Category Archives: google

domains of the world, google

What’s Going On In .cn?

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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?

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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, swearing, word fun

Google Will Not Say That

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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!

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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.

google, McAwesome

Now McAwesome Is Just Messing With Me

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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:

google, McAwesome

The Continuing Saga Of McAwesome

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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.

google, McAwesome

Gmail Status Abuse

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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.

blogging about blogging, google

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

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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!

blogging about blogging, google

If You’re Having Difficulty Logging Into Your Blog

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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!

google

More Fun With Google!

9 Comments

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?

geek, google

Fun With Google

5 Comments


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!