Wikipedia in Various Languages

Wikipedia exists in a stunningly large number of languages, some of which have over three and a half million articles, some of which have only one or two (on a side note, how can there actually be three and a half million things worthy of a Wikipedia page?) Most of them also have their handy local variation of the 3D jigsaw puzzle with letters from different alphabets logo. Here's a bunch I compiled because I'm bored and friendless. If you tell me you've heard of every language on this list, I shall call you a liar.

	Amharic (አማርኛ).
	Old English (Englisc).
	Azerbaijani (Azərbaycan dili).
	Samogitian (Žemaitiu kalba).
	Catalan (Català).
	Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ).
	Sorani (کوردی)
	Kashubian (Kaszëbsczi).
	Chuvash (Чăваш).
	Basque (Euskara).
	Gothic.
	Gujarati (ગુજરાતી).
	Haitian Creole (Krèyol ayisyen).
	Inuktitut (ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ).
	Ripuarian (Ripoarisch).
	Maori (Māori).
	Malayalam (മലയാളം).
	Mongolian (Монгол).
	Burmese.
	Quechua (Runa Simi).
	Tarantino (Tarandíne).
	Telugu(తెలుగు).
	Tatar (Татарча).
	Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt).
	Wolof (Wolof).
	Yiddish (ייִדיש).
	Zealandic (Zeêuws).
	Chinese (中文).

Qui est-ce? C'est Colette.

In a fit of nostalgia I decided to Google the following:

Qui est-ce? C'est Colette.
Bonjour, Colette. Ça va?

Qui est-ce? C'est Colette.
Bonjour, Colette. Ça va?

Non, ça va mal.
Et toi? Comme ci comme ça.

Non, ça va mal.
Et toi? Comme ci comme ça.

I suppose people of a certain age who went to school in Ontario might remember this - it was a song, and one that was well-loved by both me and pretty much everyone else in my French class circa... er, grade 5 perhaps. But maybe not - Google returned zero results. That's the first time I've gotten zero results from Google in a long time now. It's strange to find a hole in the internet's knowledge, no matter how obscure. It's taken us barely any time at all to fill the internet with everything-we-know-about-everything. By now we're just applying the plaster over those tiny little holes. Soon enough you'll be able to get that song (and there was one about 'les animaux' that was pretty rockin') on iTunes, but until then, it remains a tiny scrap of memory available only in the human mind.

You can find reference to Zip, Zap, Zop and Zoup - scant reference on a blog or two - but precious little considering how many people learned French thanks to them. And not a single illustration, either - so in order to illustrate this blog entry I've had to go to the relatively way-more-popular Ananas from Téléfrançais.

Mark Dailey

Silly to get sentimental. Moses Znaimer's legendary Citytv has long since been chewed up by the new Canadian media oligarchy and launched as a spitball in the face of independent media. Citytv has been a nothing for years and years now, so long it's hard to remember when it was revolutionary.

But it was once. It was by far the best thing about Toronto television, and one of the very best things was that deadpan voice 'introducing' (or more often offering wry commentary on) the next programme about to start. His voice saying "Citytv everywhere..." was one of the most recognisable sounds of my youth. It was impossible to dislike the guy; all it took was a single sentence here or there and somehow you were convinced he was a friendly good guy.

I haven't bothered with Citytv in so long now, I didn't realise he'd become much more prominent an on-air personality. All I remember him for, really, is that stentorian voice, disembodied, in ten-second spurts between shows. Yet even that is enough for me to genuinely mourn the passing of a total stranger.

Mark Dailey, you will be missed.

Related articles

• Toronto Citytv anchor Mark Dailey dies of cancer (news.nationalpost.com)
• Toronto newscaster Mark Dailey dies of cancer (ctv.ca)
• Citytv's Mark Dailey dies of cancer (thestar.com)
• Veteran news broadcaster Mark Dailey dies (thestar.com)
• Newscaster's booming vocals made him a Toronto TV fixture (canada.com)
• Anchor Mark Dailey dies at 57 (theglobeandmail.com)

Hypocrisy and the Long-Desired Majority

Image by jcbear2 via FlickrJust reading The Globe and Mail discussing Stephen Harper's strategy for getting a majority. Essentially it boils down to targeting urban ridings with a 'tough on crime' message while targeting the remaining rural ridings he doesn't already have with a 'long-gun registry' message.

He might just get away with it. Which is frustrating, because it's cynical as hell. I mean, given that the long-gun registry was implemented to combat crime in the first place. Now, one may not agree on its effectiveness, but to be truly 'tough on crime' is, certainly, to consider all options out there for fighting crime. Not merely those ones that are politically expedient.

After all, the RCMP themselves came out in favour of the long-gun registry, calling it an effective way to fight crime. A prime minister doesn't have to follow RCMP recommendations (self-evidently), but not doing so certainly ought to come at the price of a loss in legitimacy for a 'tough-on-crime' stance, right?

Or, if nothing else, certainly flouting a 'tough-on-crime' stance and screaming 'they want to take your guns away!' at the very same time is self-evidently hypocritical, isn't it? Ah, but it might well work. Conservatives can always scream 'tough on crime' louder than the other parties. And the emptiness behind the rhetoric, sadly, gets overlooked. Again and again...

Related articles

• ‘Cluster’ strategy puts Tories on track for majority, poll suggests (theglobeandmail.com)
• Fantino ideal tough-on-crime standard-bearer for Tories (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• Montreal Massacre anniversary prompts Tory gun policy criticism (canada.com)
• RCMP gun-registry report barely swayed opinion, poll finds (theglobeandmail.com)

This is What the KLF is About: the KLF's Greatest Hits

So it just so happens that I absolutely love the KLF. I know, I'm old, and I listen to twenty-year-old music. But the KLF didn't just make good music, they were also a truly awesome story. I think one day I might devote an entire blog to them, but in the meantime I've sifted through their chaotic (and entirely deleted) discography to produce a two-CD greatest hits disc. This is what it is about:

DISC ONE

1.		THE KLF - AMERICA: WHAT TIME IS LOVE? uncensored. (9:04) From the single "America: What Time is Love?" (KLF USA 4T), 1992.
2.		THE KLF - 3 a.m. ETERNAL live at the s.s.l. - radio. (3:43) From the single "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)" (KLF 005), 1991.
3.		THE KLF - LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL pure trance original. (6:43) From the single "Last Train to Trancentral (Pure Trance)" (KLF 008R), 1990.
4.		THE KLF featuring TAMMY WYNETTE - JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT stand by the jams. (3:38) From the single "Justified & Ancient" (KLF 099), 1991.
5.		THE KLF - DREAM TIME IN LAKE JACKSON. (2:36) From the album "Chill Out" (JAMS LP5), 1992.
6.		THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE original mix. (5:05) From the single "All You Need is Love" (JAMS 23), 1987.
7.		DISCO 2000 - I GOTTA CD 7" edit. (3:52) From the single "I Gotta CD" (D 2001), 1987.
8.		THE KLF - KYLIE SAID TO JASON edit. (4:06) From the unreleased album "The White Room Original Soundtrack", 1989.
9.		DISCOTEC 2000 - FEEL THIS. (5:35) From the v/a compilation "Eternity Project One", 1989.
10.		SPACE - JUPITER. (6:35) From the album "Space" (SPACE LP1), 1990.
11.		THE KLF - BUILD A FIRE. (4:41) From the album "The White Room" (KLF JAMS LP6), 1991.
12.		THE KLF - MADRUGADA ETERNA club mix. (5:20) From the unreleased single "Madrugada Eterna", 1990.
13.		ONE WORLD ORCHESTRA - THE MAGNIFICENT. (2:15) From the v/a compilation "The Help Album", 1995.
14.		THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - DOWN TOWN. (7:29) From the single "Down Town" (JAMS 27T), 1987.
15.		THE KLF - AMERICA NO MORE. (6:06) From the single "America: What Time is Love?" (KLF USA 4T), 1992.

DISC TWO

1.		THE KLF - WHAT TIME IS LOVE? live at trancentral. (5:26) From the single "What Time is Love? (Live at Trancentral)" (KLF 004X), 1990.
2.		THE KLF - 3 a.m. ETERNAL pure trance original. (5:56) From the single "3 a.m. Eternal (Pure Trance)" (KLF 005T), 1989.
3.		THE KLF - LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL live from the lost continent - radio. (3:43) From the single "Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent)" (KLF 008), 1991.
4.		THE KLF - JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT the white room version. (4:44) From the album "The White Room" (JAMS LP6), 1991.
5.		THE TIMELORDS - DOCTORIN' THE TARDIS radio edit. (3:40) From the single "Doctorin' the Tardis" (KLF 003), 1988.
6.		THE KLF - ELVIS ON THE RADIO, STEEL GUITAR IN MY SOUL. (3:02) From the album "Chill Out" (JAMS LP5), 1990.
7.		THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - THE QUEEN AND I. (4:46) From the album "1987 (What the Fuck is Going On?)" (JAMS LP1), 1987.
8.		DISCO 2000 - UPTIGHT (EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT) banana 2000. (3:41) From the single "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" (D 2003), 1989.
9.		THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - THE PORPOISE SONG. (5:47) From the album "Who Killed the JAMS?" (JAMS LP2), 1988.
10.		THE KLF - NO MORE TEARS unreleased soundtrack version. (3:27) From the unreleased album "The White Room Original Soundtrack", 1989.
11.		K FOUNDATION - K CERA CERA (WAR IS OVER IF YOU WANT IT). (4:35) From the single "K Cera Cera", 1993.
12.		THE KLF - LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL lp mix. (6:07) From the album "The White Room" (JAMS LP6), 1991.
13.		THE KLF - WHAT TIME IS LOVE? pure trance original. (7:09) From the single "What Time is Love? (Pure Trance)" (KLF 004T), 1988.
14.		THE KLF vs EXTREME NOISE TERROR - 3 a.m. ETERNAL klf vs ent version. (2:47) From the single "3 a.m. Eternal (KLF vs ENT Version)" (KLF 5TOTP), 1992.
15.		THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - IT'S GRIM UP NORTH part 1. (10:04) From the single "It's Grim Up North" (JAMS 028R), 1991.

Since the KLF's entire catalogue is deleted, I have no idea what the legality of posting KLF songs is. I shouldn't say they're entirely deleted, actually: you can get "The White Room" and the "Doctorin' the Tardis" single on iTunes, due to licensing rights Bill and Jimmy sold to Arista and, er, TVT (?) for the US. In any case, I've decided, after deliberation, to make this available. I have no interest in turning this into a 'download blog', but I think this qualifies as extenuating circumstances. So without further ado, here it is down below. 

Note: nah, sorry. I got too paranoid, not so much about Bill and Jimmy suing me (there'd be an irony to that) but about Google banning me from Blogger or Adsense. Sad, I know, but I just panic sometimes. Google Gods - look, it's gone.

Getting Google Angry

I think I've made a mistake. An honest mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. I decided to transfer my list content over to the "A Lust for Lists" website, and I have a feeling that Google has recognised it as 'copied content' and is punishing "A Lust for Lists" as a result. Not everything on that site is tranferred over from here, but I guess at the moment about half of it is. I guess I can deal with Google suppressing the entries that I have transferred over from here, but if it's going to suppress the new entries too, that hurts.

I should have looked into how to transfer entries from one Blogspot to another Blogspot without messing up its Google ranking. Silly me...

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• What Can Google Do Now? (mwd.com)