ARE FLASH MOBS MOBBING ONLINE?

Internet search engine Lycos reports that the third most popular search on its website last week was for Apollo 11, and it has no idea why.

We've stopped trying to understand the phenomenal level of searches for the 34-year-old Apollo 11 mission to the moon, which moves up to #3 on this week's Lycos 50. This isn't the anniversary of the mission, which took place in July 1969, yet this is the second year that Apollo 11 searches have inexplicably risen. Last year, Apollo 11 searches went up to #30, and we didn't understand it then. This year, with a hot new DVD documentary out, they've gone even higher. It now seems that Apollo 11 searches will go up every year around this time, and we have no idea where the interest comes from.

My guess... a Flash Mob. (For the uninitiated, click here to learn more about Flash Mobs.) Rather than organizing random individuals for spontaneous public gatherings, why not organize them for the express purpose of doing something totally inconspicuous like increasing the number of searches on a search engine?

Is it just me or do some people just have way too much time on their hands???? Or, by this very response, am I victim to my own ruminations?

Victim

Agreed: Victim.

Thanks, guys!