random thoughts – Day 1,529 – (Sunday) – amusements and stuff

New language lessons!

Today I took another step in my exploration of languages. Building upon my years of high school French, I have been doing French lessons in Duolingo for quite a while. I did the Finnish lessons in Duolingo and took classes in person at Saima Park in Fitchburg. Finnish is a very hard and frustrating language and when Duolingo got annoying I bounced to Spanish, then back to French. and now, there is a new thing to learn.

Today, at St. Vincent DePaul, I made a $2.00 discovery that will further my language and cultural knowledge. I found a program for “How to Speak Cat.” There are 100 cards in the brand-new box, each explaining a cat behavior, facial expression, and meow. This will be my latest tool to interacting with Kiki. 

Kiki and I are making progress, even before the new tools. The vet had said to expect three to six months for her to settle in and we are right on the three-month mark. This weekend she has let me hand feed her treats while she's in her hidey bed, and approach her on the stairs and get as close as two steps below her. Two days in a row! I hope it isn't a trick.

Kiki letting me get close.

After a slow approach and once I'm in place and telling her how pretty she is (no lie, she is!) she lets me  pet her. Yesterday, she even let me brush her. Keeks seems pretty chill during all this and I’m thrilled. At night, before I go to bed, she loves to have me stroke her cheeks and head and shoulders. 

In other fun and amusing news, a couple recent features on the Facebook app are both annoying and amusing. On my computer, the search feature in FB is the same – a magnifying glass and a search box, and it’s clear the search is happening within Facebook where I want it to be. 

On mobile, the search feature says “Ask Meta AI anything.” Umm, thanks, but I don’t want to ask Meta anything. I want to find updates in my dance group or check the time of an art reception or find the funny cat meme I saw earlier. At least when I start typing, it defaults to my Facebook universe and not the cyber universe at large.

A couple posts in my newsfeed over the past couple days caught my attention with some head scratching amusement. 

On Friday, a post from People of Market Basket had one of their frequent “guess the Basket” posts. Below the image were several Meta AI generated search queries. “Tell me more about basketry.” “Explore basket-making.” “Learn more about basket weaving.” Nice try AI, but no.

Today, a post from George Takei involved someone vaping on a plane with the caption “She thought she could fly under the radar.” And the Meta AI prompts appeared. “Tell me more about under the radar.” “Learn more about radar technology.” Come on, really.

Luckily, this doesn’t appear on every post. But now I’m on the lookout for it because I enjoy weirdness and nonsense. And I wonder if radar technology can help me learn basket making.