48: Wikipedia w/ Annie Rauwerda, The First Boring Number, and Perpetual Stew

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Sep 28, 2023

Guest

Annie Rauwerda

Guest

Perpetual Stew

Guest

The First Boring Number

Annie Rauwerda discusses the history of Wikipedia and the concept of boring numbers. They explore the evolution of encyclopedias, the limitations of the Wikipedia interface, and the enduring impact of Wikipedia. They also delve into the controversy of editing a Wikipedia page and share their experience of creating a perpetual stew.

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Episode notes

Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Origins of Depths of Wikipedia

01:50 • 12min

The History of Encyclopedias and the Relationship with Wikipedia

14:16 • 22min

Exploring the Limitations of the Wikipedia Interface

36:26 • 11min

The Enduring Impact and Importance of Wikipedia

47:39 • 2min

Exploring the Concept of the Most Boring Number

49:38 • 2min

Boring Numbers and the Philosophy of Number Notability

52:02 • 19min

Editing a Controversial Wikipedia Page

01:11:05 • 13min

The Joy of Making a Perpetual Stew

01:24:33 • 6min

Where to Find the Speaker and Podcast Recommendations

01:30:23 • 2min

Exploring Encyclopedias, Wikipedia, Boring Numbers, and More

01:32:23 • 2min

We all use Wikipedia, but how did it come to be? What's the first number to not have a Wikipedia page, and what does that say about math and humans? And what on Earth is Perpetual Stew?

Follow Annie and Depths of Wikipedia on Instagam/Twitter/Tiktok!

Images we talk about:
Sloane's Gap
nostalgia.wikipedia.com

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Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:07:33) The History of Wikipedia
(00:50:16) The First Boring Number
(01:12:09) Wikimania and Perpetual Stew
(01:50:38) Outro

We also learn about: there’s more Wikipedia languages than google translate, Grendel would have loved Blackpink, how often do we think about the roman empire, the first encyclopedia was very wrong, all men think about is present Rome! Pliny’s child piss ab wrinkle cure, fortune did not favor the bold according to Pliny the younger, the encyclopedia Britannica, getting lazy on the later letter installments, door to door encyclopedia salesmen, Annie’s Mom’s excitement for the new encyclopedia, Encarta the forgotten digital encyclopedia, welcome to the 90s baby, webrings, soft core porn is the carcinization of the web, Jimmy Wale’s “Guy Oriented Search Engine” Bomis.com, the failed boring Nupedia, the wiki prefix from a Hawaiian bus, Cunningham’s Law, Wikipedia’s Bro culture, nostalgia.wikipedia.com, no search or sources on old wikipedia, it’s not easy but people were making this encyclopedia, this human element has always been a part of encyclopedias, Jimmy Wales got his admin privilages revoked by the community, the interesting number paradox, Ramanujan’s Taxi Cab Numbers, the OEIS sequence database, Sloane’s Gap, 20,067 sitting alone at lunch, a surprising recent number update, the notability standard of numbers, the highest negative number to not have a page is only negative 3!!! come to the dark side of the zero, the Wikimania, Annie is Taylor Swift at Wikimania, Ella’s years long Wikipedia War, Annie’s neuroscience journey, Annie’s Perpetual Stew, a stew love.

Sources:

Andrew Lih's Book "The Wikipedia Revolution"
Pliny the Elder's Encyclopedia with Sun Shade Feet People
History of the Encyclopedia Britannica
The Encarta Encyclopedia
The "Decline" of Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales Guy Raz Interview
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Scientific American The Most Boring Number
Ramanujan's Taxi Cab Numbers
The OEIS
Sloane's Gap Paper
The Notability Requirements for Number Pages
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Wikimania
NYTimes on Perpetual Stew