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Revision as of 15:07, 4 October 2004

• User talk:Sam Spade/ - archive

Picture of the day The Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator was a facility developed by NASA in the early 1960s to study human movement under simulator lunar gravity conditions. It was located at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia and was designed to prepare astronauts for the Moon landings during the Apollo program. The simulator was tilted at a 9.5-degree angle from the vertical and test subjects were suspended on their side by cables at the same angle. This set-up allowed the trainees to walk along the surface while experiencing only one-sixth of Earth's gravity. It was also used to study the physiological effects on the astronaut's body during movement. In total, 24 astronauts used the simulator to train for lunar missions, including all three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission. This photograph, taken in 1963, shows a test subject being suited up by two technicians on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator.Photograph credit: NASA Archive – More featured pictures... To include this picture of the day on a page, add the text {{pic of the day}}.

I now have a nice new home, complete w i-net connection. I am enjoying 1.5 liters of hot Sencha Green tea (loose leaf, prepared in a French press), and am contemplating preparing an additional 1.5 liters later. Today I started a "negative calorie foods" diet. You may continue with your scheduled activities, but I highly recommend you invest some time (and perhaps a modest portion of your finances) in tea consumption. Cheers, Sam 17:49, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

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re:A man without tea in him is incapable of understanding truth and beauty

Amen! :-) Kim Bruning 07:29, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Hehehe.... :) Sam 16:06, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Vandal vs. userpage

A vandal hit your userpage twice and your talkpage twice. His damage was reverted. -- Grunt 🇪🇺 18:04, 2004 Aug 31 (UTC)

Thank you for your assistance. Sam 10:22, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

A bit late

I am sorry but it struck me that I did not express my gratitude properly over the links that you sent me. They cleared up a whole mess. Thank you very much. --Marco 13:51, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Glad to be of service :) Sam 09:13, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Links

Thanks for sending me the links some time ago when I registered.

Finally got round to putting something on my homepage and checked out yours while I was at it.

Your opening line made me laugh;

"A man without tea in him is incapable of understanding truth and beauty"

Just in case its true, I'm off to make a cuppa.

Kevinb 22:15, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Good idea, tea is so very good that I find it difficult to express its importance sometimes ;) The opening line is a Japanese proverb, and while it may be a bit extreme, it is quite difficult to exaggerate the benefits of copious tea consumption :) Glad to have you, Sam 11:27, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

ha ha

Why am I not really laughing at your redirect "Gnome Chompy". If someone's that far off the right spelling of the name, they don't deserve to see the article we have on Noam. -- user:zanimum

I've had this discussion before regarding redirects. The summary is that my redirect in the worst hurts nothing, and takes up an infintesimal amount of space. In best case it assists a user who probably has more need for the information provided here than one with a perfect grasp of spelling. I am of the position that every possible misspelling of every entry here should be a redirect, with the limit being when it is debatable where the mispelling aught to redirect to. Your position, as I see it, is exclusionary in nature, and rooted in haughtyness and academic argot. I see this as anti-wiki, and personally desire the wikipedia to be accessable to the common man, if for no other reason than that is the only way the project will survive. Also, it is clearly the moral thing to do. Sam 10:33, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

good grief. Exploding Boy 16:33, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)

Adminship

How would you like to be a sysop, with over 12,000 edits since November 4, 2003? I would think that you are true sysop material. What do you say? Marcus2 14:51, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

What a strange idea... Why would you think of me? Where do you know me from? What inspired you to count my copious edits? I'd like alot more info as to where this idea is coming from, if you please. Sam 14:32, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I have heard about you a few times. Also, see Misplaced Pages:List of Wikipedians by number of edits. That's where I found out about how many edits you've made. Furthermore, I've traced your editing career down to as early as November 4, 2003. If you didn't know already, a "sysop" is a term used for a Misplaced Pages administrator. These administrators are able to delete articles, block vandals from editing, edit locked pages (i.e. the Main Page), etc. And with a broad range of edits over a span of almost a year, you may as well be nominated for the adminship. I just wanted to get your consent to nominate you. In other words, I wanted to know if you'd accept this nomination. Marcus2 20:18, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)

What context have you heard about me in? To be frank the only benefit I can think of in adminship would be the "prestige" of community support, and I am quite doubtful I would recieve such. More likely it would be an excuse for the usual suspects to sound off about how their inability to cope w the group editing process is compounded by their poor social skills. Also, I wouldn't really have any use for the added abilities, generally oppose lone-ranger blocks and page protection (additionally I tend to get involved in debates, so me protecting a page in a neutral fashion would be difficult), and I havn't any interest in editing the main page, it seems pretty nice as is. Other than my long term and copious contributions to the project, what is it about me that suggested to you that I'd be a good one to nominate as admin? Curiously yours, Sam 14:26, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I first heard about you when you readded the "PPG World" fan site back to "The Powerpuff Girls" article with an edit summary of "+ fan site for lame cartoon". This site did belong there because I saw a bunch of other "External links" pages to fan sites, so why couldn't that one belong there? So I guess you decline in my request for your nomination as an admin, huh? Marcus2 22:00, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps by default. I'm not officially declining it because I might accept it if I won, and I might be amused by the debate/slander either way. But its highly unlikely I'd win, and would be of no more than symbolic benefit if I did ;) Thanks for thinking of me, Cheers, Sam 15:43, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

For You

October's winds come,

shake the leaves in dream dances:

is it hat weather?

Just wanted to say hello :-) -- Jwrosenzweig 22:05, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hey thanx.I just moved, and will fill you in on the particulars when I get a moment (and a home-I-net connection ;) Sam 15:56, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hello Mr. Spade

Hello "Sam Spade" there seems to be a problem here that maybe you could correct. I think you are violating wikipedia's NPOV policy by refering to Kim Jong-il as a dictator.--Gustuv 05:28, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Why is my name in quotes? Are you insinuating I am someone else? I will have you know that while "Sam Spade" is not my name IRL, it is the only user name I currently maintain on this project. If you ment the quotations in only a generally disparaging way, I appologise for the lengthy explanation. As far as your comment RE: Kim Jong-il, I have interestingly enough been recently convinced by an explanation by User:172 on talk:Kim Jong-il. Seeing as how your user page states you are a communist, and I oppose the very fundamental tenents of Communism, It is distinctly unsuprising that you might find some question regarding my NPOV. That said, in the future it is more functional to discuss these particulars in depth in the article talk, assuming it is not a personal matter. Cheers, Sam 15:54, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I think he is insinuating that you are not the character from the Maltese Falcon.AndyL 16:46, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

oh, but I am ! ;) Sam 11:45, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

User_talk:Pir#.3F

I removed that sentence from the racism talk page. - pir 11:47, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hi Sam. Agreeing to disagree? Yes and no. Of course it's completely OK for you to disgagree with me, and of course I have not interest of describing all of my personal opinions as NPOV. The thing is that some issues are more than just a question of opinion. To give an analogy, imagine the situation I argued that Earth is spherical and that we known that Erath is spherical because of sea-farers that didn't fall off at the edge of a flat earth, satellite pictures, the way shades fall, evidence that it's part of the solar system etc, and another Wikipedian constantly and religiously objected "but it looks flat to me, it's obvious". Would I just agree to disagree, and would I agree to state in the Earth article that "some people believe Earth to be round while others believe it to be flat"? Clearly not. It is not just a question of opinion. To make such a statement in the article would have far-reaching implications in terms of the world-view Misplaced Pages is promoting. Don't get me wrong: I love the NPOV policy, I believe it to be truly revolutionary because it allows for real pluralism and allows for a lot political propaganda and disinformation to be undermined. However, the NPOV policy must not lead to a situation where all facts become malleable, subject to political discourse and ideology, in an Orwellian way. The nihilism of such an Orwellian encyclopedia scares me. How do we decide between what should be described as fact and what should be described as opinion? Through reasoned debate on the talk pages. If objections are justifiable, have merit and hold up to scrutiny, then they should not be presented as facts. If they are not justifiable then the objections should only be described as opinion while the thing they object to should be described as fact. So I'd only agree to the sentence "While historically Earth was believed to be flat, a view some people still adhere to, Earth is now known to be a spherical planet, as suggested by XYZ."

Of course racism is a lot more complicated than the shape of our planet. And of course there are different definitions and uses of the term racism, and we may disagree on that. But it is a matter of historical record that racism was developed in the context of European colonisation which racism was used to legitimise, and that it has subsequently been used in similar ways by powerful interests to oppress and divide people. I'd agree to mentioning both definitions/uses of the term if they are discussed in the text and merits/defects stated. - pir 12:24, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"How do we decide between what should be described as fact and what should be described as opinion? Through reasoned debate on the talk pages."

No. Thru Misplaced Pages:Cite your sources and Misplaced Pages:Verifiability. Do you have an expert source stating "it is a matter of historical record that racism was developed in the context of European colonisation"? If so we can present that as one opinion amongst many. Our own personal opinions are not ment to end up in the article, thats POV. NPOV is when we present all verifiable expert POV's in a neutral manner, not taking any position, except in case of concensus. As far as I am concerned, there is concensus amongst all expert sources that I am correct and that you are wrong (regarding this matter), and further I feel the position that racism is power related is a fringe (non-expert) opinion worthy only of a passing mention. However, for the sake of progress, compromise and concensus, I am willing to allow both opinions to be presented in the introduction for the time being. Presenting the fringe as fact, and dismissing the concensus of expert opinions (like say every other encyclopdia, dictionary, and source of reference) would be a grotesque violation of the NPOV policy. Sam 12:45, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Welcome Message

Thanks for the welcome. Have I just reached some magic contribution count that has brought me to your attention? I only ask because I have been around for over 7 months now and it seems a queer time to be welcomed. User:PRB (signed by Sam 12:21, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC))

Well, I only just now noticed you on my watchlist. You made an edit to Nigger (word) which just so happens to be on my watchlist. I responded to the conversation there. Sorry we didn't get around to welcoming you sooner, but I was moving, and its a bit of a gamble for me to find you nubes (based on the red/unused talk page) in anycase ;) Glad to have you, Sam 12:40, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

From Caroline Colden

Thank you.