Adrienne Searches on Google

Weed, California, Spring 2009: Adrienne is still somewhat new to computers, and she comes up with things that often elude me.

(Even around the house; she fixed the 'broken' garbage disposal; I'd never have thought to use the plumber's friend plunger!)

She has good results with the search engine, and uses it all the time.

One day I watched, and she types in entire sentences, like "Where can I find a list of all the major dog sanctuaries in the United States?"

I asked her why she didn't just enter "dog sanctuaries".

"What do you mean?" she said.

I repeated my question.

"I don't know," she said, "I just always think of it as the Magic Eight Ball."

For anyone raised in foreign climes, the Magic Eight Ball is a long-popular toy that looks like the Eight-Ball on a pool table. But it's flat on the bottom. You ask a question, and pick it up and turn it over. When you look at the flat part, an answer floats up into view in this little window.

My favorite answers: "Not at this time" and "Signs point to yes."

I have been giving her technique a try. After all, the plumbers friend plunger worked on the dishwasher. Why wouldn't the Magic Eight Ball technique work on Google?

And does it work?

Signs point to yes.