Friday, October 10, 2003
PageRank 10
If you’re interested in the September 2003 list of pages with a Google PageRank of 10, check the German/ English PR 10 list by Gerald Steffens.
You’ll find the Adobe Reader download page with 1,040,000 backlinks at #1. Yahoo’s second, and Google third (by the way; some people speculate Google has a PageRank of 11... another by-the-way; many people in a certain SEO newsgroup ask if it’s reasonable to buy links from high-PR-sites).
Other top contenders are Microsoft, Apple, Real, Netscape, Macromedia, MIT, W3C, and NASA.
Video Google
“We describe an approach to object and scene retrieval which searches
for and localizes all the occurrences of a user outlined object in a
video. The object is represented by a set of viewpoint invariant
region descriptors so that recognition can proceed successfully
despite changes in viewpoint, illumination and partial occlusion. The
temporal continuity of the video within a shot is used to track the
regions in order to reject unstable regions and reduce the effects of
noise in the descriptors.”
– Sivic, J. and Zisserman, A., Video Google: A Text Retrieval Approach to Object Matching in Videos
Google Answers Researcher Till-ga
Interviewed today is Till-ga. He's a Researcher since almost the beginning of Google Answers. He used to live about 20 miles away from as he's a fellow German, though we failed to met so far.
Opinions expressed here are that of a private person and are not in any way those of Google Inc.
And now, spotlight on...
Researcher Till-Ga
What's your first name?
Tillmann. I only met one guy with that first name in my live (whith the same spelling). That´s what I call a rare name.
Where are you located? What's your day-job, other than Google Answers?
I live in Juelich, Germany. Near Aachen and Cologne, West of Germany. My job is webdesigner for about 5 years now.
Do you have a weblog or some other kind of personal website?
Yes. My professional website is www.stoffel-kueppers.de (and it includes a weblog as well) and my private hobby-website (more than 600 pages) is www.guildo-online.com about the german version of Alice Cooper (not really) – Guildo Horn.
Till-Ga on Google Answers
What would be an especially fun question for you to answer on Google Answers?
I really like questions where I alreay got some basic knowledege and have to search to find out the exact facts. The domino question I answered was one of my favorites.
What were some of the most amazing discoveries you made working for Google Answers?
I'm amazed how often the askers does not ask what he really wanted to know.
I was amazed to read the original article about the discovery of spectral analysis (I had not read this before, shame on me as a chemist)
What kind of questions do you think you can answer better, being German... and what questions you think are harder for you because of it?
I completely fail in subjects that concern US laws, taxes and things like that and of course in poetry.
I don´t see advantages being a German Researcher, very rarely some German sources helped, but these are exceptions.
Hypothetical Musings
If an omniscient deity would be a Google Answers Researcher, which question would you ask?
When will God have to go to court to justify for what he allows to happen down here on earth?
Which celebrity (dead or alive) would make a great addition to the Google Answers team?
Funny question: I do not care if a person is famous, all that counts for me is what you make of your live.
What would be a great new idea for a website (something no one ever thought of, or something plain impossible)?
Make a website that makes every person that visit it give away 1 buck to help poor people.
Make a website that will at once stop all armament. We do not need any kind if war. Yes: I am a radical pacifist. I hate war.
What do you think would be the one question a being from another planet would be most interested in having answered upon arriving on earth, and spending one day with us humans?
Are you all crazy?
Till-Ga's Favorites
What are your favorite research tools, on- and offline? And for private surfing, do you have any special German search tools?
I often use several encyclopaedias (Britannica and Brockhaus), sometimes this is faster than clicking through many Google-links. Special german serach favorites: well, I got some excellent sources for php and cgi scripts in German. Used them some times when researching.
You are in charge of the Webby awards next year – who's winning for which category?
- Best German artist's website: www.gerdkoester.de
- Best tool website for advanced webdesign: www.baseportal.com
- Best web tips for designers: www.ideenreich.com
- Funniest site: home.t-online.de/home/Lienke/bifaz.htm
- Most useful content in music (not design): www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/
Which is an example of a Google Answer another Researcher provided which really opened your eyes on something and made you go "Wow, I didn't know that"?
I asked a question myself about the steam from the subway in NYC and my friend Pinkfreud gave a ****** answer (five was not enough).
Spare-time Activities
What's your most unusual hobby?
Music, esp. Guildo Horn. But there's Tschaikowsky and the Tubes in my record collection as well and I love both.
What are some of your favorite books, movies, and music albums?
I read a lot of science fiction stuff (British and US new wave of the sixties), maybe Phillip K. Dick was one of the best novellists I know. Or Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. I simply adore Stanislaw Lem.
Music. Hard to say. I love the progressive rock music of the seventies with yes, EL&P, King Crimson, Genesis. But the best album I have is most probably a jazz album by Keith Jarret: The Köln Concert. Never heard anything more beautiful and moving before. You all must listen to this.
Friday-Five
It was Researcher Missy's idea to include Friday-Five questions. Here's your set:
1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
Novels when I find the time to read.
2. What is your favorite novel?
It's a novel about the developement of forensic medicine.
3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
Yes. for more than 25 years. It's in german and I can't translate it. For those knowing some german, an excerpt from:
Berthold Brecht - An die Nachgeborenen Ihr, die ihr auftauchen werdet aus der Flut In der wir untergegangen sind Gedenkt Wenn ihr von unseren Schwächen sprecht Auch der finsteren Zeit Der ihr entronnen seid. Gingen wir doch, öfter als die Schuhe die Länder wechselnd Durch die Kriege der Klassen, verzweifelt Wenn da nur Unrecht war und keine Empörung. Dabei wissen wir doch: Auch der Haß gegen die Niedrigkeit verzerrt die Züge. Auch der Zorn über das Unrecht Macht die Stimme heiser. Ach, wir Die wir den Boden bereiten wollten für Freundlichkeit Konnten selber nicht freundlich sein. Ihr aber, wenn es so weit sein wird Daß der Mensch dem Menschen ein Helfer ist Gedenkt unserer Mit Nachsicht.
4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
I'd like to read Scriptor's SF book.
5. What are you currently reading?
Funny short stories.
Final words
Anything else you want to add ...?
Thanks J_Philipp for the chance to take part in an interesting project.
[Thanks to you too! --Philipp]
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