2022 in Review: A year of SearchResearch

 Once again we're at the close of the year... 

Sunset over the Pacific with a tiny green flash
... and I'm trying to summarize all that happened in SRS as a way of looking back over the year.  It's a bit of a complicated story--we certainly covered a number of topics (see the list below), and touched on a number of SearchResearch topics, methods, and means.  We talked about whether a parakeet is really a kind of parrot, where the oldest solar observatory is in the Americas (A: Peru), and how to read in language and scripts that you don't recognize.  

This was also the year where I taught the Human-Computer Interaction & AI class at Stanford (with Peter Norvig) which was a tremendous amount of fun, but I'd forgotten how much time standing up a full class takes, even if it's in a domain that you know well.  

Despite the class and a few trips here and there, we managed to keep SRS rolling along.  We had 55 posts this year, just over 1 per week and just a few less than last year. 

I hope you found these entertaining and educational--that's certainly my intent in writing them.  I want to encourage your curiosity, and give you some of the tools I've found that help me with my curiosity addiction.  

I'm looking forward to next year's crop of SRS Challenges.  Where in the world will we go next?  

If you would, leave a comment about what you found most interesting in SRS during 2022, and if you have ideas, what would you like us to cover in the year ahead?  The comment line is always open. 

As always, 

Search on!  

JanSearchResearch Challenge (1/5/21): A new year, a n...Carolina parakeets... or parrot?Image identification is great, when it works.Google Lens cautionAnswer: A new year, a new Challenge about parakeets!How to find downloadable books in Google BooksHow to find open access booksSearchResearch Challenge (1/19/21): Time and tides...Are tides different in different places?Answer: Time and tides in different places?How to find anything #4 (part 2/3): News and Late ...How to find current newsFebSearchResearch Challenge (2/2/22): Search in a wo...Dealing with constantly changing namesHow to find anything #5: (part 3/3) Assessing Cre...How assess credibility of sourcesSearchResearch Challenge (2/16/22): How can I sear...Searching for soundsAnswer: How can I search over audio?MarSearchResearch Challenge (3/2/22): What are some g...How to find near real-time satellite imagesAnswer: What are some good (almost) real-time sat...SearchResearch Challenge (3/16/22): Finding the c...Finding special connections and terms (krumholz)Answer: Finding the connections?SearchResearch Challenge (3/30/22): Where is the o...Oldest solar observatory in the Americas (Chankillo)AprAnswer: Where is the oldest solar observatory in t...SearchResearch Challenge (4/13/22): Why water the...Why would you water Astroturf?Answer: Why water the astroturf?MaySearchResearch Challenge (5/11/22): Why... in New ...Symbols of New OrleansSuperb example of SearchResearch... in AlgeriaA great SRS tale from Algeria--tracking down mysterious holesAnswer: Why... in New Orleans?SearchResearch Challenge (5/25/22): Finding origin...Using patents to find dates of old machines (apple parer and stapleless stapler)JunAnswer: Finding original patents?SearchResearch Challenge (6/8/22): Why do gnats D...Gnats swarm, but why?Answer: Why do gnats DO that?SearchResearch Challenge (6/22/22): Why is there a...Elephant statues in WisconsinWhere's Dan? A slight SRS delay this week...JulAnswer: Why is there an elephant statue in this Wi...SearchResearch Challenge (7/13/22): What is this ...Identifying abandoned oil rigs in the PA woodsSearchResearch Bonus Challenge (July 20, 2022): Wh...US city population densityAugAnswer: What's a large US city with very low popu...Answer: What's this rusty thing I found in the woods?SearchResearch Challenge (8/17/22): Horses are nat...Where did horses come from?Answer: Horses are native to... where?How to find anything #7: How to Find News and Late...More about how to find current newsSearchResearch Challenge (8/31/22): How can you fi...Finding those hard-to-find termsSepAnswer: How can you find answers to those mysterio...Extra: Napa Soda Springs to return to life?Update on Napa SpringsSearchResearch Challenge (9/14/22): Can you find t...Finding Starbuck and QueequegHint 1: Can you find the characters from Moby Dick...Hint 2: Can you find characters from Moby Dick in ...OctAnswer 1: Can you find characters from Moby Dick i...Answer 2: Can you find characters from Moby Dick i...SearchResearch Challenge (10/26/22): A missing bui...Exploring the hole in Conordices ParkNovAnswer: A missing building in the park?SearchResearch Challenge (11/9/22): Questions abou...Bats: why sleep upside down?Answer: Questions about bats--How many? Why do th...More surprising insights about bat predationSearchResearch Challenge (11/23/22): How to read o...How to read text in languages you don't recognizeDecAnswer: How to read other scripts and languages?AI writing systems, a poetic prompt, and The CyberiadThoughts about AI-generated textSearchResearch Challenge (12/14/22): Does animal c...Does bird coloration change by latitude?Answer: Does animal color and weight change by lat...