I have an idea, probably the deepest and greatest idea ever.
An autobiographical wikipedia project.
Basically everyone writes a autobiography and makes a wiki article of it in biographical format.
Basically ones entire life good or bad, can be voluntarily uploaded onto the net, preserved forever.
And within each article if one mentions name of say a friend or family member they also have an autobiographical article, linked to other people who also have said articles.
Basically if done well and with enough people it is possible for everyone everywhere to be linked in some way have their life stories linked in some small or large reference to everyone else's life story.
And preserved on the net' for as long as they will be an internet.
I think this is can awesome idea, no more of this grand standing and craving to be remembered in history, everyone will be history and preserved within the internet this way to be looked up at will by anyone as such no matter who you are or what you do you'll still be remembered if someone finds your entry thousands of years from now.
:beam of youthful enthusiasm:
Man I need to use the bathroom more often I keep getting all these awesome idea's.
[ July 09, 2007, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: Blayne Bradley ]
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
I do not know if this is the deepest and greatest idea EVER... but...
I have thought similar thoughts, and agree that it would be pretty darn awesome. But there is the fear of ID theft and stalking and such.
I would love to know the life story of people all over though, I mean, how awesome would it be to understand the perspectives of everyone? Well, there is enlightenment, but I doubt I will be there for a while. A few lifetimes, at the very least.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
:psst: I think it is spelled epiphany too...
Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :
Is that really all that different from social networking sites?
Furthermore, there are way too many possibilities for exploitation, whether from corporate interests, or individual predators, or users who enjoy lying about themselves, and what stops people from making up wikis about others for malicious purposes?
I suppose I just don't see the value in it, or at least no value that isn't easily surpassed by the shortcomings. Try to keep the Eureka moments in the bath tub.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Maybe if it was anonymous and government regulated by Social Sec. # so you could only have one... When you died your name would go on it.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:I have had an epithiny
I don't think you did.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
What is an epithiny anyways?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I frequently get epiphanies on the john. Epithinies, though? Never. Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Epithinies sounds like a tragic Greek figure.
In other news: I think the thing Blayne is describing is called "literature." A great idea whose time has definitely come.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
"What is an epithiny anyways?"
The weight loss while sitting on the commode. Before the Internet, folk useta flush afterwards instead.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
I thought it had to do with being pithed...
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Warning: Blayne has been corrected. Expect this topic to be deleted.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
When I have actual TIME to do things, I have this vague dream of interviewing elderly people to get their life stories before they are lost. I think that would fit into a project like this.
I transcribe audiotapes "on the side" to support my evil writing habit, and one of them was a very old man's memories of his life. It was so awesome. The things he remembered were very idiosyncratic: the green velvet suit he was forced to wear in a school play where he was the ONLY boy in the performance. Stuff like that. His voice was almost hypnotic, or maybe it was just me being easily hypnotized . But the thing was -- these were the things that mattered enough to him to be remembered 70 years later. It was so cool to me.
I dunno, I can see the power in such an idea. I like it.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
I agree with Sharpie. There would be so much more neat stuff in the world if people recorded their life's experiences like that.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
:Warning Lisa is being snarky in someone else's thread: oh wait, whats the surprise.
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Blayne, this is unsolicited advice and not me trying to pick on you, okay? The best way to keep people from pushing your buttons is to not display them so openly. As a card-carrying button-pusher myself, I just cannot pass up a big, shiney button and I'll push it if I can see it. It's all I can do to keep from teasing you with just about every post you make.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by RunningBear: :psst: I think it is spelled epiphany too...
Your suggestion that Blayne correct his spelling MUST be included in your entry of this autobiographical wiki. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
When I was about sixteen years old, I took a job doing some transcription for the local public library as part of a project in which interviewers went out to talk to the elderly about their memories of the region. It was absolutely FASCINATING; so many of the interviewees kept such a strong sense of place and time that I found the work positively transporting.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: :Warning Lisa is being snarky in someone else's thread: oh wait, whats the surprise.
"Someone else's thread"? Do you think that you have some sort of claim on a thread (other than the obvious ability to destroy it) that makes it your thread?
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
I've actually thought about writing down my thoughts about things in a cross-linked wiki style. I don't think I'd put it on the internet, though. It would be more like a private journal in wiki form.
It's a nice idea, because you can go off on tangents without having it affect the main body of what you're writing.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lisa:
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: :Warning Lisa is being snarky in someone else's thread: oh wait, whats the surprise.
"Someone else's thread"? Do you think that you have some sort of claim on a thread (other than the obvious ability to destroy it) that makes it your thread?
"The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it."
(There are about 20 different versions on the net and I don't have the book with me.)
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
My epiphanies tend to occur in the shower. However, I suspect that even if they occurred in other bathroom-related sites I'd probably continue to say they happen in the shower.
And on another note -- I get to interview people and write up their life stories for a living. It's fun!
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
For Dagonee:
quote:"The people who can destroy a thing, they control it," Paul said.
quote:"He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it," Paul said. "We can destroy the spice."
quote:"Do it!" Paul barked. "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it. You've agreed I have that power. We are not here to discuss or to negotiate or to compromise. You will obey my orders or suffer the immediate consequences!"
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Uprooted, mine tend to occur in the shower, too. I guess it's a combination of being relaxed and not having anything in particular for my brain to do.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Thanks, MPH!
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
*raises hand* Count me among those who have shower epiphanies. I just think better in the shower. I figured out major points in most of my college papers in the shower.
I don't know why that is. I thought my mom was crazy when she suggested a shower might help me get past a sticking place in my thoughts about a paper I was writing, but it really worked. Now I work out plot problems in the shower or bath. Funny.
Posted by otterk10 (Member # 10463) on :
Was this toilet located on top of a hospital by any chance?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Scrubs Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: For Dagonee:
quote:"The people who can destroy a thing, they control it," Paul said.
quote:"He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it," Paul said. "We can destroy the spice."
quote:"Do it!" Paul barked. "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it. You've agreed I have that power. We are not here to discuss or to negotiate or to compromise. You will obey my orders or suffer the immediate consequences!"
Lovely role model, there. Paul Atreides was a bloody little fascist. Not so little, actually.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Sometime in the past five years, my mother took a tape recorder and visited her aunts and uncles. She asked them questions about the war, growing up, the town development, family stories, everything. She has pages and pages of transcribed notes for each of them. It is the coolest thing ever to read, and I'm so glad she did it when she did, because a couple of them have died since. But their stories will continue.
I'm such a fan of storytelling. In the end, that's all so many of us have, and passing them along means we never really die. Or more importantly, to me, the people who told them never really die, not as long as the stories keep being told.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
Everybody, as Lisa is demonstrating, has the power to destroy any thread.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
Oh, and I'm a toilet epiphanist myself.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Blayne, I think it's a terrific idea. It would be difficult to get right, because it's a problematic idea.
But under the right model, it's a terrific idea. I don't know what the right model is, or if there is one.
But the idea itself... It's great.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Lovely ad hominem there.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Further thoughts on how it could work:
When someone submits a bio, they must agree to a "terms of use" stating that the information they submit will be correct and as neutral as it can be, and also that they will not use their bio to attack or slander other people.
Anyone can dispute the accuracy of information about themselves or their family if they find mean or inaccurate things listed in other people's bios.
Mods will settle disputes based on presentation rather than fact (since they have no way of knowing the facts.) Is it possibly damaging? If so, it goes. Is it worded or presented in a clearly biased way? It must go.
This would make tons of work for the mods.
Hmmmm. Craigslist. Wiki. Hmmmmm. *thinking
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick: Everybody, as Lisa is demonstrating, has the power to destroy any thread.
Or that she does.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
I seriously would volunteer to be part of such a project.
Eaquae Legit, that sounds great. I think I will do something similar with people in my family. This isn't a project that has to wait for THAT much time. I could do a little bit whenever I had opportunity.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Tonight I spent some time talking to my grandma about how she met my grandpa and their wedding and such. I feel truly blessed. I am so glad beyond words that she's spending this time with us, and that I can sit and learn these stories I've never known before. Stories are the best heirlooms. Indeed, they are the ONLY heirlooms, since without the stories, the object are just so much junk.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Blayne, Robert Silverburg incorporates a version of this idea into the Lord Valentine's Castle books, but with more of an interactive feel (not just reading or listening). So, for example, most of the second book (The Marjipoor Chronicles) is the account of the re-experiencing of recorded memories by one of the main characters -- this lays out the history of the world with its culture, politics, and myths through time.
Citizens all had the opportunity to record their most important memories and experiences at various times in their lives. Well into the history of the world, a young man being groomed as a leader comes to know and understand the people he will serve by looking through their eyes at critical times in history.
I didn't think I'd enjoy the read as much as I did. You might like it, too.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
*adds to "to read" list*
You know, I never understood how people could be on the toilet long enough to have an epiphany. Then, I got old.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
Is "John" capitilized when referring to the toilet?
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Not unless it's the last toilet in the world, and its name is 'John'.
Or if it's a sentient toilet.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I don't have epiphanies on the toilet, but if I ever have a book in hand when I sit down, it could be hours before I realize the passage of time and actually flush.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I immediately thought of this thread when I read this article this morning.
I have shower epiphanies too, but I think that they're actually "upon waking" epiphanies that just happen to occur in the shower because of my usually being in one immediatly after waking up. I'm generally about halfway through my shower before my brain is functioning normally enough to realize whatever it is that it processed during the night.
CT, I haven't read Silverburg's Marjipoor books in...good lord, it's been 20 years, I think. I'll have to dust them off and reread them after I finish with the upcoming Harry Potter book.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Not unless it's the last toilet in the world, and its name is 'John'.
I'm pretty sure the modern toilet was invented by John Crapper. Therefore, the capitalization works.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick:
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Not unless it's the last toilet in the world, and its name is 'John'.
I'm pretty sure the modern toilet was invented by John Crapper. Therefore, the capitalization works.
Nyet.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
quote:Originally posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick:
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Not unless it's the last toilet in the world, and its name is 'John'.
I'm pretty sure the modern toilet was invented by John Crapper. Therefore, the capitalization works.
Even if that were true (and it's not; as per above), it wouldn't make the capitalization correct. You don't capitalize names unless they're proper nouns. In this case, another name for 'toilet' is 'john', which is not a proper noun (by definition). It's a common noun, which are not capitalized.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang:
quote:Originally posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick:
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Not unless it's the last toilet in the world, and its name is 'John'.
I'm pretty sure the modern toilet was invented by John Crapper. Therefore, the capitalization works.
Even if that were true (and it's not; as per above), it wouldn't make the capitalization correct. You don't capitalize names unless they're proper nouns. In this case, another name for 'toilet' is 'john', which is not a proper noun (by definition). It's a common noun, which are not capitalized.
WHICH is why john is a valid Scrabble word.
Everything always comes back to Scrabble, people.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sharpie:
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang:
In this case, another name for 'toilet' is 'john', which is not a proper noun (by definition). It's a common noun, which are not capitalized.
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Epithinies, though? Never. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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