Before Wikipedia

Readers will know that I make a lot of use of Wikipedia, finding it an invaluable source of information about all kinds of things.

Then this morning, I wanted to know about something called physarum. For once, Wikipedia was not particularly helpful, although it had heard of the something. But on the second page of Bing hits, I came across reference 4, which was much more helpful. I have no idea how this copy is generated, although I dare say it is all explained somewhere else. There are some advertisements.

Reference 4 under the umbrella of reference 1, a website with an unusual history, at least unusual to me, being a spin-off from a company which makes its living out of selling software to support immigration to the US. References 2 and 3 give the flavour. Maybe President Trump will get around to tweeting them down, given that their business is to help immigrants on their way.

PS: I might add, that I pay my dues to Wikipedia in the form of reasonably regular donations. I should be very sorry to see it go for profit, to become festooned with advertisements, for its public service mission to get lost in that of return to share holders, so I do try to do my bit.

Reference 1: https://theodora.com/.

Reference 2: https://theodora.com/ita.html. '... Information Technology Associates was founded by Photius Coutsoukis in 1994. A true Internet pioneer, ITA was one of the first companies to actually make a profit via its web presence. And this, at a time when Forbes magazine and other "experts" had declared the web to be a loss making proposition. Since then, ITA has earned over 40 web awards. From its roots as a manufacturer of specialty software for US immigration, ITA has evolved into a software boutique, e-merchant and a major internet publisher, drawing over 60 million visitors a year to its web sites...'.

Reference 3: https://theodora.com/imm_asst.html. '... Immigration Assistant is the premier tool used by U.S. immigration lawyers around the world. It is an easy-to-use computer program that combines extensive U.S. immigration law reference materials, learning tools and all the immigration forms you need, in a graphically beautiful format. Immigration Assistant will save you time and money and will make it easier to navigate the increasingly complex world of U.S. immigration ...'.

Reference 4: https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/m2/mycetozoa.html.