friday, july 31, 2009
Not-so-bad articles of Wikipedia
In the spirit of Best of Wikipedia and Wikipedia Time: the best of wiki, these are some of the more interesting articles that I’ve worked on:
Anastomosis — a network of streams that both branch out and reconnect, such as blood vessels or leaf veins.- Black fax — a prank fax transmission consisting of one or more pages filled with a uniform black tone. See also: Lace card.
- Blood wings — an officially banned military initiation rite/hazing ceremony where a badge is pressed into flesh.
- Bucha effect — a disorientation-inducing effect of a strobe light flashing at approximately the frequency of human brainwaves.
Coprolites — fossilized animal dung, once mined on an industrial scale for use as fertilizer due to its high phosphate content.- Drip gas — a naturally occurring form of gasoline, sneakily used in vehicles during the Great Depression with unpredictable results.
- Duplicating machines — the mechanical predecessors of the modern copy machine: mimeograph, ditto machine, hectograph, etc.
- Hibiscus tea — a herbal infusion consumed both hot and cold around the world, also known as roselle, jamaica, karkady, bissap, and sorrel.
- Hypomnema — the ancient Greek equivalent of commonplace books, according to Foucault. See the talk page for a discussion of factual accuracy.
Shagreen — a type of rawhide made from stingray skin, fashionable during times of excess as a covering on household items.
