Ads For 'Old Coots'

At my aunt's house the other day down here in sunny Florida(!), I noticed her Kindle on the coffee table.

The ads were running on the screen so, having just arrived, I figured that we interrupted her reading.

But many hours later I saw the ads still flashing on the Kindle, in the same spot,...

CaptiousNephew - You know, you can turn that thing off...

Aunt - It IS off.

CaptiousNephew - No it's not.

Aunt - Yes it is.

So I picked it up, slid the power switch to the right and counted out loud slowly, "one two three....six seven" and the Kindle did a miraculous thing - IT TURNED OFF. You should have seen the look of amazement on her face!

CaptiousNephew - Don't you have the directions?

Aunt - Of course. I filed them too.

CaptiousNephew - Well, you should have READ them first!

Later on that night I was talking to my mother - my aunt's sister - via a cordless cellphone...

With my aunt next to me I started to relay this humorous episode to my mother - much to the chagrin of auntie.

Then I caught myself mid-anecdote:

CaptiousSon - Wait Ma, do you have ads running on your Kindle.

Mother - Yes. I can't stand them.

CaptiousSon - Do you know how to turn them off?

Mother - Nope.

And then I walked her through the complicated 7-second-button-hold process.

It turns out she also prudently filed her directions.

Me? I took one quick look and tossed them!

I do wonder how many 'old coots' are out there staring at ads on their Kindles unnecessarily.

And I do wonder if Amazon's engineers did this intentionally!!!

Someone also has to tell these fossils that they can HIT THE MUTE BUTTON when the color TV commercials start blaring too! I mean it's bad enough that they don't have/use DVR technology...

See also - The Jurassic Butterfly Effect.