On a visit to Europe several years ago, those who I traveled with were peeking through the windows of the bus at the country around us. There was a man walking beside the road and a dog a short ways ahead of him. In the United States, you would probably see the dog and owner attached by a leash. I commented that the dogs in Europe were more likely to be trained to obey their owners. The guy sitting next to me and I shared a hotel room that week. He later said that because of that one statement he had immediately labeled me as a know-it-all. He gradually changed his mind. The reason? I had lived in Europe before that and, even though we were in a new country, many of the attitudes of the people around us were the same as in the countries I had visited. There were still a lot of things to learn on that trip. Even if I had lived there my entire life, there would be aspects of the culture that would be unknown to me. I’m still learning about my own culture and how it is changing. It seems that this tendency to make comments is still getting me into trouble. In my defense, I try to follow the news, read about diverse subjects, and understand this world we live in. When a subject comes up that I am unfamiliar with, I try to remain quiet or ask questions to probe deeper into it. There are a lot of people who do not know what they think or believe and I tend to be opinionated. What is more natural than trying to help them out? Or showing them that there is another side to the issue being discussed? None of the precautions stop me from making a fool of myself at times – even on subjects that I know well. When somebody first asked about SATA drives (Serial ATA), I asked why they would want to run ATA commands over a 9-pin serial connection. They’re slow. It turnes out SATA does not use a 9-pin serial connection and is quite a bit faster than the old ATA connections (now called PATA). Here’s the funny thing about being an “authority” on a matter. When others need to learn something, they come to you and alert you to the fact that there is something new. Several years ago I worked for a computer repair shop. The senior tech knew a lot more than I did and often read PC Magazine or watched (what was then) TechTV. These are sources that attempt to make the technical simple and he knew a lot of the things he was reading already. He was looking for the bits that he didn’t know. Did this keep him ahead of everyone? Nope. One day I had a question that needed his advice and he was in the front talking to a customer. Rather, it would be better to say that the customer was talking to him. As I walked out, I heard the customer ask my coworker a question about some new hardware that was coming out and then he proceeded to talk about all the things he had read for nearly five minutes. I watched, amused, as my coworker barely said a word. After the exchange, I asked, “You didn’t know anything about it, did you? Just get people to come tell you.” He smiled. So if I can play you into thinking that I’m knowledgeable, don’t be afraid to ask questions. It helps me out too. Otherwise I have to read about it. Not that I mind reading, of course.