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What to Do When Someone Says “Look it Up”

21 March 202623 March 2026

Whenever somebody barks “Look it up” in a heated online debate, I always oblige as a matter of respect, not for them, but for the only thing that really matters: the truth.

I set down my phone, calmly stroll over to our antique bookcase and consult a set of 1960s Colliers Encyclopedia that once belonged to my father. I methodically peruse and memorise the relevant entry, replace the volume, re-traverse the drawing room, pausing only to greet our cat Bowsy II, who likes to sleep on top of my childhood bear Bowsy on top of the bookcase. Some day, I tell Bowsy II, these Encyclopedias will belong to him, since nobody else seems to want them.

To say that Bowsy looks unperturbed could, in theory, leave one open to a charge of anthropomorphisation, the arbitration of which would probably involve proving whether or not an inaminate object that cannot be perturbed can be said to be unperturbed by default.

Bowsy II using Bowsy the Bear as a cat bed on top of bookcase.

However, once the prosecution realises I was talking about our real cat Bowsy II, and not Bowsy my inaminate childhood bear who serves as a cat bed, this issue becomes moot.

I then return to my phone, to recommence deliberations on the issues of the day.

More: Bowsy’s Complete Works (plus a biographical update) – Mid 2000s writings of a straight talking inaminate bear. | More writings |

First posted March 2020 on the book of faces.

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Neal wonders how dog rehab works, goes over what happens when you leave hospital without clothes, documents a decades old fake cinema facade with which you might identify, recalls the last time he learned something (2003), asks if opposable thumbs are worth the trouble, issues a stark warning about your waste disposal contraption, clarifies how Lighthouse entrance halls work, considers how emergency services deal with prayer related accidents, ponders whether abolishing Limbo will embolden it and discusses the phrase TMI, the song Yer Old by Reef, your longevity as a far future listener on Archive dot org, how a dog might fall out of a car, salt water accidents on land, ER scissors extravagance, In the Name of the Father (1993), half of Queen plus Paul Rodgers, an American Idol host clarification, public buildings with no walls, old school Monopoly, how a well meaning dog struggles to mind it’s own business, what US satellite radio can teach you about how to listen to this show and more.

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LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.