Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack.
Millions of people who searched for the star's name on Google News were greeted with an error page.
It warned users "your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application".
"It's true that between approximately 2.40PM Pacific and 3.15PM Pacific, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson and saw the error page," said Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker.
It was around this time that the singer was officially pronounced dead.
Google's trends page showed that searches for Michael Jackson had reached such a volume that in its so called "hotness" gauge the topic was rated "volcanic".
The BBC news website reported that traffic to the site at the time of Jackson's death was 72% higher than normal.
Fail
Google was not the only company overwhelmed by the public's clamour for information.
The microblogging service Twitter crashed with the sheer volume of people using the service.
 Searches for topics related to Michael Jackson peaked at 3PM Pacific |
Queries about the star soon rocketed to the top of its updates and searches. But the amount of traffic meant it suffered one of its well-known outages.
Before the company's servers crashed, TweetVolume noted that "Michael Jackson" appeared in more than 66,500 Twitter updates.
According to initial data from Trendrr, a Web service that tracks activity on social media sites, the number of Twitter posts Thursday afternoon containing "Michael Jackson" totaled more than 100,000 per hour.
That put news of Jackson's death at least on par with the Iran protests, as Twitter posts about Iran topped 100,000 per hour on June 16 and eventually climbed to 220,000 per hour.
Early reports of Mr Jackson's death and the confusion surrounding it caused a rash of changes and corrections to be made on his Wikipedia page as editors tried to keep up with events and the number of people trying to update the page.
TMZ, the popular celebrity gossip site that broke the story following a tip-off that a paramedic had visited the singers home also crashed.
There was a domino effect as users then fled to other sites. Hollywood gossip writer Perez Hilton's site was among those to flame out.
Keynote Systems reported that its monitoring showed performance problems for the web sites of AOL, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo.
Beginning at 2.30PM Pacific "the average speed for downloading news sites doubled from less than four seconds to almost nine seconds," said Shawn White, Keynote's director of external operations.
He told Data Center Knowledge that "during the same period, the average availability of sites on the index dropped from almost 100% to 86%".
After the news released of Michael Jackson's death on the 25th of June. Everywhere, everything, I saw, listened are somewhat related to him. The radio station I listened to, the newspaper I read in the morning, and the internet website I frequent. Even when I went to the nearest interchange (Bedok) for a gasped of fresh air, I saw shadows of him. HIS DEATH IS HAUNTING US !!!
His popluarity went all the way to the East, China. From a famous Chinese downloading software, Emule he took the lead immediately after his dead. His the highlight for that weekend and I believe his going to be placed there for weeks. Downloads like Angel and Demon fall way behind, transformer's game, newest ahmei's abum...
Michael Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest on Thursday afternoon, which was likely caused by a Demerol overdose and ultimately led to his death.
There is no doubt that Jackson had a tremendous impact on several generations of musicians, and millions of people who grew up with his music. It is therefore no surprise to see that only hours after he was pronounced dead, his music is being sought by hundreds of thousands of people.
At the time of writing the three most active torrents in the music section on the largest torrent indexer, Mininova, are all compilations or discographies from the “King of Pop”. On top is a torrent listing 30 Michael Jackson albums, The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons, totaling 1.94 GB of music.
In common with social media sites, ‘Michael Jackson’ is one of the most sought after phrases on torrent sites too. The search cloud on Mininova is filled with Jackson-related searches from fans who want to complete their collection.
This renewed interest in Michael Jackson is not limited to just torrent sites though. On Amazon, Jackson’s work takes up the top 14 spots on the bestselling albums list. Currently the top 10 albums chart on iTunes is dominated by 7 Jackson albums. On eBay there is a similar boom with memorabilia being traded for ten times the prices of just two days ago.
It had been rumored by Michael Jackson biographer Ian Halperin that the ‘King of Pop’ had recorded as many as 100 unreleased tracks but was keeping them locked away. He claimed that upon Jackson’s death, the tracks would be made available to his three children as a personal legacy and to secure an inheritance.
With Jackson’s death the 100 songs could now become available, and considering his troubling financial situation it may not take very long before they become available to the public, in stores and on BitTorrent.
According to the 1933 obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times, Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.
Was he really that old? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim? Environmental Graffiti investigates.
The Secrets To a Interminable Life
“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.” These were the words of advice Li gave to Wu Pei-fu, the warlord, who took Li into his house to learn the secret of extremely long life.
Li maintained that inward calm and peace of mind were the secrets to incredible longevity. His diet after all, was mainly based on rice and wine.
From 0 to 256
Unsurprisingly, not much is known about Li Ching-Yun’s early life. We know he was born in the province of Szechwan in China, where he also died. We also know that by his tenth birthday, Ching-Yun was literate and had travelled to Kansu, Shansi, Tibet, Annam, Siam and Manchuria gathering herbs. After that, it gets a bit fuzzy…
Apparently, for over one hundred years, Li continued selling his own herbs and then subsequently sold herbs collected by others. He also (according to Time) had six-inch long fingernails on his right hand.
You might be thinking that he looked decrepit, shrivelled, leather-like and creepy, however sources at the time were astonished at his youthfulness. Was this suspect? Was Li Ching-Yun as old as he claimed he was, or was his birthday a clerical error or exaggeration?
Let’s take a brief look at both sides…
The Nine Lives Of Li Ching-Yun
By his own admission he was born in 1736 and had lived 197 years. However, in 1930 a professor and dean at Minkuo University by the name of Wu Chung-chien, found records “proving” that Li was born in 1677. Records allegedly showed that the Imperial Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th Birthdays.
So the question is, had he forgotten his own birthday? Was this even the same Li Ching-Yun?
Looking at all of this from a medical and documented perspective: Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 so far holds the title for the person who has roamed the earth the longest: 122 years, which is a phenomenal length of time.
That means, that if the records discovered by Wu Chung-chien were accurate, Li Ching-Yun’s age would surpass the official record by more than 130 years. Is this even medically possible?
The detail, which seems to prove both arguments and debunk them at the same time, is Li’s youthful appearance, noted in a 1928 article from the New York Times. Visually and physically, he appeared to look like a typical 60 year-old. Does this therefore signify a superhuman body capable of lasting one quarter of a millennium, or is the story of Li Ching-Yun based on a series of half-truths, lies or exaggerations?
Unfortunately, we may never know. You may draw your own logical conclusions.
Yawning is extremely contagious -- 55% of people who witness someone yawn will yawn within five minutes. If a visually impaired person hears a tape of someone yawning, he or she is likely to yawn as well. Face it, the likelihood of you making it to the end of this answer without looking like one of these gaping maws is unlikely.Since tiredness might indicate a less energetic response to danger, clearly, yawning would mean people should find shelter and get out of danger. Those who yawned and paid attention to it, may have been selected into the species because they got proper sleep and were more alert to danger.
However, the exact mechanism and reasons of why one yawns in response to others yawning is still not clearly understood. The 2005 research may point the way to where to look for more clues about this interesting and automatic human behavior.
Fact 1: Michael Jackson suffered cardiac arrest, a condition that can lead to death if not treated within five minutes, according to doctors.Michael Jackson's death came as a shock yesterday - but to some, the real surprise was that he made it to 50.For much of his adult life, he seemed to be disintegrating before our eyes - gaunt, pale, in a wheelchair or bandaged from yet another surgery.He battled an addiction to painkillers and could barely sit up straight at times during his 2005 child molestation trial.
The London Sun said Jackson's collapse yesterday came after injecting Demerol. The Jackson family lawyer, Brian Oxman, said he warned the pop star about his misuse of prescription drugs. "Cardiac arrest refers broadly to when your heart just no longer pumps blood," In most cases, the heart beats so chaotically it stops functioning, leading to unconsciousness. Sometimes it gets extremely weak and quivers uselessly.
Speculation about Michael Jackson's... mysterious death might have been caused by a lethal injection of pain-killing drugs.The British Sun tabloid reported that Jackson aides told emergency room doctors at , where he died, that the star had collapsed after an injection of Demerol - a powerful pain killing drug similar to morphine and known to carry a risk of cardiac arrest."Shortly after taking the Demerol he started to experience slow shallow breathing," the newspaper quoted one source as saying. " His breathing gradually got slower and slower until it stopped." Hospital officials haven't confirmed that account. Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman told CNN Jackson's sudden death "is not something which has been unexpected....I can tell you for sure that this is something I warned about." Oxman said Jackson had been struggling to cope with pain from several performance injuries, including a damaged vertebra and a broken leg, which had been interrupting scheduled rehearsal for his upcoming London tour dates. "This family has been trying for months and months to take care of Michael Jackson," Oxman said. "The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him. If you think that the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing compared to what we have seen taking place in Michael Jackson's life." The singer reportedly got hooked on Demerol and morphine during his 2003 trial for child sex abuse."It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known," his brother Jermaine said. Here are some of his news and his great performance :
Video of him sending to hospital :
His Final Conference :
His Death News :
His Great Performance:
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