User talk:SteveBaker/archive25

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Shard

Thanks for your comments Steve. Got around to seeing if there were any more real replies :) – Kerαunoςcopia◁galaxies 07:29, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Glad to be of help...it was a great question BTW! SteveBaker (talk) 12:46, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Reference desk

Hi I couldn't help notice that your most recent contribution didn't direct the OP to new references (although it did mention Einstein and physics in passing, but it could have been more direct(. I realize the value of deliberation, but we have strayed into debating the issues. On another matter, I do hope that Wickwack figures out how to participate constructively, but we don't need him and it isn't policy to punish anyone (as you indicated we are doing, at AN) but to take measures that prevent future disruption. --Modocc (talk) 16:06, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Sega Genesis RFC to rename the article.

Talk:Sega_Genesis#RFC:_.22Sega_Mega_Drive.22_or_.22Sega_Genesis.22_as_the_article_title.3F--SexyKick 19:26, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm *NOT* getting back into this. It's totally batshit crazy to allow this discussion to continue. It's crystal clear that there is no "best" result - and it really, truly, doesn't matter a damn which one you pick because we have the magic of redirects. We went through a reasonable process, we chose with consensus (but essentially at random) one of the names - and it's good enough. No matter what this RFC does, I absolutely guarantee that the debate will restart within months of a decision being made - and we'll go through this all over again.
I stopped caring. Let the fanboys fight it out. Idiots. SteveBaker (talk) 19:42, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
That's actually a good comment on the subject. I wouldn't mind that being said.--SexyKick 22:46, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
Feel free to quote me. SteveBaker (talk) 00:22, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
It seems like Gasoline and Maize have been stable for some time. I wonder how was that achieved? APL (talk) 00:00, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
There aren't large numbers of fanboys for Petrol or Corn who remember thousands of hours spent staring with rapt attention at the subject of the article. SteveBaker (talk) 00:22, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
@APL: Shhhhhh...don't draw attention to them! A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 00:25, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
Oh - wait - doesn't WP:COMMONNAME mean it should be "Corn"? ;-) SteveBaker (talk) 00:32, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
Haha. I would like to predict an upcoming debate between "Steve's right" and "Steve's right, but we should switch it one last time before we listen to him."
It'd be nice if Wikipedia had a mechanism for shutting down perennial debates. Like, a five-year cool-down timer, or something. APL (talk) 08:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
Yeah - that's what I'd have guessed - but I'd have been wrong. The "MegaDrive" folks are claiming that if we just let the RfC do it's thing for a few more weeks, they'll get consensus(!)...yeah - batshit crazy! SteveBaker (talk) 21:50, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Please comment on

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Human Genetic History#Guidelines desperately needed. Thanks. Dougweller (talk) 13:25, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

How would you handle a crying baby? (cont.)

Wow. I am impressed with your lengthy description on the steps of infant childrearing. You surely know a lot about raising youngsters, seeing that your post on the topic has implied that you are a parent and grandparent. Do you really go through the mental checklist in your head? How long does it take to go through them? Or does it just come naturally for you and you just "automatically know"?

Babies are typically very cute. Scientists explain that they are cute, because it helps the species survive. By being cute, they encourage adults to take care of them and protect them. However, there are some cases where that is not the case, as I have observed. For instance, a baby born with a dreadful skin condition that becomes instantly scaly and dry may have loving parents who love the child unconditionally, despite that the child may look like a little lizard or foul-looking monster. Perhaps, that is a special case scenario that involves cultural thinking. Sneazy (talk) 22:46, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

The mental checklist was mostly useful when the crying didn't stop after doing a couple of obvious things - then you can methodically check everything in the hope that you can figure out what the problem is. We'd say that if we got to the end of the list and couldn't figure out why the baby was crying - then we'd feel justified in laying him in his crib and letting him cry. Our doctor said that sometimes babies cry to "exercise their lungs" - I'm not sure I believe that...but for sure there were times when absolutely NOTHING would calm the kid down. SteveBaker (talk) 23:24, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

Mileage tables

Hi, would you be interested in advising on how to set up a wiki to record railway mileages? Sfan00 IMG (talk) 18:52, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, but I'm too busy to do it for free...but if this is a paying commercial gig, we can talk. SteveBaker (talk) 20:59, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for August 10

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Kind of Talkback :)

You got message here Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous#Squier Strat by Fender Miss Bono [zootalk] 19:18, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

Hah! Looks like 3dGeek was right.

Projects do pick up in the last week. Looks like CO2ube just had one of their best days yet! [1]

I'm starting to think they'll make it!

Looks like some sucker shelled out a grand for the "Custom engraved" collectable CO2ube. Oh Well, I guess there's one born every minute.

APL (talk) 05:09, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

There is quite a bit of suspicion (and some somewhat convincing hard evidence) that one of their own people is putting money into the project to encourage others who are waiting to see if it might make it before they pledge. This is a risky tactic because if Amazon Credit services find out - they'll shut down the project's Amazon account. However, other projects have tried and succeeded with this tactic. SteveBaker (talk) 13:13, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Looks like the CO2ube automotive carbon sequestration gizmo failed its Kickstarter ($13k pledged, $18k goal) - but the passing shot in the last update from the Ecoviate team indicated that they're still going push on with it. From what I can see, most of the support for the "inventors" on the KS forum was from sockpuppets of the company itself. 3DGeek discovered that:

  • one of the most vocal supporters is a venture capitalist who sank $20,000 into the project,
  • it would be illegal to use US postal service to ship the finished devices to their customers because they contain a class 8 hazmat (NaOH)
  • their patent covers the Algae technology that they've now publically abandoned,
  • another high school science fair team beat them to the NaOH approach three years ago (and their project wasn't adequately thought out either!)
  • another backer was told (privately) that the CO2ube removes 25% to 30% of the CO2 from a car exhaust.
  • if a car with a tailpipe full of fine-particulate sodium hydroxide were ever to be rear-ended, the resulting cloud of NaOH dust would be lethal if inhaled by a bystander.

It seems that these guys are still planning to turn out some kind of a product - and if they truly did spend $20,000 of venture capital doing it - they are pretty determined.

Oh well. Life goes on!

SteveBaker (talk) 14:27, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Kind of another Talkback :)

You have message here. Miss Bono [zootalk] 15:03, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Oh...crap...I forgot that you don't have access to the big-wide-world Internet. Ack! Well, the point is that this web page generates a new band title (most of them are terrible) every time you reload it - and after enough tries, you either find something you love - or you just keep laughing at the silly ones until you've seen enough to get bored! Here are the first 20 that it randomly came up with today:
  1. Technicolour rockin' underpants.
  2. The psychedelic mauve geeks.
  3. Plastic legend.
  4. Pink devil thunder.
  5. The secret stealth burp from Outer Space
  6. The shining bunny of the third Cosmic Plane
  7. Voodoo hippo
  8. Devil frizbee 3000
  9. The rhythm hippo
  10. Mystic fires of Limbo
  11. Shattered pentagonal fish
  12. Violet hawk freaks of Rock
  13. Technicolour steel frogs from Outer Space
  14. Arcane steel chainsaw
  15. Electric frizbee
  16. Cool steel guitar kittens
  17. Stupendous blue plastic star tomatoes in Limbo
  18. The secret pentagonal beast 3000
  19. Liquid shining hawk bunny
  20. Velvet fish
...it works very simply using the following rules:
  • With a 50% chance, print the word "The".
  • With a 50% chance, print either nothing or randomly pick one of:
    • psychedelic
    • technicolour
    • amazing
    • stupendous
    • liquid
    • electric
    • luminous
    • cool
    • exploding
    • shattered
    • magical
    • lore of the
    • Stygian
    • mystic
    • secret
    • arcane
    • punk
  • With a 50% chance, print either nothing or randomly pick one of:
    • blue
    • black
    • violet
    • purple
    • mauve
    • green
    • swingin'
    • rockin'
    • screamin'
    • mysterious
    • sinister
    • deadly
    • legendary
    • pentagonal
    • tangerine
    • shining
  • With a 75% chance, print either nothing or randomly pick one of:
    • metal
    • iron
    • steel
    • titanium
    • plastic
    • velvet
    • concrete
    • burning
  • With a 50% chance, print either nothing or randomly pick one of:
    • stealth
    • kamikazi
    • surfin'
    • street
    • forbidden
    • mystery
    • fried
    • glowing
    • rhythm
    • thunder
    • storm
    • voodoo
    • devil
    • hawk
    • guitar
    • war
    • battle
    • swamp
    • star
  • Unconditionally, pick one of the following:
    • brocolli
    • legend
    • underpants
    • squid
    • frogs
    • beast
    • death
    • wedgie
    • bunny
    • bunnies
    • burp
    • poodle
    • hippo
    • gnomes
    • chainsaw
    • frizbee
    • tomatoes
    • nerds
    • geeks
    • flames
    • ninjas
    • elves
    • army
    • bunch
    • band
    • project
    • gang
    • fish
    • walrus
    • monkey
    • pirates
    • pilots
    • thunder
    • freaks
    • wolf
    • dogs
    • kittens
    • snake
    • viper
    • yodelers
    • fires
  • On a 50% chance, print nothing or pick one of these at random:
    • from Hell
    • from Outer Space
    • that came from Outer Space
    • from Heck
    • of Doom
    • of the Apocolypse
    • of Destiny
    • of Time
    • of Rock
    • reprise
    • reprisal
    • revival
    • killer
    • paradox
    • of Death
    • from the Abyss
    • in Limbo
    • of Hades
    • from beyond the grave
    • from Beyond
    • 3000
    • of Noise
    • from beyond the Cosmos
    • of Starship nine
    • of the third Cosmic Plane
And that's all there is to it!  :-)
There is a (small) chance that you'll get something really short like "Burp." - and an equally small chance to get "The lore of the mysterious titanium forbidden underpants that came from outer space." (Hmmm - not a bad name for a band - and your fans can always abbreviate it to TLOTMTFUTCFOS so it fits into a single text message!). But most of the time you get something kinda silly - but definitely plausible! But with the online version, you can zip through new names about as fast as you can click the mouse - so you tend to forget the not so good ones and enjoy the really funny ones.
You don't really need a computer - print these out, cut into strips shuffle each pile, flip coins to get the necessary 50/50 chances.
SteveBaker (talk) 15:36, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Ohhh thanks very much Steve... I spent like 10 minutes laughing out loud with Voodoo Hippo... LOL. I wil print all of them. Maybe someday when someone writes a book on my band, I will credit you :) I will let you know when I've chosen a name. Thanks!! Miss Bono [zootalk] 18:05, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
This thing is awesome! I was wondering about how it worked (and posted so on the /E desk) but from reading this, I now know. Really cool idea! Definitely could keep me busy for a few hours... ;) --.Yellow1996.(ЬMИED¡) 18:16, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Yeah - sorry, it's nothing very deep or clever. My son and I spent a few hours finding words that show up in real band names - then started to add sillier words that would substitute for them and tweaking the probabilities to get a nice mix of output. We still occasionally add words that seem particularly appropriate. I'd love to say that there was some science to the approach (like Dissociated press and Markov chain techniques) - but it's just something that came out of my head one day. SteveBaker (talk) 18:44, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Still, it's a neat little gadget! And the ideas that spontaneously come out of one's head can often lead to great things...[original research?] :) --.Yellow1996.(ЬMИED¡) 18:54, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
I also think it is awesome. I wanted to know if there was any program that helps people to create random names for bands... and then... eheheh SteveBaker created one. Thanks for that. 👍 2 users like SteveBaker's program Miss Bono [zootalk] 18:58, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
What happens if you print the word Irish or leprechaun or clover/shamrock or Ireland?? Any matches? Miss Bono [zootalk] 18:19, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Unfortunately, you don't get to put any of your own words into the name, basically this is what the page looks like (I've done it up in ASCII for you):
                                     <NAME OF BAND>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     [Pick another]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every time you reload the page (which can be done by clicking "pick another", which is a button) makes <NAME OF BAND> change to display something different; you don't get to enter any in any of your own words. --.Yellow1996.(ЬMИED¡) 18:35, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Oh, my damn English is attacking again, I must have misundertood Steve's explanation :) Thanks. I have a couple of names in a copybook right now :P Miss Bono [zootalk] 18:39, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Er...I'm not sure you understand. There is no searching or anything involved. The web page just displays a random band name (using the rules I listed above) and has a button underneath that generates a new one at random when you click it. We could certainly have decided to put any of those words into the program - but they aren't the kind of thing that comes up in the names of heavy-metal bands. But it's entirely a matter of my personal taste and weird British sense of humor - there was no science behind any of it. SteveBaker (talk) 18:44, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Yeah, I uderstand now. I printed those words and phrases you posted up there and I cut them up and I have some great names for a rock and roll band. I'm still laughing at the hippo. Miss Bono [zootalk] 18:49, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
@Miss Bono:
If you'd like to run it for yourself (even without full internet access), you can download a special JavaScript version of it that I wrote and run it locally off of your own PC.
Follow these steps exactly:
  1. Go to (PAGE DELETED)
  2. Open that page for editing.
  3. Select *ALL* of the text in the edit window (it starts with <html> and ends with </html>)
  4. Open up the Notepad tool on your Windows desktop.
  5. Paste the text into notepad.
  6. Save that onto your PC's Desktop as: rockband.html
  7. An icon for it should appear on your desktop with that name.
  8. Double-click on it to start it running.
  9. This version dumps ten names to the screen instead of just one. Hit "RELOAD" in the browser window to see ten more.
  10. I'll leave it up here for a couple of days for you to grab - but we're not really supposed to use Wikipedia user pages for this kind of thing...so I'll be taking it off again **SOON**.
Enjoy! SteveBaker (talk) 19:34, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Hi, Steve, I already did it. It worked. You can remove the info at stevebaker/rockband. Thank you very much! Miss Bono [zootalk] 19
40, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Wow! That was quick! I'm glad it worked. SteveBaker (talk) 19:50, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Yup, I know a little bit of html, and besides you gave me a good how to tutorial, so it was easy. :) Now I am laughing out loud hippoes things come up :).... Thank you very very much! Miss Bono [zootalk] 19:53, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Super duper bother

Hello friend,

Sorry for this super duper bother, I went through a major clean up in my PC and I had to format it. And I lost everything except for the things I had saved in CD-ROMs (that would be all U2's stuffs), can you please show me again the code for the program that shows names for Rock Bands, I showed it to my cousin (also my guitar player) and he found it super interesting. Thanks in advance :D and sorry the super bother :'( Miss Bono [zootalk] 14:08, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Message at the Ref Desk!

I need help. Miss Bono [zootalk] 16:41, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

A Barnstar for you!

The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
Thank you so much for your help at the RefDesk, sorry for asking so many silly questions... I've been having a huge writer's block period. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 14:00, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you so much! One trick to kick yourself out of writer's block is to just go crazy - put down the most ridiculous rubbish (much as we did at the tail end of that last thread) - make it like the worst hollywood movie ever. Then dial it back down to what your story needs. A bit of craziness seems to unlock more reasonable creativity. (Well, that's what I find).

My writing problems are that I outline my plot - which seems plenty intricate enough for a novel. I lay out a 20 or 30 chapter story - with a synopsis for each chapter. Each chapter also seems to have enough plot in it - yet when I sit down and type out an actual chapter, I find that each one I write comes out about 4 pages long - and my entire novel is about five times too short! When I look back at what I wrote and try to imagine how I could cover that same amount of plot in five times as many words...I can't begin to imagine how to do that.

Anyway, thank you for the barnstar, I will carefully carry it over to my virtual glass trophy case on my user: page. Many thanks again - it's often a thankless task to work on the Ref Desks - and an occasional nod of thanks makes it all worthwhile. SteveBaker (talk) 15:03, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

For sure I will take your advice, and you are most welcome! :D When you mentioned the worst hollywood movie ever... this one came to my mind... I wonder why? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 15:20, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

About your comment in small

Hey, I don't want to get into troubles and don't want misunderstandings, can you please, remove that comment. I don't want Joe demanding me. I am not trying to do anything wrong and I promise I won't ask those questions anymore. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 14:01, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I was only kidding - right?! SteveBaker (talk) 17:43, 26 September 2013 (UTC)
Yes. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 17:45, 26 September 2013 (UTC)
Hi, Steve, sorry for my reaction yesterday. I have a question, though, can I keep asking questions at the ref desk? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 16:54, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
Of course you can! I really was only kidding. Thinking about how the character in your novel could do what you're doing (perfectly legitimately, of course) and turn that into deeply ulterior motives! I'm truly sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. SteveBaker (talk) 19:03, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
Oh, no problem, Steve. I just don't want to get into troubles for that, of course, when I finish with my fanfiction I will change the names of the characters... to avoid problems. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 19:13, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
Most certainly! Yes. You won't want to be using any real people's names. It's fine to use a real person as some kind of inspiration - but when you use the name of a living (or recently dead) person in a work of fiction, you're placing an incredible responsibility on your own shoulders to portray them accurately. Better to keep them fictional in every regard. Not only that - but if they are fictional, you can make them MUCH more interesting! SteveBaker (talk) 19:22, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
I am trying to mix personalities, that's the reason I use first real names... I was wondering... how did you find out? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 19:24, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
Also, I have another question about writting, when I am writting on past events using real names, I try to keep everything as it happened, but then, when I tried to change the names, some jokes or facts have to change and I don't know what to do. Also I am trying to figure out a name for the band and the friends. Can you help me on that? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 19:32, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Apologize

I am sorry if I've said or done something wrong. Are you mad at me or angry? I am really really sorry. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 14:44, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

What? No! There is absolutely no problem. I'm just really busy "in real life" right now - so I'm not visiting Wikipedia much and I don't have time to answer many questions. SteveBaker (talk) 20:13, 2 October 2013 (UTC)
Oh, I will miss your answers. Thank God I haven't done something stupid. Hope to see you around soon. Take care. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 20:17, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Krakatoa

3,000 miles away ... happened four hours in their past. You meant four seconds in the past right? The Sun is eight light minutes away. If I remember right one challenge of controlling Voyageur II was that Uranus (oh please don't) is two light hours away and so radio transimitions took that long each way. SlightSmile 00:27, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Sorry. You were talk about the speed of sound, not light. SlightSmile 00:58, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
But then it would have been about 1/100th of a second in the past - not four seconds! SteveBaker (talk) 01:08, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
(ec) No!! Remember, I'm talking about the speed of SOUND here. 760 mph...seven hundred and sixty miles every hour. So to cover 3,000 miles takes 3000/760 = 3.9 hours!!
Voyager is currently about 2x1010 km away - which is about 20 light-hours. Uranus is about 3x109 km from us which is around 2.8 light-hours. So, yeah - while Voyager was still that close, it only took a little under three hours for a radio message to reach it...but nowadays, it's 20 hours.
SteveBaker (talk) 01:06, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Nothing is impossible in biology :)

Regarding [2], see [3]: there are actually yellow chromophores in the human lens, which serve to block ultraviolet. So I think some simple pigment mutations, not much different in concept from blond or red hair genes, might actually make it possible for some people to see further into that spectrum. (True, I'd always thought of kynurenine as an insect pigment or in depression rather than as part of the human pigment palate, nor would the lens have been a place I'd thought of to look for pigments, but you learn something new every day!) Wnt (talk) 18:57, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

Books and Bytes: The Wikipedia Library Newsletter

Books and Bytes

Volume 1, Issue 1, October 2013

by The Interior (talk · contribs), Ocaasi (talk · contribs)

Greetings Wikipedia Library members! Welcome to the inaugural edition of Books and Bytes, TWL’s monthly newsletter. We're sending you the first edition of this opt-in newsletter, because you signed up, or applied for a free research account: HighBeam, Credo, Questia, JSTOR, or Cochrane. To receive future updates of Books and Bytes, please add your name to the subscriber's list. There's lots of news this month for the Wikipedia Library, including new accounts, upcoming events, and new ways to get involved...

New positions: Sign up to be a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar, or a Volunteer Wikipedia Librarian

Wikipedia Loves Libraries: Off to a roaring start this fall in the United States: 29 events are planned or have been hosted.

New subscription donations: Cochrane round 2; HighBeam round 8; Questia round 4... Can we partner with NY Times and Lexis-Nexis??

New ideas: OCLC innovations in the works; VisualEditor Reference Dialog Workshop; a photo contest idea emerges

News from the library world: Wikipedian joins the National Archives full time; the Getty Museum releases 4,500 images; CERN goes CC-BY

Announcing WikiProject Open: WikiProject Open kicked off in October, with several brainstorming and co-working sessions

New ways to get involved: Visiting scholar requirements; subject guides; room for library expansion and exploration

Read the full newsletter


Thanks for reading! All future newsletters will be opt-in only. Have an item for the next issue? Leave a note for the editor on the Suggestions page. --The Interior 19:56, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

435 nm punks

Didn't like... rv rant. I must say, your piece was well put. May I borrow some of that? :) Cheers Jim1138 (talk) 02:18, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Sure - borrow what you like - attribute those comments to me if you feel it's appropriate. I restored the other persons' responses though - deleting material from talk pages should be reserved for only the most egregious problems (per WP:TPO) and I don't think those comments rose to that level. SteveBaker (talk) 14:06, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
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