The Off Topic Topic

[Barrister]

I recently heard the funny but selectively created claim that statistically President is the deadliest job in America.

Four fatalities in nearly 250 years isn't that bad.

4 fatalities out of 46 people to hold the office isn't great though.

[crazy canuck]

I recently heard the funny but selectively created claim that statistically President is the deadliest job in America.

Four fatalities in nearly 250 years isn't that bad.

Almost 1 in 10 isn't great.  That is literally decimation.

[Maladict]

It wasn't an entirely serious argument.

But, in the Languish tradition of digging one's hole deeper: the obvious solution is there should be more presidents. Shorter terms or co-presidents will make it a safer job.

Out of the 77 Roman Emperors up to AD 476, 33 were murdered and a further 5 died in battle.
Only a handful of the hundreds of Roman consuls were killed while in office.

[crazy canuck]

 

[Josquius]

Is it just me (does Google have me wrongly profiled?) or is the Internet very Indian these days?
Basic searches without qualifiers will often prioritise very Indian results for me.
Such as when I wanted to find out what ntr meant having read a comment about manhwa saying this was way too common - turns out it's some Indian actor....
It actually means cheating and is a Japanese porn term which seems to have found use for the act in general. Who knew.

[Barrister]

Is it just me (does Google have me wrongly profiled?) or is the Internet very Indian these days?
Basic searches without qualifiers will often prioritise very Indian results for me.
Such as when I wanted to find out what ntr meant having read a comment about manhwa saying this was way too common - turns out it's some Indian actor....
It actually means cheating and is a Japanese porn term which seems to have found use for the act in general. Who knew.

I think that's just the crazy thing about algorithms.

Make a couple of the wrong searches and it can have you pegged as someone with wildly different interests then you actually have.

I notice this most on Twitter - I click on seemingly crazy posts just to see what people are saying, but now Twitter seems to think I am wildly racist, but the same thing happens to a lesser degree on Google or Youtube.

[crazy canuck]

For a while now the algorithm thinks I am a lesbian.  I think it was because I watched a lot of content regarding the Women's NCAA tournament and continue to follow Clark.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I watched and enjoyed a Turkish tv show a while back, in its wisdom the net decided I was at least part-Turkish and possibly unmarried so I started getting some not very helpful search results, tips and adverts. The algorithms seem to be strongly convergent to me, ie you liked this Turkish history drama....here are some more Turkish history dramas; whereas what I probably want is to be informed about eg an ace Peruvian soap opera. It struggles with people with eclectic interests and I wonder if it is reducing the variety of many peoples interests 

[Tamas]

I am now near-convinced of some audio-based monitoring for ads.  Just the other day I was on a work call where van hiring was mentioned a couple of times. Right after, I go on Youtube and the first advert that pops up is... van hire. The first such advert I have received, ever.

[The Brain]

Ads and... other uses.

[Josephus]

Mrs. CC and I are travelling at the moment.  The local population (Sardinians) are generally fit.  A grandmother passed us walking up a steep hill...

But an interesting thing we are noticing about the Northern Europeans we see - the men in my generation have good muscle tone, but a lot of the younger guys are skinning fat.  Scrawny arms and pot bellies.  Or just plain fat fat.

I wonder if this will be the first generation when the younger men are weaker/less fit than the older generation.

Didn't you go to Sardinia last year? Nice island, but is there some reason you keep going there?

[Josquius]

I am now near-convinced of some audio-based monitoring for ads.  Just the other day I was on a work call where van hiring was mentioned a couple of times. Right after, I go on Youtube and the first advert that pops up is... van hire. The first such advert I have received, ever.

Yeah, I've encountered this a lot. It is really weird, though such data being transmitted from phones would clearly be noticeable.
My theory when it comes out of real world discussions is there's something about geo-tracking you being right next to this other person who you are frequently close to, thus implying you often talk, and connecting your mutual interest/needs for something to guess that he might have talked about a new purchase.
Out of a work call though...that is curious. Very possible the call could be syphoned off elsewhere.

I guess there's also the chance of coincidence where we just don't notice 90% of ads but when you've just chatted about something ads about it will pop out.

[Tamas]

I guess there's also the chance of coincidence where we just don't notice 90% of ads but when you've just chatted about something ads about it will pop out.

Yeah that's probably it but then again it's been a year since we moved house why would I be getting van hire ads now? I guess traffic-wise your phone can just transcript it and transfer it like that but it does sound impossible to do this without being easily noticeable on a phone's performance.

[grumbler]

For a while now the algorithm thinks I am a lesbian.  I think it was because I watched a lot of content regarding the Women's NCAA tournament and continue to follow Clark.

As a lesbian, you will be pleased to hear that the Indy Star reporter who had that creepy interaction with Clark has been removed from covering her team.

[Tamas]

I watched and enjoyed a Turkish tv show a while back, in its wisdom the net decided I was at least part-Turkish and possibly unmarried so I started getting some not very helpful search results, tips and adverts. The algorithms seem to be strongly convergent to me, ie you liked this Turkish history drama....here are some more Turkish history dramas; whereas what I probably want is to be informed about eg an ace Peruvian soap opera. It struggles with people with eclectic interests and I wonder if it is reducing the variety of many peoples interests 

BTW I have definitely noticed this with music on Spotify and Youtube. If I rely only on the algorithm to provide me with music to listen to I end up in an ever-tightening circle of the same few tracks.