Google it....google is your friend....let's discuss the consequences

Rob Keeble

Member
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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Over weekend we had a game day BBQ for our friends. We were determined that all would not just sit around chatting and that the youngsters would not be "on their phones". So before hand we setup for games of Bocci as well as Texas horseshoes.

We have all seen the latest craze take hold of people chasing Pokemans all over the place.

So something that came up when we were discussing this was how people are not talking to each other.

Well this got me thinking about the forum and thinking back to when i joined.

Ask a question back then and one got loads of valuable input from obviously highly skilled or experienced folk.

Then along the way we start to get this term.....Google it or Google is your friend comes into play.

Well if we rely on Google then we have no discussion and google cannot replace human advice from people one has come to know even if virtually by the quality of their posts most often clearly demonstrating skill and knowledge.

Its so darn easy to become a passive observer or search you tube for some tuber that has made a video on a topic but in my view nothing beats a chat with a friend...


Case in point....i showed a friend of mine the power i have just put in the shop.

One item lacking is lighting. I have the fixtures but how to hook up.
My mind was complicating things with wire on the ceiling and receptacles to plug lights into on my temp panel board.

He looked up and said get those screw in fittings put fixture up in area where existing normal bulbs are, screw them out and hook your fixture up to the existing sockets.

Well Google cannot tell me that ........ so please i appeal to you all don't let the mobile devices result in us all becoming zombies and slaves of Google. Lol

Case in point again, a youngster at a client of mine is going back to school to do woodworking and despite Google he has valued and responded to some input from myself ....face to face and was most delighted with some woodworking books i gave him. He purchased some too. I saw for the first time how despite him being from another generation he was looking for the same info i was when i started this hobby except he is going to do it for a living in the future. If us old coots leave him to Google in have to wonder where he ends up. Google cannot express the passion or excitement we have for a sharp chisel or plane........

Rest my case. Would welcome hearing your thoughts before the zombie apocalypse or Pokeman takeover...lol
 
Modern technology is a wonderful thing at times, but some of it has turned society in general lazy. My cell phone is a phone. Not a game machine, nothing more, nothing less than a phone. With the exception of once a year I use the Square App for the fair I go to. Outside of that, just a phone. It irritates the living daylights out of me to see people pushing shopping carts around and yakking on a dang phone, clogging the isles because they are oblivious to others. I admittedly use Google for some things, but I am not close to anything or anybody. So, I have to on occasion to find out something. But, Google does like tracking you whether they say they do or not. I do some online sales but I use my computer at home/office for that. After all, I built the machine for that purpose so maybe I ought to use it. Right? My girlfriend is bad about being glued to one of those phones. And I get on her all the time, telling her put the stupid thing down and open her mind and she might learn something. But, I do enjoy face to face whenever it is possible for me. Like I said at the first, technology is great, but only at times.
 
I am noticing that a lot of questions come in the form of "Please show be a quick easy way to do this" - - (COMPLICATED and highly skilled thing).

I don't want it to cost more than $1.50 even though the value is in the hundreds or more.

I will do it on the CNC machine that I paid $8,000 for with the $3,000 software package that I didn't need and use the lowest quality $.75 end mills I got on EBAY.

I don't want a long complicated explanation.

I don't want to watch any tutorials

I don't want to read any instructions.

I don't want to pay for any instructions.

I only have one piece of material

I don't want to do any test cuts

And I want it -- NOW.

BTW - this is my FIRST time ever doing anything like this.
 
The fundamental problem with "Just Google it" is knowing the question(s) to ask. In the lights case, now that you know adapters exist google is your friend. Before that? Well.. given the plethora of lighting options that would be pretty difficult and slow to find.

I've run into this a number of times - a good example was some drive screws a couple of years back. Somehow I had managed to make it into my 40's without ever knowing what a drive screw was, but I had a part that was missing some. Try finding those without using the name "drive screw" - yeah.. good luck. The local iron mongers shop OTOH knew exactly what I needed, and had them on order within a few minutes. Well worth the 5m drive (and then again a week later to pick them up).
 
Well, without google, I might have to have a full shelf of encyclopedias on my wall and still wouldn't know what a drive screw is. ;)

One thing I noticed about my kids is that their interests aren't always focused on a certain subject. They take minimal time to learn what they need to know, and once done, they move on. My son, like his mom, doesn't really have any hobbies, he does have interests in finance and history, but nothing really with his hands. My daughter has always had an interest in cooking/baking, which I enjoy as well, she's a much better baker than I, but also has no other hobbies. I'm beginning to think that I make up for all of them with all the ones I have. :)

I've worked with my son over the years on various projects trying to show him things, as my dad did, and left with the feeling that it all just bounced off. As they years have gone on, I've realized some things actually stuck and he surprises me on the things he takes on. His google-fu is also strong, but he still calls the old man once in a while when he needs advice, but he's also smart enough to pay someone to do the work for him most of the time, so maybe I need to learn some things from him. :)

As for google aspect here, I do my best to answer questions myself, but will offer a link if it can explain it better than I, but would never do a "LMGTFY" link. ;)
 
I think I know what a drive screw is, but ain't so sure. Is it the same as a worm screw that drives gears??? Maybe??? :huh: But I actually happen to like old fashioned encyclopedias. I used to like to just sit in the evening and read one. Maybe I'm weird. If Google wouldn't keep sticking all those tracking cookies on computers, I might consider them more friendly. But since it is free, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. I keep thinking about that commercial with that fat boy sitting in front of a game machine or something and using his cell phone to call his grandmother to bring him another grape soda, while they are both in the same house. Problem is I see kids like that all the time now. Disgusting. I wonder if it is a communist plot or something.
 
Well, If it wasn't for google, I wouldn't be able to even do my job. From researching bugs, to esoteric programming techniques and parameters and syntax, well, there's just no way. I'd have to have a stack of books and would spend a large amount of time sifting through those books for snippets of code that I'd have to type in manually.

I can't even keep track of all the times I use google to research 'things' that allow me to do my job.
 
Google is just a card catalog for the new generation. It will point you somewhere, but you may not find what your looking for, or you may find outdated or bad information. (maps in several cases for me) What is really bad is when people let it think for them. I have had that happen with people calling to order, but since we are a small mom and pop, they have called us, rather then the one in their state. (and we don't take plastic, so we eat their mistakes) One woman just kept blaming "google did it for me, it should know". Learn your area code miss, and pay attention.
No different then a lot of things, garbage in, garbage out.

But it has been useful as well.
 
I think I know what a drive screw is, but ain't so sure. Is it the same as a worm screw that drives gears??? Maybe??? :huh:

Its one of these little fellows:
drive_screw.jpeg

Commonly used to attach thin sheet metal to more malleable under materials (cast iron, brass, aluminium, etc..). The particular case I had was an old pasta roller where the shroud was held on with these and a handful were missing. You'll see them a lot of times used to attach machinery nameplaces, so if you're repainting them its a nice trick where you can dremel a slot in the top and use a screwdriver to back them out then replace with a new drive screw.

They're called "drive screws" apparently because you "drive" them in by percussion, not by using a screw driver.

Now.. try to find that only by the picture (without using google image search which didn't exist at the time.. and now more or less immediately identifies it..). This either entirely proves or disproves Robs theory in the long run depending on how you feel about the future of machine intelligence :)

If Google wouldn't keep sticking all those tracking cookies on computers, I might consider them more friendly. But since it is free, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

Introducing "incognito mode" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_mode :D
 
Well often Google returns a different perspective on things. On here we can get way to much "Old Iron" is the only way to go. Or never use pine, while I love what I have learned on here if this or Google had to go it would likely be this sadly. Thank goodness I don't see it as an either/or thing I see it much more as an "and/or" thing.

Garry
 
Well, Ryan! Who'd a thunk it. Was I way off. Oh, well. Not the first time. I know about the Privacy Modes and all that. Things shouldn't have to be necessary in my mind. But as I said, it's free so I guess I should not complain about it.
 
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