Wikipedia

Glrx

Joined 21 September 2006
Sacra di San Michele by Elio Pallard

Editing

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My apologies. Too much else is going on, so I am seldom current on my watchlist and am now running about 4 weeks behind; some articles in my tab list are months behind because I need to examine sources. That has some sad implications. If I make an edit today, that does not mean I'm current on my watchlist. If an article has lots of activity, then I may not look at that article until the activity has stopped for a few days. (I do jump ahead sometimes.) Even if I see some article changes, I may queue them for later handling because I don't have the time to check them now. Unfortunately, the further back they fall, the less likely they will be addressed.

Quotations

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  • "I find that hard to believe." — Carol
    "Give me 10 minutes and then check Wikipedia." — Topper, Dilbert, May 8, 2009
  • "This place slightly resembles an insane asylum." ― Blake
    "Well, all you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people." ― Alexander Bullock, My Man Godfrey
  • "Hey, but a lot can happen over a year. I mean, you could come back next fall as a completely normal person." ― Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles
  • "... your secret is safe with me." ― Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind
  • "To infinity... and beyond!" ― Buzz Lightyear
  • "Eternity is a very long time — especially toward the end." ― Woody Allen
  • "It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future." — Yogi Berra[1]
  • "You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." — Yogi Berra[2]
  • "You had a leak? You call what's goin' on around here a leak? Boy, the last time there was a leak like this, Noah built hisself a boat." ― James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Absence of Malice
  • "You're gonna need a bigger boat." ― Martin C. Brody, Jaws. When Aaron Sorkin was asked what was the best line ever written, he quoted this one, but the line was an ad lib. I bet Sorkin knew.
  • "My faith in the integrity of American advertising is somewhat restored." ― Richard Sherman, Seven Year Itch
  • "Tell me, George, if you had to do it all over again, would you still fall in love with yourself?" ― Oscar Levant to Robert Alda as George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue
  • "He looked at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe." ― Winston Churchill on Neville Chamberlain.
  • "You all look very innocent." ― Winston Churchill to Bletchleyites quoted in David Kahn, Seizing the Enigma, p. 185.
  • "I don't want any damn fool in this laboratory to save money, I only want him to save time." — Merle Tuve, Director, Applied Physics Laboratory, ca 1942. Rowland & Boyd 1953, page 281; also.
  • "No es Canadiense! Todos Canadienses hablan polaco!" ["You're no Canadian! All Canadians speak Polish!"] ― Spanish officer trying to interrogate a Canadian flier in Polish at Miranda de Ebro concentration camp (where Polish refugees who spoke English would claim to be Canadian so they would not be returned to the Nazis). The flier was classified as stateless. Enigma, Władyshaw Kozaczuk translated by Christopher Kasparek, University Publications of America 1984, pp 152–154
  • 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ⋯ = −⁠1/12⁠ — Srinivasa Ramanujan Not only is the sum of all positive integers a fraction less than 1, but it is also a negative fraction.
  • Let N be the largest integer. If N > 1, then N 2 > N, contradicting the definition of N. Hence N = 1. ― Oskar Perron
  • All angles are right angles. All triangles are equilateral triangles. ― David Hilbert
  • "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is." — Anon
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." — possibly Maurice Switzer but often attributied to Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln See Quote Investigator.
  • "I stopped her right there and said look, if The Economist says that, then they are wrong. I said that people should come to this article and look at the table where we have a meticulous table with exact reference to the authoritative data." — Jimbo Wales in a thank you note at Talk:Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.
  • "I could see our escort fighters weaving in their protective pattern... our bomber pilots also sighted the enemy force and, without orders, raced for low altitude. ... Even as we pulled out above the jungle, our escort fighters turned into the attacking planes.... For a few moments I lost sight of Yamamoto's plane and finally located the Betty far to the right. I was horrified to see the airplane flying slowly just above the jungle, headed to the south, with bright orange flames rapidly enveloping the wings and fuselage. ... I stared hopelessly as a silver H-shaped P-38 half-rolled in a screaming zoom, then turned steeply, and closed rapidly toward our plane. ... I watched the P-38's nose seem to burst into twinkling flame, and suddenly the bomber shook from the impact of the enemy's machine gun bullets and cannon shells. The P-38 pilot was an excellent gunner, for his first fusilade of bullets and shells crashed into the right side of the airplane, then into the left. The drumming sounds vibrated through the airplane which rocked from the impact of the enemy fire. ... One by one our answering machine guns fell silent. ... Another canon shell suddenly tore open the right wing. ... a Zero pilot above us ... reported heavy smoke pouring from our bomber ... the pilot ... could no longer control the aircraft. Enemy bullets had shattered the cables. ... The impact of the crash momentarily stunned me, and everything turned black." — Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, describing 18 April 1943 attack over Bougainville Island, quoted in Attack on Yamamoto, Carroll V. Glines, New York: Orion Books, 1990, ISBN 0-517-57728-3, pp 99-101.
  • "I can't tell if you're a brilliant leader or criminally insane." — Dilbert
    "I'd show you the Venn diagram they gave us in CEO school, but it just looks like a circle." — The C.E.O., Dilbert, February 15, 2015
  • "Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience." — George Carlin Also possibly Greg King. Attributed to Mark Twain but word usage slightly off. Similar to "When arguing with fools, don't answer their foolish arguments, or you will become as foolish as they are." — Proverbs 26:4
  • "Have you ever noticed when you're driving that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" — George Carlin
  • "Never call a man a fool; borrow from him' — Addison Mizner [3] The Perfectly Good Cynic's Calendar by Ethel Watts Mumford Grant, Addison Mizner, Oliver Herford
  • "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." — Gerald Uelmen who fed it to Johnnie Cochran. Also had a wonderful conversation about his losing the Fuhrman motion turning out well.
  • "I'm not a potted plant." — Brendan Sullivan
  • (summation) — Roy Black
    Ted Kennedy on the stand in the William Kennedy Smith trial. Prosecutor asks a question, Kennedy goes into a long answer, prosecutor objects, defense counsel opposes objection, and Kennedy keeps talking through the whole episode.
  • (pulling it out of the fire) — Shawn Holley[4]
  • I can make a great movie out of your worst novel. — Howard Hawks to Ernest Hemingway American Film Tales, page 14
  • "Very interesting. $50,000." — Lan Jen Chu. Power company's transmission towers were being destroyed by lightning strikes. Company tried better grounding systems and other fixes without success. The company described the problem to Chu, and he immediately saw the problem. Chu didn't want an hourly fee because he already knew the answer, but the company recoiled at the large flat fee. Since the solution was immediately obvious to Chu, the company did not hire him but rather went back to its engineers telling them that if Chu figured it out quickly by looking a few pictures, they should be able to figure it out with a little more time. But the engineers didn't figure it out, and the power company ultimately paid Chu. Making a better ground had made the problem worse; the solution was to remove a strut that made a large shorted loop.
  • "Speak not to him, for God hath rendered him tasteless." B. Kliban possibly in Two Guys Fooling Around with the Moon (1982) ISBN 0-89480-198-8
  • "Okay so maybe I was overly ambitious with my plan to post a weekly lust list. It’s not that there was any shortage of things I loved lately, more that there always seemed to be a shortage of something far more valuable: time. First I picked up a last minute freelance job on a yacht in the Bahamas (plenty of things to love there) and was too busy working to play on my computer. And then when I did have the luxury of time, I was working on Bahamas Wi-Fi which is comparable to trying to start a fire with a coconut. Pretty much pointless." — Kate Chastain, Lucky Charming.
  • How to use bombers and torpedo planes to attack a squadron of battleships at Pearl Harbor.... "Use of Airplanes in Attack on Land Defenses", Journal of the Unted States Artillery, Date September 1920, Vol 53, Issue 3, pp 290–294 (reprinted from E. O. McDonnell, "A Story of the Part Played by Aviation with the British, German, and American Fleets", Flying, February 1920, pp. 33–35, 59); also page 264 noting Scientific American article 21 February 1920 about successes of the torpedo plane (page 181).[5]
  • Fleet Problem V 1925
  • Fleet Problem XIII 1932 retake Hawaii in some refs
  • "I am a damned sight smarter man than Grant. I know more about military history, strategy, and grand tactics than he does. I know more about supply, administration, and everything else than he does. I'll tell you where he beats me though and where he beats the world. He doesn't give a damn about what the enemy does out of his sight, but it scares me like hell. … I am more nervous than he is. I am more likely to change my orders or to countermarch my command than he is. He uses such information as he has according to his best judgment; he issues his orders and does his level best to carry them out without much reference to what is going on about him and, so far, experience seems to have fully justified him." — William Tecumseh Sherman. Comments to James H. Wilson (22 October 1864), as quoted in Under the Old Flag: Recollections of Military Operations in the War for the Union, the Spanish War, the Boxer Rebellion, etc Vol. 2 (1912) by James Harrison Wilson, p. 17.
  • "It has been a damned serious business... Blücher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life." — Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, about the Battle of Waterloo to Thomas Creevey (18 June 1815). "Nice" used as "doubtful"; "a damned nice thing" sometimes quoted as "a damn close-run thing". T. Creevy, Reminiscences (28 July 1822); Creevey Papers (1903), Ch. X, p. 236.
  • (find MacArthur's comment about raid in Mexico.)
  • "It's not easy to wreck a nice beach." On a tee shirt given out at a 1983 speech recognition conference in Chatham, Massachusetts. John Sirica's house was close by.
  • "I'll have what she's having." — Older Woman Customer in When Harry Met Sally... Mother of director Rob Reiner. See Billy Crystal's Reveals Secret. Nora Ephron, Crystal, and Meg Ryan thought up the scene, but Crystal explains that Rob Reiner amped it up: "And then Rob said, 'I want you to do it this way. Like this.' And he sat down opposite me — so now it looks like I'm on a date with him or Sebastian Cabot — he has an orgasm that King Kong would be jealous of."
  • "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." — Dolly Parton
  • "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money." — Everett Dirksen
  • "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb… and I also know that I'm not blonde." — Dolly Parton
  • "Oats n.f. [aten, Saxon.] A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." — Samuel Johnson Dictionary of the English Language, J. & P. Knapton, London, 1755.[6]
  • "He who attempts to defend everything defends nothing." — Frederick the Great often attributed to Sun-Tzu
  • "Smuggling." — Napoleon[7] I heard this before....
  • "The good that people do is oft in turd with their bones." — Alex K, 14-years old. A Lady Mondegreen during a discussion of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Alex blamed us for bringing up poop, and explained that owl poop has bones in it.
  • Putting a star in her place. Julia Robert's young daughter started to realize her mom might be special, so she asked, "Mommy, are you famous?" Roberts replied, "Yes." The daughter followed up with, "Famous like Taylor Swift?" 6 April 2017.
  • "Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl." — Bill de Blasio @NYCMayor 12 April 2017 responding to Arturo Di Modica's complaint about his Charging Bull statute.[8]
  • "Coram[9] used the tried and true 'CPR method' to pop the top on this trash bin." — CBS News[10]
  • "It was absolutely marvelous working for Wolfgang Pauli. You could ask him anything. There was no worry that he would think a particular question was stupid, since he thought all questions were stupid." — Victor Weisskopf
  • "He doesn't have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel." — LBJ, Paul F. Boller, Jr., Presidential Anecdotes, page 319
  • "Well, it's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in." — LBJ on J. Edgar Hoover, Boller, page 319
  • "Son, they're all my helicopters." — LBJ
  • "When you have a bunch of government-haters getting control of the government, it’s no surprise they don’t know how to make things operate effectively." — John Sparks Russell Berman, 27 November 2017, "The Red State Revolt Spreads to Oklahoma", The Atlantic
  • "My mother had a crush on Jack Lemmon. Huge. It was the only time she showed good taste in men." — Carrie Fisher on Debbie Reynolds (Turner Classic Movies)
  • Whereas it is moſt apparent, That the Multitude of Coffee-houſes of late Years ſet up and kept within this Kingdom, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and the great reſort of Idle and Diſaffected perſons to them, have produced very evil and dangerous Effects, as well for that many Tradeſmen and others do therein miſpend much of their time, which might and probably would otherwiſe be employed in and about their lawful Callings and Affairs; but alſo, for that in ſuch Houſes, and by occaſion of the meetings of ſuch perſons therein, the divers falſe, malicious and ſcandalous Reports are deviſed and ſpread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majeſties Government, and to the Diſturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm. His Majeſty hath thought it fit and neceſſary, That the ſaid Coffee-houſes be (for the future) Put Down and Suppreſſed: And doth (with the Advice of His Privy Council) by this His Royal Proclamation, ſtrictly Charge and Command all manner of Perſons, That they, or any of them, do not preſume from and after the 10th day of January next enſuing, to keep any publick Coffee-houſe, or to utter or ſell by Retail, in his, her or their Houſe or Houſes (to be ſpent or conſumed within the ſame) any Coffee, Chocolet, Sherbett or Tea, as they will anſwer the contrary at their utmoſt Perils. And for the better accompliſhment of this His Majeſties Royal Pleaſure, His Majeſty doth hereby Will and Require the Juſtices of Peace within their ſeveral Counties, and the chief Magiſtrates in all Cities and Towns Corporate, That they do at the next reſpective General Seſſions of the Peace (to be holden within their ſeveral and reſpective Counties, Diviſions and Precincts) Recall and Make void all Licences at any time heretofore Granted for the Selling or Retailing of any Coffee, Chocolet, Sherbett, or Tea: And that they, or any of them, do not (for the future) Make or Grant any such Licence or Licences to any Perſon or Perſons whatſoever. And His Majeſty doth further hereby Declare, That if any Perſon or Perſons ſhall take upon them, him or her, after his, her or their Licence or Licences Recalled, or otherwiſe without Licence, to ſell by Retail (as aforeſaid) any of the Liquors aforeſaid, that then the Perſon or Perſons ſo offending, ſhall not only be proceeded againſt upon the Statute made in the Fifteenth Year of His Majeſties Reign (which gives the forfeiture of Five pounds for every Month, wherein he, ſhe or they ſhall offend therein) but ſhall (in caſe they perſevere to offend) receive the ſevereſt Puniſhments that may by Law be inflicted.
    Given at Our Court at Whitehall, this Twenty ninth day of December 1675. In the Seven and twentieth Year of Our Reign.
    — Charles II, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/1055/page/2
    Note: The above text uses the Unicode character LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S, &#17f;. Uppercasing that character produces the ordinary capital S. Searches are supposed to ignore case, so searching for "Majesty" might reasonably match "Majeſty". The search works in Chrome, but not Edge or Firefox. That also raises an issue with ligatures. Will a search for the ordinary "flint" also find the ligatured "flint"? Are ligatures only the result of painting, or should they be in text? Chrome matches the ligature; Edge and Firefox do not.
  • "You are really nuts, you know it? One a these days they're gonna come over and just lock you up! You aren't playing with a full deck, Eunice. I think somebody blew your pilot light out." — Vicki Lawrence, Sorry, The Carol Burnett Show
  • "Under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That's why we train so hard." — attributed to a Navy Seal. I first heard it in 1980. Variation of Archilochus, "We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training." See Quora.
  • "So [the F-104] was an easy airplane to fly, but unforgiving in the sense that it had all — if the engine quit, and they often did, it had all the gliding characteristics of a set of car keys. So you could — I mean, we did have a high loss rate. But it was a wonderful airplane. I mean, it was the only airplane since the Wright Brothers to hold all of the important records, the absolute speed, time to climb into any altitude. And the absolute altitude record was over a hundred thousand feet, a hundred and three thousand or something like. Marvelous airplane. Just what every lieutenant needs is an airplane like that and a credit card so he can buy gas." — Merrill McPeak[11]
  • "You'll be interested and amused to know that you are now talking to the chief research scientist of the Metaplast Corporation, whose staff consisted of one bottle-washer!" — Richard Feynman to Frederic de Hoffmann, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman": Adventures of a Curious Character, 1985, Norton, p. 58.
    Feynman used psychology to guess the combination of de Hoffmann's filing cabinets at Los Alamos; the cabinets held all the atomic secrets. — "Los Alamos From Below", 1975, Feynman talk at UCSB, last tale.
    US 2214646, Walker, Bernard F., "Metal coated plastic material and method of producing the same", issued 1940-09-10, assigned to Metaplast Corporation 
  • Richard Feynman secretly emptied Edward Teller's locked desk drawer and then asked Teller to show him the contents of the locked drawer.
    Teller: "I'd be very glad to show it to you," puts the key in, opens it, looks in, and says, "if you hadn't already seen it yourself."
    Feynman: "The trouble with playing a trick on a highly intelligent man like Mr. Teller is the time it takes him to figure out from the moment he sees there's something wrong until he understands exactly what happened is too damned small to give you any pleasure." — Richard Feynman, "Los Alamos From Below", 1975, Feynman talk at UCSB, at 33:20.
  • "To the Manx Shearwater that, taken from his nest off the coast of Wales and carried three thousand miles across the Atlantic to Boston, was back in twelve days". Anderson, E. W. (1966). Principles of Navigation. American Elsevier. p. front. LCCN 66-11436. OCLC 1712952.
  • "Joan Marku said something about family honor being sacred in Kosovo, that it was some kind of old code of justice that went back centuries. I'm gonna look all that up on Wikipedia." Detective Lt. Michael Tao, scientific investigation specialist, in Living Proof, Part I, of The Closer.
  • "Sincerity — if you can fake that, you've got it made." — George Burns[12]
  • "Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made." — George Burns[13]
  • "Time is God’s way of not letting everything happen all at once." — not Albert Einstein and not John Archibald Wheeler. [14]
  • "I was never a Girl Scout. I did eat their cookies." Abby Hornacek of Fox News.
  • "When you're explaining, you're losing." Attorney Joshua Schiffer.
  • "How do you not expect me to drive it like I stole it when I have to hot wire each time I start it" — Katelynn of Matt's Off Road Recovery.[15]
  • During an ESPN Monday Night Football broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys versus the Philadelphia Eagles, Dak Prescott calls the audible "Bob Ross". Announcer Brian Griese says, "Bob Ross likes to paint. I think it might be a draw."[16]
  • "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Henry II of England remarking about Thomas Becket.
  • "Maybe because you watched the wrong detective." Detective Alexandra Eames.
  • "I only look like I'm not paying attention to you." Detective Alexandra Eames. (Semi-professional hit man.)
  • "I'm so stupid. Explain it to me again." Nicole Bonnet — in How to Steal a Million.
  • something like "If that's your story, then you better stick to it" (cannot find a reference) Madge Hardwick in Top Hat (1935)
  • "Common sense is not so common." François-Marie Arouet aka Voltaire.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).

Great talks and lectures

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Words

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References

  1. ^ http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/2/docs/Protection/DOD_Anti-Ram_Vehicle_Barriers_January_20141.pdf

Typography

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Ages ago, a professor was lecturing about image processing. Studies showed that serif fonts were easier to read, and that's why newspapers printed with fonts such as Times. He went on to explain how the serifs made character components more prominent: a serifed stem didn't wash out at the bottom. Studies showed that serif fonts could be read at greater distances — something that is important for highway signs. Of course, he pointed out that all the highway signs out there are sans serif.

I think I've only read one book on typography and a few bits of advice here and there. By and large, I just use the default settings and layout that the application offers. Or the guidance of experts. Dan is a wizard at that stuff: he told me why gutter margins are smaller. Dan would talk about people going font-happy and producing tortured layouts. Charles was happy to leave the layout and font selection to his publisher: they were professionals and made everything look beautiful.

That book on typography had a list of common mistakes. One point was use black ink. High contrast makes text easier to read. I've seen plenty of books that didn't do that, and it makes my eyes hurt just looking at a page.

Another point was body text should use a serif font. Helvetica is pretty, and you can read a paragraph or two without much trouble, but it's not fun to read a lot. The classic layout is sans serif for the headings and serif for the body.

Of course, Wikipedia does it backwards. Serif headings and sans serif body text. Go figure. Several years ago, I was reading a court case on FindLaw.com when I was asked for comments about the site. I complained that it was using a sans serif font for its body text. A month later I noticed that it had switched to a serif font.

Arguably, there's was a reason for sans serif fonts on low resolution computer screens, but I don't think that holds today.[17]

I guess I'm just out of touch:

Search for typography mistakes:

Displaying mathematical expressions

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Sadly, displaying mathematics formulas seems to have a tortured existence. HTML5 has been touted for some time, and with it is the promise of native MathML and SVG.

Many years ago, I downloaded Design Science's free MathML rendering engine, MathPlayer. I looked at MathML then, but it was clear I would stick with TeX. Wikipedia uses TeX: expressions are described in TeX syntax, and then a renderer converts them to an image. The formulas cannot be copied and pasted because they are just images. The images give a good visual result in displays, but the inline result is poor:  . The size, baseline, and font are different. Consequently, a lot of (simple) inline math is being replaced with character markup: sin 2πx. Copy and paste sort of works, but there are still some quirks: TeX-style math uses a serif font, but the character markup is sans serif. More recently, the {{mvar}} and {{math}} templates have fixed that by switching to a serif font: sin 2πx. So, the world is improving.

Even with the TeX-style image-based math, there were improvements. Editors were starting to add <math alt="description"> to improve accessibility. There were even talk page discussions about improving the alt text. Then some screwy things happened. A bug was introduced in <math> processing that messed up the display, so several articles got well-meaning but poor workaround edits to "fix" the display. Things should be fixed where they are broken. A little later something went wrong with alt= processing, and it affected those who were using MathJax. The result was the alt= descriptions were being deleted as a workaround. It seems wrong to be diking out accommodations.

Recently, I read a note seeking guinea pigs for MathML rendering on WP.[1] Consequently, I took another look at math rendering and found it is taking steps forward and backward.

Using the Firefox browser, the MathML Torture Test webpage shows some sad results. Donald Knuth did a fabulous job with TeX's rendering, and MathML is trying to catch up. As a result of visiting the page, I downloaded some more math fonts.

On another front, some special-purpose code that uses Unicode characters to render some mathematical expressions showed the new math fonts did not render the same as some other Unicode fonts. Some digging showed that math fonts need a special math table, but the specification for that table is currently proprietary.[2] Proprietary tables in an open specification? Sigh. Well, more fonts have to be better. Using a Windows 10 machine showed its native fonts had better Unicode coverage, but the glyph sizes varied widely (even within a single font), and some extension bars looked thinner than what they were designed to extend (well, at least they were there; they weren't part of Microsoft's earlier recommendation).

Viewing the MathML Torture Test webpage with the Microsoft Edge browser brought a shock: Edge does not support MathML. Furthermore, Edge does not allow extensions yet, so third parties (such as Design Science) cannot support MathML. Moreover, Internet Explorer 10 does not permit Design Science's MathPlayer to run, so MathML support in Microsoft browsers has essentially disappeared.[3] Other browser companies are dropping out. The Google Chrome browser dropped support of MathML a year ago (ca November 2013).[4] Also poking around turned up criticism of MathJax.[5] MathML support is declining rather than growing.

Update April 2024. Chromium readded MathML support in January 2023.[6] Consequently, MathML support exists in Chrome and Edge.
See also https://caniuse.com/mathml

I'm not a fan of XML, and MathML is XML. XML is a language for interchange; it is not a system for real work. XML may allow iteration and manipulation, but it is not meant to be a substitute for a large database. Not only that, MathML is really two different specifications: one for presentation and one for content. The presentation format is an odd, half-step, context sensitive, affair. The MathML renderer must look at the text of an element (some Unicode character or characters) and consult a dictionary to get information about how to render that element.[7] The content format might be better as just Scheme syntax (shades of early symbolic algebra programs: James Robert Slagle's 1961 SAINT (Symbolic Automatic INTegrator), William A. Martin's 1966 Symbolic Mathematical Laboratory, Joel Moses's 1967 Symbolic Integration, and Macsyma). Even if MathML is poor and schizophrenic, a browser that can display math formulas is better than one that cannot.

In the middle 1960s, William A. Martin wrote a symbolic mathematics program in Lisp.[8] A portion of that system would draw an expression on the plotter. The system recursively calculated the sizes of subexpressions, used those sizes to choose appropriate sizes for symbols such as integral signs and parentheses, and then positioned the representation to make a larger unit. Simple and elegant. Knuth came along a bit later, studied how math was typeset, and gave us TeX. I don't like its substitution semantics, but it has many good features.

References

  1. ^ ..where..
  2. ^ confidential Microsoft document "The MATH table and OpenType Features for Math Processing"
  3. ^ http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/check.htm
  4. ^ Shankland, Stephen (2013-11-05). "Google subtracts MathML from Chrome, and anger multiplies". CNET.
  5. ^ Ref missing... where was this... asynch not good for teaching, slow, ....
  6. ^ "Igalia Brings MathML Back to Chromium". Igalia News. 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  7. ^ "Appendix C. Operator Dictionary". Mathematical Markup Language (MathML™) 1.01 Specification. W3C. 7 July 1999.
  8. ^ Martin, William A. (1966), Symbolic mathematical laboratory, Ph.D. dissertation, M.I.T., Project MAC TR-36

Plays

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  • Dave Parker throws out Brian Downing at the plate during the 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Bill Buckner, 1986 World Series, Game Six.
  • Lady Gaga sings The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl 50[1]
  • Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross throws to second baseman Javier Báez who elegantly tags out Francisco Lindor trying to steal second during game 5 of the 2016 World Series.[2]
  • You gotta love it. Cambridge University puts Stephen Hawking's 1966 PhD thesis, Properties of expanding universes, on its website. The rush to access the work was so great that the website crashed. Hawking stated, "It's wonderful to hear how many people have already shown an interest in downloading my thesis - hopefully they won't be disappointed now that they finally have access to it!"[3]
  • Ken comes in one day and announces that he can tell which of three formatting programs were used to compose a paper. There's some disbelief, but Ken can do it. He explains he looks at the last line of a justified paragraph; each program used a different justification method. One program used a minimum spacing between words until the line bumped into the right margin; it would break the line before the bump word and expand the word spacing to reach the margin. Consequently, the last line of a paragraph always looked crowded. The second program would maximally space the words until it bumped into the margin; it would keep the bump word and shrink the word spacing to make the line fit. Its last line always looked expanded. The third program used an average space until it hit the right margin; then it would decide whether to shrink the spaces and keep the bump word or to expand the spaces and drop the bump word. Its last line of a paragraph always looked reasonable.
  • Ken comes in another day and claims he can tell which technology somebody used to write a paper: computer terminal, high resolution screen, or printed paper draft. He explained that the computer terminal only showed about a paragraph at a time; if the paper showed coherence over a paragraph but not a page, it was written on a terminal. If the paper showed coherence over a page but not the entire paper, it was written on high resolution screen that showed a page at a time. If the paper was coherent, then it had been printed out.
  • Vladimir Putin astride a horse[4] has nothing on JFK at the beach.[5]

References

  1. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyqkN3zezso
  2. ^ Jeff Passan, 31 October 2016, The perfect play that helped save the Cubs' season took only 3 seconds, Yahoo Sports, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-perfect-play-that-helped-save-the-cubs-season-took-only-3-seconds-075428156.html
  3. ^ "Stephen Hawking PhD readers crash Cambridge University website". www.bbc.com. 23 October 2017.
  4. ^ https://abcnews.go.com/International/photos/russias-president-vladimir-putin-19690713/image-russian-prime-minister-vladimir-putin-rides-horse-47332220
  5. ^ http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/jfks-pacific-swim-1962/

Todo

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damped wave versus continuous wave issues
http://www.freescale.com/files/rf_if/doc/app_note/AN1033.pdf
http://www.macomtech.com/Application%20Notes/pdf/an721.pdf
http://www.lansdale.com/Articles/an267.pdf
http://ecadigitallibrary.com/pdf/IWCS08/14_2.pdf
http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/Coaxloss.cfm
http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/coax.htm
  • EZ GCD algorithm

Rename

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See Irrigation scheduling and soil moisture sensor. Following should roll into soil moisture sensor:

More information on moisture sensors:

Articles

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Started article as stub. Within one minute, it was marked with multiple issues. Within 3 hours, marked for speedy deletion.
previous arb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Monty_Hall_problem
Need to do Shielding effectiveness article

Mumble

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Notes

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Content issues

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Scripts

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Chemistry

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Cryptography

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  • Enigma machine
  • US military's M-209 Hagelin cipher machine; commercially the C-48. Products of Swiss Crypto AG.
    • Kahn wrote The Codebreakers, a fabulous 1967 book that enthralled many in the computer science community. Kahn mentions a that a known-plaintext attack on the M-209 can succeed with 200 characters.
    • Diffie & Hellman (1979) wrote an invited paper about cryptology; the paper was reprinted two years later. Diffie & Hellman (1981, p. 25) describes the M-209 and states that it was still used in 1979. They state that Kahn (1967, p. 431) outlined an attack on the machine, Jim Reeds at UC Berkeley wrote about such an attack, and that Robert Morris (cryptographer) and Dennis Richie implemented an attack. Wayne G. Barker also published a book describing an attack on the M-209 (Barker 1977). Diffie and Hellman then describe their attack on the cipher.
    • After that description, they describe some findings. Morris had found a known plaintext attack on the M-209 needed only 75 characters. (Diffie & Hellman 1981, p. 26) Diffie and Hellman conclude, "These improvements allow known plaintext attacks to succeed with 50 to 100 characters of text, and ciphertext only attacks to succeed with 1000 to 2000 characters of text." (Diffie & Hellman 1981, p. 27)
    • I was so surprised at the claims that I wrote a trivial version. If I threw 20,000 characters of encrypted text at my simple version, it would spit out readable text without any help.
    • 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing
    • Reports suggested that the NSA had intercepted a message. Crypto AG#Compromised machines.
    • I remember hearing a report that the decryption was helped by Muammar Gaddafi always being referred to by a glorified phrase. Searching, I found this phrase
      • "His Excellency Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Brother Leader of the Revolution of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"
    • It has many characters. It would not require the NSA to have a backdoor into Crypto AG.
    • Barker, Wayne G. (1977), Cryptanalysis of the Hagelin Cryptograph, Cryptographic series, Aegean Park Press, OCLC 3902917 (ISBN 9780894120220 for 1978/1981 paperback)
    • Diffie, Whitfield; Hellman, Martin E. (March 1979), "Privacy and Authentication: An Introduction to Cryptography", Proceedings of the IEEE, 67 (3): 397–427
    • Diffie, Whitfield; Hellman, Martin E. (1981), "Privacy and Authentication: An Introduction to Cryptography", in Davies, Donald W. (ed.), Tutorial: The Security of Data in Networks, IEEE, pp. 18–48, LCCN 81-82819, EHO183-4
    • Kahn, David (1967), The Codebreakers, Macmillan

Science & Engineering books

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Explosives

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  • 65,000 pounds per square inch (450 MPa)
  • merge Chapman–Jouguet condition with ZND model
  • RDX.
    • US 1197167, Zeisberg, F. C., "Process of Concentrating Nitric Acid", published October 15, 1914, issued September 5, 1916 , Du Pont Nitric Acid Patent
    • US 4487938, Boileau, Jacques; Emeury, Jean-Marie L & Kehren, Jean-Paul, "Tetranitroglycoluril and method of preparation thereof", published September 21, 1982, issued December 11, 1984 , says "Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine or RDX or Hexogen was first synthesized in 1916 by Brunswig (German Pat. No. 299,028) but its value as an explosive was only recognized by Von Herz in 1920 (British Pat. No. 145 791). It came into significant use only during World War II."
      • GB 145791, von Herz, Edmund, "Improvements relating to explosives", published 1920-07-02, issued 1921-03-17 
      • DE 299028, Brunswig, "Verfahren zur Herstellung von Sprengstoffen und Detonationsüberträgern", issued October 15, 1916 
      • DE 104279, Test, "Hunoz", issued October 15, 1916  Can find patents before and after 104280, but not 104280.
      • DE 104280, Test, "Hunoz", issued October 15, 1916  Can find patents before and after 104280, but not 104280.
      • DE 104281, Test, "Hunoz", issued October 15, 1916  Can find patents before and after 104280, but not 104280.
      • US 2859215, Spomer, Roland J., "Process for preparation of cyclonite", published 19 April 1956, issued 4 November 1958 
  • unknown (March 1953), Japanese Explosive Ordnance (Bombs, Bomb fuzes, Land mines, Grenades, Firing Devices and Sabotage Devices), vol. TM 9-1985-4, Departments of the Army and Air Force

shouyaku and tanayaku Thurman (2006, p. 416)

List of Japanese World War II explosives

  • Mader, Charles L. (1998). Numerical Modeling of Explosives and Propellants (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 978-0849331497.
  • Mader, Charles L. (2007). Numerical Modeling of Explosives and Propellants (3rd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 978-1420052381.

Vacuum

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Fluid dynamics

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Instruments

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http://www2.rohde-schwarz.com/file_15856/1MA178_0E.pdf
http://www2.rohde-schwarz.com/file_14293/1EZ61_2E.pdf
  • Moisture sensor
http://www.delmhorst.com/products_soil.html
http://www.delmhorst.com/pdf/ks_d1.pdf
  • vacuum gauge
http://www.belljar.net/tcgauge.htm
http://www.teledyne-hi.com/Manual/Vacuum/174-062010_Digital_AVC.pdf
http://www.teledyne-hi.com/Manual/Vacuum/153-082006_HPM%204-6.pdf
Pirani gauge needs a lot of work

Medical instruments

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Logic

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Baker's LL TR-110 [AD0096497]
No PDF; DTIC not public; NTIS not found (index only back to 1964)
Cutoff and Saturation Clamping
Thomas, Harry E. (1968), "Handbook of Transistors, Semiconductors, Instruments, and Microelectronics, Prentice-Hall page 227–229. Similar to ARMY TM.
Bell Labs symposium, 1951, The Transistor, TK 7872.T73 B4 is silent on anti-saturation clamps.
  • Resistor Tube Logic
IBM 604 (tube) and IBM 608 (transistor)
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/604/227-7609-0_604_CE_man_1958.pdf
pg 30-31 has inverter with resistors and speed up capacitor. (50kHz?)
stored charge on the grid
cathode coupled logic on page 43
dual gate tube fet on page 45
germanium diodes page 49
multibrator capacitors page 54
a 608 was transistorized
common diode has 4ns turn off

Mechanical

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Microwave power measurement

edit
  • power meter
  • diode detector (square law detector vs linear detector)
  • thermistor mount
  • barretter
  • bolometer
  • thermocouple (redirect from conventional)
  • power monitor or power quality monitor (Dranetz, BMI, RPM)
  • mismatch effect on accuracy
  • noise
  • noise calibration
  • hot/cold source
  • hp test box with circulators
  • nonlinear transmission line (also SRD)
  • refs

Numerical mathematics

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Phase locked loop

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Digital signal processing

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Telephone

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  • E.123: Telephone number format ITU-T E.123

Military

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  • USS Tang (SS-306) rescued A. R. Matter[20]. Richard O'Kane didn't like the guy's gung ho nature (a surprise for O'Kane). Chinn volume 5 has a picture of Matter but no explanation of what he did.

What???

edit
  • Blowback (firearms) is confused about delayed and retarded.
  • Blowback (forensics)[21] falsely stating (without sources) (it's blowback not suckback):
    Blowback in forensics refers to vacuum effect created in the barrel of a firearm when it is discharged.
    After the weapon is fired, air races into the barrel once the bullet has left the muzzle. This vacuum can pull in trace amounts of materials from the environment.
    Police can use blood and tissue which have entered a gun barrel through blowback in an investigation.
    Blowback can also refer to the combination of gasses, dirt, and debris (unburnt powder, metal shavings) that most firearms produce upon firing. This can cause great irritation to the eyes and most ranges or organizations suggest or require the use of safety glasses when firing pistols.
    Repeated at Blowback as "vacuum effect created in the barrel of a firearm when it is discharged".
    Scattered all over the internet... not just Wiki mirrors
    A source that is reasonable

Misc

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WP:Wikiquette_alerts/archive92

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikiquette_alerts/archive92

Mapping

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Google maps and street view.

Revolutionary War Battles

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Various campaigns in book.

Pegasus Bridge

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Military plants

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Iowa. Read National Park Service description of Wabash River Ordinance Works, a WWII RDX plant. (MacDonald and Mack Partnership 1984, p. 21) To collect water, six Ranney collectors were built near the Wabash river. (MacDonald and Mack Partnership 1984, p. 21) These collectors can be found in aerial views.

39°51′55″N 87°21′50″W / 39.865315°N 87.363796°W / 39.865315; -87.363796 (well 1)
39°51′37″N 87°21′26″W / 39.860341°N 87.357359°W / 39.860341; -87.357359 (well 2)
39°51′23″N 87°21′47″W / 39.85642°N 87.363153°W / 39.85642; -87.363153 (well 3)
39°50′59″N 87°21′51″W / 39.849733°N 87.364182°W / 39.849733; -87.364182 (well 4)
39°50′36″N 87°22′02″W / 39.843448°N 87.367305°W / 39.843448; -87.367305 (well 5)
39°50′22″N 87°22′28″W / 39.839528°N 87.374361°W / 39.839528; -87.374361 (well 6)

Unusual drains?

39°50′18″N 87°22′50″W / 39.838216°N 87.380689°W / 39.838216; -87.380689 (drain 1)
39°50′20″N 87°22′35″W / 39.838752°N 87.376521°W / 39.838752; -87.376521 (drain 2)

Holston

Paintings

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References

  1. ^ di Cicco, Dennis (November 1991). "Dating Ansel Adams' Moonrise". Sky & Telescope. 82 (5): 529–33.
  2. ^ http://www.largeformatphotography.info/sunmooncalc/SunMoonCalcHelp.htm

Controversy

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Genetic algorithm

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Genetic algorithm

Not a controversy, but I requested deletion of an article by User talk:PowerGDS. That request was promoted to speedy deletion and a challenge to the user name. User added another article, and I requested speedy deletion. Articles deleted and user permanently blocked.

Article notability

edit
edit

I've been reverting links to online barcode utilities that don't have encyclopedic content. Then I came across User:COIBot and a wonderful report:

There was some issue with an editor adding NBR publications. Where was that?

EL insertion resurfaces as User:Kickinpants; see [22]; should check user's contribs

Sorting algorithms

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JK browser issues.

User:Sven nestle2/Perfect Sort / Triangulating Sort from June 2011 (see Talk:Sorting algorithm#Perfect Sort / Triangulation Sort) has apparently returned as Head sort in October 2013. Another editor prodded it.

Vandalism

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Blocks are preventative, not punitive.

  • When discussing DAB for Ultra, User:Username1234567891011 moved the pages in the middle of the discussion. His user page showed some other problems. While considering whether to talk or report (learning about article renaming policy), the user was indef'd.
Action happened during Talk:Ultra (disambiguation)#Requested move
He noticed and removed this comment.
* Heyitsme24 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) edited my user page[23] to remove comment about blocked User:Username1234567891011. His username is similar to also blocked User:Heyitsme22 who claims to be Username1234567891011 at [24].
User:username1234567891011 sockpuppeteer
sock User:Heyitsme22 blocked
sock User:Heyitsme24 blocked
User:a1computers blocked
User:123alleyezonme sockpuppeteer
User:maggieblackstorm86 blocked
Special:Contributions/76.110.154.1
Special:Contributions/76.110.161.240
Special:Contributions/76.110.165.51
Special:Contributions/8.18.145.128

User:Circuit dreamer

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Well intentioned editor continually inserts his viewpoint into electronics articles.

NORN
ANI archive

It's a sad case because an intelligent editor did not understand the community's concerns. He was banned from editing electronics articles.

edit

Book copyrights

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Pretty well understood for early books. There may be a catch about checking forward several years for some book copyrights.

Linus Pauling
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MIT Staff
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Mainwaring
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Interesting for the pseudonym aspect: Daniel Mainwaring using Geoffrey Homes.

Terman
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Terman has several books through McGraw-Hill.

Loeb
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Renewal question prompted by second edition of a book. Cannot find second edition copyright. Did the publisher bother?

F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The copyright for The Great Gatsby and other works are nearing expiration.

South Bend Lathe
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South Bend Lathe published many versions of How to Run a Lathe. Revised Edition 55 has a copyright notice for 1914, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1952, 1956, and 1958. The versions upto 1926 should be out of copyright. Apparently, the 56th edition was published in 1966. In 2009, the brand was sold to Shiraz Balolia, the founder of Grizzly Industrial, Inc., so any copies of the book from Grizzly should be legitimate.

Wayne R. Moore
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This book should be in copyright. Published 1964 through 1977 with notice. Copyright term is 95 years after publication. No registration or renewal requirement.

Russell B. Scott
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This book is interesting. Published before 1964 with notice. The book states:

Copyright © 1959 by D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.
Copyright assigned to the General Manager of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. All royalties from the sale of this book accrue to the United States Government.
All Rights Reserved
This book, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher.

R. B. Scott was Chief, National Bureau of Standards Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. The book was "prepared for the Atomic Energy Commission".

Following the LCCN leads to copies on the Hathi Trust (Trust has many similar records):

Also found at the Internet Archive (but limited preview):

The 1959 copyright registration on page 585 (A384310):

That puts me in post-1978 database (1959 + 27 = 1986). Searches for title "Cryogenic Engineering", person "Scott Russell", and registration "A384310"/"A00000384310" did not produce any matches.

  • Scott, Russell B. (1959). Cryogenic Engineering. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. LCCN 59-9765.
edit

Journal copyrights are different from book copyrights. Photos and journal articles are often published in a larger publication, and the copyright procedures are different. I'm not familiar enough now.

Iwo Jima
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The flag raising on Iwo Jima by XXX. There's an argument that either the photographer or AP failed to renew the copyright, so the image is now public domain. I'm skeptical. There's a deletion argument on Commons.

There's a weaker argument that some newspapers published the image without a copyright notice. I consider that a small technical error, and it may be covered with the newspaper claiming its own copyright.

Ramanujan photograph

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Not really a book copyright but rather a picture copyright issue.

Long and complicated. I made mistakes and learned about some esoteric copyright issues.
WP:Featured article candidates/Pi/archive1
Anonymous photographer takes passport photo ca 1919; later published in 1938.
Indian stamp made in 1962 derived from passport photo. Indian law sets copyright.
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Ramanujan.jpg
File:Ramanujan the mathematician.jpg appears in July 2013
User talk:Sfan00 IMG#Ramanujan image
I tagged as G12
Summarize the issues
Bruce Berndt, "The Four Photographs of Ramanujan", [25] cf page 2, in Ramanujan: Essays and Surveys, Bruce C. Berndt, Robert Alexander Rankin
  1. "Passport photograph" (individual, most famous; prior to return to India)
    ill-fitting coat due to illness?
    C copied passport photo years after death
    Used in Hardy's book front matter
    S Chandrasekhar: The Man Behind the Legend, page 134
    Chandra had a copy of the photo on his office wall. The passport photo was taken in Brittain in 1919. Chandra went to India in 1936. Chandra's brother actually made the photographic copy of the passport image. Hardy to Chandra: "I was extremely glad to have the photograph, which seems to me an extremely good one. He looks rather ill (and no doubt was very ill): but he looks all over the genius he was."
    Presumably, wife had no dealings with English photographer. Hardy published his book in England, but got his image from Chandra rather than the English photographer.
    Chandra: A Biography of S. Chandrasekhar, Kameshwar C. Wali (photo + Ramanujuan's 1917 suicide attempt) page 262
    Chandra: "I like to say that photograph was one of my most important discoveries."
  2. "Ramanujan and Friends" (group, summer, 1916)
    I cannot find definitive group shot; R apparently heavyset.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QlQ2ix2FlA at 6:41, group of 5 at 7:24
  3. "Ramanujan by Himself in a Chair" (derivative work, 1967!)
    R heavyset in chair. Probably derived from second group photo taken at the same time (summer 1916?).
    Published in Berndt and Rankin 1995, Ramanujan: Letters and Commentary, picture in book preview at Amazon
  4. "The Cambridge Degree Photograph", (group, 18 March 1916)
    Believed to be the graduation photo; image is on page 2
Five pictures at http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2016/04/who-was-ramanujan/
The solitary graduation picture could be derived from the group graduation picture
Wikipedia image File:Srinivasa Ramanujan - OPC - 1.jpg come from?
There's a claim that it was published before 1923, but where does that claim come from? Where was it published?
Is it original art based on other photographs? Original art could be created well after his death.
Well posed, healthy, well dressed all suggest artistic rendering from passport and group photo (hands)
First upload at Wiki was from Oberwolfach Photo Collection: http://owpdb.mfo.de/detail?photo_id=3436
Wiki claims author is Konrad Jacobs, but he is only uploader
Oberwolfach states copyright status is "unknown".
Oberwolfach watermark subsequently removed.
SpacemanSpiff uploaded a higher resolution version 1536x2104(metadata still lists low res 292x400)
Derivative works
bust
1962 postage stamp (the definitive artistic clean up) http://viola.bz/maths-genius-srinivasa-ramanujan/
2010 postage stamp; Mathematic Day; copy of 1962
2011 postage stamp (austere; right-side part!)
cleaned up passport at Oberwolfach Photo Collection http://owpdb.mfo.de/detail?photo_id=2328
edit
Three images in article were copied from a book. I nominated for deletion on Commons. Contributor claimed to be the author of the book, but did not know whether he still held the copyright. Files deleted after a long time.
User talk:Bnland#Your files at Commons
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Fieldstrengthdistance.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Transferfunction.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Sfericwaveform.jpg
Shortly after deletion, two images returned under different names.
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Transfunc.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Sfericpulse.jpg
Those were deleted on Commons. A third set showed up on October 14, 2012
User talk:Bnland#Potential copyright violations
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Transferfunc.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Waveformofsferic.jpg
Article later recreated as a stub. (July 2014)
  • Other
Pix from website
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:HPTDC.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Frances Hugle.jpg
Automated software testing using Neural Network Approach (prod by somebody else; I deleted content; another CSD G12'd)
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Model innsta basic.jpg 16 December 2013
NEET's Sort I db-copyvio 16 December 2013
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Neet left.jpg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Right pass neets.jpg
Wikipedia:Non-free content review#File:C-4 - RDX Aqueous slurry-coating process.jpeg 2014 Jul 19
Wikipedia:Non-free content review/Archive 55#File:C-4 - RDX Aqueous slurry-coating process.jpeg
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Yogi Berra Plaque.png 2014 Oct 11
Commons:Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Loss_of_HMS_Pathfinder,_September_5th_1914_Art.IWMART5721.jpg 2016 Nov 23; retracted same day; used wrong year for death+70.


Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Alésia 004.JPG
Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Bataille d'Alésia.JPG

Publication

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  • http://copyright.gov/circs/circ40.pdf Public display is not publication
  • Hall of Fame Plaque Postcards published before 1977 did not carry copyright notice, so they are in public domain File:HOF Berra Yogi plaque.jpg
    Took a long time to find image showing back of 1972 cards -- has registered trademark but no copyright notice
    Some websites suggest copyright notice
    http://www.justcommons.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=1518 states
    In 1939, when the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was officially opened, there were special Hall of Fame postcards picturing honored members. Various publishers have been utilized over the years to produce cards for the Hall of Fame. One set we have listed was issued in 1995 and is complete for all players inducted through and including 1995 except for Sam Thompson. The other set is the latest just released this year which has all inductees to 2009. Each card is a photographic reproduction of the member's official Hall of Fame plaque. The back is in standard postcard format and contains player name, year of election and electorate, date of printing, the manufacturer (Mike Roberts Color Productions in nearly every case) and copyright information on the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. Note: a sampling of three cards are pictured.
    http://hofplaques.com/ (Dexter Press for one year)

Permissions

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License issues

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Questions

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Wow. There was a questionfest with an RfA candidate about Thome's Flora von Deutschland, Osterreich und der Schweiz. In November 2016, I see File:Trigonella foenum-graecum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-273.jpg and immediately think Mueller from Gera. But the book author gets credit for that illustration, too. Looking at Köhler's Medicinal Plants gives a better story. The kicker is details on Mueller: Walther Otto Müller. Praise to W.O.Müll.

  1. Ansel Adams (1902–1984) took the iconic photograph Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. Copies of that photograph have sold for over $600,000. Reports have stated that the photograph was taken in 1940, 1941, 1942, or 1944. The last date is wrong because the photograph was published in a 1943 book. Astronomers David Elmore and Dennis di Cicco became interested in the date, and in 1991 both agreed that the photograph was taken 1 November 1941 4:49 pm. In 1941, US Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes had hired Adams for six months to take pictures of land controlled by the Department of the Interior.[26] Assume the picture was taken during those 6 months; further assume that the picture includes land controlled by the Department of the Interior (the Carson National Forest is in the background, but it is controlled by the Department of Agriculture). Who would own the copyright on the negative? A straight print of the negative is uninteresting; when he made a print, Adams would spend a long time dodging and burning to enhance details. Who owns the copyright on the prints?
  2. If a photographer sets up some equipment, but an animal comes along and presses the shutter, there is no US copyright. Macaque selfie. Does that mean a wildlife camera trap image cannot be copyrighted in the US? A store owner sets up a security camera that happens to capture the Miracle on the Hudson. Does the store owner have a copyright? Google bolts a camera and GPS unit on a car and drives around town. The driver isn't composing shots but rather just driving in the legal lanes like everybody else. Can Google claim a copyright? What if Google puts the pictures into an organized collection?
  3. During World War II, Dame Laura Knight (1877–1970) received several short-term commissions from the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC); she painted some fabulous World War II propaganda images for the United Kingdom. Some claim that the work is in the public domain because it was created by the United Kingdom government. However, the Imperial War Museums (which received the majority of the WAAC collection when WAAC disbanded) claim images such as Corporal J. D. M. Pearson, GC, WAAF (1940) (Art. IWM ART LD 626) (Joan Daphne Mary Pearson) were created by Laura Knight, are under copyright, and must be licensed.[27] (Copyright situation can be different for her A Balloon Site, Coventry (1943) (Art. IWM ART LD 2750).)
  4. Irving Langmuir wrote
    • Langmuir, Irving (September 1915), "The Pure Electron Discharge and Its Application in Radio Telegraphy and Telephony", Proceedings of the IRE, 3 (3): 261–293, doi:10.1109/JRPROC.1915.216680, ISSN 0731-5996 (follow doi to see abstract; IEEE wants $13 from members or $33 from non-members)
    The IRE became the IEEE.
    In 1984, the IEEE republished the article
    • Langmuir, Irving (May 1984), "The Pure Electron Discharge and Its Application in Radio Telegraphy and Telephony", Proceeding of the IEEE, 72 (5): 613–624, doi:10.1109/PROC.1984.12900, ISSN 0018-9219 (no abstract; follow doi to see image of first page; States copyright 1915 IRE; IEEE wants $13 from members or $33 from non-members)
    In 1997, the IEEE republished the article
    • Langmuir, Irving (September 1997), "The Pure Electron Discharge and Its Application in Radio Telegraphy and Telephony", Proceeding of the IEEE, 85 (9): 1496–1508, doi:10.1109/JPROC.1997.628726, ISSN 0018-9219 (published version has "Classic Paper" below title, states reprinted from September 1915, has changed page numbers and new publisher ID numbers; the same abstract as stated in the 1915 doi record; IEEE asserts a copyright date of 1997 and states the charge to copy the article is $10.00.)
  5. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/38877 File:Loss of HMS Pathfinder, September 5th 1914 Art.IWMART5721.jpg Commons claims the picture was made by a UK employee and is therefore Crown Copyright which has expired and thus the painting is public domain. The image was painted by William Lionel Wyllie (1851–1931) in 1920. HMS Pathfinder was torpedoed 5 September 1914, 6 years earlier. IWM claims "Gift of Kenneth Martin Leake, from the collection of Vice Admiral Francis Martin Leake, Captain of HMS Pathfinder and HMS Achilles." IWM further claims that the image may be displayed for non-commercial purposes: "This item is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the IWM Non Commercial Licence." Many issues. when executed, term was life+50, so copyright would expire after 1981. Extension applies, so life+70 is PD after 2001. DYK 30 August 2014. I nominated for deletion because I messed up the death date (thought it was 1951), and it was removed within minutes. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Loss_of_HMS_Pathfinder,_September_5th_1914_Art.IWMART5721.jpg Oops. Died in 1931 -- not 1951.

Technical bitmaps: PNG v. SVG

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SVG is poor format for technical bilevel bitmaps such as QR code. Fundamentally, the images are bitmaps; they have no slanted or curved lines; bitmaps can be scaled. SVG may offer some advantage with metadata, but the SVG files are bloated compared to PNG. Discussion at WP:SVG help#SVG versions of technical bitmaps. I reverted to PNG pix at QR code and da:QR Code.

These images on Commons should be removed:

  1. Commons:File:Qr-1.svg
  2. Commons:File:Qr-2.svg
  3. Commons:File:Qr-3.svg
  4. Commons:File:Qr-4.svg
  5. Commons:File:Qr-code-ver-10.svg

What to do?

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I'm not directly involved, but this unblock request is a difficult case. Generally, if somebody requests and unblock and there is minimal support, then they are unblocked with a second chance. Initially, I thought an unblock would be a good idea because three admins supported it. I initially voiced my support, but I also wrote down some ideas that troubled me. Those comments gnawed at me, so shortly thereafter I reversed my opinion. It didn't feel right to support an unblock with so many issues even with the supporters. Turns out, the request was also difficult for one of the supporters: see this edit.

Request for adminship issues

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For an RfA, I first take a quick read of the questions and stats. I look for some things that will give a quick answer. Strong clue in Q1 through Q3 and some stats to back it up can be a quick support. Little experience, not showing clue, or wanting the bit to work in admin area with little experience, can be a fast oppose. Generally, I want to see two plusses for a support or two minuses for an oppose.

If there's no fast decision, then I'll sit on the RfA for a few days to see what turns up. It takes time to investigate a candidate, and I have other things to do. If the !vote is lopsided when I come back, then I may skip the whole affair. If the !vote is on the bubble, then I may look further.

Content has become more important in my decisions.

Ritchie333

My post about content creation: Wikipedia talk:Requests for adminship/Liz/Bureaucrat discussion#Content

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_adminship/RickinBaltimore#Vandal-fighting_and_lack_of_content_creation_-_bad.3F (November 2016)

Scottywong's tool

  • user:Scottywong: RfA vote counter
  • For me on 2016-11-18:
    • Total number of unique RfA pages edited by Glrx: 133
    • Analyzed the last 133 votes by this user.
      • Support votes: 49 (36.8%)
      • Oppose votes: 53 (39.8%)
      • Neutral votes: 3 (2.3%)
      • Comments or unparseable votes: 28 (21.1%)
      • This user's vote matched the end result of the RfA 88 times, or 86.3% of the time.
    • That means I disagreed 14 times.
Candidate date not vote result percentage reason
Oshwah 2 August 25, 2016 Oppose Successful 75
Biblioworm October 31, 2015 Oppose Successful 87 Focus; continued engagement; content
Thine Antique Pen October 9, 2015 Support Unsuccessful 67 Candidate age
Liz August 1, 2015 Oppose Successful 74
Northamerica1000 2 November 22, 2014 Oppose Successful 74
AlanM1 July 22, 2014 Support Unsuccessful 59
Acather96 December 21, 2013 Oppose Successful 89 Copyright knowledge
Miniapolis February 12, 2013 Oppose Successful 78
Salvidrim! January 13, 2013 Oppose Successful 76
TommyBoy November 14, 2012 Oppose Successful 78
Writ Keeper October 25, 2012 Oppose Successful 86 low edit count; content issues; conflict experience
QuiteUnusual October 17, 2012 Support Unsuccessful 70
Dennis Brown April 19, 2012 Oppose Successful 81
Mabdul March 26, 2012 Support Unsuccessful 68 April Fool's joke

Figures

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  •  
    Earle latch.
  •  
    Proton proton cycle SVG conversion
  •  
    Ionization energy SVG conversion with internationalization.
  •  
    SVG conversion
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    SVG text alignment test
  •  
    Early version of the exploder
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    Image of the faulty exploder
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    Mechanical drawing of the Mark 6 Mod 1 exploder.
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    Mark 6 exploder showing two positions of the detonator and safety chamber.
  •  
    1926 Mark 6 exploder prototype test shot that failed.
  •  
    1926 Mark 6 exploder prototype test shot that succeeded.
  •  
    US torpedo production during WW II
  •  
    Damage to USS Tang (SS-306) from its own torpedo
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    Internationalized graph
  •  
    TDR of step into disconnected SMA male connector
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    TDR of step into disconnected APC-7mm connector
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    TDR of step into APC-7mm precision open
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    TDR of step into APC-7mm precision load
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    TDR of step into APC-7mm precision short
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    TDR of step into APC-7mm precision open at 20 ps per division
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    TDR of step into mated BNC connector pair
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    scope and test equipment
  •  
    Sinking of Oryoku Maru
  •  
    Error plot showing experimental values of big G (stolen from NIST)
  •  
    HSK toolholder animation

Street walking

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  1. I park my car downtown and start walking to an appointment, but I notice water is welling out of the street. It makes the asphalt bubble, and standing on the bubble feels a little spongy. I continue on, but as I walk by the fire station, I report the leak. When I get back, there are barricades in place but no work crew yet. I don't know what happened, but it's fixed the next time I pass by.
  2. Just down the street from my home, a crew is working on a water main leak. It has also bubbled the asphalt, but the water is emerging at the joint between the asphalt and the concrete sidewalk. The crew wants to locate the leak, so they drill small holes in the asphalt. They've made a line of fountains, and the highest fountain is directly over the leak.
  3. I took the bus downtown, spent the day, and now I'm walking home from the bus stop. A couple blocks from home, there's a lot of water flowing in the gutter. A lot of water. And it leads just passed home. Nobody is there, so I call it in. Public Works knows about it; it's just taking time for a crew to get there. Finally, a guy starts listening for the leak. He has a stereo street stethoscope. He listens for a bit, then he moves the head resting on the street a short distance, and listens some more. He finds the location. One of the other workers wants to try it out, so the first explains what to do. And he cautions the other worker to take the stems out of his ears before moving the head.
  4. I'm walking to work from the Square, and as I reach the plaza, I notice a large crowd. I don't know what's up. As I continue down the sidewalk, a small group of people leave the plaza and head toward a car parked on the street. The timing is such that our courses intersect, and I notice it is presidential candidate Mike Dukakis. He reaches out, shakes my hand, and says, "Tell me your name." Wow, what a great thing to say. Here's a candidate who wants to know my name. It sounds incredibly personal, but I know its not.
  5. I walked my normal route to work. I took the side street, walked through somebody else's parking lot, crossed the railroad tracks at the back of the lot, and followed the right-of-way to the main drag. From there I walked into our parking lot, and just as I got to my building, one of the lab directors was escorting some VIP outside. I stared at the guy because he looked familiar, and while I was staring at him, he came over and started shaking my hand. All I could say was, "You look like Governor Jerry Brown." I'm shaking his hand, but I'm thinking I have absolutely nothing to say to ex-Governor Moonbeam.
  6. I've finished up downtown and start heading back. My path takes me by the federal courthouse. There is a gaggle of TV news crews in the courthouse breezeway. I'm curious, so I walk up to them and ask what's going on. I'm told there's going to be a verdict in the Clint Eastwood handicap-access trial. So I go through the courthouse doors, through the metal detector, and up to the courtroom. I see Eastwood and recognize the plaintiff's attorney. I'm there for the verdict in Eastwood's favor. People start filing out, but I stay and listen to a bit of the post-verdict drama. Finally, I get up, leave the courtroom, and start heading for the elevators. I press the down button, but as I wait, Clint Eastwood strolls up. He's left his attorneys behind -- they are involved in a conference at the deputy marshal's desk about 15 feet away. So I get a private audience with Eastwood for about 10 minutes. He tells me about the case, reading movie scripts, and why he decided to spend $1M to fight the case instead of letting his insurance company settle it for $50K. He cocked his finger pistol and did Dirty Harry.
  7. I'm flying out of SJC, and I'm going to take the Airporter at the Santa Clara Transit Station. As I walk up to the stop, I notice a distinguished-looking gentleman already waiting. While I'm admiring his appearance, I notice he looks familiar. Finally, it clicks. I walk up to him and suggest that he is Gerald Uelmen. He admits he is, and we start chatting. I tell myself not to bring up the O. J. Simpson murder case; it would be poor form. Instead we start talking about a local murder trial that concluded a couple days before, and Uelmen asks what I know about the case. I'd stumbled across the preliminary hearing, been intrigued by the cellphone issue, and written a letter to counsel. I found out when the D's radio expert was going to testify at trial, so I caught that -- with the added benefit of seeing the accused take the stand immediately afterward. The case solidified the notion of reasonable doubt for me. The radio testimony put him near the crime scene and away from where he said he was. Random intruders do not kill somebody in the kitchen, clean up the kitchen, and then stage the death at the bottom of the basement stairs. To be found not guilty, two unlikely events would have to have happened, and that is just not reasonable. After I say my piece, Uelmen says he's been asked to do the appeal. The bus comes, we get on, and we continue talking on our way to the terminals. Then Uelmen brings up that he coined, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit" and fed it to Johnny Cochrane. OK, OJ is on the table. I tell him he should have won the motion to exclude Mark Fuhrman's search. Uelman agrees, but then offers the insight that you take things the way they come, and that it was better that he lost his motion. If he had won the motion, then there would not have been a glove, Fuhrman would never have taken the stand, and F. Lee Bailey would not have had his cross that impeached Fuhrman.

Degrees of separation

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BW
Douglas Macarthur
PaRt
Charles A. Lockwood
P
David Paymer
Michael Douglas
Michael J. Fox
MG
Ronald Reagan
R
Charles Lindberg
Jimmy Doolittle
x
Richard Feynman
RL
Margaret Thatcher
James Stewart
Charleton Heston
Armand Hammer
WL
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Hamming
Marty, USS John C. Butler (DE-339), Battle off Samar
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