Searching with Google

In the modern world, surfing the internet has a significant place, as it helps in finding the relevant information more easily & faster. Out of the search engines used for searching the internet, Google has a very high place. I am going to enlighten you on using Google search effectively.

The first thing to note is that we should use proper words to get proper results. More relevant the words to what you seek, more relevant will be the results returned. First take a moment to think what words would appear in the page that you want to seek.

More the number of terms entered in the search box, less amount of results will be returned.

For example, if we search for 'dog training', the number of results returned will be more than for searching 'dog training classes'

I did a search a while back & the number of results returned are as,

dog - 1.5 billion

dog training -  230 million

dog training classes - 9 million

Another thing to note is that capitalisation is not considered when doing a Google search.

dog, DOG & DoG will return basically the same results.

Other thing is using operators to modify your search.

Using quotes (""):

When you enclose some words inside quotes, it will do a search for pages with all words appearing together in order given, or in other words it will do a phrase search.

Next is using hyphen or dash (-):

When hyphen is used just in front of a word, that word will be excluded from the search pages. That is the pages that contains the specific word will be excluded from the results.

dog training classes -puppy

'site' operator

Site operator helps us to restrict the search to a particular web site. There should be no space between the 'site:' operator & the domain name.
transfer site:health.gov.lk

'filetype' operator
Filetype operator restricts the search to be returned from a specified file type.
six thinking hats filetype:ppt

Even though there are many more operators, knowing these helps to get most of your queries correctly.

Further Readings:

• Happy 9th Birthday Google!
• Power Searching with Google Quick Reference (.pdf file)
• Google offers a e learning course - Power Searching with Google

It offers you with a certificate at the end of the course, though you will have to print your own certificate.

Six Thinking Hats.

Do you fed up with boring time consuming meetings ultimately with no effective decisions? Also you need to improve your own thinking with a broad vision, not affected by ego? If your answer is yes; The six thinking hats is the ideal tool for you.
Six thinking hats is a time tested, proven and practical thinking method. It is a simple mental metaphor to remember the direction of thinking. Early in the 1980s Dr. Edward de Bono; a medical doctor and a psychologist, invented the Six Thinking Hats method.
We will see how we can use it in a group meeting. But remember, it can be effectively use in individual thinking also. There are six, easily memorable, hypothetical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. When done in a group, everybody wear the same colour hats at a time.
Lets start from White hat: This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. “I think we need some white hat thinking at this point...” means Let's look at the data side. “How many members will come for the annual trip?” “Who will not come?” “How much will it be cost?” Mnemonic is white color papers, half sheets: So the white hat.
Red hat: It is about emotion, feeling and intuition. It does not need any logical reasoning. Jest say what you feel. "Putting on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." “I think it is better to go up country.” The mnemonic is heart.
Black hat: This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is logical negative side. “Because of rainy season, going up country is dangerous.” “What will happen if most members give up at the last movement?” In normal thinking this hat is often over use. Mnemonic is lawyers court.
Yellow hat: This is the opposite of black hat. It see the logical positive side. Why is that idea useful. “If it rains it will be more fun. Then we can see more & more waterfalls.” Mnemonic is sun.
Green hat: This is for creativity, new ideas, alternatives and possibilities. “How about if we hire a double Decker for our trip. Then all will come with their children.” Mnemonic is vegetation, growing.
Blue hat: This is the hat for look at the thinking process. It is about management, objectives, goals and outcome. It is the starting and ending hat. At the end, look down from up “Now we look about various aspects. What is the conclusion?” Or “We may need some green hat thinking.” Mnemonic is blue sky.

The advantages of the Six Thinking Hats are:
It encourages Parallel Thinking – In traditional meetings one person think in one direction and others are thinking in opposite directions. The end result is an argument. Ultimately after long time, they come to a conclusion which everyone can agree. In six thinking hats, without clashing with arguments all are thinking in the same direction at a point.
Encourage full-spectrum thinking – It prevents tunnel vision.
Separate ego from performance.
Learning to ride a bicycle at the beginning is difficult. But after learn, he can go very fast using his own energy than a walking man. Then he get his balance automatically. Same way after mastering six thinking hats, your mind automatically rotate on six hats. And you will become a marvelous thinker.

See this link in youtube Dr. de Bono explained it nicely in 6 * ten minute lectures. The actual lecture start from 55 seconds. If you interested see the other five videos also.
Dr. de Bono explained it nicely on youtube
See this link to see the companies using Six thinking hats.
Companies using Six thinking hats.
This is also a good source.
Learning_Guide:Six Thinking Hats