Lots of Wikipedia Links

[the_wanlorn]

 
Wikipedia is a curse. Back in the day, when I wanted to know about something, I would have to go downstairs and crawl through a mountain of stuff to find our encyclopedias from the 80s. If the article sparked a desire for knowledge about something else, I'd have to repeat the process. Unless it was in the same book.

Wikipedia has changed all that. Sure, the information isn't as reliable as a professional encyclopedia, but for a hobby researcher like me, it's okay. Especially for when I get on a research kick, since each article links to similar ones. And research kicks - especially about diseases - I go on quite often.


RIght, so. In one episode of The X-Files, they talked a lot about progeria. In fact, the basis of the episode was that a doctor had found a way to reverse the effects of aging. Sort of.

In any case, that sent me on a mission to learn about progeria on Wikipedia. Which led, of course, to reading about other diseases that involve accelerated aging. So here we go!

First off - besides progeria, of course - there's Werner's Syndrome. Remember the movie Jack? That was basically early-onset Werner's. With, yanno, a few Hollywood additions to it.

Cockayne's Syndrome isn't nearly as interesting. It's basically Progeria combined with the next link.

Anyone who reads a lot of Dean Koontz will recognize Xeroderma Pigmentosum. One of his few repeated characters suffers from XP. Quite an awesome character, at that. =D

Bloom Syndrome is also kind of boring. Sort of like Progeria combined with Rosacea. In a way.

This last link I'm including purely because I want pictures, damnit! The Wikipedia article on Rothmund-Thompson's Syndrome wasn't very in-depth, and Google Images produced nothing. My Train Wreck Syndrome has not been appeased, damnit!

Enjoy your new knowledge, and I hope you just suffered through a spate of Wikipedia addiction like I have.


In other news, Chase is fucking hilarious. There needs to be more Chase on House.