The Genius of Gmail

Gmail is brilliant. It's my new hero. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Even cooler than Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus. And we all know how cool they are. I mean, just look at them. Not everyone can pucker one's lips like that for a picture.

But anyway, I'm just marveling right now and how very insightful gmail can be while picking out sponsored links they think might fit my interests.

FOR EXAMPLE

The other day an old friend of mine wrote and addressed the letter to me, his "Long Lost Former Betrothed" (It's a long story. I'll probably tell you about it someday.) The three ads on the side of my screen were for the following sponsored links:

1- "Get Your Ex Back" (www.exback.com)
2-"How to Get Your Ex Back" (www.Saving-Relationship-Advisor.com)
3-"Hickory Farm Gifts."
(Now I'm curious to find out if there's some sort of connection between beef sticks and relationship restoration.)

What a smart little computer! How did it know what "betrothed" means? How did it connect "long lost" with "betrothed" to give me links to winning my ex back? It's a genius! Let's give another example:

In an email to my friend Loriann, I mentioned knitting, and the following links popped up:

Yarn at Herrschners.com

300+ brands of knit & crochet yarn Weekly sales, 100's of accessories!

www.herrschners.com

Handspun Silk Sari Yarn

Handspun Sari Himalayan Knitting Yarn from Nepal. Only $7.50/Skein

knitting-yarn-store.com/silk.htm

Noro Yarns

Buy Noro Yarns $5 Shipping All The Time!

www.yarn2go.com

Why did the computer choose to latch on to the word "knitting"? Why didn't it choose hair dye or babies or macaroni-n-cheese or cleaning, all of which were also mentioned in the e-mail? What was it about knitting that stuck out so?

Anyway, gmail is doing crazy stuff like this all the time and it absolutely boggles my mind. Aunt Purl would say it probably has something to do with gnomes. Maybe she's right.

I'm considering conducting a scientific experiment to see if there's any system in this madness....