google, japanese pesos and outdoor showers

Three years ago, I posted a Blathering with the picture above with the subject header "Japanese peso?". My page was obviously picked up by search engines because over the next few years, I received at least two dozen e-mail messages from people offering or asking for information about the Japanese peso.

I finally got around to updating the original Blathering with the new information, but can't help but think of all the other Blatherings I've posted over the years on various topics, all being picked up by search engines. As a direct result of my Blatherings, I have sold articles and photographs, been interviewed by a newspaper reporter about my interest in the Iron Chef, hired to draw cartoons, design Web pages. FYI, according to my stats, popular search referrers include: "livejournal user pics", "inkspot", "lord of the rings cartoons", "bubble tea", "turning 40", "chocolate bars", "asian eyes", "young writers", "japanese peso", "waiting for frodo", and "outdoor shower" (!!). I just don't get it.

Helps hammer home the message that pretty much ANYTHING you put online is likely to be picked up by a search engine, even if it's password-protected. See this article, "Don't Expect Privacy on the Web".

Speaking of search engines...

Interesting to see what's happening in Googleland recently, from the extra invites being offered to Gmail users recently to the rumours that Google's developing an instant messaging initiative. Google is also apparently blocking third-party Gmail notifiers, causing some controversy.

I'm pretty happy with Gmail so far. I have some minor quibbles, but overall I like it, especially the threading and keyboard shortcuts. I've already made my Gmail account my public e-mail in my personal homepage, Market Watch column, newsgroup posting address. It seems to reliably filter spam messages.

I'm sticking with my regular e-mail address for vital and ongoing e-mail correspondences, but am sending copies to my Gmail address for archiving.

Related links:

GmailWatch

Will Gmail change the way email marketing is done?

Google may be building IM product

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