Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 October 22

= October 22 =

Downloading Drug Data into MS Excel
Dear Wikipedia-

I am a 4th year medical student doing research on how the properties of some medications are determined by their structure (ex half life and the molecular weight). Wikipedia has wonderful information about each drug in its Chembox's. I wanted to know if there is a way that I could download the drug data contained in the Chemboxes' into an Excel spreadsheet or any other filetype that could be uploaded into a SQL database such as MS Access?

I would be extremely grateful if this were possible as it will make my research better and more comprehensive.

Thanks, Rob — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sangfroid90 (talk • contribs) 11:41, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * This is certainly possible, but a lot depends on what tools you know or are willing to learn, and how much time you have. If I really had to, I could eventually take the raw wiki markup as described here Template:Chembox, and write a script to convert it to xml or csv for each page I scraped - are you willing to do that? There may be easier methods. You also might have an easier time with ChemSpider, and you can also check at WikiProject_Chemicals/Chembox_validation, which seems to imply the existence of some excel file that might be useful to you. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:06, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Not what the OP asked, but so everyone knows: there's work being done to get all infobox data (all infoboxes, not just chemboxes, and across all the language wikipedias) into one grand unified database, wikidata. It's going to take a few more years, though... —Steve Summit (talk) 22:08, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

hey were u come from
hey were u come from? and i need to be rich like u can u help me hey get this e- mail from riley and u dont know my last name that all — Preceding unsigned comment added by JeNea06 (talk • contribs) 19:09, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Hello. I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about but I hope there's some way I can help. Is your name Riley? I don't know your last name. We would all like to be rich. Horatio Snickers (talk) 20:21, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

a park in Moscow

 * Question copied to the poster's talk page:
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Halcatalyst&oldid=630903682#a_park_in_Moscow
 * as not appropriate here, --CiaPan (talk) 07:56, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

This is a picture of a statuary group in a park in Moscow. Can anybody tell me the name of the park? I'd like to know more about the statuary. Thanks. --Halcatalyst (talk) 19:14, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Looks like this... http://englishrussia.com/2009/03/17/the-sins-monument/ http://www.dauntlessjaunter.com/2014/03/02/weekly-photo-children-are-the-victims-of-adult-vices-monument-moscow-russia/ ru-wiki: ru:Дети — жертвы пороков взрослых en-wiki: en:Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices CiaPan (talk) 19:44, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Master System or NES?
Hello, I have the chance to get either a Master System or a NES, which one should I get (eg: which one will bring me the most enjoyment over time), and which games should I get? Horatio Snickers (talk) 20:20, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * "The reference desk is not a chatroom. We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate." Perhaps you could try a gaming forum. 183.228.170.150 (talk) 20:32, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * in terms of enjoyment over time, take a look at List of Master System games and List of Nintendo Entertainment System games. Master System had 318 games, whereas the Famicom had 709 licenced games, so based on the amount of games alone (i.e. no regard to quality of the games or other factors), the NES appears to be superior. Beyond that, the IP above is correct in saying that we don't give suggestions like that. Cheers,  ~Helicopter  Llama~  21:24, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * We can give references to opinions. According to OfficialNintendoMagazine.co.uk, these games are the most enjoyable. Also, here's a list of video game emulators and a a look at Nintendo thumb. Something to consider. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:09, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I don't have a citation, but I've read more than once that the best Sega games were adaptations of their arcade titles, such as Space Harrier, Afterburner, and Out Run; Nintendo, of course, had the Mario and Zelda franchises, as well as several popular games from third party designers such as Konami. I own both systems, and really, you'll almost certainly get a lot of enjoyment out of either one. OldTimeNESter (talk) 12:26, 24 October 2014 (UTC)