an amusement

If y'all would like to take a moment from bloodying each other's noses,
there is a newish web site here:

        www.googlefight.com

that will look up two references and tell you how they compare in terms
of index coverage in Google. I tried:

        Salinger Hemingway
and Salinger Faulkner

I regret[1] that our man came in second place in both tries. Versus
Hemingway it was 176,000 vs. 601,000. Against Faulkner, I don't know
how the JDS number can vary, but it was 165,000 vs. 687,000.

In looking at character names, it was the opposite direction. I
selected "Holden Caulfield" and "Nick Adams" for this one, and Holden
won quite handily, at 18,200 for Holden, vs. 11,200 for Nick.

This is of course the sort of lunatic idleness that the Internet
occasionally brings forth. I don't know the meaning or significance of
any of it, except that it passed the time while I was on a contentious
telephone call. (Yes, real life can sometimes be as full of conflict as
this list.)

--tim

P.S. Completely off the subject of Salinger, as far as I can tell,
there is a site associated with a (forthcoming?) book called THINGS MY
GIRLFRIEND AND I HAVE ARGUED ABOUT, by Mil Millington, which contains
some of the most bizarrely amusing bits I've read in ages. Have a look
here for more off-topic and off-the-wall entertainment:

        http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mil.millington/indexfaq.html

The book is apparently available in UK English, US English, and Dutch
(hi, Zazie!). It's utter lunacy, but good lunacy.

* * *

[1] Regret: Why do I offer this with "regret," as if I had a stake in
the outcome, or as if the outcome mattered at all?" I don't, and it
doesn't. Just goes to show you how much we invest in our heroes and our
interests, I guess....

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Received on Mon Mar 3 16:19:27 2003