Your Most Recent Wikipedia Search June 25, 2020 12:58 PM Subscribe
It's close to the end of the week. Let's play a fun game. What was the last thing you searched for on Wikipedia? Your most recent Wiki. Feel free to share links to relevant Wiki below. As always, be kind to yourself and to others. Cheers.
Unfortunately, I'm boring and it was just a list of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Someone was trying to tell me that Thor: The Dark World was terrible and I wanted list all the MCU films it's better than, to make a point.
posted by ODiV at 1:07 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ODiV at 1:07 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Aren't we a pair of nerds. Considering how big the Marvel Cinematic Universe is and what it encompasses, I'm sure it generates a shit-ton of web traffic.
posted by Fizz at 1:11 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 1:11 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
I ended up on the wiki for the Korean War, because a friend (who is from SK) was posting about 625 and I googled to see what it was about. My world history awareness... could improve.
posted by obfuscation at 1:14 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by obfuscation at 1:14 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
I couldn't remember the real name of the piece of shit who goes by "Mike Quackenbush" in the wrestling ring.
posted by Etrigan at 1:15 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 1:15 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
I just searched for The Wizard of Oz because I’ve been rereading the Oz books (which I adored as a child) and remembering how much I didn’t like the movie as a kid. I mean, it’s a great movie—it’s just a terrible Oz movie (Return to Oz will always be the quintessential Oz movie, to me). I recently discovered that there was a wildly successful Broadway show based on the books, back in the early 1900s, and I was wondering how much of the 1939 movie drew from the Broadway show instead of the book. I can certainly see the Broadway influence, and it soothes my inner child to think the movie was based on that, rather than the actual book.
The Wikipedia article wasn’t particularly enlightening though, so I shall have to go on a deeper search.
posted by brook horse at 1:17 PM on June 25, 2020
The Wikipedia article wasn’t particularly enlightening though, so I shall have to go on a deeper search.
posted by brook horse at 1:17 PM on June 25, 2020
Two LearnedLeague-adjacent things.
On desktop:
Looked up the Taiping Rebellion, which I knew nothing about; reading and then vaguely remembering something from Michener’s Hawaii book led me to the pages for the Hakka people and the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, which is part of the backstory for one of the characters.
On mobile:
AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock”, from a LearnedLag podcast discussion of classical music performed with cannons.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
On desktop:
Looked up the Taiping Rebellion, which I knew nothing about; reading and then vaguely remembering something from Michener’s Hawaii book led me to the pages for the Hakka people and the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, which is part of the backstory for one of the characters.
On mobile:
AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock”, from a LearnedLag podcast discussion of classical music performed with cannons.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
My most recent visit is apparently List_of_demonyms_for_US_states_and_territories, but that doesn't really count since it wasn't a search and I was just vetting a MeFi post.
My most recent for reals search was apparently the band Bush's 'Sixteen Stone' to try and remember the track list, after making some offhand joke about Machinehead in the company slack and having it initially land with a thud.
But that was a few days ago according to my browser history, and I have a hard time believing I haven't looked up anything since then. So I guess that's probably just the most recent search on this particular browser on this particular computer.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
My most recent for reals search was apparently the band Bush's 'Sixteen Stone' to try and remember the track list, after making some offhand joke about Machinehead in the company slack and having it initially land with a thud.
But that was a few days ago according to my browser history, and I have a hard time believing I haven't looked up anything since then. So I guess that's probably just the most recent search on this particular browser on this particular computer.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I was looking for the number and breed of the dogs who played Diefenbaker on Due South.
posted by invincible summer at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by invincible summer at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2020 [8 favorites]
Dug back into my history, came up with Paul Lewis (pianist).
The reason was that a live concert-for-the-camera from Wigmore Hall with Paul Lewis popped up among my YouTube suggestions and I wasn't sure I'd heard about him before (which, me being a piano-interested person, is pretty embarrassing).
posted by Namlit at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2020
The reason was that a live concert-for-the-camera from Wigmore Hall with Paul Lewis popped up among my YouTube suggestions and I wasn't sure I'd heard about him before (which, me being a piano-interested person, is pretty embarrassing).
posted by Namlit at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2020
I feel down a weird YouTube rabbit hole late last night and found myself watching a live performance of Peter Frampton's 'Do You Feel Like We Do.' There's an awesome moment when Frampton begins the cue to end the solo and start the outro, and the keyboard player pops his head out from behind his keyboards and they share a smile. I wanted to learn more about that keyboard player and Wiki helped me out with a short entry on Bob Mayo.
posted by googly at 1:30 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by googly at 1:30 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
It was Mike Trout, who I wanted to learn more about after being linked to Jon Bois' article on the least essential athletes of the decade.
But if that doesn't count, then it was Disney's 1959 Irish-sploitation film Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
But if that doesn't count, then it was Disney's 1959 Irish-sploitation film Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Heston Blumenthal - I was watching the unfortunately named but totally fun to watch Crazy Delicious on Netflix, only watch if you don't mind getting ridiculously and sometimes confusingly hungry.
posted by wellred at 1:40 PM on June 25, 2020
posted by wellred at 1:40 PM on June 25, 2020
Last thing I looked up was the Three Stooges movie An Ache in Every Stake to see what occupation the Stooges had (icemen) for the NYT Crossword puzzle I was doing.
I only look up proper nouns and ready reference facts for NYT puzzle answers and I'm comfortable with that.
posted by lyssabee at 1:41 PM on June 25, 2020
I only look up proper nouns and ready reference facts for NYT puzzle answers and I'm comfortable with that.
posted by lyssabee at 1:41 PM on June 25, 2020
This is a great game, because earlier I wondered if there might be a viable way to make an FPP about Facebook Watch's relatively little-known animated scifi comedy series Human Kind Of. I've been enjoying it a good bit, but I didn't find anything--like a good interview or something--that would be worthwhile to read if you weren't going to click a Facebook link, nixing the idea.
But along the way, I turned up a series description at the SF Encyclopedia and--more to the point--Wikipedia listings for the 46th Annie Awards, in which the series competed with BoJack Horseman, Big Mouth, Bob's Burgers, and The Venture Bros. For folks who do happen to be OK with watching something on Facebook (it doesn't seem to require a login, e.g. in incognito mode), the animated series that I'd actually compare it to would be Daria and, uh, Rick & Morty with more empathy.
posted by Wobbuffet at 1:43 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
But along the way, I turned up a series description at the SF Encyclopedia and--more to the point--Wikipedia listings for the 46th Annie Awards, in which the series competed with BoJack Horseman, Big Mouth, Bob's Burgers, and The Venture Bros. For folks who do happen to be OK with watching something on Facebook (it doesn't seem to require a login, e.g. in incognito mode), the animated series that I'd actually compare it to would be Daria and, uh, Rick & Morty with more empathy.
posted by Wobbuffet at 1:43 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
I received a letter in which my correspondent made mention of The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. While writing my reply, I looked it up on wikipedia to refresh my memory about its plot, as it's been 20 years or so since I read it and I no longer have a copy.
posted by misteraitch at 1:48 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 1:48 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Darius McCollum. He has impersonated an MTA worker several times and was convicted of "stealing a locomotive." It's a complex situation, and I think they really ought to have worked with him to get him a legit job with the MTA if possible. I was discussing something similar and couldn't remember his name.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
My last lookup was about an hour ago: Ken Landreaux who was the "baseball card of the day" over at the 7th Inning Stretch, a daily 3 PM EDT (4 on Sundays) FB Live show by Fenway Park Organist Josh Kantor, playing from his living room. They've gone 92 days in a row.
Josh is a librarian, I'm a librarian, and it's a bit of a joke that when he mentions baseball players or other random lookup stuff, I'll zip over to Wikipedia and find it.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 1:55 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Josh is a librarian, I'm a librarian, and it's a bit of a joke that when he mentions baseball players or other random lookup stuff, I'll zip over to Wikipedia and find it.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 1:55 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
I just happened upon a fucking awesome album, Kiwanuka, so I was looking at Michael Kiwanuka's wikipedia to figure out what's up with this Jimi Hendrix but soul-er album from 2019.
posted by ChuraChura at 2:01 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 2:01 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Tommy Wiseau. Someone made a reference to him and The Room and I thought that name sounds familiar but why so I looked him up? I guess I heard something about the James Franco film which is why he sounded familiar but I haven't seen the movie or the movie about the movie and don't really have any desire to.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:02 PM on June 25, 2020
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:02 PM on June 25, 2020
I just looked up the city Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso because Stoneshop just told me one of his Kiva loans was to someone in Burkina Faso, and I have such pleasant memories of the country, and that city. It's laid-back and friendly in my memories, which date from 2000; it's known as the city of music, and on many street corners you can hear someone play, or you can buy instruments or take lessons. It also has an impressive mosque and several great markets. The avocados that you can buy in the streets of Bobo are the best I've had anywhere.
Man, Bobo-Dioulasso. I'll probably never see it again.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:02 PM on June 25, 2020
Man, Bobo-Dioulasso. I'll probably never see it again.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:02 PM on June 25, 2020
LIGO because I couldn't remember the resolution of the mechanism.
...it's one ten-thousandth of the charge diameter of a proton, btw. Think about that for a moment. Think about building a thing that could do that.
posted by aramaic at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
...it's one ten-thousandth of the charge diameter of a proton, btw. Think about that for a moment. Think about building a thing that could do that.
posted by aramaic at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
I was looking at the page for the novel The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald. Think I'm going to read that once I finish the current fantasy tome.
posted by zeusianfog at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by zeusianfog at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
The page on Ogham Inscriptions - section on the Isle of Man! (It's about the historic writing system called Ogham, because I watched this Time Team episode on the Isle of Man.)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:32 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:32 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Jay Clayton. I wanted to verify my smack-talking before I smack-talked.
posted by praemunire at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Googling "ecaspsp station" led to the article about Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, a remote cluster of islands in the Atlantic.
posted by Horselover Fat at 2:55 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Horselover Fat at 2:55 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Recent Wikipedia links in Metafilter comments.
posted by Rumple at 4:08 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 4:08 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
I looked up the Paul Simon song "You Can Call Me Al" because I was hoping it would explain a little about what was going on in the song. It kind of did. I liked the origin story of how the "Al" and "Betty" thing originated.
The video for the song is super fun. The song has long been a favorite of mine, partly because of the line "gotta short little span of attention" which as an ADD person I have gotten some use out of over the years.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:12 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
The video for the song is super fun. The song has long been a favorite of mine, partly because of the line "gotta short little span of attention" which as an ADD person I have gotten some use out of over the years.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:12 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
Divergent Diamond Interchange.
They might be building one very close to me in what is currently a busy, congested, dangerous intersection with no sidewalks or bike paths. The one they are planning is a modified one with a bike/ped bridge in the middle. If they do it, it will be glorious. Which means they probably won't do it.
posted by bondcliff at 4:39 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
They might be building one very close to me in what is currently a busy, congested, dangerous intersection with no sidewalks or bike paths. The one they are planning is a modified one with a bike/ped bridge in the middle. If they do it, it will be glorious. Which means they probably won't do it.
posted by bondcliff at 4:39 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Forgot the Wikipedia link: You Can Call Me Al
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:44 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:44 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Led there by a search on "CADD" to see whether I should correct a client's use of that acronym to the more familiar "CAD" in a document we're writing.
posted by evilmomlady at 5:33 PM on June 25, 2020
posted by evilmomlady at 5:33 PM on June 25, 2020
The Hamiltonian path problem for that maze-like ask (Can I predict if a randomly-generated puzzle will be solvable? - math maze | Ask MetaFilter). flabdablet beat me to the punch while I was looking to see if there was a Perl graph module that implemented an exhaustive solver (not directly anyway).
posted by zengargoyle at 5:38 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by zengargoyle at 5:38 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Browser vs. mobile, it’s either Ring-Necked Snake, of which I have several living under the pavers in my back yard, or Monocyte. I had some bloodwork recently and was looking up the bits that were out of normal range.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 5:45 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Lawn Beaver at 5:45 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
List of unproven methods against COVID-19 because damn if there isn't someone on one of Toronto's official action committees who's all “Turmeric cures COVID!”
posted by scruss at 5:46 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by scruss at 5:46 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
The codex Gigas (aka the devil's bible for the illustration of the devil ("the length, size, and detail of the codex are of such extraordinary magnitude that legend surrounds its origin, specifically the story that it was written by one scribe in one night with help from the devil himself."))
posted by dhruva at 6:01 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by dhruva at 6:01 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Algernon Charles Swinburne
posted by potrzebie at 6:09 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 6:09 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
John Wesley Hardin
posted by clavdivs at 7:02 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 7:02 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
Wiki Korean War
posted by tristeza at 7:16 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by tristeza at 7:16 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Lara Fabian 'Adagio' Live...you may thank me later.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 7:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 7:20 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Apparently it was the page for filmmaker Duncan Jones, right after my teenager recommended we listen to the Moon soundtrack.
posted by klausman at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by klausman at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sunshower, to see which cultures refer to rain during sunny weather as "the devil beating his wife." Turns out a surprisingly large variety of cultures, from Japan to Jamaica, have a phrase that involves a trickster and his wife (whether marrying or fighting).
posted by JDHarper at 7:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by JDHarper at 7:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ooh! Megabats, after I saw the picture in this article somewhere (link to “it’s probably a thing” Snopes) which I will never be able to unsee. 5 foot wingspan! But don’t worry, they are vegetarian.
posted by charmedimsure at 7:54 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by charmedimsure at 7:54 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Leo Awards. Who knew British Columbia had its own film awards ceremony?
posted by mollywas at 8:38 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mollywas at 8:38 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hyperbolic triangle, which I looked up to double check that this stupid joke made sense before posting. Searching my browser history for Wikipedia suggests I do this sort of thing a lot more than I realized.
My last non-Mefi-related Wikipedia search was Generalized linear model, to remind myself which link functions are typically used for certain distributions. I think I visit that page once every couple of months.
posted by biogeo at 8:49 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
My last non-Mefi-related Wikipedia search was Generalized linear model, to remind myself which link functions are typically used for certain distributions. I think I visit that page once every couple of months.
posted by biogeo at 8:49 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
We just brought two tuxedo kittens into our home and the naming process has been complicated and contentious and cause for a Great Unsealing of all the wikipedia rabbit holes at once to make sure all prospective names were OK. Without going into all the stubs occasioned by various unselected names I can tell you that we're calling these gents Giacomo (left) and Brainstorm! (Brainstorm! with an exclamation point) and that in kicking the tires I read a lot about the various villains/ambiguous characters named Brainstorm in DC and Marvel universes, and more about the politics & death of Giacomo Puccini than I probably wanted to know.
(Giacomo is named named not for Puccini but mostly for Danny Kaye in The Court Jester, a family favorite around here, which I *also* read about a lot on wikipedia these last few weeks. Did you know the Igor Stravinsky story about the score? I did not. Brainstorm! is partly from Kittens Inspired by Kittens and partly from the complex name-selection process itself. We swing meta and so do our cats I guess.)
posted by miles per flower at 8:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [6 favorites]
(Giacomo is named named not for Puccini but mostly for Danny Kaye in The Court Jester, a family favorite around here, which I *also* read about a lot on wikipedia these last few weeks. Did you know the Igor Stravinsky story about the score? I did not. Brainstorm! is partly from Kittens Inspired by Kittens and partly from the complex name-selection process itself. We swing meta and so do our cats I guess.)
posted by miles per flower at 8:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [6 favorites]
Jasper Fforde because their Thursday Next novels don't have series numbers on the covers and I had to know which one was the second book.
posted by Mitheral at 9:14 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 9:14 PM on June 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
Ze Frank, after watching an AMA on Patreon where he said that Ze was his real name, shortened from Hosea!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:31 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 9:31 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Roky Erickson / 13th Floor Elevators.
First band to be called psychodelic. Roky co-founded the group at 18. An interesting guy, a large life, large good and large bad. His shadow still here in Austin.
Another artist who was trashed young by electro-shock "treatment" it's amazing to me that these people were able to do anything at all, but they did a hell of a lot:
~~ Townes Van Zandt
~~ Lou Reed
~~ Richard Brautigan
~~ Roky Erickson
~~
I go to Wikipedia all through the day. I love Wikipedia. A huge part of my internet experience.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:05 PM on June 25, 2020 [5 favorites]
First band to be called psychodelic. Roky co-founded the group at 18. An interesting guy, a large life, large good and large bad. His shadow still here in Austin.
Another artist who was trashed young by electro-shock "treatment" it's amazing to me that these people were able to do anything at all, but they did a hell of a lot:
~~ Townes Van Zandt
~~ Lou Reed
~~ Richard Brautigan
~~ Roky Erickson
~~
I go to Wikipedia all through the day. I love Wikipedia. A huge part of my internet experience.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:05 PM on June 25, 2020 [5 favorites]
Charles Francis Adams IV I'm re-watching John Adams and went down the genealogy tree; son of, son of, daughter of, etc. I watch period dramas to try and relax while browsing the history. And I watch a lot of programs about monarchies and it's fun to see how many generations you can go up and down in Wikipedia. But John Adams is not as relaxing as I remembered it. There's a lot of fighting.
posted by soakimbo at 11:12 PM on June 25, 2020
posted by soakimbo at 11:12 PM on June 25, 2020
I got involved in a YouTube thread discussing European languages with pitch accent, where I bumped into a native speaker of Ripuarian/Ripuarisch. So I looked it up. What they had to say about Ripuarian was pretty interesting.
posted by nangar at 12:11 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by nangar at 12:11 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ha, Fizz, mine was also Captain America: The First Avenger, in order to try to find some nerdy detail about Bucky Barnes' life for a fic I'm writing. I couldn't give a single toss about the rest of the MCU, or fandom in general, but I've been writing Steve/Bucky fic on and off for... 5 years?!
posted by Balthamos at 12:35 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Balthamos at 12:35 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
I looked up Wendy Mesley to see how old she was because she is far too old to not know she does not get to say “the word that should never be used.”
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 12:51 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 12:51 AM on June 26, 2020
Valency. I was trying to remember the word "applicative" for an email to a student. It was on the tip of my tongue and I feel like a linguistics fraud for forgetting it.
posted by lollusc at 3:02 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by lollusc at 3:02 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
White pudding, because for some reason black pudding came up during our World of Warcraft raid last night, which led on to a discussion of what white pudding actually consisted of. I remember seeing it in gross-looking sausage format at the supermarket when I was younger but hadn't really thought about it since.
posted by terretu at 3:15 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by terretu at 3:15 AM on June 26, 2020
My last wikipedia search was the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard. Trigger warning because that is some grim shit. I've been watching a series in which one of the characters seemed very similar to the daughter, so I wanted to refresh my memory.
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:18 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:18 AM on June 26, 2020
My last wikipedia search was for David Cubitt because I have a crush on him and Jake Weber right now. I never got into Medium when it aired but now it's on Hulu and I can't stop watching...
My wikipedia searches are boring, I know.
posted by one4themoment at 4:56 AM on June 26, 2020
My wikipedia searches are boring, I know.
posted by one4themoment at 4:56 AM on June 26, 2020
The poet Douglas Dunn, as I couldn't remember the name of his collection about the early death of his first wife. There's a brief but interesting article here about that book and the archive of his papers at St Andrew's. The wiki article is under-referenced and I should do something about that.
posted by paduasoy at 5:31 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 5:31 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
The common swift or Apus Apus but in Spanish wikipedia. I was writing a haiku in Spanish for a friend who lives in Romania.
posted by vacapinta at 5:43 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by vacapinta at 5:43 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mine was Anne Boleyn because Spotify introduced me to the musical Six. I remember doing a report on her and Henry VIII in elementary school and not really understanding what 'beheaded'. Oof. Tudor times were vile.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 5:59 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitchen Witch at 5:59 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2020
Roger Casement was an Irish-bord British diplomat, who authored the 1904 Casement Report, which was instrumental in bringing the abuses of Belgium in the Congo to international attention. He was later knighted for similar work in Peru. In 1916 he was executed for treason by the British government for his part in the Irish rising. His homosexuality was weaponised to discredit his name at the time of his trial.
As an Irish person living in Belgium I have recently become fascinated by Casement's role in the history of both countries and his journey from servant of the crown to rebel leader.
posted by roolya_boolya at 7:21 AM on June 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
As an Irish person living in Belgium I have recently become fascinated by Casement's role in the history of both countries and his journey from servant of the crown to rebel leader.
posted by roolya_boolya at 7:21 AM on June 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
Oh huh. I'd heard of the Casement Report, but figured the name was some kind of metaphor for windows and transparency and such.
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on June 26, 2020
My last search was for Year 1870. I am counting each kilometre I peddle on my stationary bike as one year into the past on my time cycle. For a couple of weeks now have been traveling back in time in daily increments of one decade. Whenever I arrive in the past I do some quick research and then post some facts about that year and a picture of that time.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:17 AM on June 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:17 AM on June 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
Xbox Series X immediately followed by PlayStation 5 and finally, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
posted by notyou at 9:03 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by notyou at 9:03 AM on June 26, 2020
John (Janos) Xantus, because someone in Hungary is doing a book related to him and his collecting.
posted by gudrun at 9:30 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by gudrun at 9:30 AM on June 26, 2020
My most recent Wiki is Americano (cocktail), which probably was a result of my hunting down all the things I can do with my bottle of Punt e Mes before it goes off. I've been spending a lot of time on my deck with my dog and various Campari-based beverages.
posted by HotToddy at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
List of Lakes by Depth
For some reason my brain first parsed this as "List of Latkes by Depth" and I was momentarily confused and intrigued.
posted by biogeo at 10:46 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
For some reason my brain first parsed this as "List of Latkes by Depth" and I was momentarily confused and intrigued.
posted by biogeo at 10:46 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
That inspired me to look up deepest rivers. The Congo gets to be over 700 feet deep!
posted by Chrysostom at 10:49 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:49 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
I’ve been getting into Ripper Street on Netflix. Yesterday I looked up Jerome Flynn just on a whim, because sometimes i find it interesting to see what actors look like (in terms of personal style) when they are not in front of a camera. Turns out he kinda looks the same!
posted by janepanic at 11:05 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by janepanic at 11:05 AM on June 26, 2020
I've been rereading the The Expanse series recently and forgot where the novellas fit into the main series. Kinda struggling to find things to read these days. Who'd have thunk it?
posted by Sphinx at 11:08 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Sphinx at 11:08 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
The most recent page I looked at is that of Hillel Slovak, the late guitarist from the Chili Peppers. But I didn't search for him; I got to his page after looking up Funky Monks, the Chili Peppers documentary, after reading an article about Rick Rubin on the Ringer that included a clip from the film. :shrug:
posted by kevinbelt at 12:16 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by kevinbelt at 12:16 PM on June 26, 2020
Last few:
Rhubarb
Merlin Olsen (frankly, most of the Little House on the Prairie cast, since I am watching it currently)
Audre Lorde
Phil Donahue
Riot grrrl
1964 Rochester race riot
posted by medeine at 1:08 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Rhubarb
Merlin Olsen (frankly, most of the Little House on the Prairie cast, since I am watching it currently)
Audre Lorde
Phil Donahue
Riot grrrl
1964 Rochester race riot
posted by medeine at 1:08 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
"The 3:10 to Yuma." Next to last: "William Borah." I am a geeky person who has spent more time than usual talking with a distant, geeky spouse recently.
posted by eotvos at 1:14 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by eotvos at 1:14 PM on June 26, 2020
The Olympus E-5, the last flagship Four Thirds DSLR camera before Olympus switched exclusively to mirrorless and Micro Four Thirds. Early press releases for the E-1 (the first flagship SLR in the line) referred to the “E System” and even though Olympus took up the common names of Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds they still put an E in every model name from the OM-D E-M5 to the PEN E-PL10. Except the PEN F. But that name had a history of its own.
posted by fedward at 1:38 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by fedward at 1:38 PM on June 26, 2020
I was reading recipes and found something I wanted to make but it specified a type of white chocolate I never heard of: Opalys
posted by lemon_icing at 2:05 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by lemon_icing at 2:05 PM on June 26, 2020
I’m reading about the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey and considering reading more about the end of the Ottoman Empire - of which I realized I knew very little
posted by motdiem2 at 2:29 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by motdiem2 at 2:29 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
motdiem2, I read that a couple of days ago! I’d gotten a gyro for dinner and was reading the page for that, and it linked to the population exchange, which is never heard of.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:02 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by kevinbelt at 4:02 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Today I looked up Ancient Japanese Hats images, because the link up front, only had descriptions of them. Strange.
posted by Oyéah at 4:30 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by Oyéah at 4:30 PM on June 26, 2020
My personal browser's last Wiki page is about the Akhal-Teke, a Turkmen horse breed. I saw a photo of a Cremello coated Akhal-Teke horse, and it was so pretty and unicorn-like that I thought it might be a fake. Turns out, nope. They are a real horse breed and look amazing.
I keep all my work stuff on a separate browser to support work/life balance. My work browser has the wiki entry for Frank Wiercinski, because I was adding notes to his entry in our database.
posted by gemmy at 4:46 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
I keep all my work stuff on a separate browser to support work/life balance. My work browser has the wiki entry for Frank Wiercinski, because I was adding notes to his entry in our database.
posted by gemmy at 4:46 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
Inspired by a viewing of the old Mystery series Cadfael, which I've been watching on Amazon Prime, I did a search for The Anarchy, the 12th-century civil war that provided the setting for the series. I was a medievalist in college, although I studied the period a little before this, so I find that period of history fascinating.
posted by holborne at 5:18 PM on June 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by holborne at 5:18 PM on June 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
What was that revolutionary Irish song Paul's grandfather began singing, when he was apprehended? A yes, A Nation Once Again.
posted by Rash at 6:55 PM on June 26, 2020
posted by Rash at 6:55 PM on June 26, 2020
The dark side of Scandinavian metal —Early Norwegian black metal scene— murder, mayhem, church burning. Way too heavy for me.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:03 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:03 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
But if that doesn't count, then it was Disney's 1959 Irish-sploitation film Darby O'Gill and the Little People. posted by The Pluto Gangsta
Thanks The Pluto Gangsta for reminding me of one of my childhood obsessions— that death coach! I almost bought one of those squarish Scion cars just because it reminded me of the Death Coach.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:28 PM on June 26, 2020
Thanks The Pluto Gangsta for reminding me of one of my childhood obsessions— that death coach! I almost bought one of those squarish Scion cars just because it reminded me of the Death Coach.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:28 PM on June 26, 2020
Sabrina (1954 film) and Sabrina (1995 film). My mom's been unwell for months and is finally settling in to watch everything she's recorded on her DVR. Tonight, she said she was going to watch Sabrina, and I asked, "Bogart or Harrison Ford" and she couldn't remember which she'd recorded and had to go look.
So then I mentioned that I couldn't remember who played the Greg Kinnear role in the original (William Holden, of course). And that led to me looking up how old Harrison Ford was when his version was made (53) vs. how old Bogart was (55 -- we were both surprised somehow that he was born in 1899). So THAT led to us discussing how Bogart seemed so much more inappropriately "too old" for Audrey Hepburn vs. Ford seeming merely fake-stuffy-old vs. Ormond. And then we talked about the relative hotness of Ford vs. Bogart, and Kinnear vs. Holden, and then decided George Clooney is still hotter than everyone. (She's 84, I'm 53; there's a pandemic and I assure you'd we'd already spent about 40 hours this week talking about social equity, politics, and how much we hate the current administration. Sabrina (both versions) and Clooney and the goodies of Wikipedia eased us into the evening.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:39 PM on June 26, 2020 [7 favorites]
So then I mentioned that I couldn't remember who played the Greg Kinnear role in the original (William Holden, of course). And that led to me looking up how old Harrison Ford was when his version was made (53) vs. how old Bogart was (55 -- we were both surprised somehow that he was born in 1899). So THAT led to us discussing how Bogart seemed so much more inappropriately "too old" for Audrey Hepburn vs. Ford seeming merely fake-stuffy-old vs. Ormond. And then we talked about the relative hotness of Ford vs. Bogart, and Kinnear vs. Holden, and then decided George Clooney is still hotter than everyone. (She's 84, I'm 53; there's a pandemic and I assure you'd we'd already spent about 40 hours this week talking about social equity, politics, and how much we hate the current administration. Sabrina (both versions) and Clooney and the goodies of Wikipedia eased us into the evening.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:39 PM on June 26, 2020 [7 favorites]
Dewponds to take part in a discussion here. I was hoping to find some of the strange things my grandfather told me about making them - he was Romany and his process was more demi-monde than the 'rational' versions on wiki.
My other most recent wikis;
Azolla it's a useful weed I use a bit.
Rhynes, a type of ditch
looking for info on This is the Kit
posted by unearthed at 12:11 AM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
My other most recent wikis;
Azolla it's a useful weed I use a bit.
Rhynes, a type of ditch
looking for info on This is the Kit
posted by unearthed at 12:11 AM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
I remembered a novel I liked decades ago: Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, "a book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough, published in 1942. The book presents a description of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr." It was made into a film, a play, a TV series, and a musical comedy.
It is in the same category as My Sister Eileen by Ruth McKenney (made into a play, two films, a Broadway musical, and a TV series), and Life With Mother Superior by Jane Trahey, later filmed as The Trouble with Angels (1966). Plucky sisters/friends have madcap adventures as children and as young adults in the early 20th century.
Diana Lynn played Emily Kimbrough in the 1944 film, and also played Jane Stacy in My Friend Irma (1949) and its sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950). My Friend Irma, the long-running radio situation comedy, was in a lawsuit for its similarities to... My Sister Eileen.
"In 1946, writer Arthur Kurlan had worked with CBS Radio in an attempt to bring the premise and characters of the popular play and film My Sister Eileen to radio. Soon after this effort failed, the very similar My Friend Irma was created. Kurlan took legal action, and ultimately received a settlement from CBS." My Friend Irma (radio-TV), Wikipedia
Wikipedia sources indicate that Ruth McKenney also received compensation.
posted by TrishaU at 6:19 AM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
It is in the same category as My Sister Eileen by Ruth McKenney (made into a play, two films, a Broadway musical, and a TV series), and Life With Mother Superior by Jane Trahey, later filmed as The Trouble with Angels (1966). Plucky sisters/friends have madcap adventures as children and as young adults in the early 20th century.
Diana Lynn played Emily Kimbrough in the 1944 film, and also played Jane Stacy in My Friend Irma (1949) and its sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950). My Friend Irma, the long-running radio situation comedy, was in a lawsuit for its similarities to... My Sister Eileen.
"In 1946, writer Arthur Kurlan had worked with CBS Radio in an attempt to bring the premise and characters of the popular play and film My Sister Eileen to radio. Soon after this effort failed, the very similar My Friend Irma was created. Kurlan took legal action, and ultimately received a settlement from CBS." My Friend Irma (radio-TV), Wikipedia
Wikipedia sources indicate that Ruth McKenney also received compensation.
posted by TrishaU at 6:19 AM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
I was working on a project that involves Lidar imaging when my ADD pulled me down the rabbit hole. Next thing I knew I was looking at Digital elevation model. Or at last that was the last thing I wandered to before I got called to help cook dinner.
posted by SpookyFish at 12:20 PM on June 27, 2020
posted by SpookyFish at 12:20 PM on June 27, 2020
One of my first jobs out of college was digitizing trees from a printed lidar dataset. The dataset was a sheet of paper with scattered dots representing trees (each tree was a cloud of dots like one of those fuzzy atom diagrams and we used a puck to digitize a circle around each tree). It would take about 2 days to do a map sheet of the healthy trees and then another two days to do the unhealthy trees. We'd then use that data along with the DEM to create a 2D render of that area from specific viewpoints of recreational leases to make harvesting decisions.
I just about quit after the third day.
posted by Mitheral at 1:18 PM on June 27, 2020
I just about quit after the third day.
posted by Mitheral at 1:18 PM on June 27, 2020
Woodrow Wilson to see if Wikipedia captured the full extent of his loathsome racism.
posted by bearwife at 2:58 PM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bearwife at 2:58 PM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Inspired by a viewing of the old Mystery series Cadfael
the actor who played the ever present meddling brother Jerome.
and Monks Hood.
posted by clavdivs at 7:26 PM on June 27, 2020
the actor who played the ever present meddling brother Jerome.
and Monks Hood.
posted by clavdivs at 7:26 PM on June 27, 2020
So according to my browser it was Ubu Roi which is weird because I have no recollection of that nor any recollection of anything that could have caused me to look it up. However, it is in the general area of things I would look at on Wikipedia, so ok? Second back is Velasquez' Las Meninas which I do remember. I searched for it because I was talking with a colleague and totally blanked on the name.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:26 AM on June 28, 2020
posted by Literaryhero at 3:26 AM on June 28, 2020
International Numbering System for Food Additives. We have a food allergy in the family, and we're in a place where they use the numbers instead of names. "Thickener 412" - that's more characters than "guar gum!" Dammit!
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:15 AM on June 29, 2020
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:15 AM on June 29, 2020
Mass, after a comment by ocschwar in the Greta Thunberg thread that made me look up The Two Cultures by C. P. Snow. Being able to define mass was used as an example of basic scientific literacy, and I discovered that I struggled to recall the definition.
posted by Harald74 at 5:55 AM on June 29, 2020
posted by Harald74 at 5:55 AM on June 29, 2020
Bedbugs. Set theory. Merde.
One of the kids is trying to fit that in to her Venn diagram of covidian life. It's been her coping mech since school shut and this breaks that.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:52 PM on June 29, 2020
One of the kids is trying to fit that in to her Venn diagram of covidian life. It's been her coping mech since school shut and this breaks that.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:52 PM on June 29, 2020
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posted by Fizz at 1:06 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]