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Advanced Search Query Builder: The Easy Way to do Internet Searches

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  Ever wanted to get rid of those pesky AI summaries that seem to appear every time you do a Google search ? Want to bypass AI and 'do your own thing' with an advance internet search ? Now you can - and without needing to remember what query syntax to use. To find out how, just read on….. Background Internet searching has changed a lot over the last few years, due largely to the automatic introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents into everything but the most basic searches by the all the major search engine providers. There is no doubt that those AI summaries which appear uninvited in response to most queries can be very useful, particularly for those who know little about a particular subject to start with and aren’t quite sure where to start looking. But they aren't always needed, and they can clutter up the results presentation and slow things down if you already know what you’re looking for, and want to narrow down your search accordingly.   AI inte...
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Travelodge: The New ‘Blind Date’ Scheme

  Followers of the now somewhat notorious hotel chain may have noted an item in the news recently regarding several instances of occupied room keys being issued in error to unauthorised persons. Rumours abound as to why this might have happened, citing lax hotel security policy, poor staff training, etc. However, an interesting alternative explanation surfaced recently on social media, based on the possibility that this 'lapse' wasn’t actually a mistake after all…. The theory advanced by its proponents is that in attempt to spice up their hotel offering, Travelodge’s Marketing Development Department (TMDD) have come up with a ‘blind date’ type scheme whereby rooms occupied by single travellers are selected at random and a surprise additional occupant, also selected at random, is issued with a second pass key. Presumably neither 'victim' is aware of what the hotel (or fate!) has in store for them.... This scheme is apparently designed to ‘make life more interes...
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Publication Paywalls - and How to Bypass Some of Them

  Just a quick heads up on a useful tool I discovered recently while on a quest to view Medium articles.  For those who haven’t come across it, Medium is a blogging platform with a (hitherto!) fairly wide following in the blogging world, where authors can contribute articles, and also receive payment if they are members and are prepared to pay a monthly subscription. Some of these articles are worth reading, but almost all of those that are remain inaccessible behind a paywall. As a new user of this platform, I did some research and discovered quickly from other sources that Medium was losing readership and contributors…much in the same way that Blogspot did some time ago, although apparently at a faster rate.   I’m convinced that this is fall-off is because of the paywall and their aggressive marketing messaging about membership subscriptions. It’s interesting to note that some of their recent output includes reports of a study on the effectiveness or otherwise of pa...
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