User talk:David Vasquez/March archive

Your last email
David, sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to your email. I'm swamped with midterms (I'm trying to finish a bachelor's degree that got postponed when I got involved with dotcom in the late 90s) until end of day tomorrow. Briefly though: I think you'll be able to automate weather image posting easily, I cleaned up the code and will check it in somewhere. -- IlyaHaykinson 10:23, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Thanks. &mdash; DV 19:25, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Paulrevere205
1. People are being locked up with no charges and no trials and moved to "undisclosed locations". 2. Police can come into your house(in USA),SEARCH AND SEIZE, and leave again and never tell you they were there. 3. 112 people are in jail in the USA for LIFE for SHOPLIFTING under the "3 strikes and out" laws. I believe these COULD be the early symptoms of a "police state"aka nazi/stasi in the making. Does me having this opinion mean I have an agenda? or am a democrat? If you think so,then its worse than I thought.Paulrevere2005
 * DV,Since the old afghan dope article is being scrapped, I am just putting my last response here.please just read the words.If I thought the people here were nazish,I wouldn't be here. I am just saying that today, IN MY OPINION, only the government,ala Rice,is allowed to criticize the government without assumptions being raised about the critic.If you really think about it, I think you will see that you never had any real reason to assume I have an "agenda" and that is all I was reacting to..not to you personally, but to the culture we live in. So,please just face a few facts that I think COULD mean we're headed for a police state;

I am in Canada...
because 2 years ago the U.S. Congress added my partner's name to a research scientist "blacklist". Anyone who doesn't know about Jose Padilla, the 127 other known "disappeared" plus the estimated 1,000-2,000 others who may be held by the government, and the known prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (who have yet to be charged with a prosecutable crime under international treaties to which the U.S. is party) has been willfully ignoring the mainstream media who have covered these stories; even the research scientist blacklist.

I have a friend in Seattle, a jewish gentleman who was born in Germany before WWII. His parents, a wealthy business family, moved to the U.S.A. before any hostilities broke out. They could see the danger, and they took action to protect themselves and their family. I hope I have been overly-cautious, that there is no actual danger I am avoiding - but I do sometimes attend events here with the hundreds of new ex-pat United Staters who are choosing now to live abroad in this city. - Amgine 07:34, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Amgine's user talk page. &mdash; DV 08:14, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I, too, don't like those temps... which is why I'm in Vancouver where it rarely dips below 0&deg;C for any length of time. We celebrated Winter Solstice by sailing down to Sucia Island for the weekend. (I'm told by Canadian friends that this part of the country is considered the "Florida" of the great white north.)

Personally, I love it... the city seems to cater to most of my vices. The most dangerous of which is a love of gourmet food. I couldn't be more encouraging about visiting, but don't believe the "Canada is cheap" hype; this is a large city with large city prices and an absurd real estate market. - Amgine 20:29, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Ideas for the Weather report

 * Include pollution readings..its important to old farts like me and parents of asthmatic children.epa has a cool site with hourly dataPaulrevere2005 13:42, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Polish Weathermap
I have a question regarding WeatherChecker. Would it be possible for you to make a weather map of Poland and update it, if not every hour, every 12 hours? AFAIK, we have 9 airports which monitor the weather changes, and we could use such a thing on the Polish Wikinews project. We could do it ourselves, but the program is pretty slow so far, and no one has such a powerful PC to do it by himself :P. Datrio 22:12, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Datrio's user talk page. &mdash; DV 04:16, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Hey David, thanks for the quick reply. As you said by yourself, the program loads a big weather map into memory, so it uses 1GB of RAM. No one at pl.Wikinews has such a powerful PC, and if anyone has, I'm not sure would they be able to contribute.
 * But, if it would be possible for you to make such a weather map of Poland by yourself, and upload it to Commons daily, we'd be very grateful. If you could generate first a sample map for us to see, with the weather stations across Poland checked, we'd be very happy. Regards, Datrio 14:02, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

CIA "rendition" story

 * Hi DV; I like the CIA story. I wanted to explain that I don't think the CIA is a bad outfit. I do think that SOME of the people who have been part of the CIA have been operating rogue operations from time to time which might do really nasty things like bump off a Jim Hatfield or Hunter Thompson. The Association of Former Intelligence Officers http://www.afio.com/ is a good source as sometimes these men feel guilty in their old age and come clean about things like the Gulf Of Tonkin ruse. Anyhow, just wanted to clarify, I don't believe the CIA as a whole would break american laws.Paulrevere2005

Peruvians sue Newmont Mining Company over mercury poisoning
Hey, thanks for editing my article. It looks great. --Howrealisreal 05:46, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Howrealisreal's user talk page. &mdash; DV 05:59, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Weather
I got your reply. Many thanks for putting time and energy into this. ;) -- Ran 08:53, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism
It's vandalism when Pr is purely doing it to annoy me; the article does not even remotely come close to any of the possible requirements for deletion as listed on the deletion policy page. Adding a spurious DR is just as much vandalism as any other nonsensical edit trying to disrupt the wiki. Dan100 (Talk) 10:58, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * It's fairly clear that the reason you find Paulrevere2005 so annoying is because you disagree with his politics.


 * As long as you refuse to admit you have a political agenda of your own, it's difficult to mediate the conflict between the two of you.


 * Why, you can't even bring yourself to spell out Paulrevere2005's name (what's with referring to him as "Pr"?).


 * If you feel that you need to resort to labeling Paulrevere2005's posts as vandalism, rather than engaging him in a constructive discussion, my objection stands.


 * Personally, I have found that it is more constructive to improve the articles Paulrevere2005 calls into question, rather than dismiss him out of hand. I happen to think that his methods are sloppy, but then I'm not adverse to his politics, so perhaps that allows me to be more tolerant of him.


 * As a staunch NPOV enforcer and leader of the "Wiki way", I'm surprised that you aren't more tolerant of Paulrevere2005's perspective.


 * (cc'd to Dan100's user talk page)


 * &mdash; DV 11:20, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * P.S.: Perhaps you should re-read the definition of vandalism? The word doesn't appear to be defined the way you are using it. Was Paulrevere2005's post "obscenities, namecalling, or other wholly irrelevant content"? Vandalism is not misguided or ill-considered content.

More info re; global police state. UK this time
from the bowels of the wikinews report comes this new way of dealing with uncharged "suspects".

"The Bill received Royal Assent later that day, and the first control orders, to deal with the ten suspects previously interned in HMP Belmarsh, were issued by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, immediately.

Some critics were still unhappy with the compromise reached in the evening of March 11, pointing out that the Act removes the 790-year-old principle of habeas corpus, established in Magna Carta.


 * Restrictions permitted by the Act

restrictions on the possession of specified articles or substances (such as a mobile telephone);

restrictions on the use of specified services or facilities (such as internet access);

restrictions on work and business arrangements; restrictions on association or communication with other individuals, specified or generally;

restrictions on where an individual may reside and who may be admitted to that place;

a requirement to admit specified indivuals to certain locations and to allow such places to be searched and items to be removed therefrom;

a prohibition on an individual being in specified location(s) at specified times or days;

restrictions to an individual's freedom of movement, including giving prior notice of proposed movements;

a requirement to surrender the individual's passport;

a requirement to allow the individual to be photographed;

a requirement to cooperate with surveillance of the individual's movements or communications, including electronic tagging;

a requirement to report to a specified person and specified times and places.

(above is an unsigned comment from Paulrevere2005)


 * I replied on Paulrevere2005's user talk page. &mdash; DV 12:46, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Country tallies
I indeed forgot Japan! I'm including it now... there are probably other countries which I've left out because I've just gone through major world countries or countries that came to my mind (though Japan should've come to my mind!). Hopefully, the Romania-related articles can stay ahead of China... I'm going to try to do that! As with automatic tallying, it sure would be good, but there's no way to do that, is there? Maybe we could move the page to a public location on the Wikinews namespace, like "Country coverage stats" or something like that. Cheers (and today, more Romania articles!) Ronline 06:57, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Slovakia Euro story
Nice pic of euro notes + flag - thats the sort of creativity we need more of. CGorman 21:36, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Question
Can text be lifted straight from Wikipedia into Wikinews articles? Thanks --Dpr


 * I replied on Dpr's (aka 70.57.139.181) user talk page. &mdash; DV 10:41, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Wikinews writing contest launched
Dear David Vasquez,

thanks for registering for the Wikinews writing contest! It now begins officially. Every day, I will try to make a tally of who has and who has not managed to fulfill their story/day requirements. If you do, however, believe I am missing something, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best of luck in the contest!--Eloquence 06:20, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Weather Globe
David, You probably would not only want West and East arrows on the globe, but North and South as well. Aliter 12:44, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Aliter(I choose to remain anonymous.)

Question about images
David &mdash; was there a reason that the weather images are not replacing each other (i.e. not being uploaded over the old ones, and instead have a new name each time)? I am hoping to implement the marketdatabot now, but would like to just replace images, for now, so as to not have too many of the old versions around. -- IlyaHaykinson 08:13, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Followed up in discussion on #wikinews. It appears that the proxy image caching may prevent reliable presentation of the latest version of an image to all viewers. &mdash; DV 10:15, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

well ya learn somethin' every day
Fancy that. Wiktionary agrees with you and dictionary.com, so who am i to argue. Well, well; just goes to show the stupidity of prescriptive grammars i guess. The bellman 12:53, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on The bellman's user talk page. &mdash; DV 13:01, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Federal marshals seize killer beds
INRE: Federal marshals seize killer beds: I am thisclose to putting a Wackynews cat on that story. :-) -- Davodd | Talk 21:50, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Davodd's user talk page. &mdash; DV 23:57, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

WikiNews Video Broadcast
I would highly reccomend that if this becomes a reality, you use bittorrent as one of the methods to distribute the videos. I found Kedora TV which uses some magical RSS stuff to distribute new videos via bittorrent, they seem to be interesting and have a channel on Freenode, so using them might be beneficial. Just my thoughts, though. --me at work 19:23, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Bittorrent is cool and all, but have you checked out MPEGNation? I think they might be more reliable. &mdash; DV 21:01, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Re: Sometimes boring is good
I was being somewhat sarcastic and just saying that I personally preferred the serious title to the sillier ones. I'd have no problem with one of the sillier ones if that's what people vote for, it's a rather minor issue in the bigger scheme of things. - VF 11:28, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Original reporting barnstar


For adding the photos to the story that shall not be named, I award you the first original reporting barnstar. Congratulations, and may your work inspire other Wikinewsies to follow up on weird, odd or disgusting incidents in their neighbourhood.--Eloquence 15:09, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Eloquence's user talk page. &mdash; DV 14:21, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Taiwan story
I added some things to yours....we can dispose of my original one. Thanks! 70.57.139.181 10:56, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on User 70.57.139.181's user talk page. &mdash; DV 11:02, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Its cool
Coolies, its 2moro over here so i was too tired to bother looking for a forbidden city photo. Thanks for doing the foot work for me. ~The bellman | Smile 14:16, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Subheads
Thanks DV, that's a great idea. - VF 15:01, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Roger, DV
You are fast...in the time it took me to walk to the mailbox you had the whole enchalada nailed...Thanks! I sent you an email. I don't know if it ever made it so let me know and I'll e-ya again. --Alan J. Franklin 22:04, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Alan J. Franklin's user talk page. &mdash; DV 22:22, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

See also, wikinews template
I noticed the wikinews template, great idea. Also, I know that See also is the proper phrase according to the style guide, though I do keep mixing them up. Thanks for pointing it out, though. - VF 23:21, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Taiwan 326 event
Greetings!! It is great to hear that there will be a news report on this protest. I will see what I can do. But no guarantee though.:)Mababa 04:47, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I replied on Mababa's user talk page. &mdash; DV 04:51, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

importance of -See also- link formating
Thanks for explaining in one of your story edits the reason for using the new formating template. If my understanding is correct, user 'clicks' to these links will build a 'hits' record that search engines will use as a criteria for listing the relavance of an article.



The usage of this format to cite previous Wikinews stories is critical for that particular article, and Wikinews as a whole, to show up on the radar screen of results delivered to internet search inquiries.

I am begining to understand that a 'house style' citing previous news pieces could at Wikinews give the interested reader and researcher a historical record of "at the moment" perceptions of unfolding news that rivals --> indeed surpasses <-- the relavance of Wikipedia. -edw 15:27, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Adminship
You're up (<-- comment left by The Bellman)


 * I replied on that page. &mdash; DV 14:17, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Forget administrator - you should run for political office with a response like that. ;-) -- Davodd | Talk 17:29, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Image click link / image redirects
Hi Davodd,

I wrote up some notes in response to your request for "image click link" or what I call "image redirects", over on the technical section of the water cooler.

I really enjoy adding images to Wikinews, so image redirects are the single most important feature I would like to see on Wikinews. I'm glad to see other contributors asking for this feature. I would also like to use it for some nice typography and background graphics for the subject and region links, if we eventually start breaking up the "Latest news" section into sub-sections, like they use on CNN. (I think someone proposed this general idea somewhere already, but I can't find the link at the moment.)

By the way, that scrolling box on your user page made it much easier to navigate the contents. I might steal that for my rather lengthy user page.

Cheers,

&mdash; DV 17:04, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

P.S.: I promise not to invoke Godwin's law on you. :)
 * 1. ROTFL at the P.S.
 * 2. It would be intuitive to make a story thumbnail image directly link to its accompanying story - or category. I don't know how many times a week I click on the image instead of the link.
 * 3. I believe the subject headers proposal you mentioned is here: Water_cooler
 * -- Davodd | Talk 17:29, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for helping me learn, DV

 * One of my favorite things about all of the Wikisites is the interaction with other Wiki-pros. I'm sure we will have lots of chances to share ideas. I'm glad I caught you on chat. Take care amigo ;-) --Alan J. Franklin 00:19, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)