522: Google Trends
explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
| Google Trends |
 Title text: Obama has been writing Lincoln/Obama erotic fan fiction on his secret livejournal. Excerpt: Lincoln lay back on the bed, nude save for his trademark stovepipe hat. 'Tell me,' he purred seductively, as he and Obama formed a more perfect union. 'When you come, is it 10% ethanol?' |
[edit] Explanation
Google keeps track of which searches are most popular in which regions as part of more general data mining to improve their service. For the enjoyment of others, they release select, non-personal parts of this data under the banner "Google Trends."
The first statistic - that "Men kissing" was popular in Utah, a state normally opposed to homosexuality - is real. The others are made up for the sake of the joke. In order:
- Ubuntu is a Linux distribution; Redmond, WA is home to Microsoft, the company that makes rival operating system Windows.
- 2010 was not a presidential election year in the United States; Wasilla, AK is home to Sarah Palin, a politician known for making such gaffes.
- Abraham Lincoln was the US president from 1861 to his assassination in 1865; Chicago, IL is home to Barack Obama, who apparently reads (presumably erotic) fanfiction about the former president.
- Velociraptors and hoverboards are two favorite xkcd topics; Somerville, MA is home to Randall Munroe.
- "How is babby formed?" was the title (and most of the content) of an infamous Yahoo! Answers question. Wasilla, AK is, again, home to Sarah Palin; a few months prior to this comic's release, Sarah Palin revealed that her daughter, Bristol Palin, was pregnant.
- Mountain View, CA is home to Google headquarters. The implication is that Google employees are putting "I hate this website" into Google.
With regards to the excerpt Randall provides in the title-text:
- The "more perfect union" line comes from the preamble to the US Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union..."
- Ethanol is the more scientific name for alcohol, as in, the stuff they serve in a bar that you have to be 21 years of age or older to drink. With regards to the title-text, "10% ethanol" refers to automotive gasoline that includes, well, 10% ethanol (usually made from corn or other vegetables), with the hopes of reducing the dependence on oil for fuel.
[edit] Transcript
Bloggers were recently amused to discover that, according to Google Trends, the search term "men kissing" is most popular in conservative Utah. A few other embarrassing correlations:
| Search Term | Top City |
|---|---|
| Installing Ubuntu | Redmond, WA |
| Running for President in 2010 | Wasilla, AK |
| Lincoln Fan Fiction | Chicago, IL |
| Raptors on Hoverboards | Somerville, MA |
| How is babby formed? | Wasilla, AK |
| I hate this website | Mountain View, CA |
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