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29 October 2009
WTF, Google?→[More:]I tried ..er.. Googling for an answer but didn't find one.
It's standard practice on settlement agreements, contracts, and other legal documents to include [This area left intentionally blank] when there is more than a single line of blank space in a document. I wouldn't be surprised if they are referencing that. I have no seen or read the business or legal news today, but perhaps there's some contract or settlement or something like that going on.
Uh, it's also pretty standard in voluminous computer documentation, like a 1000-page Unix system manual or whatnot. And other things like technical whitepapers, so you know you're not getting the one copy without the crucial chart. Etc.
I suspect it may have been their way of acknowledging the birth of ARPAnet.
I know what the term is used for. I used to work for a S&L and we used it all the time on documents. I'm just curious as to why Google is doing it and am I the only one that's seeing it.
Forgot to mention: once I've moved my cursor around it reverts back to the usual search page.
I'm just curious as to why Google is doing it and am I the only one that's seeing it.
You're certainly not the only one seeing it. When I go to Google, I get the standard Google icon, a search bar, and "this space intentionally left blank" for a moment --- no other links on the page at all --- but then it fades and is replaced by the familiar buttons ("Search" and "I feel lucky"), and all the usual links appear ("advanced search," "images," and the like).
My niece was over yesterday and got all excited when she saw "I feel lucky" on my laptop screen; she reports that she has not been seeing the buttons lately. Perhaps she has not been mousing around the page; the blank page persists as long as I don't mouse over it.
You guys are so lucky. I get *all* the crumy buttons still and google never wants to serve me the default .com/English, keeps sending me to .se/Swedish and I hate that google please remember my preferences.