Poor mice. All they want is some freakin' cheese and to make noise in your attic all night, and we humans just wanna chop their heads off with little machines based loosely on the science that gave us the spring-loaded clothespin.
While I do identify with the human race for the most part, I can't help but feel for the little disease-carrying critters after some run-ins with my most recent Internet ad annoyance: virtual mouse traps.
In this metaphor, I will be the mouse's mind, the Internet will be the house the mouse lives in, the virtual mouse trap will be the actual mouse trap, and the computer mouse pointer will be, well, the mouse.
So I'm sniffing my way along the floor reading an article about effective blogging (this isn't it) when I come across this sentence: "The key to effective blogging is finding your niche."
What's this? A little hunk of cheese laid out for me in the closet under the stairs? Don't mind if I do.
My curiosity gets the best of me, and I hover--not click--just hover my mouse over the intoxicating blue word. What wonders could await me if I decided to click?
The decision is made for me. SNAP! The trap engages when I sniff the cheese and the little metal bar decapitates me.
An ad suddenly covers the screen. "Buddy Kane Lock & Key. Serving the greater Fargo area. Get your estimate TODAY!" A picture of Chief Kane himself takes up the majority of this ad. It looks a little something like this:
I had run into a mouse trap. Luckily, my fate wasn't as dire as that of my mouse brethren ... but it was almost as bad. Once again, the advertising world has simply infuriated me rather than manipulated me into buying a product, though Kane's face is pretty convincing.
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