One of the many web sites I’ve scattered everywhere is RSS Gizmos ( https://rssgizmos.com/ ) which has a number of tools for discovering, creating, and using RSS. One of them is OPML Peeler, which takes an OPML file (OPML stands for Outline Processor Markup Language; an OPML file in this context is basically a bundle […]
Your Regular Reminder That Tons of People Are On Reddit
Wow, I just got a serious reminder of the Power of Reddit. I’m making a new tool to monitor breakout pages in specified Wikipedia categories as a new kind of topical information trap. One of the test categories I’m using is Androgynous people and that’s how I found out about an 18th/19th century preacher named […]
Blaugust: Four Tools for Easier Date-Based Searching
Do your Internet research tasks include a lot of date-based searching? I find that date-based searching helps a lot when searching historical (and man do I feel weird saying that about stuff that happened just a couple decades ago) events, companies, people and information. The results you’ll find when searching for something in its contemporary […]
Blaugust: Bean Stew Night
One of the things I didn’t know about menopause until I was going through it was what it will do to your digestive system. Hot flashes would leave me feeling like I had snakes in my belly, and I’d have to go lay in the shower for a while and just let cool water run […]
Slicing and Dicing YouTube Searches Into Google Queries
I was doodlebugging around and made a YouTube-based Google query builder. It slices a topical query five different ways and builds a list of keywords for each set of results. (Unique ones are a different color and marked with a star.) Click on the keywords to add them to your Google query, the results of […]
Echo Chambers No, Everything Chambers Yes: Three Tools For Nook-and-Cranny Searching
Yesterday I wrote about making search spaces and got accused of making echo chambers. So today I’ll show you how to get into the EVERYTHING CHAMBER with 3 tools for randomish and nook-and-cranny searching.
Blaugust: Heard about Google’s “Preferred Sources”? Here are 4 Other Ways to Find Specific News Outlets
Have you heard about Google’s new “preferred sources?” I’ll show you three other ways to discover news sources and bundle them into a Google search and one way to find TV news by US metro area.
Blaugust: What Am I Supposed To Talk About?
I have several posts in draft but they’ve stayed in draft because I can’t convince myself you give half a crap. I don’t expect or require you to, of course: you owe me nothing. At the same time I’d like to entertain or teach you rather than irritate you, so shouldn’t I consider you, my […]
Blaugust Blogging: MiniGladys Has Replaced 90% Of My Google “Quick Reference” Searches – No AI Required.
I have been writing about and using Google for decades, so I get it — it’s super-easy to use Google for quick one-off searches like finding official web sites, getting a name spelled correctly, getting a quick topic overview, etc. But with Google’s insistence on using water and electricity on AI to summarize the information […]
Happy Blaugust! Finding Blogs to Follow
Blaugust is here! Even if you don’t have time to participate by writing, Blaugust is a great time to jump in and explore the blogosphere. It’s still there, I promise!