User talk:Aleta Curry/Archive 4

Mar 08-Dec 08

Aleta Curry

Current talk page

Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3, Archive 4, Archive 5, Archive 6

Oh Recipes!

Please have a look at CZ:Proposals/Recipes_Subpage_and_Accompanying_Usage_Policy#Concrete_Steps_Ahead and kindly do the needful. Supten Sarbadhikari 22:24, 2 March 2008 (CST)

Getting in early

Hi Aleta

Another bad timing month for me puts me into Berlin all week from tomorrow, with limited internet access. So want to send my apols early. Next one. Promise. --Ian Johnson 09:44, 3 March 2008 (CST)

Awww...what? They don't have computers in Berlin?

Guess I'll have to let you slide.

Well, it's nice to know you didn't forget. See ya soon!

Aleta Curry 18:09, 3 March 2008 (CST)

Template:EZnotice

I created Template:EZnotice with three variables, school, subject, and enddate. Have a look see and tell me what you think. --Robert W King 11:48, 3 March 2008 (CST)

That's fab! Well done. Aleta Curry 18:13, 3 March 2008 (CST)

input requested on naming convention proposal

Please check out CZ:Proposals/Naming Conventions for Biographies#Final review? and respond there; if there is agreement, this proposal will move on to the next stage of adoption. Thanks, Anthony Argyriou 13:52, 3 March 2008 (CST)

There's been a significant suggestion for a change to the proposed policy. Please look at CZ:Proposals/Naming Conventions for Biographies#Poll regarding suggested change and respond there. Anthony Argyriou 14:04, 12 March 2008 (CDT)

inclusion

Here is an example of inclusion, Atom/Catalogs/Magnetic_nuclei. This table actually lives at NMR spectroscopy/Catalogs/Magnetic_nuclei but can be seen in the Atom cluster. A reader would not know this unless they tried to edit the table. Chris Day (talk) 14:28, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Write-a-thon theme

Hi Aleta, is there a theme to the current write-a-thon? Meg Ireland 16:57, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Yes! This month's theme is: "Something you absolutely love!"

Wobbly table

Happy parties, as the Brazilians say at Christmas, & thanks for the note.

I wonder if you can diagnose what's wrong with my table at I (that's as slim a blue link as one will ever see). I'm very new to tables: there must be a missing ingredient to explain why it won't 'take'. Thanks - Ro Thorpe 17:41, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Darlin' I know less than you do about tables. By the time I figured it out, Rob, Joe or Steve would have made short work of it and created lasting world peace. You can contact one of them, or Chris or Matt. I'd just put a "HELP!" note at the talk page; somebody will. Aleta Curry 17:56, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Thanks, I'd already put a note on the talk page: let's hope that'll do it - Ro Thorpe 18:01, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Led Zeppelin

Thank you. I'm absolutely humbled by the experience. I didn't expect anyone to vote for it. Meg Ireland 19:05, 4 March 2008 (CST)

Thanks

For the invite - regretfully I was unable to attend - my long suffering girlfriend proposed on Feb 29 and is now to be long suffering fiance - so we were whooping it up at a real party. kind regards --Russ McGinn 03:49, 5 March 2008 (CST)

Oh! Congratulations! Aleta Curry 04:11, 5 March 2008 (CST)

Hi yourself!

Hi, I think you're gonna have to add me to whichever category you think fit. I've been busy all day, and am now really burned out, and don't feel up to emitting coherent prose at this point today. The good news is I'm somewhat caught up on other areas of my life, and hope to be able to write tomorrow (although I'll probably be working on internal stuff first, alas - no fun writing articles for me :-). J. Noel Chiappa 20:45, 5 March 2008 (CST)

Ha! Sounds like you're entitled to a rest! Take a load off. Aleta Curry 21:29, 5 March 2008 (CST)

Spanish Translation

Aleta, I'm hoping you can lend a hand over at the Calcidius article. We have a Spanish speaking author who has attempted to translate an article from Spanish to English, but the prose is a bit shaky. I know you've been pushing the international thing, so I am hoping you have an idea as to if we have a Spanish speaking citizen with a better grasp on English so we can get a smoother translation out of it? I imagine a non-Spanish speaker could do this, but I fear the quality of the article would suffer. So if you can point me in the right direction, that'd be great. --Todd Coles 21:37, 6 March 2008 (CST)

After more digging, I found the CZ:International list and messaged Ro about this, so hopefully that will help and you can ignore this message unless you have someone in mind. --Todd Coles 21:48, 6 March 2008 (CST)

Recipe formalization

Hi, please have a look at CZ:Proposals/Recipes_Subpage_and_Accompanying_Usage_Policy#Concrete_Steps_Ahead and let us complete it so that it can be formalized and moved to the next stage quickly. Supten Sarbadhikari 21:46, 6 March 2008 (CST)

Help archive, please

Okay so where do I put this? user talk:Aleta Curry/Archive 2

and how come it isn't in the little archive box at the top like a good little...whatever it is?

You can just look at my contribs to see what I did to do this it for you. Stephen Ewen 04:00, 9 March 2008 (CDT)

I wasn't sure how to do this either (but don't need to archive for a while yet, anyway), so I took a look at how you did that, too. Thanks Stephen. Louise Valmoria 04:13, 9 March 2008 (CDT)

There are two schools of thought about archiving talk page; one moves the old page to the archive, so the history of those changes goes with it; the other does a cut-and-paste (as here). Each has their plusses and minusses. I wonder if we should have a project-wide standard for how article talk pages get archived? J. Noel Chiappa 09:27, 9 March 2008 (CDT)

Timeline templates

Aleta-

Would you mind testing out a timeline template I've created? It comes in two parts: {{Timeline}} to establish the timeline field, and {{TLevent}} to add timeline events. You can even change the colors and widths and stuff. Let me know if you come across any issues. --Robert W King 17:02, 9 March 2008 (CDT)

Short answer: no (I wouldn't mind at all)

Longer answer: I have no bloomin' idea how to make this work.

Sorry, I tried at: User:Aleta Curry/sandbox but no can do, kimosabe.

Aleta Curry 01:13, 10 March 2008 (CDT)

For what it's worth, (I spotted you talking to yourself in the recent changes section and was dying to know why you were worried about blowing up CZ): an 'em' is a font thing--you can use it to change the width and length of tables and such in whatever scale the font settings already are in.

Try changing the width using percentages (40%) or, I think, pixels (100px), which can give you an exact width, but doesn't scale as well. If someone had a really wide screen resolution, 100px can look really small, but if it was 40% the width would take up 40% of the available space for the table. Louise Valmoria 02:35, 10 March 2008 (CDT) (who will stop nosing around the recent changes page now)

The "em" unit is not only for fonts; it is a valid CSS unit for just about anything. The width is adjusted in percentages (37%) or in em (100em). If you use pixels, it will probably not line up. --Robert W King 08:26, 10 March 2008 (CDT)

Nose around all you want--I need all the help I can get! I suppose I'll come back to this later, right now I'm catching up on Proposals and things while they're all sleeping in the good ol' USA...and trying not to burn my husband's dinner as I do it. Good thing he's a bangers-n-mash kinda fella, just in case.... ;)

Aleta Curry 03:05, 10 March 2008 (CDT)

itsTallong story

see me. D. Matt Innis 12:20, 13 March 2008 (CDT)

BrE & AmE but not (as yet) AuE

Hi, Aleta, have a look at Hayford's talk (Autre...) please & let us have your opinion. Ro Thorpe 19:03, 18 March 2008 (CDT)

Further to your note chez Hayford, would you like to add something re Commonwealth English to the introduction to this? I tried, but am not quite sure how to phrase it. Ro Thorpe 16:16, 20 March 2008 (CDT)

Sure I'll take a stab at it, not because I'm an expert, but because I believe so strongly that it is needed.

Where does "it" live?

Aleta Curry 17:45, 24 March 2008 (CDT)

Red links

In the early days on Wikipedia, we found it was better to leave links as red, rather than redirect them to something which was only vaguely useful (as with African-American -> Soul food). In part, you see it blue, then if you don't check, you think 'ah, good, don't need to do that'. Also there's a function Special:Wantedpages which redirects also make not work. J. Noel Chiappa 14:18, 25 March 2008 (CDT)

Ah, sorry, I see, you were trying to redirect African-American cuisine, and apparently suffered a typo. Never mind! J. Noel Chiappa 14:20, 25 March 2008 (CDT)

Ooh--took me several passes at this (with husband glaring impatiently over my shoulder because he wants computer to check out BBC news for some reason) to figure out what you were saying.

You're right--typo caused by piped link, I think.

I think I now need to ask someone to delete African-American so that it still shows up as a red link.

Aleta Curry 17:50, 25 March 2008 (CDT)

Just throw a {{speedydelete|<your reason here>}} on any page you created in error and want deleted. Every so often a Constable comes along and janitors them all off to the trash. J. Noel Chiappa 19:43, 25 March 2008 (CDT)

I {{speedydelete}}d it and deleted for ya, D. Matt Innis 11:33, 26 March 2008 (CDT)

Rottweiler

Aleta, I have made a few modest suggestions for the Rottweiler article on the talk page. If you could make the suggestions happen, I will nominate the article for approval. David E. Volk 11:47, 27 March 2008 (CDT)

Just to let you know I got your message, David, and must take care of it later. Husband gave ample warning we were to leave at 08:30, it's now 08:19 and I'm about to prove I can check mail, make coffee, set the fire, get dressed and get out in time, 'cause I'm a woo-maHn, w-o-m-a-n; if I don't make it, I'll hear about it all day, you know how you boys are. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to the Royal Show....ciao! Aleta Curry 16:22, 28 March 2008 (CDT)

Aleta, I have nominated Rottweiler for approval. Thanks for the changes. Don't worry about itme 2 or 6. As I said, they were suggestions only for consideration. David E. Volk 08:52, 1 April 2008 (CDT)

Write-a-Thon ready to go

Everything is cleared and archived, except for the theme and suggestion sections. --Todd Coles 22:15, 30 March 2008 (CDT)

I've put forward a suggestion of a 'Great people' theme. Get some biographies written. Derek Harkness 07:23, 31 March 2008 (CDT)

Grateful thanks, Todd.

Derek, I love it. I'm bumping it up the theme list. Aleta Curry 18:20, 31 March 2008 (CDT)

Hey Aleta

Hey Aleta... yes I'm back making edits here and there. I see you're on the council now and whatnot... congratulations :) Eric M Gearhart

Quantum comprehension

Did you ever get a chance to take a gander at Quantum mechanics? I'd love to hear if the new approach is in fact comprehensible to mere mortals. (If your head hurts after a while, don't worry, you're in good company - the heads of every physicist who has worked on this, up to Einstein, hurt after they thought about it! :-) J. Noel Chiappa 00:38, 3 April 2008 (CDT)

I did indeed take a look, and I've now made a couple of edits based on what I thought was being said. Naturally, if I've gotten that wrong...!

This was a big ask, and you fellows have done a great job with it.

I read down as far as the section about the pussy cat. I'll get to that later, and if I forget, you have my permission to nudge me.

On a seemingly non sequiturial but actually related matter, I am very disturbed by the fact that the footnote popups have now disappeared (since the launching of the new skin). Having to "click" to the bottom to read parenthetical notes is a pain of large quantum scale!

Aleta Curry 17:41, 3 April 2008 (CDT)

Aleta, very good that you looked at QM, thank you for that. Be not afraid to point out unclarities, the idea of the article being that you understand most (say 90 percent or ideally 100 percent) of it. If you understand less, we have to go back to the drawing board.--Paul Wormer 19:22, 3 April 2008 (CDT)

Thanks for taking a look. I saw your edits, most are good, a few I may have to put back because they subtly changed the sense of what I was trying to say, and made it less accurate.

I agree 100% with Paul's comment that unless the average reader can understand at least 90% of it, we've made a mistake. (Not everyone seems to be on that page; see some of the discussion at Talk:DNA/Draft. J. Noel Chiappa 21:59, 3 April 2008 (CDT)

No sweat. While you're at it, take another look at paragraph no....2, I think, under the section about that evil bastard torturing the poor puddy cat. I think that needs a little background. I'll explain at the TALK page rather than just changing. Aleta Curry 22:04, 3 April 2008 (CDT)

Fictional dogs

Aleta, see last entry, http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User_talk:Anthony.Sebastian#Dog.2FDraft. --Anthony.Sebastian 18:49, 4 April 2008 (CDT)

Olympics theme

Aleta,

I do have serious objections about supporting the Olympic Games in China, but no "strenuous" objections to the theme for a CZ Wrytathon. Depending on how the theme begins to develop -- the sentiments of the participants -- I may choose to pass on the party. --Anthony.Sebastian 13:45, 5 April 2008 (CDT)

I hope it is just a generalized olympics theme. --Robert W King 14:15, 5 April 2008 (CDT)

Oh, yes, The Olympics in general, I would think. If someone chooses (and I expect they would) to write about the Beijing Olympics in particular, that's fine.

Anthony, I believe I understand. I would completely respect your passing on that write-a-thon on moral grounds, but I would so much rather you *wrote* about the issues that concern you.

Seems to me that Olympic protests are a theme in themselves. I remember the African one, the Soviet one, and then after protesting loudly and vehemently that the Olympics should be non-political, the American boycott. Can't wait to see the TALK page about an article titled Hypocrisy at the Olympics.

Then we had the Nazi Olympics, Jessie Owens, the Munich massacre. My Lord, I'd rather we wrote about all these things rather than allowing them to be forgotten.

Aleta Curry 18:18, 5 April 2008 (CDT)

Finally!!!

I finally finished a huge translation contract : State of the Evidence 2008: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment Edited by Janet Gray, Ph.D., published by the Breast Cancer Fund

I think I'll have time to behave as a proposal driver now, if the proposal manager doesn't mind this delay. I have ideas, yes I do, and now, my mind is more in peace...

Thanks for this message, that comes exactly the day I finish this job!!

Pierre-Alain Gouanvic 02:35, 7 April 2008 (CDT)

That sounds like a pretty impressive piece of work. I'll have to have a look.

I'm sure we'll all be glad to have you back working on the proposal, whenever you can.

Aleta Curry 19:56, 7 April 2008 (CDT)

What a cute little hound

- I was about to write on the talk page when I got your message. Will continue... Ro Thorpe 18:43, 11 April 2008 (CDT)

Mini Foxie

Thanks for a welcome break from the history of the Porfiriato! (Uh oh. Looks like I might have an article to write.)

The article looks really good. I made a couple of very minor changes for clarity and ease of reading, which should be uncontroversial, I think, though you may want to check them for accuracy anyway. :) I did get a little bit lost in the section titled "History of the breed club" but I think this was mainly because I've already been reading all day and I'm not familiar with dog breeding in Australia; since that is a section that would primarily be of interest to those who already have some familiarity with the clubs and individuals mentioned, I don't think my confusion is a big deal.

It seems like that would be a good one to put up for approval. Maybe by the same people who signed on to approve Rottweiler?
--Joe Quick 20:29, 11 April 2008 (CDT)

Hi

The Terrier article is excellent Aleta! We used to have a Jack Russel who looked just like one of the dogs in one of the pictures. Well done! Denis Cavanagh 16:05, 14 April 2008 (CDT) PS- Sorry for originally posting this on your userpage.

Thanks, Joe. Yeah, I saw it was on the userpage--no sweat--was going to get around to moving it....

Oh, and thanks for nominating it for new DOW as well.

Aleta Curry 18:35, 17 April 2008 (CDT)

Internationalisation sandbox subpage

So, Aleta,

I am inviting you to read "Implementation, version 2" of the proposal, and to modify it to your will. I expect the talk page of this proposal to be a place where we can discuss how we'll formulate a possible future where all non-Anglophones can work nicely, gather collaborators, and bridge the language barrier. We're grown ups, aren't we? What I have written shows how easy and self-evident it is to welcome somebody who is not comfortable to write about his or her fondest topics in a second languange, English, but who would take all the necessary steps, with the help of others who care for these topics, to get their article or part of their article, approved, both in English and in whatever language it was written primarily.

This is a powerful system. It relies on the innate tendency of people that are passionate about their subject to bridge language barriers, and it should (it must) repel all fears of International citizens taking too much energy from our good ol' EN-based CZ. Actually, as I try to emphasize, it will boost the core article initiative and it will increase the number of approved articles.

The whole concept of making simulations of possible (and desirable) scenarios appeared as the best solution, after days of reflections. What do you think?

Perig (Pierre-Alain) Pierre-Alain Gouanvic 02:17, 19 April 2008 (CDT)

Hi, Perig.

Thanks for that. I think it's a good way to go, and I'll certainly add/modify/comment when I'm feeling up to it. My first thought was that the letter needed a little tweaking. Tired today and I wouldn't tamper with anything so important when the grey matter isn't fully functional. My first thought though, was that I wasn't sure who was doing the initiating. Again, I'll read it over again when I'm clearer thinking.

Yes, I feel that the simulated models help make what you envision more concrete.

Aleta Curry 20:33, 19 April 2008 (CDT)

Moving a cluster

Hi, the "move" tab only moves the main article page and the talk: page. All the other subpages (including the metadata) must be moved by hand, separately. Try reading CZ:Article structure and related pages, that might help (although I have yet to redo the "how to move a cluster" documentation). J. Noel Chiappa 21:34, 19 April 2008 (CDT)

Yeah, I could see from the steps you took it was something like that. #$%^&(^#*!!! Aleta Curry 21:42, 19 April 2008 (CDT)

Yeah, it's too bad we don't have anyone who can work on the MediaWiki code. I keep threatening to learn, since we could really use it... J. Noel Chiappa 21:47, 19 April 2008 (CDT)

This guy

I can't fathom why you haven't written an article about this guy yet! --Robert W King 11:39, 28 April 2008 (CDT)

Your problems....

....with related pages on New Year's Eve are due to a bug in the subpages. I have fixed it now. Thanks for pointing it out. :) Chris Day 20:30, 6 May 2008 (CDT)

I'd accept your thanks if it were due to my own brilliance-but NOT! Thanks, Chris! Aleta Curry 20:39, 6 May 2008 (CDT)

One thing for sure, when Aleta's not happy, things get done! :-) --D. Matt Innis 22:06, 6 May 2008 (CDT)

Congratulations....

..you are the first person to start one of the new definition subpages :) Clearly you're feeling adventurous today after your fight with the related articles bug.  :) Chris Day 17:22, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

Sorry, I jumped the gun. Denis Cavanagh beat you by an hour. Sorry. But you were second! Chris Day 17:25, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

Aargh! You don't say? That Denis! Aleta Curry 17:38, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

Not gone unnoticed

Aleta - your bids to get me to participate in the Write-A-Thons have not gone unnoticed; it's just simply not a good day for me to dedicate hours to CZ-editing. Lately I seem to have much more time on the weekends. Thanks for the active encouragement though - it's appreciated Eric M Gearhart 01:02, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

No problem. It's always good to hear from you, Eric.

If Wednesdays are a no-go, you can have official dispensation to add yourself to the Keen-as-Mustard-and-jumped-the-gun crew the weekend before. No sweat!

Aleta Curry 18:29, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

More definitions stuff at Chris'

Hi Aleta, please take another look here. -- Daniel Mietchen 02:07, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

Ooh, I'm almost afraid! Just signed on this morning; I'll be right over, Daniel. Aleta Curry 18:31, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

Aleta, something you can do is use 'right-click/Open in New Window' (that's in IE, FireFox has tabs) so that you can have both the instructions, and the thing you're working on, on the screen at the same time, in separate windows, and you can click back and forth between them, so you don't have to remember anything. And then you can use use 'select, copy and paste' to copy those code fragments over, you don't have to retype them. Or are you doing all that already, and I'm just confused? J. Noel Chiappa 19:34, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

Noel asked:'Or are you doing all that already, and I'm just confused?'

Well, yes and no: I do know how to open another tab, or another browser window for that matter. Trouble is, one still has to remember things like, where one was, in what order one went back and forth using the well, the back and forth browser arrows, that sort of thing.

OMG, Noel! Of course I *always* cut and paste code, at least till I have it memorised. (I do of course think I'm brilliant, but there *are* limits! :)

One of the reasons I'm talking this all through out loud is to keep in mind what the problems are for newbies. As I go along learning stuff, naturally it all gets easier, so I forget how hard it once was. Must be multiplied to the nth degree for you folks for whom this is second nature.

Thanks for dropping by.

Aleta Curry 20:37, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

I generally don't use the back and forward browser buttons as much as I just use extra browser windows. (I have 9 CZ windows open at the moment, to various things I'm working on...) One advantage is that I can keep a previous version of a page in one window, and a new version of the same page in another. Can't do that with backwards/forwards.. :-) J. Noel Chiappa 20:54, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

What?! Nine?!! Isn't that a lot of clutter? I see I'm going to have to get used to a new way of thinking, here. Aleta Curry 21:10, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

Well, they're not all open at the same time! Most of them are minimized, except the 2-3 I'm actively working with. I have doubled the width of the taskbar (the stripe along the bottom of the screen that lists all your active windows, including the ones that are minimized and don't show on the screen) to hold them all better! (If you want to do that, hold your mouse just over the boundary, and you'll see a little up-and-down arrow - left-click, and you can now drag that boundary up and down.) J. Noel Chiappa 21:38, 14 May 2008 (CDT)

Aleta, once all the Template:Def Article name definitions have migrated to the defintion subpages you'll find this whole process is much easier. None of the cutting and pasting noinclude' code, for example, that is needed to move those pages right now. But, you'll have to live with the code, there is no good way around that until real programs get this sorted out. Chris Day 00:50, 15 May 2008 (CDT)

ABC

Can it be defaulted? The short answer is no. Even if it could, would we want it to be a default field? A human eye in figuring out where to index different articles might well be a good thing, no? Or have I misunderstood your thinking aloud edit summary? Chris Day 00:50, 15 May 2008 (CDT)

Sorry, Chris, I must've forgotten to answer this. Or I didn't click 'save' (imagine).

What I was thinking was that when I first started with this checklist bizzo, the instructions for the field called &nspb& (something like that) said something like, 'think about how you want this alphabetised and delete that & sign and wierd letters if you want it alphabetised differently'.

In the old days, if I just left 'Fox Terrier' alone, it would be listed under F. But I don't want that, it's a dog, not a fox, so I would *change* that field to Terrier, Fox. So that if I changed the order, now my Terrier list would say'

Terrier, Australian

Terrier, Australian Silky

Terrier, Fox

Terrier, Miniature Fox

Terrier, Soft-Coated Wheaten

Terrier, Tibetan

Whereas in the old days, if I *didn't* make any change to that field, those dogs would show up under A, F, M, S, and T respectively.

That's what I meant.

Aleta Curry 16:06, 18 May 2008 (CDT)

Disambiguation

I made a somewhat minor change to the diambiguation thing which should take care of some of your issues. Basically, what I did was say (in effect - I should transplant this to make it perfectly clear, will do so once I'm done here) 'in all cases where we would now have one particular article at "{BaseName}", and all the others at "{BaseName} ({Disambiguator})", we will have the redirect at "{BaseName}" point to that article, and not to "{BaseName} (Disambiguation)"'.

The effect of this is that things will work exactly as it did before, i.e. someone can write an article with links to dog, tree, ball, etc and get exactly the same articles as they would before this proposal (if it's adopted). You won't have to type any extra characters, you won't have to check to find out the proper article title to link to, etc, etc.

Someone else, however, can come along later (perhaps assisted by a bot) and update those links to go directly to "dog (animal)", "tree (plant)", etc, and not via the redirect at "{BaseName}".

The only difference you'd notice, if this gets adopted, is that when you click through to dog, tree, etc the article titles will have the dismabiguator in them. If I can get everyone to agree on my proposal to allow the page-identifier (the thing you link to) and the article-title (the words in large bold font at the top) to be different, we can fix that too - at which point all this stuff will be completely hidden. J. Noel Chiappa 07:48, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

By the way, I don't have a problem with your title-different-to-identity proposal, as I now understand it, as long as *I* don't have to do anything particularly to make it work. I don't know if I can handle more code at this point. I've long since lost track of where that proposal/discussion is, but if you'd like some lay support, do let me know.

Okay, with respect to what's on the table now: you're saying that if we now have "dog" and "cat", linked anywhere, no problemo, they'll go right to the "animal" article, then later some human or automated thing will adjust behind the scenes so they go to dog (animal) and cat (animal). Okay, fair enough.

I do apologise, but I'm still unsure of something: So we've implemented your policy, and six months from now, Sally Jane from Littledownupton writes a very credible article on baker. Sally's not old enough to have heard of Howard Baker or Sir Samuel Baker, so it doesn't occur to her to write baker (cook). Or would that be baker (occupation) or baker (food)? (I know, I know, enough with the red herrings already!) But back to Sally:

Could we please NOT have 50 zealots superciliously informing the poor mite that she hasn't adhered to "CZ:23.02 naming conventions"? And how about all the *future* writers who type baker as links in their articles? The humans clean it? The bots clean it?

Aleta Curry 16:25, 18 May 2008 (CDT)

Disambiguate red herring (U.S. securities regulation), red herring (tomato sauce), red herring (victim of red tide), red herring (ideology)?

Howard C. Berkowitz 19:07, 18 May 2008 (CDT)

Hahahahahahaha - glad to see you keeping yer sense of humour! Five-pointer, Howard! Aleta Curry 19:29, 18 May 2008 (CDT)

Formatting troubles

This section moved to Template talk:R as it's of general interest

Oh, this is simply MARVELOUS!

This section moved to Template talk:R as it's of general interest

Where's the article!

Come on, the Ned Kelley thing was totally in your backyard! I'm sure you can find all kinds of stuff easily and locally. --Robert W King 13:45, 25 May 2008 (CDT)

Ah, such is life. Howard C. Berkowitz 20:35, 27 May 2008 (CDT)

No articles on tragic bandits out of me, I'm afraid. No reason why others (you) can't get cracking, though.

How's your hand coming along, Robert?

Aleta Curry 17:03, 6 June 2008 (CDT)

{reflist}

I think the only difference (having looked at the source of the template here - the WP one seems to be the same) is that {{reflist}} shows the references in a smaller font than the main text. Also, it takes an optional argument that allows you to specify a number of columns for the notes (or something like that :-). J. Noel Chiappa 19:47, 27 May 2008 (CDT)

cool thing

If you want to learn some more new things check out the figure at Template:Naval Shore Establishment. You can click on each box to get a different link. This might be good as a navigation aid for some articles, possibly it could be used on a diagram/figure of different dog breeds? Chris Day 00:29, 29 May 2008 (CDT)

Sub-workgroups

I like what your are doing with the Dog sub-workgroup. I have been meaning to get a header that can be used for these sub-workgroups and I'll try and figure it out soon. I promised Milton over a month ago that i would start on that. And then got distracted. Chris Day 22:48, 5 June 2008 (CDT)

Oh, good. I was going to drop you a line about it anyway. I think that a sub-workgroup header would be a good thing. Until we finally get that revised workgroup project going, we'll all be in limbo. I notice there are a couple of other workgroups out there, like, someone has started CZ:Dance or CZ:Dance workgroup.

Re the flowchart thing you speak about directly above, I meant to answer you on that. It *is* cool, but I think working with it would take more online time than I can devote just at present.

Aleta Curry 17:01, 6 June 2008 (CDT)

Okay, question: Where there are articles that were created BEFORE the advent of the sub-workgroup experiment, the metadata page does not have the 'sub1...sub2...' fields. I tried adding in |sub1 but that didn't work. What do I do? Aleta Curry 17:13, 6 June 2008 (CDT)

What you attempted sounds right. The format for the dog sub-workgroup would be | sub1=Dog (or | sub2=Dog, or | sub3=Dog). Which one were you working on? A for canine it might be a relic from wikipedia where they have an article. But here someone set up the redirect for now, while we expand. Chris Day 19:23, 6 June 2008 (CDT)

Ah, well, after some Prosac, I figured both things out. The format didn't work, I think, because I almost always use 'preview' so I (in theory at least) don't mess things up, but preview doesn't seem to work with Metadata, I thnk that's it.

Canine was a reasonable enough attempt by someone enthusiastic about disambiguation. I've fixed it, at least moi idea of fixing it. I left a note explaining somewhere along the line. To my way of thinking, the WP articles fall far short here, they don't have canine and canid is confusing.

Aleta Curry 18:09, 7 June 2008 (CDT)

Dazed and Confused

Thank you. I'm absolutely humbled by the experience. I didn't expect anyone to vote for it. Meg Ireland 20:57, 18 June 2008 (CDT)

Week from Hell

Hey Aleta, I am having the week from hell at work, our machines keep breaking down so I am definitely not in the party mood! I'll make up for my absence later. David E. Volk 08:29, 3 July 2008 (CDT)

Oh, dear--empathy and sympathetic noises. We'll see you when we see you!!! Aleta Curry 18:16, 3 July 2008 (CDT)

Sorry I missed your party

Aletha, I just finished creating a new article named Specific heat ratio. Sorry I didn't finish it in time for your Write-a-Thon party yesterday. If there is a piece of cake still left, please send it to me. :>) Milton Beychok 18:29, 3 July 2008 (CDT)

Oh, no sweat! We'll add you to the list. Thanks for letting me know; I'll go check it out. Aleta Curry 19:17, 3 July 2008 (CDT)

Take a look at my user page to see the list of articles that I have created since coming on board. Milton Beychok 20:30, 3 July 2008 (CDT)

I've seen it, mon ami. I was introduced to your user page when you first started experimenting with the subgroup. Nice work. Psst...it's "Aleta" (get the H outta there)! Aleta Curry 04:36, 4 July 2008 (CDT)

Sorry I missed it too! Wouldn't you know it, I actually had some work to do (for a change -- I'm a freelance copyeditor so it never rains but it pours, two rush jobs at once), darn it. I had planned to write about Howe Caverns in New York State, which I had just visited, and which would have provided a very nice official Write-a-Thon libation. The Ommegang Brewery (which is American, but makes Belgian-style beers) ages some of their product in the caverns. A local cheesemaker does the same. So even if there's a cave-in you won't starve while awaiting rescue. Anyway, I hope to be around for the September party. But let's see -- what's my favorite band? Elvis Costello and the Attractions? The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra? Nikki Meets the Hibachi? Endless possibilities.... Bruce M.Tindall 10:45, 8 August 2008 (CDT)

Quick question

Bear-shaped honey bottle Do you have these things in Oz? I can't tell whether they only occur in the U.S. or pop up elsewhere too. Please reply on the article talk page. Thanks much, Joe Quick 13:35, 11 July 2008 (CDT)

Thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for your message. Yes, I'd already been planning to participate in the write-a-thon, and have started Rideau Canal as my contribution. Catherine Woodgold 07:24, 6 August 2008 (CDT)

Your note

I replied to your note over at my talk page - thanks for keeping me in mind! Eric M Gearhart 13:48, 8 August 2008 (CDT)

Square brackets and cool brackets

I hadn't really been away, but thanks. Glad you didn't mind me altering your brackets. My English teacher when I was 12, nowadays the slightly famous poet Alan Brownjohn, rounded some square brackets which I had put in an essay as a sort of fashion statement, muttering 'I don't think we need square brackets there', without of course explaining why; many years later I decided that they were only to be used as temporary undoers between quotes, and I still can't think of any other uses... Ro Thorpe 11:22, 14 August 2008 (CDT)

Re: Greetings!

Hello Aleta! Thanks for the welcome and for revising my (first) article, and congratulations for your new one (I was impressed when I saw the red links of North American musicians). It's good to know that I'm inspiring people to edit here. Cheers! Marcelo B. Barata Ribeiro 20:03, 3 September 2008 (CDT)

Thanks for your work

Hi Aleta, it's really nice that you keep on reminding me of the parties. I was in a rural area in Ghana for a longer time and did not have access to the internet. I'll join the party again in October. See you there,

Regina Bouillon

cz-wikiformat

Aleta,

Have not received any new email submissions with attachments since your fix. Also, could you resend the current ones waiting, as my PC crashed and I lost the ones you sent. Will you resend, please.

Also, I may need your further tutorial on administrative procedures. --Anthony.Sebastian 22:53, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Hi Tony--did you just send me a note intended for someone else, or have I just entered The Twilight Zone??? Aleta Curry 22:58, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Hi Aleta. I penned my note from the TZ. Forgot to take my fish oil today. Forgive and forget, please. --Anthony.Sebastian 23:18, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

October Write-a-Thon

Hi Aleta,

The first Wednesday of October is October 1st ... is the party still on for this month?

Thanks, Louise.

Hi Louise--your timing is perfect. We should still be on, but I'm feeling sick and having trouble typing so I'll need help. I left a message to that effect on the Forums. Did you just volunteer? Aleta Curry 20:48, 29 September 2008 (CDT)

I guess I just did volunteer! Haha! I'll keep track of how the Write-a-Thon is going while I am at work, and will update the forums as well. Happy to help you out. Hope you're feeling better soon. Louise Valmoria 21:15, 29 September 2008 (CDT)

Just popped over to say welcome to the party, Aleta :) and hope you're feeling well ... also spotted your poem on your user page! Nice one! And thank you for the mention Louise Valmoria 16:58, 30 September 2008 (CDT)

Hola! Thanks for everything! I'm feeling much betterer this morning, but it's grey and chilly so I may end up going back to bed. Great start with liver. Aleta Curry 17:10, 30 September 2008 (CDT)

Hey Aleta - I am the ghost who writes. On the road but stopped by for a quick contribute. The band thing last month I missed completely so I stopped by to write about that. Will likely get to Spring Cleaning next month! --Ian Johnson 16:03, 1 October 2008 (CDT)

Ian! Yay!! Aleta Curry 16:40, 1 October 2008 (CDT)

Perfidy

I loved the version by the Ventures, one of the first records I bought. BUT should it be in there at all? Please see the note at the top of the list. If you think it should, then so should Symphonie Fantastique, etc. Regards - Ro Thorpe 18:16, 4 October 2008 (CDT)

Hi there Ro. I assume you are considering it under '...examples where the English may easily be inferred...'? I read that, but did not think Perfidia would count. For one thing, I do not believe the average person could easily translate or make the connection between perfidy and perfidia. The English 'perfidy' is at this point a bookish and unusual word and I certainly wouldn't say it was in common use. For another, how can you make a case for including L'Etranger, from which The Stranger is easily inferred, indeed, I studied The Stranger in High School, not The Outsider although I understand that it is sometimes translated as The Outsider. Same for Hiroshima Mon Amour. And why include Tristan und Isolde when you're excluding proper names?

I think that your example of Symphonic Fantastique is much more accessible to most. Direct translation doesn't take a genius.

I wonder if some of this relates simply to education and familiarity. Do I see clearly why Verklärte Nacht makes the list but Symphonie Fantastique doesn't, just because I speak French but not German?

In any case, you're probably much more invested in this that I am. Please give my case some thought, if you're not convinced, do as you see fit, I'm not going to make a fuss about it.

Ciao!

Aleta Curry 02:19, 5 October 2008 (CDT)

Yes, all good points. I had forgotten that CZ is supposed to be accessible to children, and that at the age of 10 when the above-mentioned record came out, I had certainly never heard of perfidy. I don't see why even Symphonie Fantastique shouldn't be in, with the different spellings side by side. Salut - Ro Thorpe 13:11, 5 October 2008 (CDT)

remember that centipede that you found in the house a while back?

My apartment has been taken over by these things. Joe Quick

No problem. Just find a centipede phrase book, and ask it "how do you decide which leg to move next?" Come back in a while, and the centipede will have burned out its limited nervous system. Howard C. Berkowitz 19:03, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Oh, my stars, Joe! You're brave; I'd be shrieking!

Oh, Howard-hahahahahahahaha

Aleta Curry 05:34, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Help! Urgent!

Can you help to persuade Martin and Larry to calm down and stop tearing CZ apart? (see the talk page of crash of 2008 Nick Gardner 16:50, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Alas, Nick, I fear it may be too late. I have only just come home after a family emergency to find the most cryptic of emails from Martin. I'll read up and give 'talking' to them both a go. Aleta Curry 01:17, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Moving conversations

Hey, I hope it's OK that I moved those two sections above on the use of {{R}} to Template talk:R; they were just so useful, I kept coming back here to read them (since I'd keep forgetting what I'd worked out), and it finally dawned on me that new Citizens probably wouldn't know to come here to read documentation on {{R}}! :-) J. Noel Chiappa 19:43, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes, certainly. I was actually contemplating something like that, not just for this but for all kinds of helpful things on people's pages that should be catalogued globally. Thanks for that! Aleta Curry 01:23, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

December Write-a-Thon?

Is it? Is it retro? Is it the 80s? Bruce M.Tindall 22:20, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Yes, and yes! Aleta Curry 22:40, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Joined the party before you could come knocking at my page

This time I could join the w-a-t party before your loud knock! Supten Sarbadhikari 03:30, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Ha, ha--you did, too! Good on ya! Aleta Curry 04:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Dear Nosy MC

Business meeting were in vogue in the 80s, and unfortunately, are much in vogue this very day, Weds 3, 2008. Why do we have the Write-a-Thon on a business day anyway? Clearly a Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun would free up many of us to work on the WAT. Perhaps The Nosy MC (a hypothetical book by A. Curry) can propose moving the event to a day more amenable to the working class. David E. Volk 14:21, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

That's a point. Larry picked Wednesday originally, I believe, and if memory serves it was because it was not the most traditionally busy day for people, if I recall correctly we all concurred.

You don't think people would be out and about and really busy on Sats and Suns?

Aleta Curry 03:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Sorry Aleta, this weekend is out as far as hosting the write-a-thon adjunct day. New job, 4 hours commute each day, ugh. I am trying to get back into the CZ spirit, but boy its been a rough few months. David E. Volk 13:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Vinyl

Re your teen and vinyl, you'll be either happy or horrified to hear that my eleven-year-old not only knows what vinyl is, but actually uses it quite a bit, as a result of which he knows the words to quite a few Beyond The Fringe skits and Flanders & Swann songs. He even knows why, in a 2-record set, sides 1 and 4 are on one disc and 2 and 3 on the other. Oh, and he's getting a slide rule for his birthday. (Don't worry, he's also perfectly competent at wasting hours wired to a video game just like any normal 21st century kid.) Bruce M.Tindall 16:33, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Ha, ha--happy, actually.

I get the feeling that our Sinéady would be into vinyl, too, if everything we own were not packed away (living out of cases is for the birds and I don't recommend it).

I have a friend, a serious audiophile, who insists on using his hi-fi equipment (no, that's what he calls it, he has a fit if anyone says 'stereo'; I daresay 'CD player' would put him over the edge) because, he says, there's more depth and nuance of sound on vinyl. He must hear something I can't, is all I can say.

Aleta Curry 05:00, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

p.s. We've got a four-year-old in the neighbourhood who is a SERIOUS viennesse waltz fan, thanks to the current Andre Rieu craze. Go figure!