Random Observations C.A (306 pages is enough)

[thoreau]

One day I hope that my wife will know me as well, and with as little judgement, as the Amazon Music Recommended Music algorithm. Also, how is the music algorithm so good, but buying a toaster makes Amazon think I’m sort of eclectic collector of mid-priced toasters.

Amazon's been doing this sort of thing for years, and yet they still have yet to figure out that there are some kinds of purchases you're going to make repeatedly, and some you're not. You'd think they'd have a big enough dataset to gather that. For example, if you buy detective novels repeately, you probably like detective novels and will continue to buy detective novels. If you buy a bunch of GRE study guides, you're probably not going to want to continue buying GRE study guides for the rest of your life.

Unless you make your living as a private tutor...

[Mo]

But that would have a higher frequency of purchase. Like over the cons of many years.

[Warren]

I understand what you guys are saying. But once again I'm puzzled at how much advertising other people actually notice. An ad it has to break the SEP field for me to even see it. That's really hard to do. Opening up Amazon in another tab right now I see they're showing me an assortment of cordless hedge trimmers like the one I recently purchased, salt and pepper shakers like, and including, the ones I purchased last year but recently looked up to put in a comment in another thread, and fuses like the one I recently added to my wish list. All of those are one and done items. I will not buy them, or similar items, again for some years. But I had to go look to see it. I don't see the stuff on the main page below the search box. I just don't.

[JD]

If you buy a bunch of GRE study guides, you're probably not going to want to continue buying GRE study guides for the rest of your life.

Unless you make your living as a private tutor...

Wouldn't it probably be your students buying them then?

[Kolohe]

But that would have a higher frequency of purchase. Like over the cons of many years.

Ha! I always knew prep courses were a scam!

[Aresen]

I understand what you guys are saying. But once again I'm puzzled at how much advertising other people actually notice. An ad it has to break the SEP field for me to even see it. That's really hard to do. Opening up Amazon in another tab right now I see they're showing me an assortment of cordless hedge trimmers like the one I recently purchased, salt and pepper shakers like, and including, the ones I purchased last year but recently looked up to put in a comment in another thread, and fuses like the one I recently added to my wish list. All of those are one and done items. I will not buy them, or similar items, again for some years. But I had to go look to see it. I don't see the stuff on the main page below the search box. I just don't.

But a sufficiently large percentage of people will at least glance at them and make a purchase. That's the way advertising works, especially when they have enough data points (i.e. previous purchases) to build a profile of your tastes, likes and demographic. Like you, I opened Amazon just now to see what their recommendations were. Three of the first five suggested books were ones that moderately interest me.

On other sites, some of the ads have been frighteningly on target. ('How did they know I was thinking of a trip to New Zealand?')

I think, as data analysis gets better, ads and offerings are going to get ever more precise. Right now, it is crude. (I can only watch so many dressage videos before I get bored.) But I bet that, as my profile in their database gets more refined, I am going to start seeing predictive behavior as to when I want to look at something else.

[Jennifer]

For all the major crimes and sins of the alt-right, there are also many minor ones -- such as, the word "Communists/Communism/Marxism" being used as code for "Jews," so you can't for-real legit criticize those philosophies without fear someone will think you're speaking in anti-Semitic code.

[dhex]

split the difference and call them collectivist zionists. this way everyone's in the clear.

[tr0g]

But that would have a higher frequency of purchase. Like over the cons of many years.

Amazon has... let's see... my shopping history with them going back to 1999. And they still can't figure out what's a repetitive purchase vs. a one-off.

[JasonL]

My amazon recs are nonsense because we share a prime account. It does get recurring things mostly right. Protein bars and horsey stuffs.

[Pham Nuwen]

Palmolive, eco friendly, lake and stream safe, phosphate free dish soap has been purchased. Because I love the environment apparently.

I would have bought the one that said it would clean the shit off our dishes but that's not an option these days.

These are strange times we live in.

[Andrew]

Palmolive, eco friendly, lake and stream safe, phosphate free dish soap has been purchased. Because I love the environment apparently.

I would have bought the one that said it would clean the shit off our dishes but that's not an option these days.

These are strange times we live in.

People are crazy, times are strange...
I used to care, but things have changed

[Shem]

Dish soap is dish soap. You take the distinctions you can get.

[Aresen]

I would have bought the one that said it would clean the shit off our dishes but that's not an option these days.

You are using your dishes wrong.

[Painboy]

Speaking of dish soap is there a reason I need rinse aid to make sure my dishes are dry despite the dishwasher being less than a year old? I never had this issue with older dishwashers provided I use heat dry. With this new one, without the rinse aid, I basically have to wipe down all the utensils and most of the glasses with a towel if I want to put them in the cabinets dry.

[nicole]

I've been obsessed with this since yesterday

[lunchstealer]

Also apparently they mean it when they say keep your seatbelts fastened in flight ...

[Highway]

Speaking of dish soap is there a reason I need rinse aid to make sure my dishes are dry despite the dishwasher being less than a year old? I never had this issue with older dishwashers provided I use heat dry. With this new one, without the rinse aid, I basically have to wipe down all the utensils and most of the glasses with a towel if I want to put them in the cabinets dry.

Part of saving energy with the heated dry is that they need to use the rinse aid. Many new ones don't actually have a heater like they used to that heats up the air inside the dishwasher and vents it. Instead they just use the water heater and the insulation in the cabinet to provide the heat to dry the dishes. If you don't use a rinse aid, the water will not sheet off of the items well enough to get dry, because drops of water are too much to be evaporated by these methods.

We also find that glass gets really dry and clear, but stainless steel items tend to get spotty, because they don't sheet water off as well.

[Pham Nuwen]

I would have bought the one that said it would clean the shit off our dishes but that's not an option these days.

You are using your dishes wrong.

Speak for yourself, prude

[Painboy]

Speaking of dish soap is there a reason I need rinse aid to make sure my dishes are dry despite the dishwasher being less than a year old? I never had this issue with older dishwashers provided I use heat dry. With this new one, without the rinse aid, I basically have to wipe down all the utensils and most of the glasses with a towel if I want to put them in the cabinets dry.

Part of saving energy with the heated dry is that they need to use the rinse aid. Many new ones don't actually have a heater like they used to that heats up the air inside the dishwasher and vents it. Instead they just use the water heater and the insulation in the cabinet to provide the heat to dry the dishes. If you don't use a rinse aid, the water will not sheet off of the items well enough to get dry, because drops of water are too much to be evaporated by these methods.

We also find that glass gets really dry and clear, but stainless steel items tend to get spotty, because they don't sheet water off as well.

It doesn't seem very energy efficient if I have to buy another bottle of stuff an earlier dishwater didn't need. Is this due to energy regulation like side loading washers and no incandescent lightbulbs?

[Highway]

It's even more energy efficient, as far as the washer goes, if you hand dry it. But the amount of energy for the bottles and the rinse agent is probably a lot cheaper than more energy spent on heating and wasting it. A bottle of rinse agent lasts a pretty long time.

[Mo]

David French has quite possibly the dumbest take on the Starbucks thing. Because IAT tests are bullshit (true), subconscious bias is fake (wat?). The dude has black daughters, I’m sure when they get older they’ll tell him about how they get followed around stores and treated suspiciously and suddenly become woke.

Instead of sensitivity training, Starbucks should do bible study instead because we’re all sinners. So implicit bias isn’t scientific, so let’s go with the Bible. Dafuq?

[Painboy]

It's even more energy efficient, as far as the washer goes, if you hand dry it. But the amount of energy for the bottles and the rinse agent is probably a lot cheaper than more energy spent on heating and wasting it. A bottle of rinse agent lasts a pretty long time.

Even taking into account the energy used for transportation, stocking, branding, bottle and fluid manufacture? Less than just cranking the heat up in the washer 15 minutes more? Yes the rinse aid can be used a number of times versus the heat used each time but that still doesn't seem like a good trade.

[Mo]

It's even more energy efficient, as far as the washer goes, if you hand dry it. But the amount of energy for the bottles and the rinse agent is probably a lot cheaper than more energy spent on heating and wasting it. A bottle of rinse agent lasts a pretty long time.

Even taking into account the energy used for transportation, stocking, branding, bottle and fluid manufacture? Less than just cranking the heat up in the washer 15 minutes more? Yes the rinse aid can be used a number of times versus the heat used each time but that still doesn't seem like a good trade.

On a per bottle basis? Definitely. You can fit a lot of bottles on an 18-wheeler. You get a lot of washes out of a single bottle and electric heat ain't exactly super efficient.

[thoreau]

David French has quite possibly the dumbest take on the Starbucks thing. Because IAT tests are bullshit (true), subconscious bias is fake (wat?). The dude has black daughters, I’m sure when they get older they’ll tell him about how they get followed around stores and treated suspiciously and suddenly become woke.

Instead of sensitivity training, Starbucks should do bible study instead because we’re all sinners. So implicit bias isn’t scientific, so let’s go with the Bible. Dafuq?

Arguably a better critique is that there are open questions about whether implicit bias training actually produces the desired results. However, I think there's a difference between asking "Will this training session make people less racist?" (which requires, among other things, asking if/how we can measure such things) and asking "If the boss says you have to go to training because some idiot did X, will fewer people do X at work?"

I think the answer to the second question is "Most assuredly yes!"