Not only is this true and annoying, but other things about the ads are getting worse, too.

I recently had to factory reset my TV and, after the first time I opened the YouTube app, immediately had to find the “don’t play video preview” option. It worked, except for the huge banner ad at the top of the list of videos, which still saw fit to play with deafening sound when I didn’t immediately change the video selection. I can’t find a setting to disable this.

Also, I’ve noticed the “fewer ads for this long video” message popping up during videos longer than thirty minutes (and now it seems like longer than twenty minutes). Not only is that message condescending like they’re doing me a favor, but I’m pretty sure it’s not true, at least not by much; and the ads are definitely longer and mostly unskippable.

Like someone else says in this thread, it feels like extortion.

Old.

You’re allowed to add buttons? I thought modern phones only took them away.

This is essentially the premise of Stop Killing Games but in a different world.

A long time ago, I saw a post on Reddit from a user saying (paraphrasing because it was a long long time ago) “the only thing I want from a TV is an HDMI capable rectangle.”

What if you don’t eat for 24 or more hours?

When my toddler was much younger, they would take a bath in warm water, then get out in my well air conditioned house, shivering violently and happily declining any attempt to warm them up. We would always end up warming them up in the end, of course.

Nowadays they’re a bit older and will seek out the biggest pile of blankets they can find at any opportunity.

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked to quantify mashed potatoes in such a way, but after reflecting for a moment, yes. Thank you for an interesting question.

deleted by creator

Your point is fair, but I respectfully disagree. “Beans” being plural makes me want to use “many.” “I had too many of the refried beans” parses fine for me.

If you’re willing to stretch the metaphor, I have had some phones go bad from no apparent cause beyond age.

I refer to a phone notifying you of a call - with a ring or otherwise - as “going off.” However, after looking this up, that apparently means “to explode” (possibly metaphorically, depending on which source you trust).

So far, even on vibrate or silent, my phone has not done that.

The Winchester, yeah. I wouldn’t have thought of it if it weren’t a meme that you partially quoted!

edit: Clarification.

Are you Simon Pegg?

One time, I walked out of my then apartment and there was a parrot standing on the windshield wiper of my car. (I did not live in a tropical or otherwise parroty area.) I was not prepared for that situation and had no idea what to do with it.

I held out my hand and he hopped over, then just hung out on my shoulder. I carried him around my neighborhood asking anyone I saw if they had any idea where he came from so I could return him, but no one did. He ended up staying in our bathroom with a closed door overnight (we had cats) then we took him to an exotic bird shelter in the morning. Obviously I did what seemed most responsible in that case, but I think I could have become a parrot owner if I had been so inclined.

Hopefully he did well. And here I thought the distribution system only worked for cats!

Nothing wrong with that.

You can’t trust Adams. They make up everything.

What about flying a kite in the dark?

And depending on the size of your lot, maybe you could use a reel mower. They’re nearly silent!

You could also use a scythe, but that sounds like a lot more work.

While I have observed this to be true, I find it surprising. Melamine is also the material from which the backing of IKEA bookshelves is made. Of course one material can be formulated in many different ways, but still … That was a revelation.

That is my preference, but my wife says she prefers only one step (turning on and using the TV) over multiple (turning on the TV, turning on the secondary system and using multiple controllers) so we go with the simpler setup per her request.

I did put my TVs on a Wi-Fi network separate from my main one so, while they do show ads as much as my pihole allows, at least they’re theoretically only spying on each other.