Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon/May 7, 2008

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What's a Write-a-Thon?

It's a bunch of people getting together on a wiki at a particular time to do a bunch of writing. It's like an online party! Heck no, it is an online party! It's also an excuse for infrequent wikiers to show up and party hardy.

But hey, why not show up in between the write-ins, too!

When?

Write-a-Thons happen the first Wednesday of every month. The next Write-a-Thon is Wednesday, November 7. November 7 starts on November 6, 1200 UTC, in New Zealand, and ends on November 8, 1000 UTC, in Hawaii. Save The Date! Put it on your calendar! Set yourself a reminder!

Any new article you create, and any edit you make to somebody else's Write-a-Thon article, when it's that day in your part of the world, will count.

Our first Write-a-Thon took place Wednesday, August 1, 2007 and was considered a roaring good time--we had about 30 partiers creating something like 50 articles, and editing lots.

What are the rules?

Rules? This is a party! There are no rules!

Well, OK, maybe there are a couple rules:

• We'll have a Write-a-Thon the first Wednesday of every month.
• To participate, you only have to do two things: (1) start a new article (even just a stub will qualify, if not too short - and please remember to include the CZ:The Article Checklist!), and (2) make a substantive edit (not just a copyedit) to somebody else's new article. Then you can list your name here as a partier. Until then, you're just a porch-sitter, party-crasher, or total party poop.

Create an article, already!

Check it out: Start an article!

The Partiers

• Derek Harkness got off to an early start and brought some vodka for everyone.

• Aleta thought she was early, but found Derek already on the party floor (literally--must've been all the vodka!) Fortunately, Aleta had bananas, so what with those and the vodka, maybe Hayford will share his daiquiri receipt? Oh, wait--that takes rum--don't we have any rum??! (Aleta knows bananas are not normally party fare, but didn't want to hear Larry sing that song again, so Yes! We now have bananas--we have some bananas, todaaaaay!!!) Decided to raise the tone by wearing a ball gown, but hubby prefers jeans and he says I've lost my marbles! Psst! pass me the vodka! Drinking on an empty stomach is bad for you, so made stew. Now dancing a waltz and singing lullabies--must be the vodka!

I got about 6 kinds of rum at home: which kind do you want? As Don the Beachcomber described his Perfect Breakfast:

• One bunch bananas
• One bottle of rum
• One parrot
• The parrot is to eat the bananas

Hayford Peirce 17:12, 6 November 2007 (CST)

Bacardi, extra dark, since you ask! Aleta Curry 18:20, 6 November 2007 (CST)

I've got Bacardi White and Bacardi Golden, but for extra dark I use only Meyers, which is clearly superior. Or at least so I've been led to believe. If you put all three of them, plus a couple of others, into the same drink, plus various other goodies (see Zombie (cocktail), it becomes hard to tell them apart, particularly by the third drink.... Hayford Peirce 18:55, 6 November 2007 (CST) I've never actually tried this--a Zombie, I mean--I've had Myers Rum-never to old to learn--pass a glass! Aleta Curry 19:09, 6 November 2007 (CST)

• Supten was wandering through the CZ:Core_Articles/Applied_Arts_and_Sciences and found that there is no entry for Bio engineering yet. So, he thought of earning some bragging rights. Loving to jump among various topics, he found banana as an ideal source for nutrition as in the primates. He would love if the partiers (or others) can help in enriching the other pages he had started long time back - viz., Clinical decision support system, Evidence-based medicine, Hemispheric lateralization, John Snow (physician) and, Biochemistry.

• Clinton took a trip down to Everglades National Park, where he wished he had a margarita to drink while he pondered how to make an infobox in CZ. A picture or two of the wildlife would be nice as well, perhaps a panther or alligator.

Cleaned up Gerald Ford.

Your friendly neighbourhood write-a-thon MC will see what she can do about getting your a margarite. My word, do I love those! Aleta Curry 00:54, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Rum? Try 15 year old Barbancourt. :-) Stephen Ewen 23:52, 6 November 2007 (CST)

All I know is that Maximón, who I've been neglecting, prefers Venado but is usually happy with Quetzalteca. I'd better get back to him soon or I'm going to be in a world of trouble... --Joe Quick 00:52, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Now you're talking, Stephen! The charity auction of the last role-playing games convention I was had a very rare Scotch whisky up for auction - it went for a cool €1000! Anton Sweeney 04:46, 7 November 2007 (CST)

• Christian created A Midsummer Night's Dream (basic information, dramatis personae, plot synopsis, incomplete list of adaptations). Today is also my first anniversary at Citizendium. --Christian Liem 00:39, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Happy Anniversary! Aleta Curry 00:54, 7 November 2007 (CST)

• John Stephenson, while chewing thoughtfully on a banana, thought that a trip to Wales was in order. He doesn't know how to ask for a banana in Welsh, though.

• Anton suggested that everyone play a party game, then had some vodka. Anton Sweeney 05:20, 7 November 2007 (CST)

• --Martin Baldwin-Edwards 05:34, 7 November 2007 (CST) decided to write about the place where he lives (Athens), although it is a bit stubby...

• I have risen. --Robert W King 07:55, 7 November 2007 (CST)

• Larry Sanger remembers watching The Odd Couple as a child, when he didn't get the jokes and never dreamed he would have the opportunity to write an article (a stub) about it--for Stub Week.

Party crashers--contributors who didn't create a new article

• Joe is waging an epic battle against a loaf of apricot bread that refuses to bake all the way through while he reads for a morning class. He took the time to snap a shot of a banana flower, but he'll have to come back in the afternoon to do any more.

Hmmm...wrong proportion of baking soda...too much water...oven too high...turn it all the way down, and plan on a trip to the local deli for a muffin--just in case! Aleta Curry 01:05, 7 November 2007 (CST)

The total party poops

Go ahead, admit it!

Questions

You ask--we answer. Ask anything. Keep it clean, now.

• Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? Aleta Curry 19:11, 6 November 2007 (CST)

Why do we suspect that there is a story to tell here? --Larry Sanger 21:27, 6 November 2007 (CST) Aw, Larry, now I've got that theme song in my head! The Odd Couple Aleta Curry 01:02, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Right now it is totally not Wednesday. Damn the aussies! --Robert W King 22:00, 6 November 2007 (CST) Now, now! If you edit something an Aussie has done, it'll count!  :) Aleta Curry 01:02, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Well, I just had to create The Odd Couple...stub.  :-) --Larry Sanger 08:23, 7 November 2007 (CST)

• Can an undergraduate housemate be trained to wash his dishes or clean the crud off the stove. My magic 8 ball says prospects are dim. --Joe Quick 00:31, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Oh dear, oh dear, it's not looking good. I don't have an answer for this! Threaten to hire a cleaner and charge the extra to his share? Aleta Curry 01:02, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Yes. You commit to each time collect up the dirty dishes and stove-crud and deposit them upon his bed. Stephen Ewen 01:11, 7 November 2007 (CST)

It has been known for university students to prefer to throw away dirty dishes [of the non-disposable variety] and buy new ones in preference to washing them. The prognosis is not good for your training program. --Martin Baldwin-Edwards 08:03, 7 November 2007 (CST)

The cure for cancer is not in the rain forests. It is in fact in one of the undiscovered mold cultures in a freshman's fridge. Probably on either the tomato (I think that's what it was anyway) or the half eaten slice of pizza. We shall not loose the cure to deforestation, but rather to the drunken midnight snack of the student. With their bear goggles on, the pizza might look eatable and the cure will be lost forever. Given the choice of research in the rain forests of Costa Rica or looking inside the freshman's fridge, most researchers opt for the forest. Ergo the cure may lie undiscovered form many more terms. Derek Harkness 08:32, 7 November 2007 (CST)

Previous shindigs

• August 1, 2007
• September 5, 2007
• October 3, 2007

See also

• Larry Sanger, Why the Write-a-Thon worked, Citizendium Blog, August 9, 2007
• Weekly Wiki
• Article of the Week
• New Article of the Week