Google has added an "AI Overview" to the top of its search results, and I don't like it. It's not that I don't like having a quick response for queries likes "define calumnies" or "weather radar newnan ga," it's that I don't trust the AI's fact checking abilities yet. And I especially don't like any response that starts "According to a Facebook post,...".

In my high school history classes, when I wasn't being told that I would fail Georgia's statewide standardized tests if I didn't say that the South fought the Civil War over "States Rights," I was taught to consult primary sources for accurate answers. (In hindsight, I'm sure this was the teacher's way of telling me the whole "States Rights" thing was bullshit, but we didn't have easy access to actual historical transcripts of the South Carolina Declaration of Secession in the days before the Internet.)

I've played around with Chat GPT enough to know that it is less reliable than a Wikipedia page. So when I already have to Google at least 6 different variations of "lg washer inlet valve" to find the correct replacement part number, I'm not inclined to believe whatever word salad response the AI scrapes from untrustworthy websites in response to even my casual queries asking for things like "children's television hosts atlanta 1950s 60s" or "who wrote transformers tv episodes."

I know that I'm in the minority here. I don't like explainer YouTube or TikTok videos, either. I happen to enjoy research. I grew up with libraries and printed periodicals, and I can read pretty quickly. Just give me a list of links, Google, and let me do the hard work of finding the right answers. I'd much rather have open questions than wrong answers.

If I have to get my mother to fact check all of Google's responses, I might as well start my own website called Ask My Mom. I don't want to have to do that if I can avoid it. Mom's smart, but there are definitely some queries I'd just never ask her, if you know what I mean. (I'm looking at you, "dua lipa acm awards dress.")

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Tags: dear diary family google internet mom walter

My mother thinks this blog should be nothing but poodle comics. My friends think it should contain more embarrassing pictures of Walter. I think I should probably talk more about comic books and football. But what does the public want from Wriphe.com?

To settle this argument, let's look at the keywords that drew people to Wriphe.com in the past 12 months. The top five keyword queries, seriously, were

1. gay Batman
2. Rock Hudson
3. men in spandex
4. Batman gay
5. spandex man

Without question the three biggest category searches that brought people from Google to Wriphe.com in 2012 can be summarized as "men in spandex," "are Batman and Robin gay," and, in a distant third place, "is Mio safe to drink?" In fact, if you Google "spandex man," my image from August 15, 2005 comes first in the Google image results.

Really, I don't know if that says more about my blog content or about what people are looking for on the internet. Whatever the case, I'm sure that this post isn't helping.

Comments (2) | Leave a Comment | Tags: adventures in photoshop analytics google spandex wriphe.com

After a focused site re-tooling and a couple of long nights, Boosterrific.com is now the number 2 return in Google on the key phrase "Booster Gold" (behind Wikipedia, curse them). I consider this to be something of an accomplishment. Maybe not so great as founding a country or curing smallpox, perhaps, but certainly better than having a million Twitter followers or running a multi-million dollar business into the ground. So, congratulations to me.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Tags: booster gold boosterrific comic books google

Have I mentioned that I'm addicted to Google Earth? Well, I am. And I've learned that visible shipwrecks are much more common than I would have thought.

My favorite place to stare at from space is Prypiat, Ukraine, the city evacuated following the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. (It's really the ultimate in modern urban ruins.) But a close second favorite attraction is aircraft museums and airports. Don't ask me why, but there's something amazing to me about seeing so many large, gravity defying crafts grounded.

And there's always the odd bonus scene, such as this 85ft Bat-Symbol at Six Flag America in Washington DC.

I'm still looking for signs of the giant Optimus Prime in Kunming, China, but for a six-story statue, he's been surprisingly elusive. Maybe it is possible for a tractor-trailer sized talking robot to hide amongst humanity.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Tags: batman google six flags transformers