Googling is a waste of time

Googling is a waste of time

You hear me? It’s a waste of time! How so? Well let me explain it a little bit.
I am not talking about using Google correctly, but rather they way that people
today tend to use Google. The company itself is a huge success and albeit it has
had some flops (Google Wave, anyone?) it has all in all created a suite that
has made the former software giants tremble in their boots. Kudos to em I say!
But, the term “googling” has surfaced for a reason. It is used instead of “searching”.

That in itself is a testament to the impact Google has had on the common mind.
I am not sure wich searchengine that delivers the most accurate search results
and I really dont mind scrolling a little to find whatever I am looking for, however
what I do hate is blaring ads everywhere that takes away my focus from what I am
doing and that is why I started using Google way back when. Yes, I use it myself.

However, with Google a few negative things has come into play.
First out, the Googlebrains

Now, for some reason these people are the biggest timewasters on the planet to anyone
who has ever worked where URLs are involved. First off they seem to think that Google
actually IS the internet. Well, here is a newsflash. Its not. Internet is older then Google.
Second, Google may be a big, even the biggest, company regarding the ‘net but it doesnt
control it unless you let it.

Now, here is a pet peeve. Googling a URL.
DONT! It is a major time waster. Someone sent you the URL for a reason and most likely
that reason is for you to save time, instead of locating the correct URL, they simply handed
it to you. And here are the 2 scenarios that takes place:
1. You click the URL or paste it into the adressbar of your browser and voila! You are on the correct page.

2. You browse to www.google.com,
copy the link, in some cases even painstakingly type the URL into the search bar and hit “search”
You find something that resembles what you look for, click it, and ends up at another page that
was not the one you needed/wanted and you do the whole procedure again.
Stop it already!

Google really should have educations in “Using searchengines 101” or at least push this URL more:
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=134479
FOR PETE’S SAKE DONT GOOGLE IT, JUST CLICK IT!

Now, imagine this: You are on a tight schedule, you are just about to leave, and you work
with telephone support for this or that product, and you know that the correct answer
is on a short and handy URL.

Stressed as you are, you hand the URL to the caller and you can actually HEAR how this
person uses google for the URL, then reads out loud on a vastly different topic. If you are
lucky, it may be on the correct domain, but totally wrong information. so, you have to do it
over and over again. Instead of a 2 minute conversation, you end up having a 15 minute
conversation and STILL have to explain the why and how of the question at hand and you
have missed your bus home.

Welcome to the real world.

I think I have got most out of my system now, but I may break out more on this
when my mood goes sour.

Ya all take care now.

*****************************UPDATE****************************

Wasn’t the URL clear enough for people? Take a look at this:

 

Frustration is a friend

Calling tech supportAt least in small doses, because without
frustration, many things never would
be invited. Lets take a small thing as
the potato-peeler. Do you think that
someone thought “Hey, I can make
money on how people peels a potato
or, do you think that it was more in
the likes of: “I am soooo damn tired
of peeling my potatoes with a knife.
I cut myself, my hands are all aching
and the next time my wife wants
potatoes its all going to be the same.
” I am pretty sure it was the latter.

I am pretty sure that most inventions
that are created are really a
combination of  frustration, lazyness
and genious. Some things might not
be a sign of a genious, but hey, if they
work, dont rack down on it.

Anyways, seeing as frustration is a key to a lot of inventions, I might be
on the verge of solving the problem of world peace or something, at
least if the level of frustration is a measurement on how big a breakthrough
an invention will be. Everyone of course have different tolerance levels
to stress and the likes, but frankly, I think I am getting close to my
breaking point. Oh well … I will just do what I usually do.

Ride it out, pick up the shattered pieces and start to build again.
Ya all have fun in the sun now ya hear.

The Laptop from hell.

I am at home, and have been for some time and most of you readers
know this. Yesterday, a friend from my former workplace came by with
a laptop.  A toshiba equium. The problem with this was that it had a nasty
BIOS password that was really stubborn. So, I started to check around
the web for possible solutions. Google is your friend ya know.

Anyhow, it appears that this particular toshiba used a Phoenix Bios
instead of the pretty much standard Award BIOS.

Now, if your computer has an award BIOS, the backdoor is most likely
AWARD_SW or, if you have a swedish keyboard, AWARD?SW since the ?
translates to the _ on the keyboards.

Ok, that didnt work, and neither did Toshiba, wich is supposed to be another
one of those backdoor passwords. So, i figured, hey, if theres a nice little
bios reset jumper… but noooo, its a laptop, so didnt think too hard on that one.

Then came another flash of classic ideas. Remove the BIOS battery, power up
the machine and then shutdown and replace battery. Sure enough.
I got my trusty phillips screwdriver wich is always close at hand for comfort
and flipped the laptop over.

Not sure how many of you have actually looked on the underside of a laptop, but theres
a lot more screws there then on a standard desktop PC. Anyhoo, I removed the pretty
much every frigging screw visible, and then some. I even removed the screws that was
on the hatches AND the screws that was visible INSIDE those hatches and the
damned chassi still felt like it was glued on with epoxy.

Now, I tried a little gentle violence wich is always needed to move some things
out of the way, but to no avail.

Lets compare this a little to the laptop we have in the house. My girlfriends. Hers is
an Asus A6000 model. Was pretty good when we got it, and still gets the job
done.

On that I had to clear the fan because it was clogged with cat hair, and really, it wasnt just
a few stray hairs, it was a solid lump of hairs, but I am digressing. To remove THAT laptops
chassis, there was a total of 8! count em, EIGHT screws and the thing was just to lift off.

So, whats the conclusion? Well, the chassis designer on Toshiba should get summarily
executed by the use of an old pendulum axe AFTER someone has slowly deepfried
his cohones WHILE they are attached and THEN slowly cut them of with a rusty ice-skate.

IF someone asks you for help concerning a Toshiba and you ever REMOTELY suspect
that you have to open it. Refuse. It is a lot easier on your mental health and on the
ears on your environment.

Blizzard in my mind

Right now there is a lot going on in my life, not so much on the outside
but inside. I have a thousand and one things that I have to consider all
the time, although some of them might not be necessary, they still intrude
upon me and usurp my thought processes and frankly, its close to driving
me mad. I really haven’t got time to deal with all ideas at once, there just
isnt time enough on the day. I have a job that I enjoy, and I want to keep it
so id better be a good little working bee and do my job as much as I
can. But still.

The mud really requires extra thoughts on to where to go from
here with the remort system. The initial plan wont really work that
good, so I need to sit down and talk with the coder on what to do
and how to do it.

My personal life needs some attentions since for sometime now
it has been put on hold for work and for David. I would not put David
second any time, but right now everything else intrudes.

So the best I can do right now is keep on the raging horse, franticly,  I
might add, and ride this horse til it drops from exhaustion and then
pick up the pieces and puzzle it together again and go for another ride.

Some tip on music now for a change. You know that I am quite eclectic in my
taste of music, but I tend to lean towards the electric guitars and and banging
drums, so here is a tip from me, to you. Even if you might not like metal
in general, you might actually like this one. Listen to the message.
The song is “Letter to Dana” from the band “Sonata Arctica”.
A really beautiful song. Here is the lyrics for you:

Dana, my darling, I’m writing to you.
Cause your father passed away, it was a beautiful day
And I don’t want to bother You anymore,
I used to hope you’d come back
But not anymore Dana.

My eyes might have betrayed me, but I have seen
your picture on the cover of a filthy magazine
And I think my heart just cannot handle that
Dana, my darling, would be so bad.

Dana my darling I’m writing to you
Cause your mother passed away it was a really rainy day
And I didn’t mean to bother you anymore
Your mother wished: Come visit your father’s grave, Dana

Your father disowned you ’cause you have sinned
But he did forgive you in condition he was in
And I hope you won’t do those things anymore
Dana My darling I’m waiting for

Little Dana O’Hara oh, Dana my dear,
How I wish that my Dana was here
Little Dana O’Hara decided one day
to travel away, faraway

No, you can’t surprise me anymore
I’ve seen it all before
But it seems I cannot let you go
Dana, Dana, Dana, Dana

And I think that I told you, I’d wait for you forever
Now I know someone else’s holding you,
so, for the first time in my life – I must lie
Lie’s a sin, mess that I am in,
Love is not the thing I feel now
I promise you: I won’t write again ’til the sun sets
behind your grave

Dana, oh, Dana I’m writing to you
I heard you passed away, it was a beautiful day
I’m old and I feel time will come for me
My diary’s pages are full of thee

Little Dana O’Hara oh, Dana my dear,
How I wish that my Dana was here
Little Dana O’Hara decided one day
to travel away, faraway

Little Dana O’Hara oh, Dana my dear,
How I wish that my Dana was here
Little Dana O’Hara decided one day
to travel away, faraway

Little Dana O’Hara oh, Dana my dear,
How I wish that my Dana was here
Little Dana O’Hara decided one day
to travel away, faraway