||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||
So here’s what showed up in my e-mail this morning:
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About GrabAGun “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” We are defenders. We are sportsmen. We are outdoorsmen. We believe that it is our American duty to help everyone, from first-time buyers to long-time enthusiasts, understand and secure their firearms and accessories. That’s why our arsenal is fully-packed, consistently refreshed, and always loaded with high-quality firearms and accessories. We no longer shop the way we used to, and the retail firearms market needed a change. We believe people should be able to use their computers, phones, and tablets to shop for firearms the same way they purchase everything else. As experts in technology and fellow firearm enthusiasts, we believe we’re the right people for the job. These words have resonated with us since the beginning. Today, we provide customers with the online retail experience they deserve and the customer support they expect. Our mission is to provide you with a wide variety of the highest quality firearms and accessories. Our unique ability to leverage software to increase speed to market and reduce costs allows us to pass along savings and efficiencies to you. |
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Must be of age to purchase firearms. Background checks and other limits may apply. Please practice firearm safety. |
Then I was offered a free t-shirt—not shown—with my purchase in case I was ‘still thinking it over.’ (I’m not.) While I’m definitely looking forward to warmer weather, I’m planning to wear my old clothes this spring and am not about to have GrabAGun dress me. Not yet anyway.
As you likely know, this is the week the Supreme Court began hearing a case that could change the the law about how the internet works. That is, whether Google, for example, is responsible for results of the messages chosen by the algorithms used by social media to select material offered to users. And whether, in this case, YouTube is responsible for or contributed to recruitment of terrorists by ISIS’ attack in Paris in 2015. You can read about it here:
I won’t attempt to explain what I understand so superficially about the workings of the internet or the Supreme Court of the United States. But I do understand that what offerings show up when I open YouTube, for example, are chosen in part based on what sorts of videos I have opened in the past. That’s why I get offered lot of gardening and health/medical suggestions to click on, and not so many ideas on makeup for teens or gun buying suggestions.
I assume the offer above was chosen for my e-mail by such an algorithm, but I’m not so sure why. I have mentioned guns in one or two Midnight Mutterings, but don’t recall searching for anything gun related on Google or YouTube. Except some statistics on shooting deaths when I wrote about Shinzo Abe’s assassination. No doubt, because I opened my e-mail about GrabAGun today before I had my eyes sufficiently focused, I have, no doubt opened myself to other such offerings, even though I have never owned a gun or a t-shirt depicting a weapon. In fact, I am so old and out of date, my clothes don’t have much to say at all, in words or pictures at least. And if the Justices received the same e-mail I did, I assume they, too, will forgo the free t-shirt and wear last century’s fashion in black robes. I’ve been a bit depressed about the Supreme Court of late, and knowing what they likely will be wearing is a small comfort in trying times.
And now to cats:
If you made it through my last column, you already know that Rose and Molly are given to chewing paper without regard to its necessity for the future. (I returned to Orcas, leaving R and M in the custody of my son in Bellingham.)
Shortly thereafter, my son reported to me that Molly, age six months, has apparently gone into ‘heat.’ As cats do.
Rose, however, is not so precocious, though they were born on the same day. Still, in spite of their differing interests, they joined efforts in chewing and destroying an important paper left on the desk. There wasn’t much left of it. Just enough to show that it was a copy of the application for Molly’s spay appointment. (And we thought they were too young to read.)
I hope both your cats get spayed, and that they come back from Bellingham and fulfill your wishes for a cat/s….They can be great friends
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