Friday, August 05, 2005

Wikipedia

At the time of his death, Douglas Adams was excited about a project that he put together with the BBC had put together. With the advent of the internet, it struck him that the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy could actually be implemented. I don't think it ever got off the ground though. Too bad, I thought, it was such a great idea.

BUT.

Quoth Douglas Adams:

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopædia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on the cover.

Wikipedia is quite a bit cheaper (free) than the Encyclopædia Britannica (not free). One out of two ain't bad.

Current Music: Rush - Subdivisions

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

so now all we have to do is hi-jack Wikipedia, rename it, and put a splash screen with the words DON'T PANIC in large friendly letters...

Anonymous said...

Check this out.

MR said...

nice song choice. I'm still waiting for the day when i can form a rush cover band and play at a 3rd rate bar in etibicoke or somewhere else where this song is appropriate.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see Encyclopedia Brittanica cover something like this.

--VG