User talk:Speedoflight

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Welcome! Hello Speedoflight, 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! By the way, please be sure to sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes (~~~~) to produce your name and the current date, or three tildes (~~~) for just your name. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!

-Poli (talk • contribs) 07:37, 2005 July 25 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Henri Cartier-Bresson

Hi Speedoflight, here is that reference for the Henri Cartier-Bresson passage: From Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art by Jean-Pierre Montier. Pg. 12, column 2, paragraph 2 "He brought a portable camera, less cumbersome than his first Brownie, but only managed to keep a few of his negatives..." 12.217.192.63

[edit] Image tips

Hello!

Thanks for uploading some pictures to Wikipedia. I wanted to make sure you were aware of some of the requirements and good practices for uploaded images.

  • Pick an image name.
When uploading an image, pick a file name that is short, descriptive, and unique. Remember that many images may be uploaded about the same topic, and remember that names are case sensitive.
  • Source the image.
On the image description page, explain where the image came from. If you created the image yourself, then say so. If it's from the web, give a URL. If it's a screenshot of a movie or game, or a scan from a book, give the title.
  • Provide copyright and license information.
This part is a little bit trickier, but it's very important. The copyright of the image generally belongs to whomever created it.
If it's a photograph you took, or an image you created (modifying an image that already exists doesn't count) in software like Photoshop or GIMP, then you own the copyright. To upload it to Wikipedia, you must agree to license it under the GFDL (which allows anyone to use it, but requires that they give credit to the original author and requires that any further edit to the image be licensed under the GFDL as well) or release it into the public domain (which allows anyone to use it for any purpose without restriction.) Do this by placing an appropriate tag on the image description page, like {{GFDL}} or {{PD}}. Be sure to mention that you created the image. If you're using {{PD}}, you may also want to use {{NoRightsReserved}}, since there is some dispute as to whether one may grant items into the public domain.
If you didn't create the image, or the copyright somehow belongs to another party (like a screenshot, which you might "create", but the copyright belongs to the author of the movie or video game), then you need to find another tag that describes the copyright status of the image. Images used on Wikipedia need to be free for our use and the use of sites which reproduce our content. This means that images cannot have a restriction such as "only for use by Wikipedia", or "for non-commercial use only", or "for educational use". Images without a free license may be usable in certain articles under fair use, but such a use should be justified on the image description page.
  • Describe the image.
To another reader, the image may not be immediately understood. A caption in an article doesn't explain the image to a visitor who sees it on its image page. Put a brief explanation of what is in the image on the image description page, similar to what you might include in a caption on an article.

Some links to Wikipedia pages on this subject:

Copyrights, Copyright tags, Fair use, Image description page, Public domain, Images for deletion, Possibly unfree images, Copyright problems

Thanks again for your contributions. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at my talk page. kmccoy (talk) 19:26, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Audie Murphy photos

Hi! If all these images are copyright to the Audie Murphy Research Foundation, how do we justify their use in Wikipedia? kmccoy (talk) 20:21, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Hi: I uploaded the images as copyrighted images with fair use, not meant for reproduction. I could be wrong but I believe fair use copyrighted images are OK to use to accompany articles on Wikipedia.

Well, part of the point of Wikipedia is reproduction. You could try emailing the Audi Murphy Research Foundation to ask if they would be willing to license the use of those photos under a free license like the GFDL or cc-by-sa. Or could make a fair use argument on the photo page. Take a look at some of the links in the note I left above. kmccoy (talk) 06:28, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I have just updated and included the Fair Use links/argument on the photo pages. Thanks.

Thanks for taking the time to go back over them. I hope you enjoy working on this project. kmccoy (talk) 06:42, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Buddha Loetla Nabhalai

Please note that the article needs to be wikified (follow the supplied link to see what needs doing) and copy-editing (I'll do it when I get time, if no-one else beats me to it). Until the work has been done, please don't remove the templates. The heading is unnecessary; it divides a short article into two one-paragraph sections, of twhich the second is most of the article (see the Manual of Style on when headings should be used). If you have further questions, please feel free to ask me. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 20:34, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

I've now wikified and copy-edited the article. I hope that I got the dates of hie reign right. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 20:45, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Rosa Parks

Thanks for your contributions. We are trying to build a comprehensive article so the entry can be elevated to featured (front page) status. To do so the text needs to be meticulously footnoted (you can see the process has already started). Can you please add notes to your contributions?

lots of issues | leave me a message 07:50, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for helping out and welcome. lots of issues | leave me a message 08:11, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

Hi Speedof light, Let me join Lotsofissues in thanks for your help with Rosa Parks. One note, you had changed all the date formats to the Americanized versions, which is actually unnecessary when they are wikified due to a neat bit of coding. If they are wikified, the appearance of the dates is controlled by your personalized preferences. Note that October 28, 2005 and 28 October 2005 should appear identical, though they are written in different formats. It keeps the Commonwealth English and American English folks from spending all their time changing dates back and forth. Cheers, BanyanTree 15:18, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
I had to revert to a previous version of Rosa Parks to get rid of some undesirable changes introduced by User:Novascotianpatriot. You may want to redo your two most recent edits; I'd reinsert them if I could figure out exactly what you changed, but I figure you'll figure it out faster than I. - Nunh-huh 05:54, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Rock Hudson

The picture you've added is a vast improvement on the one that was there before. Could you please go back to Image:Hudson.jpg and include the source. There is a bot that goes through removing any fair use images without source information, and chances are, if you don't include a source it'll get deleted before too long. Rossrs 13:01, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

URL source added to the image. Thanks. --speedoflight | talk to me 05:09, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] composer template

Hi, I notice that you've inserted a template on the Bach page. It doesn't add any info, and I'd want to remove the dates of birth and death from the text to avoid repetition.

Is it necessary?

Tony 00:17, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

OK, will leave it there for the moment, and eventually discuss with co-contributors. Thx. Tony 04:14, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bach infobox

Hi, I'm not sure that the infobox is useful in the first place, but including a country was not historically appropriate, since the notion of a German nation did not develop until the 19th century. There was a German-speaking world, but no Germany, only electorates and free city-states. Tony 11:53, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

The Bach article is work in progress, and has been rewritten only down to half way through Leipzig. The rest is very scrappy. I won't have time to contribute seriously until March; others may, but somehow I doubt it.

With respect to information about national origin, the people you cite as examples are all from the nation-state era, i.e., the last two hundred years or so. While some nations, such the US and Great Britain, were conceived before this time, it's not true of the German speakers. The problem you mention might be solved by inserting a reference to approximately where he lived in geographical terms; I'll have a look into it. Tony 21:44, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Thx for your comments, Speed; I wasn't, in any case, expecting expertise in the topic on your part, but hoping that more general feedback plus some language editing might be possible. But it's probably better to wait until the other main contributors and I negotiate the 'Style' section, something that may not happen until I'm relatively free of heavy work commitments, in March. Then we'll know where we stand overall.

I notice that reviewers are more focused on inline referencing on the FAC page than they used to be; that's a good think, IMV, although I note that there are sometimes complaints of too much referencing. There's a window of density, I guess, that is honest and practical while not distracting the reader. We'll need to review this issue at a later stage in the Bach article. (May I alert you at the time?)

On the nationality issue, I notice now that the opening sentence contains: 'was a German composer and organist'. That's rather too exact for me (I'd prefer 'German-speaking', but that has problems, I agree). Doesn't 'German', as currently worded, satisfy your earlier query? Tony 04:45, 17 January 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Chinese New Year extra days

Thanks for the extra days you added to Chinese New Year Festivities. They are valuable info and should be in the article, but I have removed them because they are a verbatim copy from The 15-Day Celebration of Chinese New Year. This cannot be fair use because you have copied almost the entire reference. Please readd the info, but in your own words. — Joe Kress 07:52, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shizuka Arakawa

Regarding the last few edits you made, I think the "elite" statement was referring to her status as an elite skater, and that of the current elite skaters, holding a college degree puts her in a small group. Also, regarding the skating rinks, I saw quotes this weekend from her that showed she was disappointed by the small number of good rinks in Japan. Whether that is the prevailing reason for her move to CT, I don't know. At any rate, the rink she trained at when she was a child is(was) about 2 miles from my house. I've intended to go over and snap a picture or two for this article; but, there's a good chance it is not standing anymore. (The entire facility closed last fall). Neier 23:12, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

I think we have to be very careful when using the term "elite" because if stating that she's an elite skater just because she has a college degree, then it would not exactly be truthful. Lots of athletes in the world hold college degrees and that doesn't make them any more special or unique. The statement would be more true if it were stated that to Japanese standards, her status as a college graduate and that of a fine skater is somewhat unique for I do understand that it's not commonplace for Asian athletes to be college grads, though this is changing very quickly these days. Unlike the US where colleges are heavy into sporting events and athletes are on sports scholarships, etc., I know that colleges in Asia tend to be very academically focused. Thus many college students have to choose between going to college or pursuing a sporting career. In Arakawa's case, she had both - hence, the uniqueness. In regards to her training, many, many world skaters train in the US because of the better facilities. If you do research, you'd find that many of the Russian, European and even Chinese skaters live and train in the US as well. I think that we can state that she trains in the rink at CT because it has superior training facilities and support if compared to rinks in Japan. Arakawa's present coach is based at the skating rink she trains at in CT. It would only be natural for her to be there. --speedoflight | talk to me 09:07, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
I think the original intent was to say "There are many elite skaters. Shizuka is an elite skater. Shizuka also has a college degree, which is not common among the current elite skaters." I don't know the educational backgrounds of other skaters, so I can't say whether the sentence was appropriate or not. It is fine that it is deleted; but I also don't have any strong objections if it is put back. I just wanted to be sure that it was removed for the right reason (not, because elite seemed to described college graduate). Anyway, I'll stop taking up your time. BTW, I enjoyed your other edits to that article – they were very informative. I was hoping it would grow beyond the stub that it used to be. Neier 09:48, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for taking the time to write your feedback. To be honest, I don't know much about Arakawa and mostly learned about her during the ladies' skating competition at the Torino Games. I did not enjoy the lop sided coverage of Cohen and Slutskaya and the lack of respect for Arakawa's skating by NBC and its commentators. So I started reading articles on the Web to learn more about Arakawa. I found it to be a fresh breath of air to see someone else, somewhat like an underdog come in and take the gold. That's what's so wonderful about the Olympic Games...unexpected things happen. --speedoflight | talk to me 10:14, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
That's pretty funny. I took an interest for pretty much the same reason, only, it was before the Olympics when all of the Japanese announcers were playing up Miki Ando, and to a lesser extent Suguri. Arakawa had won the championships two years ago, so I was puzzled by the lack of respect. Ando has most of the promotional tie-ins, etc. It was amusing to watch TV as the networks replayed the free-skate all morning, and then cut to commercials with Ando. Neier 11:43, 28 February 2006 (UTC)