Spot on, goo or a mess
The title of this Bookworm could have been “Grouchy Again.” Winter is starting to get to all of us; we miss the sun and we are all experiencing cabin fever. My patience is thin, but at least I am aware; I try not to answer the phone at work and I am staying in my office. I want to yell and complain and I know that will not make things better. I have seen enough complaining; Facebook has been a pool of yuck.
The Chiefs win the super bowl; people complain about the half-time show. President Trump gives a speech, both sides lose their minds. President Trump is not impeached, again, both sides lose their minds. The Chiefs have fun at a parade, people complain. I guess I am tired of hearing everyone’s voice; ironic, considering I am sharing my now.
I am not going to go negative, I refuse to pick at a scab. I will not join in any discussion about the appropriateness of the half-time show, I will surely not discuss anything about our president, and I defiantly will not say a bad word about the Chiefs. What I will discuss, again, is research.
Not everything you read is true. We have more access to knowledge than we ever have had and sadly our words seem to show otherwise.
This morning I googled “No bake cookie recipe,” there were 305,000,000 results. Good grief. I looked at every link on the first page and was not able to find the “correct” recipe. See, I have the correct one. I know how to make the perfect no bake, my babysitter introduced me to this treat when I was a child and I called her when I got married to get her recipe. It is written on a piece of scrap paper that has seen better days, but has made it through 4 moves and 29 years of marriage.
Some of those recipes I looked at were pretty close, but were not spot on. Yes, I know I am discussing the importance of research while referencing a cookie, but if you haven’t made a no bake, then you are unaware that it is a science. Without the right ingredients and directions, you can end up with goo or worse yet, a crumbly mess. Same thing goes with what you believe is true on the internet, it might be spot on, goo, or a mess.
At this point, I was hoping to wow you with some clear steps on what to believe and how to be safe, so I did some research. My eyes hurt and my brain is melting. Terms like, categorizing, polarization and algorithm, came up. Algorithm – a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer. Sounds like math to me, my mind starts to shut down.
No wonder we sound like our knowledge level has decreased. What steps do you take when you look something up and find 350,000,000 results? Results, that often times are ads, yep, you got it, they paid to be first on the page of results (by the way you can change the settings to hide ads from your search). So, yes, there seem to be some steps to follow, but I am reminded when I first changed my Facebook settings to get rid of ad issues. I cleaned everything up and guess what, it all came back.
Technology is changing faster than we can keep up. Even though it becomes overwhelming, we still should take the time to look deeper, to research before we believe and share the information that might not be spot on. Our you could be like me and leave the scab alone. Instead of being part of the problem, step away, or insert your head, not in the sand, but into a book.
Upcoming Events: Board Meeting – 2/13 at 5:15pm, Saturday Story Time – 2/15 at 10:30am, Closed – 2/17, Story Time – 2/19 at 10:00am