How many pages does Google search? I’m guessing 9,620,000,000: Staci Kramer of PaidContent.org points to this NYT story by John Markoff who reports that Google has removed from its front page the number of pages it searches.

Quote:

“…the company is challenging users to guess the number of pages the service searches after phasing in a larger index and has removed the latest number ‘8,168,684,336′ from the home page.

Okay. I accept the challenge.

First, I’ll search for a random series of letters that don’t exist on any page. For example, “stacikramer*paidcontent” (except in my test search, I left out the asterik so that when Google indexes this page, my demo will still work).

Okay, now that I know those series of letters return no results - in other words, there are zero pages with that series of letters appearing on it, I will do a “negative search” on the series: “-stacikramer*paidcontent”

In theory, the number of pages that Google can find without that series of letters is equal to all of the pages it searches: 9,620,000,000 as of a few minutes ago.

Or, at least, that’s the theory. However, multiple searches reveal different totals ranging from 9,580,000,000 to 9, 620,000,000.

Credit for me learning about this goofy hack goes to Tara Carishan who credits these folks.

Fantasy league: According to USA Today, the NFL suspension of Travis Henry provides salary cap relief so that the Titans can find a replacement. Ed-deee. Ed-deee.

I’m sorry, I was just swept up in the sports cliché of the previous post.

Quarterback controversy? What quarterback controversy? I’m no University of Tennessee football fan, but after watching the just-completed, 48-hour-delayed LSU-Tennessee football game, I have decided to be a fan of Rick Clausen.

A classic sports cliché played-out tonight — the unappreciated, unspectacular veteran steps in to save the day when the over-hyped, superstar-of-tomorrow quarterback demonstrates he’s clearly not ready for primetime. (Oh, and did I mention the winning, veteran QB started out his college football career for the team he beat, where he was also unappreciated and unspectacular?)

On the other hand, another cliché didn’t play out tonight - the home team should have won, allowing the post-traumatic fans some respite from their emotional trauma.

Oh well.

Rexblog exclusive - One honkin’ hot spot: On the way home from the office today, I confirmed a tip from a rexblog reader: Nashville’s Metro Parks Department is now providing free wireless access (wifi) throughout Centennial Park, home of one of Nashville’s best known landmarks, the full-scale replica of the Parthenon.

I have not found a press release or local news coverage indicating when the hot spot came online, however, a Google search revealed a sentence buried in this June 21 Tennessean article (see second to last sentence) indicating the park would start the service in August or September.

Using MacStumbler, I discovered a robust signal throughout the park indicating several access points. The Metro Parks website provides no information about the size of the park, but I estimate it is about 15-20 square blocks (100 acres?). Even if my estimate of the size of the park is on the high side, I am certain this is the largest contiguous area of free wireless internet access in Nashville. (While Vanderbilt University’s 300-acre campus (including Peabody) across the street from Centennial Park has huge areas of wifi coverage, it is not technically “free” or public or, at least in my experience, contiguous.)

Access to the Centennial Park wifi is free but requires a log-on, user-agreement acknowlegement. No registration is required but an e-mail address must be included with the acknowlegement log-in. I did not test the access to see if any content filters are being used.

tags: nashville, free wifi, nashville wifi

Condé Mass: (From Adage.com) “Conde Nast Publications will comprise Conde Nast magazines, the business division, Fairchild Publications, Golf Digest Publications, the Conde Nast Media Group, CondeNet and the Conde Nast Shared Services Centers.”

We’re #946: According to the PubSub, the rexblog ranks 946th on a list of “the most consistently influential sites that publish feeds, based on their average LinkRank scores over the past 30 days.” As my goal in life was to be #950 on this list, I’m feeling very empty now. Is that all there is? Then let’s keep dancing.

The Apple iTort: Apparently, the iPod nano sucks for some people. However, some folks who want to blog about it don’t want to get sued by Apple’s blog-suing legal department, so they’re wrapping disclaimers all around their complaints.

By the way, my iPod nano is black and is working great.

tags: ipod nano

Circular arguments: (From MediaPost Publications) “A more timely and effective system of circulation reporting is essential to print media if it wants to stay competitive with other advertising platforms, said the head of circulation auditor BPA Worldwide last week, a day after the company unveiled plans to deliver statements on a “per-issue” basis.”

tags: magazines, circulation