Every day, millions of people turn to Google to find the answers to life's burning questions; What did Paris Hilton do last night?  What's the best chili recipe?  How much wood, could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? And so on.  So as we query the search engine for these bits of knowledge, we largely do so separated from everyone else on the Internet.  The world's largest virtual gathering point essentially treats each user as the only person in the world.  Imagine going to the Super Bowl, but instead of sitting in a crowd, you're in a completely sealed off booth with a little television screen that only watches the game on the field and gives no hint that anyone else is watching the game.

This week Google launched the experimental "Trends" service.  Here you can see what the top search terms are for the day.  It's an interesting glimpse into the current mood and mindset of the collective population of the Internet.  Or, if today is any indication, a slightly disturbing one ("microwaved baby" is the #3 term).  You can see the top 100 overall terms for the last 24 hours.  You can also do a popularity comparison of search terms by entering two terms in the search box on the Trends page, separated by a comma.

Here's a chart comparing search popularity between the terms WindowBlinds and MSStyles.