Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard for December 01, 2022

Without the gullible, the world economy would collapse.

I just saw a story about a man who lost $3 million to a computer scam. The scammer created a popup that convinced the man his computer was infected and he needed to send his money in bitcoin to a safe place. He was old and foolish.

But do you know?

Phones can and sometimes do listen to you.

They absolutely do so do our smart tvs I was talking to the wife about needing a new fan a minute later started to get hit with ads for celling fans on my desktop .

My Gmail ads are supposedly targeted to my online searches. I have told Google that’s BS. Never searched blood donations, pet food or women’s apparel.

I usually don’t have my phone on me… Not that I’m paranoid. The dozens of pre-installed apps, many of which can’t be deleted, keeping sending me junk notifications and I can’t be bothered.

Say, if the people who make those d*mn phone apps pay the manufacturer to install them on the new phones, how come I don’t get a discount when I purchase the phone. Give me the d*mn thing for free, or at least a discount, if it’s just a pocketful of advertising software.

My sister went shopping for shoes—she has back problems and has to get special ones—and she and the salesclerk discussed a brand my sister had never heard of. When she got home there was an ad for those shoes on her computer.

I said I was depressed. Got a notification on my device highlighting the tall buildings and bridges in my area.

Then it said “Please take me with you.”

I have those Alexa Echo things in my house? Do you think? Is my Samsung TV watching me? I have GPS in my car? Do you think I’m being tracked?

At 2:14 am Eastern Time, on August 29th, 1997, Skynet becomes “self-aware.” After that, humans panic and try to pull the plug. Skynet fights back.

“They” only want to help you because “they” care about you.

[“They” can care best if they can control you.]

I swear Siri is a snitch….

They’re one step ahead of you.

Glad we straightened THAT out.

Well now Pam knows that what happens on R.U. Sirius does not stay on R.U. Sirius.

Such a relief that phone confirms that it’s not listening to you.

It gets worse, I’ve gotten ads for things I’ve only thought about.

The Dream Police they live inside of my head!

A coworker was once talking to me about the “Toyota War” conflict between Chad and Libya in the 1980s, a rather obscure topic for Americans. When I got home and looked at Youtube, sure enough there was a video about the Toyota War in my feed.

And much poorer.

I took my phone out to lookup something. Someone asked “Do you like your new phone?” I said “Yes”. Siri said “I thought you would”.