The Island Journal

I am, what one would call, a tangential thinker. I often find my self arriving at “bunnies” while the start of the conversation had something to do with infectious diseases and not knowing how I veered so far off course. I realized, I search the Internet in much the same way.

I'm a big fan of Wikipedia. Contrary to popular belief, it's become a much more reliable source of information with checks, re-checks, and citations required for many topics. I usually look up something specific and spot a word link that looks interesting. I follow it. I'll read something about that subject and see another word that maybe I don't recognize and follow that link. Before I know it, The empire state building leads me to pygmy albino swamp marmosets. A few short clicks later I'm tangled in the endless web of the Wiki.

I decided to name my newly discovered pass time. I call it, “Riding the wiki train”. I would encourage all who find reading about new subjects interesting to hop on board your very own wiki train and follow it where it may lead. How long can you make the ride last? My longest run on a wiki train, before I named it, was about three hours. I learned quite a bit that night, though I fear I've lost most of it to the day to day workings of life in general.

This weekend I'll be on a plane home and unable to board the train myself, but I highly recommend that each and every one of you take a seat and pick a topic just to see where the clicks might lead.