User:JDG/todo

Greystone

Create disambiguation for Greystone. Write article on Greystone Hospital in Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Link it to Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan articles, writing lead-in text as needed in those articles.

Proposal for a "Vital Documents Repository"

Due to the transitoriness of so much web content, Wikipedia should institute a project to capture and store the text of website pages and articles in a repository that will make future use of this material as linked source references easy and permanent. I need to find the best community area and/or mailing list to put foward this proposal. I need to flesh out the proposal, including standards for recording original website location, individual authorship, tentative copyright status, whether quotes of text thus stored are permissible or if only references back to stored document should be made, etc.,. An example: the current WP article Thioester depends heavily on a quote from Belgian biochemist Christian De Duve in a mid-`90s issue of American Scientist. The article containing this quote currently appears on the American Scientist website at:

http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/21438/page/1

As there is no guarantee this article will remain at this exact url, or even that this website will exist throughout the longterm future, it is advisable to capture De Duve's text so that future versions of Thioester can continue to use it as both reference and "External Link" (although I suppose if linkage must be changed to material within the proposed WP repository, this would be re-titled "Internal Link" or "Link to Archived Source Material").

Capturing and storing such materials (and they are not necessarily limited to textual material) will most likely be a labor-intensive task, requiring an organnized effort. In the example of the De Duve article, the WP editor will need to go to the American Scientist site and copy and paste text spread over six separate web pages, retaining the article's own footnoting. He/she will need to stitch together the six sections, with ancillary material, and save all this to the repository in a standardized way... An annoyingly manual process but one that will greatly contribute to Wikipedia's longterm viability as a compendium reliant not on its own editors' original research but on research and commentary published in formats, media and locations in all probability far more transient than WP itself.

(Note: Maybe Wikisource can be used for this, although its main emphasis right now is very different).

Start article on "The Tombs Prison"

Hmm. Soon?

Article on "Common Errors in English"

Modeled on Paul Brians' excellent work at http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html . Maybe get some permissions. Would also like to compile a "wish-list" of words/phrases Mr. Brians might consider adding to his "list of errors" (like "goings-on", "since before", rode/ridden... or challenge him on things like "recreate": he says "While we’re at it, 'recreate' does not mean 'to engage in recreation.' If you play basketball, you may be exercising, but you’re not recreating." But the OED says "1. a. To restore to a good or normal physical condition from a state of weakness or exhaustion; to invest with fresh vigour or strength; to refresh, reinvigorate (nature, strength, a person or thing)." And what of the Bard's "To walk abroad and recreate yourselves."?) Or maybe Brians is speaking strictly of modern American usage? In which case he should say so...

Numeral system

Copyedit, cover the most glaring omissions (particularly chronology of development of each system), establish separate page for Sumerian notation, nominate for FA.

Merapi potential

Looks like a fullscale eruption of Merapi wouldn't be so horrible after all:

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060423/afp/060423100739int.html

See what Worltraveler has to say at Merapi Talk page?

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Create this article. http://www.philsp.com/data/data122.html

Mixotricha_paradoxa

Expand with material from 'The Ancestor's Tale' (hopefully with quote).

Largest Stadiums in the World

Or, List of Stadiums by dimensions, after List of football stadiums by capacity. Object is simply to list 10 largest extant stadiums, in order AND 10 largest stadiums ever, in order. Definition of "stadium" will be crucial. Find source. I tend to "any venue for any sport or exhibition built as a permanent structure (cannot be disassembled and reassembled) and which provides tiered seating for a majority of the audience". By this def., looks like Indianapolis Motor Speedway is #1. Need to find other auto courses perhaps? Other contenders (most of which are called "largest stadium in the world" in spots in WP or GoogEarth): Strahov Stadium, Salt Lake Stadium, Maracana Stadium, Rungnado May Day Stadium, etc., None is close to Indy. Maybe Circus Maximus for all-time? Hmm, apparently not: "600 metres in length, 225 metres in breadth"; Indy is 1624m/795m. Circ. Max could seat 150,000; Indy 300,000+ for typical race... Wait-- Daytona_International_Speedway looks to be bigger n Indy in most respects.... Wait what the... looks like Talladega bigga n em bof. jeeesz

Advertising Slogan

Redo actual slogans given. Currently there's only "Example Slogans". Work on new "Standout Slogans" section (in /texthold) incorporating most famous from the past like "A mind is a terrrible thing to waste", along with most notable of those in "Example Slogans". Work on another section "Recent Slogans", with phrases like "Life comes at you fast". Put both into article when sizable enuf... Need text saying Public Service Announcements and other non-capitalist but TV-borne slogans will be represented in Advertising slogans lists, including outright propaganda.

Muffler_Men

Add... Discussed w/photos here: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NYLAKmuf.html . And a not-bad everything2 article: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1302551

Hold url

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Jtkiefer_3

Evolutionary observations (section in Skink article to be fixed up)

It is easy to look at the Skink family and place them as a sort of proto-snake. Their short (or, in some species, absent) legs, usually cylindrical trunks, regular molting habits, flicking tongues and slithering locomotion all serve to reinforce the idea. However, evidence placing Skinks or a Skink-like ancestor reptile at the evolutionary branching point leading to snakes has not been established, while some evidence pointing to Skink-of-snake mimicry has been established. The well-known Tiliqua scincoides (eastern blue-tongued skink) has a marked resemblance in coloration to the poisonous Death adder, uses its legs more to slide than to walk, flicks a forked tonque and hisses when disturbed. Since the range of the Death adder largely overlaps that of scincoides, it is likely the latter is borrowing the former's fearsome reputation to stare down would-be predators even though it lacks any venom of its own. Also, in case the Death adder impersonation fails, Tiliqua scincoides' blue tongue suggests an unwholesome meal to predators. Should a predator fall for none of these misdirections, scincoides is in deep trouble as it lacks sharp claws or teeth, is not highly mobile even in extremis, and cannot look to other scincoides for help as they will be attempting to shuffle to safety themselves. Its only real recourse now is to automize (jettison) its tail in the hope the predator will be satisfied with eating it alone. The tail will grow completely back in a few months.