This morning I saw something in my stats for this blog, so I did a “nancy glick” search. While scrolling down through the first page of results, I was startled to see this:
Today’s Search
What Do I Sell on eBay?
My energy levels and physical stamina and struggling online bookstore make full-time outside employment a challenge.
So I’ve been thinking and scheming about selling thrift store stuff on eBay
The Hunt of the Disorganized
Somewhere I have recovery CDs for my IBM ThinkPad R51e.
Somewhere I have a birth certificate.
Somewhere I have an expired US passport.
Somewhere in a box. Or boxes.Read it all
Second Guessing Tim Miller
Be careful about indulging in that.
No, I’m not saying there is no grounds for analyzing Timothy David Miller’s actions that resulted in his arrest last week.
I’m just saying that the human tendency to second guess and armchair quarterback after the fact can be dangerous exercises in which to engage.
Here, consider this:
That’s my opinion. I forget too often. But I’ve tried to remember in this case.
Google Dictionary
I assume such a thing exists, but I don’t know.
So I used plain old Google for a Spanish dictionary earlier this morning. You see, I saw on a news site a Spanish word I didn’t recognize. Its context didn’t help me determine the meaning.
After I Googled the term and while I waited for the results to arrive on my very slow dial-up connection, I Alt-Tabbed around to other projects I was multi-tasking.
When I came back to Google, I was stunned at the images that were included in the Image Search portion of the search results.
😯
I quickly scanned the other results and discovered the meaning of the word.
Not a bad word at all.
But obviously a very useful one for promoting PornoImagery.
Lesson learned, I hope: Don’t use Google Search as a dictionary.
And, no, I won’t tell you what the perfectly innocuous word is.
The Highest Rate in Thirteen Years
I read that expression over at Mexico Today a week or so ago:
The National Geography and Statistics Institute said that unemployment reached 5.24 percent of the Economically Active Population in the second quarter, the highest rate in 13 years. (Comment: What I don´t understand is that the US unemployment rate is higher than Mexico’s. If this were true, wouldn’t there be waves of people coming down to Mexico to find a job… Any job?)
That struck me as a potentially interesting search term. Alas, it turned out to be a dud for for current results.
Here’s one of the results, via Forbes.com:
What’s more, the U.S. normally runs a negative savings rate, which means consumers spend more than they have and live off credit. Now, with the economy cratering, Americans are stashing their cash and have boosted the savings rate to 5%, according to the Commerce Department, the highest rate in 13 years. That’s bad news for state governments, as money being saved instead of spent cannot be taxed.
With less money coming in, and less to do, maybe that means tax men will be America’s next round of mass layoffs, a cause for which citizens are unlikely to support a bailout.
PS: “In thirteen years” produced some current news results, though.
Mennonite or Mormon?
The day it happened, I was going to blog a bit about the LeBaron-Widmar killings in Chihuahua, Mexico. After all, Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar were identified by the Associated Press as “members of the pacifist Mennonite community in northern Mexico.”
Then I decided not to bother calling attention to the story, even though I’m a Mennonite.
A day or two later I started seeing stories about a couple of Mormons killed in northwest Mexico.
This morning I verified the stories are all about the same murders.
Are Mennonites and Mormons so easy to confuse?
I assume LeBaron and Widmar were Mormons, since a Web search I did turned up more references to them as such rather than Mennonites.
Whatever the case, friends and families are hurting, especially two wives and ten children. May they find lasting solace and peace in God.