moar internets

Cuil.com – what is supposed to be the answer to Google and next-gen of search is all over the news today. So far I’m not impressed. Apparently the 121,617,892,992 web pages their crawler has indexed doesn’t include my own website!

Besides being a bit ego bruised, a quick search for myself on Cuil turns up all of these old… circa 2000 old… TCLUG (Twin Cities Linux User Group) mailing lists posts. While Google will also return some of these for my name, Google doesn’t think they are as relevant as, say, this domain… that includes my name and has my name, Jacqueline Urick, all over it. Ego aside, I’m siding with Google (and Yahoo, MSN and Ask) on this one – this site is going to be VERY relevant to a person searching for my name.

Searching for some clients, I found a blog post that referenced a blog post dated from 2005 in the first ten results that is now 404. Not so relevant.

Searching for linkedin (without quotes) doesn’t bring up linkedin.com. It doesn’t bring up anything. The error page you get is somewhat condescending.

We didn’t find any results for “linkedin”

Some reasons might be…

* a typo. Please check your spelling.
* your search includes a term that is very rare. Try to find a more common substitute.
* too many search terms. Please try fewer terms.

Finally, try to think of different words to describe your search.

I like how all the reasons the search fails is somehow my fault for sucking at searching.

If I put “linkedin” in quotes, I actually get results. That is really intuitive.

Maybe I’m jaded from using the “old way” for too long but I’m having a hard time meshing cuil’s results with my idea of relevant. According to their philosophy listed on their website, they appear to know what is relevant.

The Internet is getting bigger and more disorganized every day. Cuil’s goal is to solve the two great problems of search: how to index the whole Internet—not just part of it—and how to analyze and sort out its pages so you get relevant results.

Cuil’s founders worked with other search engines and knew that tinkering with old systems wouldn’t work. A fundamentally different approach was needed. So we’ve developed new architecture and algorithms that can handle the exponential growth of the Internet and organize results that reflect its enormous complexity.

Maybe we have different definitions. Maybe cuil is just inundated with requests right now. So far, I’m not impressed. I’m willing to give Cuil another chance.

Eagle Airport Taxi is Limousine Service at Taxi Cab Rates. I’m not kidding.

If you have never had the pleasure of a great cab driver in the Twin Cities, you’re missing out.

Earlier this year I had the Business Trip From Hell(tm). Luggage lost both ways, delays, and a spectacular storm diversion that stranded me in Little Rock, AK for a night. What made this business trip extra awesome was that I had purchased a hat in New Orleans. A fabulous red and black wool wide-brim number with ribbon and flowers and feathers. The type of hat you wear with a smart skirt suit to church on Sunday. A stand up in the pew screaming “Praise Jesus!” kind of hat. The type of hat that is not worn it wears you. A fantastic Southern women’s hat.

Not having the common sense to purchase a hat box, I was stuck wearing this hat for two days. I was like the beacon to the other stranded passengers.

“Hey — that woman with the hat — she was on our flight, lets ask her.”

At any rate, it was a miserable trip. The silver lining was Patrick and his Taxi.

Upon arriving at MSP, I took my unwashed and bedraggled self down to grab a taxi. By happenstance I ended up in an Eagle Airport Taxi, driven by Patrick. As he took me to my St. Paul home, he totally made my day. He’s got a great sense of humor and great outlook on life. After a disastrous trip his ride back really showcased “Minnesota Nice.”

I’ve used Patrick to both pick me up at my house and pick me up at the airport. He’s always on time. He’s picked me up at 6am and just tonight I called him from Chicago when my ride fell through and he was there waiting for me when I landed in Minneapolis. His cab is immaculately clean and he always has a little bottle of water waiting for you. Fantastic.

He loves those airport trips and has a bunch of regulars. If you get a chance give Patrick a call next time you need a taxi to or from the Minneapolis airport.