The Battle of the Somme
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. On the first day of the 5-month battle, the British incurred 60,000 casualties. An example of "attrition warfare," when the battle was over, combined casualties exceeded 1 million men, and the battle line had advanced 6 or 7 miles.
The French and British generals should have been court martialed for their incompetence, but it was considered unpatriotic to point that out.
My Amazon Profile has Changed
I am working on a book about Emily's mother's escape from Nazi Germany at the age of 10. In the course of my research, I came across the name of a man who was Hitler's "idea man" when it came to anti-Semitic conspiracies and theories. I made one Amazon search to see if his opus magnus (said with a sneer) is available at a reasonable price.
Since then, Amazon has been offering to sell all sorts of anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying books to me, "based on your interest" in Holocaust denial. But, hey – it's just an algorithm, right?
1 comment:
The word itself, "algorithm" brings up bad Karma for me. It is essentially an opportunity for the powers that be to choose anything they want without explanation. After being a contestant in the "Capture Minnesota" Photo contest for two years, and actually purchasing the books, I was amazed at the utter crap their "algorithm" chose. Sour grapes? You bet. But having an image uploaded the day the contest ended win a place in the book with 3 views seemed a little fishy to me.
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