Hi Orionist. I will try again to contribute to the Mahmoud Darwish entry. I do not know if I was deleted first time or if I forgot to save what I wrote. In any case, I agree with you that it is sufficient to quote part of the poem and mention that it has 6 stanzas and so on. Unfortunately I do not have access to an extensive library.Aviva Butt (talk) 07:01, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Nice work Aviva! But don't you think that the second stanza is a better choice? It's much more expressive. The first stanza seems like a kind of intro. I hope to see more of your contributions. We're in great need for editors like you :) regards, -- Orionist ★ talk13:45, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
St Symeon/Seleucia Pieria
Thanks for sorting out the issue I raised about the Helios/Rabbos picture. I have amended its description as you suggested.
Some time ago I created an article about St Symeon, the port of Antioch in Crusader times. I have since found that the article on Seleucia Pieria, the Roman port of Antioch, said that Seleucia recovered its importance in Crusader times, and St Symeon was then its port. This appears to be based on the Catholic Encyclopedia at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13689a.htm. So far as I can discover, this is wrong - Seleucia did not recover, and St Symeon was the port of Antioch in Crusader times. I have deleted the statement about St Symeon in the Seleucia Pieria article, and stated that it never recovered from a 529 earthquake, citing Ancient Warfare Magazine at http://www.livius.org/se-sg/seleucia/seleucia_pieria.html. The List of ancient Greek cities shows St Symeon as an alternative name for Seleucia Pieria, but this also appears to be wrong. Steven Runciman in his history of the first crusade says that the modern name for St Symeon is Suadiye, but the only Suadiye I can trace is a suburb of Istanbul. I hope this is clear, and wonder whether you have any sources to give a more definitive answer to whether Seleucia Pieria did recover and whether I am wrong in thinking that it is a different place from St Symeon. Dudley Miles (talk) 23:34, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
Well, this is a tricky one, especially so because of the particular location. I wouldn't trust the Catholic Encyclopedia on geography, I faced similar instances where it had confused two or more places names. However, I did some research, and I was a bit lucky to find a quick answer: these two places are completely different and distinct from one another. The reason for the confusion might be their proximity to one another and their function as ports serving Antioch.
First, Seleucia (Seleukia) Peria: the Ancient Warfare Mag article, the coordinates in the Wikipedia article, the labeled location on Google maps, old maps, and wherever you look on the web, all seem to be in agreement that it's the modern seaside village of Çevlik (image). Two other villages mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia article are close by, namely Kapisuyu (Kaboucie) and Mağracik (Meghragagik). As I understand it, a part of the city was up on the hills between these villages, while the other part was around the port in Çevlik. And if the coordinates of images on Panoramio are accurate, ruins seem to be spread on all that area (examples here and here).
Now, did it recover after the 529 earthquake? I searched some ancient Arabic books (thankfully available on Wikisource) and found that it was mentioned in several books. But evidence of its possible recovery is available on page 115 of Volume 5 of Mu'jam al-Buldan, quoting another book Futuh al-Buldan, page 155. It says (rough translation, my notes in brackets): "I was told... that Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik has granted some soldiers in Antioch the land of Seleukia at the coast. He gave them each filathr (or jareeb) [both are ancient units of area] for one dinar and two muds [another measurement unit] of wheat. Hence they built it up... and he [al-Walid] built the fortress of Seleukia." (punctuation is also mine, not present in the original).
Hence, Seleucia (Seleukia) Peria seems to have recovered some importance under the rule of the Umayyads. Did it carry on until the Crusader times? You'd think the author of Mu'jam al-Buldan, written in 1224-28, would've had more to say about it than a quote from a 350-year-old book.
St. Symeon: It is said to be the ancient port of Antioch, located on the mouth of the Orontes River. So I looked up Antioch in Mu'jam al-Buldan and I got this on page 357 of the first volume (again my rough translation): "Between Antioch and the sea is the distance of two farsakhs [ancient unit] and it has a port in a small town called as-Suwaydiyah where the ships of the Franks are moored [or berthed etc.], and where from they carry their baggage onto beasts of burden to Antioch." A quick look at an old map confirms that as-Suwaydiyah is indeed located on the mouth of the Orontes River. Now, since there's no dominant system for Arabic transliteration, and the difference between written "classic" Arabic and the spoken dialects, as-Suwaydiyah could be transliterated in several dozen ways, one of them is Suadiye, which explains why it was hard to find. Moreover, many place names in that area (Hatay province) were changed to more Turkish-sounding names after the Turkey annexed the former Syrian province. That means as-Suwaydiyah was changed to the current name, Samandağ, in 1948. Which should solve the puzzle. A quick Google search for "St Symeon" and Samandağ gives this result in Google Books, which, coupled with the gazeteer coordinates you've already found, confirms the conclusion we've reached above.
One more interesting thing, I've also found articles about a local St. Simeon Stylites the Younger, who used to dwell on a mountain six miles away from Samandağ, and where the ruins of his monastery still stand today. The matching names might not be a coincidence. Still, I couldn't find a source to confirm that.
Thanks for that. After I posted to you, I found some coordinates on a gazeteer for St Symeon, and I posted a question on the talk page of an expert on coordinates at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Grim23 asking whether he could make sense of them. I hope I have not caused problems consulting two different experts. Dudley Miles (talk) 22:14, 27 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Well, we're a collaborative project, and the more people who can contribute the better! I haven't finished my reply though, I got a bit busy and haven't had the time to write what I found about St. Symeon. I'll continue my reply above. -- Orionist ★ talk18:18, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Many thanks for your trouble and the fascinating information. The articles on St Symeon, Seleucia Pieria and Samandag obviously need amendment in light of it, although as you say, the relationship to St Simeon Stylites the Younger is unclear. Your citing of sources in Arabic and German raises a question I have been wondering about - I have to admit I am mono-lingual. Is there any Wikipedia protocol about citing sources in other languages? I created a stub article about Wezilo, late 11th century archbishop of Mainz, and one of the very few sources I could find was a Google translation of the German Wikipedia article, so I used facts from it where the translation was unambiguous, and cited it as a source. Is this against Wikipedia protocols? Dudley Miles (talk) 22:53, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There are two different issues here: the first is referencing another Wikipedia article, whether or not it's in the same language. You can do that as long as you mention which article it was copied from in the edit summary (for licensing reasons). If you want to cite the text you copied, cite the original source and not the Wikipedia article. Citing the WP article amounts to self-reference, as the related policy (WP:CIRCULAR) says. If the original source is not found, I'd say keep it uncited and add a not on the discussion page.
The other issue is referencing non-English sources (outside Wikipedia), which is allowable of course. In the related policy (WP:NONENG) it is recommended that you provide the original-language text and English translation in the text or a footnote. The most common practice seems to be just adding the original-language text to the footnote, since the translation should be in the main text of the article.
the colour & detail came out pretty good (12,800 dpi, 48-bit colour, no post-processing enhancements, compressed for size), but the sections need to be assembled. to give a rough scale reference, the scanner bed is approx 7"x14"
let me know if you're interested (or know anyone who is)
Hello! These scans look much, much better. I can work on them next week, if you have no problem with such time frame. Regards! -- Orionist ★ talk03:45, 3 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
haha, no hurry!
i haven't exactly been moving at a dead run on this myself, & i have a huge backlog of material to upload.
2 requests tho:
1. do the merged file @ the highest res possible? i have no objections to making copies at more manageable filesizes, but it would be good to have a max-quality copy of the file available
2. upload a copy of the merged painting "as-is" (or send it to me?) before doing any touch-up work to remove staining, colour-correct, etc. (if that was your intention).
i know i'm being rather pedantic, but for archival purposes (as well as art studies), it's useful to have as exact a copy of the original art as possible; & commons is the default primary online source for the material, so it falls to us...
thanks again for your continued interest; lots more stuff (paintings, prints, etc.) coming up, if you're interested, or know people who are
It's done at last! It was fun working on such a huge file. After saving as JPG at 10/12 quality it's still more than 27 mb (for 11 quality file size will be 40 mb, for 12, 60 mb). As you requested, I only did the stitching at highest res. I kept as much as possible of the border, although I had to clone a strip into the bottom-right corner. What next? If the colors look different from the original, we can fix them. If not, I think we can apply some levels, and enhance brightness/contrast. Yeah and I checked it carefully for any stitching errors, but it'd be better if you double check. Hope you like the result. -- Orionist ★ talk14:27, 15 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
brilliant it would have taken me an impossibly long time to (learn how to) do work of this quality myself, thank you!
when you say "border" do you mean the decorative area beyond the edge of the paper? if so, not a concern. (did i miss anything when making the scans though? useful to know, for future work).
re: colours, looks fine to me. in the scans, the colours came out noticeably brighter/clearer than they show in ordinary viewing of the painting. i assume that was the lighting from the scanbed, since i didn't have any of the software "enhancements" turned on. hopefully, it represents what the painting would have looked like when newer/less dirty. haha
don't see any stitching errors, but you're far more experienced than i, in knowing what to look for anyway. feel free to go ahead with any tweaking or clean-up of the image, as you think best (let me know if you need/want anymore imaging of the piece; for reference, etc. should be able to get it to you with a 3-day turnover, or so). might be a good idea to have separate files (@ commons) for showing major stages of development? was wondering if we could get a useful image-series showing the stages of the work, for textbook use; but i'm not sure, offhand, how well commons already has the topic covered.
finally, could you upload a copy @ a smaller filesize too (under a different name, of course); i'd really like to get it up on the Manzai article asap, to replace my sad little "working print" version. i'm not sure what the current thinking is, as regards the "right size" for wp-article files, but probably 5 megs or less? something that will upload in a reasonable time, but still reward the viewer who actually bothers to click-through to get a better look @ the image... :)
Thanks for pointing that out! I was able to find a GLA figure of 110,000 sqm on the mall's website, and removed it from the list accordingly. I don't know how I overlooked the enlightening discussion at "Mall areas"!
Hi Orionist - how goes things? As you may or may not know, I'm in a bit of a push at the moment to improve all the articles regarding space stations, one part of which involves finding good configuration diagrams. This is an area where, thanks to your wonderful efforts producing File:Mir-Shuttle diagram.svg and all its other gorgeous related images for me, I know just where to turn. As far as I'm aware, all of the Salyut stations have basic SVG configuration images available, but unfortunately Skylab doesn't, having instead two paintings, File:Skylab labeled.jpg (which shows the station in its actual orbital configuration) and File:Skylab diagram.jpg (which shows the originally planned configuration), and a not-very-good SVG showing one of the concept plans for the station at File:Wet Workshop.svg. I'm aware that it's a massive ask (which is why I've come straight to you, as I know I'll be ignored point blank at the image workshop), but is there any chance at all that you could produce a better, SVG diagram of the station's final orbital configuration? There's plenty of photographs of the station at Commons:Category:Skylab (space station), if those are of any help at all? I fully expect you to tell me it can't be done, but I'd very much appreciate it if you could take a look! All the best, Colds7ream (talk) 13:19, 22 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Well, you've come to the right place! It's quite an undertaking, but still in the realm of the possible. It needs two things: time, and a good source image. Time, I hope, is not an issue. A good source image is even more important, since illustration is only as good as the original image. Preferably, we need to find a technical drawing, that would shave off about half the time required to do the diagram. But paintings and color illustrations are okay. Either way the source should be of high resolution, sharp, and clear with no ambiguous areas.
The Skylab category at Commons was poor with useful material. But NASA - once I found my way through their labyrinth of different websites - had many high res, high quality illustrations, of which I've already uploaded four or five, including a high res version and a plain version of File:Skylab labeled.jpg. What I didn't find is a good schematic drawing, although I downloaded +100MB of their PDFs hoping to find one. I'll keep looking, and even if nothing new turns up, I can still use a combination of the available low quality drawings and high quality paintings. Meanwhile I'll keep uploading related useful images and diagrams I find.
Just keep in mind that it's going to take some time to do. My backlog permitting, I might also be able to help with other image issues in the Skylab and other space station articles.
You, sir, are a marvel. :-) Many thanks indeed for looking into this for us - can't wait to see how you get on! Happy Christmas and New Year! :-) Colds7ream (talk) 00:10, 27 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Evening! How goes things? I've been looking around trying to find some more images that might be of use to you, but in the books I've obtained there only seem to be copies of the NASA illustrations we've already got. Google images isn't being of much help either, although I did find [1] and [2], which I hope might be of some use? Colds7ream (talk) 17:08, 3 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hey! How are you doing? Thanks for the images. My attempts to find that elusive technical drawing (which would make things much easier) were not very successful, but I think I have enough material to start working on the illustration. I should've started days ago, but sometimes I just need to be reminded :) so I'll make this a priority now. Regards! -- Orionist ★ talk13:54, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Orionist, how's things? Any news on this by any chance? :-) Also, I don't suppose you fancy taking a look at my SSME schematic request over at the Illustration lab, do you? Would be a great addition to the SSME article. Cheers, Colds7ream (talk) 13:39, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Could you comment a little more on De Minimus in the AFD? I really don't want to kill that sign image. Please elaborate on your thinking. P.s. I'm concerned about the whole Canada versus US thing though.TCO (talk) 07:06, 6 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've noticed your contributions to the Graphics Lab, and I need to ask. We could use some of your Arabic skill as many of the Wikipedia versions of Scout emblems in the region are rather substandard and could use improvement, but the cleanup would include the Arabic text. Would this be something you would be willing to assist with?--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 23:36, 11 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I'll do what I can, no problem. I stumbled upon the subpage you created at User:Orionist/Scout image requests which, by the way, is not reported to me automatically (like talk page messages) and I need to be notified of it to be able to help ;-). I've had a look at the requests and some of them are doable, while others need better source images (since vectorization is only as good as the source image), so I searched and found a couple of good sources. I'll keep looking for more, and add them with notes to the above subpage. Unfortunately, I'm fairly busy these days and my "wiki" time is rather limited, so you might have to be a bit patient. An alternative could be that whenever a good source is found, to post it to the Graphic Lab for the shapes to be done, and then I can step in and add the Arabic script. I don't mind doing either. Regards, -- Orionist ★ talk17:46, 12 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, that was an unfinished test page, I just woke up and the plan was to send it to you about an hour from now. I need to add more categorize it by priority. Some we have poor images, some we have nice pngs but I would prefer svgs. I used to post the requests to the Graphics Lab, four years ago, and was told to stop, I don't recall the reason, but... so I stopped, and I just ask people when they have a field of specialty like yours. Thanks and sorry for the mixup.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 01:50, 13 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for the delay, I could barely do an edit in the past couple of days. And thanks for your e-mail. Actually the new and improved list is rather scary, but I don't mind scary lists. Still, this is a huge task that could have it's own Wikiproject, and I hope you're ready to wait since as I mentioned earlier I don't have that much time, and it would be unfair if I just focused on emblems and forgot all about other image categories in need of work.
There are good news, though: Many of the newer emblems, especially of Lebanon and the Gulf States, seem to have very good PNG's. Which is an indication that a vector version is already there. So I suggest contacting these organizations and asking them directly for the vector files. I can help you with the message text, to explain what a vector file is and how can they send it to us etc. Usually any PDF of any brochure/leaflet/ad would hold a vector version of the logo, which I can extract and upload in a couple of minutes. The other thing that might help us, is that many of these emblems seem to have similar symbols. I think, since you know these emblems very well, that you know which elements are the most recurring, and where can they be found in International/other countries emblems that we have here in SVG. So you might want to add a "Resources" section where you link to such SVG's. I promise to do my best to help on these, and I hope by collaboration we would eliminate a significant portion of this backlog. Regards, -- Orionist ★ talk14:49, 16 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Waiting is no problem, we've had some of thses in bad shape for the five years I've been here. I think I've scared others before, in different areas. The Arabsphere has a short list compared to Africa...
I tried to reproduce Arabic script on the Persian Move to Commons-tagging tonight, and it all came out backwards. But you're right, I can find you all the elements you need.
Yep, that's waaay better! I'll soon start working on them one by one. By the way, I was scraping various organizations' websites for possible vector logos, and I came across the Arab Scout Region website (http://www.arabscout.org/) where they seem to call themselves "Arab Scout Organization" in addition to "Arab Scout Region". The names are on top of one another on the home page, with "Arab Scout Organization" on top and in bigger font. And they are used interchangeably or together. I thought that might interest you. Something about it could be added to the article, and one of the article names should redirect to the other. Yes and I found there a better quality version of their logo (not SVG though) and uploaded it above the older version. One more thing, please add the User:Orionist/Scout image requests page to your watchlist (if you haven't already), just to make sure we don't need to cross-post each update to the list. Regards! -- Orionist ★ talk15:40, 18 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Glad that's better! Strange that they should use that term. In Scouting, "Association" and "Organization" have specific national and local meanings, several countries together is "Region"-weird, thank you for catching that. I don't yet know how to add it. Thank you also for the upload! (Of course I have it on my watchlist, it's like "what do you want for your birthday?" ;) )--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 02:43, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I've added the info I found at About us to the "History" section of Arab Scout Region. I've also modified the lead, since every single mention in Arabic seems to call it "Organization", including their details on http://www.scout.org/en/around_the_world/arab. I have also added it to the infobox, but you can remove it if you don't like it. Please go through the text I added, I don't know much about scouting and I might've got something wrong. I found other details on scout.org that I'm going to add one by one. Regards, -- Orionist ★ talk15:17, 20 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Watching tv tonight with my Japanese grandfather, planned on writing you when I got back. I don't know where you're from, but in the midst of all the turmoil and revolutions in the region, I hope your friends and loved ones are safe.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 13:11, 13 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. By the way, the "al" is the definitive article in Arabic and there are several ways to write it in English. If there's a common way to write that specific person's name then we use it, if not, we use "al-Name" as a standard. So there's no need to list all possible combination of "al" in the article, and a redirect is enough. However, if there are different ways (in use) to write the rest of the name, we usually add these to the article. Regards, -- Orionist ★ talk11:29, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not opposed to it in theory, but I haven't been paying much attention to such things because I don't know what SVGs people would upload to Wikipedia that they couldn't upload to Commons, except company logos (and I have little interest in optimizing company logos). AnonMoos (talk) 08:13, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
This video is quite a find! I didn't realize VoA had such interesting videos on their website, and free for us to use nonetheless! Do you need me to do anything to the file by the way? Regards, -- Orionist ★ talk14:18, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I just want to let you know I've improved the Moons of Mars image at the Graphics Lab in response to your suggestions. I would appreciate any further comments you may have, or your opinion regarding whether the image could now be reintroduced into the article. Thanks.
4dhayman (talk) 15:01, 10 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
My, that is a very quirky issue. I spent about 25 minutes looking at it to no available, and I'm afraid I have a busy day ahead. But I have narrowed it down for you: it's the viewBox'ing that's doing it. Consider just cropping the image outright? It's a bit of work, but it should fix the problem. Regards, - Jarry1250[Who?Discuss.]08:44, 27 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I hope this can finally be put into the article! If there are more changes to be made, I'm happy to make them, but they'll take me a while, because I'm quite busy right now. 4dhayman (talk) 21:53, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your concern, Chris. I'm okay; really busy in life and work, though. I hope to be able to come back from this unplanned wikibreak by the beginning of next month. So until then. Cheers! -- Orionist ★ talk13:01, 25 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Just want to make sure you're out of harm's way in all this mess. I'm rooting for the free side in the region, but it seems the older revolutions are already unraveling.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 13:27, 25 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Orphaned non-free image File:Yakuza.jpg
⚠ Thanks for uploading File:Yakuza.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
Hey, thanks for the reply. I did make a request, but after waiting for so long I decided that I'd go ahead and do it by myself. Is mine not good? Well if you can do a better one, then by all means go ahead. However, the general distribution of this species in my map is quite accurate. If you are going to make another map, please use my map as a source for the species' distribution. Thanks. I think I need a better map for Naja atra, actually. That species is found in Taiwan, southern China, northern Laos, and northern Vietnam. It's also found in Hainan province in China. Bastian (talk) 18:05, 12 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I simply used paint :/ I would greatly appreciate it if you could do the maps for me. Here is the Jameson's mambas range here and Naja atra range is here. For more information on where these two species occur you can go here for the mamba and here for Naja atra (Chinese cobra). Also, if I need maps for other species of snakes' range in the near future, can I rely on you to be able to do them for me? Bastian (talk) 17:04, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much for your help, Orionist. I really do appreciate it. Can you give me the link to the Illustration worshop, please? So basically, if I need a map done in the future and you're inactive then I should just post the request in the "Illustration workshop" instead of the "Map workshop"? Bastian (talk) 15:41, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are receiving this message either because you expressed an opinion about the proposed SOPA blackout before full blackout and soft blackout were adequately differentiated, or because you expressed general support without specifying a preference. Please ensure that your voice is heard by clarifying your position accordingly.
Btw, for another article I had put for a review, I received another request to have a map translated: File:Armia krajowa 1.png. This is another case where only a small part needs to be translated - the legend title, the small legend note in the upper part, few city names, and all instances of the word okreg (and one podokreg) to region (subregion). Do you think you could fit it in your schedule at some future point? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me17:27, 5 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
For all your hard work creating maps for the Military History Project. The work that you are doing brings credit on Wikipedia as whole by adding a professional touch. Well done and thank you. AustralianRupert (talk) 09:14, 13 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
![[2]](http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.simonatkinsoncreativearts.com/Skylab.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.simonatkinsoncreativearts.com/simonatkinsonillustration.htm&usg=__m-X_nb9E6NqgbmXAKi9_whH_pk4=&h=428&w=800&sz=156&hl=en&start=36&sig2=jRgIIhZjBeZ-Oxcm-rxY8g&zoom=1&tbnid=FfGWhnG0r2lcqM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=207&ei=EOBKTZnHOo2whQf9-LzwDg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dskylab%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D834%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C570&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1044&vpy=463&dur=1631&hovh=164&hovw=307&tx=141&ty=62&oei=_t9KTajbOoiahQfkhcCvDg&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:36&biw=1920&bih=834){kind=link}
