Pet Peeve:

 

Why . . . when I enter the key words for a search into the Google search box, does it give me results for an entirely different search, then ask me if I actually wanted to search for that other thing?

Of course I wanted to search for that other thing,
or I wouldn't have asked.

Here, let me give you an example:

Given my love of reading and the contents of my blog, "bibliography of ______" is a common search.

Google, it seems, does not know what the word 'bibliography' means. It gives me hundreds of thousands of links to 'biographies' of my query, and even lists of books about them. But rarely does it include the works of said author.

It politely tells me that it had the prescience to looked up "biography of ______" instead, then gives me a link for "bibliography of ______" if I really want that.

Does Google have an algorithm whose entire purpose is to drive me crazy?

How about you? What are your Pet Peeves?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Identifying lies told by powerful political leaders -- and describing them as such -- is what good journalists do, by definition.  It's the crux of adversarial journalism, of a "watchdog" press.  "Objectivity" does not require refraining from pointing out the falsity of government claims.  The opposite is true; objectivity requires that a journalist do exactly that:  treat factually false statements as false.

"Objectivity" is breached not when a journalist calls a lie a "lie," but when they refuse to do so, when they treat lies told by powerful political officials as though they're viable, reasonable interpretations of subjective questions.

The very idea that a journalist is engaged in "opinion-making" or is "taking sides" by calling a lie a "lie" is ludicrous; the only "side" such a journalist is taking is with facts, with the truth.   It's when a journalist fails to identify a false statement as such that they are "taking sides" -- they're siding with those in power by deceitfully depicting their demonstrably false statements as something other than lies. 

- Journalists angry over the commission of journalism,

by Glenn Greenwald, Salon.

(emphasis mine)