Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
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_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Crowdfunding for medical care: that’s called insurance. Why would I help others unless I felt a specific desire to do so or I was getting some benefit like the assurance my bills would be crowdfunded?
Bogus history: History gets distorted for many reasons: some political, some for popular culture. Take the cowboys. Numerous TV shows and movies have made cowboys part of the historical landscape not just in the US but across the world. The era of the cowboys manning cattle drives lasted only about 10 years. Cattle drives started after the Civil War to round up long horn cattle for northern markets. The railroad reached Fort Worth Texas in 1876 making the need for long cattle drives no longer needed.
Vikings: We think of Vikings as the major marauders in two centuries before the turn of the first millennium. We know of them because they raided Northern Europe. However, there were many, many bands of people who were raiders at this time. The vacuum left by the fall of the Western Roman Empire created many an opportunity for raiding. (that’s why it’s called the Dark Ages).
FDA: Drug companies currently produce drugs that are often ineffective, barely effective or less effective than others on the market. This is because people: a) don’t pay for their own medical care, b) have this notion that if their doctor prescribes it then it must be good. The FDA has a role but it should not be creating huge barriers to entry and protecting monopolies.
Regarding smallpox blankets: The songwriter’s native ancestry has apparently also been contested, by the CBC among others.