Is That A Spy In My Fly (No, Just On Your Forehead)

Does anyone on blog-spot ever notice that the ads up above sometimes have the appearance of having picked our brains? That they’re peering over our shoulders and taking notes? When I wrote my first bit, it was entitled “Eye Care” and it wasn’t long before I noticed that the ads above were by Lasik, the “eye care” people. At the time, I was a nervous new blogger and I thought, “Oh, they’ll think I’m making fun of them or something.” Because I hadn’t paid any attention to which had appeared first. The old Chicken or the Egg thing. Later, after writing a piece that mentioned Charlie Chaplin, I found ads for somebody selling Chaplin books. I was beginning (excuse me) to smell a rat.

This is weird. Does this mean someone’s written a computer program that spies on each blog and tries to extract “relevant” info that they can use to target us or our audience? I don’t see that it does much harm or that it seems likely to do them much good, either. If they don’t have an advertiser that “applies”, I guess that’s when they just put their ads for more Blogs up there. I’m very good at tuning out ads—it’s my training from Yahoo mail. This IS attention-getting, though I’m not sure it’s the kind of attention they want. It’s not the advertiser that fascinates me, but the computer program and the thinking of the advertising company. If someone writes about Chains and Whips, do they get ads for dog collars and dog leashes and leather face covers, I wonder? Omigod, I used the phrase myself! Now, what will happen? I’ll be advertising doggie diapers and dog biscuits before I know it. But there’s no controlling that little space up there unless I leave. Ah, well, I can tune it out. You’ll have to do the same.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist." Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian Bishop, Nobel Peace Prize nominee