Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

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  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    Pross wrote:
    I thought a pantograph was the symbol of Satanic worship? ;)


    It is. Have you ever been on a train?
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,564
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,624
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    The targeting will presumably work off some form of cookie logging previous searches. If there aren't many previous searches then you'll get a random selection of ads. Alternatively, maybe the marketing is spot on as I would guess that most of the people searching for Peppa Pig videos are young mothers.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I help the marketing dept out here - and one of our marketing tools is Mailchimp - it's used to send out mass mailings (to those who've signed up) and give feedback on the response rate - age, gender of who has opened / clicked on it ...

    It does make interesting reading - until you consider that in the home, quite often families will have shared devices - and an email may be opened by someone that doesn't fit the profile that mailchimp has decided they have - ie I can open my wifes email ... and she can mine ....
  • Lagrange
    Lagrange Posts: 652
    Pross wrote:
    Lots intriguing me this morning. This one has puzzled me for a while. I work from home a few days a week and the office the rest of the time and use a laptop that I put on an identical docking station at either end. For some reason, over the last year, everyone I've docked it in the office the computer doesn't boot up and I have to take the battery out then reinsert it. The laptop then boots up fine. I put this down to the battery coming loose in transit but it never happens when I dock it back home after the return journey.

    Also, if I try reinserting the battery before the initial attempt at booting it up in the office it still doesn't load. I have to start it up first, leave it a few minutes while it doesn't get past the initial boot screen then undock it and take the battery out. Very odd!



    ....so effectively you have switched your computer off then switched it back on again. :D Must make a note of that.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,472
    Slowbike wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I help the marketing dept out here - and one of our marketing tools is Mailchimp - it's used to send out mass mailings (to those who've signed up) and give feedback on the response rate - age, gender of who has opened / clicked on it ...

    It does make interesting reading - until you consider that in the home, quite often families will have shared devices - and an email may be opened by someone that doesn't fit the profile that mailchimp has decided they have - ie I can open my wifes email ... and she can mine ....

    Are you mad or do you have a separate 'burner' account for the important stuff? :wink:
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,571
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?
    _
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Pross wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I help the marketing dept out here - and one of our marketing tools is Mailchimp - it's used to send out mass mailings (to those who've signed up) and give feedback on the response rate - age, gender of who has opened / clicked on it ...

    It does make interesting reading - until you consider that in the home, quite often families will have shared devices - and an email may be opened by someone that doesn't fit the profile that mailchimp has decided they have - ie I can open my wifes email ... and she can mine ....

    Are you mad or do you have a separate 'burner' account for the important stuff? :wink:
    Shhh! ....

    Although, we've been together for so long we don't have secrets .... well - none that she tells me about anyway :shock:
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,564
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?

    No. That's been done in another thread.

    Clearly, the TV stations are missing a trick. I certainly wouldn't say that the adverts are all targeted at young mums either. I will pay more attention and report back on other such ads. What is definitely true is that none of them are targeted at the Peppa Pig viewer.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,472
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?

    No. That's been done in another thread.

    Clearly, the TV stations are missing a trick. I certainly wouldn't say that the adverts are all targeted at young mums either. I will pay more attention and report back on other such ads. What is definitely true is that none of them are targeted at the Peppa Pig viewer.

    Presumably that's a good thing? The last thing you want is adverts aimed at pre-school kids (as you get on children's TV).
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,571
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?

    No. That's been done in another thread.

    Clearly, the TV stations are missing a trick. I certainly wouldn't say that the adverts are all targeted at young mums either. I will pay more attention and report back on other such ads. What is definitely true is that none of them are targeted at the Peppa Pig viewer.

    Might want to consider the regulations around advertising for children too...
    _
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,564
    Pross wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?

    No. That's been done in another thread.

    Clearly, the TV stations are missing a trick. I certainly wouldn't say that the adverts are all targeted at young mums either. I will pay more attention and report back on other such ads. What is definitely true is that none of them are targeted at the Peppa Pig viewer.

    Presumably that's a good thing? The last thing you want is adverts aimed at pre-school kids (as you get on children's TV).

    Sure. So the answer is that Google is taking is taking the moral high ground. That idea makes me chuckle just writing it!
  • step83
    step83 Posts: 4,170
    Pross wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    I was wondering if you were using this as a backdoor way to discuss parental sexism.

    I can full well imagine why there is a vaginal cream advert during peppa pig - who else is in the room when peppa pig is on?

    No. That's been done in another thread.

    Clearly, the TV stations are missing a trick. I certainly wouldn't say that the adverts are all targeted at young mums either. I will pay more attention and report back on other such ads. What is definitely true is that none of them are targeted at the Peppa Pig viewer.

    Presumably that's a good thing? The last thing you want is adverts aimed at pre-school kids (as you get on children's TV).

    The whole ad tracking magic/witchcraft is very clever, all relies on cookies and known accounts, so say I signed into Google or YT on any device, I will automatically start seeing targeted ads based on my "profile" but, if you don't sign in and have nothing cookie wise it get fun. the algorithms will start chucking what the perceive to be appropriate products.
    But then you can throw spanners in the works, you could watch Peppa Pig then a documentary on the holocaust then bounce round from various extremes. It will build a profile, but it will be so vague it wont actually be of any use, any ads will be totally random, where as if you just watched Peppa Pig you would slowly start seeing kids products and products aimed at parents. It will also start suggesting similar videos.

    Really though if you want to be watching Peppa Pig you need to stick it into kids mode, but then you get spammed with kids toy adverts instead.
    Titanium Px Spitfire
    Easty commuter
    Tripster AT
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,472
    Aren't they just available ad free on iPlayer? I thought it was a CBeebies programme.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Pross wrote:
    Aren't they just available ad free on iPlayer? I thought it was a CBeebies programme.

    Well - it's on Milkshake (chl 5) in the mornings ....
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,564
    Pross wrote:
    Aren't they just available ad free on iPlayer? I thought it was a CBeebies programme.

    Yes. It wasn't actually Peppa Pig, but they are all one and the same to me, so thought Peppa Peg would suffice in describing the seemingly trivial thing that intrigues me. It may have been Buster the bus or even Tayo the bus.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,222
    Are those computer generated cartoons where Spiderman wanders around doing random weird stuff that isn't entirely kid friendly with the Joker and Elsa and a load of others still on YouTube? It's been a while but those were weird. They intrigued me.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Step83 wrote:
    Really though if you want to be watching Peppa Pig you need to stick it into kids mode, but then you get spammed with kids toy adverts instead.
    Kids TV advertising - noticed they've really ramped it up now...

    lots of "Can I have that?" "I want that" and "I need that" being said ... and that's just the wife! ;)

    It's not that hard to manage expectations at the moment - we just say "It's a baby toy" which puts him off ... or "Well, we better put it on your christmas list" - which we haven't started yet. and it all gets forgotten until the next morning (which is generally when we watch live TV with adverts.... )

    As much as I don't like adverts, I don't mind too much as it gives an indication to the things he may be interested in - we're unlikely to buy the bits advertised unless we want to - more just use them as a steer towards things we want him to have.

    But then - at this age, it's easy and he'll have forgotten most of the adverts by the time the day comes.
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    For the last year or so I've been conducting an experiment on FB: Every time there's a "sponsored post" in my feed, I've told it to hide all ads from that sponsor.
    For quite a long time the ads got less and less targeted, and more and more bizarre. I assumed that this process would go on for ever, but recently it occurred to me: when did I last see an ad on FB? They have disappeared completely. Result!

    (well, correlation is not causation: and, of course, if the conspiracy theories are correct*, they'll know I'm typing this so they'll get me)






    *They're not.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,571
    bompington wrote:
    For the last year or so I've been conducting an experiment on FB: Every time there's a "sponsored post" in my feed, I've told it to hide all ads from that sponsor.
    For quite a long time the ads got less and less targeted, and more and more bizarre. I assumed that this process would go on for ever, but recently it occurred to me: when did I last see an ad on FB? They have disappeared completely. Result!

    (well, correlation is not causation: and, of course, if the conspiracy theories are correct*, they'll know I'm typing this so they'll get me)






    *They're not.

    BR does send data to facebook - comes up on my work blocker thing.
    _
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    bompington wrote:
    For the last year or so I've been conducting an experiment on FB: Every time there's a "sponsored post" in my feed, I've told it to hide all ads from that sponsor.
    For quite a long time the ads got less and less targeted, and more and more bizarre. I assumed that this process would go on for ever, but recently it occurred to me: when did I last see an ad on FB? They have disappeared completely. Result!

    (well, correlation is not causation: and, of course, if the conspiracy theories are correct*, they'll know I'm typing this so they'll get me)






    *They're not.
    I'm getting repeated adverts for a company we did buy from - and when the item wasn't as described we had a hell of a time returning it - and as for refund - well, let's just say I like Paypal's escalation - we received the whole lot back ... anyway ... we're still getting adverts for this company ... so I click on them from time to time ... PPC ... don't ya just luv it! :)
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...

    I accept that Google are the master of targeted ads, and that they have lots of knowledge, but I remain unconvinced that they have really understood the average Peppa Pig viewer. In contrast, the folk at TV stations, seem to tailor the ad to the programme.

    Further to that, the laptop is a clean install and has pretty much only had kids TV on, so that intrigues me further, unless it is an IP thing.

    They are not targeting the content, they are targeting the user. Are you logged into YouTube and or Google, Facebook etc?

    It is a good thing as you see ads based upon your browsing history.

    More worryingly I have never shown any internet interest in grass seed but had a conversation with my son about Grandpa reseeding his lawn... I have now seen ads for lawn specialists.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    Surrey Commuter wrote:
    More worryingly I have never shown any internet interest in grass seed but had a conversation with my son about Grandpa reseeding his lawn... I have now seen ads for lawn specialists.

    I've been hearing a lot of similar comments to this recently - mainly down to discussion had around an Alexa enabled device. I would normally dismiss such stories as tin foil hat stuff but the people bringing it up are not your usual conspiracy theory brigade.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Likewise. Often very, very niche things which wouldn't come in normal conversation.

    I did google it and people had said it had also happened to them, but also saw in the news recently-ish that the theory was debunked
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,318
    I have VPN mode switched on for most internet use. Yahoo thinks I live in Linköping ! So all the Yahoo news is in Swedish. Well, Yahoo click bait crap so that.'s fine. I get very little (if any) spam and odd search results if I use Google. I try not to use Google and use Ecosia instead- there's environmental benefits to using it. Other than that search engine, Duckduck go. Un-sponsored results. much better.
    I resent Google for not allowing searches that specify within a given Geographical nation or say, Europe. You used to have a drop down menu and you could select
    I also resent searching for some info on something and you get this buy buy buy bollox trying to sell you something.
    Although, oddly, I have to switch the VPN off to login to my bank account. I was hoping it would make potential ID theft more difficult but the banks want confirmation of this device to log in or I have to generate a one off pass code.

    Advertising towards kids in Sweden is forbidden. We should adopt that law.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Pinno wrote:
    I have VPN mode switched on for most internet use. Yahoo thinks I live in Linköping ! So all the Yahoo news is in Swedish. Well, Yahoo click bait crap so that.'s fine. I get very little (if any) spam and odd search results if I use Google. I try not to use Google and use Ecosia instead- there's environmental benefits to using it. Other than that search engine, Duckduck go. Un-sponsored results. much better.
    I resent Google for not allowing searches that specify within a given Geographical nation or say, Europe. You used to have a drop down menu and you could select
    I also resent searching for some info on something and you get this buy buy buy bollox trying to sell you something.
    Although, oddly, I have to switch the VPN off to login to my bank account. I was hoping it would make potential ID theft more difficult but the banks want confirmation of this device to log in or I have to generate a one off pass code.

    Advertising towards kids in Sweden is forbidden. We should adopt that law.


    On the other hand I love Google, they give me loads of free stuff and in exchange they show me ads (mainly) relevant to me.

    I do think they have too large a market share so have tried using other search engines and they are laughably bad in comparison.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Step83 wrote:
    The whole ad tracking magic/witchcraft is very clever, all relies on cookies and known accounts, so say I signed into Google or YT on any device, I will automatically start seeing targeted ads based on my "profile" but, if you don't sign in and have nothing cookie wise it get fun. the algorithms will start chucking what the perceive to be appropriate products.

    Yeah, very clever. That's why I keep getting bombarded with adverts asking me if I want to book accommodation in Cluj because I went there last year and why it keeps sending me ads for Manfrotto monopods (though, to be fair, maybe that worked as I have three of those!).

    Funnily enough, those ad tracking things never manage to send me links for the things I haven't bought yet but would find useful. Where are the adverts for Georgian peat bellows when you need them?
    Faster than a tent.......
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,624
    Rolf F wrote:
    Step83 wrote:
    The whole ad tracking magic/witchcraft is very clever, all relies on cookies and known accounts, so say I signed into Google or YT on any device, I will automatically start seeing targeted ads based on my "profile" but, if you don't sign in and have nothing cookie wise it get fun. the algorithms will start chucking what the perceive to be appropriate products.

    Yeah, very clever. That's why I keep getting bombarded with adverts asking me if I want to book accommodation in Cluj because I went there last year and why it keeps sending me ads for Manfrotto monopods (though, to be fair, maybe that worked as I have three of those!).

    Funnily enough, those ad tracking things never manage to send me links for the things I haven't bought yet but would find useful. Where are the adverts for Georgian peat bellows when you need them?
    Surely you of all people don't favour burning peat.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • step83
    step83 Posts: 4,170
    Usually a decent ad blocker will cut down on what get s through, doesn't prevent them happening. Google has gotten very crafty with linked devices, geo location, home hub devices etc.

    I emailed someone about a thermal imaging camera that had been damaged an needed a repair, now I did this on my android phone using the MS Outlook app, for the next day or two I got photography and thermal imaging equipment ads popping up when using my phone to browse, in various applications as well, its quite freaky how it can pick up on these things.

    A very early example of this targeted marketing was in fact the humble supermarket club card, it tied a person to the goods opening up a whole slew of marketing options, gave them tonnes of information you could quite easily get a pretty good idea of a family size and make up, ages and genders from the.
    Titanium Px Spitfire
    Easty commuter
    Tripster AT
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    rjsterry wrote:
    Rolf F wrote:
    Step83 wrote:
    The whole ad tracking magic/witchcraft is very clever, all relies on cookies and known accounts, so say I signed into Google or YT on any device, I will automatically start seeing targeted ads based on my "profile" but, if you don't sign in and have nothing cookie wise it get fun. the algorithms will start chucking what the perceive to be appropriate products.

    Yeah, very clever. That's why I keep getting bombarded with adverts asking me if I want to book accommodation in Cluj because I went there last year and why it keeps sending me ads for Manfrotto monopods (though, to be fair, maybe that worked as I have three of those!).

    Funnily enough, those ad tracking things never manage to send me links for the things I haven't bought yet but would find useful. Where are the adverts for Georgian peat bellows when you need them?
    Surely you of all people don't favour burning peat.

    No, I certainly don't. But the objects are quite splendid looking more steampunk than any actual steampunk crap ever did! I'd use them principally to help burn coalite on an occasional basis in my open fire! And to look cool hanging on the wall. It may never happen.....
    Faster than a tent.......

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