To Search, To Seek, To Find

I am sitting in the lobby of University Tire & Auto Center in Charlottesville, waiting for a diagnosis as to why my car's electrical system has collapsed. (I am hoping it is just a dead battery.) To pass the time, I have reviewed the search terms that brought the last 4,000 visitors to this blog and discovered, once again, odd and inexplicable examples of Googling.

After several other explorations of these phenomena, I have decided to retire -- at least for the moment -- substantial reflection on the numerous searches for nude, shirtless, or circumcised celebrities, or inquiries regarding the size of their genitalia. I am still struck, however, by the persistence of the rumor that actor Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter") is or will be attending the University of Virginia (though you will note there is a new variation on this one, since people are now trying to find out if he has matriculated at Virginia Commonwealth University -- perhaps a judgment that Daniel was reaching too high with regard to UVa?).

Here, in alphabetical order, are the most recent illustrations of perplexing words and phrases that drove people here from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, AOL, Dogpile, and other search engines:

aaron carter's sex drive is high

catholic male masturbators

Corigliano + Flintstones

dick cheney dances at national press luncheon

dismally resuscitate

don ameche and log cabin republicans

flintstone lesbians

fried fish gay sex

harry potter going to virginia commonwealth university

lsd AND "history of the american flag" "stars and stripes"

naughty medieval limericks

"other uses" viagra

perpendicular milwaukee

Petition to have candidate removed from ballet Maryland template

ronald reagan's library and fundraising and assortment of foods

"Ron Paul" circumcision

"r. steven landes" idiot

star wars nursing scrubs

thought of son as a fellator

tony danza gay male prostitute

vomit sex

was pope benedict ix gay?

where to buy bongs charlottesville

why are gays always shirtless?

will they ever let the cowsills sing at fenway again

Of all these, the one that strikes me as the oddest and most inscrutable is "fried fish gay sex." Is this some kind of fetish that has heretofore had no proponents? Is it an expression of multiple hungers? Is there a restaurant somewhere in the world with a unique menu? Someone, please, tell me.

My, How Things Have Changed!

I came across some retro commercials today, all from the original run of The Flintstones back in the early 1960s.

Anyone born past 1971 may find this hard to believe, but there was a time when cigarettes (and other tobacco products) were advertised openly on television and radio. Not product placements snuck into a movie or TV show, but real, honest-to-goodness commercials that touted the wonderful characteristics of the product.

It turns out that one of the early sponsors of The Flintstones was Winston, with its memorable slogan that drove grammar mavens up the wall, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."

Here's the first ad, which shows Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in character:

Next comes a visit by Fred to the Stone Age equivalent of Quikimart, though instead of Apu we have a clerk who sounds suspiciously like character actor Herb Vigran:

The third ad brings us back into the Flintstone household, with Fred and Barney trying to get the record player to work properly:

Perhaps as penance for all these cigarette ads, we next see Fred and Barney and Wilma and Betty in a PSA for the American Cancer Society:

Finally, we can see how the sponsor's name was embedded in the closing credits to the show. It's funny, but I don't remember The Flintstones ever being in black and white. Are the earliest episodes lost to the ages?

Well, at least thanks to YouTube, we can get a taste of what prehistoric life was like ... in the 1960s.