"Head...Shoulders...Knees and...SOCKS!"

My day at work started out with a meeting that went as expected. I knew going into it that the person we were meeting with didn't have all the information he needed to give us about the item he was presenting to us, but I felt bad that some of the information he did have was historically inaccurate.

The research that he had done was done primarily on the internet. What amazed me was that he believed what he had found. Now we all know that if it's on the internet or in the media it has to be true. I mean if you wanted to prove that a cat is really an apple I'm sure that there is a website out there that will provide evidence of this for you. After all according to the internet, Louis Pasteur's life was saved when he was a small child by some farmer and the farmer's son was then saved by Pasteur's research (or was that Winston Churchill?), a woman once sucessfully sued a furniture store after she tripped over her own child in the store, and oh...big one here...the Holocaust never really happened.

Now there are certainly many many websites out there that tell the truth and are historically accurate. The problem is that Jane/Joe Average Person who is not knowledgeable on the subject would not necessarily be able to differentiate between whats what. Lord knows that I wouldn't be able to tell you diddly squat about Asian land wars, but you and I both know that multiple websites have multiple versions of what occurred and why.

Then there is also the history I call "family lore." Stories that have passed down through the generations. Again, I've had people tell me stories that are historically impossible, but they believe them because this is what Grandma told them, or this is what Dad told me and it was then printed in the local paper. But this is a whole other issue all together.

So what does all this mean? Buyer beware I suppose. Unless you know for sure that the website is reputable, maybe you should be dubious of the information unless you can verify it. If need be, go to a primary source. Ask an expert.

OK...I'll get off my little internet soapbox now. But just remember - everything you just read is 105% true, because after all, you just read this on the internet!