There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium
September 9, 2010 1:42 PM Subscribe
Tom Lehrer’s “Elements Song” accompanying Google Instant Search [SLYT].
My lizard brain still can't wrap its head around how Google is managing to swap out that much data so quickly. Thumbnails, text, fine, I don't care if the video is sped up -- querying for ninjas^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hsausages^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hperdition^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hducks should not give me four completely usable results with image thumbnails in the time it takes to type those words. And I'm a fast typist.
*shakes cane*
posted by cavalier at 1:54 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
*shakes cane*
posted by cavalier at 1:54 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Well that just killed OK Go's next viral video gimmick.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:54 PM on September 9, 2010 [7 favorites]
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:54 PM on September 9, 2010 [7 favorites]
"Colbert saves world from Polka Pirates."
posted by lauratheexplorer at 2:04 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lauratheexplorer at 2:04 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
This was a good thing.
posted by auto-correct at 2:06 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by auto-correct at 2:06 PM on September 9, 2010
So far I'm not a fan of Instant. I feel like it's rushing me to look at the results and click something before I've finished typing my carefully thought-out query. Why would I want to see the stuff it's throwing at me before I finish adding all the modifiers? It's not going to be what I want.
On a more visceral level, I hate that clicking the "search" button doesn't seem to do anything now.
Finally, they removed the second search form from results pages, the one at the bottom. That was very handy because, often, after scrolling through a page of links and finding nothing, I could quickly modify my keywords and try again without scrolling back up first.
Okay, rant over. I'll get used to this thing, just like I always do.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:08 PM on September 9, 2010
On a more visceral level, I hate that clicking the "search" button doesn't seem to do anything now.
Finally, they removed the second search form from results pages, the one at the bottom. That was very handy because, often, after scrolling through a page of links and finding nothing, I could quickly modify my keywords and try again without scrolling back up first.
Okay, rant over. I'll get used to this thing, just like I always do.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:08 PM on September 9, 2010
(google's speed)
cf. Technology, sufficiently advanced.
posted by Fraxas at 2:08 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
cf. Technology, sufficiently advanced.
posted by Fraxas at 2:08 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
My lizard brain still can't wrap its head around how Google is managing to swap out that much data so quickly.
Looks like it's about 40-60K coming back with each keypress, but that's gzipped so it;s considerably smaller than that. There seems to be some plain text in the data returned, but some other stuff as well that just looks like gobbledegook to me. Being the search behhemoth they are I suspect there's all kinds of caching wizardry they do on the server side too.
posted by Artw at 2:23 PM on September 9, 2010
Looks like it's about 40-60K coming back with each keypress, but that's gzipped so it;s considerably smaller than that. There seems to be some plain text in the data returned, but some other stuff as well that just looks like gobbledegook to me. Being the search behhemoth they are I suspect there's all kinds of caching wizardry they do on the server side too.
posted by Artw at 2:23 PM on September 9, 2010
That was cool, but was a bit muted by the smallness of the screen in the frame.
posted by OmieWise at 2:34 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by OmieWise at 2:34 PM on September 9, 2010
Being the search behhemoth they are I suspect there's all kinds of caching wizardry they do on the server side too.
Yeah, I'm sure Google is caching the results of popular searches. There are limits, though. Instant doesn't work at all with certain search operators, for example. Try typing in site:metafilter.com Foo. Or filetype:pdf Foo. You'll get nothing with instant. It also stops giving instant feedback after the search string gets beyond a certain length, although the limit is pretty high.
posted by jedicus at 2:43 PM on September 9, 2010
Yeah, I'm sure Google is caching the results of popular searches. There are limits, though. Instant doesn't work at all with certain search operators, for example. Try typing in site:metafilter.com Foo. Or filetype:pdf Foo. You'll get nothing with instant. It also stops giving instant feedback after the search string gets beyond a certain length, although the limit is pretty high.
posted by jedicus at 2:43 PM on September 9, 2010
After watching that, YouTube recommended I watch the Google Wave developer preview video. Oh well.
posted by ardgedee at 3:06 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by ardgedee at 3:06 PM on September 9, 2010
fun!
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:18 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:18 PM on September 9, 2010
Also it seems like if you type *very quickly* it looks like there is not a 1 to 1 relationship between keystrokes and AJAX calls, particularly at the start. I'm still looking into this, but it's a little hard because you have to type pretty darn fast to notice anything.
posted by Artw at 3:23 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by Artw at 3:23 PM on September 9, 2010
I saw a tiny bit of Harvey in there. Thus, I approve.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:29 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:29 PM on September 9, 2010
I've heard that song a million times and I still can't make myself believe there are elements named thulium and thallium. Even after seeing them show up on this video, they are still just too silly to exist! (Sillium?) Does that make me a Science denialist?
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:52 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:52 PM on September 9, 2010
Roentgenium (which is not in this spell-checker) was originally called Unununium.
I hate that element. Group 11 was perfect with just copper, silver and gold. There should be a special fantasy league atomic chart for these fleeting, unstable, man-made conjectures.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:04 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
I hate that element. Group 11 was perfect with just copper, silver and gold. There should be a special fantasy league atomic chart for these fleeting, unstable, man-made conjectures.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:04 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
That's really neat.
I wonder what would happen if you did that with 88 Lines about 44 Women and kept Safesearch off.
posted by bondcliff at 4:35 PM on September 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
I wonder what would happen if you did that with 88 Lines about 44 Women and kept Safesearch off.
posted by bondcliff at 4:35 PM on September 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
> Why would I want to see the stuff it's throwing at me before I finish adding all the modifiers?
I almost always have a text editor of some kind open. From now on I just type the search string into the editor and copypaste it to the Goobers browser page. Zoom ahead of that, Speedy Gonzales.
posted by jfuller at 4:44 PM on September 9, 2010
I almost always have a text editor of some kind open. From now on I just type the search string into the editor and copypaste it to the Goobers browser page. Zoom ahead of that, Speedy Gonzales.
posted by jfuller at 4:44 PM on September 9, 2010
Wow...first time I used Instant, and "i must not t" gave me "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" with a link to a sound file. It's almost eerie.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 5:30 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by Jimmy Havok at 5:30 PM on September 9, 2010
querying for ninjas
When you realize Google has an entire server dedicated to ninja queries, it kinda makes sense.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:10 PM on September 9, 2010
When you realize Google has an entire server dedicated to ninja queries, it kinda makes sense.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:10 PM on September 9, 2010
I just threw my hands in the air and shouted "Oh my god that's genius!" Thank you for sharing. Genius.
posted by librarianamy at 6:12 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by librarianamy at 6:12 PM on September 9, 2010
Zoom ahead of that, Speedy Gonzales.
Click 'Instant Searching is On' to the right of the Search Button -- you can turn it off. :)
posted by cavalier at 6:14 PM on September 9, 2010
Click 'Instant Searching is On' to the right of the Search Button -- you can turn it off. :)
posted by cavalier at 6:14 PM on September 9, 2010
chromium radium nickel iridium gold and actinium arsenic plutonium neon molybdenum zinc iodine
braving the elements, the reptiles and i
posted by Legomancer at 6:47 PM on September 9, 2010
braving the elements, the reptiles and i
posted by Legomancer at 6:47 PM on September 9, 2010
> Click 'Instant Searching is On' to the right of the Search Button -- you can turn it off. :)
> posted by cavalier at 9:14 PM on September 9 [+] [!]
But I like torturing machines. My dad had one of the very last Marchant mechanical calculators, like the Difference Engine but with a motor. It was willing to try to divide by zero. Ask it to work out [something] / 0, it would sit there and spin all afternoon until you had mercy and cancelled.
Anybody know what's the length limit of the string you can paste into Goober's "exact phrase" field?
posted by jfuller at 7:19 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
> posted by cavalier at 9:14 PM on September 9 [+] [!]
But I like torturing machines. My dad had one of the very last Marchant mechanical calculators, like the Difference Engine but with a motor. It was willing to try to divide by zero. Ask it to work out [something] / 0, it would sit there and spin all afternoon until you had mercy and cancelled.
Anybody know what's the length limit of the string you can paste into Goober's "exact phrase" field?
posted by jfuller at 7:19 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
I wonder what people searching for "cocker spaniels" see.
posted by lore at 9:10 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by lore at 9:10 PM on September 9, 2010
Cocker Spaniel is the I'm Feeling Lucky once you get to "Cocke". The first hits before that are for Craigslist, Costco, CocaCola, and Cocktail Dresses.
posted by Mitheral at 9:16 PM on September 9, 2010
posted by Mitheral at 9:16 PM on September 9, 2010
Can someone do this for It's The End of The World as We Know it?
Please?
posted by DanCall at 1:42 AM on September 10, 2010 [4 favorites]
Please?
posted by DanCall at 1:42 AM on September 10, 2010 [4 favorites]
This is cool.
My immediate reactions to Google Instant being sprung on me in Google's place: "WTF TRACERS? But I've never done acid!" then "Wait, how did get to be April 1st already?"
posted by partywithoutboundaries at 7:25 AM on September 10, 2010
My immediate reactions to Google Instant being sprung on me in Google's place: "WTF TRACERS? But I've never done acid!" then "Wait, how did get to be April 1st already?"
posted by partywithoutboundaries at 7:25 AM on September 10, 2010
Charlie Brooker: Google Instant is trying to kill me
posted by Artw at 9:49 AM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 9:49 AM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by nonreflectiveobject at 1:47 PM on September 9, 2010