I once coined a rule that you couldn't read more than three complete articles on Wikipedia without running into a reference to some obscure joke from The Simpsons, Monty Python, or most commonly, Family Guy. Seriously: I just now clicked two links and landed at Anarcho-syndicalism of all things, and sure enough, there's Holy Grail in the "trivia" section. Should it be plural like that, since no one is ever going to enter another item of trivia?

Anyway, in the name of Inclusionism, I can live with fans tagging articles with a complete catalogue of all jokes from their favorite comedy series. That information is at least useful to somebody somewhere. What's driving me bonkers lately is not being able to get through three articles without seeing announcements at the top. Not the donations announcement, but the "due to recent vandalism this article is locked" announcement, or the "this article is about a current event" announcement, or the ever-popular "the neutrality of this article is disputed" announcement. Well, of course it's disputed! Every single article in the entire Wikipedia is disputed by somebody somewhere! Duh. That's like ten years ago when you couldn't visit somebody's homepage without an "under construction" animated gif, as if anybody visiting any web site would ever assume it was completely done and wouldn't change again. Think, people, and stop wasting my time with pointless announcements just because it's so convenient to slap one up there and feel like you've contributed something.


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Ah, Newsweek. You deliver a comprehensive cover story about the current state of evolutionary theory, barely slipping in a quick nod to the cultural debate, in an article that sticks wisely to the science. What do you follow up with as the B story in this week's science section? Go »

Amazon Appreciation

I just wanted to take a minute to thank Amazon.com. They've been my primary retailer for over a decade now, not to mention the seller of most prizes in the goo game and Oscars contests on this site. Once they started offering their Prime service ($80/yr gets you free 2-day shipping and discounted overnight shipping), they leveled the playing field against local retailers: No longer did I feel the need to save up a list of several items and buy them all at once to save on shipping. Go »

21 Days

Any advice for what to do with my last three weeks of living single? Kelly will now move here on February 4, due to various factors. This, it goes without saying, rules. Go »

Great Weekend

Some people love going fishing all weekend; others prefer a romantic getaway. The perfect weekend for me these days means getting enough sleep and writing a FIN post from start to finish, since getting even one of those is a rarity. But this weekend, I put everything else aside and did both. Go »

Home is Where the ––– is

Just how convenient can future additions to Google get? (link) Thanks, Marlon. Go »

Mile-High Hypocrisy

The homeowners' association in a Denver suburb is furious that one of its residents has dared to put up a Christmas wreath in the shape of the peace symbol. (link) Yeah. Keep reading till the end. Go »