New Year, new Wikipedia list.
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New Year, new Wikipedia list.
Wrote a quick stub for Valorie Taylor, the Republican chosen by the Governor to replace Jim Harrison who resigned from the Vermont House of Representatives because he's moving to New Hampshire. Taylor had previously resigned from her town's selectboard (where she served as chair) citing "stress" as the reason. No official portrait yet, so here's her running a race.
Last year's list is here. https://glammr.us/@jessamyn/113755586410070454
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New Year, new Wikipedia list.
Wrote a quick stub for Valorie Taylor, the Republican chosen by the Governor to replace Jim Harrison who resigned from the Vermont House of Representatives because he's moving to New Hampshire. Taylor had previously resigned from her town's selectboard (where she served as chair) citing "stress" as the reason. No official portrait yet, so here's her running a race.
Last year's list is here. https://glammr.us/@jessamyn/113755586410070454
One more quick stub for one more appointed Senator, this one is mine! A staggering 35 years of volunteer firefighting service for this civil engineer and currently his town's Selectboard chair. I'm a little surprised he's got time to work in the legislature. Good luck John Benson!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benson_(Vermont_politician)
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One more quick stub for one more appointed Senator, this one is mine! A staggering 35 years of volunteer firefighting service for this civil engineer and currently his town's Selectboard chair. I'm a little surprised he's got time to work in the legislature. Good luck John Benson!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benson_(Vermont_politician)
Randy Riley was the State Librarian of Michigan until his untimely death this week. He seemed like a wonderful man, a librarian's librarian, who really believed in access and outreach. Thanks to an interview he did with IMLS, there was a public domain image of him available. It can be hard, sometimes, for librarians to get a lot of media mentions, so much of what they do is just about the institution, not the person. I am sorry I did not know him better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Riley
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Randy Riley was the State Librarian of Michigan until his untimely death this week. He seemed like a wonderful man, a librarian's librarian, who really believed in access and outreach. Thanks to an interview he did with IMLS, there was a public domain image of him available. It can be hard, sometimes, for librarians to get a lot of media mentions, so much of what they do is just about the institution, not the person. I am sorry I did not know him better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Riley
@jessamyn thank you for this. Randy was truly an advocate and did so much for libraries in Michigan, as well as being a genuine person who was always interested in what was going on with the person he was speaking with. His loss is devastating to so many of us here and we are still reeling that he is no longer with us. It is good to have his memory in this way.
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Randy Riley was the State Librarian of Michigan until his untimely death this week. He seemed like a wonderful man, a librarian's librarian, who really believed in access and outreach. Thanks to an interview he did with IMLS, there was a public domain image of him available. It can be hard, sometimes, for librarians to get a lot of media mentions, so much of what they do is just about the institution, not the person. I am sorry I did not know him better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Riley
Funny thing about Wikipedia, if someone's name is a "redirect" (i.e. goes to the name of their band, not them) and you turn that into an article, you don't get credit for an article creation. I mostly don't care about getting credit, but I do a tiny bit
ANYWAY, I wrote a stub for Steve Wilson, one of many Steve Wilsons, who is the current drummer for the Dead Kennedys and the only one in the band's footer template without a page. Here he is with my partner's dad. RIP DH
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilson_(drummer)
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@oscarjiminy If you're referring to the template in the footer it just lists everybody who's ever been in the band. But I agree, it could definitely be less confusing.
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Funny thing about Wikipedia, if someone's name is a "redirect" (i.e. goes to the name of their band, not them) and you turn that into an article, you don't get credit for an article creation. I mostly don't care about getting credit, but I do a tiny bit
ANYWAY, I wrote a stub for Steve Wilson, one of many Steve Wilsons, who is the current drummer for the Dead Kennedys and the only one in the band's footer template without a page. Here he is with my partner's dad. RIP DH
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilson_(drummer)
When Helen Macdonald says you've got the best author photo she's ever seen and gives your first book a glowing review, people take notice. But maybe not Wikipedia people. Now that Jonathan Slaght's got a second book about Amur tigers (and the first one about fish owls won a lot of awards) it's high time he was in Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Slaght
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When Helen Macdonald says you've got the best author photo she's ever seen and gives your first book a glowing review, people take notice. But maybe not Wikipedia people. Now that Jonathan Slaght's got a second book about Amur tigers (and the first one about fish owls won a lot of awards) it's high time he was in Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Slaght
@jessamyn Can I just confirm with you that that fish owl actively has a fish in its mouth at time of portrait
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When Helen Macdonald says you've got the best author photo she's ever seen and gives your first book a glowing review, people take notice. But maybe not Wikipedia people. Now that Jonathan Slaght's got a second book about Amur tigers (and the first one about fish owls won a lot of awards) it's high time he was in Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Slaght
@jessamyn that's an *excellent* author photo
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@jessamyn Can I just confirm with you that that fish owl actively has a fish in its mouth at time of portrait
@jmac YES. It looks like such a house cat, I love it.
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When Helen Macdonald says you've got the best author photo she's ever seen and gives your first book a glowing review, people take notice. But maybe not Wikipedia people. Now that Jonathan Slaght's got a second book about Amur tigers (and the first one about fish owls won a lot of awards) it's high time he was in Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Slaght
@jessamyn ooh, I didn't even think he wasn't on Wikipedia yet. I loved Owls of the Eastern Ice!
Thanks for your efforts! (Even if it breaks my heart a little that those have been licenced to AI companies now...) -
@jessamyn ooh, I didn't even think he wasn't on Wikipedia yet. I loved Owls of the Eastern Ice!
Thanks for your efforts! (Even if it breaks my heart a little that those have been licenced to AI companies now...)@gmachine Honestly, while I really don't care for AI, the relentless hype around it, or the effect it has on the environment, I can see it from the WMF position which is that the AI companies were scraping this (free) content already and thrashing their servers so I see this as the "least harm" position. The content was already free. Do I hope all these companies fold after losing every single righteous lawsuit against them? Sure do. For now I'm also okay with WMF getting paid.
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@gmachine Honestly, while I really don't care for AI, the relentless hype around it, or the effect it has on the environment, I can see it from the WMF position which is that the AI companies were scraping this (free) content already and thrashing their servers so I see this as the "least harm" position. The content was already free. Do I hope all these companies fold after losing every single righteous lawsuit against them? Sure do. For now I'm also okay with WMF getting paid.
@jessamyn Ok, that's good then! I of course also fully understand WMF's pragmatism behind the decision, I'm guess I'm just a bit worried about creating a financial dependence on these exploitative big tech companies.
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@jessamyn Ok, that's good then! I of course also fully understand WMF's pragmatism behind the decision, I'm guess I'm just a bit worried about creating a financial dependence on these exploitative big tech companies.
@gmachine I hear you. The vibe I get, and I may be wrong about this, is this is more about diversifying their revenue stream than any specific cash flow problems. Despite their annual urgent-feeling fundraisers, I feel that the foundation is doing okay $$$-wise.
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When Helen Macdonald says you've got the best author photo she's ever seen and gives your first book a glowing review, people take notice. But maybe not Wikipedia people. Now that Jonathan Slaght's got a second book about Amur tigers (and the first one about fish owls won a lot of awards) it's high time he was in Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Slaght
@jessamyn oh snap I know Jonathan… well not him really, his kid, who is in my sons scout troop. He’s a cool kid. For some reason he knows a lot about owls!
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@jessamyn oh snap I know Jonathan… well not him really, his kid, who is in my sons scout troop. He’s a cool kid. For some reason he knows a lot about owls!
@drnixon Hahaha. I told Jonathan on Bluesky that I liked the book (which I did) but stopped short of telling him "SO I WROTE THIS WHOLE WIKIPEDIA PAGE" Maybe someday...
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@jessamyn To any book critic, "So you don't like my book? The Owl might differ with you. So be careful walking at night. His friends will find you."
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@gmachine I hear you. The vibe I get, and I may be wrong about this, is this is more about diversifying their revenue stream than any specific cash flow problems. Despite their annual urgent-feeling fundraisers, I feel that the foundation is doing okay $$$-wise.
"Patrons" always impact the editorial decisions of public interest information institutions.
Examples:
1. David Koch joining the PBS board of directors.
https://truthout.org/articles/the-corporate-dictatorship-of-pbs-and-npr/Nova & Frontline never did another hard hitting expose of Koch Network's anti-democracy, policies of immiseration, & climate denial again.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/27/a-word-from-our-sponsor
https://www.pbs.org/publiceditor/blogs/ombudsman/global-warming-koch-and-nova/
https://harpers.org/archive/2014/10/pbs-self-destructs/
https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/pbs_pulls_ads_from_harpers_mag.php
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"Patrons" always impact the editorial decisions of public interest information institutions.
Examples:
1. David Koch joining the PBS board of directors.
https://truthout.org/articles/the-corporate-dictatorship-of-pbs-and-npr/Nova & Frontline never did another hard hitting expose of Koch Network's anti-democracy, policies of immiseration, & climate denial again.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/27/a-word-from-our-sponsor
https://www.pbs.org/publiceditor/blogs/ombudsman/global-warming-koch-and-nova/
https://harpers.org/archive/2014/10/pbs-self-destructs/
https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/pbs_pulls_ads_from_harpers_mag.php
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2. Bill Ackman & Harvard University -- The destruction of reputation at elite universities
The venal think their megadonations gives them control of legacy admissions, partisan slant, management, and endowment fund looting.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/03/bill-ackman-billionaire-attacks-claudine-gay-harvard-twitter-xThe White Supremacist curriculum...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/arts/national-humanities-endowment-grants.htmlhttps://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/2/ackman-backs-gino/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/bill-ackman-war-harvard-mit-dei-claudine-gay.html
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/trump-admin-appeals-funding-restoration
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/bill-ackman-harvard-antisemitism.html
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2. Bill Ackman & Harvard University -- The destruction of reputation at elite universities
The venal think their megadonations gives them control of legacy admissions, partisan slant, management, and endowment fund looting.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/03/bill-ackman-billionaire-attacks-claudine-gay-harvard-twitter-xThe White Supremacist curriculum...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/arts/national-humanities-endowment-grants.htmlhttps://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/2/ackman-backs-gino/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/bill-ackman-war-harvard-mit-dei-claudine-gay.html
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/trump-admin-appeals-funding-restoration
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/bill-ackman-harvard-antisemitism.html
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3. Nikole Hannah Jones, Tenure, and UNC's donor Hussman.
Billionaires think their money gives them hire, fire, retire control of supposedly autonomous organizations.
https://zora.medium.com/unc-threw-shade-on-nikole-hannah-jones-1619-project-denying-her-tenure-78f0767f37aehttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/business/media/nikole-hannah-jones-unc.html
Institutions get bullied to abandon DEI, ESG, climate research
https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2025/02/03/koch-spent-91-million-to-influence-higher-education-in-2023/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-claudine-gay-bill-ackman-diversity-and-inclusion/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/15/investing/bill-ackman-harvard
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/13/how-larry-ellison-worlds-richest-man-buying-oxford/
