Gregg Hilferding :)

Google can pull up a version of their search index from as far back as January 2001. From an IT point of view, this is pretty amazing. They make it clear it's not an exact version, but that they can do it at all is impressive.

Could your company pull up a backup of anything from seven years ago? Let alone make it functional in the same context it once was? I surprise people whenever they learn I keep emails for as long as I do.

Anyone who didn't believe they are keeping a Time Machine-esque index of every version of any page ever crawled should be convinced now. Just like a lot of folks want BackRub, I bet a lot of folks would love access to a searchable and far more comprehensive internet archive than the, well, actual Internet Archive.

Things I've learned about my sites from playing around with this?

• I did not rank quite as well as I remember ranking.
• I abused duplicate title tags, a lot.
• My general design style has evolved but is still recognizable (probably a bad thing!).
• I was reminded of some of our old domains and the odd subdirectory structure of the different web projects.

Merlin continues to inspire.

Diana mentions Randy Pausch's Last Lecture which is getting a lot of attention with his recent passing. Many people are probably already in a mood to seriously consider their life's course.

While these two posts have great value to me, I fear the next few weeks. The influx of attention, conversation and links that these genuine heartfelt posts generate will be irresistible for imitators.

Perhaps though, this global blogger introspection will lead to some greater universal truth?

What I know for sure is it will difficult to ignore.

The USPS sent the promotional comic book about Google's new browser a day early to Philipp Lenssen. While everyone else wonders what this means for the browser cold war, I'm much more interested in the messenger. Who thinks of launching a web browser by mailing a paper comic book to tech bloggers?

I'm not sure what to think of this comic book approach to presenting complex technical subjects. If their target audience is non-technical, then panels like this one are not going to help.

Did I really just read "de-allocated memory" in a comic book? And, while I first glance it appears comic Mike Beishe is juggling the letters "X," a closer inspection of his right hand reveals he is in fact holding a mystical orb.

Overall, the format leaves me with serious (well, for a web browser) questions about just what the heck they have in mind with this project. I'm also fairly confident that the "typical" browser user won't even make it to page 6 to learn how to juggle de-allocated memory. It's pitching too low for the well-informed and too high for the less-informed.