u/Infini-Bus

When I ask someone something. I want to know what *they* think, and have a conversation that could go in other directions.

I don't even care if you're correct.

"Who was that guy in that movie?" "What is that thing called...?"

If it's really critical that I get accurate information, of course I'd look it up.

"Just Google it." Sounds like "Fuck off" to me.

**Edit:**

Okay I gave bad examples. This is what I mean: (nevermind these are also bad examples)_

Me: What's that street with all the record shops, off Melrose?

Friend: Fairfax?

Me: No, that's the hat store one.

Friend: Oh the hat place, with the guy who wouldn't let you try them on...

Me: Yes! He hovered the entire time.

Friend: I still think about that. Who does that.

Me: Someone who's been robbed before, probably.

Friend: ...fair. Anyway what were we... oh, record shops. Was it Vine?

Me: Maybe. There was a taco place next door we liked.

Friend: The one with the green salsa?

Me: No the other one. The green salsa was the truck by your old apartment.

Friend: God I miss that truck.

Me: So it might've been Vine.

Friend: What might've been?

*Another example:*

What was that green ketchup Heinz made in the early 2000s called?? It just popped into my head and now it's all I can think about

Reply: EZ Squirt maybe? My mom refused to buy it, said it looked like it had gone bad.

Me: that sounds right and also like a UTI medication

Reply: didn't they have purple too or am I inventing that

Reply: no you're right, purple AND blue. the whole product line was cursed

Reply: "Funky Squeeze" is what my brain served up, zero confidence on that

Reply: funky squeeze sounds like a warhead flavor

Reply: speaking of, whatever happened to those extreme sour candies that peeled your tongue

Reply: toxic waste, they still make em. my nephew eats them like it's nothing

Me: so the green ketchup died but the tongue-destroying candy survived. Sad.

*The scenario that's sad:*

Me: What's that street with all the record shops, off Melrose?

Friend: Just look it up on your phone.

Me: I mean I could, I was just...

Friend: It'll take you two seconds.

Me: ...yeah.

(nobody says anything. you look it up. the conversation is over.)

*Another example:*

What was that green ketchup Heinz made in the early 2000s called?? It just popped into my head and now it's all I can think about

Reply: google exists for a reason

Reply: this

Reply: literally took me longer to read this post than it would've taken you to search it

Me: ...cool, thanks

(thread dies. no one ever says the name.)

*Where it makes sense to say google it:*

Me: What time does the DMV on Fulton close today?

Friend: Just google it, that'll have the hours and whether they're even open.

Me: Yeah, fair.

**Edit 2:**

Okay, my examples were bad and a lot of you latched onto that. Fair. The "who was that guy in the movie" stuff was a weak hill because yeah, you can google an actor's name in two seconds and I get why that reads as lazy.

But the actor name was never the point. The point is that a question is often just a way to start talking to another person. In real life someone throws out "what was that green ketchup called" and it turns into ten minutes of everyone half remembering the 2000s together. Nobody actually needed the answer. The question was the doorway. When someone says "just google it" they're closing a door I was trying to open, and it does kind of feel like being told to go away.

Same thing online, especially local city subs. If I ask where the good tacos are I don't want to google it, because googling now gets you SEO garbage, sponsored lists, and AI answers that just scraped some old Reddit thread anyway. I want people who actually live there. That's a human answer, and it's better than what the search bar gives me now.

Some of you said "just phrase it as what do you think about X." But that changes what kind of conversation it is. Both versions are fine, they're just not the same, and telling me to ask the other one is telling me to want something I didn't want. I'm not doing this constantly or texting people stuff I could obviously look up. It's occasional. It's mostly about the fact that we're all humans and sometimes the whole reason you ask is that you'd rather hear from a person than a machine. That used to be normal.

*More reddit examples:*

r/[yourcity] Is that taco truck on 4th still open?

Reply: google it

Reply: yeah still there but they moved to the tire shop lot across the street. same guy, better setup now, still cash only

Me: oh I didn't know they moved, thanks

Reply: and they added birria on weekends, get there early

*Another:*

r/[yourcity] Does the hardware store on Main close early on Sundays?

Reply: their website has hours man

Reply: says 5 but honestly Gary closes whenever it's slow, so call first or just go before 3 to be safe

Me: ha, good to know, the website wouldn't have told me that

Reply: yeah Gary runs it how he wants. nice guy, he'll stay open if you call ahead

I haven't had to get brakes replaced since I was a kid and after doing my front brakes I bought parts to do my rear drum brakes. But I have just been so busy to get around to it.

Now I'm needing them replaced soon and wondering if there is anywhere that does walk-in brakes if I bring in parts? Is that even a thing? My intuition says no.

How much do these jobs run these days? It's a 2015 Chevy Cruze...

Those if you with automated lights in the bedroom. How are you implementing it?

The solution that works for, like the room leading into my bedroom works well. But I'd like one in my bedroom proper for when I'm cleaning or getting a 3am glass of water.

But when I'm trying to sleep, everytime I shift around, the lights come on. Which is annoying.

Is the solution just putting the sensor under my bed? What do you do?

With the epidemic of vibe-coded *arr apps, I'm hesitant to add more to my server. What are you recommendations for an app that I can set some rules for pruning media based on who tags or who requested it, has it been watched, how long as it been sitting there, what size it is, etc.

There are some things that were difficult to find so a whitelist using watchlists or something would be nice.

I had tried something before, but I forget the name of it - it was a bit too overzealous with deleting.

I'd love to just pop more HDDs in, but prices are making it difficult. In the meantime, I've been setting "upgrades" to replace those BluRay remuxes down to something "good enough".

(Please don't be mean to me if this is asked all the time)

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I am being asked to see what we can do with AI and our work. However, while we cannot share customer data with the LLM, we have explicit approval to feed it schema data.

I typically use Oracle's SQL Developer to access an old Oracle DB on 19c. What's the most efficient way to get ChatGPT to be familiar with table names, columns, constraints, indexes, etc? If I am trying to understand things myself I query tables like ALL_TAB_COLS or ALL_CONSTRAINTS or ALL_INDEXES.

I could pull these tables as CSVs, but is there a better way? Is this just a foolish endeavor?

Learned the basics during pandemic but feel like my work is pretty sloppy... fun, but sloppy. Would love to meet people IRL, get some pointers, actually dance with someone. I see videos of meetups in places like LA but here in Lansing there's not much of an informal dance scene outside of salsa, swing, and line dancing — and even those are all in formal classes.

Closest thing I can find is Detroit Jit, which is its own whole cultural thing with dedicated studios and groups. Which looks like a fun dance I've tried some a bit but and I'd be willing to try an adult class When I go out dancing locally I'm not noticing anyone who looks like they actually practice.

Seems like a only way to meet people but it's looking like I'd have to hit something like Movement just to find anyone.

Anyone in MI? Know people, interested in a meetup, anything? Or am I just practicing at home in front of the mirror?