Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with googlefu

Help me find websites that trade or sell gently used cosmetics.

scazza — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:06:08 -0800

Help me find websites that trade or sell gently used cosmetics. Found this thread from 2006; is there anything other than Makeup Alley? Ebay is not the best. I'm looking for a specific very expensive moisturizer. I saw that Makeup Alley has some bad reviews of this product and I wonder what those people did with what they had left. I'm not worried about sanitary issues, this has a very sanitary container.

Thank you!

Release The Hounds!

Lipstick Thespian — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:14:38 -0800

How can I best use the Internet to find out who's behind a given website? I was on Wonkette.com this weekend and saw this video of a reporter in Florida interviewing Joe Biden.

The Youtube source connected the video to a blog named America'sNewsToday.com/.org.

My question is: What is the most effective way of searching on the Internet for who is behind this blog, who the anchor is in the video, and discover who else might be involved in this blog?

My internet skills are pretty basic, and I want to be more adept at sleuthing out the election weirdness that I discover online.

Blogs on the art and science of Googling

vizsla — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:21:28 -0800

Are there any good blogs out there on improving your Googling skills? I'm talking about the sort of techniques to find information using search engines that make you go "wow, why didn't I think of that?" and open you up to a new way of finding things. It is such a fundamental skill on the internet - surely someone has had to have written one?

Weird D&D chatterbot

zek — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:18:40 -0800

Trying to find an obscure webpage involving a bizarre chatterbot. Google-fu failing and all that jazz. This was a page I saw in 2004 or 2005 and it had logs from a chatterbot that someone put on AOL Instant Messenger. It usually degenerated into a big D&D cybersex mess ("I roll 2d6 and lash you with the Enchanted Whip of Jeremy", things like that). Needless to say, the other person usually got very weirded out.

Any leads to where this page might have been?

Hoping the hive can help me find the full text of "Aphorisms on Future" somewhere on the interweb

KevCed — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 12:46:32 -0800

[FailedGoogleFuFilter] Please help me find the full text of "Aphorisms on Futurism" online I'm posting this for my sister, who knows more about the text than I do. She has tried google, yahoo and MeFi. I am told that "Aphorisms on Future" is a modernist/futurist text by Mina Loy and she can't find it anywhere.

Google scavenger hunt!

EnormousTalkingOnion — Mon, 22 May 2006 09:13:57 -0800

My google fu is failing me on these two very random queries: 1) info about a beer commercial from a few years ago where a guy paints himself in a kung fu pose with a giant afro, 2) an image of the painting that the son paints in Wedding Crashers... I've spent the last few days trying to find these two very random things with no success, so maybe you guys can help...

The commercial is from the late 90's or early 00's, I think. All I really remember is that he painted himself into that scene, and I'm trying to find out more info about the commercial, at least which beer it was for, if not more.

The painting that the kid in Wedding Crashers does is called "Celebration," and I want to reproduce it roughly as part of a joke, but I can't find an image/screencap of it anywhere online.

Anyone else remember the commercial or have stronger google fu than me?

Help me find my 9th grade english teacher

snsranch — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:19:24 -0800

I'm trying to get in touch with one of my middle school english teachers. I've found everyone I've ever looked for by using google but this guy is totally eluding me. His name is Gordon V. Harter. He was an English teacher for Naples American High School/Forrest Sherman High School (DODDS) during the 1980's in Naples, Italy. Can you help me with the search? Do you have any ideas how I can continue? I've searched high and low and with no results. Perhaps he just hasn't left an internet trail. Any ideas?

A post-apocalyptic journey to ikiki beach

johnstein — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:53:42 -0800

Obscure-Movie-Filter?: Setting: post apocalyptic (I think) Plot: Can't remember Starring: Can't remember Unique subplot (or possibly main plot): One character (20s-30's white male) has a torn postcard of Waikiki Beach, however the "Wa" is torn, so he thinks it's called "ikiki Beach", a paradise to which he can escape to once the madness of the current plot of the movie resolves. Several years ago (late 90s, early 00s) I saw this movie either on TV or VHS. Since then I've tried to remember it, but without success. During a family gathering, my mom recalled seeing the same movie, yet I can't figure it out. She's asked the local library, I've googled till my fingers bled for "ikiki beach" and other similar google-fu phrases. "IMDB" "ikiki" sounds rather unique and straightforward, yet doesn't come up with anything (since I figure if the "ikiki" part were a main plotline, it would be in the movie description field).

thus, I figure the "ikiki" part is a subplot, but of the rest of the movie, I don't know.

I do know that it's not:
The Postman
Waterworld
No Escape

all 3 which sorta fit the feel of the movie I'm thinking about...

anyways... I've been lurking for a while, but it's really this question that finally pushed me to buy a membership :)

thanks for any insight or searching suggestions I could also try to finally solve this mystery that's been harassing my psyche for years now.

Remember an "angel" callcenter?

squidlarkin — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 08:18:09 -0800

Maybe a year or so ago, there was something posted on the blue about a guy starting a company where people could call in with random questions... basically a call center with exceptional google-fu. I believe the operators were called "angels". Can anyone point me to info on this or any similar ventures?

googlefu -where did it originate?

specialk420 — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:03:34 -0800

where did the term "google-fu" originate? i have never heard it used before today... its on ask mefi twice as of this moment.

Where's the guy shoving the monitor off of his desk?

stovenator — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 11:59:31 -0800

Does anybody know where I can find that famous mpeg of the guy who gets angry, stands up from his desk, and shoves the monitor onto the floor. Sorry about this one, but my Google-Fu has lost it's chi or something.

Term for images with rotational symmetry?

adamkempa — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 10:01:53 -0800

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. This image is from a poster that was sold by a band called Elevator to Hell, whom I had an unhealthy taste for in my younger days. They put similar tesselations on many of their LP and 7" labels as well. I'm looking for other examples of this admittedly pretty limited subset of... er... tessellated drawings.

A humorous aside: "Stoner art," while definitely fitting, is not the term I'm looking for. Interestingly enough, a google image search for "stoner art" brings up one 'close but no cigar' example, and points me towards these two websites, which are nothing if not entertaining.

Classes in Google-Fu

Shoeburyness — Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:37:10 -0800

Classes in Google-Fu

This MeTa thread suggests that some people could perhaps use some tips on how to Google (or otherwise search) more effectively. I often find that I give up on a search because I can't seem to hit on the exact right phrase that gives me what I want, or I get tired of wading through crummy, informationless, auto-generated sort of links. Masters of Googling, enlighten us!