Photo of Andy Arthur

Andy Arthur

It seems weird to be thinking about Memorial Day Weekend already, πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡² but it's the weekend after the next one. But even if this weekend isn't perfect, I really am hopeful to get away just to spend some time in the wilderness and recharge my soul. 😎 Sunday still looks great, I am hopeful I can spend the balance of the day riding and exploring the countryside. 🚜

Heaven help me, I let the internet know I’m interested in mental health services again πŸ€ͺ

I even made the mistake of clicking from my health insurance’s website to the Talkspace, which set even more cookies in my web browser which boosted my count of mental health advertisements I get when I go to any website or Facebook. I know they’re just trying to be helpful — I mean boosting their corporate profits by getting more clients, preferably those interested in going to years and decades worth of billable sessions, but I just want to research such things further.

I don’t know why I find mental health advertising to be particularly obnoxious, but I do. Maybe because it’s so creepy to be labeled as mentally ill by an anonymous algorithm that knows nothing about you besides you mentioned certain keywords in a blog post, you visited a certain website or you searched a certain term. And I get the corporate profit motive or how a government agency wants to sell you it’s services or messages. But I still thing it’s wrong to follow people around the internet, reminding them all the time that they’re sick puppies.

Lake Albany

Hillshade of the Upper Hudson Valley, area below 500 feet sea level shown in blue. Shows how air pollution often gets trapped in the basin and where historic Lake Albany once was.

Taken on Tuesday May 14, 2024 at Hudson Valley.