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π Idiocracy
Idiocracy is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film co-produced and directed by Mike Judge from a screenplay written by Judge and Etan Cohen based on a story written by Judge. The plot follows United States Army librarian Joe Bauers and prostitute Rita, who undergo a government hibernation experiment. Joe and Rita awake five hundred years later in a dystopian anti-intellectual society. The cast includes Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, David Herman, Justin Long, Andrew Wilson, and Brad Jordan.
The concept of Idiocracy dates back to a concept Judge envisioned in 1996. Judge finished a script with the working title 3001 in 2001, rewriting the film a year later. Filming took place throughout 2004 at Austin Studios and other cities in Texas. Idiocracy serves as a social satire that touches on issues including anti-intellectualism, commercialism, consumerism, dysgenics, voluntary childlessness, and overpopulation. 20th Century Fox was hesitant to promote the film, refusing to grant it a wide release, and did not screen the film for critics. The decision not to market Idiocracy was seen as unexpected, following the success of Office Space (1999), and led to speculation. According to Crews, the film's satirical depiction of corporations made the film financially unviable, while Judge attributed 20th Century Fox's decision to negative test screenings; Judge stated that 20th Century Fox believed that the film would develop a cult following through its DVD release, similar to Office Space.
The film was released in the United States on September 1, 2006. Despite its lack of a major theatrical release, which resulted in a $495,000 gross at the box office, the film received positive reviews from critics and has since become a cult film.
Discussed on
- "Idiocracy" | 2026-01-19 | 25 Upvotes 13 Comments
- "Idiocracy" | 2025-05-24 | 87 Upvotes 25 Comments
π WikiProject AI Cleanup
Welcome to WikiProject AI Cleanupβa collaboration to combat the increasing problem of unsourced, poorly written AI-generated content on Wikipedia. If you would like to help, add yourself as a participant in the project, inquire on the talk page, and see the to-do list.
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- "Wikipedia: WikiProject AI Cleanup" | 2026-01-19 | 235 Upvotes 93 Comments
- "WikiProject AI Cleanup" | 2024-10-09 | 10 Upvotes 2 Comments
π Captive Wi-Fi
A captive portal is a web page accessed with a web browser that is displayed to newly connected users of a Wi-Fi or wired network before they are granted broader access to network resources. Captive portals are commonly used to present a landing or log-in page which may require authentication, payment, acceptance of an end-user license agreement/acceptable use policy, or survey completion. Captive portals are used for a broad range of mobile and pedestrian broadband servicesΒ β including cable and both commercially provided Wi-Fi and home hotspots. A captive portal can also be used to provide access to enterprise or residential wired networks, such as apartment houses, hotel rooms, and business centers.
The captive portal is presented to the client and is stored either at the gateway or on a web server hosting the web page. Depending on the feature set of the gateway, websites or TCP ports can be allow-listed so that the user would not have to interact with the captive portal in order to use them. The MAC address of attached clients can also be used to bypass the login process for specified devices.
WISPr refers to this web-browserβbased authentication method as the Universal Access Method (UAM).
Discussed on
- "Captive Wi-Fi" | 2026-01-18 | 27 Upvotes 23 Comments
π Overlapping Markup
In markup languages and the digital humanities, overlap occurs when a document has two or more structures that interact in a non-hierarchical manner. A document with overlapping markup cannot be represented as a tree. This is also known as concurrent markup. Overlap happens, for instance, in poetry, where there may be a metrical structure of feet and lines; a linguistic structure of sentences and quotations; and a physical structure of volumes and pages and editorial annotations.
Discussed on
- "Overlapping Markup" | 2026-01-18 | 68 Upvotes 11 Comments
- "Overlapping Markup" | 2022-12-12 | 92 Upvotes 47 Comments
π Umarell, men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites
Umarell (Italian pronunciation:Β [umaΛrΙl]; modern revisitation of the Bolognese dialect word umarΓ¨l [umaΛrΙΛl]) is a term in the Italo-Romance variety of Bologna referring specifically to men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites, especially roadworksΒ β stereotypically with hands clasped behind their back and offering unwanted advice. Its literal meaning is "little man" (also umarΓ¨in). The term is employed as lighthearted mockery or self-deprecation.
The modern term was popularised in 2005 by local writer Danilo Masotti through two books and an associated blog. In December 2020, the word was included in the Zingarelli dictionary.
Discussed on
- "Umarell β men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites" | 2026-01-18 | 22 Upvotes 4 Comments
- "Umarell, men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites" | 2021-11-25 | 161 Upvotes 37 Comments
- "Umarell" | 2021-11-24 | 51 Upvotes 4 Comments
π Gladys West's vital contributions to GPS technology
Gladys Brown West (nΓ©e Gladys Mae Brown; October 27, 1930 β January 17, 2026) was an African American mathematician. She was known for her contributions to mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of satellite geodesy models, which were later incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS).
West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018. She was awarded the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for the development of satellite geodesy models.
Discussed on
- "Gladys West's vital contributions to GPS technology" | 2026-01-16 | 78 Upvotes 6 Comments
π East Germany balloon escape
On 16 September 1979, eight people from two families escaped from East Germany by crossing the border into West Germany at night in a homemade hot air balloon. The unique feat was the result of over a year and a half of preparations involving three different balloons, various modifications, and a first, unsuccessful attempt. The failed attempt alerted the East German authorities to the plot, but the police were unable to identify the escapees before their second, successful flight two months later.
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- "East Germany balloon escape" | 2026-01-16 | 724 Upvotes 301 Comments
π List of individual trees
The following is a list of individual trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as well as trees from myths and religions.
Discussed on
- "List of individual trees" | 2026-01-16 | 368 Upvotes 116 Comments
π 1000 Blank White Cards
1000 Blank White Cards is a party card game played with cards in which the deck is created as part of the game. Though it has been played by adults in organized groups worldwide, 1000 Blank White Cards is also described as well-suited for children in Hoyle's Rules of Games. Since any game rules are contained on the cards (rather than existing as all-encompassing rules or in a rule book), 1000 Blank White Cards can be considered a sort of nomic. It can be played by any number of players and provides the opportunity for card creation and gameplay outside the scope of a single sitting. Creating new cards during the game, dealing with previous cards' effects, is allowed, and rule modification is encouraged as an integral part of gameplay.
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- "1000 Blank White Cards" | 2026-01-14 | 364 Upvotes 63 Comments
π Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied
"Justice delayed is justice denied" is a legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no remedy at all.
This principle is the basis for the right to a speedy trial and similar rights which are meant to expedite the legal system, because of the unfairness for the injured party who sustained the injury having little hope for timely and effective remedy and resolution. The phrase has become a rallying cry for legal reformers who view courts, tribunals, judges, arbitrators, administrative law judges, commissions or governments as acting too slowly in resolving legal issues β either because the case is too complex, the existing system is too complex or overburdened, or because the issue or party in question lacks political favour. Individual cases may be affected by judicial hesitancy to make a decision. Statutes and court rules have tried to control the tendency; and judges may be subject to oversight and even discipline for persistent failures to decide matters timely, or accurately report their backlog. When a court takes a matter "under advisement" β awaiting the issue of a judicial opinion, order or judgement and forestalls final adjudication of a lawsuit or resolution of a motion β the issue of timeliness of the decision(s) comes into play.
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- "Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied" | 2026-01-13 | 29 Upvotes 1 Comments