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[Electric Speed] AI search engine | Buy food that gets tossed
Published about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here.
A note from Jane
One of the best ways to improve any social media experience is to ask more questions.
I’m not talking about questions meant to spark emotional responses, boost following, or juice the algorithm.
I mean posing one-on-one questions to others posting updates, or posing questions to people who respond to your own updates or material.
Even I have a hard time remembering to do this—I have a terrible urge to set things straight or be the voice of authority. But it’s never a bad idea to ask someone a clarifying (not accusatory) question, or gather more information, especially if there’s some semblance of disagreement or upset. And most people, including myself, express ourselves imperfectly, too quickly, even thoughtlessly, in online environments. What if we step back and reflect?
On social media in particular, listening is a rare and magical thing, especially when combined with thoughtful questions. Watch what happens.
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Jane’s Electric Speed List
Here are some of the latest things I’ve discovered. (I am not paid to mention any of these resources; there are no affiliate links.)
An app for storing media consumption lists
Years ago, I started using the app AnyGood to keep track of TV shows, movies, and other media I wanted to enjoy. Unfortunately, they’ve now made the app almost unusable unless you pay. I’m not willing to do that for what’s essentially a fancy list-making tool. I started using Notion until I could find a replacement, which might be Sofa. It has a free and paid version.
How to buy food that usually gets tossed
I read with great interest this New York Times article (gift link) about services that help you find and buy food that restaurants or grocery stores might otherwise pitch in the trash. The two apps mentioned: FlashFood and Too Good to Go. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a market in Cincinnati (yet), but if you live in any urban area, it’s worth taking a look.
Opt-in polls can produce misleading results
This is an unusual item for me to include, but since I often follow and cite research studies in the writing and publishing industry, I find this too fascinating—and important—not to mention. Recently, Pew Research Center ran an opt-in poll where 12 percent of US adults, ages 18–29, responded that they are licensed to operate a class SSGN submarine. In reality, the share of Americans with this kind of license rounds to zero.
We all (hopefully) know the limitations of ChatGPT and similar models for offering accurate information. If you want to conduct academic research using natural language queries, take a look at Consensus. It’s a search engine that uses language models to surface and synthesize insights from academic research papers.
NEXT ONLINE CLASS
March 20: Getting Past the Gatekeepers with Allison K Williams & Jane Friedman
In this 2-hour webinar for novelists, we’ll look at what your query ought to include to catch an agent, editor or publisher’s eye. We’ll also show you the key elements of great first pages, and we’ll live-edit participant submissions to show how to establish your voice, intention, purpose, and story from the very first sentence.
In the last issue, I asked you to share your favorite type of bird feeder. Here is a selection of what you said—there were many mentions of Bird Buddy!
I have to go with the splurge-worthy Bird Buddy, with built-in camera and WiFi (treat yourself to the one with the solar roof so you never have to charge it!). I get “postcards” from the feeder complete with pictures and videos of my feathered visitors and the app identifies them. You can share access to your feed with three friends for free. —Julie Duffy
I love my Bird Buddy. I got it when it was 50 percent off and it’s the most amazing thing. I get gorgeous close-up photos and videos of the birds we feed regularly. We name them, we wait for them, we adore them. Best purchase ever. —Aimee Seiff Christian
I love our More Birds Abundance Bird Feeder. There are multiple feeding ports, it holds a lot of seeds, but the best thing is that inside, there are baffles that channel the food to all the ports, so even when your feeder is half (or more) empty, all the ports have seeds so there’s room for more birds. You can adjust the perches to accommodate larger or smaller birds, too. —Terry Odell
After struggling with squirrels emptying our feeders for years, I bought a Brome Squirrel Buster feeder. Absolutely stopped those raids and saved us a ton of money on seed. Have the fabulous sueter feeder as well, and the Brome folks stand behind their products 100%. —Charlotte Wilkins
I kind of hate to recommend this and mess up something as pleasant and relaxing as feeding/watching birds with technology, but I have an odd love affair with cardinals, so my wife bought me a Vico Bird feeder last year. Vico is a home security company and got the great idea to set a camera inside a bird feeder. So I watch the birds in my feeder from the comfort of my warm kitchen when the sun is just coming up. It’s fun, really and the whole family expects pics from Dad about who is visiting today. —Dennis Mitton
Next question: Tell me about your favorite Etsy artist or craftsperson. Hit reply to this message, or head over to Discord to share.
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane The best quality books are not the ones that typically sell. The most talented writers are not always well known. The worthiest information rarely spreads the farthest. Or: The cream does not necessarily rise to the top. This is a message I repeat across my classes and writings, not to discourage people, but to reassure. It applies to...
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane One of the best literature classes I ever took was called Shadow Literature. It focused on texts that subtly expressed the Jungian theory of the shadow self, or the parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable (whether emotions, thoughts, or personality traits). While the shadow self isn’t inherently negative, it’s what we repress or...
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane I’ve had a trick shoulder for a decade now, the result of a pinched nerve that was never treated properly. Due to a mixture of laziness and hopelessness, I gave up on achieving normalcy. Recently, someone questioned why I wasn’t seeing a therapist for it. So I began reflecting on why I’d given up on healing. When it comes to a few...