Tag: Six degrees of wikipedia

Finding Jesus on Wikipedia

Back in 2006 when nobody read my blog I came up with this unoriginal “six degrees of Wikipedia” game. I haven’t really played it since.

Boing Boing today posted “Click to Jesus” – a similar concept. See how you go.

1. Go over to Wikipedia.
2. Click “Random Article” just below the Wikipedia unfinished Death Star logo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
3. Choose the link in the article you think will get you closest to the Jesus article.
4. Keep track of the articles. Continue step 3 until you arrive at Jesus.

Scoring:
1 point for Random page
1 point for each click
1 point for Jesus page

You get style points if you start at Kevin Bacon – share your path from Kevin Bacon to Jesus in the comments.

December 29, 2009

The Pylon Challenge

The next wikipedia challenge topic has been set – and expanded. Please do your best to find random topics 6 degrees of separation from Pylons.

The expanded challenge is to use a similie finishing with “like a pylon” in ordinary conversation once in the next week. Your efforts should be recorded in the comments section below.

December 13, 2006

Six degrees of Wikipedia

It’s been a while since I posted twice in one day – but I just had the awesomest idea…

I was reading wikipedia (as I do at 4.30 most afternoons when work has slowed down and I’m killing time until 5) and I had this cool thought – it turns out it’s not completely original. But I’ve devised the first weekly “Nathan Goes to Townsville Six Degrees of Wikipedia Challenge.”

Wikipedia is a great way to satisfy pangs of curiosity and also to learn bizarre new things. The challenge is to all start at the same page and link to six obscure wikipedia entries from that one point. The winner is the person who ends up the furthest away from the original topic.

For example – if I started at Wikipedia’s entry on the Watergate scandal I can go to a page on wiretaps, from there I can go to a page on Time Domain Reflectometers, from there to soil moisture, from there to evapotranspiration, from there to conifers, and from there to DNA Sequences (or molecular biology).

There’s a site that can find the shortest possible set of links between two articles on wikipedia which is very interesting and will possibly help you on your quest if you’d like to work in reverse.

Your first wikipedia challenge begins with Townsville

Post your findings and we’ll all be able to learn new and wonderful things – which would be very didactic.

November 23, 2006