Here’s what’s amazing about the web

Or, more amazing, Google, which just seems to give me better results than any other search engine I’ve used. I was looking at the map that goes in the back of NYC taxicabs, an almost useless map but one that shows general neighborhoods, and there is Tribeca, which I’ve gotten to know quite a bit better in the wake of 9/11. And I knew that I once knew what Tribeca stood for, but I couldn’t quite put it together — it was 3 street names or something like that. So I went to AskJeeves and asked “what is the meaning of Tribeca?” Got nothing helpful. Put “tribeca meaning” into Google and the first result was titled “The meaning of Tribeca.” (http://luke.tymowski.org/history/1999/19990724.html) It’s just from another weblog, but it had the answer: TRIangle BElow CAnal. Which I may have been able to remember, except the neighborhood on the taxi map isn’t a triangle, and it starts at Houston Street.
I’ve passed entire evenings just putting random names, from pop culture or high school, into Google and seeing what comes out. MY name, unfortunately, brings you a university laboratory, a couple of unknown painters, a New Hampshire state senator (everyone in New Hampshire is required to serve in the State Senate at some point in their lives), and a pro-Scientology website. Well, I’ve always hated my name, anyway.