Category Archives: Google Game

Google Game: Most Important

What I like about this set of Google suggestions is that it demonstrates some genuine, if misguided, attempts at self-edification.

I’m not quite sure why people are trying to find out what the most important languages are — can a language be unimportant? — and I don’t think that Catalogs.com’s list of history’s 10 most important people would have been my choice for top search result, but at least folks are trying, right?

Not long ago met a guy, a recent college graduate (well, it was art school), who has never read a novel. I was happy to guide him in the direction of a few potential first books, weighing his personality and interests, and managing to resist berating him mercilessly for his inexcusable illiteracy. I hope I make a lifetime reader out of him. Or at least that he reads one thing that’s not some highminded po-mo criticism bullshit. And I sincerely hope that some Google searching for most important books will lead to other hopeless illiterates picking up a volume or two. Maybe that’s a stretch, but at least “Most Important Websites” hasn’t made it to the top 10 yet.

Google Game: Is it cool?

I think it’s safe to say: If you have to ask, the answer is no.

…or at the very least, it can be assumed that those who are searching for the above:

  • don’t smoke
  • aren’t “bi”
  • are white
  • wear American Eagle

Google Game: Don’t Have It, Don’t Want It

What if? What if? What if? Life is full of what ifs. What if I do this? What if I need that? What if the sky falls, if the mountains crumble, if I break my leg or get knocked up or forget my wireless password? What if Google is down?! (It’s OK, it’s not, deep breath.)

It’s one thing to go online to look for practical solutions to every-day problems, like alternatives to baking soda…

But consulting the Internet for amorphous philosophical quandaries could be troublesome:

Don’t want a background on your Google? Google that. Don’t know if you want to stay in/get out of your committed relationship? I think there are healthier ways to approach your ambivalence. WebMD is a quick alternative to a doctor, but it shouldn’t replace a proper diagnosis; Google may lead you to advice blogs or forums of like-minded folk, but remember, it’s not as personalized as it’s designed to appear. I sincerely hope people are not, in favor of anonymous web-searching, forsaking the wisdom and understanding of friends, family… and professionals.

Google Game: Easiest

We all have goals, we just don’t want to work too hard to reach them. Indeed, we want the easiest way to get where we’re going — and the easiest way to figure out what the easiest way is. So it stands to reason that we’d seek the existential paths of least resistance as we’d look for the best routes to avoid traffic after a long weekend: Google. What are we hoping to achieve in the easiest possible ways? New skills. A smaller waist and a bigger paycheck. A good looking site, a better looking suit. The easiest way out.

Aw, man. Easiest way to kill oneself? Seriously? That’s such a freaking downer. I mean, it’ s bad enough that there are so many people out there contemplating suicide. But it’s a whole new level of sad that they’re searching Google for the best ways to do it. So much for going out with dignity.

As you can imagine, the search results for “easiest way to kill oneself” contain some rather disturbing tidbits, like this forum discussion on a game developer website. Oh, nerds. Then there’s the creepy Wikipedia summary divided into Bleeding, Drowning, Suffocation and Electrocution. But I think the thing that strikes me most is down, down, down at the bottom of the page, where Google presents its selection of “related searches.” Among them: “cheapest way to kill yourself.” I’m all for thrift, but if there’s one thing to blow your wad on, it might as well be this.

Google Game: Jesus of Bethlehem vs Justin of Bieber

What can I say about a society in which there are more people online searching for pictures of Justin Bieber than for pictures of Jesus? Just this: Hail progress!

For two thousand years Jesus has ruled the Billboard Icon charts. And what has it gotten us? War, cultural upheaval, genocide, televangelism, Creed. Enough is enough. Let us declare his reign of terror over and install in his place a new boy-ruler. Who better than Justin Bieber? His coif, if not his conception, is immaculate. He fairly floats above the ground as he leads throngs of devoted followers.

And, in a one-up over the messiah, he’ll be out of style long before he hits his early thirties, allowing his disciples to transfer their feverish worship to another false idol before things get too serious.

We have the collective memory of a concussed goldfish and are as imprintable as a flock of retarded ducklings. We transfer our infatuations from celebrity to celebrity on a near-daily basis, yet we hang onto religious fanaticism with a kung-fu grip. It would be safer and easier for everyone if we just treated the Jesuses of the world a little more like the Justin Biebers. Fear not, there’s room for both in Heaven — and on VH1’s I Love the Zeros.

Google Game: So much fun?

Summer is a time for lounging in thought. Temperate climes cultivate contemplation. Clear skies clear heads. Each year, lulled into musing moods by sunshine and slower paces, I find myself at the park or the beach, surrounded by short-pantsed and swim-suited revelers of summer’s simpler pleasures, looking up toward cotton clouds and thinking, What the fuck is so much fun about flying a kite?

Seriously. Why is that fun? Evidently I’m not the only one who doesn’t get it. And you know what? Google doesn’t even have an answer to it. You know why? Because kites are fucking stupid. Yeah, OK, if you’re, like, five, anything that’s sort of like flying is cool. But other than that, kites are dumb.

Oh, and fireworks? Fucking overrated. There, I said it.

Google Game: Good Ideas

After an extended break, the Unhappy Mediator is back with some Google Gaming goodness for you. And I do mean goodness. I thought perhaps I’d try to do some good with today’s post. And my public service starts with this:

Here’s a good idea for you: Don’t get a tattoo you found searching the internet. Find out why after the jump.

Continue reading

Google Game Images Edition: Archaeological Dig

In a departure from our usual Google Game, today we take a look at set of Google Image search results.

Upon learning that the Unhappy Mediator is soon departing to live out an Indiana Jones fantasy in Syria, a friend ran a quick Google Image query for “archaeological dig.” This is a snapshot of what she found:

And here’s a zoom in on the first image result returned:

Yes, a diorama. Complete with Astroturf. How is that the first image? How?

Out of curiosity I ran a little search of my own, on rival search engine Bing Images. I found that the top result was something comparably hilarious and improbable. Continue reading

Google Game: What’s the most…?

I was a little surprised to see that “most painful piercing” made it into this top ten.

OK, well maybe not that surprised. But anyway, I’m going to let that query go unanswered for now (feel free to search for yourselves) and focus first on the most-viewed YouTube video. Can you guess what it is? Take a moment or two to come up with your selection then follow me over the jump for the answer.

Continue reading

Google Game: Information

It’s so basic. What are people looking for online? Information, of course. What on? Let’s take a look at Google’s top ten.

From this I surmise that we, as a population seek

  • to keep up on current events
  • insurance that we won’t be mauled
  • to put a ring on it
  • a back-up plan
  • an A in Social Studies
  • too much candy
  • a vacation
  • an adventure
  • an escape