[sunnykerr]

Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress Wikipedia administrators have imposed a ban on page edits from computers at the US House of Representatives, following "persistent disruptive editing". The 10-day block comes after anonymous changes were made to entries on politicians and businesses, as well as events like the Kennedy assassination. The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was edited to say that he was an "alien lizard". One staffer said they were being banned for the "actions of two or three". Edits from computers using the IP address belonging to the House of Representatives have been banned before, following similar acts of vandalism. The latest block comes after rogue edits were brought to light by a Twitter feed, @congressedits, which posts every change made from the government-owned address. 'Russian puppet' One of the acts highlighted was an alteration to the page on the assassination of John F Kennedy, which was changed to say that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting "on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro". An entry on the moon landing conspiracy theories was changed to say they were "promoted by the Cuban government". Another entry, on the Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko, was edited to claim that she was a "Russian puppet". The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was revised, describing him as an "alien lizard who eats Mexican babies". However the edit that finally brought administrators to ban anonymous edits from the House IP address was made on the entry for media news site Mediaite, describing the blog as "sexist transphobic" and saying that it "automatically assumes that someone is male without any evidence". Mediaite had previously run a story on the rogue edits from congressional computers. Counter productive? Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, told the BBC that the incident did not surprise him, and vandalism has "always gone on and it always will". But he said that the @congressedits Twitter feed may have been counter-productive. "There is a belief from some of the [Wikipedia] community that it only provoked someone - some prankster there in the office - to have an audience now for the pranks, and actually encouraged them rather than discouraged them." He added: "Maybe someone at the House of Representatives better think about their IT staff - they might be hunting them down this very moment."

But they're being so creative.

Donald Rumsfeld as an alien lizard who eats Mexican babies. Come on!! That's hilarious.

I suppose he would say that you don't eat the food you want, you eat the food you have.

I would certainly hope, at any rate, that people know to double check the information they get from Wikipedia.

Or at least check the sources.

[*Adora*]

One of the acts highlighted was an alteration to the page on the assassination of John F Kennedy, which was changed to say that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting "on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro". An entry on the moon landing conspiracy theories was changed to say they were "promoted by the Cuban government". Another entry, on the Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko, was edited to claim that she was a "Russian puppet".

oh zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post) I would certainly hope, at any rate, that people know to double check the information they get from Wikipedia. Or at least check the sources.

yet many don't do that, it shocks me - everytime I surf through boards or social networks - how gullible people are.

[sunnykerr]

I've been known to use Wikipedia as a short-cut for information myself.

I think, when it comes to posting on here, for instance, that we're not really expecting an academic level of rigor in our sources.

Plus, I do use my common sense in the way I use Wikipedia on here.

I just thought the examples given in that article were hilarious.

Kinda made me wish that's the way Wikipedia actually was.

Mind you, if anything, this story also shows that the site does have a certain basic level of oversight.

[*Adora*]

Scientists solve the mystery of the shipwreck found under the World Trade Center: Analysis of tree rings finds ship was built in 1773 in Philadelphia Four years ago this month, archeologists monitoring the excavation of the former World Trade Center site uncovered a surprise - part of an ancient sailing ship. At 22 feet (6.7 meters) below today's street level, in a pit that is now an underground security and parking complex, work was forced to stop as excavators uncovered the ancient ship. Researchers were baffled by the vessel, but a new study has finally revealed how old the ship was - and how it came to be under the site. The team were able to analyse tree rings on the wooden 'skeleton to show the boat came from wood cut in Philadeplhia in 1773. Tree-ring scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory were among those asked to analyze its remains for clues about its age and origins Researchers at the lab dried the fragments slowly in a cold room and cut thick slices of the wood to get a clear look at the tree rings. In a study now out in the journal Tree Ring Research, the scientists say that an old growth forest in the Philadelphia area supplied the white oak used in the ship’s frame, and that the trees were probably cut in 1773 or so—a few years before the bloody war that established America’s independence from Britain. The ship was perhaps made from the same kind of white oak trees used to build parts of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed. The key to the analysis was wood sampled from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall two decades earlier by Lamont tree-ring scientist Ed Cook, according to the researchers. Growth rings still visible in the building’s timbers matched those from the World Trade Center ship, suggesting that the wood used in both structures came from the same region. As trees grow, they record the climate in which they lived, putting on tighter rings in dry years and wider rings in wet years. In the process, a record of the region’s climate is created, allowing scientists to see how Philadelphia’s climate differed hundreds of years ago from say, New York’s Hudson Valley. The climate fingerprint also serves as a kind of birth certificate, telling scientists where pieces of wood originated. The ship itself has been tentatively identified as a Hudson River Sloop, designed by the Dutch to carry passengers and cargo over shallow, rocky water. It was likely built in Philadelphia, a center for ship-building in Colonial times. After 20 to 30 years of service, it is thought to have sailed to its final resting place in lower Manhattan, a block west of Greenwich Street. As trade in New York harbor and the young country flourished, Manhattan’s western shoreline inched westward until the ship was eventually buried by trash and other landfill. By 1818, the ship would have vanished from view completely until the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 set in motion the events leading to the World Trade Center’s excavation and rebirth.

that's amazing. There are photographs of the findings in the link.

[sunnykerr]

That's pretty amazing.

I hadn't heard abotu this discovery and, did you see that thing?

It was huge!

It's so fascinating to imagine how it might have not only found its way there, but also how it has remained there all these years.

[sunnykerr]

An update (of sorts) on Google's mystery barges:

Google sells mystery barge in Maine PORTLAND, Maine -- Google Inc. is confirming that the barge it docked in Maine has been sold. The barge carries dozens of old shipping containers that were joined to create a four-story building. Google envisioned it as one of three floating retail stores. The Portland Press Herald says an international company is buying the barge and taking it on an ocean voyage. Portland Harbor's deputy harbour master says the containers will be disassembled and scrapped. The barge first docked in Portland Harbor in October and moved to South Portland Wednesday. A Portland city spokeswoman says the city received $400,000 in state reimbursements while it docked there. Google initially had little to say about the barges, leading to speculation about its intentions. It later revealed they were to be stores. One is moored in Stockton, California.

[sunnykerr]

Europe's Rosetta probe goes into orbit around comet 67P Europe's Rosetta probe has arrived at a comet after a 10-year chase. In a first for space history, the spacecraft was manoeuvred alongside a speeding body to begin mapping its surface in detail. The spacecraft fired its thrusters for six and a half minutes to finally catch up with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. "We're at the comet!" said Sylvain Lodiot of the European Space Agency (Esa) operations centre in Germany. "After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion km, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of Esa. Deep slumber Launched on board an Ariane rocket in March 2004, Rosetta has taken a long route around our Solar System to catch up with comet 67P. In a series of fly-pasts, the probe used the gravity of the Earth and Mars to increase its speed during the 6 billion km chase. line To save energy, controllers at Esa's centre in Darmstadt, Germany, put Rosetta into hibernation for 31 months. In January they successfully woke the craft from its slumber as it began the final leg of the daring encounter. For the past two months, Rosetta has been carrying out a series of manoeuvres to slow the probe down. The comet is travelling at 55,000km per hour (34,175 mph). The spacecraft's speed has been adjusted so that in relative terms it will be flying beside the comet at a slow walking pace of 1m/sec (2.2mph, 3.6kph). At a distance of 550 million km from the Earth, messages are taking over 22 minutes to get to Rosetta. The distances involved are so great that the complex final command sequence for Wednesday's crucial thruster burn had to be issued on Monday night. "This arrival phase in fact is the most complex and exotic trajectory that we have ever seen," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the French Space Agency CNES. Rosetta will have to continue to fire its thrusters every few days to maintain a hyberbolic orbit at 100km above the rotating rock. The craft will then travel alongside the comet for the next 15 months, studying it with a range of instruments. Rosetta has been taking increasingly detailed photographs of 67P as it gets closer. The mysterious comet has been dubbed the "rubber duck", as some images seem to show the familiar shape as it twirls in space. Project scientist, Dr Matt Taylor, said: "For me this is the sexiest, most fantastic mission there's ever been. It's ticking a number of boxes in terms of fascination, exploration, technology and science - predominantly science."

There's more to the story, but nothing that really tells me why this is so important.

I mean, there's a whole lot about learning the behaviour of comets, and lord knows I'm a fan of knowledge for its own sake.

But, seriously, this is all really fascinating, but I have no idea what they're trying to accomplish.

[Ann357]

Cool! It would be nice to understand the reason for doing it all.

[sunnykerr]

I think that would help enormously, yes.