I often use Medscape (the professional side of WebMD) to look up info, but keep in mind that it provides the conventional medical community's opinion and viewpoint. You have to set up an account I think to view entire articles, but it is free. There are a number of good medical websites, but many are not set up for non-scientific people, so they use terms and jargon that is not always understandable to lay folks. U.S.-based websites provide research that is funded either by the government or by big Pharma, so it provides a slanted viewpoint. Foreign entities sometimes provide information and research into subjects not addressed by American sources, mostly herbal, naturopathic, and OTC remedies. The drawback there is that sometimes they are only available in the original language. A REALLY good source of info if you wish to pay for it or if you have access to it through a library or library service, is PubMed. It reviews and condenses many medical and research journals and publishes abstracts (and full articles) from NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, etc., as well as some non-published research sometimes. The main thing to consider is that YOU are responsible for your health--what you eat, how you lead your life, what you take, and what you believe. Educate yourself as much as possible and read everything with a skeptical eye.
Im familiar with pubmed....my baby sister has a PhD in drug research.... I did find something she was involved in ....I always go to her for medical advice....her husband is an ER dr. Here is a screenshot...she is Sylvia Kolibal Pegher... So even though her expertise was more in the field of cardiology....I always ask her opinion first about any drug.... I trust her.
As I said, it is not usually written for lay people. If you have an "interpreter", it is a different matter.
@Don Alaska " If you have an "interpreter", it is a different matter." My interpreter is.......of course, the Internet! Frank
Seems that no matter how many years I've worked on pumps and machinery, I'll come across something that stumps me. Head to the internet and my Pro site and lo and behold, there's a video of someone changing a bearing on that pump! The person doing the work isn't selling anything, just wants to show his skill and knowledge of the sequence of events on the change out. I'd be lost sometimes working on a 20 year old piece of equipment, where the manual has been long gone, without the internet. It's probably good advice when mechanics tell people not to try things they see or read on the internet to fix a problem. You can do more harm and it might wind up costing you more in the long run. Most don't listen and it is what keeps me busy on side HVAC jobs. $$$ I pretty sure I've never looked up any medical advice. If two Asprins don't do the job, I'll head to the MD. Going with the old adage, " it hurts when I do THIS..." Answer " Well, don't do THAT..."
In days gone by, there were always shade tree mechanics and bonafide mechanics, Granny Alice next door for medical advice or a doctor, our buddy the electronic hobbyist or the tv repair place. For everything else there was always the public library or a set of encyclopedias in our personal library. We made choices then, we make choices now. Most of us did the research or went the extra mile and / or spent the bucks to get whatever it was we needed to have done and have it done right. If anyone here is even remotely similar to myself, when the internet first made its appearance, it was met with many doubts as hard cover was truly the only source of good information. We realized that not all information even in hard cover was totally valid so we did the research until we found satisfaction. Now, other than the fact that we’ve all become a tad lazy since everything appears to be at our fingertips, what has changed? Do we not still do the research and shouldn’t we be as picky about what and who our sources are derived from? One would think that elder and experienced people such as ourselves would know that the easier something appears to be, the more likely it is to be less than desirable at the outcome. If we even slightly doubt the validity of some things which come from people we know, then how is it we trust someone whom we have never heard of nor have a proven applicable background for whatever information he or she is providing? In short...nope. There really is a Biblical premise set forth for such a query: 2 Tim. 2:15 says to “study to show thyself approved unto God; a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. In other words, To avoid being embarrassed or worse, do the reasearch.........
Often, it's possible to find a video on how to put some thing together, how to disassemble it, clean it, or make repairs that are easier to follow than the written instructions, even if you still had the manual. You can't believe everything you see but the correct answer to a problem is probably on the Internet somewhere, whereas, prior to the Internet, when we used libraries as our sources, the information was likely to be several years old.
True...we had a set of Funk and Wagnal's. Not even sure if that's the correct name or spelling. It was a set acquired by getting one a month either in person or mail...don't remember the details. I do know they weren't as big or as nice as the ones at the library.
So true... and as Tim has already stated .. regardless of how skilled you may think you are with manual work...youtube videos etc, are always a great helping hand. My o/h is adept at most things, and the ones he wasn't too sure of he's been able to follow instructional videos and created things in a way he may have not thought he was capable of doing to any great standard... so from that perspective I feel that those videos ( aside from free mailing and forums ) are the most useful part of the internet, at least for us!
Yes, youtube is indeed a great aid if only to find out if there really is a thingamajig and what it looks like. And, once we have found out what it looks like we can then follow the video step by step in order to connect the thingamajig to the framistadt. Much better than duct tape or wd-40 in some instances.
If I find something interesting on YouTube on my iPhone, I will transfer it onto our living room tv, by way of Chromecast, so my wife can watch it. Actually on our Blu-Ray DVD Player we have YouTube.
I saw a set for sale at a local thrift store yesterday. I didn't buy it as I already have a Britannica and Colliers here.