Is Google Radical or is it just me?

I've been using Google Mail for a few months now but it took me until just last week to notice something. Google is radical. I started to notice a pattern as I was reading an e-mail from my good friend, Chiinuuks. As Old Man Rivers has pointed out in his review/endorsement, unlike other free webmail services GMail uses only very subtle advertisements (text only). There is a single line of "news" on the main screen and a series of sponsored links on the right side of the e-mail composition screen. Much more pleasant than the pop-ups and large ads advertising free iPods or online dating sites I can assure you. At first I thought it was funny that it would show a link for Frantz Fanon and then I noticed it was always telling about Indigenous issues, protests in France, organic, fair-trade food and so on. I then remembered what I friend told me sometime ago. GMail scans my outgoing and incoming e-mails for keywords and then lists related news items and advertisements. A little spooky, but so far I am finding it innocuous enough. What do you think?

Well, it is April, for all you bureaucrats, the beginning of a new fiscal year. Spring is here. I lost my mobile phone and digital camera on the weekend. Time to turn over a new leaf and all the other good cliches. Seriously, time to reduce and/or eliminate some of the contradictions in my life. Dubya is feeling humble today.