Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Simpler Times...

In honor of Google's 10th birthday, they are enabling a search page from 2001. It's amazing to think of how much has changed since then, and it's fun to see what results turn up for things we take for granted. It's also kind of depressing. Case in point:



Also, the page is archived from a pre-September 11th world. Nothing comes up. No Department of Homeland Security. When you google "President Bush" you get his old campaign website, complete with depressingly out-of-date slogan: "George W. Bush is running for President of the United States to keep the country prosperous." So much for that.

On a lighter note, there's no youtube, no Perez Hilton, no "The Hills." Facebook was still available only to students at Harvard. Feels like so long ago...

2 comments:

Gregory Oberle said...

Google search Sarah Palin, Alaska. It has even more amusing results...

JD Forslin said...

It's kind of beautiful, but kind of sad. I'm sure we could have said the same thing 10 years ago about the decade before then. And I'm sure it will be kind of sad, and kind of beautiful 10 years from now looking back remembering when we still needed to use our legs (Wall-E anyone?). It does seem to reinforce the idea that one can't go home again. It also suggests that the normal, simpler times in our lives will always be "10 years ago."