@journeywithme2 You just led me down a rabbit hole with that link, haha. Oddly it ties into the Facebook news.
I noticed the ad at the top of The Guardian link was of furniture I had recently viewed online a few weeks ago. I got a little annoyed thinking the internet is into so much of our daily lives and we don't even know it. So I clicked the little "x" to close the ad, and long story short I decided to keep clicking options until I could find how the internet remembered I was looking at furniture.
I ended up at this website via Google: https://youradchoices.com/control
It has a web tool that runs to see who has you on their list of ads, then it lets you opt out of all those ads at the press of a button. As I scrolled down the list, there were a ton of names I didn't recognize, but one stood out, FACEBOOK. I just thought it was funny how it tied in so well and thought I'd share the link incase anyone was interested in opting out of "they know too much" ads. Although I will say now the ads show up as plastic surgery and miracle cures, so pick your poison I guess. ;)
Anecdotal accounts suggest that it's even worse than that - that you can just say something near your phone, Alexa, or Google smart device and you start getting ads for things. For example, you might just say out loud "I need to buy a couch" and you might start getting ads for couches across all your social media. Again, these are anecdotal accounts that I've had with friends and family - so it's still possible they looked the thing up and didn't remember doing so.
One thing I have noticed personally is looking up something on my home computer and then getting ads for it on my computer at work (or vice-versa). I think Google, Facebook, and others do track you across any device you sign into.
@melmystery it is very scary how much companies know about our online life. I seriously hope this is one of the issues reined in over the next few years.
@Avon This rang in my head when I read your comments LOL. ""Curiouser and curiouser!". "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. *I say.. we are all a little mad here - in a good way*
You can actually opt out of a lot of that on Facebook. When you do? You will not be able to play the games etc etc. You just : " have disabled access to apps, games, and websites on Facebook in your app settings. You must reenable access before you can play games on Facebook."
You manage it in your settings.
Regarding FB et al.: I don't have a Facebook account, but when I do an Internet product search on my computer, those ads will come up on my husband's FB page. I found this out when I was searching for a birthday gift for my hubby, and he casually commented "were you just searching for XYZ on your computer?" So much for keeping something a surprise.
It's infuriating and it's creepy.
New York is upholding its vaccination mandates. However, a group of anti-vaxxers destroyed a testing site.
Did a quick scan and saw that these people will get rounded up and fade into the fringes. I see COVID eventually shrinking and becoming like the flu.
I don't know about anyone else... but I am really sick and tired of being held hostage by our political "leaders"
Observing what’s happening with our congress, the word “useless” came to mind. I seem to recall someone (@jeanne-mayell) predicting that within a decade DC would become a shell of it’s former self? I wonder if we are watching obsolescence unfold.
Does anyone recall this prediction or have I been circling around in my own head too long?
Honestly, while Washington loosing some of its potency would be okay on one level it wouldn't be good, at last to me, if this means we become even more factionalized. Basically, thanks to our technology and stuff we need more globalization and unification and less state focused operations. I'm not saying a World Council or making the UN into an actual government is the answer - but something more planetary is needed.
Basically local issues should be locally decided while global issues need to be decided and put into play on a global level. You can't do that if there is no global governing apparatus.