Brain Candy #36 - Web Tactics

One of the best tips I can give is don't let a web address pass you by unnoticed: become a URL "sponge". There are tons of web site references in magazines, radio and TV and other web sites; these can sometimes really pay off. Unless you have a super memory, write down all of the good addresses you come across. Once you access a site, if it's good, bookmark it and, if it has lasting value, you might consider putting it in a personal portal (BC 18), where you can access it easily.

Here are a few examples I found by paying attention to URLs. The first is a strange link. When I was researching the column that discussed on-line dictionaries (BC 28), I found this site. Go to www.pxdirect.com if you want to visit PX:Direct Jail Products. This site sells jail equipment and clothing to anyone who wants to buy them. If you want a striped suit, an antique jail cell key, some real handcuffs or even a modular jail cell, you can get it here. This site is a little funny, but it's also a little disturbing, at least to me. Visit it if you like.

Here's one a bit less disturbing, unless you like some of the "winners" of the WFMU worst song contest at www.wfmu.org/WSC/wsc.html. I found this site while I was doing some browsing of radio station web pages. WFMU is an eclectic station in the New York City area. They asked their listeners, including those on the Web, to choose the worst songs of the decades from the 50's through the 90's. There was also a runoff to find the absolute worst songs. The 70's were split into two groups and an additional category was added for the year 1974, which was considered an especially good year for bad songs. I can't say much more without telling you the winners, but for just a tease, the artist who won the overall contest for the worst song had the initials "P.B.".

When direct searching doesn't work, try using indirect techniques. There are many things you might try. As an example, find the name of a resource related to your subject (company, club, person, etc.) and search for it. On the other end of the spectrum, you can narrow your search. If you are searching for information on the atomic bomb, you might get too many junk hits for just "atomic bomb". Add "Teller" or "Oppenheimer" or "plutonium" or whatever focuses your search appropriately to eliminate the inappropriate hits. Most of all, don't give up too easily. By now, I assume that every topic that isn't nonsensical or trivial has at least one page devoted to it. If you know that others are interested in, say, breadmaking with wild yeasts, or collecting old daisy wheel printers, or researching mundane behavior (try www.mundanebehavior.org), it's likely that someone is covering it with a web page. It may not be a good web page, but you can scan it for other URLs or search terms that will help you find better resources. I was very pleased to find the following link in this manner; it's a business called Applesource. I found a reference to the company in an old book by food expert John Thorne (his website is at www.outlawcook.com ). He mentioned Applesource as a source for obscure apple varieties. I figured that if it was still around, there was a strong chance it would have a web page. Being a true applehead, I raced for the browser, did a search and found it. If you go to www.applesource.com, you can visit it, too. Find out about the tiny Pitmaston Pineapple, the banana-scented Kinsei, the Turkish novelty Kandil Sinap, the often-lopsided York Imperial or any of the 92 apple varieties they have available. They have various ways to order apples, but they're not very e-commerce-savvy yet, so you can't order on-line. Still, they offer an easy way to get apple varieties you aren't going to find at the local Acme.

A related tip: Don't ever get so caught up in a narrow search that you miss something else interesting. You may not want to pursue it right away, but copying down a few unrelated URLs that you happen to hit while searching for something else is of great value to your Internet productivity and enjoyment.

Here's another tip. We're all experienced in following a hierarchy downward from the home page to specific items of interest. Often, the result of a search will point deeply into such a hierarchy. I've often found it worthwhile to move up such a hierarchy, looking for other good pages. Here's an outstanding example. Catherine and I have a blueberry bush in the yard which needed some help. A bit of web searching and we found the rather long URL: www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/1000/1422.html, which was entitled "Growing Blueberries In The Home Garden". It's from the OSU Extension Department. Noticing that the URL was deep within a hierarchy, I tried cutting off the "1422.html", and got an index for their Horticulture Series, with a lot of really neat links to documents such as "Poison Ivy Identification and Control", "Landscape Plants For Use In Dry Areas", "Mulching Landscape Plants", "Lawn Care Plans" and many others. I then chopped off the next directory up, "1000/", and found that there were seven series, including the "Insect and Pest" series, the "Plant Disease" series, the "Lawn and Turf" series and the "Family and Consumer Science" series. There is a huge number of good documents to be found in these series, including a really interesting set of cultural diversity articles on eating customs of various ethnic groups and the large series on selecting, storing and serving various Ohio produce. You can continue the process of moving up (and down) in the various hierarchies of this complex website to find all sorts of things. The Ohio State Extension service deserves a lot of credit for providing such a useful resource to the world. I highly recommend it.