Mom and I had an “adventure” last night. We were taking the new used truck to town to pick up the other truck that had been in the shop. About 3 miles out the engine on this new used truck overheated to the point that we could smell it starting to burn off coolant. So we ended up on a backroad trying to slowly limp the thing home.
Unfortunately the engine wouldn’t cool down enough to go further than a tenth of a mile. So eventually we called a tow to have it taken to the place we were going anyway. I’m giving you the short version of events, but this took hours to get done while we both end up really needing to use the restroom. I also left the house in my house shorts because it was supposed to take an hour to get all of this done. So I’m getting very cold as we wait.
Part of the problem is that Google makes searching for local services extremely difficult now that they’ve updated search with AI. Other search engines just aren’t very good at having updated information, so in the end we had to call the police to see if they could tell us what towing services actually exist now.
Basically Google ran everyone out of the market and has now abandoned their position as leader because they don’t have to fight anyone. It’s been like this for a while but this really drove home the real world issues it causes when you have a functional monopoly in a marketplace. Google’s claws are sunk so deep into modern life that they’ve ruined many aspects of it via lack of care and greed.
Anyway we eventually got to town, got the other truck and left the other one to get repaired whenever they can get to it. We also didn’t soil ourselves, so that was a nice bonus. I did scare the guy in the walmart bathroom who was ahead of me when I came in looking like a wild haired lunatic in shorts and a tshirt. That will teach me to leave the house unprepared again.
The funny thing is that I wouldn’t normally do that but mom has gotten in the habit of telling me I don’t need a coat when I try to bring one on a nice day and I let myself get complacent because of it. Ultimately it was my choice not to go prepared though.
That’s about all I can say about what’s going on in my life without getting in trouble, so I’ll leave it at that. I hope you all have a nice Monday and will return on Wednesday to see where this new thing is gonna go. Until then, let’s go, Ghostbusters!

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Asking the real questions

I remember when you could web search an address to make sure it was real/correct and what business is located there without pages upon pages of SEO/real estate ads garbage polluting the results to the point of uselessness too.

You basically have to go to a dedicated maps webpage instead. And even that has limited utility, especially on a tiny phone screen.

And finding physical maps in gas stations anymore is a pain in the ass now too. Makes navigation in unfamiliar areas where you have spotty cell access at best extra annoying on top of all the above.

What I really like is looking up a local number for someone and putting in the name and zip code, and getting a result in New Jersey over a thousand miles away.

That pissed me off so much the other night.

A lot of people don’t change their number anymore when they move, given that cell phone carriers don’t care much. I think it confuses some of these systems that use phone numbers and area codes to locate things and people.

I feel your pain. For searches these days, I use Duck Duck Go – you can either use it as a stand-alone browser or as an extension to Firefox. While it doesn’t necessarily find stuff as quickly or comprehensively as the pre-enshittification G**gle, it’s streets ahead of the current version, and blocks trackers to boot.
I remember seeing a hack somewhere for eliminating the AI processes from your G**gle searches, and in fact a quick search gives tips on that from the likes of Popular Science & various developer blogs. (‘Online Tech Tips’ gave specific instructions for Chrome, Edge, & phone browsers?)
Sadly, I still don’t have a recce for a reliable map app.

Just curious what AI has to do with it? Is it pulling up old info or something? I don’t use Google much.

ohhh both ghostbusters references!

Maybe I my brain is just completely rotted from too much porn and memes, but Jo asking if she ‘slimed’ her girlfriend sounds like an urban dictionary term.

Oh yeah! It so does! :D

I haven’t tried these, myself, but:

1] [in the USA]- for free, online maps, try sites like:
https://www.state-maps.org .

1a] you can also search for towns + cities on state-maps….

2] or- single cities + towns, some of them, also put out their own, online maps, like- for Cleveland, Ohio, there is-

https://www.thisiscleveland.com/planning-tools/visitor-resources/maps

Or-

3] If you like paper maps, for about $8-10, The Rand Mcnally [company] sells paper-maps, on Amazon [dot] com.

You can get on Amazon, + [type in a search] for-

” Rand McNally
Easy to Read: Ohio State Map “.

[I would’ve put a link , here, to the RM map, on amazon, but the link is about 40 pages long. Phooey.]

I think the national geographic magazine [tm], sells paper maps, or you can call/contact your town’s librarian, + [she, or he, or they,] can tell you how to get paper maps.

Darn.

I had put up a comment about [buying paper maps, + free…online maps, up], but it was removed. That’s OK.

Well, one of my links, in the comment, was to a product/ map, on amazon [dot] com.

Well, who knows what web-viruses that Amazon might send to people.

The antivirus software probably didn’t like my links.
Sorry that I was a pest. Nevermind.

I have to manually approve many things, like links, because of the rampant spam.

I see.
That’s fine. :)

Hey cool.
It looks like you “vetted or cleared”, my comment-with-links, + then put it back in the comments.

Thanks! :D

My husband is from the northern USA so his version of “You won’t need a coat” is wildly different than mine. I’ve had to start ignoring him on this matter. My southern ass can’t take 19F weather with just a hoodie. But guess who gets colds more often?

Years ago we had our car break down halfway from Austin to Houston, and we were going to stop for lunch on the way, so we were hungry and hours away from anything. We had to split my protein bar, our only food, just so I wouldn’t be hunted and eaten. That taught me to always have emergency snacks on road trips. It also wasn’t the first time I’ve gone to the bathroom on the side of the road, and probably won’t be the last. Harder for us who must depants completely every time. It’s better than wetting my pants, at least. You guys have my biggest sympathies<3 We eventually got a tow truck 2 hours later, and spent another 2.5 hours driving back. And we didn't get food until we got back.

The funny thing is that I usually overprepare but mom has made a habit of telling me I don’t need whatever stuff I bring lately.

Need to get the tow truck set-up on my winch truck fixed. Could have used it SO many times.

My household has just been adding curse words to the search to avoid AI results. Works pretty well, and seems to also block *some* of the “sponsored links” nonsense.

That’s brilliant!
I’ve got to use that today.
:D

Using the overbearing guardrails of the system against itself. Well played.

2798 Ecto-Plazm.

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