User talk:Mac Davis/Archive2

Chinese Wikipedia
I've answered the ones I know, you can check out my answers at the guestbook. Good luck!-- The  i  kiro  id  (talk) (Help Me Improve) 19:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC) sir regarding hall effect... can that b used 2 lit a led or something like that

VandalProof 1.2 Now Available
 After a lenghty, but much-needed Wikibreak, I'm happy to announce that version 1.2 of VandalProof is now available for download! Beyond fixing some of the most obnoxious bugs, like the persistent crash on start-up that many have experienced, version 1.2 also offers a wide variety of new features, including a stub-sorter, a global user whitelist and blacklist, navigational controls, and greater customization. You can find a full list of the new features here. While I believe this release to be a significant improvement over the last, it's nonetheless nowhere near the end of the line for VandalProof. Thanks to Rob Church, I now have an account on test.wikipedia.org with SysOp rights and have already been hard at work incorporating administrative tools into VandalProof, which I plan to make available in the near future. An example of one such SysOp tool that I'm working on incorporating is my simple history merge tool, which simplifies the process of performing history merges from one article into another. Anyway, if you haven't already, I'd encourage you to download and install version 1.2 and take it out for a test-drive. As always, your suggestions for improvement are always appreciated, and I hope that you will find this new version useful. Happy editing! --AmiDaniel (talk) 02:52, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

welcome to Wikireason
Hi Mac, thanks for stopping by Wikireason. I responded to your questions in context. I recently wrote up an Introduction to describe how Wikireason works. You may like to look at it. Let me know if you have further questions. Adam (AdamRetchless 13:19, 24 May 2006 (UTC))

Hear more about yourself
Hi Mac,

I thought I'd message you to ask you a load of questions about how you find your school education. Do you generally get bored and fall asleep in lessons due to the spectacularly high level of material you cover in high school? Do you wish you had private tuition as well as school so you can do more advanced studies and ask whatever questions on whatever topics to whatever level? What's the nature of this "intensive University-Style schooling"? What subjects is it for? Who's organising it? How advanced would you consider your understanding in physics. Math? Chemistry? Biology? Sorry about the barrage of questions but I figure its easier for me to ask them all at once --Eh-Steve 15:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Hello Steve, I don't fall asleep but I do a lot of reading and write programs on my graphing calculator during classes. I am going to a Department of Defense school (week and a half left) in Guam, which has a slightly lower curriculum compared to public schools, and it is about time I got out of here. Your question to me about the private tuition, and school with advanced studies hits the spot. I wish. If I could choose from any high school classes, I would like to take all gifted or honors academic classes, with a center of physics and math.


 * I have been accepted into Northwestern University in Chicago this summer to take college-level American Government and Speech Communication classes under distinguished college professors through the Junior Statesman of America Foundation . Although the site says something like "Is politics your passion?" it isn't for me. I'm doing it to have more fun taking difficult classes, to talk to more eager erudite young (and old) minds like myself, and to travel more. I'll be schooling six days per week, and cramming both classes into four weeks. I'll be living in the dorms with a roommate, and without my parents. I set up a blog that is in development (the banner)


 * I would consider my conceptual understanding of physics as second or third year undergraduate. However, the mathematics side is still developing, because that is something that is difficult to learn off of the internet. Understand? Such as how theoretical physics can be broken into two parts: mathematics, and what the mathematics means—what is physically going on. As for mathematics, I'm kind of disappointed. In 8th grade I took Algebra I Gifted (6th-8th grade I took all gifted classes). In 9th grade, my freshman year, I took Geometry. Geometry was a waste of my time, I could have learned the whole course in a month and a half. In 10th grade, my sophomore year, I took Algebra II. That class was also a waste of my time, aside from being taught the most basic understanding of logarithms, by nine different teachers this year, I had already learned the class in my 8th grade gifted class, and in my physics class. Chemistry, I don't like the class very much because I always mess up the labs, and my 8th grade gifted science teacher taught me the majority of the class already. I took biology last year—in 7th grade my gifted science teacher and the discovery channel taught me the bulk of the class.


 * My plans for college right now include getting a bachelors degree in nanophysics, somewhere. I also have a fair expertise in paleoclimetology, and just got my technician level amateur radio license yesterday! I'm moving to Florida this summer as well. — [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg|17px]]  The   Mac Davis ] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 22:24, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry about the delay... All what you've said is really interesting and understandable. The reason I ask is because I was almost exactly in your position when I was your age, and as a result, I think that I had no-where-near reached full potential at the time, and I don't want the same to happen to you. So, I recommend reading up on non-school curriculum advanced topics (whatever interests you), (which you probably do already). I would be completely happy to answer questions on whatever topics you read up on, and if you don't mind, be a kind of "tutor" for you, to help accelerate your education. Also, I'd like to assess where your current understanding is on the various topics (science and math) so I can see where we can improve and whatnot. You can totally say- "No, I'm not interested. Now leave me alone you weirdo..." if you want, but I really would like to help you where your school can't, and where a politics class is irrelevent. --Eh-Steve 18:03, 9 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, that would be nice. How nice of you to offer. :) Where do you live? How old are you? Are you a teacher, student, or neither? What areas are you.. how should I say? "Good at?" — [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg|17px]]  The   Mac Davis ] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 01:07, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm in the UK, and I'm kinda both, I'm a student, and I tutor people who need help in sciences and math. My particular "good" topics are- General physics, quantum physics, Advanced math, chemistry (preferably organic), and medical sciences. So, a pretty wide selection. --Eh-Steve 01:36, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

http://physicsforums.com/ is awesome.. very useful--Eh-Steve 02:21, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

In general, the project is really good, but it would help if I knew who the target audience were (Hence whether or not to introduce Leibniz notation (dx) instead of 'h'. A few minor points though:

The minus-droppy rule is in fact called the power rule (for differentiation) (IMO, not much better).

In figure 3 (not shown), the caption could be improved by saying "The Tangent Line (brown) is the limit of the Secant Line (purple/pink) as h-->0 (Read as H tends to zero)".

In the paragraph: ''The larger parameter h is, the farther away A and B are from each other on the function, and also, the more error there is in the locus, an approximation of the derivative. When h is 0, the secant line becomes a tangent line because A and B are overlapping (therefore the tangent line is the limit of the secant line, see right). When h is 0, all points on the locus match with all points on the derivative.'' The reason the secant line becomes the tangent is not because A and B overlap, i.e. become the same point (because obviously you can't draw a line between A and B if they are the same point), but is actually completely defined using limits. When h=0, the secant line is undefined (you can't draw a line between A and B if they are the same point), but as h-->0 (h tends to zero), the secant line tends to the tangent. Since h cannot equal 0, the definition must be: Lim h->0 Secant line = Tangent (read as : 'The limit of the Secant line as 'h' tends to zero equals the tangent.') This might be too advanced for your target audience, so it might be better not to introduce limits at all. Simply say as h gets smaller and smaller, AB [coordinates (x,f(x)) and (x+h,f(x+h)) respectively] gets closer and closer to the actual derivative at that point.

Hope that isn't too much. I'll come back if I find anything else. --Eh-Steve 14:25, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

The notation for limits is correct (I couldn't be bothered going into math mode). The derivative at (x, f(x)) is equal to the limit of the gradient of the secant line as h-->0. This can be written mathematically only if the secant line is descibed mathematically, as: $${f(x+h)-f(x)\over h}.$$. In this notation, you can practically steal the limit equation from the Derivative page. Here it is anyway :$$f'(x)=\lim_{h\to 0}{f(x+h)-f(x)\over h}.$$

Secant is actually the function $$\sec(x)=\frac{1}{\cos(x)}$$ and Tangent is the function: $$\tan x = \frac{\sin x}{\cos x}\,$$. What we were refering to as the 'secant', is actually called the 'secant line'. One would think that there is a link between the Sec and Tan of trigonometry, and that of calculus, but there isn't, certainly with respect to 'tangent', which has 2 completely separate meanings. Even the link with secants seems far-fetched (apparently, its because you draw a secant line on the unit circle). So IMO, there's little to no link between the trig and calculus tan and sec.

A pretty representation of the trig functions is

I'm gonna start putting horizontal lines to separate each conversation instead of starting a new post.

Anyway... You've actually done all the hard bits of the question. Indeed n=0.0040381524644844490748592703866127.

Now you gotta remember that the decomposition reaction is in a 1:1 ratio for (Ammonium Nitrate : Nitrous Oxide), so if 0.004 moles of Nitrous Oxide are formed, you must have started with 0.004 moles of Ammonium Nitrate... right? '''The question asks what mass of solid Ammonium Nitrate is required. '''

Mass = Number of moles x $$ M_r $$

And you have both (number of moles of Ammonium Nitrate, which is ~0.004) and you can calculate ($$ M_r $$ of Ammonium Nitrate, which I think is 80). In general, to know which molar mass to use, refer to what the question is asking for, in this case, the mass of Ammonium Nitrate. --Eh-Steve 11:37, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

By the way, mind if I ask, what the hell are you doing in/on Guam? Is it ok living there, or would you rather be mainland? --Eh-Steve 22:54, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Hey.. you're back from your week or so of no posting....

Uganda
Hey, thanks for your kind note on my talk page! There are several others who are really active in that area, inclusing User:BanyanTree, User:Ezeu and User:Mark_Dingemanse. Sorry I took so long to get back to you but I had exams! TreveXtalk 13:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

image in signature
Hi, this is just to ask if you could please consider taking the image out of your signature as I see that there's a guideline against it (Signatures). I recognize that you are a far more prolific and long-established editor than I am, but this request is on the basis of what that page says rather than my own opinions. Many thanks. Arbitrary username 20:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I entirely agree, but I thank you for taking the trouble to explain. Arbitrary username 22:22, 21 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay, thanks. There's still the flag on your user page and that's just fine!  Arbitrary username 22:36, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

A short Esperanzial update
As you may have gathered, discussions have been raging for about a week on the Esperanza talk page as to the future direction of Esperanza. Some of these are still ongoing and warrant more input (such as the idea to scrap the members list altogether). However, some decisions have been made and the charter has hence been amended. See what happened. Basically, the whole leadership has had a reshuffle, so please review the new, improved charter.

As a result, we are electing 4 people this month. They will replace JoanneB and Pschemp and form a new tranche A, serving until December. Elections will begin on 2006-07-02 and last until 2006-07-09. If you wish to run for a Council position, add your name to the list before 2006-07-02. For more details, see Esperanza/June 2006 elections.

Thanks and kind, Esperanzial regards, &mdash;Cel es tianpower háblame 16:00, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Talk Page

 * Hey there. Many users really set their own standards. For example, I used to do mine whenever the scrollbar got to be about a centimeter on the screen, now I do it at 50. Others rarely do it at all. I'd just choose a good number that you're comfortable with. &mdash; Ilyan  e  p  (Talk)  22:12, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

2 things
Hello, I see you attend school in Guam. Would you happen to have any sources that could contribute to Valiant Shield? I am trying to make that article as complete as possible. One thing I am missing is whether there was a central "objective" of sorts. For example, did they have a red-team/blue-team simulated battle with each commander using his forces as he wishes, or was it more a series of drills that did not directly connect to each other. Also, I have replied to your question at the Science Help desk. Best, Johntex\talk 21:49, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

north shore
Uh im here as part of the CTD program. Thanks for logging me out! Yeah, I'm a Mac fanatic and use Wikipedia too much as well, -- Chris  Ccool2ax  contrib. 23:59, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Hey Mac, hope you weren't too late for your 7:00 thing. -- Chris  Ccool2ax  contrib. 00:22, 12 July 2006 (UTC)


 * lol, I got there in about one minute. Wow, running makes you tired. I ran back to the library, and the guy said the group left "a few minutes ago."

IP edit of User:Mac Davis
I have removed the Test1 warning from the IP User Talk page as per your request on my User Talk page. ju66l3r 17:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Blocked
You're not conventionally blocked. I'm guessing you've got caught in an autoblock. Can you leave a message on my talk page with the text of the block message you get. That way I can (probably) undo the autoblock. Good luck, Gwernol 18:29, 25 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Try it now. I think you should be un-autoblocked. Let me know if it doesn't work (there's sometimes a second step that needs to be done). And yes, I get quite a lot of "constructive feedback" from users. All part of the joys of being an admin :-) Gwernol 18:42, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

User page
help me make my user page not suck! Oh and congrats on the amazingly high amount of edits! -- Chris  Ccool2ax  contrib. 03:47, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

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Reference Desk archiving
Hi. Yes the archiving of the reference desks is currently done manually. We used to have a bot that did it automatically, but its owner left Wikipedia so it is no longer working.

I assume the "cool archive template box" you mean is the one on my talk page? If so, then you just need to place the following code somewhere on your talk page:

When you use the code, just change the Date 1 and Date 2 to the dates your archive covers. If you have any other questions, just let me know. Road Wizard 20:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

14 year old wikipedians
I'm technically 15, but going on 14! ;) I'm currently homeschooled, though I'll be starting 6th form college next year. I've never lived anywhere other than England (and always Yorkshire at that...), though it's a lovely country and I don't really mind. How about you? I felt pretty intimidated coming to your page. Aspiring nanophysicist? Eep! I don't even know what I want to do with my life, which is kind of worrying, because I'm quite old... ;D I don't Ilyanep personally, but I know of him, mainly because he's 6'1, which is really tall.  Sergeant  Snopake  21:46, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I only meant intimidating because you seem so intelligent! XD I'm not convinced pink would be a good look for you. I saw Ilanyep when I was asking a (then) 14 year old wikipedian about their height (which was 5'11), and he pointed me in the direction of Ilanyep. I tend to find tall people rather interesting when they're only 14 and whatnot, mainly because I'm so short (4'11)! Wow, you've lived in a lot of places! Even somewhere as far off as Thailand. And, you see, when I hear Thailand, I automatically think of Sagat. That's why I felt intimidated.  Sergeant  Snopake  09:52, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi again...
I figured the previous conversation was getting too long, so I'll make a fresh one.

Firstly, :D, regarding the decision to homeschool, because I think that you will really be able to proceed at your own rate (obviously faster IMO), and you won't be "kept behind" because of the rest of the class or extreme lack of content of the classes, etc.

Secondly, Grats on 3000 edits!

Thirdly, I imagine the malarkey at Northwestern University wasn't all that interesting, what with you being a scientist, and the topic being sociological, but, hey, I might be mistaken. Did you find it interesting/a way to meet new people?

Regarding the first point... My previous offer still stands on "virtual tutoring" etc. by the way. I'm just curious with respect to the logistics of homeschooling though, for example, will you take standardised exams at the end of it all?

Anyway, I wanted to ask about your interest in nanoscale physics. Is it surface science (Scanning tunnelling microscopy/infrared vibrational/photoelectron spectroscopy etc.) in particular, or carbon nanotubes/nanoscale condensed matter physics that interests you, or is it simply a fascination with all things nano? I must say, seeing an STM with an image refresh rate of 100Hz (seeing atoms jump around on a surface, in live action) is pretty cool, however long you've been working on the topic. Do your university departments have access to this sort of equipment to show you around? I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

In any case, nice to hear from you again after being so busy for a month, and do tell me how your homeschooling goes..

--Eh-Steve 01:07, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


 * "Thirdly," yes, you're right. Why I decided to do it:
 * Go to college
 * It is a prestigious university
 * See college
 * Meet professors, and people that are kind of... "in the club." Try to get noticed
 * Make friends. I do admit, I've found that I like "smart" people much better... perhaps because they are more like me?
 * Me living on a military base for two years, and on Guam, a small, deserted rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I was quite pent up, and didn't have so much access to meeting smart people friends or have many opportunities to activities. I turned to the internet (also found Wikipedia).
 * Resume
 * Almost once-in-a-lifetime experience, and especially at my age. I can't get enough of those; ever read The Rubayat? I don't quite know how to spell that, its Arabic.
 * Experience college life.
 * Get one of the crappy required classes out of the way
 * I did enjoy Speech class very much, although Government & Political Science was a bore, plus we had a terrible professor that lectured us to sleep then gave us a test at the end of the week, and that is literally all she did. I actually love my term paper I wrote for the class (more for me). I think I got an A in speech and a C in G&PoliSci


 * Standardized exams? I take an exam at the end of each class to prove I learned things, but not state standardized exams.


 * What exactly did you mean by virutal tutoring?


 * What do I want to do in nanophysics? No idea. I haven't learned anything much at all about it more than just reading the news about it, and one popularized book, Hacking Matter. I did buy Nanotechnology at Northwestern's bookstore. I'm reading through that one and I wil know a lot more after that. Right now I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Four Past Midnight before that. I am kind of disappointed to have to take a pre-calc class before calculus? Do you know what is standardized in pre-calc? I may or may not be able to skip it. Thanks,

Hehe... What I meant by "virtual tutoring" (a poor choice of words in retrospect) is basically you asking questions/requesting information and me answering, and possibly me teaching you bits and bobs on whatever interests you. This would all be done online, hence the "virtualness".

As for pre-calc, I'm just guessing here, but it might just be simple polynomial algebra, e.g. factoring, completing the square, division, etc. because I can't imagine you'd need much other background for calculus (depending on the approach used).

Ahh... G&PoliSci... How tiresome.

-Eh-Steve 13:17, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Tabs
That happens because tabs unpredictably cut things off....look at the top of the page when you edit....Pliny 15:10, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Cataract
This image is an essential part of anatomical representation of human eye. It contains an excellent diagramatic representation of location of the human lens, which develops cataract. And this image has properly cited its source. Pictures say a thousand words, and should be looked upon as a teaching tool. Just because someone hasn't yet refered to it in the accompanying text doesn't reduce its utility to the newcomer in learning about human lens and cataract. I am reinstating the picture back to where it belongs. EyeMD 16:22, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to the Birthday Committee!
Thanks for joining. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please tell me. Mr. Turcotte talk  17:56, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Signpost updated for July 31st


You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the Signpost spamlist. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply remove your name from the list. Ralbot 03:12, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Your sig
I have noticed that you transclude your signature. This is an extremely bad idea, because it requires an extra pageload every time someone views a page you have signed on. If you want to have the simplicity of editing your signature via a page, I reccomend substing your signature, like so:. This will produce your signature, by copying the contents of the sig page into the page you're signing.-- digital_m e (Talk•Contribs)  15:22, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Halo AfD discussions
Hey I'm on vacationm visiting Delta Halo. It's fun... =)

I got your message. Can you nominate articles for undeletion?

Cheers,

R  e  lentless Rouge  09:41, 6 August 2006 (UTC)


 * For undeletion, see WP:DRV. Oh, thanks for the heads up about the Halo AFD. I hate AFD too. I can't think of a funny pic, so I might have to upload one or two. -- Chris  Ccool2ax  contrib. 20:27, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Signpost updated for August 7th


You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the Signpost spamlist. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply remove your name from the list. Ralbot 05:21, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

AFD is evil
well, I don't know of anything but little snitch. You could just use a firewall and figure out which port to block. Or you could stick with Elements... maybe we could incorportate other FDL images on the site, like the sad face one. -- Chris   chat   edits   essays    18:55, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Halo 2 PC will only be for WIndows Vista... the losers want morethan just your $50. 67.142.130.15 21:47, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
 * On an unrelated note, I'm trying to set up a social networking site using MediaWiki, and I need someone to help me import help pages and such. So join me! wikia:c:social:Main_Page or if the interwiki link doesn't work. 67.142.130.15 03:08, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, I need someone to import most of the Help pages from Meta, for starters. Then I need experienced wiki-users to make profiles on the WikiSocial network. So, basically, recruit your friends to this site. See me on WikiSocial for more. it shouldn't take too long to establish all the rules and policy. -- Chris   chat   edits   essays    14:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

WikiSocial
Hiya

I've answered over there, and will probably continue to do so, but I'll have to get used to checking for messages there regularly (unlike WP which I do automatically). Maybe if you message me on WP, and we continue on WikiSocial? I dunno... ≈Eh-Steve 09:21, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Scaremongering
Howdy, Mr. Mac Davis, my name is Ophion and I'm a fairly new user on Wikipedia. Judging from your userpage, you appear to be a very well-traveled and intelligent person. There is one point, however, on which I'd like to engage you in discussion, if you're willing. Please read the whole entry before reaching a conclusion yourself or responding. First off, before you jump to conclusions based on the title of this post, I must say that I agree with you on your stance on scaremongering; it's certainly a big problem in today's society, the media being mostly to blame. You present a good, water-tight case, and your crowning point (in my opinion) is indicating that, whether the overblown topic is actually a serious issue or not, public interest will fall in it when the scaremongering ceases. However, I find fault with only one thing in your statement: grouping global warming under the issues subject to scaremongering. I have to say that, considering all the facts and taking a good look at how mankind has treated Earth during its brief stay, global warming is not an overblown subject. The evidence is strongly in favor of the extreme urgency of the situation: automobiles continuously pump an absurd amount of greenhouse gases into the air and factories do the same; a recent study finds that the earth is the hottest it's been for millennia; the poles are melting and changes in marine temperature are displacing marine organisms worldwide...the list goes on. Moreover, NASA climatologist James Hansen warns that if our current practices go on in the same way for another ten years, we will have reached the critical point: we will not be able to turn back the climatological and biological effects we've set rolling with global warming (check out the August 2006 National Geographic, page 33, if you want to verify that last statement). If that doesn't point out the dire immediacy of the situation, I don't know what does.

Of course, science can be and is often flawed; data is, after all, collected and interpreted by error-prone humans. But the overwhelming majority of scientific evidence points to the fact that global warming is an issue of incredible enormity. Also, I know I can't make you believe anything, Mac; it's my opinion that it's up to individuals to make their own decisions, and that no one should think for another. I merely post this because it is a subject important to me, I seemed to find flaw with your statement, and I wanted to know what you have to say in response. So, thank you for your time, and please, let me know what you think!

Ophion 02:11, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Mac, I didn't find your page at the Reference Desk. In a (semi-chronic) fit of boredom, I was following links in Wikipedia when I came across the page that listed the top 20 Wikiholics; that's where I found you :). I must say, I really got in over my head in my post.  No, I'm not steeped in paleoclimatology, and you're correct in saying that most of what I know I haven't dug for, but have been "served on a silver platter."  However, as I mentioned before, it's a topic (among other environmental topics) that has recently increasingly arrested my interest (if that makes any grammatical/semantic sense :P).  I'll check out the Wikipedia article (perhaps not tonight; it's getting kind of late), and I also would appreciate any resources you might point out for me.

I must say that, although I find a huge variety of topics interesting, for the most part I've dabbled in them far more than seriously investigated them. It was perhaps a bit presumptuous of me to try to counter your position, but let me ask you this: based on your knowledge of the facts, and regardless of any scaremongering, how serious an issue do you consider global warming to be? I'm not sure if I'm just asking you to repeat the info on your userpage, but if not, I'm really interested in your opinion.

In any event, thanks for responding and taking the time to give me info and links. One of the things I love about Wikipedia is the sense of community. :)

P.S. I also hesitate to head into these waters, but I also have a passion for physics. I don't know the extent to which you have researched this subject either, but hey, just thought I'd let you know. And if you can offer any help with it, please check this page out.

Ophion 02:59, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Wow. Thanks for all the information. I did know that there are various other interpretations of the wavefunction and whatnot, but that one always puzzled me.... In any event, I did learn more about the nature of probability. Yes, it is true that The Elegant Universe contains a lot of redundant material from other books on the same subject, but it was the first book I read on quantum physics and I found it immensely enlightening at the time. Good for someone just getting into the subject. And regarding my age, sorry, but I value my anonymity. Nothing personal, but I just don't give out my personal information to someone I don't know in a public space where thousands of people could see it. You can speculate, of course, but I just won't confirm anything.

Whoops, I only saw the physics part of your post before. I agree, discussion is better than debate. And I'm certainly open-minded to better understanding climatology and the state of the Earth; my biggest concern is that it be treated respectfully. That view springs from a spiritual conviction as much as a practical one (I don't want to get all evangelical on you, of course; but I wouldn't consider myself as belonging to any particular religion; see my userpage). I understand that major climatic upheavals have occurred in Earth's history without humans even being around, but, for me, when I think about the ways in which mankind has altered the environment, I can't help but think we could at least be doing something better. Anyway, it's like you said: largely, no one really knows for sure. For my part, I'll just try to do my best from day to day and hope it all works out!

Ophion 14:02, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

More about the environment and such
Ok, Mac, you've really got me thinking about all this more critically than I ever have. I follow what you're saying so far, and it all makes sense. Two things, though: 1. Humans are overpopulating the world. As far as I know, we are the only species (besides microscopic organisms and insects like ants) whose population has soared to the current level, and we are the only species to have such widespread distribution across the earth. Whether for better or worse or neither, we have dramatically altered the landscape and the ecology in our bounds and redistributed elements and compounds that living things barely make use of, if at all, but with which they must now deal (and metabolize). To me, it seems that mankind is in a situation where it cannot help but have some kind of impact on the world it inhabits. Again, as I don't know the facts, I can't say whether it's a positive or negative one, but am I justified in saying what I just said?

2. Also, turning away from the moral "correctness" of our behavior, there's the practical side to these things as well. I believe that oil and other carbon-based fuels are limited; as the human population continues to expand and raises with it its demand for fuel, the fuel we currently use will run out. Would you support the use of alternative fuels and such just for the purposes of sustainability?

Finally, I have to say: you say that journals are the best sources of unbiased (or the least-biased, anyway) information. How would you rate magazines like Discover and Scientific American on the basis of bias, reliability, and factual accuracy?

As always, I appreciate your articulate and insightful contributions to our discussion.

Ophion 19:08, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

ME
Please leave me and my userpage alone. --Zpb52 22:48, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

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Bullet Cluster Images
Hey, I noticed you uploaded Image:Bullet cluster.jpg and Image:Bullet cluster lensing.jpg. You claim they are both NASA-PD, but I'm not so sure. You have them sourced as from a pdf, not the NASA main site, which suggests to me that they are copywirted by the team that had them taken. Is there something obvious I missed when going through the files, or on the main site that clears this up? --Falcorian (talk) 19:10, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for checking, the pdf is a record of a presentation at a 2005 symposium about the data by Chandra, who's website is http://chandra.harvard.edu / http://csx.harvard.edu The satellite is owned by NASA, but CXC Harvard operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Institution, according to the site. So the SAO operates it for Harvard, who is taking all the credit of doing it for NASA, who takes all the credit. NASA's site for Chandra seems very small, and they only have one picture of the Bullet cluster. It looks like NASA has a page up just to show that they have a page. http://chandra.nasa.gov I don't know what the rules say about pictures that you took with a shared space telescope, but it seems to me it is NASA-PD— [  Mac Davis ] (talk)
 * It's late and I haven't had time to look into it further today, but I'd like to just bring up a few points that I've been mulling over.


 * First, Image:Bullet cluster lensing.jpg says "HST Image". HST images are (potentially) copyrighted by the group that used the telescope, and so aren't NASA PD per say unless they were credited to STSI. After a year the data goes public, but I don't think that changes the nature of the actual images, which are compiled from the raw data by a non-NASA group (as this isn't STSI as far as I know). I think this image is a good case of Fair Use though at least.


 * Second, I looked at the image use page for Chandra, and it does allow Non-commercial educational use, but I wasn't able to get an idea about whether the images are PD or not. I think this will be a similar issue to the HST images, and it'll come down to a "Depends on which group took the data and compiled it".


 * So, basically, I'll take a better look at the Chandra site tomorrow. I do think we could claim Fair-Use in the worst case as SAO does have the non-profit educational clause. Might be worth looking into a review of the pictures from someone with a little more experience as well.


 * I'll be around. ;-) Best of luck. Oh, and I have this page watched, so if you'd like to continue here, I'll keep an eye on it. --Falcorian (talk) 05:17, 24 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Ok, I checked the Chandra site, which has the following: "The images on this web site may be used for non-commercial educational and public information purposes. Please credit images to "NASA/CXC/SAO" unless other credits are given. In that case, credit the appropriate organization(s) or person(s) as they are listed with the image on our site." That doesn't really help out. Sure, it sayws NASA, but it also has SAO and CXC, so it's ot clear cut in my mind. Might want to ask for a review of it licensing, but I don't know exactly where to do that, as I don't tend to hang out in the administrative parts of wiki. --Falcorian (talk) 22:56, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Hello once again Mac. I found where to ask about these pictures, so unless you have a strong objection, I'd like to ask about them on Media copyright questions. Feel free to do it yourself if you don't object, I won't until tomorrow or the day after. Again, I can be reached either replying here or on my page. Cheers! --Falcorian (talk) 05:03, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Ah, you take care of it. I don't know what to say. — [ Mac Davis ] (talk) ( Desk | Help me improve )


 * Alright, I'll throw one up and leave a link here. --Falcorian (talk) 14:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Alright,asked about them: Media_copyright_questions --Falcorian (talk) 23:21, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Nope
You mustnt believe everything you read Mac! (esp here)unless youve worked it out for yourself and it makes sense to you. Im much older than 14. I was just joking that character on the ref desk. Im an ex electronics engineer actually. Best of luck with your education (I dont think youll need much luck actually!)--Light current 01:19, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh, ok. Ha! Well, I figured you wouldn't lie and I made an assumption.. .yeah whatever, you already know. So you are 16! Just kidding. Where do you find the time to make so many edits? "Unless you've worked it out for yourself and it makes sense to you." Ahh, I think I like you even more now. :) When I hit electrical engineering if I have to take that class maybe I'll come to you for that. You said "much older." So that means you're over 30 than? — [  Mac Davis ] (talk)

Re: University
I may be able to help you, then. :) I don't have access to every single journal, but I do have access to quite a lot of them. Let me know how I can help you. – ClockworkSoul 23:23, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Archivals
Hey Mac, I've stopped archiving the reference desk altogether for quite some time. Someone else took over, but I'm not sure who that was. --HappyCamper 14:56, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

3O- Geek canon
Er, yes, the debate is most definitely still on. I was doing the recommended "Take a break" from the article, not to mention that there's really nothing more to say. This is obviously my point of view, but my opponent has basically refused to explain himself and has only offered assertions that I'm wrong. That was his latest contribution, except he added an Argument from Authority to it. Since the main way for me to refute an argument from authority (Yes, I actually looked up some of his "articles"- I was not impressed) would be for me to break WP:NPA, I declined to comment.

Take a look at the long "Article Focus" debate beneath where you posted as well as the edit summaries. SnowFire 20:13, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Welcoming
Mac, I know you mean well. So did I, but it's annoying as hell to see a welcome message on an account that has a grand total of zero edits and has never been used, ever.

It's even more annoying to see a welcome message on an account that is in the process of being blocked because its first edit is obvious blatant vandalism.

I would like to suggest that you only offer welcome messages to those new users who have made at least one valid edit. DS 21:01, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

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Please be careful not to leave false edit summaries
Regarding this edit, the summary of which was pipe to avoid disambig: this edit reverted previous changes to a sentence as well as reverting a couple others' small contributions. There was no piping or other disambiguation activity on your behalf. Please be careful not to leave confusing or erroneous edit histories.  Big Nate 37 (T) 22:18, 30 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Strange. Well, your edits may have been mucked up with other edits if an administrator deleted a contribution (rather than reverting it). I've never heard of it, but it may be possible. They say merging histories is tough work for admins, so perhaps this is a consequence of a sysop action gone sour. Common editors such as we will never know :P  Big Nate 37 (T) 05:13, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Happy Birthday!
Hope you had a great day!! -- Underneath-it-All 00:24, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

top 20

 * 1) Happy belated birthday, Macboy.
 * 2) Guess who's on the top 20 Wikipediholic list! I'm number 18!--  Chris   chat   edits   essays    22:58, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

to mod your monobook.js (for you it would be your skin name.js since you dont use monobook), you can copy code into User:Mac_Davis/monobook.js or whatever your skin is. -- Chris   chat   edits   essays    05:01, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

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RD date headers
Hey, we bumped into each other last night (September 10 UTC) at the RD date headers, you from one side and me from the other. It seems that you and I are in charge of this right now so if you want to change the current random approach, let me know. I'm just going by when a TV program changes at UTC midnight (8:00 PM - EDT). I'm glad that we're looking in on the the same task, that way it's not so critical that either one of be there - there's twice the chance that at least one of us be there (how many times can you say "there" in one sentence?). :-) hydnjo talk 22:39, 10 September 2006 (UTC)


 * From hydnjo RD headers
 * Actually I thought I was the one that was doing it the first two days, but then I was a few hours late for a few days and I saw them there. On the talk page for Science, User:LightCurrent and I had signed up for the position so I thought that it was him that was supplementing me. I guess it was you. Well I'm there everyday, and (actually I am 45 minutes late now) it is 8 pm here at UTC 0:00. Yesterday I saw you, and I just had to beat you, because I noticed you went from left to right, so I went right to left. Hee hee :) — [ Mac Davis ] (talk) ( Desk | Help me improve ) 


 * OK then, if we both pay attention to the date headers then it'll most likely be just fine. With all of the folks around the RD I hope that some of the other daily routines get addressed as well. Let me know if you expect to be away for a while and I'll pay special attention and I'll do the same.  --hydnjo talk 02:29, 11 September 2006 (UTC)




 * Like today (September 11, UTC), I wasn't around but I see that others have picked up the slack. I hope that between you and I, others need not be concerned about date headers. What do you think, can you and I handle it? --hydnjo talk 02:44, 11 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree, we can handle it (sez us - so we better)! --hydnjo talk 03:18, 11 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey, what a team *high five*! --hydnjo talk 00:09, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

(Missing header)
Many thanks regarding simple vs. complete subject. I still feel like an idiot, but many, many thanks.

Blessings, --Kdsoell 00:48, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

social!
Mac! Help me out on Wikisocial! Let's discuss stuff... like stuff on your talk page. -- Chris   chat   edits   essays    02:25, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

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Thanks for intervening, but
...he's a frekaing incivil sockpuppet! See his Requests for comment/Myspaceaddictaust for evicence. He's permablocked anyaway. I guess I might have ooverreacted, but he just told me of his intent to circumvent 3RR using his ISP! That's bull! Good thing he's gone and MySpace is sprotected. 4.19.161.36 13:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Indeed
I guess at 10 to the minus 35 meters it is hard to tell two dimensions. I just think that you need graph paper to draw a ring or a loop, i.e. two dimensions. I think that the problem is that string theorists hear singularity and think Schwarzschild (star collapses to a point). Kerr showed that all stars spin and that their singularities spin too. Points can't spin, but rings can. 208.15.6.162 07:23, 13 September 2006 (UTC)Archie

Corky Coker article
Hi Mac. Thanks for the NPOV. You mentioned in your comment on the Help Desk that you thought that an article had a major advertisment-tone. Were you referring to my entry or the one that the other guy tried to spam me with? thanks. CokerTire 19:26, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I certainly did not mean to do anything wrong. Is it possible for the article to be removed? Maybe then, it can be re-written from an outside perspective. Best. CokerTire 22:08, 13 September 2006 (UTC)