The Retirement Thread

[ColinJ]

I didn't take my reading glasses with me. I bought what I thought were fruit scones. It turns out the the brown speckles are actually caramel, which was a surprise, but they taste very nice!

Damn - this is why I normally avoid treats unless I have company to share them with. I ate 2 of the 4 scones, now I am going to go and warm and butter the other 2!

 

[ColinJ]

Some were finishing gone 10pm, having started at 6am.

That doesn't sound particularly healthy... I hope at the very least they get a decent overtime rate!

 

[classic33]

That doesn't sound particularly healthy... I hope at the very least they get a decent overtime rate!

Not a particularly healthy time for anyone. Many just took to getting as many delivered in a day as possible.

Hopefully their work didn't go unnoticed by those higher up.

 

[ColinJ]

Damn - this is why I normally avoid treats unless I have company to share them with. I ate 2 of the 4 scones, now I am going to go and warm and butter the other 2!

They are no more - they are ex salted caramel scones! 😊

 

[classic33]

They are no more - they are ex salted caramel scones! 😊

Were they worthy of another visit to buy some more?

 

[ColinJ]

Were they worthy of another visit to buy some more?

I think that they are worthy of being warmed up slowly in a conventional oven. I just nuked them in the microwave which made them a bit soggy.

I might buy some next time my pal is coming over, if she fancies sharing a pack. I have no willpower with this kind of thing - if they are here, they get eaten very quickly! Nearly 1,000 calories just in the scones, and probably hundreds more in the butter...

 

[ColinJ]

I have a music channel on in the background on the TV. My phone is listening in and identifying the songs. I don't like the idea of phones sending audio data to Google, but I read that the identification is done on the phone itself. I was sceptical... When you think about it, how much data would it have to store to be able to identify potentially tens of thousands of songs? (It has named all the songs so far this evening, including many that I have never heard before.) I just turned off phone data and wifi and... yes, it can still identify the songs!

It must be doing some serious number crunching to derive some kind of compact digital fingerprint for each song and store that for comparison.

At first, I suspected that it might be transcribing lyrics and identifying them. Nope - it identified several songs before the singer uttered a word!

I'm going to see if I can find any information about this function. I find it fascinating. (More interesting than the music, actually!)

 

[Mo1959]

I think that they are worthy of being warmed up slowly in a conventional oven. I just nuked them in the microwave which made them a bit soggy.

I might buy some next time my pal is coming over, if she fancies sharing a pack. I have no willpower with this kind of thing - if they are here, they get eaten very quickly! Nearly 1,000 calories just in the scones, and probably hundreds more in the butter...

You sound like me. The amount of times I’ve bought multi packs of things and determined to make them last and eaten the lot within hours! Then you feel horrible afterwards and swear you won’t do it again…..but you do.

I enjoyed Midsomer Murders. One of the older ones that I had either not seen or was so long ago I had forgotten.

 

[Mo1959]

I have a music channel on in the background on the TV. My phone is listening in and identifying the songs. I don't like the idea of phones sending audio data to Google, but I read that the identification is done on the phone itself. I was sceptical... When you think about it, how much data would it have to store to be able to identify potentially tens of thousands of songs? (It has named all the songs so far this evening, including many that I have never heard before.) I just turned off phone data and wifi and... yes, it can still identify the songs!

It must be doing some serious number crunching to derive some kind of compact digital fingerprint for each song and store that for comparison.

At first, I suspected that it might be transcribing lyrics and identifying them. Nope - it identified several songs before the singer uttered a word!

I'm going to see if I can find any information about this function. I find it fascinating. (More interesting than the music, actually!)

Maybe there’s some sort of digital signal placed on the tracks for this purpose?

 

[classic33]

Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury ?

 

[ColinJ]

I'm going to see if I can find any information about this function. I find it fascinating. (More interesting than the music, actually!)

Maybe there’s some sort of digital signal placed on the tracks for this purpose?

I found a 5 year old article HERE. The phone downloads a database of 'fingerprints' for a large number of songs based on how popular they have been recently on Google Play in your country. It is updated regularly over wifi when the phone is charging. Clever stuff, but it sounds like it won't work with old obscure music. I'll play something on YouTube that is NOT popular to see what it makes of that...

Ha - I am 5 minutes into a 1970s song that never featured in any charts. It doesn't have a clue. It isn't even acknowledging that any music is playing! I am going to turn wifi back on and see if it miraculously starts working, which would make me think that it did indeed 'phone home' to Google!

 

[ColinJ]

It definitely did NOT know the obscure oldie.

Let's try a HIT oldie...



Yes - it got that one in seconds!

 

[ColinJ]

Now I will probably spend an hour or so playing 60s, 70s and 80s hits suggested by YouTube, and seeing if my phone knows them!

I'll try 10...

1. Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles? ✓
2. Common People - Pulp? ✓
3. Our House - Madness? ✓
4. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads (OGWT live version)? ✓
5. Where Do You Go To My Lovely? - Peter Sarstedt? ✓ (60s one-hit wonder - impressive!)
6. Downtown - Petula Clark? X (But it was a 1967 TV show version. I'll find the single...)
7. Downtown - Petula Clark (original single)? (After a long think, the phone identified the song, but thought it was a modern version by Anya Taylor-Joy!) ✓/X
8. California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas? ✓
9. Leader of the Pack - The Shangri-Las? ✓
10. Feel Like i'm Fixing to Die Rag (live at Woodstock) - Country Joe McDonald? X (Well, it was a live protest song rather than a hit!)

Generally, impressed! I'll spend another hour or so playing some more oldies now before switching the TV on.

 

[Mo1959]

Now I will probably spend an hour or so playing 70s and 80s hits suggested by YouTube, and seeing if my phone knows them!

Have fun. I am off to attempt some sleep, although I can’t say I am actually feeling sleepy, but I very rarely do these days. At least I’m resting I suppose.

 

[Mo1959]

Morning. Another bright but cool start. Meant to be up earlier but took ages before I dozed off for a bit.

Wordle done in 4.

I had thought about an early bimble but the mojo seems to have deserted me again so I think I’ll just walk.