What were they thinking: Internet easter eggs

Is there humor in the Internet? Well, of course there is – there are any number of joke sites, or personal pages carrying humor of all sorts, but what about the technology itself? There is plenty to be found there as well. Do you remember when Google used to modify their aerial pictures to make Apple disappear or Easter eggs planted in software – things that do amazing or crazy things when you happen to get the right key combinations? Well, a friend of mine on Facebook recently suggested that I perform a Google search for the word askew. Take a look.

It appears that not everyone sees the humor because of local variations or because of other software loaded onto their machines and I will admit that it took me a while to notice. I use Firefox and it works there. IE is said not to work. Thinking back on it, I did notice immediately, but it just didn’t register. It was only when I went back to page later that it dawned on me. So thanks Google for the humor and thanks Rebecca for drawing my attention to it.

In response, another person posted that you should search for “do a barrel roll”. That is the only time I have ever known Google actually do anything it was told.

Someone else suggested “recursion” as a search. Many people complained that IE refuses to comply with these pages and other have found that they don’t happen for them, but you have to admire the humor of the programmers who brighten our lives.

Do you know of other Internet Easter eggs? Please share them.

Brian Bailey – keeping you covered

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