User:The ed17/Archives/34

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WikiCup 2010 October newsletter

The 2010 WikiCup is over! It has been a long journey, but what has been achieved is impressive: combined, participants have produced over seventy featured articles, over five hundred good articles, over fifty featured lists, over one thousand one hundred "did you know" entries, in addition to various other pieces of recognised content. A full list (which has yet to be updated to reflect the scores in the final round) can be found here. Perhaps more importantly, we have our winner! The 2010 WikiCup champion is Colorado Sturmvogel_66 (submissions), with an unbelievable 4220 points in the final round. Second place goes to New Orleans TonyTheTiger (submissions), with 2260, and third to New South Wales Casliber (submissions), with 560. Congratulations to our other four finalists – White Shadows (submissions), William S. Saturn (submissions), Connecticut Staxringold (submissions) and Colombia ThinkBlue (submissions). Also, congratulations to Hungary Sasata (submissions), who withdrew from the competition with an impressive 2685 points earlier in this round.

Prizes will also be going to those who claimed the most points for different types of content in a single round. It was decided that the prizes would be awarded for those with the highest in a round, rather than overall, so that the finalists did not have an unfair advantage. Winning the featured article prize is New South Wales Casliber (submissions), for five featured articles in round 4. Winning the good article prize is Colorado Sturmvogel_66 (submissions), for eighty-one good articles in round 5. Winning the featured list prize is Connecticut Staxringold (submissions), for six featured lists in round 1. Winning the picture and sound award is Jujutacular (submissions), for four featured pictures in round 3. Winning the topic award is Colorado Sturmvogel_66 (submissions), for forty-seven articles in various good topics in round 5. Winning the "did you know" award is New Orleans TonyTheTiger (submissions), for over one hundred did you knows is round 5. Finally, winning the in the news award is Republic of Ireland Candlewicke (submissions), for nineteen articles in the news in round three.

The WikiCup has faced criticism in the last month – hopefully, we will take something positive from it and create a better contest for next year. Like Wikipedia itself, the Cup is a work in progress, and ideas for how it should work are more than welcome on the

Fox and The ed17
03:12, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

student to mentor

Per recent discussions on the Ambassadors list, we're going to try out assigning mentors to some of the students that don't have one, beginning with Media, Politics & Power in the Digital Age. Would you be willing to mentor User:Burnswiki?

If so, please introduce yourself, perhaps along these lines:

"Hi! I'm Chevymontecarlo, and I've been assigned as your mentor. (If you'd rather choose your own mentor or don't want one, just let me know; you can request a different mentor from this list of Online Ambassadors.)

I'll keep an eye on your edits as you work on Wikipedia for your class, and try to pitch in where I can. If you'd like any help or advice, please let me know."

After that, don't forget to update Wikipedia:Online Ambassadors/Mentors to list your mentees, and if you've reached your limit, move your entry down to the "additional ambassadors" section.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 19:19, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

I've left a message on his page, thanks!
[majestic titan]
04:48, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
Are you up for a few more? The
Carbon emissions reporting and Micro hydro on the course page, and leave notes introducing yourself for the three students working on those articles (and update the mentors page). Thanks!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk
) 17:43, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
Poke. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:54, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Whoops, I didn't see this. I can take CER, but I don't see Micro hydro on the course page...
[majestic titan]
17:03, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Thanks! Micro hyrdo is third from the bottom. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:05, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
I'm not sure how I missed that... :-) Thanks Sage.
[majestic titan]
17:07, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Talk page stalkers - we need an editorial, so you should help

Are you interested in writing a piece that will be viewed by all of the Military history WikiProject's 1100+ members? Leave a note at

[majestic titan]
04:43, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2010

Spanish tanks

Yea, I promised myself not to buy too many books on tanks, given my new focus on economics, but Amazon.com suggested that book to me when I was looking for econ. books and I just couldn't pass it up, lol. JonCatalán(Talk) 15:01, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Hahah, poor Catalan. :-)
[majestic titan]
15:03, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

It's raining thanks spam!

  • Please pardon the intrusion. This tin of thanks spam is offered to everyone who commented or !voted (Support, Oppose or Neutral) on my recent RfA. I appreciate the fact that you care enough about the encyclopedia and its community to participate in this forum.
  • There are a host of processes that further need community support, including content review (
    admin
    yourself!
  • If you have any further comments, input or questions, please do feel free to drop a line to me on my talk page. I am open to all discussion. Thanks • 
    Ling.Nut (talk
    ) 02:32, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, The ed17. You have new messages at WikiCopter's talk page.
Message added 02:44, 7 November 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Help please

An editor whom I have a history with along with others (including you, I think), has resurfaced at Talk:USS Texas (BB-35) and wants to cite major changes to the article to his website. Would you mind responding instead of me due to the obvious emotional connection I have with the article (and ship) and keeping in mind how I generally deal with certain issues? Keep in mind that he has clearly stated on his user page Though the Wiki creed is verifiablity, my interest is truth. Major problems can abound due to this... -MBK004 08:00, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 8 November 2010

Nomination of
Border Legion (Shannara)
for deletion

Border Legion (Shannara), which you created or to which you contributed, should be deleted. While contributions are welcome, an article may be deleted if it is inconsistent with Wikipedia policies and guidelines for inclusion, explained in the deletion policy
.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Border Legion (Shannara) until a consensus is reached, and you are welcome to contribute to the discussion.

You may edit the article during the discussion, including to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion template from the top of the article. Abductive (reasoning) 05:53, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Reorganization Plan No. 3

-- Cirt (talk

) 06:09, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

online ambassadors

How did you sign up for that program? I'm interested. Cam (Chat)(Prof) 19:28, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Hey Cam, it's actually pretty cool. :-) Take a look at
[majestic titan]
19:35, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Selected anniversaries

Lol, you finally came round for another addn! YellowMonkey (new photo poll) 01:54, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

I figured it was unusual enough to be a good SA. :-) I'm pretty sure it is also Brazil's largest-ever naval disaster, but I can't find a post-1945 source to confirm that.
[majestic titan]
03:44, 11 November 2010 (UTC)
Well I chucked all of Lecen's Brazil and Pedro stuff on there. Some of them have gone a bit angry on Talk:Main Page. They just complain all the time and then replace Vietnam FAs with random unsourced start class articles instead of sifting through the thousands of unused FA/A/GAs. Ah what would we do without the chattering classes who just sit on ITN/C and MP and moan all day YellowMonkey (new photo poll) 08:14, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Sub

Hello

[1] I don`t know exactly how to handle with something like this in en.wiki but in pl.wiki at least this japan part will be deleted (and second part reformatted). PMG (talk) 13:20, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

USS Needlefish (SS-379) and other - problem is that there is reference U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311 - but no other info about that book. Can you check this ? Its coming from Template:Fleet-boat-propulsion-early-GM-4-GE but there is also no definition of this. Reference name "FriedmanSubs1-engines" say something, but still its not visible in article.PMG (talk
) 15:03, 11 November 2010 (UTC)
Hop hop. PMG (talk) 06:57, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
Sorry for the delay. I think that is okay in a reference.
It's Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute.
[majestic titan]
03:16, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Manhattan Project and fluoride chemistry

Hello, and thank you very much for your comments at the DYK nomination page. All of the currently used

volatile anesthetic agents, including methoxyflurane, are fluorinated haloalkanes. With the exception of halothane, all of them are also halogenated ethers. All of them, including halothane, were first synthesized as a direct result of research that was conducted in support of the Manhattan Project
. The first of these to appear in clinical use was halothane, in 1956.

The field of halogen and organofluorine chemistry was poorly understood until around 1942, when the chemists, chemical engineers and physicists of the Manhattan Project turned their attention to the problem of separating uranium-235 from uranium-238. These two isotopes are nearly identical in all respects, including their molecular weights. The problem was ultimately solved by Francis Simon and Nicholas Kurti, when they figured out that the two isotopes could be separated by gaseous diffusion.

First however the uranium had to be rendered into a gaseous form. Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) was selected after chemists figured out how to synthesize UF6. Among the team of chemists involved was William T. Miller, the man who first synthesized methoxyflurane as a byproduct of this organofluorine chemistry research. So you can see that the volatile anesthetic agents of today are really a spin-off of the technology developed during the Manhattan Project.

I believe this information deserves a separate section within the Manhattan Project article: "Spin-off tecnologies". I will eventually add this section, and link it to the halothane and methoxyflurane articles. Thanks again for your interest! DiverDave (talk) 17:22, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Can any of this be added to the methoxyflurane article, perhaps in a new section entitled "Background"?
[majestic titan]
19:26, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
I agree that this is interesting background information. Despite the fact that we are surrounded by countless examples in our daily lives, many people remain unaware of the military roots of much of the technology that has so profoundly influenced human civilization. I have just added the
own either of these articles. Respectfully, DiverDave (talk
) 19:53, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 November 2010

Talkback

Hello, The ed17. You have new messages at Lexlythius's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Lexlythius (talk) 04:23, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Drone attacks in Pakistan

I just saw that you have reverted additional edits that are not disputed before you locked up the article. I guess that happened by mistake i request you re-add this information now as it is not disputed. Thank you. IQinn (talk) 18:11, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

DC and contributions

Greetings! Please excuse this intrusion on your talk page, and allow me to invite you to participate in the newly-formed

WP:CONTRIB
for short)! The goal of the team is to attract more and better contributions to the English Wikipedia, as well as to help support the fundraising team in our financial and editing contribution goals. We have lots of stuff to work on, from minor and major page building, to WikiProject outreach, article improvement, donor relations, and more—in fact, part of our mission is to empower team members to make their own projects to support our mission. Some of our projects only take a few minutes to work on, while others can be large, multi-person tasks—whatever your interest level, we're glad to have you.

If this sounds interesting, please visit

Wikipedia Contribution Team
02:55, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

As an aside, I'm also a local DC Wikimedian. We'd love for you to attend the next DC meetups. I'm specifically contacting you as you expressed interest in the Campus Ambassador position, and both the DC Wikimedians group and the Wikipedia Contributions Team have a lot of interest in working along with the Campus Ambassadors. You can reach me on my talk page, or by email at [email protected] with questions; I can't guarantee that I'll be checking back on your talk page often enough to hold a sustained conversation there. Regards,
Wikipedia Contribution Team
02:55, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Bunkers in Albania

I fixed the number for DYK--Vinie007 06:37, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Online Ambassador selection process

Please

Online Ambassador selection process, which the steering committee has recommended for adoption by the ambassadors program. Once we settle on a selection process, we can start recruiting more Online Ambassadors for next term (in which we will have more students, and the students will be more involved with mentors from early on).--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk
) 15:18, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Almirante Latorre-class battleship