Through The Looking Glass

Happy Vijayadashami folks!

 

Beware of Online "Filter Bubbles"
A few excerpts from this TED Talk:

Interesting.

We do need some kind of filter, but not one that drives us to a bubble.

Was reminded of the above when pondering on having missed reading the "Let's Fire Up Those Neurons!" thread till recently.

 

There are certain things I do to minimize being profiled online. Will come back with a more detailed post later. It is obviously not possible to stop it entirely but you can take some steps to reduce the information you give out by your online activities.

Be interesting to hear what everyone does to 'control' being tracked online. Or do people not care at all?

 

Perhaps I am talking about profiling and analysis by tools we use (google, fb, ...) and you are referring to profiling by human readers?

For the tracking done by google, fb etc - I think it is almost unavoidable, a losing battle, and other than not using or minimizing use, not much need be done.

For the other kind, like you mentioned in another post, some obfuscation of details can be made while retaining gist of what one intends to post. But over time, that becomes less effective.

 

I have a long post planned on this subject. I will come back to it I promise. With puzzles and lice, and weight loss and calories counting, my list of pending posts is inexhaustible. I might have to devote a weekend to getting caught up.

 

Alan Rickman died today, at the age of 69. I was totally blindsided. He had cancer and he kept the news private. Just 2 days ago, I used my Audible credit to download Thomas Hardy's "Return of the Native", read by Alan Rickman. His voice was the only reason I got the audiobook. Today that voice is gone forever.

I can't pretend that I care deeply about celebrity deaths. Normally I don't. But there are some names that you grow up with, thinking of them as permanent fixtures of your universe. Never believing that someday they will fade to grey. Is this what growing old feels like? One by one your heroes fall.

Die Hard, Harry Potter series, the heart-tugging Col Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, the Sheriff of Nottingham, so many iconic roles. By Grabthar's hammer, the sons of Warvan, it is time to watch Galaxy Quest again! RIP.