On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:53 AM, Daniel R. Tobias <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 3 Mar 2009 at 11:49:01 -0500, Gwern Branwen wrote:
>
>> All of those are pretty interesting things - what side of the road
>> tells you both historical information, and also is terribly practical
>> if you're there*
>>
>> * Although one certainly hopes that anyone driving in a particular
>> country will not need Wikipedia to tell them something like this!
>
> I could see the Simpsons cartoon doing something around this...

You sure your name isn't Matt Groening? :-)

> The Simpson family has just landed in a foreign country, and Homer has
> rented a car, a new high-tech model with built in Internet access.
> He suddenly realizes he doesn't know whether to drive on the left or
> the right in that country, and brings up the Wikipedia page to look
> it up.  At that moment, back in Springfield, one of the school
> bullies (isn't one of them named Jimbo?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Springfield_Elementary_School_students#Jimbo_Jones

> has just vandalized the
> country's Wikipedia article to change the driving side to the
> opposite of its correct value, and thus Homer starts driving on the
> wrong side, honking and cursing out all the other drivers who he says
> are all doing it wrong.  "Hey, you guys, you're supposed to be
> driving on the left!  Wikipedia says so!"  Then the other drivers,
> prompted by Homer's advice, pull up the Wikipedia page in their own
> Internet-enabled cars, and realize they've been driving wrong all
> their lives, and all switch to the opposite side.

Sounds eerily prescient.

Carcharoth

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