What? No Wiki?

"No page with that title exists."

That's the message you get if you search Wikipedia for Brummana High School. How is it possible that the world's largest online user-contributed encyclopedia has no entry for BHS?

As you may know, Wikipedia is a wiki site, meaning that its content is wholly created, maintained, and edited by users. Yeah, regular every day people like you and me are the authors of that site. And that's its beauty. As a collaborative effort, it also has group review. If information is incorrect or misleading, it can — and is — corrected by others. Wikipedia is so dedicated to this idea that you don't even have to have a log in to make a correction. (Of course, some other person can come behind and correct you. But, again, that's its beauty, keeping everyone honest.)

A missing BHS article in Wikipedia is an even bigger missed opportunity because I've noticed that site is given extra weight in search engines like Google and others. Frequently, the results I get on all kinds of searches will list a link to a Wikipedia article near the top, if not the very first entry.

Sure, it would be easy enough to grab the history of the school from the OSA site and plug it on Wikipedia. But I think that's against their rules of plagiarism.

So, I'm looking for volunteers to help with the creation, editing, and continuing monitoring of an article for BHS. Who's up for being a part of this project? Any other suggestions related to this idea?

NOTES:
These are three articles I've found in Wikipedia related to BHS:
1. Teddy Bear Alliance (see also #2)
2. Dom Joly (a possible BHS alumnus of the seventies)
3. And oddly, a French -- but not English -- article for Theophilus Waldmeier. (Here's an automated and rough translation of that page to English by Google.)

Video of Broummana

Last December, the blogger BloggingBeirut posted a 6 minute video of a night drive through Broummana, starting at Beit Mery and ending in Mar Chaaya. I would have preferred a daytime drive -- so I could see more -- but, still, how cool is that? I'm sitting here in West Texas, riding along the main drag in Broummana!

Sadly the school gates aren't featured too distinctly. At that moment (around the video's 2:40 mark) his attention was diverted by a car pulling out in front of him, coming up from the little road where Cheyene's used to be. Immediately before he avoids that fender-bender, you can clearly see Kanaan's (any of the gang there? ha) and immediately after you can see King's Amusement Center.

Here's the link to that video: Cruising through Brummana after dark

What else do you find of interest on the video? At what mark is Cheers? I've never been, but I've seen its interior plenty in the reunion pictures :)

(View the video and then come back and leave us your comments)

Update to BHS70s

Woohoo! We've now got an update for March/April on BHS70s.

• All the Reunion 2006 pictures are online for your enjoyment and recalling the good times that were had last year. We figure it's a good way also to help get you ready and in the mood for 2007.
• We're ready to start collecting the Who's Who of Reunion 2007 attendees, so fill out the quick form to let us know your plans and if we can help in any way.
• The Then & Now alumni profiles have been updated. Look to see who's joined us recently and drop them a welcoming hello with our fowarding system.
• And, of course, our newest feature is our blog here. Blogging is a quick way to share news about BHS, reunions, Broummana, friends found, and all kinds of tidbits we hope you'll find interesting and blog-worthy.

We have some new ideas for some upcoming pages to add to the website over the next few months. We'll be blogging more about that here so you can know what's happening behind the scenes at BHS70s. Check back here.

P.S.

I'm here writing this during the wee hours. I have the TV on in the background to keep me company. It's a Time-Life infomercial for 70s music. Perfect! As Al Green sings, Let's stay together....

Introduction to the BHS70s Blog

Hello World!

I'm a programmer, and can't help but begin a new project with the classic "Hello World" statement. The new project is this, the BHS70s blog.

What's all this about blogging? A blog is a journal-like web page. Blogs can be the sole -- or soul -- outpouring of one individual's passions. Or a blog can be the effort of any number of contributors who rally around an idea. We are the latter. Our rallying idea is anything about Brummana High School and our 70s alumni is blog-worthy.

Blogs list most recent entries first. As you go down the page, you are going back to older posts, which may or may not be relevant any longer (perhaps even with broken links, or outdated information) . "The Now" is really at the heart of blogging, and one of its most valuable appeals.

A blog can be updated many times a day, or only as inspiration strikes. So you might see us post several times a week, or maybe none during busy holiday times. We'll explain later how you can "subscribe" to any blog so you know the minute it has been updated, without the disappointment of some old blog echo.

Another hugely important feature of blogs is the ability to post your comments, which we hope you'll do to contribute to our community. It also nourishes haggard blog posters with much-craved feedback, encouraging us to blog on to new heights.

Lastly, here's a list of labels we'll be using, which will give you a pretty good idea of what we hope for this blog. If you see something here or elsewhere that inspires an idea for a blog post, by all means send us an email to the address above.

around bhs: pictures & news items about the school now (events, staff, etc.)
around broummana: links, pictures, news items related to Broummana
bhs70s stuff: news about the site, calls for submissions, calls for pictures, the usual nagging
geeky bits: tidbits of information about the geeky portion of life that might be of interest
good old days: stories of experiences and memories of BHS.
know your alumni: interviews, kudos, congrats to a specific alumnus
reuniting reunions: upcoming or past reunions big or small, reminders, dates
In addition, each post includes post by (author's name).

There you have it. Blogging in a nutshell. And welcome to the bhs70s blog :)