This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Franamax (talk | contribs) at 10:08, 22 July 2008 (→Refdesk - brightest question: more). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 10:08, 22 July 2008 by Franamax (talk | contribs) (→Refdesk - brightest question: more)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Welcome!
Hello Bowlhover, and welcome to Misplaced Pages! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Misplaced Pages:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Vsmith 17:45, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
Yuor edit on Talk:George W. Bush/Archive 40
That page is an archive, and such should not be edited, if you want to rise the discussion in question, you best start a new discussion on Talk:George W. Bush. →AzaToth 18:27, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
- Oops. Sorry. I reverted it to a historically-accurate state. Bowlhover 18:38, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Regarding suicide
Please don't kill yourself. I realize how horrible things must seem now. But there is help. You need to see a doctor. I'm not one, but if you need someone to talk to, please feel free to discuss things with me, either here or on my talk page, or anywhere else you like. --Ashenai 00:11, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
- You can talk to me too. I had a girlfriend who talked about killing herself and now she's doing fine. —Keenan Pepper 05:22, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
You wrote: "I don't have any problems with therapy--it's just that, in my situation, having a therapy is impossible." I don't blame you for rejecting therapy. It's something I need, too, but haven't managed to seek, and probably won't. The word that struck me there, and that I want to comment on, is not "therapy", but "impossible". You are an intelligent person, so I know that, intellectually, you can agree with me when I say: you are not qualified to state, on this question, that something is truly impossible. Emotionally, it seems impossible, and since our emotions are terribly important (in most cases controlling us utterly) it can be very hard to see past them. But it's all too easy -- I'm speaking sympathetically here -- to get yourself painted into an emotional corner where it seems like there's no way ont, because all the possible ways out require things we no longer have or care about. I don't claim to know what your corner looks like, because I'm not there, but I know what mine looks like, and it seems pretty inescapable, too. But I know what anyone would tell me, so I'm going to tell you the same thing: though it may look inescapable to you who's sitting there, those of us on the outside, with a different perspective, can see lots of ways out. We may be wrong on some of those ways, but probably not all of them. So please don't do anything drastic and irreversible.
I'll go out on a different limb here and speculate that you might be feeling unloved and uncared for. (That's how I feel a lot of the time, too, and boy, does it make it hard to face the day, let alone the trials of a not-so-good day.) However, trivial and remote though it may seem, I simply have to point out that the replies you've received here and on the reference desk prove that you're not alone. We may not know you well enough to love you, but please know that we do care. --Steve Summit (talk) 05:44, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
You wrote: "If I reveal my age, will everybody treat me differently?" Maybe. If you're 70 years and in failing health, my answer might be different. I'm 44, and I don't know much about what it feels like to be 70. But if you're younger than me, no, I'm not going to treat you any differently, my first answer above stands. --Steve Summit (talk) 05:48, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
- If you kill yourself, we will all miss your contributions here. StuRat 20:27, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
- Venus says : it is not your time now, maybe, you have to suffer a little : be bold. Stay with yourself. --DLL 22:52, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
- People here will help if they can - so smile - we care. Brookie :) - a will o' the wisp ! 08:01, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Therapy is possible my friend. I strongly suggest you try emailing the Samaritans. It's free, anonymous and they're easy to talk too about these types of things. They're the best thing out there for people like yourself, who are a bit down, and anyone who's used their service can be a judge to that. We're also all here for you if you to talk too as well. Good luck. Agent Blightsoot 13:29, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
At Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Science#Suicide_pill I made a remark that refers to all this. Not sure if you want to get into this. If not, feel free to remove that last sentence in my post. But if you don't do that, people might ask what I mean, so I'll elaborate. I'll give it a day. DirkvdM 08:16, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
- Sorry, I didn't see your post (when Misplaced Pages told me I had new messages, I thought it was for the other user who also posted); I wasn't trying to ignore you. Free free to talk about my question about suicide. I don't mind at all. --Bowlhover 23:49, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
Stepping out
Hmm, hi. I respect your wish to kill yourself, if you are indeed not pulling people's legs :) No method of suicide is entirely painless I'm afraid, it's something you'll have to deal with. Whatever method , it'll literally be the most painful thing you do in your life. Fortunately the pain will be brief, and that's why people do it.
Before you leave though, do please consider a test for yourself: Try and figure out how many people will come visit and cry over your grave.
My personal challenge is to try and get as many folks as possible to cry over mine, when my time comes :-)
Hmm, if you think a lot of people will come, you might want to consider maybe if it's a good idea to hurt them like that.
On the other side, well, since you're going to kill yourself anyway, you have all the time in the world. Try and make it so at least one person you respect will come and cry over your grave. :-)
In the mean time, I'm on irc.freenode.net, #wikipedia. I take it you're not in a particular hurry. Would you care to mosey on down and talk with me for a bit?
read you soon, -- Kim Bruning 17:29, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
- PS, no I shan't try to "talk you out of it", much... ;-) But you have the time anyway now, so what the hey. :) Kim Bruning 17:40, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
When I die, three people maximum are going to cry over my grave. More likely, though, it's 1 or 2. I can imagine huge arguments taking place among my relatives. I don't want to join irc.freenode.net#wikipedia, because real time conversations make me nervous. --Bowlhover 23:16, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
- Ive added a new comment to the reference desk. I like the edits youve done. Keep it up, if youre not too busy. We all have to deal with the real world --its ok to give that priority over other things --like this. Ste|vertigo 17:39, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
Patrick Warburton
Yzma was the name of the sorceress in Emperor's New Groove, and it was her lacky that was Kronk. Before you call things nonsense, perhaps you should do a little more research.
- Oops. You're right--I shouldn't have been so careless. Thanks for pointing it out! --Bowlhover 02:01, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Userpage
Any wikipedian is entitled to request that their own user page/subpages be deleted, if they wish. If you would prefer not to have a user page, you can add {{delete}} to the top of the page and someone will remove it. Dragons flight 16:29, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks--I'll do that. For the moment, I prefer not to have a user page. Maybe I'll change my mind later and decide to create it again. --Bowlhover 04:07, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks!
Thank you for reverting the vandalism to my user page! :) Hbackman 22:32, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
- You're welcome! --Bowlhover 04:25, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
Logic of your prayer
Don't get me wrong, I'm an atheist too, but... how can you say God is responsible for Hiroshima but humans are responsible for sunscreen? Why don't you use something that wasn't designed and built by humans, like... Hurricane Katrina? —Keenan Pepper 00:25, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
- That was supposed to be a joke (not a very funny one though). I thought it would be funny to "thank" God for everything, and then suddenly break the pattern by thanking the humans. Oh well, I'll change it anyways. --Bowlhover 03:42, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
- I choose to blame chance for most of those things, but I'll never forgive God for only choosing the other tribes, and all at the same time, totally confusing everyone. freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ 10:15, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
Physics thing with the car
From WP:RD/S...you asked that since there is friction, shouldn't the engine have to overcome that and as such there should be a total (or net) force (whee...look at that bad grammar--hope you can understand it). But, in physics terms, net force --> net acceleration through Newton's second law, F=m*a. If the car is moving at constant velocity, there is no acceleration. If there is no acceleration, there is no total (or net) force. Hope this clears things up! --M1ss1ontomars2k4 04:23, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
- Oops; looks like you already figured it out. Ha; my mistake. ;) --M1ss1ontomars2k4 04:26, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
Post
Hi, Concerning your reply to my post, (“Which atheist would be ignorant enough to say that? There are religions that don't respect women's rights, but they can be changed.”) on the Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Humanities. . . I do not disputed that there are many religions that treat men a women equally. My comment “I guess I’d better stop drooling then!” was only meant to point out that most atheists are would not be “drooling over the opportunity to misinform you. . .etc.” My intent was only to point this out in as lighthearted a way as possible. Sorry about any confusion I caused. S.dedalus 02:52, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
- I love your "Coca-cola" alternative to amen by the way :-) S.dedalus 19:33, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks! --Bowlhover 01:57, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
Prayer
If I'm not mistaken, in the story of Moses thou benevolent God tortured millions in Egypt by starvation, dehydration, and mass infanticide. Just because of that if I ever saw God I'd give him the finger. X (DESK|How's my driving?) 20:52, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
- Really? Where can I read about it? --Bowlhover 01:57, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
Bismuth reference desk question
Hi Bowlhover. May I ask why you answered the ref desk question on bismuth in detail, right after another user identified it as homework and explicitly said we wouldn't help past giving a hint? Did you disagree with that assesment? -- SCZenz 01:38, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
- My fault; I didn't see the post saying that it's a homework question. But I answered the question because it didn't obviously look like homework. (Teachers will likely not give an isotope that doesn't exist as part of homework) --Bowlhover 01:55, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
- Ok, no problem. I guess except for the non-existent isotopes, it looks like a homework question, but it's no big deal anyway. -- SCZenz 02:06, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
Cork
Dude, you just ran right over two recent votes for move request (see Talk:Cork_(city_in_Ireland)). What you did was not only unilateral, but undemocratic. This move 1) already failed a move request twice and 2) has moved the city to a page with a non-standardized name (should be "Cork, County Cork" where there's already a redir). Please review your changes and fix accordingly - Alison 00:16, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- Please see Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Cork and Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Cork_2 - Alison 00:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- It might not have been your intention;, as I don't know if you were involved in that recent debate, but as you can see, you've stepped into an issue that's very difficult and has caused emotional strain. Before making page moves in the future, you'll want to read the talk page histories to make sure that they aren't controversial. Also, if there's a chance they might be controversial, you might want to try going through WP:RM instead. -Patstuart 00:34, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- I didn't read the talk page before moving, because I never suspected that my move would be controversial. Today is the first time I've heard of Cork (city), while I'll be surprised if any English speaker doesn't know what a cork (material) is.
- Thanks Patstuart. I'll take a look at the talk page before moving any more articles. --Bowlhover 01:14, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- As Pat says, it's prolly best to go via Misplaced Pages:Requested moves first, or maybe check the talk pages of the to and from articles first as chances are, the issue will have already come up. Page moves are a bit of a biggie. Not to worry - there's an admin arbitrating now so it'll be fixed up one way or another soon - Alison 01:18, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- FYI, try looking at Misplaced Pages:Naming Conventions for the future. It's OK, though; there's a policy Misplaced Pages has called WP:BITE; as in don't bite the newbie, because they easily make mistakes. Patstuart 01:23, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
- Heh - and there's WP:BOLD :) - Alison 01:29, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
Please don't give medical advice, m'kay?
Please don't attempt to diagnose a medical problem or prescribe a course of action on Misplaced Pages, as you did here. While I happen to agree with your best guess, we should never be answering questions about an emergent medical condition; we also need to be particularly cautious when a minor is asking us questions.
Even if you qualify it with phrases like 'I am guessing', frankly, people don't read disclaimers. You honestly can't win at this game—even if you give a perfectly sound answer, confirmation bias will rear its ugly head and people will just read whatever they want to see into what you write. And next week, we'll have Jimbo Wales on the news, having to answer questions about "The little boy who's spending Christmas in a coma because he took medical advice from the armchair doctors at your encyclopedia".
I know you're just trying to help, but please be extremely cautious about these questions in the future. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 23:02, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
Merry Christmas!
- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Bowlhover! | AndonicO 01:04, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
May you and your family have a Merry Christmas, as well as any other Holiday you may celebrate. I hope that warmth, good cheer, and love surround you during these special days. May God bless you during the Holidays. | AndonicO 01:04, 15 December 2006 (UTC) | File:Julekort.jpg |
You're welcome. I like the mother-in-law joke by the way. :-) | AndonicO 20:50, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
My Game
Thanks for competing in my game and you may now sign the book of the legendary!! --¿Why1991 17:13, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
Happy New Year to you too!
Thanks for your good wishes; that's very kind. You can always look forward to Presidents' Day, if you're from the United States at least. -- SCZenz 04:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
- Don't tell me you don't have a heavily-commercialized Valentine's Day either...? -- SCZenz 05:28, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks!
Thanks for wishing me a Happy New Year, I wish the same to you too! As for the Holiday problem, we'll just enjoy them more when they do come. :-) | AndonicO 12:49, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
Mac_Davis
Yes! I am still, and will be for more months. Sometimes I stop by for a few visits :) Happy Day after New Year's! X (DESK|How's my driving?) 03:47, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
Your posts have histories
Hi there. You do realise that when you post things, eg , that your name and timestamp are still accessible, even if you haven't signed? Flyguy649contribs 04:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
Response
Hi. The link you posted on my talk page is a defunct link , so I can't check the reference. I'm not disputing it, however, this is an encyclopedia entry, you can't use margin of error. If the article did not directly stating it, you shouldn't write it (if it is 1988 and you cross it to 1989's Tiananmen protest). I'm thinking in 1988 there were Tibetan protests, so it would be referring those protests.--Sevilledade (talk) 01:13, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
- I think the BBC quote you insisted on puting is ambiguous and vague. Its descriptived words are "it is said to be" NOT "it is"; and said by whom? It did not mention. It is not talking about the largest protest because according The Economist and Time, the protest is definitely not on the scale of the Tiananmen Square protest, and that was 19 years ago, not 20. I think we need to either find a newer quote that is more direct, or fixed the wording on it.--Sevilledade (talk) 19:18, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
- What I'm trying to point out is that the quote is inaccurate in terms of citing date (20 years ago, when Tiananmen is 19), and thus it is probably an expression of opinion and not fact. Infactual quote should not be presented at all. I think adding "one of" would be more appropriate, since there were larger protest within 20 years.--Sevilledade (talk) 20:01, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
Soviet Census
Hi, Bowlhover. I've just returned from vacation and am busy catching up with Humanities questions I missed over the past week. I note you got no response to your Soviet Census question, which is now on the verge of archiving. If you are still interested we could discuss it on my talk page, or, if you prefer, you could post your question afresh to allow the general community to peak in! Regards, Clio the Muse (talk) 03:43, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
Still reading
Just in case you didn't notice, I answered your question on my talk page. DirkvdM (talk) 06:22, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
Raccoon
Hi. I copied your Image:Raccoon red eye.JPG to Commons so that other language wikipedia can use it to illustrate articles about eyeshine; would you like to finish the transfer job (add detail to the Commons page and delete the image here)? Thanks. --Una Smith (talk) 16:13, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
RD question
I was just wondering why it is 0.1N not 1N for 100g I thought that 1n was abut 102g. Thanks. Harland1 (/c) 09:38, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
- Aha that makes sense now, I was in a bit of a rush when I wrote that ^^ which is why it didn't really make much sense. Thanks Harland1 (/c) 08:41, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
Refdesk - brightest question
Bowlhover, with respect, you do a serious disservice to the refdesk when you bring up quibbles on the statements I made at this thread.
As far as looking directly at the sun, unless you are sitting in possession of the exact articles referenced by Misplaced Pages, you have absolutely no right to state that looking at the sun is safe. And "rarely causes" is pretty thin grounds to argue against an explicit safety statement. And in the context of the thread, which is a poster asking how to educate his daughter, you perhaps missed the little bit in your referenced section where it says "conditions are worsened by young eyes"?
Burning magnesium - I knew I was risking things by including that, nice refutation, and way to stomp all over the point of protecting your eyes. Ever had flashburn?
My post was undented to provide a general safety caution for the casual reader, specifically undented so the thread could continue above. You've now refuted my safety warning and blurred it successfully - now people will also think it's OK to stare at a welding arc - try that; or stare at a laser - try that; or stare at the sun - try that; or even stare at a MG-O flare - try that for longer than your trained chem teacher set up the experiment. Better yet, find those guys in the video and ask them how long they went to bed for after their cool taping - I bet they were dizzy within a half hour and down within two.
So anyway, discuss away about concepts, but please don't step all over a safety message. I made I strong statement - for the casual reader - to protect your eyes. I wasn't expecting you to jump all over it and say "nah, it's all fine". Regards. Franamax (talk) 07:52, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
- (copied response from my talk page) (responding here)
- I simply offered referenced quantitative data on brightness and safety. Your strong comments on safety are unnecessary; the discussion was about the extreme brightness of objects such as lasers, not about people intentionally looking at them and miraculously avoiding eye damage. Everyone knows not to stare at the Sun, a laser, or a welding arc for an extremely long period of time, especially considering the context, but not everyone is aware of the data I provided.
- Note that I was not rebutting your advice, hence the weak "rarely causes". If you want to offer safety advice, do so with accurate and sourced information. The science reference desk is about, well, science, and misleading information should not be posted there.
- If you would like to respond to the post you're challenging on the reference desk, feel free to do so. --Bowlhover (talk) 08:49, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
- Maybe this is a philosophical difference - I believe in responding to the original poster, then responding to the other ideas thrown up in the thread, preferably by means of indenting, but always with respect to the original intent of the thread.
- You are incorrect that the discussion was about the extreme brightness of objects such as lasers - it was a question from a father hoping to educate his young daughter about Is there any light she could experience that is brighter than the sun on a clear day?. There is a technicality you have to infer from father-daughter - he really truly doesn't want her to be blinded by the experience.
- You further did not reference reliable data on safety - correct me if I'm wrong, but you referenced Misplaced Pages, which references off-line sources whose existence you aren't in a position to verify, and you your own self made the statement "looking at the Sun without optical aid rarely causes permanent eye damage". You have made a synthesis and presented it on a public forum - the liability is yours alone. Given the mentions in the article you reference to "young eyes" and "children", and considering the original question in the thread, you may wish to retract or strike your statements.
- As regards your comment "Your strong comments on safety are unnecessary", perhaps you have not yet encountered the concept of safety. Strong comments are always necessary - safety begins with strong comments. Until you make the strong comments, most people are not aware of the necessary starting points.
- And to your particular assumption: Everyone knows not to stare at the Sun, a laser, or a welding arc for an extremely long period of time - for a refdesker, that is a shocking statement. What would possibly lead you to think that? If everyone knows, why do they come to ask? Our aim is to educate, not to assume. To say that everyone knows not to look at a laser or a welding arc is just laughable - do you want the names? (Sarcastic comments suppressed)
- First, we try to answer the questions. Second, we have our discussions. Double-first we do no harm. Read WP:BEANS - don't say that it's just fine to stare at the sun.
- I'm getting passionate about safety, sorry, the particular topic wasn't theoretical ('cuz I still say GRBs :), it was Dad and daughter, to me, every safety rule in the world applies. Sorry to bug you. Franamax (talk) 10:08, 22 July 2008 (UTC)