User talk:Leonard G.

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Contents 1 Pulse Jet 2 Stubs 3 Assasin bees 4 Greek numerical prefixes 5 Octothings 6 Townships as counties 7 Peterhoff and Peterhof 8 Sampan 9 Pix positions Tiananmen Square 10 Shay pictures 11 pl: link 12 Image:ConcertGroupPano.jpg 13 ABAG 14 Bridge 15 Floating galleries 16 Prandtl-Glauert singularity 17 Chun King "bi-packs" 18 McMansion article 19 FOX News 20 Mendocino County 21 Wikipedia:Requested pictures 22 Re: Tian'anmen 23 Playa 24 Baroque 25 Rio-Antirio Bridge 26 Danville 27 Marx generator (see talk page too) 28 Wikiproject:Bridges? 29 windturbine photo 30 Article Licensing 31 hyphen for ndash 32 Image Tags 33 California#transportation 34 Workaholic...me too it's 2 AM! 35 Whoa, what this 4 tilde thing? 36 Saint Petersburg 37 An apology and additional explanation 38 Inappropriate use of term "vandalism", and (in my opinion) inappropriate deletion 39 Another image needing a tag 40 Picture on Commons 41 Kiel Canal map 42 List of towers 43 Three Gorges dam pics 44 Hayward Fault 45 Riverboat 46 Steam Engine 47 Airspeed merge 48 lots of edits, not an admin 49 Global Warming 50 The Sims 2 & The Strangerhood 51 Re: F/A-18 Hornet 52 Hemorrhoid image 53 Bridge 54 Millau Viaduct image 55 request for evaluation 56 Image:ValkyrieOnHorse.jpg 57 Bridges 58 Evolutionary vomiting 59 Swing bridge pix 60 Bridge type template 60.1 Bridge type taxonomy 61 Great images! 62 Centered thumb captions 63 Renaming suspension bridge 64 Nice one, Leonard 65 Greetings from 81.15.33.129 66 photos - why not into commons 67 Hi from Hrafn 68 Inca Toys 69 Honeybees 70 barograph pictures 71 Time to resubmit Bay Bridge 71.1 Things left to do 71.2 Picture placement 72 Swanport Bridge 73 Image:Fem isa int 2.png has been listed for deletion 74 Your RFA 75 Negative Comments on RFA 76 RfA- Adminship powers 77 Changes on Sept 14 to Template:Bridge3 78 Suggestion re adminship request 79 thanks 80 Adminship 81 I've replied 82 Vandal User talk:209.12.109.140 83 Requests for rollback 84 shameless photo requests 85 Bridge (specific) infobox template 86 Chacao Channel bridge 87 Proposed merge of Telerobotics into Telepresence 88 Godmode-lite 89 EV conversion schematics 90 Pics 91 Eceltric vehicule 92 Proper attribution for Diablo panoramic 93 WikiProject Bridges 94 Image:RedSuspensionBridge.jpg 95 Ironbridge UK a vierendeel bridge? 96 Image:BejingOperaDetailLeft.jpg listed for deletion 97 Nonfree images 98 Gymnophobia 99 Suspension Bridge 100 thank you 101 Warning Message on Image:SFO Landsat7 USGS122-38Comp.jpg 102 Please check your WP:NA entry 103 Image Tagging for Image:BridgeTaxonomyBW.png 104 Dubuque County Courthouse 105 Crookes Tube 106 Image copyright problem with Image:5262004bidopening.jpg 107 Image sources 108 DYK 109 Eternal war, Perpetual war 110 USS Spuyten Duyvil (1864) 111 Thank you for the nomination/assistance 112 Columbia Icefield - triple continental divide? 113 Self anchored suspensions bridges 114 Forbidden City 115 Californian stamp 116 License tagging for Image:ColleredLizard165.jpg 117 Crotaphytus bicinctores 118 Ferry 119 Image use permission 120 Long talk page 121 The Canadian vs. the Canadian 122 Funicular and Cable Railway 123 Centered text in centered images 124 Rio-Antirio bridge 125 Re: Bascule bridge cleanup tag 126 Image:Railway swing bridge.jpg 127 User:Coolcaesar and Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration 128 Wrightspeed 129 Polar solar? 130 Vandalism 131 Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in fiction and film 132 Image resizing 133 Tell NiMH patent story in Battery electric vehicle#History? 134 Re: MDHP spamindexing 135 Bridge Types 136 Image tagging for Image:Flat eq map anotated.png 137 Moveable bridges 138 Duplicate bridge index entry 139 JUAN CAMACHO 140 DYK? 141 Converted caboose 142 Stereo View of Mount Diablo 143 Ironbridge 144 Energy portal hacked 145 Correction to Article Title 146 Submersible Bridge 147 Clay Arts Guild 148 Moved as requested 149 Unicorn 150 Re: Supergene (geology) 151 Portmanteau 152 Re: Image size 153 Lattice girder 154 Dinosaur pics! 155 Image:GGParkNorthWindmill.jpg 156 Gliding article 157 Swiss municipalities coats of arms 158 Information request on Lockport, Ny 159 MOPED Scooter under "Electric Conversion" 160 Translation 161 The mop 162 ==Image:Mastigias-papua.jpg== 163 Reason for reversion 164 Artcar 165 Matches 166 Display image by height 167 Prague astronomical clock schema 168 Kit car notablility 169 Unspecified source for Image:BrooklynBrPntg.jpg 170 Invitation 171 Welcome 172 Jumpaclass 173 Plate or Bridge 174 how to add pictures 175 Standing Ming Lion 176 Nian 177 Image:GDFRInstruments.jpg 178 Sewage treatment:

[edit] Pulse Jet

Hi Leonard - I got your email about the pulse jet page. No problem - that kind of thing happens quite a bit. I've only really "parked" your text on the existing page (since it contained detail not already there) but haven't made an effort to go there and actually integrate the two pieces of writing - so you might still want to make your way over there to polish it up a bit.

I see you've described 50s and 60s US Naval aviation as an interest - you might also like to take a look at the WikiProject Aircraft page to see what some of us other wingnuts are doing. You can find a list of aircraft that already have Wikipedia coverage at list of aircraft and some suggestions of types we need coverage of (in my opinion anyway!) here.

Welcome to the 'pedia! --Rlandmann 21:40, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Stubs

Hi, could you please not create articles that are just a {{msg:stub}}? These are grounds for automatic deletion. Thanks. -- Graham :) | Talk 01:54, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

All my stubs are now "well filled", often other users immediately remove the stub status - thanks Leonard G. 02:10, 16 May 2004 (UTC))

[edit] Assasin bees

Hi Leonard. Can you cite references for your paragraph on "assassin" bees at Africanized bee? When they were first released in the Americas, this was the story that went around, but, as I recall, it was later determined to be more myth than fact. Please support this, if it is really true. Pollinator 21:36, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

I heard it at our local bee club meeting, so it could be just scuttlebutt - I'll check it out. Some of our members have traveled to South Africa and have visited beekeepers - that's how I found out that the A.Sculetta in S.A can be handled just like our bees - it is only some particular Tanzanians that are ultra defensive. I'll remove the note until verified. Can you please provide any contrary information? Thanks, Leonard G. 00:22, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

Follow up:

I had a long discussion with our local international bee expert - a retired engineer and beekeeper, he goes to all the big international meetings, has traveled to South Africa and Brazil and is well aquainted with both bee lore and bee facts. I have rewritten the paragraph to couch it as lore, rather than fact, and have substantiated the lore with supporting facts provided by to me by this expert. Leonard G. 03:21, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up - I think the paragraph is now much more substantial.

[edit] Greek numerical prefixes

Go to Greek numerical prefixes. I created it with links to the numerical prefixes you added. Please don't forget to put more links after you create more pages for Greek numerical prefixes. In addition, can you try to make a similar Latin numerical prefixes?? 66.32.251.152 01:06, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

Having received my advanced education from a modern university system I am ignorant of BOTH Latin and Greek, as well as many subtlies of English, even though it is my native language. I can only create prefix pages in some specific cases. Can you recruit a genuine scholar for this?

[edit] Octothings

Hello Leonard. Wikipedia is not a dictionary. If your interest is in definitions and etymology, consider moving your octopus to the Wiktionary companion project. :–)
—Herbee 19:17, 2004 May 23 (UTC)

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Nice photo of Imperial roof decorations! --Menchi 04:22, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Replied at User talk:Menchi#Imperial roof decoration. --Menchi 21:49, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Good job with the page orchestration. But it'd be much better to use "Move" function (it's one of the tabs at the top) to move pages next time, instead of just cut-and-paste things. It hides the history of the page. Thanks. --Menchi 09:32, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Townships as counties

You wrote: In some other jurisdictions what would be considered a county is known as a township, named for its principle municipality. Just out of curiousity, what jurisdictions are you aware of? I ask because there are counties or county-equivalents (parishes or borough) in all 50 states. Perhaps it's possible that in some places townships perform the same function as counties in other places, even though the county exists along with the township? older≠wiser 20:26, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Traveling through the Adirondacs one encounters numerous townships - these contain a principle town and numerous hamlets. But since these do not contain superior courts, etc. I will refine the reference. Leonard G. 21:56, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Now refined, remove it if you think that is better.

I started to revise it a bit and as I realized that it actually had little relevance to County Seat, I did finally remove it. If anything, it is a point to mention in the County or County (United States) article. Townships are pretty widespread (and sometimes, confusingly called "towns"), so I just couldn't see how they added or clarified anything to the County Seat article.older≠wiser 22:42, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Peterhoff and Peterhof

Great pictures in Peterhof. You might want to place them in the previously written Peterhof article which has just one picture and considerable text! AlainV 09:44, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

All merged. I beefed up its destruction in WW II as this was not collateral damage - it was totally deliberate. (I thought the name was German - thats how it got messed up.) Leonard G. 18:46, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Many thanks for the merger, Leonard. Great stuff. (The buildings were still being restored when I was last there - wonderful to see them in their full glory again.) -- Picapica 18:15, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment. I've been trying to work on this page for almost a month, since before Wetman created it, but I kept failing to put those two books in the same place as my Wikipediable Internet connection.

"I did change Nazi back to German Army, as I had previously some time ago"

I understand your point, but things are a little different when you have a one-party system. I won't contest your change, though; I was just trying to avoid repetitive use of the word 'German'.

"Also, I added a Meteor Hydrofoil picture, but It could probably be better placed as it is too close to the chapel picture."

Crikey! I went through enough trouble trying to fit the seven existing pictures onto that one page, and hydrofoils aren't terribly relevant anyway. I think I'll take it out. --Smack 23:51, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Actually, I was about to put the Hydrofoil pix in the Tourist Info (where it belongs, but conflicted with your edit.

I notice you orphaned the western part of the Grand Cascade at the bottom. Perhaps this should be deleted. I have a nicer detail pix that could go below the initial overview.Leonard G. 00:02, 31 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I orphaned an image? That was entirely unintentional. At any rate, I think I'll keep my nose out of this article for the time being, and let you accomplish whatever design you have for it. --Smack 00:11, 31 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sampan

Nice picture, eh !  :-) -- PFHLai 19:59, 2004 Jul 17 (UTC)

Thanks! I've been looking around for articles to fit my pictures and that was a perfect fit.

[edit] Pix positions Tiananmen Square

Does not seem to work well under varying window sizes. (I use Safari). Try some resizing. T.Gate OK. Leonard G. 04:29, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sorry about that. The original ([1]) did not look right in my browser, (I use Internet Explorer in 800x600 resolution) but if it's broken in your browser now, feel free to tinker with it some more. ☞spencer195 04:38, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Shay pictures

Good stuff -- the article really needed a few pictures, it's a lot harder to explain in text than to show. —Morven 17:09, Aug 2, 2004 (UTC)

(This is about Shay locomotive - Leonard G.)

[edit] pl: link

It adds a link in the "In other languages" box to this image's page at Polish Wikipedia pl:Image:GreatWallTower.jpeg. Ausir 00:10, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Image:ConcertGroupPano.jpg

Hi Leonard,

Just wanted to let you know that your picture Image:ConcertGroupPano.jpg was on the front page of the Chinese Wikipedia the last time I checked it on Sept. 10 2004. -spencer195 01:13, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Thats grand!. Thanks for the info. Leonard G. 02:01, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Here's the link: http://zh.wikipedia.org. -spencer195 02:12, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Here'a a screenshot of the homepage: http://spencer195.netfirms.com/zhwiki2.png

Link to a saved HTML file: http://spencer195.netfirms.com/zhwiki.htm

[edit] ABAG

Your new Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) contained a number of inline links where you'd used "click here" as caption. IMHO, this is not the ideal style for external links. In the article body, footnotes[2] are generally to be preferred, while in the external links section, a descriptive caption of the page and site is most helpful. See also Wikipedia:Describe external links. JFW | T@lk 03:22, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Now fixed Leonard G. 03:34, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge

Hi Leonard -- good to see you added some new types of electronic bridges. I don't think this solves the question I posed at Talk:Serial ATA#bridge, though? Fpahl 16:05, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Floating galleries

Note: All of this content was created to document a solution to a problem associated with galleries (areas containing only small images), which have been addressed (more or less) by the new gallery template. - Leonard G. 15:11, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm moving this from User:Muke so that I have a reliable place to find it and to point to. Just raw chat, but it shows some specialized gallery techniques - especially in the later sections -- Leonard G. 03:31, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Added in recent text concerning Shanghai gallery changes - Leonard G. 17:16, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

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Hi Muke: Welcome to WP. Please note that your picture placement on Shanghai results in disappearing pictures (off right of window). The WP standard is for stuff to be viewable on 800 pix wide screens. Thats why most pictures don't exceed 250 to 300 pix wide unless they are wide and not deep and claim most of the width (again about 700 pix max). Its a real pain, I know, so mostly I stick to narrow pictures all on the right, always using the the "thumb" forrmatting rule. If the destination pix is very large I link to an intermediate (600 to 800 pix wide), in turn linking to the large pictures. I also use a larger text size on my browser, about 150pct of normal, so sometimes my formatting does not look good at smaller text sizes. So... could you fix this up with the four horizontally arranged building pictures? To check, narrow your browser window. Hang in and don't get discouraged. Thanks, User:Leonard G. 05:26, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

All right. I wasn't sure exactly how wide it should go for; I was mainly looking to keep it from strangling the text (on my screen before, there would be two or three pictures all stacked left to right, with text trying to crawl down the sides). I was at first going to scatter the images all throughout the article but then decided those four pics probably should belong under the architecture section they illustrate. I rearranged them now. They should still display in a row (on wide screens) but also wrap for narrower screens. —Muke Tever 14:10, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Nice job, it now works much better. I'll prepare another "mixed historical references" that is deeper and will mix better with the others. Generally, as I put the pictures on the right, I tend to make them as short as practical so they will not gobble up vertical page space, since that will cause the pictures to run off of the bottom of the article if a small text font size is used. I was wondering how to set it up the way you did and so it is nice to have an example to work from. BTW, don't be afraid of working with text in an area that you have knowlege or interest in. Even if you want to present an underrepresented side of an opinion (held by you or not), that can be done in an NPOV manner, athough it takes skill to avoid using weasle words ("some people say..."). I think WP does not have enough pictures in many cases (or good pictures in some). Where extensive comments regarding a picture might be considered off topic, I put that text into the image page. Especially if you are the photographer it is not inappropriate to put in some text that would not be appropriate for the article but is informative and in good taste. As an example, see Wuhan, follow the image to the TV tower (first image). Similar for Cloisonne on the imperial headdress and the image in Fireboat. In each of these I inserted personal feelings about the image or circumstances realated to the image that I feel add a lot to the appreciation of the picture, similar to the way a curator in a gallery would add a statement from the artist. Leonard G. 15:15, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

-more-

By the way, another user had removed an image from the Tiananmen Square (T.S.) page because it ran off the bottom (!), so I applied your technique and added three more images to form a nice gallery. I did find out that if the thumb (with text) to the left of a row is deeper than those on the right, then the following (wrapped) thumbs can "catch" on this descent, making an awkward layout. Since this is an effect not only of image size but also of the user's font selection and the user's window width, there is not a general solution for this problem, but some heuristiscs will help:

If thumb height is uniform, order titles from short to long.

With varying thumb height, order pictures from shallow to deep. The exception to this is the last picture - it may be smaller than the others since it is either the rightmost picture against others in the row or is on a row of its own and at the extreme left (since there are no descenders to catch it) - see the Shanghai article.

By performing calculations, it is possible to select a thumb width that will deliver a desired thumb height (exclusive of text considerations), but the original image dimensions must be determined by downloading and viewing with an image processing program that displays this pixel size. It would be nice if this was shown on the image page or if the height of a thumb could be specified. I completed this the hard way and the results look good.

Also, I deleted the leading space before the thumbs on the T.S. page, as a bad thumb description would cause the text drop into blocktext mode that was mostly covered up by other thumbs.

Could you let me know what the function of the control code at the bottom of the thumbs are for? I included these on the T.S. page but do not know what they do.

Also, the Shanghai pictures were all ordered on the right margin, but I use Safari under OSX on the Mac, which has some problems in layout as sometimes an image will cover half a line of text, but it never put the images side by side. I often test using IE 5.2 just to be sure. What browser are you using?

Thanks again, Leonard G. 20:00, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. The code (I suppose you mean <br style="clear:both" />) I got from Wikipedia:Extended image syntax, and its purpose is to keep text from flowing around the sides, but instead to resume the text at a point after the included box.

The browser I am using is Opera 7.5 on WinXP. —Muke Tever 20:30, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

FYI - check out Talk:Tiananmen Square for a related image layout problem. Leonard G. 20:54, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

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Following from discussions concerning replacement of this technique with a new wikimedia method for galleries. Leonard G. 17:16, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

(re: Shanghai#Architecture)

While one might think that this is now a nice gallery, you have in fact reduced the images to such a tiny (literally postage stamp) size, that now to get any reasonable impression one must click on the images, upping the navigation chore. Note that the preceding gallery was a floating gallery, constructed with no small effort and thought, designed to display on a wide range of window widths, showing each in a reasonable size (not requiring further navigation) and for all screens designed to preserve a good layout. Please comment on your thoughts here. Leonard G. 03:02, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

The thumbnail images are tiny, yes, but that's the point. They're still large enough that one can see what's pictured, but if you want to see them in all their glory you click on them. The current total size of the gallery thumbnails is 93054 bytes, originally they were 146895 bytes - this is a significant saving in download time for dial-up users, though the page is still very graphic-heavy and could use more trimming. Frankly, I'm not fond of having image galleries embedded in articles like this at all - I'd much rather see that real estate used by a textual description of Shanghai's architecture, with descriptions of historical trends, famous buildings and architects, etc., with the images serving to illustrate and elaborate rather than being the entire meat of the section. Just looking at these seven images doesn't really tell me much about Shanghai's architecture as a whole - certainly not as much as 93 kilobytes of text would. Finally, the gallery markup is easier to maintain as new images and new features are added in the future. With the images explicitly marked as a gallery like this, there are many things that browsers and other software could potentially do with it - customized layout, for example. The gallery markup is still a relatively new Wikipedia feature, Wikipedia talk:Gallery has some discussion on what's being done with it. Bryan 03:34, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

I see your point on the bandwidth issue - but don't dial ups disable auto image downloads in their browsers (maybe that is a bit advanced)? Perhaps I will move the old gallery code to a new article not intended for direct search (e.g. Shanghai architecture image gallery but accessible via a "view gallery" link in that part. This is not ideal of course since this would require double entry maintenance, but the gallery has only had one addition by another since I created it in mid 2004. On the other hand, rather than double maintenance it could become a much richer image source than the primary article. As far as images are concerned I think of WP as a multimedia source. The bandwidth problem in the US is ultimately a short term issue currently stemming from (rational) corporate decision making (neither cable nor telephony see an upside interest in Korean-style high speed internet as this would undercut their current business models) compounded by a lack of appropriate national policy. Leonard G. 14:54, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

What about the bandwidth problem in Africa, though? Anyway, splitting off a separate "gallery" article might be a good idea, it'd satisfy me and there are other articles that have such things. But if what you're interested in is a multimedia source rather than an encyclopedia article, perhaps Wikimedia Commons would be more suited to the task? The Commons is specifically intended for that purpose, whereas the multimedia content on Wikipedia is there only to serve its goal as an encyclopedia. Bryan 15:44, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

I'll do that - I have several other articles that can use this treatment also - I'll implement your method and link to mine in these also. With regards to Africa: since they will likely be going to wireless mesh network architecture owing to a "clean slate" infrastructure it would not surprise me if their per-household bandwidth exceeded ours within the next decade. I'll put this discussion into the relevant part of my user talk for reference. Best wishes, Leonard G. 17:16, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Prandtl-Glauert singularity

Saw your work on Prandtl-Glauert singularity I can't tell -- do these clouds follow the plane around while Mach >=1? Or is it a phenomenon that occurs just at the moment of Mach = 1? Chrisvls 22:59, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

As far as I know, it should occur at speeds >= mach 1, as this should follow from the underlying principles. What would change with additional speed would be the angle of the cone, becoming more acute, and if (can we presume?) the strength of the shockwave is stronger at higher speed then so should be its diameter, and if the sweep of the wing is less than this angle then the cone should have an irregular shape in the wing area. The diameter of the cone will of course be dependent upon also the local relative humidity.

An anecdote that may be of interest. Note that the shock wave can be reflected from an underlying surface. I did not personally see this, but a fellow naval airman described a low flying supersonic overwater demonstration. He said it appeared that the aircraft was "flying inside an ice cube". -- Leonard G. 02:35, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Chun King "bi-packs"

??? In the case of Chun King, I am only aware of packages that consist of a pair of ordinary cans taped together. And I have seen them in supermarkets within the last year so that form of package is still current. Have you seen them packaged in plastic pouches? [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 14:29, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Sorry - that was Annie Chung's Meal Kit. - e.g. Black Bean - chow Mein Noodles & Garlic Balck Bean Sauce UPC (7) 65667 82392 (7).

[edit] McMansion article

Hello, I just wanted to say thanks for going through and clearing up after I'd edited the McMansion article - it took longer than I thought and I just didn't proofread properly. Cheers!

- Katherine Shaw 10:20, Oct 20, 2004 (UTC)

You are welcome. You might find it interesting to look at the history and talk. I know I was over the top on POV but that's my style (I TEND TO VENT!!!), so I appreciate your thoughtful clean-up. The original by User:Wetman was a cute essay, but I did not think it a proper article - he was a bit disappointed that I rather overworked his article, but with your work I am sure he will enjoy the final results. Best wishes, Leonard G. 23:52, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC).

Naw, I didn't like it. BUT, I do like your Diana and Pomona image. Ever think of taking a look at Filoli down the peninsula? And get Wikipedia some good architectural images of San Francisco. There are a bunch of san francisco entries calling out for photos. --Wetman 09:21, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I added a nice formal garden picture - subsequently added to groundskeeper All feel free to post image requests. Leonard G. 06:21, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

L, On your next trip to the edges of the East Bay, could you shoot some pics of the newest Tract Housing for inclusion in that article? It seems lame that the one pic is of Nowhere, Tennesee, when so much is happenting in your area. Thanks! DesignerJimO 15:54, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] FOX News

FOX contends that it is neutral, and to say without qualification that it lies to the right of other news sources is easily open to misinterpretation. There was already a discussion on the subject, during which time a statement very similar to the one I reverted was added to the opening paragraph of the article (see Talk:FOX News/Archive three#.22relatively_right-wing.22). It was decided that it would best belong in the first paragraph of "Allegations of bias," where a slightly modified version still remains:

FOX News asserts that it is more objective and factual than other American networks, and its promotional statements include "fair and balanced" and "we report, you decide." The network thus intends to provide an alternative to such news sources as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, or CBS, for those who believe that the other networks are dominated by a liberal bias. There is a widespread perception that FOX lies to the political right of most other prominent news sources; there is much dispute, however, as to whether the channel is actually a neutral source, or carries a bias in favor of right-wing, conservative, or Republican interests.

I think that passage expresses the same idea in a more neutral fashion. (I have cross-posted my reply to Talk:FOX News.) [[User:Rdsmith4|User:Rdsmith4/sig]] 18:01, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Please see my reply to your latest message at Talk:FOX News. [[User:Rdsmith4|User:Rdsmith4/sig]] 18:11, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Mendocino County

Thanks for the note. I re-added most of the towns you reverted here, but not the Vineyards and other stuff. I left out Vichy Springs, which is the name of a road and a resort in the county but not a town afaik. I'll try and keep an eye on this article for further bogus information... And if I've got time I might make stubs for more of the small towns that do exist. ~leif ☺ _HELO 19:17, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I removed your note to the anon user at Philo, California. If you leave a message on their talk page, they will get a "New messages" notification just like a logged in user would. Please don't leave notes for individuals on article pages! ~leif ☺ _HELO 04:01, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, I was not certain that the message would get through. Do note that the message was hidden from general viewing - only an editor would see it. I deliberately removed (by commenting) those edits as a troll for this user. I will clean the message out of other articles. I do not think this user is malicious - just inexperienced and clueless. The additions of the sections were not inappropriate, just really badly done in both a technical and information sense. -- Leonard G. 15:02, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Requested pictures

Hi. I moved your requests from Wikipedia talk:Requested pictures to Wikipedia:Requested pictures. -- Chris 73 Talk 05:51, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. Although I have lots of articles and edits, I am still a newbee in many ways. Best wishes, Leonard G. 03:22, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Tian'anmen

Hi there: I actually grabbed those Chinese characters from the Forbidden City article and pasted them into the Tian'anmen one. Somehow, I knew that something was flaky... Thanks again. --DF08 (English) 01:32, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

We can thank 68.194.108.16 for the the first correction - the error was introduced into both articles by another editor, who has been very helpful in many ways. - Leonard G. 03:11, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

BTW - I posted the following to the editor at IP 68.194.108.16 who made the first correction:

If you are editor that caught the Tiananmen Gate signage error in Forbidden City - many thanks. I see a number of edits on your IP contributions that look like they may have come from you. Please consider this an invitation to register and join our community. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about joining. You can get lots of questions answered, help, fun interactions with other editors. There are only a few soreheads and they seem to be focused on the topics of politics, religion and sex. (Aren't those the three things you should not bring up at a party? OK, forget the one about sex, it's two things.) Best wishes, Leonard G. 23:22, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Playa

(Message to Tannin re: image in Playa article.)

Nice picture, but could you provide a higher resolution and appropriately rotated version please? If you do not have the capability, just e-mail me via my user page a version that I can fix. After all, dry lakes are always horizontal. Thanks, Leonard G. 01:12, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

WRT Image:Lake Hart.jpg, I distinctly recall rotating it. My memory of this is as clear as a bell. So where on earth did I upload the rotated version if it wasn't here? I'll hunt around for it or, failing that, recreate it. Alas, I no longer contribute higher-resolution pictures here as they always end up getting butchered by unskilled resizing. Only way to avoid that is to always upload lowish resolution, it seems. I'll hunt out that image. Tannin 08:29, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

OK: done. Tannin 08:36, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I find that you do not need small images anymore - the thumb and "xxxpx" options take care of that nicely. What is annoying is when someone reduces the thumb to postage stamp size and the image is 3000px wide. As this is desired (WP policy states that images should be at high resolution to allow printed material use) I put an intermediate size image for that closer look, then reference via link the higher res image. See Shay locomotive. Leonard G. 00:45, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Follow up: new automated image size staging fixes the above problems requiring intermediate size uploads - Leonard G. 22:12, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Baroque

Thanks for your message on my talk page - I'm glad you like my rewrite of your paragraph on Baroque - copyediting/refactoring is always a slightly frought thing to do, in case the author takes offence, but that is what wiki is about... -- ALoan (Talk) 09:54, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Ah - you might have seen that I subsequently edited that section on Byzantine Empire too :) -- ALoan (Talk) 17:44, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Rio-Antirio Bridge

Hi Leonard,

is not the Rio-Antirio bridge the longest of its kind? User:Manos.

Yes, it is the longest. [Note: This commentary concerns the bridge article, not the related cable-stayed bridge and Rio-Antirio bridge articles.] Please note that the bulk of text for a picture title was excessive, almost doubling the vertical extent of the picture thumb. The text was mostly copied from the article anyway. Note that now the picture title references both the specific bridge article (with the bridge name) and the subsection on that type (with an in–article link for the bridge type). The named bridge article is where the details of a specific bridge belong, or as a brief note in the "List of bridges" section - e.g. "The longest of the cable-stayed type"

Regarding the excessive text, it appeared that there was a lot of room for this, but note that this is when the index is shown. If the index is hidden the pictures at the right margin will stack, especially on a wide screen, displacing the pictures from their respective sections, as the automatic formatting will push down pictures as needed. When a lot of related pictures are appropriate, II place them in a floating gallery. See the chat above concerning this.

Regarding the pictures you have added, note that "Image:July04 4.jpg" is inappropriate. It should be "Rio-Antirio bridge aerial view", or something like that. I am still awaiting your addition of attribution and copyright status on that picture. If not added soon I will dereference it from the article.

Thank you for your contributions to WP, but please not that pictures should be available for any other source to use, and this includes commercial use. I publish my personal pictures under the copyright released cc-sa (share and share alike), which I think is the best, as then derived works must also be so copyright released. I have only a few that are cc-nc (noncommercial), but for good reason. Now if you took that picture while flying over in an aircraft, you could credit it in several ways, including cc-by, which will ensure that you are credited.

I also incorporated a mention of this bridge in the cable-stayed bridge section. - Leonard G.

[edit] Danville

Hey Leonard. You seem to have an interest in the Danville, California page, so you may want to weigh in on the issue I raised on its talk page. - Walkiped 06:53, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Following from the talk page: It's factually incorrect to say that Danville doesn't have any "big box" stores. Costco, one of the most well known "big box" stores has a location in Danville, at 3150 Fostoria Way. Anyone object to me re-wording the first paragraph appropriately? - Walkiped 00:51, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Go for it! (but note that this is an exception, as it is the small town character, and hugely rich demographics, that make this "town" somewhat unique in Central Contra Costa County). I only got into the article owing to a rather obnoxious set of unsatisfied links that I had to research and fill in. I don't live there (I'm in Saranap, an unicorporated area between Walnut Creek and Lafayette). Leonard G. 01:03, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. I took a first stab at it, feel free to tweak. - Walkiped 02:46, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Marx generator (see talk page too)

Hi Leonard,

I don't think the circuit diagram is wrong, all the reading i did showed resistors in the circuit diagrams and not inductors. But I think you are right that most equipment uses inductors, since they are more efficient, which was also mentioned in most of the articles i read.

Do you think the circuit diagram would be better with inductors instead of resistors? Also, an inductor will have internal resistance which may or may not be shown on the circuit.

Duk 02:20, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Wikiproject:Bridges?

Would you be interested in joining me in starting a Wikiproject for Bridges? I have found quite a bit of discrepancy between different bridge articles, and some kind of standardiztion is needed. If you have some extra time (I see you are plenty busy around here) it would be great to have your help. Thanks Cacophony 22:06, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] windturbine photo

hi Leonard,

i saw your windturbine photo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DanishWindTurbines.jpg do you have a larger version? if so, is it possible have permission to use it on my site at http://xahlee.org/Whirlwheel_dir/whirlwheel.html ?

Larger image uploaded, linked on the medium image page. Note cc-sa license (text on the image)

Thanks. Xah Lee 09:00, 2004 Dec 1 (UTC)

[edit] Article Licensing

Hi, I've started the Free the Rambot Articles Project which has the goals of getting users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to...

1. ...all U.S. state, county, and city articles...
2. ...all articles...

using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) version 1.0 and 2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to the GFDL (which every contribution made to Wikipedia is licensed under), but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles (See the Multi-licensing Guide for more information). Since you are among the top 1000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. So far over 90% of people who have responded have done this.

Nutshell: Wikipedia articles can be shared with any other GFDL project but open/free projects using the incompatible Creative Commons Licenses (e.g. WikiTravel) can't use our stuff and we can't use theirs. It is important to us that other free projects can use our stuff. So we use their licenses too.

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}} template (or {{MultiLicensePD}} for public domain) into their user page, but there are other templates for other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

Option 1

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

OR

Option 2

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions to any [[U.S. state]], county, or city article as described below:

{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}} with {{MultiLicensePD}}. If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know at my talk page what you think. It's important to know, even if you choose to do anything so I don't keep asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk) 14:38, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

All photos taken by me are posted cc-sa with the exception of performance photos, which are cc-nc. I have also posted other's work (with permission) as cc-by-sa. I noticed that other commercial encyclopedia sites do not post images if the images are marked with "Wikipedia License cc-sa" or similar. It appears that they are attempting to hide the source of their materials. These sites usually look terrible as they post the large image version only, or only the thumb, with no click through. I may post some personal artwork with cc-by-sa. So am I already covering your request? Leonard G. 20:32, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Ram-Man wants you to dual license your text edits, not only images :). Ausir 00:43, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

But how can that ever work? An article is a collection of edits, and unless all editors dual license then the article is not dual licensed, right? My assumption was that all my edits became public domain anyway, under the rules of WP, for anyone to use in any way. After all, if commercial sites can (badly) mirror an article, or cherry pick parts of it, then why should wikidictionary have any problems? This needs some explanation and/or an overall WP rule change. Has WP painted itself into a corner? Leonard G. 06:01, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

No, your edits are by default not public domain, but GFDL. And Ram-Man is trying to get as many people as he can to dual-license their articles (especially the top editors) so that the articles can be used also under CC-BY-SA - if all edits in one article are dual-licensed, then the whole article can be, and if even some small edits aren't, one can always delete some non-dual licensed portions of the text. This way WikiTravel (a CC-BY-SA wiki independant from Wikimedia) will be able to use our contributions. Ausir 12:09, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Note that CC-BY-SA won't work for the same reason as noted above in ...how can that ever work..., so it appears to me that the following should be done in this order:

1. The overall rule should be changed - all new edits and new articles and edits would then be automatically dual licensed, and the license should be CC-SA, not CC-BY-SA. (CC-BY-SA remains appropriate for images, however, but the "BY" and license should be on the image so it does not get lost, and also watermarked. (See Sundial Bridge images, contributed for my posting by a third party professional artist.)

2. Solicit the major contributors and editors to specific articles to retroactively apply the new license to their previous contributions.

3. Review and re-edit articles on an as-needed basis - outside wikis needing material would post an appropriate notice on the page.

Question: I see my work mirrored on other web "encyclopedias", and usually rather badly as far as images and page layout. According to our GFDL article: "Materials for which commercial redistribution is prohibited generally cannot be used in a GFDL-licensed document, e.g. a Wikipedia article, because the license does not exclude commercial re-use." So why is another wiki prohibited from re-use? -- Leonard G. 17:18, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It is not prohibited from re-use, it's just that they themselves don't accept any other license than CC-BY-SA, just like CC-BY-SA text wouldn't be accepted here, unless it's dual licensed. Ausir 19:45, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Well, then if "they themselves" means the other wikis, I'd say that their rules (against uncredited text) have created their problem, and that the problem is simply not ours to solve, given all of the difficulties that I have pointed out. I would be willing to perform step 2 above, but this should follow step 1. That matter is for the WP board to address. This still does not address the matter of multiple contributing editors, some who may be either inaccessible or uncooperative. At this point the issue appears to me to be discussed to completion at this level. I am interested in seeing what happens concerning this. Thanks for your input, and best wishes. -- Leonard G. 20:39, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

(deep breath)

Ram-Man's solicitation for you to dual-license is one way people are attempting to address the matter of multiple contributing editors. Articles can only be licensed under a license common to all contributing editors. For example, I dual-license my contributions under the GFDL (all wikipedia text is GFDL) as well as into the public domain (no restrictions, most flexible). So if an article consists of solely of edits by me and however many other people who dual license under, say, CC-SA, then that whole article is now available for reuse under either the GFDL or CC-SA (the person reusing can choose!). If a non-dual-licensing editor comes along and edits it, revisions from that point on are only available under the GFDL. If someone with a CC-SA site wants to fork the last version of the article by dual-licensing wikipedians on their own site, the resulting article (off wikipedia) would be CC-SA only (since edits on the other site are not GFDL).

Basically, the more people who dual-license, the more articles will be available under multiple licenses.

I think the whole thing is kind of silly; we're writing articles for them to be read, and I doubt any of us is planning to make any money selling people extra rights to our work beyond what the GFDL allows. The GFDL is less restrictive than a simple ©, but it still relies on the © to restrict re-use of the content. Why not let your contributions be entirely free and dual-license them in the public domain? The {{MultiLicensePD}} template currently places all the people who use it in Category:Public domain license, so you can see how many others have already done this...

I hope this clears up any confusion. Good luck making your decision; nobody will hold it against you if you decide to do what the majority of wikipedians do and not multi-license at all. I happen to think putting things in the public domain is the best and easiest option, though :) ~leif ☺ _HELO 21:25, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

So the other part of the dual license is not CC-BY-SA but rather CC-SA? That is not what was said above. Leonard G. 00:49, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There is not just one dual-license. You could make up whatever terms you wanted and declare that you multi-license your contributions under it. The only requirement is that everything on wikipedia is also available under the plain GFDL. Wikipedia:Multi-licensing explains it better, and has a list of multi-licensing schemes that some other wikipedians are using. ~leif ☺ _HELO 02:50, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Goodness, I leave for a day or two and this many people respond to a question directed at me! Phew. Let's see if I can answer a few questions if they have not already been answered. The CC-SA is a version 1.0 license that is basically not used much at this point. Creative Commons has a host of licenses, but every 2.0 license has attribution (by) as the basis. The Share-Alike (sa) portion makes it copylefted. While it would be great if users released their contributions under every CC license, right now I'm only asking for CC-by-sa version 1.0 and 2.0 so that it maintains full compatibility with WikiTravel. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

You asked why we don't try to get all new edits multi-licensed, and the reason for this is two-fold. First, multi-licensing is controversial to a number of people, and rather than make people upset, we have started a totally optional process by which people can choose to do it rather than be forced to do so. But the second, more important reason is because trying to manage a multi-licensed Wikipedia would be a nightmare. It's already hard to get newbie users to try and understand the copyright and licensing issues involved and what they can and can't copy, but if some articles in Wikipedia were available under one license and other articles were available under a different license and all new edits were mandatorily released under two licenses, then there would be articles WITHIN Wikipedia that could not be shared with each other. It would be very confusing, not to mention almost impossible to track even with software help. No, Wikipedia must stick with one license, but the problem is that many people wish it was the CC-by-sa v.2.0 license. If over 90% of users multi-licensed using the CC-by-sa license, there is a very remote possibility that a Wikipedia fork could be created to eliminate our ties to the GFDL. In the end, it is way simpler to just get as many people as we can to multi-license and when we want to copy an article, figure out on a case-by-case basis whether it can be re-released under a different license based on the users who have edited it. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

Adding the template {{MultiLicenseWithCC-By-All}} would allow us to use every Creative Commons license (CC-by, CC-by-sa, CC-by-nc-sa, etc.). The public domain template {{MultiLicensePD}} of course allows the use of any and every license out there. Of course without your permission to multi-license, your textual contributions will forever remain under the GFDL exclusively and will only ever be able to be used with other GFDL works, no matter how popular the Creative Commons licenses become. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk) 19:22, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

So if I MultiLicensePD then Wikitravel cannot use it? Leonard G. 20:24, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

No, public domain releases your copyright and says that anyone can do anything with your contributions and release it under any license. Derivative works become the copyright of the person making the derivation, but anyone can use your contributions without restriction. WikiTravel (and others) can then happily use it. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk) 20:34, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

I am now {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}, I hope that works out for all concerned. Leonard G. 18:28, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

user has died please delete

[edit] hyphen for ndash

Strange, when I put in dash "-"(keyboard minus/hyphen), it gets replace by other editors with "–" (ndash, wihich does not respond to nowiki commands), now you edited Doolittle Raid the other way. So what is correct the wiki way? (I would think that hyphen would be more searchable). Any thoughts? Leonard G. 02:22, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There are three dash like symbols: hyphen -, n dash –, m dash — and minus − . Minus is used only in a mathematical context, and on wikipedia with <math>.

M dashes (so called because they were the width of a capital M, are used for pauses — like when inserting parathetical material — and often in pairs. M dashes are for eMotion.

N dashes are used for ranges 1–5 for example, n dashes are for iN between.

Hyphens are used to join words "Bright-helmeted Greeks" to use an Homeric example.

There is also a Japanese character ー used to indicate vowel length.

Some fonts may use the same glyph for different dashes.

Zeimusu 12:50, 2004 Dec 9 (UTC)

[edit] Image Tags

Hi, I've found two images that you have uploaded Image:PragueClockFace.jpg and Image:PragueTownHallClock.jpg and found that they need image tags. I'm guessing that you have probably taken them yourself so they are GFDL but wasn't sure. Evil Monkey → Talk 00:01, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)

Noted and completed. Leonard G. 02:43, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] California#transportation

Well, I thought that picture was better!

But if you don't like it, feel free to revert it to the Harbor Freeway picture. I won't mind.

--Coolcaesar 04:22, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Workaholic...me too it's 2 AM!

Time to support your newbie pal Deb Krolls I have a man on my back rewriting everyting word I write (I wish his versions were correct, I'd be happy) They are very wrong. I've sent him references. No reply. I cannot write the article until I get rid of his page. Dkroll2

Thanks for calling upon me, but I am not a color expert. I am not qualified to contribute to this argument one way or the other, at least without further research, which you have already done. I suggest that you place your references into the article talk page. But good luck, and thanks for caring about the accuracy of WP articles. That is very important to maintain and enhance the quality of the product of our mutual efforts.

It may be that the other author is viewing the subject from a computer modeling standpoint, in which one can consider three dimensional color coordinates as forming a color "space". This can be useful in describing gamuts which cannot be displayed on the presentation medium used for discussion.

It may also be useful in support of your arguments to present your credentials in somewhat more detail. I have also found it useful to insert comments into the page text that will only be seen by an editor. This eliminated a problem that was recurring with an article concerning the speed of sound and the nature of compressible fluids, simply owing to the misconceptions of the editor. In the comment I suggested that the editor view the talk page, and this cleared up the problem. A tactful approach may also help, as opposed to confrontational.

By the way, I fixed your user link in this message. If you sign with four tildes {~}, and you are logged on, you will always get the correct user page and a time stamp.

Until later, Leonard G. 19:56, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Subtractive_color_space

--Dkroll2 08:10, Dec 27, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Whoa, what this 4 tilde thing?

--Dkroll2 00:12, Dec 29, 2004 (UTC) Was that not right?

--Dkroll2 02:45, Dec 29, 2004 (UTC)

Dkroll2

-Dkroll2

It was your first reference - you entered "User:Dkrolls2" - an unsatisfied link.

[edit] Saint Petersburg

Thanks for your support. I actually plan to rewrite some sections of this article later this week. As for postcards, I think you may want to check the articles on Peter and Paul Fortress, St Isaac's Cathedral, Fontanka, Nevsky Prospekt, Stasov, Narva Triumphal Gate, and Konstantin Thon. Ghirlandajo 01:22, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] An apology and additional explanation

Okay, I will concede that I did go overboard with the use of the word "vandalism." If it helps, I apologize.

The problem with your original edit (and why I reacted so emotionally) was that it contained too many express and implicit factual assertions, some of which are definitely true, some of which are definitely POV, and some of which are too general for a California-specific article; such things really apply to the entire U.S. and should be in the Transportation in the United States article.

First, you asserted that California overfunds freeways relative to mass transit systems. That is both correct and incorrect depending upon what time period is addressed. It is quite correct as applied to the period from 1940 through 1970 (when many existing streetcar lines were shut down and converted to bus lines), and debatable with regard to the period from 1970 to the present.

Keep in mind that after 1970, the Bay Area built an entire rapid rail system from scratch with significant federal funding, and San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles built whole new light rail systems, and Los Angeles also got started on the Red Line subway. Also, keep in mind that all of those mass transit systems have been heavily subsidized then and continue to be heavily subsidized now, and both the Los Angeles and San Jose light rail systems suffer from underutilization.

And your statement failed to incorporate some recognition of clear counterarguments. If you read the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, or the San Diego Union-Tribune regularly, you would realize a great many suburban commuters believe that freeways have been underfunded relative to mass transit. Another counterargument is that even if freeways are still favored in funding relative to mass transit, that is because that is what the majority of California voters want. That is, they are making a decision to ignore the well-known downsides of expanding freeways (more land takings, noise, cost, pollution, the probability that the expansion will not work in the long-term, encouraging sprawl,etc.) and focusing on short-term priorities --- such as their right to live in safe, quiet residential subdivisions away from inner-city problems.

Personally, I am well-aware of New Urbanism and the movements toward high-density living and living near where one works, and I support the goals of such movements, but I do not think they will succeed until the current well-known problems of urban life have been addressed. I am referring to the problems that suburbanites have fled for more than half a century: the lack of privacy in high-density areas, noise, crime, security, homeless people, limited availability of high-quality schools and parks for children, etc. Of course, all these things can be adjusted for, but it takes money, which is why inner-cities are dominated by rich people with their bodyguards in their secure towers and poor people who can't afford to live anywhere else.

Second, you allege that the underfunding is caused by "trickle-down" deficits. While that is an interesting hypothesis, there are many other reasons for underfunding of transportation such as: the tax revolt movement (with its slogan "starve the beast" which applied to most federal government programs); the fact that as all transportation systems grow, they require more maintenance, which limits the availability of funds for more new construction; the annoying tendency of American engineers to build cheap roads which wear out within 20 years, while European roads last 40 or more; the prioritization of defense and Social Security as more important relative to transportation; the failure to index gas taxes to inflation; and so on. The point is that the reasons for underfunding of transportation in general are very complicated, and alleging that mass transit in particular is underfunded in California relative to freeways because of such deficits is a very serious and specific allegation that requires strong evidence---none of which I am aware of, although if you know of any "smoking guns," please feel free to list citations on my talk page.

I feel that the California article is an encyclopedia article which should be kept relatively general, rather than getting into a lengthly discussion of California politics or urban planning (while you or I might find it interesting, most people do not). This is even more true when many of the issues are common to the United States as a whole.

As for my own personal perspective, Americans in general tend to favor living in low-density suburban developments for the reasons I have just mentioned; as Neal Stephenson pungently explained in Snow Crash, they prefer to flee to the "culture medium for a medium culture" rather than live in the city and help to fix its problems. Although there was a great deal of racist "white flight" back in the 1960s, demographers are now noticing a preference for suburbs among middle-class African-Americans as well, who are fleeing inner-cities in Atlanta and Los Angeles and establishing their own peaceful (though de facto segregated) suburban communities. Everyone views the problem of fixing the inner-city as someone else's problem.

In turn, Americans (not just Californians), when setting transportation priorities via the polls that politicians rely on, tend to support freeways over mass transit because (1) freeways are what most of them rely on to get to and from work and play; and (2) mass transit is simply not cost-effective in the low-density areas where Americans prefer to live.

For example, the San Jose Mercury News likes to make fun of mass transit by pointing out how difficult it is to get from one side of the valley to the other on mass transit (bus or light rail) versus driving a car. Could mass transit be made competitive with cars in Santa Clara Valley? Certainly, but it would require running buses and trolleys on all lines all the time at every 5 minutes or less to ensure smooth transfers, rather than the nightmarish 30 minute delays between transfers. And then most of those buses would end up being half-empty, even if a substantial portion of the population shifted their commute habits; the population of the valley is simply too low (just over one million) to support such a busy network. Mass transit might be more viable in the valley if cities could rezone for higher densities, but many people living in Santa Clara Valley fled there from a high-density city (or visited such cities and didn't like them), which is why rezoning is politically impossible.

--Coolcaesar 21:53, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Inappropriate use of term "vandalism", and (in my opinion) inappropriate deletion

Reviewing your recent change to Aircraft, it seems to me that an addition to the reference to the movie Airplane! of the use of the word as an alternative to the band Jefferson Airplane by User:66.177.33.232 does not constitute vandalism. In the context of the paragraph, it appears to me to be an appropriate addition, owing to the redirection of Airplane to Aircraft, which should probably be changed to a disambiguation page to contain the two off (aircraft) topic references. Any objections? Best wishes, Leonard G. 06:40, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

You are right. Yesterday I was busy cleaning up after an IP address inserting vandalism, so when I saw that slightly off comment on Aircraft by that very IP address, I did not think twice. Now I made a disambiguation page and linked there. I will pay more attention. Oleg Alexandrov

Thanks for the response and disambiguation addition. I had browsed edits by that IP# and it appears that it is not fixed (or perhaps in use by various family members), being used by a number of editors with various styles and interests. Leonard G. 19:08, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I am aware of that. :) I did not revert automatically all edits from that IP, rather those which looked out of place. Oleg Alexandrov 19:17, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Airplane is now a disambiguation rather than a redirect. Leonard G. 06:49, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Another image needing a tag

The image Image:WPGageFace.jpg also needs a copyright tag. Did you take the photo yourself? Thanks, – Quadell ^{(talk) (help)} 23:43, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)

All three pressure gauge article images are now credited to myself. Leonard G. 03:49, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Picture on Commons

Moin Leonard,

since I needed your wonderful picture of the Kiel Canal for the German wikipedia, I uploaded it on Commons. Here it is. -- Zeitgeist 15:12, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kiel Canal map

Answer given on my dicussion page. -- Zeitgeist 11:44, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] List of towers

Didn't you notice when you edited List of towers that the content had become duplicated - later it became triplicated! Almost all of the article seems to have been written by one user of Freenet Cityline GmbH, Düsseldorf. Since he is too thick to notice that he has messed up the page, I am not going to try and rescue his edits. I have simply reverted to the last good version. This has lost your pic of the Eiffel Tower. I leave you to decide whether and where to put it back. -- RHaworth 10:19, 2005 Mar 31 (UTC)

Thanks for the notice.

Regarding duplications - I was sometimes having this happen to my early edits and have found out how to avoid them. They occur after an edit is previewed. Rather than edit within the new edit window presented below the preview, it is possible to use the "back" button to return to the window presented before the preview. It is this action, and the completion of the edit in that preceding window, that leads to multiple copies. This should probably be handled more gracefully on the server side. Leonard G. 21:39, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Three Gorges dam pics

Dear Leonard,

I am interested in high resolution versions of your three images of the Three Gorges dam model. Can you send them via e-mail to berndorff@gmx.de?

Thanks and best wishes, Jan

The entire slide show at 512 by 384 is at http://www.ccdemo.info/landabee/ChinaTripSlideShows/512x384/16SS-3GorgesDam/index.html

You may pick individual pictures from the index or click on the first and use the slide show buttons. Clicking on an image will bring up a 1024 by 768 image. If you need higher resolution I can provide the passing the the dam images at 2048 wide digitals. For the model I have scanned film and color negatives. Tell me what you need for publishing and I will release cc-sa for any digital originals or film scans, film negatives by other arrangement (are you doing high quality book publishing?) Leonard G. 20:35, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hayward Fault

Overall you've done an excellent job, but that crack about the Regents was inappropriate. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 23:37, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

I have no problem with your changing it - I always am bold with my first text and let others tone it down. I was surprised that it took this long for someone to notice! Best wishes, Leonard G. 03:33, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Riverboat

Thanks for your kind response. When I went to the article, the first thing I saw was a lot of large images at the top. I thought I was helping by arranging them smaller throughout. The way you have the gallery now is quite good. FredR 14:57, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Steam Engine

Hi Leonard, thanks for the great picture of the steam engine. Just to let you know I uploaded it to my wiki too. Greenpowered 16:48, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Airspeed merge

There's some good material on the concept of Airspeed, most of it written by you. Unfortunately, it's split between three articles Airspeed, True airspeed, and Indicated airspeed. I'd like to merge it all into one article, for ease of reference. Since most of the material (and edit history) is in Indicated airspeed, it makes sense for that to be the surviving article. I'd merge material from the other two articles, then rename it Airspeed. Indicated airspeed and True airspeed would become simple redirects. Since most of the material is yours, I'd want your blessing before I proceeded. ----Isaac R 23:31, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the courtesy - I have never seen that before on WP! Go for it. Leonard G. 01:24, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

Well, I kind of have to be nice to you, since I don't understand the material well enough to edit it without your help! Anyway, could I get you to look at two articles I've just discovered, calibrated airspeed and equivalent airspeed? How do they relate to the topics we've already discussed? Are they simply different names for the same things? (You can just reply here without going to my talk page.) ----Isaac R 03:30, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

I suspect that these two articles should be merged, but this is beyond my knowledge. The calibrated airspeed article states "The definition is based on a model of the air as a compressible fluid." - I believe that this should be incompressible. I will not be able to participate in this effort further for a few weeks. I suggest that you contact the contributors to these two articles, or enquire of contributors to other aviation-related articles. I will check out your work on the merge when I can. Good luck, thanks for your efforts, and best wishes, Leonard G. 04:33, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the basic text of these articles is anonymous. (There's some editing by named users, but they just did copy editing, wikification, etc.) I think do the basic merge we've already discussed, then slap a merge tag on the other two articles. Presumably someone will come along with the technical background to merge the last two articles. ----Isaac R 20:57, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] lots of edits, not an admin

Hi - I made a list of users who've been around long enough to have made lots of edits but aren't admins. If you're at all interested in becoming an admin, can you please add an '*' immediately before your name in this list? I've suggested folks nominating someone might want to puruse this list, although there is certainly no guarantee anyone will ever look at it. Thanks. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:10, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Global Warming

I notice you are in the process of making major changes to the GW article. Especially given the history of the article and the finely crafted compromise, it would be far better if you had discussed yoiur changes on the talk page beforehand. It's too late for that now, but please justify your alterations and cite your sources on the talk page - otherwise we'll just end up with more revert wars. Guettarda 02:02, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You guys are TOUCHY! I did not make any changes to the content, only adding a new section concerning a relevant and lesser known theory concerning potential consequences of global warming.

Yes, they are touchy. I just intended "a word to the wise". I don't care that much personally, but edits have to survive the scrutiny of the anti-GW lobby. On the plus side, this means that the stuff that gets into the article is pretty solid. Guettarda 02:12, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Seeing the changes that User:William M. Connolley made to my additions, it certainly appears that there is a "head in the sand" crew working there. It not only appears that "ice age" is somehow an incorrect term (too frightening, perhaps?), but that even a suggestion that an ice-free arctic could lead to increased (and season spanning) snow (which creates icefields), is to "hot" to handle. Leonard G. 02:49, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

William's the pro-GW person. But he is also a climatic scientist, and has been through a long and grueling edit war (see Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Climate_change_dispute/Proposed_decision) so he tends to stick to carefully verifiable facts that are well enough supported to stand up to the critics. If you think his re-write too strong you should talk to him - he's a very reasonable person. Guettarda 02:57, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I had taken a look at his user page and was surprised at the deletion of the ice-free stuff. I had heard the theory a long time ago in a radio program concerning climate. It was proposed by a scientist. According to this theory an even seasonally ice-free Arctic would put much more water into the atmosphere of the region which could increase permanent snow on adjacent land masses. The polar regions are currently desserts, although it has been recently discovered that Antarctica is becoming less so, to a degree (estimated at a buildup of 1 cm of ice/year) that accounts for the non-rising of sea levels even with the various glacial retreats. I will pose the question to him in a few days. Note: a subsequent Google search turned up an interesting essay concerning sudden ice-age intiation. The recent finding of a frozen mammoth with attached summer foliage supports the concept of a sudden ice age.Leonard G. 16:49, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I suspect that the problem is that the sources are, on one hand, a speculative hypothesis (speculation by a scientist is still speculation until the hypothesis is formally tested) and on the other hand, an essay. But you should really ask William directly - I'm sure he'd answer any questions you have. Guettarda 16:55, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The Sims 2 & The Strangerhood

How do you know a lot about making The Strangerhood with The Sims 2? - 68.23.36.253 1 July 2005 03:40 (UTC)

See Wired News Article http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/play.html?pg=1 for the basic info. Leonard G. 1 July 2005 06:01 (UTC)

[edit] Re: F/A-18 Hornet

The vandalism from 200.109.77.32 you removed was a bunch of swears in Spanish, in case you were wondering >_>

NickBush24 July 2, 2005 03:57 (UTC)

[edit] Hemorrhoid image

See Talk:Hemorrhoid. Tom Haws July 8, 2005 14:34 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge

Hi Leonard, Sorry for being so late in replying. I'm happy with the change in position, and I guess it isn't much of a birdge. So you around --Fir0002 07:02, July 14, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Millau Viaduct image

Feel free to delete the image as i have since lost interest in that article.

[edit] request for evaluation

Hi, I just started an article about projection screens, though I had to focus on home theatre screens due to lack of expertise in other areas. Would you like to look at it and suggest for improvements or add/correct anything you'd like? Santtus 15:10, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image:ValkyrieOnHorse.jpg

I should have said "inconsistent with traditional..." (rather than "modern", although I was referring to 1800's modern, as I understand that the tradition is not warlike, these being a selector of and guide to Vahalla for the spirits of (chosen) fallen warriors. Care to revert and correct, or is this in error? please inform me here, I will watch. By the way, what does "Sinding" mean? Leonard G. 22:55, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

It's warlike enough. Heathen poems such as Hákonarmál describe valkyries wearing helmets and holding spears. Then there were valkyries like Hildr who was something of a bitch. Now that I think about it I don't recall an example of a valkyrie actually personally killing someone - but they're certainly described as armed often enough. The valkyrie articles still need a lot of work. I hope to do that sooner or later.

Sinding is the last name of the fellow who made the sculpture. I don't know its origins. - Haukurth 23:35, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll add that to the pix notes. Leonard G. 03:24, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bridges

No need to go to SF. I live pretty close to GG park and can get a picture of a moon bridge. I may have a picture from Japan. I may have a picture of a rope bridge from trekking in Nepal. I'll check. What you propose sounds very ambitious. I've been sticking with suspension bridges, just trying to get basic info on the 100 largest, and organizing what is already there. BTW, have you considered archiving your talk page? -- Samuel Wantman 04:59, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

The picture I want is of the bridge in the Tea Garden. It would be especially nice to get a picture of a kid starting up one side (not showing the face - just a generic picture) - climbing the moon bridge was my favorite activity there. Also a good overview, especially with a reflection in the pond. I don't remember - is there a zig-zag bridge there too?

Is the ambitious part that it is a suite of articles?

Yes, its time to archive! Leonard G. 05:09, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

I just checked my pictures. I don't have either. I'll try and get to the Tea Garden. I do have some pictures of bridges in Tokyo harbor, and a very scary looking steel cable suspension bridge in Nepal. Yes the suite is ambitious. -- Samuel Wantman 05:13, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

What would be nice would be a summary taxobox for each bridge type (typical span ranges, application, environments, etc.), and a different kind of taxobox for specific bridges (date, span, weight, application, engineering and construction challenges, name origin etc.). If the Nepal bridge is a simple suspension bridge it could go there (let me know when you post it, regardless). I could also see that each generic bridge type article would have a gallery of images (small thumbnails), that would index each specific bridge article for bridges of that type. The reason I think that the suite is appropriate is that almost all of the significant content of the bridge article has now been dispersed into the new or existing sub-articles, leaving only an introduction and a directory. I would also like to enhance the truss bridge article, with formal identification of the various kinds of trusses used. Sure, it is ambitious, but I think it could form a nice model for WP of multi-topic related articles and the navigation and display methods used. Leonard G. 18:49, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Evolutionary vomiting

This is a nice edit, but a reference would be even better. Could you provide one? JFW | T@lk 00:31, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

I would very much like to but am unable to at the moment, as I do not recall where I heard this (it was within the last 2 or 3 years), and it seemed to me to make a lot of sense. Do you have any party experience?;-)

Leonard G. 00:35, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Swing bridge pix

Thanks LG. Yes i have some photos of the timber trestle and can get more. Meggar 19:46, 2005 July 30 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge type template

I've been noticing your use of the bridge type template. I have a few suggestions which I'd like to implement with your approval. I don't like how the pictures are being pushed down the page. Could the template include the picture of a representative bridge? Also, many of the terms need links to explanations. Sound OK to you? -- Samuel Wantman 06:43, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Yesterday I put the following into Wikipedia:Bug report:

----

Taxobox and image flow

I created a bridge type taxobox (template:BridgeType), and am inserting it into various bridge type articles. The layout I frequently want is an introductory image on the right, the taxobox after some introductory text, and more images. If I put the taxobox too close to the image then when the page is widened the taxobox will move up and when it gets close to the intro image it will jump to the left, crowding the text. If I run it toward the bottom (by putting it after more text) then it does not jump but on a narrow page is now too far down. I would like to have it treated as is an image - simply to stay in its column below the image. I have experimented with various intro image positions and none seem to work as I wish. (Note also that the alignment is several pixels to the left of the images and tends to crowd the text - there is insufficient text margin. See Clapper bridge and experiment by moving the template up, use a large screen to make a wide window. If you can provide me with a work-around that would be appreciated as I have more than 30 articles to edit and would like to get some uniformity in presentation. Any work around should work with the various modern browsers and top three operating systems.) Thanks, Leonard G. 04:30, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

----

I would appreciate any assistance you can provide. This template is in a number of articles so it would probably be safest to make a new copy (e.g template:BridgeType2). Problem articles are those that are short (e.g., clapper bridge, and one with a tall and narrow intro picture (trestle, although I may ask for a more conventional aspect ratio). Note however, that by putting the taxobox in a second section (as in Trestle) that many problems are solved (but the second picture is pushed to the bottom, even though it is to the left).

It might be practical to put a CSS wrapper on the images and taxobox. Thanks, Leonard G. 14:41, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

I've been frustrated by the same problem. I decided to put the picture into the template to control the layout. See Tatara Bridge for an example. I think this would work well for your template. -- Samuel Wantman 19:04, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Done! I added an image position followed by an image title. It does not work well with tall aspect images, however. See Trestle, where I had to put the steel trestle in the taxobox to get a decent layout (I need a landscape format wood trestle image) Leonard G. 15:00, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

I have found that clearing left, rather than both, will help keep images in their place if they are left justistifid.

[edit] Bridge type taxonomy

See the bridge type taxonomy diagram, which I have prepared as a guide for relationships within bridge type taxoboxes - comments are solicited, see Talk:Bridge Leonard G. 16:41, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Great images!

I noticed what you were doing when you added some much needed photos to the Vancouver article. Later I noticed that Vancouver isn't even in your area and you have added many great, high-quality images to many articles. You also take the time and forethought to make wonderful panoramas. Great work! •Zhatt• 17:39, July 29, 2005 (UTC)

Wow! Thanks! I've noticed the barnstar on other Wikipedian's pages, and have kinda, sorta - lusted for one. Leonard G. 20:42, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

When I started in WP, I would see a need for a picture and remember that on a previous vacation trip that I had seen that, but did not take a picture since it was not directly relevant to a slide show of the trip. Now, when I travel, I look at everything and ask myself "would that make a good WP image?" If so, what angle, background, depth of focus, film, or digital, lighting, etc. would produce both a didactic image and a dramatic image (sometimes you just can't get both). WP has turned me from a mere trip illustrator into a much more careful and thoughtful photographer, but I also snap get a lot of digitals as "wing shots" just in case I can extract a useable image. Got to go now, I need to burn through the last of a roll so I can finish a few articles. Leonard G. 21:23, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Centered thumb captions

Hello again. As I said, I appreciate all the work you do here but one thing about it bugs me. When you add images you add the <center> tag to all the captions. As you can see from this comparison I made, it just ends up taking up more space and looking odd as most other images in Wikipdeia are not formatted that way. It helped on the gallery on the bridge article, but on most thumbs, it doesn't work too well. I know its a smell thing to nit-pick on but it was starting to bug me. Thanks •Zhatt• 20:37, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the example.The problem seems not to be related to the use of centered text but to the thumb modifier combined with a browser deficiency on your end. (Just a guess, you're using IE6 on a PC, right?) Your complaint is about vertical space, right? (There will always be some necessary client dependencies in the text layout, for consider what happens when a user enlarges the text.) What I see right now at my default text arrangement (slightly larger than normal, Safari browser) looks pretty good, with a nice frame, and the text is centered. The text line splits following San Francisco, giving a nice layout (unlike your example). But my image does not show the thumb icon! So the way I should address your feedback is to not use the thumb modifier, right? But if I leave off the thumb (or replace it with frame) I get no text and no frame! I had been using thumb to get the ability to add a text label, which seems not to be possible with frame. So now it looks like the problem is that thumb is somewhat incompatible (aestheticly) with any text, centered or not when you use Internet Explorer. Removing the center from the text bridge images still shows the extra vertical space with thumb graphic This really looks like a wiki text layout problem combined with a browser dependency or browser inability to follow standards. If I replace thumb with frame I get neither frame nor text (is this a Safari deficiency?) If I do the exact same on Mac IE the picture shows full size - gross!.

Why I use the thumb modifier. Click on the chinese headress in the Cloisonne article, or the Guardian image in the Fireboat article or the sulfur pile in the Sulfur article. In each of these cases you will see photographer notes - notes that would be inappropriate for inclusion in the article itself but which are very much related to the image and to my taking of it, as well as what was done to the image in post processing, what I think about it and the situation that the scene presents to me, etc. (possibly POV, but not grossly inappropriate in this context), Suposedly that is what the thumb is for (in addition to presenting a standard size if none is specified), to show that you can get an enhanced, larger image and that there may be additional text.

What is needed: documentation of these problems for a bug report. Let me know what you have to test with, I can test Mozilla, Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on the Mac under OS X. What do you have? In short, it is not my fault and not really my problem, but if you can find a work around I will use it, and I will do what I can to help improve the situation Leonard G. 00:43, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Renaming suspension bridge

Leonard, I wish you had discussed this. I'm not sure it was a good idea. Please see Suspended-deck suspension bridge#Disambiguated_suspension_bridge -- Samuel Wantman 19:58, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nice one, Leonard

Thanks for your eyebar contribution. That's exactly what I needed to know, and nicely complements the bridge article. Cheers. Moriori 21:12, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Greetings from 81.15.33.129

Hi!

Thank you for your comments and invitation to become a registered user. Since I still don't seem to able to find out how to send a message as you did, this comment must serve the same purpose. I discovered Wikipedia just two days ago and am so fascinated that I hardly have turned my computer off since. This is quite simply the best way I have ever found to satiate my insatiable appetite for all things nerdical. Among them, electric cars and generally the crossing between environmental protection and high technology rank just about the highest. I hope to hear from you soon. (I may even have learned how to communicate here by then). :)

      Greetings, Aðal-Hrafn

[edit] photos - why not into commons

Hi Leonard,

Regarding the submersible bridge in Greece - you have done a great job in getting hold of the photo, thanks for that. One point though...the photo is only in the English wikipedia, not in the wikimedia commons, and thus other language wikipedias are unable to make use of it. Consider uploading photos to the commons instead, uploading is hardly different, and inclusion with Image: is exactly the same. The photos I contribute I do upload to the commons - have a look ;-) -- Klaus with K 10:46, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

WP should just have a default "on" box that says "Upload to Commons also" and a license selector. I load under cc-sa and cc-by-sa. What are the corresponding commons licenses? Leonard G. 14:37, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Licences: the same, I usually combine {GFDL} with {cc-by-sa-2.5} but yours would do just fine.

Commons: the idea is not to upload there in addition but instead. -- Klaus with K 17:15, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Note also that anyone may upload any of my images that are cc-sa or cc-by-sa to the commons without further permission - see my user page.

"anyone may upload any of my images that are cc-sa or cc-by-sa to the commons" and why these people shall do your work? It's not a funny work to move these images and there's no reason why you shouldn't make that yourself. Please think on it, I've seen already some of your images which were transfered to commons without to give your name as source. --Saperaud 16:18, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

How do I find my images? I note that the image files are not present as search results when I look for my user name?

[edit] Hi from Hrafn

Hi again. As you can see, I modified my user name. When I woke up this morning, I realised that a user name meant to be lasting should not be chosen in haste or reaction to an irritation at 3 o'clock in the morning. :) - Yesterday, by surfing I rediscovered an old curiosity: the (electric) wheel hub motor, also called "motor-in-wheel" or simply "wheel motor". Although it is possible that still other names may exist, it seems there is no article on them. A worthwhile project. Till later, Hrafn

Motor in wheel is designed into the future production electric/hybrid/plug in hybrid vehicle from Mitsubishi Motors, expected to be released for sale in Japan by 2010 (no North American marketing decision has been made). (Don't forget to used the four tilde signature ~~~~ - Leonard G. 14:44, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Inca Toys

Greetings! Concerning the latest statement added to Inca Empire, I can see from the article of Toy that 67.150.33.246 (talk • contribs) copied such statement without the prove of a photograph or site with more evident and irrefutable information to prove what the statement says. While such statement might be true, there were significant cultural differences between Mesoamerican and Inca cultures. The four external links of images you left for me to see (and as you yourself note) only serve to demonstrate the non-inca (meso-american) toys used under these cultures, particularly those under Mexican territory and not the Inca of South America. Its quite interesting to have seen those images, if only I could see such examples used by the Incas to dispel any doubts. It is for this reason that I initially thought was vandalism. We can try to find more sources of information on this so as to prove further what such statement claims. No worries.. just a thought. Best wishes, --Dynamax 02:59, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Honeybees

So what is the use of a stinger that can enter only once? --VKokielov 05:03, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

In the case of the honeybee, one can attribute the usefulness of a worker's single use detachable stinger to well known principles of evolution considered in the context of the honeybee's social organization, even considering that the delivery of the stinger is fatal to the bee.

• In the an evolutionary context it is not the survival of the individual worker bee that is important, for these workers do not contribute to the survival of the colony's genes - these are only done though the queen's ability to produce the male drones to ultimately breed with virgin queens from other colonies and the worker's ability to produce such queens from eggs laid by that queen, either by supercession (queen replacement), or queen development associated with a resident queen's leading of a swarm out of the colony.
• The barbed stinger is advantageous to the survival of the colony, as only a momentary contact, a fraction of a second on a bare part of a predator, (typically the nose or near the eyes) is required - should the predator crush or brush off the attacking worker it will be to no effect as the stinger is embedded, progressing deeper (due to the sawing motion of its twin barbs) and the venom bulb is actively pumping - all this without requiring the presence of the bee. Note that it will be easy for an attacking bee to find the nose as they (as are mosquitos) able to home in on high levels of carbon dioxide.

• The effectiveness of a mass attack of bees will increase the likelyhood of the survival of the colony, not just by protecting the queen but also by protecting the brood (the egg, larval and metamorphic forms of the workers), the stored pollen (important for spring build-up of the worker population), the stored honey (important for the survival of the colony over the winter, and the comb - the habitat of the colony, which would be destroyed by a predator to obtain the other valuable portions, and finally, whatever protection is offered by a cavity, in the case of cavity-dwelling bees.

• Please feel free to ask additional questions if this is not clear, as I will probably move this text to an appropriate article. Best wishes, Leonard G. 05:27, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

---

[edit] barograph pictures

hello Leonard ! saw some good pictures of a barograph at french wikipedia pages concerning "barometre". look here: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barom%C3%A8tre regards, michael Redecke 19:52, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Not just nice images, looks like a very complete article. Time for Babblefish? What is the scoop on using the images? Leonard G. 23:51, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

hello leonard ! i am german. i just translated the "barometre" article from french into german for our german wiki (i grew up in a french-speaking country). but my english is not good enough to translate this excellent french article into english. sorry. michael Redecke 10:28, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I put the barograph pictures in after copying them to the en.WP. The translation sounds like a fun shore. What I will do is Babblefish and then clean up, but I will need a French speaker to review the translation to English. Can you help with that part? See the Babble Fish (website) article for my experience with the translation - an editor dropped out my intermediate translation, go back a few edits to see what I thought was valid text (Die Deutsche Fährstraße=>The German driving race=>A driving rally=>A scenic route).

I have proposed a work plan in Talk:Barometer. - Leonard G. 16:44, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Leonard, I'm excited to see your proposal to translate the french "barometre" into english; although I can't speak a bit of french it looks like a great article. I wanted to point out the existence of the wikipedia tranlation into english page at Wikipedia:Translation_into_English#French-to-English. You should check it out, maybe they can help you there. I look forward to participating toward the end when native english speakers are needed for final copyediting. - Bantman 17:37, August 16, 2005 (UTC)

I have taken it over as an offline project, owing to a lack of reliability in my cable ISP, and a complete failure of babblefish to work at all in French. The article text should be ready in a few days, then I will post to the talk page as a proposed article replacement - main hassle will be getting the pictures over. Leonard G. 01:00, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Time to resubmit Bay Bridge

Leonard- I'd like to resubmit San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for feature article consideration. You've done more work on it than I have, so I thought we could submit it together. If this sound good to you, let me know. -- Samuel Wantman 07:30, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Let's review all the paragraphs first, submit in a few days - OK?

[edit] Things left to do

The big complaint seems to be inline refs. I really don't see how this adds anything useful to an article where all the cites are on-line. Are you up for taking a stab at this?

Also, there are still a few english-only measurements.

If you can't get to these, I'll try to get to them sometime soon. -- Samuel Wantman 22:18, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Picture placement

We apparently have to work on this a little more to get an arrangement that looks good to everyone. Of course I try the arrangement at many different sizes. I do not have the problem you describe. I tried it with several different font sizes. But this will vary with browsers and browser settings (I do font substitutions in my browser). With the way you had it set there often was a big white space between the heading and the text below because the picture was forced below the taxobox. The heading got covered by the taxobox, but the text did not begin until the picture. I tried using clear statements, but could not get it to work because the taxobox extends past the table of contents. The clear statements caused the menu to be forced below the taxobox which looks dreadful. I'm planning to read more at the image help section to see if this problem is addressed. I suggest that you try yet another solution that looks good to you, and maybe it will look good for me also.

Similarly with the lattice beam section. Letting the text flow on the right side causes a situation where just a few words hang on the right if the window is narrow. It seemed that White space is a better option. If you have a better solution please try it. I don't find the white space to the right of the pictures to be a problem. --Samuel Wantman 06:22, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Fixed it by grouping all three retrofit images in a row across, text labeling below (text in thumbs makes for poor vertical justification). Leonard G. 01:56, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Swanport Bridge

Hi Leonard. I'm glad you found my Swanport Bridge picture valuable for another article. I'm not a bridges expert, but I think I have photos of all the South Australian Murray River crossings, and some of the New South Wales ones, if you know what you'd like uploaded? I've also just added a couple pictures of the Wattle Point Wind Farm near Edithburgh, South Australia if you're interested in them. --Scott Davis ^Talk 15:21, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

I'd need to see what you have available - do you have them posted somewhere? You might consider doing an article on just those Murray river bridges as you have them all. Leonard G. 15:37, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

The pictures I've uploaded are at User:ScottDavis/Images. I did a 5-day boat trip from the border upstream of Renmark down to Wellington earlier this year, so have water-based shots of all the bridges, ferries and locks in SA, I think. I don't see this as an online photo album, so generally only upload pictures I think I'm going to use in an article. --Scott Davis ^Talk 00:48, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

I know what you mean, but sometimes people go over the top on WP being a text wiki and not a (travel, fixit, do it yourself, image repository, etc.). I consider it a multimedia wiki, at least as far as static images are concerned (bandwidth problems, of course). When travelling I used to only take images I thought would relate to the trip, but now I look at everything and ask myself "how would that be used in a WP article?".

[edit] Image:Fem isa int 2.png has been listed for deletion

An image or media file you have uploaded, Image:Fem isa int 2.png, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please look there to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you.

As noted elsewhere this is my correction of a base image that is in question - so my cc-sa is modification is not valid if the base image is not. Leonard G. 03:10, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Your RFA

Just a quick note: Your RFA is not formatted properly. This may work against you as voters might believe that you didnt have enough experience to properly edit the page. Please format it conventionally then accept the nomination, and answer the questions. OK?

Journalist ^C./ ^{Holla @ me!}

Really, you dont have to withdraw the nomination. All you have to do is format the nomination properly. Im really sorry if I did anything to change your mind. Unless you are completely sure you dont want to replace it, all you have to do is follow the imstructions step by step, and keep using the preview button — dont save until you are sure you have finished. I think that you could reall be useful as an admin, you have all the edits, and really, hardly anybody ever successfully edit the page on their first try.

Journalist ^C./ ^{Holla @ me!}

Ok. Ill nomionate you, and see if I can set it up. OK?

Journalist ^C./ ^{Holla @ me!}

[edit] Negative Comments on RFA

No problem. That's quite an interesting point you brought up about people's usernames matching their personality. Perhaps we subconsciously arrange it that way. My comments at times can be absolutely acerbic, but weak, just as acetic acid is. However, I chose this username almost randomly. Anyway, good luck with the rest of your nomination. I haven't cast my vote yet, but I'll be sure to do that now. Cheers! Acetic'^Acid 04:48, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] RfA- Adminship powers

Hi again, I saw your reply to my neutral vote on your RfA. I agree that the powers should be split up, but I'm afraid I may have expressed myself poorly earlier. Most people who apply for adminship first go into admin-type areas as regular editors. It's been said that the best way to become an admin is to act like an admin; i.e. tagging test pages with speedy deletion tags, participating at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion and Wikipedia:Requests for adminship, and generally acting as a mediator. That way, the community can see how you'd respond to given situations an admin would face before giving you admin powers. As I said, you're a first-rate contributor, I just worry that I haven't seen enough participation in admin-related areas to know how you would act if you had the powers. All the best. --Scimitar ^parley 16:16, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Changes on Sept 14 to Template:Bridge3

Featured article status has attracted css editors to the template. Please do not change for a few days. I reverted to the last stable version.

Suggestion: Make a new template (e.g. Bridge3B) and copy the contents. Include the template on your user page, copying the calling info from the article. You may new view the effects of template changes in your own user page without effecting the article. When all is coorect you may elect to reference this in one live article for testing purposes. Only when all is satisfactory should the master template be changed. Please note: templates are potentially used widely and a change can affect many articles. I do have some technical questions regarding proper CSS use and your assistance will be welcome. Right now I have to keep vandals at bay. Best wishes, Leonard G. 02:18, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• I check everything on the sandbox before I go on to posting things. Lines are removed in most of the infobox templates (eg. Template:Album infobox, Template:Infobox Company, etc.) I added in the verticle-align:top to avoid any confusions when the lines are removed. Therefore, I want to ask you, what exactly was bad about using CSS? I could add lines right now if I could, but I will wait for your decision. Suggestion: Instead of naming it Bridge3, it would also be better if it was named Infobox Bridge to clarify. -- WB 04:42, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
• Another update, Template:Infobox Bridge is finished the way I want it. If you have any suggestions on what to do with things now, please use my talk page linked on my signature. -- WB 05:03, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Leonard, I've looked at all the different versions of this (Bridge3, Bridge3b, and Infobox Bridge) and they all look pretty much the same to me (except the color of the lines). So I am not understanding what the problem is with the changes that people have been making. There seem to be some standards that have evolved about these infoboxes. I am no expert, so I usually defer to those that seem to have strong opinions about them. If there is something that is not right, I'd suggest just communicating the problem so it can be fixed. This might be a browser problem. I'm using IE, and all of the versions appear to be the same width. BTW, I don't think there would be anything that I would be able to say that would be a stronger message. Since I don't understand the problem with the changes, my comments wouldn't help. Also, I have no more "status" than you, I am not an admin. -- Samuel Wantman 23:09, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I have a friend in the building with a Mac with OSX and I don't know what else. What do you want me to see? -- Samuel Wantman 23:22, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Just go to User Talk:Ed g2s with Safari, make the window reasonably narrow, and see what happens - in one test all the links overlayed one another, currently they just run off the edge of the screen but the background does not, leaving titles under the upper right image - that is why I hand code using tables. If you can also check the table width using the template from the history you will see that it is too wide (put a copy of the template somewhere, reference it in the article and preview but do not save).

Regarding the earlier modified templates the CSS width was incorrect- possibly now fixed as it looks OK with my very limited test view via GGBr. I use a Mac with OSX and Safari, which follows the standards, while IE (even IE Mac, which behaves differently than IE Windows) does not. I put together an extensive site by hand coding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and found that to properly display a page layout on all modern browsers (without testing for the kind of browser) required the use of tables (with spacer GIFs, which I detest). I think that the infoboxes should be rewritten as tables if it can be shown that the css displays incorrectly, or that the css should be modified as necessary, although I doubt that this is possible. I really resent the repeated on the fly modification despite my polite request for only one day of stand-down - it appears that this guy has no manners. I am off for the day, it looks like others are keeping ahead of the vandals (but not the admin/editors). Leonard G. 23:37, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• I don't think there is anything CSS is doing that does not follow the standards. Standards are defined by W3C, not IE. Separation of style and content clearly explains the benefits of using CSS. Properly coded CSS and wiki will be displayed without problems whether you are on Safari or IE. (I suggest using Mozilla Firefox though) There are some CSS that could not be understood by IE, but they can easily be fixed, and this is by no means a reason to get rid of CSS and use HTML. As I mentioned earlier, most of the major infoboxes do not have dividers/lines because the CSS style for infobox does not include one. All I did was following what has been laid out by bigger experts. ("tocolours" is also available for adding lines in, but "infobox" would be more appropriate.) Width could be done as relative percentage instead of exact pixels, but this is not "incorrect", but rather "inappropriate".... Viewing Wikipedia on a 640*480 or 800*600 monitor wouldn't be the best thing, but I must agree that we have to do something about it. However, I resent your action to prevent other editors from adding their contributions. Wikipedia is a collaborative effort and the content should be based on the consensus rather than the individual. This is not to say you are a bad person, but rather to say that editors should be allowed to change as appropriate. CSS and other things are all parts of the newer standards, and these things should be read and considered before actually writing a comment and blocking other people from editing the infobox. -- WB 01:51, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

  It may not be the CSS that you write that does not follow the standards - it is its interpretation by the Microsoft browsers - interpretations that are well known to break standards conforming CSS, such that if it works in IE it may not work in conforming browsers.

• My point with respect to the "blocking" was only that this was a featured article and that the template is used in several articles referenced from that article. Please note that I had made *polite* request of yourself and User:Ed g2s to please not change the template (for a few days, I should have said until the article was no longer featured). My first hint was a radical change of appearance, followed by an inappropriate widening of the box. As noted elsewhere, the wide box is inappropriate for narrow screens. I thought it quite rude of the other editor/admin to go ahead in the face of this request, particularly since his edits were in my opinion aesthetically unpleasing and not to WP pseudo-standards regarding screen width. All I asked for was for a few hours - there was nothing wrong with the template in its function or display and the imposition of an esthetic standard upon (potentially) many articles should be discussed with the article writers. The changes could have been postponed without harm to the article(s). My experience with CSS is that MS has chosen to ignore the standards in such a way that code that does follow the standard, and displays correctly on non-IE browsers may not display correctly on IE, and vice versa. I have found that the only way to get tables displayed correctly on all modern browsers without browser specific tests is to use HTML. The use of CSS by editors is especially dangerous since most such editors are using a single computer system and that with a single browser. A recent commercial site I put together (using hand coded HTML) presents uniformly in all modern browsers on both Mac and Windows, and with no server-side or client-side browser test. It only uses CSS where it is harmless if not supported (or not supported to standards) by the browser - It is used for link rollovers and other minor features but not for table layout. Thank you for your forbearance in holding off on the editing. If you are into fixing things, please keep the text from running too close to the box - this is especially seen when italic text runs to the extreme right margin. Thank you for your consideration of these matters. Sincerely, Leonard G. 02:31, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

  • Only because IE does not support CSS doesn't mean that you should just dump CSS and go back to HTML. It depends on whether you wish to go with what Wikipedia suggests the editors to do (use CSS), or go with HTML. There's nothing wrong with HTML, but CSS is much better to work with. I only made one change to the Bridge3 template before you have notified me of the "blocking," and I made a separate template as you have suggested to do so. If you are going to follow the pseudo-standards of screen width for people with small monitors, why not use CSS for people with "standardized" browsers? It sounds like I have made the wide box and dogmatically stood with the opinion. However, as I stated in the comment before this, instead of putting the exact pixel number (eg. 250px), you can use percentage (eg. 20%) to make it adjust to the screen size. I do not mind if you found the CSS tables aesthetically unpleasing. But I think that decision should be made by other users other than ourselves. I have made various webpages using CSS, and it works across most browsers (IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Konqueror, etc.) It's not the problem with CSS... IE hasn't been updated for some time now, and its definitions are a bit out of date. Next version (IE7) is even getting the CSS implemented on it because that's the standard. I don't quite understand why you detest CSS that much...

Anyway, remember . -- WB 05:41, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

I am fully aware of and appreciate the merits of CSS (I do not detest it - I think it is great). I performed extensive web research on using it, and performed many trial and error experiments to make it work for page layout for this site. with all attempts ultimately unproductive in obtaining cross browser uniformity of presentation. I wish I could have used CSS as it would have cut both the development time and the page loading time significantly (although since the bulk of the site is images rather than layout the percentage benefit is limited). It would have been a lot easier to set up the layout. In the future the problem will come down to IE 5.2 on the Mac, as it is not expected that MS will produce a Mac version of Windows IE 7. Yet government agencies (such as the USPTO) now require IE for online filings.

As far as floating the width of the infobox as a percentage of screen, note that the box is carefully crafted for a pleasing layout, with a full width image at the top and a narrow map at the bottom. When the infobox widens these images float in a sea of whitespace. The only justification for floating would be to allow a person to use large font sizes (I typically use two steps larger than the tiny text on most sites - I'm not disabled, just old), but those with significant impairment will usually also have zone magnifiers or virtual scrolling (enlarged) screens or optical viewing aids.

With regards to this particular article please note that SamuelWantman and myself had put months of work into the article specifically to bring it to featured article status and so I felt somewhat protective of its layout, at least for this one day (I know, its not "my" article, but perhaps you will be more understanding and forgiving of my actions in unwinding the sudden changes).

Please note that the "Blocking" is only via a polite text request, which I felt was rather baldly ignored for no good reason (not by yourself but by the other editor) - I have no ability to lock the page. I had to use somewhat nefarious means to prevent his further mucking with the SFOBB infobox, which he attempted but was unable to accomplish and which he has not yet discovered and corrected. I will soon unwind the trick to use the final infobox as seen on the Golden Gate Bridge article, which has a more pleasing appearance and which now appears to correct the close text problem.

As an exercise in CSS I may recast the site noted above (experimentally) and test it on all browsers. This is a site of a family member based upon his site concept and all of my work was done as a gift to him, and the site is not yet producing significant revenue. I would like to build my CSS skills and as I would perform extensive testing to determine which features are cross-browser/platform compatible the information developed would be useful to our work on WP. I would ensure that any successful methods would be freely available. This is strictly elective, as I have no need to modify the site but wish to either be able to use CSS or to prove why it should not be used. Would you be willing to act as (unpaid) consultant to me if I get stuck?

Thank you for your discussion of this matter - I think that that is a far better way to get things done at WP. Sincerely, Leonard G. 16:45, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Government requiring IE is something that we can do almost nothing about (just complaining. lol) Most of my pages are XHTML strict with CSS strict. (just following the trend). It would be a good idea to read some tutorials on the Internet and/or get some books from a nearby bookstores (like chapters/indigo. Canada eh?) I would be delighted to give CSS helps though. The Bridge3's width still seem to be based on pixels. I don't mind (since I have a 1280*1024), but has anyone tried a relative (percentage) width in there? I would also recommend using Infobox Bridge instead of Bridge3 just because of the naming convention. IE 7 for Mac would be a different problem because IE for Windows has a different engine from the engine used in IE Mac. I wouldn't say someone was "mucking with" the infobox though. It was not an experiment, and it was clearly for the purpose of a better looking table. Although you have stated that it's not "your" article, and I certainly understand how one might feel after writing a featured article, you should not stop other users from editing articles unless it is an act of vandalism or similar. Just because Wikipedia is not going the way you want does not mean that it should revolve around you. I'm trying to be positive here, but if one wants a place to write an article and act as the "owner" of the articles, one should make his own website and post it there (or work at Encarta lol).

Away from the top "seemingly scary" comment, take a look at New York article. In my opinion, the infobox is excellently done providing all the necessary information about the state. Although you might not like the look of that table, I think those kind of infoboxes are what I am trying to apply to all the infoboxes. As I stated on my (failed) request for adminship, my goal in Wikipedia is to standardize the articles in Wikipedia. /* I must admit this is going a bit off topic */

Anyway, please feel free to further comment using the link to my talk page on my signature. -- WB 07:09, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Suggestion re adminship request

If the end of the voting period arrived today, you'd likely be granted admin status. But I have an odd suggestion. Voluntarily withdraw your nomination, and then spend a couple or two weeks working with us in "policy and deletion areas". Then I think whatever opposition there is to your adminship would vanish; and unanimity feels far better than consensus. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:08, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, I have prepared (offline) a "swan song", which should go down well with the editors (but not quite so smoothly with some of the admins). Mostly because of communication problems with them - they simply "don't get it" when I suggest that their admin structure is not effective in the development of new admin talent - it ignores all that most organizations and learning/teaching disciplines already know and have learned through (literally) thousands of years of experience. Also, they seem not very pleasant to work with (I won't list their faults here as I may need to work with them) - unlike almost all of the editors I have dealt with. I thought I would let the matter ripen a bit and deliver on Friday - do you think it better to accelerate this? Leonard G. 14:07, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• Well...you're wrong about admins. Which I think you'd find out if you did what I suggested; you never really took on any quasi-admin responsibilities (which is to me not a huge deal -- I mean, I'm still supporting your candidacy); and you'd find out if you spent some time at RfA and AfD and so on that admins (as a group) are so often bombarded with abuse from trolls and vandals (and sometimes from well-intentioned people who have serious communication problems) that we're a bit oversensitive to blanket criticism from people who haven't tried to work with us. I'd do it immediately -- and there's no reason to be dramatic about it; just say you've reconsidered and that now is not the right time to pursue the nomination. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 15:01, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I'll get to it later today - I have a task in "real" life to do now. Bye and thanks, Leonard G. 20:38, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm giving you my support as an administrator, because of the quality of your work that I've seen. Some of the comments about you are petty, and seem to indicate that it's a lot more involved to become an admin than when I did - or that some have rather personal definitions of an admin's job. I will say this, though, in the form of a suggestion: it makes me a bit uneasy to see you so involved and sometimes argumentative in your nomination. Why not step back and let the community do its thing? Pollinator 01:13, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, I am about to submit a withdrawal. All I wanted was a tool to help de-vandalize. Instead I will purge my watch list - no see, no stress. In my opinion WP is not appropriately set up to handle growth and I expect (after another year or two) to be putting an oar in with some suggestions. I am much more comfortable working with editors than with admins. I understand that they feel that they have a lot to protect - they do, but the structure lacks progressivity and so they are forced into a defensive posture. Thanks for your support. Best wishes, Leonard G. 02:56, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Here is my formal withdraw of my RfA:

---

Applicant's note

Greetings to all:

I have found much joy and reward in editing and in my many interactions with my fellow editors and will continue to do so, and to assist other editors as much as I possibly can through image and other contributions. All I really wanted was a one button revert and to be able to block the more outrageous vandals. For all those below who have given me support, and those who did not but made complementary remarks on my article work I thank you, it makes me feel good to be appreciated. I value WP for the personal growth opportunity it has given me - I am a much better writer and photographer and feel especially that it has improved my interpersonal skills (you think that they are bad now?) ;-) For those administrators of WP (all of them) I am thankful, for they provide the environment that makes our work as editors possible. I would far rather be an effective editor than an ineffective administrator. Please consider this to be my official withdrawl of my RfA. I expect to be putting in some suggestions in a year or so as to possible improvements in the admin setup and trust that these will be examined in a spirit of open-mindedness.

Best wishes to you one and all, sincerely, Leonard G. 03:16, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

---

[edit] thanks

Thanks for your many interesting photos. Btw, where are you from? Good to know you. Xah Lee 10:47, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I am from Walnut Creek, California, An edge city of San Francisco. let me know if you need any local images or technical illustrations.

Thank you for your support of my admin status, but it is looking like a club that I would rather not belong to - at least not this year. As Groucho Marx said, "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member". ;-) Best wishes, Leonard G. 14:18, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Adminship

I'm sorry to hear that you withdrew your RfA. I think that you would be a fine admin. I also took the liberty of reading your above exchange with jpgordon about adminship and editing. I agree that new admins aren't "trained" at all: some new sysops get no advice whatsoever. When I was first promoted, I got a short talk page message, and an instruction to read the relevant pages. While admins are technically only normal users with a few janitorial benefits, all too often they are placed in situations as mediators, problem-solvers, and guides. I've already had several situations in found my way into where I had to guide and teach other, less experienced users.

This really shouldn't be a task placed on the admin shoulders' alone: each experienced Wikipedia editor should be able to mediate and resolve conflict in such a large community. But new users often see the admin flag as a sign of offical-ness, a person whose words must have some weight. And this isn't working, with new hi-tech vandals, trolls, and editors who just simply disrupt. We've had more than a few good editors leave lately, and I think this is partely due to the burden placed on so few editors.

Well, these are just my thoughts. I would look forward to hearing yours, and any solutions you might have in these matters. I also look forward to the day where I can support you once again for adminship.

Regards, Bratsche^{talk | Esperanza} 04:01, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

We should have an appropriate forum for the discussion. I do not care to discuss such matters in an admin forum at this time. I have some general thoughts on how to fix this structure (I think that it is inadequate at present and is potentially a disaster for the future). My main criticism is the lack an appropriate number of steps in the editor-admin ladder. It's like I'm in a martial arts class, white belt for a half a year, have mastered it to the nth degree and so apply for a yellow belt. Master says: "No yellow belt! Take the Black Belt test! And spar with them too! And watch out! They don't like white belts!"

Send me your e-mail if you want to discuss this privately.

Thanks, Leonard G. 04:23, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for your message on my talk: page. I'm sorry you've decided to withdraw. On the raw numbers at least, you stood a good chance of being given the button you'd like. To the particular comment you mentioned, that was a typo. I meant "hardly ever delete", not "every". I was alarmed that you had suggested that you thought articles should only be deleted in the most extreme cases, without referring to how AfDs etc are currently dealt with — and they are closed in widely varying ways so you could probably have found one to fit. Anyway, I'm glad you plan to stick around. You should look into getting Sam Hocevar's Godmode-light script from [3]. It gives you an emulated rollback button, so you can in fact do it in a single click. It take a little longer to execute than the true rollback button, but takes 90% of the time out of things like RC patrol. Good luck. -Splash^talk 04:41, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

• I was also sad to hear about you withdrawing your RfA, as I was about to change my vote to support, given your responses and a little more indepth look at your history. In future, barring some unforseen disaster, I would be happy to support. In any case, an exceptionally rough and poorly written draft of a possible split of admin powers that you may be interested in is at User:Scimitar/Wikipedia. I'm going to be gone (I don't know for how long) but when I return I'll look at getting a policy discussion going (if someone else hasn't). --Scimitar ^parley 17:41, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

• • I'll add my name to the list of those who were sorry to see you drop the RfA. Even if you only wanted a rollback button, I have no problems entrusting you with all the other admin powers. Regardless of how any new policies on adminship play out, I'd be happy to nominate you in the future for full adminship. I hope you stay happy, healthy, and fully involved in the wiki. -Lommer | ^talk 18:47, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] I've replied

— Xiong熊talk* 20:31, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Vandal User talk:209.12.109.140

Since you warned the user about being blocked could you pursue this further? Problems continue (examine contributions). Thanks, Leonard G. 17:48, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

It's a school IP (i.e. shared between a large number of students), and the last spate of vandalism was from the beginning of this year; the recent vandalism didn't continue after the first warning. I'm not sure this requires further action. --fvw* 21:10, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Requests for rollback

Hi Leonard G., I just read through your RFA including your reform proposals. Could you take a look at Wikipedia:Requests for rollback, a proposal I have developed which would give just the rollback tool to people who request it? Talrias (t | e | c) 22:55, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

This appears to be sound and well thought out. I do have some concerns with use of sockpuppets to obtain this privilage, so perhaps it should be five users already possessing this power or something like that. Thanks, Leonard G. 01:40, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your support! Would you consider commenting on the Wikipedia talk:Requests for rollback talk page, saying it has your support (and adding those comments for discussion)? Talrias (t | e | c) 12:48, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] shameless photo requests

• San Francisco Opera: The War Memorial Opera House, by the architect of City Hall is one of the last Beaux-Arts structures built in the US. Think "unexpected sobriety of the Doric order" and capture a detail or two. Can you get inside the entrance hall space?
• American Renaissance: the double-height hall of the old San Francisco Mint building, which has no exterior shot yet at its own page. (On a Sunday morning, without traffic?)
• Ghirardelli Square: Don't cringe at the corniness, think "the first major adaptive re-use project in the United States" and capture that aspect.
• Grace Cathedral: no illustration yet. Does it need a distant long-shot?
• Trans-America Building, SF's most famous modern structure, doesn't have a page yet.

--Are these useful ideas? --Wetman 06:23, 17 September 2005 (UTC).

Excellent requests, since I enjoy any excuse to return to my hometown (I was born and raised there). I also saw that the Cliff House needs an image. I have an old postcard of the landing of the first trans-Pacific communications cable on Ocean Beach that shows the original Victorian version. Running through only the first thousand on your edit list was facinating and the articles I viewed are both interesting and educational (e.g. Snowball Earth). It does appear that you take time to eat (and feed your fish, presumably), but do you have a real-world life? (Use e-mail as desired).

The best time to take pictures in San Francisco (other than fog coming in on little cats feet types), is late September through early November. At this time our two season weather system is in a short transition between coastal marine layer with westerly winds and hot or cool inland (depending upon the depth of the marine layer) to the stormy and cool wet winter, with cold front storms sweeping down from the Gulf of Alaska. During this period a high pressure area develops near the California-Oregon border. The clockwise air flow around this high brings air from the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is warmed by adiabatic heating and the solar warming of the central valley. This warm dry air flows in an offshore direction past San Francisco, driving the the fog far away and gives sunny and pleasantly warm weather (unlike the chilly Summers). When San Francisco operated the (worlds largest) salt water swimming pool near the zoo, it was always considered strange by the natives that it was always closed down when school started - just when the weather at the beach became nice. Other good times are just after the passage of a winter storm and in early march - clean air in the former and dramatic fair weather cumulus in the latter.

I don't mind at all going to Ghiradelli Square, as for some strange reason the stores here consider the Special Dark block chocolate to be a "seasonal item" for Christmas, but it is the only kind I will have in my house as a stock item for nibbling (I don't like sweets except for a dab of honey) - I keep a cookie jar full when I can (my grandchildren love it). So I hope to pick up a block.

I will shoot on film since that gives me the most flexibility.

---

I feel fortunate to have escaped from my RfA - to quote User:Grace Note:

Support. I see absolutely no reason for punishing an editor for not involving himself in policymaking or the swirling, stinking BS that passes for it, nor for avoiding the petty politics and borderline warfare that some Wikipedia namespace articles host. It would probably be much more beneficial for Wikipedia if we discouraged it, given that we already have more than enough policy to go round when this [ Wikipedia:Five_pillars ] would actually suffice. Grace Note 03:40, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

---

[edit] Bridge (specific) infobox template

cc:User:SamuelWantman
I have renamed Template "Bridge3" to "Infobox_BridgeSpecificWithMap", changing the two article references (GGBr and SFOBBr). We can now delete the several remnants, including Bridge3 and Bridge3B, and also Infobox-BridgeSpecificWithMap. We should also create a variant, Infobox_BridgeSpecificNoMap, suitable for most specific bridges until a map is created.

Similar considerations apply to Template:BridgeTypePix except that owing to the mispelling of a parameter name this should be reworked as a copy, rather than a rename, and the articles referencing the old one changed. - Leonard G. 17:08, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

• I want to ask why you guys are making a new template with extra name when you could have used Template:Infobox Bridge. "SpecificWithMap" should be used when the other one doesn't have a map, or it is being used differently, but it seems like you guys are more interested in making a new template with a new name than trying to use the original one and use it. Instead of ten-thousand different templates, we could divide into two. (with map, and without map), or go the taxobox way, making each category optional. Either way, I do not like the way this template is going. -- WB 02:08, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I did this because that was the template actually being used in the articles, so I knew it was stable and presented to my taste. Note that I can do the clean up by requesting a deletion of the remnants. As far as making them optional, I am ignorant of such methods, please inform me as to how I can suppress (for example) the map row when none is available, but instead use a "connects regions" title with the text contents replacing the map. (I assume I would declare both and suppress one by some means). Your assistance will be appreciated, as I understand the importance of template reduction. Do note, however, that the bridge specific infobox is distinctly different than the bridge type infobox, and probably should not be combined. Thanks, Leonard G. 03:20, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Don't get hot at SamuelWantman - he had nothing to do with these changes, I cc'd him.

Didn't say anything to SamuelWantman... Anyway, if you are not intending use what's already on Infobox Bridge, why don't you just edit it so it matches the Infobox_BridgeSpecificWithMap standards? Deleting wouldn't be really hard since we could easily ask one of the admins, but wouldn't you prefer using something named Infobox Bridge over Infobox_BridgeSpecificWithMap? I still don't see why we need two infoboxes that does exactly the same thing. Compare these two sources:

Infobox_BridgeSpecificWithMap

{| class="infobox bordered" style="width: 320px; font-size: 90%;" cellpadding="2"
|- 
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef; font-size: larger;" | {{{bridge_name}}}
|- 
! colspan="2" | [[Image:{{{image}}}|300 px]]
|-
|'''Official name'''||{{{official_name}}}
|-
|'''Carries'''||{{{carries}}}
|-
|'''Crosses'''||{{{crosses}}}
|-
|'''Locale'''||{{{locale}}}
|-
|'''Maintained by'''||{{{maint}}}
|-
|'''Design'''||{{{design}}}
|-
|'''Longest span'''||{{{mainspan}}}
|-
|'''Total length'''||{{{length}}}
|-
|'''Width'''||{{{width}}}
|-
|'''Vertical clearance'''||{{{clearance}}}
|-
|'''Clearance below'''||{{{below}}}
|-
|'''Opening date'''||{{{open}}}
|-
|-
|'''{{{map_cue}}}'''<br />{{{map_text}}}
|[[Image:{{{map_image}}}|center|{{{map_width}}}]]
|}

Infobox Bridge

{| class="infobox bordered" style="float: right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; font-size:90%; width:320px;"
|colspan="2" style="background: #efefef; text-align: center; font-size:larger;"| '''{{{bridge_name}}}'''
|-
|colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"|
[[Image:{{{image}}}|300px|center|{{{bridge_name}}}]]
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Official name'''
| {{{official_name}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Carries'''
| {{{carries}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Crosses'''
| {{{crosses}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Locale'''
| {{{locale}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Maintained by'''
| {{{maint}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Design'''
| {{{design}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Longest span'''
| {{{mainspan}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Total length'''
| {{{length}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Width'''
| {{{width}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Vertical clearance'''
| {{{clearance}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Clearance below'''
| {{{below}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Opening date'''
| {{{open}}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''{{{map_cue}}}'''<br>{{{map_text}}}
|style="text-align:center;" | [[Image:{{{map_image}}}|{{{map_width}}}]]
|}

Only difference is that second one is painfully organized and added various tags (eg. vertical-align:top;) to prevent centering and to make it as small as possible; and also considered width into consideration to make Vertical clearance, etc. to appear on one line. Let me ask a big question... Why was "Infobox BridgeSpecificWithMap" created when there was already an "Infobox Bridge"? -- WB 05:05, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

The Infobox BridgeSpecificWith map was not created - it was merely a more descriptive renaming of Template:Bridge3, evolved by modification of the existing Template"Bridge2, and appeared in only two bridge articles - SFOBB and GGB. I will compare the visual effects of these two methods. However, you have not addressed my question concerning the use of conditional inclusion - is it possible to create pure CSS that is cross-platform compliant and will allow the non-inclusion of a map (and its left column text) should there be no map? The only way clear to me is to replace the map image parameter with a more general text parameter that would contain the map specification, but that is not particularly clean from an invocation standpoint. Also, note that almost all current specific bridge articles will not initially contain location maps, and so cannot use the current Template:Infobox Bridge. For this reason, should it prove desirable to replace invocations of Bridge3 with Infobox Bridge it appears to me that the latter should be renamed InfoboxBridgeWithMap. Please comment.

With regards to naming I believe that is important to make the difference clear between the specific (for specific bridge articles) and the generic (bridge type articles). Since there are far more specific bridges that bridge type articles (currently less than 40 of the latter), the infobox there would be name something like Template:Infobox BridgeType or some such. Please Comment.

Let us continue in a spirit of improvement to WP. Sincerely, Leonard G. 23:53, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Don't worry about the optional thing. I worked it out after a while. See the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge article. If map_cue parameter is filled in with something, it will display the map thing, if it is empty, it will ignore it and the map section will not be displayed. Try it by yourself on the article. I could play around with this a bit, so if you think there needs to be some improvement, I'll be happy to code some more. Agreed? -- WB 04:51, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

This new method works, but does have some interesting properties. If instead of leaving the field blank the field is not specified then portions of the template specification show up as plain text at the top of the page (including your user name and something about the sandbox). This could be a surprise to a future editor. A good start, however, and tomorrow evening I will study your code and comments in the template. When this is worked out and solid I will incorporate similar features into the bridge type template by copy and edit of the Infobox Bridge. Can you suggest an appropriate title, or would "Infobox_Bridge Type" be OK?. Thanks for your help and efforts, - Leonard G. 05:08, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

What's wrong with using Infobox Bridge? After this work, there only needs to be a single template right? As you have suggested, I put a test template on my sandbox. Porting's done so nothing's to worry about my username appearing everywhere. (if you still see things that way, I suggest purging cache) I think we should put a HTML comment note in each template usage about how you should fill all the parameters or leave it blank. As long as map_cue is empty, other parameters will be ignored though. So, a warning notice would be enough for the future editors. I have seen a few infoboxes using this, and I don't think they have gone through any major problems. I think this would be happening only if someone was vandalizing. Because it is hard to imagine why someone would remove a parameter when it's already full.   would work fine for the empty catagories if, in fact, we are using a few parameters. As I said numerous times before, unless we have multiple templates that does different things, we can just unite all things into Infobox Bridge, the most simple named one. Bridge3 was made obsolete by Infobox BridgeType, which will be made obsolete by your approval of Infobox Bridge, which would make the other two go to the Templates for Deletion. As of now, I do not see anything wrong with Infobox Bridge. Thanks,-- WB 06:12, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Concerning the flagging variable (the one that controls the switch), I think that this should be the presence of the declaration of the map image. The code would then in response to the switch move the map text (but not the title code) to the right column in place of the map. I will look at the code tonight (now + 12 hours) and see what I can do.

I am concerned about the problem of which fields are appropriate for which usage. I have had editors confuse a Bridge Specific type article with a Bridge Generic type article (using the wrong template), and then using the "ancestor" field to name the previous bridge at that site. Now consider the possible confusion when rather than selecting a template title the editor must select which fields to leave blank. This is why I am so concerned about using a single template for both - while it has obvious advantages for maintenance we should also consider ease of use (through simplicity) and clarity of expression (by not having too many switch controlling parameters). KISS, as they say. Until later, Leonard G. 15:13, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

No confusion would have occured if someone hadn't created 3+ templates doing the exact same thing. Although few editors are having troubles adapting, I think it is necessary to get rid of "specific" and replace it all with the generic. If we do not do this, people will continue making it go two way, making it uncontrollable at the end. We just need a decent documentation of the template on the talk page, and telling the currently confused editors that the other one is deprecated. (I am adding the deprecated tag on the specific in 24 hours). Although it might seem like a hard thing. Look at the other articles that use the same methods; they are not having troubles. So I think this can work for fine for the bridge too. I think it should depend on the name. Even if the image is there, a proper explanation is required. If it says Built but doesn't have when, that could be seen as a lack of information. But if it says 1992, but doesn't explain what it is, it's better to not have the whole thing in the first place. I think the code is fine as is unless you want to change how it looks. -- WB 22:34, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

When I view the template page in addition to the box layout I see at the top:

{{{{{2}}}|12={{{3}}}| Map_cue |{{{map_cue}}}|{{{map_text}}}|{{{map_image}}}|{{{map_width}}}}}

Am I to assume that this is a normal side effect of your code? Or is it specific to my browser, or a flaw in the server software? I have not seen this on other templates, and it might be alarming to a viewer of the template.

I feel strongly that the conditional should key on the image, and reroute the text appropriately (rather than create a new template). Consider that when no map is available then the region text should appear in its place, otherwise we would wind up with the region connection title and the region connection text on the same side, with only whitespace (or a missing image?) on the left.

Alternatively, and somewhat simpler, we could solicit a map by presenting a "No Map Available" map image as a placeholder (similar to the "No Image Available" placeholder - that would be equally valid from a presentation standpoint and it could move someone to produce a map.

Some bridge type articles do not currently have infoboxes. If you have the time I think it would be appropriate for you to make required adaptations to the template to accommodate a layout similar to those that do use the bridge type infobox - Template:BridgeTypePix such as is used in Cable-stayed bridge. An example of a bridge type article that needs an infobox is found at Bailey bridge. I would then assume responsibility to change 40 or so the articles referenced from the gallery index in Bridge to use this new multipurpose box.

Does this sound like a reasonable division of labor? You would get what you think is needed and desireable from a coding standpoint (and in a single infobox) and I would get what I think is needed from a presentation standpoint. I would expect that its invocation details would be well documented (a comment in the template code should point to the talk).

In your comment above, "But if it says 1992, but doesn't explain what it is", I don't understand your point - on a single row the left column says "Built", right says "1992", so what is there to explain?

Thanks for all your efforts on this, they are appreciated on this end. - Leonard G. 02:45, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

What I meant by the built was this:

built

1992

This table is full. What we want.

built

This table is incomplete. but still presentable.

1992

In this table, we have no idea what 1992 signifies. Therefore, if we made the image a trigger, we might only have an image with no description. But if we go otherwise, it's always presentable. Get it now?

{{{{{2}}}|12={{{3}}}| Map_cue |{{{map_cue}}}|{{{map_text}}}|{{{map_image}}}|{{{map_width}}}}} is the main science behind why this thing works. You are only supposed to see this when you are editting the template (because no parameters are given), or when there was an error you made. Either ways, this won't appear as long as we know how to use it. It's not gonna appear everytime, if that's you are worrying about.

If we are going to use "Image Not Available," why did we even bother making this "optional" table? That's just off the whole purpose of this conversation. And read the above concerning what needs to be the trigger.

Since Bailey and cable truss aren't "bridges," but are "type of bridges," something like Infobox Bridge Type would be appropriate. It would be completely different from this one since it doesn't have the specifics (length, etc.) It's already been done, why bother changing it all. I was referring to the individual bridges, not the types. I would have preffered a different name, but too late. But I would suggest making the uses more "edittable". Instead of writing them on one line, we could divide so other editors don't have to feel the pain. See what I've done for the Bascule Bridge article: see the source.

I'll add some IBs when I get some time off. Busy with school work these days. So any other comments about that? Anything wrong? I think it's pretty good as it is right now. (wow... how much typing was done throughout? just wow!) -- WB 03:22, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

I thought you were wanting to combine both bridge specific and bridge type into a single template - that is why would need lots more of the conditionals (and I also thought that this would be far more difficult to use, but it appeared that you felt so strongly about it and also would take the coding responsibility that I would defer to you). Funny, huh? Leonard G. 04:05, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

P.S. I will make a "map needed" graphic. Leonard G. 04:08, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Oh, when I wanted in a single template, I meant about the Infobox-BridgeSpecificWithMap templates. I must have been to sleepy to notice that you were changing the topic from specific bridges to the types. I thought you wanted the map optional because you didn't want empty boxes on the articles with no pictures. One single misunderstanding seems to have done quite a lot of things. Anyway, I'm working on cleaning up the templates in the types. It would be absurd to try to combine types with specifics though lol... -- WB 04:07, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

P.S. I will create a Map Needed graphic.

Although I was a bit off-topic, because we have the option method, we don't need a map needed graphic. If we don't have one, just make "map_cue" empty. -- WB 05:12, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Chacao Channel bridge

The Chacao Channel bridge appears to have three towers and two main spans. -- Samuel Wantman 08:25, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Interesting! Looking at an illustration of the central tower they have addressed the stability problem by designing each leg of the central tower as an A-frame oriented along the length of the span. This to prevent transmission of forces between the spans through flexion of the tower. I have corrected the SFOBB article

Thanks for the heads up on this. Articles affected are SFOBB and CCB. - Leonard G. 00:04, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merge of Telerobotics into Telepresence

I took another look at the two pages and still think they should be merged. I agree that Telerobotics and Telepresence may be subtly different concepts but the way the pages currently stand, this is non-existent. For example, the first lines of each page are as follows:

Telepresence a human/machine system in which the human uses ... remote actuators and sensors to control distant machinery.

Telerobotics is the area of robotics that is concerned with the control of robots from a distance...

I would argue that these sentences say the same thing. You are correct in your addition to the Telerobotics page about the need for increased sophistication as communications delays make direct control impractical. This is the closest thing to what I consider Telerobotics that I see on that page. As the current Telerobotics page stands, it mostly reiterates the same material from the Telepresence page and just confuses the point. I think Telerobotics and Teleoperation should be made into sub-categories of the Telepresence page. Also, it seems to me that the subsea work and hazardous environments applications on the Telepresence page might be more of Teleoperation.

Lets combine these two weak pages into one strong one. Either way, merge or no merge, I hope you will agree with me that these pages need a lot of work.

- BAxelrod 16:58, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

I do agree with you that these need work. I was concerned that the subtle differences would be lost in a merge - this need not be so if the article is rewritten with clarity of purpose.

I especially disagree with the concept of telepresense as it is elucidated in the excerpt above. In particular, I have in mind the concept of the virtual meeting room, especially for engineering, software engineering, and architectural applications, where the remote control does not control distant machinery but rather a virtual construction (rendered into an image) that is manipulated by multiple participants, who are (potentially) distributed in space and even time. This concept is quite distinct from manipulating actuators to control distant machinery in concert with other participants, an application that I consider telerobotics. No doubt, in the field of warfare, such may come to pass (probably, given the technological imperative).

Clearly, both singular and concurrent cooperative telerobotics requires telepresence for its implementation, yet I consider telepresence to be a distinct concept from telrobotics. A conference to design (something) does not require a physical manipulation at the time of the design, but only as a means of producing a physical prototype or finished product as an intermediate step or at the end of the process. This is why I feel it is best to keep these in distinct (but related) articles. If combined, the distinctions should be made absolutely clear. Unfortunately I have observed the degradation of clearly presented concepts due to multiple inappropriate edits followed by singular but incomplete corrections, leading to a significant loss of content - this in multiple articles that I have worked on. This is why I feel that at present, two or three distinct but closely related articles are appropriate.

Should you feel strongly about combining these articles I would be glad to work with you as co-editor.

Thanks for your comments, sincerely, Leonard G. 23:21, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

From what you describe, it sounds like you are thinking more about Teleimmersion. I don't think either of us are experts in this area, and I believe these terms are not set in stone. There seems to be a lot of overlap, and in some cases, they might even be able to be used interchangeably. Perhaps we should wait until someone with more knowledge about this area can participate. BAxelrod 02:22, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Godmode-lite

You might find looking this up on google to be useful, if you really want a rollback button. ;-) Not to be coy - it's a javascript implementation of the rollback button for non-admins. Enjoy it, and good luck in vandal fighting. JesseW, the juggling janitor 08:48, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Anti-vandal tools are longer needed - I have stopped chasing vandals - at least in real time. I now review only articles that I have made major contributions to, or have major interest in, checking changes since my last edit, upon which I review the article make some needed edit - minor or major, thus establishing a new date. Instead of vandals to swat I now have fellow editors to work with. I leave it to others to fight the war against the juveniles (of any age), now being retired from that battle - as they say in the military, its up or out (more power though better tools or bye-bye). I now find WP less exciting but now much more enjoyable and rewarding. Thanks for the input. Sincerely, Leonard G. 03:26, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

I'm delighted to hear it - such work is far more important than vandle swatting. Good luck to you and good work - if you ever want to share any successes or troubles, I'd be happy to hear. JesseW, the juggling janitor 07:42, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] EV conversion schematics

See User_talk:D0li0#EV_conversion_schematics for reply.

The Fuse position may not be critical enough for a rewire. But when building new I hear that the logic goes: If you should happen to short out any point in the first half to any point in the second half of the pack there is a fuse between these two point, which have a high voltage potential. Consecutive batteries on the other hand have less voltage potential. So from your diagram, imagine that you dropped a wrench at any given point, shorting a pair of terminals, where do you want your fuse? You could get lucky and follow the path of an interconnect, nothing happens. You might connect two neighboring batteries terminals, shorting one battery at 12v, lots of sparks, messed up tool. If you drop it between the first and last battery you will have shorted all 8 batteries for a whopping 96 or much more volts, not good, even with a fuse, but better than without one.

Many hybrids are wired in this manner, with a fuse or disconnect in the middle of the pack. NEDRA regulations require a manual disconnect be accessable from the outside of the rear of the car.

That white space looks good, might also consider using dots to denote connections, might be easier to draw? --D0li0 07:39, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

See the thread here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ev-list-archive/message/51852 There was a question as to the isolation and GFI on the charger. --D0li0 09:47, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Pics

Nice Balclutha pics! Is there some reason you upload here rather than commons? It would be handy to have the full galleries for each topic in a single place, plus it discourages other wikimedia projects from making "private" copies of each image. Stan 13:29, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Eceltric vehicule

I hesitate to criticise a Wikipedian of your long standing but surely Electric vehicle conversion and its eight sub-pages belong in Wikibooks rather than here? -- RHaworth 18:01, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

Re: Wikibook. - Absolutely - I have just finished this morning the division of the article into chapters in preparation for a move to Wikibooks. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the procedures for inter-wiki moves, and will also have to upload images and diagrams to the to that wiki also (images contain much explanatory text and various diagram cross-links, so it does not seem appropriate for the commons). What I need is some assistance by someone experienced in such a move. Can you assist or recruit someone? (Please answer on my user talk page, please, as I am not watching anything until I purge my watchlist). Thanks, - Leonard G. 20:05, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

As far as I know you just copy and paste the text from edit box to edit box and re-upload the images. In this case it is probably best to put the images in Wikibooks rather than commons. (Remember to keep everything on your own machine as well in case deletionists get some funny ideas.) -- RHaworth 20:15, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

WP has been so sloooow lately, I'll do the move when performance picks up a bit. Leonard G. 03:03, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Proper attribution for Diablo panoramic

Hi Leonard. Great pic of Diablo! Wanted to know how you'd like to be credited for it as it is planned for use here:

http://www.envirostarhome.com/_index.htm

I am adding a privacy/copyright page to the site. If I credit you there with a link to the Wikipedia page, would that suffice?

Please e-mail me at jaxun@sbcglobal.net to let me know.

Thanks, -jaxun www.jaxun.com

[edit] WikiProject Bridges

Howdy, I just revived Wikipedia:WikiProject Bridges and now I need some help putting everything together. I think there is a large need for standardization of bridge articles and your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Cacophony 01:08, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

That link was Wikipedia:WikiProject Bridges. I'll put it up on my user page as well. Cacophony

[edit] Image:RedSuspensionBridge.jpg

Hi Leonard. I'm wondering about your photo Image:RedSuspensionBridge.jpg. Could this possibly be the E'gongyan Bridge crossing the Yangtze River at Chongqing, Sichuan Province, China? All that I know about this bridge is that it is that the mainspan is 600 meters and that it was completed in 2000. I found some academic papers about its engineering because of the flat deck. I gather you've seen it. Do you know anything about it?

This is definitely across the Yagtze, but it is the second bridge downstream of the Gezhouba dam locks, well downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, so it is nowhere near Chongquing.

Check out this site, the image shown for the E'goyan Bridge indicates a multi beam span, not a suspension bridge, and it appears that it has no single significant span, so that bridge is probably not the one you refer to.

I was mistaken in my previous posting. The bridge I suspect it might be is the Yichang Bridge also accross the Yangtze River but at Yichang, China. Main span of 960m, completed in 2001. I found an article about the engineering of it here. Could it be the mystery bridge? --Samuel Wantman 06:23, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

BTW, I've been nominated for an admin. I'd appreciate your support. -- Samuel Wantman 03:29, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

That's nice, I have a bunch of images to delete are now in a Wikibook, so I'll put you to work right away! Leonard G. 05:05, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps in the excitement of seeing that I was nominated for an admin you missed my question above. I never heard back from you. Do you think it might be the Yichang Bridge? -- Samuel Wantman 01:33, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

It probably is, as Googling Yichang, China takes one to this site, which has an illustration of the next bridge upstream, a triple tower cable-stayed bridge.

I'm still trying to sort out these bridges. The triple tower cable-stayed bridge looks like it is the Yiling Bridge (notice that there is no article). I found this link, which if correct, would mean that this is now the two largest cable-stayed spans! I also found this post which has the correct information to be the Yichang Bridge. Was the red suspension bridge 40 km from the 3 gorges dam site? If not, perhaps the red bridge is the Xiling Bridge. I'm hoping to write short articles for these, but I first want to be certain which bridge is which. Thanks, -- Samuel Wantman 00:43, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

I can try to go through the primary copies of the sticks to get the time which will give the bridge separation. we were going upstream at a moderate pace and the red bridge and three tower bridge were imaged within an hour or two. The image at [4] is positively the three tower bridge, the last before the downstream entrance to the Gezhouba dam locks, which could be 40 km below 3GD. I will notify you when I get definitive times. A translation of the Chinese ideograms on the bridge could help - I will also pursue that. - Leonard G. 02:04, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ironbridge UK a vierendeel bridge?

Hi Leonard,

Concerns: "Truss arch bridge" page. It is in my opinion not right to label the iron bridge at Ironbridge UK as a vierendeel bridge. This bridge was built in 1779 and was the first in the world to be cast in iron. Arthur Vierendeel was born in 1852 (ref.: [5] and [6]). Although the bridge is not built out of triangles and seems to have rigid joints the calculations to build the bridge could not have been based on the theory developed by Vierendeel. The only vierendeel arch bridge I know was located at Tournai (Doornik) Belgique (België) (ref: [7]).

The stresses are distributed through joints as in the viredeel trus, owing to the unit cast frames, but you are correct in challenging the use of the term in this case. The cast iron frames emulate a closely fitted wood structure, which would have let-in joins that would not allow motion at the joining pins. Go ahead and take it out if you feel that this is appropriate, but perhaps some addtional text reflecting my response could be added. Leonard G. 01:29, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image:BejingOperaDetailLeft.jpg listed for deletion

Also Image:BejingOperaDetailCenter.jpg, Image:BejingOperaProduction.jpg, Image:CargoRiverboat.jpg, Image:YangtzeMeteor.jpg, Image:PracticalRiverTransport.jpg, Image:YangtzeGravelBarge.jpg. dbenbenn | talk 01:21, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Also Image:ConcertGroupPano.jpg. dbenbenn | talk 23:50, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Also Image:PeterhofSampsonFountain.jpg, Image:PeterhoffCourtDress.jpg, Image:PeterhoffStaircaseFountain.jpg, Image:SuspendedArchBridge.jpg, Image:YellowCraneTower.jpg. dbenbenn | talk 01:38, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nonfree images

(Following message from Leonard G. to dbenben, duplicated here):

Greetings, and thank you for your diligent work in detail improvements to WP. Please note that all but one of my cc-nc images that you removed have been changed to cc-sa and (hopefully) have been restored to the articles. However, a single image should remain, Image:PeterhoffCourtDress.jpg, with the reasons for it being nonfree documented in the image text. This was uploaded when cc-nc was a legitimate license. Has WP policy changed to delete all such images, even if uploaded prior to the cutoff date? Please answer on my page, copying this text for my archaive. Thanks, Leonard G. 19:03, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

I think what you could do is add the tag {{cc-sa-1.0}}, and include a note that commercial use might be illegal without the models' consent. Basically, there are two separate issues: copyright and privacy laws. Another way of looking at it: if I cropped the faces out of the picture, the models' consent wouldn't matter any more, but I still couldn't use the picture for commercial purposes because of the copyright license.

And yes, all non-commercial images are to be deleted. Jimbo wrote [8] "All images which are for non-commercial only use and by permission only are not acceptable for Wikipedia and _will be deleted_." dbenbenn | talk 21:24, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Also, it looks like you missed Image:ConcertGroupPano.jpg, Image:PeterhofSampsonFountain.jpg, and Image:YellowCraneTower.jpg. dbenbenn | talk 22:09, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

I think I have updated all images other than the court dress. Privacy should not be an issue since the models were publicly exhibiting the costumes. This is a bit different than Beijing Opera hand Hubei Provincial Museum Concert images, where photos were permitted with restrictions specified, and for which benefits of publicity flow to the performing organization, likely increasing their revenue from tourists. The issue with the court dress image is that the couple was not been paid for commercial exploitation of their posing in these finely crafted costumes, which would apear to have been obtained at considerable expense. I have uploaded a smaller and selectively blurred image that should be unsuitable for print media, now cc-sa. Leonard G. 02:15, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gymnophobia

Yeah, I deleted your maidenform stuff because of its irrelevance. It's about people not being afraid of being partially nude. This does not pertain sufficiently to an article about people who are of being completely naked. I'm reverting, but am happy to hear arguments. XmarkX 03:06, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

On article talk page - Leonard G. 01:58, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Moved to appropriate article - Leonard G. 06:13, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suspension Bridge

Sorry, I didn't check the history before I "fixed" the page. Is there an easy way to fix it now?Dannycas 04:41, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

• • Thank you Leonard, those are good tips. Dannycas 02:25, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] thank you

thanks for letting me know how to fix vandalism. i'm new at this, and all suggestions are welcome. Streamless 15:08, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Warning Message on Image:SFO Landsat7 USGS122-38Comp.jpg

Warning messages on wikipedia are generally frowned upon as being both redundant with Wikipedia:Disclaimers and slipping too far into instructionalism. We shouldn't be instructing people to see a licensed professional in an article, since WP:NOT instructions, and we shouldn't need to remind people that the information is potentially unreliable since that's covered by the disclaimers. I find the notice to be ugly and overwhelming, since it takes up nearly half the image. Could you prepare a version without it, or should I just crop it myself? Night Gyr 05:01, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

It seemed appropriate to add the warning, especially since one of the images was low-resolution and should not be relied upon for property purchase, etc. The purpose of creating the image was to illustrate how urban regions have been built over rubble zones. Rather than crop the image you could re-create from the sources should you wish - I would take no resposibility other that to suggest to you that presenting this composite image lacking the warning is (in my opinion) a bad idea. A more appropriate way to answer your objections would be to present the two images side by side or vertically stacked and scaled appropriately for comparison without comment as to the intended use. As the warning on the current version does not obscure the salient information its size and location does not appear to me to be relevant to the discussion. Thanks for sharing your concerns, I can prepare the separate images if you feel strongly about this. Leonard G. 05:58, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please check your WP:NA entry

Greetings, editor! Your name appears on Wikipedia:List of non-admins with high edit counts. If you have not done so lately, please take a look at that page and check your listing to be sure that following the particulars are correct:

1. If you are an admin, please remove your name from the list.
2. If you are currently interested in being considered for adminship, please be sure your name is in bold; if you are opposed to being considered for adminship, please cross out your name (but do not delete it, as it will automatically be re-added in the next page update).
3. Please check to see if you are in the right category for classification by number of edits.

Thank you, and have a wiki wiki day! BD2412 T 03:47, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Tagging for Image:BridgeTaxonomyBW.png

Thanks for uploading Image:BridgeTaxonomyBW.png. The image has been identified as not specifying the source and creator of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the source and creator of the image on the image's description page, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days.

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[edit] Dubuque County Courthouse

Thanks for pointing our your concerns about the Dubuque County Courthouse. Most literature on the court house had identified it as having Beaux-Arts architecture, which is why I had posted it as an example of a Beaux Arts building.
JesseG 07:18, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Crookes Tube

I've vectorized your Crookes Tube diagram and uploaded it as CrookesTube.svg. Thought you might want to know. —Wereon 17:38, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be easier just to edit the SVG? I'm not entirely au fait with the subject, or I'd do it myself. If you want to edit vectors, you're best off doing it directly with Inkscape rather than any intermediate format. —Wereon 15:44, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image copyright problem with Image:5262004bidopening.jpg

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[edit] Image sources

I tried nominating List of longest suspension bridges as a featured list, and got a bit of flack about unsourced images. The image police want tags like GFDL or PD, and they also want to know who the creator of the image is. I noticed that Image:RedSuspensionBridge.jpg was unsourced, so I added a line giving you credit for the picture. I assume that you took all the pictures you have uploaded, but you might consider saying so on their pages to keep them from getting deleted. -- Samuel Wantman 00:35, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DYK

Did you know? has been updated. A fact from the article Steam clock, which you recently created, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

--Cactus.man ✍ 16:44, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eternal war, Perpetual war

Hello. In reply to your questions on the two articles' talk pages, you can apply the following tags at the top of the articles:

Eternal War: {{mergeto|Perpetual war}}

Perpetual war: {{mergewith|Eternal War}}

... or vice versa. See WP:MERGE for general instructions. It may help if you prepare the final article on a user subpage, e.g. User talk:Leonard G./Perpetual war and ask on the talk page if anybody has problems with the result, before actually performing the merge. Best, Sandstein 06:08, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] USS Spuyten Duyvil (1864)

I only nominated the following and have forwarded this to User talk:Zurel Darrillian - Leonard G. 02:26, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Did you know? has been updated. A fact from the article USS Spuyten Duyvil (1864), which you recently created, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

—Spangineer^[es] (háblame) 02:18, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thank you for the nomination/assistance

Leonard, I wish to thank you for nominating the USS Spuyten Duyvil (1864) to the Did-You-Know page. I also wanted to thank you for stepping in and adding a lot to the article before I got back from vacation. I used the organization of points that I did because that is how they were in the original article in "Engineering", however, I agree that it made it easier to read by reorganizing it the way you did.

[edit] Columbia Icefield - triple continental divide?

Hiya. I don't know very much about geography, but I was wondering if the Columbia Icefield is actually atop a triple continental divide, as the continental divide article doesn't mention a watershed between the Hudson Bay and the Artic Ocean, I think because the Hudson Bay is really part of the Arctic Ocean. If you're sure, then I'll leave it, but I just wanted to double-check. Hope that's OK. RupertMillard (Talk) 20:17, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, this is a triple point, at least according to all the guides that I encountered through the region and the guidebooks. This is of course, dependant upon viewpoint. (Google Earth is especially informative in this respect.) Note that Hudson Bay has two oceanic connections - to the left, through the Gulf of Boothia and Prince Regent Inlet, thence left through Perry Sound and the Arctic Ocean, or to the right - through the Hudson Strait and the Labrador Sea to the Atlantic. Clearly, the latter is the far wider passage and would be considered the major path to the nearest ocean, the North Atlantic Ocean. There should be another triple point to the south along the Rocky Mountains, dividing Pacific, North Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico water flows. - Leonard G. 23:12, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I reordered the rivers and their destinations clockwise for clarity. The final copy:

The Columbia River, Athabasca River, and the North Saskatchewan River, originate in the Columbia Icefield. As the icefield is atop a triple continental divide these waters flow ultimately west to the Pacific Ocean, north to the Arctic Ocean, and east to Hudson's Bay (and thence to the North Atlantic) respectively. Hudson's bay is in some major watershead divisions considered to be in the Arctic watershed, in which case this is arguably not a triple divide point.

I think that's absolutely excellent. It reads well and pedants like me can't fault it. Thank you very much for your help. RupertMillard (Talk) 08:17, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Self anchored suspensions bridges

Hi Leonard. There has been some interesting conversation here. You seem to know a bit about this and perhaps have something to add. Cheers. -- Samuel Wantman 06:57, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Forbidden City

My message to Sumple:

Greetings: re.: Forbidden City: I restored your deletion if traditional script, but with appropriate formating to clarify that it is not part of the placard. Please note that simplified script is not used universally in the chinese literate community. Thanks for your consideration, Leonard G. 02:16, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Hi there, thanks for editing the placard information on Forbidden City. Better this way. My other concern is that currently the Chinese text is placed in the main text, with the English translation and transliteration in brackets. This would be problematic for users or computers who/which do not read Chinese. It also seems to be at odds with Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese). What do you think? --Sumple (Talk) 02:35, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

The naming conventions specification is weak, since it does not specify which (simplified or tradtional) should be used. It does not seem inappropriate to me to include both in this case. I think that it would matter little to a non-chinese speaker if both are included. - Leonard G. 02:39, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

I didn't mean listing simplified or traditional is at odds with naming convention. I meant having Chinese script in the main body of the article rather than the English translation/transliteration. --Sumple (Talk) 02:42, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

That is of course an entirely different issue, but the present state seems consistant with use of other languages as inserts (note the insertion of Russian place names (see Peterhof) and proper names in Cyrillic in various articles). - Leonard G. 02:49, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Not really, many pages contain Chinese in the body of the article. enochlau (talk) 03:05, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

I support using Chinese inserts in the body of the article.

[edit] Californian stamp

Thanks for the pics they really help, i have also added a little mre about the advantage of the Californian stamp over the cornish stamp.Cheveney 12:55, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] License tagging for Image:ColleredLizard165.jpg

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[edit] Crotaphytus bicinctores

Hi Leonard,

I don't know enough about lizards to answer your question. The animal on your photo looks different from all animals I find on Google. If you want to speak to the experts, you can try to ask on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles. -- Eugene van der Pijll 20:32, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ferry

Hi Leonard; I wonder if you would mind taking another look at your edit to Ferry. [9] It appears to me to have spelling, punctuation and grammar problems, it doesn't seem to fit under the heading Cable ferry, and I'm not sure that glacially carved is germaine. Best wishes, Walter Siegmund (talk) 14:49, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Cleaned up - Leonard G. 16:23, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. Walter Siegmund (talk) 06:12, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image use permission

Hi Leonard (who had Alfred E. Newman as a guru, bless him) Please forgive me for contacting you on this page, Leonard, but I do not know any other way. Please delete afterwards if neccessary. Am a retired Boer from the Cape in South Africa. English is not my native language although it could very well be. Am running an Afrikaans website helping children with their schoolprojects (free, although I do offer a CD-ROM with projects, just to keep the site going). Site url: http://www.mieliestronk.com Need pics on bridges for new article and see that you have licenced them (GNU and Creative Commons). Being an old man I have never really understood these terms. But I would very, very much like to re-use two or three of your bridge pics on Mieliestronk. I can be contacted at: dugeot at iafrica.com Regards Ollie Olwagen

Include the license, or a reference to the license with the image. If you change the image or incorporate it into another image, the license must also go with it (that's the sharing part) -Leonard G. 15:59, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Long talk page

Greetings! Your talk page is getting a bit long in the tooth - please consider archiving your talk page (or ask me and I'll archive it for you). Cheers! BD2412 T 00:08, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Canadian vs. the Canadian

The (former) CPR train is called The Canadian. The VIA Rail train is called the Canadian. See The Canadian for more information. Cheers, JYolkowski // talk 23:04, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback - this is not my area of expertise - I have corected some image titles. Leonard G. 00:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Funicular and Cable Railway

Hi Leonard,

I have taken the liberty of removing the merge tags from these articles, since I believe the consensus of opinion is that they should not be merged. However can I thank you for bringing up the deficiencies in the articles, which did not clearly distinguish between the two subjects. I have, I hope, improved the opening paragraphs of each (especially Cable railway) to make this clearer. I'd welcome your further thoughts on this.

Best, Gwernol 19:27, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Centered text in centered images

(Ford Ranger EV). Thanks for the article cleanup. My spell check quit with a SW upgrade. By the way, I always center short title text in centered images - I think they both look and read much better that way. Do you have any special objections to this? (It looks fine in my browser - problems there?) Best wishes, Leonard G. 04:51, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I took a look at it now and you're right, it doesn't look that great. but to be honest, i think the image would be much better off if it was floated to the right and displayed as a thumbnail. Let me know what you think of that. lensovet 05:36, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Owing to the panoramic nature of the image most of the drama and detail would be lost if taken down to a few hundred pixels (in my opinion). Note that the image is not just the Ford - it is the line up of EVs and hybrids, and I think it is a fitting final image for the article. - Leonard G. 05:44, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

take a look at what I've done now; I actually moved it to the end of the section and applied wiki-style formatting to it. lensovet 05:53, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Nice. I would like to use this instead of thumbs where there is no significant text with the image, but cannot in general since the "px" has no sizing effect (as in Wrightspeed X1 article: "[[Image:WrightspeedOverview4881.jpg|frame|center|400px|<center></center>]]"). Do you have fix for this? (note that the Range EV pano is sized appropriatedly). Now how about the big text, and the appearance will almost identical to the original. ;-) Leonard G. 15:06, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rio-Antirio bridge

Hello Leonard. On the 8th of July I added the Rio-Antirio bridge in Greece under the "Notable Bridges" section, since it is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. You removed it saying "rm anon test". Please have a look at the diff [10]. Was it an accident, or you trully consider my addition irrelevant? Regards, Adamantios 15:57, 11 July 2006 (UTC).

That was an accident - I intended to remove only "Reema Dadbhawala" by 203.94.221.92, and stepped on your edit. Please excuse me, Leonard G. 16:55, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Bascule bridge cleanup tag

Sorry, I only contributed to the Bascule bridge article once. I was randomly going through some pages. I have no knowledge in this particular area. Thanks anyway. --Thorpe | talk 19:22, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image:Railway swing bridge.jpg

It's still a blue link, as you can see. The reason I deleted it is simply because it's already at Commons, which is why it is still visible when linked (except now it can be used by all Wikmedia projects). Deleting duplicate images at Commons is simple housekeeping, and there's no cause for concern unless it was improperly tagged and the image deleted was a different version or had more sumary information (in which case it can be restored), but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Dmcdevit·t 03:04, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know what to say, but when I replaced the image in those two articles, it displayed fine on my screen. I'll hold off on deleting your temporary image until you verify that it works for you. Commons is just like Wikipedia except that, whereas when you upload an image to Wikipedia, it can be displayed anywhere on Wikipedia with "[[Image:ABC.jpg]]", when you upload an image to Commons, it can be displayed on any language Wikipedia or sister project with "[[Image:ABC.jpg]]", which is more useful. There should be no problem with deleting them from Wikipedia if they already esist at Commons with the same name, since the same code operates for both. (It is also a repository for only free images.) Hopefully it works for you now, if not, try clearing your cache or something... Dmcdevit·t 04:39, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Well it did not work as an active link - the deletion broke two articles, the small gallery image in bridge and the infobox image in swing bridge, both of which were shown on my browser with appropriate spacing in white and a small blue icon with a question mark centered within. My temp fix for this was to make a copy of the commons image and upload it as Image:Railway_swing_bridge_from_commons.jpg. I have noticed that sometimes the servers do not properly specify use of an image in articles - I would assume that one would have to change the links in the relavant articles to point to the commons servers, (unless one can do the image equivalent of a redirect). I am not familiar with either technique. Perhaps you could re-delete my copy after updating the two articles appropriately (to point to the commons image), and I can study that as a model for any future fix that I need to do. Thanks for your patient assistance, Leonard G. 04:07, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

The problem was probably that the server I was using had not updated yet. One problem with commons (perhaps now fixed) is that it did not show the articles referencing it, while it (usually) does of both source and reference are within wikipedia. - Leonard G. 15:14, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Verified as working correctly, and also showing the references. Thanks, Leonard G. 15:19, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit]

[edit] User:Coolcaesar and Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration

I have noted you as an involved party and/or commenter upon the behavior of user:Coolcaesar in the filed Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration. I greatly wish that you would comment on his behavior, and add references, links, etc. supporting your particular view to the current evidence already there. Please also explain his attitude/comments/witnessed behavior with detail about your experience in dealing with him. I do greatly appreciate it, and note that your reputation is protected upon comments at arbitration, and cannot be used against you. Thanks for your Time. --Mr.Executive 08:08, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Although the name is familiar, as we both edit some articles in common, I do not have a specific complaint against this editor at tihis time and do not know why my name is on the list. (His comments in edit summaries are sometimes excessively abrasive.) Can you be more specific as to why you think I might wish to become involved in this? Thanks, - Leonard G. 16:18, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wrightspeed

Why do you want the main image to be large and in center? This won't be well received byWikiProject Automobiles as it is too personal and doesn't match well with the other automobile marque entries. Also, I will remove the first three images from the gallery (although there probably shouldn't be a gallery) because they don't seem to show anything unique to the X1 prototype. - Actually it isn't a marque is it, but still doesn't seem like a normal entry.

23:01, 20 July 2006 Old Guard

Greetings OG:

In the interest of clarification, what is the objection to the entries in the gallery? Do you want me to put all of them in the Ariel Atom article? Please note that this set of images are referenced from there via a reference to this article. If placed thare I would have to explain that it is not an Ariel shown but rather a Wrightspeed (note that the front springs are assembled in a different order). Also technical image gallary was arranged in the fashion of what would be seen during a walk-around and so form a complete set of images, and they are not of a conventional Ariel.

As far as the lead image, the tiny postage stamp size below the logo was (IMHO) rather ugly. You will note that I reduced the size in the hope of avoiding conflicts over layout and size. Too often I see little consideration for page layout and article flow, but realize that that is the nature of WP owing to the fragmented edits that occur. Also, what do you mean by too personal. That is not me standing near the vehicle, rather it is Mr. Wright. Unfortunately that was the only overall view that I had that was appropriate for inclusion.

And concerning the automobiles project, I was unaware of this - editiing automobile articles is only incidental to my interest in battery electric vehicles.

Best wishes, Leonard G. 16:46, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello, by too personal I simply meant that it felt like a personal webpage rather than an article. I have re-reduced the main image somewhat and added a caption, and have placed the removed gallery items back, feel free to tidy these up as needed.--Old Guard 20:11, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Polar solar?

In the solar tracker article, is polar mount correct? It might be improved by a bit more detail about how it works, perhaps? Midgley 00:23, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Improved a bit, I hope - Leonard G. 22:00, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Greatly. Now I understand it. Midgley 10:07, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

(Following was posted by User:207.67.146.179 with language corrected by L.G.)

Hey there, [unknown slang deleted] Is this vandalism? Gosh, I sure hope not, [insulting name deleted]. I bet you get a real kick out of policing other people's posts. Probably the only 'authority' you have in your life.

Response - is this in response to my posting to User talk:70.108.78.75? (It appears you are using an assigned IP that varies). Your edit to Caddyshack II had (possibly accidentally) destroyed a the infobox structure, which by itself mertits only a test1 response as follows:

Thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia.

However, the same IP also had made changes to another article which upon closer review, I should not have reverted and thus I should not also have issued the test2 warning. If this is in fact your edit, please accept my apologies. It would be far better if you become a member of Wikipedia than to post by IP address as we have so much problems with vandalism via IP address that sometimes we get a bit jumpy. Best wishes, Leonard G. 18:06, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in fiction and film

FYI -- Samuel Wantman 16:43, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image resizing

Hey, I finally got around at looking at the image sizing issue you mention. If you take a look at Wikipedia:Extended image syntax, you'll notice that it says If you specify a "frame" option the image will not be scaled, and no size specifiers will be in the HTML. The image will be rendered at full size. So your option is to just say [[Image:WrightspeedOverview4881.jpg|center|400px]] or use the thumb image type instead. With the version I mentioned above, you get:

—lensovet–talk – 04:26, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't particularly like unframed images. The root problem is that the size cannot be specified for a framed image with no text (I think), so I tend to use size-specified thumbs. This all is not really relevent to my first objection which was about the page layout (lack of a centralized primary image for the article and other issues), but thanks for your reply. Now if we could make the main image just a little bigger... (we'd be back to where this all started, wouldn't we?). Best wishes, Leonard G. 15:10, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tell NiMH patent story in Battery electric vehicle#History?

Leonard, you obviously know more about the issues with oil company ownership of patents on NiMH batteries than I or anyone else editing Battery electric vehicle. Could you please add a paragraph or two on that in the History section? Right now, if I'm not mistaken, you have it buried in article comments. Shouldn't it be in the early sections for all to see? I'll do my best to copyedit your additions, as usual, for what it's worth (apparently Tony1 thinks I'm not a very good copyeditor....) and will add a "see above" link in the Controversy section, too.

Thank you in advance! AnAccount2 05:29, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

I added info, and rewrote section deleted as "speculative", now reporting it as the speculations of a particular group. - Leonard G. 15:29, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Excellent! This is a really important story to tell about BEVs. I moved it up to the History/US section, but I left a link in from the lithium discussion in "Future".

Do you think we will ever be able to find the ~58 more refs that the FAC reviewer wants? Frankly, I am not sure it is at all worth that. AnAccount2 00:53, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Sure. First, can you find a reference for the NiMH (hybrid) fuel use requirement? I had not heard of that. - Leonard G. 00:56, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: MDHP spamindexing

My edit was mostly for the benefit of mirrors and other external users of Wikipedia content. Think about an answers.com article about the MDHP based on the corresponding Wikipedia article. The sentence about people editing "this article" won't make sense in that context, because answers.com articles aren't editable. That's also the reason for the external link: internal links in answers.com articles point to other answers.com articles. Some of this reasoning also applies to print versions and other unforseen uses of Wikipedia content. —Keenan Pepper 02:06, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge Types

Hi Leonard, Do you think you could mediate a solution to the issue raised in this discussion, I am a little reluctant to make the changes suggested but it seems to me the article is wrong. --Paul E. Ester 18:41, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the notice - my response in the Talk. - Leonard G. 00:18, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image tagging for Image:Flat eq map anotated.png

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[edit] Moveable bridges

Hi Leonard,

On the dutch Wikipedia one of the moveable bridge types is the tafelbrug (table bridge). Up to your opinion, should this be added to the english Wikipedia edition? Please advise.

K. Roose

From what I can view this appears to be a thrust bridge, but it is not clear how it differs, if at all. Would it be possible to obtain a rough translation (post it here) and perhaps more images? These could be used to expand the TB article. Thanks, Leonard G. 15:15, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

A thrust or retractable bridge is known in Dutch as a 'rolbrug'. A thrust bridge moves horizontally, a 'table' bridge vertically; it is pushed upwards by four pillars.

The total required space by a table bridge is hardly larger than the bridge deck, which is not the case with a thrust bridge. This is very well demonstrated by the 'Pont levant Notre Dame' at Tournai Belgium. For images, see Wikipedia Commons images: Image:Tournai Pont levant Notre Dame 20040520-007.jpg, Image:Tournai Pont levant Notre Dame 20040520-014.jpg, and Image:Tournai Pont levant Notre Dame 20040520-017.jpg.

Here is a straightforward translation of the dutch Wikipedia page: A table bridge is a moveable bridge which deck moves along the vertical axis. Hydraulic pillars under the bridge push up the bridge deck to allow barge traffic to cross. In contrast to a lift bridge, where the deck is pulled upwards, the deck of a table bridge is pushed upwards. The name originates from the fact that in open status it resembles a table. K. Roose 23:15, 4 September 2006 (GMT)

OK! - a new article! - Leonard G. 23:40, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Duplicate bridge index entry

Greetings:

I saw the message from you.Thank you for correcting my mistake.--663highland 13:44, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] JUAN CAMACHO

Hello Leonard,

I am a student and I was looking for Juan Camacho´s sculpture and the link was very significant. I wanna know why do you want to clean up this entry. In my humble opinion of a wikipedia user i believe thar the article is neccesary.

You misunderstand - clean up does not mean to remove, but rather to improve the writing, organize the paragraphs, title the sections (this is called wikification), link words to other wikipedia articles (more wikification), and add illustrations when free licensed material can be obtained. Since I have no knowlege of this personage (other that from the article), I am not qualified to rewrite it, but if I took the time I could clean up the english. Do you have resources for the factual material? Perhaps we could work together on this. First, I would ask that you register as an editor, rather than use your numerical address, as that would help communication (numerical addresses may change at the whim of your service provider or over a power off on a cable modem, or at each session, as with AOL).

Best wishes,

Leonard G. 02:46, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DYK?

On 7 September 2006, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Table bridge, which you created. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Maybe consider using the Wikipedia:Gallery function with the images. Otherwise, nice article. --Daniel.Bryant 09:36, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

See my talk page regarding your question. Daniel.Bryant 08:06, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Converted caboose

Where exactly is Image:CabooseConverted.JPG? The only Toronto restaurant I know that was a railway car conversion was Victoria Station, which closed quite a few years ago.

(I suggest adding the information to the image page.) 207.176.159.90 01:06, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't have an exact site nor the name of the restraurant complex - it is about a quarter block of railroad cars joined together to form dining rooms (we did not see the interiors). We had walked from downtown to the Whiskytown gallery block and saw this on the way back, in June 2005. Info is too inprecise for the image page, sorry - User:Leonard G. 03:51, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stereo View of Mount Diablo

How do you view this image properly? --Eraticus 05:01, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Use a red transparent filter for the left eye, and a cyan filter for the right eye. Cheap paper glasses with these filters are available - ask your friends if they have a pair, or purchase over the internet (if you need only one pair you might as well get the better quality, these correct for the differing focus of these parts of the spectrum). User:Leonard G. 17:51, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ironbridge

Do you have any reasoning with the new merger? Simply south 20:33, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

The why part or the how part or which title should be the principal? Leonard G. 17:23, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean? Simply south 17:42, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Why: Two articles covering the same subject should be merged, and if then overlong should be split into sub-topic articles.

How: The best of content and prose should be selected from each article, without loss of significant information, with rewriting as needed to ensure consistant style. Resultant article should be properly wikified.

Which Title: The most likely search term should be used for the article title, with other titles being redirects

- Leonard G. 17:52, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Can you put this on Talk:Ironbridge#New merger? Simply south 19:04, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry, i didn't mean to cause you any embaressment. Simply south 22:18, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Not at all your cause, I should have seen the diference between the location article ant the bridge article - Leonard G. 03:12, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Energy portal hacked

Thanks for your warning. User:PS2pcGAMER reverted the problem within a couple of hours. Gralo 13:21, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Sorry! You asked how. Article Help:Reverting should help for future reference. Gralo 21:41, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Correction to Article Title

I would like to remove the hypen between 'Kinder-Morgan' in the page titled Kinder-Morgan Energy Partners. Will this affect pages linked to this article?

As outlined on your page by others, use the move function. Then click the What links here link in the toolbox and modify those articles to go directly to the new name so as to avoid the redirects. - Leonard G. 03:11, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

 Thanks for the feedback (kmcurrent 17:29, 17 October 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Submersible Bridge

Hi, I've made an animation sequence from the series you had uploaded on Submersible bridge, as the series was very long and messed up the page formatting a little. This was only a quick 'conversion' and I'll try and make a better one tomorrow, or you might like to make your own. I hope you don't mind. :) Spilla 12:47, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I'll give the wiggle steroscopy animation a shot, just send the series to spilla2003 [at] gmail.com I've only dabbled in this kind of thing, but with a bit of practice, I'm sure I can come out with a great result. :) Spilla 08:14, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clay Arts Guild

Hello, please see if the article meets our general notability guidelines, and more specifically, the guidelines on schools. If you believe it does, I will restore the article and place it on Articles for deletion, where the community at large can discuss whether to keep or delete the article. Cheers, Tangotango 07:07, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moved as requested

Hi Leonard, I've moved the article as requested. I also split off the part about the canyon and left it at the original location. You probably need to clean up both pages. The bucket and mop stays mostly in the closet. I do mostly what I did before becoming an admin. I spent quite a bit of time on a proposal to redo categories with User:Rick Block, which will probably happen if the developers ever get around to upgrading the software. I have not been very active for the last two months as I was travelling. The admin community is not really any different from the larger community, unless they are running amok, which seems to happen every now and then.

Have you considered archiving your talk page? It is getting very long. -- Samuel Wantman 10:30, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unicorn

You did some work in the article Fu Dog and Qilin before. I just learned today that there is another mythical Chinese beast called Luduan with a single horn. Do a google image search with the Chinese text 甪端 to see how it looks like. Kowloonese 03:08, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Supergene (geology)

Hi, thanks for pointing out the confusion stemming from that red meteoric link - has nothing to do with soft comets though. I've changed it to meteoric water for clarification. Also replied on the talk page there (Talk:Supergene (geology)) regarding your copyvio bit. Cheers, Vsmith 19:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Portmanteau

re: "Gerrymander", "Portmanteu"

...A folk usage of portmanteau refers to a word that is formed by combining both sounds and meanings from two or more words (e.g. "animatronics" from "animation" and "electronics")

This does not seem to fit Gerrymander since there is not an apropriate meaning for the Gerry part in the word formation, as there is in "Animatronics". Any further thoughts?

Best wishes, Leonard G. 16:38, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

After looking into it again, I think that you're right that portmanteau isn't appropriate there. User:Centrx's change to "blend" is probably the best solution. NatusRoma | Talk 20:24, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Image size

I reverted your image resize in the Boeing 787 article. The standard thumb size is ridiculously small - I think that that is the size they are referring to not hard coding. Note that their example shows an image size specification and image size is shown in the referenced image use article. I think that 225 to 275 pix on a sideline image is still small enough for readable text layout on small screens (800pix) and is better since it does not force you to click the thumb to see the image content. - Leonard G. 03:43, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I suggest you more closely read the manual of style, as well as the related discussions on the topic, as I respectfully submit that you are interpreting it incorrectly. "Hardcoded" means that the size is fixed - |250px| for example - and is not overridden by the setting in a user's preferences. If you click 'my preferences', and then select 'Files', you will see that you can set your default image thumb size. You may find the default too small; I, however, find 250 to 300px too large. By forcing an image size, it cannot be overridden by the preferences. To quote another user from a different discussion:

'Hardcoded' probably isn’t the best way of saying it. What you’re really being told is that you shouldn’t specify the image size at all. When you do, then the image will always be presented at that size. Default image size is a reader preference (on the “Files” tab at Special:Preferences), but specifying a size as above ignores the reader’s preference. Instead, omit the image size and let the software display the image at the reader’s preferred size. --Rob Kennedy 19:16, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Thus, in most cases, hardcoding of image sizes is to be avoided, as it becomes a usability issue. I'm changing the 787 sizing back, and I hope you understand why. ericg ✈ 03:51, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

The system is completly opaque, even to a registered user - I found the specification for thumb image (after much huntiing) on the "Files" tab. Note that readers (not editors) would not have acess to this function, so I think that the arguments in favor of unspecified thumb size are rather bogus when considering the larger (public) readership. - Leonard G. 04:05, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

The system might need to be more obvious, and perhaps a larger default size should be chosen, but that doesn't mean that every single page in the encyclopedia should have a hardcoded image size set. If you'd like to participate in the Image Use Policy discussion which I linked to, go ahead - your input will certainly be welcomed and considered. In the meantime, I hope you will follow the established consensus and only use fixed image sizes when it is necessary to expose details in the images. ericg ✈ 05:46, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

There is more to a presentation than text and images - the layout is an essential element, and partcularly the relationship of text and images, a non-trivial problem considering that the horizontal space is not fixed. An article, besides being factual, informative, and a pleasure to read (for the target readership) should also be a pleasure to view for the first time and should not require the reader to click on thumbnails to see essential elements. Mininsule images will in many cases poorly link the elements taken in by a glance at the image (often done before reading) to the text. In other words, the text and the image are linked and hence reenforcing or complementary information channels,] depending upon context. This is nearly impossible with postage-stamp sized images. I think that the guidelines are simply wrong-headed within the context of current system limitations and aestheic considerations which are often given too little weight. - Perhaps this entire discussion could be moved to the forum?

Thanks for the communication, Leonard G. 18:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lattice girder

(Questions concerning laced structural elements re.: Lattice girder:
Does laced beam encompass struts, ties, and girders? Should "lattice" be used at all (except for lattice truss)? Let me know and I will adjust articles as necessary.

Thanks, Leonard G. 19:57, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

You asked whether the term 'laced beam' encompasses struts, ties, and girders.

Every definition of 'beam' I've ever understood is that it is a structural element which primarily resists bending. A slightly more correct definition is here [11]. A 'girder' is a beam which is either large or which is made up of several connected elements (e.g. a plate girder), again see [12].

In contrast, a 'strut' is a member which mainly resists a compressive axial load [13], and a 'tie' one which mainly resists a tensile axial load [14]. So, although there are members which resist both transverse and axial loads, the term 'beam' doesn't normally encompass struts or ties, but does encompass girders.

On the lattice girder page, I referred to 'laced struts' and 'laced ties' but not 'laced beams' because the latter simply don't exist - lacing provides too weak a connection between the edge elements of a member to make them work together to resist bending and shear. But a 'lattice girder' has 'lacing' with multiple intersections and so can act as a beam - the latticing is essentially similar to a plate web with lots of diamond-shaped holes punched through it. A 'lattice strut' appears to be a known term (again see [15] which refers to 'latticing' in connection with struts) - I've never heard it used but this may be a US/UK difference or perhaps because I'm more familiar with technical engineering jargon as used in codes of practice, and it may be better known outside that area.

So in summary, you can have lattice girders, trusses, and maybe struts. And laced struts and ties. You can't have a lattice tie (at least, unlikely, as the lattice serves no useful purpose), nor a laced beam, girder or truss.

Let me know if this is unclear at all! -- Kvetner 22:36, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the thorough review. It sounds as if the articles are correct as titled and written, but perhaps an image of a lattice girder should be added. It sounds from your description as though one could not make a girder using the lacing seen on the SFOBB example, but what are the proper details? It seems clear in portions of the Eiffle Tower image, but that might confuse decorative vs. structural considerations. Do you have any suggestions? - Leonard G. 00:01, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dinosaur pics!

Hi Leonard!

Thanks for adding some much needed pictures of dinosaurs to Wikipedia's articles on Prenocephale and Triceratops! Even after months of requests, Wikipedia is still suffering from a lack of good dinosaur images; of the several thousand prehistoric reptile articles on Wikipedia, less than 10% even have one image. If there are any others, please do not hesitate to add those as well! Thanks again, Firsfron of Ronchester 04:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image:GGParkNorthWindmill.jpg

Hi Leonard. I've uploaded a new version of this. I happened to be there on a rare sunny day (today), and took this picture. I didn't delete yours, and if you want to keep it, I can move mine to a different name. -- Samuel Wantman 08:52, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gliding article

I reversed your amendment to the gliding article because it was about another equally worthy but different sport. The article is not about dynamic soaring but gliding. I hope you concur. If not, please discuss after Christmas. JMcC 00:52, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

I will place in the appropriate article- Leonard G. 00:53, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Swiss municipalities coats of arms

Hi, with regard to Pigniu, you might like to know that the {{Infobox Swiss town}} template has a field called imagepath_coa specifically for incorporating coats of arms. If you look at the subsequent edit I made, you can see how it works. Best regards, and happy Christmas. — BillC ^talk 18:08, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the info - Leonard G. 21:35, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for the message. There should be no remaining Swiss municipalties; all should have been created by now. What you might find is that there are a number of former municipalities that once had an independant status, but as a result of boundary changes are now part of a larger municipality. Augio, for example, is now part of the municipality of Rossa. Bernina has been creating coats of arms for the former municipalities as well, it seems. There is currently no en-Wikiproject to create these missing former municipalities, though by all means create them yourself if you wish.

Kreis (French: circule and Italian: circolo) doesn't translate well into English. Its literal meaning of 'circle' will not convey immediately to an English speaker the meaning: 'sub-national division', and I have seen it variously translated on Wikipedia as 'sub-district', 'borough', 'circle', and so on. Most, if not nearly all, articles about the Swiss Kreise have not yet been created on enWP. (There are also some remaining articles about the districts in Valais yet to do). — BillC ^talk 21:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Information request on Lockport, Ny

I publish a family history newsletter that highlights my research on the Breyfogle surname. We have several members of the family that spent some time in Lockport about the time the canal was constructed in 1824/25. I am writing an article on the town of Lockport and found your picture of the original locks. Can you offer more information on the picture and the lock structure today? If I read correctly the original 5-step lock was replaced by a much larger single step lock, is this correct?

The original lock consisted of two parallel five-step locks. The lock shown has had its gates removed and is used as an excess water cascade. The identical lock to the south (to the left of the image) was excavated into a modern and much wider single step lock. I will update the article to clarify as needed. Thank you for your interest in wikipedia, and please consider registering as an editor (even if you do not intend to edit) as this will allow more direct communications, either via our talk pages and through offline communications via our (unpublished) e-mail paths. Best wishes, Leonard G. 02:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your help, I registered some time ago but have not pasted anything so was unaware of how to sign my query or how to contact you directly............

Dtbrey 15:10, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] MOPED Scooter under "Electric Conversion"

Can you please clarify why this has been edited out of this section please....

These MOPED's were developed as Petrol MOPED vehicles and have been converted by adding battery holder frames, and direct drive hub wheels.

[edit] Translation

• see http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedista_diskuse:Pastorius#Translation_assiatance_requested
• I answer your questions
• Pastorius

One missing is.. hope that is indicator of star time (I don´t know if Pastorius is not sleeping :) --Chmee2 02:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The mop

You probably know more about moving images to commons than I do. It seems you just have to copy them to commons and flag the old ones for deletion. If you want, you could just give me a list of what you have copied over and I'll delete the old versions for you. There's probably a tag for requesting deleting the picture, but I've never used it so I don't know. Use the same name on commons and It will replace the en: version when it is deleted.

As for a nomination for the mop, I'd be happy to, but do you really want it? I suspect you will get many of the same comments you got the last time around about not spending any time in Wikipedia space. I'm not sure you need it if you don't plan on getting involved in other peoples 3RR battles, vandalism patrols, and policy stuff. It is your choice, but it seems that Admin discussions have gotten much more intense in the last year and a half. Let me know what you decide. Happy New Year. -- Samuel Wantman 06:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ==Image:Mastigias-papua.jpg==

Greetings:

While I appreciate your moving the image to Commons, adding the proper binomial name, and updating my user page by fixing the sidebar image, you missed a second display of this in my gallery of weekly images. I attempted to add a redirect from the old name Image:JellyfishAtMBA.jpg but this failed. Perhaps this is a deficiency in the server software. As you have deleted the original, I assume that you have administrator status and will know who to contact in on the WP technical side. Try:Image:JellyfishAtMBA.jpg, this is the redirect and it is broken. The broken image at right will lead to an upload page. This is inconsistant behaviour from the server. Also adding a comment to the redirect page causes the full size image to be displayed on the redirect page! (not tested to see if this fixes the redirect problem)

Best wishes, - Leonard G. 05:43, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Images could not be fixed to redirect links. It is an un-necessary thing because nobody would prefer a redirect link for images. These are preferred for article space because a user can enter a differnt name other than existing article. Sometimes, it could be used for Wikipedia space for shortcut issues. There is no need as such for the images. There could be some techinical problems to fix redirects for the images. As of now, I would like to delete that image link. If you want to discuss technical issues, you could visit here. Regards, Shyam ^(T/C) 12:51, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reason for reversion

I just reverted a couple of your edits on the Palmdale article, and wanted to let you know1 why: song titles do not get italicized, they get quote marks, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (titles) Thanks, and happy editing! Akradecki 04:29, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Artcar

That bot on the artcar webpage that you reverted was doing its job. If you'll notice user cbladey has edited nothing but the azrtcars page and has done it only to create vanity entries which are inappropriate - no other artcar artist gets their own special section! I want to clean up that page, not junk it up more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/cbladey Plymouths 15:17, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Matches

That machine produces matches, but it is only a stage of match production. "Zespół nabijający patyk" :) I can't translate it. Heh. It is a stage when sticks are diped in "matched mass" and sorting, but that machine don't put matches to boxes. Sorry for my english ;) Przykuta 18:39, 24 January 2007 (UTC) 18:35, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Display image by height

Thanks for your pointer back to your message on the village pump. I would have found it I think but a reminder never goes astray! I was hoping for a more automated method that would save me number crunching - but if that's what it takes I guess I'm up to it.Garrie 22:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

PS. Would you mind WP:ARCHIVEing your talk page? it's a bit long!Garrie 22:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Prague astronomical clock schema

Hi, I've noticed you have translated the Image:Schema Orloj en.png. Unfortunately both the original image and many of the translations are inaccurate / literal transaltions leading to terms never heard before (e.g. "ancient czech time" = Bohemian hours = Italian hours - see hour).

One way to improve it would be to use the terms used in Prague Orloj article - I hope it's possible to understand what is what from the text. But anyway... I don't think this is the best way - any change, including translation to other languages, means manipulations with the photoshop file, one copy per language needs to be created,....

If you're willing to spend some time on that - IMO easy improvement would be to create completely new image based on some of the free photographs on Commons, place numbered marks on various interesting objects, and describe the marks in text. That way it would be easily transalteable and any mistakes in translations could be easily corrected.

Even better but much more difficult would be vector drawing of the orloj in SVG - than, various "subsystems" could be diplayed separately in several images (like, in one image only "sideral time subsytem", "Moon" in other,...) --Wikimol 16:38, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

The translations were provided by the original image contributor. From examination of the dial it appears that the "ancient czech time" is a 24 hour clock starting at sunset. I have retained the Photoshop file, so simply send me a list of what you think is appropriate, or I can send you the file if you have the capability of modifying it. - Leonard G. 18:06, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kit car notablility

Any kit car manufacturer is notable with this narrow field. given the difficulties for survival imposed by regulatory authorities. Please reconsider your tag for deletion of Factory Five Racing. I have no interest in this company other than to ensure the wide scope of referring articles such as Kit car. Best wishes, Leonard G. 01:17, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, thank you for your message. Having reviewed the article again, which still has an unsubstantiated claim for being the worlds largest replica AC Cobra manufacturer and then a list of the current models in production; I still don't see at present the factual evidence that the company has the required level of notability to justify an article at Wikipedia. If it stated some substantiated facts, or had a notable history, or a notable model then I would have supported your request, but at present it still doesn't make the grade on notability. Perhaps you could find some facts or points of notability that would allow a better review? Best Regards, - Trident13 10:35, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you should consider tagging articles concerning various Pokemon characters and other such fictional triva if you do not think that a real-world manufacture of kit cars merits notability - or do you not wish to stir up that kind of hornet's nest? - Leonard G. 01:18, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Hmm - not quite sure what you are trying to get at? If you are trying to get at me, then please read WP:Civility. If your point is you think I tagged the article incorrectly, then why did you not challenge it in the agreed procedure? Having spent two years in Japan, and knowing how much Pokemon has and still sells, much as though I may not be a fan it meets the notability criteria. If you think that Factory Five Racing is credit worthy and meets the notability criteria, then like other editors before I am happy to work on a suitable article - see for example Gettysburg furniture companies, which was deleted three times until something suitable was co-created. I have retrieved the previous text which is now held on a personal stub page if you want me to help you create a suitable article. Best Regards, - Trident13 01:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

But of course, that was a needle (communications), well within the bounds of civil discourse in my universe. Kit car manufactures are like the proverbial talking dog - it is not so much what the dog says but rather that he can talk at all. I would think that you could have deleted a few lines of puffery from the article to your satisfaction - as I stated I have no particular interest in this particular manufacture. - Leonard G. 02:02, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unspecified source for Image:BrooklynBrPntg.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:BrooklynBrPntg.jpg. I noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you did not create this file yourself, then you will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If you obtained it from a website, then a link to the website from which it was taken, together with a restatement of that website's terms of use of its content, is usually sufficient information. However, if the copyright holder is different from the website's publisher, then their copyright should also be acknowledged.

As well as adding the source, please add a proper copyright licensing tag if the file doesn't have one already. If you created/took the picture, audio, or video then the {{GFDL-self}} tag can be used to release it under the GFDL. If you believe the media meets the criteria at Wikipedia:Fair use, use a tag such as {{fairusein|article name}} or one of the other tags listed at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags#Fair use. See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have specified their source and tagged them, too. You can find a list of files you have uploaded by following this link. Unsourced and untagged images may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If the image is copyrighted under a non-free license (per Wikipedia:Fair use) then the image will be deleted 48 hours after 23:13, 11 February 2007 (UTC). If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Postdlf 23:13, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey - I'm about to delete this image. If you can get the name and title of the painting, we may be able to confirm the image is in the public domain. If you can get this information let me know (and remind me of the link Image:BrooklynBrPntg.jpg) and I'll undelete the image. Mangojuice^talk 19:17, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Invitation

Hello – Based on your significant contribution to one or more San Francisco Bay Area-related articles and/or stated interests on your homepage, I thought you might be interested in this project:

You have been invited to join the WikiProject San Francisco Bay Area, a collaborative effort focused on improving Wikipedia's coverage of the Bay Area. If you'd like to join, just add your name to the member list. Thanks for reading!

Peter G Werner 20:29, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, now a member - Leonard G. 01:34, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome

Hi, Leonard G., and welcome to WikiProject San Francisco Bay Area! We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying, categorizing, and improving articles relevant to the Bay Area. Here are some points that may be helpful: Our main aim is to help improve Bay Area-related articles, so if people ask for help with an article, please try your hardest to help them if you are able. Most important discussions take place on the project's main discussion page. It is highly recommended that you watchlist it. The project has several ongoing and developing activities, such as article quality assessment, which you are welcome to participate. Our system for improving lower-quality articles is Jumpaclass. If you'll be editing stub, start, or B-class articles, consider using Jumpaclass to track your progress. If you have another language besides English, please consider adding yourself to our translation section, to help us improve our foreign Bay Area topics. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the talk page, and we will be happy to help you. Again, welcome! We hope you enjoy working on this project.

Peter G Werner 04:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jumpaclass

This is an invitation to use WP:BAY's Jumpaclass option for improving articles. If you're working on any Bay Area-related stub, start, or B-class articles, simply add their names to the list, and if any of the articles improve a class within a week, you'll be recognized for your contributions. If you have any questions about how it works, post on the talk page or on mine. Thanks for reading! — Emiellaiendiay 21:46, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plate or Bridge

That would be a modified plate, as a standard "plate," otherwise referred to as a complete denture, would serve to prosthetically restore a completely edentulous dental arch (i.e. upper or lower arch). A complete denture is an example of a removable prosthesis. A bridge (and I see that you LOVE bridges), on the other hand, is an example of a fixed prosthesis (i.e. one that the dentist inserts and cannot then be removed by the patient) that fills a space by covering the teeth adjacent to the space to support a pontic (dummy tooth) for the space itself. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 00:41, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how to add pictures

Hi! I'm new to wikipedia, can you tell me how to add pictures. -simpsonic1111

[edit] Standing Ming Lion

I’m in my third year of college and I have been a Fu Dog fanatic for years. I came across your picture of the “Standing Ming Lion” while I was doing research for one of my speech classes. Your picture is of a Fu Dog unlike any I’ve ever seen. The Main difference is the fact that it’s standing and that its tail is down and wrapped around one leg. I was wondering if you had any additional information on that particular Fu Dog. And if you could help me to understand why Wikipedia has your picture listed as a Nian. The Fu dong in the picture looks sad and worried, that is understandable because it’s standing outside of a cemetery. And maybe way it is standing is out of respect for the dead? I do not believe that they would put a Nian (and evil and feared creature) out side of a cemetery.

I was also wondering if you could tell me your credibility on the subject of Fu Dogs, or if it is not rude of me to ask, what your level of education is and in what area of expertise.

Thank you very much User:Davidbowierox

I have no special expertese in this area, having only gathered some of the images and written a bit of article text. A close examination of the standing lion shows that its mane arrangment and several of its accessories are the same as other Ming-style gardian lions (as opposed to the later Qing "fu dogs", which are different in fundamental appearance and dress). Other authors made the association between fu dogs and gaurdian lions. It may well be that these are quite different in attributed character, that I do not know, but they appear to be used in the same way, with the same male and feemale positions and actions with sphere and cub, so it seem reasonable that they would be in the same article. Its characterization as a "northern style nian" in the Nian article may be in error - could you further research this? Thanks, Leonard G. 15:51, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nian

OK this is how I understand this. Ming-style guardian lions and the Qing Fu Dogs are the same; they just change in appearance due to the artist that made them or due to how the Emperor (at the time) preferred them to look. I’ve ordered a book today that may shine a bit more light on this topic however it won’t be in for another week or so. However this is what I know about Fu Dogs:

They are part dog, part lion and part dragon; they belong to the Buddhist God Fo. The dogs kept away bad dreams; they would chase and bite the heels of the dreams if they came too close. They are good luck if you have the set and have them arranged correctly (that is to have the cub and sphere on the inside and the lowered leg on the outside). However it is very bad luck to have only one. They can be found in both China and Japan. Chinese have the male guarding the globe (symbolizing the World) and the Female guarding the cub (symbolizing family). The Japanese Fu Dogs have both with their front legs up on globes and their hind legs on outside.

I will let you know when the book comes in and if it says anything about Nian. but your picture looks like a Fu Dog due to his collar which is a symbol of authority and the way that the hair is arranged in his mane and tail (ment to look like flames). was there another one around this one? or was he by himself? I have not given up on researching this and I will let you know what I find as I find it.

Again thank you for your time, I look forward to your response.

Thanks, Davidbowierox 04:07, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

The animals were in pairs, one standing and the other sitting opposite, but I do not recall seing a sitting lion, although there should be one opposite. The southern nian image was also from this walk (chinese unicorn). I will do some library research on the walk - Leonard G. 04:18, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image:GDFRInstruments.jpg

Hi, could you please send the permission you got from Geoff Shepherd to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org along with the link to the image so it can be verified? Unfortunately if no such permission is produced the image will have to be deleted. Yonatan ^talk 15:06, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Owing to previous use of MS Outlook Express (Mac), the mail concerning this has been lost owing to that application's failure (I now use Mac OSX Mail). I will have to re-request, but will be out of communication for a few weeks after tomorrow. Can you communicate directly with Geoff concerning this? (That way you would get the permission in the appropriate form.) There is a suite of related images, all in the Ford Ranger EV article. View Geoff's photo album on the Ranger EV and press on the button at the bottom - "Send me a message". Your help would be appreciated. Please respond to my talk.

Thanks, Leonard G. 01:43, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Sure, I'll do it. If I don't get a response though, we will unfortunately have to delete the image. ;/ Yonatan ^talk 18:58, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Yep, I asked for all images on his website to be released under CC-BY-SA 2.5. Yonatan ^talk 20:16, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sewage treatment:

16:57, 19 December 2006 Leonard G. (Talk | contribs) (→Treatment stages - Add process flow diagram)

Why you did'nt put this interesting image directly on Wikimedia Commons? Are you able to do it? What is the source of this image? Thanx, --Kychot 13:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)