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It has been reported that Google looses millions every year in advertising revenue by going to the first web page that would show up in a more general search-which is what the Feeling Lucky application does. So if you want to avoid the ads that Google sometimes puts at the sides and tops of the search results page, I'm Feeling Lucky is a way to do that.

Feeling Lucky is also a way to make a political point. Many people despised the reign of George the 2nd, Revenge of the Shrubbery, aka when Bushes attack. The second George Bush was intensely disliked for attacking a country that did not threaten the United States and torturing people in defense of an indefensible war. Thus was born a successful attempt to suborn Google and bend the results of Google searches to will of anti Bush Forces. The accurate and highly descriptive term "miserable failure" was caused to render a page describing George Bush whenever the Feeling Lucky button was pushed. Although Google has tried to disarm this particular political bomb,using Getting Lucky on "miserable failure" often as not turns up either a page on George Bush or a page on Google's attempts to save George Bush from himself by changing it's search algorithms.

Feeling Lucky is also used as a means to amuse ones friends and to stir up international incidents. The most famous instance is: "French military victories". If you push the search button when this phrase is in the search box you will get page that asks if meant "French military defeats". The results page indicates that no French military victories could be found. This must be galling to the Gaulists. It probably makes Frenchmen so angry that they want to go out and do something outrageous like take a bath.

A more practical use for the feeling lucky button is to put Google immediately into calculator mode. For instance if you put the following into Google: 12345*54321 and press the I'm Feeling Lucky, you will get the same answer that would get from your calculator.

Still the most popular use of the I'm Feeling Lucky button is for the process called Googlewashing or for constructing Google Bombs. A rather odd Google Bomb is the phrase "more evil than Satan himself" . Some wag made a page on Microsoft come up when the I'm Feeling Lucky button was pushed. At present, an old CNN page reporting on this satanic Google Bomb shows up so the effect is not much diminished.

Learn more about this author, Michael Skinner.
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