What Wikipedia Knew About Palin

1) For those who haven't been keeping tabs, the always-hilarious Dave Barry (a friend of reason in election season) has been blogging the conventions for National Journal. From today's dispatch:

Critics continue to ask how much McCain really knew about Palin before he selected her as his running mate, especially in light of that fact that he keeps referring to her, in speeches, as "Whatshername." But McCain's staff insists that it conducted a thorough investigation of Palin, which included not only inspecting her driver's license, but also, according to a campaign spokesperson, "reading almost her entire Wikipedia article."

2) Speaking of Wikipedia, this tidbit via Slashdot:

The Washington Post reports on the findings of Cyveillance, a company that 'normally trawls the Internet for data on behalf of clients seeking open source information in advance of a corporate acquisition, an important executive hire, or brand awareness.' Cyveillance decided 'on a lark' to test its methods by monitoring the Wikipedia biographies of Vice-Presidential prospects. The conclusion? If you'd been watching Wikipedia you might have gotten an advance tipoff of Friday's announcement that McCain was selecting Sarah Palin. 'At approximately 5 p.m. ET (Thursday), the company's analysts noticed a spike in the editing traffic to Palin's Wiki page, and that some of the same Wiki users appeared to be making changes to McCain's page.'"

At the moment, Palin's Wikipedia page is locked. So if you're wondering about her future, you'll have to content yourself with watching the InTrade futures market on the chances that she'll be dropped from the ticket.