The world went crazy over Google’s “Do a Barrel Roll” stunt yesterday. Crazy. In case you missed it, go to Google and search for “do a barrel roll” without the quotes. Ta-da. Cool, eh? Maybe you’re even a little nauseous.
But the old barrel roll trick—as it’ll one day be called when it’s actually old—isn’t the only Easter egg Google has up its sleeve. Here are several others:
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Tilt/Askew
Similar to the barrel roll, but not quite as cool. Search for “tilt” without the quotes (or just click here). We actually wrote about this back in April. It works on your smartphone, too. Searching for “askew” accomplishes the same end-result (click here to try it out).
Big Answers to Mind-Bending Questions
Search for “answer to life, the universe, and everything” (or just click here) and you’ll get your answer: 42. Perhaps unsurprisingly, if you’re an iPhone 4S owner and you ask Siri about the meaning of life, she’ll give you the same answer: 42. My number when I played basketball in high school was 42 as well—long before this meaning of life stuff. I have no answers for you.
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See also: “the loneliest number”, “once in a blue moon” and “number of horns on a unicorn” for a few other cool calculations.
Nessie Sighting
Set your iGoogle homepage to use the Beach theme and you’ll get a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster at 3:14 AM every day. I know, right? That’s a lot of hustle for a Nessie sighting, but it might be worth checking out if you’re up at that hour with a newborn. Or responding angrily to e-mails. Or responding drunkenly to e-mails from former lovers. Or sending drunken e-mails to former lovers you haven’t spoken with in a decade. Or reading this drunkenly and shouting “QUIT SAYING LOVERS!” at the screen.
Just about every other iGoogle theme has something cool going on at 3:14 AM, too.
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Ninja Mode
Head over to Google Reader and enter the classic Contra code on your keyboard (use the arrow keys for the directionals). I shouldn’t have to write this out for you, but it’s up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A.
Poof: Ninja!
Did You Mean…
Search for “anagram”—did you mean nag a ram? Or try searching for “recursion” instead. Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? You get the gist.
ASCII Art
Search for “ASCII art” and you’ll be presented with a Google logo made of ASCII art. If you’d like to learn more about ASCII art, find the most grizzled, burnt-out IT person in your building and ask him or her about it.
Feeling Lucky?
And last but certainly not least, here’s a little fun with Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. These aren’t official Google-created Easter eggs, as the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button takes you directly to the first search result for your query, but some of the results are quirky nonetheless.
Search for “Where is Chuck Norris?” and hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.
Aside from the tough-but-fair error message, note that you can select to search pages from Chuck’s beard. Also take heed of the first suggestion.
Other “I’m Feeling Lucky” queries for your amusement:
- “Google Goth”
- “Google Gravity”
- “Google Klingon”
- “Google Pirate”
- “Who’s the Cutest?”
- “Ewmew fudd”
- “Google Piglatin”
…and about a skillion more. Enjoy!