Amazon makes me laugh..
Annie C
suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also purchase -tah
dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously they
know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
Their 'suggestions' are sometimes are ludicrous, to say the least. But it
was a good laugh.
Annie
Dorothy J Heydt
Oh, they're lunkheads. There is some bit of code in there
somewhere that says "if a customer has ever ordered any mystery
novel, s/he will be interested in every other kind of mystery
novel, including hardboiled PIs and police procedurals," and load
up one's list with dozens of same, each of which has to be
rejected individually.
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at hotmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the hotmail edress.
Kithrup is getting too damn much spam, even with the sysop's filters.
BarbNJ
"Annie C" <anni...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7oqhj5F...@mid.individual.net...
pregnant, cooking and sewing her little heart out. <g>
Barb
Annie C
"BarbNJ" <bee...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hg96rp$cmn$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
That is sooo sooo not her ;-)
It's also crazy that if you do buy a gift for someone, or even search a
title for any reason, it will eventually come backatcha as a 'suggested'
purchase for yourself. Oy..
Annie
Pogonip
Which is why no computer yet designed and made can replace the human
brain in decision making.
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
Wes Struebing
wrote:
That *would* certainly brighten my day! ;-)
--
Wes Struebing
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,
and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples,
promising liberty and justice for all.
Homepage: www.carpedementem.org
linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wesstruebing
I.E.Z.
Actually, if you want to take the time to do it -- theoretically, you can
adjust your recommendations by indicating that something you bought is a
gift and should not be used to determine your future recommendations. This
is a relatively recent innovation at Amazon, I think, but I'm not sure it
really cut down on my off-the-wall recommendations, so I rarely bother.
Iris
Chris F.A. Johnson
> Annie C wrote:
>> "BarbNJ" <bee...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:hg96rp$cmn$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> "Annie C" <anni...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>> news:7oqhj5F...@mid.individual.net...
>>>> I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and
>>>> amazon suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also
>>>> purchase -tah dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh!
>>>> (Obviously they know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
>>>>
>>>> Their 'suggestions' are sometimes are ludicrous, to say the least. But it
>>>> was a good laugh.
>>>>
>>> pregnant, cooking and sewing her little heart out. <g>
>>>
>> That is sooo sooo not her ;-)
>>
>> It's also crazy that if you do buy a gift for someone, or even search a
>> title for any reason, it will eventually come backatcha as a 'suggested'
>> purchase for yourself. Oy..
>>
>
> brain in decision making.
For which we should be grateful! Who would want a davice that would
make such awful decisions?
For many, many decisions, a well written computer program can do
far better than even the smartest human brain.
--
Chris F.A. Johnson <http://cfajohnson.com>
Author: =======================
Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell (2009, Apress)
Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)
Annie C
"I.E.Z." <ieza...@ptdz.net> wrote in message
news:4b28e407$0$15263$ce5e...@news-radius.ptd.net...
strange things they recommend. Cheap thrills, eh?
Annie
Pogonip
> On 2009-12-16, Pogonip wrote:
>> Annie C wrote:
>>> "BarbNJ" <bee...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>>> title for any reason, it will eventually come backatcha as a 'suggested'
>>> purchase for yourself. Oy..
>>>
>> Which is why no computer yet designed and made can replace the human
>> brain in decision making.
>
> For which we should be grateful! Who would want a davice that would
> make such awful decisions?
>
> For many, many decisions, a well written computer program can do
> far better than even the smartest human brain.
>
Therein lies the stumbling block: "Well written."
Jr@Ease
and Weary, Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, s/he wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For which we should be grateful! Who would want a davice that would
> make such awful decisions?
I want a computer program that decides that no one in their right mind
should read anything written by Sarah Palin, and delete it from the
database.
John P
Dorothy J Heydt
Hear, hear. I would LOVE Amazon to include an option on their
suggestions list that equates to "never ever recommend anything
by this author to me again." I would occasionally spend some
time going through the list in that case, rather than ignoring it
as I now do.
Joan in GB-W
"Jr@Ease" <do.not.s...@this.address> wrote in message
news:heoii5hdmfat6q1m7...@4ax.com...
I have Sarah Palin's book on reserve at the public library but,
unfortunately, I will not get it in time. Our family Christmas is this
weekend. I wanted the book, not to read it, but to photocopy the cover and
put in on another book and give it to my sister for Christmas. Knowing how
much my sister, a staunch Republican, dislikes Palin, I figured the group
would get quite a laugh out of my present..
Joan
Joyleen E. Seymour
Netflix has me puzzled on a regular basis. Similar odd recommendations.
Movies that have nothing to do with each other. How about "Because
you liked the Veggie Tales Movie, we thought you'd like Kill Bill." It
hasn't actually been quite that bad, but nearly.
Stanley Moore
"Joyleen E. Seymour" <joyleen...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:59ednd0Xve5hAbTW...@earthlink.com...
They probably recommend on the basis of 6 degress of separation I bet they
all have a connection to Kevin Bacon <G> Take care--
Stanley L. Moore
"The belief in a supernatural
source of evil is not necessary;
men alone are quite capable
of every wickedness."
Joseph Conrad
Fran Read
> unfortunately, I will not get it in time. Our family Christmas is this
> weekend. I wanted the book, not to read it, but to photocopy the cover
> and put in on another book and give it to my sister for Christmas.
> Knowing how much my sister, a staunch Republican, dislikes Palin, I
> figured the group would get quite a laugh out of my present..
> Joan
If you google the book in images it will come up with photos of the front
cover that you could paste into Word (or something similar) and fiddle with
the size. I've done things like that before... <whistling innocently>
Fran
Wes Struebing
Heydt) wrote:
>In article <heoii5hdmfat6q1m7...@4ax.com>,
>Jr@Ease <do.not.s...@this.address> wrote:
>>Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, While Chris F.A. Johnson Pondered, Weak
>>and Weary, Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, s/he wrote:
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> For which we should be grateful! Who would want a davice that would
>>> make such awful decisions?
>>
>>
>>I want a computer program that decides that no one in their right mind
>>should read anything written by Sarah Palin, and delete it from the
>>database.
>
>Hear, hear. I would LOVE Amazon to include an option on their
>suggestions list that equates to "never ever recommend anything
>by this author to me again." I would occasionally spend some
>time going through the list in that case, rather than ignoring it
>as I now do.
I'd rather they included it with their comedy material. (but, then,
she just isn't all that funny...)
Wes Struebing
wrote:
Oh, you're evil! (I like that!)
Dorothy J Heydt
Wes Struebing <str...@comcast.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:15:41 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>Heydt) wrote:
>
>>In article <heoii5hdmfat6q1m7...@4ax.com>,
>>Jr@Ease <do.not.s...@this.address> wrote:
>>>Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, While Chris F.A. Johnson Pondered, Weak
>>>and Weary, Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, s/he wrote:
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> For which we should be grateful! Who would want a davice that would
>>>> make such awful decisions?
>>>
>>>
>>>I want a computer program that decides that no one in their right mind
>>>should read anything written by Sarah Palin, and delete it from the
>>>database.
>>
>>Hear, hear. I would LOVE Amazon to include an option on their
>>suggestions list that equates to "never ever recommend anything
>>by this author to me again." I would occasionally spend some
>>time going through the list in that case, rather than ignoring it
>>as I now do.
>
>I'd rather they included it with their comedy material. (but, then,
>she just isn't all that funny...)
I don't find her funny at all. Ditto any satire; ditto almost
any kind of parody. This is obviously MMMV; but I would really
like to set up a me-specific filter that would filter it all out.
Brian
<do.not.s...@this.address> wrote:
>I want a computer program that decides that no one in their right mind
>should read anything written by Sarah Palin, and delete it from the
>database.
>
>John P
I would like it to delete anything by Gore and his allies.
Dorothy J Heydt
Brian <drmorri...@comcast.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:41:37 -0500, "Jr@Ease"
><do.not.s...@this.address> wrote:
>
>
>>I want a computer program that decides that no one in their right mind
>>should read anything written by Sarah Palin, and delete it from the
>>database.
>
In theory, one program would do it: just get it to read a table
filled out by the customer, and delete everything on it.
Mike Burke
wrote:
Marry me?
However, the jig's just about up for Mr Gore, I think and, with any
luck, somebody will sue him for fraud before he gets to do too much
more harm by frightening yet another generation of kids out of their
wits for no good reason.
Mique
David Johnston
wrote:
>I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and amazon
>suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also purchase -tah
>dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously they
>know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
All they know is what other people who bought sewing supplies bought.
And I don't suppose a lot of people buy them through Amazon so one
person can throw off the stats.
David Johnston
wrote:
You can also indicate that stuff you actually bought shouldn't be
used. I've actually indicated that a whole bunch of stuff I haven't
bought is stuff I have, and shouldn't be used to recommend other
stuff. It gets them off my list much more effectively than just
saying I don't want them.
Stanley Moore
"David Johnston" <da...@block.net> wrote in message
news:1onni5lkkiaqa8lo9...@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:40:47 -0600, "Annie C" <anni...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and
>>amazon
>>suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also
>>dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously they
>>know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
>
> All they know is what other people who bought sewing supplies bought.
> And I don't suppose a lot of people buy them through Amazon so one
> person can throw off the stats.
I ordered from Amazon a kitchen toiol that you cannot find in the stores
here (a cherry pitter) . Now I get suyggestions for othere kitchen gear I do
not want. It is not a problem butecause I just ignore them. The book
recommendations are easily altered by clicking the "not interested" or "I
own it" buttons. Take care
Stanley Moore
It is pretty handy to click on the recommended item that you already own it
or the other that says "not interested" If you do this as you go Amazon will
refine your recommendations to be more suitable. Take care
David Johnston
Amazon stopped paying attention to my "not interesteds" a long time
ago because there were too many of them. So I developed the
workaround.
Jennifer Santo
On 12/15/09 5:40 PM, in article 7oqhj5F...@mid.individual.net, "Annie
C" <anni...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and amazon
> suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also purchase -tah
> dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously they
> know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
>
> Their 'suggestions' are sometimes are ludicrous, to say the least. But it
> was a good laugh.>>
I once bought "Victory at Sea" as a Christmas present. About a year later,
Amazon suggested that since I liked that, I might want "Pride and
Prejudice."
Dorothy J Heydt
Brian
wrote:
>However, the jig's just about up for Mr Gore, I think and, with any
>luck, somebody will sue him for fraud before he gets to do too much
>more harm by frightening yet another generation of kids out of their
>wits for no good reason.
>
>Mique
It seems like many who favor the climate change agenda now see him as
a detriment.
Joan in GB-W
"Jennifer Santo" <jenn...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:C751B374.7A8E%jenn...@hotmail.com...
>
>
>
> On 12/15/09 5:40 PM, in article 7oqhj5F...@mid.individual.net, "Annie
> C" <anni...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and
>> amazon
>> suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also
>> dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously
>> they
>> know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
>>
>> Their 'suggestions' are sometimes are ludicrous, to say the least. But it
>> was a good laugh.>>
>
> I once bought "Victory at Sea" as a Christmas present. About a year
> later,
> Amazon suggested that since I liked that, I might want "Pride and
> Prejudice."
>
I beg your pardon? Something doesn't make sense here. I might add, I have
a long play record of Victory at Sea.
Joan
Dorothy J Heydt
Of course it doesn't make sense. That's the point of this
thread. Your LP, incidentally, is the soundtrack to the
television series. One can now also get the entire series on
DVD, and well worth having. I don't *think* there's an
accompanying book.
But the reason Amazon suggested that someone who bought Victory
at Sea might also want to buy Pride and Prejudice is based on the
historical accident that some nameless other customer bought both
on one purchase. The two are now inextricably linked in Amazon's
suggestion-bot, whose AI is far from I.
Jennifer Santo
On 12/18/09 10:42 PM, in article Kuvrn...@kithrup.com, "Dorothy J Heydt"
<djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I was looking at my daughter in law's Amazon.com wish list today, and amazon
>>> suggests that along with the sewing box she wants that I also purchase -tah
>>> dah-- Sara Palin's "Rogue' book... Hahahahahahahahahaahh! (Obviously they
>>> know nothing of my DiL's political leanings ;-))
>>>
>>> Their 'suggestions' are sometimes are ludicrous, to say the least. But it
>>> was a good laugh.>>
>>
>> I once bought "Victory at Sea" as a Christmas present. About a year later,
>> Amazon suggested that since I liked that, I might want "Pride and
>> Prejudice."
>
> Heh. The movie, or the book?
The movie. The Keira Knightly version, IIRC.
--
Jenni :-)
Andrew Barss
: For many, many decisions, a well written computer program can do
: far better than even the smartest human brain.
Mmmm, not really. They can compute faster, and keep track of much more
data without dropping a stitch, but "decision" as it's commonly understood
is so far beyond any current computer/program it's not clear the one has
anything at all do do with the other.
-- Andy Barss
Chris F.A. Johnson
Computer programs make decisions all the time. Sometimes these are
simple decisions (if X is larger than Y, do A, otherwise do B), but
often they are much more complex (usually built up of many simple
decisions).
--
Chris F.A. Johnson <http://cfajohnson.com>
Author: =======================
Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell (2009, Apress)
Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)
Andrew Barss
:> Chris F.A. Johnson <cfajo...@gmail.com> wrote:
:>
:>: For many, many decisions, a well written computer program can do
:>: far better than even the smartest human brain.
:>
:> Mmmm, not really. They can compute faster, and keep track of much more
:> data without dropping a stitch, but "decision" as it's commonly understood
:> is so far beyond any current computer/program it's not clear the one has
:> anything at all do do with the other.
: Computer programs make decisions all the time. Sometimes these are
: simple decisions (if X is larger than Y, do A, otherwise do B)
That's not a decision in the usual sense. It's just executing a
deterministic algorithm. And to whatever extent a decision is being made
by anything, it's made in advance by the programmer, who wrote the program
to achieve that result. The program doing that is 'deciding' something
just about as much as a bird that dies in mid-flight 'decides' to fall to the
ground.
, but
: often they are much more complex (usually built up of many simple
: decisions).
Same point.
-- Andy Barss
Wes Struebing
<ba...@basil.u.arizona.edu> wrote:
>Chris F.A. Johnson <cfajo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>: On 2009-12-20, Andrew Barss wrote:
>:> Chris F.A. Johnson <cfajo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>:>
>:>: For many, many decisions, a well written computer program can do
>:>: far better than even the smartest human brain.
>:>
>:> Mmmm, not really. They can compute faster, and keep track of much more
>:> data without dropping a stitch, but "decision" as it's commonly understood
>:> is so far beyond any current computer/program it's not clear the one has
>:> anything at all do do with the other.
>
>: Computer programs make decisions all the time. Sometimes these are
>: simple decisions (if X is larger than Y, do A, otherwise do B)
>
>That's not a decision in the usual sense. It's just executing a
>deterministic algorithm. And to whatever extent a decision is being made
>by anything, it's made in advance by the programmer, who wrote the program
>to achieve that result. The program doing that is 'deciding' something
>just about as much as a bird that dies in mid-flight 'decides' to fall to the
>ground.
>
True, but there ARE heuristic computers, and they're getting better at
their "learning", too. And they are not deterministic. (I hesitate
to say "non-deterministic" since some initial assumptions are coded
in...)