User:J-stan/Sandbox

BLP essay

WP:BLP is one of the most important editing guideline on Wikipedia. It regulates existing content and allows for the removal of unfit content. It prevents edit wars and legal disputes against Wikipedia and its editors. It also protects the subject of the article.

Nobody likes an edit war. BLP prevents these from taking place by making only sourced, factual information acceptable for inclusion. The introduction to BLP states that we should "be very firm about the use of high quality references". Jimbo Wales put it nicely when he made his 2006 Wikimania keynote address: "we have very minor celebrities and sort of controversial people, they read their article on Wikipedia and if it isn't good, then they complain, they get upset". He goes on to describe possible further actions that could be taken by the subject as blanking the page a few times, and getting blocked for it. I know not what mode of communication was intended for this note, but the title makes the message quite clear: Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information.

Legal disputes are to be strictly avoided. Picture for a moment, a minor celebrity (we'll say an author) decides to Google him or herself just to find a few reviews of their work. Wikipedia is often in the initial ten Google results. So they click on the link to find some misinformation that could have been added with innocent intentions. The author is unaware of guidelines such as WP:AGF and WP:NLT, and complains on the talk page, making a legal threat. Wikipedia has just lost an author, someone who could greatly contribute to Wikipedia, and could possibly (though not likely) face some form of legal action.

Another important aspect of the relevance of BLP is that it protects the subject of the article from harmful publicity. When writing biographical articles, we need to take into account who will see the article: everyone with non-regulated internet access. Critics aren't always gentle, so we have sections of BLP regarding criticism to protect the subject from too many harsh opinions. We aren't making collections of critical essays, we are making a neutral, encyclopedic article. While preserving the neutrality, we are also protecting the subject from being harmed by serious rumors. We also must protect the privacy of the subject by allowing only relevant info. If it is irrelevant (BLP lists things such as home value and addresses), it should be removed per BLP and WP:N.

Administrators can enforce this policy in a number of ways. BLP mentions a few. One of these is blocking. It's pretty simple: an editor adds some bad, unsourced content, it gets removed, assuming good faith the whole time. But the user insists on it, and it gets added and removed another time. If the user is persistent, they should be blocked for disruption. Another of these is page semi- or full protection. If editors persistently add bad info through a method such as sockpuppetry or mass vandalism, the page should be given a level of protection, depending on the degree of anonymity taken by the users (IP or user accounts).

Now, deletion is a bit tricky. The jury is out on how much weight should be given to a deletion request by the subject of the article, so it is up to the administrators to decide how it should be treated (personally, if the subject has asked for deletion based on misleadingly false content, it should be protected, not deleted, with all false information removed. If at all unsure, I would seek guidance from a more experienced admin).

BLP is very important in regulating content and is to be strictly adhered to. Jimbo Wales summarized why we have a regulated system for Biographies of Living Persons when he said "Real people are involved, and they can be hurt by your words. We are not tabloid journalism, we are an encyclopedia." Encyclopedic content isn't biased, it is neutral, verifiable, and most importantly, true.

Wikipedia High (humor)

Welcome to Wikipedia High, home of the fighting mystical creatures! As a new student, feel free to take the time to aquaint yourself with how things work around here.

We stress working together as a community, so actively participating in discussions is encouraged. You may also want to take advantage of our progress reports. Other students will comment about you, and show you what you need to be working on. Sometimes, the amount of work you do is more important than the actual work. Just look at the honor roll! Also, it is expected that you explain your work, regardless of how little your work is. To meet other students interested in the same fields as you, consider joining a club. Members of clubs will work together to achieve high grades on their schoolwork.

Here at WPH, there is a close working bond between students and faculty. Everyone works together to make great work. If you have been staying regular in your work and making it the best as you can, or have seen another student doing the same, you can apply for a job or recommend someone else for a job. It may seem confusing at first, but think of it all as a giant video game.

Proposal for STUB

Category:Festival stubs, Topic: The Quimera Festival, Notability: The Quimera festival is an international art and cultural event that takes place in several locations of Metepec,Mexico. It happens in October and it lasts one week. Facts: • Art and cultural event • In 1990 was held the first Quimera festival • Once a year, in October. • International guests • It has expositions of theater, literature, dance, music and art. • Different locations in Metepec (Calvario o Santuario, la parroquia de San Juan Bautista y Santa María de Guadalupe, el antiguo Convento Franciscano, el Parque Juárez) • Public event "Quimera:unfestivaldeculturaydiversion". Retrieved 2005-07-06. "FestivalinternacionalQuimera". Retrieved 2005-07-06. Blueapple23 00:43, 24 October 2007 (UTC)User:Blueapple23

History of timekeeping

The origins of our current measurement system go back to the Sumerian civilization of approximately 2000 BC. This is known as the sexagesimal system based on the number 60. 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour – and possibly a calendar with 360 (60x6) days in a year (with a few more days added on). Twelve also features prominently, with roughly 12 hours of day and 12 of night, and 12 months in a year.

Early measurement devices

Sundial

Horizontal sundial in Taganrog (1833)

A large variety of measuring instruments have been adapted to measure time. The study of these devices is called horology.

A sundial uses a gnomon to cast a shadow on a set of markings which were calibrated to the hour. The position of the shadow marked the hour in local time. Pliny the Elder records that the first sundial in Rome was looted from Catania, Sicily (264 BCE), which gave the incorrect time for a century, until the markings appropriate for the latitude of Rome were used (164 BCE). Noontime was an event which could be marked by the time of the shortest shadow on a sundial. This was used in Rome to judge when a court of law was open; lawyers had to be at the court by that time. An earlier invention also using a cast shadow to determine time is an Egyptian device dating to c.1500 BCE, similar in shape to a bent T-square, which measured the passage of time from the shadow cast by its crossbar on a non-linear rule. The T was oriented eastward in the mornings. At noon, the device was turned around so that it could cast its shadow in the evening direction.

Waterclock

The most accurate timekeeping devices of the ancient world were the waterclock or clepsydra, first found in Egypt. A waterclock was found in the tomb of pharaoh Amenhotep I (1525–1504 BCE). They could be used to measure the hours even at night, but required manual timekeeping to replenish the flow of water. Plato introduced the waterclock to Greece , and invented a water-based alarm clock . One account says it depended on the nightly overflow of a vessel containing lead balls, which would float in a columnar vat. The vat would hold an increasing supply of water supplied by a cistern. Eventually the vessel would float high enough to tip over. The lead balls would then cascade onto a copper platter. The resultant clangor would then awaken his students at the Academy (378 BCE). Another account says that it used two jars and a siphon. Water empties until it reaches the siphon, which transported the water via the siphon to the other jar. Water rising in the other jar forces air through a whistle, sounding the alarm. The Greeks and Chaldeans regularly maintained timekeeping records as an essential part of their astronomical observations. In particular, Arab engineers improved on the use of waterclocks up to the Middle Ages.

Waterclocks, and later, mechanical clocks, were used to mark the events of the abbeys and monasteries of the Middle Ages. Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336), abbot of St. Alban's abbey, famously built a mechanical clock as an astronomical orrery about 1330.

Hourglass

The hourglass uses the flow of sand to measure the flow of time. Ferdinand Magellan used 18 hourglasses on each ship for his circumnavigation of the globe (1522).

Modern Devices

Mechanical clocks

A contemporary quartz watch

The most common devices in day-to-day life are the clock, for periods less than a day, and the calendar, for periods longer than a day. Clocks can range from watches, to more exotic varieties such as the Clock of the Long Now. The English word clock actually comes from French, Latin, and German words that mean bell. The passage of the hours at sea were marked by bells, and denoted the time (see ship's bells). The hours were marked by bells in the abbeys as well as at sea. They can be driven by a variety of means, including gravity, springs, and various forms of electrical power, and regulated by a variety of means such as a pendulum. There are also a variety of different calendars, for example the Lunar calendar and the Solar calendar, although the Gregorian calendar is the most commonly used.

A chip-scale atomic clock

A "chronometer" is a portable timekeeper that meets certain precision standards. Initially, the term was used to refer to the marine chronometer, a timepiece used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation. More recently, the term has also been applied to the chronometer watch, a wristwatch that meets precision standards set by the Swiss agency COSC. Over 1,000,000 "Officially Certified Chronometer" certificates, mostly for mechanical wrist-chronometers (wristwatches) with sprung balance oscillators, are being delivered each year, after passing the COSC's most severe tests and being singly identified by an officially recorded individual serial number. According to COSC, a chronometer is a high-precision watch capable of displaying the seconds and housing a movement that has been tested over several days, in different positions, and at different temperatures, by an official, neutral body (COSC). Each movement is individually tested for several consecutive days, in five positions and at three temperatures. Any watch with the denomination "chronometer" is provided with a certified movement.

The most accurate type of timekeeping device is currently the atomic clock, which are accurate to seconds in many thousands of years, and are used to calibrate other clock and timekeeping instruments. Atomic clocks use the spin property of the caesium atom as its basis, and since 1967, the International System of Measurements bases its unit of time, the second, on the properties of caesium. SI defines the second as 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation which corresponds to the transition between two electron spin energy levels of the ground state of the ¹³³Cs atom.

Today, the GPS global positioning systems in coordination with the NTP network time protocol can be used to synchronize timekeeping systems across the globe.