The rising popularity of online pages such as the brilliant Depths of Wikipedia or the hard-to-put-down Wiki Game (which we’ve written about here) has turned the act of searching for weird Wiki pages into a mainstream activity. But in fact, Wikipedia’s unusual articles page has been around for a whopping 21 years, collecting all sorts of incredible tidbits contributed by editors of the site’s nearly 7,000,000 entries (only counting the English-language version, of course).
Even though we at ITMO.NEWS are no mathematicians, we’d bet it would take actual years to check out each of the entries on the list – but here are just a few of our biggest favorites:
Vladimir Lenin was a CIA asset and it’s not a conspiracy theory
To be honest, I was skeptical about the article’s idea at first: for me, Wikipedia has always been a quick source of useful info, but never something fun. That was until I opened this page, and got completely lost on it over lunch and then for one more hour. It was the hardest decision made this week, but my top pick is about Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos. The Peruvian was named after the Bolsheviks’ leader by his communist parents. In fact, his Wikipedia article is about much more than just his name. He was the head of Peru’s intelligence and connected closely with the CIA, and many regarded him as the true authority in the local government. I wonder who would be your favorite from the Unusual Names section! – Elizaveta
A mouthful of jargon
As a lifelong fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, and any sci-fi that doesn’t take its internal workings too seriously, I adore the concept of technobabble – the nonsensical-yet-charming jargon designed not to make sense, but to indicate that something seriously smart is going on. So, you can imagine my excitement when I learned that it’s not exclusively a science fiction trope.
The story goes that back in 1944, a British scientific journal published The Turbo-Encabulator in Industry, a paper on the working principles of a most impressive device, its purpose unclear, but its design decidedly unique in complexity and capability – a true thingamajig, if you will. Even though the article is purposefully incomprehensible, you can’t help but get drawn in by its prose. Just check out these few snippets:
“The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-delta type placed in panendermic semiboloid solts in the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a non-reversible termic pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeter. [...] Electrical engineers will appreciate the difficulty of nubbing together a regurgitative purwell and a superaminative wennel-sprocket. [...] In addition, whenever a barescent skor motion is required, it may be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocating dingle arm to reduce sinusoidal depleneration”
Over decades, the text has become a stellar example of a pre-internet meme; it’s been re-written, extended, and turned into instructional videos starring professional actors. If you’re an engineer who loves a bit of self-irony, or simply someone who enjoys learning about the peculiarities of language, you, too, will probably enjoy sifting through the various iterations. For bonus points, try reading one of them out loud while keeping a serious face! – Vadim
Music – a world of conspiracies
If you are wondering why some of your favorite ‘00s bops – Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, Kesha’s Tik Tok, and The Rasmus’ In The Shadows, to name a few – sound similar, it’s because they do… Enter the millennial whoop, a distinct major scale musical pattern (helpfully, available in the article), that typically appears around 1 minute into a song. Apparently, it’s meant to capture the listener’s (most likely a millennial’s) attention and signal that they should continue listening – or, perhaps, start dancing to the beat. Seems like there’s even been a lawsuit on the matter: one artist was suing another for similarities in their songs and the use of the millennial whoop. All the efforts to banish it, however, remain in vain: evidently, the tune is here to stay.
This, however, isn’t the only musical conspiracy. Did you know, for instance, that some believe that both Avril Lavigne and Paul McCartney have been replaced by lookalikes after the real stars were murdered or died? Shocking and scandalous as they may sound, they’ve amassed quite a following. And the truth? Perhaps, that’s something we’ll never know (spooky, I know). – Catherine
