24 March 2003

Search = CTU ringtone: How do you discourage Google? In 2001-2 we wrote a post about how 24 is all about communication (and failure of communication, mostly) on the phone. Almost immediately started to get hits on 'ctu ringtone' (CTU = Counter-Terrorism Unit, the office where Bauer works), which only died down months after the show was off-air. Now, series 2 is on in the UK, and the hits are ramping back up - rarely a day goes by when we don't get CTU ringtoned. Problem: we don't have any 24 ringtones to offer. But once we write a comment on it, it gets worse (So, Yes, we realise that this makes the problem worse). At the time of writing rodcorp has the top two links at Google for CTU ringtone. Annoying for people actually searching for one. Luckily, you can get CTU ringtonage for Nokia composer here. If only Google could distinguish {a thing} from {comments about a thing}. Or, if we could ask Google nicely to demote us for 'CTU ringtone' for the benefit of its searchers. We'd happily trade that for a promotion for 'mobile games'... Roll on the semantic web. 6:41:37 PM     comments

Tim Collins tells UK troops: Be just and strong Lieut-Col Tim Collins, 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish, gives his men an inspiring pep-talk before the action started. Probably the first great military speech of GW2, and a contrast to the double-talk of the politicians. "Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing." Related: BBC: The secret of good fighting talk UPI: Irish commander is new UK hero (includes interesting comments on how the British army manages to punch above its weight Google News: search for Tim Collins 11:05:31 AM     comments