I've been using computers since 1978, and I've had an Internet connection at home since 1993, but technology, and the speed at which information can travel around the world, will never cease to amaze me.

The Freeman's managing editor, Sam Daleo, wrote me an e-mail this morning that I read at home at 11:30 a.m. It said he had reason to believe there was a bad accident on the Thruway a few hours earlier.

So I took a quick shower, got dressed, drove the short distance from my house to the Freeman office and checked both the fax machine and our newsroom e-mail account to see if there was any information about what had happened.

Finding nothing, I called the state police barracks at Thruway Exit 19, and a trooper there gave me a brief synopsis of what had taken place: A driver failed to comply with a police order to pull over on I-84 (which crosses the Thruway near Newburgh), got on the Thruway heading north, was chased by police, crashed into several police cars somewhere along the way (causing only minor injuries, thankfully) and was taken into custody.

I thanked the trooper, fired up Microsoft Word on my computer, typed a few paragraphs based on the trooper's account, went to the Freeman's Web site manager on the Internet and posted the story.

By 12:15 p.m. -- only 45 minutes after reading Sam's e-mail -- the story was on the Freeman's Web site, available to the eyes of everyone in the world who has Internet access.

Most people take this stuff for granted in the 21st century, but I still marvel at it.