Today I searched google for "What percentage of Americans don't drive?" It was inspired by this article which I got from following Major Nelson on twitter (more on that article later). The third link from the top said "Only 42% of Americans believe Barak Obama is an American Citizen." I know I typed the word American in the search and so google had to bring me every link that mentions American in it but maybe it could try actually answering the damned question. I never did get an answer either.

It makes me feel Microsoft is justified in those Bing commercials. I haven't noticed their search necessarily answering my questions more accurately or should I say understand my questions more accurately, but they make a point. At no point did I mention Obama. At no point did I mention citizen. At no point should either one of these things appear in the page when I search for "What percentage of Americans don't drive?"

If I were in school (shudder) and on the test I saw a question that said, "Jimmy is on a train traveling at 60mph and arrives at his destination in 3 days 41 minutes 30 seconds. How far did he travel assuming the train did not stop or slow down?" I would get the answer wrong if I said "Save money on travel to Cork!" or "Register to win the train that crashed in The Fugitive." I might amuse the teacher but would fail the course.

I would be more interested (as with all surveys) in what demographic of Americans were polled to come up with that 42%. I'm not weighing in on whether our leader is legally allowed to be our leader but I don't believe any poll I read no matter where I read it. Unless you can say you polled 100% of all Americans during that survey in which case I don't remember you calling me.

This is the later part. The article I linked says that 21% of American Adults don't use the internet. It then goes on to say "that's like not using the telephone." As Darth Vader would say "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." Not using the internet is not remotely like not using the phone. The internet is hardly necessary to people who don't care about it. I will never starve or be late for work or run out of gas because I didn't use the internet. I'll never get divorced or miss a house payment because I didn't use the internet. It's not remotely necessary for humans to function. Get over yourself. It's a convenience not a necessity.

I searched for Americans who don't drive because I would find that much more perplexing if you had never driven and had never wanted to drive. I would tell such a person to get out of the city for a few weeks without buying any tickets from anyone at all. Just go. No one knows where you went or how fast you got there unless you told them. You could go right this second with your car, dependent on no one.

I'm not even sure who I was defending here but I hope they feel better.