Context is Everything

Every time I publish a post, the Blogger interface puts up a page that says, “Your blog post published successfully!” Underneath the text and links there are usually several ads. Sometimes these are internal plugs for additional Blogger features or Google services. Other times they are paid ads for external commercial sites, as selected by context-sensitive algorithms.

After publishing my update to today’s earlier post about CAIR in Minnesota, an example of the latter kind of ad popped up. Here’s a screen shot of it:


Well, isn’t that an apt thumbnail sketch of America in the 21st century?

Dymphna saw the last of those ads and warned me not to answer it — she knows all too well the dangers of social work…

By the way — that ad service relies on contextual keywords to choose the ads it displays, which is why the first two were selected for my viewing pleasure. That made me think it be a good idea to vary the content here in order to stimulate a different range of commercial notices.

Maybe a post along these lines would be in order:

Kim Kardashian decided to skip the Bilderberg Conference this year in order to take an aerobics class and audit a course in building igloos.

Or:

In other news, noted cellist Yo-Yo Ma is suing the town of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina for its failure to protect endangered stag beetles from damage caused by itinerant mimes on skateboards.

Let’s see how that shakes up those positronic pathways.