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Alexa humor...

theo

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I enjoyed a cartoon in the Sunday paper yesterday. The single frame scene is a view of the living room of a home. There is a parrot (African Grey?) sitting atop its' perch, with an Amazon Echo sitting on the coffee table. There are no people around. Says the parrot....

"Alexa, turn the thermostat up to 85 degrees --- and order some fancy French crackers to be delivered".

Maybe you had to see it for yourself, but I certainly got a good chuckle out of it. :)
 

rhonda

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LOL, indeed. I have an Amazon Echo in the room with my Cockatoo who gets really grumpy when the temp dips below 81 degrees. I've long been waiting for him to give the instruction, "Echo, lights on!" (referring to a heat lamp plugged into an iDevice switch). It'll happen someday ...

EDITED TO ADD: I'm very certain my Blue Crown Conure, if he were still living, would have mastered Echo in no time. He had names for every soul in the house and used them, correctly, in context. He had no trouble issuing 'commands' to any of us!
  • Eli, the Blue Crown Conure, to the dog, "Here, Smokee. Come! Good boy!" (With heavy emphasis on the 'Good boy' part ... )
  • Eli to Roark, the Cockatoo, when Roark was being loud: "Roark! Shut up, Roark!" (Said in a really snarky tone.)
  • Eli to himself when he was being loud: "Shhhh, keep it down. Keep it down." (Said in a whisper voice that left all of us laughing.)
  • Eli to me, anytime I'd enter the room, "Hello, sweetie. How are you?" (He always called me 'Sweetie' and later rename himself 'Sweelie' to merge the name of his favorite human (Sweetie) with his own name. Adorable.)
  • Eli to nobody in particular, "Give me a call sometime and let me know you are OK." This left us scratching our heads. Where did it come from and to whom was it directed? We later discovered the source -- he picked it up through the open window of a neighbor reaching out to her adult daughters by telephone voice messages.
 
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Passepartout

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I enjoyed a cartoon in the Sunday paper yesterday. The single frame scene is a view of the living room of a home. There is a parrot (African Grey?) sitting atop its' perch, with an Amazon Echo sitting on the coffee table. There are no people around. Says the parrot....

"Alexa, turn the thermostat up to 85 degrees --- and order some fancy French crackers to be delivered"
I chuckled at that one too. The owner had just given the parrot some crummy crackers and was leaving for the day. Waaaaay back when I got my first Echo, I even posted here that if the things became ubiquitous (like they have), people could do mischief by ordering stuff in places they visit or setting alarms in friends or neighbors homes - ("Alexa, Set an alarm at 3 a.m. daily")
 

Talent312

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Try talking to someone about Alexa within earshot.
It turns into a 3-way conversation. "Alexa, shut up!"
 

rhonda

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Waaaaay back when I got my first Echo, I even posted here that if the things became ubiquitous (like they have), people could do mischief by ordering stuff in places they visit or setting alarms in friends or neighbors homes - ("Alexa, Set an alarm at 3 a.m. daily")
I have an Echo Dot in my truck. My husband had convinced a neighbor, who frequently hitches a ride from us, that the Echo only responds to my (Rhonda's) voice. The neighbor believed him for a long while until he grew tired of my Pandora play list on a long ride. Slightly annoyed, he commanded, "Echo, play West Side Story" and was shocked when it switched.

Game over. I've lost control of my music playlist in the truck. :(
 

Bucky

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Our cat has taken up sleeping on our dot. We use to irritate her by waiting until she would start sniffing it and then tell Alexa to tell us a joke. Well the flashing blue light gets her attention so she just decided to lay on it and sleep! Now she just gets on top of it before it has a chance to come on.
 

Carta

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Couple years ago after coming home from vacation; I asked Alexa "did u miss me"? She said: I'm glad ur back. I was here collecting more info...
 

rhonda

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Couple years ago after coming home from vacation; I asked Alexa "did u miss me"? She said: I'm glad ur back. I was here collecting more info...
Ummm ... I want to respond with LOL ... but that is a wicked sense of humor, no? ;)
 

Talent312

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Ask Alexa how much she weighs... and you'll get some sass.
For Valentines Day, ask Alexa to sing you a love song.

.
 

easyrider

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LOL, indeed. I have an Amazon Echo in the room with my Cockatoo who gets really grumpy when the temp dips below 81 degrees. I've long been waiting for him to give the instruction, "Echo, lights on!" (referring to a heat lamp plugged into an iDevice switch). It'll happen someday ...

EDITED TO ADD: I'm very certain my Blue Crown Conure, if he were still living, would have mastered Echo in no time. He had names for every soul in the house and used them, correctly, in context. He had no trouble issuing 'commands' to any of us!
  • Eli, the Blue Crown Conure, to the dog, "Here, Smokee. Come! Good boy!" (With heavy emphasis on the 'Good boy' part ... )
  • Eli to Roark, the Cockatoo, when Roark was being loud: "Roark! Shut up, Roark!" (Said in a really snarky tone.)
  • Eli to himself when he was being loud: "Shhhh, keep it down. Keep it down." (Said in a whisper voice that left all of us laughing.)
  • Eli to me, anytime I'd enter the room, "Hello, sweetie. How are you?" (He always called me 'Sweetie' and later rename himself 'Sweelie' to merge the name of his favorite human (Sweetie) with his own name. Adorable.)
  • Eli to nobody in particular, "Give me a call sometime and let me know you are OK." This left us scratching our heads. Where did it come from and to whom was it directed? We later discovered the source -- he picked it up through the open window of a neighbor reaching out to her adult daughters by telephone voice messages.


I was working on a home that had a large grey parrot that would call the dog " Here Abby, good Abby, Abby sit", and Abby would run over to the bird and sit. Abby was a chocolate lab. When we walked into the room the bird would say "hello", "what are you smoking", "my turn" and other random things.

Your post made me think of this bird which makes me grin.

Bill
 

DaveNV

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I'm glad I didn't have Alexa back in the day. My house would have been a disaster:

For many years I owned a male African Grey named Dolly. (Yes, who knew when he was a baby that he was a boy - when I got him a mate, I named her Madison. It worked out well for them. ;) ) Dolly would call our Australian Shepard, Sky, when the dog was excessively barking and generally being out of control. "Sky! Sky! <dog whistle sounds> Come! Come here, boy!" The dog would come to Dolly's cage, wagging his rear end (no tail) vigorously. Dolly would get down beak-to-wet-nose with the dog, and firmly command, "Be quiet! Shut up! Go lay down!" And the dog did it. Smart bird, obedient but not-very-smart dog.

Dolly was an amazing bird, spoke many words and phrases in various people's voice, made a million sounds, carried on one-sided phone calls, (complete with the ringing of the phone before the speaking started, and a cheerful "Bye bye now!" before an audible <CLICK> sound at the end), and he definitely could think for himself.

One of his best vocal tricks was when a stranger would stand in front of his cage, trying to get him to speak. He never spoke in front of strangers unless he wanted to - no amount of encouragement ever changed that. So the person would do all the usual lame stuff people do and say in front of a parrot: Things like "Polly wanna cracker?" and wolf whistles, and such - and Dolly didn't make a sound. Finally, when the frustrated person was bored, and inevitably said the right phrase, "What's the matter - can't you talk?" Dolly would climb on his cage bars to the front of the cage, until he was as close to the person as he could get. He'd dilate and contract his near eye very specifically at the person to get them into very hard focus. Then he'd lean down at a conspiratorial angle, and very clearly and loudly ask, "Of course I can talk. Can you fly?" Then as the person reacted, as they always did, Dolly would quietly laugh, a low, wicked chuckle.

Amazing bird.

Dave
 

rhonda

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Then as the person reacted, as they always did, Dolly would quietly laugh, a low, wicked chuckle.
Oh, thank you for that story of Dolly. It brought, for me, a memory of Eli's frequent and joyous belly laugh. I sure miss that bird.
 

Carta

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Ummm ... I want to respond with LOL ... but that is a wicked sense of humor, no? ;)
Rhonda, I thought Alexa was pretty funny..Not understanding ur reply.. ...Please explain..

Maybe it's just a "DUH" moment for me....LOL
 
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