Slashdot Mirror
Google, Circa 2001
An anonymous reader writes "If you have 10 minutes to spare, take a look at an archive that Google has posted to mark the company's 10th anniversary. The search engine and its results are based on data from 2001, but it's interesting to see what turns up when popular 2008 terms are entered. For instance, iPod generates a reference to Image Proof of Deposit Document Processing System, and the 771 Barack Obama results centered around his duties as an Illinois State Senator."
Oh, to once again live in a world where a search for "9/11" or "9-11" brings up nothing about terrorist attacks.
Then again, "Ubuntu Linux" doesn't bring up anything at all...
search term: (old) now
linux: (18,600,000) 558,000,000
microsoft: (15,700,000) 903,000,000
microsoft problems: (13,200,000) 500,000,000
linux problems: (15,400,000) 300,000,000
ubuntu linux: (20) 8,280,000
vista microsoft: (90,900) 20,800,000
vista microsoft problems: (0) 1,550,000
xp microsoft problems: (9,440) 11,900,000
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Entering the keywords "porn" into it in 2001 generates 4,490,000 hits vs 236,000,000 hits in
2008
Ahhhh... when my real name and company dominated the first few pages of Google results - without spending any money!
... and then they built the supercollider.
Try al qaeda iraq.
Search for: "fannie mae" "freddie mac" collapse
Hit up the archive of the first link. It's Fred L. Smith, Jr.'s testimony before the House Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Government Sponsored Enterprises.
He warns that the current setup of those two lenders are working to destabilize the marketplace.
From his testimony: "At best, this mixing of private and political incentives creates marketplace confusion; at worst, it leads to a serious misallocation of capital and an increasing risk for American taxpayers."
Results 1 - 10 of about 681 for wikipedia. (0.01 seconds).
but plagiarism
Results 1 - 10 of about 35,400 for bit torrent. (0.01 seconds)
and piracy were so much harder back then:
Now: Results 1 - 10 of about 264,000,000 for wikipedia. (0.27 seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 67,500,000 for bit torrent. (0.07 seconds)
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
And spam still meant just meat!
The state you are in while your HEAD is detached... - wait, what?
Interesting, from #2:
"In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
"george w. bush" iraq -- 2001: 21,400 results
"george w. bush" iraq -- 2008: 15,400,000 results
interesting find: "Will George W. Bush launch a new US war of aggression against Iraq?" -- January, 2001
wikipedia -- 2001: 681
wikipedia -- 2008: 287,000,000
guantanamo bay -- 2001: 33,500
guantanamo bay -- 2008: 7,200,000
waterboarding -- 2001: 43
waterboarding -- 2008: 1,940,000
al qaeda -- 2001: 1670
al qaeda -- 2008: 20,400,000
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Looks like things are indeed getting worse. I search in the 2001 index, and find relevant results, uncontaminated by spam!
The Google index of today is full of the results of seven and a half years of gaming the algorithms, making it harder and harder to use :-(
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
The most striking to me is Blackwater. Notice that back then Blackwater was basically just a huge gun range and training center for law enforcement and citizens. They really took advantage of the "growth opportunities" provided by 9/11.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
In case you're interested Not much different.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
It finds my old web page hosted on delphi.com. I wrote that HTML on an Apple IIgs in 1996 or so.
That is cool.
Of course the link doesn't work and the archive no longer contains the page. But it was in Google's index.
Digg: Yapima Digg (the poem)
Youtube: No results
Myspace: http://freediskspace.com/ also in 2nd is Myspace.com.au, a home improvement site.
Facebook: Environmental Science and Public Policy "facebook" on Harvard's website.
Twitter: A nature site? Even viewing the "archived" version takes me to the 2006 social networking site, so I'm just going by the title.
del.icio.us: No results
PS3: A news story discussing the PS3 circa the PS2 launch. Also, apparently Sony owned the domain name 'ps3.net'
Xbox 360: A site called "360Net," with people anticipating the original Xbox. Now defunct, apparently.
Wii: Williamette Industries, they make forest products supposedly. The other results are equally irrelevant.
Nice slice of pre-web 2.0 life.
I'm finding snippets of conversations I've had, but which are no longer hosted anywhere.
What was I talking about? Who was I talking to?
I guess it's only the stuff you're extremely embarrassed about which will stay around forever.
Some pretty amazing stuff:
The first comment:
12/13/98 17:34:57 PST
To: vitolins
Don't believe everything this administration puts out. Right now more than ever, they need to scare people. Let's just pray they don't stoop so low as to blow up something themselves.
Mutant proto-truthers rule freerebublic.com.
Oversensitive much?
The same is true on many (most?) Presidential candidates. Just to take a few examples from the last few decades...
If it's illegal to stop abortion, why stop at that? I mean, all you're _really_ saying by making abortion is that, if someone or something is dependent on you to survive, you must ensure that it does. So that homeless guy out on the street? Yea. You have to give him your money. Because you know, otherwise he might die, and that's murder. And hell, if someone throws a grenade, you're legally required to jump on top of it if there are other people around, right?
What would you say about abortion in cases of rape and such? In that case, the baby isn't really there as a result of your actions either. I suppose you're still the one choosing to kill it, but...well, we'll use the homeless guy analogy again - it's like if you come home one day to see a homeless guy has moved in. If you kick him out, he may die. But you never gave him permission to be there in the first place.
Following your line of thought, the unborn baby should ask for permission before a turning a woman pregnant, otherwise she's entitled to kick him out?
I'm still new to all that woman => magic => pregnancy => babies sequence, so cut me some slack...
The Impossibility of a Soft-Landing
June 30, 2000
This acute supply and demand imbalance led to year over year price increases
of 29% in "wine country" and 34% in the Santa Clara region. Elsewhere, prices
surged 17% in Orange Country, 19% in Northern California, 21% in the San
Diego region, and 34% in Monterey. Clearly, this has developed into a
precarious statewide housing bubble. Amazingly, we hear not a word of
concern about what is a major systemic risk to the U.S. financial
system. And, importantly, the Fed's decision to let the party continue
allows the great California real estate bubble to run to even more
devastating extremes. Who is minding the store? Most unfortunately, this
is a replay of the 80's real estate fiasco but at a much grander scale -
actually the proverbial "mountain versus a molehill" applies. Yet,
amazingly, no one dare say "enough is enough," and instead the
dysfunctional marketplace continues to fund the boom despite the
obviousness of the unsound bubble. Massive credit excess feed asset
inflation and a major misallocation of resources, as the Fed tinkers
with rates. What a fiasco.'
Sub-Prime Industry Up in Arms Over Fannie Mae Announcement
December, 2002
Fannie Mae has a new program out for borrowers with lower credit
ratings and the sub-prime industry is taking exception.
The Executive Director of our industry association, NHEMA (link found
in our Resources section) was quoted in today's American Bankers as
saying "Fannie Mae is expanding its mission into areas where it has
virtually no experience, and taxpayers should be prepared for a
bailout that could rival our savings and loan experience," and that
the association predicts that the program will cost Fannie its biggest
losses ever, he said. The outcome, he said, will be that consumers
with credit problems will "be back where they were 25 years ago -- no
access to mortgages or loans at all, other than loan sharks."'
Really?
As a Debian user I enjoyed the time trek back to when Ubuntu had nothing to do with linux.
http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=ubuntu&hl=en&btnG=Search
In the currently charged political climate, I could care less about the troll or flamebait mods anymore so I might as well as fun.
A search for "iPhone" turned this up: http://web.archive.org/web/20010207002902/www.uioa.com/productcatalog/
Here's the description:
"The revolutionary iPhone is a fully integrated telephone and Internet device with a built-in touch screen to bring the world of the Internet into your home or office with the touch of your finger. It includes exclusive services and all the most popular telephone features like caller ID and call blocking, along with an Internet dial-up using PPP and e-mail access with multi-user mailboxes.
What can you do with an iPhone?
And all of this can be accessed with the touch of your finger, while talking on the iPhone."
Sound familiar? Apparently this was the 2001 iPhone.
If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree
Searching... september 11
It's like a snapshot of what it was like before the insanity.