Friday, March 06, 2020
Dumb Big Data
I accidentally removed the browser's AdBlock and couldn't figure out how to put it back.
During this interregnum every website was CRAMMED TO OVERFLOWING with ads aimed at a REAL MAN. Youtube was hammering me with 15-minute infomercials for products designed to CLEAN MY BALLS. AOL mail was full of a grisly picture of PROSTATE GLANDS. UncommonDescent was slamming SUPERGIANT PICKUP TRUCKS WITH 20-FOOT WHEELS AND 9999999999 MEGAHORSEPOWER ENGINES CAPABLE OF 0-60 IN .000003 MICROSECONDS.
If this is Big Data, it's mighty dumb Big Data. The only thing it knows about me is my gender, not my age or tastes.
Normal AdBlock leakages or exceptions allowed smart Big Data, based on what I last bought from Ebay or LLBean. Vintage radios, slide rules, blankets. Ads that I could and often did click on and buy. Efficient ads.
Fortunately this REAL MAN stuff forced me to figure out how to re-install the AdBlock FAST.
¶ 11:39 AM 
