In this world, hatred has never been defeated by hatred. Only love can overcome hatred. This is an ancient and eternal law. –Dhammapada (1:5)

New research: Christian Nationalism and Political Violence: Victimhood, Racial Identity, Conspiracy, and Support for the Capitol Attacks (2022). Viriditas (talk) 16:07, 13 February 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Documented Has Obtained a New Council for National Policy Membership List: "Numerous CNP members were tied to organizing the rally on January 6 in Washington, D.C. that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Washington Post reported in January 2021 at least six current or former members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) played roles in promoting the rallies." Viriditas (talk) 02:31, 31 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

• Despite ample evidence, Christian nationalism mostly absent from final Jan. 6 report (2022) Faith leaders have questioned the omission, which lawmakers have signaled is founded in caution against tarring 'every American who believes God has blessed America' as a white supremacist.
  • "… the influence of Christian nationalism among the Jan. 6 rioters was clearly evident in the flags and banners they waved. In the days before the assault, “Jericho Marches,” based on the Bible’s Book of Joshua, circled Capitol Hill praying for the election results to be overturned. When rioters stormed into the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, they huddled in prayer. Yet the committee’s final report, released late on Thursday (Dec. 22), an 845-page document, mentioned Christian nationalism by name exactly once, and only in passing." Viriditas (talk) 02:50, 31 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'm about to take a few days off or mostly off from wiki but my answer to your post on the talk page is yes and yes, hope I'm able to help. OgamD218 (talk) 23:52, 26 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@OgamD218: no hurry at all on this, but here’s a partial list of article topics I’ve put together that are facing similar problems. You can add these to your watchlist if you like. Viriditas (talk) 00:31, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

•  Pending Nwanguma v. Trump: currently a redirect to Legal affairs of Donald Trump#Lawsuit for inciting violence at March 2016 campaign rally. It needs to be created as a standalone article and nobody has taken the initiative to do it. I’ve asked several different WikiProjects for help and they’ve ignored my pleas.

•  Pending Incitement of violence by Donald Trump against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton: this article does not yet exist. Of particular note, is the incitement of violence against Clinton by Trump during late 2016. Notable incidents include Trump’s comments at the August 9, 2016, Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump campaign rally, and the September 16, 2016 Miami, Florida, Trump campaign rally. Given the enormous number of incitement incidents in general, it would make sense to merge this info into a general topic, such as Incitement of violence by Donald Trump.

•  Pending 2016 Garden City bombing plot: currently a redirect to Garden City, Kansas. Needs its own article.

•  Pending 2016 Trump remarks on foreign policy, hosted by the Center for the National Interest: currently a small blurb over at Center for the National Interest, but given that it was Donald Trump's first major foreign policy address, it deserves its own page and article topic, appropriately titled. I recall reading that this speech was partly responsible for the incitement of Cesar Sayoc, leading him to subsequently attend the 2017 Melbourne, Florida, post-inauguration Trump rally, after which he began planning his attempted attacks on Democratic politicians.

•  Pending 2018 United States mail bombing attempts: Article needs to be watched closely. We have editors trying to whitewash the relationship between Trump’s rhetoric, Trump’s rallies, and Sayoc’s adherence to Trump’s incitement. The article virtually whitewashes Trump’s role inciting Sayoc, and reads as if it was written by Russian operatives working for Putin, as it flips the script and consistently blames Democrats and liberals for Sayoc’s terroristic behavior, which has been conclusively linked to Trump. This article needs to be completely rewritten.

•  Done 2017 Aztec High School shooting: same issue as the above. References and citations to Trump’s role are repeatedly removed. Doesn’t even reference the year in the title because it links to Trump. The last time Trump was mentioned in the article was back in 2019, so it’s been removed for several years. Here’s an example of the kind of content that fails to appear in the article: "[The] 21-year-old New Mexico resident lived a prolific life as a white supremacist, pro-Trump meme peddler who was most known for his obsession with school shooters...[A tattoo with the] words "build wall," were found above his left knee, KOB4 reports, which appears to be a reference to President Donald Trump’s promise to “build a wall” in an attempt to keep illegal immigrants out." You wouldn’t know that from reading the article, and the edit history shows users repeatedly removing references to Trump.

•  Pending 2017 Charlottesville car attack: same issues up above. Trump’s role in influencing the perp and his reaction to the incident is completely whitewashed from the lead section and buried deep into the body of the article where few people will ever see it. Major rewrite needed.

•  Doing... 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: same issues up above. Editors flip the script, portray and frame perp as a critic of Trump (!) instead of his supporter. Article fails to mention that the perp "posted on social media about the caravan Trump fixated upon in the last weeks of the midterm campaign, calling the refugees ‘invaders’". Instead we are told all of this without any mention of Trump, even though the sources clearly connect Trump’s rhetoric with the caravans that the perp was obsessed with. Rewrite needed.

•  Pending 2019 threats against Ilhan Omar: related content currently appears at Ilhan Omar#Threats and harassment. "In April 2019, Trump repeatedly tweeted video footage of September 11 and accused Omar of downplaying the terror attacks, in a coordinated campaign by the tabloid New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, which splashed a quote from Omar on their cover over a picture of the World Trade Center in flames." "Omar said that she had received more death threats after Trump made comments about her and asserted Trump was putting her life in danger by retweeting a tweet falsely claiming she had "partied on the anniversary of 9/11". Could be merged to new article Incitement of violence by Donald Trump.

•  Doing... 2019 El Paso shooting: same issues as above. Editors have repeatedly whitewashed all mentions of the connection to Trump, with nothing in the lead or in the body indicating the connection is real or significant. The article even frames the connection from the POV of the perp, insisting that Trump isn’t responsible. Are you starting to see a pattern? "The white supremacist who drove 10 hours to kill 22 innocent civilians at an El Paso Walmart last weekend was a Trump fan....[His] anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant manifesto...uses language about immigrants similar to that used by U.S. president Donald Trump, such as referring to a migrant 'invasion'." But you wouldn’t know that if you read the article on Wikipedia. Major rewrite needed.

•  Pending 2019 Kingsman video: currently a redirect to Kingsman: The Secret Service. Could be merged into a new article on the incitement of violence by Trump and his supporters.

•  Done 2019 Hurricane Dorian–Alabama controversy: zero mention of the fact that Trump’s modification of the weather map was a federal crime according to 18 U.S. Code § 2074 - False weather reports

•  Pending April 2020 storming of the Michigan State Capitol. Article does not exist on Wikipedia, because, in case you haven’t guessed by now, Donald Trump was responsible for encouraging it. "President Donald Trump offered his support for the protests, derisively calling Whitmer "that woman from Michigan" and tweeting on April 17: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" Two weeks later, on April 30, armed protesters stormed the Michigan State Capitol." And yes, the calls were coming from inside the White House: "The protest was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group with ties to the DeVos family". So, instead of an actual article about a Trump/DeVos funded and sponsored protest that stormed the state Capitol, we get no article at all, but a couple paragraphs buried throughout Wikipedia, most notably somewhere deep inside COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan. The pattern is exceptionally clear: if Trump is connected, editors will whitewash, bury, delete, and obfuscate.

•  Not done 2020 Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot: same issues as above. Lead doesn’t mention a word about Trump, even though the body of the article paints a fairly conclusive picture of him as encouraging, supporting, and influencing the perps.
  • POV currently in the article, argues that half the militia group was against Trump, while the other half supported him. Based on what I know about the militias connected to this group, I don't believe this for a minute. Yes, they were agitating against the federal government as extremist, right-libertarians, but every one of these people I've read about loves and supports Trump. More research needed to see if this POV is supported. Viriditas (talk) 02:04, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

•  Doing... Texas Trump Train ambush. Article doesn’t exist. Instead, we get one paragraph whitewashing the incident and a second paragraph of Trump denying responsibility, all of it buried inside Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign, where nobody will ever find or read them. Strangely, the article fails to mention that "Donald Trump Jr. told supporters in Texas to give Sen. Kamala Harris a "Trump Train welcome" two days before cars with MAGA signs swarmed a Biden campaign bus on a highway near Austin and led to a crash. "It'd be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen, and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome," he said in a video." Meanwhile, the incident has led to what has become the Trump Train lawsuit, yet if you only got your information from Wikipedia, you wouldn’t know about it.

January songs

happy new year

Thank you for your help with Mother and Child. I tried to link Atma, and failed, and your link was such a gift! Perhaps add that to the other. - Enjoy the season! Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:14, 23 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

User:Gerda Arendt, I based the link on your source. Although the target isn’t ideal, and is somewhat confusing, it is more accurate than any other other target we have at the moment. For what it’s worth, this is a wonderful piece of music, and I regret that because I live in a somewhat isolated region, I have never seen it performed live. I hope to have the chance in the future. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Stay warm. Viriditas (talk) 00:31, 24 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you. - I heard it when I was permitted to attend a rehearsal of the Dessoff Choirs, - fascinating! - Wishing you a year of harmony! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:49, 31 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

User:Gerda Arendt, you are very lucky to have experienced the music of John Tavener in a live musical environment. I am hoping in 2023 the technology will have advanced enough to attend live performances remotely in VR. Live Nation Entertainment claimed they were planning to do this some time ago, but nothing has come of it as far as I know, except that they have generated an enormous amount of animosity due to their ticket pricing scandals. Happy New Year, and thank you for bringing so much light into the world! Viriditas (talk) 03:58, 1 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Yes, I feel blessed by the music coming back, after severe restrictions for two years. Today, I point at two singers I whose performance I enjoyed. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:49, 6 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Great work, as usual, Gerda. Your comment got me to thinking, what if you created a talk page DYK box for transclusion, similar to the pretty boxes you use elsewhere, but could appear on user pages such as my own (and anyone else who desires) to highlight your DYK work (and if designed appropriately could highlight any users work in addition to your own). Let me rephrase it another way for clarity: I’m interested in seeing your DYK work, not just on the main page, but also on my talk page, highlighted by itself, as if I’m subscribing to it. Wouldn’t that be cool? Let me put this yet another way: I’m aware you work on music DYK hooks. There should be a way to edit my user/talk page in such a way that I can say "show me DYK hooks with a music theme", and then either have them appear randomly, or be able to choose by user. What do you think? Viriditas (talk) 09:39, 9 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you, and mixed thoughts. I am getting out of Did you know as it currently is, see see you later. - I could make the top notice on my talk a template that you could include, and I could use it on both my talk and images, - how is that? - I also plan to make an extra pages of "my songs" - it's my mother's birthday today who gave most of them to me while I was little. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:32, 9 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

You can call ((User Gerda Arendt/Top)), see also - linked from my user page - memories (with DYK by subject). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:50, 9 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you, User:Gerda Arendt. Will it load older DYKs or just new ones? I will add it to my page. I am sorry to hear you will stop doing DYK, but perhaps this is to the benefit of FA? I heard some wonderful music tonight on the radio. It was Louis Spohr, Violin Concerto No. 8 in A Minor, Op. 47. Simply divine. Viriditas (talk) 09:28, 10 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Lovely music! - I'll load older DYK fitting for a day, but will try to keep this one - related to the subject of my first article - until the next one comes. I began my songs, with the DYK, in case of interest. - I need a break from DYK. The last straw was Galina Pisarenko (discussion on the talk), a legendary singer, who was first rejected and then diluted to saying the she learned Norwegian. Not what I am here for, not what she deserved. I think I will better omit that from my list of those who recently died. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:40, 10 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'm back from vacation. Melitta Muszely died, RIP - the other story is 10 years old OTD ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:56, 2 February 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Precious

peaceful beauty

Thank you for quality articles about beauty in culture, such as Giant Steps, list of Hawaiian dishes, Lahaina Banyan Court Park and The Lady in White (Bracquemond), for service from 2004, for living the "principle of peaceful, non-violent protest", for adding beauty, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

You are recipient no. 2793 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:26, 1 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Happy New Year!

Viriditas,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
— Moops ^⋠T⋡ 02:26, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

   Send New Year cheer by adding ((subst:Happy New Year fireworks)) to user talk pages.

— Moops ^⋠T⋡ 02:26, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The article Libertarian paradise has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

A single entry disambiguation page that cannot be redirected to that entry because the subject is not mentioned there.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

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Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing ((proposed deletion/dated)) will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 18:34, 5 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

February songs

Thank you for appreciation! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:49, 10 February 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

... and for a nice comment on my talk. - My story on 24 February is about Artemy Vedel (TFA by Amitchell235) as you already know, and I made a suggestion for more peace, - what do you think? Best said on the article talk, perhaps. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:15, 24 February 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

today: two women whose birthday we celebrate today, 99 and 90! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:24, 28 February 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Template:Timeline of lighting technology has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. Izno (talk) 21:16, 16 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Category:Voltaire Lectures has been nominated for deletion. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. RevelationDirect (talk) 00:20, 25 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

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Springee (talk) 23:08, 27 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Unless you mean The War in Words, I haven't seen it... AnonMoos (talk) 08:55, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@AnonMoos: Yes, that's what I mean! The first sketch, the one about WWI, is one of the best performances by Mikey Day. On a more personal level, it's funny to me because I've had long, drawn out conversations like this before in email or text, where you never get an actual answer to a direct question. Viriditas (talk) 09:08, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I saw at least two of them, but not sure which two, and they've kind of blurred together in my mind. They were amusing, but I didn't connect them with any personal experience I've had. -- AnonMoos (talk) 23:08, 26 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

July songs

my story today

While today's DYK highlights Santiago on his day, I did my modest share with my story today, describing what I just experienced, pictured. - So nice to see it at your top - today. I began the article about the woman in green. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:44, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Ah, you have a wonderful memory! You hearken back to our earlier discussion about "Mother and Child". I have a question for you: in the jazz genre, there’s a kind of niche style that involves adding lyrics and vocals to more famous, melodic instrumental pieces. I’m wondering, do you know if this kind of thing is done in choral music? For example, the instrumental music by Debussy and the composers who are members of Les Apaches might lend itself to new choral works. Has anyone done anything like this? Viriditas (talk) 23:42, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Gerda Arendt:. Viriditas (talk) 23:43, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you, - sorry I don't know, - I haven't met anything of the kind you describe. - You would have enjoyed the concert, I'm sure. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:55, 26 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today Jahrhundertring, and I just listened to Götterdämmerung from the Bayreuth Festival (pictured), - the image (of a woman who can't believe what she has to see) features also on the article talk. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:17, 31 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

August music

August songs

my story today

My story today - a first - isn't about an article by me, but one I reviewed for DYK, see here. I like all: topic, "hook", connected article (a GA on its way towards FA), image and the music "in the background". I just returned from a weekend with two weddings, so also like the spirit ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:18, 7 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: what an amazing DYK on so many different levels, as you allude to in your comment. There is so much that can be said here, but sometimes it is best to let the thing speak for itself and leave it at that. Thank you for sharing. Viriditas (talk) 01:28, 8 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you for understanding! It fit best just above your top about love. One of the weekend's ideas that came from looking at the verses the second couple had chosen for their motto, by Ruth, "Where you go I will go ...", was that in all she says, "you" comes first. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:09, 8 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

It's amazing how common cousin marriage was back then--and well, still is in some parts of the world! I couldn't imagine marrying my cousin, and it's interesting to think about my thinking; do I say that only because the choices are so much greater now? In other words, when people lived in small towns, they didn't have much choice when it came to partners? Viriditas (talk) 06:54, 8 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

True. One of my ancestors lived in a small village. She fell in love with a travelling worker building them a railway. Her mother said, in horror (he was much older, and other fears), that she'd find one in the village. She said she looked, and no. They married, and when he died they were married for 60 years. - Again not by me: today's story - with the triumph of music over military - is uplifting! - No cake yet, but a butterfly and open-air opera. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:34, 9 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

More pics uploaded, with wedding cakes - I couldn't resist. Today's story is about the Inkpot Madonna who returned to "her place" 9 years ago, and also has aspects of early learning, see? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:06, 15 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today is the anniversary of the premiere of Götterdämmerung. Berit Lindholm sang its final scene in concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, only four years after her stage debut in a Mozart opera in Stockholm. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:19, 17 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today, my focus is on Renata Scotto, after days of updating. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:34, 20 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: you really put a lot of work into that. I hope you keep going with it. Sometimes I think there's a need for a time machine, because I would love to travel into the past and watch her perform. Viriditas (talk) 22:14, 20 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today is Debussy's birthday. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:42, 22 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: he’s one of my fave composers. I’m convinced that the genre of the modern film score is singularly in his debt. Viriditas (talk) 02:34, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today is Gwendolyn Killebrew's birthday, as you will have seen - pictured: a spider and sweet food --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:27, 26 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This too shall pass. - Ten years ago on 28 August, I heard a symphony, with a heavy heart because of the pending decision in WP:ARBINFOBOX, and not worried about my future here but Andy's. - It passed, and I could write the DYK about calling to dance, not battle, and Andy could write the DYK mentioning about peace and reconciliation, - look. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:56, 28 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

 You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Hawaii § Campaign to upload Lāhainā photographs.

Hi Viriditas. I went back through my old photos and uploaded some new images of the Lovatelli urn to the Commons, in case you might find them useful. I also uploaded the unrolled drawing of the entire relief from Lovatelli's original publication, since you mentioned on the talk page that you were looking for that. You can find them all at c:Category:Lovatelli urn. Cheers, Choliamb (talk) 15:25, 15 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I've added a couple of "non-free use rationale" for this image here, but I don't seem to understand the criteria or functions as well as I thought as the image was still removed from the additional articles by a bot. Do you happen to know where I can best find a simple summary of how this works and if there would be any legitimate use of this image in some related articles? Thanks for any help. -- Jjhake (talk) 13:27, 22 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

User:Jjhake, it's a bit tricky and complex. I think the easiest way to determine the appropriate usage is to just look at the subject ("Edward James Ruppelt at Bluebook"). This tells me that acceptable fair use for both Edward J. Ruppelt and Project Bluebook is valid. Beyond that, it gets a little hazy. It looks like you figured out why the bot removed it.[1] However, I'm not certain fair use will apply to those other articles, but it's worth it to give it a shot. Viriditas (talk) 00:14, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks. The bot removed it from Project Bluebook as well even after I’d updated the image, but I’ll try that one more time, perhaps. Jjhake (talk) 00:46, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Jjhake: The only thing I can think of is that you need to add separate instances of ((Non-free use rationale 2)) at the top for each article. It's the only thing that makes sense. As far as I can tell, the template was designed for only one article, so you have to add a new one for each subsequent use. Viriditas (talk) 00:57, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks. Reading more about that lead me to try out the combo of "Non-free media data" and "Non-free media rationale" templates which was recommended for cases with multiple articles. I've given that a try for just the two main articles directly on topic as you pointed out. Jjhake (talk) 02:01, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Regarding Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous, please do not remove a discussion after another editor (me in this case) responds. These discussions are informative to other editors and will be archived in due time. Cullen328 (talk) 23:53, 22 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

User:Cullen328, my error. I mistakenly assumed that you wanted me to remove it. Viriditas (talk) 23:56, 22 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

In response to your OP, from a perusal of the linked example I can say that this type of artifact is called a moiré, an interference pattern produced from an interaction between, on one hand, the halftone screens (or comparable engraving technique) that were used to reproduce the cover image and, on the other, the grid of pixels in the scan. In the analogue era of the printing trade, when a second-generation image of the cover would have been captured by a copy-camera—through another halftone screen—I’d call it a rescreen moiré, as opposed to a self- or subject moiré (where one of the interfering ‘spatial waves’ is inherent to the image, for example a flight of stairs or a railing viewed from a distance, or from closer up a striped or houndstooth textile). I don’t know if there’s a term more apt to the digital era.

As to what can be done, not much AFAIK, particularly when the moiré has such a low frequency (i.e. so large a scale). The best solution would be to scan it again at a different resolution or on an angle, finding a setup that minimizes the effect by trial-&-error, but of course that’s no help after the fact when you don’t have the original. (I notice the example also has some edges cut off, which would ideally be remedied at the same time.) The general strategy for tackling either type of moiré is to blur the image on a comparable scale to the wavelength of the pattern, but here a blur of sufficient size would destroy all the details. I’m not up to speed with the latest in image-manipulation software—maybe someone’s brought AI to bear on the problem, for example—but the anti-moiré photo-retouching tools I’ve seen can only deal with small-scale patterns, which can be blurred to the point of imperceptibility without compromising the ‘real’ details.

A further note, if this isn’t TLDR already: moiré in colour images usually affects the component channels (primary colours) differently, because in the original each colour of ink will have been screened at a different angle (which is chosen to minimize the perceptibility of the moiré between them by creating a high-frequency “rosette” pattern). Where a greyscale (black-&-white) reproduction will suffice, it may be possible to obtain a decent result by omitting or blurring the worse-affected channels. In your example the Red channel is comparatively ‘clean’, with only a sort of spurious canvas texture that’s much more subtle than the checkered-flag effect in the G & B channels, so could make for a fairly faithful monochrome reproduction—or perhaps a somewhat weird or impressionistic (but at least not checkered) colour rendering.—Odysseus1479 03:03, 16 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you for reminding me that I still want to upload these images. For what it's worth, I have G'MIC-Qt plug-in installed for GIMP 2.10. There should be a way to script a filter to fix this problem. Here's a link to the reference and resource page.[2] Tell me what you think. Viriditas (talk) 08:39, 16 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Funny, I’d written a sentence or two speculating that scientific image-processing software might have some mathematical means of dealing with it, such as Fourier transforms, but decided it was too vague to be helpful, in a long-enough post … Anyway most of that is well outside my experience, but (assuming your permission to talk out of my hat) one feature caught my eye: if you could run a bandpass filter that excludes a fairly narrow range of wavelengths approximating that of the moiré, you might be able to smooth it out without harming larger & smaller details. If the filter can only include such a range, perhaps the result (basically a picture of the moiré itself) could be used as an overlay or mask on the original to apply compensation, if that makes any sense. Since the magazine was probably not perfectly flat when scanned, the pattern will not be quite uniform, so I expect the bandwidth will need to be large enough to contain a certain amount of variability.—Odysseus1479 03:15, 19 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Odysseus1479: just a note to say that I haven't had a chance to play around with it just yet, but I am thinking about it in the next few days. I appreciate you keeping me on my toes. Viriditas (talk) 08:44, 22 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Odysseus1479: I am happy to report that the G'MIC-Qt plug-in for moiré removal works. I was able to remove almost 90% of the moiré artifacts using various passes of the filter on selected settings. I will upload the results as soon as I am finished playing around with it. Viriditas (talk) 22:54, 9 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello. It's been awhile and I'm don't know if you are still assisting with reviews. I have a current FAC for the Robert Johnson song "Cross Road Blues". One reviewer has raised some issues regarding the wording and we are trying to work through it. I don't want to impose, but remember how helpful you were in past reviews. Would you be up to looking through the article for stylistic issues and make some suggestions or even copyedit if you feel like it? Thanks. —Ojorojo (talk) 15:14, 27 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I’m going to pass, not because I don’t want to help, but because the situation is under control and it doesn’t look like you need my assistance. I appreciate you asking me, however. Viriditas (talk) 20:02, 27 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I understand and hope things are OK after the recent disaster. —Ojorojo (talk) 18:09, 28 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you. Viriditas (talk) 01:23, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'm wondering how you got on with the list of recordings I mentioned back in March. I do hope Fauré touched the spot for you, but of course à chacun ses goûts. Tim riley talk 23:02, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Tim riley: Thank you for following up! That's very thoughtful of you. I don't know if you recall, or if you ever got the ping (I did ping you in the discussion, but there are times it doesn't work). Basically, I ran into a weird problem with Apple Music and dropped it. I did give it a try! The full discussion about the problem I ran into is here. I would love to get back into it, so thank you for reminding me. In fact, I may give it a go later tonight. Viriditas (talk) 02:32, 30 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

September songs

my story today

Our festival's last concert was most moving and inspiring, - also the story of Walter Arlen, - today I'm proud that I survived the decision in WP:ARBINFOBOX for 10 years, standing and singing -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:20, 11 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you, Gerda. As always, you are a breath of fresh air in a malodorous world. Your very presence brings so much happiness to others. I had some free time the other day to listen to some of the BBC Proms broadcasts. I believe it was this one. Another thing I've been meaning to ask you: are you familiar with American composer Marga Richter? I wanted to create an article about one of her compositions, but it's fairly complex, and I'm not sure how far I would get. I would probably be able to cover the most basic information, but given the source, would you be willing to help fill in the more expert areas? Viriditas (talk) 22:44, 11 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you, - I like fresh air ;) - As for the composer, go ahead, begin, and hope for collaboration. I am not at all a music expert, and have the difficulty of being unfamiliar with a lot of terminology in English, but there are other who will help! Just go to project Classical music. - I don't have to tell you about today's story, - always so nice to open your talk! - It's the wedding anniversary of Clara and Robert Schumann, but I was too late with our gift. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:27, 12 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today I remember Raymond Arritt, who still helps me, five years after he died, per what he said in my darkest time on Wikipedia (placed in my edit-notice as a reminder), and by teh rulez. - Latest pics from a weekend in Berlin (one more day to come). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:10, 19 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

My story today - as you know - is The Company of Heaven ("company" with a double meaning, but angelic company in the end). - Pictures of the one more day yes, but no others yet, it's a week with concert or opera almost every night! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:16, 29 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

there is also an incredible amount of resistance to new ideas in the medical and science communities

@Tryptofish: your talk page is big enough as it is, so I'm splitting this off here. I hope you don't mind.

Regarding this resistance to new ideas, I don't think this is unique to medicine and science. As far as I understand it (which is not so well), human culture and its relevant influence and extension into academia and other sectors, has historically appealed to tradition rather than evidence-based procedures and practices. I write a lot about this in articles about art and music, where you find artists trying to thread the needle between being in the vanguard, and so far over the edge of tradition that they are considered partly alien, and the need to make a living, which finds them coming back to the mainstream and trying to integrate what they found on the other side of the mountain back into the village. And as far as I understand the controversial psychological literature (which is not at all), this is based on the way the human brain works (our brains develop perceptual habits that are difficult to break without thinking about thinking, which most people never do), although there is some debate and disagreement about this. (For example, the notion that conservatism is rooted in brain chemistry, and liberal brains are somehow more easily able to adopt new ideas and perspectives, etc.) I think it is safe to say that there is an element of fear and uncertainty involved in anything that is new and different for most people. Still, there is a small minority of humanity that thrives in this frontier unlike their neighbors. Formerly, we might refer to this as the avant garde. It's unfortunate, but in today's world, this notion has been monetized in technology and engineering, to the point where new ideas are very often not new at all, but wrapped up in older, institutionalized frameworks that give the appearance of the new, but don't change the way we do things, but instead solidify the status quo. This is especially true when it comes to trying to change education; very little actual progress has been made. Because people are so afraid of change, we are now living in a strange, new world where what is new is almost unheard of and unseen.

There is also the tendency to codify this approach (that is, the appeal to tradition over evidence) into the legal and government sphere, with creeping incrementalism the rule of the day, while paradigm-shifting revolutions in that area are rare and few and far in between. In regards to cannabis (the topic we briefly touched upon in the original discussion on your talk page), the literature is quite clear on why it remains a Schedule I drug in the US. It has nothing to do with public safety and human health, as its health benefits have been well known in the pharmacopoeia (folk and otherwise) for centuries. The reason cannabis remains a Schedule I drug in the US is multifactorial. It has to do with institutional and systemic racism (see Harry J. Anslinger) and its use in comparison to alcohol and prescription drugs. (Industry representatives fund anti-cannabis efforts, and there's good data showing as cannabis use rises, alcohol and prescription drug use declines. One of the more popular examples shows states with legal use of cannabis consistently consuming less opiates than other states where it is illegal, etc.) Former White House counsel to Richard Nixon John Ehrlichman let the cat out of the bag in 1994, just a few years before he died. As you are likely aware, the Nixon administration listed cannabis as Schedule I with no medicinal value. Erlichman told journalist Dan Baum the reason they did this: "You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."[3] The FDA, the DEA, and all the other agencies who continue to defend Schedule I, are doing so in bad faith, and in opposition to fifty years of scientific recommendations saying it should be removed. Viriditas (talk) 01:23, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I agree with everything you say there. And that's exactly right, about how the underlying political agenda was a cynically racist one. (I hadn't previously seen that quote from Ehrlichman, but it's certainly a doozy.) And what there was in the Nixon administration was greatly amplified by Reagan, and "just say no". As for the brain/mind differences between most people and the avante-garde, I have no idea how much of it is genetic, and how much is early life experience, but I have a gut feeling that it is more the latter. A place where I've seen it in my personal experience is in the way that scientists review the work of fellow scientists. In fact, my personal experience has made me very skeptical of anonymous peer review, even though that's seen by the public as something beyond reproach. I've seen first-hand how reviewers gravitate towards "safe" work that simply confirms what everyone already knows, at the expense of novel and unconventional work that could have been a lot more important. In my opinion, if Einstein had lived a century later, special relativity would never have been published in a mainstream journal.

And in getting my pain controlled for my pinched nerve, I get upset every time I think about it. (And I have an excellent health care situation.) Most people who have radiculopathy just have a simple case of a "slipped disk", which is something that responds well to fairly minimal treatment and will go away on its own. People in that situation show up at doctors' offices all the time, and doctors know what to do. Unfortunately for me, I have an atypical case, which has been definitively diagnosed by an MRI. I have a lot more than a slipped disk, such that two bones in my backbone are squeezed against one another, and severely pinching a nerve. We know that now, and I'm being cared for accordingly. But it took me about three months of me saying that I know what my body feels like and there's no way this is something simple, before I got that MRI and started getting the necessary level of care. I had to go through step after step of "conservative treatment" (that's exactly what they call it) that never did any good. But they had to check all the boxes, to show that they tried something simple, before they were willing to increase the level of care to what was needed. For a while, I was on Percocet, which contains oxycodone, and it was, finally, a blessing for me. (I don't need it anymore, for reasons I don't need to go into here.) One day, I needed my prescription refilled towards the end of the week. My doctor got it taken care of on a Friday. I checked with the pharmacy on Saturday, and they told me they were out of stock and wouldn't get more in until Monday. I was going to run out on Sunday morning. So they told me of another branch of the same pharmacy chain, several blocks away, that could fill it for me right away. But to move the prescription there, I had to get an OK from my doctor's office. So I called the after hours phone number there. The secretarial person who answered the phone yelled at me that I was a drug addict, and I would just have to wait until Monday. I was horrified, and in a panic, because I knew that would mean awful pain for me. Fortunately, a nurse practitioner called me back, apologized for what the other person had said, and got it straightened out. Thanks a lot, Nixon and Reagan. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:06, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I talked above about the conservatism of peer reviewers. Well, here is today's wonderful announcement of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, for work that made mRNA vaccines like those for Covid-19 possible: [4]. And to quote: "These obstacles did not discourage the Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó, who was devoted to developing methods to use mRNA for therapy. During the early 1990s, when she was an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, she remained true to her vision of realizing mRNA as a therapeutic despite encountering difficulties in convincing research funders of the significance of her project." What a perfect example of what I was talking about. (We shouldn't fund this. It's too risky, too far "out there". Even though it will win a Nobel Prize and save millions of human lives.) --Tryptofish (talk) 18:29, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Tryptofish: Thanks for reply. Just want to reply to a few points: I've seen first-hand how reviewers gravitate towards "safe" work that simply confirms what everyone already knows, at the expense of novel and unconventional work that could have been a lot more important This is true across the board in all fields. Reddit has been highlighting this in the field of athletics for the last month (likely due to the attention to it given by Boing Boing). So far, they've shown two examples of this, but there's three banned track and field techniques on the BB page: spinning javelin, somersault long jump, and cartwheel shot put.[5] I think you might find the videos linked on that page instructive as an analogy to what you discovered in peer review. In this example, track and field athletes discovered three new techniques for achieving their goals using basic physics and the forward momentum of the human body, but the techniques were quickly banned by the governing athletic federations for being too risky. But really, is a somersault and a cartwheel "risky"? I don't think so, but others might disagree.

I'm really sorry to hear about how badly you were treated by the after hours secretary. I don't think someone like that should hold a forward facing job dealing with clients and I would encourage you to file an official complaint and take it up with management. They need to have a caring, empathetic, and compassionate person in that role instead. However, I have personally uncovered the same problem with emergency dispatchers in the US. You may not know this, but there is a phenomenon in communities across the US where they do not call emergency police numbers to report crimes because the dispatchers are rude, inconsiderate, and horrible to the people reporting the crime. This has also been documented in many audio and video clips online, but the media has all but ignored the problem. What often happens is that the dispatchers will berate the people calling in a crime, and accuse them of wasting their time. In other instances, the dispatchers will turn the tables on them and accuse them of being the criminals. I recently saw a video where someone found a gun in a park and called it in. The dispatchers sent the cops in who then treated the people who found the gun as potential criminals. There's something seriously wrong in America with people who are supposed to be protecting and serving us, as they seem to do neither.

The problem I describe above is also a complete failure to use actionable open-source intelligence (OSINT) provided by citizens via the dispatch lines, information that could be used to improve the health and safety of our communities. Instead of disregarding the public, law enforcement should be embracing them. I'm not the only one who has noticed that law enforcement no longer prevents crime at a proactive level, but rather responds to it in a reactionary way. This has become such a known problem in cities like San Francisco, that there has been a major effort to change the way policing confronts burglaries in progress. It's a sad irony that a region with access to the best technology in the world can't seem to use that same tech to confront something as basic as a car break-in and theft, crimes which clearly occur in the same place and show consistent patterns on incident and location heatmaps. An above-average high school student could fix this problem in a matter of days, but an entire city of techocrats and so-called innovators can't do anything? Something is wrong with this picture.

Oh, and as for Katalin Karikó, back in July, I requested help fixing and expanding the material you raised.[6] Coincidentally, just today, others have chimed in asking for help. Maybe you could make suggestions on that page? Anyway, I hope you are on the mend and are enjoying yourself. Viriditas (talk) 21:27, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'll just give a quick reply. For me personally, a somersault and a cartwheel are definitely risky these days, lol. As it happens, I attempted to put in positive feedback about the nurse practitioner who helped me (as opposed to a complaint about the medical secretary), but I gave up after the company website "lost my work". I'll put the pages of both Nobelists on my watchlist. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:21, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Just remembered: I'd be remiss not to add this. In the realm of institutions where there is a small-c conservative resistance to new ideas, one cannot overlook Wikipedia. Any time someone wants to propose some new idea for a policy, there is a reflexive opposition, often citing WP:CREEP. Of course, sometimes this is for good reasons. Some ideas (including some of my own) turn out to be flawed. But there's also an attitude that, if it worked a decade or more ago, then we shouldn't change "Wikipedia's culture", and that leaves this project vulnerable to failing to keep up with changing times. For reasons I don't understand, there is a particular hostility that emerges whenever anyone proposes to make the blocking or banning policies more humane. It's a hostility that I parodied in the userspace essay WP:LAZYLAZY some years ago, and it continues to baffle me. --Tryptofish (talk) 19:06, 3 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Tryptofish: you're preaching to the choir. I've thought about this problem for decades. I've come to believe that it comes down to a certain personality type. They usually end up working for the IRS or become accountants or bureaucrats. It's all too predictable and mundane. Viriditas (talk) 19:11, 3 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Or maybe they just end up as internet trolls. --Tryptofish (talk) 19:00, 4 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Tryptofish: I hope you don't mind, but I fixed the broken smiley for you in your last reply. Regarding the personality type you described, the one that has condemned the main page of Wikipedia to look forever like the mid-2000s, while the arrow of time pushes us forward into the unknown and treacherous [nether regions] of 2024, those personality types, I'm convinced, are uncomfortable with uncertainty, which is at the heart of this issue. I also think, and I'm sure this will sound strange for you to read (and even stranger for me to type out), that people genuinely perceive the world in different ways. While you might think that is just a stupid truism, there is something very deep and troubling to this simple, almost childlike statement. Just to give you one example: when I am active in the world, outside or in a social situation, I can glean, collect, and interpret a lot of sense information in ways that most other people cannot. This means, when I'm walking down the street, I am taking in the world in a way that is very different from others. My point is that we cannot expect everyone to be on the same page when it comes to basic reality. We are not, we really, really are not. But, you might consider looking at this a different way and approaching it from another angle because I don't think older people are going to change the way they think (for the most part, anyone over 40--I raised it by ten years based on Jack Weinberg's famous quote and the more recent social neoteny that has pushed adulthood into later years). What people really want as individuals isn't always a best match for the group (think of the car Homer designed in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"). And deciding the direction of Wikipedia by consensus has always had serious drawbacks (as does any democracy). The problem you've described ("reflexive opposition [to new ideas] often citing WP:CREEP") is one of many, namely, as projects and institutions mature, there is a measurable loss of agility; they are unable to adjust or change to match recent developments in the market, industry, or to respond to new styles and tastes. The list of companies that has failed to change in this regard is long and well known. I won't bore you with any more of my nonsense, other than to offer you a proposed solution for what you are looking for here. To address this reflexive opposition to new ideas, you want to create something like the Wikimedia Incubator, but for use on Wikipedia. There should be a way to propose and test new ideas without opposition. I would encourage you to pursue it. Viriditas (talk) 21:25, 4 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

My smiley was broken? Your fixing it might be the first step in fully integrating dentistry back into... (per your comment back at my talk). (By the way, I'm watching here, have been for a long time, so no need to ping me, but no problem, either.) I fully agree that different people have different sensory experiences of the world. (There's a whole lot of philosophy and a whole lot of biological psychology that affirm this.) As for Wikipedia, and its resemblance to, say, VHS on a VCR, just go to my user page and scroll way, way down, below the Ukrainian flag. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:36, 4 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

[Wikipedia] was a terrible idea on its face, and yet has worked absolutely brilliantly, and vastly better than the alternatives I think I might differ with you on this for several reasons. I can see how you might think it was a terrible idea as an academic, but it was around 1999, which was the fin de siècle, and the spirit of the times was that of Web 1.0, and the most active internet users were content creators in their own way (which is contrary to the accepted history on this subject). The difference between then and now, is that this content creation was not being monetized (as difficult as that is for people to believe). 2001 was the tail end of a dying philosophy based on the notion that information wants to be free, an idea that Web 2.0, paywalls, and all the other malarkey put to rest and killed. Nupedia and Wikipedia came around during a transitional time when companies were just getting ready to transform the internet into the wasteland we see today, very similar to how the cable companies took over television and destroyed it. And this is what corporate America is so great at doing. It takes great ideas, throws them into a meat grinder, and feeds us the slop. Wikipedia was able to preserve a lot of the ideas and philosophy behind the original web and preserve it from privatized adulteration. The great irony is that it arose from a confluence of two vastly different philosophies deeply engaged in its construction: right-libertarian conservativism and left-wing progressivism. If Alan Watts were alive, he would say "Of course, it could never be any other way." Viriditas (talk) 22:07, 4 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

October songs

my story today

My story today is sad but great. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:49, 6 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you for sharing, Gerda. Sometimes I think the only reason I logon to Wikipedia is to see your messages and read your stories. You should be paid for your services. I'm very sorry to hear of the passing of Mr. Wisser. 81 years of age doesn't seem like enough time, but he certainly lived a full life. I wonder if I have heard the 2002 recording of Carmina Burana at Eberbach Abbey. It's possible that I might even own it; I'm too lazy to look through my old CD collection. On another note, it's amazing how much "O Fortuna" (and "Sympathy for the Devil") make an appearance in films. Something interesting: the two popular composers who have made neo-classical musical fresh for a new generation are both German: Hans Zimmer and Ramin Djawadi. What do you make of that? Is Germany keeping the torch of classical musical alive? Obviously, Americans like John Williams have done a lot in this regard, but Zimmer and Djawadi are more modern and accessible in their approach to scores. Zimmer's soundtrack for Interstellar (2014) is one of the greatest film scores of all time, and Djawadi's work on Game of Thrones and Westworld is essential to the narrative, and allows the shows to excel like no other. Viriditas (talk) 22:21, 6 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Blushing a bit. - He certainly lived a full life, and I profit from it every festival season, and he was personal and friendly, and efficient at the same time, with every members meeting that he presided. I wonder if it was his idea that not all members are eligible to come and vote. I don't know if the festival's recordings even went on sale, or were just gifts for sponsors. - Thank you for the neo-classical music! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:52, 7 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A few more pics, and see my talk for what we sang today (I'm the woman in red), and what Tabea Zimmermann played (today's story on her birthday): I heard it, and it's on YouTube. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:08, 8 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

More pics, and today's story is on a birthday, and the real DYK was already on that birthday --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:47, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

User talk:Gerda Arendt#Music keeps track of "my" music and memories, and just today I have a juxtaposition of music performed by the two church choirs in town, one I sang in and one where I listened, to music about love, evening and night. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:59, 19 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today, it's a place that inspired me, musings if you have time. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:38, 20 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Towards the end of the month, I thought of Brian Bouldton, and his ways to compromise, - with musings about peace there, - feel free to join. Hevenu shalom aleichem. Today is Reformation Day, and I believe that reformation is a work in progress. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:14, 31 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:Daiya logo.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).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A tag has been placed on Category:Environmental crime in England indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and removing the speedy deletion tag. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 20:31, 15 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The issue is its out of scope for the article. PackMecEng (talk) 23:39, 18 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Please don't do that, and especially please don't import that into a different contentious topic. You can express your issue with the article without attacking another editor. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 01:57, 22 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello Viriditas,

I’m reaching out as part of a Cornell University academic study investigating the potential for user-facing tools to help improve discussion quality within Wikipedia discussion spaces (such as talk pages, noticeboards, etc.). We chose to reach out to you because you have been highly active on various discussion pages.

The study centers around a prototype tool, ConvoWizard, which is designed to warn Wikipedia editors when a discussion they are replying to is getting tense and at risk of derailing into personal attacks or incivility. More information about ConvoWizard and the study can be found at our research project page on meta-wiki.

If this sounds like it might be interesting to you, you can use this link to sign up and install ConvoWizard. Of course, if you are not interested, feel free to ignore this message.

If you have any questions or thoughts about the study, our team is happy to discuss! You may direct such comments to me or to my collaborator, Cristian_at_CornellNLP.

Thank you for your consideration.

--- Jonathan at CornellNLP (talk) 17:35, 24 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello, Viriditas. You have new messages at Banaticus's talk page.
Message added 04:47, 29 October 2023 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the ((Talkback)) or ((Tb)) template.Reply[reply]

On 2 November 2023, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article John Hunter Thomas, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that insects not only destroyed the personal plant collection of John Hunter Thomas, but also bear his name? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/John Hunter Thomas. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, John Hunter Thomas), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 00:02, 2 November 2023 (UTC) Reply[reply]

November songs

story · music

Thank you for a cute one! - Hevenu shalom aleichem is my story today. (and never signed)

I proudly remember having sung in an oratorio premiere seven years ago OTD. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:52, 6 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Now vacation pics, with the deepest blue of the sea the third day ;) - we celebrate the birthday of a friend who wrote quite a book about the compositions of a man who will turn 300 soon. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:46, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today: in memoriam Jerome Kohl who said (In Freundschaft): "and I hope that they have met again in the beyond and are making joyous music together" --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:29, 27 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

On 15 November 2023, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Flathead Lake Biological Station, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Flathead Lake Biological Station can detect invasive aquatic species in real-time using eDNA technology? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Flathead Lake Biological Station. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Flathead Lake Biological Station), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

♠PMC♠ (talk) 00:02, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

(Copying discussion from DYK nom template to here)

Sea otters: Regarding sea otters, you may have confused Pillar Point with Pigeon Point, which is approximately 25 miles south of Pillar Point. It is true that a sea otter was spotted north of that area, near Tunitas Creek Beach, in late 2022, but that's the only official report north of Pigeon Point in the last eight years. As you are likely aware, the sea otters were hunted close to extinction in the SFBA up until the early 20th century. There might be historic reports of sea otters off of Pillar Point in the literature, but their range is far south of that area today. There is major chatter about the FWS starting a reintroduction program which could conceivably bring them back to Pillar Point in the future. Viriditas (talk) 20:06, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Two Years Before the Mast: Thanks for the tip about Dana's book. I just spent five minutes looking through it but didn't see anything about the shore whaling at Pillar Point or anything else. The timeline seems right, so I wonder if the shore whaling station at Pillar Point was simply too small to be of any interest. I will continue to look. However, it does occur to me that considering that the book was actually written sometime between 1834-1836, it may be the case that this was far too early. My understanding is that the shore whaling station at Pillar Point didn't become prominent until 1850, but I'm going from memory, so that could be wrong. Viriditas (talk) 20:24, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Note, I did find something interesting that is somewhat related. In 2014, a draft comment to the GGNRA general management plan recommended performing an archaeological investigation into the historical whaling station at Pillar Point. I don't think this has ever been done. Viriditas (talk) 21:47, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you again for the above - really interesting. Please forgive my ignorance about Californian history and geog. In the 70s I saw a wildlife film about sea otters at Monterey. they were living on abalones. When my in-laws visited Monterey in the same decade, I asked them to bring back an abalone shell, not realising that there were issues around that request. They brought one back, and I still have it. But Monterey is probably not in the area covered by the article.

Regarding Dana's book, which I read in the 70s (so my memory will be inexact), the crew were using San Diego as a base, but would sail up "to windward" as they called what is now San Francisco Bay. From there Dana would travel on horseback eastward, to purchase buffalo hides, the intended cargo for his ship (terrible issues around that to be understood today, of course). I think it may have been San Francisco Bay where he saw the try-pots being operated all around the shore.

But it does show that there was a great deal of whaling going on from that coast at that time, so there may have been try-pots all down that coast. So please excuse my half-forgotten info, gathered so long ago. But you may find something useful in it for other articles about the Californian coast. And it was a fine book which (as I understand it) contains useful evidence of the era; it is not fiction.

There is a scene in it which may amuse you. At one point, there is no wind to speak of, and the ship has all its extra spars fixed up, and the studding sails are in use - so the ship is out at sea in full sail. That is something you don't see near the shore. He describes the view from below, and from just in front of the bows. Tall ship crews will realise that to see the rigging from that point of view, he must have been in the heads - the net rigged below the bowsprit, used at that time by sailors doing their business, because you can't poop over the side on a rolling ship. The described scene is uplifting and beautiful, and the realisation is a giggle. Storye book (talk) 10:40, 16 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi @Viriditas - I'd like to seek your input regarding this merge proposal - Talk:Bureau of International Information Programs#Merge proposal - no other editor has responded to my post from a month ago and I'm wondering what you'd recommend to be the next steps to take. Thanks. W9793 (talk) 19:10, 24 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

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December songs

story · music

Today's story is about Maria Callas, on her centenary. - Aaron Copland died OTD, and Jerome Kohl (mentioned in November) said something wise on Copland's talk. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:35, 2 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today, to Paris (29 Nov) with a visit to the Palais Garnier, - to match the story of Medea Amiranashvili, - don't miss listening to her expressive voice. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:24, 9 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I didn't know she died. Thanks for telling me. Viriditas (talk) 20:26, 9 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]