the buzz log
31 Flavors, 57 States, 1001 Nights... Who's Counting?
Geographical flubs have brought down lesser beauty queens, so when a Democratic presidential hopeful says he has already visited 57 states, searchers will flock to the Buzz like 14th century explorers to the New World.
The queries "obama 57 States" and "57 states" pulled into the top 35,000 searches in the past 7 days. Of course, the inflated number unleashed conspiratorial theories. Rush Limbaugh implied a "more telling slip" after claiming there happened to be "57 islamic states," which in turn spurred online investigations into that bit of information.
Actually, according to Obama, there should be 60 states, since he mentioned during his Oregon tour that he had another state to visit, plus Alaska and Hawaii. If he indeed harbors empire expansion plans, how about annexing Tijuana, as the Border State?
Filed under: Politics, Elections, Barack Obama, Geography
Greetings from New England, U.S.A.
Tom Brady leads his New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, and on that hallowed game day, searchers take to their computers to solve an important geographical mystery: "where is new england"?
Some of these users have the impression that New England might be a city ("what state is new england in"); some have the whole "region" concept down but need to remind themselves which states qualify ("new england states," "map of new england states," "new england usa map").
We're relieved to report that residents of the states that do make up New England remain sure of their place in the region. We heard nary a search peep on "where is new england located" from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Instead, searchers in the 2008 host state of Arizona led this year's investigations, followed by Louisiana, Washington, Colorado, Missouri, and California.
Filed under: Super Bowl, Geography
The Buzz Geography Quiz
Where on Earth? |
Class will now come to attention. When the big hand on the clock hits 12, please pick up your pencils and begin the next installment of the Buzz Search Quiz. This time around your subject is geography.
Round One: CitiesClue #1: This North American city has an estimated population of 2.5 million people and, up until 1834, was known as York.
Clue #2: The annual international film festival held here is second only to Cannes in importance in the world of cinema.
Clue #3: Recent sloshy shenanigans in one of this city's McDonald's restaurants caused search spikes on "ashlee simpson drunk" and "ashlee simpson mcdonalds."
Answer: Click here.
Round Two: Countries
Clue #1: This Muslim country of an estimated 8.5 million people lies on the horn of Africa.
Clue #2: According to the CIA World Factbook, this country has no permanent national government.
Clue #3: A recent attack on a cruise ship off the coast of this country dug "pirate attack" (+124%) searches from out of the Buzz treasure chest.
Answer: Click here.
Round Three: Islands
Clue #1: This small island of 64 square miles is distantly located between Tahiti and Chile.
Clue #2: Some of the island's well known attractions include ahu and moai as well as a cave called Ana Kai Tangata, meaning "cave where men are eaten."
Clue #3: Searches for this island shot up 2,299% after the Today Show's Matt Lauer paid a surprise visit.
Answer: Click here.
Time's up! Pencils down, class. We hope you all learned a little something about the wide world we live in -- we certainly did.
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kara Dioguardi | Breakout! |
| 2 | Brooke Mueller | Breakout! |
| 3 | Genie Francis | Breakout! |
| 4 | Goliath Grouper Fish | Breakout! |
| 5 | Hari Puttar | Breakout! |
| 6 | Tropical Storm Gustav | Breakout! |
| 7 | Mia Hamm | 33250% |
| 8 | Ellen Barkin | 26799% |
| 9 | Luciana Barroso | 20830% |
| 10 | Giant Squid | 16720% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amanda Peet | +542 | 549 |
| 2 | Dancing With The Stars | +304 | 327 |
| 3 | 2008 Olympics | -377 | 323 |
| 4 | Ellen Barkin | +273 | 274 |
| 5 | Luciana Barroso | +245 | 246 |
| 6 | Mia Hamm | +229 | 229 |
| 7 | Hi-5 | -17 | 219 |
| 8 | Jessica Biel | +160 | 198 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.