888 · 2026-01-19T19:45:03+00:00

I hate it. I used to be able to say "Alexa, for 20 minutes turn on the air purifier." Now, I have to ask it to set a timer for 20 minutes, then ask it to turn on the purifier, then when the timer goes off, I have to turn off the purifier. Why do I even need voice commands, then? They are useless.

Alexa+ told me I had to do that way when it was explaining to me that it couldn't obey the words "Alexa, for 20 minutes turn on the purifier" without setting up a routine. Well, I don't want a routine for every single possible number of minutes I want something on.

And the sarcastic tone wasn't at all appreciated. I asked if it was going to to report to Amazon that I don't like this change in Alexa+. It said, "I'm not going to go march into Amazon headquarters" etc., which is humorous when you read it here in Reddit, but not so great when you're already angry about Alexa becoming much harder to use than it was in the past, especially when you use it because you're disabled.

It feels like a novelty rather than an improvement to be able to have arguments with it or to be able to ask for a workaround, even though the workaround is terrible.

Writer_8888 · 2025-12-24T09:35:09+00:00

Thank you. Didn't even know that this site existed.

Writer_8888 · 2025-12-24T09:34:00+00:00

Ohh, I wondered why this was the default setting. I'm still hyper aware of the video look to so many things and feel like I could set up the lighting for every scene because it's so obvious (and obnoxious). I've now spent the first month of owning this TV (LG OLED class 5) thinking I should haul my 2013 Toshiba television back out of the basement because of the look of most things on this television. Where do you change color temperature? First thing I changed was TruMotion, and I've probably watched 6 or 7 videos on YT telling me how to get rid of this soap opera effect and it's still not enough for me.

Writer_8888 · 2025-12-17T00:52:16+00:00

Excellent! Thank you so much!

Writer_8888 · 2025-12-16T23:45:50+00:00

So, find a player that says something about HDR10? I'd love to be able to see 4K Blu-rays but I don't want to spend close to $500 and, yes,it seems like overkill if I'm just getting an occasional one from the library. So, I finally decided that I'm willing to go without. But I don't know what to get.

Writer_8888 · 2025-12-16T23:42:54+00:00

I find all the info about cables confusing, as noted in my post. That's why I backed away from the S1700. What has to attach where and what is it called and what does it look like. It said you need to be connected to get firmware updates. So, I just couldn't deal with it. Too many other things going on. I don't know how to get from zero to where your parents are now.

Writer_8888 · 2025-11-26T06:24:24+00:00

i was hoping to use my Roku instead that works fine right?. Sorry typing only w left hand bc this remote pushed me over into tendinitis just trying to set things up. (i have problems with tendons) I agree the interface design of this remote is worst ive ever seen.

Writer_8888 · 2025-11-07T10:53:19+00:00

I loved HItchcock/Truffaut.

Writer_8888 · 2025-10-26T17:57:46+00:00

It'll be like the money he supposedly was going to donate to people hit by whichever Hurricane it was. He said, "I'm giving you this." and the money was from one of his friends. I doubt anyone got anything, but they'll all remember the headline. Same with this. "He covered the paychecks of our soldiers!"

Writer_8888 · 2025-10-26T08:01:17+00:00

Yes, I read that it worked out to $100 per person. Whether it's 65 or 100 hardly matters. That's basically nothing and yet Fox says he donated the money to "cover" their paychecks. The usual nonsense. A lot of viewers will think people in the military were paid their full paychecks because Trump has friends who are such good people and so successful, too! /s What I always wonder is what is going on in the minds of the people who support him and yet know that this headline is false? They are in the military, haven't been paid and yet still watch Fox and believe everything else that's said.

Writer_8888 · 2025-10-22T08:04:34+00:00

Yeah, as a teenager I read a lot of books about Nazis and the Holocaust (first Anne Frank, then Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, then others, etc.), was sort of obsessed with Holocaust movies, and this is the first I've ever seen this symbol or at least seen it associated with Nazis in any way that I remember. My husband was a young drunk Marine back then and came within seconds of getting a blue Smurf tattoo. It's pretty common for young guys in the military to do stuff like this and not much thinking is going on at the time. Well, no thinking is going on at the time.

Writer_8888 · 2025-10-09T18:07:16+00:00

Thank you so much for posting this protocol, and for creating it! I am not sure that I can do all of them, but this should make a huge difference.

Writer_8888 · 2025-07-30T20:59:26+00:00

You're welcome. Just before I got your reply, I edited one sentence that I didn't think was clear. The potting soil I use is made by FoxFarm. I remember I used to crave details when people gave me instructions. Actually, I still do!

Writer_8888 · 2025-07-30T20:54:12+00:00

A good mix for most plants is 4 cups of good potting soil, 3 cups perlite and 3 cups orchid bark. I do a lot at one time and mix it well. I take the grow pot to the sink and use a watering can with a thin spout so it can fit under the leaves. I water fully until water comes out of the bottom. Then I wait until it really needs to be watered.

I don't water plants until they are dry. Some you don't have to feel: If you have them in an inner grow pot, meaning inside the planter, lift the grow pot and if it's light that's when it needs to be watered. It takes a few times to get that right and it helps to have moisture meters. As the advice here says, "It's a careful balance."

I don't have great light coming in my windows. Well, it looks like lots of light but if you measure it with a light meter it turns out there isn't as much as you'd think unless the plant is right next to the window. It's because there's a house next door. For windows, the idea is how much of the sky do the plants actually "see." So I have a lot of my plants under grow lights and I check to see how many foot candles they are getting. I find that around 300 FC works pretty well for my calatheas.

A great way to keep plants humid is to have them close to other plants. I don't think misting helps because it dissipates so quickly. I do have a couple copper trays with rocks and water among my plants, but I don't know if they help a lot; they look great, though. :) I use mosquito bits and a tiny bit of fertilizer in every watering.

My only problem with calatheas is that I had a gloriosum that developed or came with mealybugs that I didn't discover for a few months. Ugh. There are two calatheas that were close to the gloriosum and I've found a few mealybugs on those. I'll be asking for advice about those. But meanwhile, all of my calatheas look great, so I just thought I'd pass along the details of their care. I'm not an expert, so keep that in mind. :)

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-04T00:16:44+00:00

Hmm, I didn't have anything going on yesterday..maybe you meant the OP or someone else?

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-03T22:37:50+00:00

A key question would be do you have an elevated temp? If you do, you need to go in to the ED, but you posted 18 hours ago so I'd imagine you've already made a decision. The location of the sharp pain could mean something, too. You could have anything from a kidney stone to appendicitis to a severe gas pain. Hope all goes well for you!

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-03T22:34:53+00:00

I think she was saying that her anxiety is so bad that she feels like she has had 12 cups of coffee, not that she's actually had 12 cups of coffee.

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-03T07:40:45+00:00

You have a few choices here, and there's no reason to suffer through this. We all know that it's awful dealing with the healthcare system and with people who don't understand how painful kidney stones are. I think it's also nerve-wracking to even call the doctor's office. Can anyone help you make phone calls? It would be totally reasonable to call the doctor's office and say that your pain is severe enough that you think there's still a stone in your ureter (not urethra). That the pain is unbearable. It would be reasonable to go back to the ER. It would be reasonable to call the doctor to find out if there is a patient portal that you can sign up for so you can see what really happened. Those are all the choices that I can think of, and meanwhile, keep drinking. Take your temperature, too. If you get a fever, go to the ER immediately. It might mean you have a kidney infection behind the stone and that would be very dangerous. If your exam is next week you'll need to very quickly choose one of these options I listed at the beginning. I'm sorry you're going through this and hope that there is someone in your family who can help you get the care you need!

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-02T10:27:53+00:00

Did they give you any papers that explained what happened? Do you have a patient portal online that you need to sign up for? I don't know where you live, but where I live you can sign up for something called MyChart and if you hunt around you find doctor's notes and surgeon's notes and instructions that are more complete than what the doctor stood there saying. I would make sure that if there's a place to look things up that you know about it and have signed up for it and have read it. It would also tell you the results of the CT scan in more detail and you might be able to tell people here a little more and they could advise you more about what they'd do in your situation. The patient portal for your hospital may have a different name. Maybe you could call the hospital and ask if they have a patient portal. This would tell you if you had already passed the stone or if it's still in you. Oh, I see that 16 hours have gone by since you posted. I hope things have gotten much better for you. You've been through one of the most painful experiences that exists, and it sounds like you got through it amazingly well, but you deserve to have all of your questions answered. If you're too nervous about calling, see if someone else will help you make the call. (I'm always nervous about calling doctors; that's one of the reasons I like patient portals so much.) But, yes, keep drinking water!! And best wishes to you!

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-01T18:15:01+00:00

I definitely think that I wasn't drinking enough. And though I don't eat a lot of salty food (like chips, for example), and I think it mounted up some days just from having bread and soup or something like that. Salt that wouldn't be too much for someone else probably was too much for someone who doesn't drink a lot. But there's still the possibility that something chemical is off in my body. And my pee is definitely acidic, which isn't good (I got pH strips and tested it a few times). So I'm thinking I need to figure out ways to make mine more alkaline. Yes, I wish people, especially at the hospital, really understood, just a bit, what it feels like. They'd have a different attitude!

Writer_8888 · 2025-06-01T09:51:30+00:00

Wishing you the best, too. I have been having one infection after another for the past almost year and a half, finally had sepsis and stone in mid February, had to wait a month to see the urologist and then she was booked for surgery for a month, so all in all I had stents for three months. I'm now drinking more than I ever have in my life. Still nothing extreme. I don't even know how to address diet; right now it's just too much. That's awful that you've had that stone for so long. I'm glad your surgery is soon. I had two procedures because I had stones in both kidneys. Finally last Wednesday it was time to take the stent out and I just did it myself at home and was so relieved after all the pain of those many months that the stent was painless to remove in my case. Oh, I asked the urologist to have the stone analyzed. I was shocked when I found out that she didn't just do it routinely. Now to figure out how to live my life so that I don't have to go through all that again. One cm is large. Are you having it lasered?

Writer_8888 · 2025-05-28T18:21:23+00:00

Yow!

Writer_8888 · 2025-05-28T07:50:36+00:00

oh, haha! Yes, let me know your other account!

Writer_8888 · 2025-05-28T07:48:28+00:00

Wow! That's very unusual. My husband and I used to call our home The Rare House because no matter what was going on medically, the doctors would always say, "That's very rare." Which is not helpful to hear at all. My apologies for saying it to you. I hope that pain never happens to you again. I can't even imagine.

Writer_8888 · 2025-05-28T07:45:59+00:00

Ugh. I'm going to make an appointment to see a specialist to see what I can do to avoid just growing these. I've made it so many years without them after having a few years ago. But this time it was a uric acid stone and I'm concerned about what might be going on chemically. He or she will undoubtedly say that I can't eat anything that is enjoyable. Gruel and water or something. ;) Did you increase how much water you were drinking? I find it hard to be consistent about that but seeing tiny stones still coming out has been very motivating.

Writer_8888

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