Hi, it's me, your Victoria Town Square Web master in training. I don't know about you but I might have to rent a couple teens who are tech savvy so I can be a semi-competent driver on the wild freeway known as the Internet.

I've been trying to master this online Web newspaper called Victoria Town Square for several months. I tried to ignore it last year, but darn it, it didn't go away, so I've given in. When you think about it, an online newspaper should be the easiest and simplest way ever to communicate with everyone in the community.

MPR's Writer's Almanac noted on Saturday that on that day, Feb. 23, 1455, the first mass printing of the Gutenberg Bible took place and that 180 copies were printed.

The story pointed out that "It's estimated that more books were produced in the 50 years after the movable type printing press was built than in the 1,000 years before it." Can you imagine? Mind boggling. The story continues. " Gutenberg's invention is credited with making the Renaissance possible: it allowed classical Greek and Latin texts to be distributed widely. It also made books affordable to lower classes."

I thought about the Internet. It has changed our world profoundly. It's enabled us to be in touch with people around the world almost instantaneosly; you can locate long lost friends, classmates, and former collegues. Of course the down side is that they can also find you.

But I wonder. Is the Internet the bookend to the printing press? We in the news business keep hearing newspapers (printed on paper) are going away, that everyone is online. that young people aren't reading anymore, or at least not reading materials that require close and sustained attention like a thick book or long magazine article might require. Is it true that we only want our information in dibs and dabs? That we are grazing in the same way we eat? We snack and fill up, and then we're too full for a complete meal. Meantime, our nutrition suffers and our waistlines go flabby and balloon.

I hope not. I hope the Internet, Web sites like this are just one more component in a world where people continue to be curious, interested, and hungry for thick chewy meals of sustenance.

OK. Enough musing for today. Later.