My introduction to Dave Barry was Slackware Linux and the fortune cookie program, which greeted me with random quotes, often some humorous remark by Dave Barry.

Because of this, I both like him and associate him with my early nerdiness.

Dave Barry caused me to write the original Exploding Whale article on Wikipedia. I got the first oddball barnstar, which was made just for me.

I’m now banned.

This is the kind of minor celebrity Internet encounter that delights my day but is impossible to explain to anyone else. :-D

This is, if not the best, likely the most concise history of Wikipedia I have ever read.