The Glowing Edge

Tag: Internet

  • I Just Made Boxing History

    I Just Made Boxing History

    Ever since the Christy Martin v Dakota Stone fight last month I’ve been bugged by the fact that Martin’s Wikipedia entry had not been updated to include her last two wins. I waited patiently for a month for someone to fix this egregious error — I mean, c’mon people, do you think Manny Pacquiao’s entry gets this out of date? We’re talking about a three time world title holder, here.

    But no one addressed it. Surely SOMEone follows women’s boxing a little bit. Any one? Hello? I didn’t think I could possibly be the only one interested or noticing stuff like this, but tonight I took decisive action.

    I made my first ever Wikipedia edit.

    I was ridiculously excited and nervous, and I didn’t have the slightest idea how to go about it, but I popped over to the page and took a look at how it was set up, and sure enough, there’s the “edit” tab at the top exactly where you’d expect to find it. I didn’t have to sign in or create an account or even type in a captcha code. I just hit edit and changed a “47” (what the old article had as Martin’s wins) to a “49” (her actual wins to date). Shoot, I didn’t even have to change the “4” so my edit was really only a single digit edit, the shortest possible edit on the planet. I submitted my change to the universe.

    I am a superhero.

    After I interrupted the Husband, who was watching a movie on his computer next to me, to draw attention to my prowess and accept his accolades, I noted that the article really ALSO needed to be updated to include at least one sentence on each of the five most recent fights she’s had. That will take a little bit of research. A superhero’s work is never done.

    I totally need to get an outfit for this. With a cape, don’t you think?

    Image by TheNickster

  • False Hippo Intelligence

    The Maker: So what do hippos eat?
    The Husband: Hippos are herbivores. That means they eat grass and river weeds and stuff.
    Me: And fish, they eat fish.
    The Husband: They do not eat fish, they’re herbivores.
    Me: They DO eat fish! Remember the poem? “See the handsome hippopotamus / Wading on the river-bottomus / He goes everywhere he wishes / In pursuit of little fishes / Cooks them in his cooking-potamus / ‘My,’ fish say, ‘He eats a lot-of-us!’” Remember that poem?
    The Husband (after a stunned stare and a protracted silence): So, you’re saying that some Ogden Nash funny-animal poem for children is your authority on this?
    Me (indignant): Well, it’s published, it’s not like I read it on the internet.
    The Husband (pointedly): An Ogden Nash poem.
    Me: I’m pretty sure it’s true. But maybe I should Wiki it.

    Afterward:
    Okay, they’re herbivores. And it was Joanna Cole (who also authored the Magic School Bus series of children’s books WHICH WE BELIEVED), not Ogden Nash, who wrote that misleading yet wonderfully memorable poem. I actually googled “hippopotamus, river-bottomus” but got zero results. Zero! I don’t know what the world is coming to. I had to go look up the poem in an actual book.