User talk:Malkinthecat

License tagging for Image:Grimble004.jpg
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Your work on the Visbreaker article
First, I would like to say that you did an excellent job of improving the article greatly when you edited it in June 2007.

However, I do have some questions to ask you:

(1) In your equation 1 for calculating VBN:

VBN = 14.534 × ln[ln(v + 0.8)] + 10.975

Does it use the log to the base 10 or the natural log to the base e? From studying the literature on that equation, I get the distinct impression that it should be the log to the base 10 ... that is log10.

(2) In your equation 2 for calculating the VBN of a blend:

'''VBNBlend = [%A × VBNA] + [%B × VBNB] + ... + [%X × VBNX]'''

I don't think you meant to use %. I think you meant to use weight fraction (i.e., % ÷ 100). In other words, if the % of a blend component is 50, then we should use 0.50 in the equation. Am I correct in saying that the weight fraction should be used instead of the % ?

(3) Also, pardon me for asking, but are you positively sure that the blending should be done on a weight basis rather than a volume basis?

I will watch here on your Talk page for your answers to the above three questions. After reading your answers, I will make whatever changes are needed in the article. Thanks in advance and regards, - mbeychok 04:00, 1 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi Mbeychok, Thank you very much for your comments.


 * The equation I quouted for VBN is that used by Exxon at their Fawley refinery near Southampton. I double checked on my copy of the blending notes (which I still have) and the log they use is definately to base e - in fact they have even put an NB to that effect. I have a feeling that there are other VBN formula that use log to base 10.


 * Also, the notes state that VBN blends by mass not volume.


 * I used this approach for years after quitting Exxon and moving into trading (were we did a lot of fueloil / 6 oil blending) with no problems at all, so I am pretty confident that they are right.


 * Your second point - you are quite right. It was what I intended, but your way of expressing it is far clearer than mine.


 * I'm trying to get my hands on a nice photo of a visbreaker that I can use without infringing copyright - it is about the only type of processing unit that I do not myself own a photo of. If you have any ideas of a source I would like to here of them.


 * I'm going to add some more content to the Visbreaker entry when I get some free time and I hope that over the winter I will work up some other units. I would appreciate your critique once I've done these if that would be OK?


 * By the way - the changes you've made to the article are great. Particularly the diagram. I'm still feeling my way a bit with the software!


 * Bst regards, Jon Malkin the Cat 13:26, 3 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your response. I have independently confirmed from other sources that your equation (1) should use the natural logarithm to the base e.


 * If I had a visbreaker photo, it would already be in the article ... but I don't have one.


 * Don't worry about feeling your way with the software. It takes quite a while as I found out myself.


 * If I'm not being too nosy, what made you decide to run a guest house in France? Sounds idyllic. I spent 2 years in France during WWII ... one year in combat and one year after the war ended (and I have fond memories of that year). Regards, Milt. - mbeychok 14:38, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

No problem - you're not being nosy. We were living in London but had a holiday home here. My wife (who was a freelance chemical engineer desiging oil refinery operating plants, btw) spent a summer here on her own with our two eldest girls in 2002 while I stayed in the UK to work. She really didn't want to come back to the UK after that.

I was employed by El Paso at the time - they had bought Coastal Corp, as I am sure you will remember, whom I had joined in their London Trading group a while before. El Paso then "did an Enron" and we were all let go. I was kept on as a consultant for a while as they needed someone to help dispose of various assets in Europe, but after that decided she might have a point, took the pay-off, sold the house and away we flew.

It has worked out very well - the children love it here and we get a quality of life here that we could not have afforded in the UK (London was VERY expensive), and we always had a hankering to do something in the service line.

Where were you stationed in France? Jon Malkin the Cat 16:03, 4 October 2007 (UTC)


 * For my first year, I was with the 100th Infantry Division that landed in Marseille and we went into combat a short distance north of Marseille at the southern end of the Maginot line. At the war's end, we were in Stuttgart, Germany. To keep us busy while waiting for a ship to take us home, the army set up a temporary American university in Biarritz for those of us who had been in university when called into service. I spent about 8 months in Biarritz taking some chemical engineering courses while waiting my turn to board a ship headed home. No air transport in those days ... we all had to wait for available ships. There were hundreds of thousands of us waiting our turn and there simply were not enough ships. - mbeychok 18:46, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Disputed fair use rationale for Image:Grimble004.jpg
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[[Image:Flag of France.svg|45px]] WikiProject Newsletter n°1
Bonjour and welcome to the first WikiProject France newsletter!! It should become a monthly special of our project, but until the next issue, here are some points to consider for the month:
 * In an effort to determine the active members from the inactive, all members are asked to simply sign on my special userpage.
 * I have slightly rearranged and updated the Project page, putting all the featured lists in collapsible tables. This unclutteres the page and you only have to see them if you want to. Give your feelings at the talk page.
 * I have made a Wikipedia advert for our project, Image:Qxz-ad108.gif, what do you think? Personally I feel the words need improving ...
 * There are still map problems at Template:French commune - any help at resolving them would be greatly appreciated.
 * What about starting a monthly drive? We currently have no Featured Portals (except for the Basque Portal which really isn't French any way), so how about improving Portal:France??? I don't know what's exactly wrong but the criteria can be seen at Featured portal criteria.

It doesn't seem like a lot, so I hope we will still have enough problems for nexts months issue. Salut till the next issue, Chris DHDR (17:18, 10 November 2007 (UTC)).

[[Image:Flag of France.svg|45px]] WikiProject Newsletter n°2
It's been one high aiming month! The French WikiProject and related pages have been aiming high for Christmas - and have received an equal number of presents in return! Well, that's this issue. Au revoir et à bientôt till the next time,  Chris DHDR (18:56, 9 December 2007 (UTC)).
 * The French Portal is now a Featured Portal!!! It passed its Candidacy with 100%. Special thanks go to NYArtsnWords and all those that have made this Portal work.
 * The Newsletter has made it to a second issue. You can find its page at WikiProject France/Outreach/Newsletter and its archives at WikiProject France/Outreach/Newsletter/Archives.
 * A new page has been setup (WikiProject France/Links) to provide an index of the Projects/Portals pages (as well as helping newbees). When creating any pages in the Project/Portal namespace, please add them to the index page. This page also give WP:FRANCE members a handy watchlist.
 * As like last time, members are asked to renew their memberships at WikiProject France/Members.
 * I will be on holiday when the next issue is meant to come out so could some generous person(s) please do the next issue at WikiProject France/Outreach/Newsletter.

WikiProject France newsletter
{| style="border-spacing:8px;margin:0px -8px" width="100%" {| width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="vertical-align:top; background-color:#f5fffa" ! WikiProject France News
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What's new?

 * [[Image:Crystal_128_desktop.png|22px]] The project has recently experienced a complete redesign. The Outreach department has also undergone a major expansion, and this newsletter is the result of that.
 * The review department is currently under development, with several new proposals underway. Internal peer review had begun on the page of the project's Review Department. The department currently provides a centralized platform off all currently open reviews throughout the project (Featured Articles, Peer Reviews, Good Articles, Articles for Deletion, Categories for Discussion, etc.)
 * A new task force has been introduced: the Paris task force. Any users interested in contributing to the taskforce can join on the project page.
 * There is a current discussion about merging the French Communes WikiProject into ours. This communes project will be organised as a task force.

! User-related news
 * style="color:#000"|
 * style="color:#000"|

Notifications
! Complete project tasks Complete To Do List
 * Several new user has joined the project this last month: Jordan Timothy James Busson, Djwilms and Mcewan. Welcome! Please come stop by the talk page to join in our discussions.
 * Lazulilasher has been awarded the French Barnstar of National Merit for his contributions to this project. Congratulations!
 * style="color:#000"|
 * style="color:#000"|

The following is a list of all the current tasks for the project, as well as several project goals:


 * }
 * class="MainPageBG" style="width: 45%; border:1px solid #cedff2; background-color:#f5faff; vertical-align:top"|
 * }
 * }

Thanks for your contributions to the project, Jor  dan  Contribs  17:45, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Request for help concerning energy...
Hi,

I noticed you listed yourself as a participant of the Energy WikiProject.

There are 2 new outlines in this area that attempt to consolidate Wikipedia's coverage of their respective subjects, gathering and organizing the articles about them into one place and including descriptions for convenience. The purposes of these outlines are to make it easier for readers to survey or review a whole subject, and to choose from Wikipedia's many articles about it.

The new energy outlines are:


 * Outline of solar energy
 * Outline of wind energy

Please take a look at them, and....


 * if you spot missing topics, add them in.


 * if you can, improve the descriptions.


 * add missing descriptions.


 * show parent-offspring relationships (with indents).


 * fix errors.

For more information about the format and functions of outlines, see Outlines.

Building outlines of existing material (such as Wikipedia) is called "reverse outlining". Reverse outlines are useful as a revision tool, for identifying gaps in coverage and for spotting poor structuring.

Revising a work with multiple articles (such as Wikipedia) is a little different than revising a paper. But the general principles are the same...

As you develop these outlines, you may notice things about the articles they organize. Like what topics are not adequately covered, better ways to structure and present the material, awkward titles, articles that need splitting, article sections lacking Main links, etc.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me on my talk page or at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Outlines.

Thank you. Sincerely, The Transhumanist 00:48, 2 June 2012 (UTC) P.S.: see also Outline of energy

Europe 10,000 Challenge invite
Hi. The WikiProject Europe/The 10,000 Challenge has recently started, based on the UK/Ireland The 10,000 Challenge. The idea is not to record every minor edit, but to create a momentum to motivate editors to produce good content improvements and creations and inspire people to work on more countries than they might otherwise work on. There's also the possibility of establishing smaller country or regional challenges for places like Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries, Iberian Peninsula, Romania, Slovenia etc, much like The 1000 Challenge (Nordic). For this to really work we need diversity and exciting content and editors from a broad range of countries regularly contributing. If you would like to see masses of articles being improved for Europe and your specialist country like WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon, sign up today and once the challenge starts a contest can be organized. This is a way we can target every country of Europe, and steadily vastly improve the encyclopedia. We need numbers to make this work so consider signing up as a participant and also sign under any country sub challenge on the page that you might contribute to! Thank you. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 10:02, 6 November 2016 (UTC)