I love Google's occasional doodles on their homepage, and I love the evolution from the early, simple ones to the latest HTML5 craziness. But I've never really understood how they have chosen which historical occasions and figures to represent.
For example, today, June 6, is the anniversary of D-Day, the day in 1944 that Allied troops stormed the Nazi held beaches of southern France and began the eventual push towards victory in World War II. 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded. It was kind of a big deal.
But on the Google homepage today there is an homage to the first drive-in movie theater, which opened on the same date in 1933. Really neat presentation and very well done, but the gravity of the events aren't the same.
That being said, while D-Day 1944 was a great victory for our side, a bunch of people lost their lives and I'm sure it wasn't a pretty picture. The opening of the first drive-in movie theater, on the other hand, is a shoe-in for awesome, lite-hearted remembering for those old enough and exploration for those too young to have ever been.
And I love drive-in movies and the culture that they represent, so I'm definitely not unhappy with their selection. But maybe Google will do something D-Day related to the 80th anniversary in 2014. I hope they do.
