There once was a time when information moved in straight lines, through family trades and apprenticeships. Languages were geographic, skills were need or experience-based and knowledge was finite.

Today, however, you can spend seven minutes on a website and learn how to count cards in Blackjack, field dress a deer, build a computer, administer a smallpox vaccination, sew a flapper dress, play the oboe, improve your credit score or build 21 varieties of Middle Ages-style siege weapons.

This is the story of how a couple of guys came to corner the market on experiential wisdom.

It begins in 2008 with co-founders Stephen Chao and Mike Goedecke. Coming from a background in television, these guys were intrigued by the number of how-to videos they found on the web and set out to index the good ones. But their index did a funny thing — it created a meeting place for what they call the “intellectually-curious community.” In fact, people were so engaged with the material, the guys decided to allow members to contribute articles and videos. WonderHowTo was born.

Three years and 170,000 how-to videos and articles later, the site has more than 17,000 creators, spans 35 vertical categories and 424 sub-categories. There’s so much content, the site’s homepage has transitioned into reporting real time DIY news events.

Call it the power of a good idea. Or crowd-sourcing. Or empowering a tribe full of curious cats that love to see themselves on camera.

One thing’s for sure: the next time we wonder how to do something — get rid of stinkbugs, do kung fu, pick a lock — there’s only one brand that’ll do.

Brand Spanking Bonus

C’mon. You didn’t think we’d mention cutting your arm off in the title without following through, did you?