Is it possible to run a google search with an exact phrase and multiple variables? I'd like to see if a fixed search term (an exact phrase) returns any results when paired with a number of variables. I have approximately 200 variables and rather than run 200 seperate searches, would it be possible to run the search in one go? Something along the lines of "exact phrase" AND ( n1 OR n2 OR n3...). The variables will be exact phrases as well.
posted by Mrs. Buck Turgidson on Nov 11, 2009 - 5 answers

Is there a simple, free way of searching the birth and death dates of a wide variety of people? [more inside]
posted by prior on Nov 10, 2009 - 4 answers

What are your lesser-known or weird ways of looking for new music? [more inside]
posted by querty on Oct 31, 2009 - 37 answers

How to deal with unemployment + feeling like crap? Just got let go last week from crap job I hated, but now feeling more miserable than ever. [more inside]
posted by greatalleycat on Oct 22, 2009 - 11 answers

What is the best way of getting data from a search engine in a form that it can be parsed into addresses? The end goal is to geocode it. [more inside]
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth on Aug 12, 2009 - 4 answers

Is it worth it to pay for a "targeted" resume distribution service? [more inside]
posted by rybreadmed on May 4, 2009 - 7 answers

Recent Graduate: Work towards 2nd Bachelors, Masters, or take a lower paying position I hope will lead to the job I want? [more inside]
posted by sleazy_e on Jul 21, 2008 - 12 answers

How can I change the behavior of searching in windows in Firefox? The Firefox search-in-browser bar is, and has always has been, awful. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Jun 29, 2008 - 14 answers

I'm curious how people deal w. their old email. (esp those using Outlook and IMAP, but others, too...) [more inside]
posted by ManInSuit on Apr 3, 2008 - 15 answers

I'm looking for suggestions for open source software that will allow me to take a large amount of XML, do searches of it through a web interface (especially allowing selecting trees or tags for narrowing searches), and return HTML-formatted results. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Sep 7, 2007 - 6 answers

I'm 3 years out of college, and unemployed again. I feel like I should go back to school, but what for??! [more inside]
posted by PetiePal on Aug 23, 2007 - 3 answers

Seeking out a biological sibling, given up for adoption when she was born. How? Bad idea? [more inside]
posted by smorange on Jul 22, 2007 - 13 answers

How can I search for specific strings of text within multiple individual text files in Mac OSX 10.4? [more inside]
posted by DiscourseMarker on Jun 14, 2007 - 9 answers

Is there a way to find an excel file on your hard drive that contains a certain sequnce of digits in adjacent cells? [more inside]
posted by goethean on Mar 22, 2007 - 8 answers

How does a website get to be ranked on the first page for searching on google, yahoo, etc? [more inside]
posted by Gankmore on Feb 3, 2007 - 11 answers

How can I prove that a mistake existed on a website six months ago? [more inside]
posted by roll truck roll on Jan 26, 2007 - 20 answers

why does excluding terms on google give me more hits? [more inside]
posted by goethean on Nov 14, 2006 - 8 answers

How can I force many sites' search functions to not treat the entry in the Title: field as a keyword? [more inside]
posted by Rash on Jul 27, 2006 - 2 answers

why are MSN, Yahoo & Google the only decent search engines nowadays? Are there any search engines made by organizations that don't enable the oppression of billions or aren't conspiring to hurt the Chinese?
posted by sswiller on Mar 9, 2006 - 21 answers

Stupid Google tricks: I'm teaching a class on internet searching. Help me impress and inform by sharing your favorite Google or other search tool feature, trick, or hack. [more inside]
posted by cosmicbandito on Jan 19, 2006 - 49 answers

Amazon-fu. How do I get Amazon, a) to show e.g. 100 hits per page; b) show just author/title and not the other crap? [more inside]
posted by TheRaven on Dec 8, 2005 - 9 answers

Gmail-like interface for my old emails? [more inside]
posted by bonaldi on Nov 28, 2005 - 13 answers

Is there a way to utilize a whitelist of specific sites in either Google or another search engine? The "site:" operator seems either too restrictive (one website) or too expansive (e.g., edu, gov). [more inside]
posted by aiko on Oct 8, 2005 - 4 answers

There was a post a while back about a new people-finder website. It was linked with a search on Matt's name (I believe). It worked pretty good. I need to use it today, and can't find the post. Any help? Or suggestions of good alternatives? The one's I tried by searching google were all pretty lousy.
posted by gummo on May 12, 2005 - 3 answers

I am an adoptee, and this AskMe post motivated me to ask- to any of you who are A) adopted and searching, or B) adopted and have found Bparents or siblings or C) have anecdotes on how friends have found parents or siblings.... How did You/They eventually find their kin?
I am all over message boards, registries, etc. I'm looking for other options. Any input appreciated.
posted by exlotuseater on Dec 13, 2004 - 19 answers

Is there a concise, google-able term for an image of this variety [Detail 1, 2]? 'Wedge-shaped drawing that is tessellated into a circle to give the appearance of one unbroken, repeating image' isn't doing the job. More background inside. [more inside]
posted by adamkempa on Oct 28, 2004 - 9 answers

I need a search tool replacement for the built-in windows XP search, or suggestions for it. I have a lot of files on different drives in different directories (C:\AA F:\BB ...) and I when I want to find a specific file that I know is in one of those directories, I have to select and search each directory one at a time. (searching all folders on all drives would take too long.) Anyway to make this quicker?
posted by Iax on Oct 18, 2004 - 7 answers

Is there such a thing as a Web site where you can type in the name of a particular organization or domain, and find out what e-mail scheme they assign their employees? Let's say you're trying to locate John Smith at the fictitious Omni Product Corporation...then you could look up the company and find out whether they typically give out addresses that are "john.smith@omniproduct.com," "johnsmith@...," "js,"...etc.? I realize this sounds like a spam apocalypse, but it would be so useful.
posted by inksyndicate on Oct 15, 2004 - 6 answers

Recommendations for a good music lyrics search engine? [more inside]
posted by jca on Jan 14, 2004 - 11 answers

Okay, speaking of new jobs, I've got one ~

How do you research a potential employer, particularly if you don't know anyone who works there? After you learn all you can from their website, Googling their key players, stock analyst sites, and F*ed Company, where else do you look? I keep thinking there's gotta be a catch with my new potential employer, but nothing's turning up.
posted by pomegranate on Jan 10, 2004 - 7 answers