Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Some Disturbing Observations About Google's Autofill Search Function
With the recent GLBT suicides in the media, this really caught me off guard when doing a simple Google search the other day. I find the search autofill feature helpful sometimes, and an outright annoyance in other instances. I can't even count how many terrible human beings from my past that Facebook has displayed through their version of this feature that you couldn't pay me enough to have any contact with whatsoever. Anyway, what really bothers me is that I was searching for information pertaining to setting up a webstore/business, and I merely typed in "Easiest way to", and suddenly Google filled it in with "kill oneself". Obviously, this came as a shock, and it also greatly concerns me; not does this probably mean that it's a popular search, which is troubling in its own right, but it almost seems that something this unthinkable is being inadvertently promoted through the search engine. The last thing that anyone needs to pop up in any search is a list of results of this manner, I know that America is very adamantly opposed to censorship, but this is nonetheless a problem I see. About a year and a half ago, I had an uncle that took his own life, and I can help but wonder if he was one of those who had that search. As great as I believe the internet to be, it definitely has its darker aspects. I just hope recent positive efforts such as the "It Gets Better" project can counter such influence.
An attempted Mugging?
It seems that by this point in life, quite a few people I’ve known have experienced robbery or mugging of some medium. I’ve had friends robbed while working in stores, and even my sister had some that punched her in the stomach and attempted to snatch her purse while in Brussels. Although I’ve been a victim of theft on a number of occasions, I’ve considered myself lucky to not actually be held up. I had a rather odd experience however, on my way home on the subway on Halloween this year.
I didn’t feel like sticking around home for Halloween, and no one was interested in doing anything, so I decided to check out the block party at Church and Wellesley for something to do. That part was rather uneventful. I checked out the sights, had some drinks and headed home around 12:30am. I tend to walk everywhere, and avoid transit if I can, but since I was running behind, I decided to catch the subway about one stop from Union Station. Since it was Halloween, the clerk said not to worry about the fee, and I proceeded to head towards the stairs.
This is where things began to get a little strange. On my way to the stairs, I was accosted by an odd-looking character with what looked to be a pathetic attempt at Skeletor face paint. He started asking me a bunch of questions, trying to block my way to the stairs. I initially tried to talk, but he was not only blocking my path, but asking a bunch of irrelevant questions, so I pushed by and went downstairs. Since the clerk did not take my money for the fare, I still had a five-dollar bill in my hand. This individual, who proceeded to follow me down the steps saw this money, and then asked “How much you got?”, while attempting to pull the bill out of my hand.
In my head, I was thinking about how ridiculous this was, so without hesitation, I pulled the money back, and basically said “Uh no, this isn’t how it works.” The guy seemed angered and now went on to say “I was trying to be nice… Do you know who I am?” I simply said “No…” He then edged closer, and rolled up his sleeves, and repeated his mantra once again “Do you know who I am?”. Once again, I told him I had no idea who he was, or thought he was. With this said, things were getting fairly tense, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Growing up, I had to defend myself physically fairly often; sometimes on a daily basis from various people I had the misfortune of attending school with, so I was prepared to get physical. Although, carrying a heavy backpack after a night of drinking probably wouldn’t help my odds.
Finally, I had enough and went back to the clerk, and said that this guy was trying to mug me. The clerk basically just chewed the guy out, yelling “What’s wrong with you!” They then told me that due to the late hours on Halloween, the police probably wouldn’t bother to come, so I went back downstairs. The guy whom I’ll just call “Skeletor” at this point was now on the opposite side of the tracks, and began whining like a ten year old child, “Why did you rat me out? You pussy!” He then began to climb off the platform to the tracks with the train coming momentarily, so I reported the guy once again. He finally went back onto the platform, and endlessly whined and complained to the clerk that I “ratted” him out rather than give him my money. Maybe there’s a new logic here I’m missing?
Anyway, I actually missed my bus home after this incident, but luckily the driver saw me chasing it down and stopped. This evening could have ended worse, I suppose; I didn’t get into a physical altercation and/or lose any money, but an obvious word to the wise, be careful when you’re traveling by yourself at that hour.
I didn’t feel like sticking around home for Halloween, and no one was interested in doing anything, so I decided to check out the block party at Church and Wellesley for something to do. That part was rather uneventful. I checked out the sights, had some drinks and headed home around 12:30am. I tend to walk everywhere, and avoid transit if I can, but since I was running behind, I decided to catch the subway about one stop from Union Station. Since it was Halloween, the clerk said not to worry about the fee, and I proceeded to head towards the stairs.
This is where things began to get a little strange. On my way to the stairs, I was accosted by an odd-looking character with what looked to be a pathetic attempt at Skeletor face paint. He started asking me a bunch of questions, trying to block my way to the stairs. I initially tried to talk, but he was not only blocking my path, but asking a bunch of irrelevant questions, so I pushed by and went downstairs. Since the clerk did not take my money for the fare, I still had a five-dollar bill in my hand. This individual, who proceeded to follow me down the steps saw this money, and then asked “How much you got?”, while attempting to pull the bill out of my hand.
In my head, I was thinking about how ridiculous this was, so without hesitation, I pulled the money back, and basically said “Uh no, this isn’t how it works.” The guy seemed angered and now went on to say “I was trying to be nice… Do you know who I am?” I simply said “No…” He then edged closer, and rolled up his sleeves, and repeated his mantra once again “Do you know who I am?”. Once again, I told him I had no idea who he was, or thought he was. With this said, things were getting fairly tense, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Growing up, I had to defend myself physically fairly often; sometimes on a daily basis from various people I had the misfortune of attending school with, so I was prepared to get physical. Although, carrying a heavy backpack after a night of drinking probably wouldn’t help my odds.
Finally, I had enough and went back to the clerk, and said that this guy was trying to mug me. The clerk basically just chewed the guy out, yelling “What’s wrong with you!” They then told me that due to the late hours on Halloween, the police probably wouldn’t bother to come, so I went back downstairs. The guy whom I’ll just call “Skeletor” at this point was now on the opposite side of the tracks, and began whining like a ten year old child, “Why did you rat me out? You pussy!” He then began to climb off the platform to the tracks with the train coming momentarily, so I reported the guy once again. He finally went back onto the platform, and endlessly whined and complained to the clerk that I “ratted” him out rather than give him my money. Maybe there’s a new logic here I’m missing?
Anyway, I actually missed my bus home after this incident, but luckily the driver saw me chasing it down and stopped. This evening could have ended worse, I suppose; I didn’t get into a physical altercation and/or lose any money, but an obvious word to the wise, be careful when you’re traveling by yourself at that hour.
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| My usual Goth/Emo Halloween/Fancy Dress look... (Taken at Union Station, Toronto) |
First Post...
So this is my first post here, which I'll use as an introduction of sorts. Basically, this blog will contain many strange stories of my existence, as well as some of my opinions and thoughts about various subjects and events that I come across. Feel free to subscribe, follow, comment, etc. This is all new to me, so it should be fun...
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