User talk:Gadfium/archive10

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[edit] New Zealand Portal

Hi,
If you ever need any help, (or if you are going to be away etc,) I am more than happy to asist anyway I can on the New Zealand portal.
I thank you for your hard work so far on it. Happy New Year Brian | (Talk) 01:24, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] thanks!

Greetings Gadfium,
I wish to offer my gratitude supporting me on my recent nomination for adminship, which passed with the final tally of 65/4/3. If you would ever desire my assistance in anything, or wish to give me feedback on any actions I take, feel free to let me know. Cheers! Elle vécut heureusement _{toujours dorénavant} (Be eudaimonic!) 08:05, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Still more thanks.

Couldn't resist swinging by to add an article I just did at the radio control wiki...and I saw what you did for that anon. Thanks much! Back to the break. :) - Lucky 6.9 02:30, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spreadsheets

I am currently working towards rewriting wikipedia: News sources and its subpages in order that they are more neutral in their presentation of news sources. I've chosen a method of presentation that requires calculations based on the populations of various countries and the number of news sources currently collected for those countries. Once I have finished doing this others (including myself) may want to view the spreadsheet I used in order to make corrections and updates. However, I am unsure as to whether spreadsheets are accepted for upload on wikipedia.

I am using Open Office so I can upload it in many formats including ones for excel and some open formats. Can you advise me on what to do here? I noted you were an admin and that you've contributed some news sources from New Zealand so I thought you might be able to advise me :) Barnaby dawson 19:50, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm no expert on the policies about uploading spreadsheets to Wikipedia, but the discussion I could find about it is at Wikipedia:Media and more specifically Wikipedia_talk:Media#Spreadsheets. That's probably the best place for you to ask.

Most likely, you can save as html or xml and upload that or a wikified equivalent. You could also save as a graphic format (I think PDF is frowned upon for upload to Wikipedia, although that would be most convenient to you). The problem is going to be both displaying the content to viewers, who may not have Excel or OpenOffice installed, and allowing editors to change the content. Exporting to a graphic format fixes the first problem, but you also need the original .ods or .xls file for people to readily edit. I don't have any answers to this.

I suppose if most of the heavy lifting is done by a spreadsheet, which then exports html tables, and a html table to wiki converter makes nice markup out of that (see Wikipedia:Tools/Editing_tools#Wikisyntax_conversion_utilities), then people can add extra sources directly to the wiki page, using a calculator to generate necessary fields.-gadfium 20:50, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the directions. I've posted there so hopefully will get some response. Barnaby dawson 21:36, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] INCIS

Hello, yes I would like to add more information to INCIS, although I am back to work tomorrow :( . My knowledge of INCIS is not in depth, I read over the ministerial report and whipped something together last night. From memory I remember a $150M budget blow out but need to get facts. I have a few friends associated with the NZ police and one told me something quite interesting today. This persons relative also worked for IBM, and was one of the last people to try to revive the INCIS project. It sounds like what IBM were contracted to deliver was way beyond the scope that they could actually do for NZ police with the money and resources they had at the time, so they ended up walking away from the INCIS project. INCIS is the system they use still, although it is probably getting a bit dated. Oh and I also agree with your comments (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:New_Zealand_Police&oldid=17532029 )about the New Zealand Police article lacking a NPOV, it needs significant work

Zven 09:40, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

This page isnt intended as a replacement for the Wanganui computer, Ive heard that this still exists, it must be used in conjunction with the current INCIS framework.

Zven 21:59, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

The following article [1] mentions that The other police project being monitored is LES, better known as the system replacing the Wanganui Computer.

Zven 00:43, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed entry for Alfred Vargas

Please read through this snippet of new proposed entry for the Philippine Actor Alfred Vargas. Thank you for your kind consideration. Crushweb

"Alfred Vargas (born in San Juan Metro Manila on October 24,1981) is a Philippine Movie and TV actor. He was originally a member of ABS-CBN star circle acting workshop batch 10. From there had his TV role in the drama soap opera “Pangako Sa Yo”(My Promise to you) from the same network. But this Ateneo de Manila graduate was acting in theatre long before the talent scouts lured him into television.

Undoubtably his breakthrough role came in the movie Bridal Shower by Seiko films in which he was able to display his acting potential as a drama actor. This along with the move to the GMA network opened a slew of opportunities for the young actor. This move has seen him feature in prominently in three notable shows in Philippine television, the daytime drama Daisy Siete and the Fantasy Series’ Encantadia and Etheria."

[edit] Uathesis class

I agree in hindsight wikipedia may not be the best place for this article ultimately. I have put a TODO list of things I want to add to the page. It would be good for now if it could stay temporarily. That way we can decide if it can remain as part of the Auckland University page, if not, then I can get the edits transfered over to a suitable auckland university internal wiki, such as the statistics department internal wiki.

Zven 00:47, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] TV3

Ref to TV3 (New Zealand) talk page.--Matt von Furrie 11:48, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding Category:Web_hosting category

Currently Category:Web_hosting contains only free hosting providers. Should this category be renamed as Free Hosting providers ? (Reply in Talk page of that category)--Soft coder^Talk 05:33, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thank you for your help in reverting the unit converter linkspam. Aapo Laitinen 13:54, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Camera

I don't suppose you want to hop on the ferry at take some pictures in Melbourne and Sydney do you? Giano | talk 16:52, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

You pay for the tickets, I'm there! The West Island is about 1200 km away, so the ferry services are, shall we say, infrequent.-gadfium 18:42, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

So? Have you no sense of adventure? I went on a day trip to Naples once from Sicily, and my mind is a lot broader for it. One has to stretch oneself. Get that camera and broaden your horizons! Think of the project, think of Wikipedia, think of me! You're not going to get very far in life with that sort of attitude. Giano | talk 20:39, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] St Mary's

That's megabrilliant - allthough I'm stll surprised at your lack of adventurous spirit - what would have happened if the Italian race were like that - New Zealand would never have been discovered by "Luigi il kiwi" and there where would you all be. The pictures are great, before I edit the page and make some changes - is this St Mary's "the wooden St Mary's, the cathedral church of Auckland. Covering 9000 square feet (800 m²), St Mary's is the largest wooden Gothic church in the world. The custodians of this white-painted many-gabled church today claim it to be one of the most beautiful buildings in New Zealand" - I don't want to write up the wrong one, it looks to me lijke it is as I can see the new church in the background. Perhaps the article now wants a whole section - anyway it's all good news. Thanks Giano | talk 08:26, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

2nd thoughts: the pictures are too good to waste - I think I'll do a page Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland. Start in within the next week, probably in user space, I'll let you know where, then there can be a see also at Benjamin Mountfort. Giano | talk 09:29, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Oh hell - it's blue already - have I got the right place? Giano | talk 09:30, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Don't talk too loudly about Luigi, we've just been through a battle over such claims. For evidence that it's the right church, I've uploaded another photo (right). I hadn't realised that there was an article on the cathedral either. I've added a few categories to it and a link from Parnell, New Zealand so it is easier to find.-gadfium 18:48, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm surprised you don't know about "Luigi il kiwi" he not only invented New Zealand but also introduced the sheep a sort of hybrid Sicilian goat. I've started to put down a few thoughts here User:Giano/Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland., I work in a mess - if it's in "real space" people keep butting in to sort out my English, grammar and spelling, and the facts - then I loose track of what I am about. Having said that can you keep an eye on it for megaboobs, I've never been to NZ - must do something about that some day. Giano | talk 20:22, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

That looks like a great start. The population of greater Auckland is now over 1.2 million (see Auckland), but we're not a very religious lot, and those that are are divided between several churches, so only about 17% of kiwis are Anglicans (Demographics of New Zealand#Religions_.282001_Census.29). Since Catholics are more numerous than Anglicans in Auckland (see the map in the Demographics article), there's probably less than 17% of Aucklanders who are Anglicans.

Your article title ends with a period. Let me know when you are ready to have your English, grammar and spelling remorselessly criticised.

Are you planning to merge your article in with the existing one? They have very different tones at present.-gadfium 21:04, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah it will have to be merged, but at present there is not too much history or architecture - please add anything you like - I can't find much about the architecture of the new cathedral whicj is odd for such a prestigious building - architect? thats ort of stuff. I deleted the stuff about serving the population - it's what comes of reading the church sites too often , you start to believe and sound like one of them! Giano | talk 22:55, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I assume you're aware of their home page, which seems to have a bit of information. The architect was John Sinclair [2] who appears to be the former president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects [3]

Try using [4] when you're searching since you can restrict searches to New Zealand topics more elegantly than just using "site:.nz".-gadfium 23:37, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks I had found their website, problem is like all cathedral websites it can be a little POV for Wikipedia, but there is some good stuff there. I can see the way the page is going now, it took a little while because of all the various preceding structures - I don't think we need St Barnabus section now, as it was not on the site, as I understan it the first church there was the original St Mary's. I know when I was researching Mountfort I found a lot about it and for a while confused it with Mountfort's church now typically I can't find it again. Do you happen to have any more pictures of the new (Sinclair's) cathedral - it looks prettu good, I particularly like the emulation of certain of Mountfort's features but in a upbeat way - that is great. It should not be too hard to incorporate the original article into the finished product. I expect some-one will come along later and do a cathedral in the community bit, not to mention the "God thing" - I'm not too good on him! Please add anything you like to the page, or correct anything. Did you say you had some interior shots, I've a photograph improving package - i can't really use it properly - but I can lighten shots etc. Regards Giano | talk 11:45, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I'll go back and get some more shots, including interior shots, of the cathedral next week. I'd do it sooner but it's a wet and grey day today and probably tomorrow, and I need all the help I can get from the weather to produce good shots. I'll fiddle with my interior shots of St Mary's in Paint Shop Pro and upload one later today. The problem is that it's dim inside the church, but there's electric lighting, so increasing exposure times overexposes the lights while still not revealing the detail. Is there anything in particular I should be trying to include in my photos? Eg stained glass windows, ceiling shots, live services (that would be more difficult for me, I've never been to a church service in my life, and they probably don't encourage photography during them so I'd have to use a hidden camera).

For the article, I'd suggest dropping most of the background about Auckland and getting rid of the picture of the Sky Tower. If you were writing a stand-alone article for a magazine, that would be fine, but in Wikipedia the full article is just a click away.

In answer to some of your questions in the article: The main entrance of St Mary's is now from the North end, although I can't be sure that they didn't rotate it when they moved in in 1982. There is no snow in Auckland, see Auckland#Climate. I think there's a recognised phenomena of architects designing buildings to cope with snow even in places which don't have snow, because the architect lives in a colder climate.-gadfium 18:51, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

That would be great, yeah I'll frop the Auckland bit, or just a put a bit about it somewhere being a big important city to New Zealand, have to justify why it has a cathedral. - the problem I'm having with the complas is that in Christian churches the high altar is usually at the East end, which means the top two views (as currently placed) of St Mary's and Holy T should be the west elevations - which doesn't fit in with your directions. I can accept a modern New Zealand church may be back to front, but Mountfort in the 1880s would never have contemplated such an affront to Christianity. More photos would be great especialy ones of architectural detail. The website is very proud of their stained glass so I suppose we should have one - allthough I know nothing a about it - I'm sure I can find something somewhere. I may draw a simplified plan of the cathedral (very simplified so as not to break copyright) just to show the fgeneral layout, it's easier than trying to describe it.

I didn't think a cathedral had to be in a large city. In Europe, I thought even some small towns had cathedrals. In my childhood town of Newry (pop 27,000) there's a cathedral - [5].-gadfium 19:54, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

That is a very good point, disregarding the obvious that a larger town needs a larger church to accommodate everyone - and a larger church is often (but not always) a cathedral. Now I could be wrong (I'm sure there are at least 20 on Wikipedia with differing opinions) but in certain pockets of Europe - a town cannot have the status of city without having a cathedral. In reality I suspect that having a cathedral confers the status of city on a town rather than the other way around. Milton Keynes had a large church built which is often called a cathedral but for some reason is called the "City Church" which I suspect will destroy my theory. However, I note Newry is in fact a city, so perhaps this is because it has a cathedral. One thing I know for sure is that a cathedral is so called because it contains a cathedra (God I hope that's blue and confirms this) which is an alternative name for a Bishop's throne, which means that each Bishop or diocese has it's own cathedral - consequently I suspect if we dig a little deeper we will find a new diocese and attendant Bishop was set up about the same time as Mountfort's wooden St. Mary's was built in "1880 wheneveritwas". I'll se what I can find and alter the page accordingly - I think though in Auckland it was probably a matter of civic pride that each church was significantly grander than the last - but no Bishop - no cathedral. I'm pretty sure though that the presence of a cathedral confers city status, but I am prepared to be contradicted Giano | talk 21:09, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
PS: I think the answer is in here somewhere [6] I'll try and sort it tomorrow - unless someone already knows why it had to become a cathedral in 1886.

I was last in Newry in 2003, and they were celebrating having recently gained city status. The 1911 Britannica [7] calls it a town. So while you are certainly correct that a cathedral is a historical requirement to being called a city (at least in the UK), it doesn't appear to be sufficient in itself.

In New Zealand, a much less religious place, the definition of city is based on population. I suppose it may have been different in the 19th century.-gadfium 22:04, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

OK. So how do we find out for sure what happened in 1884 to suddenly make them change from church to cathedral? - my hunch is the new diocese was up an running, converting all incapable of fast movement - from the faithful flock had a good income coming in, and thus had chance to take stock - and the Bishop dancied himself enthroned in a cathedra like his less occupationally challenged and more comfortably seated contemporaries back home; but I don't think it would be a good idea to put it in the article - not without some very creditable sources. Giano | talk 22:29, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Please do not photograph church services (unless it fulfills some subconsvious inner need) I I have a dees rooted Catholic mistrust of Anglicans - one can only immagine what they get up to in their services - curiously the new cathedral has a very Catholic layout - at least that shows these particular Anglicans are not of the "clap-happy" variety.

Please keep up the advice, or change anything that's wrong or lacking - I might ignore advice I never take offence - well seldom take offence.......Giano | talk 19:16, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I've uploaded the best of the interior shots. None of my existing pictures of stained glass at St Mary's are worth keeping. I'll try to get some better shots next week.-gadfium 19:43, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

That's good, it shows the roof height thing I've just been banging on about on the central aisle - how about inside the new church, can you not dress as a priest (I'm sure Grutness would hel!) with a hidden camera? seriously it seems to have a lot of glass walls/doors a shot of them would be good. I'll see if I can dig some references for this out, a lot of it is obvious, but still needs to be supported Giano | talk 19:48, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gisborne

Tip: You might want to have a quick look at the articles linked to in the "See Also" section of Gisborne - SimonLyall 12:03, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gisborne Part 2

Hey, thanks for the tips. Don't worry, most of the info is from my head... well apart from when I had to ask a couple of other people for help like my ex-mother-in-law and my mother. All in all, I'm a purebred Gisbornite and you kinda get drummed into you who is from home and who isn't. Thanks again. Originalsinner 08:38, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarke Gayford

Hey and thanks again. Gisbornites does sound better doesn't it. I'd added the reference where I got the info about Clarke from. It's a Q&A that was the basis but if you feel it's infringing just let me know what needs to be edited. Cool. Originalsinner 03:14, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Upset

how is it that people can survive off of the commons while making their pages? Man, I thought that picture would be able to be on my page. Can I pull the picture off of the calvin and hobbes article and put them on my page?--Calvinsupergenius 16:44, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

The people who draw comics have every right to make money from their work. They might or might not care about a single image being displayed on someone's non-commercial page on the web, but Wikipedia isn't just someone's page, and we have to stay squeaky clean about copyright as far as we possibly can.

I would think it would be okay if you were to draw a Calvin image yourself (or, if you can't draw, then get a friend who can), and upload that for use on your user page. Make sure the image isn't an exact copy of one of the comics, and make it clear when you upload it that it's "fan art" and doesn't get mistaken for an original comic. I've already demonstrated that I don't understand the ramifications of copyright very well, so you might want to check the legality of this idea out with other people before you put a lot of effort into it.

Also, I suggest you start doing some useful stuff around Wikipedia. We're all about building an encyclopedia, and so far you don't seem to have done much of that. There are lots of little jobs that need doing that you don't have to know anything about the subject to do. See Wikipedia:Maintenance for some of these, and consider joining Wikipedia:Cleaning department or Wikipedia:Typo. Of course, if you can write articles or add to existing ones because you are an expert in some subjects or are good at researching, that would be great too.-gadfium 18:43, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

It won't even let me upload my own art i made on an art program! thats it! I guess my page will be blatant, thanks to how hard Wikipedia makes it to get a picture on a user page! calvinsupergenius signs this.

Please explain what happens when you try to upload your own artwork. What error messages do you see?-gadfium 20:54, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually, you're best going to the Wikipedia:Help desk and asking there. They've got far more expertise in solving such problems than I have.-gadfium 21:14, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

OK, thanks.--Calvinsupergenius 13:36, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

I've started collecting info to add a paragraph with some new info on the herring page. Remember; I suggest you start doing some useful stuff around Wikipedia? --Calvinsupergenius 15:47, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Seeing what's changed

Hey, when on your watchlist, what do I click on to see whats been changed?--Calvinsupergenius 18:42, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

You can't see my watchlist, and I can't see yours; watchlists are private. To see what's been added to my talk page recently, use the Page history. If you have javascript enabled in your browser, you can get a diff listing of changes between the edits you choose. Many experienced Wikipedians read much of Wikipedia through diff listings, ie reading the raw markup rather than the result.-gadfium 19:00, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks from Lulu

Storm clouds ...	and silver linings	Thank you for your support on my RfA.
		Unfortunately, it failed to reach consensus. Nonetheless, it proved an opportunity to establish contacts and cooperation with many supportive editors, which will be beneficial to editing Wikipedia in the future. Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters (t @)