Spam and Advertisements Infiltrating Google Maps

I use Google Maps a lot and for the most part it is pretty good, but one issue I have with it lately is the amount of spam that is popping up on the maps. Often when you zoom in you will see what looks like the name of a business but if you look closer you will notice it is placed on a residential house. Dig into the details more and you will often find that the business is not actually located there and may not even have a location at all.

It seems many people are just using Google Maps as a free way to advertise their business. They will put a link to their website in some random place hoping to get more traffic and attention for their business. This is a problem because these links are cluttering the maps with useless information. Businesses that have no physical store location should not be posting on Google Maps. It is not a free advertising service.

You can report these posts but in my experience reporting them does not do much and I still see the same listings on the maps long after they have been reported. Google really needs to do something about this issue.

It seems anyone with a Google account and put whatever they want on the map. Google needs to start verifying this stuff better before publishing it to the world. They need to find a way to distinguish businesses from houses and areas on the map where nothing even exists.

I know some people may have a home based business and for those, I might give an exception if they use their home address as their business address. For the other cases where people are just posting links to their business in places that have nothing to do with their business it is not ok and these listings should be removed.

People at Google, please look into this before Google Maps becomes just a mess of random spam and advertisements.

People who take shopping carts off the property and abandon them

One of my pet peeves is when people take shopping carts far beyond the store property limits and then abandon them wherever they feel like it. You may see this sometimes in the nearby areas around grocery stores.

It seems as though some people who do not have a car will load their groceries into a cart and then wheel it over to where they live so they do not have to carry all the groceries by hand. While I don't really think this is acceptable and there are probably other better solutions available, I would excuse this under one condition and that is that they return the cart when they are done with it!

It is bad enough people are taking carts off the property away from stores, but then to just abandon the cart in the middle of nowhere is completely unacceptable. Who do they think is going to collect the cart from there? It is going to stay wherever it was left for weeks, maybe even months until someone decides to do something about it.

Maybe a good samaritan will take the time to wheel it back or maybe eventually someone from store management will arrange to have the cart picked up and brought back to the store. But really the person who originally took it should bring it back.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Life After Death - Topic and Questions

Recently I started researching the topic of life after death and found there are many convincing reports of kids who remember a past life. They are able to give specific details about a person of the past who they would have no way of knowing anything about. The cases have been researched and the details seem to check out.

There are also many reports of near death experiences where someone dies and their consciousness goes on, but then they are brought back and come back to life. They are then able to recall what they experienced when they died.

There have also been many reports of ghosts or unexplained occurrences especially in places that have a long history such as old homes and buildings where people used to live or work.

Cases like the ones above seem to infer that consciousness goes on after physical death. The idea of reincarnation may exist. When one dies, transition to another life may not happen instantly but can take weeks, months, or even years.

There is certainly a lot we still do not know about life and what happens after we die. Here are some questions that can be discussed in relation to life after death. Feel free to reply with any thoughts, ideas, or experiences.

What happens after we die?

Where does the consciousness go between physical lives?

Does one get to choose where they go next after death? If not, how is it decided?

Does one's actions in life have an affect on what happens after death such as in the idea of karma?

Does one's beliefs have any affect on what happens after death?

When does consciousness begin in a living thing? At conception? At birth?

Can one be reincarnated anywhere on Earth? What about other planets or places in the universe?

Can one be reincarnated into other living things such as animals?

Why does one's knowledge and memory not carry over in most cases of reincarnation? 

If you can remember your life after you die in a state of consciousness, how come we don't remember the consciousness state after reincarnation?

We have rules here on Earth that we live by, but what are the rules of the universe?

Does our consciousness have a name or identity since it would be different depending on which living thing it inhabits?

Does our mental status carry over after we die? What about people whose mental capacity declines later in life? Would that state of mind carry over, or would it be restored back to normal capacity?

Are dreams related in some way? Could dreams be more like our consciousness when it is between physical lives?

Could people with dissociative identity disorder or gender non-conforming people be remembering their past life which is making their current identity confusing?

Why is physical life so detailed with so many things that don't seem to make sense for them to exist at all?

Are there certain things a person must accomplish in their physical life to move on to another stage?

Does dying early or in an unexpected way have an affect on what happens next with the consciousness?

How does time play into it? Is time as consciousness the same as time in the physical world?

How significant is the act of having children since it is a way to create a new physical being that will have a consciousness? 

Can those who have died still see and observe the living world which they came from? If so, do they have the ability to affect the physical world?

Can different consciousness's interact with each other while they are in between physical lives?

What about the time before the Earth existed and eventually if life on Earth comes to an end, would consciousness's have to exist somewhere else or find another physical world to inhabit?

We tend to take death very seriously here on Earth, treating it as though when it happens everything is over, but if life goes on after death than it may not be such a big deal at all but instead simply a transition to the next life.

The use of the name Karen as a derogatory word needs to stop

I will start by saying, no my name is not Karen, but I believe the recent trend of calling people “Karen” as an insult is wrong and needs to stop. Calling someone a bad name based on an identity characteristic they have no control over is not ok.

Usually in situations like this, the person being described is not actually named Karen, but the person saying it is still using the name of other people as an insult.

There are a lot of people who have this name and unfortunately it happened to catch on as a way to describe a certain type of person. The people with this name should not be subjected to a negative association just because of their name.

It's very simple to see how this is wrong, you just have to put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself, “How would you like it if all of a sudden everyone started using your name as an insult?” You probably would not like it one bit. So if you are someone who has been using the name “Karen” like this, you may want to reconsider what you are doing and realize how it is affecting other people with that name.

Hinge App Review - First Impressions of the Dating App

I have tried several dating sites and apps over the years without much success. Recently took some time off from them which actually felt good, but one of my goals for the new year is to give it another go, I decided to sign up for one of the newer apps I have not tried yet.

The Hinge app seems to be one of the more popular options at the moment and has decent ratings so I figured I would try it out. The sign up was pretty easy, you just enter in some basic information, answer a few questions, and upload some pictures.

They let you pick 3 prompts to answer and that is about all you get in terms of giving the other person an idea of who you are. Personally I do not think this is enough especially when many of the questions seem kind of irrelevant. I tried to pick the ones that allow you to explain a bit about who you are and what you like.

For the pictures, they want you to add at least 6 pictures. I actually found this to be hard because I don't tend to take a lot of pictures of myself and I don't have many pictures with others on my phone. So I ended up having to dig through pictures on my computer to try to find some to transfer over to the phone to upload.

Upon trying out the app itself, it is pretty straight forward but they don't really give you much guidance or instruction on the features. It shows you one profile at a time and you pretty much have to make a decision if you like or dislike them based on the pictures and a few statements they filled out. It also gives you some basic information such as age and location. A lot of the basics are optional though so you may or may not see them.

One big issue I found was the location. It has you select your location on a map, but for some reason it does not go by the town, but instead somehow goes by neighborhood names. So for example, I was not even able to select the name of the town where I live. It would only give these odd neighborhood names that no one would even know. I mean I live here and I have not even heard of half these names. I ended up selecting the next town over since at least it was a recognizable town which was near by. They really need to fix this issue.

Also they have another option to enter your hometown but it is not clear if that is where you live now or where you grew up, so the whole location thing is very confusing in this app.

Another thing I don''t really like is they want you to add captions to your pictures, but you can't add your own caption, instead you have to pick from their list of preset captions. So when you are going through the profiles you keep seeing the same repetitive captions on all the pictures. It doesn't really make sense.

The app lets you choose a few parameters to help narrow down the search for example age range and distance, but I found that these don't seem to work very well. For example I had an age range set but it kept sending me profiles outside the range. Same for the distance, I had a distance of 20 miles set but it kept sending me matches that were definitely further away than that.

When you are shown a profile, you have the option to “like” a picture or statement, or you can “X” it to pass. Personally I don't like the concrete “Yes or No” method. I wish there was a “Maybe” option or at least an option to save or skip without having to commit to a like or pass. They also have an option to give a “rose” which is more special since it is limited to 1 per week.

So far I am still new to the app so I'm still testing it out and learning it, but for first impression, honestly I don't like it too much. I think it does not really give you enough opportunity to explain who you are in your profile since you pretty much just get your pictures and 3 statements. Also it is buggy as some of the features do not seem to work like they should.

I will give it a little time and try to use if for a while to see if anything materializes but honestly I do not have high expectations for this one. They describe this app as being designed to be deleted, like they want you to find a match and then delete the app, but I have a feeling I may end up just deleting the app. 

Folding Stop Signs are a waste of money and are more trouble than they are worth

You may have noticed foldable stop signs placed at intersections throughout the streets. In my community these are very common and can be found at most busy intersections. You might wonder why they are there or what they are for? Apparently they are there so that if the stop light goes out, the sign can be unfolded to become a stop.

The problem is, most of the time these signs get opened up unintentionally by the wind. In fact, in all my years of driving, I have never actually seen these being put to use properly, but I see them opened up all the time when they are not supposed to be open. They are supposed to be secured closed by a tie or a lock, but often these are missing so the signs end up opening up on their own.

When a stop light goes out, it usually switches to the flashing red mode which means it is to be treated as a 4 way stop. So when drivers see this, they know they have to stop. They don't need stop signs to be opened up as well.

So I find these signs to be pretty much pointless and not only that, they are expensive! Upon looking them up an average folding stop sign sells for about $200! That's $800 per intersection! Think about how much money is being spent on these signs when they are at every busy intersection. It seems like an incredible waste of taxpayer money.

I have a feeling the sign companies are taking advantage of the situation marketing these products to villages and public works as a way to make things safer when really they are unnecessary and actually more problematic than they are helpful. If you are considering adding these kinds of signs to your town, please consider if they are actually worth it.

Best Youtube Channels of 2020

It's that time to announce the best Youtube channels of 2020. Like last year, the best Youtube channels list will focus on channels that have not yet been featured in previous years. This year the list has a nice mix of channels from Youtuber's that really stood out this year. So without further ado, here are Connected Isolation's picks for the best Youtube channels of 2020:

1. Esther Club (podcast / variety)
Esther Povitsky is a stand up comedian, actress, and most recently tie dye clothing designer. Esther Club is her channel where she posts podcast style videos each week. At this time it has a relatively small but loyal fan base. She talks about whatever is on her mind and sometimes has guests join her on the show. Esther has a likable personality and makes you feel like you are part of the club. Here is a recent episode where she had comedian Annie Lederman on the show.

 

2. ReuBekah Vidz (pranks)
Reuben and Bekah are a couple who play pranks on each other post it on Youtube for our enjoyment. They have a good relationship but that does not stop them from pranking each other whenever they get the chance. In this video she gives him swim trunks that dissolve at the seams when they get wet and well you can imagine what happens when he unknowingly ventures into the water on a public beach.

 

3. Melissa Villaseñor (podcast / variety)
Melissa Villaseñor is a comedian and impressionist and is also on Saturday Night Live. She currently has a channel where she does a podcast style show called Laughing With Myself. Each show has a mix of comedy, impressions, and talk about whatever is on her mind. I actually did feature this channel a few years back but I decided to make an exception and feature it again this year because the content is different with the show.

 

4. Jim Browning (scammer justice)
Jim Browning is on a mission to stop scammers from taking advantage of people. He uses his computer skills to track down individuals trying to steal money from people online and over the phone. He is very good with computers so often he is able to see exactly what they are doing in real time and then warn the victim that they have been talking to a scammer so they do not give them any money. In this video he actually manages to get access to the security cameras of the building where some of the scammers are working.

 

5. Reponut (vehicle repossession / life)
Matt from the Reponut channel works in the line of vehicle repossession where he tracks down cars of owners who are not making their payments. The channel has a lot of information on this topic but he also gives a lot of helpful advice on life in general in each of his videos. In this video he tracks down a couple cars and also talks about life after prison.

 

6. Curious Cars (car reviews)
Bill from the Curious Cars channel (previously Auto Europa Naples) reviews cars, but his style is a lot different from most car reviewers out there. As he puts it, you get tangents, history, sarcasm, non sequiturs, outrage, and even the weather report. It's always great to hear what he has to say about not only the cars but whatever else is going on at the moment. In this video, he reviews the Hummer H1.

 

7. Miranda Sings (funny)
Miranda Sings is a character and channel created by Colleen Ballinger. Miranda sees herself as incredibly talented in singing, acting, dancing, magic, modeling etc, but in fact she is not as talented as she thinks which makes it funny. Her channel is very popular and doesn't need the extra promotion but I have not featured it here yet and I have to give credit where credit is due. I love the character and her videos are very funny. She even has a Netflix series and a couple books based on Miranda. Here is one of her videos where she switches lives with her baby Pinto Bean for 24 hours.
 

 

Check out the best Youtube channels from previous years here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. 

Also check out the Best Youtube Channels of 2021.