There was a house fire in Hau`ula today.
The story pops up in my MS edge browser.
So I click on it and see one vague paragraph.
Then a video about a house fire in Wisconsin.
wtf
I notice this happens a lot.


end of rant

The propagandists are getting replaced by AI
They thought their jobs were safe if they repeated the lies, but the bots can do that for free.

If you're using a VPN your news feed can get confused

"file film"

There was a house fire in Hau`ula today.
The story pops up in my MS edge browser.
So I click on it and see one vague paragraph.
Then a video about a house fire in Wisconsin.
wtf
I notice this happens a lot.


end of rant

I think "artificial intelligence" describes the people who write internet articles.
===

ar·ti·fi·cial
[ˌärdəˈfiSH(ə)l]
ADJECTIVE
(of a situation or concept) not existing naturally; contrived or false:

I'm starting to ignore articles I'm interested in reading because i know what i'm likely in store for.

They quote a Tweet or other social media post, then they post an image of the actual post, then they include the post in another paragraph as if it takes a third time for readers to understand it.

Lather, rinse and repeat.

I'd estimate about 20% of each post is useful.  The rest is fluff and repetition.

Waste of time and brain cells.  I used to love the CNN news ticker.  While watching Headline News, you'd get all the headlines in a few minutes with the actual stories every 30 minutes.  Clear, concise and very efficient use of my time.  Now they just want to keep eyes on screens and clicks on their monetized pages.  The quality of the product is of no importance, since it's all sourced from social media and shared journalists in the Associate Press.

Basically, the internet has turned into a huge clickbait trap.

Especially annoying are "hack" videos.
Some are just fake stories. Some show outright false and dangerous information.

Don't be dissn' them utube videos.

From scanning the firearms section here, they are the source of all firearms knowledge for some.

Don't be dissn' them utube videos.

From scanning the firearms section here, they are the source of all firearms knowledge for some.

===========
youtube is not as bad as tiktok, from what I see.
facebook is pretty messed up.

Don't be dissn' them utube videos.

From scanning the firearms section here, they are the source of all firearms knowledge for some.

Nothing wrong with having a popular source for gun information if the sources are good quality and reliable.  I learned a boat-load of good info from YT videos when i started shooting again.  You still have to weed out the bad ones, but that's true of any source.

You'll notice there are a few channels that get linked way more than others, mainly because they have the most reliable and informative content.

YouTube offers much better content than other platforms in terms of production, content quality and entertainment.  Many of the videos include links to other sources which helps fill in the gaps they didn't have time to include in the videos.

All in all, I spend way more time on YT now than i ever did on FB or Twitter.  Since I don't watch network TV much after canceling cable many years ago, this is my "fix" to feed that addiction.

I haven't paid to remove the ads yet, but if I start increasing how much I watch, I'll be leaning toward that option.  The ads are getting really annoying.  The number of >10 second ads has been increasing a lot.  Also, the option to "Skip" an ad has been removed on many more ads than before.

Clickbait topics:

"You've been doing  (this) wrong all your life"

"OMG I can't believe this happened!"

"What was this person thinking?"

"I almost missed this"

Clickbait topics:

"You've been doing  (this) wrong all your life"

"OMG I can't believe this happened!"

"What was this person thinking?"

"I almost missed this"

Any title that includes "surprising," "Did <somebody> do <something>?" or "Shocked!"

I will intentionally bypass such titles to avoid giving the posters revenue.

I guess this is the new "Sensational Headlines" version that tabloids and newspapers have used forever to drive sales.

There was a "news" story about a guy who filled his tub with Orbeez and destroyed the sewer system.
A lot of other sites picked up the story and ran with it.
But if you try to find the name of the city where this happened, you won't find it.
It was a hoax.
Such is the problem with internet "news" sites and tik tok videos.
You don't really know what is fact or fiction anymore.

There was a "news" story about a guy who filled his tub with Orbeez and destroyed the sewer system.
A lot of other sites picked up the story and ran with it.
But if you try to find the name of the city where this happened, you won't find it.
It was a hoax.
Such is the problem with internet "news" sites and tik tok videos.
You don't really know what is fact or fiction anymore.

CNN is a great example of that. Many other outlets jumped the gun on that story, too, but CNN continued pushing the fake narrative after the facts were known.

#CovingtonKid
#NickSandmann
#YuuugeSettlement

Top of my web browser....

America the terrorized: The death grip of gun rights in the United States
Opinion by William S. Becker, opinion contributor •
=====
why does an opinion piece show up as soon as I look at my computer?

Not sure.  But I was looking at weight lifting equipment online and now all I see when I open my browser is ads for weight equipment.

Then I was looking at ammo and guns online and guess what.......

Top of my web browser....

America the terrorized: The death grip of gun rights in the United States
Opinion by William S. Becker, opinion contributor •
=====
why does an opinion piece show up as soon as I look at my computer?

I have an opinion on that ....

 

Not sure.  But I was looking at weight lifting equipment online and now all I see when I open my browser is ads for weight equipment.

Then I was looking at ammo and guns online and guess what.......

Anything you Google gets added to your profile, and that feed YouTube and any other social media site that ties into Google's data mining products.

I looked up a a product on my Macbook, and now YT on my fireTV is recommending videos for that product.

I knew about Google directed ad cookies but apparently they also track articles and news stories too, obviously.  So once in a while I query random nonsense just to see what their algorithms regurgitate.

How about pictures of strange looking machines or objects that make you curious enough to make you click?