African Language Wiktionaries Language 30/5/2010 15/5/2011 29/10/2014 22/3/2019 % + Malagasy 4,253 – 3,599,084 5,482,632 52.33% Afrikaans 14,669 14,731 15,794 20,831 31.89% Swahili 13,000 13,027 13,903 14,029 0.91% Wolof 2,689 2,693 2,310 2,312 0.09% Somali – – – 1,635 – Sotho 1,389 1,398 1,343 1,343 0.00% Lingala – – – 673 – Zulu 131 510… Continue reading March 2019 African language Wikipedia and Wiktionary update
A Seasoned Travellers Guide to Jet Lag
As a seasoned traveller I’ve mastered the art of avoiding jet lag, and will share it in this blog post. The solution is simple – no need for sleeping pills. I will try and catch some sleep on the plane if it’s night time at my destination, but usually this is sporadic, and I arrive… Continue reading A Seasoned Travellers Guide to Jet Lag
The Emerald Isle?
At its peak, following the last ice age, Ireland was covered in forest. The first humans, initially hunter gatherers, arrived around 9000 years ago. About 6000 years ago the forests began to disappear as farming began to take hold. By 1600, forest cover was still substantial, but as population pressure grew, and in particular clearance… Continue reading The Emerald Isle?
Simple hosting?
All I want is a simple website! OK, I have a website, and you’re probably reading this on it. But I want a simple website. Since 2006, I’ve had a server hosted with Asergo (previously EasySpeedy). It ran a lot at one stage. Huge mounds of organic food found new homes through its circuits. Today… Continue reading Simple hosting?
Written in the Stars
When meeting someone through online dating for the first time, things can go a number of ways. You can decide to meet them again, or not to meet them again. You can have a fun time together, or not such a fun time together. I thought it time to expand on the possible outcomes. I… Continue reading Written in the Stars
Six days of the Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare’s less well-known, and less well-regarded, plays. Some believe this to be because Queen Elizabeth instructed Shakespeare to write a play featuring Falstaff (the lecherous main character, who also appears in the two King Henry IVs) and complete it in fourteen days, in which case it’s a… Continue reading Six days of the Merry Wives of Windsor
Cape Town Wikimania, and some Wikidata observations
The 2018 Wikimania was held in Cape Town from July 18 to July 22. Wikimania is the annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation, the foundation supporting Wikipedia and other hosted projects, such as Wikimedia Commons, WikiVoyage, Wikidata and Wiktionary. I’ve never been to a Wikimania before – the closest I came was almost going to… Continue reading Cape Town Wikimania, and some Wikidata observations
Zulu Wikipedia reaches 1000 articles
Just in time for Wikimania, the Zulu Wikipedia has reached the 1000 article milestone. Congratulations to user Njabulo19 who created the 1000th article. Njabulo19 started editing actively in 2017 and has continued into 2018, and has paid particular attention to article categories. Well done Zulu Wikipedia community for having reached 4 figures – wishing you… Continue reading Zulu Wikipedia reaches 1000 articles
Better than the Beatles
I’m not sure I’m going to sleep tonight. I’ve discovered a classic album, one of those new discoveries that sears itself into your consciousness, leaving you forever changed. Kurt Cobain listed this as his fifth favorite album of all time. Frank Zappa apparently called them better than the Beatles. I can’t believe I haven’t heard… Continue reading Better than the Beatles
June 2018 African language Wikipedia update, 50 000 articles for Afrikaans
There are only 19 days to go until Wikimania in Cape Town, so it’s a good time to look at the state of the African language Wikipedias again, as always based on the imperfect metric of number of articles. The following tables show the number of articles for each language on a particular date, as… Continue reading June 2018 African language Wikipedia update, 50 000 articles for Afrikaans