Trendinator

Lost vs American Idol

2010-05-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Lost wins! Notice the quick drop-off once the spring TV season ends in May.

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of lost in all years. Learn more

lost

1.00

american idol

0.30

The U.S. Health Care Debate in 26 Words

2010-02-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

Republicans:
1) Spend your own money.
2) Keep your job.
3) Don't get sick.
4) Die fast.

Democrats:
1) Give us your money.
2) Trust us.
3) Get sick.
4) See if we care.

Wine is now more interesting than John McCain

2008-11-15T17:47:00.001-08:00

mccain wine

Is this a bear market?

2008-10-10T12:29:00.001-07:00

Or are we all just talking about the financial bail-out? Judge for yourself:

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of "bear market" in the last 12 months. Learn more

"bear market"

1.00

"financial bailout"

0.15

Senator Joe Who?!...

2008-09-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Poor Joe. Look at the attention being given Palin, Obama, McCain and Biden in recent weeks:

biden

1.00

palin

6.60

obama

4.80

mccain

3.00

Hottest California wine region?

2008-07-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Looks like Napa and Sonoma duke it out each year, leaving Lodi in the dust:

napa

1.00

sonoma

0.94

lodi

0.23

Convergence of some investment vehicles

2008-07-03T15:28:00.001-07:00

real estate

1.00

gold

0.76

stocks

0.09

bonds

0.10

oil

0.60

If media coverage and public attention matter in the U.S. presidential election...

2008-07-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

then Obama has it hands-down over McCain:

mccain

1.00

obama

4.10

Fork it over, Spoon

2008-02-15T17:53:00.001-08:00

spoon

fork

Oprah, Brittney and Hillary

2008-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

Maybe Oprah should run for President. Brittney or Hillary for VP

Bush, Cruise, Obama

2008-01-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

Gerorge Bush, Tom Cruise, Barack Obama

George Bush definitely in the lead here, but Tom Cruise occasionally gives him a run for his money, and Barack coming on strong.

Linux vs Windows: a race towards irrelevance

2008-01-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

In the tech world, Linux versus Windows has been a long point of interest and contention. Among Internet users broadly, though, you can see the battle lines have been rigidly drawn, and the matter continues to dwindle in overall importance in the Internet space:

linux

windows

Oddly, the press seems to be increasingly engaging the topic of Windows (see bottom graph of news volume), despite diminishing overall interest.

How do you spell "shiraz"?

2008-01-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

In the ancient wine geek question of "shiraz" vs "syrah", you can see that the new-world "shiraz" wins hands-down over the more old-world "syrah":

shiraz

syrah

Even Wikipedia redirects syrah to shiraz!

Us vs Them: How selfish are we?

2008-01-05T10:04:00.001-08:00

them

Flash: Eggnog hotter than ever this New Year's!

2008-01-04T21:27:00.001-08:00

hot toddy

One venerable form of hot toddy was called the "Tom & Jerry", a rum-and-eggnog style treat. This nostalgic posting from the 1930's (including recipe) lays out the proper use of this beverage to maintain holiday spirits at high levels.

Sitcoms versus reality tv

2008-01-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

So, as sitcoms have declined in interest, reality TV has been on a steady rise, right?
Well, not quite:

sitcom

reality tv

Who's the Republican candidate darling of the Internet?

2008-01-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Like this was any kind of surprise to you!

"ron paul"

"mitt romney"

"rudy giuliani"

"john mccain"

"mike huckabee"

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll

2007-12-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

Trend history

sex

drugs

rock and roll

Speaking of the 60's, I was interested in how the philosophical bent of that era plays out today. Comparing "Sex, drugs and Rock and Roll", Sex is clearly the winner. I guess some things never change.

Beatles vs. Jesus Christ

2007-12-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

Trend history

beatles

jesus christ

John Lennon caused a big ruckus in the 60's for saying that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. Well, based on Google trends, it turns out that he was right, or at least is in the 2000's!

Charity, charity, on the wall...

2007-11-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

...who's the fairest of them all?

"salvation army"

"red cross"

"united way"

Time goes marching on

2007-11-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Some obvious but useful terms to help chronologically orient oneself.

Note that the newspapers keep talking about each month's events long before and after people are searching for them.

... and a happy New Year!

2007-11-29T10:52:00.001-08:00

Let's not forget that other upcoming winter holiday, New year's day. It may be dwarfed by Christmas, but note that the New Year is actually two holidays in one:

new year

(The Chinese New Year is celebrated on February 18th)

Interestingly, only us non-Chinese tend to use the plural when describing our holiday.

Finally, let's take a look at what this holiday is really all about:

new year

love

sex

Sorry to say, but love is nowhere to be found on New Year's eve! Although at first it appears that the Chinese revelers are doing much better in that regard, it's a simple coincidence that the Chinese new year is 4 days away from that truly romantic holiday.

'Tis the season...

2007-11-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

The "Christmas season" is now fully upon us, so let's get warmed up here while the weather cools down. Observe how Christmas takes a bite out of Google:

It's important to realize that "of," Google's most common search term, isn't getting fewer searches around Christmastime--rather, it's being perennially normalized downwards because of the sheer volume of Yuletide inquiries.

Better than WHAT?!

2007-11-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

It's official: Google is now better than sex.

sex

google

Short but sweet

2007-11-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's fun to use short, common English words to define a "ceiling" for your Google Trends searches. It's reminiscent the DNA size markers used in biological gels, another world where everything is relative.

Can you find a word with more search volume than "of"? I tried, but failed.

For reference, here are the top 5 most common English words:

You and me...

2007-11-29T10:18:00.001-08:00

Either the Internet is becoming less selfish (I wouldn't bet on it!), or YouTube has hijacked a very common English word:

Getting warmer...

2007-11-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

Global warming? Heating up.

But so is global cooling.

Free the phone...

2007-11-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

Looks like some momentum building for gphone and more recently for Android, elements of the movement to establish open source standards for mobile phone development.

What's my line?

2007-11-10T17:35:00.000-08:00

Do I work in Communication or Public Relations? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that people are paying increasingly less attention to it, whatever it's called?

communication

public relations

BTW, is it "Communication" or "Communications"?

communication

communications

Merlot vs Pinot Noir

2007-11-05T22:37:00.001-08:00

Merlot versus pinot noir: Despite the 2004 film "Sideways", pinot noir hasn't caught up with merlot in global interest (but note the narrowing that started in '04):

pinot noir

merlot

Except it's a different story in the United States, where the varietals have been neck-and-neck since the movie:

pinot noir

merlot

I've got my own theory about why pinot noir was favored over merlot in the film.

Choose your poison...

2007-11-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

The reds have it over the whites...

But check out this summer sipper.

And, bringing it back up a notch.

Like the harder stuff? Clear spirits seem to rule here. And Mexico is sure getting hot recently!

Two religions...

2007-11-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

...and an increasingly distracted world.

Seasonality a la mode....

2007-11-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

Do you like your pumpkin pie with ice cream?

Global attitudes toward China...

2007-11-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

Leaping from fascination to concern.

Political stand-offs...

2007-11-03T09:45:00.001-07:00

The United States is definitely still a two-party system. By the way, who's this Obama guy?

Who's the big cheese?

2007-11-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well, moms have it all over dads. But that said, it's a little different with the monarchy.

Pass the fries...

2007-11-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Our fascination with low carb diets has waned almost entirely; but notice that we're especially conscious of diet as each new year starts.

And we've always been lots more concerned about being fat than being skinny.

The world is becoming a bigger place

2007-11-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Our gaze is widening in recent months.

Truth is stranger than...

2007-11-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Not only may truth be stranger than fiction, but it looks like it's becoming increasingly more interesting too. Or we all just find less and less time to read books...

Truth, justice and the American way

2007-11-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

The world is a big place; the American way is a small part of it.

That was then, this is now.

2007-11-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

The present fascinates us more than the past. So does the future.

Who,what,where,when,why?

2007-11-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Which is the fairest question of them all? What!

who

what

where

when

why

Averting crisis

2007-11-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

What is the best way to avert crisis?
Picnics and eggnogs seem to work well!

(I'd put images like the one below on each post, but I'm waiting to see if Google will give me permission to do so.)

crisis

picnic

eggnog