What's missing in this picture is the laptopper on the park bench, they're all at the public library. Do a typical google search on any subject under the sun, say twerking or the Skunkape, and wiki is ALWAYS the first or second entry. Is this scholastically justified though? It's like the Amazon.com of Knowledge, links leading to hyperlinks, a veritable feast for the mind but is the whole enterprise shaky?
As I understand it, articles are written by experts in their field and regularly reviewed by other experts..and it is validated by extensive listing of source and reference. Heck, how else would we find everything we need to know about Yonkers ? I suppose
ReplyDeletefor the fundamentalist seeker of 'their' truth, Conservapedia would be the go-to
source. But Yonkers doesn't exist there.
BB with your knowledge I'm surprised you're not a contributor there.
DeleteWiki's pretty serious in self policing and they take a lot of pride in being encyclopedic. Every page has a discussion page attached to it and if you have an issue with how something's written you bring it up and fight it out. I don't know that I would go to it for directions on how to do brain surgery but surely in the course of an ordinary day it is more than accurate enough for me.
ReplyDeleteDunno about the medical issues. Worked with an older woman yesterday and she brought up she had two colonoscopies. Dunno how we got on the subject so I asked her some questions about the procedure and then compared it to the wiki article at least the last time I read it and while I wouldn't say wiki had monumental mistakes or inaccuracies but there was some vague misshadings of knowledge shall we say. In fact some critics of wiki warn students not to rely too much on it for papers and dissertations.
DeleteI wouldn't use it for a paper or dissertation. I do use it to win a bet while sitting in my livingroom in front of the TV.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the use of Wikipedia by students. Used to be you had to read entire books and have footnotes and bibs in your paper. So you actually learned stuff. Now, their 'brain' is a computer click. I wonder why the far right dislikes it (since they
ReplyDeleteconstantly criticize it..before going back to WND and F-News)
About a year ago if you wiki'd angel dust there was a subsection called horror stories. E.g. rapper Big Lurch attacked his own son while on PCP. Then a few months later that entry mysteriously vanished. What I wanna know is what happened to Big Lurch?
ReplyDeleteWhat to you make of the LSD rattled Manson & crew and the conspiracy theory involving MKULTRA Orange Sunshine ?
DeleteI've heard of MKULTRA of course but not the Orange Sunshine part. I was reading that CA allows prisoners to marry outsiders and may even allow the conjugals. Meanwhile the Adam Lanza Final Report has come out and as to be expected no mention of drugs. I thought he had destroyed his own computer.
DeleteBig Lurch's noggin was incompatible with PCP. He is still rapping away.
DeleteIn cell block 5 .
I don't think Wiki intends to supplant Brittanica. On the other hand they are far more accessible and free.
ReplyDeleteI did PCP once by accident. I was high for three days. Never arrested so I assume I didn't attack anyone.
I guess there was something going on at that wiki discussion page from a pro-drug expert or two.
DeleteI think a most reliable source really. If someone puts up a load of BS then someone else is going to refute it and it'll likely get yanked.
ReplyDeleteYou don't see that with the "major" news and information sources.
Wiki is the future. It is information not propaganda.
Consider that during the egypt uprisings, the Monsanto marches, etc. the vast majority of reliable information about these these events which was shared via social media but went largely, if not exclusively, by the mass news media.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile Lara Logan just got yanked from "60 Minutes" over some Benghazi report.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays. Hope it's good for you and the family.
ReplyDeleteThanx, it'll be good for the cats. This must be a hard day for the health nuts. All the joggers are out in force this morning and will probably be out again later after their sweet potato pie. What a way to live. I wonder what Tesh is doing.
ReplyDeleteGoing through all the sales inserts in my paper today and I just think the whole Black Thursday thing is disgusting.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I think a backlash is brewing but i dont know if stores will ever back down. Pizza Hut guy fired, first they claim he quit, now they are offering him his job back? They hate their employees. Who wants crappy pizza on thanksgiving???
ReplyDeletePC Richards is not opening on Thanksgiving and they proudly advertise as such. I do about 2/3 of my Xmas shopping before Thanksgiving and then finish off the rest. I hate it when people for whatever reason stop drinking, they used to be so easy to shop for. I'm like well start again.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to Wiki they work hard to keep themselves reliable. There was a huge stink after Palin and Bachmann made glaring grade-school American History errors during their campaigns and their supporters rushed to revise the relevant pages in Wiki to support the craziness. Thankfully reason put the lunatics down. I wouldn't consider it on par with the Britannica but on the other hand, I don't have a set of them in the house.
ReplyDeleteI had Britannica encyclopedias growing up, stuffy and dull imo. Wiki - evolving knowledge. I'm not against it, it gives you a general feel for the basic facts of a subject but I think the watchword is caution. Check it against other sources.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, we have fought off the return to the Dark Ages-
Delete"An amazing and surprising victory out of Texas last week: After a months-long effort by right-wing ideologues to insert debunked pseudoscience in Texas textbooks and undermine the theory of evolution – considered one of
the most reliably established facts in science, and a central tenet of biology – the Texas State Board of Education has voted to approve nearly all of the biology textbooks as they stand, without changes."
So how do you undermine a theory? I say put it all on the table and I never got this eternal conflict between Science and God?
DeleteStarted with Galileo and his satanic telescope.
DeleteWhich is to say how do you undermine the theory of evolution if it's only a theory? Seems to me if something's still a theory from a scientific standpoint you have the right to dissent. Is Evolution an orthodoxy? I'm not against its being taught but within context and allow the other stuff too.
DeleteI was the kid who read the whole Brittanica growing up. True.
ReplyDeleteI was more into the Funk 'n' Wagnalls. Had an interesting entry called "Boolean Algebra."
DeleteJust wanted to share: got my pathology, essentially clean, will bear watching henceforth, I am back to work on Friday. I didn't realize it but I actually had five procedures done. He was amazed when I told him I haven't taken any Percocet since day 2. Now I am not ready for horseback riding, the Iron Butt Motorcycle Race or driving the truck for an hour at a time, but I'm certainly not incapacitated. I go back in three weeks.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. Brings to mind there's this guy who goes to the library and he sets his computer up on one of the tables next to an outlet. Quite a big screen, biggest yet I've seen on a computer in public and it has a really nice stand and all so it's high up. Strikes me as being more of a desktop deal. Anyway it's like a mini-movie screen, actually as big as some tv screens and if you're a library patron walking past you can't help but notice him and his setup. OK so really nice screen and everything but you're not gonna use it in public to look up issues of a more personal nature like genital warts or anal prolapses. Gimme the ole discreet mini 7" tablet or mini laptop:)
ReplyDeleteWonder if wiki's been updated yet to include a possible new blood test to detect colorectal cancer. 'Bout time, might even save on your plumbing bill.
ReplyDeleteResearchers in Israel have come up with a blood test for that, but it is still in the early test stage and only detects markers from larger tumors. But, the
Deletestool test m2-PK is considered pretty good (and of course Wiki covers that).
IMO, blood screening tests can be iffy: I had stool samples done for h. pylori and none was found. But an endoscopy snipped some samples loaded with it. dunno, Z-Man
With what I've gone through recently, I'm going to say that I'm standing with old fashioned pathology with old fashioned specimens.
ReplyDeleteBut BB I thought you didn't like to deep throat those scopes. There's some kind of PSA for prostate cancer in blood tests, I know because I see it on the statement. I'm thinking progress would be anything less invasive, kind of my aesthetic yardstick. What would House say?
ReplyDeleteHouse would be checking for Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Myasthenia Gravis,
DeleteAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Gliomatosis Cerebri, part of a toothpick in your pyloric sphincter and Dr. Cuddy's undergarments. He's that kind of
diagnostician. I hate probing as much as the next patient, but if I'm rendered unconscious, they can stick the TV down my throat or up my
sitting region. Whatever happened to Cuddy?
PSA, yes, that's been around a long time, prostate specific antigen. But I would still say that any kind of test needs to be correlated clinically. Just like if your o2 sat reads 58 and we are having a perfectly fine conversation with you pink, warm, and in no distress, I'm thinking maybe I need to replace the battery on that monitor. I've never seen House so I have no idea what he'd say, but right now I'm gonna go with specimen on a slide under a microscope looked at by an eye that knows what it's seeing.
ReplyDeleteOh no I get your point and the doctor correlated me clinically some time back. What I'm saying is that I think it's cool everytime I get bloodwork done they can do a PSA w/o the accompanying finger action although that has its place too.
ReplyDeleteOnce you pass fifty, they become very interested in your prostate. The PSA antigen, they have found, shows up in other organ/tissue areas as well and some have questioned its usefulness. Had my physical last month, Doc
Deletesays you get prostate exams anywhere else? I said geez no, and I'm not that keen on them with you. She was a bit insulted, and probably not real
keen about it either.
Why I lean towards the PSA - are prostate exams a big deal? no. Do I want one everytime I have bloodwork done? no.
DeleteHey, I see Big Papi gets dressed up as an ordinary priest at night and goes out and helps homeless people.
ReplyDeleteOMG, what is NOT TO LOVE about this man!?
Let me put it this way. If Sean and Rush were suddenly praising Obama everyday wouldn't you be a little concerned?
DeleteI'd be fascinated.
DeleteBut wouldn't you start questioning Obama's liberal credentials then? that's my point. As one commentator pointed out if you're the pope and NARAL sends you a thank you note something's wrong, maybe something got lost in the translation.
DeleteLook, I left the Catholic Church in 1986 after 11 years of Catholic school with a rotten taste in my mouth and a hunka hunka burnin desire to not ever step foot in a RC church ever again. Years have gone by and I've gotten spiritually settled elsewhere but haven't ever really gotten over that cringe factor that all things RC bring on me. But I have to be honest: Papi is walking it. He's not just up there talking about abstracts and transubstantiation, he's going out there and walking it, principles in action. It doesn't matter if I'm Catholic, used to be Catholic, thought once about converting to Catholicism or think the Vatican is Babylon Revisited, if I'm at all honest I have to admire this man for laying it out there and actually practicing what he preaches. You're going to see a big Catholic revival from this, I promise you.
ReplyDelete(But rest assured: as much as I might be a fan, I have no plans on returning to the Big House. But just like I partake in the shame of RC scandals, I'm also indulging in a little pride. Papi ROCKS.)
ReplyDeleteSo he's gonna sell all that priceless artwork at the Vatican? I think he's like a St. Francis-lite. The poverty and low living thing, he's like someone on Survivor you know nothing's really gonna happen to him. Still got plenty to eat and drink and proper shelter. No, the original Francis walked the walk and talked the talk.
ReplyDeleteIf Francis is too distressful, I suggest the various TV fundie evangelicals.
DeleteThey despise the poor and will put your prayer donations to good use on their mansions. :)
You never know. This Pope, he might. When he was in Argentina he sold a lot of the Church's big-bank stuff and moved all the accounts into an ordinary commercial bank. I'm telling you, he's the real deal.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you're not cheering behind this Pope. Wtf is up with that?
He even decided that instead of using the traditional gold for his ring and pectoral cross, he would use silver. He also changed things on his papal coat of arms to reflect the same. In the past (as now) he has refused to live in the lush apartments and chosen more modest arrangements. This guy is the bomb. What is wrong with you?!! Are you just being contrary or what??
ReplyDeleteIn Central America you've heard of liberation theology right? more of a Marxist bed of soil than anything free market. Let's see if he's consistent and goes after the Castro regime as well.
ReplyDeleteParading your virtue. St. John of the Cross writes about this in "Dark Night of the Soul." It's called spiritual pride.
ReplyDeleteIMO, spiritual pride seemsrelatively minor .
DeleteIs the Pope not emulating his namesake, Francis of Assisi?
ReplyDeleteI think he's aiming for sainthood and why not? I mean if Pope John XXIII can become a saint why not go for it but as for his pectoral cross of silver rather than gold what's the difference? they're both precious metals so hey go for the bronze next time.
DeleteThis is just amazing. Noncatholics defending Il Papa from his own flock.
ReplyDeleteHe's pushing socialism on the flock and that I have a problem with. Economically and socially he's too liberal for my tastes and both your enthusiasm and BB's warrants a waiting period for me.
ReplyDeleteHe hasn't banned 20 oz. soft .drinks yet
DeleteThe more I think about this the more I think it's a liberal trait to just go ahead and give credit where it's due, and conservatives get all riled up over it. Everyone on the left gave Christie his kudos for being honest about getting Obama's help during Sandy, meanwhile the Right still hasn't forgiven him for it. When McCain stepped up and said, hey, Obamacare is law, we need to not be a collective group of assholes and just learn to carry on, the Left was fine with saying, hey, there you go, preach it, brother. You don't see that kind of thing coming from the Right, they demonize their opponents and can't muster up the honesty to call a spade a spade when it happens. I mean if I'm wrong here point me right, but it just seems like this is what happens. So Papi comes on the scene, the man writes that the love of money has trumped everything and that it's a new idolatry, he's for all intents and purposes paraphrasing Jesus there, and not only that, but he lives in the guesthouse instead of the Papal apartments, he chooses silver over gold for his own ring and pectoral, he refuses to wear the fancy ornamented garments, he goes out at night dressed as a mild mannered regular priest to help homeless people and people are suspecting him of being a socialist? We have been trying to tell all yall for a hundred years, Jesus was a Socialist. We are witnessing the rebirth of the RC Church, and it's the Catholics themselves who can't bring themselves to climb on board.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask you a logical question and this doesn't mean I'm judging Francis as a person but let's say (a) Pope Francis is a socialist (b) why would I support him or think he's a good pope? Seems to me I'm being consistent and independent-minded here.
ReplyDeleteI get it. Different people view society in different ways and Francis is definitely different. Conversely, when Ratzinger was in, the liberal Catholics
Deletewere not happy. When did religion and politics start to crossbreed?
When you begin to refer to capitalism as "the new tyranny" you're definitely an acquired taste.
DeleteAs for Christie here's another wrinkle and turns out conservatives were right to suspect he's not been a team player all along. In NYS we have Republican Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino planning to run against Dem. Andrew Cuomo for governor next year and Christie according to reports has promised Cuomo he won't support Astorino. Chew on that one.
ReplyDeleteNever understood NY politics. Palin and Paul refuse to endorse Christie and vice versa. Ever been swayed by who endorses who?
Delete& now DeBlasio has tapped Bill Bratton as the new NYC Police Commissioner which is actually a good choice.
DeleteSo here's the problem with some websites. I go to filestube just now and search "Lucy in the Sky" by Anonymous and one of the first entries is "Lucy in the Sky gets taken to heaven on a big black cock." Not what I was looking for, not what I had in mind. So now HealthCare.gov is only half fixed and what they call the Back End is all screwed up (still). Whatever happened to all the good website developers?
ReplyDeleteThey're sitting in detention.
ReplyDeleteThe ObamaCare website - look most folks are busy. Mom has to take the kids to school and pick them up later, maybe take one of 'em to the doctor. There's laundry and foodshopping to do, PTA, maybe the vet, the book discussion group (Maeve Binchy) meanwhile Dad is working two jobs. Do you think most people have time to play around with a screwed up website just 'cause they're forced to enroll by law or pay a fine or maybe they already had insurance settled but they had it cancelled on them? What part of put this whole thing on hiatus for the time being doesn't Obama understand???
ReplyDeleteKim Jung Un had his uncle arrested and executed by hanging. Fun guy and all
ReplyDeleteround Dennis Rodman groupie.
Probably owed him money. Maybe Kim and Rodman can do a selfie together.
DeleteRodman is back over there. Wanna bet Kim starts springing bodyware and tattoos?
DeleteRodman might wind up getting himself killed, say the wrong thing and face a firing squad. What I find fascinating about History is men (mostly) who would normally be in prison for being psychos somehow wind up running countries and I can't even run a red light!
DeleteYes, it is fascinating that psychopathology can lead to the top:
Delete"Board and Fritzon took three groups—business managers, psychiatric patients and hospitalized criminals (those who were psychopathic and those suffering from other psychiatric illnesses)—and compared how they fared on a psychological profiling test.
Their analysis revealed that a number of psychopathic attributes were actually more common in business leaders than in so-called disturbed criminals—attributes such as superficial charm, egocentricity, persuasiveness, lack of empathy, independence, and focus. The main difference between the groups was in the more “antisocial” aspects of the syndrome: the criminals' lawbreaking, physical aggression and impulsivity dials (to return to our analogy of earlier) were cranked up higher."
-Scientific American ..of course we already knew that, right?
In that case I've worked with my share of psychopaths.
DeleteHeard Julian Assange was getting jealous of Edward Snowden.
DeleteFound on a somewhat cynical blog regarding American Exceptionalism-
ReplyDelete'Black Friday-Only in America do people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.'
I've made it a kind of mission in my life to not be like most people. Ever been at a traffic light and the lead driver decides to go through, it maybe was a little long but not too long then all the other drivers go through too because he did but you hold back and then the light changes to green OR just recently there was a minor incident at a shopping mall on LI, some shoplifter accidentally broke the glass of a jewelry showcase and it shattered making a reverberating noise and everyone in the mall thought it was gunfire and before you know it everyone's outside jabbering away on their cell phones. Yeah the evacuation made sense at the time but first thing people do is turn to their techno/gadgets. Again I just don't wanna be like most people.
Delete