As part of an innovative regional protection program, AAA is providing a limited number of Premier Roadside Assistance Collections to residents in your area.

Since last May, my life has pretty much revolved around my bladder cancer. Actually, it is more accurate to say that since last August, after two relatively painless surgeries, my physical life has pretty much revolved around the cure for my bladder cancer, not the cancer itself.

My body is still reacting – overreacting in my humble opinion -to past BCG-TICE treatments. In a way that seems almost random, the pain moves around. Yesterday, my shoulder was stiff, and the pain slowly moved up my neck to give me a headache. Today, my right hand is sore and weak. The pain, where and how much, has taken over my life. It seems to always be there.

A side effect of this is that I spend hours scrolling on my computer, waiting for my hands and arms to hurt less so I can pay more attention to something else, anything else. Gemini tells me that this scrolling aimlessly even has a name, Zombie Scrolling Syndrome: This term was coined to describe the effects of cell phone addiction, specifically “mindless scrolling out of habit, with no real destination or benefit.”

All the above is true, but it was written three days ago. Over the weekend, after being off BCG-TICE for three weeks, everything is calming down (relatively speaking, my shoulders and neck still hurt). More importantly, my doctor thinks I am cancer-free. I know I should scream, I”M CANCER-FREE, but it seems too early for that. My next cancer checkup is in three months, and then, maybe, I’ll start yelling.

In the meantime, all that scrolling has changed my opinion of the internet. It no longer seems like the repository of all the world’s information. I have learned that my web portal, and probably everybody’s portal, is stuffed with scams and misinformation.

About three weeks ago, give or take a couple of weeks, I got an email saying I would be getting a gift. All I had to do was go to the AAA website. Well, it wasn’t actually the website; the website was something like AAA.gift, and Google told me that it was a possible scam and to stay away (in slightly more time than it took Michele to yell from across the room, “Don’t go there,” after I commented on our gift).

The next day, I got another email from – allegedly – AAA with the same offer. Since then, I’ve been getting essentially the same offer – allegedly, again – from a variety of companies, many of which I have no relationship with. Today, I got basically the same email that started with Hello valued Tractor Supply member (what are the chances of getting a hit on that in Coastal California?).

Way before I was sent that probable scam, over in YouTube land, I saw a video – my feed is very heavy in cat videos – that showed a hero cat. It sure looked real to me then, and it still does.

Recently, I saw this cute interaction. Although I’ve never had a cat like this, and I’ve had seven, it seems real

Then I saw this.

Then I saw this with the bear sort of running through the fence at the end.

This short clip, clearly marked “AI”, seemed very real.

Now, looking at the first video, I’m far from sure it’s real. First, it starts with a shot of the dog from the other side of the car. How did that happen?

Now I think that trusting the web is a little like trusting a random stranger. They may be telling the truth, but don’t bet on it.