Very unique and unpopular opinion, I know, but I hate watching ads during a show. Fuck the advertisers; I refuse to pay attention.

Rather than doom scroll, I'd love to hear what you think I should do when ads are on.

To make things challenging:

*often I'm pinned to the couch by my senior dog who I'm loathe to move unnecessarily, so getting up and doing squats is often out

*loud activities are probably out, see above

*be specific, 'I play games on my phone' - but what can you play casually, for 30s at a time (for example) and then happily go back to watching your show?

*use adblockers bla bla, not always possible and not in the spirit of my request.

That being said, all suggestions are great - I'm sure we'll all get something from it. Stick it to the man!

I just watched the 2024 NY treat taskmaster episode.

Lenny Rush was a contestant aged 14; Lenny has dwarfism.

I'm a huge fan of this show and when I realised they had a child contestant (for the first time) with a physical disadvantage (they do have older contestants but that's always played for laughs), I wondered how they'd play it.

Spoilers from here on if you'd prefer not to know the result (not that that's what the show is about).

They didn't pander to his age. The tasks were as complicated as usual and the humour was the same.

They stuck to tasks where his height and mobility wouldn't be a disadvantage, and in the final task that usually would have all the contestants on stage, they swapped it so Greg and Alex did all the physical activity.

Lenny won, but completely on merit.

It was such a great example of how small adjustments can be made to include a person who is a genuinely great comic (I can't wait to see how his career develops) irrespective of his physical limitations.

I'm just chuffed that a TV show I loved, didn't pander and didn't discriminate. I laughed just as much and enjoyed the show just as much. No one I know watches this show, so that's why I'm sharing this here.

I think that's what it says but that's the error I'd say I get about 40% of the time when trying to view image posts. Is this a sync thing or something else?

Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know this, but it only just occurred to me to try - and it worked!

I gave it needle size, ply and the garment size I wanted - as well as asking for Australian sizing and instructions (so you'll need to change that for whatever you're used to) and from what I could see it was pretty good. Haven't actually tried it but I may for a small project and see how it goes.

Edit to say that I'm very aware of chatgpts limits (I work in a field where it's being abused) but thought it was an interesting idea. Simplicity would be key. I'd consider myself a beginner this might be a good way of creating small simple projects. Or nonsense! I have bags of cheap wool that I got through my local buy nothing group so I'm always up for a bit of experimentation.

I wear UGG boots in winter because it's fucking cold.

I also wrap myself in a blanket on the couch, and have a lovely area rug so I don't have to walk on a cold floor. All these things are necessary to survive the winter; my house isn't well insulated.

The problem with all this, is that I build up a static charge. So when I go to pat my beautiful sweetheart of a dog, I zap him. It's audible and I'm sure, quite unpleasant. Often on the head. He obviously doesn't like that, I think he's taking it personally, and I feel awful. It completely cancels out the affection I'm trying to show him.

So the question for the Lemmy community is:

How do I discharge the static before I pat my dog? I have started shocking my partner (which he doesn't like, but accepts over the alternative), before patting my dog. But as he's out tonight, I have no human vessel to offer as tribute?

What can I touch in my house before patting my dog so that he doesn't receive a shock?

Edit: standard Australian house and furniture

Another edit: I'm all the sheets to the wind so the engineering advice is not sinking in. But I'm loving the immediate response that I'd never have gotten on Deaddit.

Again: I can't stop giggling at how helpful everyone is being and how short m, drunk and silly I am, in a house with apparently no metal

And again: I should probably take me and my baby to bed now, but a big thank you to everyone who replied. You've all been lovely. Lemmy is really a different space to ask these questions! I'll be trying out many of your suggestions over the weekend; big thanks from me and my boy x

Final: thanks to everyone who responded. I did try the kitchen tap again last night and this time it worked! Mustn't have built up enough charge when I tried the night I posted. I will still primarily zap my partner's leg as it's usually closer and doing it makes me laugh. It's important he understands where he fits in the household hierarchy as well. I also learnt that American houses are very different (screws and radiators everywhere!) so that was interesting too.

I want to get back into creative writing, and for work I prefer to take handwritten notes (I have my own weird shorthand and it helps with retention). I'd also like the ability to write at night and not disturb my partner.

I don't want to go near iOS and the tablet would be primarily used for writing purposes.

Any recommendations or 'what to avoid's?

Sorry if wrong community, I couldn't find another relevant

I'm looking for recommendations for app based/nice mobile friendly sites (free ideally, but I'd consider subscription) that can help me keep across news in the tech/UX/design space.

I'm somewhat reliant on my LinkedIn (which is such a toilet and usually just ends up annoying me) for news/emerging issues etc that affect my industry - the main reason being I can scroll through and open things of interest.

I've subscribed to newsletters/bookmarked sites but I just never seem to get round to reading them. Countless emails just stack up sitting unread.

My theory is if it's something I can just look through on my phone when I'd otherwise be doomscrolling, that I'll be more likely to read things.

My work is in the content strategy/design space and I'm in Australia - so bonus points if it has relevance to me in that way. Thanks all!

Edit to add - I used to use Twitter too, but you know... Just no.