This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DV8 2XL (talk | contribs) at 01:26, 2 February 2006 (→On your offer to James). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:26, 2 February 2006 by DV8 2XL (talk | contribs) (→On your offer to James)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Welcome!
Hi Dr U! I noticed your contributions and wanted to welcome you to the Misplaced Pages community. I hope you like it here and decide to stay.
As you get started, you may find this short tutorial helpful:
Alternatively, the contributing to Misplaced Pages page covers the same topics.
If you have any questions, we have a friendly space where experienced editors can help you here:
If you are not sure where to help out, you can find a task here:
Happy editing! -- Longhair | Talk 11:09, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Strawberries
I wonder if you are planning to expand the various Fragaria spp. articles? If not, then since each article is short and contains much the same information as the others, maybe they could be merged into a section of the Strawberry article? Gdr 05:10:36, 2005-08-19 (UTC)
Yes, I am planning to expand the articles. If you'll notice, a few have already been expanded, and I deleted links to 5 which I have decided not to do. I have also just added more infor to the tanonomy section of the main Strawberry articleDr U 06:11, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
Footnotes
The easternmost/westernmost points of the U.S. throughout the world are disputed. What is most eastern or western depends on one's point of view about what east and west really mean.
By cartographical convention, the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, England is the least eastern and least western place in the world. It is defined as 0 degrees longitude. The 180th Meridian, on the opposite side of the globe represents the absolute limit of how far east or west one can travel, from a cartographical perspective. Anything exactly on the 180th meridian is neither east nor west; but take a single step to either side and one is at 179+ degrees east or 179+ degrees west, the highest achievable numbers. By this mode of reconing, the most eastern and western spots in the US are both in the Aluetian Islands, Alaska.
If one takes the view that the easternmost place is where the day first begins, and the westernmost is where the day last ends, then the International Date Line is the defining limit for what is most eastern or western. In a new year, the earliest US sunrise takes place on Wake Island. Less than an hour ealier, the sun also rose over Attu Island, Alaska but for December 31.
On the other hand, if one defines what is most eastern and most western by which direction he or she must travel to reach a given point over the shortest distance, then Udall Point, Virgin Islands and Point Udall, Guam are the easternmost and westernmost points, respectively. While the world is round, and any point can be reached by traveling either east or west, it is always more direct to head east to reach Udall Point, VI when traveling from any other spot in the U.S. Likewise, there is not a single point in the United States from which heading east is a shorter route to Point Udall, Guam than heading west would be, even accounting for circumpolar routes. This holds true because all U.S. territory is spread across less than 180 degrees of longitude.
Survey of sexual harassment and assault at West Point
It is inappropriate to remove well referenced information from an article. While the information could be organized differently it is significant information which belongs in the article. After all the information comes from reports of the Department of Defense. Fred Bauder 03:20, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
West Point
I'm not defending West Point or policing relevant content. I could similarly place well referenced information about the varieties of snack food most consumed on campus in 1955, broken down by percentage, and it too would be way out of place. The National Enquirer and Ken Starr might be interested and feel that it appropriate to report what percentage of people at an institution had anal sex in a certain year. Within the context of an article about a 200 year institution which has had dozens of scandals which dwarf your reference, your information is simply out of place. Dr U 03:43, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
- There was no directive by Congress to the Department of defense to survey snack food nor would a report on snack food find prominent coverage in the media. See and the Department of Defense report Fred Bauder 11:28, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
I see that you did edit the article more or less the same way I did with the exception of the links in this language, "Following the Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal and due to concern with sexual assault in the U.S. military" These probably should remain in the article as the Task Force was created due to the publicity which resulted from the Air Force scandal and it is the intention of the DoD to apply the new policies military-wide. Fred Bauder 11:35, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
Fragaria × Potentilla hybrids
Hi Dr U - query: shouldn't the two named cultivars have registered trade marks (R in a ring, I don't know how to type it!) rather than copyright symbols? - Thanks, MPF 22:02, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
Actually, although I left it as is in my last edit of that page, I don't think Lipstick is a registered trademark, at least not in the United States. Pink Panda may be. Glad to see the article there...I would be interested in discussing strawberry breeding with you at some point. Elakazal 06:08, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
Thank you!
Appreciate your great updates to history topics! And yay the Army. All my military friends--all two of them--are Army. :) Cheers. jengod 22:56, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Function of the Smith Family article
OK -- I'll bite. "Political" in Nauvoo, the State of Deseret and Utah Territory was intimately tied to religion. We find descendents of all these folks in the upper councils of the LDS church (and RLDS for a couple of generations) during the first 50 - 60 years after Joseph's Smith's death, and serving in Utah territorial positions as well. Church responsibility led to being a "judge in Israel" and hence to political activity. Many of these families are still prominent socially, politically and religiously, but prominence is still centered around the hub of the LDS Church. Many modern Mormons feel that political activity and public service can be a religious duty. But the title of the article implies a different viewpoint -- a look at a family tree or generational history. So, can you spell out your central concept about the article and/or where the article is going? It would be good to define things in the first paragraph. Best wishes. WBardwin 03:44, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
- Well, it is true that it doesn't take much to find a new cousin in any Mormon crowd. Plural marriage/polygamy will make your family relationships more intricate, and the concept and mechanism may need to be explained. I'm still not clear on exactly where you are going with the article, but you might look at "Uncle" John Smith's family, the brother of Joseph Smith, Sr. Also consider the Mayor's of Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, and prominent southern Utah families -- i.e. Cannon, Matheson and Leavitt as well. Many of the early mayors (and Church Stake Presidents and authorities) involved in these areas were tied in with your families, and some may have given rise to the present batch involved in national politics. Other ideas may be available from editors in the LDS project - Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. We welcome editors from a variety of backgrounds. Feel free to check in. Good luck -- I'll "watch" your article with interest. WBardwin 04:35, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
- See my recent draft of an article on Utah state senator Martha Hughes Cannon. She's only related to the Cannon's on the distaff side, but might be worth a mention. Your comments welcome there too. WBardwin 04:57, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
Nuclear reactor at West Point?
I guess we are both editing the same article right now. I saw in your edit that you mentioned a nuclear reactor at USMA. Are you referring to a small, research reactor on campus? Or are you referring to the nearby Indian Point Energy Center? When I Google "west point nuclear reactor", I get no relevant hits --Rogerd 06:45, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
James M. Gavin
Hi. You write, you're paratrooper. Could you maybe organize images of James M. Gavin. That would be great. ;) Kind Reagrds, John N. 11:40, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
Civet coffee
Hilarious! I tweaked the style a bit and added it to the unusual articles page. I might even put that on the "Did You Know?" section of the main page! Thanks for the chuckle just before bed. - Lucky 6.9 07:16, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
I'd never heard of it, frankly. Just when you think all the fun has gone out of Misplaced Pages, along comes civet coffee! Man, I can't wait to tell that story at the office tomorrow. - Lucky 6.9 07:22, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Mountain Meadows massacre
Just want to thank you for your attention to this article. Hang around patiently for a while and within 6 months the article should be looking very nice once cooler heads and meaningful discussion prevail. Tom Haws 16:34, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
- Thank you for your recent efforts on the article. Although I haven't had much Wiki time, I have been keeping an eye on the "action." I would appreciate your comments on my suggested outline/content for the article, which should allow us to include much of the current information (a good edit is always useful) and other information as well. Thank you. WBardwin 09:49, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
1/1000 common ancestry
I am stunned and hugely flattered to find the article about the 1/1000 ancestry rule, citing me as the originator. I had no idea it would be useful to others.
Though the rule has the effect of definining the boundaries of political families, I was more concerned at the time with what relations were reasonable to list in a biographical entry. Those links (from entry to entry for related individuals) preceded the creation of the political family pages.
I came up with the rule because I was getting contributions to Political Graveyard citing this or that individual as being the 8th or 12th cousin of some president. It was plain to me that such remote cousinships were not very meaningful, but I needed a neutral, mathematical way to draw the line.
Previous to this, the limitation had been simply the length of the field for the relationship. I had room for "tenth cousin", but not enough for "first cousin four times removed", even though the latter is a much closer relationship. In tandem with the 1/1024 rule, I began storing the relationships as codes, which was both more efficient and allowed me to document and display more complex relations.
The new version of the site, which I hope will be up soon, takes that a step further by enabling relations that involve intermediaries. For example, instead of "brother-in-law" or "uncle by marriage", the entry will be more like "married to Jane Doe (sister of Politician Doe)", at least where I have the names of those intermediaries. In some cases, the intermediaries are themselves politicians: for example, Hillary Clinton is the intermediary between Bill Clinton and Hugh Rodham.
Many thanks for your interest in my efforts on the site. Kestenbaum 15:57, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
Interest
Since you seem to have some interest in the subject and some knowledge, I would invite you to join the discussion. Depleted uranium/Staging. DTC 17:00, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
DU edits duing mediation
If you aren't a party to the Depleted uranium article mediation, would you mind making your own version of the article to edit while it's protected, or using the Depleted uranium/Alternate version with which I believe you will be more satisfied? The differences will be discussed when a mediator takes up the issue in a few days. --James S. 20:47, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
- Hello Dr. U. I see you to have also had some issues with the current way that Depleted uranium interprets its references. DV8 2XL, TDC, and I have brought the article under mediation ( mediation page) due to problems with how the sources were sited (primarily by user Nrcprm2026, aka James) and the conclusions made from them. This may get confusing, but currently parts of the eventual article may come from Depleted uranium/Staging, Depleted uranium/Alternate, or Depleted uranium (Health and environmental issues). Lcolson 02:02, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
Best that we shouldn't bate Janes, as tempting as it is, and as guilty as I have been of it myself. If this is ever picked up for mediaton, or as I suspect arbitration down the line these teasings may come back to haunt us. --DV8 2XL 18:24, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
Well, since its an encyclopedia, the descision to include things shouldn't be made on who said what to who. That being said, my 1st posting today might have been a bit over the top. You do have to get to know me though. Clearly my cow catapult comment was just humor, and not meant to offend or sway debate. Dr U 18:35, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
On your offer to James
On Jan16 I posted to James' talk page:
"Please work with us. We are willing to work with you, and we have the background to help polish this section to the point where the statements of risk would be unassailable from a scientific POV. And while I have no idea what other reasons you have for pursuing this matter outside of Misplaced Pages, you have the opportunity to draw on free expertise whose input can only help strengthen the technical side of your project and help you avoid embarrassing errors that might undermine your case."
For which I received the answer:
"My motivation is protecting the health of my family and society. I came on the issue in 2004, spending days searching online and in libraries, and when I was finished I was upset that there had never been any attempt by the military to measure the gaseous combustion products (uranyl oxide gas), only the particulates. I don't know whether that was an honest mistake. Also, there is the matter of a c.1945 memo from General Leslie Groves recommending using uranium as a chemical weapon, which is hard to ignore. The fact that UO3(g) is a combustion product has been known since as early as 1960, and I don't see how any responsible researcher could possibly miss it. So I do believe that at least gross negligence if not outright malice, or both, has been involved. You will note, however, that I have never expressed that point of view in any of my edits.
..we have the background to help polish this section to the point where the statements of risk would be unassailable....
Who is we and what background are you referring to?
...you don't really have the knowledge to mount an effective argument..
I've spent hours on the phone with Army, Navy, Air Force, and NRC officials in officially transcribed teleconferences going over the minutae of the issues. If that has taught me anything it is that the research is sorely lacking in some areas, ignored in others, and often presented in a very misleading way.
I can, and have, provided peer-reviewed sources supporting all aspects of my argument. When I asked the same of you, you balked. Do I have any reason not to say, therefore, that you lack the basic ethics to participate in a debate without an unfair double standard?
After half a century of uranium use, mining, metalworking, etc., why have there been no toxicological studies to detect anything more than its nephrotoxicity in humans?
If you want to propose changes or additions, you don't need my cooperation to do so
I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, I doubt he has any intention of taking you up on your offer, he just doesn't want to look truculent to a potential mediator. I have come to the conclusion that James and I (at least) are heading to ArbCom as I have been at this of and on since Nov of last year with little or no progress. --DV8 2XL 20:02, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
Depleted uranium dispute resolution
As agreed, I had the DU article unlocked and replaced it with the /basic verson with links to the Health effects and Gulf War syndrome pages, bringing this round to an end. I think the fact that we managed to hammer this out by ourselves is a feather in our caps and an example to all who are in conflicts on the 'pedia. I thank you all. --DV8 2XL 01:22, 2 February 2006 (UTC)