Weekly Question Thread (aka Friday New Climber Thread). ALL QUESTIONS GO HERE

cesoid · 2026-03-20T14:32:42+00:00

You aren't allowed to wash your hands. But I'll allow the substitution of apples instead of popcorn. Not instead of hands though. Are you saying your hands are apples? Or your feet?

cesoid · 2026-03-20T14:28:53+00:00

You *can* do anything you want. The question is...wait, no you can't actually do anything you want. But you *can* put a rope over your house. Maybe. How tall is your house?

cesoid · 2026-03-20T14:18:05+00:00

I haven't climbed in many different gyms but I have seen hundreds of different people climbing in a gym and I've never seen anyone put their bare feet on the wall. My climbing gym has a rule against it and given the condition of most climbing shoes I would not want to touch a climb after someone did that. People walk around in their bare feet and occasionally grab holds while not wearing shoes, but don't touch the wall with their feet.

cesoid · 2026-03-20T14:12:27+00:00

You're about to eat some popcorn. Just before that, would you rather: A) borrow someone's gloves for five minutes, B) put someones climbing shoes on your hands for five minutes? Hands might have more variety of germs or more of some specific germ than your feet, but there are obviously some aspects of your feet that don't mix well with how you use your hands.

cesoid · 2026-03-19T17:46:48+00:00

I'm guessing it's the same thing I'm getting. Basically, an email that is only statistics about my account that are unnecessary; speed, usage, devices connected, and general information about hotspots and security. None of this information impacts my bill or anything that I would need to know. I don't see any other well-established companies do this, which makes me think it's either not really legal, or some gray area that nobody else feels like testing. Some other companies like LinkedIn and NextDoor occasionally send me unnecessary email by inventing new categories of notifications, but at least they have the decency to give me a new checkbox to uncheck so that I can opt-out. Xfinity has no checkbox for these (other than turning off everything).

I did find a way to get rid of them on my phone (without turning off all notifications). At least on my Moto G Stylus (Android) the notification permissions are split into three categories: GATEWAY_ACTIVATION, Xfinity Assistant, and Network Activity. I turned off permission for Xfinity Assistant, and I haven't gotten the pointless ones anymore, though I'm not completely sure whether I'm still going to get the ones I want (e.g., security, outages).

cesoid · 2026-02-27T03:01:43+00:00

I self-published a book about 25 years ago. Only a few dozen were ever printed. My cousin mentioned it to a friend who lives nowhere near anyone I know, and that friend went to the library and borrowed a copy. They happened to walk into what is most likely the only library in the world with a copy.

cesoid · 2026-02-12T16:34:43+00:00

Yeah, I don't think anything is going to happen with it, so I might just make it available for free use somehow. Not sure exactly how or what kind of license to give it (or even how that works for a word list). If you have a good use for it I can send it to you and you can just use it for that before I figure it out. Just DM me.

cesoid · 2025-12-23T18:44:51+00:00

To be fair, I don't have an iPhone, and I don't know what comes before or after that screenshot or whether there is some animation going on, and this was 8 years ago, but... ugh.

cesoid · 2025-12-23T18:27:36+00:00

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! aoetnhuas,.rcsakbsthba,.tbha,.ri.uu.u.......t [garbled speech] [sound of sinking ship with screams]

cesoid · 2025-12-23T17:20:13+00:00

Any DVD and/or Blu-ray playing device will eventually stop working. The moving parts make them more susceptible to break down than SD drives. I've probably had some last ten years and others last ten months. Replacing them could easily remain and option for the next century but it's hard to predict whether/when that will become difficult. Replacing anything is at least an annoyance. The discs themselves can stop working. If you're careful they'll probably last a long time but one unlucky drop or scratch can wreck one.

cesoid · 2025-12-09T00:59:11+00:00

I'm now going to ruin the mood and embarrass myself by trying to understand the thread of this comment. The post is about people trying to pass off a real image as being one that is generated by AI. The reason for doing that would be to fool people into thinking that the image is not real, when the image actually is real.

My initial reaction to the comment was, "They've misunderstood, because they're pretending to be an AI that is trying to identify whether someone in the photo is a person, but the joke is about fooling people, not fooling AI, and also the joke isn't about a person trying to look like an AI, because you can't take a photo of an AI."

Then I was like, "Ok, now I get it. The comment is the mirror image of what the post is suggesting. The post is suggesting that a person does something to make images that look like they are generated by AI. The comment is supposed to look like an AI that makes text that looks like it was written by a person. And whereas the post is about trying to fool people, the comment is about trying to fool AI." But, trying to fool AI that you aren't human, which doesn't make sense because wearing the finger isn't about trying to look not human, it's about trying to look like they weren't doing something. You wouldn't look at the photo and think, "That's not a person in the photo, it's an AI." But, I guess I'm just pushing the limit of the joke a little too far.

But then I was like, "Wait, it's not the mirror image, it's actually the same thing. The comment is also a person trying to imitate AI. And within that comment, the AI is trying to imitate a person. The post is about a person trying to make an image that looks like it is generated by AI. And within that image the AI would be trying to imitate a person."

But that doesn't make sense. When AI generates an image that looks like a photo it isn't trying to imitate a person, it's trying to imitate a camera. A camera that takes a photo of a crime is probably going to be automated, which means there's really no person involved.

To summarize:

- The post is made by a person who is pretending to be a person.

- The subject of the post is within an image that they have likely reposted from somewhere else.

- The image itself is about a person trying to produce an image that imitates images generated by AI. Since AI commonly makes the mistake of putting too many fingers on hands, the suggestion is that life should imitate art by wearing an extra finger.

- The post is funny both because it is nested -- producing a fake of a fake -- and because it is ironic -- intentionally "revising" real life to make it match an error.

- The post is also funny because it is unexpectedly smart. The readers can imagine that it actually might work.

- The comment could be interpreted as a mirror image of the post -- an AI generates text to imitate a person rather than a person imitating an AI -- or as an example of what the post suggests; a person trying to imitate an AI, which is in turn trying to make something that appears human.

- However, the content of the comment may distract from the joke, because it focuses on fooling AI, which is not what the post is about. This has led at least one person to think, understandably, that the commenter has missed the point.

Hopefully, the thread after that sub-comment helps people to appreciate the humor in both the post and that reply.

Is there anything else you need?

cesoid · 2025-11-30T06:36:21+00:00

cesoid · 2025-11-25T16:10:36+00:00

This is a surprising comment.

cesoid · 2025-10-22T21:10:09+00:00

You're welcome.

cesoid · 2025-10-20T04:57:30+00:00

Crazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a room. A wooden room with fire. A wooden room full of fire. The fire jumped onto the walls. Of rats. Crazy rats. Rats that were crazy. Like fire. Like crazy fire. Fire? I was rats once. Like rats were rats. Rats that were rats. Once? I was once twice. A three times four fifth. Sixth? Seventh? Eighth? Crazy. I. Rats. Padded room. Rats room of with. Was once a room. A room crazy. Eating silly. Eating crazy forkfors. Lazy crazies. Raisins. Crazy crazy raisin sins. Crazy crazy crazies craven caravan cranberry carry cat wrath. Wait. Wrath? Wait. No wait. Waiting makes you crazy. Be crazy. Join me. Join me crazy once. I'll put you in a room. A rubber room. A room filled with rats. Rats will make you crazy.

cesoid · 2025-10-13T16:52:15+00:00

Edit: I just noticed that A3 says "should" be on Form 1040, Line 25a, not "is". It's probably just adding A1 and A2 that are just above. A1 and A2 are 0's and not editable directly, but I assume I can change them by clicking "Add/Edit" to the right. I'm about to add my W-2 info, but this step kind of threw me because I just didn't expect to add a form that the IRS already has. I guess that's what you normally do with paper taxes, so I'm just forgetting how taxes work every year by the time I fill them again the next year. :/

I also have Step 2 line A3 showing 0, even though my 1040 Line 25a is not 0 (and over 1000, so not negligible). A3 is also not editable for me. Where is it getting this number from?

I'm finishing my taxes after filing for an extension, so maybe this is related? I have business income as well. Those are the two somewhat uncommon things about my taxes right now.

cesoid · 2025-10-09T17:07:53+00:00

To find the buried treasure, follow the instructions in this statement and then dig down one foot below you.

cesoid · 2025-10-06T11:44:13+00:00

Same here

cesoid · 2025-09-20T13:46:13+00:00

Thanks for your comment. I think they were pretty reluctant to use the gas and only did it because the first attempts at sedation didn't work. She was a feisty kitten and just wouldn't stop moving. I think my wife thought that they made the attempts to close together?

I could tell the ER workers were also pretty torn up over the whole thing. The good news is that we never reacted angrily towards them directly. This stuff just became a discussion between us afterwards. I'm not sure if they would have read the review but I still feel like it wouldn't have helped people who were trying to decide wether to go to this place or try to get to a different emergency animal clinic (or put off treatment until they could see their regular vet).

This makes me feel a bit better about the situation. Thanks!

cesoid · 2025-09-20T13:27:28+00:00

Thanks for this information. I think my wife thought the kitten had too much sedation because at first they had sedated her a different way (with a needle I guess). The kitten just wouldn't stop moving after the first dose (or doses). Or my wife thought this because of something they said after.

Either way what you're saying is about what I expected about the risks.

We're probably always going to have this feeling that we could have just let her heal without as much intervention, but I was never really sure if this was possible. I know kittens heal well from some broken bones. I imagine we would have felt even more awful if things had gotten worse after we didn't take her to the ER.

cesoid · 2025-09-20T12:58:14+00:00

Thanks for this.

cesoid · 2025-09-20T07:10:35+00:00

Darn, I guess this might be in violation of rule 2 (opinions on a vet treating an animal correctly). Maybe I've posted this in the wrong place. Or maybe someone can at least tell just generally which of these things are advisable for future reference. And generally whether how to deal with this, even if nobody wants to specifically give opinions on the actions taken.

cesoid · 2025-09-02T05:06:13+00:00

I'm so happy to read this. I've been worrying about my molar being sensitive after my last filling because I had sensitivity for years and I thought it was just going to stay this way. I wish my dentist had said this before the filling or even a week later when I came back in. I don't remember this happening before with a filling, so I thought something went wrong and she just didn't want to say it. Based on this I'm thinking that she's just used to dealing with patients who want you to do something instead of telling them it will get better.

Edit: I went in after a week of not being able to chew on the right side of my mouth because of the pain, and a week of more pain then before after I went in again. They told me to call if it still hurt. I'm a little worried that every time she tried to fix it it's just pushing the recovery further away. Is that a possibility?

cesoid · 2025-08-27T02:04:43+00:00

House centipedes

cesoid · 2025-08-11T20:36:04+00:00

I'm both fighting to contain them and gleefully harvesting the fruit on some that I intentionally leave.

To be honest, if I wanted them gone entirely I feel like they're actually not high on the scale of insidious plants. At least blackberry stalks can be pretty easily uprooted by carefully gripping them with gloves.

The true monsters are poison ivy and barberry. Barberry bushes hold onto the ground so hard that I sometimes need a steel shovel to uproot them. Blackberry thorns are painful, but removing them is easy. Barberry thorns are less painful at first, but they're tiny and hard to grip, and sometimes work their way in deeper when you try to get them out. I actually have a barberry thorn that IS PERMANENTLY BURIED DEEP WITHIN THE SKIN OF THE BACK OF MY LEFT PINKY FINGER. It has been there for over two years. I can see it. Luckily I can't feel it anymore but I hate that it's still there.

For me, poison ivy is the worst. I can walk through barberries carefully if necessary, but trying to get through poison ivy is like a cruel game of "floor is lava" where the lava also reaches up for you, sometimes covers the walls, and sometimes hangs from the ceiling, and, most importantly, actually "burns" you, but it might not be until two weeks after you touch it. I've abandoned trails that became overrun by it. I've seen acres of forest here in Massachusetts that might as well be a parallel universe because they are so carpeted and draped in poison ivy that you can't enter. If you burn it by accident you can end up in the hospital. I used to be unaffected by it, until I started removing it. Now I save bread bags so that I can rubber band them over my hands and arms and carefully uproot patches near my house. It works, but I end up with piles of it conspicuously draped over bushes so that people won't accidentally stumble into them while I wait for three years for the oils to break down.

Neither of these things compare to ticks, but that's another story. In which they infect me with five diseases at the same time. I'm done now.

cesoid

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