Free IT Guides: Do it! Make Google 'do a barrel roll'

Friday, November 4, 2011

Do it! Make Google 'do a barrel roll'

Google Chrome

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Hurry! Search Google for this exact phrase: Do a barrel roll?

(You must use Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. IE doesn't work.)

Then, once your mind is blown by this new Google gag (based on a relatively old Internet meme) that actually causes the text on your browser to "do a barrel roll," email everyone and demand that they do the same. In fact, you might just need to type in "do a" and Google will magically know what you're asking for and go into a tailspin before you hit "enter."

Most importantly however,?be quick about it lest you suffer the obligatory response from your know-it-all friends: "Dude. That is so old. I saw it, like, an hour ago. Eastern Standard Time."

KnowYourMeme

If those are, indeed the sort of insipid jerks you hang out with, (for example, you hang out with me), they will no doubt blather that?you "Do a barrel roll" was totally an old meme back when the crowd obediently did "a barrel roll" for Christopher "Moot" Poole at the very first ROFLCON in 2008.

Know Your Meme ? the internationally recognized?scholarly repository of awesome ? records 'do a barrel roll' picking up major Internet traction around 2006, along with this description of origin:

Do A Barrel Rollis an catchphrase used to instruct someone to perform a 360 degree horizontal spin. It is sometimes used to caption image macros where the subject appears to be in mid-rotation, or in animated GIFs where the subject is performing a full rotation. It is often paired with the character Peppy from the Nintendo 64 console game Star Fox 64.

From that catchphrase, as with everything else that catches on with the Internet masses, a million image macros ensued.

Of course, this is just another in a history of Easter eggs offered to us by Google Chrome. For example, if you haven't seen this before,?check out this link to Google Gravity. Similarly, searches for?"askew," "slanted" slanted or tilt (using Google Chrome, Safari?or other Webkit browsers) makes the?results lean to the right.?

Fans of Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series will enjoy a search for "answer to life, the universe and everything." (The top result is "42.") A search for "ascii art" turns the Google logo into ASCII art. Why the nerd fun goes on and on ... and on.

And if you really enjoy fun with JavaScript, head over to Google's Chrome Experiment site and waste the rest of your work day.

UPDATE: "I hate to break it to Google and you guys, but that actually isn't a barrel roll,"?Ted Rea Jr.,?this guy I know from Facebook, just pointed out. While one might counter that Google defines reality, thus making his an invalid argument, Ted did provide this illuminating graphic: