User:Clepsydrae

This user pledges to return to
Old-fashioned Wikipedian values.

I've been editing¹ Wikipedia for years, so I thought it's time to register and actually take some credit for my work!

January 23, 2022 (edited July 2, 2022) - Plea for Rational Thought: I am becoming increasingly concerned about Wikipedians blocking actual science in favor of clinging to what they think they know, commonly-held information promulgated by competent sources, but which has since changed in light of new and highly competent scientific discovery. Clinging to older scientific and medical, or worse, journalistic and political mantras, agendas and dogmas does far more harm than good. Not only is science apolitical, but the very nature of science invites question, testing and discovery while rejecting dogmatic defense. In fact, such defense is contrary to the Scientific Method. Science always has been and always should be to get at the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Adulterating science is a grave disservice to humanity.

In the rapidly changing environment of epidemiology, for example, much of that which applied to the original SARS-CoV-2 variants did not apply to Delta, and is even less true with Omicron. Put simply, the virus has evolved.

If we can't flex in our knowledge and understanding along with it, we're doomed to becoming our own worst enemy. Even though new discoveries are made on a regular basis, physics isn't in a state of flux. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, most certainly is in a state of flux, and blocking access to Dr. John Campbell's YouTube channel because you think you're "protecting science" or "doing a service to mankind" is actually doing a grave disservice to mankind. While Dr. Campbell isn't perfect, he 'IS most certainly a scientist as well as an educator. He's applying his collection of knowledge and skills, which very few people possess, and is constantly learning the latest information and discoveries made and produced by medical scientists working on Covid-19 within the fields of epidemiology, virology and immunology. By all means, protect Wikipedia from garbage. As a pro-mask, pro-vaccine scientist myself, I do, all the time. Do not, however, protect yesterday's understanding against new findings and discoveries which have proven themselves in competent clinical trials as published by the federal government.

We CANNOT allow Wikipedia to become the online version of "king of the hill." Stop abusing power to squash science. For one, that's just stupid. Far more importantly, however, doing so impedes progress, discovery, and the dissemination of known good information. Mainstream media hasn't kept up and are months behind in their understanding, with only tidbits and crumbs of current known good scientific information, knowledge and understanding of Covid-19. As for politicians, well, talk about abusing power to curry political favor and advance agendas... Very few of them possess the knowledge and skills to keep up with recent advancements in our latest understanding of the disease, the pandemic, immunity both natural and acquired, or how best to posture the full response of local, state and U.S. government resources so as to achieve the most overall long-term, cost-effective, economically efficient response to this Covid-19 disaster. While the disease itself has been a disaster, it has highlighted a number of examples of both severe and gross incompetence in local, state and federal leadership which has multiplied this disaster far, far beyond that which would have been expected by a COMPETENT team of experts.

Did Trump's Covid-19 efforts, which began in January of 2020 when he formed the Coronavirus Task Force, do wrong? No, he did not. Rather, President Trump employed some serious acceleration of the usual process, common among top business executives but foreign to the vast majority of government organizations, bound in red tape and locked into a fear of failure by rocking the boat might as most of them happen to be. As a direct result of his efforts, the United States of America received delivery of a viable vaccine in just 9 months as opposed to the usual 36+ months. President Trump took the jab himself in December of 2020. Not only did his efforts result in the record-breaking delivery of a vaccine for the U.S., but

Yes, people, the same vaccines Democrats have been shoving down everyone's throats are those which President Trump helped deliver to the American people far ahead of all expected schedules.

Revile Trump if you want. Just don't do it in abject blindness or ridiculously unforgiveable ignorance.

If, in your own ignorance and/or political bias you cannot keep up with the forefront of actual, leading edge science, then at the very least please stop bashing those who do and are performing good service to humanity.

Thank you.

Favorite Quotes

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." - Abraham Lincoln

"To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Robert A. Heinlein

My Wikipedia Philosophy

Throughout my entire life, I have always endeavored to be a good faith user. This began with my father's advice, "If you borrow something, return it in better condition than you received it." To that end, I learned how to clean, sharpen and repair tools, lawn and garden equipment, as well as lawnmowers and edgers I used during elementary school to make money.

This philosophy has been the bedrock beneath my every endeavor, from being a paperboy to pool manager, military aviator and parent. It's a component of stewardship, taking personal responsibility for that which is entrusted to our care. When it comes to human beings, that involves both encouragement and admonishment, as both are components of nurture. Whether delivering papers, flying multi-million dollar military aircraft, raising children, teaching students, writing, and editing Wikipedia, the principles remain the same: Leave it in better shape than your found it.

As I'm only human, I do, on occasion, make mistakes. However, I try my very best to find multiple, accurate sources of information, citing the same, and making significant improvements in the accuracy, organization and legibility of Wikipedia content. If you find fault with one or more of my edits, I humbly ask that you please keep the above and Wikipedia's assume good faith policy in mind.

Thank you.

UPDATE (July 26, 2020): My perspective has soured considerably in recent weeks in response to the actions of a few who are quick to revert yet extreme in their attacks and false accusations. Their behavior is the antithesis of Wikipedia philosophy and generally accepted good societal behavior. Again, you are cautioned to assume good faith. Please do so. Thank you.

Background

University Professor, teaching or certified to teach the following undergraduate classes:
Retired USAF Navigator (aeronautical rated officer) with 2,500+ hours
Instrument-rated private pilot with 130+ hours
DoD-certified Records manager
Author, recently finished my third novel, half-way through my fourth, with a total of nine novels in the works
Freelance technical writer; my work has been published in several leading technical periodicals more than two dozen times
PhD Organizational Theory (on hold).
M.S. Management with a concentration in Project Management, with honors (summa cum laude) (March, 2016)
MBA with a concentration in Technology Management, with honors (summa cum laude) (August, 2015)
B.S. in Finance, Insurance, and Business Law (June, 1988)
- Although my undergraduate degree is in business, 100% of my electives were taken in classes of math, the sciences, engineering, and aviation. This raised Dean's eyebrows, but it's allowed by the rules, so... He let me graduate. :)
I enjoy flying, cycling, swimming, hiking, camping, reading, and a few good programs on TV.
Favorite TV shows include Criminal Minds, Supernatural, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Backstrom, Blue Bloods, Bones, Castle, Chicago Fire, Chuck, Doctor Who, Eureka, Flash, Hogan's Heroes, Leverage, Lie to Me, Life on Mars, NCIS, Numb3rs, Smallville, Stargate (the movie, SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe), Star Trek (TOS, TNG, V, and E), Supernatural, White Collar, The Blacklist, Torchwood, and Warehouse 13
Favorite Movies include Harry Potter, James Bond, The Matrix, Men in Black, Next, Twister, Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Job, The Great Escape, Run Silent Run Deep, and Airport.
I've been an Internet / eBBS message forum moderator and/or administrator for 36 years on a dozen forums, dating back to the days of dial-up eBBS and ARPANET.
I'm a staunch defender of "the supreme Law of the Land" i.e. the Constitution for the United States of America, without which our Constitutional Federal Republic would have crumbled long ago.

Article Edits

MedlinePlus - Updated to reflect NIH's discontinuance of PubMed Health on October 31, 2018.

Kenosha_unrest_shooting - Was very surprised by 4:00 PM MT (6:00 PM ET) to see no one had updated the status of the case. So, I updated it with, "On November 19, 2021, jurors in Kenosha, Wisconsin declared Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts," including the properly formatted reference to Fox News. UPDATE: It had been updated, but was buried in the preceding paragraph.

Emmet_G._Sullivan#US_v_Flynn - Updated the disposition of the Flynn case on Judge Sullivan's page.

Ilex_vomitoria - After an exhaustive research of ALL known plants containing caffeine, I confirmed there is indeed another plant endemic to North America -- just ONE other -- which also contains caffeine. That plant is Ilex_cassine, a close botanical relative of ilex vomitoria aka yaupon.

Michael_Flynn - Added the dismissal of the case by Federal District Judge Emmet Sullivan on December 8, 2020.

Ilex_vomitoria - Provided citation for yaupon as requested.

Pressure_cooking#Theory - Undid a revert of what appears to be vandalism, as the information to which the user keeps reverting is incorrect.

Pressure_cooking#Theory - Added citation to a known good online Steam calculator. It's either that or actual graph-based Steam Tables that are indecipherable to those without proper training.

Tear gas - Fixed link to point to the article itself rather than the article's citation. Also fixed Jordt's name in the citation. Also fixed an incorrect tense. Also added "may" in exposure statement commensurate with the description in the cited NIH article.

Ooops! I inadvertently deleted a major portion of Veracity of statements by Donald Trump, but immediately restored it by undoing my own edit. I don't know how I got to that article, as I thought I was on the Donald Trump article. It looked like vandalism, so I deleted the text and chart. I immediately spotted my error and corrected it by undoing my own edit. I apologize for any inconvenience. I don't think a full minute elapsed between my inadvertent edit and my undo. The change in bytes (-5,290, +5,290) indicates it was a full restore of the previous content.

Stargate SG-1 - AGAIN REVERTED edit that removed Janet Fraiser. Whoever's reverting keeps claiming that's not how she's billed. Who cares what some producer or studio decided to put into her contract? No one has access to it. Viewers don't care about it. They care about who they saw on the TV week after week. After all, the only four "main characters" on Gilligan's Island were Gilligan, the Skipper, and Mr. and Mrs. Howell. Even Season 2 of Gilligan's Island only added Ginger, leaving both the Professor and Mary Ann in reduced billing. Who would EVER argue that Dawn Wells wasn't every bit a part of the main cast of Gilligan's Island as any of the seven? Same goes for SG-1, particularly as Teryl Rothery was in MORE episodes and with a greater depth of story arc than some of the others.

Pressure_cooking#Theory - The Theory section was riddled with both convoluted sentence structure and scientific falsehoods. I corrected the physics, provided examples, and cleaned up the convoluted language.

Stargate SG-1 - REVERTED edit that removed Janet Fraiser, as played by Teryl Rothery, to the Main cast and characters chart. She played in 75 episodes in 7 seasons. That's NOT a minor character. IN FACT, she played in more episodes and in more seasons than Corin Nemec, Ben Browder, Beau Bridges, and Claudia Black. There's absolutely ZERO doubt in any fan's mind that she's NOT a MAIN CHARACTER, having performed her duties not only back at SG HQ, but also out in the field on numerous occasions. By comparison, Gary Jones' character, Walter Harriman, did, in fact, remain back at SG HQ, and was never a lead character in any of the episodes, as was Teryl Rothery's Janet Frasier.

V_speeds#Regulatory_V-speeds - Added clarification for the meaning and calculation of VO in accordance with the associated Wikipedia entry on the concept.

Robert_Davi#Selected_filmography - Corrected the link to The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2002 film) with Robert Davi playing the part of Merlin.

Radford_Army_Ammunition_Plant#History - Changed text involving production to a quote and added citation.

Air Force Instruction - Corrected nomenclature preceding "General Flight Rules" title; changed AFI 11-203V3's description to match the regulation; deleted the word "which" as it's grammatically superfluous.

Flight computer - The term "whiz wheel" is found in countless FAA, ICAO, and U.S. and foreign military aviation texts and regulations. The term "whizzy wheel," however, is not.

.410_bore#Uses - Updated home defense mention to include the most common .410 handgun round as it is arguably better suited for home defense on several key fronts than a .410 shotgun.

Elizabeth_Warren - Corrected the Native American Heritage sub-section to reflect factual genealogy statistics, fractions, and how many "greats" are actually required to meet the "6-10 generations" report on her DNA ancestry.

Stargate SG-1 - Added Janet Fraiser, as played by Teryl Rothery, to the Main cast and characters chart. She played in 75 episodes in 7 seasons. That's not a minor character.

QAnon - Added a link to prayingmedic's Q Anon for Beginners critically objective post on YouTube.

Witch_hazel_(astringent)#Composition_and_use - Changed verbiage involving witch hazel to accurately reflect that found in the Mayo Clinic's source

E6B - Requested move

Yellow-bellied marmot - Corrected subject-verb agreement.

Social_media - Created a History section for social media, as it had none, despite the fact that humans have been using computer networks for socialization since man first walked on the Moon. Seriously, the first social media network was on ARPANET in 1969. Arguably,

List of home computers - Added the IBM PC to the list of home computers. It was only the most successful home computer of all time, establishing the compatability benchmark for all others to follow! Why wasn't it in the list? I suspect some MacVandal may have removed it.

Storm Chasers (TV series) - Created a proper reference and citation for Joel Taylor of Storm Chasers' passing in the After the series section.

Pikes Peak Highway - Changed "$50 per" to verbiage reflecting the actual rates as depicted on the City of Colorado Springs' web page. The previous verbiage was grossly misleading, if not flat out wrong for all cars with fewer than or more than 5 occupants.

Ricin#Toxicity - Changed "full recovery" to "decent recovery" as it more closely matches later comments in the Toxicity section about how "Survivors often develop long-term organ damage."

Princess Juliana International Airport - Changed some of the terminology to comport with FAA and ICAO standards, along with clarification on the dimensions of the Luliana TCA (terminal control area).

Flags of the Confederate States of America - Changed the modern Confederate Flag from the cheap cadcam depiction to a clear photo of an actual flag during a battlefield reenactment. I requested and received express written permission from the managing editor of the newspaper who first published the photo. Permission details provided IAW and posted along with the photograph of the flag on Wikimedia Commons.

Jan 7, 2018 update: Apparently, one individual is of the opinion that just because he or she posted an image first he somehow has final authority over whether or not it stays. Nope! That's not the way Wikipedia works. If a person comes along and rewrites content so that it's better content, that's what should stay, and usually does. If a person comes along and replaces a static, cardboard representation of a flag with a properly licensed photograph of the real thing i.e. a major improvement, then that's what should stay. Wikipedia is all about improvement, not ownership. The actual photograph is a substantial improvement.

Harry S. Truman - Corrected the grossly misleading "hundreds of thousands" to "millions" to accurately reflect period estimates of the number of American and Japanese lives that would have been lost had the Allies invaded Japan. Reference this article in Forbes, as well as displays in the World War II Museum in New Orleans, LA.

High-definition television - Rewrote poorly-worded section discussing HD vs SD and progressive vs interlaced

2014_Santos_Cessna_Citation_accident#Investigation - When discussing wind velocities, "kt" is an abbreviation for "knots," not "kilotons."

ADS-B: Automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast

Talk Page Comments

Talk:Eddie_Izzard#Semi-protected_edit_request_on_15_December_2021 - One of my students raised the problem of Wikipedia's significant and worsening lack of objectivity. CAN Wikipedia remain objective in a democracy rule whereby roving gangs of editors, mods and admins wield final authority? Time will tell...

Talk:John_Campbell_(YouTuber)#Semi-protected_edit_request_on_23_January_2022 - I am becoming increasingly concerned about Wikipedians blocking actual science in favor of clinging to what they think they know. See my comments at the top of this page.

Talk:Cardinal_number#SIMPLIFY_INTRO! - Plea to stop over-complicating Wikipedia articles, particularly introduction. Most (>99%) readers DO NOT have PhDs!

Talk:Terrestrial_television#Definition_Wrong? - Identified the clear neologism of "Terrestrial television" and proposed an alternative approach much more in line with reality.

Talk:Colorado_Springs,_Colorado#Military_Installation_Section_Removal - I don't know of any other city with five military bases. Minimizing that section was a grave error. Details provided therein.

Talk:Non-fungible_token#This_article - This article... Still needs a lot of work.

Talk:Wi-Fi#"WiFi"_not_to_be_used_as_an_alternative_to_"Wi-Fi" - Tried interjecting some common sense into the debate. Included links, references and some long-standing examples.

Talk:Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance–Broadcast#History_Section_Needed - Added suggestion for a History and Development section. November 18, 2021

Talk:Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance–Broadcast#Military_Aircraft - Answered question concerning deconfliction involving military aircraft. November 18, 2021

Talk:Pilatus_PC-12#Uber-Large_Photograph - Added a request for whoever posted a massive photograph to downsize the copy on the article's page.

Talk:List_of_adjectivals_and_demonyms_for_Colorado_cities - The demonym given for Colorado Springs at the time of this writing is NOT correct.

Talk:Marjorie_Taylor_Greene#Painful_Obvious_Anti-Candidate_Bias - Posted warning of major violation of Wikipedia's fundamental principles and core content policies.

Talk:Black_Lives_Matter#New_page_for_criticism - Countered creation of an entire article for BLM Criticism. Counter-proposed article listing events of BLM violence. Perhaps a combined AntiFa/BLM violence list would be more suitable. Possibly even "List of violent events erupting during protests" or "Protests turned violent" or even something about criminal behavior during protests.

User_talk:Lochenessa#July_26,_2020_Vandalism - This user has on three or more occasions replaced the official photo of a United States Senator with one that's obviously been "demonized."

User talk:Clepsydrae - In the spirit of openness to experience, I am allowing the post and discussion to remain as an example of the level of care required before undoing article edits and making false accusations. If you have any questions or concerns, please review Wikipedia's section on Civility. Thank you. I would also remind others of Wikipedia's policy on what harassment is not: "it must be emphasized that one editor warning another for disruption or incivility is not harassment if the claims are presented civilly, made in good faith, and in an attempt to resolve a dispute instead of escalating one."

Talk:Frisbee#History - April 16, 2020

Talk:Donald_Trump#In_my_opinion,_this_article_is_extremely_biased - January 6, 2020

As evidenced by the two deleted Talk pages on hoplophobia, Wikipedia is apparently as incapable of tolerating progressive change for the better, not to mention reality, as it is of stomaching sound logic and good reasoning, particularly when the aforementioned sound logic and good reasoning are thoroughly well-cited.

Talk:Hoplophobia#Begs_the_question_of_hoplophobia's_non-existence_as_a_"recognized_medical_phobia" - January 2, 2020

Talk:Hoplophobia#This_Article_Needs_a_Non-POV_rewrite - January 2, 2020

By the way: Happy New Year!

Talk:List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2019#Request - November 11, 2019

Talk:Art_Bell#Structure_of_article - September 7, 2019

Talk:Somali_Americans#Problems - May 17, 2019

Talk:Cockroaches_of_the_sea - March 29, 2019

Talk:Polar_fleece#Polar_fleece_vs._fleece - February 18, 2019

Talk:David_Clarke_(sheriff)#Plagiarism_Controversy - February 15, 2019

Talk:Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States#Incorrect_Terminology - February 15, 2019

Talk:Stephen_Breyer#Judicial_Philosophy - February 15, 2019

Talk:David_Clarke_(sheriff)#Plagiarism_Controversy - December 30, 2018

Talk:Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States#Sample_of_deleted_material - December 19, 2018

Talk:Tin_can_wall#Two_questions - December 10, 2018

Talk:Elizabeth_Warren#Which_fraction_of_her_is_Native_American? - October 16, 2018 - DELETED BY USERS IN VIOLATION OF WIKIPEDIA RULES

Talk:1924 Democratic National Convention - October 12, 2018

Talk:Tupolev_Tu-114#Performance_Exaggerations - August 25, 2018

Talk:Suo_jure#Merger_request - April 24, 2018

Talk:E6B - February 22, 2018

Talk:Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting#Name - February 20, 2018

Talk:Social_media#Responding_to_"does_not_cite_any_sources"_tag - February 5, 2018

Talk:Social_media#Errant_and_wanton_use_of_the_"does_not_cite_any_sources"_tag - February 4, 2018

Talk:Final approach (aeronautics) - February 2, 2018

Talk:E6B#Discussion_Regarding_using_the_device's_proper_name,_"Dead_Reckoning_Computer"_as_the_proper_title_for_this_Wikipedia_Article - January 26, 2018

Talk:Modular_connector#RJ45.2F8P8C_incompatibilty_only_one_way - Sep 1, 2017

Talk:Huma_Abedin#Criticism_section_is_currently_little_more_than_straw_man_fallacy_and_propaganda - May 4, 2017

Talk:Erikson's_stages_of_psychosocial_development - April 30, 2017

Talk:Cessna/Archives/2017#Chinese_production_controversy - March 5, 2017

Talk:X-Plane_(simulator)#Criticisms_Section_Needed - March 5, 2017

Talk:An_Inconvenient_Truth#Criticism_section - March 4, 2016

User talk:Green Cardamom - December 27, 2015

Talk:Local Area Augmentation System - September 5, 2015

2011_Joplin_tornado - April 29, 2015

USB - March 26, 2015

Projects for the Future

E6B - Change the title to "Dead reckoning computer." The current title is wrong in so many ways, not the least of which is the fact that it's merely one of many types of circular slide rules used by aviators and commonly referred to in both civilian and military flight training manuals throughout the world as a "dead reckoning computer."

Wikipedia:WikiProject Aviation - Seek my areas of expertise, review for accuracy, thoroughness, and encyclopedic brevity, and modify as necessary.

Final approach (aeronautics) - Significantly modify article to replace improper terminology with proper terminology and ensure adherence with industry specification.

That's it for now. See you around the 'net...

Temporary Scratch Pad for Text to be used Elsewhere

Currently blank.

Useful Links

Wikipedia:Edit warring

The British Invasion (of spelling)

Who else here is in favor of stopping the Second British Invasion (of spelling)? Throughout my entire science-based education in the 1960s and 1970s, and my studies in engineering throughout the 1980s, it was always meter, not metre. Furthermore, SI Units in 1990 didn't spell it metre, either. Textbooks from the infamous Calculus by Swokowski to Halliday & Resnick's Physics to the inimitable Pocket Ref by Glover ALL use meter, as does both the FAA and the ICAO, or at least they did when I was still flying all over the world in 2009.

In fact, they still spell it meter: "The ICAO Annex 5 specifies units to use, including units for altitude and actually specifying meters as the primary unit, with feet being accepted as non-SI alternative." See the article on Stack Exchange Furthermore at least two foreign countries, Germany and S. Korea, use the meter spelling. But if you'd like to get objective, the United Kingdom has 67.26 million citizens, whereas the United States has 330.21 million. There - we win by a factor of 4.9.

On a more serious note, English is hard enough without intentionally obfuscating the spelling to match a comparatively smaller -- at least 4.9 times smaller -- set of textbooks endemic to the United Kingdom than the far more numerous set of meter textbooks existing elsewhere around the world, including 100% in the U.S., which is far more populated by engineers and scientists than the U.K. Contrary to minority but incessant misconception, Wikipedia doesn't belong to the Brits. It's a U.S. based organization. The Wikimedia Foundation "is an American non-profit and charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California."

That said, this really isn't about U.S. vs U.K. It's about the overwhelmingly abundant presence of meter used throughout the world and the incessant and increasingly annoying penchant of British editors for changing everything over to metre as if they or the awkward spelling were somehow God's gift to the world. You are NOT, and if you'd like to make things better for everyone, kindly knock it off.

While you're at it, stop converting all other GLOBAL English words to the way you spell things on the British Isles. While your spelling is indeed quaint, it is far from ubiquitous, counter-intuitive, non-phonetic, and problematic on many fronts, the least of which involves search engines.

Standardize on the STANDARD i.e. what most people around the world actually use. Heck, during my four years in Germany, they didn't use British spelling in English. They used American spelling, as in Broadway-Kino Theater.

Thank you.

References

¹By "editing," I mean spotting errors, researching the correct information, making the edit, and inserting references from reliable, credible, objective resources. While I do not provide references for spelling and grammar, I do provide references for any material fact. By "references," I am referring to either scholarly, peer-reviewed journals of the quality and character usually found in institutions of higher learning, or to material from clearly well-researched and substantiated sources of similar efficacy.