522: Google Trends

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Google Trends
Obama has been writing Lincoln/Obama erotic fan fiction on his secret livejournal. Excerpt: Lincoln lay back on the bed, nude save for his trademark stovepipe hat. 'Tell me,' he purred seductively, as he and Obama formed a more perfect union. 'When you come, is it 10% ethanol?'
Title text: Obama has been writing Lincoln/Obama erotic fan fiction on his secret livejournal. Excerpt: Lincoln lay back on the bed, nude save for his trademark stovepipe hat. 'Tell me,' he purred seductively, as he and Obama formed a more perfect union. 'When you come, is it 10% ethanol?'

Explanation

Google keeps track of which searches are most popular in which regions as part of more general data mining to improve their service. For the enjoyment/education of others, they release select, non-personal parts of this data under the banner "Google Trends."

The first statistic – that "Men kissing" was popular in Utah, a state known for possessing a large population with very conservative social values, including opposition to homosexuality – is real. The others are made up for the sake of the joke. In order:

With regards to the excerpt Randall provides in the title text:

  • Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on homosexual behavior.
  • Lincoln/Obama (pronounced Lincoln slash Obama) fan fiction normally should be between Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.
  • The "more perfect union" line comes from the preamble to the US Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...". However, it seems to have a sexual connotation in this case.
  • Ethanol is the more scientific name for drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol.
  • "10% ethanol" refers to automotive gasoline that includes 10% ethanol (usually made from corn or other vegetables), with the hopes of reducing the dependence on oil for fuel.

Transcript

Bloggers were recently amused to discover that,
according to Google Trends, the search term:
"men kissing" is most popular in conservative Utah.
A few other embarrassing correlations:
[A two column table]
[On the left side of the table:]
Search Term
Installing Ubuntu
Running for President in 2010
Lincoln Fan Fiction
Raptors on Hoverboards
How is babby formed?
I hate this website
[On the right side of the table:]
Top City
Redmond, WA
Wasilla, AK
Chicago, IL
Somerville, MA
Wasilla, AK
Mountain View, CA


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Discussion

This comic made me laugh and laugh and laugh, some of it even out loud. Randall for President in 2014! 108.162.219.223 19:24, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

The next election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Maybe Randall does create a xkcd party and he will run for that job; but I'm pretty sure he won't. --Dgbrt (talk) 20:50, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
That makes me feel sad, he would make a far better candidate than either of the current ones. No matter who gets elected now, America has lost. We can only hope they don't destroy too much. 162.158.2.60 11:47, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

I disagree with the explanation of the the title text; it makes no sense. Why would a car "lie back, nude, with his trademark stovepipe hat"? I think it's a reference to Obama pushing for more ethanol in fuels; the blend now averages at about 10%. Apparently Obama recently backed of increasing the number, but at the time, ethanol was a big political issue. I don't know why "ethanol" in particular, but it being a car is more than nonsensical: it doesn't fit the words. 162.158.60.23 02:24, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

I'm gonna be real I'm pretty sure the "bloggers" he talks about aren't real Rubbish (talk) 17:41, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

Can someone check that "ironic" claim about the daughter of Sarah Palin? I am not deep into that topic, and the wikipedia page is a bit confusing, but if I see it correctly, she became a abstinence advocat AFTER her teen pregnancy. --Lupo (talk) 07:17, 23 July 2019 (UTC)