Thirty Helens Agree - Headlines are not the story

The New York Post, one of America’s least reliable sources for news, has a great story today - Fear Grips Google!

The basic point of the article is that Google is so afraid of Microsoft’s new Bing search engine that…

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Sorry, I had to catch my breath from laughing so hard…  Okay…

…that Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google - along with Larry Page (pictured to the left) - has assembled a team of engineers to determine how Bing works.  Of course, Competitive Intelligence is important, and I’m sure that Google tries to reverse-engineer each of the competiting search engines.  But “Fear gripping Google” over Bing?  Seriously doubtful…

And, even better, in a different article, the Post bashes Bing over the head because it’s too easy to find porn with it.  Come to think of it, Microsoft should use that to promote the ‘Decision Engine’…  “Bing:  More porn than Google”.

Thirty Helens Agree - Facebook Fanclubs are out-of-control

Facebook must be a fascinating place for Sociologists to watch, because popular-trends grow, evolve, and die at an accelerated rate there.  The first one I experienced was the, “25 Things About Me” notes… seeming it started slowly, but with a frequency that let you know that it was going to eventually explode.  Then came the “Top-5 Craze”, where folks posted the five NFL teams they hated the most, or the 5 movies they know by heart, etc…  to a certain extent, Top-5’s still pop-up, but a lot less these days. Currently, the “Quiz Craze” dominates Facebook, where you take a quiz to see which Friends character ‘you are’, or the ideal city for you, and so on. However, a new trend is quickly emerging, which promises to be much more annoying than any of the previous ones… as the “Quiz Craze” quickly fades, the “Fan Club for Everything Craze” is cranking up to be huge.

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Thirty Helens Agree - Category names are important

During the first season of The Kids In The Hall, there was a reoccurring skit where 30 women named Helen would agree on something totally obvious.  Things like, “Honesty is the best policy”, or “Tattoos aren’t for everyone”.  Frequently some Helen’s would be highlighted to further carry the argument.  When summing up their agreement on, “You can’t pay too much for a sensible pair of shoes”, one Helen exclaimed, “My god, your feet are what you walk on!”  Only once did the 30 Helen’s disagree, when only 29 of them agree that, “Punctuality is important”.  Controversy exists, to this day, over whether the 30th Helen also agreed, but was unfortunately delayed, or if she truly disagrees.

In honor of these ladies, and their timeless wisdom, I’m bringing back the “Thirty Helens Agree” category, where I too will state the obvious… or, at least, what should be obvious.