Gmail's Targeted Advertising Sometimes Hits Their Target Market

I just started playing paintball, and this morning I noticed Gmail was paying attention(see screenshot):

I've long been annoyed by advertisements, but when the ads are relevant to my tastes, I don't seem to mind as much. I still watch my TV shows without commercials, though. Suspension of disbelief and the viewing experience can be very negatively affected by advertisements. I've asked the ushers at movie theaters how long the ads/trailers last, and the answer seems consistent - 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes is a very long time when you're attending a show to be entertained, and also means that the cost of a movie ticket is paying in part to attend 15 minutes of advertisements! I'd pay even more to attend a theater that removed pre-feature advertisements, how about you?

Local Newspapers Dying - How Are Local Governments and Local Citizens Affected?

I was listening to AM talk radio today on the topic of the continuing reduction of local newspapers while some national newspapers are seeing new growth.

As local newspapers and local media begin to disappear, who will publicize local citizens and local governments?

Blogs & the web came to mind. There seem to be some opportunities for channeling the voice of local peoples through the web, and I hope that increased communication between local governments and local citizens will result. I fear that a continued lack of accountability(due to lack of publicity) in local government and increased abuses of power will ensue as the shift in media formats and communication continues.

It seems evident that national media outlets are less concerned with local events - that's not their market or coverage. Increased national media focus will likely further isolate the average citizen. It is much easier to affect change on the local level in the areas in which we live. Our federal government seems to be less representative of its people as our voices are squelched by the broadcasts of national and world media giants.

Where can our voices be heard? Will free speech be tolerated by national media when local views are shared? Are local views relevant to national or global media outlets? To whom are media outlets responsible?

Time Travel to the Future by Modifying Blog Timezone Settings

It seems like some folks post & edit their blogs in the future - I've set my timezone to UTC+14:00 as a test of my theory - let's see what happens.

I've also set the time of my previous post today to 11:59 PM - I'm curious to see what happens in aggregate feeds.