*.google.com 1:0-∞

I need to tell you something. First, some background. One of the gods I worship is information. The dictionary is my old testament, google my new testament. Using information retrieval systems is vastly diverting for me. As an aside, diversion, variety, and surprise are all in my personal pantheon.

So, the scene evolves at work. I am in conversation with a couple of my work chums, and here I'm going to make up a couple of names for them, not for any reason of anonymity, but because when you name someone or something it gives you magick. What I'm saying here is that I am some kind of crazy occult guy, and if I give you a nickname look the fuck out! You might wake from a trance in some socially awkward position because I found it amusing. Wait a minute, this is sounding a lot like the last thirty or so years. I plan on not thinking about that too much from now on.

Mik Soledyan and Dai Etaunyk and I were all standing around, arguing over which forest creature is represented on the Canadian quarter dollar. I was being my usual jerkish self and claiming that it's an elk, while Dai and Mik were fairly sure that it's a caribou. Nothing like a little conflict, that's what I say. After a brief "Nuh-uh! You're an...wrong!" type argument, we checked wikipedia. And here's where it all went horribly scope down.

We find the entry for the Canadian quarter dollar, and lo and behold, it's a caribou. Surprise. For a laugh, I edit the page, operating under the assumption that people check these things. In place of caribou, I put in elk. No big deal, someone will see that and change it back.

Nope! Almost a week later, it still says elk. I felt a deep, abiding shame creep over me. I changed it immediately of course. And now I await the vengeance of an angry information god.