Seek And Ye Shall Find

We all know how much I love Statcounter. It's really much more fun than should be legally allowed. I learn all sorts of things about my readers by looking at it. (Don't worry this isn't another "calling out the lurkers" post; they've all been outed or scared off.)

I was looking at the ways people find this site using various search engines and found a few interesting things. There are plenty of hits from people searching for a book I've reviewed or a the name of a celebrity I've talked about (mocked, to be honest). There are even a few people who get here by searching for various restaurants, which are mentioned in stories I've told, but none of these make up the largest portion of people finding us via search engine. That particular honor is reserved for people searching for "useless information." It's not like this is a one time phenomenon; it happens constantly. Of course, this made me wonder...

What exactly is one expecting when one goes online and types "useless information" into a search engine? Are these people really sitting at home thinking, "You know, I'm really quite bored. Perhaps I'll pass some time online. But whatever will I look for? I don't want to think too hard, and I certainly don't want to learn anything useful. Let's just go to a search engine and type in useless information and see what comes back." I have a hard time imagining that this is what's happening, but neither can I come up with a competing scenario.

In case this is true, The Fount of Useless Information will provide a few resources to help you better utilize your time on the interweb.

Snopes: A highly useful resource for urban legend information. The next time you are about to forward an email, you should check here first. Really, it won't hurt anyone if you don't pass on the "pictures of hurricane Katrina coming in over the gulf" that are, in fact, pictures of tornadoes in Nebraska (seriously, how does anyone get these confused?).

Wikipedia: Online encyclopedia, written and edited by the people of the net. This is one of the great examples of how the internet can best be utilized.

Actually, I've changed my mind. I'm not going to give you any more ideas. If you are looking to waste time, just stay right here. While you're at it, click the donate button up there at the top to help sponsor Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. You could also read the archives, comment a few times, drop me a note to say "howdy" (or "hi", if you're not a cowboy). However you got here, enjoy the site.

Until later...