The Aardvark Bait Report

I've decided to report in early on my attempt to punk Facebook by putting out random topics (all starting with the letter A) to try to lure in irrelevant ads...

Hmmm.

Round One looks like a stalemate.  The peculiar on line gaming opportunities featuring winsome elves have gone away.  I actually get a number of ads that relate to relevant things, one of our robotics team sponsors and the on line company from which the team orders T-shirts.

But otherwise, the most common ad I've been seeing is for a company that sells insurance to tree trimmers.  Seriously.....what a niche market and one I have no connection to.  Now, the company's name does start with the word "Arbor" so this might be a harmonic ripple of my "Letter A" campaign.  I can't think of any other plausible explanation.   Maybe I was mumbling when I read the "A-list" into the microphone.

And speaking of computers picking up unwanted data, perhaps I was overly worried about the microphone and camera.  In the first few weeks of 2020 I have gotten many ads for scented candles and Febreeze air freshener.  Maybe there are sensors built into laptops that are entirely covert.

Slightly more concerning is this.  Over the holidays we had company.  One old friend of the family is in the car business.  In the weeks that followed there was a noteworthy uptick in ads for cars...mostly of the brand his company sells.  I keep my locators turned off on phone and computer, but in a gathering that features a number of my facebook friends and frequent email contacts it appears the algorithms were able to piece together enough data to think that this target (friend of these two and in the same room as a person selling this) should be bombarded with suggestions that he needs a new car.

Well let's give it another try.  Next round of Facebook/google bait is brought to you by the letter B.

Baal
Borzoi
Biscotti
Blastomycosis
Baccarat
Binomial equations
Billiards
Butane
Bulgaria
Burmese Pythons

I'll report back in a few weeks.