OMG, Jimmy, Get a Better Picture

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, is a legend. I cannot understate that fact. He has created a phenomenon which actually makes the Internet useful. Every second, all over the world, thousands of people turn to Wikipedia for every informational need imaginable -- from the simple to the scientific, from the inane to the sublime. It's all there in one place. And the best part is, thanks to the "bazaar" principle (and that's "bazaar" as in "communal marketplace", not "bizarre"... although...) Anyway thanks to the "bizarre bazaar" principle, the stuff in Wikipedia is mostly accurate. Because if it is not, if someone punches in some incorrect or unsubstantiated info, then some weaner who has a special interest in the Folk Songs of Madagascar 1900-1949 will hop right in and correct it.

Oh and did I menation WP is in dozens of different languages?

So in spite of what detractors bleated when Wales started the Wikipedia project, and what they continue to bleat today, Wikipedia works. Don't ask me how... just accept it.

"Jimbo" Wales will surely go down as one of the most influential people this century, young as the 21st is.

Now the Wikipedia Foundation is having its annual money drive. Because, as if Mr. Wales were not legend enough for creating the Wikipedia phenomenon, he made it all free of advertising. That's right, you can browse the length and breadth of WP without having you eyes assaulted and your bandwidth choked down by flashy, bloated, rubbishy "come buy me" banners. But of course giant computer systems don't run themselves, and money doesn't grow on trees, so WP can only survive on donations from the very people who benefit from it. Fair enough.



Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut....... I refer you to a personal letter of appeal from Wales himself, here. Specifically, near the top of the page, to the picture. Oh dear God! Surely that isn't... no I'm afraid it is. That is Jimmy Wales' personal mugshot. Not his idiot half-brother, the one they keep locked in the attic and feed a bucket of fish heads each day; nope, it is a portrayt of the can't-be-understated legend man himself. (In case the link is dead, take it from me, the piccy was atrocious.)

Jimmy Wales, for the love of God, please get a better picture of yourself!