User:Student7
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Interests[edit]
This editor is a Master Editor and is entitled to display this Platinum Editor Star.
| <ref> | This user recognizes the importance of citing sources. |
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This user wastes far too much time editing Wikipedia. |
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This user's homeworld is mostly harmless. |
| IQ<? | This user is not always as smart as he thinks he is. |
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This user realizes that educated people from the Middle Ages already thought that the Earth was spherical. |
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| 55,000+ |
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| ft-lb | This user uses American Measurements. |
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This user has autopatrolled rights on the English Wikipedia. (verify) |
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This user has reviewer rights on the English Wikipedia. (verify) |
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Background[edit]
- This user is older than dirt
- This user, like Dilbert/Scott Adams, can remember programming with ones and zeros "and sometimes they didn't have ones!"[2][3]
- This editor can remember the Great Depression and World War II. The walk to school was uphill in both directions with snow up to our necks! Our clothing was too light and we had to run to keep from freezing to death. There was no television. We could only get static on the radio but we were grateful for that! Not like you namby-pambies nowdays!
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Useful editing information[edit]
Q: What is the difference between "criteria" and "criterion"
A: These often-confused words belong to a family that grammarians call "metronomes," meaning "words that have the same beginning but lay eggs underwater." - Dave Barry
Please note that I have "Autopatrolled" capability. This means if you come zipping along, exceeding the speed limit on the Internet Highway, you better look out for my blue light, cause, buddy, you are going to get a ticket!
Useful circuit diagram[edit]
Policy[edit]
Sayings[edit]
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- "The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy
- "Wikipedia is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate." - paraphrased from Douglas Adams in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
- "Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." - Howard Aiken
- "English is the one that drags other languages into the alley, beats them up and then goes through their pockets for spare vocabulary." quoted from Darkfrog24 who modestly claims to have copied it from someplace else.
Government
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- "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." - attributed to Mark Twain
- "In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other." -Voltaire
- "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill
- "..In Italy for 30 years, under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!" - Graham Greene in The Third Man (User:Rklear says that Greene added it under instruction from Orson Welles)
- "..democracy without identity invites war,
- identity without democracy guarantees it." - Natan Sharansky
- "..democracy put man in place of God.
- socialism put the body before the soul." - Robert Leckie, The Wars of America
- "the only pauses in the history of human conflict had been pauses not for moderation but excess, pauses for the world to redivide itself, for thugs and victims to find each other..." - John LeCarre in The Secret Pilgrim
- Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. - Groucho Marx
- "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." — H.L. Mencken
- Man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that great gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad name. - Henry Kissinger
- "the state incurs debts for politics, war, and other higher causes and ‘progress’. . . . The assumption is that the future will honor this relationship in perpetuity. The state has learned from the merchants and industrialists how to exploit credit; it defies the nation ever to let it go into bankruptcy. Alongside all swindlers the state now stands there as swindler-in-chief.” - Jacob Burckhardt
- Politics should share one purpose with religion: the steady emancipation of the individual through the education of his passions. — George F. Will
- In a bureaucratic system, useless work drives out useful work. (attributed to Murphy's Law)
- A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns." - attributed to Vito Corleone
- "A trillion here, a trillion there. After a while, you're talking about real money." -paraphrased from saying attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen
Reality
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- "Reality is merely an illusion..." - Albert Einstein
- "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein
- "...big bang, that first great quantum leap was not to the lowest energy level, the ground state. It stopped higher up, like an electron falling into one of the outer possible orbits around a nucleus..." "the state can change. Collapse, fall down. Spontaneously, randomly, at any time, any point..!" ("The past itself annulled, and we not only cease to be, we never were.") - Stefano Olivares, physicist
- "The rules that describe nature seem to be mathematical. This is not result of the fact that observation is the judge, and it is not a characteristic necessity of science that it be mathematical. It just turns out that you can state mathematical laws, in physics at least, which work to make powerful predictions. Why nature is mathematical is, again, a mystery." - Richard Feynman in The Meaning of It All
- "Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the Alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful." — Georg Lichtenberg
- The one-electron universe hypothesis postulates that there exists only a single electron in the universe, propagating through space and time in such a way as to appear in many places simultaneously. John Archibald Wheeler as related by Richard Feynman
- "I can prove almost nothing I believe in.." [including the roundness of the earth, quarks, and the Big Bang]. - Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- "All that is not eternal, is eternally out of date." -CS Lewis
- The importance of String Theory
- The importance of Nothing
- People are made of nothing?
- We don't know much about Dark matter which comprises 83% of the matter in the universe. In 2012, we found we knew less when we found that dark matter stuck together during a collision of two galaxies. It wasn't supposed to do that.[6]
- We know even less about dark energy which comprises 73% of the mass-energy of the universe.
- Then there is the Many-worlds interpretation which has the world branching at each "event." There are a lot of events.
- Information cannot exceed the speed of light, except for Quantum entanglement. In other words, nothing exceeds the speed of light, except when it does.
Useful sayings
- Monotones oviparous, ovum meroblastic
- ontology recapitulates phylogeny
Religion
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- "Religious faiths generally make claims about the nature of reality that conflict with the claims of other faiths. Attacking Christian religions exclusivity is also to attack nearly every vital religious tradition." - Michael Gerson
- "It is true that you can't prove the existence of God from His creation, but then, neither can you prove the existence of Henry Ford from the Model T." Jeffrey D. Kooistra (slightly reworded)
- "That the Bible gives an incomplete picture of the Biblical world is obvious, but not really meaningful. It is not an encyclopedia, so of course it is not comprehensive. That's like saying that Anne Frank's diary gives an incomplete picture of WW2. Obviously true, but that tells us nothing about its usefulness or reliability." - Lindert
- "I've never seen electricity, so I don't pay for it. I write right on the bill, "I'm sorry, I haven't seen it all month." - Steven Wright
- "Atheism is blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere."
- "We should take care not to make the intellect our God." - Albert Einstein
- The phrase "Life is not worth living," if believed should lead to "Murderers [being] given medals for saving men from life; firemen would be denounced for keeping men from death; poisons would be used as medicines; doctors would be called in when people were well;..." - G. K. Chesterton
Scandal
(in response to articles featuring "bad" people to look down on, reflecting the current media obsession with such topics)
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- "Everybody's normal TILL you get to know them" - John Ortberg
- "If the best man in the world had his worst sin written on his forehead, he would pull his hat down over his eyes" - old saying
- "A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian is guilty of plargarism; a politician's career explodes in sexual scandal; a powerful CEO resigns in disgrace over illegal document shredding. What's is surprising is not that such things happen; it's that the general public response is, "Can you believe it? And they seemed so normal. As if you and I, of course, would be incapable of such behavior." - John Ortberg
- " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone..."John 7:53-8:11
- "If perfection is our standard, then no one gets to talk." - Bill Bennett
- A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory
- To err is human; to blame it on the other guy is even more human. - Bob Goddard
New fallacies
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- Hindsight bias - we knew what would happen ahead of time. We "knew" it was going to happen the way it did, even though there were several possible outcomes at the time. e.g bursting of the housing bubble. (There were many people who bought homes at the top of the market).
- Also related to redlining, since we "know" everything will turn out okay very soon despite dangerous indications to the contrary
- Seems related to double or nothing but not as easily addressed.
- Propensity effect - hyper-confidence that a certain outcome is inevitable. This has become stronger with visualization (i.e. television). For example, people "know" that global warming will destroy civilization as we know it with television repetition, despite the fact that no one "knew" this at all 20 years ago.
- Similar to confirmation bias
- Domino effect - similar though this is more easily conquered.
- Seems related to situational blindness which also may be more easily addressed
- "Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian." - Simonson's Law
- Hindsight bias - we knew what would happen ahead of time. We "knew" it was going to happen the way it did, even though there were several possible outcomes at the time. e.g bursting of the housing bubble. (There were many people who bought homes at the top of the market).
Flat earth
- 1492 - Philosophers have known since the 3rd century BC that the world is round and it is "about" 25,000 miles in circumference. Christopher Columbus wrongly assumes the world is only 15,000 miles in circumference and cluelessly sails west to what he thinks is China. In fact, he never realizes that he has not reached China.
- From the 19th century through most of the 20th century - Students are taught that everyone thought the world was flat prior to Columbus and the latter changed everyone's thinking so it was up to date!
Democratic Presidents and the Nobel Prize
- 1945 - Harry Truman drops two atomic bombs on Japan. Nobel Committee reluctantly strikes him from the list of possible Peace Prize recipients, although he did end the war!
- 1961-1969 John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson enter Vietnam War. Nobel Committee strikes them off list of Peace Prize recipients.
- 1998/9 - Bill Clinton does not have sex with "that woman". House of Representative impeaches him anyway. Nobel Committee strikes him from their list.
- 2002 - Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Prize for "Nicest Smile"[7]
- 2007 - Al Gore wins Nobel Prize for "Best Film on Nature" (See Note A)
- 2009 - President Obama wins Nobel Prize for Public Speaking.
Note A: The Nobel Prize committee passed over Irena Sendler who risked her life literally thousands of times, saving 2,500 Warsaw Jewish babies and 500 adults from the Gestapo during WWII.
End of the world, as we know it
- 1969-1975 - critics tried to stop supersonic flights, assuming that they would leave lasting contrails which would reflect solar energy and cause global cooling.
- 1972 - 1982 - We're going to run out of everything real soon..
- 1985-1986, winters are among the coldest on record. Freezes kill off orange trees in Central Florida, forcing the industry further south, where it has migrated from south Georgia in the early 1900s. Many people wonder whether we are entering a period of glacial cooling. Newsweek has that very suggestion as a front page article.
- 2000 - with anything and everything causing global warming, the anti-supersonic lobby claims that plane contrails will last a long time and cause global warming (not cooling, as they had claimed in the 1970s)
- 1998 - January 1, 2000 - Y2K
- 1980 to 2000 - Ozone depletion
- 1994 - present - global warming.
- 2001 - Danger from Islamofascists - 9/11 attacks
- 2011 - Several Japanese nuclear reactors have caught fire after one of the worst earthquakes in history. It is the end of the world. The Japanese, then us, will all be killed by fallout. (Fire is controlled after a week). Everyone will have to shut down all their reactors: The "design" is faulty. (Actually the backup cooling system was inundated by water which was four feet higher than anticipated). Incredibly, the Japanese, extremely cautious, shut down all their reactors by May 2012, despite being heavily dependent on foreign energy sources, and conscious of pollution.
- Update 2013, two years after accident - World Health Organization indicated that the residents of the area were exposed to so little radiation that it probably won't be detectable. They indicated that a Japanese baby's cancer lifetime risk would increase by about 1%.[8]
- 2013 - Sequestration will be the end of the United States as we know it (according to the media).
- "What plays the mischief with the truth is that men will insist upon the universal application of a temporary feeling or opinion." — Herman Melville
The public's "need to know"
- In 2012, two DJs from Australia phoned a hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was recovering from pregnancy complications. They pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles, figuring that no one would believe them. The phone was answered by a foreign nurse who believed them immediately and put them through where they obtained personal data on the Duchess. Subsequently the answering nurse, apparently humiliated by her error, committed suicide several days later.
Two minutes of hate
- 1949 - Orwell postulates a public Two minutes of hate in his novel of the future, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
- 1972 -1974 - Orwell's prediction of "two minutes of hate" comes true with the Watergate break-in. Richard Nixon tries to protect his political burglars from prosecution, thereby becoming the most hated man on the planet. Nightly "hate" rants continue on television until he finally resigns.
- 1974 - 1976 - Ford pardons Nixon, thereby becoming the most hated man on the planet.
- 1978 - Anwar El Sadat wins Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Israel. When he gets home, they shoot him.
- 1989 billionaire Leona Helmsley not only cheats on her income taxes, but displays a bad temper and is quoted as saying unpleasant things. She becomes "most hated" even after serving a prison sentence, despite a $5 million contribution to the families of 9/11 firefighters.
- 1992 - billionaire Donald Trump divorces Ivana in order to marry Marla Maples. He becomes "most hated" for quite awhile since he is also living like a billionaire but technically bankrupt. By 2003, his reputation, if not his finances, have improved to the point of hosting a weekly television show.
- 1998 - Mark McGwire accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs, admits to taking an OTC alternative, thereby becoming the most-hated man on the planet.
- 2000 - Katherine Harris, whose job it is to submit Florida election results, waits until all appeals have been answered, then submit election results, thereby becoming the most hated person on the planet.
- 2003 - George W. Bush orders the invasion of Iraq and overthrows Saddam Hussein, which his father had failed to do. It was obvious that he would look for an opportunity to do this since the day of his election. While the military wins the war, it loses the peace and a load of money. Bush becomes the most hated man on the planet.
- 2001+ - Billionaire Martha Stewart sells stock prior to bad news on an illegal tip from her broker, saving her a $46,000 potential loss. She tries to protect the broker from prosecution by lying. She is convicted of Making false statements, a felony, and served seven months in prison. Up to the time of actual sentencing, she was the most hated person in the country. (This diminished considerably when she entered prison).
- 2007 - Michael Vick is accused of illegal dog fighting, thereby becoming the most hated man on the planet. The federal authorities incarcerate him in Leavenworth for 21 months
- 2009 - Tiger Woods is revealed as having cheated on his wife. He becomes the most hated man on the planet.[9]
- 2011 - Coach Jerry Sandusky of Penn State is arrested, accused of 40 counts of sexually molesting student players. He becomes the most hated man on the planet.
- 2012 - A volunteer neighborhood watchman, Hispanic-American George Zimmerman, unaccountably kills an unarmed African-American who was legally staying in his neighborhood. Zimmerman becomes the most hated man in the country. So much so, that the media starts calling him "white," considered a pejorative, instead of "Hispanic," considered complimentary.
- In July, a cousin, apparently the same age as Zimmerman, accused him of molesting her for 13 years from age 6 to 19.
- The FBI is starting to ask him questions about the disappearance of Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa.
(Serious stuff):
To find articles with names starting with (note that Mozilla won't perform anywhere nearly this well:)
All pages beginning with "Black River"
Sandboxes[edit]
- Sandbox 01 (scratch)
- Sandbox 02 (Vermont peculiar words)
- Sandbox 03 (Our Club)
- Sandbox 04 (History)
- Sandbox 05 (section:Header info for national abuse scandal)
- Sandbox 06 (Moravia-Penobscot accident)
- Sandbox 07 (Indian words in English)
- Sandbox 08 (Duda & Sons, Inc)
- Sandbox 09 (Religious freedom for non-muslims in muslim countries)
- Sandbox 10 (Sexual abuse cases in Burlington)
- Sandbox 11 (template:Expand-$ection-gov)
- Sandbox 12 (help with education articles)
- Sandbox 13 (State senator succession template)
- Sandbox 14 (Belief)
- Sandbox 15 (section:rivalry between Barton and Orleans villages)
- Sandbox 16 (Pope succession box)
- Sandbox 17 (MOS policy page discussions guidelines)
- Sandbox 18 (Graham S. Newell)
- Sandbox 19 (User names)
- Sandbox 20 (List of articles)
- Sandbox 21 (List of disappointments)
- Sandbox 22 (scratch)
- Sandbox 23 (FAQ on History of Indian Christianity)
- Sandbox 24 (Gilman Housing Trust)
- Sandbox 25 (Marcin Wadowita)
- Sandbox 26 (Logical fallacy? - extra statistics to throw sand in eyes)
- Sandbox 27 (section:FDEP water quality of Florida waterways)
- Sandbox 28/18th circuit court (Explain Christian Belief)
- Sandbox 29 (Wikipedia notes on repelling hijackers)
- Sandbox 30 (scratch)
- Sandbox 31 (Vermont municipality)
- Sandbox 32 (Template Convert$)
- User:Student7/Vermont High Schools Division IV I am assuming, perhaps incorrectly that this is sandbox as well.
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Useful pages[edit]
Interesting pages[edit]
- Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science ask science and other questions
- User:BilCat
- User:Firsfron
- User:Ealdgyth
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Turkey
- Wikipedia:Database download - downloads of the encyclopedia. (Furnished by Graham87)
- Georgia_(U.S._state)#Largest_cities.2C_2009 - for largest cities representation
- Template:Historical populations allows dates that aren't even decade marks.
- Use {{Historical populations |percentages=pagr |2001|36223947 |2010|40091359 |footnote = [http://www. 2001 – 2010] }}
Non-Wikipedia[edit]
Specialists[edit]
- Kudpung - interested in cleaning up categories, particularly overcategorization in schools. See imbedded comment for more names
Reliable footnotes[edit]
- http://www.census.gov - original census
- http://factfinder.census.gov - census updates
- http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1 one-pointer checkup on "new" data
- US religious census 2000 and before
Tools[edit]
Toolbox 1[edit]
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