Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Now, this is scary

Dan and Joe came to fix the plumbing leak this morning. It was right there under the sink. Dan even raised the foot on one side of the dishwasher to make it level and stop the door from binding.

As I always do, I took a picture of them on their hands and knees, working. You know, illustrated stories. Didn't think any more of it until an hour or so later. I was visiting with a friend, and my phone made a new ping.

I took a look, and wound up appalled. My phone was offering to let me share a photo with an apparent Google circle entity at the location the photo was taken. That circle member was identified as the management company of my mobile home complex. 

Still baffled, as I could not make out the picture from the thumbnail, I tapped for the full offer, and there was a picture of Dan and Joe, fixing the leak. I would never have used the picture; it was rude. But, Google looked at a picture on my phone, associated it with the location and wanted to post it to their employer's Google circle.

And, that is frightening.

At my Thanksgiving gathering, one guest and I were chatting about the intrusion of intelligence into our lives. She told me that "they" listen to phone conversations, and then flood your internet with ads relating to subjects or products you might have discussed. I was skeptical.

After today, I think I will enlist a friend to help me conduct a test and find out if we're watching Home Depot and Victoria's Secret spots streamed down both sides of our computer screens after we chat them up.

I have one more subject for today. I cannot think of a category for this one. When Dan and Joe came in this morning, about nine, Dan complained it was cold. But, he complains about everything. I knew I'd just turned the heat up from my overnight 62 degrees, and blew him off.

When I came in from work at two this afternoon, Dan was right. It was cold in here. Sixty two and sinking. Management sent the dynamic duo right back. Joe ran back and forth for tools; Dan lay on his stomach in my small laundry room, testing out theories with volt meters.

Here is the conclusion. The red wire from the thermostat to "the board" in the furnace is shorted. "Some fool" probably stapled it down ( they could not pull it more than a foot out of the wall at the thermostat) instead of letting it lay loose "up there," and a probable nick has shorted through.  It cannot be fixed until tomorrow, when "Chip" can come a pull a new wire. Shame that fool stapled it down, else a new one could be pulled along the same route.

Dan and Joe went to the office and returned with two space heaters for us. They put one in the kitchen and one in the living room. After supper we turned them on, to warm up the house before bedtime. We promptly popped a breaker. We unplugged the kitchen heater; Nancy Drew located the breaker in a flash and put it back in order.

Looks like we'll be sharing the cat tonight.




32 comments:

  1. That is scary. I disable the GPS locator on my phone, camera, and laptop for that reason. Too bad about the staple, but you certainly have a very responsive management company!

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  2. Oh, dear. I don't allow Google to track my location. Pile on the blankets and borrow a large, clean cuddly dog.

    Love,
    Janie

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  3. I know that when I Google anything... be it a pair of shoes or an airline ticket to Timbuktu, almost immediately I'll get a whole slew of ads for just those things. I get a fair amount of Spam, and most of it is for porn stuff (go figure)... but I recently checked my credit score and now "spam" is sending me all kinds of stuff about someone checking my credit. Yes, it is scary....

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  4. Life is more complex for you, Joanne. When it's a minus 25 outside, I expect the house hot water radiant system to get it up to 60 by late afternoon. 12 foot ceilings and all.

    I also can't imagine having the grands here. No idea what I'd do, probably slide on to the next dimension.

    Admiringly yours,
    Mike

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    1. " Slide on to the next dimension." I'm going to borrow that phrase. But regarding in-house grandchildren, they keep me so busy and so amused that I want to hang on for as long as I can.

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  5. It is great that someone other than you is responsible for these repairs. One of the great pleasures of renting!

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  6. That Google thing is scary. When I search for a product, I get ads on that subject for weeks, I don't really mind, but it is a little un-nerving.

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  7. I think I'm going to disable the GPS locator. We are more and more and the mercy of our technology.

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  8. What a mess. I don't know about the phone thing but if you search sites on Google or click on any links it sends an alert that you are interested in that product (or whatever it is) and they will bombard you with ads about it. It's a crazy world we live in.

    Hope you stay warm and they can get the thermostat fixed for you tomorrow. xo Diana

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  9. The Google thing is scary. And intrusive.
    I am so glad that you can hand off the maintenance issues on your new home though. And that they are met so promptly.

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  10. This world gets scarier and scarier every day. The immediate future looks even worse.

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  11. Two heaters popped a breaker? I'd recommend new wiring and a stronger whatever it is that lets you run more things at once, but that's costly. Once you get the thermostat fixed you'll be okay anyway. I remember a place where I couldn't run the dryer and boil an electric kettle at the same time, so I'd make my coffee, then turn on the dryer.
    Good to hear the plumbing leak was found and an easy fix, but thumbs down to google for hijacking your information.

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  12. Talking to the realtor who sold hubby's house in San Diego a year or so back, she explained how they put cookies into different sites people use to look at house. Made sense in that I google something, then get on to Facebook or other sites and suddenly I have ads for things I just googled a few minutes before. They really are watching out. Scary out there!

    Seems like one thing gets fixed for you and another decides to break. I hope you found a way to be relatively warm tonight!

    betty

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  13. I'm not going to worry about Google! I have enough to worry about. I'm afraid we are at an time when everyone is syping on everyone. I hope they like what they are seeing here. As long as my money isn't disturbed or my grandkids pictures are not hijacked and used inappropriately I am just not going to worry! My son is a sheriff and he works in identity thefts and such. He tells me not to worry! I am so glad you are getting all the kinks out in this property. Your guys seems to be prompt with answering. Stay warm!!

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  14. It never rains but it pours. I feel for you because I have been through situations like that.

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  15. I'm always surprised when I find something I looked for on the Internet showing up on my Facebook page. But phone conversations? Arrgh... seriously? I hope not. I have unplugged our computer camera.

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  16. It's eerie how the ads come up for things after only one search. This is what advanced math can do!! (algorithms)

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  17. Hari om
    As of today, I am posting three articles (spread over a week) on the subject of cookies and blogger... though is a slightly different subject and I can add another in regard to it; the thing is you need utilise your personal settings in various applications to OPT OUT OF TRACKING. Keep yer eye on this meno-kid!

    Meanwhile, I see many potentially fun posts featuring Dan and Joe!!! Shame it has to be at the expense of your living comfort though... YAM xx

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    1. ...okay, have updated the scheduled post for Monday in direct reference to your issue here. That post also will refer to ADBLOCK, a very useful little plug-in to stop (most) advertising on your browser. AS many readers here do not visit my pages, you may wish to share that link forward... Yxx

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    2. I have ADBLOCK on Safari but it didn't migrate over to Chrome which I am using now.

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    3. Hari Om Ellen - hope you check back!... you need to download the Chrome-specific version, which is where that link takes you I put in the previous reply. Hope that helps! Yxx (Thanks for the platform Joanne!!!)

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  18. The internet is scary. Glad you have Dan, Joe & Chip x

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  19. Ever since I posted a picture on Google maps it's been prompting me to post pictures of where I am. The inside of the supermarket. The toilet in my house. Yeah.

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  20. Your new house and already two problems. good thing you have a good management that responds promptly.

    and yeah that thing about the phone wanting to share is scary. George Orwell was right. I knew 'they' kept track of what sites you visited on the internet to target ads but monitoring the phone is too far. btw, I've put a piece of tape over the camera in my desktop.

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  21. I probably have all the tech stuff going on, but just don't know it. Caroline Kennedy wrote a book many years ago about losing our rights to privacy and boot was she spot on. Glad the workers come quick when called.

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  22. Google is super creepy.Once in awhile I vow to stay away from the internet. It never lasts long. I always think of a character from, I think, an old Steven King novel, or maybe it was some old movie, but he had the foresight to never ever use the internet, and when the the CIA was trying to find his bunker, that foresight came in very handy.

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  23. I just hate all this intrusion in our lives Joanne.
    As for your heating - you sound to be quite good humoured about it all, which is more than I could manage.

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  24. It is scary,Joanne, what happens with/to our data - a few days ago I saw some photos that were still on my smartphone (!!!not sent to anywhere) on another gadget - I was seriously furious (they were ordinary photos - but: the impertinence!)

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  25. Your tongue-in-cheek posts always make me smile. Keep them coming!

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  26. I am not fond of Google for communications. And Blogger is just a pain in the butt to make remarks on.

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  27. I hate it when you check out some product on line and are then bombarded with offers for the same thing. I really don't mind who monitors what I'm doing on line if it keeps me safe but using it to try to sell me stuff is wrong.

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