Consumerism

Nice lady called about my car warranty

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Nice lady called about my car warranty. 🤔

I was like, oh, it’s time already to throw away my car – with so many expensive problems certain to happen shortly! I asked if I just take my old car to the landfill? And do I get to push it over the edge? She’s like no, no, this about your warranty. I’m like but if my warranty is about to expire, I need to get rid of my car at the landfill so I’m not held financially responsible. She is like we can help you with your repairs if you sign up today. No, I’m just concerned with the high cost of landfill tipping fees – my car is nearly 3 tons. Can they recycle cars – I’ve heard they charge less at the landfill for recycling. She hung up.

Doesn’t she understand how our throwaway society works? You buy, you use, you throw away shortly thereafter. Nobody repairs anything anymore. Must not be a Real American.

A Tax on Advertising Could Support Law Enforcement.

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A tax on advertising could fund law enforcement ….

Main Street

I was listening to the news this morning, thinking how much money crime and terrorism bring into local news stations, thanks to the engauge viewership from riveting crime and terror stories. Those viewers, often feeling sad and disconcerted about the direction of our country, are prime markets for advertising.

If the promotion of terror and crime on television is so profitable to local news, then it makes perfect sense for local news to give back profits to communities they harm by promoting violence, by placing a tax on advertising. A slice of the profits made by advertising should go directly back in supporting law enforcement.

Why targeted Facebook ads are so weirdly personal – Vox

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Why targeted Facebook ads are so weirdly personal – Vox

Dan Nosowitz was scrolling through Instagram when he saw it: an ad for a cooking device whose sole function was to heat up raclette cheese.

“I had to click through because I had no idea what it actually was,” he explains. “Finding out that an algorithm believed I would be interested in a discount ‘traditional Swiss-style electric cheese melter’ is sort of comfortably bumbling. It’s like watching a Roomba bonk into a wall.”

Whether the humor inherent in the ad comes from the fact that the gadget is so oddly specific, or because raclette is an incredibly high-maintenance cheese and therefore hardly a common grocery item for most people, is difficult to say. What we do know, however, is that the complicated set of algorithms that serve targeted ads on social media are the most brutal, most incisive owns of our time.

I sure get tired of all those green energy scams advertised on my social media feeds

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I sure get tired of all those green energy scams advertised on my social media feeds … 💡

It seems they can’t find enough ways to try to push solar panels, electric cars, and ground-source heat pumps on folks. The advertising is non-stop. While I am interested in some of the technology, I am skeptical and I am certainly not in the market to buy solar panels or an electric car today. When I own my own land, I think I would like to have a simple — in other words not complex — solar system for minimal energy uses but none of these massive-grid tied arrays for the energy hungry suburbanite lifestyle.

My sneaking suspicion that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is advertising to QAnon supporters

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My sneaking suspicion that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is advertising to QAnon supporters …

I’ve been noticing that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is increasingly advertising on Facebook feeds and prepper and homesteading websites. I couldn’t help but think they are going for the QAnon crowd, trying to raise donations from conspiratorial minded individuals, who think the government prostituting children. Maybe it’s a good thing — redirecting funds that might otherwise be used for buying merchandise supporting the bizarre conspiracy theory, but it sure seems exploitative of individuals that are suffering from delusional, conspiratorial thinking about their government.

Received a package you didn’t order? It could be a brushing scam – CNN

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Received a package you didn’t order? It could be a brushing scam – CNN

Most people who buy things online just have to worry about their deliveries being delayed or never arriving. But some people are dealing with a different problem altogether: getting weird stuff like hair clippers, face creams and sunglasses they never even ordered at all. The Federal Trade Commission and cyber experts have been warning consumers about these deliveries, which can be part of something known as "brushing" scams. Here's how these scams work: Third-party sellers on Amazon, eBay and other online marketplaces pay people to write fake, positive reviews about their products, or do it themselves. To be able to post the reviews, these so-called "brushers" need to trick the site into making it appear that a legitimate transaction took place. So they'll use a fake account to place gift orders and address them to a random person whose name and address they find online. Then, instead of actually mailing the item for which they want to post a review, the brushers will send a cheap, often lightweight item that costs less to ship. Sending an item (even the wrong one) creates a tracking number, and when the package is delivered, it enables brushers to write a verified review. If you're on the receiving end, you usually aren't charged for the purchase and your real account isn't hacked — but you are left in the dark as to who is repeatedly sending the mystery packages. In many cases, there's no return address. You don't need to worry that anything bad has happened to you or will happen to you if you get a package that might be part of a brushing scam, experts say. But we all need to be concerned about the scams affecting reviews we rely on when buying products.

SunnySlope Homestead had the solution to those non-ordered masks that showed up in his mailbox. The burn barrel was quite happy to burn them with the other burnables.