The weirdest thing in your search history

The worst part of my search history is the fact that I have to do it in the library in full view of anyone who happened to catch interest...

But, I guess things are going to get weird at some point. I want to start work on a tie-in prequel series to go with the series I'm doing now as soon as the first book is done & there are still several things I want better clarification on (if possible) and about 1000 years of Middle Eastern & South Asian history to explore to find out how this character goes from a disgraced warrior monk on the run in the 330s AD to being conscripted into helping fend off Christian attacks on north European Pagans in the 1300s...

I don't keep a search history, and don't remember most of the things I search for. I know I do enough searches about terrorism, how to blow things up, how to assassinate politicians without getting caught, how to destroy power grids, how to manufacture explosives and chemical weapons, on and on, to be on every watch list out there. If I'm not, someone is slacking off.

MakanJuu said:

The worst part of my search history is the fact that I have to do it in the library in full view of anyone who happened to catch interest...

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My wife works at a library. Trust me, it'd take quite a feat to shock her, probably not much short of falling afoul of the library's policies on what you may and may not look up on public computers (mostly involving porn). Most of the other patrons are going to be so absorbed in their Facebook accounts that they won't notice somebody doing actual research.

What's even better at her library is that they've discovered that even though they're required by law to have a sign-in sheet for using the computers, they don't have to keep it.

Also: if you're worried about privacy, use DuckDuckGo. They don't store search histories.

Tinman said:

I looked up "long pig" recently for a horror story. If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to human cannibalism. The term still doesn't make sense to me though, lol.

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I always assumed it's because a human "ham" would be longer and leaner in shape than one from an actual pig.

kuwisdelu said:

What about novelists with weird fetishes?

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I didn't say weird

I'll confess I've gotten pulled into some sites that surprised me some, though, when google tosses something out I didn't intend when I typed the search term. And sometimes I keep clicking.

"Weird" is so very subjective...

I don't usually have to look up anything too out of the ordinary, but there was one memorable afternoon when I had to find out what burning human flesh smells like.

Roxxsmom said:

I always assumed it's because a human "ham" would be longer and leaner in shape than one from an actual pig.

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I always figured it was because humans and pigs are both hairless and (apparently) good eatin'.

ETA: Or maybe it's a flavor thing, the same way people tend to describe many unusual foods as "tasting like chicken."

I just researched yellow fever. Fun!

Given what I've googled about information on explosives and the questions I've asked her...yeah, I'm a little worried I'm on some kind of list. Though, in my defense, I was more curious about what it's like to be in an explosion rather than how to make explosives.

Just for my last book:

Mountain lion mating sounds
Peacock feather patterns
How hard to hit someone to knock them out
Blood exchange rituals
BDSM dungeon furnishings
Flogger tail material differences

There's a reason why I don't let my teenager near my laptop. He just really doesn't need to know the kind of things rattling around in his Mom's head.

Stages of bruise healing
Effects of acute arsenic poisoning in horses
Prevalence of genital herpes in ancient Egypt
Ancient methods of torture

what does "nookie" mean
means what I more or less suspected

well you asked

Wow. I look positively normal compared to you guys...

how to replace tail light bulb 1995 Dodge truck
manufacture of Cordite
manufacture of black powder
exercise machines
Arabic numbers
fluffy kitten wallpaper
"HDMI to VGA" adapter
Hessian mercenaries American Revolution

Wow. Next time my wife wants some wallpaper, I'm going to make her look it up on her own computer...

writerjohnb said:

I've been researching Papua New Guinea, which has a recent history of cannibalism (One of the tribes is believed to have eaten the son of Nelson Rockefeller, Michael, who disappeared in 1961.) I also learned that some of the tribes have deviant (from our cultural views) sexual habits that are gross and disgusting. So, of course, I'm going to use that in my WIP.

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WriterJohn, I'm sensing a pattern here. Cannibalism in Papau, New Guinea, and Wendigos. Aren't Wendigos shamans who develop a taste for human flesh and change into monsters by consuming it?

How to make hallucinogenic fungus with rye bread and orange juice (yes, you can, and no, you shouldn't).

Evan Henry said:

How to make hallucinogenic fungus with rye bread and orange juice (yes, you can, and no, you shouldn't).

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Can you make an airborne hallucinogenic fungus? Hmmm, I think I have something new to research. Google, here I come.

Locke said:

My wife works at a library. Trust me, it'd take quite a feat to shock her, probably not much short of falling afoul of the library's policies on what you may and may not look up on public computers (mostly involving porn). Most of the other patrons are going to be so absorbed in their Facebook accounts that they won't notice somebody doing actual research.

What's even better at her library is that they've discovered that even though they're required by law to have a sign-in sheet for using the computers, they don't have to keep it.

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Good to know, but honestly the problem is more so the fact that I'm both incredibly private & fairly paranoid rather than what I'm actually looking up. My brain just wants to automatically jump to the worst possible outcome of anything that involves me & being in public.

Jamesaritchie said:

Can you make an airborne hallucinogenic fungus? Hmmm, I think I have something new to research. Google, here I come.

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Yes, you can. Lots of fungi are airborne, such as molds, mildews, and rusts.

When my fictional sheriff was discussing a 1977 Jane Doe cold case, he told my amateur sleuth that there were no active missing person reports for any women in the area (a rural area in eastern Kentucky). As soon as I typed that I jumped over to Google and searched for missing person reports at that date and time and sure enough, there was a missing person report - and it is still open today. (This was in 2013.)

A few months ago I was double checking my facts while editing/revising and searched the missing person report one more time. Yep, it was still open. And now there is a tribute page on Facebook from the missing woman's daughter.

PandaMan said:

Yes, you can. Lots of fungi are airborne, such as molds, mildews, and rusts.

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Seems like something an enterprising bad guy might love to dust over a city.

Dave Williams said:

Wow. I look positively normal compared to you guys...

fluffy kitten wallpaper

Wow. Next time my wife wants some wallpaper, I'm going to make her look it up on her own computer...

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Sure, sure. It was your wife doing the searching.

My stuff is relatively tame right now too. My last search was to find out how long it takes for a dead fish's eyes to glaze over. Would you believe their are many factors that play into this?

After a conversation with his friend today, my boyfriend asked me to search: "Can red wine make your poop turn green?"

Turns out, Yes. Yes it can.

How long can a flaming baboon run around before it collapses?

Would the flames die down after all the hair had burned off? How long would that take?

I am sorta hoping no one knows that answers to these questions...