This is what makes Google Ads Creepy

Ok, so part 3 of the booties needs to be un-done and replaced. The shaping mistake was obvious once I got a normal pair of socks and applied my brain. But at the moment, I've got a completely different issue. This is a public complaint. I hope you laugh.

Google Ads on sites make those sites creepy. But this morning's experience made me realize it's not always creepy - just sometimes.

For example, if I go shopping at a computer store, like TigerDirect, or a big national company, like Sears, I expect the targeted ads later. It makes sense they would spend a silly amount of money trying to convince me to purchase something I already bought from them or somewhere else, or that I decided not to purchase after all. They're even amusing when they're for something I was researching for my father or a friend.

Actually, I've discovered this is a reliable way to reinforce my impression of a company. "Why is that company showing me drapes? Oh, yeah, they were waaaaaaayyyyyy too expensive. I'm definitely *not* buying drapes from them, and I'm going to think twice about their prices on other items in the future."

If I were in marketing for one of those companies, I would want to fix that.

But there are some companies I wouldn't expect to show me ads on national sites. It just wouldn't occur to me that they'd be big enough to put their marketing dollars into such a thing. So when a friend of mine sent me a meme photo this morning, the advertising I got struck me as particularly creepy.

Here's the first thing this ad made me think: "Is this the reason I had sticker shock when I saw the price of their garlic a few days ago?" Sure, I have since found a more reasonably priced source with the additional benefit of not advertising in unexpected places. This ad has done me the favor of reminding me I need to buy garlic ASAP, before the site I intend to purchase from runs out of reasonably-priced garlic. Why don't I think that was the intention of the ad?

Meanwhile, my husband received a mailer from google the other day offering him a discount off those ads. His reaction? He imagined a YouTube video with the punchline being a google ad shaking its finger at a businessman saying something along the lines of, "Bad business owner! Behave yourself and buy our advertising!"

Hmmm. I may find all of this really creepy, but I suppose I should be happy they haven't gotten to the point of anticipating what I want before I go shopping for it. I know those days are coming. Maybe they'll be less intrusive. The trick is for me not to notice them.

I wonder if I'm actually asking for subliminal advertising so I don't notice it? That would be creepy, wouldn't it?

I think I'll go back to my booties. I'm in control of that. That makes me happy.

An Adventure in Bear Booties - Part 3

In case you were wondering where I've been, I've been pondering.

But I think I've got it figured out, so here goes.

The last row was a purl row. Turn, but use the cable cast on to loosely add 10 stitches.

(The cable cast on is like knitting on, but instead of knitting into the stitch, you knit between the stitches.)

Row 44: Slip 1, knit 53

Turn, and use a purl version of the cable cast on to loosely add another 10 stitches.

Row 45: slip 1, purl 63

skp = slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over.

Row 46: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 42, k2tog, knit9
Row 47: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 61 stitches
Row 48: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 40, k2tog, knit9
Row 49: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 59 stitches
Row 50: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 38, k2tog, knit9
Row 51: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 57 stitches
Row 52: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 36, k2tog, knit9
Row 53: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 55 stitches
Row 54: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 34, k2tog, knit9
Row 55: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 53 stitches
Row 56: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 32, k2tog, knit9
Row 57: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 51 stitches
Row 58: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 30, k2tog, knit9
Row 59: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 49 stitches
Row 60: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 28, k2tog, knit9
Row 61: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 47 stitches

Ok. Time for another fitting.

An adventure in Bear Booties - Part 2

I think this is going to work. As far as I've gotten, I've gotten over the claw.

It was a little surprising to find that our stuffed bear has really long claws, since they're completely obscured by his fur.

This is obviously not a teddy bear!

So, continuing on from where we left off, we are now technically about to start Round 16. For this foot, this will be the last round we knit.

Round 16: Knit 14, cast of 20, knit to end of row (which will be the remaining 14 from this round, plus the 14 we just knit in this round.

Always slip the stitch as if to purl.

Row 17: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end. (Total number of stitches = 28)
Row 18: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 19: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 20: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 21: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 22: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 23: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 24: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 25: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 26: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 27: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.

In the next section I use an increase called a make one. If you're unfamiliar with make one left and make one right, this video shows how to make it and what it's good for.

Row 28: Turn, slip first stitch, knit1 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit2.
Row 29: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (30 stitches).
Row 30: Turn, slip first stitch, knit2 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit3.
Row 31: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (32 stitches).
Row 32: Turn, slip first stitch, knit3 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit4.
Row 33: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (34 stitches).
Row 34: Turn, slip first stitch, knit4 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit5.
Row 35: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (36 stitches).
Row 36: Turn, slip first stitch, knit5 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit6.
Row 37: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (38 stitches).
Row 38: Turn, slip first stitch, knit6 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit7.
Row 39: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (40 stitches).
Row 40: Turn, slip first stitch, knit7 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit8.
Row 41: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (42 stitches).
Row 42: Turn, slip first stitch, knit8 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit9.
Row 43: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (44 stitches).

Tomorrow, Bear gets another fitting.

An adventure in Bear Booties.

I haven't said anything here in ages. I'm inventing a pair of booties for a stuffed bear who has one foot firmly glued to a stand.

I figure I might as well blog my attempt.

Foot circumference: 13 1/2" (converts to a diameter or approx 4 1/3")
Foot length: 9"
Heel height: 4"
Cuff height: 3"

measurements forgotten - length of foot before leg, circumference of leg.

Materials: Red Heart Worsted, size 10 circular knitting needles.

kfb = knit in the front and the back of the loop.

I use the magic loop method for this. (If you're a visual learner, like I am, turn the sound down and start at the 45 second mark.)

Starting at the toe:
Cast on 4 stitches - 2 on each needle. This is a good way to do it, even though that's a painfully slow video.

Round 1: kfb in each stitch (4x total. 8 stitches total. 4 per needle)
Round 2: kfb, k1 four times (12 stitches total, 6 per needle)
Round 3: kfb, k2 four times (16 sts total, 8 per needle)
Round 4: kfb, k3 four times (20 sts total, 10 per needle)
Round 5: kfb, k4 four times (24 sts total, 12 per needle)
Round 6: kfb, k5 four times (28 sts total, 14 per needle)
Round 7: kfb, k6 four times (32 sts total, 16 per needle)
Round 8: kfb, k7 four times (26 sts total, 18 per needle)
Round 9: kfb, k8 four times (40 sts total, 20 per needle)
Round 10: kfb, k9 four times (44 sts total, 22 per needle)
Round 11: kfb, k10 four times (48 sts total, 24 per needle)

At this point, my toe measures something less than 4" across all scrunched up, and I can stretch it out a lot.

Knit 4 rows around. Stop until I can try this on the glued-down foot.

Happy Knitting!

Very Interesting Video Stuff

If you use Google's Chrome web browser, this music video is quite, well, disturbing, actually. Put in an address and be prepared to feel considerably less private. I didn't put in an address that actually connected to anything personal of my own, but of a location I've known for years, and was quite disturbed by it.

The Wilderness Downtown


Disturbing in a different way, here's a mash-up of a video belonging to one decade and a song belonging to a completely different decade.

Justin Timberlake Ice Ice Baby


Enjoy!

Geek Sock-Knitter's Heaven

Tomorrow night I will watch a live video stream of the IgNobel Prize Ceremonies.

From today's Mini-Air:

2010-09-05 Ig Details

Ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners will be announced. Almost all will be at the ceremony. Several Nobel Laureates will hand them their Ig Nobel Prizes.

The ceremony will also include...

Keynote lecturer (for 60 seconds) RICH LOSICK.

24/7 Lecturers NEIL GAIMAN, TOSHIYUKI NAKAGAKI, MARY ELLEN DAVEY.

The premiere of "THE BACTERIAL OPERA", about the bacteria who live on a woman's front tooth, and about that woman. Features a cast of trillions.

Musicians EVELYN EVELYN, AMANDA PALMER, JASON WEBLEY, NICK CARSTOIU, and DEBORAH HENSON-CONANT.

Past Ig Nobel Prize winners TOSHIYUKI NAKAGAKI and ATSUSHI TERO (slime mold can solve puzzles); ELENA BODNAR (invention of a bra that converts into 2 protective face masks); DON FEATHERSTONE (creation of the plastic pink flamingo); KEES MOELIKER (homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck); and CHRISTOPHER CHABRIS (people can overlook anything - even a woman in a gorilla suit)

... and much more.

DETAILS: http://improbable.com/ig/2010

WHO'S WHO: http://improbable.com/ig/2010/ignitaries/index.html

OPERA CAST: http://improbable.com/ig/2010/ignitaries/index.html

What does this have to do with sock knitting?

Ah. Well, there's the video with the only partially misleading title:


And the article.

Jonathan Coulton Rocks Northhampton

Last night Jonathan Coulton rocked at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA. You should go to tonight's concert. Before he gets too big and you can't get tickets for love or money.

Somerville Theater – Somerville, MA
Friday July 23 at 7:30 PM
Tickets

The new music is really great, it rocks, and his band is absolutely top-notch. I think I could make out most of the words and the songs seem to be up to his standards, as well. I look forward to getting my hands on the album so I can enjoy the lyrics and hear the nuances in the music. It would seem to be all there - the whole Coulton package.

I'd really like to know how the band liked having a room full of people sing, "All we wanna do is eat your brains" at them. That might not have seemed too odd to John Flansburgh, since he might be a giant. But the other guy, Chris Anderson, was both a truly fine musician *and* really funny. (There was some ribbing about sweating on stage, and he played his part just right.) I have no idea what he thought of a room full of zombie singers - it would've been neat to get a reaction.

So here's the thing. If I could tell him what he should be doing with his stage show as he busts out into the really big time, I'd tell him to be more like Garth Brooks and less like Weird Al Yankovic, even though I'd bet his music appeals more to the Weird Al fan than the Garth Brooks fan.

Why do I say this?

• I will never go to another Weird Al concert without earplugs.
• Garth Brooks talks a lot more between songs *and to the audience* than Weird Al.

(If Garth Brooks played his concert as loud as Weird Al does, you couldn't hear the commentary anyhow, so there would be no point.)

Maybe I misunderstood him, but I thought he was telling us he wished he wasn't talking to the audience so much and that he wants to ditch his acoustic guitar completely. He wants to ROCK. And he's good at it. He could do exactly that.
But if you look at Garth Brooks' career, you have to see that a musician doesn't have to go the all-music very-little-intro route to whip an audience into a glorious, happy, screaming frenzy.

JoCo is on the verge of the big time and I'm cheering for him. I want him to get his rock-n-roll dream. He deserves it, and his music is considerably better than most of the stuff out there on the charts. He's not going to disappoint me, even if he never writes another song like one of my favorites, "I'm your Moon." I'm just afraid he's going make me miss him when he's standing right in front of me.

He's so great. You gotta go see him.