User talk:David Shear

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Welcome!

Hello David Shear, 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!  Vsmith 01:16, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Flory-Huggins Solution Theory

I am a bit annoyed, exactly what mistakes were made in this article? what is the confusing part? One thing I notice about the current edit is that the mathematical symbols in the text do no longer correspond to the symbols in the math parts see for instance difference in x's as the number of segments. On my screen the volume fractions appear as little squares and I would prefer sticking to the in line math symbols as in \phi_2\,. What are your thoughts on this V8rik 22:51, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

I notice that you seem to be active in math and physics. I invite you to join the discussions in Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics and Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics. -- linas 03:41, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] welcome

Thank you for improving Wikipedia.

Forgive my nit-picking, but one edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_law_of_thermodynamics&diff=next&oldid=32701760 doesn't make sense to me. It looks like you were interrupted right in the middle of a sentence.

You may be interested in the 2 links at the bottom of the entropy article claim that "entropy is simple".

I hope that someday, people will finally figure out some really good way of explaining these and other often-misunderstood topics -- a way that is both accurate *and* easy to understand.

--DavidCary 23:04, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tsallis entropy

I took a look at your sandbox where you mentioned Shannon-Jaynes uncertainty and now I am wondering...are you familiar with the tsallis entropy? Also, you might be interested in Wikipedia:WikiProject Polymers too. See you around! --HappyCamper 05:03, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chemical thermodynamics

I have been waiting for ages for something like that to show up on Wikipedia! Thanks for writing that :-) --HappyCamper 16:02, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

This does indeed look promising. The Chemical thermodynamics article should not redirect to Thermochemistry. However, I note that on HappyCamper's talk page you state "I'm also including material seldom available in textbooks, including my own reformulations". This might be good stuff, but you can not do it - see Wikipedia:No original research, unless of course your own reformations have been published somewhere with peer review. Regards from another old chemist. --Bduke 20:52, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I saw your page that day when I was getting ready to block someone for vandalism while monitoring Special:Recentchanges. Actually, I couldn't help but smile a little bit when I read your article...the material feels right at home, as do the references. I have a colleague who also likes to present those topics in a similar manner. On another notes, I think you're doing just fine with your contributions here. I have an area you might want to look into though, and that is Wikipedia:Template namespace. Take a look at some examples on my user page - it's still work in progress, but I've found that they can help tremendously with organization of related topics. --HappyCamper 04:30, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Categories & working copies

Hi - David, you have been doing some great work. One small problem, if you check Category:Thermodynamics down toward the end you will find your sandbox/workpages listed. Could you remove the categories from your sandbox pages working copies? Another user has called this to my atttention - I don't see it as a big thing, just a bit of a distraction to be fixed. Or if you are finished with the workpages I or another admin can delete them for you - personally I prefer to just blank and reuse my working copies (although I still have some old stuff just sitting there.) Thanks, Vsmith 00:34, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

OK, User:David Shear/Flory-Huggins is gone - I'll let you remove the now red link from your user page. Anytime you want one gone just ask. Cheers, Vsmith 02:43, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cajal photo in Scientist

Hi! Sorry to take a while responding to your email on this--I haven't been paying very close attention to my Gmail acount recently. Firstly, I didn't remove the Curie image from the article, someone else did. I did remove the Cajal image, and I have done so again. My reason for this is that that image was uploaded to wikipedia under a claim of fair use. Whilst there may be a (dubious) claim to fair use of that image in the article on Cajal, there is no fair use rationale for its use in the Scientist article. JeremyA 21:55, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Hi! I just happened by as I saw your post on HappyCampers page. It's a shocking thing at first, but snooping is pretty much expected around here. I've just asked a legal expert on the above assertion which seems illogical to my feeble mind. He does legal work for the foundation and Jimbo Wales and helped me out on a copyright matter as well.

  • I took a peek in your CT article, since that's what caught my attention on HC's page, and would like to offer to vet it for you when you get it ready to replace that redirect page. My concerns are not with content per se but presentation viz a viz WP:MOS, and especially with the Intro/summary. That is, I would be willing to 'dumb down' the intro (That generally means using three sentences for one and introducing a few even more basic terms or chains of thought) for the general audience. By that, I mean the article proper can be plenty technical, but the intro needs to be written so a sharp 12-13 y.o. can at least get a sense of what it's about. Starting right in on degrees of freedom didn't seem to accomplish that— that customer hasn't the basic math or science to follow such references. I seem to have to do that fairly often, without much friction on it either. Alas, I never did get a chemistry degree—it was my major for two years —as I switched to engineering and had to settle for thermodynamics in that ciricula.
  • Just looked at the Entropy of Mixing, and that reads quite nicely... as well as being more complete. I'd submit the first sentence needs a little reformulation, but nothing major. FrankB 07:49, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
    • Well I got an legal opinion cross-posted: Image talk:Cajal.gif. Grumble, grumble. Guess you can find some other scientist in the PD domain -- say on NASA sites.

Best regards, FrankB 19:06, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] message found on thermodynamic variables page

I am trying to contact David Shear. If Professor Shear reads this: My name is Jeri Burn and I just acquired a 1972 yellow Beetle that you bought in 1972 and sold in 1985. You kept meticulous records and I have the notebook that you kept. Very impressive! I would love to talk to you and send you some photos of the Bug. jeriburn@netzero.com

[edit] Chemical thermodynamics

I put most of your chemical thermodynamics writing into the chemical thermodynamics article. If you would like to contribute more there, please do so.--Sadi Carnot 00:41, 12 September 2006 (UTC)