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Dont be dumb, Google it!

I once tried to automate a function in MS excel. A particularly messy data extraction and manipulation problem.

The first thing I did was search it in the help file, which was of no use. Then I asked people around me if they could do it or if there were any other tools that could be used. Nothing much again. Then started searching the web for any answers - nothing yet again. Then I searched the Excel related web-sites for any posts or queries to that effect.

I then zeroed in on one guy, who seemed to be particularly helpful to people with questions. I wrote him a mail, explaining him my problem and waited for his reply. A day later i checked his blog again. There was a new post, a rather small one. It said, something to this effect - Don't ask dumb questions - Google it.

This was the first time I heard Google being used as a verb.

Google till you find it. Wasn't internet created for researchers to share their knowledge.

I searched again, with the only difference that I lingered more at each site to check out what they have even if they are not related to my search. It was a start of couple of days of near-trance googling. Whilfing had turned real. I learnt lot of beautiful things along the way. Not just about excel but also about many tools that could be used to solve. I learnt to solve many problems, that I have been able to solve before it hit me.

I dint find what I was searching for, but it dint matter anymore. I had learnt a new way of learning.

And it all started from that blog. Thanks to him internet became a thriving throbbing ocean that I can dive into anytime and look for what I want.

Google has been my good friend for a long time since. Right from delving into the Gann to Reimann Zeta function to Nano-technology to M-theory to simple spell check, it has been useful to me.

Exploring internet is like Beastmaster exploring woods, everything is restricted by line of sight & know-how and Google is like a eagle high up in the sky giving you a big picture on these woods.

Googling is a fantastic way of getting started on any subject. Googling is indeed a way of living .

:) Falkor
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