User talk:Peterlewis

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[edit] Dee River Bridge failure

I noticed your addition to the List of bridge disasters - can you provide more detail such as which River Dee (Wales, Scotland etc.) and which bridge etc ? Thanks Velela 09:57, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] User Peterlewis, 20 Jan 2006

Welcome!

Hello, Peterlewis, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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 Wikipedia:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! 

Please note that information about you personally should be on your userpage. I've deleted the User Peterlewis, 20 Jan 2006 article, and pasted the text below. Warofdreams talk 15:59, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

I am a new contributor to Wiki, having corrected various parts of the Tay Rail Bridge entry, and started a new entry for the Dee bridge. I am an academic author working in Milton Keynes, England.

Peterlewis 06:22, 30 January 2006 (UTC) Thanks for your comments! I am still learning the ropes.

[edit] Staplehurst rail crash

I like your new page on the Staplehurst rail crash! (I found it because I "watch" Dickens to keep the vandals at bay). But I have a question about it. The opening phrasing sounds like a continuation of earlier prose, or an earlier idea. Is this just because of your other writings on rail disasters, or is there any likelihood of a copyright problem with Red for Danger? (Obviously when a source work is in copyright, the usual publishing rules obtain about not repeating verbatim from that work, except as a precise, attributed quote.) If you want to reply, I'll find it here, or here! All the best for happy Wiki-ing! JackyR 19:41, 1 February 2006 (UTC)


Its nice to know that someone watches new contributions! I found some vandalism myself this morning on Sir Henry Bessemer's site: (fucxxxx) inserted by some loonie, and promptly deleted. The prose is my own entirely, and my interest is in the cast iron beam which broke under the weight of the train, as well as a passion for good stories. I will have to write up the Clayton tunnel accident as a result of your prompt. And it would be interesting to see how much Dickens lifted from the accident into his story: the main cause of the tunnel accident was poor signalling. If you have read the story or seen the BBC film, you will know of the signalman's obsession with bells: the signals from other boxes. And it was these poor signals which caused the problem. And so on. I am writing a book at the moment on the Dee bridge disaster to follow my earlier book on the Tay bridge disaster, hence my interest in the early railways. I am new to Wiki, but enjoying filling the many gaps! In fact, I will write up Staplehurst for the book for the girder fracture as well as the awful consequences. LTC Rolt is a good source but not the best: the original accident reports are far more precise and to the point.

Peterlewis 22:53, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the reassurance, and how marvellous that you're sharing your expertise on the Clayton Tunnel as well. I was feeling kinda guilty about generating that red link... Must re-read "The Signalman", as have a vague idea I read it as a child. I certainly remember frosty mornings staring at signals on Higham railway station, in short school socks, wondering if some Dickens story had been inspired by them (OK, I now realise he'd seen more than one set of signals in his life...). The Clayton Tunnel article will make v interesting reading - although perhaps check out Wikipedia:No original research and this discussion (but only from "User:Kevin Myers 26 Jan 06" onwards): there seems to be considerable vagueness about what counts as "original research"... Anyway, enjoy! Cheers, JackyR 23:18, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Headings

Hope I'm not overwhelming you... Just a note about the headings hierarchy. The article title (on this page "User talk:Peterlewis") doesn't need to be typed in the text box. When you start a page, either:

  1. the text says "Would you like to start a page called 'Foo'?" (in which case it automatically calls the new page 'Foo' when you hit Save), or
  2. you are offered a line in which to type the new title, separately from the text box.

This leaves you the ==Goo== subhead and ===Hoo=== subsubhead to use in the body text. So one would normally use ==External links== rather than ===External links===. Er, hope that made sense! JackyR 23:35, 1 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Advice

Thanks for the comment. It depends what you mean by original research. I am simply bringing to the surface what is already known about disasters. The causes of the Clayton tunnel disaster were well exposed at the time, so contemporary readers of Dicken's story will have known to what he was referring. LTC Rolt mentions this in his book: the horror of a tunnel accident (for Clayton was not the only one ). I am simply putting the story in its historical context, so giving the reader some extra appreciation. Isn't that what an encyclopedia is about? Peterlewis 06:56, 2 February 2006 (UTC)


I have added some extra text to bring out the point about tension and compression. Peterlewis 16:03, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh my goodness! Well that'll larn me to put notes-to-self on my To do list! Thank you! I'd realised from your comments that you were probably an engineer interested in metal fatigue, and meant to ask if it was true that the Ironbridge was built of cast iron entirely in compression (and can we safely add this to that article)?
Original research – yeah, it absolutely depends what one means. There are all sorts of rows about what is and isn't verifiable, and what an encyclopedia is - principally that it should be a synthesis of other already published stuff. I get preoccupied with this, 'cos I write about African topics which are woefully under-represented in the literature – hence difficult to reference, creating a vicious circle. Clearly I'm spreading it around! Many apologies... For the True Word, check out Wikipedia:No original research. Happy wiki-ing! Cheers, JackyR 17:41, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes you guessed correctly, I am an engineer working on falures (mainly) : hence my interest in the Tay and Dee bridge disasters. The Ironbridge is all mainly in compression but parts have unfortunately been tensioned by movement in the abutments, and so cracked. There are some 70 cracks in the structure and if you look closely, much repair and reinforcement. However, the structure was grossly over-engineered. A longer bridge was built upstream at Buildwas by Telford (130 ft span) using less than half the amount of cast iron. Even more impressive is the Coalport bridge nearby , which also uses much less cast iron, and it still takes vehicular traffic! Peterlewis 18:12, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] P.r.lewis?

Is user:P.r.lewis a pseudonym of user:Peterlewis? See Talk:Tay Rail Bridge. If so, why are you using two usernames? DFH 18:45, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I keep losing my password and then have to sign up again!


[edit] The Dee Bridge Disaster

Hello, thanks for your reply. Don't add a reference to your own book, as wikipedia has a policy about No Original research (WP:NOR), which I think is a bit over the top, but which is rigorously enforced. It is why I have never edited any articles about my own areas of scientific research and specialty, even though the existing articles on the subject are quite poor. Get someone else to add your book as a reference. I don't unfortunately, see this policy as evre changing really, which is very very sad. DDStretch (talk) 19:08, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Original Research

The article I wrote orignally for Wiki is hardly "original research"! The Chester jury verdict was published widely in both the Times and the Chester Chronicle in 1847. An encyclopedia must reflect what is out there already, so I am merely adding links to what exists in the publc domain. I understand this to be entirely within the guidelines for Wikipedia, and is true not just of my articles on railway accidents but also the many other articles wrtten by likeminded eds. You are misinterpreting the policy! Peterlewis 21:14, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Your reversion of my reversion (The Great Global Warming Swindle)

Could you give a reason why you re-deleted the text in this edit? I can't see anything factually incorrect about the deleted paragraph. Could you enlighten me? -- Hux 15:26, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the sentence appeared to have no grammatical sense and was out of context in an introduction. It introduced the idea that the programme was contrary to scientific thought, which I think inappropriate for an intro. That argument should be introduced later I think: it is a question of producing smooth text at the start, rather than a POV.

Peterlewis 17:13, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Gotcha. Thanks for the reply. I'll see if I can incorporate it in a more appropriate manner/place as I do think it's worth mentioning. -- Hux 17:54, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Compact fluorescent lamp

Hi Peterlewis. Could you let me know why you reverted my edits on [[Compact fluorescent lamp]? You didn't provide an edit summary, and its a little galling to have my attempts at properly citing references and requesting sources for assertions backed out without a reason being given. Thanks, WLDtalk|edits 14:39, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I reverted the later edits to restore my own contribution which was deleted. Since I am raising serious issues which must be aired in this article, I think deleting my efforts should be challenged.It is especally important that Wiki articles be NPOV, and not promote a particular POV. Neutrality and balance are surely the mainstays of Wikipedia! Peterlewis 14:48, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I think I'll take that to mean that means you have no problem with my edits. I note you have been reverted again. I'll take the opportunity to go back to the version I put in. Could I politely request that you cut and paste yours in without removing mine again - I don't think they are necessarily incompatible. Please be careful about getting into an edit war - it might be better to take the issue to the talk page for a while. Regards, WLDtalk|edits 14:57, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes I have no problem with your edits and my apologies for the confusion. I will do as you say and add a comment on the talk page. Peterlewis 18:20, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] James Valentine

I notice there is a page for James Valentine (photographer) and another for Jamers Valentine (photographer) with similar content but more recent edits have been done on Jamers Valentine, surely should be one page for James Valentine. ColinBoylett 17:42, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

My mistake! There should be only one entry
for James Valentine. How do I delete the Jamers Valentine?Peterlewis 05:56, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
What I did was make it into a redirect page. Just add #REDIRECT [[pagename]] to a blank page. KeithH 08:19, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject History of Science newsletter : Issue I - March 2007

The inaugural March 2007 issue of the WikiProject History of Science newsletter has been published. You're receiving this because you are a participant in the History of Science WikiProject. You may read the newsletter or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Yours in discourse--ragesoss 03:55, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wind power/global warming

I've reverted your text that "CO2's role in global warming is controversial" (paraphrasing) in Wind power. I'm not attempting to impose an answer on global warming, but the current text is quite neutral on that issue ("may impose costs" does not seem to me to be too strongly slanted), and the wind power article is already probably too long. It seems to me the global warming articles are the best place for this discussion. Best regards.--Gregalton 10:29, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

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