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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Wikipedia

I cannot relate to people who hate on Wikipedia.org because it is "unreliable". It remains an amazing source for a straightforward introduction -particularly to the history of Western Civilization. I use this as an example because I teach history and philosophy to high school students and I know my sh*t. What do you want? Nietzsche? Robespierre? Thucydides? Quality articles. The maps (particularly for ancient battles) trump any book, article or Discovery Channel special I've studied.

Sure there are a lot of examples of incomplete articles and misinformation but it's a living text that is constantly improving. Track a sh*tty article and watch it improve. Or fix it yourself, asshole. For f*ck's sake. Fact is, you can't name a shortcoming of Wikipedia's information that doesn't exist in published sources. Perhaps you feel your printed text is reliable because you found it on a shelf but compare it to a book written on the same topic ten years in either direction and pretty soon your fetish, the smooth, inky pages you were getting off on becomes a sh*t sandwich. How do you feel about your books now that I've called them sh*t sandwiches? How about that you finite motherf*cker?

Perhaps I'm just reading the wrong books. Right? Well, I don't know the Book of Objective Truth that you're reading. Perhaps because it only exists up your ass where your head is. I preach 'watch out for Wiki-grafitti' too. Because you should always have cross-references if you want to understand something. Stop criticizing Wikipedia because you believe in the myth of a definitive source. One of the best features of Wikipedia is that they talk about their shortcomings. I've never read a high school textbook that criticizes its own approach.

So, smallballs, what's the f*cking issue? You've got a million stories about how Wikipedia made you cry because you tried to look smart and quoted some sh*t you read in passing? Got a bad mark because you cut and pasted? Little-baby-you just wanted to read something without engaging your critical mind? Bring your horror stories, junior -I will go to war with you on this.

Back to smiles and sunshine.

I've always wanted a feature on my blog that would display my last wikipedia searches. I am much too inexperienced a programmer to design this (furthermore, Mozilla's Firefox's history data is saved in an unfriendly file format known as Mork, or, as it is known by many programmers, bullsh*t).

Good ol' copy and paste. Here's an alphabetical list of the Wikipedia searches in my history. I've wanted to do this at least once so here's an alphabetical list. I have highlighted five articles that I remember fondly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Progress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_McCusker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Live_Action_Short_Film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdSense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Davies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Baba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Harrier_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bonds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_%282007_film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BoA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_people_from_England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Place
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kopay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_scene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene.tv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Swain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Moran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esera_Tuaolo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Marenghi%27s_Netherhead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Answers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googleplex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hak.5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_%28series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_McCusker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_%28book%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Fuzz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPCC_Fourth_Assessment_Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_%28game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_All_About_Love
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27Attendrai_Le_Suivant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Handy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_%28boxer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Ross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amaechi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Connor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCusker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratzenberger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokela_school_shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Burns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidney_stone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_hospital
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_in_the_Water_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristeva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristian_Levring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_von_Trier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavalier_microphone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leno_LaBianca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_My_Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Around_You
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de'_Medici
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Lectures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Holness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McCusker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_July
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeybone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mork
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mork_%28file_format%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_the_rose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Water_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi_Conspiracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrier_Award
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrier_Comedy_Award
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_global_warming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Park,_Toronto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Carver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ayoade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Christy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hughes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Draft_Studios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Simmons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run%2C_Fat_Boy%2C_Run
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kragh-Jacobsen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Bernhard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Silverman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_White_Knight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screensaver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_mic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Pegg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skullmonkeys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_positivism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Fisher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autumn_of_the_Patriarch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_One_Thousand_and_One_Nights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_%28television%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Boosh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neverhood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tell-Tale_Heart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tenant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Vinterberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy's_Rainbow_Six:_Vegas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun#2007_discoveries_in_Tutankhamun.27s_tomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgivable_Blackness:_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Jack_Johnson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Tournament_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_graff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_You_Please_Be_Quiet%2C_Please%3F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harvey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers_Guild_of_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers_Guild_of_America%2C_west
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers_Guild_of_America%2C_west#2007_Strike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XO-1_%28laptop%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo%21_Pipes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsuba_Koiwai

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Rats, I clear my history pretty frequently... I adore wikipedia.

Also,
http://xkcd.com/285/
and
http://xkcd.com/214/

Simon said...

your use of the term 'smallballs' made me laugh quite loudly as I'm sitting by myself in a Laos hotel enjoying some breakfast.
Thought you'd like to know.