Exciting .ico news

It seems that Google has a new .ico file, which will display in the address bar of your web browser!



The new icon file:


And, Blogger, which is owned by Google, apparently no longer respects my own .ico file I created for my blog last year.



You can see in the HTMl source of my blog that their blogger.ico is taking precedence over mine.



I just want to make it clear to you that my love for the arcade game Elevator Action has not lessened any, despite the loss of its image to your address bar.

Yes, Google, How May I Help You?

I am a stats whore. I look at my stats.

This happens every once in a while.



I'm guessing it's some spider bot that Google just sends a-wanderin', and nobody at Google actually gives a damn about my blog.

Or, I guess maybe they *do* care enough to send the spiders.

I would just like to say that if it's *me* sending spider robots, it won't be because I like you -- it will be because we are mortal enemies, and I will stop nothing until you are obliterated from this reality.

SUCK ON THIS!

Word Combinations

There's a lot of words out there. There's a lot of words in unusual combinations out there, too.

I did a little exercise. I tried coming up with word combinations that, when surrounded with quote marks, did not produce any results in Google.

Sure, Google might come back and say, "Hey, though we didn't find 'booger puzzler', we found these pages that contain both 'booger' and 'puzzler'." In my opinion, if Google did not find "booger puzzler", that is a successful word combo.

It's actually not an easy thing to do, especially if you use only two words in a combination.

Anyways, here are my results. Feel free to try your own, you weirdos.

01. "controlled burst bidet"
02. "howling negligee"
03. "nocturnal pickaxe"
04. "penultimate flatulence"
05. "woozy hare"
06. "uranium hitchhiking"
07. "fishy earlobes"
08. "undefinable zipper"
09. "existential rollerboogie"
10. "philosophically mumbly"
11. "jerryrigged cancer"
12. "postponed gum chewing"
13. "sibilant chowder"
14. "sad wink martindale"
15. "lemon midget tree"
16. "olfactory nunchucks"
17. "no I don't like it, and I never will"
18. "umbrellas for president"
19. "go now cheesily"
20. "splotchy word train"

Please Send Positive Thoughts To McAwesome

McAwesome has been doing just fine and dandy since I last reported on her, thank you very much for asking.

Per her various Gmail status messages, she's had a hangover after a fun night of drinking, she's been excited about an upcoming movie, she's even been working on a script ("Can you believe it?!!" her status rhetorically asked).

So, you can imagine my surprise when I witnessed a stark status message today.



Looking on the bright side, at least her status doesn't say "has incurable, explosive tropical brain fever".

Google Begins Blurring Faces In Street View

Via Slashdot:

Google has begun blurring faces in its Street View service, which has spawned privacy concerns since its introduction last year. Google has been working for a couple of years to advance the state of the art of face recognition. Quoting News.com: 'The technology uses a computer algorithm to scour Google's image database for faces, then blurs them, said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Google Maps, in an interview at the Where 2.0 conference...' Google wrote about the program in their Lat/Long blog.

Of course, geek that I am, I immediately thought about advertising billboards with people's faces on them. I look forward to many blurred ads in our Google Street View future.

We Have Been Street Viewed!

The other day I popped my home address into Google Maps search and was surprised to find my street and home visible on Google Maps Street View.

Here's one of the cars Google employs to take its pictures of streets like mine (and possibly yours). There is a multiple-camera doohickey on the top of the car that enables the capturing of 360 degree composite images.



Here's a zoomed-in picture of my living room window. A little invasive, no? Is that someone lurking among the curtains?


Rotating the view around, I can see that the Google Street View car must have been by our house in late summer/early fall, as the leaves are changing on the maple across the street from us.



There's helpful pointers on the web instructing one how to use Street View, but I'd figure I'd include my own sample Street View, for the lovely Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

Search for Wrigley Field!


Found it! Now click the Street view link!


Look at that throng of people! Perhaps a Cubs game was in progress, or had just let out? (click on pic for a much larger image)


Rotating the view, we see a shocking scene. Either one of the Street View Car's cameras malfunctioned, or there was a disruption in the space-time continuum at the Wrigleyville Taco Bell! (click for bigger)


I'll be attending a Cubs game tomorrow night, so I will inform you of what I find, assuming I don't get sucked into a black hole.


If any Cubs fans want to take a stab at what game is happening in the Google Street Views, please feel free to do so.

I did see a helpful message on the Cubby Bear's ticker sign (click for bigger):
The sign is congratulating swimmer Christina Loukas on winning a silver medal.

What's Going On In .nl?

Let's visit with another domain name extension. This time we'll be visiting the pages of the Netherlands (.nl).

I'm going to be linking to pages that are in the English language. Please realize that whatever I'm reading might be tailored for an English-reading audience.

So what's going on in the Netherlands?

_____________________________________


Peace Palace Library, home of International Law

Frequently Asked Questions About The Dutch Drugs Policy (Openbaar Ministerie - Public Prosecution Service)

Unique Defence Contract with US (Dutch News in English -- 02/12/2008)

One in Seven Children Aged below 12 Commit Crime (Dutch News in English -- 04/11/2008)

Overheid.nl (Central access point to all information about government organisations of the Netherlands)
_____________________________________

If you want to do your own searching of the .nl domain, you can use Google to enter your search criteria, adding the text site:.nl.

For example, here's a search for Splotchy:

What's Going On In .cu?

Hey, let's visit with another domain name extension. This time we'll be visiting the pages of Cuba (.cu).

I'm going to be linking to pages that are in the English language. Please realize that whatever I'm reading might be tailored for an English-reading audience. If I wasn't estúpido I would speak Spanish and be able to read a lot more pages in their domain.

Oh well. Soy estúpido.

One thing I noticed about Cuban webpages is that they were quite slow to load. I'm not sure for the reason of this. If anyone not in the US wants to try and visit some Cuban pages, let me know if it's any faster, wouldja?

So what's on Cuban websites?

_____________________________________


Frequently Asked Questions about the cuban radio (Portal of the Cuban Radio in the Internet)

179 countries vote against the blockade at the UN (Cuba vs Blockade)

Discuba Home Page. Cuban Music Shop

Alfredo Guevara will Make his memoirs ( CUBA: News and informations of art and culture-CUBASI.COM -- April 3, 2008)

Okay, this last link isn't in English, but I saw that it was some sort of baseball page. I just thought it was too nifty to not include here.
CubaSi.cu: Béisbol Cubano

_____________________________________

If you want to do your own searching of the .cu domain, you can use Google to enter your search criteria, adding the text site:.cu.

For example, here's a search for Splotchy:

What's Going On In .iq?

Hey, let's visit with another domain name extension. This time we'll be visiting the pages of Iraq (.iq).

I'm going to be linking to pages that are in the English language. Please realize that whatever I'm reading might be tailored for an English-reading audience.

One might think that there would be a plethora of Iraqi pages in English, but one would be mistaken.

So what's on Iraqi websites?

_____________________________________


Ministry of Electricity - Rationalization

University of Baghdad working to be active partner at the Proposed Initiative of MIT LINC (University of Baghdad e-Portal -- 03/16/2008)

Traffic Martyrs Pictures (Iraq Traffic Police)

Ministry of Trade discusses impediments conveyance the ration card items and make the solutions in front of the council of ministers. (Iraq Ministry of Trade - News)

Iraq Operation unit in Amman (UNHCR - The UN Refugee Agency)

_____________________________________

If you want to do your own searching of the .iq domain, you can use Google to enter your search criteria, adding the text site:.iq.

For example, here's a search for Splotchy:

What's Going On In .sa?

Hey, let's visit with another domain name extension. This time we'll be visiting the pages of Saudia Arabia (.sa).

I'm going to be linking to pages that are in the English language. Please realize that whatever I'm reading might be tailored for an English-reading audience.

So what's news in Saudi Arabia?

_____________________________________


Saudi Customs Foil Smuggling Attempt (Ministry Of Foreign Affairs - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- April 5, 2008)

Three US soldiers killed in Baghdad Green Zone (International Islamic News Agency -- April 7, 2008)

141 Filipinos embrace Islam in Saudi Arabia (International Islamic News Agency -- April 7, 2008)

Sarkozy "outraged" as Muslim graves again desecrated (Saudi Gazette -- April 7, 2008)

Kingdom to observe World Health Day (Saudi Gazette -- April 7, 2008)

_____________________________________

If you want to do your own searching of the .sa domain, you can use Google to enter your search criteria, adding the text site:.sa.

For example, here's a search for Splotchy:

What's Going On In .cn?

Okay, so we had a domain name country quiz.

Now let's take this week to visit some of the domains in the quiz!

I'm going to be linking to pages that are in the English language, because I'm one of those isolationist Americanos that never learned a second language (I took Hindi for two semesters in college, but unfortunately very little of it stuck).

So, just realize that whatever I'm reading might be tailored for an English-reading audience.

Anyways, what's going on in China?

_____________________________________

Jet Li alters script to suit western viewers (People's Daily Online -- March 10, 2008)

China approves second-phase lunar probe program (People's Daily Online -- March 26, 2008)

Reporters at Lhasa riot condemn distorted media coverage (China Economic Net -- March 28, 2008)

Facing high cost of dying in cities (People's Daily Online -- April 2, 2008)

The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

_____________________________________

If you want to do your own searching of the .cn domain, you can use Google to enter your search criteria, adding the text site:.cn. This will limit your search to websites within the .cn domain.

For example, here's a search for Splotchy:


Check out the fourth search result! Woo for SamuraiFrog! Or at least his Technorati page.

Google Will Not Say That

I was monkeying around with Google a bit.

One nice feature of Google is that if you accidentally mistype something you're searching for, Google tries to guess the text that you intended to type.

I'll actually use this as a feature in some cases. Say there's a scientific phenomena or some other such thing for which I can't quite remember the proper name.

I'll pop a close approximation of it into Google, and I'll usually be able to get the correct spelling of what I'm looking for after hitting "Search", often displayed to me as:

Did you mean: [correctly spelled term]

So, I thought it would be funny if I got Google to say something naughty, like Did you mean: asshole

But dammit, it appears that Google doesn't like to swear.

I did a little scientific experiment, using a more common expletive, "asshole" and compared it with a lesser-used though no less colorful word, "asswipe".

First, let's type in the words with their correct spelling.

Search for asshole:


Ooh! Over 24 million hits. That's a pretty popular swear word.


Now let's search for asswipe:


That's not a shabby search result total, but at under 400,000 that's significantly smaller than the results for asshole.


Now, let's intentionally misspell both words, in the exact same manner.

Let's search for asssdwipee


Hmm, no results, but Google thinks I might be looking for "asswipe".



Now let's search for asssdholee


No results, and Google has no suggestions for me! It doesn't matter that "asshole" brings back 60 times the results that "asswipe" does, and that I am misspelling the two words in the same exact manner. Sorry, Google cannot help you!


__________________________________________


I am of course not constructing a scientific theory backed up by hills of proofs and anecdotal evidence.

However, I challenge you to type in some text in Google where it will suggest the word "asshole" as what you were really searching for. Come to think of it, why not also try to get Google to suggest any of the seven dirty words?


UPDATE:

My brother took my challenge, and I must say I am impressed.

Now McAwesome Is Just Messing With Me

Alright, I'm breaking a promise I made just a few posts ago. I am going once more into the emotional landscape of McAwesome's Gmail status message. Well, perhaps I can be considered to have not broken my promise, as this new status message doesn't carry the melancholy of the two statuses before it.



C'mon, McAwesome -- "exstending"? You expect me to believe your misspelling was not done on purpose? You have prompted me to include another status, one with a unique error -- a message which will confirm that yes, I am talking about you, McAwesome, not some potential other McAwesomes running around.

You're trying to smoke me out, aren't you? Well, it worked. Consider me out and smoked.

I will be seeing McAwesome tomorrow night, and I hope no sadness or anger will be in evidence. We was just having fun is all and didn't wanna hurt nobody.

On a positive note, I actually have permission to include this person's status:

The Continuing Saga Of McAwesome

Okay, this is one of my last updates regarding the lovely McAwesome.

For some reason, I feel compelled to report on this person's mood. I, and everyone on Gmail that this person has sent a message to, sees McAwesome's status message. I am just riveted by the change in emotional state of this person, which is encapsulated in a simple, small line of text.

It seems McAwesome has had a turn for the worse.



I am feeling like I'm violating this person's privacy, despite the fact that she is essentially advertising her emotional state to passing acquaintances. She seems like a nice enough person, so this will probably be the last post to document her ongoing emotional state.

I do reserve the right to do one more post if she perks up again, because I would like to have this series end on an upbeat note.

Feel better, McAwesome. Feel better. My status may not say so, but I know how you feel.

Come Back, McAwesome

Today, I see that my friend McAwesome has changed her status message.


No capital letters, no exclamation points (or punctuation of any kind) -- not even a verb.

How depressing.

Why is my mood so entwined with the status message of this person?

I think I need a cookie.

Gmail Status Abuse

These days I pretty much use my Gmail account for email more than any of my other accounts laying about.

By default when I log in I am also logged in to Gmail's Chat feature. As a Gmail user you can choose to set a status (Available, Busy). This status will be displayed to other Gmail users if you are in their Contacts and they are also logged into Chat. It's also possible to set a custom message that indicates your status to other Gmail users. And therein lies the problem.

I have a person X who sends me emails on a monthly basis with regards to a program I volunteer for. Consequently, she shows up in my address book.

Here is X's current status message:



I'm announcing here that X is not McAwesome. This isn't to say that X is not a good person worthy of praise. It's just that X is not McAwesome -- no one is McAwesome.

NO ONE.

Thank you for your time.

I Wonder What A Google Server Error Looks Like Rendered In My Chosen Blogger Template

Hi kids,

If you use the "Rounders 3" template for your blog, you surely have wondered aloud the following:

"Boy, I wonder what it looks like when someone attempts to read my blog and encounters some kind of fatal error -- fatal enough to serve up a generic 'Google error' page, but somehow still incorporating the stylesheet colors of my chosen blogger template."

Well this is your lucky day, person with strange, boring flights of fancy!

Below, witness a pretty Google error page I ran into today while browsing my blog.



You're welcome!

If You're Having Difficulty Logging Into Your Blog

The last couple days I have had difficulty logging into Blogger.

It just hangs and hangs. I eventually get in, but not after minutes of waiting for the page to load.

It looks like the main problem is with the site "ssl.google-analytics.com". Blogger is attempting to reach that server and you're stuck waiting until it establishes contact and retrieves the files it needs to. It's sort of silly that this analytics site is the source of the problem, as it, along with Blogger, is owned by Google.

I got tired of this long wait and did a little trick to prevent the browser from going to the site. I threw the following line into my Windows hosts file:

127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

More info here if you like. Be warned that there is a fair amount of paranoia in the post and its comments. If you're not aware, Google Analytics is used for tracking visitors, similar to the popular blogger widget, SiteMeter.

I can try to answer questions you might have, but the link I provided is relatively thorough.

UPDATE
Of course, I check it just now and everything is working perfectly. DAMN YOU GOOGLE!

More Fun With Google!

The Internet is a huge swamp of information. Google is like a poking stick you lower into the swamp, attempting to bring forth the nasty, squirmy things you're searching for.

It's always interesting when someone comes my way through the use of a Google search.

Here's an exercise you may have fun doing. Supply some Google searches where your blog comes at the *very* top of the list.

Here's ten of mine.

squirrel spit paralysis
green monkey stevie nicks
meaningless cherry
youdude.com
cockroach rabbit carcass
cat mushroom goose poo
ringdinging
zombie finger dexterity
magic tainted adult-oriented bodybuilder
pretzel choking gravitas


UPDATE!

Matty Boy did this exercise over at his neck of the woods, giving it an excellent name: "Google Likes Me Best". Give it a try, why don'tcha?

Fun With Google

Performing a web search for symbols via Google, where nothing happens.
There are no results, not even an acknowledgment that you perfomed a search.

`
~
!
@
#
%
^
(
)
-
+
=

Symbol searches that return results.
_ (underscore)
&

Symbol searches that acknowledge you searched for it, but yielded no results.
*


It is YOUR responsibility dear reader, to further investigate the full gamut of ASCII symbols that I am too lazy to complete.

Don't forget to retry all the symbols by searching on Google News, Google Blogs, and Chinese Google.

I want a double-spaced, heavily-footnoted report on my desk by tomorrow morning at the latest.

GO!