Gmail is trying to tell me something and it's freaking me the fuck out.

[LeftyMom]

The current ad over my inbox is

"Eco Gold Wedding Rings - www.greenKarat.com - Treading Lightly on the Earth - In Sync with Vegan Values"

:scared: Uh, no. Like seriesly, hell freakin' no. :scared:

[petronius]

1. How exactly does one mke vegan jewelry? Or. more precisely,

how could you make non-vegan jewelry? :shrug:

Interesting site, however - at least it's an interesting way to publicize the impacts of mining...

[LeftyMom]

2. I think they just do eco-friendly stuff and bought a keyword

Veganism would only be an issue in not using animal-sourced items like pearls, tortiseshell, etc.

Might be a issue with cleaners as well, I guess. The only sparklies I have are of the inherited variety. I'm much too practical to spend good money on things that don't DO anything.

[petronius]

3. That makes sense - Gmail posts ads based on what's in your messge, correct?

Of course, it could be that the keyword wasn't "vegan" at all - perhaps you're getting e-mailed marriage proposals that you aren't sharing with the Lounge (which would be a gross violation of the Lounge TOS, by the way). :)

WRT the cleansers: how far into the production chain would vegan purchasing decisions extend? I tend to think of it in terms of food and direct animal products, but if there was a non-biological product, like a wedding ring, for which an animal based product was used in the production - say as a lubricant in the milling machine - would that resulting product thus become non-vegan?

[LeftyMom]

4. Don't worry, that's not happening.

I think way back in the production process likely one wouldn't really have enough information to have control, unless one used a local craftsperson or something instead of buying commercial. As for the resultant vegan status, I do think it's important to remember that we live in a society where animal exploitation is the default behavior. Unfortunately in some cases that means we really don't have purely vegan choices. Take cars- sure you can get one without a scrap of leather in the interior, but it's still going to have animal fats in the tires and plastics, and way-back-when domestic manufacturers did crash testing with animals rather than dummies, so they're also an animal tested product. Until we really change our society sometimes we'll just have to make the best of imperfect choices.

But like I said, I'm the last person to ask about shiny doodads. I'm not girly at all.

[petronius]

5. That makes sense - thanks for the reply!

And I agree about the shiny doodads. Jewelry can certainly be art, which I appreciate, but the fetishization of shiny rocks and metal makes little sense...

[Bucky]

6. Well, looks like that big behavioral profiling database Google keeps on you is working

Sorta.

They track your every search, your every site visit, your every post, and then run an algorhythm on your ass to see what they need to say to you to sell you things. In the end it's probably harmless, but it still creeps the shit out of me.

[TZ]

7. Thats happened to me

I have discussions concerning certain things I personally find distasteful and next thing I know, I have ads for that kind of thing.
One time a friend told me he had to log off his g-mail account for awhile but would get back to me...I joked about being abandoned and next thing I know was an ad for how to say goodbye to a friendship..Needless to say that upset me.

[billyskank]

8. Google knows all.

It's truer every day. :scared:

[Liberal Veteran]

9. What it means is that they want you to buy cheap green gold (eco=economical) from the planet Vega.