Apart from Matt Cutts responding personally on HN, people trying desperately to sell you Adwords, and press releases; they may as well be a black hole.
I subsequently failed the basic algo questions, though, not having a computer science degree (thankfully--both for not working at Google and not having a computer science degree).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccxiwu4MaJs (Warning: Strong language)