Once in a while, buddy Jim Bovard will include “Claire Wolfe” in a group of searches. This apparently gets interesting.
Images like this come up (embiggenate for proper appreciation):
I have no idea who the cute-in-an-officey-sort-of-way “me” is, but she’ll do.* And while I truly, truly, truly don’t get why Sonia Sotomayor keeps coming up in searches on my name, it’s a fact. And it’s far from the first time. Poor Sonia and I appear to be linked by karma. Bad karma, no doubt. But her karma or mine, who knows? (I’ve probably deepened the karmic connection by writing her name here.)
And the “related” searches results persuade me that I really do need to quit writing about Al*n G*ttl*eb.
Still, I can live with all of the above. But when Jim did a Bing search this morning … Oh, the horror!
Again, I have zero idea who that particular “Claire Wolfe” is. I have a vague recollection of seeing that photo before. Maybe I used or linked to it in a blog post.** But I wish to pronounce publicly, firmly, loudly, indignantly, and excruciatingly categorically — NOT ME.
Furthermore, it’s not even my sister, my third cousin once removed, my next-door neighbor, or some grouchy woman who once snarled at me at the DMV.
She would snarl, though. You can tell. Probably bites, too.
Jim suggested I sue Bing. Or at least put some better “me” images out there for them to notice. Funny that hardly any search engine ever turns up the infamous “hat” photo — which actually is me and is right up here on this blog every, single day.
Deeply offended though I am to have some Aileen Wournos lookalike misrepresenting my graceful, pleasant, and refined self, these crazily crapazoid results do help restore my hope that privacy is still possible. Despite all the ominous news, it’s clear that “they” don’t yet know everything there is to know about us all.
—–
ADDED:
* Mystery solved by Commentariat member Laird. The cute young woman holding a manuscript is, according to Google’s caption, one of my editors, Rhoda Denning. Hi, Rhoda! The perils of working at long distance: I don’t know what most of the people I work with look like. 🙁
** Mystery solved by Commentariat member Donna. The Wournos lookalike is Debra Oberlin, a former chapter president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, busted for [drumroll] … drunk driving. Good detective work, Donna.
Heck, for a while Google was showing Al Gore on seaches for me. So much for their much bragged upon facial recognition.
Claire, it would be great if you could get an iconic drawing or (partial) photo that would help draw folks to your writings and books. One possibility – something showing 2 dogs, your hair & profile, maybe a fav hat, and your hand holding your fav semi-auto.
Including a gun would be apropos because you’re a bona fide gun babe. And as was clear from our discussion about rifles atop the Governor’s Hotel in Portland in 2003, you know more about firearms than I do.
Bear — Al Gore? Al Gore! Whatever did you do to deserve HIM? (Talk about bad karma …)
Hm. Who would I rather have represent “me”? Al Gore or Aileen Wournos’ doppleganger? Such a choice, such a dilemma …
Jim — You being my guide to all matters concerning writerly self-promotion … well, I’ll probably just ignore your advice as I usually do. (Not your fault. Mine. Troglodyte.)
But you’ve definitely got me thinking. And laughing.
I hadn’t googled (or binged) myself in a long time. And that was interesting- not sure how some of those pics relate to me… but, whatever.
ha! just recently i did the google image search, thinking i had not done it before. i found the 1st picture. the chin seemed to match your phantom of the opera hat-pic. i was pleasantly surprised that you did not look like the mid-50 year old grendel that i had imagined. seeing the 2nd pic now, i realize that it wasn’t my imagination but a faded impression of the first time i did the image search about a year ago. glad to be corrected on both counts.
Maybe a good thing. You probably don’t want some retard with a hate-on for liberty knowing what you really look like.
“Maybe a good thing. You probably don’t want some retard with a hate-on for liberty knowing what you really look like.”
🙂 Definitely a good thing. Jim and I were just having a conversation about what would happen if some SWAT team busts in one midnight. If they’re expecting “Grendel’s mama” (kudo KiA) there, they’d at least get a well-justified scare when they turn my abused body over and discover they’ve bumped off the “wrong” Claire Wolfe.
BTW, I’ve gone to pretty serious lengths over the years to keep photos of me off the ‘Net. The couple that do appear (like the hat pic on the blog) are heavily disguised. You ever see a full-face photo of “me” online or even a full profile, you can rest assured it ain’t really me.
🙂 Oh, that’s funny as hell. Isn’t that the drunk democrat in Texas who went all “don’t you know who I am” on the cops when they busted her for DUI or something? Possibly I have the story all wrong, but either way I can’t conceive of a way Bing linked her to you.
Wait a minute. Has anyone ever seen Claire and Sonia Sotomayor in the same place?
Uh huh !
…..
UnReconstructed — Caught me! Or maybe you caught Sonia: liberal Supreme Court justice by day, obscure Freedom Outlaw by night …
Um, I think you need to give this idea more consideration. Or perhaps less.
Joel — I looked it up. Not her, but I’m pretty sure it’s somebody like that. Some mug shot I probably linked to or posted in the last year or so.
Y’know, that is suspicious, UnReconstructed. I was neighbors with Claire for about 18 months, and Sotomayor never showed up even once in all that time.
And ever since Claire moved away I haven’t seen a trace of her either! So that clinches it! Or something.
That’s really creepy, Claire. Especially the one that looks like a drunk mug shot… EEEWWW
And yes… I’ve always been a bit skeptical of the idea that even NSA can actually do everything they threaten. Of course, they can do a lot of damage with bogus information, or just make things up…
Joel! UnReconstructed! You’re seriously blowing my … er Sonia’s … er SuperJustice’s cover. Do you realize you may have fatally interfered with my … er her … er our plot to bring Ugly Drug Woman (alias Grendel’s Mama, alias “Claire Wolfe”) to justice???
Every time I hear worries about how “THEY” know everything about everybody, I remind myself that “THEY” keep putting me on the Pregnant Mothers list.
3rd time now. Eventually I’m going to have a gaggle of invisible kids running around!
Congratulations, Ellendra! If “they” say you’re pregnant, I think you should at least go for some tax credits for your imaginary dependents. 🙂
Haven’t done a web search on myself for quite a while. Results mostly unsurprising – lots of Beverly Hillbillies. But there’s a personage out there who shares my name, and … uh … just no.
Possibly, I should’ve created various accounts on all the hot spots, purely as a defensive move. But really, my name is pretty uncommon. I suppose I should make some public pronouncements someplaces, indicating that any Twitter, FaceBook, etc., sites one finds with names like mine, aren’t me.
Could be worse. I Googled my name a couple weeks back and the first listing was “Larry Arnold Obituary.”
The first row of images included an Air Force officer, a sex offender, a 1950s actor, and a guy who lectures on spontaneous human combustion. The first photo that looks like me is on row 10.
Yes, you’ve linked to her in a blog… puzzles like that just nag at me….
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/2011/02/28/monday-miscellany-30/
Oh, GOOD WORK, Donna! I was just pondering how to find her and you nailed it.
A MADD mom busted for DUI. Yep. Figures …
I once saved the hat image and labeled it “forajida” — Spanish for “female outlaw” — but lost it when my computer crashed. (Now nothing is saved on computer, only on flash drive.) Didn’t know it /was/ you, but thought it looked like a “forajida.”
I’m a French composer, a Maine landscape painter, and a marketer of Ferraris in Luxembourg. Oh, that guy over on Strike-the-Root too. Maybe I shouldn’t have posted that image a while ago, but it’s too late now. I’m memorialized now forever until humans destroy the earth.
For a while I thought there were a lot of Claire Wolfe babes, but apparently there is a professional photographer with your name.
I just did a Google Images search of my name, and they actually do have two photos of me (one from my LinkedIn profile, and one from when I made the mistake of running for public office years ago [don’t ask]). The rest are all baseball players (there have been a few with either the same first or last name) and the expected “Melvin Laird” and such. Many make no sense at all, though.
But there are quite a lot of interesting “Claire Wolfe” photos out there. I think you should go with this one: http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAUQjBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.photoschool.co.nz%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F09%2Fclaire-wolfe1.jpg&ei=5WMdVfbNE4KogwSSxYHQCQ&psig=AFQjCNH7XjSZDYiSjemavlY2QwkZTqKAhA&ust=1428075877393002 (hope that link comes through).
Incidentally, that first photo of “you” (cute-in-an-office-assistant-sort-of-way) is described in Google Images as “BHM Associate Editor Rhoda Denning has been proofing Claire Wolfe’s upcoming book.” So (assuming that’s correct, of course) it’s really not all that far-fetched after all.
Ohhh, that’s Rhoda? Another good bit of investigation. Thanks, Laird. I figured it might be somebody holding a book manuscript of mine, but I don’t recall submitting a paper manuscript to a publisher in ages. Either I did and forgot or they printed one out, I guess. Been a while …
But yeah, of all the photos of “me” I like the one you found, Laird.
Ha! I suspected the cute blonde with huge blue hat was you, Claire! But yes, the search engine results using photos of Rhoda Denning and Debra Oberlin alongside your Wikipedia article was pretty humorously inaccurate.
Kyle — Though I thank you for the compliment, I’ve never been cute or blonde. Presentable, yes. Better than the MADD mommy. But that “blonde” hair you’re seeing is … silver.
Best thing to be said about me is what Pat said: “forajida.” (Well, assuming it means what we think it means!)
” (Well, assuming it means what we think it means!)”
My Spanish dictionary says it’s a proper word definition, though I’ll be damned if I can find it in any online dictionary.
Oh, no worries, Pat. I’ll happily believe you and your Spanish dictionary.
Laird, when you search with Google, then right-click and Copy Link, it includes all the Google garbage designed to tell the person running the link they got a Google hit.
If you go ahead to the actual link of Claire’s photo you can use the page link:
http://www.photoschool.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/claire-wolfe1.jpg
[/alphageek]
There are also claire-wolfe.jpg and claire-wolfe2.jpg