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.
