February 17, 2018

At the Demand-Superior-Walls Café...

Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 2.26.40 PM

... you can talk about whatever you want. These walls have ears. No one says that anymore. All the trite phrases that have gone away. Occasionally you notice one. Remember when people said Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes?

Anyway, that image is a screenshot from Meade's computer the other day. I don't know if some algorithm picked up his interest in Trump's wall or what. It was last Tuesday, the day of the Fat Tuesday Café — pictured in the screen grab. You may remember that, in the comments, FIDO said:
I hadn't noticed it before, but the blog has an Ashley Madison ad on it. It is that google has determined that I am a pig, a random placement, or has Ms. Althouse become open minded on infidelity?
And I said:
Yeah, it's a sophisticated algorithm. If you're getting Ashley Madison ads, it says something about what Google knows about you.

Me, I'm getting an ad for a $1900 Chloe handbag.
And Meade said:
The only ad I'm seeing now is for something called "Superior Walls." No, I'm not a white supremacist. Yes, I want Trump to build the wall. Waiting for my head to spin.
You may remember that Trump said "That wall will go up so fast, your head will spin."

Talk about anything though. This is a café.

That means I need to add a reminder to use the Althouse Portal to Amazon. I couldn't find the $1900 Chloe handbag there. But you can buy the movie "The Wall" ("A deadly psychological thriller that follows two soldiers pinned down by an Iraqi sniper, with nothing but a crumbling wall between them"), Wall Control 30-P-3232GV Galvanized Steel Pegboard Pack, an iRobot Virtual Wall Barrier (to control your Roomba), and Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

73 comments:

madAsHell said...

When I worked at Boeing, there was always some rocket scientist that would say "Let's attack the low hanging fruit."

I always figured it was projection from his visit to the steam bath.

YoungHegelian said...

I haven't quite figured out the exact mechanism yet, but Google has linked my desktop, my phone, & my lap top as all belonging to me. I suspect checking gmail on all three has provided them that link, but as yet have no proof.

But, here's the kicker: Google is mining cookies on device A & using those cookies to target ads to me on devices B & C. I also strongly suspect from an ad I got the other day that Google is mining my conversations on my Samsung Android phone.

Facebook has yet to figure me out, but Google seems by hook or crook to have assembled a frighteningly detailed dossier on me. Imagine how useful that could be for Google if I were a person of importance & power (which I most certainly am not). "Senator X, before you vote on that H1-B bill on Tuesday, we at Google would like to ask you a question: who exactly were you buying that diamond broach & black latex cupless corset for? Mrs X? But, she's not that size, right?"

madAsHell said...

I haven't quite figured out the exact mechanism yet

Did you provide Google with your phone number?

Kathryn51 said...

I am beginning to search for Mother-of-the-Bride dresses (or, in my case, Mother of Groom, but I'll be Bride Mom within next year or so as well).

Anyway, the ads that appear on my feed are Neiman Marcus, Saks and Nordstrom.

I have always wondered if Althouse receives any points ($$$) if I click on the ad.

YoungHegelian I avoid Google (use Bing) and I notice that when I "bing" search, all of sudden things pop up on AMAZON as "suggestions". And, of course, Facebook. I need to figure out how to crush the Facebook ads - every third "post" is an ad. (including lots of Mother of the Bride shopping options).

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Wait... how can open borders (No walls) coexist with Mueller's indictable meddling meme makers?

Democrat narrative is a big mess these days.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I'm guessing Mueller is for the virtual wall.

The Russian mistake was literally farming out the bot farm.

No DACA for you.

Trumpit said...

I believe you should be able to have a gun in your home to defend yourself against intruders, but that's where it ends. This isn't the Wild West where you need to carry a gun with you at all times. I love Westerns, but we can't go back to living like they did. Don't look for trouble. Stay out of rough neighborhoods. And of course, outlaw hunting and trapping of our four-legged, and winged friends. The Anti-fur Coalition has more information about outlawing the sale of pelts, and fur coats. It's difficult to stop hunters and trappers from plying their evil trade, so it is better to target the consumer.
https://www.antifurcoalition.org/

buwaya said...

Asiana Airlines is offering me cheap Trans-Pacific fares in Vietnamese.

Thoughtful of them.

Roughcoat said...

Don't look for trouble. Stay out of rough neighborhoods.

Do you live in a big city?

In big cities trouble has a habit of coming to you.

And it isn't possible for me to stay out of rough neighborhoods. I have to drive through them to get to my job.

Do I have conceal-carry license, and do I make use of it? What do you think?

Hagar said...

Democrat narrative is a big mess these days.

Ban tobacco!
"Legalize" pot! (and tax it! Yay!!!)

How long before Democrats around the country start questioning where their leaders are taking them?

Henry said...

If anyone sees an ad for flooring, that's me.

Henry said...

A serious question for the gun-owners here. What do you think about permit-to-purchase laws? Outside of slippery-slope arguments, could permit-to-purchase be a reasonable state-by-state regulation to work for?

Henry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

"Senator X, before you vote on that H1-B bill on Tuesday, we at Google would like to ask you a question: who exactly were you buying that diamond broach & black latex cupless corset for? Mrs X? But, she's not that size, right?"

Senator X: You've figured me out. It's for me.

Henry said...

"Senator X, before you vote on that H1-B bill on Tuesday, we at Google would like to ask you a question: who exactly were you buying that diamond broach & black latex cupless corset for? Mrs X? But, she's not that size, right?"

Senator X: "I bought the robot in cash."

Humperdink said...

Henry asked: "What do you think about permit-to-purchase laws? Outside of slippery-slope arguments, could permit-to-purchase be a reasonable state-by-state regulation to work for?"

I live in Pa where the normal background check suffices to purchase a pistol. You may take it home but not carry it concealed w/o a conceal carry permit. My friends across the border in New York are not permitted to even purchase a pistol w/o a permit. This can take up to a year.

I have a CCW for 37 states but not New York, which is 10 minutes away from my home in Pa. I am waiting for some hardcore state to refuse to recognize the driver license of New Yorkers when they enter their state.

YoungHegelian said...

@Henry,

Senator X: You've figured me out. It's for me.

That only worked for J. Edgar Hoover.

YoungHegelian said...

@Kathryn51,

YoungHegelian I avoid Google (use Bing) and I notice that when I "bing" search, all of sudden things pop up on AMAZON as "suggestions". And, of course, Facebook. I need to figure out how to crush the Facebook ads - every third "post" is an ad. (including lots of Mother of the Bride shopping options).

Set your browser to clear your cookies when you exit & a lot of those ads will disappear, I'd bet. I would do it, except I work in IT, & I use my browser ALL THE DAMN TIME on all my devices for work related issues, & it helps day to day work flow not to delete history, cookies, etc.

If I could avoid google search, trust me, I would. Simply put, for what I do for a living, Google is still by far the best search engine in what it returns.

MikeD said...

I use Firefox & have forgotten what an ad online looks like. Bonus, they just intro'd an add-on that busts thru paywalls, be readin' ya WSJ.

Roughcoat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

@humperdink -- You have a permit. Would you be okay with Pennsylvania passing a permit-to-purchase law for new potential gun owners? If not, why?

How about this. would you be okay with Pennsylvania passing permit-to-purchase in a reciprocity deal with New York?

YoungHegelian said...

@Trumpit,

I love Westerns, but we can't go back to living like they did.

No, we can't. They had far fewer guns than we do.

There are around 300 million guns in this country, & their owners are in no mood to give them up. A gun ban is absolutely out of the question, as enforcement would be impossible.

Whatever may be the good or bad of ubiquitous gun ownership in the US, that horse has left the barn loooong ago.

Henry said...

@Roughcoat. That's awesome.

Roughcoat said...

In Illinois you need to get a FOID card before you can purchase a firearm or ammunition. The FOID takes a couple months or so to be approved. When you do purchase a firearm there's a waiting period during which background checks are made you before you can take possession of it. A liberal anti-gun columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times named Neil Steinberg set out to prove how easy it was purchase a firearm. He was about making a political point. After getting his FOID he bought an AR. During the waiting period the background check revealed that he had recently pled no contest to a wife-battering charge, which was the result of the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic with an apparently well-deserved reputation for being a nasty drunk. The gun store denied him possession of the AR on legal grounds. Mr. Steinberg was chagrined. People like me laughed our asses off. He made a political point all right, just not the one he thought would make.

Christy said...

I recently searched for swimsuits online, not cute swimsuits but workout swimsuits. Suddenly I was seeing ads with busty swimsuit models in seductive poses. I was pleased that the algorithm was so completely off.

When I setup my first android smartphone, Google took me to a page for a new Gmail account. The last thing I needed was another email account so I backed out immediately. Then the next time I came to the Althouse blog on my tablet, the dashboard had me logged in to the new account. Totally different device. Problem was that I hadn't gotten as far as setting up a password, so suddenly I was locked out of everything Google forced me into unless I used the original smartphone. Major mess, and these days I seem to be getting bullying emails from Google about not using their apps.

tcrosse said...

An added complication to gun-confiscation schemes that will never happen in the USA:
I do not possess a firearm, but I cannot prove that I don't, it being difficult to prove a negative. Will they dig up my back yard just to make sure ? If they dispose of the second amendment, will they (whoever they are) also dispense with the fourth ?

Humperdink said...

Henry asked: "You have a permit. Would you be okay with Pennsylvania passing a permit-to-purchase law for new potential gun owners? If not, why?

How about this. would you be okay with Pennsylvania passing permit-to-purchase in a reciprocity deal with New York?"

What would be the difference between the current background check and a permit to purchase?

The CCW permit process in Pa is extensive and quick. I would prefer 50 state reciprocity. Make it detailed and extensive with training.

Big Mike said...

@Meade, this is the second time your ladylove has mentioned that Chloe handbag. Just sayin'

dustbunny said...

The ad I see is for an Ultrasonic Cleaning Tool. No idea why the algorithm thinks I want one, but without this post I would never have even noticed it

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Trump Mocks Democrats For Not Passing Gun Control Laws Under Obama
http://mediaite.com/a/dzkqs

Prediction.

Trump is going to introduce gun legislation.

Mr. Majestyk said...

"Yeah, it's a sophisticated algorithm."


So THAT's why I keep getting ads for penis-reduction surgery.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Madisons Ashley and Dolly: cream filled.

-6W

Breezy said...

Trump’s base would not leave him if he shot someone but, I predict, they would leave him if he introduced gun control legislation.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Ashley Madison strategy: word of mouth.

-6W

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes?

Let's throw it against the wall and see if it sticks.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Ashley Madison: Me Too, discreet billing.

-6W

Clyde said...

The Ashley Madison ad of shame! They see you when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake...

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Trumpit: "Don't look for trouble. Stay out of rough neighborhoods."

Makes sense. To that I would add, avoid places where tools of self-defense are prohibited - theatres, schools, night-clubs, outdoor concerts, and the like. Fella could get hisself shot in them places.

Oh, and that four-footed and feathered friends thing seems kinda racist. Lota First Nations folks consider hunting a sacred right. Fishing is OK with you, I guess; slong as ya don't shoot 'em. But they are living critters, and end up just as dead as the rabbit and the quail.

Whatever. Peace, bro.

YoungHegelian said...

@Clyde,

They see you when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake.

So?! Be good for goodness sake!

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

And sacred rite, as well.

Will Cate said...

My son is in your state tonight (Milwaukee, not Madison) doing live sound audio at a place called ... Rave/Eagles Club? (he's on a cross-country tour, can't remember the band's name)

Big Mike said...

@Hammond, back in the day I had teachers who graded exams that way. If it stuck to the wall you got an A, otherwise ...

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Ashley Madison ads: clickbait for masterbaiters?

-6W

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Laura Ashley Madison: comforters and cozies.

-6W

madAsHell said...

-6W

Holy Shit!! Is this more Laslo performance art in the comments section?

bolivar di griz said...


Moderation is an odd thing:

https://spectator.org/spare-us-the-conversation/

Freeman Hunt said...

The advertising oracles have determined that I might want to start a concrete lifting business.

I do not.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Don't look for trouble. Stay out of rough neighborhoods."

Sexist.

Freeman Hunt said...

I reloaded the page and am being offered floor mats, the kind you wipe your feet on when you enter a building. Exciting!

chickelit said...

Cowmats??

Etienne said...

Speaking of Lost Horizons, I hadn't read that book in years, so at the library today I read it, along with the latest issue of Aviation Week...

I always suspected that Conway and Mallinson were gay. Then Conway and Mallinson get the hots for the same girl. Conway can't bring himself to consummate the relationship, but the young Mallinson shags her real good.

So Conway is offered rule over Shangri-La and almost eternal life, but when he finds out that Mallinson and the girl are escaping, we find out that eternal life without a beautiful woman who plays the piano, is too much to contemplate. So he throws that all away after Mallinson convinces him that the stories he's been told are crap.

Conway figures, Mallinson will get the girl, but he will always be Mallinson's lover. So off they go to China. Obviously, the stories Conway was told are true, and the beautiful girl returns to her 98 year age. She is able to check him into the hospital before she dies of the worldly diseases. Young Mallinson is never mentioned, but I assume he died as well.

So having been re-born, Conway see's the error of his ways, and really does want to return to Shangri-La forever. Of course he doesn't really know the way, so the reader never knows if he made it.

My opinion is, that even if he made it back, they would have made him a tea butler. Yea, you will live to be 150 years old, serving tea to Chang who rules over Shangri-La.

Etienne said...

P.S. Shangri-La is probably taken from Zhang ri la "Zhang district mountain pass". ...and now you know the rest of the story...Good day!

I wonder if they have Uber there, or Chloe handbags...

Earnest Prole said...

Interesting piece in Law & Crime: Five Important Details You Might Have Missed in the Latest Mueller Indictment (or more properly, what the media missed, whether by incompetence or, more likely, because they consider themselves co-prosecutors):

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/5-important-details-you-might-have-missed-in-the-latest-mueller-indictment/

Sorry for no hyperlink, but it’s worth a cut-and-paste.

Etienne said...

P.S.S. "America is a Shangri-La for interest groups and lobbyists." -- Clive Thomas, Studies in US Politics.

Etienne said...

P.S.S.S I wonder if Clive Thomas meant that America was full of trans, queers, and Hollywood whores living in utopia on the side of a cliff, with unlimited supplies of opium and tea?

Q: What is the sound made by two queers in Shangri-La when they toast each other with tea cups?

A: Chink!

Trumpit said...

"P.S.S.S I wonder if Clive Thomas meant that America was full of trans, queers, and Hollywood whores living in utopia on the side of a cliff, with unlimited supplies of opium and tea?

Q: What is the sound made by two queers in Shangri-La when they toast each other with tea cups?

A: Chink!"

Etienne, You've insulted the entire LGBT community as well as the Asian community in one comment in a feeble attempt at humor.
Queer is like the N-word. Only queer people are allowed to use it, and generally only with other queers. Lay off the humor, and the sauce for a while.

Etienne said...

Trumpit said......the Asian community...

You mean Orientals I believe?

OK, no more booze, slurp, on to French Onion Soup...

Q: Do you know how to tell if Onions are French?
A: [racist joke deleted]

Saint Croix said...

That damn Ashley Madison follows me here all the time.

She's a psycho! Don't believe her.

Google is probably saying that Ashley Madison was born in Madison, Wisconsin, great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of James Madison and that Potawatomi girl.

So now whenever we say "Madison!" Google says "A-ha!"

(Actually the Madisons had a great marriage, so Google can suck it).

Humperdink said...

OK Trumpit, I'm in, let's cancel deer season. The slaughter on the highway would be epic. But it's a painless death to die from broken legs in the ditch, right? You can always tell by looking at a damaged car if it was a deer collision - the bumper is unscathed, but the top of the grill and hood are banged up. Why? The deer's legs are weak laterally and snap like twigs. Then the car makes solid contact with the body and into the ditch it goes. Maybe we could form a euthanization team to patrol the highways.

BTW, the latest data on deer collisions in Pa is from 2015. The number? A meager 126,000. Hunters in Pennsylvania killed 300,000+. Please advise your preference Trumpit.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/pennsylvania-tops-in-the-nation-for-deer-vehicle-collisions-here/article_af528ec4-5af0-11e5-9c36-a3d31d5f85fe.html

Etienne said...

Trumpit said...I believe you should be able to have a gun in your home [insert restriction here]

In Shangri-La the laws are in moderation and that's supposed to be Utopian.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Trumpit: Etienne, You've insulted the entire LGBT community as well as the Asian community in one comment in a feeble attempt at humor.
Queer is like the N-word. Only queer people are allowed to use it, and generally only with other queers.


Really? I don't think that's true, but I'll check:

Queer. Nigger.

Nope, I just used them, and I'm non-black and non-L, non-G, non-B, non-T.

Just to make sure of the general legal principal:

Oriental.

Nope, non-Asian, and just used that one too.

Any other items from the vast, free-wheeling corpus of English vocabulary whose restrictions on usage I need to check out?

(Btw, I have no interest in fur coats right now, but I have noticed that some new mustelids (minks? martens?) have recently joined the neighborhood ecosystem. It's live and let live right now, but, should civilization collapse, I will be appropriating their shiny warm coats for my own survival. And, now that it's been mentioned, the deer in the nabe have been getting a bit out of hand lately. I'm not a hunter, but circumstances may eventually compel. The state DNR has been putting out warnings about the dire consequences of the decline in the culling of deer in the state in recent years.)

rhhardin said...

Gee, there's a ham contest on this morning, and in just desultory spot 40m activity I got Hawaii 4 times and Guam once. I'm surprised every time that 15 watts gets out so well.

Japan didn't answer though.

narciso said...

Where the road ends

https://babalublog.com/2018/02/17/armas-para-que-guns-for-what-to-fight-the-government-fidel-castro-jan-8-1959-fidel-castro-ridiculed-gun-ownership-to-the-whoops-and-cheers-of-a-delirious-crowd-of-cuban-imbeciles-r/

narciso said...


Summarizing proust, first example

https://www.americanthinker.com

David said...

Meade, have you gotten her the handbag yet? Hurry.

tcrosse said...

Don't forget Wall Drug.

Josephbleau said...

Those Superior insulated below grade walls look pretty good. Bet they cost a lot though.

gadfly said...

From the Parkland Student gathering comes the liberal view implanted by public school teachers and administrators into the minds of impressionable children - Guns are bad and we can eliminate our school shooting problems by banning guns. Somehow they have all forgotten that the Broward County school campuses are gun-free zones.

Besides the impossibility of eliminating a hundred million guns, the extent of the problem really needs to be examined through the lens of the real size of the problem. Some 100,000 public school building are occupied by about 50 million students and at least 6 million teachers, so how do we protect them - or is there any way to improve what the millions of dollars already added to school budgets do in the way of providing protection?

In the past thirty years, there have been 16 mass shootings at schools which have unfortunately resulted in 162 deaths. So if we are averaging one mass school shooting biannually, with 56 million people at risk every year for two years - that works out to .15% of a person dead in each million at risk in each of the past 30 years. Statisticians will tell us that we have done enough already - and I will tell you that school shootings never happened-period (Amen) "back in the day."

But the NEVER AGAIN crowd will continue to be perplexed when Parkland goes the way of the Oregon Community College shooting in 2015. What? You don't remember that shooting where nine died? Me neither!

Etienne said...

Constitutionally speaking, firearms has priority over public schools.

If one of them has to go, that is.

FIDO said...

Predictably, your perennial and pungent prudery precluded prudence and perforce you publically pilloried me, Ms. Althouse.

Of course the idea that the algorithm might not be particularly sophisticated never seems to have crossed your mind.

But much like your lusted after handbag, I may look at the occasional luxury 'item', but I won't touch. They cost too much.

Bruce Gee said...

I’ve worked with a lot of farmers, farm workers, apple pickers, blue collar guys. And the one thing they seem to have in common is, at the end of a lunch break, one of them always says, “Well, I suppose…”

I’ve heard this dozens of times in differing situations.

Josephbleau said...

Well, I suppose fades to Well, I recon to well, I god damn recon.