David Stamm’s blog

If it’s Wednesday, it must be time for another dose of Wikipedia weird! This week we are setting the controls of the wayback machine to. . .

1985!!

This is one of my favorite features of the ‘Pedia: pretty much every year gets its own page. Seriously, do a search on “14″ and you’ll get an article about the year AD 14, in which the first Roman Emperor died and, according to the terse note on the page, “Famine hits China. Some citizens turn to cannibalism.” Sweet!

At the top of this page, a link is provided to an article about the number 14 itself, in which all manner of 14-related trivia can be learned. Apparently, 14 is the only semiprime among all Catalan numbers. (You suck, 132! In your face!) As if having an article for every year weren’t nutty enough, imagine having one for every number? If you are so inclined, please go ahead and look for your favorite number on Wikipedia and post a comment about it. I won’t judge.

But I digress…

I remember 1985 pretty clearly, considering I was 9 years old for most of it. A quick scan of the 1985 article reminds me of much that I had forgotten. 1985 introduced us to MacGyver and Tetris. 1985 was the year of Live Aid and We Are the World.

I remember the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and, growing up in suburban Philadelphia, I remember MOVE, Wilson Goode, and the fire that destroyed an entire city block on Osage Avenue.

I remember in 1985 when Robert Ballard located the remains of the Titanic. The little explorer in me was seriously stoked when the first ghostly pictures of the wreckage appeared in National Geographic. (The ‘Pedia article on the Titanic seriously rocks - sweet nostalgia!)

But for me, even now, 1985 was all about Back to the Future. The Casablanca of the Eighties, the closest any Hollywood film of that era came to utter perfection. A perfect realization of a perfect script. A wholesome stew of irrepressible youth, rock and roll, and time travel.

OK, this post has grown large and unwieldy beyond my expectations. Time to wrap it up. I leave you with a flashback to one of the great fiascos of 1985 or any other year: New Coke. This article is topped with the warning:

The current version of this article or section is written in an informal style and with a personally invested tone. It reads more like a story than an encyclopedia entry.

Heck yeah, it reads like a story… and what a story! It is on the whole a well sourced and footnoted article. Although the article on Snopes referenced at the end is, sadly, much better written, it is still worth a look.

If there are any writers reading this, pay heed! The next time you need a name for a character, look no further than unled.net. This page generates names by randomly combining first and last names from the 1990 US Census.

You can refresh the page for hours, giggling at the names of your fellow Americans.

Each result is helpfully linked to a Google search for that name. So you can easily see or if Guy Personson (fake name) is a local hero in Peoria, or if Hohar Mofatules (my favorite fake name) is wanted in 3 states.

I found out about this from kottke.org, a somewhat renowned blog which I highly recommend.

I heart Wikipedia.

Yes, the article on Optimus Prime is significantly longer than the article on Rembrandt. Yes, there are articles that seem more specific than could possibly be required by any circumstance. (Locks and Weirs of the River Thames, I’m looking at you…) And yes, one could reasonably call into question the factual accuracy of enormous swaths of the ‘Pedia.

But you have to love the youthful exuberance of the undertaking. “Let’s make an encyclopedia ourselves!” It reminds me of those bewigged French Enlightenment gentlemen who thought nothing of compiling all human knowledge into a book and calling it an Encyclopédie. God love ‘em, they weren’t at all intimidated by the professional scholar class!

Another thing I love: the nameless (hansolorulz88 is not a name) scribes of Wikipedia have taken the issues of bias and accuracy to heart. Articles that fall short of their standards are branded as such, as mercilessly as Hester Prynne. I still think they were a little harsh on the poor maglite article.

And finally, let us not forget that Wikipedia is FREE. Eat that, Britannica.

Henceforth, let Wednesday be known as Wikipedia Wednesday. Each week going forward, I will shine a maglite on some of the more obscure and mysterious gems to be found in the ‘Pedia. Feel free to post a comment if you find any worth sharing in your own explorations.

In conclusion: there is actually a Wikipeda article about Wikipedia. My brain hurts.

So here I am at work, and my fly is down.

I first noticed when my wife called to invite me to lunch (sushi!) in the neighborhood. Now, to answer a cell phone that’s vibrating away in the pocket of your jeans with any sort of dispatch involves a curious sort of dance. You have to straighten up to gain access to your pocket, contorting your body into an unbecoming hybrid of standing and sitting. If seated on an office chair that loves to rotate on its own, your co-workers are in for a small comic masterpiece.

It was during this gyrating, rigor-mortis limbo that I noticed my fly was undone.

I work as a programmer in a cool 7th avenue loft, which means a big open bullpen-style office with no walls or cubicles. So I can’t just stand up and zip up with a hearty “aahhhh”. And any attempts to flee the scene with my indiscretion concealed by my shirttails (gosh, I love that word) must be undertaken with caution.

So I’ve chosen to ignore this stalemate and dive into my second blog post. With my fly down.

So why is it called a “fly”? My initial research indicates that the word originally referred to the two flaps over the entrance to a tent. The first usage in reference to pants is in an 1844 military ordnance manual. The rich history of the zipper can be enjoyed in this Wikipedia article. There’s an animated GIF showing this marvelous invention in action:

I think the Wikipedists sometimes go a little far in their love of diagrams.

Oh there goes my cell phone again! (wriggly sitting/standing dance ensues…) Time to meet my wife at our favorite sushi place. I think I’ll sneak out and zip up on the way to the elevator. Wish me luck!

This here is no less than the very first blog post I have ever written. Yes, in spite of being a writer with a day job building web applications, I somehow managed to avoid blogging until the spring of 2008.

Holy heck, it’s spring! Happy spring! I hope everyone’s vernal equinox was thoroughly boogie-down in every way. According to Wikipedia the equinox was last week (this article has some seriously tweaked diagrams). I was too engrossed in personal turmoil to take proper notice. This turmoil will be covered in a subsequent post featuring ego, hubris, the Peter Principle, and psychosomatic eczema.

So I’m writing this first post a little ahead of schedule. Normally I take a few months to research and meditate and dither before doing something of this minitude. But I was compelled to seize the day when my outrageously talented wife “tagged” me. For those of you who followed that link here and found only a “No posts match your query” message, thanks for coming back!

I have been asked to describe my life in six words. Rather than dither about this too, I am going to attack the keyboard and see what happens. . .

i want, i try, i try

Well then! (pant, pant) That wasn’t so hard! Note to self: dithering is lame.

OK, now I’m off to find some index cards. I’m working on a killer screenplay idea with some memorable moments, but I still have no idea exactly what happens when. So I’m fighting fire with basics!