User talk:Spookyland

Welcome to Wikipedia from Mootros
Hi,. I welcome you to Wikipedia! Thank you for all of your edits. I hope you like editing here and being part of Wikipedia! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~&#126;); when you save the page, this will turn into your name and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or put  (and what you need help with) on your talk page and someone will show up very soon to answer your questions. Again, welcome! Mootros (talk) 15:40, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, Mootros - This is my first contribution, and I have much to learn. Spookyland (talk) 16:44, 1 March 2010 (UTC)Spoolyland.

Question concerning recently created article
Hi. I don't quite understand the following statement:

"By August 23rd, they had reached a position of 78° 41', farther north than any predecessor except for William Parry's Spitsbergen land crossing."

What did you mean by this? I know of countless expeditions to Spitsbergen that reached farther north than 78° 41' N. Could you explain this discrepancy? Jonas Poole (talk) 06:56, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Jonas,

Here is the related passage regarding August 23, 1853 from Dr. Kane's account of the expedition - I thought it noteworthy enough to include in the article. If Kane was mistaken in his assertion, I will be happy to revise:

"Our latitude, determined by the sun's lower culmination, if such a term can be applied to his midnight depression, gives 78° 41'. We are farther north, therefore, than any of our predecessors, except Parry on his Spitzbergen foot-tramp.  There are those with whom, no matter how insuperable the obstacle, failure involves disgrace; we are safe at least from their censure."

('The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin,' Kane, 1857, page 85 (or page 109 in the PDF)).

Perhaps he was referring to northward penetration by sea. Your opinion on the subject would be most appreciated.

Please let me know if I am using the discussion forum correctly. Thanks very much - Spookyland (talk) 14:08, 1 March 2010 (UTC)Spookyland.


 * Well, Kane must have been very mistaken. In 1596, Willem Barentsz reached an entire degree further north than that (by sea). Heck, a little over a decade later the Dutch built a seasonal whaling settlement on an island off Spitsbergen's northwest coast at 79° 43' N. For two centuries after that whalers and explorers would reach latitudes further north than the one in Kane's quote.


 * And you're using the forums just fine. Jonas Poole (talk) 17:17, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Jonas,

I think it would be best if I removed that line altogether - it was early in the trip anyway, and they eventually worked farther north (by dogsled) anyway. Is any special handling required in eliminating the 'dubious' tag, or do I just remove that with the single line?

Thanks for your help, Spookyland (talk) 18:51, 1 March 2010 (UTC)Spookyland.


 * Yeah, you can just remove the tag when you edit the page. Jonas Poole (talk) 16:10, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

First Grinnell Expedition
Well done for this excellent article! Have you considered submitting it to WP:DYK? Ironholds (talk) 16:41, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Ironholds - Thanks very much. I doubt I would submit this article (or the one I did for the Second Grinnell Expedition) because it would seem like self-promotion. Besides, these are my first two articles, and I didn't think they were up to those standards of quality. Also, I had to look up WP:DYK besides - I am a long time reader, but new contributor. Thanks much, Spookyland (talk) 19:00, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

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