Friday Night House

Half timbered cottage

England

Wikipedia: From OSU With Love

Wikipedia formed by former Buckeye

Lindsay Betz

On the evening of Jan. 2, 2001, Larry Sanger's friend told him about
something called a wiki. Thirteen days later Wikipedia was launched.

According to dictionary.com, a wiki is "a collaborative Web site whose
content can be edited by anyone who has access to it."

Sanger, who received his master's and doctorate degrees from Ohio State and
taught in the department of philosophy until 2005, had previously been
editor-in-chief of a project called Nupedia.

Sanger said Nupedia was essentially a peer-reviewed online encyclopedia
written by experts.

"The problem with Nupedia ... was that it was not growing as quickly as we
thought a free encyclopedia project could grow," Sanger said.

He said when he heard about the wiki concept, he knew it could "supplement
the Nupedia project (because) it would create content more quickly and would be
more open to the general public."

He said the Nupedia community did not support the project, so he came up
with the name Wikipedia and it was launched under its own domain name.

"The whole idea of an encyclopedia that anyone could edit struck the
Nupedia community as a bad idea," Sanger said. "It was easy for anyone to get
involved instantly without even signing up and that was a pretty unusual
concept."

As Wikipedia's success grew, Sanger said, so did its problems.

He said he always thought Wikipedia would be developed together with
another more "mature" encyclopedia, such as Nupedia, that would edit the
Wikipedia content and release accurate versions of the entries."

As it turned out, Jimmy Wales, who pays the bills, decided he liked
Wikipedia and didn't like Nupedia so he let Nupedia die," Sanger said.He said he
stopped working for Wikipedia at the beginning of 2002 when the company told him
they could not pay his salary anymore. They did invite him to stay on as a
volunteer, but he declined."

I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want to have anything to do with
Wikipedia as it was being allowed to develop," he said. "The problem was that
there was no credible way whereby articles would become approved. We had talked
about an approval process for a long time but no action was ever taken on
it."

Sanger said Wikipedia still does not have an approval process and anyone
who has an account can edit entries.

Although Sanger admits the reason Wikipedia has grown so quickly is because
it is a "radically open project," he said the accuracy of entries is an issue
because there is little to no input by experts.

Sanger is currently working on a project called Citizendium, which opened
to the public two months ago at citizendium.org. He said it is similar to what he originally
envisioned Wikipedia would be.

Citizendium is a wiki in the sense that anyone can become a member and edit
entries, but it also has many expert editors who correct and approve
entries."

We want a different kind of Internet community," Sanger said. "We don't
want another MySpace that's basically uncontrolled. We want a project that uses
real names and where people take responsibility for what they do."

Sanger said Citizendium is growing at a rate comparable to the rate
Wikipedia grew in its early days, and he hopes the growth will accelerate.

He said Wikipedia can be a good place to start looking for information
online, but should never be used when writing papers."

I think that Wikipedians themselves ... say that you shouldn't cite any
encyclopedia in papers for college work ... I would say that middle schoolers
should not (even) cite Wikipedia articles," Sanger said.

Good advice.

Boehner Reveals Lowlife Military Scam

Reports of Scam Targeting Military Families

Office of Congressman John Boehner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday May 31, 2007
MEDIA CONTACT: Jessica R. Towhey 202-225-6205

Boehner Warns of Scam Targeting Military Families

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) today
warned of a scam targeting military spouses, preying on the fear that their
husband or wife has been grievously injured in Iraq.

According to a report, a person with an American accent calls a
military spouse identifying herself as a representative of the Red Cross.
The spouse is told that her husband or his wife has been injured in Iraq and
evacuated to Germany. The caller states that doctors cannot start
treatment until the patient's Social Security number and date of birth are
verified.

"It is unconscionable that someone could be so degraded as to prey
on the worst fears of a military spouse," Boehner said. "Identity-theft
scams, whether they are targeting military families or senior citizens, are a
danger to us all. We must be alert to phone calls, e-mails and letters
from strangers seeking personal and financial information. These scams
should be reported immediately to the proper authorities."

Representatives of the Red Cross contact military members or
their families directly only in response to an emergency message initiated by a
family member, according to a Red Cross release. Families of injured
troops are contacted by the Department of Defense regarding the service member's
condition.

It is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison for
an individual to falsely pose as an agent of the Red Cross to solicit, collect,
or receive money or material.

Military spouses who receive a phone call reportedly from the Red
Cross asking for personal and/or financial information should not reveal this
information. The call should be immediately reported to the local family
readiness group or military support organization.

Boehner represents Ohio's 8th District, which includes all of
Darke, Miami and Preble counties, most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the
northeastern corner of Montgomery County. He was first elected to Congress
in 1990.

Cold Sex

Children without sex is what the future holds, claims inventor of the Pill

The Pill gave us sex without children. Now Djerassi has turned that
concept on its head. He believes the developed world is heading towards its
next cultural revolution — children without sex.

The son is gonna be real unhappy bout this. Trust me. He will.

Beaten With A Fugly Stick

Mukesh Ambani' residence

Planned

Mumbai, India

60 stories

1 husband

1 wife

1 mother

3 children

600 staff

I'm thinking Legos, but uglier.

This could improve the image of the 60s, 7os & 80s. A tad.

Cynthia McKinney 2008 May Be Green

2006 "So, you know, 2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort.
Certainly now it is questionable as to whether that effort would come under the
banner of the Democratic Party. There’s no way that with the current crop of
candidates who are all supporting a military action against Iran and who none of
them support impeachment. They can not speak for me any longer.”

2004 "George Bush smirks at us and our Vice President sneers. The
smirk is for what they still have up their sleeves and the sneer is because they
know we'll let them get away with it…. After all, we let them get away with it
in 1963 (that's when John Kennedy's life was taken), and again in 1965 (when
Malcolm X was murdered), then twice again in 1968 (when snipers' bullets stole
Martin and Bobby from us).”

She can't help herself. She's just a giver.