Tuesday, December 15, 2009

wikipedia.org

I recently sent a donation to wikipedia to keep it happening since it is a non-profit service to mankind that many in almost every language on earth add to this incredible online encyclopedia every day. People say you can't always count on wikipedia for being accurate but this isn't my experience. My experience, for example, just a few moments ago my wife wanted to know when Pan American Airlines stopped being called that and I then wanted to know when TWA was absorbed by American Airlines. I could easily find that information. Also, almost daily I want to know the filmography of an actress or actor of any era from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and I can always find out through wikipedia when they were born, what movies or tv shows they have been in and who they are presently with or married to. So, many arguments about who did what when are thereby avoided by simply asking wikipedia. Also,I'm always using wikipedia and Google maps to research facts whenever I'm writing something that I would like to be more accurate. This doesn't mean I always check facts or even always remember to check my spelling.(even though this problem comes from having won so many spelling bees at age 9 and 10. However, now at 61 sometimes spellings of words sometimes slip away from me. So, if I question my spelling I use google by typing in the word or just use the spelling checker(if it actually works properly all the time which most don't). I think the best spelling checker is only about 95% accurate in spellings and context. So, sometimes I get pretty frustrated with spelling checkers if I'm writing over 1000 words on something.

Anyway, the point of this article is to encourage you to financially support wikipedia.org so we all have this marvelously ever evolving information tool ongoing whenever we most need it. I have already sent them a donation. Remember, even if you are a college student you could donate even $1 and it would make a difference in keeping wikipedia alive ongoing for your research papers or other types of fact checking research.

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