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Q: When are search engines at their most prophetic?

A: When you start typing the first letters into the browser's search box and it races ahead to guess your query, probably based on what others in your region have searched for, says Swapnajit Mitra in "IEEE Spectrum" magazine, who ran ABC tests on Google and Microsoft's Bing, the two most popular engines. "The results can be surprisingly accurate or amusingly off base," depending on the search engine used. "But together Google and Bing offer a snapshot of the world's 536.6 million English-language-using Internet searchers."

Some interesting Mitra findings: Of the initial letters of the alphabet, 11 were the same for both engines, including C (Craigslist), F (Facebook), G (Google), N (Netflix), T (Target) and Y (Yahoo). Also, 21 (81 percent) of Google's suggestions were names of organizations and products, while Bing's total was 24 (about 92 percent). "And it seems search engines don't like people very much: Google's list shows only two, known mostly for their notoriety. Recently Osama bin Laden and musical flash-in- the-pan Rebecca Black shared this rare honor (and she was soon gone). Bing's list is person-free."

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Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2013. There are 196 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: Fanatics have grown wonderfully civil since the president snubbedthem by revoking Burnside's infamous attack upon the freedom of the press.
1888 -- 125 years ago: The Interstate baseball league has collapsed, leaving Davenport'sleading team without a league connection.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Passengers were stunned yesterday when lightning struck a LongView street car at 9th Ave. and 25th St.
1938 -- 75 years ago: X-ray examinations today traced the trouble with Dizzy Dean's$250,000 pitching arm to a pulled muscle back of his right shoulder blade.
1963 -- 50 years ago: Radio station WQAD in Moline is being considered by the NationalCivil Defense Office for selection as a "secured communication center" Mrs. Gault,executive deputy director of the Moline Civil Defense unit reported today.
1988 -- 25 years ago: "Marketplace 29 A.D." an unusual vacation Bible school programthat will allow children to live three days as people did during the Bible Times June 21-23. The three day program, is a joint project of Aldersgate and Bethel-Wesley UnitedMethodist churches.

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