User:Wtshymanski

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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!


Contents

[edit] The Vision Thing

One year 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. --Wtshymanski 18:54, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] To Do List

  • Two way radio needs work.
  • Table of integrated circuit logic speeds, probably gate delay, and typical flip-flop toggle speed, along with power per gate. (April 22, 2005)
  • Generator needs that picture of a-loop-of-wire-turning-in-a-magnetic-field-hooked-to-a-commutator-and-lighting-a-bulb that we've all seen a billion times.
got to get the current directions right, too.
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

[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

[edit] Touched on

[edit] Images

[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 155324600X
  • Thom Hogan and Mike Iannamico, Osborne 1 User's Reference Guide,(1982) Osborne Computer Corporation
  • 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
  • David A. Lien, The BASIC Handbook, 2nd Edition Encyclopedia of the BASIC Computer Language",(1981), Compusoft Publishing
  • 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, (1988), IEEE Press, New York, ISBM 0879422386
  • 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] Wikifiction

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 themeaning 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.

[edit] Wikipoisoning

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] 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] Gripe

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

[edit] Wikifantasy

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?

[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] Spelling flame

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.

[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 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] Herein 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.

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