User talk:Plumbago/Archive 2

K and r selection

I was wondering if there was a good reason to have separate entries for K-selection and r-selection, could these not be combined, and have the old pages redirect to one new page? --Pete.Hurd

I guess they probably could be put together quite easily. Personally, I prefer them separate in the same way they'd be separate (and usually are) in a textbook index. Just an aesthetic feeling, no more. What probably could do with being edited (= redirected) are the r- and K-selected pages which I discovered free-floating a while back. I tend to shy away from entirely deleting the text of others (unless it's wrong), so I've left these for now. --Plumbago 6 July 2005 15:30 (UTC)

This week's computer and video games improvement drive

You showed support for this week's computer and video games Improvement Drive.
This week World of Warcraft was selected to be improved to featured article status.
Hope you can help…

Havok (T/C) 11:35, 15 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

HL-2 images

A while ago on the Half-life 2 talk page, there was a discussion about what kind of screenshots to use. You said you would go take some, so anytime this week or whenever really, could you take a few and put them on the talk page and we could see which ones to use? In reality, only a couple (probably 2 or 3) will be actually used. Try to get one with the hunter-chopper and Gordon in the "mudskipper" and maybe another one with Gordon using the gravity gun on a Combine soldier. We just need some that have varied gameplay. Thunderbrand 02:48, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

While we're on the subject of images, could I ask you very nicely to take some screenshots of the Alien Controller, and maybe a couple of Black Mesa itself? Maybe one of the Black Mesa logo and a nice one of the facility? I would do them myself but I can't access Half Life right now. By the way, did you get a chance to check out those thumpers on Xen?--Rusty2005 11:18, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Thunderbrand and Rusty2005. Thanks for your comments. RE: HL2, one of my friends has a site of pictures, and I'm waiting to hear back from him if I can use some (thus sparing me the effort of collecting shots). RE: HL and OF, I've not had a go yet (my saved status files don't take me to the right places), but will try. Probably later today. I'm keen for the HL pages to be spruced up pending another go at Featured Article status, so thanks for pressing me on this. --Plumbago 11:31, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

File:The citadel GScott.jpg City 17's Citadel	File:Sandtraps GScott.jpg Crossing the Sandtraps	File:Railway bridge GScott.jpg Mist-enshrouded railway bridge
Nova Prospekt prison	A Combine Metrocop	File:Compound GScott.jpg A Highway 17 compound
File:Burning zombie GScott.jpg Setting a zombie aflame	File:Alyx dog GScott.jpg Alyx and Dog	File:Sunset GScott.jpg A beautiful sunset

Hi again Thunderbrand. How are these? Courtesy of my mate Graham. --Plumbago 16:57, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I worked the Metrocop one in. There was enough space so it fits good and shows off the architecture nicely. I dunno if any more could be put in without it getting cluttered, though. Thanks for the screenshots. Thunderbrand 17:34, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Rusty2005. Afraid my Opposing Force no longer works. However, I did track down what I think are your thumpers from Half-Life. See the picture to the right. What do you reckon? I still think coincidence, but you were right, they do look like thumpers. --Plumbago 17:30, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think they are thumpers. After all, it's very possible that the antlions are not native to Xen, and so after the Combine conquered Xen, the inhabitants had to construct some kind of anti- antlion device! We could always put it in the thumpers section under "Combine technology", and if people disagree, it wouldn't be difficult to remove. Actually, why not put this picture and the one of the Earth thumpers onto the antlion page? --Rusty2005 12:35, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

They do indeed look like thumpers. I reckon you should go ahead and add this picture (and the new one to the right) to the antlion page. If anyone complains, well, they can argue it out. Thanks for originally pointing me towards these. --Plumbago 12:54, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'd love to add the pictures to the antlion page, but I don't have the faintest idea how to use images on wikipedia! Maybe you could do them? Sorry! I saw the picture of the ALien Controller by the way - it seems fine! :) Those pictures above look really good too. I haven't got HL2 yet and I'm getting impatient to play it!! Do you need a net connection to install it? --Rusty2005 13:01, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Go on, give it a shot. :) All you need to do is copy and paste in something like "]]Image:NonFreeImageRemoved.svg|thumb|right|250px|Combine thumper[[" (carefully reversing the "[" and "]" symbols I swapped round for this demonstration) into the appropriate place on the other page. Alternatively, just edit this page, copy the reference to the image you want, go to your new page, edit it, then paste the reference in. You might need to resize the image (the "250px" bit), or move its position (currently "right") on the page, but apart from that it's easy. Just remember to preview first! Good luck, --Plumbago 15:37, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. I should have added that, yes, you do need an internet connection for Half-Life 2. As I recall this is so that it can register itself with Valve. I think it only needs to connect the once at installation, so you can play without an internet connection (though it's much easier to do so with a connection). I always play when I'm logged on, and having an internet connection allows you to download updates (which are moderately frequent). You can also access the multiplayer deathmatch game then as well (not to be sniffed at). For full details, have a look at the article on Steam. --Plumbago 15:48, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hey thanks for the info, it worked! :) Now all we need are some shots of Black Mesa and Race X.... --Rusty2005 16:09, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Just a reminder, you might do this anyway but it's a pretty common thing... Turn the graphics details all to maximum before taking screenshots, and preferably the Wikipedian with best graphics card should take screenshots. :)

--Chaosfeary 00:24, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure that my graphics card is up to it for something like HL2, but I'll bear this in mind for lower spec games like HL. I've found, however, that screenshot contributors are surprisingly few and far between, and that the Wikipedia has to take them where it can find them. Even I've been asked to provide screenshots by several people now, and have been happy to oblige despite my computing limitations. Thanks for the note though, --Plumbago 09:36, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Alien Controller

File:Alien Controller 2 AYool.jpg

Another Alien Controller shot (v2)

File:Alien Controller 3 AYool.jpg

Another Alien Controller shot (v3)

Hi Yar. Are any of these better than the one already on the page? The final one has the advantage that the Controllers are actually firing on Gordon (rather than simply looking like alien Buddhas). --Plumbago 08:40, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, the third one looks best; I gues my main concern was with the fact that the background texture was way too pixellated. --Yar Kramer 02:17, 4 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

File:HalfLife AlienController.png

Close-up of the Controller

I have a fairly good close-up of the Controller. The problem now is that the image-text ratio in the Controller article is a little unbalanced, so I'm hesitant to place it in the page. ╫ 25 ^ring-a-ding 13:28, 23 October 2005 (UTC) ╫[reply]

Solubility pump

Hi Plumabago. Nice to see all your edits; when it comes to ocean chemistry there aren't too many wikipedians. I think the issue I was trying to edit out were the comments on charge balance. The wording can become very difficult when talking about charge balance, because if it isn't written just right people will believe the ocean's charged state varies(which it doesn't). For example, if Na+ is added, an anion must also be added, such as Cl-, leaving total charge neutral. Neither of these species have any influence on Alkalinity. However, if Na2CO3 is added, this will have a strong influence on alkalinty. Depending on pH, CO3-2 will remain in solution (increasing alkalinity by 2 units), 2 H+'s will be consumed (again increasing alkalinty by 2 units) or somthing in between. And you're right, the charge balance of the species involved in the alkalinity changes (because Na+ is not involved in alkalinity), but the total charge remains the same. I'll improve the Alkalinity article sometime this week to try to clear things up. I think I need to learn the math functions first - so it might take a little while! Regards

Piyrwq 19:31, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

HL2

Hi again, hope all well! I've bought HL2 and I'm loving every second of it, but I think there's a few things missing. The videos of Dr Breen/Dr Kleiner in the train station, etc don't have any audio accompanying them, I think I'm meant to be able to see the G-Man at the very beginning but I only hear him, and the game as a whole is pretty slow. I don't suppose you have any idea why? Rusty2005 01:04, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Rusty2005. It might be that your game settings are too high (specifically the graphical ones). HL2 is very, very resource hungry. I'd try setting all of the graphical options to their lowest values to see if that helps first. HL2 usually tries to select those best suited for your machine's specification, but I've found that it chooses options a bit too good for my PC. If it runs better with the lowest settings, you can then try to gradually ramp them back up. As it happens, when I first got HL2 I had to upgrade my video card to be able to play it at all. It was worth it though. :) Anyway, give the above a shot and see how you get on. Give me a shout again if you're still having trouble. --Plumbago 09:00, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Black Mesa Research Facility

Good day. I would like to discuss the a few new screenshots that could be in use for the Black Mesa Research Facility article. I have taken screenshots of various areas of the research facility, but the number of (personally deemed) appropriate screenshots has totaled to about 15 images.

The images taken lack both a weapon and a HUD on screen. The list of areas includes the following, in chronological order:

One shot from the tram en route to Sector C Test Labs, during the start of the game
Two shots from the Office Complex
One shot of the old Rail System
One of shot the entire Hydroelectric Dam
One shot of a Hydrofauna Studies Laboratory
Two shots from the Residue Processing Facility
Two shots from the Biodome; one features it lobby and another features a room containing an Alien Grunt
Two shots in a suggestively military portion of the area
One shot from the Lambda Reactor Complex's entrance
One shot of the Teleportation Tower
One shot of the teleporter to Xen

With Xen having additional screenshots, including those displayed in a section specifically for them, would it still be acceptable to supply the Black Mesa Research Facility article with an equivalent number of pictures? ╫ 25 ^ring-a-ding 17:46, 28 October 2005 (UTC) ╫[reply]

Hi 25. Not a problem with me. Especially since Black Mesa is such a large place with such a wide range of different sections and facilities. If I were you, I'd just do what's already been done for Xen - put a few shots in the body of the article, then a put gallery of the spares at the end. So long as each of the images is pretty distinct and shows something different, I can't see anyone complaining too much. I got my way with Xen in the end! ;) --Plumbago 22:20, 28 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. I like your Alien Controller shot. It's much better than any of mine.

Thank You

Thanks and cheers for your excellent rewrite of Neo-Creationism. Nicely balanced and a much better read now. Well done. Do you take requests? FeloniousMonk 03:32, 29 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

No worries. It's good that you created an article on the topic, so I'm only too happy to help tidy things up. As regards requests, if you've something in mind, let me know. Depending on what it's on, I may be able to help. I try not to spend too much time on Wikipedia (but usually fail), but if it's interesting, I'll give it a go. Cheers, --Plumbago 09:21, 29 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

User cats

How about - Category:Wikipedians named for plant genera? Guettarda 16:55, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, as Wikipedia's already nearly bursting at the seams with categories, perhaps not. :) Anyway, greetings fellow biologist! Technically, I'm more oceanographer / ecological modeller than biologist, but biologist came closest on the list, so I thought I'd stick with it. I'm sure there are more of us out there (at least judging by the quality of some articles), so hopefully our category won't stay so lonely. See you around, --Plumbago 17:04, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Devils Tower National Monument

Hi, Plumbago. That is an excellent point about scale! Scale is depicted well in Image:A Yool DevilsTower 04Sep03.jpg. Your point about layout is valid too. But, I'd like to see Image:Devils Tower portrait.png] (largely redundant with the first) replaced eventually by a closeup of rock, rock climbing, flora or fauna characteristic of the area to contrast with the other two images and add more content. Also, I wonder if Image:Devils Tower.jpg might be improved (given the 250px width) by cropping some of sky and sides? Walter Siegmund (talk) 05:48, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Plumbago. I added the new infobox to the article. Although the topic doesn't seem to be one of your major interests, this project might interest you. See also the new template that has been developed. It needs to be inserted in over two thousand articles so your help would be welcome. -Walter Siegmund (talk) 03:16, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Evolution

Thanks for your courtesy in letting me know of the revert. It was made in the context of an AfD vote on unguided evolution, where I supported the proposal that this creationist fork be deleted and redirected to evolution. In my opinion redirects should take you to a page that openly refers to what you were looking for, and while I appreciate your concerns feel that this is better than a fork duplicating arguments. The scientific purity of the page is already sullied by reference to the controversy, in my opinion quite rightly. No doubt others will chip in on this, and I'd appreciate it if you can give this your consideration....dave souza 19:12, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn't entirely aware of the AfD vote, but I think I understand better now. Still, I'm firmly of the opinion that anything regarding creationism should be confined to the Social controversies section of the page (at most). It should not leak out of this section, as there is practically no controversy within science on the "issues" creationism raises. It would be wrong for a science article to be diluted by continued reference to political movements that have no research agenda. Anyway, thanks for filling me in some more about ongoing discussion on the article. Best regards, --Plumbago 09:19, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

language and leadwort

Hi. Intrigued by one of your edits (something mentioning polytheism which I cannot find) I looked at some of your pages. In regards to your language interests I saw mention of the old chestnut about Eskimos having many words for snow. In 1973 (approx) I spent a summer in Holland and learned the language fairly well. I was amused at a TV show (in Dutch) about some woman in the US trying to get her child support funding. She went from office to office and window to window as various agencies pawned her off on the next. The English had a lot of different words for yelling - "Stop yelling at me," "You don't have to scream at me," "Stop shouting at me" all of which verbs were translated in the Dutch subtitle with use of the verb "schreeuwen." Turns out the Dutch, being rather moderate folks, emotionally, have only two verbs for loud verbal expression: "gillen" - to yell as for example across a field to get the attention of another (not expressing anger) and the one in the subtitles! PS: I used to grow Plumbago Larpentae - a nice plant (leadwort) - did you pick your name therefrom? Carrionluggage 20:40, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. Thanks for visiting! I think the polytheism thing might just be me complaining on the watchmaker analogy page about some rather odd statements. I must admit that my language interests are very modest. I find the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis very interesting as I'm always keen to explore just how free our free will is (assuming it's free at all, which I tend to do), and the hypothesis, in its strong form, suggests that we should be careful in constructing our languages if we're not to limit ourselves. I do like your story about the Dutch TV show though. It perhaps suggests that maybe we don't need all that many words if we're to stay moderate. :) As regards my nom-de-guerre, yes, it is named after the genus Plumbago, although not a particular species (I think you might be the first person to work this out; others have asked). Many years ago I pulled it from a botany textbook as a username (don't ask why) and I still use it where I can. Anyway, thanks again for dropping by. Best regards, --Plumbago 22:56, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for speedy reply. I have two more queries: (A) does this "I can be found at 50.893°N, -1.395°W" mean you can be found at 1.395° East (which I doubt) or +1.395° W? I count East as positive, so a negative and the word West would seemingly be a double negative, and hence East. (B) With your botanical experience/handbooks/whatever, can you tell me if Hawkeye is a weed, and if so, its botanical name? I used to work at the U of Iowa and the state symbol (adopted by sports teams) was said (I thought) to be the hawkeye weed, elevated and transmogrified to a hawk's eye. I've tried the Web, but it's like "Hey, Rube" (was a shout by carnival workers to gather forces against a miscreant, such as a thief) or "Banana Messenger" (was an employee of, for example, United Fruit, who accompanied a shipment of bananas; now it's a girl's backpack logo). In other words the weed if it exists is drowned out (figuratively) by the noise level. If you don't know, I will eventually look it up at a library and if I am right enhance Wikipedia disambguation on the term. Thanks Carrionluggage 23:16, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Embarrassingly, your observation is correct, and my listed longitude is the wrong side of the Greenwich Meridian. Particularly embarrassing since I spend much of my day at the moment plotting and analysing geographical data. Thanks for pointing this out - it's now been duly corrected. As regards Hawkeye, I'm afraid it's not a weed I've come across before. My own web searches have only trawled up references to M*A*S*H, some biodiesel plant in the US and a botanical textbook by a chap called Hawkeye. As I'm firmly ocean-focused these days, I'm afraid I don't have access to any resources that could help track it down (though I'm sure they exist; you need to find a terrestrial ecologist who's editing WP). Good luck sorting it out. Cheers, --Plumbago 17:45, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - no worry - when the snow here abates I'll check some botanical references for hawkeye. Are you in Southampton? At the university? I am in Colorado.

By the way, on language, most others I know are very different from English in having fewer homonyms, homophones, etc. I am told that puns are hard to do in Russian, for example. So humor must be directed a bit differently for the most part. Carrionluggage 22:05, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Xen

A post is up in the discussion section of the Xen (Half-Life) article, describing the reasoning behind the (admittedly extensive) changes.

The basic gist is that the article was originally loaded with speculation, but not many facts. The attempt was to balance that fact/guess ratio out a bit more in favour of things that have been confirmed.

If you read over the changes, I think you'll see there's a lot more substance to the article, while very little was outright removed.

I'm pretty newb, so I don't know how to un-revert an article. If you can do that, I would appreciate it.

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year. Guettarda 17:10, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Aaah yes its Christmas isn't it

Thank you for your reply to my question on pro-life. I have edited the current version so far as it can go. Please cast an eye over it as and when you have time. Also encourage others. I mean what I say in Talk:Pro-life#Text_removal about what the article needs. It still reads like an extract from a dreary civics text book.

Bilbo or no Bilbo the dragons are awaking. Stroika 13:45, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Stroika. I've had a quick glance (I'm using dial-up), and it looks fine. I'll give it a proper once-over once I'm back on broadband. But nothing caused the dragon within to stir.

Hope you're enjoying a festive break. Best regards, --Plumbago 09:13, 26 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much

When I think of all of us who worked together so hard for so long, I think of the line from Henry V We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...

It was a fun ride, wasn't it? So thanks you guys, that meant a lot to me.

Who did the Thelonious with a mop artwork? Brilliant! FeloniousMonk 08:22, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]