User talk:Amcaja/Archive2

Empire maps?
Hey Brian, I just saw your discussion with Mark regarding maps for ethnic group distribution. I don't know if this would also be an area of interest for you, but Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, and Tukulor Empire have been in need of similar maps to show the extent of their West African holdings; a Google image search turns up a number of maps of their areas, but sadly nothing uncopyrighted. This is probably true of other African empires and kingdoms, but I haven't looked into it yet.

Unfortunately I lack the software and know-how to fix this myself. If you're interested and have a chance, take a look... your efforts would be much appreciated! Best, Dvyost 16:41, 21 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Good idea. Mark and I are still trying to sort out technical issues (he uses Corel products, I use Adobe), but if and when we figure it out, these maps shouldn't be too difficult to put together. Amcaja 16:44, 21 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Great! If there's anything I can do to help, let me know; I won't be doing much article writing this semester, but I'm still planning to check in on the old stuff once or twice a day.  As Mark keeps telling me, it really is dangerously addictive...  --Dvyost 16:57, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

?
Anything else?

Since, I will change only this Merrie Melodies cartoon dog character, I like. Remember, Merrie Melodies is a bunch of cartoon shorts from about 1930 until 1969, it is not " foolishness" or "crap" were created by Chuck Jones and the others. He worked for Disney, also.

Unknown Person

Congratulations
I found your Snake Charming article very interesting -- it was a big ommission not to have a article about this practice, and it's a pleasure to see someone write such a good one at the start, rather than something stubby. --Zantastik talk  16:08, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I noticed there was not so much as a stub existed for the subject when I did Mami Wata a little while ago. Then it became a sort of mission to whip something together. Glad you liked it! Amcaja 17:07, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

Final Fantasy VI featured article candidacy
Brian, I wanted to let you know that I've withdrawn my vote for the FF6 FAC for the reason you cited (article stability). But I was also curious to hear what, if any, complaints you had besides the stability and the tense issue. Assuming this vote doesn't go through, I'd like to ensure that as many of the objections cited as possible are addressed before it comes up for another vote in a month or two. Thanks! – Seancdaug 16:38, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Sorry for not responding sooner, Sean (see discussion below for why). I think the article is looking better. It's not "beautiful prose" necessarily, but it's a serviceable piece, and will hopefully be a good template for other articles on video games. I'm kind of liking the idea of making the "Characters" section prose, but I don't think it's a necessity. So, I guess the answer to your question of what complaints I have is "not many". Once the article stabilizes, and we give it one last polish for tense and spelling, I hope to change my vote and see this thing pass through to Featured. It's a shame all this discussion didn't take place during Peer Review, though. Amcaja 02:32, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Katrina
I was wondering how you were doing, but I saw that you were still editing so I figured you must have pulled through. Where are you anyway? I'm here in Lafayette--a long day at the Cajundome yesterday but looks like volunteers have been pouring in today, so I came home to read and play with my new kittens (refugees themselves). Good luck with the cold, and good luck wherever you may be! --Dvyost 20:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Glad to hear you're okay. I'm in Shreveport, so far enough north to have only gotten a few huffs out of Katrina. We've got a half dozen shelters all around town, and I may have picked up my nice little cold from the one at LSUS last night! But, yeah -- everything's going well, aside from people panicking that gas will run out, thousands of South Louisianans in town, and a decentralized relief effort (they keep saying they need French speakers to help with the refugees, but no one seems ot know where these Francophones are needed. Qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire?). Amcaja 21:57, 3 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Much the same situation here; lots of refugees, still no central authority. FEMA's totally absent from the scene, which raises questions like, why bother to have a federal emergency agency at all?  These people make the Peace Corps look organized... anyway, hang in there!  --Dvyost 22:11, 3 September 2005 (UTC)


 * P.S. I got in touch with an RPCV pal who says that the New Orleans RPCV network is accounted for, safely evacuated, and well-housed.  If you hear of any RPCVs in our area that need a hand though, don't hesitate to get in touch!

Music of Nigeria
Hi Brian—I noticed your comments on the peer review of this article. I've copy edited it, but it's in desperate need of images. Do you have any idea how the author can find some that have no copyright implications? Tony 09:16, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Hi, Tony. It sounds like the author has contacted a number of website owners with no success. My next suggestion would be to try Nigeria-related discussion groups to request some images. It appears there are several active ones at Yahoo Groups: Nigeria-Planet, net-nigeria, Nigeria-volunteers, and Nigeria_opportunities (and I only checked the first 75 "Nigeria" search results). A search for "Nigeria music" yields a few others: SaharaSouth, naijaonline, Musicologicalcolleagues, Ndi-Igbo, Omo-Oduduwa, and LCGChoir.
 * Another thought is to contact Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) from Nigeria. One of Peace Corps's three goals is to increase knowledge of the host culture in the rest of the world, something Wikipedia does quite well. You might try The Peace Corps Nigeria Alumni Foundation, The Friends of Nigeria, or Afropop Worldwide (the latter seems to have Peace Corps sympathies).
 * In addition, I could provide another fair-use album cover (of Danfo Drivers, a reggae group), or a fair-use screenshot of the Danfo Drivers VCD. The rest of my collection is Cameroonian, though. Amcaja 17:52, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
 * That's some good ideas. I've sent off a couple e-mails and posted to a few Yahoo groups, so we'll see what comes of it.  I've also uploaded some music samples (all popular music, though) -- if worst comes to worst, it might be able to sqeak through WP:FAC with sounds even if the images are all fair use. Tuf-Kat 23:09, September 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * Brian, thanks hugely for that information—what a valuable source you are! Tuf-kat, maybe it will qualify, maybe it won't. If not, it's worth working on and resubmitting. I'd be inclined to trim it, particularly since there are several daughter articles. One of the problems is that much of it is like one long, adorned list. Tony 23:51, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

What TV show compares to Charlie the disco Dog?
Despite this show is not found on every TV network, do you know what? I think I don't understand that I was being to told to shut up about Charlie and others last week right here in my room. Do you think that the title of the movie or TV show like is already on television, today? If you cannot find anything, I am having a hard time finding the title on "IMDB" and every website, and then it's not there. You must ask WGBH, ABC, CBS, NBC NPR, CNN and FOX about the show highlighted above, if there was one.

4.188.xxx


 * No, you must ask them, and then bring us the proof. User:Zoe|(talk) 04:58, September 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh no, not Disco Dog featuring Charlie again! Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:10, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Zzyzx11. I needed a laugh. Amcaja 13:09, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
 * As a matter of fact. Plus Charlie's High Flying Adventure.  See the User's Talk page, as well, he's threatening to "do something bad" if he isn't allowed to include this hoax information into the article.  User:Zoe|(talk) 20:14, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

List of blackface minstrel songs
Thanks for the additions at List of blackface minstrel songs but you haven't cited sources on any of them. For quite a few, you added an mn reference, but not the corresponding mnb source. Could you please take a look at this again? Thanks. -- Jmabel | Talk 22:00, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
 * It should be fixed now. That was my first time using the mn/mnb referencing system. Thanks for pointing out the error. Amcaja 01:50, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks Brian
Thanks for the info. Please feel free to delink things you believe are not helpful. I had not read the two items you had mentioned until now. But they certainly make sense. Hope things are ok for you in Louisiana. Best regards, User:FeanorStar7

Who is to blame?
I didn't want to waste time here. I think my parents must apologize over a non-existent show is a better way, but refused to apologize for weeks, I mean they did not want any part of it.

Why did you remove the picture of Charlie? His cartoons have already been banned on television, not only him, but Bugs Bunny as well had too been banned for the alleged uses of disco music and an Great-Dane, Scooby (not Charlie) now has lost interest to TV networks. The Tom & Jerry cartoons is fine, but it has so much violence.

4.188.xxx.xxx

Minstrelsy clip
A clip from minstrel show music would be a great addition to American popular music -- a lot of people probably have no idea what that sounded like, unlike say Elvis or jazz or gangsta rap, so a clip would be a great addition. Ideally, make it an extremely famous or notable song, though I suppose you were going to do that anyway. Something from one of the big names, like Stephen Foster or Dan Emmett would be great, though anything will do if you don't have something like that. Tuf-Kat 00:05, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Re the civil war bands, I think that'd be great, assuming copyright isn't a concern (even if they're traditional songs, the performers would still hold a copyright on the actual performance, I think) -- it's not like we're going to get a real recording of a civil war band. For the songs, I'd suggest "Old Dan Tucker" -- I think it's probably the most famous of those three.  Tuf-Kat 02:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Barnstar

 * Wow! Thanks! One item on my long to-do list is to go back and footnote the additions I made to that article. But I'm glad people are finding my contributions worthwhile! Amcaja 19:43, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I'm impressed
How did you find that one so quick? I was just about to drop a note here to flag it for your attention. Thanks as always! --Dvyost 00:35, 12 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Never mind, I figured it out--the disambigs, no? On two unrelated subjects, some time one of us must get around to integrating the History of Cameroon with the History of West Africa, and I do very much like your idea of a centralized discussion on what Africa sections go where; I don't have time to organize it either but I'd be happy to join in if someone does.  Take care! --Dvyost 00:38, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * You got it — I saw your edit to Modibo Adama and thought, "Oh, someone's done an article on the Mandara kingdom!" Maybe this weekend I'll check my references to see if there's anything more I can add to that article. And as for your two other subjects, yes, I hope to help on them at some point. The African regions thing is the biggest bugaboo keeping me from helping on many an African Collaboration of the Fortnight, as people are so surprisingly passionate about what countries are in what region, and most of the countries I can help with are in the nebulous zone between West and Central Africa. The community as a whole needs to address this before the broader African articles can move forward. Amcaja 11:35, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Now I remember why I wanted to ask you about this one in the first place. This article when I found it was a mass of unverifiable material (reprinted on the talk page).  It pains me to remove three paragraphs from an article wholesale, but I don't see these names in any of my sources.  Can you confirm them in anything you have?  --Dvyost 01:29, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Mandara edits
Thanks for fleshing that one out. I'm just as mystified about that original article as you--seems too specific and dull to be a hoax, but it doesn't seem to fit in either. Perhaps he'll return soon and explain. Anyway, enjoy the week... --Dvyost 04:53, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Dixie's Land
Great new information! Don't forget to write out a citation so that people know what "Nathan" refers to. Dystopos 19:47, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Fascinating subject, isn't it? Dystopos 21:40, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
 * No problem! It most certainly is an interesting wrinkle of American culture. Be sure to check out minstrel show as well; I'm kind of doing a red-like-reduction brigade there using the same sources I'm drawing from on Dixie's Land. Amcaja 22:02, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

typically/generally
Hi Brian

That's an interesting question, which sent me scuttling to the dictionary. The encarta dictionary on my computer says:

typ·i·cal·ly adv 1.	with all or many of the usual or expected characteristics 2.	in most cases or on most occasions 3.	as is to be expected

gen·er·al·ly adv 1.	in most cases or circumstances 2.	as a whole or without exception 3.	without being specific, detailed, or clearly defined 4.	so as to be widespread

My gut feeling is to avoid 'generally' because it's ... general, that is, vague, unfocused (Meaning 3 comes perilously close to this). I've also been (unconsciously) influenced by the overuse and misuse of 'generally' (like 'basically'). The problem I now see with 'typically' is that it can have the meaning of 'expected of a particular thing or person', which is not generally what I intend when I use the word (that's typical of her).

You're right, either would do, strictly speaking (Meaning 2 for 'typically', and Meaning 1 for 'generally').

Tony 12:34, 18 October 2005 (UTC) Click here to leave me a message.

Old Corn Meal- DYK

 * "Did You Know?" is supposed to be updated every six hours; it was updated by another admin between the time I left the message and the time you saw the main page.--Scimitar parley 14:08, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Minstrel Photo
I offered the use of a minstrel photo for the page on Minstrel show last week and I have finally had a chance to scan it and upload it to Wikipedia. The photo is of the Belvidere (Ohio) Commercial Club minstrel show held at Dearthick's Theatre, March 4-7, 1910. I'll leave it to you as to whether you want to use it. I have a few other images including Lew Dockstader and Dan Emmett that I shall upload soon. I'll load it here and let you do what you wish with it. Ganymead 00:38, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

P.S. The Minstrel show article is really looking very good! It's quite impressive.
 * Thanks for the photo, Ganymead! I'll post the image to Talk:Minstrel show sometime in the next couple of days to get opinions on who might be pictured there and where it might fit in the article. It looks like that might very well be one of the troupes mentioned in the article. Can't think of the name off hand, but it was the one where only the endmen corked up and the rest were supposed to look elegant and opulent. Amcaja 17:06, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Just viewed the enlarged photo, and saw that they are called the "Belevedere Commercial Club Minstrels". So it isn't the troupe I thought it might be, but one in the same vein. Very interesting that they have three Tambos and three Boneses, and that these are the only characters in blackface. Amcaja 17:10, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Old Corn Meal
I'm sorry for the removal of the brackets in the OCM article.

Can you please explain the grammatical reasons behind you using [ ]s?

Thanks, Aaron Jethro 03:00, 21 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Hey, Aaron; no problem. The brackets are there to show that I changed a word in the quotation. For example, JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." If I wanted to fit that quote into a third-person sentence, I might write it like this: JFK asked Americans to "ask not what [their] country could do for [them]; ask what [they] could do for [their] country." The meaning is still there, but all the bracketed words show where I've changed the original quotation. It's similar when you have to fill in details so the readers can understand the quotation. For example, if the original quoation looked like, "Nirvana was the biggest band since the Fab Four", you might add a bracketed explanation if you didn't think your readers would know who "the Fab Four" were: "Nirvana was the beggest band since the Fab Four [The Beatles]". Amcaja 11:40, 21 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Ah yes, now I remember all about squared brackets. Actually, now I feel stupid for asking. Personally I've always made, for example, the whole paragraph fit around a quote, rather than the other way 'round. So I've only ever used [ ]s to insert missing text, you know, like: "where else [are] we gonna go?", the boy complained.


 * -Aaron Jethro 15:25, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Minstrel photo
Nope, don't know who they are. I just stumbled on the photo here and upped it because there were no minstrel pix on the wiki then, and it was pd. Sorry I can't help more. Tuf-Kat 18:11, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Tillie Blobbs Theatre Award
On behalf of WikiProject Theatre, I'd like to present the Tillie Blobbs Theatre Award to you for your tireless and excellent work in the area of Minstrelsy. This award, named for the character created by Canadian-American comedienne Marie Dressler, is given to those Wikipedians who have contributed to the area of theatre. Congratulations! *Exeunt* Ganymead Dialogue? 09:04, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Wow, someone noticed! :) Thanks! But really, I'm just trying to squeeze as much information out of my library books before they're due back next week. Expect at least a few more articles before the libararian comes calling. Amcaja 14:13, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

DYK
and here's another one Scimitar parley 19:35, 25 October 2005 (UTC):

while we're at it:

RfA
Hi Brian

I thought I'd alert you to the fact that User Redwolf kindly nominated me for adminship last week, which I accepted. Regrettably, this has coincided with a stouch with several huge egos whose FAC I helped on, and then critiqued after they'd trashed my entire contribution. I normally shun conflict, but here, I'm emersed in it, and I feel utterly destroyed. One of the protagonists appears to be drumming up support for his cause on other people's talk pages.

If the nomination fails Monday night, which appears likely now since the voting balance is borderline, I'll be trashing my personal page and not returning: it's just too embarrassing and unpleasant to go on.

So, if you have the inclination, the war zone is at:

Thanks Tony 01:13, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Cameroon wikipedian
Have you met User:Nick.annejohn yet? Looks like he/she's planning to pitch in on Cameroon... --Dvyost 04:15, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Dvyost RfA
Thanks! I thought about blocking you for a few days as the first test of my powers (you could use a break), but apparently that sort of thing is frowned upon. So perhaps I should find some vandals instead... --Dvyost 16:08, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
 * You wouldn't dare. Enjoy your mop, though. —Amcaja 17:52, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Hello
hi,

Got the message u left on my talk page. I'm fairly new to wikipedia, but I'm quite interested in adding to Africa related articles. Are there any topics that should be prioritized?

My first-hand experience is 7 years of growing up in the North-West Province (as well as a couple in the Far North) My parents were the managers of the Kilum-Ijim Forest project and subsequently the Bamenda Highlands project. I'll have tonnes of pictures for many articles once i recover my old hard drive.

Nick.annejohn 00:49, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

afd helper
I have built a script to speed up voting on AFDs and am looking for feedback. Please have a go! jnothman talk 03:25, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Doña Manolita Stadium
I believe you inadvertantly got this on the wrong section of Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English - it's in the section for things that have been translated but need proofreading. Arker 14:12, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks for bringing that to my attention. That was my first time to use that page, and the "articles that are mostly ready" part threw me. It's also a bit weird that the article title sizes vary from the top section to the bottom. I guess it was a learning experience. :) —Amcaja 14:18, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Economic oppression
hi, by placing few introductory words in Economic oppression, I am trying to save the article from deletion. The inspiration came from your comments there. --Bhadani 16:17, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, the article looks much better now. I think you may have secured its salvation. :) —Amcaja 16:41, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Jose Cuervo
Hi Brian. I guess you're not a tequila drinker! José Cuervo is in fact a brand of tequila – in fact it's even famous enough to have made it across here to the UK. I've changed the article (which read in full "Jose Cuervo is a drink") into a redir to tequila; maybe one day someone might make a complete article about the [htttp://www.cuervo.com José Cuervo company]. Till then I'll stick to a good single malt Scotch, myself. Cheers! Tonywalton | Talk 21:16, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Fon of Bafut
Hi, I became interested in Cameroon by reading Gerald Durrell books - I am an Indian in the United States, and I have no connections with Cameroon, except that my previous neighbour was from Cameroon. I found precious little on the Fons of the Northwest on the web, and that got me started on some work. However, I would be glad if more authoritative people check my work out.

Cheers.

Pradiptaray 16:11, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, I'm not sure if I qualify as "more authoritative"; my claim to such is just that I lived there for a couple of years. :) I see you've met Nick.annejohn; he lived near Bafut for many years. By the way, I've created a new category for the traditional ruler information for Cameroon; we had enough articles to warrant it. Check out Category:Cameroonian traditional rulers. And keep up the Cameroon work; I'm sure we'll run into each other more in the future! —Amcaja 16:38, 4 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I saw you wrote the article on snake charmers. I remember watching snake charmers on the streets of calcutta in the 80s when i grew up, not realizing the cruelty to the snakes, or the poverty of the charmers. This is a photo of streetside snake charming in Calcutta in the 1940s, taken by American GIs on casual leave. Public domain, thanks to UPenn libraries. By the way, there is a sizable literature, theatre, and movie section on snake charmers and snake charming - at least in Bengali, I dont know about Hindi. Also, do you know if similar articles exist about monkey and sloth bear dances ?
 * Thanks for the link to that image. Very interesting, and I think I might try to find a place for it in snake charming later today. Do you speak Bengali or Hindi? If so, feel free to translate anything from those languages' Wikipedias that you think should go into the English snake charming article.


 * As for the monkeys and bears, all I can suggest is organ grinder and bear-baiting. Dancing bear redirects to bear; there should probably be a separate article for the performing variety, though. —Amcaja 18:40, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Your RfA nomination
Brian-- Just posted one. Come accept and read some flattering things about yourself here. --Dvyost 04:27, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Wow, what a nice message to wake up to! I'm on my way over there. --Amcaja 14:22, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

"Dixie", "Dixie's Land", "I Wish I Was in Dixie", I wish I was disambiguated
Not a big problem: I've seen this sort of thing happen on things with, like, 250 links. -- Jmabel | Talk 17:16, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Michael Power (Guinness character)
Fabulous idea for an article--did you put this on DYK yet? --Dvyost 19:19, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Not yet. Wanted to finish tying up the loose ends on fair-use rationale and all that. Did they have these ads in Mali? They were all over Cameroon, except I never saw any of the TV spots (not enough TVs where I was). We volunteers had no idea this guy wasn't a real person; rumor was he was an ex-footballer who'd been swiped up to promote Guinness. One volunteer gathered quite a collection of Engagement Critique merchandise. Netflix doesn't have that movie in stock, damn them. —Amcaja 19:37, 6 November 2005 (UTC)


 * No, I can't remember seeing him--even around Bamako only the "toubab" (white guy) bars had Guinness, so Mali may not have had the imported beer market yet to support it. We mostly drank Castel and Flag, which were pretty foul.  I did read about Engagement Critique in the BBC when it came out, though--I remember thinking, oh, how great, an African action hero, and then getting very depressed when I discovered it was Guinness-sponsored.  Not that I don't love Guinness, but it would have much more inspiring to see it homegrown.  Speaking of which, didn't the West African Guinness always strike you as only about half as good as the US?  Did it come out of a different bottling plant, or was I just grumpy the whole time I was there?  =)  --Dvyost 20:04, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, we had Castel, too. I drank that almost exclusively. That and "33" Export were the "common" beers. Big Men drank Tuborg or Guinness. Cameroonian Guinness is brewed in Douala, and yes, it tastes completely different from American and Irish varieties. Rumor was that when the brewery tried to get the license, Guinness Ireland had them send a sample, which was rejected. When the brewery tried again, they simply filled one of their bottles with Guinness they had bought from Ireland and sent that. They got the license and went back to brewing the same old swill, now with a world-renowned brand name on it. Probably apocryphal, but who knows? :) —Amcaja 20:21, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Gonja
Ha, yeah--I felt obligated to write it today when I saw the Gonja link on List of Missing Africa Topics go blue with a link to marijuana. It's pretty embarrassing the order Wikipedia articles get written in, really. Anyway, thanks for the copyedits! I've returned the favor by adding a brief Michael Power ref to the advertising section on the Guinness page... enjoy your Sunday,

--Dvyost 00:19, 7 November 2005 (UTC)