Comment On The Bunny Connection

Just guessing here.... the book has a character named Linus?

...either that or Amazon considers one person buying both a "trend"

Or amazon is trying to push a book that noone has asked for at all. ;)

cognac:

Or amazon is trying to push a book that noone has asked for at all. ;)

I vote for this one as the release date is April 1st 2007 and we know what the lag time is on getting articles published here.

Or it could just be a self perpetuating April Fools joke.

You guys are so closed-minded. There is an obvious connection to Linux here. Let me explain:

The open-source revolution to me is just like a story I know called “No More Bottles For Bunny.” The world was changing and the bunny was ... getting … bigger...

So you see the bunny was like Linux in that they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy - "Microsoft" – knew where to find him. Except that the bunny was a rabbit, but open-source, my friends – that was a revolution.

Well it's simple really-- music CD selectors work the same way, via simple clustering. What you might be able to infer from the fact that people who ordered Linux books and children's books is that programmers actually have small children they need to read stories to (yes, there is geek love/lust in the world, and sometimes, it results in babies!) It's like the whole beer-sells-better-when-stocked-next-to-diapers thing. The thing about AI clustering is that it has no prejudices; it only has facts. Beer and diapers aren't consider complementary goods (depending perhaps on how much of it you drink...) intuitively but in the marketplace-- well, they are. Same thing re books or anything else. Wouldn't surprise me if sales of the bunny book actually picked up after Linux geeks got this email.

.. and of course the release date on that screenshot would have nothing to do with the date the submission was made, or perhaps, intended to be released?

No where in your rambling incoherent response did you come close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. We are all dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

"The Story About Ping" would be a much better match......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-About-Ping-Picture-Puffin/dp/0140502416/ref=sr_1_3/203-1992596-9954302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177947807&sr=8-3

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

Rich:

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

I've bought a few for my mom. ;)

spasm:

"The Story About Ping" would be a much better match......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-About-Ping-Picture-Puffin/dp/0140502416/ref=sr_1_3/203-1992596-9954302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177947807&sr=8-3

I think we've got that one here.

Overall their recommendations suck...i've done a pretty good job of entering over 1000 of the dvds i own in my collection...never have i ever added a vhs movie or even added one to my wish book but yet it keeps recommending vhs versions of movies i've purchased or just vhs movies in general...guess what Amazon...i buy DVDs not VHS...get a clue or at least make it an option you can turn off/on

Pap:

You guys are so closed-minded. There is an obvious connection to Linux here. Let me explain:

The open-source revolution to me is just like a story I know called “No More Bottles For Bunny.” The world was changing and the bunny was ... getting … bigger...

So you see the bunny was like Linux in that they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy - "Microsoft" – knew where to find him. Except that the bunny was a rabbit, but open-source, my friends – that was a revolution.

That was the worst response I have ever heard. At no point in your ramblings did you present one coherent thought. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

What fraction of linux users are about 20-25 years old?

Captcha: onomatopoeia (owch!)

The truly amazing aspect of all this is that obviously a previous person(s) that bought the Linus book must have also bought this book.

And the only reason they bought that book is because they were going to give it to a kid. Since it's physically impossible that Linux users can get chicks (to have kids with) in the first place, we must assume this book is for a niece or nephew. But even still I find it shocking a Linux user left their house long enough to attend a social event where they would give the gift away.

The RWTF is that Grand Bahamas ad. You know, the one where the Sun has a bunch of arrows pointing to the melanoma on the guy's shoulder...

My little girl loves two things:
Bunny books and Linux books.

This was clearly intended for her.

Yeah, I turned off my Amazon notification after getting one even more bizarre... I ordered "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber, and they recommended "One of the Guys: Women as Aggressors and Torturers" by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Those books are real similar. One's the first book in an excellent sci-fi space epic series, and the other is a non-fiction book about women and torture.

spasm:

"The Story About Ping" would be a much better match......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-About-Ping-Picture-Puffin/dp/0140502416/ref=sr_1_3/203-1992596-9954302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177947807&sr=8-3

Nice comment there about the book.
:-)

What is up with the weird "bseeingu" cat eye ad?

Sounds like Amazon's version of an April Fools Joke.

A viral/"alternate reality game".

http://www.bseeingu.com/ is the "rabbit hole"
http://bsuwiki.arghive.com/Main_Page

Not interested myself, but if you're interested in H.P. Lovecraft and/or have time on your hands it might be fun.

travisowens:

Since it's physically impossible that Linux users can get chicks (to have kids with) in the first place, we must assume this book is for a niece or nephew. But even still I find it shocking a Linux user left their house long enough to attend a social event where they would give the gift away.

Actually, I think more geeks than one might think has kids. Not everyone is stuck in their basements.

BCS:

What fraction of linux users are about 20-25 years old?

Captcha: onomatopoeia (owch!)

What fraction of Linux users *breed*?

release date: April 1.

can that get more obvious? The error'd is you.

Rich:

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

At least there the connection is apparent, sex having been known to lead to motherhood.

well. nevermind. just searched amazon and that book apparently *did* come out on the first.

fools.

Hey, kudos for getting into the Honor Hamilton series -- that's a fantastic set of books you'll enjoy.

Now that I think of it, the character of Honor is quite an aggressor... I like the parts where she wipes off whole spaceship fleets, not to mention when she flings her Colt .45 ACP duelling pistol!

that ain't Jolt I'm seeing in the drawing...

It *must* have something to do with the penguin!

Amazon recommended "The God Delusion" because I bought "The LaTeX Companion"

My experience is that in most cases their system does a pretty good job of guessing what I might like.

However, it's got some glaring holes:

It doesn't understand the directionality of some associations. The mere fact that those who buy a printer buy cartridges for it doesn't mean that those who buy cartridges have any interest in buying a printer that uses them.

There are also some associations that make no sense to me. Buying cartridges for a photo printer doesn't mean you're interested in kids movies! I can't imagine where the association came from.

It also seems to have no concept of a negative link--those who have said "not interested" in a bunch of kids movies probably have no interest in other kids movies.

Then it occasionally pulls an oddball. I recently got a book recommendation way out in left field--I finally figured out that it was looking at the author "Weber" and figuring that since I rated a bunch of "David Weber" books highly that I might be interested--never mind that it's different authors!

come on:

release date: April 1.

can that get more obvious? The error'd is you.

Exactly what I thought.

Amazon recommended President Clinton's book:
"My Life" was released today. We thought you'd be interested because you bought the "Littlest Angel".

travisowens:

But even still I find it shocking a Linux user left their house long enough to attend a social event where they would give the gift away.

They wouldn't even have to leave the house if they used Amazon's gift shipping feature to send the gift directly to said niece or nephew. And they wouldn't have know what to get if the recipient is keeping their wish list up-to-date.

Pretty soon, I expect Amazon will offer "gift accounts", where you give them $100 and a list of e-mail addresses and they automatically mail out a thoughtful, reasonably priced gift on the appropriate dates, complete with a humorous card signed with a signature extracted from your payment checks. And then we'll be one step closer to living in vats.

But at least we're not forced to work off our purchases in Amazon's human/computer collective... Yet.

Wait a second - I use Linux, am a time-tested geek AND am married - with children!

I rarely order from Amazon, "preferring" instead to forage through the malls, usually holding the kids while trailing behind the wife who is holding the plastic (I like playing with the kids but *hate* shopping so it works out).

Nub:

Rich:

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

I've bought a few for my mom. ;)

Things I need to know, things I don't need to know. Definitely in the don't-need-to-know category.

spasm:

"The Story About Ping" would be a much better match......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-About-Ping-Picture-Puffin/dp/0140502416/ref=sr_1_3/203-1992596-9954302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177947807&sr=8-3

This one is free:
http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html

I would almost wonder if Microsoft has any pull with Amazon given the context of the book suggestion.

No More Bottles for Bunny is a book about a bunny that needs to give up the bottle. It tells of peer pressure of other animals using cups for their tea and how pivotal it is for bunny to stop drinking from the bottle.

Perhaps the connotation is for Linux users to give up their "bottle" and start using Windows? For Linux fans to succumb to peer pressure and start drinking form the tea-cup?

Sounds very appropriate for a marketing mindshare psychology standpoint.

Actually, this happens more often than you might think. And when it does, send a comment to amazon. They really like their engine, but it of course, is only as strong as their tagging is. After ordering a few books on atheism (being an atheist), I received hints that I also might like books on religion (which I don't) from religious people.
And when you send them a comment (don't call, their first line helpdesk doesn't have clue about this), you get this reply:

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com with your concern.
I am very sorry that you were upset to see these items recommended in our e-mail message.

Please allow me to explain that many of the items recommended in our mailings and on various pages of our web site are generated by the software that powers our site, and not by individual editors.

However, we understand that certain titles may be inappropriate for recommendation, and we are currently working to refine the process so that such inappropriate suggestions do not occur.

I have also forwarded your message to the appropriate people in our company for further action. We always value this kind of feedback, as it helps us continue to improve our store and provide better service to our customers.

Your recommendations will change regularly based on a number of factors, including when you purchase or rate a new item, as well as changes in the interests of other customers like you. Because your recommendations will fluctuate, we suggest you add items that interest you to your Wish List or Shopping Cart.

To learn more about rating items you own, excluding purchases or gifts from affecting your recommendations, and improving the recommendations we offer you, please visit:
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Thanks again for taking the time to let us know how you feel about this issue. I hope that we will see you again at Amazon.com.

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loren:

It doesn't understand the directionality of some associations. The mere fact that those who buy a printer buy cartridges for it doesn't mean that those who buy cartridges have any interest in buying a printer that uses them.

There are also some associations that make no sense to me. Buying cartridges for a photo printer doesn't mean you're interested in kids movies! I can't imagine where the association came from.

The silliest associations are the "you bought a cartridge for a model 80 printer? you might be interested in a cartridge for a model 82!" And Amazon automatically creates "bundles" to get you to buy two things at once. Makes sense if you're buying one book on Linux, you might buy another. Less logical: you are looking at a monitor, it offer you the "bundle" of the 21" monitor you're looking at along with a 19" version of the same thing. That's just not a useful offer for anyone.

rbowes:

What fraction of Linux users *breed*?

Linus Torvalds himself has children (although it could have been immaculate conception).

Tim:

Amazon recommended "The God Delusion" because I bought "The LaTeX Companion"

I have books both by Dawkins (Selfish Gene, Extended Phenotype etc. but not The God Delusion) and by Knuth, who is not the author of The LaTeX Companion of course, but the creator of TeX after all. One of the Knuth books I have is the TeXbook.

As a side-note, Knuth is deeply religious, so I don't think he would like The God Delusion.

I have also just bought a bunch of chess books. Also, Knuth's work on alpha-beta pruning has been very influential in the history of computer chess. So maybe the next time you buy a TeX book, Amazon will recommend something like My Great Predecessors by Kasparov...

Loren Pechtel:

There are also some associations that make no sense to me. Buying cartridges for a photo printer doesn't mean you're interested in kids movies! I can't imagine where the association came from.

That's easy. Parents of young children take a lot of photos and print them to show their friends. Moreover, the children themselves overuse the printer to print stuff they downloaded. This consumes the printer cartiges rapidly, leading to the association.

Nub:

Rich:

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

I've bought a few for my mom. ;)

Yeah, I've bought a few for your mom, too.

What if mom was buying bunnybook for child, then saw penguin in Linux-book & picked it too! :P

It's Harrington, but anyway.

I've read the entire series, up to this point, as well as Shadow of Saganami, and a couple of the Honorverse books (I'm partial to David Drake, myself).

I enjoy the space opera stuff, but am a bit put off by Honor. She seems a little too perfect. Like Admiral Nelson, Joan of Arc, and Sir Francis Drake, all in one.

"She has flaws" you counter (or what are you talking about, you sci-fi nut?). Her flaws are small personal foibles. She never makes a tactical mistake, and she is rarely caught by surprise. Well, enough criticism. I do like the plot, the 'verse, and most of the techie stuff.

Drake, I think captures the gritty side of war, the mangled bodies and PTSD kids who survive. Very few writers even bother to address that. Well, enough sci-fi rant.

This has nothing to do with Ping, obviously.

Seltsam:

spasm:

"The Story About Ping" would be a much better match......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-About-Ping-Picture-Puffin/dp/0140502416/ref=sr_1_3/203-1992596-9954302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177947807&sr=8-3

This one is free:
http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html

Reading the plot summary at the bottom of that page, I suddenly realised that I read that one in my younger days. Didn't remember the title though.

Then there's the other story about another Ping, who happens to be a robot girl.

Plus I wonder if amazon will still be recommending Teletubbies books to me when my kids are twenty, on the basis that I did buy one _once_.

Nub:

Rich:

This happens a lot, having the sex toys recommended when you search for mother's day gifts is a bit more fun I think.

I've bought a few for my mom. ;)

I've bought a few for her too :D

captcha: smile - me and her both