In the tradition of originality that belongs to Wikipedians, here for your enjoyment there is a video of a XVII century version of "Happy Birthday, Wikimedia": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Birthday_Wikipedia_2016_-_Flavio_Colusso_-_WM-IT.webm
Here's the audio version: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Birthday_Wikipedia_2016_-_Flavio_Colusso_-_WM-IT_%28uncut_audio%29.oga The song was recorded during Wiki Loves Monuments Italia ceremony on 11th December, which was also the ceremony for the 10th birthday of Wikimedia Italia. It's also nice because it was the week we understood "Happy Birthday" is in the public domain :-) Have a nice 15th, y'all. Aubrey On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Andrew Lih <andrew....@gmail.com> wrote: > Here’s my piece talking about Wikipedia @15 that ran on The Washington Post > this morning. > > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/01/15/wikipedia-just-turned-15-years-old-will-it-survive-15-more/ > > I’ll post some personal reflections later. Happy 15th all! > > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 8:31 AM, Amir Ladsgroup <ladsgr...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > About the celebration in Tehran, I think this video > > <https://twitter.com/ablomof/status/687618946699231233> is worth > watching > > :) > > > > P.S. The hashtag we used for the celebration #wikipedia15fa is now being > > used widely by everyone \o/ > > > > Best > > > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 2:03 PM Yusuke Matsubara <w...@whym.org> wrote: > > > > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <pute...@mccme.ru > > > > > wrote: > > > > You may think by now we are in the free information world, and the > > > players of the 1980 Japanese ice hockey team are on Wikipedia. > > > (snip) > > > > Japanese Wikipedia, as far as I can tell, is not better. A team of > > > mystery persons. > > > > > > Try then the freely editable knowledge base. :) Two of them [1] are > > > now on Wikidata: > > > http://tinyurl.com/zganwzg > > > http://tinyurl.com/jgdnxwu > > > (click "Execute" to see the list) > > > > > > Happy birthday and thanks for sharing your stories - an excellent way > > > to celebrate. > > > > > > -Yusuke > > > > > > [1] Herb Wakabayashi - apparently, a Canadian who was naturalized to > > > Japan later - is not in the query results. That piece of information > > > is missing on Wikidata and I couldn't find a credible source to cite > > > immediately. > > > > > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <pute...@mccme.ru > > > > > wrote: > > > > On 2016-01-15 00:30, Mardetanha wrote: > > > >> > > > >> Dear Fellow Wikimedians > > > >> I would like to congratulate you on Wikipedia's 15th birthday, it > was > > > >> historic moment for all of us, I am glad to let you know we had a > > > >> celebration in Tehran and we were the first country to celebrate it. > > > >> you can find images here > > > >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_15_in_Iran > > > >> Mardetanha > > > >> _______________________________________________ > > > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > >> Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > , > > > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > > > > > > I feel like today is time for stories, and I guess this thread is > > exactly > > > > the place we can share some stories today. I wish everybody does, > since > > > this > > > > is a nice way to celebrate 15y. > > > > > > > > It could be in principle anything remotely Wikimedia related. For > > > example, > > > > the highest real-life rank of a person I ever blocked on Wikipedia > was > > a > > > > member of the European parliament (or someone impersonating him). But > > > these > > > > stories mainly reveal human stupidity, and today we want to talk more > > on > > > the > > > > human knowledge. Therefore I am going to spend my daily quota of > > > wikimedia-l > > > > post for smth else. > > > > > > > > I was born in 1967 in the Soviet Union and I am coming from a > > > pre-internet > > > > generation. I first used internet in 1995 or so, past my PhD degree. > > > > However, I was always interested in learning things, this is probably > > > why I > > > > later joined the Wikimedia movement. And I was a pretty > > > advanced-knowledge > > > > teenager, knowing things my peers would normally not know anything > > about, > > > > and I was interested in all kinds of stuff: from exact sciences to > > > history > > > > and languages and to geographical names. It was really painful to get > > any > > > > non-mainstream information. Let me give you a couple of example of > the > > > > problems I encountered. > > > > > > > > One was languages. Well, for mainstream foreign languages like > English > > or > > > > German it was relatively easy to find textbooks and dictionaries. > They > > > were > > > > nothing like modern means of language learning, for example the Teach > > > > Yourself series, not even speaking of online courses. Other languages > > > were > > > > more difficult. Some languages were impossible. Well, I grew up in > > > Moscow, > > > > which had a 10M population, and there were couple of libraries where > I > > > > presumably could find dictionaries of even uncommon languages, but > > these > > > > were difficult to get in (normally one had to be 18 yo), they did not > > let > > > > the books out of the building, and for a number of practical reasons > > they > > > > were not really an option. On the other hand, I was hiking a lot in > > > Central > > > > Asia, and I was suffering from inability to understand what the local > > > Turkic > > > > names (in Kazakh and Kyrghyz mainly) mean. Well, you learn soon that > > > Ak-Suu > > > > means "White river", meaning "aq" is white and "suu" is a river, but > > > this is > > > > about it). So what I did I searched all available literature at home > > and > > > > around including the school library, and came up with a list of about > > 100 > > > > words. This was my own, personal, self-made Kyrghyz-Russian > dictionary. > > > It > > > > was weird, since, for example, did not include verbs, and it did not > > > help me > > > > to speak Kyrghyz in any sense - and I still do not - but it was fine > to > > > > understand the names and to feel kind of like at home. Now we have of > > > course > > > > professional dictionaries available online. (Kyrghyz is still not in > a > > > > Google translate though). > > > > > > > > The second story. For whatever reason, when I was about twelve, I > > needed > > > to > > > > have Japanese names. I do not remember why I needed them, but > Japanese > > > names > > > > were notoriously difficult to find. The books I had available only > > > mentioned > > > > a few individuals. The newspapers rarely wrote about Japan, and again > > > only > > > > mentioned a few individuals. Then there happened the 1980 Winter > > > Olympics in > > > > Lake Placid, and Japanese team entered the ice hockey tournament. > (They > > > > ended up last). There was a sports newspaper which I had access to, > > which > > > > published the results of the games, and of course ice hockey was at > the > > > time > > > > a great deal in Russia (on that Olympics, the Soviet team lost to the > > US > > > > team in the finals, which is still considered to be a major fuckup), > > but > > > > apparently they did not publish all the names of the players, only > last > > > > names of those who scored a goal. Japanese rarely scored, and there > was > > > my > > > > tough luck. But them the same newspaper opened a hotline - one could > > > phone a > > > > certain number, and they would answer any question related to the > > > results of > > > > the Olympics. I thought this is my chance. I was dead afraid calling > > > people > > > > I do not know, but I still collected a piece of paper, a pen and > > phoned. > > > A > > > > nice female voice answered, and I said I would like to have names of > > the > > > > Japanese ice hockey team players. The nice voice answered that the > team > > > is > > > > too big, and their policy is not to give long answers. That was the > end > > > of > > > > it. > > > > > > > > You may think by now we are in the free information world, and the > > > players > > > > of the 1980 Japanese ice hockey team are on Wikipedia. Well, check > > them. > > > The > > > > names are there (it takes a while to find the list of names on the > > > English > > > > Wikipedia - I believe the only article they are listed is [[Japan at > > the > > > > 1980 Winter Olympics]]), but only one of them - [[Herb Wakabayashi]], > > who > > > > died last year - has an article. Japanese Wikipedia, as far as I can > > > tell, > > > > is not better. A team of mystery persons. > > > > > > > > Happy 15y celebrations. > > > > > > > > Cheers > > > > Yaroslav > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
