The Beauty of the Internet

How did we ever survive without the internet?

Even though it hasn't been that long since I've abandoned the archaic methods of conducting research, booking a trip, or finding out where a certain restaurant is, I have a hard time remembering exactly the channels I went through and how to navigate them.

In the 2001 comedy about a pair of slacker friends and their misadventures, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay asks what the internet is (to put it cleanly), and he's told in a sarcastic tone that it's "a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to [complain] about movies and share [illicit material] with one another." True to a certain degree I suppose, but very much more powerful than that, indeed.

For example, today I was conducting some research on clay modeling. I was having trouble finding someone that can do this in Massachusetts, or even the east cost, so I put a post on a clay modeling forum (there's a forum for everything these days!) at ClayChat.com and within hours I had a few responses! And to both my dismay and pleasure at the same time, no luck with a contact from Massachusetts or even the east cost, but some contacts nonetheless. From these responses as well as research on other sites like CarBodyDesign.com, ClayModeller.com, it seems that a lot of this work can be done by freelance craftsman.

Adapted from carbodydesign.com

We don't have a lot of space to make the bucks at our facility so I'm not sure about having someone come to our facility to make the model, but again, this was the very beginning of my research, so I will have to continue to search. Who knows how long it would have taken me to make contact with modelers from across the country, and a few overseas like I did today without the internet!