ValueWiki Blog

Fortune Magazine just ranked Google the #1 place to work in America. The Googleplex offers free gormet food, massages, and language lessons. It’s certainly a pretty amazing work environment. Even better than Threadless. Oprah has the scoop…

One Featured Article Per Quarter (WP:1FAPQ) is a group of Wikipedians dedicated to producing a new featured article every quarter. Only 1,393 of Wikipedia’s 1,794,328 articles have achieved Featured article status. This translates to 00.07%. According to the essay Wikipedia is Failing, 99.8% of Wikipedia articles remain unassessed.

Now that Wikipedia has created nearly 1.8 million articles and the rate of new article production is slowing down, there are calls for Wikipedians to focus on quality over quantity. A high number of Wikipedia articles are relatively decent and just need a little extra push to guide them through the featured article process.

My Personal Featured Article Project

A few weeks ago I started the Wikipedia article on the LAPD Rampart Scandal from scratch. My goal is to bring it to Featured Article review within the next three months. This may be recklessly ambitious, but hopefully a worthwhile learning experience.

Notability of The Rampart Scandal

The Rampart Scandal may be the most widespread and well-documented case of police corruption and brutality in U.S. History. More than 70 LAPD Rampart officers were implicated in misconduct. Convicted offenses include illegal shootings, illegal beatings, planting of evidence, framing of suspects, stealing millions of dollars of cocaine, drug dealing, gang membership, bank robbery, falsifying police reports, and the ensuing coverups. Discovering that Wikipedia did not yet cover this topic was like striking wiki-Gold.

Bloods, Hip Hop, and Intrigue

Several Rampart cops were on the payroll of Death Row Records, and had strong ties to the violent Bloods gang. Intriguingly, Rampart police are accused of the drive-by shooting of platinum-selling rap artist Notorious B.I.G. on Wilshire Boulevard in 1997. The wrongful death lawsuit against three Rampart officers is currently ongoing in Los Angeles.

The city of Los Angeles has paid out an estimated $125 million in the settlements of 140 seperate civil suits resulting from overturned convictions by Rampart police. Three independent investigations have concluded that Rampart’s corruption was systemic to the LAPD, and not endemic to rogue police. In fact, former Police Chief Bernard Parks was either actively engaged in covering up the Rampart scandal, or else guilty of extreme negligence. He has so far avoided indictment and currently serves on the Los Angeles City Council representing South Los Angeles.

My Work Cut out for Me

The scope of the Rampart Scandal is enormous. So far, in my attempts to start a reasonable article, I have also had to write Wikipedia articles on Rampart police officers Rafael Perez (stole $800,000 of cocaine), Kevin Gaines (killed by an LAPD undercover cop), David Mack (robbed $722,000 from a bank in South Central), as well as Javier Ovando, an 18th Street Gang member who was handcuffed, shot in the head, and then framed by two Rampart cops.

On a Personal Note

I want to note that I love the police. In fact, I attended the 32nd Annual LAPD Celebrity Golf Tournament this weekend and had the opportunity to meet a lot of outstanding LAPD officers. My interest in the Rampart Scandal has more to do with the fact that this incident seems to be underrepresented in the media and in public awareness, for reasons that elude me.

To illustrate this point, note that the Rampart shootings and beatings greatly excede the perceived brutality of the Rodney King beating. Yet the Rodney King verdict prompted 6 days of rioting in Los Angeles, resulting in more than 50 deaths, 2,000 injuries, 3,600 fires, over $1 Billion in property damage, and Police Chief Daryl Gates resigning in disgrace. Meanwhile, many of the Rampart police murders remain unsolved, Chief Bernard Parks continues to hold political office, and Parks continues to command the widespread support of the South Central community. Rampart cops engaged in every form of police brutality. But in many ways, the scandal seems to have been brushed under the carpet.

On May 1, 2007, the LAPD used excessive force in firing rubber bullets and beating several notable journalists who were covering an immigration rally in the Rampart district of Los Angeles. This event has already resulted in an internal investigation, a lawsuit, and a fairly decent Wikipedia article. But the larger issue is that the alleged “warrior culture” of the LAPD reported by the Christopher Commission in 1991, and the Rampart Scandal Task Force in 1999, may continue to exist in the present day. Presenting neutral point of view information on the Wikipedia Rampart Scandal article and bringing it up to Feature Article status may present a useful resource to the Los Angeles community.

Call to Action

I know the Rampart article is still in its infancy, and can use a lot of work. Anyone who would like to take a look and make some edits is welcome to do so. I can use the help!

The rumors are true. Congratulations to Howard and WallStrip!

*Howard Lindzon gives a thorough rundown of the acquisition.

*Fred Wilson, the lead investor, gives another interesting take.

*Trader Mike, who seems to have some equity-in-exchange-for-publicity, one of Wallstrip’s founders and investors, also covers the story.

*And TechCrunch covers the deal, albeit, with plenty of criticism in the comments.

Last but not least, WallStrip’s coverage of the WallStrip deal:

Thank You Wikipedia!

The world’s largest person is believed to be Carol Yager who was 5 feet 7 inches tall and 5 feet wide. At her peak, she was estimated to be over 1,600 pounds. I decided it was too exploitative to publish her photo, but the morbidly curious can click here.

I found this list via The Wikipedia Knowledge Dump. The full Wikipedia article is here.

WallStrip has a nice interview with Jimmy Wales today, and Howard Lindzon promises to release a longer version of the interview this weekend (note: those of you reading this blog in certain aggregators/feeds may not be able to see the video below).

I had no idea Wales used to be a derivatives trader:

On Monday ValueWiki blogged that Wallstrip was being acquired by CBS for $5 million. I asked Howard for comfirmation and he did briefly respond to say “no comment.”

Martha Argerich playing the Chopin Prelude Op. 28, No. 16. This is worth 53 seconds of your time.

Thousands of Apple employees received a phony email today announcing the iPhone would be delayed through October, and Leopard would be delayed through January. Engadget scooped the story at 11:49am, and by noon, Apple stock crashed $4.

Apple quickly responded to the error, and Engadget has published the original email and its retraction.

SOURCE: Engadget

Original Apple email

From: Bullet News
Date: May 16, 2007 9:09 AM CDT
To: [redacted]
Subject: Mac OS X Leopard and iPhone Delayed

Mac OS X Leopard Delayed Until January
iPhone Delayed Until October

REGIONS: Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Japan, Latin America, United States
GROUPS: AppleCare, Retail

Apple issued a press release today announcing that iPhone which was scheduled to ship in June, has been moved to October and the release date for Mac OS X Leopard has been moved to January next year. A beta version of Mac OS X Leopard will be given to developers at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Apple email retraction

From: [redacted]
Date: May 16, 2007 10:47 AM CDT
To: [redacted]
Subject: NEWS: Disregard Bullet*News Sent May 16 at Approximately 9 a.m. Central–AP/CA/EU/JP/LA/US

You may have received what appeared to be a Bullet*News from Apple. This communication is fake and did not come from Apple.

The Power of Blogs

Message Boards are in a frenzy, calling for Engadget’s head. But it seems quite clear Engadget did nothing wrong, and retracted the story as soon as Apple issued a correction to its employees. The real story here is in the power of blogs. A single post from Engadget can rock Apple stock, and prompt a sell-off of millions of shares within minutes. This is a power the MSM, with its traditional news cycle, simply does not have.

My cousin was recently visiting Los Angeles, and asked me why all the Hollywood movies this summer are trilogies. I gave her my best guess, namely, that Hollywood is run by risk-averse executives with no creativity who aren’t willing to bet the company dime on a spec screenplay.

There was once a time when young screenwriters could make good money shopping fresh stories to Hollywood. Now, ideas are only developed in house once established talent is attached, and the majority of films are based on proven properties like comic books and novels. It’s a sad state of affairs when a trainwreck like Spiderman 3 can break box office records.

Big releases for Summer 2007:

Spider-Man 3
28 Weeks Later
Shrek the Third
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Hostel: Part II
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Indiana Jones 4
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Jurassic Park 4
Rush Hour 3
Ocean’s Thirteen
The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Is it just me or are they all sequels, trilogies, or quadruplets?

Note: TechCrunch reports Hollywood is making a sequel to Wall Street. If there’s one thing Hollywood knows nothing about, it’s Wall Street. Please don’t screw up this gem, Hollywood!

Also Note:If anyone is less lazy than me, please use this list to update Wikipedia’s List of Movie Trilogies.

Jossip.com is reporting this story, which was soon echoed by TechCrunch. The trouble is, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures claims he didn’t broker the deal, and didn’t invest $500,000 in the company either.

Jossip claims the $5,000,000 deal is mainly to acquire the talents of WallStrip host Lindsay Campbell. Campbell is an aspiring actress who is scheduled to appear on the Sopranos.

Despite Fred Wilson’s public denials and corrections, James Altrucher, who recently sold StockPickr to TheStreet.com, seems to think the story is genuine. Jossip claims the story will be broken early this week, possibly Monday. I’ll put in an email to Howard Lindzon.

In the meantime, you can watch Fred Wilson on WallStrip to read his body language for subliminal clues. He does call WallStrip the “next big thing!”

Update 8:30am Monday: Howard says…”No comment.”

Here are some highlights of the week, in case you missed them.

*My Dinner With Rupert - Jeff Jarvis blogs about his dinner with Fox Interactive’s Rupert Murdoch and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Gawker Media’s Nick Denton.

*Conan at Intel - Conan visits Intel in Silicon Valley and makes fun of all the cubicle sheep. Good times.

*David Bullard pisses off the Blogosphere - This MSM columnist pretty much won the nobel prize for link bait when he wrote that Bloggers are the air guitarists of journalism. I was tickled when he said that bloggers are “scrofulous nerd[s] pumping meaningless drivel into cyberspace at all hours of the day and night simply because [they] can’t find a girl to sleep with [them].” But he lost me when he wrote, “[Bloggers] are the sort of wackos who gun down their fellow students at university.” SAY WHAT???

*Final Proof that Bloggers are Egocentric - Hat tip, Guy Kawasaki

*Twiistup was a fun gathering of 300 Southern California entrepreneurs. Albeit, a wee bit crowded.

*Beat up a White Kid Day - For those of you who live overseas, May 1st is Beat up a White Kid day in America.

*My Neighborhood Caught Fire - but I’m okay.

*ValleyWag spotted Natalie Portman at Draper Fisher Jurvetson - There is speculation she may do a Justin T.V. - style internet-streaming show following her life and times. I think Justin TV is a little boring, but I’ve always thought it would be immensely popular if they could sign on a celebrity to follow.