Burlaki [back] on the Hudson

I’ve long been stupefied by the fact that one of the most common search terms that leads people to my website is “medical sign”. Type that into a Google search and you will not find a link to B[b]otH anywhere near the top (I gave up checking after ten pages).

But!

Run that same search on Google Images. Either at the bottom of the first page or the top of the second page – I don’t know why it fluctuates – you’ll find a picture from this old post of mine with “burlaki.com” link underneath it. Which apparently gets a fair share of clicks through.

I have no idea why a picture from my site would be near the top for a query that returns 62,500,000 results, but page ratings must not work the same way between regular searches and image searches. I don’t know whether to be proud that I lap almost the entire Internet on one specific search query or to be upset that success does not come whence I would like it.

At least, I stumbled across an explanation for something that bothered me for a long time…

Found On The Web

Some of my readers may remember this post, in which I outlined how the online community that I have the honor to belong to collaborated to expose the anti-LHC crusader Walter L. Wagner as a person not in the least qualified to engage in a “discussion” that he wants to hold.

As the members of our group discovered yesterday, our cover has been blown. Our community of friends has been outed as the apparently taxpayer-funded and sinister Uniformed (Currently or Formerly) Counter-Intelligence Force, courtesy of JTankers, an “Assistant Coordinator for Global Risk Reduction (a Special Interest Group of American Mensa)”, whatever that may mean, and an outspoken acolyte of Mr. Wagner. We are quite precisely described as “primarily ex-Navy technical personnel”, who have “their own aggressive and vulgar culture, as if they all attended the same course of instruction on how to be vulgar and aggressive on-line”. We also apparently broadly engage in nefarious activities, as evidenced by the International Hijack™ Day, organized by our fearless leader.

I lack a vocabulary range needed to properly express how amusing I find that post by JTankers. [Updated: JTankers modified his article on January 2nd, intentionally or unintentionally removing some of the hilarity of his exposé, so you'll have to believe me that it was head-splitting funny in its original form.]

It does occur to me that I am one of the most opaque members of the group, on account of long being remiss in displaying a UCF logo on my site (now rectified). With my comparative stealth and the non-US jurisdiction, I can well pretend to being the most dangerous secret weapon that the UCF possesses. Oh yeah!

::snort::

Eric, as I came to expect from him, had the most hilarious reaction to the news of our blown cover with a story of his initiation.

Updated: So now do Michelle and Anne and Jeri, while Kim, Janiece and Vince have their own takes on being outed.

Found On The Web

Do you believe that sugar makes your kids hyperactive? Or that night eating makes you fat? Or that hangovers can be cured?

You are way off the mark there.

Via Counterknowledge.com, a recap of a BMJ article (also publicized in NYT) on the common medical myths. Counterknowledge also mentions the myths discussed in a similar BMJ article of a year ago.

Some of these notions I don’t care much about, but I was always led to believe that reading in dim light has a negative effect on one’s eyesight. Apparently not! Hmmm.

Found On The Web

It’s only been a bit over a month since I learned about Seety. Today, researching an address in Paris, I accidentally zoomed in too much. To my surprise, the map changed to the interactive view of the Parisian location, very similar (but with more controls) to the one found at Seety.

I then tried similar thing for London, but got no love. There is now a figure of a man on top of the zooming bar. When it appears “disabled”, you cannot get into the interactive mode. But when it is “lighted”, that means that you can enter “street view”.

I tried Rome, Barcelona, Madrid (all successful), Berlin, Amsterdam (both without “street view”).

I then tried New York City – and saw someone I know walking across Rockefeller Plaza!

Kidding, of course. But New York City seems to be covered. So are, by the look of it, Chicago and Boston. And I have little time to check out more locations.

Coool!

Found On The Web

Here is an amazing notebook that can turn into practically anything. And even provide sustenance on occasion.

These and other clips are the creation of Evelien Lohbeck. Real cool!

Via Exler.

Found On The Web

One of my favorite “fun in pictures” sites on the web, The Village of Joy, has got a hilarious collection of motivational posters. They vary in the strength of message, but they all are pretty funny.

See for yourself: 25 Motivational Posters.

Nerd that I am, I especially liked the one about simplicity. Although, I probably spent the most time gazing at the rainbows.

Found On The Web

This is amazing!

The fountain in the video below makes pictures and words with falling water. The principle is akin to that of an ink-jet printer. Hundreds of nozzles create precise streams of water, timed in a way to create images. The attraction welcomes people to Canal City Hakata, a Japanese shopping complex.

I’m unlikely to be found at a shopping mall when I travel, so even if I were to Japan already, I’d probably still have not seen this. I knew this YouTube thingie was good for something.

Tip of the hat to Kim Komando’s Video of the Day with special thanks to my friend Irene who pointed me to it.

Amazing World, Found On The Web

I received this link in an email from Cheryl and Rupert. Seety is an amusing online application that lets you virtually travel along the streets of London. Despite what the website tag line implies, the pictures are not live (I think the investment required for that coupled with obvious civil liberties concerns makes a possibility of them ever being live fairly negligible), but it can still be entertaining. Drag your mouse across the picture to get 360° views and position the camera angle to your liking, for instance.

Found On The Web

My friend Irene has clued me on to this great collection of unusual architectural wonders of the world over at Village of Joy. There are a few among the 100 – don’t forget to click on Part 2 link – that I’ve seen up close, but not too many.

So much yet to see.

Amazing World, Found On The Web

London’s Metropolitan Police (taking after the NYPD, unless I’m seriously mistaken) is testing a website that would map certain types of crime for all areas of Greater London. The crimes accounted for so far are only robberies, burglaries and vehicle crimes, but it still could be useful for any prospective expat to ascertain crime levels in their target neighborhoods. Type in your exact post code to zoom in.

The data displayed is scarce and possibly not “live”, but according to it, we live in an “average” area, bordered by both “above” and “below average” slices.

Found On The Web

A lot of bloggers do it, but I’ve never tried before. Seeing that between resumption of my new work duties and catching up on the variety of internet material, I have no time to actually write a post (there is a Champions League semi-final game tonight, so I won’t have much time when I get home either), I figured I could use this convenient cop-out and simply post a short compilation of fun stuff that I came across on the InterWebs.

1. To start with, a hilarious outtake from the Bulgarian Idol. You have to watch until the end – it’s worth it! Tip of the hat to Nathan.

2. A friend of a friend just started a company that aims to provide instruction to aspiring movie-makers. I have no independent knowledge of the quality of the instruction, but I am sure that someone in my huge readership will be interested, so here is the link to thus far not very extensive Reel Classroom.

3. Finally, my inventive brother has posted a short compilation of his favorite movie scenes. A splendid idea, as always. I might follow the suit in the future. The first scene would feature near the top of my list as well.

Enough for the first time…

Found On The Web, Idle Amusements

This is not exactly news anymore, but I only came across this today for the very first time. Actually, a different article was circulated today at work, seemingly with the goal of stimulating discussion about innovation.

My initial reaction was April Fools’ Day come early this year. But then I found that the product was in the news since 2001 or so…

Apparently, a few years ago, the EU started regulating size and curvature of bananas. I have a feeling that the square watermelon gave the bureaucrats a lot to be concerned about. No word on square apples or potatoes as yet.

Found On The Web

Even though I’ve never been to either Facebook or MySpace, I do my little share of social networking on the web. I am not in it for the networking, per se. Other people like finding new friends or are intent on becoming widely-known for their opinions or want to distribute their attempts in art or simply enjoy people-watching from the safety of their house. For me, the expectation of getting in touch with somebody – anybody – whom you otherwise do not regularly correspond with (and, in many cases, have not even thought about for years) is the primary reason to get in.

With the recent explosion of social networking activity, I suspect that everybody that I have ever had so much as common acquaintances twice removed, would be within web shouting distance in a couple of years at most. From blogging at LiveJournal to posting pictures at Flickr to sharing your favorite links at Del.icio.us to recommending web content at StumbleUpon, you now have practically unlimited ways to connect – or re-connect – with people.

I have joined the fray so far in only two places.

One is LinkedIn, which has the distinction of being a fad that could actually be useful in time. That is, if you connect with the right people… My modest network is a mix of friends, relatives, former colleagues, current colleagues, not exactly colleagues whom I am barely familiar with, vendors, recruiters… And I only have about 70 people, nothing to brag about. Just shows that I am a very reluctant networker…

The site which I am more active at is odnoklassniki.ru (apologies to my non-Russian audience – it makes no sense to apply if you are not from the former USSR). The site has the incredibly dumb approach to recording affiliations – basically, if you want to spell the name of your town or school in a novel way, go ahead, knock yourself out, it will appear as a separate entry in no way linked with other entries of the same town or school; I am registered with five different instances of my high school already – but it allowed me to catch up with a few people that I have not seen or heard from for over 15 years. There’s been a recent influx of my close American friends to the site, so I am now connected with many of them as well. And daily, I find new people to correspond with and catch up.

I also get checked out by some unexpected visitors. The site keeps track of the people who viewed your profile, and I occasionally see 20-year-olds from Moscow (always Moscow) on my list. Quite hot young things, if the photos in their profiles don’t lie. Some of them give high grades to the pictures in my profile. I guess there is an implied invitation in each such visit, with a hope of becoming a new Darya Zhukova to a new Abramovich…

I suppose my exposure to social websites is still pretty limited. Which such websites do you grace with your presence, o my faithful reader? Any recommendations?

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On an unrelated note, the spell-checker suggests correction to odnoklassniki.ru as Mongolians. It must know its history: Isn’t it said that every Russian has some of the Batu Khan hordes’ blood in his veins?

Found On The Web