It appears we have a fledgling UL here.
For anyone who doesn't know, type 'French Military Victories' into Google and then hit 'Im feeling lucky'. This will then take you to the Google error page and will ask if you meant, 'French Military Defeats'.
In actual fact the 'Im feeling lucky' key takes you to the first website Google finds which is infact a mock up of the google error page set up by some amusing prankster.
This is nothing more than brilliant misuse of a search engine however I'm hearing a number of people taking it seriously.
For instance, Jeremy Vine mentioned it on his BBC Radio 2 programme but without the bit about the prankster, thus causing him to recieve a number of emails pointing out that the French have had lots of military victories.
I have also just recieved an email from a newsgroup where someone has again posted this story as fact:
Appologies for the shouting but that is how it was sent to me. Could someone enlighten me as to who Dennis Miller is, (he didn't send it to me you understand.) as I believe the article was meant to be tongue in cheek but my point is that it's still helping to perpetuate the myth.
For anyone who doesn't know, type 'French Military Victories' into Google and then hit 'Im feeling lucky'. This will then take you to the Google error page and will ask if you meant, 'French Military Defeats'.
In actual fact the 'Im feeling lucky' key takes you to the first website Google finds which is infact a mock up of the google error page set up by some amusing prankster.
This is nothing more than brilliant misuse of a search engine however I'm hearing a number of people taking it seriously.
For instance, Jeremy Vine mentioned it on his BBC Radio 2 programme but without the bit about the prankster, thus causing him to recieve a number of emails pointing out that the French have had lots of military victories.
I have also just recieved an email from a newsgroup where someone has again posted this story as fact:
TRYING TO HELP - by DENNIS MILLER
>
>ALL THE RHETORIC ON WHETHER OR NOT WE SHOULD GO TO WAR AGAINST IRAQ HAS GOT
>MY INSANE LITTLE BRAIN SPINNING LIKE A ROULETTE WHEEL. I ENJOY READING
>OPINIONS FROM BOTH SIDES BUT I HAVE DETECTED A HINT OF CONFUSION FROM SOME
>OF
>YOU.
>
>AS I WAS READING THE PAPER RECENTLY, I WAS REMINDED OF THE BEST ADVICE
>SOMEONE EVER GAVE ME. HE TOLD ME ABOUT THE KISS METHOD (KEEP IT SIMPLE,
>STUPID!) SO, WITH THIS AS A THEME, I'D LIKE TO APPLY
>THIS THEORY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T QUITE GET IT. MY HOPE IS THAT WE CAN
>SIMPLIFY
>THINGS A BIT AND RECOGNIZE A FEW IMPORTANT FACTS.
>
>HERE ARE 10 THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN VOICING AN OPINION ON THIS
>IMPORTANT ISSUE:
>3) IF YOU USE GOOGLE SEARCH AND TYPE IN "FRENCH MILITARY VICTORIES," YOUR
>REPLY WILL BE "DID YOU MEAN FRENCH MILITARY DEFEATS?"
Appologies for the shouting but that is how it was sent to me. Could someone enlighten me as to who Dennis Miller is, (he didn't send it to me you understand.) as I believe the article was meant to be tongue in cheek but my point is that it's still helping to perpetuate the myth.