Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by metasj.
Categories: poetic justice, international, Glory, glory, glory.
Chris Ball, a Mad bio-savvy artisan, and Wade Brainerd all spent part of the past two weeks getting a disk-conserving wikireader onto the XO that supports browsing and simple searching over a 100-fold compressed set of articles.
The result :
There is also a short blacklist of pages and images that need improvement which will change over time. A whitelist of unpopular but crucial pages will surely build up, and the process will find a way to learn from the subject-specific wikireader efforts to produce smaller uncompressed collections. The same idea and scripts can provide a roughly Britannica-sized collection for every major language; or a multilingual cover of the 200 smallest languages; expect an English one soon for comparison.
While this reader (which has to unzip each page as it is requested) is slower than browsing html, it is still a pleasure to use. The real lack, shared with other readers to date, is that comments and editing don’t yet work…
Posted on February 28th, 2008 by metasj.
Categories: poetic justice, indescribable.
Inspired by this spoof of Mankiw and the droll wit of my future Aikido opponent, I am tempted to publish a blog tackling each failed field in turn. Oh, and there are so many…
Posted on February 23rd, 2008 by metasj.
Categories: poetic justice, indescribable, Glory, glory, glory, Uncategorized.
Chinese philosophers debated for centuries whether one discovers the nature of the universe by investigating oneself or by investigating the outer world. I don’t have a dog in that fight (I might say both grant equal power of discovery when approached properly), but I do like poring through random selections to get a feel for an expansive whole (yes, I want a Special:Random for the universe).
Sometimes I do that reflexively while thinking, practiving a little Langerfulness. So it was that I found myself tonight seven pages into the discussion threads for the YouTube video “Why Chuck [Norris] endorsed Mike [Huckabee] - Episode One [of Five]“, where I ran across the following exchange between BuckDresser and jtm04d; those of you who know my favorite tests of familiarity with good scientific method may appreciate it… (more…)
Posted on March 30th, 2007 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
Quanta plans widescale rollout of cheap computers; the cheapest with small screens and no hard drive. No word on whether they care about power and life…
Posted on March 18th, 2007 by j.
Categories: poetic justice.
I keep on running into people who refer to Wikipedia with over-definite articulation. That is to say, with a definite article. I am reminded of a comment from years past, care of Joho:
The circle of articulate digerati who have recently preferred the
“the Wikipedia” to the “Wikipedia” option, however, highlight the
urgency of the struggle for nomenclatural justice.
I have updated the Wikipedia FAQ to clarify and rectify the reality of the matter, and trust that the “the” the Wikipedia-loving fans of the aforementioned circle have grown accustomed to, will in the near future fade into the recesses of the past.
Please fight for justice in nomenclature, and save us all from grammatical confusion and disorder.
Posted on September 13th, 2006 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
Welcome back to “How to criticize Wikipedia”, a series for bloggers and others hoping to change Wikipedia for the better. After a brief delay, reporting live from Abuja, here is the first lesson, on constructive criticism.
Criticizing Wikipedia is a serious undertaking, and not one to be picked up lightly. You may have the world’s most incisive criticism of Wikipedia; but if you can’t express yourself in a way that will make any community member listen, being incisive won’t be enough. Be sure that you
Reading up: for one thing, most criticisms about Wikipedia and how it has treated your favorite writer, contributor, subject, biography, or ideology have already been stated somewhere, with cross-references and ensuing discussion and refinement, somewhere on Wikipedia itself. For another, many controversial aspects of Wikipedia have also been the topic of policy debates, even proposed and adopted policy, and community WikiProjects. Try searching WP for topics related to your criticism before typing out a new manifesto.
Respect: Most organizations and most websites provide only for closed-circuit feedback and complaints. Respect the open channels available to you (as well as the zealots and lunatics) for criticisms and discussions, avoid abusing them, and recognize that those responding to you also spend their time responding to the aforementioned zealots and lunatics, and mistake the seriousness of your criticisms if they are in a hurry. (They may also have had the same discussion a dozen times before.) If someone snaps at you, don’t instantly snap back; it takes at least two for a critical debate to degenerate into a flamefest.
Place with care: The fact that you can post your criticism to the personal talk pages of every active community member, and to every discussion portal, does not mean you should do so. Find one place to make your point clearly and solicit discussion, and no more than two other places where it or related topics are already being discussed, from which to link to your point. When in doubt, ask on the Village Pump where to put such criticism; the community members likely to respond will know where all the policy and discussion pages are, even if you don’t.
Assume good faith: The contributors to the site are not part of a great conspiracy; do not share any uniform political, religious, or editorial goals; do not hate you; and are not ignoring what you have to say. They do not all speak with one voice. A couple of editors, even if they are 2 of the 1000 administrators on en:wp, do not represent the “view” of the entire project, nor any significant subset of it. Individual editors may be immature, in a bad mood, uninterested in dealing with criticisms of the site. The body of editors as a whole responds well to gracefully-put criticism, and even encourages and highlights it:
How to criticize Wikipedia: Lesson 1, Constructive criticism …
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
From a recent slashdot thread:
I see.
Posted on February 10th, 2006 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
Wikipedia’s nationality is at risk. Arguments have started up this week about whether Wikipedia has nationality, and whether it is associated in people’s minds with the US. World Citizenship has not apparently been suggested. But the discussion turned up this gem, from (you guessed it!) dpbsmith:
Posted on January 16th, 2006 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
Mike Newell has apparently written and spoken about a culture of bung — a “bung culture”, as it were — for the past year or two. Now that term , which may never have been popular before, has become indelibly linked to his name.
“Another conservatory”, “a boob job”, and “a fast car” are all identified with one another in the list of uses to which a bung may be put.
Bungs “have always been a part of football” — apparently they are kickbacks of one sort or another. Where this usage comes from escapes me atm, but I’m sure I will find out soon.
Posted on December 21st, 2005 by longestnow.
Categories: poetic justice.
A painfully wonderful flash short: Touchtone Genius
You must also visit the composer’s website, where he tackles
interesting requests with a genius that extends far beyond
touchtones (Aaron Mandel, call your office) : songs to wear pants to.
But the greatest short I saw last year: “What can be changed“. I want to see the original, without subtitles…
And finally, for doomsday preparations, you can’t do better than Martyr.net.