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Archive for the 'Environment' Category

Digg Buries Daily Kos

Published by William Beutler on June 19, 2008 in Barack Obama, Daily Kos, Digg, Environment, Netroots, Public policy, Site Traffic, Social Networking, Trend Tool, Web 2.0, White House '08 and William Beutler. 1 Comment

This submission to Digg from Daily Kos “went popular” today, which is to say it made the front page:

Digg Buries Daily Kos

So it wasn’t “buried” per se, in that the story has not (as of about 8:00 p.m. Thursday) been demoted from the front page, and almost surely will not be. Last I checked, it was #10 out of 10 in all categories. The article submitted was a user diary by someone calling themselves environmentalist (like e.e. cummings or k.d. lang), cross-posted from the long-running mid-tier leftroots blog Unbossed.

The first Digg commenter said:

It’s a scam engineered by big oil interests to dupe the $4 per gallon weary public. Drilling/plundering our coasts for about 19 billion barrels of oil is akin to placing a Band-Aid on the hemorrhaging wound that is our oil-dependent, wasteful lifestyle.

The comment received +31 “diggs”, that is to say a net total of 31 votes in agreement. So far so good. But out of the ~430 comments added to this story, the top-rated comments fell somewhere between ~+150 and ~+50 diggs. Here is the first sentence of each, in descending order.

+151 diggs:

I hate to play devil’s advocate but here I go. (personal note: I am not a Republican)

+107:

Buried for being misleading bullshit.

+68:

If we began drilling offshore, oil prices would actually fall, because speculators trading in oil futures would bet on prices to be lower in the future.

+66:

Both candidates are forwarding two different ideas, but they are by no means mutually exclusive.

+59:

I should have guessed this was daily Kos bullshit.

+51:

Thanks, DailyKos, for continuing to put forth the stupidest ideas on the internet.

Anyone who follows the two websites knows that Digg and Daily Kos are both very pro-Obama. But apparently they are not pro-Obama in quite the same way. Better yet, Ron Paul’s volunteer army of paranoids seems to wandered off somewhere else.

As for the title and the caveat above, well, that’s not the only way Digg can bury Daily Kos:

All the Rage #9: The Asterisk Edition

Published by William Beutler on May 26, 2008 in Entertainment, Environment, Literature, Metapost, WikiRage, Wikipedia and William Beutler. 1 Comment

For the record, this page will not be covering Flavor of Love (season 3), Deaths in 2008, 2008 UEFA Champions League Final or a handful of other articles that may have made the top-edited list but for the fact that I’m not entirely sure whether I copied the list of top articles for the week or just for Sunday.

I’m only a human and WikiRage is only a program which as yet does not allow one to look at charts in the past. But in the interests of Wikipedia trivia, let’s keep this feature moving forward. And in the interests of posterity, all apologies to Indiana Jones, who may have been the rightful owner of the top slot this week.

  1. Eurovision competition on Flickr courtesy Banlon1964.Article: Eurovision Song Contest 2009
    Why: The Eurovision Song Contest is something like the Olympics for pop groups of various European nations, held annually. I’d wager most Americans have never heard of it, but it’s actually entering its 53rd year.
    Detail: It’s not easy to see where all those edits went in this first week. The page is not very long, and only a few participants are yet confirmed. The best explanation is that new pages being prepared to expand greatly according to pre-established rules are the locus of numerous tiny edits and adjustments. Glancing over the meticulous, country by country, week by week charting on the article for 2008’s installment, I expect the 2009 page will make this list in subsequent weeks.

  2. Article: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
    Why: This is no time for Wikipedia, Dr. Jones! The fourth installment in the Lucas/Spielberg/Ford series is the biggest movie in the world at the moment.
    Detail: Through no real particular linking effort, this article is the third non-news listing on Wikipedia when the title is used as a search term. If your search term is “Indy 4″ it’s the second result. And in terms of length and citations, this page resembles nothing so much as two chart-topping articles from the past few weeks: 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Cyclone Nargis.

  3. Indiana Jones lego figure courtesy Dunechaser on Flickr.Article: Stanley Cup
    Why: Yes, the NHL championship is under way now, but the article about the trophy itself was the Featured Article on May 25.
    Detail: Is it surprising that Canada’s national sport a target of relentless Wikipedia vandals? Perhaps not when you consider how frequently recent “South Park” episodes make this list.

  4. Article: Dima Bilan
    Why: The Russian pop artist won the 2008 Eurovision song contest.
    Detail: Apparently the beginning of the new season brings the trolls out, as they make a recent, unscheduled appearance on the Talk page. But the attention also brought out the copyright hounds, who noted there was no rationale cited for the fair use image of Bilan in the article, and removed it.

  5. Article: Eurovision Song Contest
    Why: The flagship article for the aforementioned annual European diva-off.
    Detail: I kind of hope I did grab the wrong list of articles, becuase I’m not sure if I get interested enough in the contest to cover it week in and out.

  6. Article: UFC 84
    Why: This weekend the MGM Grand in Las Vegas hosted the latest battle royale between the leading practitioners of what has apparently come to be known as “mixed martial arts.”
    Detail: The title makes it sound like this event has been going for 84 years, but in fact UFC 83 was only in April, and UFC 85 will be in June. The only other thing I can say is that the Brazilians do exceptionally well.

  7. Article: Union of South American Nations
    Why: You know the unification of North America raised by conspiracy theorists obsessed with the “NAFTA superhighway”? Yeah, well they did it South America.
    Detail: I’m kidding, sort of. The newly created union aims to create a single market not unlike the European Union, but it’s not quite a reimagination of borders as drastic as the Organization of North American Nations from “Infinite Jest”, even if the name sort of implies it.

  8. Article: Rob Knox
    Why: Article about an 18-year-old British actor killed by stabbing outside a bar in suburban London.
    Detail: Wait a few days, and you may miss it. The article has been nominated for deletion, although early indications from the Talk page are that it will stay.

  9. Article: Lion
    Why: Featured Article for May 24, 2008.
    Detail: Lions are not greater targets for vandalism than Canadian hockey trophies, but as charismatic megafauna, they’re still a target.

  10. Lion photo from Flickr courtesy Heaven’s Gate (John).Article: Manuel Marulanda
    Why: Not Bill Frist’s former counsel but a leader of the FARC terrorist group reported to have died this week of a heart attack.
    Detail: A fair point from a newbie, not yet taken up: “Im kinda new here. Is it good to have the Video section have a link to a site selling a video?You cannot watch it free. Seems a bit too commercial.”

    11. Holdovers this week: You know, let’s just pretend Deaths in 2008 made the list. In the second week of this feature, we honored Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin, so it would be wrong now if we did not reflect briefly on the life of J.R. Simplot, the man behind the McDonald’s french fry.

    Falling off the list: Everything from last week.

    Recurring themes: Weekly-elimination musical competitions, televised non-Olympic fighting events, long articles about current events with 100-plus citations.

    Honorable mention: American Idol. It’s #11 for the week as of Monday, and may have been on the list as of last night. I suppose we’ll never know. But considering that the American TV series has concluded just as it has helped Fox become the #1 network in the United States for the first full season ever, I’ll throw it a bone.

Images courtesy Banlon1964, Dunechaser and Heaven’s Gate (John) on Flickr.

All the Rage #4: Flame On (and Off)

Published by William Beutler on April 13, 2008 in Entertainment, Environment, Literature, Religion, Sports, WikiRage and Wikipedia. 2 Comments

It’s time once again to turn our attention to what Wikipedians turned their attention to this week, according to the most-edited list at WikiRage.

  1. Article: Suleiman the Magnificent
    Why: This fourteenth century Ottoman sultan was the Featured Article on April 8.
    Detail: As usual, the front-paging of an article results in some vandalism. But the overall effect is salutary, as the article gets closer scrutiny by serious editors. In the meantime, you get enjoyable debates like this: “Article says: ‘Suleiman married a harem girl Roxelana, who became Hürrem Sultan’. I understand that PC or indifference thereto is a controversial subject, but is ‘harem girl’ (although perhaps literally correct) really the best way for us to phrase this? … As a female member of the household, she would still have been part of the harem. I don’t really see a problem with the term. I suppose we could change ‘girl” to ’slave,’ if that’s what the problem is.”

  2. Article: J.K. Rowling
    Why: The children’s author who is wealthier than the Queen was the Featured Article on April 11.
    Detail: At 23:42 GMT on April 12, David4674 reduced the entire article to… nothing. His edit summary was surprisingly forthright: “Blanked the page.” But don’t worry, David4674 isn’t a real editor: he’s a sock puppet of… Dan 689. Both appear to have been banned.

  3. Article: Deaths in 2008
    Why: Passing this week: Monk’s psychiatrist and numerous people I’ve never heard of.
    Detail: Abu Ubaidah al-Masri, an al Qaeda operative in Pakistan is believed to have died of hepatitis in December 2007, but U.S. government sources didn’t announce this until just the past week, hence his inclusion in the list.

  4. Article: Victoria Cross
    Why: Not a television actress from the 1980s, but in fact the highest military decoration in the British Commonwealth. Featured Article? Good guess! It was on April 9.
    Detail: Only the Talk page will tell you that Major General Candy in “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” was a fictional recipient of the VC, if it matters, and I am not sure it does.

  5. Article: Yi So-yeon
    Why: As of April 8, this 29 year-old astronaut is the first Korean and second Asian woman in space
    Detail: If you’re envious now, just wait until she starts doing TV commercials. Although you might have to be in South Korea to see them, I’m sure the money is just as good.

  6. Article: 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
    Why: The ceremonial relay has been in the news for controversy: Human rights protesters have targeted the ceremony, even snuffing out the flame a couple times in France.
    Detail: Not yet making the page: Complaints about the environmental impact of carrying the torch around the globe.

  7. Article: Chrono Trigger
    Why: Not that Wikipedians are opposed to editing video game articles already, but this was the Featured Article on April 10.
    Detail: When the article appeared on Wikipedia’s main page on Thursday, the box art was not included, even though it is included in the article. I’m not sure I quite follow the reasoning, but Wikipedia is lately in the habit of keeping fair use images off the front page, only including an image if it is free use.

  8. Article: Tomb of Antipope John XXIII
    Why: The only question is, when was it the Featured Article? The answer is April 6.
    Detail: I have to admit, this question from the Talk page crossed my mind, too: “If he’s the anti pope, does that mean he worships the anti christ?”

  9. Article: American Idol (seaon 7)
    Why: It’s dominating the iTunes top 10 list, so why shouldn’t it be on the Wikipedia top ten list?
    Detail: Let’s be clear about this: “Also, regarding David Hernandez: As far as I’ve read, only incriminating pictures of him working at the bar were released. I have NEVER heard about any nude pics floating around out there on the net. Could anyone find a source to prove this? (And a link to these alleged ‘nude’ pictures. Not even for personal reasons. I’m just pretty certain only clothed pics of him with the name of the bar he works at were at VFTW and that’s it.)”

  10. Article: Olympic Flame
    Why: See #5.
    Detail: I find all this torch business a little silly, but did you know that in a ceremony involving eleven “priestesses” the torch is lit by the sun’s rays using a parabolic mirror? That’s kind of cool.

    11. Holdovers this week: Deaths in 2008, articles related to controversy involving China and the Olympics (returning from week 2)

    Falling off the list: April 1, 2008; Ima Hogg; Celine Dion; April Fool’s Day; Canada on Strike; Earth Hour; NATO; Google’s hoaxes; Bette Davis

    Recurring themes: Featured Articles being the most-edited of the week.

    Honorable mention: Eek, a Penis! was the episode of South Park this week, and even though it was edited 220 times this week, somehow that wasn’t enough to make the top 100. I’m suspicious; #100 was controversial talk show host Randi Rhodes, and her page was edited less than 100 times in the past week. Hmm.

All the Rage #3: Fools Rush In

Published by William Beutler on April 6, 2008 in Entertainment, Environment, Foreign Policy, Television, WikiRage and Wikipedia. 0 Comments

Wikipedia vandalism has long been a subject of interest here at Blog P.I. It’s more of a nuisance than a real problem, and it will never go away. No, the better question is, when is it likely to be more common? Do you remember what Tuesday was?

  1. Article: April 1, 2008
    Why: This page is the repository for lists of April Fools Day jokes and pranks, and it goes into the hundreds.
    Detail: April Fool’s Day is in no danger of falling into obscurity: the page was only created on March 31 and subequently edited 1023 times, more than double and nearly triple the number of edits on last week’s most-edited page.

    2. An actual Rick roll, courtesy Rakka on Flickr.
  2. Article: Ima Hogg
    Why: With a name like that, how could it not be vandalism?
    Detail: Well, there’s more to it than that. Wikipedia itself made this the Featured Article on the main page of the English Wikipedia on April 1, with a skewed blurb visible on this user page. Just skewed, not contra-factual. But then the real article itself was indeed beset by April Fool’s jokesters, especially after being mentioned on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

  3. Article: Celine Dion
    Why: This was the Featured Article on April 3rd.
    Detail: A complaint from the talk page: “A few days ago when the FA was a pro wrestling show, there were many complaints, but no one has complained about this? Interesting.”

  4. Article: April Fools’ Day
    Why: This is the article where the greatest hits are collected, under the phrase “Well-Known Pranks.”
    Detail:A disproportionate number of recent additions concern themselves with video game companies.

  5. Article: Canada on Strike
    Why: Not only is this the latest South Park episode, it even made extensive reference to viral videos and Internet celebrities, from Star Wars Kid to Tay Zonday.
    Detail: Unsurprisingly, commentary on Internet phenomena can inspire and inform new ones. From the article: “In the days following the airing of the episode in the U.S., many of the featured videos as linked above hosted on Youtube have received thousands of comments parodying the episode in return, notably the ‘I’m not your…’ sequence, forming a meme of its own.”

    6. Charlton Heston at the Lincoln Monument, courtesy Discover Black Heritage on Flickr.
  6. Article: Deaths in 2008
    Why: As of week three, still the only page to appear on all three lists.
    Detail: Kind of a down week for the Grim Reaper. Until Charlton Heston passed away last night, just barely making this roundup, we lost… an American-born mad bomber in Bolivia, the last Turkish veteran of WWI, minor hip hop figure Frosty Freeze, a British race horse, and someone who was, until Saturday, Japan’s oldest living woman.

  7. Article: Earth Hour
    Why: A one-hour holiday in which businesses, governments, monuments and websites worldwide turned off the lights to save a bit of energy to demonstrate their nominal concern with the depletion of Earth’s precious resources. A whole hour!
    Detail: Obviously I’m cynical, but I’m far from the only one. Someone in Australia is primarily responsible for the “Criticisms” section, which is no less than a fourth of the entry. All from an Australian perspective. Not mentioned, but I’m thinking of adding: Google drew some flak for turning its home screen black for the hour, even though on many common monitors it actually requires more energy.

  8. Article: NATO
    Why: The Cold War institution was in the news this week, as Croatia and Albania have been invited to start talking about future membership. Putin can’t be happy about that.
    Detail: Many of the edits concern recent developments, but it seems this has also brought attention to other aspects of the article which needed work.

    9. Earth Hour balloon over Sydney, Australia, courtesy Earth Hour on Flickr.
  9. Article: Google’s hoaxes
    Why: Nobody does April Fool’s Day like Google does April Fool’s Day.
    Detail: Google has been known for pulling one big prank in an announcement for every April 1st going back to 2000, but this year they outdid themselves, pranking visitors on many of their sites and services across the world. It seems like just about every division got a chance to dupe its public users. This year was the first for YouTube, which Rickrolled anyone who clicked on the featured videos.

  10. Article: Bette Davis
    Why: Friday was the actress’ 100th birthday, and Wikipedia made her article the Featured Article for the day. Thereby inviting vandals.
    Detail: On the talk page, one person complained: “Why are there tanks at the top of the page?” Some time later, another complained: “Where did the tanks go?”

    11. Holdovers this week: Deaths in 2008

    Falling off the list: Major Boobage, Fitna (film), 2008 Tibetan unrest, American Idol (season 7), Sea otter, iCarly, 2008 unrest in Tibet, Stephen Curry (basketball), American Idol

    Recurring themes: The most recent episode of South Park, a vandalized front page article

    Honorable mention: Rickroll came in at #15.

Images courtesy Rakka, Discover Black Heritage and Earth Hour on Flickr.

The Drudge Report Jinx?

Published by William Beutler on March 9, 2007 in Entertainment, Environment, MSM, Publishing, Seriously and Sports. 0 Comments

For the better part of a week now, Matt Drudge has been promoting Sports Illustrated’s not-very-rigorous contemplation of global warming/climate change:

Sports Illustrated Global Warming Cover

If nothing else, this should count as an example of the fact that while Drudge himself is a conservatarian of some stripe, his instinct to overhype is not limited by ideology. But when you start talking gloom and doom and Sports Illustrated, there’s really only one way to turn:

Sports Illustrated Jinx Cover

And there’s more to it than that. In fact, the global warming story and the definitive meditation on the “SI Jinx” were both written by frequent SI contributor Alexander Wolff. Just one question remains: What does this mean? Does the SI Jinx apply to global warming, thus signifying happy days ahead? Or to planet Earth, signifying a cloudier future than Ron Artest’s?

One thing we know for sure is that when the subject is sports*, never trust Matt Drudge — a lesson SI itself could learn.

*Not unlike other subjects.