Stuff I've Been Meaning to Blog

Jesse Walker | March 5, 2008

From Nicholson Baker, one of the best essays I've read about Wikipedia.

Wired on the autistic pride movement.

A sequel to Stop Snitching.

Plagiarism in the world of online dating.

"Kremlin hawks feed conspiracy theories with 3,200 white mice."

Comments

|3.5.08 @ 3:17PM|#

Stuff I've Been Meaning To Comment About

From Nicholson Baker, one of the best essays I've read about Wikipedia.

The Fermata is awesome. One of the best "power to stop time books."

Wired on the autistic pride movement.

How long will it be before two autistic parents want to ensure their child will be autistic through genetic manipulation?

A sequel to Stop Snitching.

Privatize it.

Plagiarism in the world of online dating.

People lie in the real world too. Caveat Loser.

"Kremlin hawks feed conspiracy theories with 3,200 white mice."

They were pulling a prank on the Ukraine.

|3.5.08 @ 3:22PM|#

Autistic people don't get laid. Take a trip to your local computer science department.

|3.5.08 @ 3:31PM|#

I have a feeling that Aspergers exists to a certain degree, but I also have a suspicion that for some it is an excuse for people with limited social skills use instead of actually dealing with the fact that some people are better at relating to other people.

When I was in middle school I was tested to see if I had Aspergers by some doctor or other, and as an adult reading the actual symptoms of Aspergers, I find it kind of insulting that my mom would think that I would have it.

|3.5.08 @ 3:40PM|#

Anyone care to pinpoint when the concept of "normal" became the deadliest insult in our society?

Big Fat Blog: The Fat Acceptance Weblog.

Get your fill of rationalization.

Click \'n\' Learn|3.5.08 @ 3:40PM|#

I just scanned the WP article, but for the other side see these comments: here and here.

I'm even (slowly) working on a new site listing some of the WP articles with long-term issues.

For a perfect example of one of those issues, tell me if you see anything wrong with this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site

Most likely, most people won't see anything wrong with that, but it has a very serious issue. Thus, those who arrive at that page via a search are being misled, and it's been going on for months.

Fluffy|3.5.08 @ 4:29PM|#

Ummm..."Wikipedia articles change all the time, even though the underlying facts don't."

Welcome to... There iummm...life? There is no discipline in the world where accepted orthodoxy doesn't change over time.

Fluffy|3.5.08 @ 4:34PM|#

Click and never learn, I guess you're just going to have to live with the fact that Wikipedia isn't there to enable you to push your hatred of Mexicans.

I'm sure if it was up to you, you'd change EVERY entry to reflect how much you hate Mexicans. The entry for "Mexico" would contain the edit "This country is the source of filthy subhumans who threaten the United States status as a white and Protestant nation" or whatever. The entry for "Tabasco" would contain the edit "This is also a sauce used in the cuisine of filthy illegal immigrants" etc. etc. etc.

|3.5.08 @ 4:39PM|#

Fluffy,

You realize he's just going to write Spicipedia now.

|3.5.08 @ 4:57PM|#

Like the original, the sequel is a rough-cut montage of street scenes and obscene, anti-law enforcement rants. There's no plot and no real dialogue.

Someone finally made a sequel to Muppets Take Manhattan?

BC|3.5.08 @ 5:49PM|#

Stuff I've Been Meaning to Blog

No, no, no... Please make it stop! "Blog" as a transitive verb is one of the ugliest uses of the English language to have emerged in the past five years. It just sounds horrible.

When you blog about stuff, please describe it that way. I beg of you...

SIV|3.5.08 @ 5:53PM|#

"Stop for a minute," he says, offering advice to those who find themselves in police custody. "Think and listen. Or half the time, you'll be telling on yourself."


Sound advice from Stop Snitching 2

|3.5.08 @ 6:09PM|#

Or, as I tell folks around the hospital if the federales ever show up to do an investigation, or audit, or whatever:

Dummy up, until you lawyer up.

|3.5.08 @ 10:46PM|#

The plagiarism in online dating article was kind of weak. Yeah, people copy whole paragraphs/profiles, no doubt, but some of the stuff they cited just sounds like the cliche bullshit people say about themselves all the time:

"I am the type of person that likes to think of my glass as half full."

Surely there is only one person in the world who would say that about themselves.