Romney Can Win ... Does Not Compute ... Does Not Compute

Search "Romney Can Win" and Google Algorithm Asks If You Made a Typo.  

Google denies the program had human help.  I exhibit screenshots, but if you want to look at the screens close up, you might want to do the searches  yourself.

Peter Fulham of Slate reports that if you type "Romney Can Win" into Google search, the algorithm asks if you didn't mean to type "Romney can't win."  The algorithm kindly treats your search term as a spelling error.  See the screen shot below.

When you click on the link "Romney Can't Win," you go to a page where the main story is Google.

The algorithm doesn't treat Obama's election chances the same way.  It doesn't ask is you didn't mean to type something else.  It does direct you to articles that say he can win and how he can win:

CBS News in its "Political Hotsheet" section quotes a Google spokesperson: "Our spellcheck feature is automated, and while no algorithm is perfect, we're always working to improve our search quality."

Romney shouldn't feel slighted.  Although he's the only Republican candidate that the Google algorithm doesn't think can win, the smarty-pants program thinks some other guys are losers too.  I use the pseudonym marqjonz elsewhere (and did here until Google changed its rules).  Look what happens when I type in "marqjonz can win":

I've been irritated more often than helped by the Google algorithm's suggestions on spelling.  In fact, if you want to get articles in Spanish, I'd say the algorithm gets in the way.  I hope Google takes this peculiar search result as a cue to update the algorithm

I'm interested to see if Google's search algorithm is more accurate than the late octopus who correctly predicted the winner of the World Cup.

Sources

Condon, Stephanie.  "Google glitch suggests 'Romney can't win.'"  Political Hotsheet.  CBS News.  October 28, 2011.  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20127226-503544/google-glitch-suggests-romney-cant-win/

Fulham, Peter.  "Google Thinks Romney Can't Win."  Slate.  October 27, 2011. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2011/10/27/google_thinks_romney_can_t_win.html.

Castro Watch

Click on the map to hear the Cuban national anthem "La Bayamesa."


On Triond I've posted three articles about the former Cuban leader:

"Is Fidel Castro Dying?"

"Evo Morales Say Castro Making 'Speedy Recovery' as Fidel Continues to Avoid Public Appearances"

"Ukranian President Says Castro Alive"

Eel Girl

Here's a link to and blurb for my review of "Eel Girl."


Eel Girl Wins Awards Worldwide
"Eel Girl" is a short film about a romantic moment between a scientist and a human-eel hybrid woman. This picture has won numerous awards for its outstanding special effects. Weta Workshop, best known for makeup and creatures in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, created the special makeup effects for the human-eel hybrid in the film. Send the kids to bed before you watch this one. 


To accompany my Triond review with the entire short film, I would need to have access to a legal and embeddable video from YouTube.  YouTube, however, doesn't have the entire short film (unless you want to see it with Russian subtitles), so I embedded the code from Daily Motion in this blog.

Eel Girl by SFLTV

Interview in Gatopardo with Xeni Jardin

There's an new interview with Xeni Jardin in the Mexican magazine Gatopardo.  In the interview she makes a comparison of blogging with being a DJ--attributing the comparison to a friend.  It's a joke, right?  ¿Es un chiste, no?  Blogging, especially the kind she does, is pointing out another's ideas.

Comparas la música punk con escribir un blog.Un amigo alguna vez dijo que bloguear es un poco como ser dj. El dj no compone música, pero tiene buen oído y sabe qué cosas van a ir bien juntas en cierto contexto. Eso es bloguear.

Photo of Xeni Jardin from Wikipedia.  Photo is by Jen Collins and has a Creative Commons Copyright.  Thanks Jen Collins.

Anchorman of the Internet

I responded to an article of fellow Triond writer vijayanths' "Google Once Again Updated Page Rank in August 2011" with a lengthy note.  I want to thank him for showing me PR Checker, which allows one to check the Google page rank of a web page.


I've installed this feature on my blog below. As you can see, I get a 0 of 10.

I Miss Ubuntu Linux

Lucid Lynx R.I.P

For the time being, I have returned to the Windows world.  I am putting my old machine aside to wait until I can make a rational decision about whether to install yet another parallel ATA drive or simply move on to a more contemporary machine.  I'm now forced to use an old Windows XP computer, an ancient Dell Inspiron.  I'm not happy.

I backed up my old computer a while ago, so I shouldn't lose much.  I am also considering partitioning the hard drive of this Inspiron so I can use Linux again.  I'd rather go buy a used PC, ditch the operating system, and install the latest (stable and well-reviewed) version of Ubuntu, but I'll have to do plenty of shopping before I find what I want in a PC.  I think I'll get a desktop model, so I can enjoy some extra horsepower for my money.

Windows is even worse than I remember it.

When Steve Jobs died, my hard drive crashed.

I think it's a strange coincidence.  It reminds of all the ghost stories where the clock stops when someone dies, which in turn brings to mind Auden's "Funeral Blues," the first six lines of which follow:

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

"Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead...."

I found a video on YouTube of a singer performing this poem to music written by Benjamin Britten.  The YouTube blurb says:

"'Funeral Blues' a poem by W.H. Auden, music by Benjamin Britten. Performed by Alexia Mankovskaya, soprano, Andrea Kmecova-piano, Jose Gandia viola, at a London recital given by the Vertigo Ensemble."


I'm this video here because it's a great performance, and I want to remind everyone that this poem was famous before "Four Weddings and a Funeral."