Monthly Archives: July 2005

Felis Catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

I often find myself explaining to people what a wiki is. For those of you who are familiar with wikis–ain’t it great to be in the know? For those who don’t–consider this your lucky day (and don’t forget, damnit!)

The wikipedia (heh) defines a wiki as: “a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. The term Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website.” Think of it as a constantly evolving document, where you, and all the millions of other humans in the world, can change, edit, and update the content of the document at any time.

But why are wikis cool? For one very simple reason: it allows people who have far too much time on their hands to present voluminous, in-depth knowledge on just whatever the hell tickles their fancy. As you’re probably gathering at this point, this can be (and in fact is) a very powerful informational tool.

Wikis have been around for some time now, yet they haven’t really been forcibly shoved into the public’s arse like other blog-o-licious concepts. This is probably a good thing, although the drawback, of course, is that most people don’t realize the power and utility of this resource. Thus, we come to the cliche I’ve been waiting to spring on you from the moment I started this entry: “Unfortunately, no one can really be told what a wiki is–you have to see it for yourself.”

Here are some wikis to wet your appetite:

The Wikipedia: Hands down, the best wiki ever. An incredible, up-to-date resource, that, I daresay, comes close to rivaling the hard covers. Trust me, it is that good. You can, for example, learn about the “Star Trek versus Star Wars” phenomenon, get the low down on CNN, learn what the hell a space elevator is, and work on your biology research paper. Trust me, if you can think of it, someone has likely written something about it here.

Wikitravel: I recently discovered this site, and it is also amazing. It catalogues information on just about every major travel destination on the planet, and puts it right at your fingertips. For example, I know now that it’s safe to drink tap water in Iran, and that Minot, North Dakota has one web cafe, the Bagel Stop, on South Broadway. DO YOU SEE THE POWER OF WIKI?

Hydrogenaudio knowledgebase: A wiki about digital audio compression. A good starting place for all you soon-to-be die-hard ogg vorbis lovers!

Memory Alpha: A Star Trek wiki. Though still a work in progress, many of the sections are very detailed. Hell even I learn something new every time I visit–me!

Star Wars wiki: You knew there had to be one.

Homestar Runner Wiki: If you don’t know, at least this will be an opportunity to learn.

… and I leave you to explore the rest

Coolest blog entry ever? I think so.