A Trip Down the Internet Rabbit Hole

This is a story about the wonders of the internet, inspired by the following image:

Take a good look. Really let it soak in. It's a masterpiece. I came across this wonder while making an AI-powered chatbot for another course I'm in this semester, Emerging Technologies (taught by the illustrious Steven King). In that class, were tasked with creating and publishing a chatbot to a Facebook page, and the only page I'm still an admin of is The Official Ghost of Guy Fieri--so, Fieri-related googling ensued. To be clear, Guy Fieri is alive and well, and this page is a relic of high school antics. Nonetheless, the project provided a reason to source some of the best Guy Fieri images the internet has to offer.

After a hearty chuckle at seeing this image, I began to wonder: who had created it? For what original purpose? Satire most likely, since most church-related bulletins I've seen don't exactly carry the lighthearted tone required to replace the baby Jesus' face with Mr. Fieri's. A bold statement on modern life and ...religious art? What was that piece, anyway, something Pieta-ish? No, no, this one features a baby version (goes to show how much I know about art)... so it's peculiar that Guy Fieri's face looks so seamlessly attached to the body of the child. Wait, don't a lot of older people's faces look similar to babies'? What's up with that?

And thus, the googling began.

It started out innocently enough. First, I looked up the original piece of art: Raphael's Madonna and Child with the Book. Then, I found an explanation of how extra skin causes facial similarities between the very yound and very old on a plastic surgery practice's site. This led me to wonder which elective plastic surgeries were most commonly chosen--turns out, eyelid surgery is third most popular globally, before nose jobs (check it out)! I found this surprising, so I typed another query, which led me to a piece about differences between American and Asian beauty standards. Discussions of BB cream left me with the realization that I had no idea how sunscreen works. Now, thanks to this page, I've got a basic understanding of the difference between UVA and UVB rays, what SPF ratings really mean, and all the reasons why it might be worth it to opt for the annoyingly opaque zinc-based sunscreen my dad uses (or if it's a normal kind, to try and opt for one with Avobenzone). Who knew? Not me, but now I do. Fun! Thanks, whoever photoshopped that pic of Guy Fieri! Couldn't have done it without you!

Is this useful information? Sure! Will it come up every day? Likely not. There have been a few times in my life where I've gotten a bemused, "Why do you know about that?" after I pipe up with some tidbit of information on a random topic. Curiosity may have killed the cat, as they say, but for me, all it's killed is an hour of my time here and there. I like knowing a little bit about a lot of things. It's nice to have context for how things in the world generally work, colored in by detailed knowledge about a smattering of topics, too. All in all, I like taking tumbles down the rabbit hole that is the internet. There's a lot out there.

I'll leave with a confession: I've never even seen Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. (The blasphemy! I know!) As a tribute to Guy, I'll try and check it out. If I do, I'll come back with a review. That is, if googling how movie reviews are written doesn't get me too distracted. B-)

That's all for now, Jules