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August 12, 2006 [LINK]

Wikipedia: true or false?

I grudgingly admit to being a regular user of Wikipedia to get fast information, but I've learned to take its content with a grain of salt. No doubt, it is usually correct (like the New York Times! ) and it is probably getting better with time, but I still refuse to consider it a valid source for scholarly work. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert recently abused the free-wheeling editing functions of that "open-source" quasi-encyclopedia, just for kicks. He coined the term "Wikiality" -- if you claim something to be true and enough people agree with you, it becomes true." See Washington Post. Well, in this post-modern era, the very meaning of the word truth is pretty much up for grabs, a mere "social construction." Everything is subjective. It's no wonder kids don't believe what they're taught, or don't care about the factual basis of arguments. "Whatever!"

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 12 Aug 2006, 11: 22 PM

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Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)