While those in warmer climes might be able to walk/drive/take public transit that isn’t as frozen as your pipes are going to be at 3 am, and visit an old time “library” where they can creak open the rusty relic known as an “encyclopedia”, we Snownarök-bound (thanks, Fruit Cup!) P-towners will need to find a Wikipedia alternative that does not involve leaving our indoor heating systems tomorrow. (As mentioned in GMN, your favorite argument settling, bar trivia cheating web site is blacking out its English language version for 24 hours to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, along with Reddit, Boing Boing, and others.)
The Washington Post, The Guardian, and NPR, among others, are collaborating on a one-day “band-aid” substitute on the Twitters. Instead of Wiki-ing it up the answers tomorrow, try asking your question with #altwiki for crowd sourced answers, including from staff of the participating media outlets. You’ll probably be at least as well off as you were with ChaCha, and certainly in better shape than you were with AskJeeves.
Counterpoint:
You can read the cache copy of Wikipedia on Google. Or go to one of the foreign language copies of Wikipedia, such as http://it.wikipedia.org.
When I am in the third world or sailing offshore, I take the downloaded Wikipedia.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-free-tools-…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dat…
And on the Bay there is this English_Wikipedia_(All_Articles)_-_May_2011
You CAN ask a Librarian. L-Net is a virtual reference service for Oregon residents where you can connect with librarians through chat, text or email. And it’s free. And you can do it from home, the bar, where ever. http://www.oregonlibraries.net/ Did I mention that it is free? And you can talk with real, live librarians?
I noticed that the screen would flicker..they are just doing a blackout via javascript.
If you disable javascript on your browser you can still access wikipedia. They don’t want the search engines to stop spidering their site…so they aren’t truly dark.
Thanks! I brought my work computer home just in case we’re home bound. Should Snownarök bring the city to its knees, I’ll still be able to get work done!
I think you can also chat with the multco library reference desk?
@5: but that would involve talking to another person face-to-face. Obviously, you don’t understand the point of the internets.
Also apparently the mobile versions and apps are still a go.
You could also get in touch with a LIBRARIAN. You know, people with GRADUATE DEGREES in facilitating RESEARCH?
#6 – If you’re that socially awkward, you can always use the online “Chat with a Librarian” option that virtually every single library in existence has on their website.
I can see it now “what do you do before the internet? How did you study? learn?”
well kid, it’s easy we actually learned something in school!
There were them old timey libraries just like Marjorie said!
We actually had to write real papers, not art projects and papers about pop culture.
In short we actually knew more than fuck all and did’nt depend on wikipedia or a fucking I phone for everything
Did’nt you?
No. I know that might be difficult for some of you to fathom.