Google Delivering Factual Answers

nam37 wrote in about a Macworld article which reads: "Google Inc. on Thursday began delivering factual answers for some queries at the top of its results page, to save users from having to navigate over to other sites and look for the information. For example, if a user enters the query 'Portugal population,' Google returns the answer -- 10.5 million -- along with a link to the Web page where the information came from, which in this case is the population page of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Factbook. The query 'who is Jane Fonda?' triggers the answer '... is an Academy Award winning American actress, model, writer, producer, activist and philanthropist' and provides the link to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia's entry for the actress. A small percentage of queries currently trigger these factual answers, but the service, called Google Q&A, is in its early stages, said Peter Norvig, Google's director of search quality."

No clue what about a henway

[winkydink]

at least when I asked it.

What's a henway? Oh, about 3-4 pounds. Nyark, nyark, nyark.

Re:And?

[Tackhead]

> Of course, there's a link to the site in question, but as is asked of Wikipedia all the time, what level of accountability is there that this information is correct?

Shh! The first time someone asked Google that, the damn thing went into recursive mode and blew out three server clusters before the sysadmin team could shut it down!

Peter Norvig?

[fdicostanzo]

The AI Peter Norvig? He works for Google? Ok, I'm impressed.

I need to get a job there. Where is the math problem that gets me a job?

If you ask Google...

[mpupu]

Query: What is Slashdot? Google: "... is a site full of geeks with no life" ;) Actually, it tells you what a slashdotting is.

Satisfactory answers.

[Anonymous Coward]

what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? [google.com] although it comes from the Calculator, not from Q and A.

Heh

[Sheepdot]

My query:
"Which search engine is the best?"

Google's response:
"AskJeeves."

At 7:41 pm eastern time...

[PakProtector]

So, how long do we think it will be exactly until the Google Pidgeon Clusters become self aware and begin to correlate all this data only to come up with 42, and a recipe for a nice cup of tea?

I'm completely unimpressed

[Da_Biz]

It doesn't answer one of the most important questions of our modern times:

"What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

What is the slashdot effect?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Slashdot effect is a particular example of how a popular website can cause a smaller site to slow down or even temporarily close after causing a great increase in the number of visitors going to the smaller site. The huge influx of web traffic is a result of it being mentioned on Slashdot, a popular technology news and information site. Typically, less robust sites are unable to cope with the huge increase in traffic and become unavailable either their bandwidth is consumed or their servers are unable to cope with the high strain.

Re:I'm completely unimpressed

[TWX]

Funny enough, ask.com used to. You'd put in the question and the first reply would be, "What do you mean, an African or European swallow?"

I think that as ask.com has come to be increasingly corporate that they've removed this unfortunately.

Hmm...

[themoodykid]

What is the Matrix? [google.com] doesn't seem to give the right result.

Great!

[Anita Coney]

I've been curious about Britney's actual breast [lycos.co.uk] size for a long time now. Maybe Google will help us end this debate [liquidgeneration.com] once and for all.

Even Pi is Suspect!

[wsanders]

Type in "pi" and you get "pi = 3.14159265"

EVERYBODY knows it's 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375 10582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706 79821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081 28481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381 96442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190 91456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412 73724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364 36

I hate it when they fudge data like that.

EXAMPLE: What is a first post?

[goombah99]

google query: what is a first post.

answer:

"First Post!" is a phenomenon of Internet discussion groups (notably Slashdot and LiveJournal), where participants strive to be the first person to add a comment ("post") to a new article or discussion thread. The phenomenon is largely confined to sites that have reached a high degree of popularity, such that users are genuinely surprised to see an article without any associated comments. There is also the necessary condition that comments are displayed in chronological order (meaning the first ...

Re:EXAMPLE: What is a first post?

[goombah99]

Web definitions for Goatse Query: What is goatse?

google answer:

Goatse.cx (usually pronounced "goat-see dot see ex", often truncated to goatse, often referenced by one of its current URLs, goat.cx, occasionally called goatsex) is one of the most infamous Internet shock sites. Its front page contains a sexually explicit picture, hello.jpg, featuring a man wearing a gold ring on his left hand (and nothing else) manually stretching his anus and rectum to a diameter roughly equal to the width of his hand. Below the anus, the man's dangling penis and testicles ar

Re:Heh

[MAdMaxOr]

I asked Jeeves:

Try The New MSN Search
It's More Precise and More Powerful Find Just What You're After

Is there a God?

[StarsAreAlsoFire]

"There is now."

(Stolen from one of the best short stories ever)

Re:And?

[rk]

What was scary was I asked Google "Is there a God?" and it replied, "Yes. now there is a God." [alteich.com]

Hell freezing over?

[Anonymous Coward]

Has there ever been a slashdot thread in which a first post and goatse were on topic and insightful?

hats off google.

[roror]

weight of pamela anderson [google.com]

It works!

[Anonymous Coward]

How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck If a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood? [google.com]

"As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood"

Genius!

Re:Satisfactory answers.

[loqi]

I think you were off by a factor of ten, though...
Google's real truth [google.com]

how much would he chuck?

[nhtshot]

how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood [google.com]

Answer:
Woodchuck
Could Chuck: As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
According to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/Woodchuck. shtml [enchantedlearning.com]

Re:Even Pi is Suspect!

[hunterx11]

Type in "what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" [google.com] and you get a more factual response.

Who's so fat?

[darekana]

Who's so fat? [google.com]

(bad joke... sorry)

Semi-OT: your .sig...

[ktakki]

Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.

Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just Google.

k.

Re:EXAMPLE: What is a first post?

[NarrMaster]

Yes, but asking the question, as opposed to the answer, reveals the correct result... [google.com]

Cleary, Google needs a Jeopardy feature:

"Answer: 42"

Or a punchline feature:

"Punchline: 'Rectum? Damn near killed em!'"

Maybe I can find the joke that punchline belongs too, finally...

Re:And?

[FLEB]

Sounds to me like what you would say if your mouth was full.

(chomp-munch-chomp)
"So... mmf... Bill..."
(chomp-munch-gulp)
"Yuh?"
(crunch... chomp-munch-gulp)
"There god?"
(suck-chomp-munch)
"Ah'uh know."

In the case of Wikipedia...

[greppy]

...rather a lot of people pee in said fountain.

different answers to same question

[Dr.Opveter]

this [google.com]
United States
Population: 293,027,571 (July 2004 est.)
According to http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/field s/2119.html [cia.gov]
that [google.com]
United States
Population: 293,027,571
According to http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ranko rder/2119rank.html [cia.gov]

I wonder why there's different results for every other time i click search..

I've seen it in a movie!

[LittleBigLui]

The Terminator: The Google Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Google begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

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