User:Wtshymanski

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bill in Winnipeg

My interests include electrical engineering, history of technology, amateur radio and a few others. I'm no scholar, but I hope I can improve the content of a few articles. And I find I really enjoy editing!

1 The Vision Thing
2 To Do List
3 Articles that I've been editing
4 Bill's Book References
5 What I want to see in a technology article
6 Milestone - 1000
7 Gripes
8 Top 10 rejected Wikipedia slogans
9 Patent lists and language
10 Considered harmful
11 Projectitis
12 Schematic symbols not appropriate
13 Binary prefixes

[edit] The Vision Thing

Two ~~One~~ years ago today I had a detached retina in my right eye. I've made a very good recovery, with just the smallest hint of irregularities in vision in the right eye. Thank you Dr. Leicht! --Wtshymanski 23:48, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] To Do List

Table of integrated circuit logic speeds, probably gate delay, and typical flip-flop toggle speed, along with power per gate. (April 22, 2005)

~~Do some more history and references for Electrical engineering 05 05 16~~

Wow. Did *that* turn sour. Never cross the Teslaphiles.

What a mess - our friend Light Current has a bug about electronics vs. electrical. 06 01 02

Light Current banned...couldn't happen to a nicer guy. No, really, it couldn't.

Oakbank, Manitoba Wait till the flowers are in bloom, take fresh pictures then.
Rafferty Dam needed, companion to Alameda Dam.
Take a picture of my CP/M version 4 box for the WordStar article. (Found the box, didn't have the camera handy).
Analog-to-digital converter needs history from the Analog Devices book.
All the articles relating to electrical batteries need to be combed out and straightened; this should keep me out of the pool halls till the snow melts. 07 02 11

[edit] Articles that I've been editing

[edit] First editor of

I have merged or redirected many more articles than I've created. Guess that makes me a "deletionist" if that term has any meaning on Wikipedia any more.

[edit] Lots of edits to

High voltage direct current and the various HVDC projects
Transformer
Capacitor
Transistor-transistor logic
RS-232
Televideo
Power factor
Apparent power
Phase locked loop
Alexanderson alternator and related articles
Wind turbine
Philo Farnsworth and TV-related articles after reading "Tube"
Electrical wiring -hard to make general, still lots to go.
Hydroelectricity though most were reversions of vandalism
Oakbank, Manitoba

[edit] Touched on

IBM PC
Personal computer
Nelson River Bipole
High-voltage hazards back when it was arcs 'n sparks, added arc flash and other hazards.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Manitoba
Flin Flon, Manitoba
Oakbank, Manitoba

[edit] Images

Recreational Walkie-talkie
Televideo terminal
Nelson River Bipole HVDC converter station and valve hall
Manitoba Hydro Pointe du Bois station interior
Power triangle
Sine waves and three-phase power
Red River Floodway control structure
Seven Sisters Generating Station for Manitoba Hydro article
Knob and tube for electrical wiring
Hydroelectric turbine runner (propeller type)
Spillway (Gardiner Dam gates)
KIM-1 single board computer
Flin Flon, Manitoba

[edit] Bill's Book References

Arthur E. Cote et al, "Fire Protection Handbook Eighteenth Edition", National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts, 1997, ISBN 0-877-377-1

Terrell Croft and Wilford Summers (ed), American Electricans' Handbook, Eleventh Edition, McGraw Hill, New York (1987) ISBN 0-07013932-6

Donald G. Fink and H. Wayne Beaty, Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers, Eleventh Edition,McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978, ISBN 0-07020974-X

David E. Fisher and Marshall J. Fisher, Tube, the Invention of Television Counterpoint, Washington D.C. USA, (1996) ISBN 1-88717817-1

Robert Friedel, Zipper: An exploration in novelty, W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 1996 ISBN 0-39331365-4

C. C. Furnas, Joe McCarthy et. al, (ed), The Engineer , Time Incorporated, New York, (1966), no ISBN, Library of Congress card no. 66-24569.

Rick Gilmour et. al, editor, Canadian Electrical Code Part I, Nineteenth Edition, C22.1-02 Safety Standard for Electrical Installations, Canadian Standards Association, Toronto, Ontario Canada (2002) ISBN 1-553246-00-X

Thom Hogan and Mike Iannamico, Osborne 1 User's Reference Guide,(1982) Osborne Computer Corporation

George N. Hood Against the Flow:Rafferty Alameda and the Politics of the Environment, Fifth House Publishers, Saskatoon Saskachewan, 1994, ISBN 1-895618-35-5

Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, The Art of Electronics 2nd Ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989 ISBN 0521370957

Edwin J. Houston and Arthur Kennelly, Recent Types of Dynamo-Electric Machinery, copyright American Technical Book Company 1897, published by P.F. Collier and Sons New York, 1902

A. H. Howatson, An Introduction to Gas Discharges, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1965 - especially Chapter 8.

Jill Jonnes, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World, Random House, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-375-50739-6

Aileen Kraushar et al, Springfield 1st Rural Municipality in Manitoba 1873-1973, Dugald Women's Institute, Dugald Manitoba Canada 1974, ISBN 0-919212-40-9

Don Lancaster, TTL Cookbook, Howard W. Sams and Co., Indianapolis, 1975, ISBN 0672210355

David A. Lien, The BASIC Handbook, 2nd Edition Encyclopedia of the BASIC Computer Language",(Compusoft Publishing,1981

James H. Marsh (ed), The Canadian Encyclopedia Year 2000 Edition, McClelland and Stewart Inc., Toronto, 1999, ISBN 0-7710-2099-6

Duncan McDowall, Steel at the Sault: Francis H. Clergue, Sir James Dunn, and the Algoma Steel Corporation 1901-1956, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1988 ISBN 0802067360

Jacob Millman, Microelectronics Digital and Analog Circuits and Systems, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1979, ISBN 007042327X

Scott Mueller Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Second Edition, Que Books, 1992, ISBN 0-88022-856-3

Paul J. Nahin, Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude, IEEE Press, New York,1999, ISBN 0 879422386

John D. Ryder and Donald G. Fink, Engineers and Electrons, IEEE Press, New York, (1984) ISBN 087942172X

Henry H. Ryffel (ed.), Machinery's Handbook 23rd Edition, Industrial Press Inc. New York, 1988 ISBN 083111200X

Nikola Tesla (and Ben Johnson), My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, Hart Brothers, Williston, Vermont 1982, ISBN 0-910077-01-0

George H. Tryon et al, "Fire Protection Handbook Thirteenth Edition 1969", National Fire Protection Association, Boston Massachusetts, 1969, Library of Congress 62-12655, no ISBN.

J. W. Sims et al, (ed) The Boy Electrician, Eighth Edition George Harrap, London (1965) no ISBN

F. Langford Smith, The Radiotron Designer's Handbook Third Edition, (1940), The Wireless Press, Sydney, Australia, no ISBN, no Library of Congress card

The Engineering Staff, The TTL Data Book for Design Engineers, 1st Ed., Texas Instruments, Dallas Texas, 1973, no ISBN

William D. Stevenson, Jr. Elements of Power System Analysis Third Edition,McGraw-Hill, New York (1975) ISBN 0070612854

Gordon J. Van Wylan and Richard F. Sontag, Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics SI Version 2nd Ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1976, ISBN 0471041882

Ernst Weber and Frederik Nebeker, The Evolution of Electrical Engineering, IEEE Press, Piscataway, New Jersey USA, 1994 ISBN 0780310557

B. M. Weedy, Electric Power Systems Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, London, 1972, ISBN 0471924458

H. P. Westman et al, (ed), Reference Data for Radio Engineers, Fifth Edition, 1968, Howard W. Sams and Co., no ISBN, Library of Congress Card No. 43-14665

Larry D. Wolfgang et. al, (ed), The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs, Sixty-Eighth Edition , (1991), ARRL, Newington CT USA ISBN 0872591689

Alan Wyatt, Electric Power: Challenges and Choices,(1986),Book Press Ltd., Toronto, ISBN 0920650007

Electronics Industries Association, EIA Standard 449 November 1977, reprinted in Telebyte Technology "Data Communication Library" Greenlawn NY, 1985, no ISBN, no Library of Congress card number

Electronics Industries Association, EIA Standard RS-232-C Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Communication Equipment Employing Serial Data Interchange, August 1969, reprinted in Telebyte Technology "Data Communication Library" Greenlawn NY, 1985, no ISBN

PC 97 Hardware Design Guide, 1997, Microsoft Press, Redmond Washington USA, ISBM 1572313811

NFPA 70, National Electrical Code 2002, National Fire Protection Association, Inc., Quincy, Massachusetts USA, (2002). no ISBN

Regulations for Electrical Installations Fifteenth Edition 1981, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, (1981) Hitchin, Herts. United Kingdom, no ISBN

Westinghouse Corporation, Applied Protective Relaying, 1976, Westinghouse Corporation, no ISBN, Library of Congress card no. 76-8060 - a standard reference on electromechanical protection relays

BASIC 80 Reference Manual, Microsoft Corporation, no date

Zilog Components Data Book, Zilog, Campbell California, 1985, no ISBN

[edit] What I want to see in a technology article

I like *depth* in an article.

What is it?
Who uses it?
How does it work?
Where did it come from? When?
Who made the first one? When?
Who were the rivals in the development phase?
What did we use for that job before it was invented?
How was it developed?
How big/small/powerful/costly is it?
What is/was the social effect of it?
How does/did it affect the environment?
What seems likely to succeed it?

[edit] Milestone - 1000

Counting only edits in the "articles" spaces, and including minor edits, just now (June 2,2005 12:34 CDT)I've made my 1000th edit. It was to the Stirling engine article.

I made more edits in the two months or so after my retina healed than in the last year. It's been a busy year. Mostly just reverts.

[edit] Gripes

Somewhere there's a quote to the effect that arguing on the Internet is pointless because anyone you're arguing with is, or is indistinguishable from, a 16 year old with too much time on his hands.

The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, but the desire to edit someone else's words. -- sign in Ed Barsis's office

Short words are best and old words, when short, are best of all. - Winston Churchill

Never ask a Legionaire about his past, or a Wikipedian for his references.

Imagine a Wikipedia "boot camp" where people learn the rudiments of English composition and how to organize an article! Let alone an article - how about just writing a sentence that isn't held together with baling wire and duct tape?

If only Wikipedia had a Template:UK-spelling or Template:US-spelling flag so that people would stop dinking with the "u"s and get on with fixing the bloody articles! This could even be set in the user preferences so you'd see the article spelt in whatever fashion you're used to, when variant spelling exists. Myself, I'm nearly completely indifferent to US vs UK spelling, though I do hate the extra "i" in "aluminium" - but I'm not about to go on an anti- "ium" rampage. My compromise suggestion is Template:Canadian-spelling where *either* form works.

A Wikifiction is an article on some eccentric topic that starts off on Wikipedia, and eventually spreads to free encyclopedias everywhere, thereby gaining a spurious credibility among those who still touchingly believe that if it's on the World Wide Web, it must be true ( see Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus for a discussion of the~~meaning of truth, the meaning of meaning, truth of meaning,~~ or if there is anything meaningful to be said about truth at all. The problem arises either when the proponent of the Wikifiction (who may not be intending to mislead, but may be misinformed, over-enthusiastic, or biassed) either cannot be refuted by other editors due to the esoteric nature of the article, or else when the proponent is indefatigable at reverting or otherwise maintaining his cherished, though odd and singular, beliefs. A Wikifiction may only be supported by references to Web sites which may also be maintained by terribly sincere people with unusual views. See also and contrast Wikifraud, linkspam,sillypedia,crank (person).

See also parts of electrical engineering which is overdue for a nit-combing.

Wikipoisoning refers to the way that researching an item on the Net for Wikipedia rapidly becomes difficult, since many of the web pages you will find are just copies of the Wikipedia article you are working on. Sure you get 20,000 hits on it -- because there's at least 20,000 sites copying Wikipedia. Doesn't apply if you have access to subscription services like IEEE Explore - I'm considering beefing up my membership.

[edit] Top 10 rejected Wikipedia slogans

10. "Too many cooks spoil the soup!"
9. "You don't need to speak (read, write, spell) English to be an editor!"
8. "Wikipedia - the great equalizer between enthusiastic teenagers and people who actually know what they are talking about."
7. "Volume over Accuracy!"
6. "All the Errors of the Internet in One Place!"
5. "More Monkeys! More Typewriters!"
4. "100,000 Lemmings Can't Be Wrong!"
3. "Why use one word when 20 will do ?"
2. "On the Wikipedia, no-one can tell you're a dog."
1. "Wikipedia - the free on-line encyclopedia that anyone can edit...and anyone does!"

[edit] Patent lists and language

I find "patent claim" language very difficult to read and I don't think it's intended for the same purposes as "encyclopedia language". Patent claims use certain forms and conventions so that the patent has a good chance of standing up in court. An encyclopedia article should be considerably less stilted in tone.

I also find lists of patents to be incredibly dull( see big dumb list) and I doubt that one reader in 100 will run down more than one or two on the list. If the reader had the patience to work out how something works from reading dozens of patents, he wouldn't need an encyclopedia article at all! (A list might just barely be justified when the article is about an inventor - maybe.)

A list of patents should explain why each patent is significant in the development of the invention - a column of 7-digit numbers is no help to anyone.

[edit] Considered harmful

Use of herein and its ilk in an article is at least a cry out for a rewrite and may be an indication of an article that needs deleting.

Saying simply in an encyclopedia article is pompous.

Big dumb lists. I hate big dumb lists. You can't trust a Wikipedia list to be complete and accurate, so it's not useful as a directory of things. The big dumb list gives no idea of why its members are important. They are always dull to read. They waste space. They are over-specialized for a general interest encyclopedia. Election results, the dreaded List of 7400 series integrated circuits, Gong Show contestants, etc. etc. - all useless. The wost BDL on Wikipedia has to be (or had to be...maybe it's gone) the list of asteroids by number. (Actually, if you have to have a big dumb list, this is the way to do it...a lot of work in this, but I wonder how useful it is? )

Wikipedia is not a parts catalog.

A wheel isn't just round, it "exemplifies state-of-the-art circular technology". People who append "technology" to everything should be encased in balls of dampened wadded-up Microsoft marketing glossies and left for the wasps to devour.

Same thing for "architecture" - if you're not talking about buildings, you're treading on thin ice.

Twiddling - stamp out twiddling in our time. If you edit, make it meaningful. No Wikipedia article needs a just 1-character change. Bot-twiddling is especially annoying.

Kibibytes. See below. Kibobytes, anyone?

[edit] Projectitis

Oh joy oh bliss. Another Wikiproject founded. Soon a whole bunch of articles will have giant vacuous boxes on the talk page saying things to the effect of "You know, this article really isn't very good yet, won't you help improve it? I would do it, but I'm too busy creating projects to go to a library and open a*&^#$@ paper book and DOCUMENT some of the stuff here on Wikipedia, but I'm sure you, the busy template reader, were only waiting for this reminder before you sprang into action." Gotta love the Wikiprojects. Is there a "Project for deletion" voting process? Should there be a rule that you can't start a Wikiproject unless you have, oh, say, 100 editors...50 editors...ok, more than 2 editors signed up for it?

[edit] Schematic symbols not appropriate

Using a schematic diagram symbol is not useful, especially in the introductory stages of an article. The general reader will not know the schematic symbols anyway, so you're not conveying any information. Schematic symbols should be confined to an article on schematic diagrams.

[edit] Binary prefixes

I don't like "kibibytes". It sounds silly. When speaking of pre-November 2000 computers, and quantities less than a gigabyte, it is appropriate to use the conventions of the time. It's also absurdly over-precise to worry about the difference between 1024 and 1000 when decimal kilobytes were never used. If it's clear in 2007 that the original sources meant 32*1024 bytes when they said "32 kbytes", then it was clear in 1989 and so you don't need to put the absurd binary prefix on in any case.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/t/s/User%7EWtshymanski_3fd9.html"