u/ThatsTasty

I’ve just started three stories in a row by three different authors that all have those same turns of phrase, over and over. Everything sounds the same and as an avid reader and happy supporter of Harmony, it’s so boring and frustrating.

Has anyone come across anything **fresh**, lately? At this point I’m not even seeking fantastic writing; just something other than the same turns of phrase I keep reading over over over over over again until they’re rendered meaningless.

I’m not saying this to start an AI debate. Please don’t go there. Let’s just take a moment to celebrate and share some real writing by our members who are, you know, writing, please.

P.S. No shame from me if you do use AI. It’s up to you, none of my business, though I’m not sure what the point of writing is when you’re not, you know, writing. But for the love of the word, could you at least please tag it? I keep getting heart broken by excellent premises that I’m unable to read through because it’s so rote.

HOW DO I UNINTEGRATE GEMINI FROM MY GOOGLE DRIVE AND APPS, please? Pretty please?

I am the admin to my own company's Google Workspace (Business Standard plan) and I am trying to remove all those oh-so "helpful" Gemini Star thingies from everywhere in my apps and drive. (I am also paid seat.)

I access our docs via Chrome, be it from my PC or my Macbook.

In the admin console, in the "Generative AI" menu on the left-hand side, I have put the Service Status to "OFF for everyone" for all of:

• Gemini app
• Gemini Enterprise
• Gemini for Workspace (off for Calendar, Drive and Docs, Gmail, Google Chat; off for Alpha Gemini features)
• Notebook LLM

I have seen absolutely zero discernable change since I did this two days ago.

The damned Gemini Star thingy still appears in all my Google apps, from the 'pop-up' style bar at the bottom of Google Docs to the "Analyze this data" button at the bottom right of Sheets (when I tried to disable that one, it just moved into the task bar instead of floating at the bottom), etc.

These damned things are not only ALWAYS in the way in their UX, and to boot, the two times I tried to use them it was an utter and complete fail.

I'd switch to Microsoft out of spite, but from what I hear it's not much better over there either.

Worst-case Ontario: is there a Chrome extension I can use to kill these things from appearing on my screens?

I'm going to have to buy gardening gloves, again, this year. I've been buying, on average, one pair per year for the two of us. They inevitably tear, especially at the finger tips.

So I'm wondering: if they're not going to last, should I just get dollar-store gloves? Or do you have suggestions for durable, quality gloves?

Like... $40 pair from Lee Valley... vs $9 from Crappy Tire... vs $3 from Dollarama.*

P.S. I often don't even wear gloves, but I inevitably regret it -- lots of spiky stuff and angry ants where I am; I tend to develop eczema or allergic reactions; my fingers swell up like sausages and hurt for hours.

*It occurs to me that Canadian/Crappy Tire, Lee Valley and Dollarama may be exclusively Canadian. Lee Valley = fancy shmancy and generally high quality. Canadian Tire = lower-middle-of-the-road. Dollarama = dollar store, where, of course, nothing actually costs less than $3 nowadays.