So I am less bothered by gmail ads than the cookies that allow ads from sites I visit to follow me around the internet. Will I ever stop getting ads about hotels in Ireland?

At least a year ago, I went to the website of a company that makes vegan cream cheese, to compare the nutritional information with another brand. The ads for that brand of cream cheese are still following me.

I just had to rescue full trash bags from the five-pound dog. God knows what she got into before I caught her.

I just cancelled my old cell phone, finally, and it was surprisingly painless! I just didn't give him anything to work with while I said "no, thank you" three times. And it was done!

Well, I toss my cookies every time I close my browser. And generally I don't even have them on except for specific sites. And my geographic area reports incorrectly because of the cellular modem, so I get wrongly targeted place ads. And again, even when that's happening to me, I'm not seeing it, though they're still being served.

I have a couple of gmail accounts these days, but I don't really actually receive email there.

I wonder what kids who are growing up now here are going to think about how the world just automatically knows what they're interested in and tells them about stuff. Just like we don't think about the mechanics of, like, cars, or whatever, they won't think about the mechanics of Big Data.

Just like we don't think about the mechanics of, like, cars, or whatever, they won't think about the mechanics of Big Data.

This is what scares me. Especially watching how easily Sara is influenced by commercials.

I punked and drove to the market. It was going to be a solo trip and the wind was awful. A lot of vendors didn't show.

Errands all done. Need to start cleaning.

In a little bit.

I know it's mandatory to take all shows, especially if they're "reality", with a dose of salt, but that ad for the job interview show one person is asked "If I go to your Facebook account, will I find topless pictures of you?" Now, I'd like to believe my FB account is just beside the point, but SERIOUSLY? Are there significant conventional job hunters with...oversights like that? Oy.

Now, I fully believe that a lot of what Google wants from me to make a profit of is about me. Being able to compose a decent profile and sell that information would be incredibly lucrative. And they offer so many different services, there are many different ways in which I'd give them my information, even if I'm not handing it over to Facebook or Amazon. But..."reading" my email?

I'd like someone to put out an "Email for Dummies" ad and point out how insecure email is, and how MS's privacy notice says

We use the information we collect to provide the services you request. Our services may include the display of personalized content and advertising

So, you know.

Yes, there certainly are, ita. I've had people apply who had pictures of themselves with a bong or email handles like "Sexxxychick".

It's great fun at work to ask for an email and have the customer hesitate, then say, for example, "hotguy93@yahoo.com". And it's amazing how many people are still running businesses off AOL addresses. I didn't know AOL was still going.

At my old university, you were allowed to pick your user name for your @universityname.edu account. Most people were sensible and went with some variation of their name. But there were a few times students emailed me from addresses like QTPie.