Johnny C. Taylor, president and CEO of Black Web Enterprises, viewed the results of Google searches to be too white-oriented, thereby ignoring the needs of minorities. So in April the organization developed their own search engine, RushmoreDrive, and their own algorithms to weigh black-focused web sites more heavily than others. Claiming to be the “first-of-its-kind search engine for the black community,” RushmoreDrive offers search results that are more in tune with what black people are looking for; yesterday’s LA Times article on the subject referred to a search on the term “Whitney,” which, in Google, returned results that included the Whitney Museum of Art in the number one spot (its web site URL is www.whitney.org - having this be the first thing that shows up on a search for “Whitney” doesn’t seem all that crazy to me personally). On RushmoreDrive, the number one spot from the same search was reserved for Whitney Houston, because that was most likely what a black person would be looking for. (I’m finding it hard to bite my tongue about the fact that the “Whitney” search on RushmoreDrive did indeed turn up Whitney Houston’s web site … with Dominican singer Kat De Luna’s description below it. Huh?)

Stereohyped did a very interesting test of search results with RushmoreDrive and Ask.com (though the latter is not exactly one of the top search engines in the world) which you should check out.

I do think this is an excellent example of entrepreneurship - providing a service to a specific segment of the population - as long as it doesn’t get all political and mention that whole “oppression” thing. And they need not worry about Google searches being determined by the majority - aka white - population for too much longer. A U.S. Census Bureau study released Thursday has determined that today’s minorities will outnumber the white population in the United States by 2042.

This is exciting: scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have finally been able to “cloak” three-dimensional objects so that they basically appear invisible.  A report on Yahoo! News explains that “people can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye. Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.”  I know I’d definitely be in the market for one of these!

I figured I’d finish up my lunch break by posting an update. If you visit this regularly, you’ll note that the template keeps changing. I think I’m going to settle on this one, though. I like the blue-gray-black look. Very sleek.

Meg and I celebrated our two-year (!!) anniversary on the 13th, and she treated me to a weekend at Harrah’s in Atlantic City. Unfortunately luck wasn’t on my side, but Meg was making money everywhere - video poker (she got four Ace’s - who does that??), penny slots (all I could hear was “ding, ding, ding, ding, ding” over and over again, and her first ever poker game with real poker players and real money. So she was happy, and because she was happy I was happy, and it was just a great weekend. As much time as we spend together during the week, it’s a nice change when we can go away for a time and leave behind phones, computers, work, etc., just spending time together.

Becks and Ness, two of my good friends from university, have booked their flights over to the States for a ten-day visit over Easter weekend in March. I’m so excited! Undoubtedly AC will be on the cards that week as well, because I can’t see either of them turning down free alcohol; plus, it’s just a fun place to be.

In other news, I feel really strange and surprisingly upset about the death of Heath Ledger. I think it’s because it was so unexpected - he was young, clean, a new father, and, from what I gathered from interviews, quite a nice guy. It’s just a shame, really. 10 Things I Hate About You, the movie that I watched nearly every day my freshman year in college, will never be the same.

Meg had yesterday afternoon off from work (and I would say she’s lucky, except she’s working both days this weekend so I’ll keep my mouth shut) and of course indulged in a little daytime television. She taped the day’s episode of Tyra for me, as she knew I’d be intrigued by the topic.

The special guest of the day was Gwen Shamblin, who was detailing her bizarre weight loss program: Weigh Down, or, as her web site puts it, “the power of faith-based weight loss.” A number of followers - and, yes, it seemed almost cult-ish to me - went on and on about how God had shown them the way and helped them to lose weight. Ms. Shamblin herself said she prayed about everything, right down to what she was going to wear that day. “Oh Jesus,” she said in kind of a moaning tone of voice while waving her arms in the air, “in your infinite wisdom, show me what I should wear today.” Of course, if Jesus had picked out the color of her lipstick - (the scariest shade of red I’ve ever seen) - it makes me rather happy to be an agnostic.

Anyway, Ms. Shamblin gave Tyra a lesson in how to eat on the Weigh Down program, which involved eating one tortilla chip in no fewer than four bites (my mouth is too big), taking a sip of something in between every bite (that seems to be a considerable time waster), and to chew … a lot. I guess the logic behind it is true; it takes the brain twenty minutes to process feeling full, and let’s be honest, most of us tend to gobble down food in a quarter of that time. I’m not so sure about the whole, “God created sweets and junk food, but God has a special way for me to eat it and lose weight” thing. But really … who knows? If it’s working for the followers of Weigh Down, then more power to them. I’ll just stick to swimming and trying not to order take-out every night.

Straight from the Washington Post:

Wanna be the life of the party? Show up with Bill Murray.

The 56-year-old actor had the Scottish town of St. Andrews buzzing last week after joining Scandinavian college students at a late-night house party, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

“Nobody could believe it when I arrived at the party with Bill Murray,” Lykke Stavnef, a social anthropology student, was quoted as saying. “He was just like the character in ‘Lost in Translation.’” The newspaper reported that Murray met Stavnef at a bar where he was drinking with fellow golfers after playing in the Oct. 5-8 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Stavnef said Murray was happy to drink vodka from a coffee cup and later helped wash dishes in the cramped kitchen.