Thanks to LiberryDwarf, I got lost in the Wikipedia of Unusual Articles [actual articles about actual, but weird things] and in the Wikipedia of the Silly [the hoax-articles and generally not to be taken serious ones].
I planned on giving you the best of both worlds, but there’s just too much good stuff (that would have been the entry I announced a couple of days ago). So much in fact, that I’m thinking of doing a regular thing, once a week, introducing one or two Unusual Articles, examining them in detail. Would you like to see that?
Now, I’ll just give you a “Best Of” of the silly Wikipedia and leave it at that. For now.

Before we actually can cut to the chase and you can enjoy the wonderful humour of wikipedia submitters, I would like to ask you if you’ve ever been to London, Baker Street to be precise and if it’s worth visiting or if it will destroy an Arthur Conan Doyle fan?

No, I’m not on the go again, and am not a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, either, but LiberryDwarf is. So if you have any info/personal experience, head over to her blog and drop her a line about it. Cheers!

Wikipedia of the Silly

22.86 Centimetre Nails:
#Redirect [[Nine Inch Nails]]

Abraham Lincoln:
Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater. John F. Kennedy was shot in a Ford Lincoln. Gerald Ford was shot at, but they missed.
(Actually, this is supposed to be true. There was actually a wide range of coincidences involving the deaths of Lincoln and Kennedy. Quite a few of these can be verified. – Arno)
(Actually true, Lincoln shot in Ford theatre, Kennedy in a Ford Lincoln. Lincoln’s secretary was called Kennedy, Kennedy’s – Lincoln. Both wives dreamt assassination in advance.Both succeeded by a Johnson. [JTD]
(There are a wide range of instances with regards to any two things, most of them are pure luck. With regards to Lincoln/Kennedy, visit Urban Legends: Lincoln/Kennedy for more information.) – TimmyD 06:57 Apr 28, 2003 (UTC)
Kennedy’s secretary was called Lincoln, but while Lincoln’s secretary was called John, his last name was Nicolay, not Kennedy. –Marnen Laibow-Koser 17:23, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Afterword:
An afterword, worded wordily, is a word that proceeds another word. With only one exception, every word that has ever been spoken can be considered an afterword. Afterword: an afterword is a word that is spoken after another word. Since every word that has ever been spoken with the exception of one word is an afterword, what is really significantly more interesting is an anti-afterword. There has only been, and will only ever be, in the history of the universe, 1 anti-afterword. The really ironic thing about the antiafterword, is that it was arguably ‘anti-afterword’. See antiafterword

Alternative Rock:
Alternative rock is the name given to one stone when you’re looking at another stone. The term was coined by photographer Edwin Blastocyst when looking at one stone and speaking about another, oddly enough.

Bible:
Template:Spoiler

Coca-Cola in the Wild:
In its natural state, Coca-Cola is docile until attacked, when it will spray sweet liquid on the predator. It has many foes, such as:

• Teens
• Children
• Parents
• Movie-goers

Yet it is often found and eaten. It does many things to protect itself. It may ‘accidentally’ tip over when frightened, or disguise itself as the less popular Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. Still, even with its most creative attempts, its foes still find it.
In the wild, it stays in packs of 5-23 other cans. Sadly, many packs have been taken into captivity, where rings are put tightly around their middles and the cans are put into boxes. They are then sold to people who take them to houses, where they will not be fed or allowed to roam around.
See Also:

• Coca-Cola
• Pepsi
• Dr Pepper

[EDIT] Actually, organic farming allows for free-roaming.
(EDIT) It doesn’t say organic does it edit boy?
This is simply because 90% of all Coca-Cola isn’t organically cultivated. Organic and free-range Coca-Colas are more expensive and generally sold only in natural foods markets.

Code Fairy:
The Code Fairy is a fictional spirit said to eat semicolons and curly braces from computer source code.
It is well known that the Windows code fairy has the largest wings but cannot fly. The Apple code fairy has the most beautiful wings but they are so small that everyone believes they don’t exist. The Linux code fairy looks different depending on who kissed it last. The UNIX code fairy looks like grumpy and old. The SCO-Linux code fairy looks like a lawyer and pursues anyone who kisses the Linux code fairy.
The Code Fairy is an example of folklore mythology which non-programmers know is fiction, but which is sometimes presented by computer programmers as fact, as a way of explaning how a computer program stops working after compiling it, without altering the source code.

Cow Tipping:
If you succeed in tipping a cow only partway, such that only one of its feet is still on the ground, you have created lean beef. Such a feat is well done. Naturally, being outside, the cow is unstable. When it falls over, it becomes ground beef.

CPGM:
The Coalition to Prevent Gratuitous Misuse (CPGM) was organized in 1901 to protest the (then) common misuse of the word weight to mean mass. The movement gained momentum (defined as the vector product of its velocity and mass) when SI was officially adopted in place of metric system, which no longer carried its weight. This movement captured the imagination of the mass of scientists througout the world, although the general public remained unmoved, since a body at rest tends to remain at rest (see Newton’s Laws).

Fink:
Fink is also a less than common last name which originates in Germany. Many immegrants brought the last name, which translated means “Finch” (as in bird), to America in their travels and now it adorns some of the most powerful leaders of our nation including macrobiologists and editors of litterary magazines.

Hacker Standard Time:
Hacker standard time (HST) is a relative time zone occurring no less than three hours behind where the hacker actually lives. This means, should a hacker be awake at 3am according to local time, it is only midnight in his time zone. It is important to note that hacker standard time is adjustable according to occupation and time of year. Should the hacker still be in school, the three hour rule generally applies. However, during his summer vacation, the rule is traditionally scalable to at least an 8 hour difference. This enables hackers to miss daylight entirely, keeping to their necessary vampiristic existence.
If the hacker is out of school and in the working world, hacker standard time may be adjusted such that the hacker adjustment takes place only at night. This means should the hacker be awake at 2:59 am local time, it is but 11:59pm his time. However, when he wakes up at 7am for work, it is 7 am in both HST and local time, meaning the hacker simply scales back the amount of sleep he gets, existing on the half hacker standard time regimen.
So, when you see a hacker early in the morning (1pm or earlier in local time), please avoid loud noises. Allow them to adjust to their surroundings for at least an hour before any valuable information exchanges are conducted.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter:
I can’t believe it’s not a hyperlink.

Korea Train Express:
Now that’s what I call a Seoul Train.

List of Things Faster Than A Dog
According to contemporary scientific theory regarding comparative velocity measurement, all moving objects can be classified into two distinct categories vis-a-vis their velocity potential relative to that of a dog ‘(Canis lupus familiaris)’. The categories comprise overcaniality (potential for velocities above the maximum possible velocity of a dog) and undercaniality (lacking of the potential for velocities above the maximum possible velocity of a dog).
Studies published in peer-reviewed journals have so far identified the following list of objects that can incontrovertibly be described as faster than a dog:

• Cars
• Dogs riding in cars
• Race cars

Controversy
One common argument against the current scientific consensus on overcaniality opines that there are numerous objects (i.e. airplanes, satellites, Oort cloud objects) that travel at or above the maximum possible velocity of a dog. However, this argument has been largely refuted in that velocity measurements of such objects did not take into account contributing factors such as orbital parallax or string theory. The short-lived Internet meme surrounding the catchphrase Nothing Is Faster Than A Dog contrabulated this scientific principle, and spawned a number of counter-arguments that questioned the very nature of overcaniality and undercaniality in the context of general relativity.

Longest Word in English:
The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, also spelled pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, is defined as “a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica or quartz dust.” At 45 letters, it is certainly the longest word ever to appear in a non-technical dictionary of English (Source: OED). However there are strong indications that the word was coined by puzzler Everett Smith in 1935 as a hypothetical long word that could result from the protraction of medical terms. The actual name of the disease is pneumoconiosis, which is 14 letters long. As a result, opposition has risen to the claim that pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in the English language. Opponents of the claim are known as dispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisists while supporters of the claim are popularly known as antidispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisists. Some supporters showing ambivalence are scornfully referred to by linguistic extremists of the latter school of thought as pseudoantidispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisists. But the ambivalent school, speaking pseudoantidispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisistically, faces something of a logical conundrum.

Misogyny:
There are many forms of misogyny in the world today, but none will be as special as the one decide you make your own. Be creative. Mr. Joseph Underwood dressed up like a woman and screamed at himself for hours, until he was picked up by local rednecks and forced to have sex with a fire exstinguisher.

Musician:
However, musicians, at least insofar as their human manifestations go, can be distinguished from other creatures that create melodic sounds by their insistence on producing such sounds even when there is no clear reason for them to do so and even in the face of compelling reasons to cease such activity in favour of dealing with crises affecting their personal survival. In other words, even when no reward or likely advantage is to be obtained by the performance of “Brown Eyed Girl” or “Mustang Sally” in a bar full of losers, a musician will, nevertheless, perform such composition or other “song” requested by any audience even as his (or her) girlfriend (or boyfriend) is being wooed by the bartender and/or all his/her belongings are being carted off to a disposal site and/or staff of such establishment are telling him/her to “stop now!”. (See also, “guitarist” and “singer” and “homeless person”.)

New Rome:
The “NEW ROME” is identical to “OLD ROME” except for the areas where it is different. The primary differences lie in the fact that the OLD ROME is much older than the NEW ROME, which is significantly newer. In addition to the newness of the NEW ROME, it is also important to note that NEW ROME when spelled backwards is EMOR WEN; whereas the OLD ROME spelled backwards is EMOR DLO.
Aside from these differences, the two are essentially identical… except for the flapjacks.

Orca:
The orca, commonly known as the minute ant is the smallest known living creature. Not visible to the naked eye, the orca needs one of the most powerful microscopes in the world to even be seen. Living on a diet of lion and occasionally bald eagle, it spends its days much like a sloth. It lives in only the deepest parts of the river Thames it is entirely self reliant and takes no money from its parents. Nor can it be approved for a student loan.

Politics of Belgium:
Each minister gets two elk to ride to and from the office. They are fed entirely on chocolate and European bitterness.

RoboCop:
RoboCop is programmed to follow four prime directives:

1. Serve the public trust
2. Protect the innocent
3. Uphold the law
4. Get his freak on

It’s true! I saw him on the Citroen adverts!

Rogue Jello:
Rogue Jello is when a gelatin desert, most commonly Jello, ‘eludes’ the individual attempting to consume it by leaping from the utensil, such as a spoon, fork, spork, or in some circumstances, the hand of the consumer. Upon ‘escaping’ the Jello will fall to the table, lap of the consumer, or the ground. If the Jello is not consumed, and instead thrown away or been disposed of it has ‘succeeded’. But if it is the consumed, by a pet or animal or person, the escapee has failed.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (ISBN 0399226907) is a children’s book written by Eric Carle and originally published in 1969. It has proven to be highly popular and has been praised for its use of easy-to-read words which makes it good for teaching young children to read. The story has been translated into over 50 languages and, as of 2005, a copy is sold roughly every 57 seconds. It was featured on Sesame Street in the early 1990s.
The book contains 225 words and large, colourful illustrations. It follows a caterpillar as it munches its way through a variety of edibles such as ice cream, salami, watermelon and a lollipop before it finally pupates and emerges as a butterfly. The story teaches the life cycle of a butterfly, counting to 5, the names of the days of the week, and about food. Various interpretations have been placed upon it – for example, it is seen as a transformation story in Cambodia and an anti-capitalist work in the former East Germany.
The original title of the book was to have been A Week with Willi Worm, featuring a bookworm named Willi. However, Carle’s editor advised that a green worm would not make a very likable protagonist. George W. Bush has expressed his fondness for the book, and there are rumours of the film rights having been sold for £1 million.

Template:Spoiler

Day 1

The main character is established. The hungry caterpillar is led to eat a single red apple.

Day 2

The Caterpillar, unsatisfied with its single red apple is driven on to eat 2 yellow pears.

Day 3

We see the character devour 3 purple plums. This chapter is one to think about. Are these plums in anyway symbolic? So far in the book, the caterpillar has eaten a fair share of food, but we all know that a caterpillar weighing about 5g, having a length of 4-6cm eating 3 plums that weigh about 100g each, is beyond the realms of possible biology.

This chapter certainly makes us question the way in which we think about the character. Whether this is to be taken literally or as a symbolic gesture is a matter of the reader’s choice.

Day 4

The caterpillar eats 4 strawberries (which is much more possible than chapter 3)

Day 5

If you were not convinced by chapter 3, then when you see the caterpillar eats 5 whole oranges, you may be tempted to put down the book, however, this is all a build up to the ending.

Day 6

On this day, the last threads of possible reality are flushed away as the caterpillar devours its way through every known form of confectionery. This is questionable on multiple fronts, such as:

• How does a simple caterpillar acquire the money needed to buy such large amounts of food? Does she steal the food? If so, how?
• In a similar fashion to chapter 3, how does a caterpillar ingest all these foods?

We shall never know.

Day 7

The caterpillar eats one, single leaf. Nothing more, nothing less. This penultimate chapter is probably the most beautiful and significant so far. One single leaf. What the author is doing here is showing the contrast. It seems as though the caterpillar has eaten all it possibly can. All the apples, pears, plums, strawberries, oranges, cakes, muffins, eclairs, and ice creams in the world, but it has yet to eat its most sustainable food source.

Final Chapter

In this climactic ending of the book, the caterpillar, cocoons itself to come out as a beautiful butterfly. The hungry caterpillar is hungry no more.

Further reading (and watching) for enjoyers of this book:

• A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
• Ridley Scott’s Alien
• The picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Wales:
Not to be confused with Jimbo Wales, or with whales, which are both considerably smaller than Wales and not Celtic, as far as we know.

Water on Mars: