If you examine the top of this week's Lycos 50, you will notice the same terrorism-related subjects that have dominated the Internet since September 11. Look below #20, however, and you'll notice normalcy slowly creeping its way into the Lycos 50.
To give an example of how things are returning to normal, World Trade Center moves into the top spot on this week's list despite shedding 53 percent of its search traffic. That's because Nostradamus (#4) lost 76 percent of his traffic, and the American flag (#5) was down 64 percent.
This week, ten subjects related to the terrorist attacks and their aftermath fall off our list, and nine subjects that were pushed off the list by the events of September 11 return. The one terrorism-related subject that is still rising is the threat of chemical and biological warfare. Searches for gas masks (#7) enter the top ten this week, and the biological attack agent Anthrax moves up to #36.
Fear of bioterrorism leads to the one new item on this week's Lycos 50 that is tangentially related to the terrorist attacks. It's the return of a little piece of Internet hype called the Klingerman virus hoax (#47).
We actually covered this hoax when it last surfaced in January, but the fear of bioterrorism has brought it back yet again. The email says that mysterious packages with a sponge inside are arriving in the mail, and if you open the package you'll get a horrible disease. There are no envelopes, there is no disease.
Speaking of hoaxes, we received very few searches that specified another hoax, the World Trade Center observation deck picture. That's the picture that purports to show a man on top of the Trade Center right before the attack, with airplane right behind him. An impressive piece of photo editing, but not an actual photograph.
Once again we want to recommend our friends at the Urban Legends Reference Pages who have been busy debunking all these myths.
TOURISM REBOUNDS: Searches such as airline tickets and air fares dropped in half the week of the terrorist attacks, but they've slowly inched upwards each of the last two weeks. The same goes for top tourist destination Las Vegas, which last week seemed close to dropping out of the Lycos 50 for the first time ever. This week, Las Vegas rebounded to #22.
ENTERPRISE ENTERS: Actually, the flight most Lycos users wanted to take this week was aboard the starship Enterprise. The new Star Trek prequel on UPN had been the subject of Lycos searches for a few weeks but its on-air debut catapults it to #34 on the Lycos 50. Curiously, searches for just Star Trek didn't go up much this week.
Enterprise is also bringing us our latest TV hottie, Jolene Blalock. She fills the "sexy alien" spot held by Jeri Ryan on Star Trek: Voyager, playing Vulcan science officer T'Pol. Blalock's character is just waiting to burst out of her tight uniform and tighter repressed emotions. She also is on the cover of this month's Maxim, always a ticket to higher online interest.
LIKE MIKE: Once upon a time, we expected that the inevitable Michael Jordan comeback and the attendant hype would place the basketball superstar high on the Lycos 50, perhaps even at #1. Well, the September 11 attacks took care of that idea. Jordan's comeback has received so little hype that he can't even come close to the Lycos 50 this week. Jordan searches have gone up only five percent a week over the last month.
WHERE'S WILL: A concentration on current events seems to be replacing the usual study subjects in America's schools. A number of academic terms which usually appear on the Lycos 50 by now are still waiting to return to their usual fall levels, including Shakespeare and science fair projects.
SHORT SUBJECTS: Strangely enough, former #1 Dragonball has had an increase in searches each week since the terrorist attacks? Anticipation is high for the season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (#43)? Big Brother (#12) plummeted this week after its season ended, and the eagerly antipated Love Cruise registered a piddling number of searches. We'll have to wait until Survivor premieres in a week to see if reality television can survive the onset of war.
NEW THIS WEEK: Audiogalaxy, Enterprise, NASCAR, The Sims, Neopets, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, Viagra, baseball, Klingerman Virus, Gnutella, Windows XP.
DROPOUTS: Face in the Smoke photo, Bin Laden wanted poster, stock market crash, Half-Life Counter-Strike, FAA, Pakistan, Middle East, Red Cross, God Bless America, Slipknot, The Star Spangled Banner, America: A Tribute to Heroes.
BIGGEST RISE: Las Vegas, up 20 places to #22.
BIGGEST DROP: Nimda virus, down 30 places to #38.
FINALLY: Hiding below the Lycos 50 this week were searches for Kent State Soccer. Last week, the Kent State athletic department had to pull posters advertising the schedule for its women's soccer team, thanks to an unexpected bonus in a picture of two players challenging each other for the ball. Eastern Michigan senior Katie Lewis' shorts were at such an angle that her genitalia were easily spotted.
Pictures of the poster soon zipped around the Web, perhaps the best example of our triumph over terror. After all, nothing represents normalcy on the Internet like a search for unexpected nudity.
TOMORROW: The documentary of the moment.
