Monthly Archives: October 2020

Posted in opinion

YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Whew…these are tough days we’re in.  I readily admit that my stress level is through the roof.  This week I decided to take a break from news shows and social media.  Yes, I’m going to miss all the posts of cute dogs and scrumptious birthday cakes, but my mental health requires it.  A few days ago I decided to stick with Netflix and I hit upon the documentary “The Social Dilemma”.  The film features former executives and developers from Facebook, Google, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter and their comments about the dangers of these social media platforms are both illuminating and frightening.  As is so often the case, these sites started out with good – perhaps even innocent – intentions to make the world more connected.  But to a person the executives are alarmed at what social media has become.  The documentary spells out in a clear way how our brains are being manipulated and even rewired by algorithms designed to get our attention and make us buy things.  And not just to buy physical “things” but to buy into ideas.  Ideas about the world, ourselves, and each other.

After watching the documentary I wanted to know more.  I read as much as I could stand about social media manipulation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Attention Extraction (AE).  You may not have heard of the latter.  AE is a business model used by all of the social media platforms to monetize their business. In other words, it’s how they make the big bucks.  The basic construct is they employ surveillance tools to observe what their users are viewing and clicking.  Have you ever thought it was creepy when you see an ad for something you were just talking about or Googled?  It is all planned.  The tech companies are constantly reviewing what interests you and then they  configure the algorithm to have ads or stories come up related to that interest.   And who is paying for those ads or stories?  Big business and big politics.  In other words, the product that big tech is monetizing is YOU!   If we only saw ads for a dog food we’d researched that might be pretty harmless.  But it goes deeper than that.  The algorithms in AI and AE  use what they know about you to tailor the news results you see.   The upshot is the average person is only seeing stories that reinforce their preexisting inclinations. Some of the tech executives opine that no one knows what is genuinely true anymore because every story has gone through a filter.  That goes a long way toward explaining why we’re so divided.  AI is increasingly being used to curate and generate the news.  Even traditional news organizations such as the AP, Bloomberg and The Washington Post are utilizing it and Microsoft has transitioned to AI to generate all the news on its MSN homepage.  And who is programming the AI and checking it?  The executives in the documentary point out that only a handful of people in any of the companies understand the AI algorithms and that AI is becoming so sophisticated that soon no one will understand or control it.

Perhaps more troubling than skewed news and advertising is the affect of social media on our youth.  According to a September 2020 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the suicide rate for pediatric patients rose 57.4% from 2007 to 2018.  That should alarm everyone.  The Facebook engineer who invented the “Like” button did so thinking it would be a positive reinforcement.  Instead, it turned into a social measurement of popularity among young teens.  Other social media platforms followed suit and we now have a generation of kids who assess their self-worth by the comments others make about their posts and photos.  Pre-teens, who have never been known for their kindness, have taken criticism and cruelty to a new level.  Almost all of the executives interviewed in “The Social Dilemma”  ban the social media apps on their children’s devices.  That speaks volumes.  In 2020 when we add in COVID and its isolating impact, it’s easy to see how overwhelmed and vulnerable young kids have become.

Certainly social media is not to blame entirely for our problems and, in fact, it can provide some positive relationships and distractions, but we need to be better informed about how we are being influenced and manipulated.   Bob and I obviously get the irony that some of you may be viewing our blog on Facebook, which means we’re contributing to the problem.  We are going to spend some time this week discussing our social media presence going forward.  Look for news on that next week.  In the meantime, we ask that you subscribe directly to our blog.   Why?  Because we don’t monetize our site – no one pays us and we don’t pay anyone (except platform management fees) and we certainly don’t share our subscriber list.  Here is a link to the site and you can sign up in the right hand column:  https://fromabirdseyeview.com/

For me, I’m taking a break from social media.  If you post something fun or interesting please don’t be offended if I don’t click the “Like” button.  If you don’t get a Facebook message from me on your birthday, rest assured I’m still wishing you a happy year ahead, I’ll just do it via email.  Finally, if you’re one of my friends who is constantly re-posting news and political stories I respectfully ask that you stop and think about how you’re being used by the big tech giants.  If you want to write something original – great!  But re-posting just feeds the beast and the beast needs to be killed.

See you on the other side.

P.S.  In addition to “The Social Dilemma” I found the following article to be most informative.  I’ve included the link in case you’re interested.

“The Dark Psychology of Social Networks” by Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/social-media-democracy/600763/

 

Posted in opinion

I Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself

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by Bob Sparrow

(When writing this blog, I’ve never just copied and pasted an entire article I’ve seen elsewhere, but that’s about to end, as this 96-year old woman’s letter to her bank said it much better than I ever could.  I share her dislike of banks.)

Letter to my bank

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his depositing the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly transfer of funds from my modest savings account, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty-one years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has recently become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact Status form which I require your chosen employee to complete.

I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Please allow me to level the playing field even further. When you call me, you will now have a menu of options on my new voice mail system to choose from.

Please press the buttons as follows:

Press 1: To make an appointment to see me.

Press 2: To query a missing payment.

On hold with the bank!

Press 3: To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.

Press 4: To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.

Press 5: To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.

Press 6: To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.

Press 7: To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.

Press 8: To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.

To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee of $50 to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. Please credit my account after each occasion.

Your Humble Client…

(That’s telling ’em granny!  I thought of your letter again today as eight of us were waiting in line at the bank (socially distanced out the door) while one teller was working and 5 other bank employees were busy doing nothing behind the ‘glass curtain’, being sure not to make eye-contact with those of us waiting in line!  They want to take care of my money, but don’t seem that interested in taking care of me. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrg!!!)

Posted in opinion

LET THERE BE LIGHT

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

                     Original and updated

A friend commented the other day that in the 20 years she’s known me I’ve been in a constant state of remodeling my house.  That’s not really true, but it’s not far off.  Hey, tastes change.  Plus, in my defense, when we moved here 22 years ago interior design trends were different.  I recall our first designer promising us that she would never inflict howling coyotes or cactus motifs on us, but we did end up with another popular trend at the time – darker finishes.  So over the ensuing years we’ve undertaken five remodeling projects.  I’ve changed the kitchen, modernized the office, torn down fireplaces, put in new windows and doors and updated the master bath and laundry room.  I don’t think that’s so much over a 20 year period but then again I may be in a state of denial.  Or the paint fumes I’m smelling right now have made me a bit delusional. In any event, this latest project I’m chalking up to Corona virus.

                I had no choice, right?

We’ve spent a lot of time in the house since March.  A lot.  The one thing I’ve never changed over the years is our flooring.  I hated it but I have heard such horror stories about removing tile that I never had the nerve to rip it all out.  I became increasingly irritated with it over the summer.  Okay, it was probably the virus and all the other crap we’ve been through that had me in a bad mood, but the floor took the brunt of my angst.  Finally I decided that I might not be able to do anything about a virus but I sure as hell could change some tile.  As it turns out, it was amazingly easy; the relatively new “dustless” tile removal is a miracle.  In 24 hours they had removed 1650 square feet of tile and cleaned it up.  It is unbelievably quiet and while it’s not completely dustless, it’s darn close.  I spent about 500 hours on Houzz looking for ideas and finally chose new tile much lighter than our old one.  Unfortunately (but not really) it became obvious that we would need to change the backsplashes in the kitchen and bar to blend better with the floor.  The problem was the countertop on the bar was dark so in order to change the backsplash we really needed to change the countertop.  You can see my point in the photo.  It HAD to be replaced.  I sought out just the right slab that would blend with our current kitchen granite.  The kitchen countertops in the showroom were stunning so I floated the idea of getting all new granite for the kitchen.  That idea was met with a stony stare, no pun intended.

Out with the old…

…and in with the new

Our project started on September 7th, with the slab company dropping our piece of quartzite and shattering it.  Not an auspicious beginning.  I hadn’t planned on being stressed out on the very first day.  I began to question doing a remodel at a time when my husband and I were spending an inordinate amount of time together.  But luckily the company was able to fabricate a new piece in a couple of days and from then on it was smooth sailing.  Every person working on our project was great to deal with and worked efficiently.  I loved the floor when it went into the great room but once it was laid in the living and dining rooms it looked terrible against the carpet.  My eye doctor told me I have an extraordinary ability to see color but I may be seeking another opinion.  My “eye for color” was a bit dodgy in this case.  I woke up at 2:30 one morning, distressed that I had made such an error.  Later that morning, my husband gave me a big hug and said if new carpeting would make me happy then I should order it.  And THAT is why we’ve been married 37 years.  The carpeting goes in next week.

         I’m DONE…for now

I have found it amazing what change and light can do for one’s attitude.  Change is a very good thing.  Some people change their hair color, and here in Scottsdale, lots of people change their faces, but the fact is a change of any sort helps us view the world a bit differently.  Adding lighter tones to our rooms has made my world a bit brighter, which in turn, has made me a bit less crabby.  I admit I’m a bit of a remodel junkie and not everyone likes to change things up as often as I do, but I swear that just changing out the bathroom towels can elevate your mood.  I highly recommend it.  Of course, I won’t be buying any new towels for a while – I’ve been put in remodel jail.  Oh well, at least it’s pretty in here.

Posted in travel

Golf on the Surface of the Sun

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by Bob Sparrow

At Entrada, Utah

It seemed like a good idea at the time – getting out of the house and playing golf at some spectacular golf courses not too far away.  We thought our timing was perfect as it was just starting to cool down in ‘The OC’.  Unfortunately, it was heating up in places like Las Vegas and southern Utah, where we were headed to play.

So, the usual suspects, John & Judy VanBoxmeer, Jack and JJ Budd, Chuck & Linda Sager and Linda and I headed to Las Vegas, the first leg of our trip.  A lot of golfers brag about ‘shooting their age’, and that’s quite an accomplishment, but I’m going to brag about ‘shooting the temperature’ – which is not such a great accomplishment, especially when the temperature is in triple digits, but I did it!

There were only four of the eight that wanted to stop at an old haunt from our ‘Cinco de Mayo-Kentucky Derby’ weekend days, at the less-than-luxurious Primm Valley Resort.  Since moving from that venue to the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa and Rhodes Ranch Golf  Club, most of us had not been back to Primm Valley Golf Club in many years, so we decided to stop there for an 18-hole waltz down memory lane.  As it turned out, it was more of a waltz into the scrub brush and rocky desert terrain under a blistering sun on a less-than-pristine Primm Valley Golf Course.

Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas

The following day we played at Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas, a development that began just before the 2008 recession and has never quite recovered. A lake in Las Vegas is an oxymoron – I was just a moron when I played it.  It was still very warm, no, it was hot, but I was able to ‘shoot my temperature’ although I was feeling a bit feverish at the time!  While I thought I had not been very lucky at golf, that actually turned out to be the luckiest part of my day, as I lost at black jack, craps, the slots and a bet I placed at the sports book on the New Orleans Saints – a quinella of loses.  Vegas did offer to will fly me out there for free any time I want to go!

Next stop, Wolf Creek, a course carved out of the rocky, rugged landscape of Mesquite, Nevada.  It is certainly one of the most spectacularly beautiful golf layouts in the country.  While it was still very hot, I kept reminding myself to enjoy the scenery which I did while again managing to shoot the temperature on a hot three-digit day.  We had a delicious dinner at Katherine’s, a great old-time restaurant in the Casa Blanca Hotel, a property originally owned by Merv Griffin.

Wolf Creek Golf Club

The next morning, we drove to St. George, Utah and stayed in condos at the golf course at Entrada.  It’s a very interesting course, on the front nine it feels like you’re in Sedona, as is surrounded by lots of beautiful red rock formations.  On the back nine it feels like you flew over to the Big Island of Hawaii, as it is carved out of a huge lava field, but the temperature reminded us that we were still playing golf on the surface of the sun!

We journeyed back to South Point in Vegas for the night, just to break up our trip around the sun, as well as provide me with an opportunity to visit my money.  Actually, the sun finally shone brightly on my craps game that evening, as opposed to beating down on my crappy golf game throughout the trip.  If you haven’t already learned anything from this blog, and you’re looking to do a similar trip – go in the winter!