Categorically Awesome
Wikipedia does a great job of classifying EVERYTHING into at least one of the millions upon millions of categories on their site. If there isn't already a category for it, they'll probably just make one up. Aside from year of birth and what your job is, they can classify you by nationality, skin tone, eye color, pet names, and favorite color. Sometimes, this is very useful, such as if you are looking for 80s one hit wonders and just want to browse a massive list, as I sometimes like to do. However, sometimes the category is a little less helpful. For example, we have this:
Category: Living People
I can't imagine anyone just casually browsing this category. There are hundreds of pages. There are over 200 results just in the As, and everyone knows A isn't a very popular last name starter. Luckily, from a precursory glance, I can find that the rappers A+, AMG, and AZ are all still alive, and thus my dream of starting a rap supergroup out of absolute nobodies is able to live on.
And then there's this category:
Category: People Lost at Sea
Which is short, and easy to browse. I can finally have a little closure as to what happened to the world's finest handlebar mustache and the guy whose face they used for the Leprechaun movies.
This category seems a bit masturbatory, really:
Category: All pages needing to be wikified
When did "wikify" become a verb?
One can also use the categories to learn new things. For example, I learned that there are a lot of unincorporated communities in West Virginia, something I didn't know before category-browsing.
Also of note: there are less Roman Catholic entertainers in the world than there are unincorporated communities in West Virginia.
My favorite category, though, has got to be this one:
Category: Possibly Living People
This should have been titled "Possible Zombies" to better meet my tastes, but still, it's amusing. Can you imagine coming across your name on there? I feel like it could be used as an advance warning by a tech-savvy killer. You can't say poor Mario Agodino didn't know it was coming. All that time he spent trying to rule Cordoba fairly and justly should have been spent checking his own name on Wikipedia for any rumors of his assassination.
Also, in that category is Viking Bjork, who I picture raping and pillaging his way through a Nordic village while wearing a swan dress.
Category: Living People
I can't imagine anyone just casually browsing this category. There are hundreds of pages. There are over 200 results just in the As, and everyone knows A isn't a very popular last name starter. Luckily, from a precursory glance, I can find that the rappers A+, AMG, and AZ are all still alive, and thus my dream of starting a rap supergroup out of absolute nobodies is able to live on.
And then there's this category:
Category: People Lost at Sea
Which is short, and easy to browse. I can finally have a little closure as to what happened to the world's finest handlebar mustache and the guy whose face they used for the Leprechaun movies.
This category seems a bit masturbatory, really:
Category: All pages needing to be wikified
When did "wikify" become a verb?
One can also use the categories to learn new things. For example, I learned that there are a lot of unincorporated communities in West Virginia, something I didn't know before category-browsing.
Also of note: there are less Roman Catholic entertainers in the world than there are unincorporated communities in West Virginia.
My favorite category, though, has got to be this one:
Category: Possibly Living People
This should have been titled "Possible Zombies" to better meet my tastes, but still, it's amusing. Can you imagine coming across your name on there? I feel like it could be used as an advance warning by a tech-savvy killer. You can't say poor Mario Agodino didn't know it was coming. All that time he spent trying to rule Cordoba fairly and justly should have been spent checking his own name on Wikipedia for any rumors of his assassination.
Also, in that category is Viking Bjork, who I picture raping and pillaging his way through a Nordic village while wearing a swan dress.
3 Comments:
Not to be an Anal Andy here, but seriously, the world's best mustaches can be found here:
http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
It's a scientific fact.
P.S. I would love to come and visit you in January. When works for you?
By
Unknown, at 12:13 PM
Couldn't find your email so writing you here. My name is Shannon Heffernan. I'm the online community manager at Vocalo.org, a new radio station and web community based here in Chicago. I was really excited to find your blog. I love the humor in this post (as someone who spends a lot of time on wikipedia, it was very funny)
. I think your work would make great radio material was hoping you might consider posting some of it for us to air.
In case you haven't already heard about Vocalo, here's a quick overview. (If you want more of a detailed overview, there are press links at the bottom of this email.) Vocalo.org was started by Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ, a little over six months ago. But don’t be fooled, it’s not at all like your normal public radio. It's a new kind of radio, integrated with a web community. Users can post content (written, audio, or video) on our website (and really, anything goes). We then air this material on the radio, playing the audio or making audio versions of the written content. Right now we air in Northwest Indiana at 89.5 FM; by the spring we'll have a new 50,000 watt tower that will allow us to expand to cover all of Chicago. It's a brand new station making radio in a brand new way, and we hope you'll get in with us now, on the ground floor.
Think about it: here is your chance to be on the radio! How cool is that?
We welcome content that is already posted on your blog, so it's very easy to take the work you've already done and get it on the air. It's also a chance to expand your audience and bring readers and listeners back to your own blog. Other bloggers and podcasters who have joined our site have noted its ability to increase their own site traffic. If you create a profile on Vocalo.org and upload content, you can link back to your blog from our site. And you can put your site address at the end of your piece, so every time we play your stuff, we'll give a shout out to you and your blog's web address on the air. In addition, we often invite our favorite users to co-host, especially if their posts are relevant to a topic we are covering. Really, the possibilities are endless.
We want to create a new community online, but we also want to enrich existing online communities. We hope that as more bloggers and podcasters join Vocalo.org, it will help you (and journalists) find and reference each other more often, and find bigger audiences more easily. And for bloggers who are already interested in radio, we hope to become a way for you to become proficient in audio production, too.
We really do hope you'll check us out and consider becoming part of our growing online and on-air community. If you decide you want to record your post (not required) and need some help or just want someone to walk you through the site, don't hesitate to call me at 312-893-2956.
Best,
Shannon Heffernan
Chicago Sun Times: Public Radio Eyes Net Gains
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/552386,CST-FIN-eCol12.article
Beep: A Radio Revolution, Public Radio Turns the Waves Over To You
http://www.beepcentral.com/story.aspx?story=18568) .
Stop Smiling: WBEZ Does it Again
http://stopsmilingonline.com/wordpress/?p=224
By
Unknown, at 2:19 PM
Hi, I came across your site and wasn’t able to get an email address to contact you about some broken links on your site. Please email me back and I would be happy to point them out to you.
Thanks!
Mandie Hayes
mandie.hayes10@gmail.com
By
Mandie, at 5:08 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home