User:Kelisi

Welcome! It is Tuesday, 28 February, 2012, and the time is 14:26 (UTC)...

...or at least it was when the clock was last updated. It doesn't seem to work very well, at least not the whole time.

About Me

My name is CJMoss, and I am a teacher, mainly of English, but also French. My home base is currently Bolton, Ontario, although I wind up in interesting parts of the world now and again in connection with my work teaching English.

One of the great joys in my life is travelling. I have been to five continents – Antarctica and South America are the only ones I haven't visited yet. I've also been to what some geographers regard as a mostly sunken continent called Zealandia, although I stuck mostly to the parts that are still high and dry. I've even spent nine years living in China, but oddly, I've picked up very little Chinese.

My other interests include, as some may have discerned from my contributions, languages, geography, railways (merging Coupler and Coupling (railway) was fun!), photography (many of the photos I've contributed are my own), offbeat humour as exemplified by (you guessed it) Monty Python, and politics.

Wikipedia:Babel
en This user is a native speaker of English. fr-4 Cet utilisateur parle français à un niveau comparable à la langue maternelle. de-3 Dieser Benutzer hat sehr gute Deutschkenntnisse. es-3 Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel avanzado de español. la-1 Hic usor simplici latinitate contribuere potest.
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Username

The username? That's my Chinese name, 柯理思 (Kē Lǐsī), which I needed once for a bank account in China. The bank's system couldn't handle foreign names. The first syllable is a common Chinese surname which I was told had no particular meaning (although one dictionary that I looked in said it meant "axe helve"), and the two-syllable "given name" means "logical thought". It was not my own choice, by the way.

I also discovered at one job that I had a Chinese nickname among the Chinese staff at my school. It was 大胡子 (Dà Húzi), which means "Big Beard". I only found out about it when a Chinese colleague sent me an email with this as my surname in the "To" line. She obviously had my name like that in her address book.

Work

I currently live in China, in Xiamen, teaching English at a private school.

Nationality

I ought to mention that I am.........

.........Canadian.

A few photographs

Here are a few pictures that I've contributed to Wikipedia. These are all my own work:

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German translations

I have translated a good number of articles from German about resistance fighters in Nazi Germany, and others who were unfortunate enough to incur the Nazis' wrath.

I have furthermore created or expanded articles about every municipality in each of the following German districts (Kreise):

1. Alzey-Worms (Rhineland-Palatinate)
2. Aschaffenburg (Bavaria)
3. Aue-Schwarzenberg (Saxony)
4. Bad Dürkheim (Rhineland-Palatinate)
5. Bamberg (Bavaria)
6. Bernkastel-Wittlich (Rhineland-Palatinate)
7. Birkenfeld* (Rhineland-Palatinate)
8. Cochem-Zell (Rhineland-Palatinate)
9. Ebersberg (Bavaria)
10. Grafschaft Bentheim (Lower Saxony)
11. Groß-Gerau (Hesse)
12. Hersfeld-Rotenburg (Hesse)
13. Hochtaunuskreis (Hesse)
14. Höxter (North Rhine-Westphalia)
15. Kreis Bergstraße (Hesse)
16. Lahn-Dill-Kreis (Hesse)
17. Limburg-Weilburg (Hesse)
18. Main-Spessart (Bavaria)
19. Mainz-Bingen (Rhineland-Palatinate)
20. Marburg-Biedenkopf (Hesse)
21. Miltenberg (Bavaria)
22. Odenwaldkreis (Hesse)
23. Offenbach (Hesse)
24. Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (Rhineland-Palatinate)
25. Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis (Hesse)
26. Schwalm-Eder-Kreis (Hesse)
27. Siegen-Wittgenstein (North Rhine-Westphalia)
28. Vogelsbergkreis (Hesse)
29. Vulkaneifel (Rhineland-Palatinate)
30. Waldeck-Frankenberg (Hesse)
31. Werra-Meißner-Kreis (Hesse)
32. Westerwaldkreis (Rhineland-Palatinate)
33. Wittenberg (Saxony-Anhalt)

"Westerwaldkreis" contained 209 articles.

The one marked with an asterisk (*) is the most recent addition to the list.

I have also expanded or created articles for individual towns here and there, such as Flensburg, Bobingen, Bergen auf Rügen, Gelsenkirchen (major expansion from the German article) and Forchheim (once again translated mainly from the German article).

The Rothaargebirge, Nuremberg U-Bahn, Westerwald, Odenwald and Kellerwald articles are mine, too. All are the result of translations from the German Wikipedia. Moreover, Friedrich Kittler, while a person rather than a place, and the Bombing of Braunschweig in World War II, an event, have claimed their rightful places here in the English Wikipedia thanks to my translating skills.

If you are into translation between English and German (either way), French and German, Spanish and German, Italian and German, Chinese and German or Russian and German I wholeheartedly recommend this link:

• The UTTERLY AMAZING LEO online translation dictionary

Its worst shortcoming, however, is that it cannot deconstruct those long German agglutinations like Lebensversicherungsgesellschaftsbeamtenvereinigungsführungssondergespräch, a reasonably common word (6000+ hits on Google) that I'm sure every German says at least four or five times a week – those with big lungs, anyway. Seriously, though, compounds must sometimes be broken down into their constituent elements and run through the dictionary separately. You then have to work out their combined meaning.

Geography and maps

Perhaps you've noticed a "geographical" streak in those articles that I mentioned. As a traveller, I am very fond of geography (or has my love of geography made me interested in travelling? I'm not quite sure). To that end, I have made maps. Here come a few now (well actually, quite a number).........

If you would like to try your hand at making maps, for Wikipedia or other purposes, I also wholeheartedly recommend this link:

• The AMAZINGLY DAZZLING, STUPENDOUS, BOFFO, KNOCK-'EM-DEAD, NEVER-SAY-DIE Open Street Map site

The Outer Harbour East Headland/Leslie Street Spit map up above was made using this site. This site produces maps that can be freely used on Wikipedia. There used to be another one, called "OMC", but it has undergone somebody's idea of "improvements", and is now useless.

Happy mapmaking!

Travel

I have been to quite a number of countries. They are as follows:

In the Americas

• Canada
• Mexico
• the USA

In Europe

• Austria
• Belarus
• Belgium
• the Czech Republic
• East Germany, the only country that I've been to which has ceased to exist
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Luxembourg, the most recent addition to the list
• Monaco, the smallest country I've visited
• the Netherlands
• Poland
• Russia, which is also in Asia (I actually went to Siberia, but I won't mention Russia again under "Asia")
• Switzerland
• the UK

In Africa

• Egypt, also a two-continent country
• Morocco

In Asia

• Bahrain
• Brunei
• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Israel
• Japan
• Jordan
• Macau, which was Portuguese the first few times I went there; so I count it
• Malaysia
• Mongolia
• North Korea (that represents a trip to Panmunjŏm, of course)
• Oman
• the Philippines
• Saudi Arabia (one swinging place)
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan, which most governments will tell you is not a country
• Thailand
• the United Arab Emirates
• Vietnam

In Australia & Oceania

• 'Strylia
• New Zealand

…and on the map, that looks like this:

Interesting articles

What follows is a selection of articles that I have found on Wikipedia – none started by me although I've edited a few – which struck me as odd, funny, extremely esoteric or arcane, or whatever. Here they are...........

1. Inflation fetishism — (now deleted) Some people have some rather unwholesome preoccupations. At first, I believed the writer was pulling our legs, and I am still not thoroughly sure he isn't. It was not an article about sex dolls, by the way, but the idea of people inflating, if you can believe that.
2. Corn dolly — Ah, but are they inflatable? *ahem* Excuse me.
3. Doll Domination — Another unwholesome preoccupation?
4. Mooresville, Missouri — Population: 89. Awesome.
5. Jerome, Arkansas — Here's a place with 46 people that calls itself a "city". It also has an area of about 50 ha.
6. Illán de Vacas — Es el más pequeño municipio de España. En mi opinión, no vale la pena de mencionarlo. ¿Por qué hay un artículo sobre un lugar de ocho habitantes (o seis, según otra página)?
7. Dierfeld — Diese Gemeinde in Rheinland-Pfalz hat nur acht Einwohner! Daneben sind die meisten Kuhdörfer Großstädte.
8. Windhexe — Well I'll be blowed.
9. Trim (cat) — Now how many cats go down in history?
10. Stonecutters — A fictitious organization in a fictitious universe. Why is it worth noting in an article?!
11. Cyniclons — I don't like anime; so what would I know about this? Well, apparently that writer doesn't know much about it either.
12. Piss Beer — (now deleted) Leave it to the Aussies.
13. Dickheads matches — Likewise.
14. The CAS School, Karachi — If I had to give this a new title, I would choose How not to write a Wikipedia article. Update: It has been improved ever so slightly.
15. Infernum — Have you ever heard of these guys? I hadn't, but I'm not much into the Warsaw music scene. I get the impression from the article that they never exactly made a splash in the world of popular music. Are they really worth an article?
16. Chameleon Jail — Where naughty lizards get sent?
17. Body nullification — Where Michael Jackson got his ideas?
    
18. Centwine — Cheap plonk?
19. Drag City — No doubt a lot of fun to visit if it suits one's tastes.
20. Pussy, France — Likewise.
21. Bitche — This as well.
22. Saavedra position — Sounds naughty; the article says it was named after a Spanish priest.
23. Beaver Machine — No clergyman involved here, but it still sounds naughty.
24. River Piddle — Sounds idyllic.
25. Barf (Lake District) — So does this.
26. Wank — Positively charming.
27. Cum fart — Only on Wikipedia, eh? Also interestingly, another article on a similar topic, called Vaginal flatulence, is being considered for deletion. Update: The Vaginal flatulence article is apparently all right, but the Cum fart article has now been merged into Oral sex, and this link will now redirect there.
28. Green manure — Not as disgusting as it sounds.
29. Iowa Cow War — Did they fight it with green manure?
30. Butt plug — It's not about cigarette ends, I assure you.
31. Ganja State University — Like, woooow, maaaaan … where do I sign up?
32. Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster — Very encyclopaedic indeed.
33. Porker Hogg — Not quite kosher, I don't think.
34. Seborga — Neither is this, but I suppose it brings tourists.
35. Jerk — It's brainier than you might think.
36. Cameltoe — But this sure as hell isn't.
37. Golden Cross — Someone's favourite local?
38. Sex bolt — A new toy?
39. Joseph Carlton Loser — What a great name for a politician!
40. Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz — Someone's trying to outdo me in the German concatenation department.
41. Hollywood Left — Yeah, right. Celebrities are such brainless oaves they need a list.
    
42. Mr Danger — It's apt, but I rather think it would have qualified as an entry on the List of political epithets or the List of pejorative political puns (which have both now been deleted, I notice), and not as an article. Update: It has now actually been expanded beyond one sentence.
43. Ǯ — This is weird. This article doesn't even have a visible title, at least not on my browser, and here, the title is a little box. I guess this computer's a bit out of date with regard to funny foreign characters.
44. Diet of Worms — Sounds yummy. I wonder whether Martin Luther enjoyed it.
45. Chocolate and Cheese — Sounds deelish.
46. Buffalo Chips Running Club — That's a hell of a name.
47. .mw — Well I'm glad I found out!
48. Polish car number plates — Now here's something that'll appeal to a lot of readers.
49. San Diego Yacht Club — Likewise.
50. List of errors on Portuguese ex-Colonies stamps of Mozambique 1911 — (now deleted) Wikimedia was obviously worried that its servers would get overloaded, what with everyone busting to read this article.
51. Nerd — A sociological exploration of ostracism from a rather interesting perspective, I thought.
52. Carbon Defense League — And this is the kind of thing that nerds get into...and now out of (it's been deleted)
53. Prat — Shouldn't this be merged into "Nerd"?
54. Exploding animal — Unwholesome preoccupations, indeed!
55. Ray Twinney — A dead mayor of a suburban town whose term in office came to an ignominious end as the RCMP laid various charges against him. He will soon be forgotten. Why is there an article about him?
56. One of These Days — That's what many kept telling Ray!
57. Twatt — We'll eradicate bad spelling on Wikipedia one day, I'm sure.
58. Darwinian poetry — This is supposed to produce "intelligent" poetry.
59. Southpark Mall (Colonial Heights, Virginia) — Some kid's favourite hangout?
    
60. Tai Mei Tuk — I have actually walked straight through this community and I didn't even realize it was a community. It is an utterly forgettable place. Why is there an article about it?
61. explodingdog — I don't care what it takes! This has just got to stop!
62. Toilets in Japan — and then there are other unwholesome preoccupations.
63. The Amorous Flea — Does it like anything that inflates or explodes?
64. Bach Aircraft — Wind, or perhaps Wing, on a G-String?
65. Samuil Shatunovsky — It says he's a famous Ukrainian mathematician, and nothing else. There isn't even a Ukrainian interwiki link. I'm sure he was very famous.
66. Anti-Barney humor — This is quite a long article considering the kind of thing that it's about, which surely won't stay in vogue all that long (if it even still is among the few who practised it).
67. Spirit duplicator — Oh good, we need more ghosts.
68. Penis panic — People have actually been killed in this, believe it or not.
69. Leisnig — A little hamlet that no-one's ever heard of.
70. Roderich Fick — A German man whose last name is a German vulgarism. Interesting. Even more interesting is the article about Raschau that I have translated from German. It mentions several people with the surname Ficker, and yes, to find the English meaning, one need only change one letter.
71. Fucking, Austria — Speaking of which...
72. Petting, Germany — And this is right nearby, always.
73. Kissing, Bavaria — As is this.
74. Shitterton — Here's another place that got sick of having its roadsign stolen.

Boxes

And now, just for the hell of it, a whole heap of userboxes........

This user is a proud Canadian.	Today is 28 February 2012.	This user is proud to be a Wikipedian.
This user has a ton of edits.	This user thinks that registration should be required to edit articles.	no ads This user is against advertisements on Wikipedia.
The English Wikipedia has 3,885,163 articles.	' This user believes that only articles need reflect a NPOV, and that displaying political, religious, or other beliefs using userboxes and user categories should not be banned.	This user is a member of Wikipedians against censorship.
Wikipedia is not censored.	POV This user supports userboxes that display points of view.	This user still does not want people screwing with his userboxes.
This user loves userboxes.	This user supports userboxes .	$\sum$ This user is greater than the sum of his or her userboxes.
This editor is not an administrator and does not wish to be one.	This user finds copyright paranoia disruptive.	This user wastes far too much time editing Wikipedia.
This user spends far too much time editing his/her user page.	vn-6 This user page has been vandalized 6 times.	V This user adheres to the philosophy that an edit a day keeps the vandals at bay.
This user is bold, but not reckless, in updating pages.	18,000+ This user has made over 18,000 contributions to Wikipedia. (total)	W This user contributes using Microsoft® Word™
This user contributes using Internet Explorer.	This user contributes using Microsoft Windows.	This user uses Wikipedia as a primary point of reference.
This user scored 5032 on the Wikipediholic test.	This user is interested in politics.	This user opposes monarchism.
This user advocates democracy.	This user believes it is every citizen's duty to vote.
This user has no use whatsoever for fascism or demagogy.	This user supports the New Democratic Party.	This user believes that the death penalty should never be used.
This user is strongly opposed to all forms of eugenics.	This user opposes all forms of racism and admires Nelson Mandela.	no war This user is against the war in Iraq
This user supports the inclusion of sex education in school systems.		This user is opposed to online censorship.
This user supports the legalization of cannabis.
This user supports recycling.	X This user does not believe in the existence of human races, except as a social construct. X	This user graduated from York University.
This user graduated from the University of Western Ontario.	BA This user has a Bachelor of Arts degree.	BEd This user has a Bachelor of Education degree.
NHS This user is associated with Newmarket High School.	I would say I'm a cynic but I bet you just wouldn't believe me.	This user was born on 14 September 1963.
IQ This user's Intelligence Quotient is rising all the time.		:-/ This user is a sceptic, even with regard to this userbox.
ipa-4 ə This user has a nearly complete understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
	This user believes in a solid oblate spheroid Earth, not a flat or hollow one.	This user realizes that educated people from the Middle Ages already thought that the Earth was spherical.
... This user would like to know all existing languages.	This user is male.	This user is heterosexual.
This user is right-handed.	This user is of English ancestry.	This user is of French ancestry.
This user is of Irish ancestry.	This user is of Teutonic and Celtic ancestry.	This user has Jewish ancestry, but is not Jewish himself.
This user is of multiple ancestries.	This user is a cat lover.	This user is a teacher.
This user is a railfan.	This user loves The Beatles.	..... This user is a professional procrastinator.
This user did not support Michael Jackson.	This user does not believe in Santa Claus.	1337-0 This user has no idea what 1337 is and/or prefers to contribute using proper words.
This user is, well … different.	This user is a jokester or comedian.	:-] This user is polite.
This user reserves the right to completely screw up their own edits.	This user is pretty sure that he is an outlier compared to everybody else.	This user is old enough to remember what a typewriter is, and that's all you need to know.
This user remembers using a rotary dial telephone.	Y! This user uses Yahoo! as a primary search engine.	Y! This user uses Yahoo! Mail as a primary email service.
This user can drive.	This user does not and will not ever work at 24 Sussex Drive as long as Stephen Harper lives there.	This user does not and will not ever work at Buckingham Palace, much as he enjoys garden parties and the lovely young rich ladies you meet at them.
This user does not and will not ever work at the White House, even if a certain dimmer guy did get to work there.	This user does not and will not ever work at the Folies Bergère, which I guess is blindingly obvious, but these boxes have to come in multiples of 3 and I needed one more.	SI This user prefers the metric system of measurement.
ft-lb-0 This user does not use U.S. Customary Units (or does not wish to use U.S. Customary Units).	This user uses Commonwealth spelling.	This user absolutely insists upon using whom wherever it is called for.
snkd This user says sneaked.	to¦go This user chooses to sometimes use split infinitives.	…in. Ending a sentence with a preposition is something that this user is okay with.
PC-0 I am politically incorrect. Hence, I will use common sense and speak plainly rather than trip all over myself trying to be inoffensive.	its & it’s This user understands the difference between its and it’s. So should you.	“,;:’ This user is a punctuation stickler.
which & that This user knows how to use which and that correctly.	man- kind Regarding gender, this user will use the vernacular, not what is politically correct.	by The passive voice may be used by this user.
This user's favourite colour is red.	This user is interested in ancient civilizations.	This user is interested in ancient Egypt.
This user is interested in ancient Rome.	This user enjoys solving Sudoku puzzles.	cvg-0 This user does not play or is not interested in video games.
This user enjoys photography.	This user enjoys writing.	This user enjoys skygazing and astronomy.
This user reads between the lines.	This user is a bibliophile	This user enjoys reading non-fiction.
This user enjoys heavy reading, such as Shakespeare and other dead guys.	This user enjoys reading humorous literature.	This user enjoys reading thrillers.
This user believes that "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players".	This user enjoys reading short stories.	This user likes Sherlock Holmes
This user enjoys comics.	This user enjoys reading the newspaper.	This user reads broadsheet newspapers.
This user enjoys classical music.	This user enjoys jazz music.	This user enjoys rock music.
This user enjoys electronic music.	This user can't stand hip hop music.
This user is a fan of Monty Python!	This user is from Camelot, and eats ham and jam and spamalot!	This user always looks on the bright side of life!
trek This user is a Trekker and knows that any real fan is not a Trekkie.	This user has been assimilated. Resistance is futile.	>_< This person dislikes anime (or doesn't admit to watching it).
This user is an omnivore.	This user eats bagels.	This user loves spaghetti.
This user eats green beans.	This user loves iceberg lettuce salad.	This user eats salad.
This user eats spinach.	This user eats potatoes.	This user eats carrots.
This user eats apples.	This user eats bananas.	This user eats cantaloupes.
This user loves to eat cucumbers.	This user loves oranges.	This user eats pears.
This user eats raspberries.	This user eats strawberries.	This user eats watermelon.
This user eats cheese.	This user eats chicken.	This user eats chili.
This user eats fries, or chips.	This user loves to eat pizza.	This user eats quesadillas.
This user eats chocolate.	This user eats cookies.	This user likes pie.
This user eats popcorn.	This user eats potato chips.	This user drinks beer.
This user drinks wine.	This user drinks tea.	This user drinks green tea.
No user serviceable parts inside.		This user has never been slurped up by aliens in the Bermuda Triangle.
This user advocates the use of more cowbell.	This user is interested in The Jedi Order. My ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is.	This user knows that 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of life, the Universe, and everything.
oops This user frite quequently uses spoonerisms.		This user is being held hostage in a fortune cookie factory! Help! Ooooh.. here's a good one! Confucius says you will be held hostage in a fortune cookie factory.
This user is not and has never been Napoleon.	This user DOES NOT live in a pineapple under the sea.	pox This user is suffering from userpox. Goggles seem to prove ineffectual.
194 ubxs This user has 194 userboxes.	This user loves userboxes.	ubx-5 This user uses entirely too many userboxes.

Awards

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		I award this Barnstar to Kelisi for hard work making good maps. I just saw your map of the Hebrides, and I was very impressed. Having worked with the same OMC program before myself, I can appreciate what a great amount of trouble you must have gone to to make that map so large, detailed, harmoniously coloured, interesting and informative. Well done! QuartierLatin1968 19:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

		The Rosetta Barnstar
		For outstanding efforts translating articles about German towns, I award you this Barnstar! Kusma (討論) 22:35, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

		For creating so many comprehensive articles on German towns and entities, I award you this barnstar. ßlηguγΣη
		Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

		The Graphic Designer's Barnstar
		I, Callumm, award you this barnstar for contributing excellent maps to Wikipedia, and inspiring me to create my own. Thank you! Callumm 12:46, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

		Please accept this award in recognition of your contribution on the field of descriptions Germany districts. I've just found out whos' translation i used to retranslate to Russian wiki in Blankenrath. Thank you so much for your job! - Zac Allan (talk) 23:01, 27 May 2011 (UTC)