User talk:GRAHAMUK

Older stuff from this page can be read at User talk:GRAHAMUK/Archive.

Please add new stuff to the bottom of the page, where I can find it, thanks!! (Except for extending existing discussions)

Utility vehicle

Graham, thanks very much for your thoughtful comments on Motorway.
A fuller reply is on User talk:Arpingstone
Best Wishes, Adrian. Adrian Pingstone 08:44, 31 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies; didn't plan to offend with my ABBA edits. I found the page too wordy (it is over 30KB) and wanted to make it read better. nedward 22:17, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC) (edited to sound less annoyed than I was last night)

Many thanks for your assistance with the vinyl roof page. I knew that some European cars were sold in the US with vinyl, but didn't know whether they appeared in their home market that way, so I thought I'd better stay away from the issue. I hope somebody can contribute something on Japanese models, too. I wasn't sure anybody would read this, let alone edit it, to tell you the truth. I'm the only person I know of who understands all the vinyl roof styles; even true car freaks' eyes tend to glaze over if you get too far into it. So I'm happy to have passed this ancient lore on to at least one willing reader! :-) RivGuySC 16:41, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Danger of Pointers

I noticed your edit to the reference (computer science) page. While I certainly like pointers and don't want to give them a bad name, and while the word dangerous is admittedly POV, I think the remaining text puts them in a very optimistic light - it makes it sound as though pointers are the only references worth using. We need to explain somehow why someone would ever prefer another type of reference over pointers. Part of explaining this would probably involve explaining the references featured in a number of languages and their advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any other suggestions?

Derrick Coetzee 04:00, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

To my mind, this article needs an overhaul. I have tried in the past, but I got fed up because of others constantly undoing my work. While I don't mind that to some extent, after a while it gets tedious so I gave up. Certain subjects seem guaranteed to cause controversy and computer science topics seem to be one if them. This article has been merged, demerged and merged again, rewritten, sent in, sent back, subject to public enquiry, and buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.... ;-) personally I feel the demerged version, split into pointers, handles, smart pointers, etc. would be beneficial, with references as a broad overview briefly explaining each but acting as an index to the other articles. That way we can give each the proper treatment. That's my opinion - others obviously feel otherwise. Graham 04:17, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

That sounds good to me, except that I think there's enough to say about pointers that they're better off having their own article with just a link. Also, pointer is a likely topic people will look up directly. But other reference concepts should probably just be talked about in the reference article. I'd also like to mention somewhere how references relate to garbage collection. I admit I was responsible for the last overhaul on reference, and I'd like to avoid any future conflict over the article. I think references are a very important topic to treat correctly, since they're perhaps the most important fundamental building block of most data structures, along with records. Derrick Coetzee 18:51, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I totally agree. Pointer should have its own article - it's likely that people will look for that first, since you already need to know quite a bit of CS to know that "reference" is a superset of the concept... as I said, this is much closer to how it was a while ago. I wish you luck with a rewrite - I am happy to help, though be prepared for some of the CS zealots to mangle it severely. I sometimes think that some of the geeks don't understand what an encyclopedia is for, and want to rewrite this as their favourite text book ;-) Graham 23:20, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Irony

Sorry for the long delay, I've been busy enjoying life in the outside world. Having friends and relatives living or studying in Armidale, I have doubts as to whether that place qualifies. One of the poor sods is flying back there from the UK today.

'Ford may only have a 33% stake in Mazda (fer chrissake), but I'd still like to know what is "ironic" about the two cars being based on the same platform.'

My point was, that whereas there are Fords based on Mazda platforms there are virtually no Mazdas based on Ford platforms, certainly not in the Asia Pacific. You're more likely to find a Ford in Australia badged as a Nissan than as a Mazda.

Having lived and travelled in the Asia Pacific region (Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand) before you lobbed there, I can attest to this.

Mazda has retained completely separate R&D facilities from Ford, so has never needed to source products from Ford up to now, with the exception of the Ford Fiesta, sold as a Mazda 121 in Europe and a Mazda Soho in South Africa.

As for the "irony" of used Vauxhalls being sold in Ireland and new unoffically imported Opels being sold in the UK, it is ironic in that the two countries chose different GM brands, and yet those brands they discontinued still appear in the marketplace. Similarly in New Zealand, Opel-badged cars imported from Japan abound, despite GM's decision to adopt the Holden brand name for all cars sold in the land where Australians fear to tread ten years ago.

"I will hunt down and destroy all misuse of this word!!"

No need, I did it already, on the grounds that its a cliche and sounds too journalistic.

I understand what you're saying about the cars, but i still don't see that there is any irony there anywhere. It's just the result of the dull and relentless process of thousands of business decisions. I'm also a little offended by your comment about Armidale, I suggest you spend some time here instead of relying on prejudice. Graham 05:55, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Macs vs PCs, the tired old debate

You want the answer to the popularity of Windows? Money. Macs are expensive and always will be. By contrast, complete bundles of PCs are seen as low as $300. I personally think Macs will disappear in the end, because the cost to profit ratio will become too high, but that apple will continue to make products like the ipod and sell songs over itunes. As to the edit, Rhobite changed some things (people are always messing with things just to relfect their own POV--it drives me up the wall)--naryathegreat 00:24, Aug 13, 2004 (UTC)

Glad you got your edit fixed. As for expensive, it's all relative. Personally I find Macs highish priced to buy but they last 5 years before they need replacing and they don't cost much to run in terms of support, software upgrades, licensing, new mother boards, video cards, etc. etc. To be honest I've heard this argument now for more than twenty years and it's just a kind of continual background noise. Apple are still here, they are doing much, much better now than they were 6 or 7 years ago, and judging by the number of hits I get on various websites I run, the market share is growing faster than the sales figures would tend to suggest. (About 6% overall for Mac). I don't think Macs will disappear but then again I don't think they'll ever take on Windows in the home/office space. Instead I think Apple will become the new Silicon Graphics - the high end professional video/film/sound/CGI market and the other 5-10% of users who care about good design. The professional software range points this way. Again it's a tired comparison but apt - there are far more Fords than Mercedes on the road, but no-one thinks Mercedes is "dying" because it only has 5% market share. Both do the same essential job, with much the same set of features in all the same places, but there is no doubt that a Mercedes is a better quality (and more expensive) product. As for the iPod, it will be Apple's bread and butter product for the average Joe - I wouldn't mind betting that in the end iPod is spun off into a separate company. To me, it's hard to get too religious about it - it's just a computer. Use what you want to use.Graham 00:44, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

On another note, the reason you have to restart Windows to "install" a font is because Windows loads such things (but especially drivers for hardware) at startup. Conflicts between loading drivers are what cause problems on many PCs. I think Mac does it as its used.--naryathegreat 03:39, Aug 13, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for editing my criticism part at the Apple article, but it would be nice if you add a more aggressive view ;-)

No it wouldn't. The comments you made were totally unjustified and rather juvenile. Apple has been criticised for a variety of things, but not for its attacks on Microsoft, nor for "stealing" its OS from OpenBSD. I mean, how ridiculous does that sound? Clearly you haven't the slightest grasp on the facts. However, it's a moot point because the key philosophy on Wikipedia is a neutral point of view. If you're serious about getting involved, why not create yourself a user name and read up the various pages on what this is all about.Graham 23:20, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Quoting Code

If you start a line

with a space, it displays in monospace font, appropriate for code

It reads better in the wikitext also. Dysprosia 00:46, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Ah OK, I didn't know that. All the examples I could find (and there are many, including all those on the "how to edit" page), use pre and nowiki. Seems OK now, though what exactly is wrong with pre and nowiki anyway?Graham 23:28, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Simply because using a space before a line is easier to read and write. Using the Wiki formatting over HTML is generally preferred. Dysprosia 20:51, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

VOR rotating signal

Hi,

I noticed that you have added to the VOR section a statment that most VORs use phased-array antennas to rotate the AM signal. I've never checked this, but I was under the impression that the majority of VOR transmitters (here in the USA, anyway) used mechanical rotation. The high-accuracy VOR transmitters use an antenna array.

Is there a reference for the statement that the majority of VORs are phased array?

Thanks,

flightinstructor

I'll have to check to be certain. Though the VORs I have seen in the UK definitely have no moving parts. Even from the air it's clear they consist of a fixed circle characteristic of a phased array - like a mini FLR-9. But I will see if I can find a more authoritative reference.Graham 07:17, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Okey doke, I have done a bit of poking around. It's amazing what you can learn! Seems most UK installations are of the type known as DVOR - Doppler VOR, whereas the US ones are an older type known as CVOR - conventional VOR, which uses a rotating element. the DVOR uses a phased array, but has the disadvantage of being quite a large structure - see pics in ref below. I found a number of references on line including some from equipment manufacturers, but perhaps one of the best in terms of overall accessibility, nice pics and general geekiness is this one [1]. Seems to me there is a fair bit of info here that could be worked into the article.Graham 05:20, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

HH Magic Roundabout

You wrote on Roundabout intersection that the magic roundabout in Hemel Hempstead has been reduced from 6 exits to 5. I haven't been that way in quite a while: which exit have they closed off? --Phil | Talk 10:43, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)

The Marlowes exit has been removed. It's been that way for ages - ever since the BP building was demolished in the 80s, but for years the sub roundabout remained. A few years ago they eradicated it altogether. I haven't been there in a while either (being in Australia) but that whole area still looks like a wasteland as far as I know - they really should develop it, it looks so shabby.Graham 23:20, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Bezier curve

Hi, I have rewritten the section ==Applications in computer graphics== to include the material I removed earlier from the Bezier curve article. Please give me your comment what you think about the article now. I know my rewrite was quite radical but I thought the article was in very bad shape. The definition is quite mathematical and probably hard to understand for most people. But the section examples and applications in computer graphics should make up for this.MathMartin 15:08, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Sydney

Want to join? I'm still formulating policy. Incidently, there is a message board Wikipedia:Australian wikipedians' notice board - Ta bu shi da yu 06:09, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Welcome! Good to see you on board - don't worry if you don't know much about Sydney, I'm sure you'll be able to help us in plenty of ways :-) Ta bu shi da yu 04:43, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Vauxhall Magnum

Hullo Graham. No problem, I'm quite happy that you reverted. In my defence the pic does look greatly improved on my 19 inch CRT monitor. I let the pic go large deliberately because I understand pic size is no longer an issue so I let pics go up to 200K. For your interest the colour change was done in Photoshop (IMAGE/ADJUST/AUTOLEVELS) and it looks like I should have been content with a gentler colour change. Best - Adrian Pingstone 07:24, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I did the pic originally in Photoshop (Mac version), and I agree it looks a little washed out - if I get time I'll see if I can improve it, though i find autolevels can sometimes go way too far depending on the image. Some manual tweaks might be worthwhile, I'll try. As for size, did the pic size policy get changed? There's still download time/cost to consider and to me 200K sounds too large. Even 100K is a biggish hit on dial-up.Graham 11:39, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hi! In future I'll be gentler on any colour corrections I might do!

I've revisited Image use policy and this is the seems to be the only bit on file sizes:

The MediaWiki software that Wikipedia uses, as of version 1.3, can resize images automatically. It is no longer necessary, in most cases, to resize images yourself. We want Wikipedia content to be reused as widely as possible, including as a source for printed media. Therefore, you should generally upload photographic images at a high resolution and use the Wikipedia image markup to resize it.

The only restriction is that uploaded files must be smaller than 2 megabytes. The software will warn "It is recommended that images not exceed 100KB in size" whenever you upload larger images, but with proper use of thumbnails, this warning may safely be ignored.

I've bolded the particularly relevant bits.

Obviously this takes no regard to load times, which I tend to forget about because I've got always-on broadband - Adrian Pingstone 14:23, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Comparison of operating systems firmware

I removed the firmware row since it's a feature of the hardware, not the OS. Alas, when an OS is ported to a new platform it almost never gets to bring its old firmware with it :)

But the comparison info was interesting and should live somewhere; I just can't see where. I'm nervous about suggesting Yet Another Comparison article since they at the rate we are going we'll have hundreds of them by Christmas.. but if anyone does create Comparison of computer platforms or some such then we'll have some content for it on hand. Saucepan 15:09, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Apple Mac talk page

Hi Graham,

Thanks for pointing out on Talk: Apple Macintosh that:

However, it's unusual to ever delete stuff from a talk page - I think that's discouraged simply because it avoids old arguments being rehashed.

I'm a newbie so I may inadvertently due very foolish newbie things; don't hesitate to point out if I do anything strange/foolish. I've been more or less going by common sense and some understanding of the guidelines, but I guess a more thorough reading of Wikipedia:Talk_page is needed. --Chan-Ho Suh 00:53, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)

Hey, no worries. I archived the page, I hope that satisfies everyone. As for adding stuff to the top, no worries either, I just happened to add the note at about the same time you moved yours, it wasn't a rebuke. Graham 02:25, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Official invitation

Hi!

This is a message to let you know that there is now a UK-specific Wikipedia community page at Wikipedia:UK wikipedians' notice board. It would be great if you could come and get involved! -- Graham ☺ | Talk 23:01, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Folk and fake etymology

I've taken on fixing up folk etymology vs fake etymology, mostly by making folk etymology strict to the linguistics term and pushing the rest over to fake etymology (and fixing all of the inbound links that went to the wrong one). I noticed you'd mentioned the difference before on fake etymology's talk page so I thought I'd leave a note. A second set of eyes on folk etymology from someone that understands the difference couldn't hurt either, if you've got a moment. — mendel ☎ 02:48, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Cooties

Hey there, hope I didn't offend or anything by cutting out the Simpsons reference from the article. I've just been trying to go around Wikipedia to take out a lot of unnecessary Simpsons/Futurama/other shows references in totally non-related articles (check the history of Gator, for instance). However, I'm not quite sure I agree with its inclusion in that article, as its claim as being an "American" term already spells out that fact. Is there a UK-equivalent word for "cooties"? Otherwise, bang-up job on the article. Ian Pugh 04:04, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, it has been worked on by others, though I did create it originally. Why? Because I kept hearing the term on The Simpsons and had no idea what they were talking about! So I did a bit of research and that's how the article came to be added. I do think The Simpsons mention is relevant, since a quick poll among friends (not hard evidence, but at least anecdotal) suggest that yes, a lot of people had heard the term on that show, but otherwise didn't know what it was taking about. You could still argue that mentioning The Simpsons isn't necessary, but on the other hand a) it does no harm b) it adds a little bit of colour to the article and c) it helps confirm the reason that many people might go looking for the term in the first place. That's my view, but to be honest it doesn't seem too big a deal either way. Given that wikipedia osn't paper, what's wrong with so many references to The Simpsons anyway? In pop culture, it will probably be come to be seen as an important "work" Graham 22:31, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There's some truth in that - as the show has since become a major source of pop culture and has had great impact on society. However, I've been removing references where the level of granularity to the references becomes ridiculous, such as this quote from Emu: "In an episode of the television series The Simpsons, Marge suggests to Homer that he could raise emus." Through your explanation, "cooties" seems like a viable place for such a reference, but for the most part, the appearance of minor quotes and references in unrelated articles damages their credibility and readability. Ian Pugh 23:32, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Please vote

Hello, I see you've contributed a lot to Wikipedia and know about which articles are encyclopedic or not. Can you please help by voting at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/La La? Cheers. .:. 03:10, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Contact points

Interesting coincidences. I just noticed that you made a correction, after my update, to the Enigma Variations page (I can't believe I missed the "Neath"). Well, I too work in the computer industry, am a private pilot, lived in Wycombe (actually Hazlemere) and emigrated - in 1983, to the US. I got my PPL recently in the Pacific Northwest (yes, I work at MS). "Ordinary" planes are a it easier to deal with here. Some kind of remote cousin?

I was just looking at the various and inconsistent pages describing the various US pilot ratings and I thought I'd take a swipe at them.

Well.. Hi, Cuz ;) maybe you should sign your posts...? How's Seattle after Wycombe? I must say living out here in the Australian countryside, nice weather (mostly), great food, much less stress (and need I mention infinitely less congestion in the air) - hardly compares. My interest in W.M.B. (apart from enjoying Elgar's music) stems from the fact that as a youngster my family lived in Hasfield, in one of the Meath-Baker's properties, which was later occupied by WMB's grand-daughter (I think). I can't find much about him on the net, most searches turn up the Elgar connection, with a few about his connection to Fenton, Staffordshire. However he seems an interesting character so if I can dig up a bit more there's sure to be an article in it.

P.S. How's it going copying OS X? :) Graham 01:20, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Oh well, I'm new to this thing. Wycombe, then Hail Weston, then Boston area, and finally here. At least the weather here is familiar to any Brit.

I know, this isn't meant to be a chat board.

P.P.S We didn't copy OS X. We copied VMS. DavidBrooks 20:51, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Apple talk page

Hi Graham, I saw your refactoring on Talk:Apple and your comment in history before. I don't get it.

(rv to last version by Chan-Ho Suh - what's the point of bringing back all that old archived stuff?)

after I

RESTRUCTURE

After the archiving you did there is not much difference on the final page, but I just wanted to be sure I didn't miss anything, and you simply misunderstood my edit (otherwise, what did I bring back?).

Sending you some of my moderating courage for this page ;) --Chealer 01:18, 2004 Dec 8 (UTC)

Yeah, sorry - I got a bit confused myself!! When I saw your restructure, it made some of the stuff that I'd considered old and done with "come back" quite prominently - my recollection was that this had been previously archived off. In fact I was mistaken - the archiving I recalled related to another page, this one hasn't been previously archived. So that prompted me to create the archive and move most of the older stuff into it. If you feel I was a bit too keen then feel free to move back anything you think is still an open discussion. Graham 01:29, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Article Licensing

Hi, I've started a drive to get users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) v1.0 and v2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the top 1000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information:

Multi-Licensing FAQ - Lots of questions answered
Multi-Licensing Guide
Free the Rambot Articles Project

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the "{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}" template into their user page, but there are other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

Option 1

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

OR

Option 2

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions to any [[U.S. state]], county, or city article as described below:

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace "{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}" with "{{MultiLicensePD}}". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk) 18:27, Dec 8, 2004 (UTC)

Cocoa vs. Carbon

Did you have a particular source in mind for your Aug 13 addition to the Criticism section of the Apple Computer page? [2] Don't get me wrong, I have heard this pointed out elsewhere and I have a few ideas where you might have got this from, but I can't remember anyone actually having any concrete evidence to back it up. Kind of like the Cocoa apps are more native than Carbon apps arguments, that make no sense when you get right down to it. AlistairMcMillan 06:45, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I don't know of a good source, but will keep my eyes open for one. Nevertheless I think the paragraph is excellent and belongs there. It's truth is patently obvious to any Apple developer who has been awake. There's no other conceivable explanation for things like the shift from the use of TYPE/CREATOR to the use of file extensions, or the innumerable and unnecessary ways in which the OS X Finder is inferior to the OS 9 Finder. (The OS X Finder adds many nifty things, some good, but it loses many things, IMHO for no good reason at all). There's also been an obvious decline in user interface consistency within the Finder. Plus, changes in documentation style (regression to the industry "you've got the header files and some sample code, what more do you want?" norm). All explicable only in terms of a "hostile takeover." And don't forget the infamous Tech Note... what was the number? TN2034 maybe? [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 16:57, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't have a quotable source for this. I'm an Apple developer and have been for many years; my comment was based on my own perception and that of others I work with or sometimes get together with who work in the same area, and also various developer mailing lists. This is backed up by conversations with a variety of Apple people that I've spoken with at conferences and seminars - sometimes all you get (and all it takes) is a certain look! I admit it doesn't amount to much - just anecdotal evidence etc, but as Dpbsmith points out, it's also evident in some of the technical and design decisions that we have to work with every day. I believe in time the situation will ease since in most respects OS X is truly streets ahead of Mac OS 9, and however grudgingly, developers will have to recognise that eventually, both internally and externally. Some of the points about the Finder and so forth I agree with though in practice the usability issues are perhaps not as big as they've been made out to be, and Smart Folders in 10.4 will probably change the way we all work with files. I think I have a copy of TN2034 (if that's the right number - at work so can't check) somewhere - it might make the subject of an article in its own right. Graham 22:21, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Image licence

Hi! Thanks for uploading Image:Drag Curve 2.jpg. I notice it currently doesn't have an image copyright tag. Could you add one to let us know its copyright status? (You can use {{gfdl}} if you release it under the GFDL, or {{fairuse}} if you claim fair use, etc.) If you don't know what any of this means, just let me know where you got the images and I'll tag them for you. If you do, would you mind checking other images you've uploaded for copyright tags. Thanks so much, Tagishsimon (talk) 23:25, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)