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.
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!
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”
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”.
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.
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.
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?
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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)
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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:
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?
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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
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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:
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?
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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:
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)
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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:
