Comments on: Bread and Circus

By: markm

markm — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:25:46 +0000

tekel: Not any more. And the top result for “why is there a dead palestinian on my couch” is now this post. #2 out of 2 is in French, I think it’s about a movie.

By: tekel

tekel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:15:05 +0000

when you begin a search with “why” one of the top results is “why is there a dead palestinian on my couch.” Another is “why is my poop green.”

Not sure this feature works exactly the way google wants.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:19:15 +0000

Luke,

Why on Earth would more Americans care about Patrick Henry than Paris Hilton, no matter how awful, diseased, disgusting, creepy, and off-putting she might be? She gets media coverage, and frankly, you just don’t sell many Us Weeklys reporting on “Patrick Henry, Still Dead!”

Does there really exist an expectation that Americans need to be sitting around, doing Google searches about long dead historical figures, rather than whatever it is that personally interests them?

By: When people search for “judge”

When people search for “judge” — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:58:10 +0000

[...] Radley Balko reports on what Google proceeds to suggest based on search popularity. [...]

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:13:40 +0000

My friend David Codrea calls it the “PH Factor”.

Google, “Patrick Henry”…
now Google, “Paris Hilton”.

Which “PH” do Americans clearly know, and care, far more about?

By: wolfefan

wolfefan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:28:51 +0000

FWIW, Judge Wapner returns to the People’s Court tomorrow…

By: Tim C

Tim C — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00:44 +0000

I will say this – of all the TV judges, Judge Joe is the coolest. I love it when he has had enough and goes “I declare you Pitiful.”

By: MacGregory

MacGregory — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:21:57 +0000

I typed in “you tube” and got “an error occured, please try again later.”

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:10:46 +0000

I’m confused.

You’re typing something into Google Search that doesn’t contain the words “sex”, “boobs”, or “porn”. And then you’re confused when you get goofy returns? Why?

Need I remind you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWEjvCRPrCo

By: Aresen

Aresen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:09:35 +0000

Where’s Judge Roy Bean?

By: Bernard

Bernard — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:10:08 +0000

Re: Vertigo.

That’s amazing.

You don’t even need to search ‘why won’t’ though. Just ‘why ‘ will do.

I wonder how many people wanted to find out.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:04:41 +0000

Also, I recommend you try typing “why doesn’t my para” into google’s search box. Unfortunately google has no good answers.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:03:05 +0000

Not least because judgment is spelled with one -e, not two.

By: Calle

Calle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:59:49 +0000

What, no Judge Holden?

By: Rhayader

Rhayader — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:18:51 +0000

Hah, those Google suggestions are endlessly hilarious/depressing.

By: pam

pam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:06:36 +0000

I would have liked to see Judge Leddy pop up, but that would have been asking way too much.

By: BamBam

BamBam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:49:18 +0000

how is judge reinhold so high on that list? wasn’t he the tall goofy cop in Beverly Hills Cop 1, 2, & 3?

And the older brother in Fast Times at Ridgemont High who rubbed one out in the bathroom while watching Phoebe Cates get out of the pool.

By: Tsu Dho Nihm

Tsu Dho Nihm — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:20:15 +0000

I’m rather disappointed that Judge Wapner isn’t on the suggestion list. All these other TV judges are just parasites on the head of Wapner.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:17:11 +0000

Last post, I promise: so what? If the vast majority of people using Google’s search tools are more interested in the Justice League of America as opposed to whatever your own personal interests are, it just means you’re on the outs with that particular set of user interests. There is nothing bigger to be gleaned from the human condition or the quality of citizenship or anything else.

CuteOverload.com probably does what, twenty or thirty or forty times the daily traffic of TheAgitator.com. Does that mean Americans are stupid? Not at all. It means they’re more interested in cuddly kittens than they are in libertarian blogging. The collective internet using interest is focused elsewhere.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:08:59 +0000

Sam makes a good point. There are only nine real judges with national reach, and they generally are called “justice so and so” not “judge.” So it’s not surprising that a national search for Judge… turns up TV judges. Then again, a search for justice… turns up a clothing store and the Justice League, so that may not be much better.