What you get when you type "something strange and different" into Google
October 26, 2001 11:27 PM   Subscribe

What you get when you type "something strange and different" into Google Am I the only person who bangs random words into Google to see what comes back? In this case I feel rewarded - bizarre patents from around the world. What's your favourite Google query string?
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen (46 comments total)
 
"i am joe's spleen" gives exactly one response from Google...

Excerpt:
...Before the advent of CD boxed sets, you didn't get music collections any more exhaustive than this, nine albums of "pleasure programmed" music from the people who brought you "I Am Joe's Spleen." ...

How disturbing.

My best google searches are always for someone's name.
posted by j.edwards at 11:47 PM on October 26, 2001


How funny you posted this! I just came from Google after searching for "pictures of people eating crab", hoping I'd find, of course, pictures of people eating crab. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful.

When will this thing they call the internet finally take off?
posted by premiumpolar at 12:04 AM on October 27, 2001


Right about...NOW.

Lame, huh?
posted by davidmsc at 12:12 AM on October 27, 2001


"bored people are boring people"; i've gotten a hit from that query. (i don't know why -- robots.txt denies all)
posted by moz at 12:14 AM on October 27, 2001


eating crab
posted by bjgeiger at 12:43 AM on October 27, 2001


j.edwards -- what you have there is a hapax legomenon -- a word or phrase that only returns one hit from a search engine. A hapax legomenon historically refers to a word that is found once in the entire text of a language, but it's also being used in the context of search engines.

The beauty thing about a hapax legomenon is that once you talk about it, it no longer exists. Once google indexes this page, "i am joe's spleen" will return two hits, and the hapax legomenon is no longer.
posted by kaefer at 1:05 AM on October 27, 2001


I'm almost surprised it didn't take it from his user profile, but I suppose the underscores messed it up.

Quickly, i_am_joe's_spleen, screenshot the google page!
posted by j.edwards at 1:51 AM on October 27, 2001


When will this thing they call the internet finally take off?

Yeah, or is it just another Pyramid Scheme? And who will e-mail us when - and if - it does? ;-)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:50 AM on October 27, 2001


premiumpolar: Hurry, because fresh cooked crabs started being shipped October 22. Er, unless you already live in Alaska...
Talk about perverse effects: my wife and I are this very moment going out to get ourselves some serious spider crab fun. Your post made us hungry! Thanks!

P.S.(and un-P.C.)
I've always dreamed about what it would be like to eat a freshly boiled, very alive when going into the pot, Alaskan King Crab. What is it like? Take your time over the description, please, this would be like foodie porn for me!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:02 AM on October 27, 2001


Hey, I just realized. Guy in Alaska mentions Google and crab. Guy over in Portugal reads. Books table and two giant, kickin' spider crabs at seaside restaurant a mile away from the westernmost point of Europe...
Comments on MetaFilter to let the other guy know...

This gotta be the internet, right?!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:05 AM on October 27, 2001


Blatant self-link: I recently wrote about doing something similar with Google's image search.
posted by kindall at 5:24 AM on October 27, 2001


Odd searches are my favorite late-night game. Last night I went looking for

gold ephemera

& I found this weird thing. (Warning: one annoying tripod popup.) I don't know what it is, but I had a lovely time playing with it. Be sure to read the names of the pictures for added enjoyment.
posted by realjanetkagan at 5:26 AM on October 27, 2001


I found Porn Flakes by doing a random Google search. Rather interesting.
posted by DyRE at 6:10 AM on October 27, 2001


Curiously, "I am joe's spleen" gives 19 responses when searched in FastSearch....

All from MeFi, except for the Phoenix News thing.
posted by arco at 6:13 AM on October 27, 2001


Metafilter, as seen by Google.
posted by Carol Anne at 6:35 AM on October 27, 2001


Dagnabbit! Forgot to delete the superfluous "http." Must remember to test-link, refresh, and retry, before posting.

Metafilter, as seen by Google.
posted by Carol Anne at 6:39 AM on October 27, 2001


Burninglogs??? (from the first hit on Carol Anne's search)
posted by arco at 6:43 AM on October 27, 2001


yeah, that burninglogs image was a surprise to me too... it was cool to see all the designs matt went through before putting up the lovely #06699 we see now.

who knew there was a movie about cheerleader ninjas? and i still remain as the top link for gay amish porn. fun for all.
posted by lotsofno at 6:57 AM on October 27, 2001


Britney Spears Naked
posted by schlaager at 9:08 AM on October 27, 2001


I try to find the shortest combination of reasonably common words that return no google results. recent winners:

painful pillows
cranial patrol
lyrical flotsam
harpoon dancers
sinister flour
bacon collage
genuine elbows

I expect the phrase "sinister flour" to start appearing in anthrax scare stories any day now...
posted by dogwelder at 10:30 AM on October 27, 2001


Sometimes we come up disappointed, as in caltrans fanfic; a few hits, but not what I was hoping for.

I was tempted to write one, to give Google something to show the next guy, but that seems like contaminating the crime scene. Or archaeological dig. Or something.
posted by kurumi at 10:31 AM on October 27, 2001


I worked as a columnist for a student newspaper over five years ago. As a result, when I do a search on Google Images for my name, a horrific old photo of me comes up.

So, anyway, who else here gets their photo when searching Google Images?
posted by mrbula at 10:34 AM on October 27, 2001


Alltheweb.com to the rescue again! A search for "lyrical flotsam" turns up one hit, while "genuine elbows" gives two. Nothing for the rest of your searches, dogwelder, though "bacon college" brings in a few.
posted by arco at 10:40 AM on October 27, 2001


mrbula: no, none of these Ron Colemans are me, though I'm SO tempted to list this as my homepage on my MeFi user profile.
posted by arco at 10:45 AM on October 27, 2001


So, anyway, who else here gets their photo when searching Google Images?

I get this , not surprisingly...
posted by xiffix at 10:48 AM on October 27, 2001


MiguelCardoso: Mmmm, Alaskan King Crab is delicious! I remember when I was a little kid, going out onto the dock, and finding a King Crab in my crab trap. I was so excited, and it was the best crab I've ever eaten.

If you want really good crab meat, come up to Alaska, and go to the Lands End Lodge & Restaurant in Homer, Alaska. Not only do they have great crab, but they also have the best root beer I've ever tasted.
posted by premiumpolar at 1:05 PM on October 27, 2001


bjgeiger: By the way, thanks for finding the photos of people eating crabs. I very much appreciated it.
posted by premiumpolar at 1:08 PM on October 27, 2001


Fooling around with Google is how I discovered that there is a whole, small universe of web sites that link to mine, yet which have never had a referrer show up in my logs. How can that be?
posted by Mo Nickels at 2:27 PM on October 27, 2001


Got it, premiumpolar! We eat here and don't need to move a muscle for our post-crustacean siestas because we stay here as well. Talk about perfection!

P.S.
Is it Lands End Lodge or Lands End Resort? No need to reply if they're one and the same ;-)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:37 PM on October 27, 2001


favorite recent googleized landings upon my little piece o' crap site (yes, self-link, i suppose, but don't visit my site, please...):

I'm more than a bird
Shoelaces and plastic things at the ends
beautiful blue nothing
"i went to the dentist" pain
gag,utah,birthday
"+with +my clothes +on" soaking wet

evidently, i've been found under the weird crap search, but it seems to no longer be there...

i think there are far too many people who just type in weird search terms to see what comes up...
posted by po at 3:24 PM on October 27, 2001


So, anyway, who else here gets their photo when searching Google Images?

sadly ... although this was my favourite
posted by walrus at 4:36 PM on October 27, 2001


Someone once found my site by searching for "vegan porn". Later, I found the excellent VeganPorn.com.
posted by isomorphisms at 4:48 PM on October 27, 2001


"i am joe's spleen"

I saw that phrase not long ago in a movie or on a TV show. The Simpson's perhaps? Or something. Perhaps it was a band's name? Or maybe I read it. Daniel Pinkwater book?

I know I've seen it somewhere other than Mefi, because I remember thinking that that was where you must have come up with the name. Too bad Google won't tell me the source...
posted by fooljay at 6:01 PM on October 27, 2001


What's this all about?
posted by starduck at 6:08 PM on October 27, 2001


I am Joe's [whatever] was a long-running feature in Reader's Digest, which was parodied in Fight Club.
posted by rodii at 6:39 PM on October 27, 2001


rodii: So *that's* it! When I was a kid, The Reader's Digest was bathroom reading in our house and I've been trying to track that down for ages now. The "I Am Joe's [Whatever]," I mean. The Reader's Digest I can do without.

"I Am Joe's Eyes" takes you straight to Electric Bonsai Band, so it's not a waste of a Google. But, oh, I do miss the original *Uncle Bonsai* and "Boys Want Sex In The Morning"...among others.
posted by realjanetkagan at 7:57 PM on October 27, 2001


Janet, you can get the I am Joe movie series!

There also was a compilation published by Reader's Digest Press called I am Joe's Body, but I can't find it anywhere.
posted by rodii at 8:28 PM on October 27, 2001


You-all should go to Disturbing Search Requests -- lots of strange google search results flying about.
posted by me3dia at 9:04 AM on October 28, 2001


Fight club... Ahh yes, that's it...
posted by fooljay at 10:28 AM on October 28, 2001


I couldn't find any "people eating crab" pictures either. But there are plenty of man eating shark images.
posted by MarkC at 3:34 AM on October 29, 2001


I asked google to make a random button. It might not work logistically if they don't have them catalogued by number or anything. Plus, it might be bitch on the servers, I have no idea, I just think it would be cool.
posted by zangpo at 7:50 AM on October 29, 2001


...
sinister flour
...

I expect the phrase "sinister flour" to start appearing in anthrax scare stories any day now...
posted by dogwelder at 10:30 AM PST on October 27


You really thought nobody would notice that your "sinister flour" search actually was a "sinister.flour" search? You rascal, you! Sinister Flour gets 2410 hits.
posted by Berend at 10:51 AM on October 29, 2001


Well, yeah... I did say "phrases" not "words on the same page." The period just makes google reject pages where the search terms aren't together.
posted by dogwelder at 5:08 PM on October 29, 2001


Well, yeah... I did say "phrases" not "words on the same page." The period just makes google reject pages where the search terms aren't together.

It does? Is that more undocumented Googleana? I had my own misadventures with google syntax in a long-ago thread here.
posted by rodii at 8:57 PM on October 29, 2001


More information here (scroll down to "Phrase Searches").
posted by walrus at 3:19 AM on October 30, 2001


...and now, "painful pillows" links to this page- but still doesn't list the page where I first mentioned the phrase. It just isn't fair...
posted by dogwelder at 8:50 PM on October 31, 2001


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