Comments on: extrapolation and beyond

extrapolation and beyond

moonbird — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 05:55:30 -0800

The Wiki History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less [via]

By: Plutor

Plutor — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:08:27 -0800

Whoda thunk that the History of the Universe was so Americentric and logarithmically scaled?

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:32:23 -0800

He seems to spend an inordinate amount of time on the first several seconds, and he completely left out the Bracknarvian Galactic Revolutionary War, wherein several entire planetary systems were used as ballistic weapons against the Thu'ood Death Cloud.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:43:53 -0800

UhOh, keep that away from Billy Joel.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:45:43 -0800

Since when is the history of Earth a large enough topic to be part of a concise "history of the universe"? Damn, if I'd have done it, I'd have included a short autobigraphy of my life, since that's pretty important, too.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:10:32 -0800

They forgot: 201. Profit!

By: Nelson

Nelson — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:28:25 -0800

This is funny. The 1996 copyright date is particularly sly.

By: matildaben

matildaben — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:59:21 -0800

<obligatory grammar callout>200 words or fewer</obligatory grammar callout>

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:09:43 -0800

Meh.... it's a little earth-centric don't ya think.

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:31:35 -0800

That's a lot of word's for "God said, 'Let there be light.'"

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:51:33 -0800

obligatory grammar callout That's not grammar, that's fake pedantry. In the words of the (highly recommended) Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage, "The OED shows that less has been used of countables since the time of King Alfred the Great... more than a thousand years ago.... After about 900 years Robert Baker opined that fewer might be more elegant and proper. Almost every usage writer since Baker has followed Baker's lead, and generations of English teachers have swelled the chorus. The result seems to be a fairly large number of people who now believe less used of countables to be wrong, though its standardness is easily demonstrated."

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:03:31 -0800

I love when languagehat comes into these threads and busts up the pedants. They also forgot my conception in that list ("Falconetti's incubation").

By: matildaben

matildaben — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:59:54 -0800

Thanks, languagehat - I learned something! (That was actually my first [second?] ever grammar callout. I usually bite my tongue.)

By: ErWenn

ErWenn — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:47:42 -0800

Does anyone else think that this should be put to music and sung? I'd listen to it.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 05:53:20 -0800

I thought it was quite moving actually, more so than entertaining even (I got chills down the spine where it exclaimed "Civilization!"). I was slightly disappointed however that the piece wasn't, you know, actually in itself a wiki. Maybe we should make a Wiki article out of this as an exercise. And the taxation without representation bit, while humorous, was just plain detrimental. It took away from the entire narrative structure and linear story flow. Oh, and they left out Web 2.0.