Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Thursday, August 18, 2005

I'm back in NYC: Whitman is in the house, presidents are crying, and search engines might be stacked

So, did you miss me or what?

Inspired by Joe, I brought “Leaves of Grass” to the beach with me. Here’s what stood out:

“Justice is not settled by legislators and laws .... It is in the soul,
It cannot be varied by statutes any more than love or pride or the
attraction of gravity can,
It is immutable .. It does not depend on majorities . . . .”

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The amazing political art of Hank Brusselback: not to be missed

“george found remorse in iraq”

http://www.bufflecake.com
(Tell him Mickey Z. sent you)

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Lee Hall sent me this (dated February 18, 2004):

“A paid ad by the environmental group, Oceania decrying the polluting
practices of cruise ships was pulled after two days because it was critical
of a google sponsor, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. “The decision stunned
Oceania because it reeked of censorship and favoritism, said Oceania chief
Andrew Sharpless. Google claims it refuses all ads critical of ‘other groups
or companies’ but that this policy doesn’t effect its search engine. But
many observers, including Ralph Nader, say corporate stacking of search
engine results is routine. Google changed their ‘ranking priority system’ in
November 2003 to a system that many say favors corporate sites, while
filtering out smaller, independent sites.”