Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

graham wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:44 pm

Ajarn Philip wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:11 pm

rockfreak wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:50 pm By the way, why is the CH Unofficial website suddenly getting lots of ads for exotic eastern ladies looking for husbands? Do they suspect that the English boarding school turns out loads of repressed, inhibited chaps who would welcome a bit of oriental fun and games?

I'm no expert, but I've always understood that internet ads are tailored to the individual user based on 'cookies' showing one's surfing habits. So I might see an ad for 'casual leather boots at 60% off', displayed above as I type (showing that I'm a fashion-conscience pauper), while someone else might be looking at an ad for exotic eastern ladies, based on their surfing history...

I stand to be corrected, of course, but it'll be a crying shame if I'm wrong!

Indeed - the privacy policy explicitly states that "this website uses Cookies to ensure you get best experience on our website". Perhaps "freaky" is freaky for more than rocks, eh?

One can but wonder !!

Sorry to disappoint you but I've never surfed the internet looking for exotic eastern ladies or indeed any other. So the sudden appearance of these ads is as much a puzzle to me as to you. But I know from my very distant, and brief, time in the advertising industry that the denizens of these agencies sometimes take fliers in trying to assess a possible target audience. Not everyone is convinced about their success rate. Lord Lever, head of the giant Lever Bros conglomerate which produced countless brand household names, famously said, "I know that half my advertising spend is wasted but I don't know which half".

I've had a new, to me, ad today, inviting me to join the Knights Templar! I thought I might be ruled out as lacking a part of the anatomy that almost all other posters here have!

I thought they were suppressed back in the middle ages by some monarch or other. Dr Scuffil would have been able to tell us all about it.

rockfreak wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:17 pm I thought they were suppressed back in the middle ages by some monarch or other. Dr Scuffil would have been able to tell us all about it.

Friday 13 October 1307 by King Philip IV of France with the support of the highly fallible Pope Clement V. Clement V must go down in history as one of the most wicked of a bunch of very dodgy people who headed the Church of Rome (well, mostly Rome he ended up moving the Papacy to Avignon). Philip owed the Knights Templar a great deal of money and he wanted their wealth. Clement acquiesced and the rest is history. Allegedly this event is the origin of the idea of Friday the thirteenth being unlucky but I'm not sure how historically correct that is.

Perhaps had I clicked on it, I might have learnt what I was being invited to join!

Katharine wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2019 3:24 pm Perhaps had I clicked on it, I might have learnt what I was being invited to join!

There is a secretive descendant international body with headquarters in a house in Rome (authorised residents limited to 2) which is involved in international charity, assistance and mediation. Seems to be more extreme that the Jesuits, close to the Vatican but 100% independent, diplomatically recognised by most countries, it has observer status at the UN. When I last looked the Prior was an Englishman resident in the UK
Trouble is I can't remember the name

I can't imagine that as a woman they would knowingly invite you to join!

sejintenej wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2019 4:36 pm
There is a secretive descendant international body with headquarters in a house in Rome (authorised residents limited to 2) which is involved in international charity, assistance and mediation. Seems to be more extreme that the Jesuits, close to the Vatican but 100% independent, diplomatically recognised by most countries, it has observer status at the UN. When I last looked the Prior was an Englishman resident in the UK
Trouble is I can't remember the name

This lot?

The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, (Latin: Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani, OSMTH), is a self-styled order and international NGO. OSMTH is often referred to simply as the Knights Templars but asserts no direct lineage to the original Order.

In 2001, the Order was accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a non-governmental organisation, in special consultative status, one of over 2,000 organizations to hold this status. The Order is an associate member of the International Peace Bureau and an affiliate of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, which was founded by one of OSMTH's members. In 2014, OSMTH was elected as a board member of CoNGO (Conference of NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations.

They do allow women to join as 'Dames' and claim some 5000 members. All seems a bit Walter Mitty to me!

Katharine wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2019 3:24 pm Perhaps had I clicked on it, I might have learnt what I was being invited to join!

When I opened up the CH Forum this morning as a guest, there was a similar invitation to join an organisation claiming to be the Knights Templar. Interestingly, I doubt it would have been because of my browsing history as I use a VPN.

Be warned, this organisation is the Knights Templar International (KTI), a far right group led by an extremist named Jim Dowson, described by The Times as "the invisible man of Britain's far right". As well as his personal support for Donald Trump during the latter's election campaign, KTI has campaigned for the freeing of Tommy Robinson of the BNP, another organisation of which Dowson has previously been a member at the same time campaigning to have the judge that jailed Robinson sacked. He has also been associated with the Orange Order but is now a supporter of Scottish independence, largely owing to his dislike of what he sees as the consequences of immigration in to England. He is Islamophobic, campaigning to ban the Burqa, which is odd as I have never, personally, seen anyone in the UK ever wearing a Burqa (Abaya, Hijab, Niqab even but never a Burqa). He is vehemently anti-abortion. Amusingly he has even been banned from entering the bastion of Eastern European democracy that is Hungary!!

Julian says there is nothing the forum can do about what adverts we see but at least this has brought this section back to politics, albeit politics of the more unpleasant kind.

Thanks, lorings, definitely doesn’t match my browsing history, politically I’m on the left but not an extremist.

Ajarn Philip wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:11 pm
I'm no expert, but I've always understood that internet ads are tailored to the individual user based on 'cookies' showing one's surfing habits. So I might see an ad for 'casual leather boots at 60% off', displayed above as I type (showing that I'm a fashion-conscience pauper), while someone else might be looking at an ad for exotic eastern ladies, based on their surfing history...

I stand to be corrected, of course, but it'll be a crying shame if I'm wrong!

Well, I'm was on my work computer this morning and I was welcomed by an advertisement for 'Wholesale black leather summer modern night dresses for fat women' from Ohyeah Lingerie Trade (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.

I have absolutely no idea what to make of this!

loringa wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:02 am

Ajarn Philip wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:11 pm
I'm no expert, but I've always understood that internet ads are tailored to the individual user based on 'cookies' showing one's surfing habits. So I might see an ad for 'casual leather boots at 60% off', displayed above as I type (showing that I'm a fashion-conscience pauper), while someone else might be looking at an ad for exotic eastern ladies, based on their surfing history...

I stand to be corrected, of course, but it'll be a crying shame if I'm wrong!

Well, I'm was on my work computer this morning and I was welcomed by an advertisement for 'Wholesale black leather summer modern night dresses for fat women' from Ohyeah Lingerie Trade (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.

I have absolutely no idea what to make of this!

Go for it...!!

EXACTLY !! Start a new fashion trend.

For those of us on the other side of the Atlantic, what is going on? Does BJ think an election would give him a clear majority? What is the rationale (if any) behind the support of other parties? I understand I may get very different answers from various members.

LongGone wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:44 pm Does BJ think an election would give him a clear majority?

I think that is his hope (but I don't whether he actually believes it could happen). I don't support him or the Conservatives, but I understand his reasoning, as you can't get much done when you have a minority in the Commons so get constantly outvoted with everything you try and put forward.