Google, the new encyclopedia

now, being 36 years old, i can remember back in the day having questions about this or that and being told by my parents to go get the encyclopedia or the dictionary and look up the topic or word that i had a question about and finding my own answers. sometimes these books didn't contain the answers i sought, at which point i was free to either drop it or go to the library and find a book that might explain.

so, why this post?

living in the digital age with all sorts of internet resources (among other things), it surprises me to no end the amount of questions i receive from folks who don't know what to do to get answers. they somehow think i know everything (a myth i'm not against propagating) when in fact, i fire up google (or one of a host of other resources) and give them the answer in less time than it took them to IM me and ask.

all this leads me to two things: this fine cartoon (that has no copyright information except my thanks to Matt Groening for Bart) and the suggestion that if you're unsure of the meaning of "propagate" you can click here to find it.

be sure to bookmark the site, while you're at it.