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Osama Bin Laden Outranks Britney Spears!
by Mike Banks Valentine
First, I'll state emphatically, I join those mourning lost
loved ones in the terrorist attack on the US last Tuesday.
Nothing could have been more shocking than seeing the news
footage we've all endured this week and I'm still struggling
to make sense of it all. In taking the oft repeated advice
that we seek a return to business as usual I've found no
escape from terrorism in returning to my work. I do Search
Engine Optimization for small business web sites. Terrorism
ranks at position #48 on the most frequently searched list.
As a search engine optimization and marketing specialist, I
monitor and measure the most frequently searched terms at all
the top search engines across the web. It is clear, to those of
us who make a living tweaking and maximizing search terms on
our clients' web sites, which interests on the web dominate
based on what people are searching for. We attempt to find
terms relevant to our clients to maximize their web traffic.
Osama Bin Laden now ranks as the most searched term on the
search engines and displaces Britney Spears and Pamela Anderson
as the most sought after name on the web. Nostradamus is running
a close second after rumors circulated that he predicted the
attack on America as the beginning of the end of the world.
I couldn't resist visiting the number one search result at
Google for Osama Bin Laden from results returned by Google for
a category at the Open Directory Project where Bin Laden has his
own section labled: (Visit < http://dmoz.org > for the ODP site)
Society > Issues > Terrorism > International Terrorists >
USA Designees > Al-Qaida > Usama Bin-Laden
The top link in that category leads to the following page:
http://menic.utexas.edu/menic/utaustin/course/oilcourse/mail/saudi/0007.html
This link is a "University of Texas Middle East Information
Center" page from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the
University of Texas in Austin. It provides a 1993 interview with
Bin Laden by Robert Fisk of the "Independent". With Bin Laden
being the most searched person on and off the web, this page
must be experiencing heavy traffic as the number one search
result this week. I'll wager that list of links grows larger.
It is not always so obvious why top terms are being searched
as it is this week. This demonstrates strongly that the web is
a valuable tool for research and reference when important and
dramatic issues arise in our society.
Next come searches for "American flag" and the words, "World
Trade Center", displacing "jokes" and "MP3" from their usual
high ranking in number of searches. Jokes only dropped from
a steady place in top 10 searches to position 41 on the list.
People clearly still need something to smile about.
New York City and Afghanistan now rank as the top searched
locations pushing "Toronto" and "Canada" off the list of the
top 500 search terms. Folks are still interested in "Maps"
but now it is "World Map" and "Afghanistan Map" that have
replaced "Weather" and "Driving Directions" as top 50 search
terms.
"American Red Cross" has displaced "dictionary" as a top 20
search term and dictionary has dropped to 40th position. I'm
sure lots of folks are looking up "Afghansitan" and of course
"Nostradamus" so "dictionary" still ranks as a top search term.
Misspellings of words are very often found highly ranked in
the most frequently searched terms and this week that is still
apparent as the list contains 18 spelling variations on the
name of Nostradamus.
News sites are very frequently sought by searchers but are
usually found near the bottom of the 500 most frequently
searched terms. This week all major US television networks
jumped into the top 250 where only CNN manages to be found
routinely that high on the list. This week CNN jumped to
the top 10 with three positions. Position number 7 with
"CNN news", position 8 with "CNN" and position 10 with
"CNN.com".
The BBC made it to the top 500 the first time this week.
Maybe we need to hear what Britain thinks after a steady
diet of US Networks? I must admit that I spent more of
my time in front of television than I did in front of my
computer this week and tuned in to PBS to see a BBC report
myself after two days of non-stop commercial network news.
Speaking of commercial, did you notice there weren't any?
While the commercial phrase "airline tickets" maintains a
position around the 50th most frequently searched terms in
a normal week, it is nowhere to be found on the list this
week above position 500. Neither are there many searches
for products as there have been in recent weeks.
We often seek comfort and enjoyment from animals and the terms
"dogs", "cats" and "horses" usually find their way onto the
most frequently searched terms list. Only "dogs" remain this
week. Does that suggest they remain our best friend in difficult
times too?
Our society can be viewed through this odd lens on a regular
basis every week and you can see a side-by-side list of the top
300 search terms for the week of 8/15/01 and 8/8/01 here:
http://website101.com/Search_Engine_Positioning/top300terms.html
I hope to see the term "World Peace" in that most frequently
searched phrases, if not some day soon, at least some day.
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Mike Valentine does Search Engine Placement for the Small
Business http://website101.com/Search_Engine_Positioning/
WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet
http://website101.com/arch/
--------------------------------------------------------
Article Title: Did Nostradamus Predict
the Sept 11th Tragedy?
Author: Richard Lowe, Jr.
Contact Author: mailto:articles@internet-tips.net
Publishing Guidelines: May be freely published w/bylines
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Nostradamus was a French astrologer born in 1503. He published a collection
of prophecies in 1555. Each of the four-line verses (called quatrains) is
said to foretell a world event at some time in the future.
Of course, ever since that time, the works of this man have been claimed to
have foretold just about everything, including wars, the rise and fall of
empires, assassinations and disasters, as well as just about anything else.
Anyone who has ever really read these prophecies will immediately realize
that they are written in such a vague way that they could mean almost
anything. Nostradamus was purposely vague in his writings, as he was
constantly being harassed and watched by the church.
Naturally, there are many people who claim right away that Nostradamus
predicted the September 11th disasters. In fact, the following "prophecy"
circulated within hours of the attack.
In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos,
while the fortress endures,
the great leader will succumb,
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning
- Nostradamus 1654
It's interesting to note how stupid some people are - Nostradamus died in
1566. If you are going to make a hoax at least get your facts right! By the
way, this actually was created by a student at Brock University in Canada in
the 1990s, appearing on an essay on Nostradamus. He was trying to show how
anyone could make something that looks like a prophecy.
Someone obviously mistook this for a real prophecy and added a few lines of
his own.
In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos,
while the fortress endures,
the great leader will succumb,
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning
On the 11th day of the 9 month,
two metal birds will crash into two tall statues
in the new city,
and the world will end soon after.
I received another with a slight variation. Note that Nostradamus is
misspelled and that New York is at the 41st degree of latitude, not the 45th
(the email author pointed out the 45 was the latitude of New York). By the
way, none of these lines has anything to do with anything that was written
by Nostradamus, except that someone went to some trouble to mix and match a
few lines here and there.
In the year of the new century and nine months,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror.
The sky will burn at forty-five degrees.
Fire approaches the great new city
In the city of york there will be a great collapse,
2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos
while the fortress falls; the great leader will succumb;
third big war will begin when the big city is burning
-NOSTRIDAMUS
and yet another variation:
In the City of Apples there will be a great thunder,
Two tall brothers torn apart by chaos,
while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb,
The third big war will swiftly begin from the city of
burning (Nostradamus 1654)
Yet another variation showed up in emails all over the internet.
Earth-shaking fire from the center of the earth.
Will cause the towers around the New City to shake,
Two great rocks for a long time will make war,
And then Arethusa will color a new river red.
This actually comes from a real verse, below.
Volcanic fire from the center of the earth
will cause trembling around the new city:
Two great rocks will make war for a long time.
Then Arethusa will redden a new river.
You will note the correct translation does not include anything at all about
towers.
Some hoaxer played the numbers game (another favorite pastime of the
followers of Nostradamus). The attack is no exception.
The flights that were hijacked were from United and American Airlines, they
were numbered as follows: 11, 93, 175, and 77
11= Today's' Date (Sept. 11)
9+3=12 = Tomorrow (Sept. 12)
1+7+5=13 = Thursday
7+7=14 = Friday
I'm not sure what this is supposed to prove, but it's pretty darn silly. A
hoax, of course.
The flights were chosen for specific reasons. The numbers meant nothing.
- Destination (large amount of fuel on board),
- Origin (large amount of fuel remaining at time of impact),
- airport security (or lack thereof),
- and time of departure (for a loosely coordinated attack)
There is a real passage from Nostradamus which is similar to the one above
(although nothing matches the attack facts).
When 1999 is seven months o'er
Shall heaven's great King -- albeit a dread host, he --
Restore the King from Angoumois once more,
Ere -- after March -- he'll reign propitiously.
This verse has been used to predict everything (almost literally) from
comets to disasters.
So what's the bottom line? The prophecies of Nostradamus may or may not be
valid. But they have nothing to do with the terrorist attack on September
11th. Nothing at all.
Additional Information
Nostradamus FAQ
http://www.nostradamus-repository.org/faq.html
Good information about Nostradamus. Excellent resource.
False Prophecys
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/nostradamus.asp
A rationale, factual debunking of the various Nostradamus prophecies
floating around the internet.
About Urban Legends
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa091101b.htm
Good and short explanation of the facts.
Nostradamus Homepage
http://run.to/nostradamus
Want the straight scoop? Check out this page.
Nostradamus: A critical Analysis
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/info/analysis.htm
Very good article on the Nostradamus prophecies. Also the origin of the
"prophecy" on the September 11th disaster.
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