9 ridiculous Wikipedia lists to waste away the work day – Memeburn
By Julia Breakey on 9 March, 2017 Share
For the last six years of my life, I have had teachers, lecturers and tutors drill into my brain: Wikipedia is not an acceptable source.
And for six whole years I have steered clear of the tomes of knowledge Wikipedia offers me.
No longer.
Wikipedia has a knack for distracting me from the anxieties of daily life, and there is no better distraction than its carefully curated lists.
So, for your consideration, here are the nine best lists on Wikipedia right now.
This list mostly looks at albums and songs that critics have declared the worst ever written. On it youll find classics like Justin BiebersBabyand Black Eyed PeasMy Humps.And while critics are definitely wrong about 4 Non BlondesWhats Up, the rest of the list is pretty spot on, and the critiques are hilarious.
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The lyrics, most notably F**king magnets, how do they work? And I dont wanna talk to a scientist / Yall motherf**kers lying, and getting me pissed have been noted as the worst lyrics of all time
Image: brewbooks via Flickr (CC 2.0, resized)
Wikipedia is spilling hottea withthis list, outing all popes who havetaken their rogers out for an unholy swim. And if you think its just wives and women the dear popes of yore were into, think again. A few popes have been embroiled in scandals of the homosexual nature, and its all on Wikipedia for you to see.
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thought to have diedof indigestion from eating a melon, though detractors insisted he died while engaging in sodomy with a page
Former US President George W. Bush was notorious for his difficulty withthe English language,but one thing he seemed to be very good at was doling out nicknames. Whether it was nicknamingAssistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and Promotion Altoid Boy or the Prime Minister of Italy Shoes, Bush really had a knack for not taking the most important job in the world seriously.
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Pootie-Poot, Ostrich Legs Vladimir Putin, Presidentand Prime Minister of Russia
Yip, thats right. There are people who sat down and recorded absolutely nothing and got noted for it. Follow your dreams, kids!
Pieces listed here include works from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The All-American Rejects and Korn. Whod have thought those three acts would be listed in one sentence together?
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The band was going through all the motions: the swart, longish-haired leader led away; the brasses, the saxophones, the clarinets made a great show of fingering and blowing, but the only sound from the stage was a rhythmic swish-swish from the trap-drummer, a froggy slap-slap from the bull-fiddler, a soft plunk-plunk from the pianist.
Image: Ergsap via Flickr (CC 2.0, resized)
You may think you know stuff I know I did but this list will have you feeling like Jon Snow in no time. How sure are you that Adam and Eves forbidden fruit was an apple? Orthat evolution explains the origin of life? Or that humans only have five senses?If you answered anything stronger than relatively sure, you world is about to change forever.
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The term Immaculate Conception was not coined to refer to the virgin birth of Jesus,nor does it reference a supposed belief in the virgin birth of Mary, his mother. Instead, it denotes a Roman Catholic belief that Mary was not in a state of original sin from the moment of her own conception.
Talkabout being a good boy! Some of these animals have done tremendous things with their lives, despite being born into a society that told them they couldnt. And, sure, maybe the degrees arelegallyfraudulent, but these badassanimals prefer not to let semantics get them down.
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Ben Goldacre, a UK-based physician and science journalist, wrote in 2004 that his cat, Henrietta, had obtained a diploma in nutrition from the American Association of Nutritional Consultants; Goldacre had been investigating allegations about the qualifications claimed by Gillian McKeith.Goldacre said, its a particular honour since dear, sweet, little Hettie died about a year ago.
If a dead cat can reach its dreams, so too can the rest of us.
While erroneous reporting of famous deaths are more common in the internet age (how often have Betty White and Rowan Atkinson died?), there are some great stories on this list predating the world wide web of lies.
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On 2 October 1571, a pallbearer dropped his coffin on the way to the funeral, waking him up. His resurrection is still celebrated each year in Braughing, Hertfordshire.
Stiglers Law refers to scientific discoveries named after people who didnt discover them. Alison Bechdel didnt invent the Bechdel test, Indians discovered the Fibonacci sequence before him and not even Sir Isaac Newton discovered his first two laws. Who can we even trust anymore?
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Stiglers Law, attributed by Stephen Stigler himself to Robert K. Merton
Exactly what it says on the tin. All links here take you to another list. Endless procrastination abounds. Youre welcome.
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lists about skepticism
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9 ridiculous Wikipedia lists to waste away the work day - Memeburn
- Zara Larsson Begs Wikipedia Editors to 'Cut It Out' and Stop Changing Her Photo to Unflattering Snap - People.com - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Knowledge is human: Co-founder Jimmy Wales on why Wikipedia still matters in an AI world - The Indian Express - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Zara Larsson begs fans to stop changing her Wikipedia photo - The Independent - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- How to Use Jwikithe Wikipedia for all Things Epstein Files - inc.com - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Zara Larsson is at to war with Wikipedia over her photo - - Happy Mag - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Hamas-Linked NGO Trains Gazans to Influence Wikipedia Narratives on Israel - Combat Antisemitism Movement - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Zara Larsson Is Begging You to Stop Changing Her Wikipedia Photo - Exclaim! - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Meet wonderkid Tom Edozie who doesn't have Wikipedia and unknown to Wolves boss - The Sun - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- IIT Guwahati Unveils Scalable Method To Detect Wikipedia Name Errors At AI Summit 2026 - BW Education - February 20th, 2026 [February 20th, 2026]
- Org. trains Gazans to edit Israel, Palestine on Wikipedia - The Jerusalem Post - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Theres a whole show about Wikipedia, and its delightful and hopeful - San Francisco Chronicle - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia is having a renaissance in the age of AI - vox.com - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia: The Non-Profit Exception on the Web in the AI Era | 2026 - nssmag.com - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- German Wikipedia bans AI-generated content while other language editions take a softer approach - the-decoder.com - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- #MCGlobalExclusive | ~ "AI doesn't understand what is real and what's not real.. At Wikipedia we believe knowledge is human." "There is... - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales On Building Systems That Trust People - Forbes - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Not sure whats going to happen, says Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales as traffic dips - Moneycontrol - February 18th, 2026 [February 18th, 2026]
- Only 20% of Wikipedia Biographies Are About Women: This Effort Wants to Change That - ColoradoBoulevard.net - February 11th, 2026 [February 11th, 2026]
- Epstein Files: Al Seckel Boasts of Hacking Wikipedia to Scrub Epsteins Mugshot and Sex Offender Label Epstein bragged that his team bypassed... - February 11th, 2026 [February 11th, 2026]
- Building Teachers Capacity to Read and Use Wikipedia in the Classroom - Wikimedia.org - February 11th, 2026 [February 11th, 2026]
- What AI Can Learn from YouTube and Wikipedia - Muse by Clio - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- When Wikipedia Takes the Stage: A Slam to Celebrate 25 Years of Free Knowledge - Wikimedia.org - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
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- Celebrating Wikipedia at 25: Reflections from the January 2026 EduWiki Knowledge Showcase - Wikimedia.org - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Extreme anti-Zionists taking over Wikipedia, former US official says - JNS.org - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Celebrating Wikipedia 25 by Gathering and Editing Sasaknese Wikipedia and Wiktionary - Wikimedia.org - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Wikipedia's list of inventors killed by their own inventions keeps growing - Boing Boing - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Wikipedia's "List of lists of lists" contains itself - Boing Boing - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Shark Tanks Barbara Corcoran Once Faked Her Own Death and Even Fooled Wikipedia - Shark Tank Blog - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- As Wikipedia celebrates its 25th anniversary, we spoke with the head of machine learning and data engineering at the Wikimedia Foundation about AI,... - February 7th, 2026 [February 7th, 2026]
- Creepy jail cell pics and Trump Wikipedia page included in new Jeffrey Epstein files - The Independent - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- Wikipedia Inks AI Deals with Microsoft, Meta and Perplexity on 25th Birthday - Broadband Breakfast - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- People Shared The Most Extremely Wild, Dark, And Interesting Wikipedia "Facts" - BuzzFeed - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- Wikipedia Is 25 Years Old. How Does That Make You Feel? - VICE - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- The IAC and Wikimedia Spain promote an edit-a-thon to raise the profile of women in astronomy on Wikipedia - Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias IAC - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- Fact check | Viral screenshot shows Ajit Pawar's death was updated on Wikipedia hours before Baramati crash - WION - February 1st, 2026 [February 1st, 2026]
- Netflixs Take That documentary feels like a Wikipedia entry brought to life - The Telegraph - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on the pillars of organizational trust - ASBN Small Business Network - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Discount garmin fenix 5 pro Online Sale Garmin Fenix Wikipedia - Through The Fence Baseball - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Shop solar movies green book Flash Sales The Green Inferno film Wikipedia - Through The Fence Baseball - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
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- Shop cinebay new movies Clearance The Fugitive 1993 film Wikipedia - Through The Fence Baseball - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Wikipedia at 25: Jimmy Wales on AI Hallucination and why he trusts humans over algorithms - The Federal - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Best are princess cut diamonds more expensive Factory Sale Princess cut Wikipedia - Through The Fence Baseball - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- Wikipedia celebrates its first 25 years with a warning about the threat of AI to its next 25 - PC Gamer - January 28th, 2026 [January 28th, 2026]
- 25 years of Wikipedia, 25 years of SF drama - sfstandard.com - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- A Birthday Cake Song for 25 Years of Wikipedia! - Wikimedia.org - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia volunteers spent years cataloging AI tells. Now theres a plugin to avoid them. - Ars Technica - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia, Qatar, and the Future of Knowledge - Algemeiner.com - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Turns 25: Celebrating a Legacy of Collective Knowledge and Volunteer Dedication - Hoodline - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Pro-government editors wiped Iran rights abuses from Wikipedia - watchdog - - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Marks 25 Years by Spotlighting the Volunteers Behind the Platform - DesignRush - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Celebrating 25 Years of Wikipedia: WikiClub Tech UIT Marks a Milestone in Open Knowledge - Wikimedia.org - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia turns 25 and spotlights the humans behind the worlds knowledge - Creative Boom - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- I'm devastated these Wikipedia logos were robbed from us - Creative Bloq - January 26th, 2026 [January 26th, 2026]
- Wikipedia turns 25 and shares a glimpse into the lives of its volunteer editors - The Verge - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia celebrates 25 years of knowledge at its best - Wikimedia Foundation - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires - TBIJ - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are paying up for enterprise access to Wikipedia - The Verge - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia's 25th anniversary: The story behind the creation of Concord, New Hampshire, article. - Concord Monitor - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- At 25, Wikipedia Now Faces Its Most Existential ThreatGenerative A.I. - Scientific American - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia marks 25 years by celebrating its volunteer army of editors - Ad Age - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Turns 25, Sells Access To Amazon, Meta, Microsoft And Other AI Giants - Forbes - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Is Now 25 Years Old [Citation Not Needed] - PCMag - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia is now 25 years old worlds 7th most popular website now has over 7 million English articles and 7 billion monthly visitors - Tom's Hardware - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are paying up for enterprise access to Wikipedia - TechRadar - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- After Being Pillaged By AI Companies, Wikipedia Signs Deal to Get Paid By Them - Futurism - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia is more important, and more vulnerable, than ever - The Boston Globe - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Partners With Big Tech Companies To Allow Access To Its Data For Developing And Training AI Models - AfroTech - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Marks 25 Years, Spotlighting Africas Growing Role In Knowledge - AfricaBrief - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Daily Digest: Wikipedia cuts deal with AI giants, Green Day coming to S.F. waterfront - San Francisco Business Times - The Business Journals - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- AI firms need to pay fair share for using Wikipedia, founder says - Euronews.com - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Newsletter | Ecocide, a controversial mega-bridge & Wikipedia manipulation - Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia is now getting paid by Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity, and other AI companies - TechSpot - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]
- Wikipedia Strikes Lucrative Deals with Tech Giants for AI Training Access - Technology Org - January 18th, 2026 [January 18th, 2026]