But will it match my Batstartmenu, Robin?

Everywhere I go, websites are trying to sell me on their toolbars. Google, Mozilla, Yahoo!, everwhere. I decided on Google, because since they're everywhere else, they might as well be on my internet browser as well. It's like a veritable Batman's utility belt just below my url bar.

I only use like two features, though, and I don't have to do anything with one of them. It's kind of handy never having to actually go to Google's website to search (haven't they heard of pictures on their site?) for something completely inane, like how to make waffles with candy in them. But the the big thing that gets my attention is the pop-up blocker.

My handy Google Toolbar tells me that it has blocked 1305 pop-ups. I'm sure that's nowhere near the record, but like the CIA, I only notice when it screws up. I see pop-ups all the time! I must say, like the efforts the CIA works to prevent (notably, terrorist attacks and wars against the US), I am not a big fan of the things that happen when the CIA and pop-up blocker fail. I am no computer scientist, but how different are the pop-ups from some no-name website and ones like ESPN.com? And why does ESPN.com resort to pop-ups anyway? They're the world-wide leader in sports! Show some class, ESPN.com. I'm also no conspiracy theorist, but maybe ESPN.com struck a deal with Google to let theirs through? If Google sold out to China, selling out to Disney is not so hard to believe. They're pretty much the same, only better at world domination.

I also don't really understand the imbedded advertisements that materialize, usually as balloons or talking trees or something, right in the middle of the page you're trying to read. Can't we block those? I remember the good old days when the internet was just Prodigy and porn, back before there were pop-ups. But, alas, I think those days, like the lost innocence of Rock and Roll, will never return. Except, of course, the porn. That's not going anywhere.