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WikiEsquire

This is pretty interesting: Wikipedia users edit a meta article for Esquire.

This week, an Esquire editor invited Wikipedia users to edit an article that will appear in the magazine. Wikipedia users reacted strongly, with over 500 edits to WP:ITAAW before the article was frozen.

Editor A.J. Jacobs wrote the original article, which was riddled with deliberate errors. These errors were quickly corrected by users, who rewrote many sections from scratch. Jacobs said of the massive edits made by Wikipedians,

I just wanted to thank you all so much for participating in this experiment. It was absolutely fascinating. I was riveted to my computer, pressing refresh every 45 seconds to see the next iteration. And the next and the next.

The article will presumably run in the November 2005 issue.

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Evolution Vs. Intelligent Design

The Washington Post on the proof behind evolution and the Evolution / Intelligent Design (ID) case in Harriburg, Pa.

“When scientists announced they had determined the exact order of all 3 billion bits of genetic code that go into making a chimpanzee, it was no surprise that the sequence was more than 96 percent identical to the human genome.”

The chimpanzee genetic information let scientists put the very theory of evolution to some tough new tests and the predictions made under the theory passed.

Today a Federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa. USA, will begin to hear a case that asks whether Intelligent Design or other non-scientific explanations should be compulsory teaching material in a biology class.

But the plaintiffs, who are parents opposed to teaching ID as science, will do more than merely argue that those alternatives are weaker than the theory of evolution.

They will make the case — plain to most scientists but poorly understood by many others — that these alternatives are not scientific theories at all.

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Water Polo

Tonight I played water polo for 2 hours. I’m beat and I’m going to bed.

After the games I had a good time chatting with Brock about my summer and about the breakup. Getting home I realize it stirred up a lot of emotions.

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Flickr Firsts

My sister and I started a really popular flickr group today that has gained over 120 users in less than 4 hours. It’s called Flickr Firsts and it is a place where flickrites can add their first image to the pool. Everyone is welcome and if you’ve ever uploaded an image to flickr then you’ve got one perfect for this group.

If you’ve never added a photo to flickr – now’s the time to do it. You bought that fancy digital camera / scanner, so show that collection of beautiful images off! Also feel free to invite your friends and family to join as well.

I find that as I join more groups my photos get more exposure and I get more comments. That’s really why anyone uses flickr anyway right?

Oh, and about this image, I whipped it up in Photoshop using the flickr logo and some Verdana size 36 font – it’s for the group icon.

Update: It’s been a day and a half and our group now boasts over 700 members. It’s been fun to watch as the growth is beginning to increase exponentially. Reminds me a lot of what I read in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”.

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It Didn’t Take Long – Terrorists Attack Via Gaza

Less than two weeks have passed since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza strip and the Islamic terrorist faction known as Hamas has launched rocket attacks against Israel. Although I can’t say I never expected there would be attacks from the Palestinian controlled Gaza – there always have been, it just surprises me how quickly the terrorists are back at it again.

In a retaliatory response Israel launched air strikes early Sunday morning and gathered troops outside of Gaza.

I have a strong suspicion that this is exactly why the Sharon Government wanted to leave Gaza. Now that Gaza is somewhat autonomous Israel can make good on its promise to take a more serious stance.

(From the New York Times):

“Hamas and other Palestinian factions have fired hundreds of rockets from northern Gaza in recent years, prompting periodic Israeli military incursions. The Israeli troops usually pulled back after a few days, and the rocket fire would subsequently resume.

But Israel has warned for months that if the rocket fire continued after its withdrawal from Gaza, it was prepared to hit back much harder than it had in the past.”

Hamas’s claim for launching its attack came after a truck carrying rockets exploded killing 15 Palestinians and wounding more than 80. The say the blast was caused by an Israeli attack.

[Both t]he Palestinian Authority and Israel said the blast was caused by Hamas explosives that went off accidentally, and they dismissed Hamas’s allegation that an Israeli airstrike caused the explosion.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry said Hamas should take responsibility for the blast “instead of making accusations against others.”

I think it’s important to note that it’s the terrorist causing the trouble, not the Palestinian Authority.

I also wanted to note that the Times article makes me even more hopeful for the Palestinian people because of the comment by Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian leader, who said, “We must stop parading our weapons and stop using guns among the people.”

Clearly he see what is wrong with parading Ak-47’s in the street and wants to try and make them a more civilized people.

I hope this so called “war on terror” sorts itself out. I wish people could just get along.