# Skip to the end: The Internet and Biographies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skip-to-the-end-the-internet-and-biographies/696452>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 25, 2014, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skip-to-the-end-the-internet-and-biographies/696452 "2014-08-25T10:42:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skip-to-the-end-the-internet-and-biographies/696452/1 "2014-08-25T10:42:01Z")

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I really can’t think of a descriptive title for this one and its mundane as hell but I was ruminating today on one aspect of wikipedia and the internet I personally find very useful/interesting.

I have an interest in modern history, specifically the Cold War and read a lot of previously published material, I find it fantastic that when you’ve just read about a real person and wonder what happened to them you can just hop online, bring up wikipedia and find out their post-publication life-story.

For example, I’m currently reading ‘Star Warriors’ by William J. Broad, published in the mid-1980’s where a journalist had access to some of the bright young scientists working on the ‘Star Wars’ Strategic Defense Initiative, its interesting to check up to see where they ended up and how their careers went.

Basically what I’m saying is that this is another thing that we take for granted that would have involved a lot more time and effort only a few years ago.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skip-to-the-end-the-internet-and-biographies/696452/2 "2014-08-25T16:55:01Z")

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A somewhat related thing I find myself doing. When I watch a relatively old movie, I often then check online and see who’s still alive from the cast.

For example, I watched _Battle of Britain_ (1969) yesterday. (Still alive: Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Ian McShane, and Christopher Plummer.)

No idea why I do this but it’s trivially easy with the internet and it would be virtually impossible without it.