Accidental Blogger

A general interest blog

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  • Whatcha Googling?

    Search Internet search engines like Google and Yahoo have gathered the data on what web surfers were looking for in 2008 - a compendium of collective curiosity. In fact Goolgle calls its rankings "Zeitgeist"– a window into the public mind, at least the public that had access to the Internet. Not surprisingly, politics and pop culture scored high on the list, as did spellings and web based social networks. Barack Obama and Britney Spears did well with Americans and Palin was a hit with the international crowd.

    Pop diva Britney Spears and President-elect Barack Obama captivated Americans in 2008, judging from their top rankings in the annual lists of the top 10 search terms from Yahoo and Google.

    The findings show a public simultaneously obsessed with frivolity and politics.

    But they also leave the door open to debate. Both companies used tracking methods that virtually guaranteed the lists would be packed with pop culture.

    Reflecting the importance of this year's presidential campaign, Obama led Google's U.S. top 10 list. In an act of bipartisanship, the Republican Party also made the rankings, with conservative favorite Fox News at No. 6 and Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, at No. 7.

    Internationally, Palin, who was showered with attention during the campaign and skewered weekly on "Saturday Night Live," was an even bigger superstar. She placed No. 1 on Google's global list, compared with Obama's No. 6 – no doubt a minor consolation prize to the Republican ticket losing the election….

    Year-end lists are a way for search companies to showcase the data they collect every day about the billions of queries they field. In some cases, they share the information – dissected by day, week or month – with marketers to help them gauge how much buzz a product is getting online.

    Search engines are quick to emphasize that queries they analyze are anonymous.

    Over the years that I have spent watching the stat counter, I too have found it fascinating to ponder the subject matters readers are looking for when they stumble upon our blog.  I have no accurate data on the most popular Google, Yahoo or Ask.com searches for our blog but some stand out more than others. Our regular readers (who have not bothered to bookmark us or put A.B. on feeds like Google Reader or Bloglines) usually search for Accidental Blogger, Ruchira Paul or a combination of the two. Some also search by the names of the other authors. The most popular random searches appear to be for the following words in different categories linked to the posts that turn up as a result.

    Food and Drink:

    Ghost Pepper
    Kosher Coke
    Schmaltz
    Belly Stuffing

    Authors and Artists:

    Sinclair Lewis
    South Asian writers
    Edward Hopper
    Paul Klee

    Personalities:

    Benazir Bhutto (one post among others)
    Dianna Abdala or Bla Bla Bla (yes, she is still on the minds of people)
    Barbara Forrest
    Swami V (this post also shows up in the search, "Evolutionary Pressure," which would fall in the science category) 
    Vandana Shiva 

    Health, Medicine, Science & Technology:

    Autism
    Gardasil
    HIV Research
    Melamine
    The most important moments in science

    Cultural trends and ideas:

    Jewish IQ (this one goes either here or here)
    Masculinity
    Different Hair cuts
    Family Pictures

    Sex and Nudity:

    Eros
    Babes
    Bad Sex
    Sujatha nude photos(I have no idea which posts show up in response to this query. Probably the entire archive of Sujatha's posts :-)

    Many searches leading to our blog begin with the word "accidental" which is followed by several different words, taking the readers to random posts containing the second word.

    The article in the SF Chronicle linked above also has this to say for Google and Yahoo's tracking methods that favor pop culture over other curiosities.

    For an unadulterated window into the American psyche, Ask.com's list is probably the best bet. Called the "real deal," it's touted as an unedited ranking of the most popular search terms, minus the massaging done by others.

    "Dictionary" led Ask.com's rankings, highlighting the frequent struggles many of us have with spelling and definitions. MySpace was No. 2 while Google was No. 3, showing that people are simply using the search box as a de facto address bar.

    I fully agree. If my own search patterns are any indication, people probably search far more often for spellings and minor pieces of information to merely discover or confirm, than they do following the life styles of media idols and celebrities. But then, I am a mature woman and my ears are not exactly attuned to the latest buzz in popular culture.

    And now a question: why does the spell check tool on Type Pad which is a blogging service, point to blog, blogger and blogging as misspelt words? A bit of a contradiction, isn't it? 

  • I Think I know… (Sujatha)

    why Barack Obama decided to announce that his middle name was Steve in the Alfred E. Smith dinner.

    Could this be a reason why? Maybe not, but it would be fun if it were.

    "NCSE's "Project Steve" is a tongue-in-cheek parody of a long-standing
    creationist tradition of amassing lists of "scientists who doubt
    evolution" or "scientists who dissent from Darwinism."

    The catch is, that to become an NCSE Steve, you must be a Steve in name with any of its variations.

    "Are you tired of being ignored by your colleagues at professional meetings?

    Do your students yawn every time you begin a lecture?

    Do neighbors not invite you to cocktail parties anymore
    because you always talk about dermestid beetles?

    Well, my friend, you have the power to put a stop to that today simply by becoming an NCSE Steve.
    Why settle for being just another Jonathan, Michael, or William when you can be what you've
    always dreamed of being … an NCSE Steve.

    To see if you qualify, just answer these simple questions:
    • Are you named Steve, Stephen, Steven, Esteban, Etienne, or Stephanie?
    • Do you have a Ph.D. in biology, geology, paleontology, or a related scientific field?
    • Do you want the kind of success in life you always thought was reserved for the "other Steves"?
    If you answered yes to all three of these questions, then you have what it takes to become an NCSE Steve!
    "

    Among the founders of Project Steve: Steven Chu, the next Secretary of Energy.

  • Putting Lipstick On A … What Now?

    Contemplative Bush George W. Bush will disappear from the national scene in just a few more weeks. Actually, we have seen so little of him in recent days that it sometimes feels like he has already bid us adieu. A simple Google search of the archives (key words: Bush, Bush-Cheney) will show, Accidental Blogger owes its birth and sustenance to the misdeeds and blunders of the Bush administration. Outraged citizen bloggers had realized long ago what Bush stood for and the devastating political legacy he is going leave behind. We recorded our thoughts and dire predictions for all to see.  What was considered the view of the "extreme left" only a couple of years ago, is now the opinion of the mainstream media and the general public. Bush-Cheney's approval ratings bottomed out some time ago and have stayed there.  Dubya is going out in a smog of disgrace, having failed abysmally in war and peace. Even the publishing industry which carelessly offers book deals to anyone who has garnered the obligatory fifteen minutes  (sometimes less) of fame or infamy is shying away from a G.W.B. memoir. It is not a surprise therefore that Bush would like to exercise some editorial control over his legacy any which way he can. For a start, departing Bush aides have received a memo instructing them to speak well of their boss. The memo highlights the positive achievements of the Bush presidency.

    WASHINGTON — In case any Bush administration officials have trouble summing up the outgoing president's record, the White House is providing a few helpful suggestions.

    A two-page memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials offers a guide for discussing President George W. Bush's eight-year tenure during their public speeches.

    Titled Speech Topper on the Bush Record, the talking points state that Bush "kept the American people safe" after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office."

    The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success. It mentions none of the episodes that detractors say marred his presidency: the collapse of the housing market and major financial services companies, the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina or the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

    In a section on the economy, speakers are invited to say that Bush cut taxes after 2001, setting the stage for years of job growth. As for the current economic crisis, the memo says that Bush "responded with bold measures to prevent an economic meltdown."

    A copy of the memo was obtained by the Los Angeles Times' Washington, D.C., bureau. A spokesman for Bush said Monday that the White House routinely sends out suggestions to officials and allies on ways to talk about the administration's record.

    "What we have in mind with these documents is we feel the president's many accomplishments haven't been given the attention they deserve and in some cases have been purposely ignored," said Carlton Carroll, a White House spokesman. "This was put together to help the president's supporters counter a lot of these claims and lay out the significant accomplishments he has made over the last eight years."

    No one is required to recite the talking points laid out by the White House, Carroll said.

    In case the aides are too embarrassed or forgetful about reciting the talking points, Bush is taking measures to put on record his own version of the Bush legacy. Since no one else is paying much heed to his navel gazing, Bush recently spoke with a friendly interlocutor - his own sister Doro Bush Koch. 

    (more…)

  • Obama’s Best and the Brightest

    Through all the press adulation and contented purring surrounding Barack Obama's team building for his upcoming administration, why have I been feeling a bit uneasy? Frank Rich of the New York Times nails it.

  • Carnival of the Liberals #79

    The 79th Carnival of the Liberals (Kicking Around George W. Bush & Evolution) is at the Capitol Annex.

  • Ambassador to the Vatican (Joe)

    Conservative law professor/blogger Stephen Bainbridge thinks that appointing Doug Kmiec[1] as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See would be an insult to the Vatican and to the Pope.  He follows up with a non-responsive response to the challenge that under his views, maybe Obama shouldn’t appoint an ambassador at all.

    What I find interesting about this — apart from Henry Farrell’s puzzling claim that Bainbridge is "thoughtful" — is that Bainbridge has apparently talked himself into the position that it would be an "insult," or at minimum "impudent," for Barack Obama to appoint anyone who supported Barack Obama.

    [1] Kmiec is an anti-choice Catholic who supported Obama on the theory that overall he was better than McCain, and that he was better than McCain with respect to abortion on the grounds that abortion will remain federal law in any event and that an Obama Administration will actually result in fewer lives lost to abortion than a McCain Administration.  Bainbridge’s horse in this race is abortion.

  • My Tailor is from Mumbai!

    It is human nature to want to find a personal connection to triumph and tragedy. Cries of solidarity, "Today we are all Americans," (here, here and here) were heard from all over the world after 9/11/2001. John McCain declared, "Today we are all Georgians," during the recent Russian-Georgian conflict (although there is reason to believe that Georgia attacked first). Being an Indian by birth, the Mumbai tragedy is of course somewhat more personal to me than it is to the average American, Japanese or Argentinian. But I can hardly claim, "Today I am … or we are all Mumbaikars."  [Mumbaikar= Bombayite] I cannot in all honesty, quite imagine what the death and injury of the victims mean to them and to their families. But we try to empathize by imagining ourselves facing the same terrifying ordeals that the victims must have encountered.  Several of my friends, all of whom know that I come from Delhi, have called in the last few days to inquire if everyone in my family was alright. The first thing that I myself asked my sister and my journalist brother-in-law was if every one they know in Mumbai was safe. Not everyone was. A former colleague of my BIL is presumed dead. She was in a room in the Taj Hotel that was adjacent to the one where the terrorists had initially gathered on the 6th floor. Text messages from her cell phone went out for nearly two hours following the first conflagration, after which there was no further communication. Does the death of this journalist whom I had never met and which made me quite sad, turn the Mumbai incident into a personal experience for me? I don’t think so, unless you compute "personal" in a very loose six degrees of separation kind of way.

    We are NOT all Mumbaikars today but it is a polite way to show solidarity by saying that we are. But of course, there are several genuine Mumbaikars within the Indian American community and anxiety was understandably widespread among them when the news of the carnage first broke. Houston Indians gathered at the city’s India House to offer prayers and express support for India. Among them were many from Mumbai whose "personal" stories are reported in today’s Houston Chronicle.   

    Namit spoke of the purple prose of Indian writers in the aftermath of the attack in Mumbai. How about some pale yellow journalism? While reading the Chronicle’s general human interest story, I came across a ridiculously irrelevant piece of trivia:

    Mumbai_solidarityDespite a decade or more of bombings and suicide attacks in their native city, former Mumbai residents said the carnage that began Wednesday and ended Saturday with nearly 200 deaths outdid their worst imaginings. They joined with religious and civic leaders at Houston’s India House cultural center on Sunday.

    "This attack wasn’t an attack on India. It wasn’t an attack on Westerners. It was an attack on humanity," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, who wore a gray suit tailored for him during a visit to Mumbai. [emphasis mine]

    Now, Judge Emmett, a very active public official who was responsible for the evacuation plan during Hurricane Ike, is I am sure, sincerely outraged by the terrorist incident in Mumbai. But what in the whole wide world, does his gray suit tailored in Mumbai have to do with anything? I don’t blame Judge Emmett for wearing his desi suit during the visit to India House and I don’t even mind that he may have mentioned it to his Indian audience and to the reporter. However, why did the reporter choose to report it? How many degrees of separation are there between the judge, his tailor in Mumbai and a terrorist act?

  • My Bleeding City

    Author Suketu Mehta in the New York Times on the Mumbai terrorist mayhem.

    MY bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? There’s something about this island-state that appalls religious extremists, Hindus and Muslims alike. Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness.

    Mumbai is all about dhandha, or transaction. From the street food vendor squatting on a sidewalk, fiercely guarding his little business, to the tycoons and their dreams of acquiring Hollywood, this city understands money and has no guilt about the getting and spending of it. I once asked a Muslim man living in a shack without indoor plumbing what kept him in the city. “Mumbai is a golden songbird,” he said. It flies quick and sly, and you’ll have to work hard to catch it, but if you do, a fabulous fortune will open up for you. The executives who congregated in the Taj Mahal hotel were chasing this golden songbird. The terrorists want to kill the songbird.

    The rest of the article here.  (Mehta is a bit over the top with his sentimentality, just as many New Yorkers were after 9/11. But what he says about the religious tolerance of big, diverse Indian megapolises used to be true only a decade or so ago – that’s the India in which I grew up.)

  • A Melamine Anniversary Post (Sujatha)

    (In which we look again at the prevalence of melamine in various food chains, now confirmed to include human babies of practically all countries that use infant formulas from multinational companies like Nestle and Bristol-Meyers Squibb.)

    (more…)

  • No Thanksgiving in India

    The American holiday of Thanksgiving is not observed in India. But what has been unfolding for the last twenty four hours in Mumbai, the heart of Indian commerce, finance, Bollywood and much more, has struck a nerve in the US on this Thanksgiving Day, as well as in the rest of the world. In a sophisticated  and orchestrated commando style attack, terrorists who landed from the sea on the beaches of Mumbai unleashed a night and day of terror. See here, here, here and here.

    Our deepest sympathies to the families of the dead and to those who suffered injuries. I hope the Indian government will catch the perpetrators of this unconscionable crime, rescue the remaining hostages and at the same time take measures to prevent the slaughter of more innocent people who might fall victim to angry retaliations.

    Mumbai_bombing

  • Bad Sex Award (Dean)

    So we’ve taken lately to writing about writing, and Ruchira chastises some of us for carrying on below the fold when we ought to be generating more copy for AB. I won’t bury this in the comments, then, or anywhere else, for that matter. As I write, the decision has already been rendered, but it’s worth starting with the early story and then proceeding to the result. (Link courtesy of Ron Silliman’s marvelous blog.)

  • Payback: A Review (Sujatha)

    Prize-winning novelist Margaret Atwood’s latest is a book based on a series of lectures delivered early this year: "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth". (You can listen to them streaming online or download the podcasts from this link until Dec 19, after which they will be available for a fee at iTunes).

    Atwood brings her trademark wry humor and considerable word-mongering skills to tracing and sweeping over the concept of debt and payback in all fields. Tracking back through the historical depiction of ‘something owed and something redeemed’ from ancient Egyptian and Greek myth till the concept of sin and redemption overtook the majority of the populace as they moved on from the old gods to the new, she casts a sulphurous spotlight on the various episodes.

    No analysis of debt in the literary world can ignore the fact that it has served as one of the best plot devices of all time. ‘Payback’ is no exception, taking detailed looks at novels like The Mill on the Floss and the granddaddy of debt dramas The Merchant of Venice. It even includes a hilarious and yet faintly disturbing retelling of The Christmas Carol that mixes the original Dickens with Oryx and Crakian dystopia.

    Altogether, a refreshing read (or listen for those so inclined) as we ponder the ramifications of the enormous debt that the country has piled up over the last eight years. We may be going down under (and dreading the next bill from the credit card company or mortgage company), but it might as well be in style, enjoying a good cuppa while we savor the rollicking richness of Ms.Atwood’s ruminations.