We’re all familiar with the situation: you post something about a government conspiracy and the very next day you get a pop-up ad when you open a web page somewhere:
As I said in the title, if I were a paranoid man…
Not long ago I was running an errand which took me down the horrible I-35 south of Dallas. It’s horrible not because of the road per se, but because to get to the I-35 south of Dallas from where I am, I have to somehow get around the Dallas downtown area, which as any local yokel will tell you, can be a terrifying experience. (What tourists or newcomers feel when facing this situation I cannot even begin to fathom.)
Anyway, as any local yokel will tell you, South Dallas is a place to be avoided at all costs (think: East L.A., South Side Chicago, Boston’s Combat Zone etc.). Yet there I was, trundling along…
…and got a puncture which tore my right-hand rear tire to shreds.
Fortunately, it happened about 50 yards before an off-ramp, so I managed to get off the interstate and pull into a service station parking lot, there to await the arrival of roadside service.
Tangent: I know how to change a tire, I’ve done it dozens of times before, but I’m decades older than I was the last time I did it, and as my insurance company provides the service for free… why the hell not?
However, I soon noticed that my environs were not the most salubrious, in that when I went into the little convenience store to get a Coke, the cashier was encased behind what looked like 12″-thick armored glass and stout steel bars. The message was obvious, so I decided to forego the Coke and get back to my car ASAP.
I didn’t get back inside the car because that way I wouldn’t be able to get a 360° view of my surroundings, and more importantly, by standing next to the car I would have easy access to both my trusty 1911 and its backup, should that be necessary.
I waited for about an hour for the roadside service guy, and was only accosted by one scrote who needed a $5 gift “for gas to get to work”, a likely story as he looked like the last time he worked was during the elder Bush presidency. Besides, I wasn’t going to get my wallet out only to be confronted by a knife.
Because if that happened, I’d have to shoot the asshole and then would come the cops, the call to my SCCA attorney, endless paperwork, confiscation of my 1911, forget about keeping my appointment… you get the picture: all that hassle just because I might ventilate someone totally deserving of ventilation.
So I just pointed at my tire-less rim, and snarled that I had my own fucking problems and to leave me the fuck alone.
Which he did, fairly quickly and without any fuss. Clearly, I didn’t look like a potential victim, for some reason.
Anyway, roadside service arrived and put on my “spare” (just a donut, 2,000-word rant omitted ). Except that the donut was flat, despite the assurance from my last oil-change provider whom I’d asked to check on the thing (another 2,000-word rant omitted, but he just lost my business). Fortunately, road service guy had one of those little quick-pump thingies which took care of the problem right there, so off I went, late for my appointment, but buoyed by the certain knowledge that afterwards, I’d have to stop by Discount Tires to get a replacement, oh joy, because there was no way the donut would get me the fifty-odd miles home, on said Dallas-area freeways where you get run off the road for daring to drive at only 70mph.
Anyway, I told you all that so I could tell you this.
Two days ago, I got an email which featured one of these:
It was the first such ad I’ve ever got in this manner, and if I were a paranoid man…
So the question is — because the coincidence seems a little too strong, even for me — how did these hucksters get my email addy? From the insurance company, or the tire outlet?
Your guesses in Comments.
Afterword #1: I actually already have one of the above in the trunk of the car, but I couldn’t remember when last I charged it up, which is why I relied on the roadside service guy to handle the problem. I did recharge it when I got home.
Afterword #2: I ended up getting four new tires, because apparently the 50,000-mile warranty didn’t cover tires that had passed the 100,000-mile mark some time back. As the tire guy put it: “You’re damn lucky you haven’t had at least two blowouts by now.”
And the only way I was able to afford those four new tires was because of my Readers’ generosity during this, my Last Appeal (which still has a day or so to run, hint, hint ).
I get those “convenient” ads a lot but then again we have amazon prime so I’m sure Alexa is eavesdropping and I use the internet on my phone a lot.
The creepiest advertisement I got was when I filled out a contact form on a company’s website that included my email address. I did not put in a phone number and they started texted me replies. When asked how they got the phone number, they said that it was attached to my email address.
We get that sort of thing all the time now and in combinations you wouldn’t believe.
Fer instance. I don’t stream TV but my wife does. I purchased an item on amazon (we both have prime) and the next day it showed up on her streaming TV.
I almost never use my cellphone, cept maybe 3 times a year to talk to a client, but yet I get text messages almost daily for available bank loans.
One of these days I’m gonna just drop out – disappear, go sit on the porch and never look back….
I’m holding a fucking ironwood log as I say this, but up here in Michigan with some of the absolute worst roads on the planet (yes, worse than SA), I have not had a flat going on 30 years. I am going to say that S. Dallas is likely become greater Mexico now and the “locals” throw every conceivable type of trash out the window, including half a case of nails or drywall screws just for giggles. That said, do become more vigilant on tire tread, the wear bar or Lincoln’s head test are there for a reason, oh, and it is on you to check the oil level, coolant level and tire pressures including the spare. I keep that latter at about 50 to 60 PSI that way it can leak a bit and still be usable..
As to the intrusive AI marketing, it is not the government, but something far worse. Private business behemoths are listening to your phone microphone on 24/7 let alone whatever you happen to click on out of interest or curiosity while shopping in your local super. I kid you not, if you pause to look at an item, that phone in your pocket will tell the store what you were gawking at and boom, that evening you get a reminder of “you might be interested in …”
Trust me, you are not the only one. My wife can mention a handbag or item she is thinking of buying (sigh!) and sure as shit, within 12 hours an advert for that item appears on MY phone (not hers, she has Apple, I use Android), be it from Amazon, inside of you tube (where I watch automotive stuff) or even Firefox or the Duck Duck Go welcome screen. Don’t believe any of the hype, our government is too incompetent to do this, it is profit driven, pendejos!
I’ve just tried a little experiment. I just said in a loud voice near my Android phone “I wish I had a stuffed dinosaur toy”. I’ll see what pops up in my email the next couple days and I’ll let you know the results.
Funny you should use the tinfoil photo at the top, Kim. In 2005 a few MIT students looked into whether or not tinfoil hats would attenuate signals. They do, BUT they also amplify signals at 1.2 Ghz and 2.6 Ghz.
The government uses tha bands between 1.2 & 1.4 Ghz, and 2. Ghz is used by cell phones. Take whatever you want from that. Here’s the article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
Scrotes. We lived in Chico, CA for a few decades. For a number of reasons, including weather, it is a scrote magnet. It is a small town, so scrotes are forced to make the rounds, risking recognition. I was headed across the Costco parking lot one day when approached by a 20-ish looking able bodied scrote. Don’t recall the exact words now, but your example will do–$$ to get to work in the town up the road (Redding). I just shook my head and kept walking.
About a week later, I get approached again, at Costco, same scrote. This time I turn to engage. Scrote’s face brightens. Another plea for $$ to get to a different town. I nod in understanding, then ask, “Say, did you ever make it to Redding last week?” Que Nomad in Star Trek, “Error…..error….”.
A buddy of mine and his FIL owned the Firestone store in Chico. He told me a story about a young black lady customer from the L.A. hood. She pulled in and was most unhappy with the new tires on her little rice rocket. Seems she had just purchased a set of four from a store in L.A. They had made her a killer deal on the price (my guess is it was 100% profit for that store) . Yeah, she got a set of doughnut tires, and then drove from L.A. to Chico.
Forget about conspiracy theories or Alexa listening in. I long ago bought into the idea that we all live in the matrix. Just some fat guy in his mom’s galactic basement playing out a game. It’s all his fault.
That happened to me last week (left rear). All I had left were the two beads and about an inch or two of sidewalls and no hubcap. I took the next exit which had a very wide area where I could put my donut on. Then, when I looked up, lo and behold, there was a Discount Tire store right there!
El Cheapo tire and I still got home by 18:00.
You got your annual dose of luck on that one, so be ready for Murphy to come a calling.
Well, I guess my Android phone isn’t listening in on me. After Saying in a loud voice “I wish I had a stuffed dinosaur toy!” very close to the phone I didn’t have any ads in my email for such a thing, not even in the spam folder. Guess I’m lucky. Maybe time to get a lottery ticket, eh?