Cultural Anthropology By Google

Google Trends just hatched out of the google labs a couple of weeks ago and already I’m addicted to it’s tantalizing glimpse into the minds of our world. Among other things it will tell you the top 10 countries that search for a given word or phrase. For example:

“Google”

The country who searches the most for the word “google” is India. Not terribly surprising with all the tech and help desk jobs moving over there lately. In fact India scored high on all the technology words I tried. Now keep in mind these results are not based on total searches. It’s normalized based on the total searches for that country. Basically it’s the country with the highest percentage of it’s total searches being the word or words you chose.

Got it? Now here’s where it gets fun…

Marketing Reality

This is brilliant. Thanks to a friend of mine for pointing out this article and then suggesting “what if other industries started employing actors to pretend to be happy shoppers?”

So imagine you are at Barnes and Noble browsing the Self-help section when this attractive member of the opposite sex sidles up to you and casually mentions that Deepak Chopra writes a great page and that they highly recommend his books. How much more likely would you be to buy that book then? And what if that person was an actor employed by B&N?

Seriously… this is the beginning of something entirely new and more than just a little creepy.

Making Hayden: Confirmation Day

Jeremy would normally be the one to cover a nomination hearing like this. He loves this stuff, listens to all the blowhards make positioning speeches for 7/8ths of their allotted time and slip a couple questions in at the end to earn their pay. He would pour over the transcripts and offer up the best and worst of the day, who stood on what side of confirmation, and his thoughts on the matter.

Unfortunately Jeremy is on a personal hiatus, so I’m afraid you’re left with me. And I just don’t have the patience to dissect the details like he does. Read on at your own risk friends!

Here’s what I think:

I’m not a fan of the wiretapping. Now first, that term is being thrown around like there is a team of NSA agents pouring over every phone call. Not likely. Could they be recording every call so they could go back and list to any one they want? Also not likely. Possibly a computer is using voice recognition to search for keywords (wasn’t that done in one of the Bourne movies or something?). But all that is speculation. All I believe we know is that the NSA is collecting a database of phone calls. Source phone number and destination. That’s not exactly “wiretapping” is it? Maybe it’s legal and maybe it’s not, but for lack of intelligent argument on my part I’m going to just say it feels wrong to me. It feels like an infringement of the government on our privacy, it feels like the beginnings of something more dangerous. It feels like giving up civil liberties in the name of safety, and that’s something that should never be done lightly. Does anyone have any better intel on this subject? I’m afraid I haven’t been keeping up on the details.

Other than that, I liked what I heard and read from Hayden. He had some criticism for the previous CIA operations especially regarding the gathering of intelligence leading to the Iraq war. He specifically called out that he uses deductive reasoning, not inductive. It should be obvious, but I appreciated that. He had some good suggestions for changes to the CIA and regaining the trust of the people. Though fighting for wiretapping may not help that cause.

Sorry folks, I’m no Jeremy. I’m sure Democrats griped and Republicans pandered.
The consensus seems to be that he is eminently qualified and he will be confirmed next week. But not before this is used as an opportunity for politicians to posture about wiretapping first.

These Are Not The Droids You’re Looking For…

The force may have power over weak minds, but tv shows can cause epidemics!

An illness that medical officials are calling the “Strawberries with Sugar Virus” is sweeping Portuguese schools as children complain of symptoms similar to those suffered by characters in a television soap opera.

More than 300 children have complained of symptoms including rashes, breathing difficulties and dizziness at 14 schools in different parts of the country. Some schools have been forced to close.

The outbreak came a few days after the popular “Strawberries with Sugar” teenage television show aired an episode about a life-threatening virus descending on a school.

Medical officials believe many children, after watching the show, feared their own minor rashes and wheezes were something serious. Others noted the outbreak came at the same time as end-of-year exams.

Imagine what could happen if you bombarded kids for hours every day with programming designed to make them want to buy toys, cereal, and candy.

[shudder] Scary.

Napping At The Heels Of Success

Here’s a quirky little story:

A store at the Mall of America that sold naps has gone to sleep.

MinneNapolis sold naps for 70 cents a minute. But the nap center brought in fewer than 1,600 customers during its six-month run at the huge mall here.

They sold what? But here’s what really caught my eye:

Owner Steev RamsDell blames the failure on the high percentage of tourists who shop at the Mall of America. He says the store couldn’t develop repeat business.

In other news the guy that was selling ice to the Eskimos went out of business. He blamed the cold weather.

What a wonderful symbol of our cultural unwillingness to take responsibility for our own failings and mistakes. That “Afrosheen” booth I set up at the Aryan Nation Convention sure would have taken off if it weren’t for the lack of black people in attendance.

Is this another thing to blame on the “enlightened” child rearing techniques of the prior generation? Did they teach us that it’s ok to fail and protect us from the repercussions of our mistakes? Or can we blame lawyers and insurance agencies for creating a climate of no risk or fault?

I just know it’s not our fault that we’re like this.