Sunday, September 18, 2005

Things I looked up on Wikipedia today

Busy day ...

Elisha Gray

Why: He was mentioned on The Simpsons as a rival of Alexander Graham Bell, and I vaguely remembered some story about Bell outracing someone to the patent office.

What I learned: Yep, that was him.

Jim Henson

Why: Watching a lot of The Muppet Show.

What I learned: He was a Terp. And his death, though untimely, didn't have any suspicious elements -- at least, not as far as Wikipedia is concerned.

Jimi Hendrix

Why: I got curious about suspicious celebrity deaths, so naturally, I thought of him.

What I learned: Check out his FBI file. Part 2 is especially interesting if you want to see the FBI's concerns on "hippies" (seriously, by name) and other questionable uses of U.S. investigative power. One page has eight redacted paragraphs ... out of nine. The final paragraph: "(Redacted) advised that (redacted) who is once again running the Sultan Theater (redacted) in Seattle, are handling a memorial show for JIMMY HENDRIX in Seattle." I want to see what was redacted just so I can see how that sentence is grammatically possible.

The memo on Woodstock is hysterical: After listing the bands, we get this: "But these were only the entertainers named on the program; the main entertainment (if that is the correct word) was provided by the bizarre people present ..."

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