User:Justinc

Hello, my name is Justin Cormack.

On Commons I am also commons:User:Justinc and I am also fr:User:Justinc.

I am on a (mostly) wikibreak for work reasons. I scan the mailing list and read email though.


 * I'll go and play with words and pictures, I'll admit I'm feeling strange.

Stop Press
Big purge of my watchlist. I have removed 1500 pages from it. Why? Its about quality control. I cannot watch that many things so I was ignoring most changes anyway. 2006 is about improving Wikipedia. Next stage is for me to list and categorise the articles I am able to usefully improve. Then check them for basic things (like references, pictures etc). Then they will start going to Good articles and then maybe even WP:FA. So some things have dropped under the radar for them moment. Whats left is French, German and Piedmont wine; London; architects, sculptors etc associated with London; history of cuisine; lambic beer; and a few bits and pieces; no doubt the details will change but these are the areas I have large piles of books on.

Grade I Listed Buildings in London
We should have articles for all these, will start with Camden. See User:Justinc/Grade I listed buildings in Camden.


 * One of four Grade 1 listed buildings in the London Borough of Newham is the House Mill at Three Mills. Corrected: Gordo 18:23, 6 August 2006 (UTC)


 * That seems a bit thin for Newham, I'd want to go to 2* if that's the only one. No churches? I know this info is hard to find on a borough by borough basis, though. I have for Hackney, definitely, The Empire, St Augustine's Tower, and The Geffrye (which has an entry), but I wouldn't be surprised if there were others. Good project, though, will look to doing Hackney when I have more time. Tarquin Binary 18:09, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats remarkable. I emailed Westminster and they have 200, but they couldnt send me a list; Camden has quite a lot. I will look for another in Newham. Justinc 23:23, 16 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey there is a grade II listed cattle trough (I only have bad pictures of it, need to retake). . Better not do grade II yet, stick to I and II* Justinc 23:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I think we really need pictures of all. Lambeth local studies library had a list of all listed buildings in the borough - I'll try and do Southwark. I suggest that bits of outer London may need a team effort. Secretlondon 10:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Although there is Category:Grade_I_listed_buildings_in_London, it might be helpful to set it up as a wiki page, organised by boroughs, that we can all add to, redlinked or not. Oh - and Tower Hamlets is pretty rich, of course - but once again, haven't a definitive list. Tarquin Binary 12:13, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
 * We don't need to use the category - we can make a page outside the main name space. Maybe under UK Wikipedians' notice board? Secretlondon 16:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Sounds good. Got all of 4 in Hackney now, though St Leonard's Church seems to still be graded 'A', guess they never updated it. Couple more candidates, but this stuff actually isn't that easy to verify on the web. I think adding to that page piecemeal would be better than nothing. I've a friend who does work with English Heritage who might be able to get me some up-to-date Islington info, though... Tarquin Binary 18:06, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


 * If you sign up to [Image of England you can search by borough (a bit fiddly). Doesnt seem to work if you dont sign up. Otherwise the boroughs are obliged to give you the info, but Westminster would only do it if I went to a council office. I was going to make a list with redlinks, but after doing Camden it seemed too messy - individual listings are very small (eg many on Bedford Square when one article will do for now as the information that you can find is basically that they are all the same). Maybe a scrappy project page would be good though, with sources by borough, might put one together under the notice board. BTW I emailed the Images of England people at English Heritage and said I had photos of lots of buildings that they didnt and its very odd. If you sign up they will give you a list of local buildings to photograph. One photo of each only, and the only accept 35mm negative film (unclear of they want prints or negatives or both). They have been going for six years and hardly have any of the grade I buildings in Camden (though they are doing the grade IIs of which there are thousands its true). I think they need to get wiki. [[User:Justinc|Justinc]] 22:45, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


 * ok have started UK Wikipedians' notice board/Listed buildings. Will add Lambeth soon. Have some pictures and refs for some missing ones too. Grade II includes phone boxes (and cattle trougs) and stuff so not sure about doing it. But maybe one day... Justinc 00:50, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Images
I keep my pictures at Commons:Category:User:Justinc. I have had much helpful criticism of these; please join in. I am interested in discussing anything with respect to illustrating wikipedia, requests for pictures, and so on. I am interested in how London should be illustrated, and have been collecting pictures on commons, such as Commons:Category:London municipal architecture and Commons:Category:Channel Tunnel Rail Link. I try to illustrate all sorts of articles, from Fortunato Depero and William Butterfield to Pop Goes the Weasel and even Janet Street-Porter. Requests for pictures of anything in London, or food are especially welcome. Note I keep some pictures at Flickr; these are not tagged as free but I will upload them to Commons as free pictures if requested unless they contain recognisable people who object.



Wiki
I heard User:Jimbo speak at FOSDEM 2005.

I went to the fourth London meetup Wikipedia:Meetup/London4 where I took some pictures, of which the non awful ones are at User:Justinc/MeetupLondon4. If you want to know what I look like you can find me on this picture and this and just peering into this.

I stood as an administrator and was successful; thanks for your support. I now have a shiny new mop and bucket, in order to clean up any mess left on the floor.

Sometimes I read and write to wikiEN-l.

This is a wiki, you can edit this page.

Places
I was born in Highbury, London in 1969, grew up in Dartmouth Park and still live near there, in Kentish Town, not far from Kenwood House, St Pancras Old Church and several other places which I should write about and illustrate. My local tube station is South Kentish Town tube station, so I walk a lot. The local river is the scenic River Fleet that runs right past the front door.

Work is in Clapham Common (so I get to see South London) or around the place; no longer in Karlsruhe much.

Education
My academic background is in Economics (at King's College, Cambridge) and Computer Science (Imperial College). I also visited MIT for a while. So you will find me poking around in bits of Economic History, functional programming and things like that.

I went to some schools too, but they are probably not notable so I will wikilink them to the wrong things: Highbury Quadrant, Gospel Oak, William Ellis for the curious.

The rest of my education I found down the back of the sofa. If it was yours I can give it back.



I have large numbers of books, especially cookery books, wine, and history of eating and restaurants. I should write more articles about these. I always try to add references to articles, as should everyone else. But sometimes I forget, but you can always ask me for them and I will grovel and add them.

Work
I have had several different careers, currently working in Computer programming. I use Linux, and other flavours of Unix, and work with flashing lights and excessive numbers of computers.

Food
Food, wine and beer are some of my interests. I work in Germany quite frequently, and know about German wine but have yet to turn it into a featured article. My travels in search of interesting foods have covered France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Greece, Estonia, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Eire and Bulgaria in Europe, and Turkey, India, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, USA and Japan outside.

I am not very good at food photography yet. Must try harder.

My ongoing thankless task of adding all the Category:French wine AOCs goes in fits and starts and often stops. But I did get rid of the redlinks for grape varieties in most of them the other day.

This is part of fixing classification and adding structure to all the wine articles. I think thats where I started in editing wikipedia, back in October 2004. Food and drink are still very badly covered, so please help add things there if you know anything about eating.

The other thing that is needed is better overview and historical articles. I keep delaying these so I can read all the extra books I have bought. Unfortunately someone is dropping fascinating books on the history of food and diet in the second hand bookshops of London on a regular basis.

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