User talk:GRAHAMUK/Archive

Hi Graham, welcome to the 'pedia. I think I've seen your contributions around the place, under IP numbers, before. Nice work on the TSR-2 just now. It looks as though you have adopted List of aircraft: great! That particular orphan needs some care and attention. Keep up the good work, anything you need to know, just ask. Cheers -- Tannin 11:59 May 12, 2003 (UTC)

Hi Graham, welcome from me too. I've just noticed that in the Rally principles and definitions article that you've written at least one bit is written from a first person perspective; For the novice, the only modifications I recommend are.... I think that it is felt that it is more encyclopaedic to write things like Modifications often made by novices... or Advice given to novices often includes... so that it comes across as fact rather than personal advice. There are a wealth of pages around about how to write the perfect article (I'm not suggesting you read them all, I cartainly haven't!), two of the most useful though are Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines and Wikipedia:Manual of Style which you may like to have a quick look at. Have fun editing -- Ams80 08:48 May 13, 2003 (UTC)

Hello there GRAHAMUK, I notice you've already been welcomed by 2 other users, but I will provide you with my standard user greeting, b/c it provides some useful links: welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you ever need editing help visit Wikipedia:How does one edit a page and experiment at Wikipedia:Sandbox. If you need pointers on how we title pages visit Wikipedia:Naming conventions. If you have any other questions about the project then check out Wikipedia:Help or add a question to the Village pump. MB 14:10 15 May 2003 (UTC)

Your picture of the Vx Magnum says "used with permission", but whose permission? We really like to know where all the pictures come from. Please let us know where the picute came from, and how you got permission to use it here. LDC

Well, I used to be the editor of the DSG's quarterly journal the Droop Snoot Noos, and obtained a great collection of stuff from Vauxhall publicity etc, with carte blanche rights to use the pictures as I saw fit (basically, it was such an old model that the company didn't mind how it was used). If you don't think this is adequate or fair use, I can substitute one of my own photographs (as for other images I've uploaded) but I don't have them to hand so it will be a few weeks.GRAHAMUK 07:18 23 May 2003 (UTC)

Graham -- I put in a short listing for Blackpool Pleasure Beach, just to get the ball rolling. It was really difficult to get any historical info on the internet, and I'm an American amusement park buff, not really up on the British parks. ridetheory~

I hear Little Plumpton is nice this time of year! -- goatasaur 07:20 4 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I think the mathematical proof of the existence of Ley lines is interesting, but I am not so sure if it works on the surface of a geoid as non-euclidean maths applies there.Harry Potter 00:24 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Good point, though I'm not responsible for the maths anyway, that was User Talk:The Anome. However, ley lines were "discovered" by consulting a map, and a map is a 2 dimensional representation of the surface of a geoid, therefore the alignments apply according to the projections used for the map, so personally I feel the maths is valid. But then again, I very firmly do NOT believe in the existence of ley lines, so maybe I'm more inclined to accept evidence against than evidence for... your mileage may vary!

I thought you might be interested in the opinion poll going on now at Talk:Clitoris. MB 18:11 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Nice work on Metalworking and the related articles. Not at all my area of expertise, but clearly topics that we need to cover. I hope someone can dig up drawings of the various tools and machines from old books. cheers -- Tarquin 12:45 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Hi Grahamuk, thanks for the nice work on capstan and winch. I am not entirely sure about the terminology, though. The things that you find on large ships (for mooring lines, anchors etc) are winches in the sense you described, but the "winches" on yachts would be classified as capstans by your terminology. I believe, however, that they are almost always called winches. But I could be mistaken (am no native English speaker, and my yachting experience has been mostly in Skandinavia). Will do some research, hopefully, but it would be nice if you had references or personal experience. Cheers, Kosebamse 08:58, 22 Aug 2003 (UTC)

BTW, the "which feels a bit dubious as a bit of commercial plugging" in your FooBar edit comment is wrong IMO since FooBar is free (oh and I just remembered the page has been written by me : this is wrong lol). SeeSchloß 00:20, 24 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Hopefully, you will still be able to sleep tonight after learning that the CMS now opines that the

"old meaning of the word ("in a hopeful manner") seems unsustainable; the newer meaning "("I hope" or "it is to be hoped") seems here to stay. But many careful writers deplore the new meaning",

sustained by the knowledge that it has stood firm on its use of it's. I fear they would have defended Tori Amos literally inventing a type of glue, as it's not an oxymoronic or metaphorical sense: still the article is better off sans literally. To complete your horror I should inform you that an editorial appeared in a British paper within the past month (I can't recall, which, sadly) which predicted that the widespread diffidence about the its/it's distinction would inevitably lead to the disappearance of all apostrophes from English... ah, well. -- Someone else 04:33, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Ah, well, indeed... ;-) Actually I hope I'm not too much of a grammar Nazi, I can't claim to be letter perfect myself. However, some particular things just leap off the page at me sometimes and literally is often one of them. Hopefully is one that is less glaring - I can live with it - its abuse is very widespread, and it's hard to explain what the problem is to most people, unlike literally, which is easy. Anyway, I thought a page for such common abuses would be handy - hopefully people will extend it to become a lot more useful. GRAHAMUK 04:41, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I agree, I hid the CMS's capitulation well away from the page in question<G>. As long as no one touches comprised/composed and infer/imply, I remain (hopefully) happy. <G>-- Someone else 04:57, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Lol - thanks! Infer/imply, thanks for reminding me, I'll add that one too.... GRAHAMUK 05:18, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Hi Grahamuk ! Good to hear you defend the Uni. like a good alumni should, of course i was having a dig, i love . Besides i did deliver a paper for a conferencwe there last year, so perhaps i ought to take my cap off and tug forelock " thank 'e kindly'. AS i live a 5 minute ride aawy from campus i often 'get off my arse' ( what a genteel way of putting it) and toddle up there. It's just the constant refurbishing and 'yuppification' of the campus i can't stand. i have met students and not nervous first year freshers either who hardly geyt off their arse to visit the city. I just wish that a better relationship had been forged years ago between town and gown, that ofr norwich should have had a Uni years ago,. Have you seen the new book out on the history of UEA. It is extremely informative. Yeah, i know i sound horribly parochial and nimbyish about 'metics' or resident alien refugees from distant London, but often these are the people who are ex[ploiting my home City to make a fast buck. You obviously pay a great compliment to my mothe rCity when you choose to re-locate here. The Crime-rate's low, the air's relatively okay, the centre is walkable and there is a fantastic hinterland of over 1oo miles of coast-line. (on a clear day you can see John Major's Ranch' from way over the marshes). On the minus side because of these enormous benefits of less chance of being mugged late at night walking round the city centre than in London and a slower pace of life de-stressing you helping you live long, you have also for these benefits chosen to live in a relatively low-paid region and always has been because of these 'benefits'. Only joking about it all Grahamuk, honest :), just looking for feedback!! i hate monoculture golf courses too! I just wish the proletariat which surround the campus by their 1000's occasionally went on campus and felt that it was there Uni. too to be proud and of course there is much to be proud of about UEA old alumnus, mate. My real gripe is that my particular passion , Sir T.B. has the victim of neglect and erroneous, ahistorical 'politically correct' misinformation propogated and disseminated by UEA prof's, if you please that's when i get wound up about my European cultural heritage being disrespected by visiting and sojourning profs. Fortunately however the late and great MaX Sebald addressed that wrong in his 'Rings of Saturn'. I am always interested in communicating to old UEa students especially if they work for the 'pedia.Norwikian 08:54, 4 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I started editing Airspeed Indicator casually because I saw it on recent changes. You are correct that the second word should not be capitalized. I will merge the new content when I have the time, and also check out the list of aviation topics that you mentioned.

Louis Kyu Won Ryu 15:38, 15 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Lawn mower and Lawnmower are now duplicates :c, may want to try and merge Dysprosia 11:37, 18 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Ah bugger it! ;-) I thought my search was reasonable - overlooked the most obvious!! Yes, I'll merge - the original is better than mine anyhoo. GRAHAMUK 11:40, 18 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for the note on the Court Line colors. Being a Cannuck I never saw one, but in every other picture it's gold/orange so I simply assumed that the scan was a bad one.

Hi, I was just reading through your user page and I was puzzled to see that there is a professional programmer in Armidale, I never saw it coming, I thought the closest thing to coding in Armidale was teaching ones sheep dog. But I shouldn't really pick on you for it, it makes sence that you would move to armidale after coming from England so you can get used to the accent and culture of Australia without giving up the depressing weather and "quaint old-world charm" (read dying rural hole with nothing much going for it).

If you are wondering why your town is being verbally assulted by a guy who you don't even know, I am from Coffs Harbour, and have a my town's reputation to uphold by slandering the surrounding cities :-).

scarlet 18:07, 23 Oct 2003 (EAST)

I noticed that you commented on some controversial computing issues. There's now a new Wikipedia:WikiProject Computing and Wikipedia:WikiProject Computing/Controversial articles to help form consensus on computing topics. Please consider watching the talk pages there and using them to let others know of issues you believe merit peer review. JamesDay 15:42, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Hi Graham!
Thanks for the correction to the ridiculous Corsa date. I was sleepy and saw the B at the start of the reg and looked up the date for that! Nice to know someone is watching me.
Best Wishes,Adrian Pingstone 09:20, 30 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Hey, no problem - easy mistake to make ;-) Reminds me of the time I took my HPF (see Vauxhall Firenza - the pic is, or was, my car) for its MOT. The guy wouldn't pass it because it didn't meet the CO emission requirement of 0.5% - try as he might he could only tune it down to 0.6%. Turns out he took one look at the 'G' at the beginning of the number plate and thought it was a 1990 car! I know it looks modern for its age, but that's ridiculous, it was 25 years old at the time! Considering that, 0.6% CO is bloody impressive - 1974 cars only have to meet a 2% limit. GRAHAMUK

You seem to be holding your own pretty well in Reference (computer science). Let me know if you grow tired of the constant edits, or do what I do and step back for a few days, then take care of it in one go...:) JamesDay 03:50, 1 Nov 2003 (UTC)

But I am not expecting anyone to be holding. Well, and you guys don't want me to talk anywhere though. -- Taku

Hi Graham, I noticed a conflagration you had recently with User:195.92.67.70 over the Long Crendon page; I've just got rid of some nonsense they created on the Shabbington page too. I don't if they have done this to any others, but it might be worth checking. I'll keep watch on the two pages I've just corrected to make sure they don't get vandalised again... Another Graham  :) 00:11, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Hi Graham, thanks for the message on my talk page. Eventually I aim to create an article for every place in Buckinghamshire... no mean feat I can assure you. Please feel free to add what you can remember from your time in HW! The other Graham  :) 00:23, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Can you offer any evidence of your sense of "Blowing Rock" being more widespread than, say, A. Huxley's expression "pulling a slight Holy Father"? My Google search is not definitively negative, since excluding "NC" and "North Carolina" kills only 80% of the 100k hits on the geographic senses, but it is far from offering evidence of significance.--Jerzy 06:35, 2003 Dec 1 (UTC)

I'd have thought its euphemistic sense was self evident. I've heard it used in the UK occasionally, though it's certainly an Americanism. The original movie Airplane! uses it this way too, even going so far as to name the inflatable emergency co-pilot "Rock" just as a set-up to this joke ("you mean - we are going to have to..... Blow Rock!!???"). Other than this rather anecdotal evidence though I can't point to any reference that includes this usage.GRAHAMUK 11:03, 1 Dec 2003 (UTC)

In ref to the hacking page, none of the other entries are encyclopedic, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary. --Imran

Fair comment. The response in that case it to make note of that on the article's talk page and set up a dialogue to resolve the problem. Simply overwriting with an inferior and more limited version of your own device doesn't do that, and pisses people off no end. There are points in your version that can be incorporated, but I'd like to see the origin of the term (blade) and other meanings (horses, slang) incorporated as well. There is more to life than computers. GRAHAMUK 23:24, 3 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Tnx for the Clockwork edits, all but two of which i immediately found myself sympathizing with.

1. "Eh! another jerk who doesn't know the difference between 'hence' and 'whence'!" But you DO, and the difference between your dash and the other guy's comma makes all the difference. Bravo.
2. I specifically changed "countries" to "settings" bcz the Third World has plenty of sophisticated cosmopolites, with access to all the batteries they need, if not their own diesel generators in the back yard. "Settings" is the first way i thot of avoiding the equivalent of 1st-Worlders who ask, agape, "Why aren't you wearing your native garb?" Surely it is not the only way; is there another wording that meets whatever your objection to "settings" is, without being so broad-brush as "countries"? --Jerzy 00:42, 2003 Dec 10 (UTC)

Absolutely fair comment. It was just a knee-jerk reaction since 'settings' sounds a bit unusual. Happy to leave it at that! GRAHAMUK 01:23, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Oh, I thought you'd already changed it but apparently not - see if my change is OK. GRAHAMUK 01:26, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

[Chuckle] I was still thinking abt alternatives to "setting", and grousing about your not offering any. I had decided "situation" was little less unusual, but thot i'd mull a little longer before deciding. But we definitely have to stop meeting like this, and like "mains". [smile] Tnx again.--Jerzy 01:40, 2003 Dec 10 (UTC)

This email got bounced back by your IP..

> Hi Graham, > > We briefly "met" over some article before,

On that brief note to start with, he's back. Check out the Shabbington and Long Crendon pages. Sure is an adamant little bunny rabbit, I'll give him that...

> but I > just wanted to say I read your very brave and frank > account on your user page, and I was moved to > contact you privately. While my own experiences no > way compare with yours, I too suffered greatly from > bullying at school. Fortunately in my case it tailed > off naturally so it didn't end up being such a soul > destroying experience for me. What is up with that? > Is there some instinct among young people that > differences should be ridiculed and squished out at > all costs? Or is it just that few people teach their > kids that differences are to be celebrated? My own > experiences happened in the 70s - I'd sort of hoped > that modern kids might be a bit more enlightened but > alas your more recent experiences shows that isn't > the case. Anyway, I wish you luck and hope you find > great happiness in life, and that you aren't too > cynical or bitter about the past. Things generally > do get better as you get older, I've found - seems > like things are looki > ng up for you too. >

As a youth worker today it frustrates me that bullying is still not taken seriously. It does ruin lives, and yet there are still schools in Aylesbury prepared to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it isn't happening.

I was comforting a distressed mother on Friday whose 17 year old daughter is on the brink of suicide following bullying at the all girls grammar school in Aylesbury. The school's reaction has been, so far, to not do anything about it, even though the mother has put in a complaint to the LEA over their actions.

It's a sad world.

> regards, Graham (edit WP as GRAHAMUK, my email is > [email protected]). > > PS. Enjoying your articles on Bucks villages, etc. > >

Thanks. Feel free to add to them at any time...

Graham  :)

Francs2000 11:13, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)