Googling Tales

[NoJo]

I have a 1958 copy of a rare hardback comic-book, which I bought from a store in Berkeley. Inside the front cover, the original owner wrote her name in childish writing in turquoise ink:
Property of: Judy xxxxx,
Alameda, California

I put her name and "Alameda California" into Google. She has an uncommon surname. I found out where she works, and her email address.

She's replied to my email (which was very British and polite, so she wouldn't get creeped out), Sure enough, it was her. She doesn't want the book back.

Anyone else have a Google Sleuthing tale?

 

[Guest]

Twice I used Google to find persons I'd lost touch with. Each time I found their obituaries.

I've tried finding Maths that way but luckily no obit. Still, no Maths though.

Perdita

 

[NoJo]

Twice I used Google to find persons I'd lost touch with. Each time I found their obituaries.

I've tried finding Maths that way but luckily no obit. Still, no Maths though.

Perdita

When did you last hear from her?

 

[Guest]

When did you last hear from her?

Summer 2004. She was depressed whilst still recovering from her near fatal illness. Several months later my emails came back 'undeliverable'. Thanks for asking. P.

 

[TheEarl]

Summer 2004. She was depressed whilst still recovering from her near fatal illness. Several months later my emails came back 'undeliverable'. Thanks for asking. P.

<hugs>

Missing her too.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

Hmm,

I found the younger woman friend who I strongly advised to not go off and try to make it in a certain tough, heart breaking business. She is now a huge success at it. I emailed her and apologized. She was gracious and didn't say "I told you so".

Let that be a warning to everyone I give advice to.

Edited to add : I miss Maths, and am worried about her.

 

[shereads]

I couldn't sleep after a funeral one night, and for some reason decided to google the girl's name.

Her name popped up on a message board at the college she'd attended the year before. Right there, as if it was happening in real-time, she was enjoying some silliness with a cyber-buddy and making a sarcastic reply. I could almost hear her laughing.

It was eerie, as if a piece of her life had been frozen and put into storage, to be taken out and looked at by anyone, friend or stranger. I wondered if the kids she'd been chatting with back then knew her in person; if they kept in touch after she left school; if they knew her family had buried her that day.

The pieces of ourselves that we record here outlive us, whether we like it or not.

----

The most compelling google story is one that made the news a couple of years ago. A high school boy who found his name on a list of missing children. His dad had stolen him after losing custody when the boy was 3.

 

[yui]

While working at social services, a young teen came into custody when we took a sibling group of six. He was a step-son of the perp. His mother had left him with this man who raped children and just went away. He didn't know where his real father was, and all we had was a first and last name. I was finally able to track him down through the internet. The boy's real father showed up on the day of court and the judge awarded him custody. The father just kept crying and patting this young teen on the back; the son looked bashfully ecstatic that his father had come more than half way across the country for him at the drop of a hat.

It was a good moment in an often sad world.

 

[The_Darkness]

Related, though almost off topic....try Googling "French Military Victories" Hilarity will ensue.

 

[shereads]

I have a 1958 copy of a rare hardback comic-book, which I bought from a store in Berkeley. Inside the front cover, the original owner wrote her name in childish writing in turquoise ink:
Property of: Judy xxxxx,
Alameda, California

I put her name and "Alameda California" into Google. She has an uncommon surname. I found out where she works, and her email address.

She's replied to my email (which was very British and polite, so she wouldn't get creeped out), Sure enough, it was her.

Have you creeped her out yet?

 

[zeb1094]

Summer 2004. She was depressed whilst still recovering from her near fatal illness. Several months later my emails came back 'undeliverable'. Thanks for asking. P.

You might want to give zabasearch a try.

www.zabasearch.com

They may have something on her, if you know her real name and state.

 

[NoJo]

Have you creeped her out yet?

I've been too busy doing grownup stuff.

 

[Guest]

You might want to give zabasearch a try.

Thanks very much.

Perdita

 

[Mercurius]

I'm a writer, and most of my articles are sold to websites. This makes them a ctrl-c away from being ripped off. I regularly Google my own name, or a section of text from an article, and find people who are infringing on my copyrights. I catch about three per month and threaten them with legalese.

 

[NoJo]

I'm a writer, and most of my articles are sold to websites. This makes them a ctrl-c away from being ripped off. I regularly Google my own name, or a section of text from an article, and find people who are infringing on my copyrights. I catch about three per month and threaten them with legalese.

Is legalese some kind of oil?

 

[shereads]

I've been too busy doing grownup stuff.

Ah. Still touring with Menudo. Good for you!

 

[Mercurius]

Is legalese some kind of oil?

Yes. It stings the eyes horribly.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

This is not quite in the same league as the stories above, but I googled my own name last week and discovered a bunch of smut stories (not surprisingly), a few items from these boards, and - two of those obnoxious aggressive porn sites that when you click in start opening new windows faster than you can close them.

It was a little bit flattering, in a queer way: My stories are in Lesbian Sex, and these were obscene "Hawt teen lezzies XXXX" type sites. The flattery is that some perv marketer thinks that my name has "drawing power" in for a particular slice of the market.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

This is not quite in the same league as the stories above, but I googled my own name last week and discovered a bunch of smut stories (not surprisingly), a few items from these boards, and - two of those obnoxious aggressive porn sites that when you click in start opening new windows faster than you can close them.

It was a little bit flattering, in a queer way: My stories are in Lesbian Sex, and these were obscene "Hawt teen lezzies XXXX" type sites. The flattery is that some perv marketer thinks that my name has "drawing power" in for a particular slice of the market.

I think that's a random thing where some program crawls sites for names and story titles to lure people in. If you type in my name you'll get almost 3,000 hits, mostly leading to pay sites, and not really containing the stories.