UnNews:Wikipedia "reached completion", site founder says

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29 July 2007

Mr. Wales announced he would take advantage of his encyclopedia's completion, giving him more time to do "other things"

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, United States - With the completion of the 5.28×10⁴⁷th article last evening the popular Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia has reached completion. "We are now positively sure Wikipedia covers every single thing in existence," commented the site's co-founder Jimbo Wales, "and I actually am the only founder."

The last article, written by Mr. Wales himself, was about a little chosen dish from "The Great Wall", a small Chinese restaurant in Wales' hometown St. Petersburg. Aptly named Nr. 43 (St. Petersburg restaurant The Great Wall meal), the article describes the preparation of the meal, which is a rice based dish with chicken curry and Chinese vegetables, while soy sauce can optionally be added. The article also contains interesting details about how Mr. and Mrs. Auerbach, tourists from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, visiting Florida contracted diarrhea after consuming the dish on November 23, 1998, and that although it has (so far) not yet been referred to in an episodes of the long running cartoon sitcom The Simpsons, there is an online petition for it to be written into the script of the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie.

The Wikipedia community has offered to place a plaque commemorating the event in the restaurant, although the owner Mr. Liu has voiced discontent about the encyclopedia's treatment of his restaurant: "The Mexican restaurant at the other side of the road had articles about all its meals eight months ago already, and the local snack bar more than a year ago." Wikipedia's reaction to his criticism was that he could have created the article himself.

The completion of Wikipedia marks the end of a gigantic effort that has kept tens of thousands of people busy for years. Reactions of Wikipedians vary from spontaneous outbursts of celebration to complete disorientation from contributors not knowing what to do with their time now. Some of the most avid contributors have started to organize a contribution to the Amazon rain forest to check if every tree really has been covered by Wikipedia. Others have suggested to dedicate the rest of their lives to more useful things, such as editing Uncyclopedia.

And in a related story, Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, announces "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Sources

• Wikipedia "Who ever wants to read this?" Wikipedia, July 29, 2007