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Haven't received this one yet?

The Barnstar of Fine Arts
Richly deserved for your many contributions. Best wishes, JNW (talk) 18:47, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Wow! Thank you very much! What a wonderful honor, especially coming from such an art virtuoso, both on and off Wiki. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:30, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

  • Hehe, I didn't realize you were still working on the "99" mystery. You're quite the detective! Well, Whistler did father some illegitimate children, but he died in 1903, so his son is at least 108. Still, possible! (The first "JMW" that springs to mind is J. M. W. Turner. I've linked to Whistler in at least two of my articles, but never to Turner.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:13, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
This goes back a few years, but ought to provide enjoyment for conspiracy theorists and puzzle solvers in general: [1]. Creepy. JNW (talk) 05:28, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
Oh, that's the brother, one of 'em, who got cheated out of his inheritance by the poser who made everyone believe he was the favorite illegitimate son (that is, you). Or it was your sock, creating a diversion so the lawyers and the kind of Joanne would feel sympathetic. JNW, you're sinking in my esteem. Of course, a nice oil painting of my dogs would more than make up for anything you could ever do. Happy days and nights to both of you, Drmies (talk) 05:52, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
I should think someone would have figured out this whole 99 business by now. As for speculation about identities, apparently Drmies has many siblings: [2] JNW (talk) 14:09, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
JNW, you have me confused with someone smart. Drmies (talk) 19:50, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
Maybe, but 'smart' isn't everything it's cracked up to be. I've gotten by on charm and a certain amount of innocuous deception. JNW (talk) 22:27, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm back

I went on a forced wikibreak for the past two weeks. My laptop literally blew up. I had some nice smoke coming out of it. I finally got the new computer and I had some family issues... for example my mother-in-law survived her surgery. I spent alot of money for the party funeral plans that went wasted. They had to go near her vocal cord nerves to get to her spine and there was a good chance she wouldn't be able to talk afterwards. Dang, I've got rotten luck.

Listas and living got filled up. There are 3,000 articles in listas and 800 in living. Normally there would be around 1,400 in listas, but somebody had fun tagging older articles with WP Biography. It will be a bit before I get them cleared out again. Bgwhite (talk) 07:25, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Well, sorry to hear that your mother-in-law took an unfortunate turn, but glad to hear you're back. I started to wonder what happened to you after a few days, then finally figured you were on real-life vacation or something.

As for listas, I did a few hundred of 'em in your absence, but I didn't want to do too many, lest you feel unneeded upon your return. (Remember what happened when Aunt Bee returned home after caring for a sick cousin? Andy and Opie had to scramble to first clean, then, after realizing their mistake, mess up, the house.) Welcome back, and have fun! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:09, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Hmmm, I feel it is more like MASH when the nurses all left. When they returned, the O.R. was a complete mess. Thank you for your sympathies on my mother-in-law surviving and still speaking. Back to rolling the rock uphill. Bgwhite (talk) 08:42, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

W.R. van Hoëvell

Hey, thanks for helping out. I don't know about that space--I usually don't have spaces between initials, and I think that the MOS allows that, but I'm not sure. I just don't like the looks of it. I've nominated it at GAR, so whatever you can do to help is greatly appreciated. Fascinating guy, wasn't he? Drmies (talk) 04:31, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I thought the space was recommended ("J. M. W. Turner" from above uses 'em everywhere), and it is usually done, but you're, of course, correct that it's not consensused in the MOS. (And I don't care if "consensused" isn't a word.) I have, however, created a redirect.

I had attempted to correct a tiny error and got an edit conflict, in which you already fixed it. I'll see if there's anything else I can do, but you're too good, and don't need much editing. Good luck with the GA. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:42, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Le Suicidé

Hey Mandarax, I made a stubby stub about this painting by Manet. I deleted the infobox because I couldn't get the image to display in it. Can you fix it? LadyofShalott 03:18, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

There seems to be an undocumented "feature". The "image_size" parameter must either have a value specified or the parameter must be omitted entirely. I commented it out. Glad to see you working on some art! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:38, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
Ah, thanks! I had no idea what the problem was. That's not a very helpful "feature". It is very stubby, but it's more than we had before. LadyofShalott 14:20, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Mandarax. You have new messages at Drmies's talk page.
Message added 17:55, 5 December 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Drmies (talk) 17:55, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Mandarax. You have new messages at Drmies's talk page.
Message added 00:32, 6 December 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Drmies (talk) 00:32, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Another question about categories

What's the point of Category:Categories named after universities and colleges as opposed to just Category:Universities and colleges? Is it not redundant? LadyofShalott 03:45, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

It certainly does seem odd. Rather than speculating about the reasons, I'll refer you to WP:Categories for discussion/Log/2008 June 24#Category:Categories named after universities and colleges. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:54, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
Well, after reading that, I don't feel enlightened at all on the issue. Those arguments leave me saying, "uh, what?" Thanks for the link. LadyofShalott 04:00, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Study of a Kneeling Nude Girl for The Entombment

Should you feel inclined to make improvements or nominate this for DYK, have at it. I think it's got some good hooks, though the best ones don't yet have online corroboration. Cheers, JNW (talk) 03:38, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Glad to see you still at it! I'll nominate it, probably later today or maybe tomorrow.... If I attempt to improve the article, I'll try not to ruin it too badly. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:52, 9 December 2011 (UTC)
Oh, when I first saw the above, I somehow read "online corroboration" as "inline citations". As you probably know, while the latter are required for DYK, the former are not. Now that I think about it, there are probably some reviewers who prefer not having an online source; that way they can AGF it without having to check anything.

I think a new image should be substituted. The image in a ref shows the pink discussed in the article. I dunno how the image currently illustrating the article managed to completely wipe out all the pink.

BTW, I love how you turn out one great article after another while you're retired from Wikipedia because nothing's on TV, whereas some of us struggle for months to churn out just one. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:45, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Agreed that a color version would be an upgrade. As for new articles, I've had a little time lately, though one can avoid real life responsibilities for only so long--there's a article to be done for publication, which entails amassing notes from written and phone interviews, and a painting to be addressed, the first figure piece in months that's incited my interest. Thank you for the compliment. I try to do my work competently, find enjoyment in the craft, and move on to the next venture. JNW (talk) 15:01, 9 December 2011 (UTC)
Good luck with your other projects. I'm glad to hear that you're excited about your painting.

I uploaded a color version; looks much better, both on the article and the DYK. As a matter of fact, the DYK was verified within five minutes of my substituting the image. Coincidence? I think not.

I can just picture that smooth operator Michelangelo: "Hey, babe. I'm gonna paint you clothed, but first you have to pose in the nude so... uh... so I can better understand the underlying structure of your body. Yeah, that's it." MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:37, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

The image you uploaded looks great--thank you for that, and for the DYK nomination. Somehow I doubt that was Michelangelo's m.o., though I've any number of acquaintances who've had models out of their street clothes on far thinner pretexts than that. As for me, I've always been a gentleman. (cough). Truth is, it's an academic practice that makes real sense, though hardly anyone does it anymore. I've taught workshops where we had the model sit nude first, then clothed in the same pose, so that students can start to understand and think about the anatomical structure and how it influences the very drapery that hides it. Cheers, JNW (talk) 02:47, 10 December 2011 (UTC)
A dirty mind is a joy forever, gentlemen. Drmies (talk) 03:21, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
Festivities are earned for all this hard work.

← JNW, I hope you didn't mind that I suggested the alt hook for An Old Man and his Grandson which was selected. I thought that the detail of the nose would grab people's attention, and the article did get 14,600 hits, as well as 4,300 for the image, not to mention 2,600 for Ghirlandaio. Not bad for a hook with no nudity.

I often don't like it when people change my hooks. I don't like what's become of the Vanderpoel hook, which says the same thing as my original but in a poorly worded way. A small part of my suggestion to fix it was implemented, which made it much worse. And the Balthasar Castiglione hook is fine, but it's similar to one which I considered and rejected because I don't like to give users too many choices for things to click on. (For example, in my hook for Georg Muche, I intentionally left Degenerate Art unlinked; someone, of course, came along and linked it, and that ended up getting a thousand more hits than Muche.) Oh well.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:01, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm okay with the hook for Castiglione, but agree with you re: Vanderpoel. Alas, it's what sometimes happens in this collaborative business. One of the reasons I prefer the low profile, so as not to get upset by such revisions. Best regards, JNW (talk) 03:25, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
The stats are in. Congratulations: two of your articles are the third and fourth most viewed DYKs of the month! Vanderpoel got 12,100 views (and the image got 10,600). And Georgia O'Keeffe got a bump of over five thousand hits from her usual; I'm convinced that a significant number of those would have gone to the Vanderpoel article if we'd been allowed to use the original hook, which focused on him rather than her. (Of course, my original hook did not link to O'Keeffe at all; but I knew some busybody would add a link.) In any case, isn't it refreshing to see that a deformed nose got more hits than a nude? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:29, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
Thank you. I'm just a humble country editor, unfamiliar with these newfangled interweb ways. But I will remind you that we used a picture of a nude deformed nose. Celebration is in order. JNW (talk) 04:46, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

And now for something completely different

Mandarax, and any talk page regulars, can you find out which issue this snippet was published in? I got as far as this directory on Wilson Web, but my library doesn't give me access to it. Or, if someone has Val Williams (1994), Women, Photography and the Iconography of War (War Works, London: Virago Press) laying around...I'm trying to beef up Ania Bien, which should be of relevance to all you art lovers. Thanks in advance! Drmies (talk) 03:21, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

I tried my nearby libraries and I found neither access, nor that book. Sorry. I'll see if there's anything else I can do. But, in any case, at least the article's already "beefy" enough for DYK. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:04, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
Oh, I see you'd already nominated it for DYK two hours before I wrote the above. I've also noticed the comment on your reciprocal review. Strange, I don't remember that, but if you say it happened, it must be true. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 11:52, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
I can get both the book and the journal Creative Camera. However, the library says some issues are missing of the journal and doesn't say which ones. Of course the journal is at one university and the book at the other. I'm not in a position to get them this week, but I can next week. What do you want me to scan for you? Bgwhite (talk) 06:27, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
Bg, sorry I missed your offer. Well, what can I say--it's a page 41 in issues 332-337 (I think that's issues, and with a bit of luck they have continuous pagination so there's only one page 41...): a review of an exposition, Photography and the Iconography of War. But don't go out of your way, and leave the book be--if I need it I can get it through ILL. Thank you so much! Drmies (talk) 23:51, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
Done. Thanks for the edits to and verification of John Vanderpoel. Including that one, three of my last four DYKs have had Dutch connections, with this one obviously being the "Dutchest". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:44, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
Hmmm I prefer "Dutchiest", maybe, cause the Dutchies are fond of those cutesy little diminuatives. Thank you so much for your help. Interesting subject matter, isn't it? Oh, and Vanderpoel was easy, since you guys don't produce dreck. I'm sure you will get, as usual, 20 times the hits I get. Drmies (talk) 20:58, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
I can't believe how inconsistent I was. Thanks! Drmies (talk) 06:02, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
Your hook did well, for one with no nudity. Ours only got three times the hits! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:03, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
No problemo. But I'm bitterly disappointed that I was unable to complete my edit summary poem in a satisfactory way. I wanted to incorporate "diphthong" but couldn't work that in. Oh, and thanks for the compliment, but when you said I don't produce dreck, you hadn't yet experienced my poetry, which would make a Vogon wince. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:35, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
It's time to pass the Dutchies. Bgwhite (talk) 06:27, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
Oh, that's horrible. Kind of teenybopper reggae, a genre which in an ideal world would never exist (along with teenybopper-anything-else). MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:35, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
What? That song got them nominated for a Grammy as best new artist. (looks at wikipedia on when the song came out) gosh, I'm old. Bgwhite (talk) 07:41, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
I have nothing but contempt for the Grammy awards. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:11, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
That song sucks a big one. I still remember it, unfortunately. Drmies (talk) 23:53, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

DYK for John Vanderpoel

Casliber (talk · contribs) 16:02, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione (Raphael)

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

?

Mandarax, you know things. What could be the purpose and function of this, Template:2008 Summer Olympics women's volleyball game E1? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drmies (talk • contribs) 19:31, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Answer provided at Drmies' talkpage. HandsomeFella (talk) 20:23, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
I am hoping for a Mandarax answer--on how a template for one game could be used. It's a technical question, and Mandarax is a technical guru. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 20:36, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
(Pardon me for answering) It could be used like any other template. How do you mean it's a technical question? The purpose is to save both space and edits. If there are changes to the info in the template (there will inevitably, sooner or later), only one edit in an article of around 1500 bytes is needed, instead of three edits, one for the tournament article – adding, say, another 25000 bytes to wikipedia – and one for each article of the involved nations' participation in the games – adding another anywhere from 10000 bytes to 338000 bytes (USA in the 2008 Summer Games). As a bonus, you'll get rid of all discrepancies between these pages and obtain a uniform appearance. HandsomeFella (talk) 20:57, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
Well, it currently serves no real purpose as it's only transcluded on Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but presumably it'll eventually be on the China and tournament articles. I guess it doesn't matter, but I certainly wouldn't have substituted existing data with a template for a single game (and presumably this will be done for every game). As for "changes to the info", I don't anticipate many changes to data about a game from 2008. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:06, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
For a somewhat comparable example, see Template:List of Gay and Transgender Animals lede which is used to make an identical lead section for List of animals displaying homosexual behavior and its sublists. Of course, that is used on more than one page. LadyofShalott 22:51, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pink Pest Control

Mandarax! Holy shit! What have I done? Do you have a tool to merge this entire category into List of The Pink Panther cartoons?

  • Seriously, I could use some of your brain power here (I didn't see the category, only those four others, until I clicked "Merge"). I've looked at half a dozen of those articles and those were all copy and paste work and don't have notability by themselves, but that's not to say that some of them might be able to stand alone. I'm thinking of dropping a line somewhere else, maybe WP:AN or the AfD talk page. Any suggestions? Drmies (talk) 04:32, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
    • The situation has moved forward after discussion on my talk page. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 01:27, 17 December 2011 (UTC)
      • That's odd. I did not see this until just now, when I got your update. I had recently mentioned to you how mid-thread replies can get overlooked, but this was a new message at the bottom, right where I'd expect to see a new message. Please pardon my transcendent ineptitude. Although, checking this page's history, I see exactly how it happened. (Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised if there have been notes from me on your talk page which you haven't seen.) Anyways, I'm glad the "situation has moved forward" without my input. BTW, I've become aware that I've been brainwashed; when I see "Pink Panther", I think "insulation". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:10, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Study of a Kneeling Nude Girl for The Entombment

Gatoclass (talk) 16:47, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Question

Hi, what's considered "expanded" on "Did you know...?". Isn't it when new information is added?. Nienk (talk) 20:44, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

No, the prose must be expanded five times from its previous length. "Castaway" was 8,883 characters, so it would have to be expanded to 44,415 characters of prose to be eligible, but it's ineligible in any case, as it has previously appeared on DYK. And "prose" does not generally include bulleted items such as your addition. For full rules (there are a lot them) see WP:DYK and WP:DYKSG. Good luck next time. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:54, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

List of Governors-General of New Zealand

Can you help me here?--46.246.152.170 (talk) 09:42, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Looks like you also asked at the Help desk a half hour earlier, and it was taken care of before I returned online. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:48, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Happy New Year!

May you have a joyous 2012, Mandarax. LadyofShalott 02:40, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I hope you have a great New Year's Eve and a wonderful new year! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:34, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Tom Loftin Johnson (artist)

Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:47, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (etching)

Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:49, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Congrats!

...on yet another fine DYK. You're really getting the hand of this article writing! Thanks for contributing. Anyway, thought I'd let you know that a. I wish you a happy new year and b. I had a saison by North Coast Brewing Company yesterday and it was phenomenal (I've never said that about an American beer) and c. I'm drinking a "Dolle Teve" from De Dolle Brouwers as we speak, and it's fantastic. Also, you have a standing invitation to come hang out in the pool and drink beer. All the best in the new year! Drmies (talk) 00:05, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

I humbly accept your praise and congratulations. And I can afford to be humble, as I had nothing to do with writing the above DYK article. I merely nominated Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, the latest wonderful creation from JNW. Nor did I have anything to do with writing the Tom Loftin Johnson DYK article above; I was surprised to see that I'd been given credit in a kind of honorary degree for my gnomery.

That's exciting news; I'm glad you finally found a worthy American beer. Thanks for the new year's wishes and the invitation. Happy new year to you too! Oh, and congratulations on your "future" child. Or wife. It was a little unclear. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:12, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Well, the Lady read me loud and clear, but a man who writes either way probably reads in different ways. Dinner time Mandarax...no bacon involved. Drmies (talk) 23:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
Bacchanal, Rubens. The woman in the center appears to be holding a strip of bacon.
I'm afraid the conclusion she drew from your ambiguous question was OR. Since she's not feeling well, I have resisted the temptation to slap a {{uw-nor}} on her talk page.

Congratulations on the bacon-free meal. Oh, but do you plan to work on some articles for Bacon Day? It's about that time to think about it. And why is the Bacon Challenge called the Bacon Challenge? I would've called it the Baconal. Bacchonal? Works better spoken than written. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:02, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Don't slap the Lady--I'm not sure she's into that. Ask first. No, I'm not planning to do anything for that feast. ChildofMidnight never came back, and I'm tired of clutching at straws. I mean, I had fun writing up all those Bacon ministers, but I hate writing biographies, and I think all the landmarks have been taken. As for that lady in the photo, it seems more like something that at some point was taken from Rasputin, if you dig where I'm coming from. Drmies (talk) 03:40, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Well, I guess someone else will have to write about the bacon toothpaste, bacon wine, and bacon toilet paper. Now, I haven't checked, and I'm afraid to, because I fear that some of those might actually exist. I could certainly guess where you were "coming from", but I had to read up on Rasputin to confirm my suspicions.

Oh, I almost forgot.... Congratulations on yet another Good Article! (One of those biographies you hate writing so much.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:59, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Drmies (talk) 04:09, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

197k

You'll hit 200k very soon. Surely that calls for a wiki-party of some sort. LadyofShalott 09:24, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

I think something similar to that depicted in the image above would be appropriate.

Of course, I update my edit count about every 1000, and, according to Heisenberg, I can't report on the count without changing it. So it's always skewed by about 0.1%.

I was glad to hear that you don't have pneumonia. I hope you're feeling better! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:40, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

<grin>
Thanks, I'm still feeling pretty puny. I think the drugs may be just starting to alleviate it a tiny bit. I don't think I've managed to sleep at all tonight though; steroids give me insomnia - something else I know you're familiar with. LadyofShalott 09:50, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
I wish we all could trade. Not that I get y'all's insomnia--but that you get my nightly responsibilities, and I get your time to sleep. Lady, I'll post on Facebook soon what I had to write up tonight, haha. Mandarax, are you on FB yet? It's not just for hip, trendy folk like the Lady and me, you know...and maybe some kid from the neighborhood will help you set it up. Oh, maybe that kid can explain this "timeline" thing to me. Drmies (talk) 03:42, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
I generally find Facebook to be annoying. I've never written a single word on my or anyone else's page, I've only entered the bare minimum of information which is required (except my birthday, which I should probably remove, now that I think about it), I don't think I've ever sent a friend request, and I've gone years without answering friend requests from others. And why did I get one from someone I hate, and who, as far as I know, hates me? I have looked for a few people who specifically told me to look 'em up, and was never successful in finding them. And I never even heard of any timeline on Facebook. Your attitude here is refreshing; maybe my protestations that I "know nothing" are finally sinking in! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:57, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
If you work for MetLife Home Loans, you have 499 friends. But I'm guessing that's not you. If you are, my regards to Mrs. Mandarax. Drmies (talk) 20:52, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Good guess! (← A typical semi-ambiguous Mandarax response.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:01, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Sheesh--"User"

I did it again. Thanks for setting me straight. I'm so embarrassed that I won't even say what it was, but you know. Drmies (talk) 03:36, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

No problem. And no reason to be embarrassed. Everybody makes little mistakes once in a while. Or so I've heard.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:48, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Well, I appreciate you and all those other nice folk looking over my shoulder. It seems the next Drmies is the size of a blueberry or so. I hope all continues to go well. BTW, I have a busy day tomorrow: I am the judge/announcer/whatever for the spelling bee tomorrow at a middle school--the one day every year that I wear a tie. Mrs. Drmies says I look good in it but she won't ever kiss me in her school building... Drmies (talk) 03:49, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Congratulations! Aw, they're so cute at that age!

I watched the national spelling bee a few years ago. One might think that would be the most boring thing ever, but it was actually pretty interesting to watch. And Akeelah and the Bee, again defying expectations (a movie about a spelling bee?), is a very good movie. I even named one of my awards in her/its honor. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:16, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I never knew you had a HoF. Very nice! Poo does drop! And yes, the kids were cute. Unfortunately, our favorite went out in the first round (on "droll"...), and I know for a fact she could have spelled every other word in the competition. It's always a nice event. Drmies (talk) 20:47, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
No, no, no! I absolutely was not saying that middle school kids are cute. I was saying that kids are cute at the blueberry stage! Thanks, I'm glad you like my little HoF. Needs some more exhibits, though. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:55, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
I'm glad the spelling bee was fun even if your favorite had bad luck. What was the winning word? LadyofShalott 23:53, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Hmm I don't remember. We didn't get very far--it was #198 or so. I'll report later if I can find the word list again--it wasn't anything exciting. Two years ago, our school's winner went to the county bee and lost on mijnheer, the Dutch word for "mister" or "sir", but it was mispronounced, as menhir. Unfortunately, I wasn't there and my wife wasn't so sure, so no appeal was filed. And now the favorite goes out on a Dutch word again! I tell you, it's a curse. Haha, the curse of the teaching Dutchman. Drmies (talk) 02:52, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
• I didn't know droll was from the Dutch. Drol means turd, eh? So the Hall of Fame quote about poo flying like a bird before it drops was quite appropriate. • It's scandalous that someone was eliminated on a mispronounced Dutch word. I don't think it's too late to appeal. • When I was little, I used to like The Flying Dutchman, or at least the overture. As there was no singing, I didn't even realize it was an opera; otherwise I probably wouldn't've like it. And, of course, back then I also didn't know of Wagner's, uh, let's put it kindly and say "beliefs". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:59, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Hazelnuts

Well, it probably took an hour in all to shell them, blanch them, and grind them, and then another half an hour to make the custard--but it is absolutely delicious. Thanks again for your help! Drmies (talk) 01:12, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. Good thing you didn't have to process two cups of 'em! I'm glad it turned out so well, and I'm sure the birthday celebration was wonderful. Maybe I'll try the custard some time, but probably with something other than waffles. I don't know if it's because your hazelnut inquiry planted something in my subconscious, but I just bought some hazelnut coffee beans and some hazelnut Turtles, and I didn't even realize until now that I was getting two hazelnut items. Hazelnut is certainly a yummy flavor. Although I don't have any right now, Frangelico is delicious! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:17, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

San Francisco meetup at WMF headquarters

Hi Mandarax,

I just wanted to give you a heads-up about the next wiki-meetup happening in SF. It'll be located at our very own Wikimedia Foundation offices, and we'd love it if some local editors who are new to the meetup scene came and got some free lunch with us :) Please sign up on the meetup page if you're interested in attending, and I hope to see you soon! Maryana (WMF) (talk) 22:39, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Santa Claus DYK

I have added an on-line ref from New Scientist which mentions Santa Claus' stud valuation. I didn't realise that I had expanded the article sufficiently for DYK but looking at the figures it just squeaks through. I don't really mind which type of DYK you would like to go for: the April Fool idea looks rather fun but I would imagine the competition is pretty fierce. I'll leave it up to you- I just like writing the articles. Best wishes. Tigerboy1966 (talk) 02:15, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I found and added an additional ref which more explicitly says that he was "retired to stud". It's nice to hear that you "just like writing the articles"; keep up the good work. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:18, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

WP:NAMESORT

I'm trying to update namesort. It mostly consists of adding all the regional variation and adding references. It is currently at User:Bgwhite/Sandbox. It is still a work in progress. Could you take a look at it. Should it even be done at all? Bgwhite (talk) 22:57, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

It looks good. I can see you've put a lot of effort into it. Congratulations on some fine work. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:17, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
I've left comments on three separate talk pages and I'm not getting any comments. I'll probably update WP:Namesort tomorrow. Do you see any changes that need to be made? I'll need to add a brief mention on listas and also mention listas at WP:TPL. Bgwhite (talk) 03:43, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
Okay. The content seemed fine to me. I had noticed a few minor typos which I'll take care of (if they're still there) either now if I gather the energy, or afterwards. One thing I noticed you retained was the "For the sake of clarity" at the end of the Nobility section. That always seemed odd and unnecessary, and I'd be inclined to lose it after a revamp, but I'll leave that minor detail to you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:26, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
Changed the "sake of clarity" and added a couple more titles to the section. Bgwhite (talk) 07:45, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
Oh, one more thing. A sentence near the end of the first section used to say "The sort key should mirror the article's title as closely as possible, while omitting disambiguating terms." That last part got removed quite a while ago, but I think it should be restored. The disambiguator is omitted in practice about 98% of the time, and of the remaining 2%, nobody knows whether to have "Smith (footballer), John" or "Smith, John (footballer)" or something else. Again, though, this is your baby, so I'll let you decide. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:36, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
I've done a few minor adjustments for typos and such, plus removed a duplicate sentence about Prince Charles. In the When section, the sentence starting "In modern names beginning with Abu" is awkward, but I'm too tired to figure out how it should be. Also the sumo example says to use "Chinese order", but it's not in Chinese format, which uses a comma. Is that correct? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:19, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
Added "while omitting disambiguating terms."
Added the comma for the sumo wrestlers.
I think I have Icelandic names wrong per Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Iceland#Sort keys for Icelandic names.
User:ArtVandelay13 added the exception for Brazilian footballers this past June. I've asked him where the discussion took place. I have no idea if this exception is correct or not. Bgwhite (talk) 19:07, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
Well, I felt that the Iceland decision was made hastily, without enough input from Icelandic people. Even the person who made the suggestion which was adopted was "not keen on this solution". Why inconsistently apply a Westernized sort key to Icelandic names, but not others, such as Chinese or Arabic?
Note that WP:Manual of Style (Iceland-related articles) agrees with you. That page was marked {{Historical}} by someone from Ireland, not Iceland, and the reasoning in the edit summary does not seem valid to me. Just because a page is stable, not requiring frequent edits, is no reason to apply a template which states that "the page is no longer relevant, or consensus on its purpose has become unclear". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:43, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Subpage

Re this I've never understood exactly what this subpage parameter is for and when it's needed. Can you elaborate?PumpkinSky talk 03:15, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

The subpage parameter specifies the location of the nomination page. It's useful in two situations: in the Credits section of individual Prep and Queue pages, and by the bot to create the nompage parameter in the {{dyktalk}} on an article's talk page after it's appeared on DYK. The link in both of those places to view the nomination page is displayed automatically when the nomination subpage has the same name as the article; in those cases (which is most of them), the nompage parameter is not necessary. When the names differ (e.g., for multi-noms or nomination subpages with typos in their names or if the article was moved subsequent to the nomination), a subpage parameter is required. This parameter is normally added automatically by the new nomination template as necessary when the nomination is created. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:12, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
Ah so. Thanks.PumpkinSky talk 12:01, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Nompage

Thanks for adding my missing parameters, and for explaining above! Now I understand what went wrong in Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Sandström), missing in Jan Sandström (composer). Could you fix that in retrospect, move the credit from the man to the work? A link to the nom is on both talk pages? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:20, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:50, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. That incorrect DYKmake probably should have been noticed by someone somewhere in the process, but it's okay; no harm done, and it's been fixed now. Oh, as I guess you've noticed, I removed the link to the nomination from the composer's talk page since the article ultimately wasn't part of the nomination, but if you want to restore it since it briefly was nominated, feel free to do so. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:58, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, very considerate, but I remove the nom links after it appeared (if I don't forget). Someone who wants to expand the composer 5* is totally free to do so. I was only interested in the man as author of the piece which we performed and will again 3 June, feel invited. It was on the German "DYK" (Schon gewusst) on Christmas Day. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:14, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Technical help

Can you take a look at Talk:Christopher Werner and see what this is:

{{DYKsubpage |monthyear=January 2012 |passed= |2=
Its beyond me and I'm not sure if it is good, bad, or indifferent. Thanks.--Doug Coldwell talk 19:58, 13 January 2012 (UTC)
Fixed. Template:Did you know nominations/Christopher Werner was just missing a "}". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:10, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Western Australia border

I went to remove the 2nd link to the article after seeing your comment but you beat me to it! - Thanks! KHS-Boab (talk) 09:01, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:06, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Mc vs Mac

Did you see the change somebody made on Mc vs Mac at Wikipedia_talk:Categorization_of_people#Sorting_.22Mc.22_names_under_.22Mac.22.3F. I'm confused. Bgwhite (talk) 18:17, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I hadn't noticed; thanks for pointing it out. I've gotta admit that, although I have no strong feelings about it but personally prefer the "Mc" sorting, I somewhat agree with the guy's reasoning. There wasn't really adequate discussion before the guideline was removed. At the time it was removed, I thought there would be little edit wars and protests, but all was quiet. Nevertheless, I refrained from changing any sort keys because of uncertainty about the guideline's future. But it's been fifteen months, and I decided it was finally safe to start switching Mac sort keys back to Mc.

It's funny... not long ago I mentioned the prospect of doing this, with the possibility of having to switch 'em back again when someone changed the guideline again. I was joking, but I should know better than to joke about such things.

Anyways, I'll stop changing 'em until this is settled. Settled? Hah! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:53, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Just to make one thing clearer.... Although "I somewhat agree with the guy's reasoning", the same reasoning should apply to the change Deskford made. When a potentially controversial guideline's been gone for fifteen months, there should be adequate discussion before it's restored. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:06, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
My personality gets in the way on this sort of thing. You are a calmer head. Should I restore the old way with your last sentence? Should I update namesort with what is in my sandbox? Should I just wait and let it play out? Bgwhite (talk) 20:34, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
I dunno. If you want to be extra cautious, you could post a note announcing that your draft is complete and you intend to update the categorization page with it, and wait a reasonable time for any comments. As your update doesn't include the newly restored Mac stuff, you could suggest in the Mc/Mac thread that Deskford initiate an RFC if there's a desire to reverse the now-longstanding guideline (or lack thereof), but someone who thinks that's "a major and far-reaching change" likely won't be happy. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:01, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Greetings Mandarax and Bgwhite! I read the above with interest. Fifteen months is not long on the general scale of things, and I guess very few people noticed the removal of the clause because not many would have the guideline page on their watchlist. It was only when you started applying it to real articles that more people would notice — you caught my attention when you changed Gerard McBurney, an article I was watching for other reasons.

I'm approaching this from a UK perspective, where we are taught from earliest schooldays, when first learning about alphabetical order, that you always sort "Mc" as if spelt "Mac" and "St" as if spelt "Saint", so until now it never even occurred to me that this might not be standard across the English-speaking world, but looking at a random selection of articles on British and American people with "Mc" and "St" names suggests to me that the majority do keep to this rule. I feel that if a WP guideline reflects what is already established practice we should only change it with extreme caution. This would affect not just the DEFAULTSORT key on articles but also lists, including sortable lists in tables using Template:Hs to provide hidden keys.

But how do we generate wider interest? Projects that deal with articles on people would have an interest — most obviously Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography, but also such projects as Wikipedia:WikiProject Composers and Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians that I work with would be interested. Projects dealing with the parts of the world where "Mc" names originate and are most common would also have an interest: Wikipedia:WikiProject Scotland, Wikipedia:WikiProject Ireland and Wikipedia:WikiProject Northern Ireland.

Sorry if I've jumped in on something that's been developing for a while here — I can see now that you've both put a lot of thought and work into this area — but I do think we should try to engage as wide an interest as we can. --Deskford (talk) 01:43, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

It really doesn't matter to me the slightest bit one way or the other. Over the years, I changed and/or added many, many thousands of sort keys to conform to the "Mac" standard, and I've just very recently started changing some back. All I care about in this regard is that eventually everything should ideally follow some stable sorting rule in a consistent fashion. Bgwhite has put a lot of effort into researching sort keys from all over the world and at various historical periods. Yes, his studies spanned space and time! So he's very knowledgeable on the subject. Hopefully you two and any others who may have an interest in the matter can work it out. I've seen lots of people passionately defending each of the positions, which is why I was so surprised that the change fifteen months ago didn't generate any controversy. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:35, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
The problem with Mac and Mc is that the standard has been changing over the past 20 or so years. The old standard in the UK and Ireland was to treat Mac and Mc the same. There will be confusion. You still will find reference where this is what people suggest and you will find people doing this in indexes. Today, the Cambridge style guide, British Standards (aka the government), British Library and UK's Society of Indexers all now say to treat them different. Here is how the British Library also does it. International standard bodies also say to treat them differently. So, all the major British and International groups say to treat them differently.
If you ask WikiProject Ireland or WikiProject Scotland, you also need to ask WikiProject US, Canada and Australia as they have Mac/Mc names.
So, if you ask people, you will get a group saying, as you did, "this is how I learned it" Another group will say, "this is how it is done in my part of the world" Another will say, "This is how it is done now" All would be correct and nothing gets settled.
Personally, I go by what the standard bodies say unless there is an overwhelming need to do otherwise. US, International and British standards say to treat Mc and Mac differently. English Wikipedia is used all over the world, so having a different standard for Irish/UK Mc and one for everywhere else will get confusing. Also, bots now do the majority of setting DEFAULTSORT and having two different standards on where a person lives would be impossible for the bots.
I'll be changing the wording back in WP:NAMESORT to say treat Mc and Mac names differently. This is how it has been done for fifteen months, is how it is currently encoded into bots and is currently how it is practiced in the UK (by institutions and the Government). Suddenly changing will cause problems. Feel free to start up an RFC if you want more discussion to change. It was decided on WikiProject Iceland to treat names in western order instead of the standard patronymic order Iceland names use. So, there is precedence to go against standards. Bgwhite (talk) 06:32, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
You make very convincing, well-thought-out and researched arguments. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:16, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
As your arguments are very convincing, well-thought-out and researched, plus you updated Wikipedia:Categorization of people almost a week ago and encountered no objections, I intend to resume changing Mac sort keys to Mc. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:44, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Burning Man

Well, we're almost at the end of the two week registration period for the main round of Burning Man tickets. It looks like, after four consecutive years, I won't be going this year. But I think I'll return some time; I almost have to, as I've narrowed my new playa name down to two possibilities. I had considered using "Mandarax" the first year, but quickly dismissed that option. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:55, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I had to look up what playa name means. Got a laugh out of some... "culture shock" and "Department of Mutant Vehicles" were my favourites. Didn't you get pneumonia after last year's? Might be good you are missing this year's. Bgwhite (talk) 23:13, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
I wish my pneumonia had been after. (Well, of course, if I'm wishing, I might as well wish I'd never had it at all....) No, I had the pneumonia just before, and possibly during. Whether I technically still had it during the event or not, the effects were devastating. Black Rock City is huge, with things to see and do everywhere. The most common form of transportation is bicycle. (Those amazing mutant vehicles are everywhere, but I rarely ride them, because, first of all, you've gotta catch 'em when they're taking on passengers, and, more importantly, I like to go where I want to go, at my own pace, being able to stop any time something strikes my fancy, which is all the time.) Every time I rode my bike, or walked, or really did anything, I found myself gasping for breath. Also, there's usually a lot of sharing of food and drink with your friends, but I considered myself contagious (although I probably wasn't) and was very careful that no one else would consume anything I drank from, ate from, or even touched. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:41, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
As inconceivable[1] as it seems, they may have managed to turn this year's ticketing episode into almost as much of a debacle as last year's. (Some of you may recall my rant about last year's fiasco.) Last year, through incompetence, they cheated thousands of people out of the place in the ticket queue which they'd waited in for hours, then continued to falsely assure them for hours that their positions had been preserved. Each of those thousands of people was cheated out of anywhere from $30 to $220 (me: $60), and some were cheated out of the opportunity to get a ticket at all, but at least they knew right then whether or not they had their tickets. This year, the Burning Man organization instituted a ticket lottery system, noting that last year's event had sold out and some people may not get tickets. It apparently never occurred to them that people would submit multiple requests to increase their odds. Well, demand vastly exceeded supply, and now they're reporting that only 20–25% of the key people in major theme camps and art projects have secured their tickets. Those people will have the uncertainty of whether they'll be able to obtain tickets on the secondary market, or if they'll be able to afford possible scalping along with the expense of their other projects, and don't know whether they should even proceed with their plans, which are often extremely complex, costly, and time-consuming. And their campmates and collaborators who did win the ticket lottery don't know if they'll be able to do their thing without the assistance of those who didn't. Plus, people whose multiple ticket requests were granted now have to deal with selling their unwanted extra tickets. A huge mess all around. I'm glad I wasn't involved this year; look how worked up I got when I wasn't trying to get tickets! Okay, enough for now. But be prepared for next year's rant. (BTW, my ticket purchasing experience for each of my first three years was relatively smooth and successful.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:43, 9 February 2012 (UTC)


  1. ^ Yes, I know what some readers may be wondering, and the answer is "yes".

Minor Major Barnstar

The Minor Barnstar
This is for your many, many, many minor edits that add up to major improvement of the 'pedia. Thank you for all the work you do. LadyofShalott 22:46, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
Wow! Thanks! That's mighty kind of you! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:00, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. It's well earned. LadyofShalott 23:11, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK question

I made a double hook into a triple. Does anything else have to happen there, or is it ok? LadyofShalott 04:19, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Congrats on the triple! I have my first double in mind; the way I write, expect to see it sometime within the next five years or so. Anyways, as for yours, I just added the third article to the section heading and {{DYK nompage links}}, and added {{DYKmake}}s for you, Drmies, and 7&6=thirteen. If those credits aren't right, please correct them. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:37, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
They are - thank you! I look forward to your double. :) LadyofShalott 05:58, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Oops

Mandarax, if I didn't have you... Thank you. Drmies (talk) 05:00, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Hehe. You're welcome. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:44, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
Well, I just noticed something. The good news is that few if any other people saw your little oopsie, as you forgot to transclude it. You also neglected to do it for the female seminary one. I've taken care of both.

A bot has been written and will be springing into action soon to scold remind people who forget to transclude their nominations. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:16, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Can't believe I forgot that again. Drmies (talk) 03:09, 24 January 2012 (UTC)
Aw, it's certainly easy enough to do. When you jump through the hoops and finish creating the nomination page, it sure seems like you're done.

Thanks for dealing with the vandal who seems upset that I moved the Louvre from Las Angeles to Paris. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:35, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Now what'd you go do a thing like that for? I heerd tell that Louver was in Las Angeles. I don't know what your talkin bout, Paris. LadyofShalott 04:49, 24 January 2012 (UTC)
Hehe.

Well, there actually is a Louver in Los Angeles. It's a gallery, whose website I used as a ref for an article I wrote. I've actually been past it many evenings while on the Venice Art Crawl; I'll have to go by sometime when they're open in the daylight hours and look around, and ask them why they don't participate in the art crawl. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:11, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

You have a lover in Paris and Los Angeles? Ah, I now see why you are too busy to goto Burning Man. Bgwhite (talk) 08:43, 24 January 2012 (UTC)
Well, that got turned around on me, didn't it! I make a dumb wisecrack and end up learning something. :) LadyofShalott 14:47, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

The Louvre

I noticed you reverted my edits on the Louvre page. May I ask why? - Signed RX — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.186.162.170 (talk) 01:32, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

First of all, please leave new talk page messages at the bottom, rather than the top. I've moved this one to the proper place. Secondly, please sign your talk page contributions, by using "~~~~". Now, as for your question.... The only edit by your current IP was the above note, so I assume you're referring to your edits using another IP. As my only edit to Musée du Louvre in nine months was reverting exceedingly blatant vandalism by 58.165.76.124 (talk), my main question is why I've wasted any time replying. Oh, by the way, "Los Angeles" is not spelled "Las Angeles". I like to fight both vandalism and illiteracy.

Note: both IPs are from Telstra Internet, bigpond.net.au, in or around Brisbane. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:59, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

!!!!

[3]!!!! LadyofShalott 21:15, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Three thousand edits ago, you discussed my plans for my 200,000th edit. What I didn't mention at the time was that I have a tradition of observing every 50,000 edits by awarding an overdue Mandarax Barnstar of Excellence, and I had been planning on making you the fourth such recipient. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:35, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
Wow, I already felt honored; now, even more so. Thank you. LadyofShalott 21:49, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Mildred Seydell

I request your attention in this edit summary. :) LadyofShalott 16:50, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Your wish is my command, your Ladyship. I believe my edit summary is the first time in my entire life that I've ever quoted the Bible. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:40, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, I'm useless on the distinctions amongst what somebody on this website termed the "short, horizontal lines". Your second comment immediately above made me really LOL. LadyofShalott 20:44, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
I didn't know it was from the Bible. I originally had "Ask and ye shall find", but that somehow didn't seem right, so I looked it up and found the correct quote ("Ask, and it shall be given you") and its source. In light of my Googling it, I now realize the appropriateness of the part of the quote which I'd mashed up: "seek, and ye shall find". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:02, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Euler's totient function

The recent edit that you made to Euler's totient function, did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. The edit appeared to be made under good intentions to correct the grammar. However, although the paragraph needed revision, the grammar was correct as it was. If you know a subject well, in this case, the grammar of the English language, please check the edits you are making before committing them, to make sure they are, in fact, making the article more correct. On the other hand, if you are not an expert on the subject, then please leave the editing of that particular aspect of the article to editors who are experts on the subject. — Anita5192 (talk) 22:30, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I know the correct grammar very well. As a matter of fact, when I encounter such a situation, I always try to add a comma or something to prevent just such accidental AWB edits. I see that you added parentheses and a comma. Thanks for informing me, although the template is not very much appreciated. I apologize for my uncharacteristically careless edit. The moral of the story is that I should avoid editing at 5:30 in the morning after staying up a sleepless night. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:50, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
A vandalism warning template at that? What an absurd assumption of bad faith. Anita, surely you realize that people make errors? LadyofShalott 23:17, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
Okay, I admit that I am still rather new to Wikipedia. I apologize for the warning template. I tried to follow what was suggested under User:DESiegel/Template the regulars about "converting the not-quite-right message into the exactly right message," but I probably should have removed the icon, or perhaps not used a template at all. At least I softened the message into a mild notification and indicated that I was NOT assuming bad faith. Yes, I realize that people make errors, that I make them too (I just did), and that the people who make the most errors are usually the same people who make the greatest contributions. I think I got the message across, although clumsily. I am sorry! At least I learned from this experience and will be more gentle with the regulars from now on. — Anita5192 (talk) 04:16, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for your note. I appreciate it. Happy editing! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:11, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Editor's Barnstar
For picking up after me, time after time after time. WP would be a badly-running place without you. Drmies (talk) 22:14, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Aw, thanks! You're too kind! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:50, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Another talkback message

Hello, Mandarax. You have new messages at LadyofShalott's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

LadyofShalott 17:54, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Defend your honor

Are you not going to defend Lady's and your honor at User_talk:LadyofShalott#<3?

Good luck on the Mc/Mac. Bgwhite (talk) 08:55, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, I'm not sure any honor needed defending, but I commented. Thanks for the ongoing worship!

Thanks, the Mc stuff will certainly occupy me for a while.... 21:58, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, kind sir

Protector of Wikipedian Sex Workers Award
Some moral crusader almost stripped me of my already non-existing status as one of the last Wikipedian sex workers, and you saved me. You are my hero. Ms. Drmies (talk) 01:00, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

I believe this is the third time this week (twice of your doing) that I've read something on wiki that caused me to literally LOL, but this was the biggest. I was already LOL-ing (L-ingOL?) as I read it... then the picture materialized! To quote myself, "I occasionally see Wikithings that I find mildly amusing, but it's rare that I literally LOL." So three in one week is unprecedented. I'll have to watch out, or people may misinterpret all this laughing I've been doing. I wouldn't want to tarnish my misanthropic reputation. This is the best award I've ever seen, let alone received (although I can't guarantee it'll find a permanent place in the Awards section of my page). Thanks! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:37, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

  • Mandarax, you better put this in there, since there will never be another like it. I made it myself, moreover. And I do appreciate the revert, by the way. Hey, did I already tip you off to my new favorite author, W. G. Sebald? Drmies (talk) 01:43, 11 February 2012 (UTC)
  • YesY Done. Yes, I realized you'd constructed it yourself, and I greatly appreciate the skill, creativity, and effort that went into it.

    I don't recall your mentioning Sebald before. I see that a major influence was Jorge Luis Borges, whom I think you have mentioned (but I'm trying to refrain from looking up every little thing anymore). MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:31, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

  • Is that so? I didn't know. I read The Emigrants, which I've plugged here and there. I got three more of his books in; I hadn't spotted Borges in there yet. I just finished Death in Venice, which was chilling. I'm going to propose an upper-level class in Nobel-prize winning novelists (and near-winners; apparently Sebald was mentioned but he died too soon) with a focus on German writers, but one of my favorite students wants South-American writers as well, such as Roberto Bolana (whose 2666 I've also shamelessly plugged). This is the kind of literature that doesn't often get taught at a school like mine. Drmies (talk) 05:10, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Seven years

Congratulations and thank you!

Today is my seven year Wikiversary. As part of that observance, I've upgraded my status from Illustrious Looshpah to Auspicious Looshpah. As a result, my Book of All Knowledge has been enhanced with the Secret Appendix. It was worth the wait!

I've also performed a major expansion of Henri-Edmond Cross. This is appropriate for the occasion, as I believe that was the first article I ever expanded (I'd previously created three articles). About two and a half weeks after I registered, I expanded the article from two short sentences into a decent sized stub which then remained basically unchanged (except for vandalism and plagiarism) in the intervening seven years. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:35, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations - and thank you - for your seven years of wonderful service to Wikipedia! LadyofShalott 20:52, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
I was trying to find something for your birthday, but Drmies' Sex Worker Award can not be topped. Happy Birthday. Thank you for helping me the past few years. I will give extra praise unto you during Mandarax worship services tonight. Bgwhite (talk) 21:14, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Congratulations - great work...Modernist (talk) 21:18, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for the balloons, and for the kind words, everyone! (BTW, in typical Mandarax fashion, I had to go check, and I discovered that Cross wasn't the first article I'd expanded; I'd done another a few hours earlier.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:29, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Well, don't leave us hanging... what was it? LadyofShalott 21:44, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Oh, sorry, didn't realize I'd created a cliffhanger. Now that I peruse my contributions more carefully, I find another. My first, very minor, expansion was to Léon Bakst on March 1, 2005, followed on the 4th by a slightly larger expansion of Charles Demuth, then a little larger expansion of Cross and then of Giorgio Morandi. Cross was the only one of these articles that remained essentially unchanged in those seven years. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:03, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
  • My dear Mandarax, I should check your (and others'...) talk pages more often. Congratulations: the wiki is a better place for you. I hope that these past seven years were the lean years--we can only imagine what seven fat Mandarax years would look like. Thanks again, and thanks for all the help you've given me and other editors. We worship you. Drmies (talk) 14:35, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
  • Thank you very much! Your words are greatly appreciated. But, eeek! – your lean years/fat years thing is scary. Of course, for me, those fat years would actually have dramatically fewer edits, with that energy focused instead on article creation. But, as you know, that goes soooo slowly for me. I don't even know if I'll try to write an article for International Women's Day, which is three weeks away (and the article should be ready considerably before). My next one may be an April Fools' Day DYK, which I intend to do for the first time. (Although the one I have in mind could turn into an IWD hook if I went another direction.)

    As for checking talk pages, at least mine is manageable; yours is just out of control. If I had to reply to all the messages you receive, I'd never get anything else done. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:58, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

  • Update. Around this time last year, I had researched several female artists in anticipation of future IWD articles. Well, while rechecking those to decide which to do this year, I noticed that someone had created a tiny article (prosewise) a few days earlier about one of these artists, Ellen Gallagher. I realized that I only had a couple of days to expand it and get it DYK-ready. I scrambled, and somehow managed to get it nominated within the five day creation window. It's by far the fastest I've ever written a DYK article. I'm so glad I had done that research last year, because one key source no longer showed up in any of my current searches, and was no longer available (at least not free). Knowing ahead of time of its existence, I was able to find it on the Wayback Machine. That was the only place I found any real biographical information about the person. But, as I discovered with my previous BLP (Chantal Joffe), finding reliable information about relatively obscure living people can be very challenging. As a result, I consider Gallagher to be my weakest article, but I guess it'll have to do for now. (In contrast, last year's IWD contribution, Claire Falkenstein, is one of my favorites.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:49, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Precious

knowledge and precision
Thank you for sharing your profound knowledge, your viewpoint on art, your patience in repairing the same formal mistakes over and over, your review of one Bach cantata to improve them all (with more patience, of course). Did you know that there is now a better list of the Bach cantatas, transferred from Germany? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:03, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, Gerda! And thanks for all of your work. I wouldn't be surprised if you turned all those red cantatas blue before too long! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:34, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Was busy elsewhere, to the rescue of the Great Dismal Swamp maroons. No cantatas in Leipzig during Lent - Passionszeit. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:57, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Mc/Mac

Just a quick request to be careful when you're changing the sortkeys on Mc/Mac articles; on Barr McClellan, you incompletely removed the hidden comment about sorting, which left the article entirely uncategorized because the category declarations were sitting behind an unclosed <!-- code. Not a big deal or anything, just keep an eye out to make sure you're removing the whole comment, and not just a part of it, so that you don't make extra work for other people in the process. Thanks. Bearcat (talk) 17:48, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

That comment was annoyingly split on two lines. I had encountered that situation before, and had been manually taking care of it. I apologize for missing that one, and thank you for fixing it and notifying me. It was not long after the time of that edit two days ago that I became tired of handling them manually, and finally adjusted my AWB settings to correctly do it automatically, so this problem shouldn't happen again, but I'll be extra careful to check. Thanks. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:14, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Henri-Edmond Cross

Just so you know, I got the descriptor from the fr:wiki article about Cros. Circéus (talk) 04:30, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I was aware that there was a French sculptor with that name, although I didn't realize there were any Wikipedia articles about him in other languages. It's very important to me that every fact I present in an article is unambiguously verifiable according to reliable source(s). Several sources said that Cross changed his name the second time to avoid confusion with a painter. I found only one source that said it was a sculptor. It's quite possible that the sources claiming it was a painter were incorrect, but it's also possible that there was another artist with that name who was a painter. As I said in my edit summary, just identifying him as an "artist" is unambiguously correct according to all sources, and it's not necessary or important to specify what type of artist he was.

Thanks for fixing the image captions. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:48, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I guess I'm more willing to fuzz out on secondary facts when I'm not writing a FAC ^_^;; Possibly (as this is often the case when liberal arts topic cross language/national boundaries) English-language sources are fuzzier on this. Plus Cros seems to have been unusual in being multidisciplinary at a time when it wasn't common. Circéus (talk) 14:07, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Copyeditor's Barnstar
Yes it was. Well spotted. These are the kinds of games I like to play with the kids. Drmies (talk) 14:42, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
Thanks! Of course, it's likely that somebody (who probably thinks that Wiki needs them) will eventually "correct" that. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:10, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks to one who thinks & for fixing the red template effect I had probs with on the DiDia 150 talk page. Manytexts (talk) 06:57, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:01, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Finally

Okay, I've already answered this question in typical cryptic Mandarax fashion above.[note 1] The Jeopardy! question[note 2] to which my answer was "yes" is "have you seen The Princess Bride yet?".

How did I like it? Well, it was fine, but I found myself rather disappointed. I had unreasonably high expectations because literally[note 3] thousands of people had encouraged me to watch the film, saying that it was one of their favorite movies of all time. I tend to be an unusually-difficult-to-please film viewer. Most films tend to fit into a great middle ground, with most on the lower end of that scale, leaving me with a "blah" impression, and I probably hate more films than most people do.

Here are a few of the movies which I've loved. This is not even close to being close to an exhaustive list. And impressions could easily change; my opinion of most could certainly change drastically if I saw them again.

Hmmmmmm, this is a very odd list. I generally prefer dramas because comedies tend to miserably fail to amuse me (is Pineapple Express supposed to be a comedy? blecch!), but comedies are very well represented on my list. I guess these stand out so much because of my tough stand on comedies. The list was just off the top of my head, and if I thought about it more, I'm sure I could expand it greatly. Oh, and I also finally saw Casablanca; sorry, but it gets a "blah" from me too. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:46, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

  1. ^ I thought that merely explicitly pointing out my use of the word "inconceivable" would be a dead giveaway for lovers of the film.
  2. ^ Note: Yesterday's Final Jeopardy! answer was about a French artist who was famous for his garden. I said that this was a "throwaway" answer because it was so easy that everyone would know the correct question. But two of the three contestants got it wrong. Inconceivable!
  3. ^ People who know me know that I often use "literally" ironically,[a][b] mocking those who unknowingly use it incorrectly. At least I think they know that. Hmmmm... maybe they think I'm one of those people I'm mocking....
  4. ^ This had to be a great film to make this list, as I hate everything else Will Ferrell's ever been in.
  1. ^ Oh, and I use "ironically" ironically too.
  2. ^ Note that that was the first time I ever used nested footnotes on a talk page.
I did think you were saying you'd seen TPB in your comment above, although I wasn't entirely sure (and I realize that this is quite easy to say after you've spelled it out, but I did think so). I'm sorry you were disappointed. I've had similar experiences of things being so built up that when I finally saw them, it was not so great. The original Star Wars trilogy comes to mind - I finally saw them when the new series was about to start in the theatres. LadyofShalott 23:48, 21 February 2012 (UTC)
I was a little reluctant to post non-glowing comments about a film which is so beloved by people here, which may be why I first announced it in such a cryptic fashion. But I gotta call 'em as I see 'em. (As I said above, "I wouldn't want to tarnish my misanthropic reputation.") As for the original Star Wars, I actually had unrealistically low expectations. The commercials featured Chewbacca, and I thought, "this is the stupidest thing ever!" So I didn't see the film for years; when I finally did go see it, I loved it. But the story doesn't end there. I saw The Phantom Menace when it first came out, and I loathed Jar Jar so much that I never saw the next two films in the series. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:11, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
Jar Jar is an abomination. The last two films were better. The 3rd is actually watchable.
Borat... Have you seen the trailer for Cohen's new movie, The Dictator
I loved Borat and Back to the Future. I forgot about Wristcutters. I remember friends loving it when it came out at Sundance. It is now on my instant queue. Ratatouille was ok and I didn't like Notting Hill.
Per your message on my Talk page, Downton Abbey is a must see. I really love Being Human (BBC version), but it is not everybody's cup of tea. I'm a drama and SciFi type person. New Battlestar Galactica is my favourite TV show and I love Doctor Who and Torchwood.
If I could list five movies, it would be The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Donnie Darko, Brazil (director's version) and Mulholland Drive.
Per your question on minor edits. Most of the edits I make using AWB are really not minor. Most of the articles are new, so they have lots of little errors. I also add alot on the talk pages. I use minor when I just add "short description" in Persondata or make some small copy edits. Should I be adding minor more? Bgwhite (talk) 09:02, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
I hadn't heard about Cohen's new movie, but I'm leery. I hated Ali G Indahouse and Brüno, both of which were painfully unfunny. Wristcutters may not be for everybody, so I hope you like it, but don't blame me if you don't. I've previously told you that I saw the pilot movie of Battlestar, didn't care for it, and never watched the show again. Probably a big mistake. (I accidentally started watching the prequel without realizing it had anything to do with BG. I had thought it was just a new series. I decided I didn't like it, and stopped watching it before I discovered what it was.) Shockingly, I've never seen Doctor Who. Never heard of Torchwood. I generally don't like crime/prison movies, but Shawshank Redemption was very good. I've only seen Donnie Darko once, and that's something which needs seeing again, but its director's Southland Tales is horrible, horrible, horrible. I don't think I've seen Mulholland Drive, but again I'm leery, as David Lynch's Wild at Heart is one of my most hated movies of all time.

I was in no way criticizing your "minor" usage or suggesting that you change. I didn't even look at the edits; I merely saw the non-minor AWB edits in your contributions and thought it may have been accidental, as it had been for me when my "Minor edit" box somehow got unchecked. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:29, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

👍 Drmies likes this. FWIW, I agree re:Ali G Indahouse, unfortunately. As for TPB--you'll learn to love it. With true love, of course. Drmies (talk) 15:08, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
Well, about TPB, ya gotta realize that from me, "fine" is high praise. My taste in film often differs vastly from opinions of critics or the general movie-going public. I took a look at some of the articles for movies I panned above. It was gratifying to see that almost nobody seemed to like Southland Tales (although one critic positively compared it to Mulholland Drive, which doesn't bode well for my chances of seeing that film). I think that some people such as Richard Kelly only have one good movie in them, and they should quit after making it. Another example is Kevin Smith; I liked Clerks, but disliked Mallrats and Clerks II, and hated Dogma. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:00, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
Never liked the Ali G or Bruno characters on his TV show, so never watched the films. Mulholland Drive and Brazil have gotten great reviews. Beware as they are "weird". Mulholland will make you say WTF the first time... have to watch it again to start to understand what is going on. Mulholland has my favorite song in it... Roy Orbison's Crying, but sung in Spanish. It is haunting. Hmmm, I think I'm going to watch Mulholland tonight...Bgwhite (talk) 08:54, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
Both of those seem like films I should have seen, but haven't. I'll get around to seeing 'em some day. But I may just stay away from movies for a while, as I find so many of them to be disappointing (at best). The most recent one that I really didn't like was The Artist.

About David Lynch.... After seeing his film The Elephant Man, I said something to the effect of "that's the best film I never want to see again". One thing I distinctly remember: after the film, not a single person in the crowded theater left during the credits. That was the only time I've ever witnessed such an audience reaction. I believe this is because everyone needed the time to compose themselves after the emotional experience of viewing that film. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:26, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

← Post-Oscar update. I've already mentioned that I didn't like The Artist, which received five awards including Best Picture. I also didn't like Rango, which was named the Best Animated Feature. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:29, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

I watched Wristcutters last night. I enjoyed it. It was quirky and enjoyable. Remind me not to sleep on the beach. The beginning reminded me of Dead Like Me, dead people and black humor, but then it turned into a road trip. I loved Death Like Me, except the last 1/2 of the 2nd season, it tanked. I only watched a 1/2 hour of Rango and turned it off. It was a bad year for animated movies. I looked at 2009 and 2010 best picture nominees compared to this year... it was bad year for movies. Bgwhite (talk) 07:45, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
I'm really glad you liked Wristcutters. Dead Like Me is another series I've never heard of. I looked it up, and saw that it was created by Bryan Fuller. Now, that name seemed awfully familiar, so I had to look him up too. He worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the worst of all Star Trek series by a large margin. I remember that it came out at about the same time as Babylon 5 and the two shows had very similar concepts, but B5, of course, was infinitely better. (Yes, I know I told Drmies that I'd been talking about Babylon 5 too much lately, and here I go again. But in my defense, I'd like to point out that during the discussion of "And So It Goes" and similar lines on his page, I never mentioned Kosh's famous quotation "and so it begins".) Anyways, back to Fuller. The reason his name really was familiar to me was that he created the wonderful Pushing Daisies. I guess he likes working with dead people. The only thing I liked about Rango was right in the beginning, with the reality shift from the terrarium world. Another animated film that I did like (although not as much as Ratatouille) was Up. While I'm rambling on, here's one more thing. Notting Hill is the only video I've ever watched where the deleted scenes were just as good as the material in the released version, and would have enhanced the movie if they'd been included. And further rambling, while on the subject of Rango's Johnny Depp, loved Chocolat, hated Pirates of the Caribbean. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:01, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
Welcome back. I hope you had a nice break and weren't sick. Drmies and his kids have the flu. My wife is sicker than a dog.
I'm also a big Babylon 5 fan, especially seasons 2-4. Kosh, Londo and Vir are my favorite characters, especially Kosh. I could fall asleep listening to Bill Mummy's character. Ivonova's and Sinclair's acting were atrocious. The long story arcs, quirky and colorful characters. I also loved Star Trek DS9, but only starting the 3rd season. From the 3rd season on, it finally found its voice and story line. It was also the time Ronald D. Moore joined as supervising producer. Moore also wrote the script for the Star Trek:First Contact movie and went on to do my all-time favorite Battlestar Galactica. Funny thing with the Star Trek series, all the series started being really good after the 2nd season. Dead Like Me is more like Bryan Fuller's Pushing Daisies. I also loved Daisies, especially the tongue twisters. In Dead's first episode, you have to love it when the main character gets killed by a falling toilet seat from a Soviet space station. Bgwhite (talk) 21:33, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. I was fine, but all of my WikiTools broke after the last WikiUpgrade! It was very frustrating to return to all of these broken tools which I'd fine-tuned just the way I liked. Then I tried a Shift-reload to bypass my cache, which, fortunately, fixed everything. One thing I noticed right when they made the change was a great, enhanced diff view. The right side was blue instead of green, but the improvement was that it highlighted changes so you could actually see changes such as spaces (which were, depending on placement, not visible at all before) or small punctuation changes (which tended to be very difficult to see before). But by the time I looked at my next diff, they had already reverted this wonderful change, and it's back the way it was. D'oh! Most people probably never even saw this great change – about the only change I've seen among recent "upgrades" that was actually an improvement. Maybe the people who did see it didn't realize the benefits, and were just turned off by the boldness of the highlighted characters.... Oh, but one thing that the upgrade seems to have fixed is a problem I've had ever since the last "upgrade", which was that my Twinkle tabs didn't appear about half the time, and I had to reload if I had some Twinkling to do. It's a great relief to have that apparently working again.

At least it's unlikely you'll get close enough to your wife to catch whatever she's got! I hope everybody gets and stays well.

Vir took some getting used to. His loyal character provided some comic relief. I don't think I liked the actor much in St. Elsewhere, another of my beloved shows. Kosh is mysterious, Londo is a sometimes-lovable blowhard, Lennier and Delenn are, like me, peaceful and cerebral. G'Kar is a brave martyr, Ivanova is fun, Bester is wicked, .... What an incredible cast of characters! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:08, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

I still can't get my user scripts to work. I even tried using IE. Grrrr. Saving articles was extremely slow during the upgrade and I kept getting kicked out, so I'd have to log in again. I never had a problem with Twinkle. Ooops, I meant G'Kar was my favourite and not Kosh. The actor who played G'Kar (RIP) was a great character actor in Star Trek. I'm beginning to wonder if we are biological brothers, but were adopted out. I loved St. Elsewhere. One of the best endings ever. They only have season 1 out on DVD and I had to re-watch them again. I had to laugh on one of the first episodes... A famous person is treated by Dr. Craig. They hold a news briefing and tell everything about his medical care. Can't have that anymore thanks to HIPAA. Bgwhite (talk) 01:34, 6 March 2012 (UTC)
Yes, we do seem to share mostly the same opinions of, well, most things. I'm sure I would love Battlestar Galactica and Mulholland Drive if I ever got around to watching 'em. Yes, St. Elsewhere's finale was absolutely one of the best ever. The only other one in the same league that comes to mind is the very similarly-themed Newhart finale. I only saw a few episodes of Newhart, but somehow I ended up seeing that great finale. The Bob Newhart Show was good and Newhart was okay, but his best series was Bob. At least the first season; then they completely reworked it (probably due to low ratings), utterly ruining it, and it was canceled shortly thereafter. That's my best two-o'clock-in-the-morning-recollection, but if I know me (and I'm not sure I do), I'll probably end up checking those facts. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:39, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

"Kunst" is een konijn dat "kut" zegt

Mandarax, I am applying my usual heavy hammer to Marc Quinn. Only you have the power to stop me and make a. the article better and b. make the world a better place. I hate cutting into an artist's article, but it's a bit too much. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 19:32, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Your edits seem appropriate to me. (Just don't try anything like that with one of my articles!) It must've been tough to do, but it looked like it had to be done. As for this section's heading, I'm not sure Google Translate gets the subtleties of the Dutch language. (When I see "art" and "rabbit" in the same sentence, I think Jeff Koons.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:33, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
It's impossible to translate (and not because of any subtlety!), and even in Dutch it doesn't mean a thing--something my brother was fond of saying, and so I grew fond of it as well. According to Google it does not exist, though maybe it will if your talk page is properly indexed by Google News, as it ought to be. Possibly it's related to this expression, though I do not know yet what that means. But, back to the topic, thanks for looking into it. It's never fun to chop. And back to the title: I think it simply expresses a general disdain toward art and artists, along the lines of "my six-year old niece can do that". Right! Drmies (talk) 05:19, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
Well, I hope that expression you got from your brother doesn't get passed down to his nieces the Jrmieses. Something I doubt your six-year old niece could do is sculpt her frozen self-portrait in her own blood. Oh, somewhat tying this thread to the previous one (about movies), I saw My Kid Could Paint That a few years ago; it was pretty interesting. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:09, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
Nice rhyme, Mandarax. I don't even want to go back to that article to look at the blood sculpture. Some artists got the phrase "gotta have a gimmick" (and if all else fails, use shit) tattooed on their soul somewhere right after high school. Koons, Quinn, Hurst--brrr. I like this painting. I saw it--it is terrifying. Drmies (talk) 15:40, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
I've gotta agree with you about Hirst. I do not enjoy seeing his work of a lamb preserved in formaldehyde when I visit LACMA. Once, they had to close the building because of a small leak, and they sometimes post armed guards nearby to deter vandals from smashing the case, which would result in a toxic nightmare. Oh, thanks for mentioning Schnabel; it reminded me that I wanted to see Basquiat, a film about an artist by a filmmaker who's an artist. I'll see that when I resume film-watching. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:23, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
I did see that movie, as a matter of fact. You see, I'm not a total heathen! Drmies (talk) 04:10, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
Well, not total. I see that the movie got mixed reviews, leaning towards the negative. What did you think? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:10, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Copyeditor's Barnstar
For cleaning up all of my typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes on Eddie's House, I award you this barnstar.Thanks for all you do! Found5dollar (talk) 13:36, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much for the barnstar! And thanks for the article; I never knew Frank Lloyd Wright had designed a doghouse. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:47, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Colin Campbell Cooper

You should nominate this for GA. Great job!♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:10, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I always feel that the articles I write could use some more work before submitting to GA, so I never have yet. I find it discouraging to write what I thought was a fairly decent article, only to have someone come along and slap a "C" class on it. I know this is silly, but I always got straight "A"s in school, so I see a "C" as a failure. I actually had another article in mind to work on bringing up to something I'd feel comfortable submitting for my first GA, but maybe I'll go for it with Cooper. Thanks again! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:22, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Yeah they needed doing. I've only reached G though. i still have H-Z to go on the jazz standards site which I'll need help identifying those needing dabbing again later. I personally find the list very useful as a reference point for learning jazz pieces and finding them on youtube. There are a lot of surprising missing ones for sure. I can review Colin Campbell Cooper for you if you nominate it and I promise to conduct a fair review as I usually do and make any possible suggestions. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 21:47, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Wow, thanks for the review offer. I do want to work on it before nominating it, and then have time afterwards to respond to feedback. I have another article I'm currently trying to write, so it could be a while. (And the way I work, it could be a long while.) Drmies has previously suggested that I submit some of my work for GA, so with the encouragement I've received from both of you, I may just go for it!

Sure, I can help with the dabs again. I've only come to appreciate jazz in the last few years. When I walk into an art gallery, if they're playing jazz, it's a point in their favor right from the start. It was good to see a lot of songs on your list that I actually recognize. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:23, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

My favourite jazz pianist is Bill Evans. [4] [5] ♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:46, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

I must confess that I wasn't familiar with him. Thanks for the links – I like his work! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:03, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Mandarax...

...help! Drmies (talk) 21:31, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:43, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
Can't believe it was the http... Thanks Mandarax! Drmies (talk) 23:58, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
A clear case of distracted editing. (BTW, I always put the Living people category first--do you prefer I put it last?) It was inconceivable that we didn't have an article on that journal. Distracted--one of the kids is sick, and I have more work than I care for, and none of it fun. Any time people with an education degree get involved with education the results are disastrous, especially if the administration agrees with them and their mission. I should get a different job, but there's nothing else I can do and no one who would want me. Drmies (talk) 00:35, 28 February 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. Sometimes the easiest things are the easiest to overlook.

I always put categories such as birth/death year and living people last. I don't go around moving 'em except if I add another, similar category, such as I did here with the birth year missing category. I certainly don't care much, although I've seen some people get fairly worked up about category order. My justification is a rather informal guideline: Normally the most essential, significant categories appear first.

Sorry to hear about the sick kid; I hope the rest of the family doesn't catch it.

Nah, you've gotta stay in teaching. I've seen the ratings by your students. You've got to be a well-respected teacher for your overall rating to be so high while your "easiness" rating is so low. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:20, 28 February 2012 (UTC)



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