Plat du jour--guest submission

New York biologist? biographer?

Found by Joanne.

It looks like the thugs got another one

Italian vessel hijacked by pirates off Somali coast

Santorum

I know I'm 2 or 3 weeks behind on this but I did want to remark on a bit of political news that occurred. Former Sen. Rick Santorum, now a Repugnant presidential hopeful, asked Google to remove the top response one gets when one Googles his name. Which is:

Santorum 1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum.

(It's actually a link to spreadingsantorum.com, a site created by sex columnist Dan Savage in response to Santorum's likening of homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality.)

Google declined, which is its normal response to requests to modify its results.

What really disturbs me about Santorum's request is that he apparently has no idea how search engines such as Google work. (Incidentally, one gets the same result looking for "Santorum" on most, if not all, of the most popular search sites.) These are tools that practically everyone who uses the internet uses frequently. To me it means Santorum is out of touch with how most Americans, whom he wants to lead, actually function. It reminds me how President Bush the First had no idea supermarkets used laser scanners to ring up people's groceries.

Also I am amused by this quote of Santorum's:

If you're a responsible business, you don't let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country.

If he really thinks this, he should also be criticizing all of the businesses that build plants in foreign countries or otherwise outsource the jobs of Americans.

(BTW, since I do have some idea of how search engines work, I know very well that my linking to Savage's site, and not linking to Santorum's campaign site, helps keep Savage's one on the top of Google's listings. Take that, homophobe Santorum.)