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Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Tehuti - Google Answers Researcher Interview

Welcome to the second round of the Researcher interviews! Thanks to Researcher Missy’s idea, I added a different Friday-Five set of questions to every interview. So enjoy, and please note that none of this is official Google Inc. opinion – even though this format is officially approved, Google Answers Researchers are not Google employees.

We start with Krys from Nottingham (UK), known as Tehuti-Ga on Google Answers. Not just a Researcher with over 400 questions answered, but also “scientist and information specialist to a charity. Freelance book indexer, translator, editor and astrologer (of the psychobabble school). Ebay seller when other activities are quiet.”

 

Tehuti-Ga

What’s the story behind your Researcher alias?

I am a totally obsessed amateur Egyptologist. Tehuti (aka Djeheuty, Thoth) is the Egyptian god of wisdom and knowledge. I could not think of a better namesake for my freelance and researcher activities.

What would be an especially fun question for you to answer?

An astrology question with lots of psychobabble would be wonderful, especially a $200 one with 5 stars and large tip!

What were some of the most interesting discoveries you made during your research activity?

Hmmm, I tend to like the non-medical questions best, although I am a biomedical specialist by profession. I guess it’s because answering biomedical questions seems too much like work.

So, some interesting discoveries:

Can you give an example of a question where you think the road of discovery (or the ways to get to the answer) was highly unusal, funny, or interesting?

Hmmm, not really from my viewpoint. However, this question caused some hilarity to Journalist-ga on account of the fact that my idiotically simple search strategy succeeded where more complex ones had failed.

Hypothetical Musings by Tehuti

If an omniscient deity would be a Google Answers Researcher, which question would you ask?

What is the most important thing I could do to ease the pain of this world and its inhabitants.

Which famous person, dead or alive, would make a great addition to the Researcher team?

Callimachus, creator of the catalogue of the Library of Alexandria. He was a poet too, which is all to the good. Oh, I’d love to have Carl Gustav Jung in as well, so I could pick his brains whenever I wanted.

What would be a great new site on the Web... something no one ever thought of, or something plain impossible?

A site that gathers together all the literary quotations scattered around the Web, sorts out the correct attributions, makes any necessary corrections to the words themselves, discards the ones that do not actually exist, and presents the rest with full bibliographical details!!! Grrr, I hate people who put out quotations with no indication of source.

What do you think would be the one question a being from another planet would be most interested in having answered upon arriving on earth, and spending one day with us humans?

Humans have a lot going for them; why have they messed up so much?

What are your favorite research tools, on- and offline?

I find that most information I need tends to be available on the Web, provided a critical approach is taken to the reliability of sources. Offline, I do sometimes use my full hardcopy 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica, although I find the quality has declined markedly from earlier editions. I also have quite a collection of language dictionaries: Polish, Slovenian, Serbo-Croat, French, German, Spanish, 6-language (inc Latin) medical, and Chambers English.
Online, I use a number of general search engines and metasearchers, with choice depending on the nature of the research: Alltheweb, AltaVista (mainly for the character wildcard feature), Google, Teoma, Vivisimo, Ixquick. I tend to use Scirus a lot for scientific queries. Medline and Toxnet are very useful for some biomedical queries.

You are in charge of the Webby awards next year – who’s winning for which category?

Ayyyy!!!! The only award I would want to give is for the site with the highest marks for the following criteria: fast download, legible text, useful information, soothing colours, great navigation and total absence of flash, java, banner ads, pop-ups, obligatory music and animations, and other similar c__p. I would call it the “Only websites worth having” category.

Which is an example of a Google Answer another Researcher provided which really opened your eyes on something and made you go “Wow, I didn’t know that"?

Leli is one of my favourite researchers, and I frequently read her answers not just for the information, but because the elegance of her writing style pleases me. I was amazed to see just how many British MPs she had listed as having spent time in jail.

When Tehuti-Ga’s Not Researching for Google Answers...

What’s your most unusual hobby?

Sigh.... I don’t really see myself as doing anything all that unusual. However, because I have a total lack of interest in sport, soap operas and pop music, people tend to label most of what I enjoy as unusual. So, take your pick if you think any of these is unusual: study of Egyptology, study of hermetic philosophy, playing and singing West Gallery and Shape Note music, listening to early music and world music, doing astrology chart interpretations. Oh, and I love playing a druidess on Avalon as well, but I guess that is fairly main stream for a web audience

What are some of your favorite books, movies, and music albums?

Books

welll, I could go on much much more...

Films

Albums

Oh heck, so many more – I have several hundred albums and love most of them!!!

Friday-Five

1. When was the last time you laughed?

On Monday, over a boozy lunch with the best friend I have ever had.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?

My partner.

3. Who was the last person you emailed?

Best friend as in 1.

4. When was the last time you bathed?

Several years ago.....

 

...... I prefer showers

5. What was the last thing you ate?

Cheese and onion sandwich followed by an apple.

And Finally...

Who would play you in a movie on your life... and what would the tagline on the movie poster be?

I haven’t the faintest idea who would play me. I don’t take much notice of film star names. I guess it would have to be someone who takes a large dress size, which knocks out most of them!
The tagline, hmmm, “the eternal seeker”

Anything else you might want to say?

I think I’ve already taken up more than my fair share of web space :)

 


Tehuti’s online at www.tehuti.co.uk

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