Wikipedia Kicks Ass

I know it’s not the most decorated resource. As a physician, I would never use Wikipedia to confirm medication dosage or surgical indications. But there’s so much cool shit on Wikipedia, I just wanted to give a quick sample of my amazement.

1.A chickenhead is a slang term for someone who performs fellatio. The term originated in African-American sexual slang and gained popularity through use in hip-hop, notably the 2001 single Chickenhead by Project Pat.

2.When Carol Yager died in 1994 at the age of 34, she weighed about 1200 lbs (544 kg), and was 5' 7" (170 cm) in height. It was reported that she was estimated to be more than 5' wide.

3.Humphrey Bogart’s last words, spoken 1/14/57 were, “I never should have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”

4.The Oreo cookie is commonly used with gays as an ingredient or adornment for other foods.

5.The central edifice of Olympus Mons stands 27 kilometers (around 16.7 miles/approx. 88,580 ft) high above the mean surface level of Mars (about three times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level and 2.6 times the height of Mauna Kea above its base).

6.Bukkake is the noun form of the Japanese verb bukkakeru (打っ掛ける, to dash [water]), and means simply "splash".

7.February 19th is Narconon Day. This holiday celebrates the 1966 creation of Narconon, which seeks to cure drug addiction by administering Scientology's Purification Rundown and various "training routines".

8.Malawi's capital is Lilongwe, and its commercial center and largest city is Blantyre with a population of over 500,000 people.

9.The ancient Romans used urine as a bleaching agent for cleaning clothes and teeth.

10.(About Albert Camus) On the subject of his belief or not in God, he writes in the third volume of his notebooks: "I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist."

If I had Wikipedia (or the Internet at all, really) when I was in high school I probably would’ve figured out cold fusion by now. As things stand I can’t even successfully complete a sodoku puzzle and my vocabulary is somewhere in between the “cousin Geri” character on The Facts of Life and a well trained ape. Where else in the world can you find the origin of the word "bukkake" and the capital of Malawi all in one place? Wikipedia, I bow down to thee. I am not worthy. And due to your absence during my primary education I’m not very smart, either.