mortiz080

While wandering through DC...  ... I came across a most remarkable water fountain.   While there's no water running in the fountain now, it clearly used to be a fountain.  But what an unusual form!  How fantastically decorative!   As I walked around the fountain, I finally figured out what it was, and so when I looked at the inscription below, I started laughing out loud.   Today's Challenge is based on my laughter.  I did a bit of research after seeing this fountain, and the story that goes along with it (and other fountains like it) is definitely worth knowing.   So...  1.  What kind of fountain is this one shown above?  (Yes, I know it's a water fountain... but there's much more to the story than that.)  This kind of fountain has a specific name...  2.  Why did looking at the inscription (below), make me laugh out loud?  3.  Here's another fountain I found in Petaluma, CA (below).  It's not nearly ...

Simple really is best.    The key getting really good at searching is to keep a very open mind about what works--because what works best  will change over time.  And sometimes, the simplest approach often works.  Let's take a look at how I searched for these Challenges...  1.  What kind of beast is this?  (And what's the simplest search that will get you the answer?)   When I saw this cow standing in a field, my first thought was (and I'm not making this up) "That looks like an Oreo cow!"   So, as silly as it sounds, my first query was:       [ Oreo cow ]  And here's what I found out...  Lo and Behold--it's a Belted Galloway cow.  It originated from western Scotland and can thrive under pretty sketchy conditions (low forage, wet, windy--a Scottish climate).   I love the description in the Wikipedia article:  ".. Belted Galloways are primarily raised for their quality marbled beef, although t...

Simple really is best.   This perhaps most true in your SearchResearches.   And yet one of the most common search mistakes I see in my studies is people using WAAY too complicated terms to search for simple things.  Here are a few quick Search Challenges to make the point. You should be able to figure out what these things are very quickly... and WITHOUT USING Search-By-Image .  (Yes, I know you can find these things with Search-By-Image--my point today is to help you learn to search by taking the simplest possible route.)   What would be the simplest possible searches for these things?  1.  What kind of beast is this?  (And what's the simplest search that will get you the answer?)   2. When it snows gently at night (as it did many nights when I was a grad student in Rochester, NY), you can see the most beautiful display of lights around the parking lots.  What is this phenomenon called?  3.  And lastly, many animals have this ...

Every so often...  ... one gets reminded of what they don't remember.  In this week's case, Regular Reader Fred Delventhal left a really nice comment on yesterday's post.  He wrote (minor edits are mine):  Youtube filtering allows you to limit your search to 360 degree videos.  If you search for:            [ how to find 360 videos]  you'll find a GoogleSystem blog post about how to search for 360 videos .   This post from 2015 shows that you can filter your YouTube results by applying the 360 filter.     To do this, first do a quick search, then click on the "Filters" pull-down menu:     Then, filter appropriately:   Then you'll see the video on that topic with the 360 tag.  (I had a good time with the search for [ dolphins ] and then filtering by 360...)   Fred also notes that:  The Street View app for iOS and Android is basically all photospheres. Pick a point on the map and...

How do you get immersed,  if you can't find what you want to be immersed in? There are lots of "immersive" videos out there.  Here's a nice example from David Hsieh:  (  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OzlksZBTiA )     And we know about the NYTimes VR stories.   But how do you  search for these things?    The SearchResearch Challenges:  1.  How DO you find immersive online experiences?  (I've mentioned videos as one way to be immersed.  Are there other ways to get that experience?)   Let's start by figuring out what an "immersive online experience" could be.  If you start with the query:       [ immersive online experience ]     you'll quickly learn that this can refer to:  a. 360 still images --pictures that let you move your viewpoint anywhere (up, down, left, right, zoom in-and-out).  These often have extra buttons you can click to see inserted annotatio...

Getting immersed in your topic is usually a great idea...   ... and in the past couple of years, a number of different technologies have emerged that let you record and view 360-degree "immersive" videos.  Here's a nice example from David Hsieh:   This is just one of many examples of immersive  imagery.  As you probably know, the New York Times is (justly, in my opinion) famous for their Google Cardboard VR stories .  But you can imagine where my interest lies--how do you search for these things?    Today's SearchResearch Challenges:  1.  How DO you find immersive online experiences?  (I've mentioned videos as one way to be immersed.  Are there other ways to get that experience?)   2.  How can you find immersive experiences by location?   For instance, can you find all of the immersives that are near the Wat Chedi Luang temple in Thailand, especially ones that show the famous reclining Buddha?  For instance,...