Post #413,588
9/13/16 1:23:24 PM
9/13/16 1:23:24 PM
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Quite the business model
So Adblock distributes a browser plugin that allows users to prevent online ads from appearing on sites they visit (lusty huzzahs from the consumer; wailing and rending of garments from the site operators), and then turns around and sells advertisers the ability to polevault the barrier with " Acceptable ads". And what makes an online ad acceptable? Ka- ching! Congratulations, Mister Sponsor—following a careful review of the advertising content, we have determined that your check cleared. I recall reading a short story half a century ago, probably by Robert Sheckley, in which advertising had become ubiquitous and inescapable, like the telescreens in Nineteen Eighty-Four. The protagonist contrives illicitly to secure a tiny ad-free room in which to take refuge, but like Winston Smith he is found out (Sheckley was a clever guy. He saw armed drones coming back in 1953). cordially,
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Post #413,589
9/13/16 1:45:06 PM
9/13/16 1:45:06 PM
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The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth as well
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #413,590
9/13/16 2:17:53 PM
9/13/16 2:17:53 PM
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What are you? Some kind of Communist?
I think it was in the late 1990's, but I could be off by a decade or so. I was listening to an NPR interview of a person who had spent nine months or a year with Uzbeck (I think) tribal folks in a very remote region. No advertisements, no radio, no telephones, no satellite TV's, etc. When asked what it was like coming back to the US after being in such a region, the interviewee said the most stunning thing was trying to get through the airport in New York. He said it felt like the ads were screaming at him relentlessly and made him almost collapse in the airport. He said that until he was away from all of it for some time, he'd never really noticed how invasive, loud, obnoxious, intimidating and ever-present advertisements were (words to that effect anyway).
It's been quite a while since I last counted, but it always surprised me how many advertisements I'd see in any given week. Usually closer to 2,000 than 1,000. The number is doubtless down in the past few years as we cannot get reliable OTA broadcasts and we're streaming only. I have noticed neither the wife nor I can stand to watch OTA when we do get it because of all the ads - the same is true when we stay at a hotel or visit with folks who have cable.
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Post #413,595
9/13/16 3:16:32 PM
9/13/16 3:16:32 PM
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I heard the same thing from the late Veronica
She spent most of 1977 touring the USSR as a docent with a traveling USIA photo exhibit, a détente-era PR dog-and-pony show. Her first letter, from some drab provincial burg, described the town as having the character of a Potemkin village in reverse: "When I leave, they're going to restock the retail shelves, and pull down these horrible buildings." Afterward, though, she spoke of disembarking in Vienna and reeling under the onslaught of commerce. She added that it was like reuniting with an old lover and suddenly seeing all his faults starkly. "You don't mean me?" I asked her, appalled. "Of course not," she replied, perhaps tactfully.
cordially,
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Post #418,055
5/8/17 1:55:15 PM
5/8/17 1:55:15 PM
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I saw (parts of) an old -- late 60's, early 70's? -- American movie on TV a while ago...
...could have been part of YLE Teema's Jack Nicholson cavalcade -- on the occasion of his 70th, 75th, 80th? birthday -- where the protagonist was at an airport. (LAX, I think -- the one with the "cross-shaped hollow dome" over the control tower?)
"What the HELL is wrong with this???", I was thinking -- until it struck me, what was "wrong" was that the environment was so restful. Lounges and corridors and waiting areas... All without commercial posters, you could actually _see the walls!_ Lovely light pastel shades they were, too; and nary a noisy food or other concession in sight. Not to mention, no blaring screens everywhere.
Wow, and to think that that was in living memory!
(Well, not for much longer...) --
Christian R. Conrad
Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi(Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
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Post #418,057
5/8/17 2:34:58 PM
5/8/17 2:34:58 PM
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Not the Control Tower, the now-closed Encounter Restaurant.
bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #418,058
5/8/17 3:24:55 PM
5/8/17 3:24:55 PM
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Nit: greatly enhanced airport "security"
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Post #418,148
5/15/17 6:41:28 AM
5/15/17 6:41:28 AM
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Ah, thanks. (To DrooK also, too, also too.)
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Post #413,606
9/13/16 7:55:52 PM
9/13/16 7:55:52 PM
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Re: Quite the business model ah, the "goodmail" business model, how did that work out
always look out for number one and don't step in number two
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