Google Trends

I took a break from fighting the unix server this afternoon when Katherine pointed me to Google Trends. Basically, it calculates the number of searches and news citations over time (from 2004) for a keyword or phrase. You can compare the popularity of multiple phrases, and see geographically where they are most popular. Without further ado, here is what I learned from Google Trends:

1. Enchiladas are popular in the US, Mexico...and most of all, Stuttgart, Germany. Anyone have any idea why?


2. Digg has gradually overtaken Slashdot in popularity, and is now even topping the venerable Wall Street Journal.


3. Speaking of internet phenomenon, you can chart the meteoric rise of memes:


4. Google might be bigger than God:


5. But truly surprising, Google might be bigger than sex: