
People are telling me that the French and UK versions of Google are highlighted today with the image above, a picture of Charles Darwin’s tangled bank, but that the US has snubbed the man. I think they’re wrong; I just looked, and google.com does have the above image. I can think of a few explanations: google just updated the logo a little later for our time zone, users may have been seeing a cached version of a frequently used page, or the explanation I prefer, I’m special and google takes care to present me with a special personal version of the page so that I don’t get mad at them. Admittedly, the last possibility is a tiny bit unlikely, but hey, if I’m not going to believe in a deity, maybe I can believe in a loving, omnipotent search engine. Just as long as it doesn’t start dictating what I’m allowed to do with my genitals…
And if you click on the image, it googles Charles Darwin. Cool.
It looks like they’ve done it everywhere, but caching or something is causing confusion.
No, I think you’re right with the 3rd possibility: Programmers don’t produce rational, perfect, finely-tuned search engines. Just ones that will keep PZ from getting upset.
I saw it just after midnight last night, California time. We’re still sort of part of the US, right?
If I use Generalissimo Google™’s French site en Français, I get the cool logo; but in English, I get the normal boring logo. I get the cool logo using the Irish site (in English, didn’t try Irish).
It’s been like that for me all day and I’m right outside of Chicago. California and Illinois are indeed still part of the US, CJO.
Just as long as it doesn’t start dictating what I’m allowed to do with my genitals…
It probably won’t, although entering certain search terms will show you a variety of options…
They just converted to our religion late this morning.
All hail Darwin. Down with academic freedom (the kind that means forcing science to include rubbish).
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
http://www.google.co.ve/ (Venezuela) Shows the picture.
http://www.google.com.pe/ (Peru, Spanish) Shows the picture, but not the Quechua version.
In English, US, I do not see it.
Are you sure, that you didn’t visit die UK version of Google due to a cookie you saved during the first visit? When I visit the non-redirecting link http://www.google.com/ncr it shows me the standard logo every time in every browser.
You DO know that Google is God – right?
Google Canada shows this image, too.
It’s all over now, it’s really a big, big conspiracy! Yay!
Happy Darwin Day, ye Pharyngulate horde.
Oh, and happy B-Day to you too Mr. Lincoln.
Nice afternoon at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History:
DARWIN AT 200
Lectures and Q and A by:
-Alan Guttmacher, M.D.
Acting Director Nat. Human Genome Research Institute
-Sandra Herbert, Ph.D.
Prof. Emerita Dept of History U of MD
-Donald Johanson, Ph.D. Discovered Lucy
Lucy and Paleoanthropology
(He showed the chimp/Bush slide. Nice touch. Lots of applause.
-Matthew Carrano, Ph.D.
Museum Of Nat History on feathered Dinosaurs and Bird Origin
-Eric Green M.D., Ph.D. National Human Genome Research Inst.
Comparative Genomics
-Scott Edwards Ph.D. Harvard U.
House Finch and mycoplasma co-evolution
-Ted Schultz Ph.D. Museum Of Natural History
Attine Ants and Fungal Cultivar co-evolution
-Francis Collins, M.D. Ph.D.
Evolution and Medicine
Lots of Highschoolers in the audience
Darwin would have loved it.
When I checked 7 hours ago it was there, and I’m in los angeles.
I’ve gotten the Darwin logo on their main page, Google.com, since late last night. I really doubt there is anything more sinister than time zones and caching to explain the spotty coverage.
Funny, I’ve been on and off Google all day, and I’ve been seeing the “Darwinized” logo (dope that I am, I thought they were just getting antsy for Spring). I live in the greater Philadelphia area.
@Toni
Same.
Sadly, Google Belize does NOT show the cool icon.
I cleared cache and everything.
Here in Germany I also do not see the logo on Google.com but I do see it in Google.de and google.fr and so on!
Or, there’s a fourth possibility:
Google used your search history, and scanned your blog, to determine whether or not you might be offended or impressed by their Darwin image.
that’s a neat one. and i’ve only noticed it now, even though i’ve been using google all day. maybe that’s because i never go to google.com but use my google search tool….
http://www.google.it shows the Darwin image. Nice!
I’d like to see a search engine named Lanuga. It’s one where you type in David Berlinski and you get a picture of a “quantitatively”, tightly puckered, unctuous ass-munch.
Shows in Finland too (no big surprise there).
Incidentally, even after Darwin Day it won’t be getting better for creationists and other superstitious folks — it’s Friday the 13th tomorrow. (Or in the case of Finland, er, today.)
I would have to agree that URL caching is the most likely explanation. Especially at work where you might have a proxy server. Just click the refresh button. I’m apparently right down the street from Mena, and I’ve seen the logo all day, too.
The Darwin Day logo shows up on Google for me here in Mississippi. I’m fairly sure we haven’t seceded from the US again. Yet.
#17, I thought the same thing. Me, sometime around 1:30 this afternoon: “Ooooh, they’re Darwin’s finches. I get it.”
The picture is beautiful.
And Googles also shows it in Peru.
¡Happy Darwin’s Day to everybody!
Walter
I’ve seen it since I first looked this morning, on both the US and Canadian Google main pages. (This was at about 5 am eastern)
I saw the logo was different this morning but it went right by me. Duh! In my defense I was studying for a test so my brain was addled. To make up for it, I’m having a Tusker beer. It’s from Kenya. Perfect!
That’s odd.
I’m in the UK. If I try to go to google.com it redirects me to the .co.uk (presumably because I’m signed in to my Google account). There’s a link underneath that says “go to Google.com”. I click it, and it takes me there but no Darwin picture! I wonder if this issue is caused by people trying to get there from outside the US? As all the US commenters appear to be able to see it and only the Europeans as far as I can tell, cannot.
It’s not the cache – believe me, I’ve tried it on multiple different computers here and cleared the cache – it’s that if you are located in Canada, then you see the logo at google.ca, but google.com just gives you the vanilla logo without Darwin. It must be some weird thing at google itself, that checks where you’re coming in from.
Some places (not necessarily places of work) have caching servers for frequently-accessed pages. You just might not know it – and that’s kinds wrong. If you’re not seeing the Darwin logo, that’s probably why. One symptom: you’re in another country and you’re looking at the American site, but you see the regular logo.
Who died and made you special?
Amend “Europeans” in my previous comment to “Anyone outside of the US” I think! I’m guessing it is related to where you are, as Jeffrey @32 suggests.
Logo was up already at 2 p.m. Central time, or so.
Nope, I’m in the UK and mine’s been like that all day. I also purchased some snazzy Darwin anniversary stamps from good old Royal Mail :-)
Interesting that the US version didn’t honour Abe Lincoln – it’s his 200th today, too, and from a US history point of view, arguably at least as important.
(Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they’re right or wrong about Darwin; I’m saying the US site would have been perfectly justified showing Lincoln, had they so wished.)
I got into work and immediately had to deal with some proxy and dns cache issues that meant some of our customer-facing sites hadn’t updated. Once they were resolved, I was able to see the “tangled bank, with finches” logo fine.
I’m suspecting some denial of service from the denialists.
I had a meeting today and was sitting next to a YEC guy. I had to Google something and saw the cool graphic. I pointed it out to the guy and explained that it was for Darwin’s 200th birthday. He just frowned, and a few minutes later sent me the text from this ling:
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11076
Later on I thanked him for the chuckle.
At 9:00 a.m. CST the finch display showed up on my computer in Fargo, however, a visiting student who accesses a Portuguese version has the default google logo.
If only google would leave it tangled. Finally it’s perfect.
The Portuguese version has also the same logo in honor of Darwin ;)!
Go!GO! Darwin :D!
Re: Genitals
It won’t dictate what you should do with them, but it can give you some ideas, if used properly.
It only dictates what you can do with your genitals if you have SafeSearch turned on :-D
I’m in Illinois, and I’ve had the spiffy finch version all day.
The picture itself features Pinnacle Rock, on Bartolome Island in the Galapagos. That island is almost all lava flows with tangled banks few and far between. I suspect the artist did a mash-up of Pinnacle Rock and Lake Darwin, on the more verdant Isabela Island.
Celebrate Darwin Day by pissing on the folks over at Stand to Reason who are promoting “Academic Freedom Day”. Guess what THAT’S about? They’ll let you comment and everything.
http://str.typepad.com/weblog/
Not in Australia. :( No pretty pictures for Google.com.au.
It showed up first thing this morning here in New Mexico USA – You know – that state everyone THINKS is another country?
Pete, maybe Abe will show up on Presidents Day!
By Google participating in honoring that man is just another clear example of right-wing liberal business attacking Christianity. I’ll be deleting Google from my computer right away in protest.
Tristero over at Digby wrote an operetta about Darwin, in case no one’s said anything yet,
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-birthday-charles-and-abe-by.html
Google Mexico has it. Happy B-Day, Sen~or Darwin!
Still doesn’t work for me, and I’ve been clearing my cache several times. Google.ph works, though.
It’s been there since 00:01 PST last night – I’m down the road from the Big G and was on line when they did the switch-over. (it’s automated and I use iGoogle for a home page.)
And for reasons I can’t understand, Google won’t hire me for their graphic design, because that is one deity awful logo. Poor color selection, crappy contrast, and just downright BAD graphics. If you use iGoogle, it looks worse.
It’s been up since 5:30 MST this morning here in Utah (even on the work computers), so the L.D.S. blocking software must have missed it . . .
OK, makes sense and maybe should have Lincoln and Darwin but that could be clunky. For comparison, NBC news tonight: This and that, and plenty about Abe Lincoln’s 200th, but they didn’t even mention Darwin. That’s pitiful, and I don’t get it. I could imagine for World Net Daily, but not easily for NBC.
I’m in Japan but I have the US Google page presenting, and I was delighted to find the Darwinesque display on Darwin Day our time, but as it turned to Darwin Day your time it disappeared. I guess they know where I really am!
It was lovely, just like an illuminated manuscript.
@Katkinkate #49 You don’t get it because it’s the next day there! The process is automated and so it went up at 00:01, and goes down at 24:00. It was likely up all day yesterday on the servers in the local time zone.
Oddly, while the English-language google.ca home page, like the UK one, is giving creationists the bird, the French-language one is not. ??? This is probably someone being slack, not politics, as I can’t think why it would be a particularly touchy subject in Quebec and New Brunswick (or Sudbury or…). The version for France was finchy when i looked. The US site that I get to via the link on the .ca page is still finchless from western Canada (and I don’t have an old one cached so that’s not it).
The firefox version is also finchless and is no longer my home page for this reason :P
Alex @ 52
“Right-wing liberal business”?
Paper @ 62
You’re right. I left out God hating, devil-worshipping, baby eating, immoral, amoral, monkey-loving, Nazis.
(this thread was losing energy so I thought I throw in a poe.)
PZ,
Since Google gives me searches tailored specifically to me it isn’t beyond reason that they would do that. In fact some of my own websites offer different people completely different pages based on their IP addresses. I figure it is far better to appear broken and harmless or redirect to a competitor than appear that I’m blocking them.
Even my favorite miniature wargaming site is celebrating Darwin Day (I think…) along with Old Abe’s Birthday.
http://theminiaturespage.com/
Although I don’t remember Darwin sending hordes of AK-47 armed ape-men to attack the Union army.
My URL for Google is http://www.google.ca/, which shows the finches. When I select the français option, it goes back to the usual one. Interestingly the URL does not change when I do this, so I expect Google is setting and resetting a cookie as I switch back and forth.
Maybe Google is a fallible god, after all. That is a fun site, btw (@#10). Thanks, JackC
Brazilian Google also honours Darwin
I don’t get it: Why is there no Google graphic for Newton or Einstein? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that in the physical sciences, scientists are full-time scientists rather than full-time activists.
Thanks Onkle Bob, I forgot it’s still yesterday in most of the rest of the world. I missed it yesterday.
Apparently Google Romania didn’t celebrate Darwin :(
Obama commented on Darwin’s 200th at The Lincoln celebratory dinner in Springfield. Positive comments on the common striving for scientific knowledge in CD’s and AL’s lives.
Semi-OT… I’m watching Obama give a Lincoln speech on MSNBC, and he just gave a shoutout to Darwin, mentioning his birthday and using it to repeat the kind of comments he’s made before about restoring science to its rightful place.
Obama’s mention of Darwin was in passing, but it’s good to know he’s thinking about him.
Whoa! Compared to the last eight years this is great news.
A quick search shows no one has posted this yet, which I find hard to believe, but just in case:
Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/evolutionists_flock_to_darwin
I’m packing up the car. Time for an all-night drive!
Maybe google finally figured out that all the IDiots who would want to boycott their site for doing such a thing probably aren’t smart enough to use google anyway. Let them type their stupid questions into Ask.com for the time being.
Darwin Quotes!
Get your Darwin Quotes!
http://www.darwin-literature.com/l_quotes.html
Here’s a well done piece
A Tribute to Charles Darwin dre
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/ICECAP-200YEARSOFCHARLESDARWIN.pdf
Ah Stevie H. trying for a plonking I see. Stevie is an anti AGW liar and bullshitter extraordinaire, and I don’t mean that in complementarily fashion.
Content aside, that is in fact a poorly written and apparently unproofread piece.
http://i43.tinypic.com/51erlh.jpg
OT, but not too much. Egnor has been made incoherent, over at “Evolution News and Views”:
Darwinism (you already fucked up there, Egnorant) is a religious ideology, because, you know, it is the “creation myth” of the non-religious, atheism.
IDiots plumb the depths of stupid, going lower than one would think is possible. It’s their only contribution to advancing knowledge, expanding the frontiers of stupidity, self-contradiction, and incoherent drooling, all fueled by their envy of competence.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
Thom Hartmann had Ray Comfort on today. Feel like being annoyed? It’s at Hour 2. http://www.620kpoj.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=hartmann_nationwide.xml
Inspite of all the crap going on in Florida over the science standards,it was good to see a well written Op Ed in the St Pete Times(my home town) about Darwin and Religion.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2009/02/darwin-still-th.html#more
Do click on the pretty logo: it goes to a search page for Charles Darwin, which links to lots of interesting things, including his long and chatty obituary in the Times.
I’m in Chicago, and I’ve been seeing the Darwin logo all day. I never go to other countries’ versions of Google, or at least I haven’t done so in a very, very long time, so I’m pretty sure it’s not a cacheing issue.
Weird because the logo was up at 5a.m. CST here in Wisconsin so don’t think there was any snub at all. If it was, it would have only been because it is Abe Lincoln’s birthday too.
Thank you! I have iGoogle on as default. I wouldn’t have known about this if you didn’t tell me.
#84,
Comfort is lying through his teeth (what a surprise, I know). He says that there are “good atheists” and that he’s against the activist atheists of the so-called new movement.
Great how the host doesn’t hesitate to challenge Comfort’s views on separation of church and state quite strongly. You can really see Comfort’s face (he stutters slightly) when he realizes he’s not going to get through his shtick unchallenged this time. The host (Hartman) easily spots the holes in Ray’s opinion and goes for them – well a few of them, there are too many. Ray is one of those creationists who manage to state so much bullshit in such a compressed form that it takes longer just to point it all out. Just Ray’s usual ‘it doesn’t do the magic I imagine it should do, so evolution is false and magic-man’s magic is better’. I think Comfort doesn’t convert anyone actually. He just reinforces aversions and distrust of the ignorant against science and tries to make them feel content with it. They’re his market, and what he does is foster customer-connectivity by churning out comforting emotional bs and ‘new’ material to keep up the illusion that he’s working for them (or for Jesus).
Sorry, I forgot to follow up my opening sentence of #90. What I wanted to say is that Ray has stated in very clear terms that humans are not good. His definition of good is absolute, strictly hinging on sin. When he switches to that transparent soft-talk at the beginning, he’s simply not in accord with what he says otherwise.
Ray is one of those creationists who manage to state so much bullshit in such a compressed form that it takes longer just to point it all out.
It’s like a cat barfing up a hairball with a bunch of yarn tangled up in it.
you have to actually unwind it all to see just how disgusting it really is.
Of course, most of us would just prefer to toss the whole thing in the rubbish bin without even touching it.
Now that I’m living in the country where Ray came from, I’m finding that nobody here EVER liked or respected the man, and they are all grateful for the US for taking him off their hands.
“Celebrate Darwin Day by pissing on the folks over at Stand to Reason who are promoting “Academic Freedom Day”.”
I googled for Darwin Day in Boise earlier today, and towards the bottom of the first page, got that same headline from the Idaho Values Coalition. World Net Daily also had something about Darwin Day being a “poke in the eye to creationists”. All reasons to celebrate, methinks. Happy monkey!
black wolf.
While I thought that Hartman did a good job keeping Ray’s horse at a speed less than the Gish Gallop, I thought he utterly failed at displaying his understanding of the topic. Sure he made a few good points but it was obvious that he didn’t / doesn’t have a great grasp of the subject matter. Nothing wrong with that, just didn’t think he was a great choice to represent the “good guys”.
I wish that they had had his next guest Dr. Loye face off against Ray.
Yeah, in Australia we feel much the same way about Ken Ham – those who’ve even heard of him that is. We’re pretty good at treating idiot religionists the way they deserve, as is illustrated by the backlash against that idiot who said the bushfires were caused by abortions.
Last night this is what I saw at Google in the US. So it was probably people were seeing a cached page.
Science is awesome, its cool to see it celebrated all over the place.
Unfortunately the logo looks kind of poorly designed to me… I am red/green color-blind and the oo in google kind of gets lost in the background. I’m going to call a lawyer and sue their asses for this.
You are in luck! Googlism (the Church of Google) is now a religion!
Forget google, the Vatican is celebrating Darwin’s bday! it’s good to see that people understand that just because you support evolution doesn’t make you an atheist:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3993823.ece
Happy Monkey!
I am red/green color-blind and the oo in google kind of gets lost in the background.
I am not color-blind, but the red o seems to have been partly eaten by the finch.
Yay, Darwin Day! Whoohoo! Really though, don’t biologists have anything better to do but hype up birthdays? Isn’t radical Marxism still chic, biologists?
The UK and South African Google sites definitely had the logo before the US-centric google.com. I even cleared my cache to check. I suppose it was just a time zone issue, though.
I can’t believe someone wrote this:
“They just converted to our religion late this morning.
All hail Darwin. Down with academic freedom… ”
I detest fundamentalists of all persuasions, religious and atheist.
The dutch version has the normal image :(
Even after emptying my cash.
Simon T @ #104
I think the post you’re objecting to was not meant seriously. It was poking fun at the claim sometimes made by Intelligent Design advocates that their beliefs have been unreasonably excluded by scientists who protect their “religion” of evolution by limiting academic freedom.
I first opened my browser at 6am EST, and the Darwin logo was already there.
I live in St. Paul, MN and my GOOGLE has had this logo for a couple of days-they like me the best!
Uuuh, when I went to Google yesterday (I live in the US), they had that Darwin picture up, and when I clicked, it went to the Google search page for Darwin. I’m thinking cache problems for those who couldn’t see it?
I’m also blue-green challenged. Intelligent design my arse.
Hey, if you become a solipsist there’s the double advantage that a) you KNOW that you exist and b)that God’s intelligent. Perhaps all the other stuff that surrounds you was stuff you foisted off on ignorant flunkies to keep them busy, so that it reflects all sorts of design from breathtaking to boneheaded.
I hate how Google (and other web sites) have started using these pointless, ever-changing images on their main pages. Since the images change every day, my browser has to download them anew every day, which wastes bandwidth and slows down my browsing experience.
Today, I thought for a moment that Google was doing that “fair and balanced” thing. Doesn’t this look a little like the Expelled logo?
http://img0.gmodules.com/logos/valentines09_res.gif
A thghtfl nsght nd ds I wll s n my blg. Y’v bvsly spnt sm tm n ths. Wll dn!