User:Wtshymanski

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Bill in Winnipeg

This is a Wikipedia user page. If you're reading it anywhere but at en.wikipedia.org, it's even more out of date and irrelevant than the rest of the content you've found.

Just because I've contributed to an article doesn't mean I can make any assurances about its accuracy.

Contents

[edit] The Fundamental Flaw

Wikipedia is an exercise in pooling our ignorance.

What was that Saturday Night Live sketch where the high-school kids produced a terribly earnest documentary about how World War II started when the Nazis bombed Pearl Harbor in 1942? We know they didn't do their "research" on the Wikipedia.

[edit] The Vision Thing

Three years ago 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. Thank you Dr. Leicht! --Wtshymanski (talk) 19:20, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Laser treatment for posterior capsular opacification done. All is well in the left eye (which had cataract surgery October of 2005) in August. Not a little thing it is to be able to read effortlessly for hours at a stretch, again. --Wtshymanski 17:40, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
Flashes in the left eye this morning; not good. --Wtshymanski 14:14, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
Detached retina in LEFT (cataract) eye on Tuesday, surgery Wednesday December 5, kept for two nights and home on Friday (7th). I had another scleral buckle and cryopexy and this time a vitrectomy. Thankfully this time the other eye works a lot better, though I should probably get off the computer now. SF 6 bubble shrinking steadily, though still visible after two weeks. --Wtshymanski (talk) 01:29, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] To Do List

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
Light Current banned...couldn't happen to a nicer guy. No, really, it couldn't.
  • Rafferty Dam needed, companion to Alameda Dam. Maybe I"m going to be there this spring?
  • Analog-to-digital converter needs history from the Analog Devices book.
  • All the articles relating to electrical batteries need to be combed out and straightened. Got a good reference, must read it. 08 03 12
  • Add something to Manitoba Hydro about the effects of power at cost - controversy as to if this is desirable or if it encourages inefficient use of electric power? In an extreme scenario, if exports were big enough they'd cover the entire cost of operation - would MH give away free electricity (to Manitobans) then?
  • Electrical measurements needs work - moving coil meters, galvanometers, wattmeters, electrostatic meters, and digital instruments. No D'arsonval figure, though the picture for galvanometer is pretty close.

[edit] Articles that I've been editing

Who cares. List has served its purpose.

[edit] Bill's Book References

  • Horst Bauer Bosch Automotive Handbook 4th Edition Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart 1996 ISBN 0-8376-0333-1
  • R. M. Black The History of Electric Wires and Cables, Peter Pergrinus, London 1983 ISBN 0 86341 001 4
  • 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
  • Richard C. Dorf (ed.) The Electrical Engineering Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993, ISBN 0-8493-0185-8,
  • 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 1-553246-00-X
  • Richard L. Hills, Power from Steam A History of the Stationary Steam Engine , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 0-521-45834 X
  • Thom Hogan and Mike Iannamico, Osborne 1 User's Reference Guide,(1982) Osborne Computer Corporation
  • George N. Hood Against the Flow:Rafferty Alameda and the Politics of the Environment, Fifth House Publishers, Saskatoon Saskachewan, 1994, ISBN 1-895618-35-5
  • 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",(Compusoft Publishing,1981
  • James H. Marsh (ed), The Canadian Encyclopedia Year 2000 Edition, McClelland and Stewart Inc., Toronto, 1999, ISBN 0-7710-2099-6
  • 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, IEEE Press, New York,1999, ISBN 0 879422386
  • 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
  • J. W. Sims et al, (ed) The Boy Electrician, Eighth Edition George Harrap, London (1965) no ISBN
  • Robert W. Smeaton (ed) Switchgear and Control Handbook 3rd Ed., Mc Graw Hill, New York 1997 ISBN 0-07-058451-6
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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] Gripes

  • Every fleeting thought you've ever had in your life is someone's life-long obsession - and he's editing a Wikipedia page about it. ( Skif's internet theorem, applied)
  • Fancruft. Every saltshaker that Captain Kirk used, and every rubber monster that Dr. Who faced, does not deserve an article of its own. Stardrives should only be talked about in their own little compartmented part of the novel's article (if then).
  • 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
  • Never ask a Legionaire about his past, or a Wikipedian for his references.
  • 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?
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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.

[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] 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.
  • Saying simply in an encyclopedia article is pompous.
  • Big dumb lists. I hate big dumb lists. You can't trust a Wikipedia list to be complete and accurate, so it's not useful as a directory of things. The big dumb list gives no idea of why its members are important. They are always dull to read. They waste space. They are over-specialized for a general interest encyclopedia. Election results, the dreaded List of 7400 series integrated circuits, Gong Show contestants, etc. etc. - all useless. The wost BDL on Wikipedia has to be (or had to be...maybe it's gone) the list of asteroids by number. (Actually, if you have to have a big dumb list, this is the way to do it...a lot of work in this, but I wonder how useful it is? )
  • Wikipedia is not a parts catalog.
  • A wheel isn't just round, it "exemplifies state-of-the-art circular technology". People who append "technology" to everything should be encased in balls of dampened wadded-up Microsoft marketing glossies and left for the wasps to devour.
  • Same thing for "architecture" - if you're not talking about buildings, you're treading on thin ice.
  • Simplify. Read a Strunk and White. Some of the articles on personal-computer related topics are stuffed with the most terrible slack-jawed eye-glazing marketese. I think computer journalists (or editors) may be less literate as a class than those in any other field.
  • Twiddling - stamp out twiddling in our time. If you edit, make it meaningful. No Wikipedia article needs a just 1-character change. Bot-twiddling is especially annoying.
  • Using a schematic diagram symbol is not useful, especially in the introductory stages of an article. The general reader will not know the schematic symbols anyway, so you're not conveying any information. Schematic symbols should be confined to an article on schematic diagrams.
  • Don't patronize. Whee, you know everything about ant farms or Lalique glass or polyphase induction motors. Tell the reader about the subject, not how wonderful you are. It's been my universal experience that people who *are* experts are so into the material that they don't NEED to prop themselves up by saying "From this is obvious..." or "one might be lead to believe, but one would be wrong..." or similar signs of egotistical writing - which has low information content.
  • Utilize - I HATE utilize. Say use. The only time I use "utilization" is in "utilization voltage" and that's only because it's a standard bit of electrical jargon that I hate, but am stuck with.
  • Moniker - or any other colorful slang from Guys and Dolls - not encyclopediac tone.
  • In fact... - Encylopedias are packed with facts, don't waste the reader's time with empty words. It's patronizing, too.
  • No Latin tags. Never confuse i.e. with e.g. OK, so I do like and use "etc.". If you have to say "i.e." or ",that is," in your sentence, you didn't write it clearly enough in the first place.
  • 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( see big dumb list) 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.
  • I don't like "kibibytes". It sounds silly. When speaking of pre-November 2000 computers, and quantities less than a gigabyte, it is appropriate to use the conventions of the time. It's also absurdly over-precise to worry about the difference between 1024 and 1000 when decimal kilobytes were never used. If it's clear in 2007 that the original sources meant 32*1024 bytes when they said "32 kbytes", then it was clear in 1989 and so you don't need to put the absurd binary prefix on in any case.
There is a vote planned to help stop binary prefixes (the kibibyte/mebibyte nonsense) being changed in articles where the sources do not use binary prefixes. Please have a look at my talk page for more information. Fnagaton
I note that User:Sarenne has been banned. This will put a stop to a lot of the kibibyte nonsense.
  • Wikipedia is not the world's photo album. The 15th photo of a wind turbine adds nothing to the article unless it depicts an unusual feature, preferably described in the adjacent text. I try to get photos from places not available to the passer-by; snapshots out the window of the car usually don't illustrate much and may not be of much value unless they happen to be the first one on a topic.

[edit] Milestone

And today (08 04 19) I hit my 5000th edit in article space. Of course, 3750 of my edits are "rv v".

7000th (total) edit today 08 06 02. 5448 in article space, about 3/4 of total. Edits/page at 3.50 according to the edit counter. Goal is 4.0 edits/page by summer's end.

[edit] Consensus

There is no consenus for errors.