Hey Gina (and everyone) - sorry I didn't post these sooner.... at the last moment, DH expressed an opinion and asked that I wear this dress since it is one of his favs. How could I say no! Anyway, they are posted on the gallery.... Alexa

@pinkmountain, Here's an example of what kinds of things a listening advertising device can do. Today, I was having a casual conversation with some friends in the dining room where my now unplugged and vacant echo device is. I mentioned the irony and my disgust at how much pornography is on the Internet when compared to other great information which is also there. I remarked that I didn't understand where people got the time to mess around with all that, relating an experience I had with a class where the teacher was trying to demonstrate the value of the (at the time) new feature of video streaming, and most of what he was finding while casually nosing around, was pornographic. Later when talking more about the dumbing down of our culture, I remarked how awful I thought the movie "Book Club" was and how ridiculous I thought the plot premise was, that such accomplished mature professional woman would be interested in that book, and then went on to talk about how silly I thought S&M was in general, giving a scathing opinion of my reaction to renting the movie, "The Secretary." Now, with the algorithms world we live in, had my device been on, at some later point, I would have seen ads for porn and S&M "accoutrements" showing up somewhere in my feed. In fact, it will probably happen now that I have posted this on this board. I'm trying to see that quality input gets to my brain, and I really dislike the burden of having to work so hard to filter out the garbage. This is all a bit backwards to me. You admit that the internet contains a wealth of information - you do realize that each and every time you search for anything online or do any sort of activity on the internet it's stored, don't you? (I'm assuming you do, based on you later mentioning that it'll probably show up somewhere due to your posting here.) So you realize the magnitude of the wealth of information on the internet and you obviously use it so you're okay with all of your information being out there/data being collected but you unplugged your Echo because you don't like the idea of it collecting your data the same way the internet does? I will say that I find it quite ironic that you're so worried about a device listening to conversations you're having - the same conversations that you just shared with a bunch of strangers on the internet, in detail. I'm trying to see that quality input gets to my brain, and I really dislike the burden of having to work so hard to filter out the garbage. You also realize this garbage you speak of is garbage you created, don't you? You're the one having these conversations, which is telling the device that these are topics you're interested in, so it suggests things based on that. If you weren't interested in this "garbage", you wouldn't be having in-depth conversations or such strong opinions about them, and then later sharing it all with strangers on the internet. You mention algorithms so you evidently know how the internet and advertising works. In translation, this should mean that you understand that it's collecting data that you're providing in order to provide a more customized experience for you. If you stop being interested in and having conversations about this so-called "garbage", then you won't have work so hard to filter it out. It's a pretty simple concept. But let's not beat around the bush here. This statement should actually read "I only want to see information that 100% agrees with my opinion and I dislike having to filter out anything that doesn't." I just can't get over the irony of someone who is so paranoid about a device listening to them and "spying on them" posting such negative and judgmental viewpoints to a bunch of strangers, who may also have opinions unlike a device. And these topics are so first worldesque and the tone of superiority just staggers me. For what it's worth, I think narrow-mindedness, lack of perspective, and a focused & cynical concern with what everyone else is doing with their lives when it has no interference with yours does a far better job of demonstrating the dumbing down of our culture than any of the things you mentioned. The internet contains so much great information, you ought to utilize it to get some perspective.

For crying out loud, I just created an account with Spotify and at the end it told me I have to have a Premium account to use Spotify with Alexa. Yet spotify was one of the ones to choose. I'm getting frustrated. The Alexa App has Amazon Music as it's default music source, which is why I realize Alexa can't find any music that I request, since I don't have Amazon Prime. I have to figure out how to install streaming sites via url, and I'm not sure how to do that.

Schoolhouse, it's working out surprisingly well. Rocky (large male about 6 years old) had come in for visits during the day, but Scruffy (small, long-haired female of indeterminate age) hadn't. They both came in at night but were eager to go back outside in the morning. I didn't know how Scruffy would take to such a big change. She tends to be easily spooked. Well, she took to it right away! She's always loved softness and warmth, and that we have. She was a stray when she came to us (Rocky was as well), and now that I've had a lot more interaction with her I think she must have been abused at some point in her life. They've been in the house about three weeks so far. When the weather finally warmed up this week Rocky got restless and would have slipped out the door if I hadn't been careful going in and out. Scruffy doesn't seem interested in leaving. Rocky loves to play and will chase balls as long as I'll pitch them. Scruffy occasionally attacks a catnip mouse, but mostly loves to nap. Rocky's the one with one blue eye. Scruffy got her name when she first showed up. She was such a matted mess that we thought she was seriously ill. Nope, she was just hungry.