(For the full story, go to the permalink for this article).

And yeah, I've been guilty of that. Especially since I got my site hosted. Yes, my cheeks flushed with pride in finding that I was the top hit on Google or Yahoo. I beat out my namesake, an artist from the U.K., who by all accounts appears to have much more talent than what I can muster right now (too harsh? well you haven't read what I've written lately! ;) ). I like his stuff, it reminds me of what Jeffrey Smart has done.

Here's a site with some of his goods.

Quite a talented doppelganger I think you'll agree. Go TimmyB! You ROCK!

Web users searching for identity
By Bridie Smith - February 2, 2005

Australians are a narcissistic bunch of internet users who are more interested in themselves than their American counterparts. Even scandal-studded celebrity Paris Hilton comes in second when it comes to tapping names into search engines, according to an internet survey.

The on-line survey of 1500 Australian internet users over 24 hours last October by ninemsn found the number-one name typed into search engines by Australian users was their own, with 47 per cent of people indicating they searched for themselves, compared with 39 per cent of Americans.

Also rating highly were the names of family, friends and colleagues - and former lovers and partners.

More than 10 million Australians actively use the internet from home or work according to internet research firm Nielsen/NetRatings.

The director of consumer services at ninemsn, Dominic Finnegan, said nearly 16 per cent of respondents admitted they couldn't resist typing in the name of an old flame - equal to about 1.8 million people.

Mr Finnegan said that of the 10 million internet users in the country, about 7 million used search engines - many of them as their first point of call.

Entertainment is one of the most popular search categories, with 84 per cent of respondents pursuing it.

A further 39 per cent of respondents said they had carried out a search on celebrity news or scandal - with, somewhat predictably, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Delta Goodrem topping the list.

Travel is also a regular topic of choice (84 per cent), as is breaking news (74 per cent), jobs (66 per cent) and personal health (65 per cent).

And, perhaps its just the NineMSN people doing that. Darn narcissitic MSN users! Hotmail is not all that.