I am a great lover of Wikipedia. Don’t get me wrong–I recognize it has a lot of shortcomings. I just hoped everyone was honest like me. We could all utilize Wikipedia and never doubt its vast knowledge of the world. Afterall, it is freely sharing with us information about everything with a simple click of a mouse. So why do people have to be so mean to it?

Today I edited a Wikipedia article. I’ve done this twice in my life (now three) and both times were additions that were both accurate and helpful.

A. When Natalie Portman won her Oscar in 2011 I changed the article (for her!).

B. There was a grammar mistake (wrong use of “an”) on The Airborne Toxic Event’s page.

I’m a huge fan of Stephen Colbert (like, I would convert to Catholicism and marry him if he asked), but when he encouraged us all to change the Wikipedia article on elephants, I DIDN’T DO IT!

Today, I did it. I changed the page on Manassas’s National Battlefield Park.

Here is the original.

Note: Please enjoy noticing what other tabs I had open at the time. A glimpse into my personal life.

Here is the new page, with my additions.

Just one line! It’s all I could manage! And I still feel dirty. I just hope someone changes it back soon. I’m a horrible person. I should create a Tumblr as punishment.

     Exploring Flickr this evening, I came across this statue of Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate hero. This statue stands in Manassas Battlefield Park and it piques my curiosity, because I heard a myth about it not too long ago.

     Observe the statue momentarily. The man features a broad chest and bulging biceps; the horse ripples with muscles and strength. Except, compare it with the real Stonewall Jackson.

     OK, first off, I am aware this is not a real picture. But this is a portrait of Stonewall Jackson, who is clearly not built like the Hulk. So here is the myth.

     The statue in Manassas Battlefield is not actually Stonewall Jackson. It’s some golem with Stonewall’s face on it.

     The contributors to the park wanted to build a statue of Stonewall Jackson, but couldn’t afford to have one built. Conveniently, Mussolini statues go for pretty cheap since the results of WWII (and his subsequent torture). So they bought a Mussolini on a horse, cut his head off, and slapped on a bust of Stonewall Jackson (early attempts at Photoshop!).

     So is it true? Who knows! It’s just something I could investigate when I visit the park this summer.

As told by monotone narration and black and white animation.

This is what I came across today, and to save you eight minutes I offer you this.

A History of the Internet: The Abridged

1. Sputnik has just launched and we hate the USSR. It’s 1957.
2. Carrier pigeons are put out to pasture and information stored in one database.
3. ARPANET (the internet’s grandfather)
4. Mainframes were invented so hackers would have something to say in heist movies.
5. Computers are basically electronic carrier pigeons.
6. The script for Thirteen Days is inspired driving the need for improved file sharing.
7. France saves the day (funny, I know).
8. Phone companies get rich (remember dial-up?)
9. Nirvana’s first album Bleach is a commercial failure and that year the internet becomes a stable technology in the world
10. Cat videos

#10 is not in the video, but I assume it will be in the sequel. It’s already in A History of the World.

Historians Love Black and White Script I Suppose

So maybe I’m infected with the apathy of my generation, but here are things I don’t particularly understand or care about: ARPANET, mainframes, and dial-up internet.

My only question is, what was the Soviet Union up to while the United States worked so hard to develop the internet? Why did America have so much success developing this technology before the USSR? I wish there were a boring Youtube video on that.

I really think electronic carrier pigeons would be neat.

In Tuesday’s class we discussed how the vast collection of knowledge available because of the internet is damaging the structure of higher education. Many critics claim all that information deters a person’s ability to actually learn. I wish we could have had more time to discuss  where education is going; we touched on how George Mason wants to suck tuition money out of people and should probably change this model, but I was curious to how the model would reform. Would Mason pick an area of specialization (like engineering or athletics) or remain broad? And if it does remain broad, what will encourage people to keep attending universities like Mason if they can just get the credits and information elsewhere for less money?

For my final project, I will probably do Manassas Battle Field because I actually do an internship there and really enjoy the park. I would love a chance to explore it more.

I would obviously consider the Civil War as my historical topic, but the Battlefield is also a crucial watershed, hosting important wetlands within the Chesapeake. In the 80s the area was paved over and I’d love to discuss how it was restored for the environment.

My final option would be to discuss the preservation of the area. There are several protests to widen 29/Lee Highway and there are severe traffic congestion issues at the Sudley intersection. However, due to the historical importance of the land, there is major friction between important people on whether or not the roads can be widened or improved at the risk of losing some of the battlefield.