posted on December 22, 2001 08:31:04 AM
I would like to know how one can look/search for news reports on a subject.
I have never had much luck with using search engines and I don't have a clue how to do one concerning news/media stories.
I have a vendor who says that Tanzanite trading has been linked with the alQaeda and that some of the big time dealers of the stones/rough are stopping their trading in them.
He said one of the largest HSN (HomeShoppingNetwork)... announced their decision to suspend their buying/selling of the rough/stones due to the reports that much of the rough is leaving Tanzania illegally and the money is getting filtered to the alQaeda.
I would like to see if I can find some actually reports on that and not just the rumors....
I need a tutorial on searching for news stories.....Thanks!
posted on December 22, 2001 01:35:49 PM
Thanks krs-
I used your suggestions and haven't come up with anything yet.
Since, the company I was told about is headquartered in FL maybe I should focus on the publications in that state.
Is there a way to do that?
I went to the company's website and found they still are selling Tanzanite so I am pretty sure it was just a rumor.
Though, these guys do like to brag that they buy entire productions from mines all over the world to get the best price.
I could see how it would be most uncomfortable to find out your best suppliers of rough were actually connected to the alQaeda....especially with how quickly most people form an opinion and, of course, voice that opinion....
One of these days maybe I will learn how to get good results on a search. I still get mostly "garbage".
posted on December 22, 2001 01:45:09 PM
I did a search of "tanzanite" on the Globe and Mail (Canadian newspaper) web site and came up with this snipette from an Oct. 5 article:
From 1993, members of al-Qaeda began to live in Nairobi and set up businesses there, including Asma Ltd. and Tanzanite King.
posted on December 22, 2001 01:59:40 PM
I found the article by going to the Drudge Report site . There's a list of links there on the left side of the screen. One of them is the U.K. Press Assocation web site (called Ananova). At the Ananova site, I did a web search of the word "tanzanite" from this page:
THE BOOM in sales of tanzanite, which is only found in Tanzania, is under threat from the smuggling in the gemstone allegedly by the terrorist Al Qaeda network.
In the 1990s, Western demand for the gemstone increased steadily - in the US alone, sales are said to be worth more than $400 million a year, although the official trade is worth just $16 million.
Smuggling of the gemstone is a particular problem and now the United States government has focused in on tanzanite, alleging that Al Qaeda is integrally involved in the trade to fund its terrorist activities.
posted on December 23, 2001 06:43:14 AM
Wow! Thanks you guys....I have bookmarked these spots.
krs-You had said the keywords were the secret to sucess....I had already done a search following your suggestion, but did not put FL into it, I was using the company name I was looking for.
The results you got with just plugging FL into your search was night and day different from the ones I got....amazing!
Irene, Helen & saabsister-I really appreciate the links...and the "how to's".
I have, since finding AW, often been impressed with how quickly links pop up on a topic and have found myself wondering how you infosaavy (is that a word? If not I will VERO it) people found that stuff so fast!
Again thanks, these links gave me the information I was looking for. Maybe someday, I'll have something to contribute that might be useful to some of you!
posted on December 23, 2001 07:06:33 AM
On Explorer you can also go to the Edit pull down and use the 'find on this page' to search web pages for words or terms.
posted on December 23, 2001 07:32:51 AMkrs-so I have heard....that's why I have been a bit about not being able to figure out how to get my fingertips to do that.....
In my defense (gotta make myself feel better) I had a rotory dial telephone up until about 3 years ago. I didn't want to pay the $2.50 extra a month to go with tone...When I had to upgrade to have a piece of equipment added to my store, the young serviceman saw my phone and called it an antique and commented he had actually never seen one still being used.....The gas company serviceman said the same thing about my gas refrigerator!!!!
I was given a computer by my son 2years ago and didn't even know how to turn it on.
When I finally figured that out, I used it to play solitar....came with it and was the only thing I knew how to get to.
It was destined to be like my microwave...boil water and heat up cooked rice...(I quit doing even that after the novelty wore off)...Now I use it like a bread box...just keep my bread and cookies in there....I don't think it has been plugged in for over 5 years now.
I finally decided that since I had the thing (computer not microwave), and had actually paid for a year's worth of internet service, I might as well learn to use the darn thing.
Maybe someday, I will be able to say I am at least "computer literate"....
posted on December 23, 2001 07:40:03 AM
I use AltaVista (www.altavista.com) mainly. It has a huge database of web sites. It used to be lightening-fast, but lately they've been loading it down with bells and whistles. Still works good though.
Let's say I was searching for the freeware program Irfanview.
Enter freeware irfanview to return a list of sites that have either the words freeware or irfanview.
Add a plus sign to force a match: freeware +irfanview returns sites that have the word irfanview, and may have the word freeware.
Add a minus sign to exclude sites: freeware +irfanview -shareware excludes any page that contains the word shareware.
Use quotation marks to include a phrase: +freeware +"graphics editor" returns any page that contains the word freeware and the phrase "graphics editor."
Don't feel bad. I resisted these things for quite a while. Really wasn't much interested in techno-marvels in my mountain home, and every time I picked up a magazine to look at what was going on it would be filled with pages of what I now know was basic code--programs that people had contributed that made a stickfigure walk across a screen, or something equally dumb. I didn't see any point to it.
But I had a not-yet five year old girl around the house, and one day I needed some wire thing from radio shack. I had her with me and we went into the place and she immediately ran over to a computer desk setup they had in there not far from the door, rummaged around and found a disk, put it into a drive and was opening some silly thing like Animal Math in less than a minute. I just watched all that and went "Hmmmm".
I didn't have a clue about the things and wouldn't be a fool in front of her, so I investigated some and learned that she was getting one hour a week in a computer lab while in preschool. I bought a used old XT the next week that had no operating systen, no harddrive, and just two floppie drives. The seller was a kid who wrote games in his almost empty apartment.
That's what started it, and it was some twelve years ago is all.
posted on December 23, 2001 08:49:56 AM
Then, perhaps there's still hope for me afterall....
I have to admit, though, I do still find myself clinging to my calculator, sharpened #2 pencil (I have one of those little plastic sharpeners that I have made into a necklace and wear all the time), yellow legal pad, dictionary and World Book encyclopedias and I would feel totally naked without a pen tucked behind my ear.....it's hard to give them up! I cried when our local library did away with the card index files. I wasn't sure how I would find anything after that.
When I do find something important on the internet, I find myself writing it all down (even all the how-to's I picked up here)! You wouldn't believe how many yellow pads and spiral notebooks I have filled up in the last 2 years!
Gosh, after reading over what I just typed, I'm not sure there is any hope for me. It may take me the next 12 years just to get to the proficiency level of the average 5 year old!!!
I am greatful for everyone's efforts to teach this old dog a new trick!
Can you tell I have learned how to do a bit of UBB code???? I am in "love" with bolding and itallics....like those little smilies too!!! I apologize for any annoyance it may cause. I'm sure eventually the novelty will wear off, just like it did with my microwave.
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Dec 23, 2001 09:10 AM ]
posted on December 23, 2001 08:37:09 PM
Thanks twinsoft for the help. I think that's a big part of my problem and why I don't get good search results. I can't seem to get the hang of the + - "" .
I also want to thank you Helen for the link. I added that to my list of important sites....so far, I have managed to not loose my notes but they are beginning to take up a lot of space!
about not being able to figure out how to get my fingertips to do that.....
