User talk:Brianboulton/Archive8

Heroic age

I only had a brief skim through this, but unless there are some criteria for inclusion that I missed, it looks like you have a couple missing: Carl Chun's German Deep Sea Expedition 1898-99 and John Lachlan Cope's (of the Ross Sea party) 1920 fiasco: the "British Imperial Antarctic Expedition". Yomangani^talk 01:37, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

I never really considered putting Chun in. His marine expedition didn't apparently go nearer to Antarctica than Bouvet Island, 54°S, so I don't think his qualifies as an Antarctic expedition. As for Cope, well, his abortive non-expedition might deserve a footnote, but not a place in the main list. Brianboulton (talk) 09:34, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Chun got a furthest south of 64°15'S, fairly close to Enderby Land, and Cope's expedition did end up with two men spending a year at Paradise Harbour (on the Antarctic continent if not inside the Antarctic Circle). Maybe you should note that only expeditions that penetrated the the Antarctic Circle are included. Yomangani^talk 10:57, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Wow...

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		Nothing more needs to be written beyond this link: [1] —Ed 17 (Talk / Contribs) 19:05, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

So sue me over my indecision over which barnstar to give you... —Ed 17 ^{(Talk / Contribs)} 19:05, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Brian, I feel really guilty that you have felt compelled to withdraw Nimrod, a feature which is - in all honesty - simply superb. Unfortunately, I think it might have been my ramblings on the TFA talk page, pleading the case for an extra point for an article I've nominated, that sparked off quite a lot of this debate. It would seem rather ironic, really, given that you helped me so much with this piece, except that I know your Nimrod article really does deserve its time in the sun. Brian, please put Nimrod back on the request page... Not now, (a three-pointer has just nipped into your old place) but a bit nearer the time. Nimrod is such a heavy-hitter, points wise, that you are bound to secure a place. (Just don't leave it too late - two weeks before should be OK, or so I was advised...) It really does deserve a bigger audience.-- Myosotis Scorpioides 20:28, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Not your fault at all, nor of any other individual. It's the system. I've not used it before, and I never will again. The idea of pushing someone else's work out and replacing it with your own - bound to cause tension and ill feeling. I don't want TFA that badly. If Raul chooses my article, that's well and good, but I will never use that system again. I hope the good old Sunderland Echo makes it, though. Brianboulton (talk) 22:43, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

The TFA request page is now booking up until January 20. Are you sure there is no way I can persuade you to nominate Nimrod again? I just really feel it would be a shame for it not to make it onto the front. (If push came to shove, I could nominate it for you if you really don't want to use that page again. But, and it's a big BUT, I don't want to 'steal your glory.') Please Brian, reconsider your decision, as, according to SandyGeorgia, there is no way of knowing if Raul is aware of the article or not.-- Myosotis Scorpioides 13:09, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

TFA/R

Brian, I'm very sorry about the events at TFA/R and I regret that were so put off that you withdrew a worthy and legitimate request after following the instructions correctly. I've left several responses at WT:TFAR, and I hope you'll come over and help us sort the issues that led to the situation. In the past, most of the page input has been from people who had a vested interest in promoting a certain set of rules that favored their own request, so achieving consensus to work within the broader and longer-term constraints, with editors fighting for a slot for more than 1,000 FAs and gaming any rules we put in place, has been a problem. Karanacs and I try to weigh in often, as we have no vested interest in promoting our own articles at TFA, but there are very few long-term contributors to the page to help design a stable system. We can't fix it unless editors like you understand the long-term issues and weigh in consistently to help make the page work optimally. I would like to re-add Nimrod eventually, because it is not a given that Raul knows about the date or knows the request was on the page; there are many requests to sort through, and I'm really unaware of how much he knows. Again, I'm sorry for how that evolved, and I hope you'll consider adding the page to your watchlist to help us make it function better. Even if you decide not to return to the page, I hope you'll feel encouraged to share ideas for improvement with me (I'll follow your page). Best regards, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 08:44, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

You were in no way to blame for the quite nasty little spat that developed at TFA/R - indeed, your efforts to pour oil on the troubled waters were admirable. I'm not blaming anyone individually, although I think a little more tact and less grandstanding from certain self-appointed guardians of the page might be desirable. It is the system itself which I find uncomfortable. This is the first time I have used it, and I felt a complete heel, pushing out someone else's well-supported and high quality work to make room for mine. I didn't know of any secret convention about leaving places open so that low-points articles could showcase their wares. I simply followed the rules, and therein lies the problem; the system as it stands has a built-in capacity to cause resentment and ill-feeling. I can't off-hand say how I think it should be changed, though I think that the rubric on the nomination page could be made much clearer as to the mechanics of nominating (it took me a while to work out what to do, and I still earned the odd supercilious comment!). I will give thought to how the system might be made to function better, and will be happy to share ideas on the page, but as for Nimrod, I won't be nominating it. I realise there's no guarantee that Raul will pick this up, but I'll chance it (two of my articles became TFAs without any action at all on my part). Anyway, thank you for your concern amid your many other cares and woes. Brianboulton (talk) 10:58, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Gallery

I centered the gallery and fixed a link in it. Every FL I have been a main editor on has galleries, so feel free to refer to them if anyone gives you trouble. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 15:18, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

• Just looking at the sandbox, I was wondering if it would make sense to a dagger † after the names of leaders who died on that particular Expedition (Scott, Mackintosh, Shackleton)? Would also need a note explaining the dagger. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 15:43, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • Glad you found new sources of images and don't worry about the gallery. By the way, your question about the date of the new bridge downstream of Sonestown Covered Bridge prompted a trip there, which led to the date (bridge plaque) and some nice snow photos, then armed with the date and a little digging in an archive, I found the newspaper article for the bridge dedication and added that as a ref. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 19:02, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Book

No, published anywhere in the world before 1923 is PD according to US law (it was published in 1905 in the US anyway by F.A. Stokes & Co) If there are copyright notices for the images you will have to to comply with the life+70 year rule though. I see the image situation is getting worse. The gallery looks poor, in my opinion the half empty list is better, but I think you can fill most of the list with PD images. Unfortunately I'm not going to have much time to investigate, but from what I remember, good starting places are:

1. There is a croppable image of Charcot in a crew photo in his account of the Pourquoi-Pas?'s trip (can't remember what it is called offhand but it has Pourquoi-Pas in the title and, unfortunately, the translation "Why Not?" in the English version). I'm sure that is floating around scanned on the web somewhere
2. Bruce can be cropped out of that image I sent you, but it sounds like you have that covered by the Mill's book.
3. Shackleton's last spot could be filled with Image:Shack-endurance.png
4. Otto Nordenskiöld appears in a sketch in the front of his Antarctica which I would think would be PD if you can't track down the status of the photo (it would fill the hole at least)
5. Nobu Shirase is quite a tough one. Have you got Riffenburgh's encyclopedia? I haven't but I think (and it is just "think") I recall a pic of Shirase in there, and it will give the provenance if so. Yomangani^talk 17:46, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I just thought: Mawson met up with Shirase, so there are probably some PD-Aus images of them together that you could crop him out of. Yomangani^talk 18:34, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

2006 Pacific hurricane season FAC

Hey, I was wondering if you had any further comments about the article. If you don't want to support it yet, that's fine. I'm just trying to keep the FAC alive. Thanks for the comments you've made already. ♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 02:14, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. I figured you were busy, given the time of year. I'll go take care of them. ♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 22:31, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Don't worry, I already went through and fixed up the article with your comments. Thanks again for your comments! ♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 00:52, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

FA thanks

	<font=3> Thanks for your support and helpful comments – Sonestown Covered Bridge made featured article today! Ruhrfisch ><>°° 03:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Plans

Thanks, there are 174 covered bridges in Pennsylvania that are still listed on the National Register of Historic Places (assuming I can count right, plus another 9 that were once listed and are now removed - see List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania‎). I am working to get FAs on the seven bridges listed together on the NRHP as Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties. I have enough well-sourced information for FAs on 6 of the 7, so my next at FAC will be Buttonwood Covered Bridge and Knapp's Covered Bridge, but I am not sure if I can get Lairdsville Covered Bridge to better than GA status (just not that much information). Once I get them all to FA or GA and work on the list for FL, I will try for a FT.

Between the NRHP forms and the two books on the Pennsylvania bridges, there is enough information to get all of them on the NRHP to GA, although most are sadly red links now. The bridges themselves are also slowly disappearing - Gudgeonville Covered Bridge burned recently, not sure if it will be rebuilt, and even if it is, if it will remain listed on the NRHP. User:Ram-Man has done a nice job with the List of covered bridges in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (not all on the NRHP) and User:Dtbohrer is working on the covered bridges in the northwest part of the state.

I like alternating articles though, so User:Dincher and I are working on Pennsylvania state parks (120 of those, with Cherry Springs State Park next for a run at FAC (and at least 20 parks could be FAs). My true love here is working on creek articles (which is how I got writing about bridges in the first place) but they take a lot of work. So I have lots of topics to write about still! Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 19:44, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I almost made the section header here "More information on obscure Pennsylvania topics than you'd ever want to know". ;-) I did notice the non-British polar expedition articles are generally pretty sparse, so I think you'll be busy for a while.

The article on Buttonwood Covered Bridge may be a bit troublesome as I have several reliable sources that disagree on what type of truss it is and when it was built. Knapp's was just beautifully retsored for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the restoration is documented in great detail - take care, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 20:06, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on your latest FA! Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 03:45, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Beethoven?

Hello Brian, I mentioned your name here and am curious what you think. Yours truly, Opus33 (talk) 20:23, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Ship tonnages

Hello BB. I have posted a note on your FAC. I suspect the "ton" measurement of both this vessel and Nimrod were actually tonnage measurments, i.e., volumes rather than displacements. (Were they warships the opposite likely would be true.) If you are unable to determine that exactly, you may want to avoid using "weight" or "displacement" or their variants. If a source says that a ship "measures" x tons, that would not indicate displacment. Regards, Kablammo (talk) 22:15, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

BB-- do you have any information on the measure of Nimrod's size (displacement v. tonnage)? If tonnage, Nimrod Expedition's footnote 1 and accompanying text would have to be changed. Kablammo (talk) 03:04, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

• I believe the answer is here. That shows the Nimrod was "334 grt"; grt is gross register tons, a measure of volume and not mass. Miramar gives the same figure, and its search page shows that grt, not displacement, is the measure for merchant ships. I have edited Nimrod Expedition and Nimrod (ship) to conform. Kablammo (talk) 04:02, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Brian: Thank you for your kind note. I did check the other ship originally listed in your footnote 1, and it was also measured in grt. So it would be accurate to state that Nimrod was less than 1/4 the size of the other vessel, if you want to readd it (or want me to). Very nice job on the article, and I hope to see it on the main page next week. Regards, Kablammo (talk) 15:22, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Would you do it (I might get it wrong)? Thanks, Brianboulton (talk) 15:25, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I spoke too soon. While Wikipedia lists Discovery's tonnage at 1570, Paine has that figure for displacement. Lloyd's gives the proper grt figure, which is still twice the volume of that of Nimrod. Corrected accordingly. Kablammo (talk) 15:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Copyedit and peer review request

Hi Brian, I have created Toa Payoh Ritual Murders and have put it up for review at Wikipedia:Peer review/Toa Payoh Ritual Murders/archive1. The article tells of the child murders committed by a man and two women in Singapore. It was pretty sensational for the revelations on their lifestyle and the acts. I am planning to bring the article up for FAC; it is pretty much comprehensive and in good detail. If you have the time, could you help me brush up the language and offer opinions on where it is deficient? Thank you very much! Jappalang (talk) 02:12, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Brian, I have taken your suggestions and tried to trim much of the fat as I could. At least a quarter from the final portions have been cut, but I feel I am too close to my text. I would appreciate it if you could again run through it in your free time and point out if the blubber has truly been skimmed off or if further work needs to be done. Jappalang (talk) 02:48, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for taking up the copyedit request and helping to polish the article further. There is not much need to hurry, I am certainly not rushing to get this to FAC by the end of this month (heh!). Take your time and enjoy your break. Wishing you a happy Yuletide!. Jappalang (talk) 12:17, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I will try to reduce the movies and television section. Again many gratitudes for eliminating the informal phrases and copyediting. Enjoy your break! Jappalang (talk) 01:01, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Image:Charcot1.jpg

My understanding of the GNU Free Documentation license is that you have express permission to use it on Wikipedia, or the image has been published from a reliable source with a GNU license that you can link to. So, below the image it says GNU Free Documentation license on coolantartica.com. How reliable a source is that? Do you trust the information there enough to cite it at an FAC? Do you think Ealdgyth would be skeptical? If you're unsure of the reliability of the image, and it was taken in 1905, I think {{PD-EU}} would suffice if you agree that that is accurate. --Moni3 (talk) 14:12, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Some things to think about: the photographer would own the copyright, correct? Does it seem reasonable that the person who snapped this in 1905 lived until March 2000 (when GFDL went public) and subsequently licensed the photo as such? That seems a most unrealistic expectation to me. Moni is quite right that there seems to be a reliability problem of the Ealdgyth ilk here.

I would not, however, recommend {{PD-EU}}, as the current source does not tell us A) when it was published (only created - quite a different measure), B) where that publication, if any, was (was it Europa, N. American, Australia?) and C) that publication, if any, was done anonymously (there's a difference between actually being anonymous and just being unknown to us/the source website). Would File:Jean-Baptiste Charcot.jpg be a suitable replacement? Эlcobbola _talk 15:29, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Moni hates being wrong. --Moni3 (talk) 15:33, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Coolantarctic.com has previously passed the Ealdgyth test - see WP:Peer review/Southern Cross Expedition/archive1. As to the suggested replacement, its a much better image and I'd much rather use it. I was told, however, that I could not - see Fuchs comment on the FLC page, Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The image review part of that page has been exasperating for me, with guidance either lacking or unclear. If Jean-Baptiste Charcot.jpg is in fact free to use, I'll jump for it. Thanks for your time. (PS Moni is never wrong - first law of Wikipedia) Brianboulton (talk) 15:48, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Sources have different competencies. Coolantarctic.com may well be reliable for certain information, just not necessarily for copyright assertions (a optometrist, for example, may be highly reliable for eye aliments, but I wouldn't necessarily trust them to remedy a ruptured spleen). File:Jean-Baptiste Charcot.jpg is fine; Herr Fuchs was correct that the {{PD-USGov}} was wrong (I've removed it), but the {{PD-BAIN}} tag is correct. Эlcobbola _talk 16:15, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks - I'm more than happy with the better image. Brianboulton (talk) 16:25, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

J-archive

this source is being qutesioned. It was being used in two places in the article. I have swapped out one ref. The other seems to cite a fact no longer present in the current version of the source. How important do you think the remaining fact is?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 20:22, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

That fact isn't important at all. Begin the section: "Cordray clerked for..." etc, and forget about ref [5].

I am moving towards support, but I want to do a quick run through with final prose tweaks. Could you fix the three dab links that show up on the checker, and also fix the dead link [22]. I can't get it to work, and it shows dead on the checking tool. Brianboulton (talk) 21:15, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/The Simpsons Hit & Run

Hey Brian, regarding this, my first FAC has gained support (and is co-nommed with someone else), and my second was already nominated earlier. There was no consensus so I just renominated it—I think that enough reviewers have come across it to consider it sufficiently reviewed. For the third and fourth, they are split between User:Theleftorium and myself, so for simplicity's sake, I look at it as if one FAC is submitted by each of us in total. I hope that explains it a bit more. Gary King (talk) 20:00, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

If you are clear about it, and the powers that be are not worried, then I won't be. It just seems that the rule is not specific enough on this point to be clear. Nothing against the articles, btw. Brianboulton (talk) 21:17, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Yep; also, I think most people have an aversion towards video game articles so they rarely get reviews, which is why all of my FACs are lagging at the moment. Gary King (talk) 22:52, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

If nominators overload FAC at a time when FAC is already short on reviewers and long on nominations, they shorten the time I can allow FACs to run, increasing the chances of FACs being archived sooner. Including their own. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:28, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

New map

I made a map with Online Map Creation (OMC), added the supposed coastline in red and the points you asked for, and labeled it too. I also took the liberty of including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and labeling them (since they are in the article too). I also labeled Tierra del Fuego as South America. I added the map to the New South Greenland article. If you prefer I can crop the map to remove the things I added at the top and make the map a little narrower too. Please let me know any changes you want made, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 02:28, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

P.S. I somehow did not reply to you previous post - congratulations on two featured stars in one day! Keep up the good work and enjoy the south of France, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 03:58, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I removed the coordinates from the "? mountains" label and moved all the coastline labels slightly for improved legibility. You may have to WP:BYC to see the changes. It was an easy map - the map and dots came right from OMC (so the coordinates were quite useful), I just had to color and label things and add the coastline. Sorry about the trip, hope your holidays are happy. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 13:09, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I added the fourth dot and redrew the supposed coastline a bit to avoid the new dot. May have to WP:BYC to see the changes. I read the article to get the full coordiantes (lat and long), using "Morrell turned north from a position he calculated as 67°52'S, 48°11W." Is this OK? I will be on wiki less the next week or so for a variety of time and internet access issues. Not sure if this counts as a bit of a break or not. I keep toying with the idea of giving up on every peer review gets a response, then someone thanks me and makes it all worth while again. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 05:23, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I will probably do a few PRs too (have promised Finetooth one). Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 13:56, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

I added Capt Johnson's voyage as a series of red dots - is this OK? Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 05:01, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Edgar Speyer

Thanks for the continued support for Edgar Speyer in the recent FA Candidacy. I was disappointed that the admins decided to close it down rather than wait for the issues to be resolved, but it seems that a limit of two weeks on the list is being imposed. I doubt anything more on his childhood is going to be found, although I might try polishing up my very rusty German and searching on German language sites to see if there's anything there. I'll have another go in the new year because I'm going to be working to finish another new London Underground article over Christmas (got two weeks off, so lots of time for research and writing).

Oh, and very well done for getting to your eighteenth featured article in one year.--DavidCane (talk) 19:37, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't find anything more on Edgar's childhood so I've taken the plunge and relisted the article as a Featured Article candidate.--DavidCane (talk) 00:39, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Copyedit request

Brian, is there any chance you would be able to find time for a copyedit? I have Wonder Stories at FAC, and it's down at the end of the page and has just attracted an oppose from Tony for prose. I've fixed Tony's specific points but would very much appreciate any time you can spare. If you're too busy, no worries. Either way, let me know if I can reciprocate with a peer review at some point -- I really enjoyed reviewing Rhinemaidens a little while ago. Thanks -- Mike Christie (talk) 11:51, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Will do soon, today if possible. Brianboulton (talk) 12:04, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

I've been watching and it looks great. Thanks! Let me know what I can help with in return. Mike Christie (talk) 00:56, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Richard Cordray FA

Thanks for the careful attention to detail. Watch for upcoming politics FAC for Byron Brown, Jennifer Brunner and Jesse Jackson, Jr..

New South Greenland

Will do; I was hoping you'd suggest that one -- I already glanced at it and it looks very interesting. I should be able to get to it today. Thanks again for the very helpful copyedit, and of course for the support. Mike Christie (talk) 19:10, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

• The hook listed at DYK doesn't make it clear if it was described when originally 'discovered' or 9 years later in the book with the coordinates. Also, ref 8 in the article says 1832 instead of 1823 which doesn't make it any easier. Could you clarify the hook with an alternative formulation? - Mgm|^(talk) 12:38, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

I have no idea what the above message means. Someone other than me must have suggested the DYK listing. All I can say is that the "discovery" took place in 1823, and was described in Morrell's account which was published in 1832. Brianboulton (talk) 17:47, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Seasons Greetings

	<font=3> Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year! Ruhrfisch ><>°° 12:04, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the New Year's wishes - may all your articles be promoted as well! Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 01:58, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Featured article candidates/Jack Kemp

Just letting you know I have another politics review going on at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Jack Kemp.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 07:13, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Action of 13 January 1797 FAC

Thankyou for participating in the FAC for Action of 13 January 1797. The article has now passed and your assistance in the process was much appreciated. Regards--Jackyd101 (talk) 11:43, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

PR

Hey there, would you mind reviewing this article? Thanks, ₪Ceran →(cheer→chime →carol) 17:00, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

FAC Review for Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War II)

Hello Brian,

I believe I have addressed all of your valuable comments in the FAC review of this article. I'd apprecite if you could take a look and let me know. Thanks Perseus71 (talk) 17:43, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Your latest comments are incorporated to some extent. You may find my responses on the review page. Please let me know your comments after your read as mentioned. Thanks Perseus71 (talk) 21:59, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Anti-nuclear movement in the United States

Hi Brian, I've read your user page and you seem like a very experienced and kindly person. I wonder if you would care to do the GA review on this article please... Johnfos (talk) 06:28, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Kirsten Dunst

Hey Brian, listen, I want to ask a favor. If you have time, do you think you can comment on Kirsten Dunst's PR, since I'm trying to get the article to FA status and I want to know what needs to be done first. If you have time, I would appreciate your comments a lot. :) --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 22:53, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Happy New Year to you as well. :) --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 23:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I got your queries and thank you for taking your time in reading the article. :) --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 18:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

And HNY to you too...

Don't worry, I'm actually ... (gasp) editing again. More bishops to come! Ealdgyth - Talk 00:03, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Greetings

Happy new year to you as well. I'm back to Wikipedia - check out Polaris expedition, it's an interesting story. I've got a library book on order and intend to get it to at least GA status. I did take note of your suggestion on the Cherry-Garrard bio, I will eventually get to it... Zatoichi26 (talk) 02:12, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Maps

I had to make many errors before OMC worked for me. Let's see if I can recall most of them and apologies for pointing the things you already know. First off there are check boxes that need to be checked for displaying dots and connecting them with lines. Second, the order of the coordinates on Wikipedia (latitude, longitude) is the reverse of the order on OMC. Third, the coordinates need to use decimal degrees and minutes (so 12 degrees 47 minutes is 12.78333333). Fourth, I use print screen to capture the map and paste it into MS Paint or Paint.NET. Fifth, I still clean up the dots by pasting in a consistent dot in each place. The coordinates I used for File:Mozart family Grand Tour Map.png are given there if you want to try a test run. Hope this helps, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 21:53, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Print screen is just a way of capturing whatever is displayed on the computer monitor (the article on it has fairly detailed directions). The image of the screen with the map can then be pasted into a graphics program like MS Paint or Paint.NET. I usually make a file called "NAME scratch map" and work from that, then crop to the smaller final version. I change the colors using Paint. I save the map as a PNG format file. I can explain more, but let me know if this works first. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 04:09, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Please let me know if you need more advice on map making Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 18:45, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

The initial version loks good. FYI, I usually make two versions of the OMC map, one with the points labeled and one without labels. You can also turn off the latitude and longitude grid on OMC (it is one of the check boxes). I then add the labels in the typeface and size desired by hand to the blank map using Paint. Life would be much easier for you if you could get Print Screen to work. If you don't mind saying what operating system (Windows? Mac?) you use, I could try to help. Also what graphics program you plan to use (such as Paint or various others). Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 20:52, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm. Try this. Open MS Paint. Open a web page. Press the "control" and "print screen" (Prnt Scrn on my keyboard) buttons simultaneously. Then go to Paint and press control and V (to paste) simulataneously - do you get the screen image of the web page pasted into Paint? Or you can try pressing the "Fn" (beside Control or Ctrl on my keyboard) and Prnt Scrn buttons simultaneously and then pasting into Paint. Please let me know if this works, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 06:03, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Re: Toa Payoh ritual murders FAC

Hi Brian, thank you very much for the support. I have followed your "word replacement" suggestions and added the US$. I still have a query over the Catholic conversion part. Could you clarify what is "more specifically cited"? Is it an inline citation, or an expansion of the details of his conversion? Jappalang (talk) 23:04, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

The conversion came from the source at the end of the paragraph, but I cited it again since it seems particularly contentious. Jappalang (talk) 00:16, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Lockdown (2008)

You left comments on the above article's second peer review. I want to say thanks for taking the time out to do that. I recently took the article to FAC and it passed. I'm sure those comments helped get it there, so thanks so much.--WillC 05:08, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

British Bangladeshi

Yes that would be just great, thanks for help! Mohsin (talk) 20:20, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Dispatch interview

Hi, Brian. I've set up an interview for the Signpost at Wikipedia:FCDW/WBFAN2008; I hope you'll participate if you have time. If possible, I'd like to aim for January 17. If there is a question that doesn't apply to you, feel free to skip it, or to suggest other questions. I'll probably edit it down a bit when all is in, and if you add some suggested (free) images on the talk page there, I'll work them in at the end. Thanks !! SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:12, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Brian, if the individual question I posed for you needs tweaking, pls feel free to reword it ... the object is to get at how quickly you became an FA leader, in ways that will motivate others. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:46, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Brian, when you get a chance (no hurry, I know you're on the main page), can you add some (free) image suggestions for the article at Wikipedia talk:FCDW/WBFAN2008? We only need three to four; I'll add a selection to the article after I see the choices from the four of you. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

More maps

I tried editing the map you uploaded and had the same problem. I think the problem is from scanning it - although it looks like it is all white, there are subtle shades as it gets closer to the black lines.

The good news is this is not a problem with the map from Print Screen (directly from the OMC page). So if you have a file from OMC directly, Paint will fill right to the coastlines.

I also would make two versions of the map - one with the labels in (so you know which dot is which) and one without the labels. I then add the bold labels by hand. I use 9 point Tahoma and the text function in Paint. I write the words over a white background on the scratch map file (not over the map itself) and then paste them in. There are two options for copying and pasting and the lower one does not copy the background color, so if that is white and the label is black on a white background, you can just paste the balck words of the label.

I drew the arrows in by hand (does anal retentive have a hyphen)? Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 05:29, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up - the new map looks nice. Since most people at FAC who care prefer SVG maps (which I do not know how to make) this is an improvement. Thanks for your work on peer reviews too, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 01:59, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Socks

I saw your comment at WP:FCDW/WBFAN2008, and I just wanted to let you know that a "sock" is a sockpuppet, which is a secret account of another user. Just FYI. Cheers,–Juliancolton ^{Tropical Cyclone} 18:53, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Aaaargh! My cover blown at last! Brianboulton (talk) 19:11, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Nimrod Expedition

Congrats on yet another TFA! (Really glad it made it!)-- Myosotis Scorpioides 21:44, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I think it was your will-power that swung it. Thank you for your good wishes. Brianboulton (talk) 21:54, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I just saw it and came to congratulate you too Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 22:14, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Well done on having your article on main page and thanks for the continued support at the Edgar Speyer nomination. --DavidCane (talk) 01:59, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Brian, I just removed a link from the Nimrod article, titled: "A discussion of how far the expedition actually traveled and what role politics truly played in the affair," following a slightly worrying comment on the talk page. Could you check to see if this link is one you have added, otherwise it may indeed have an embedded virus. Cheers! -- Myosotis Scorpioides 15:04, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The link was not added by me, so you did well to remove it. The link may or may no be malicious, but it is as well to have it out of the way. Thanks. Brianboulton (talk) 16:11, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

James Whales' commission

Per my source he joined the "'Inns of Court' cadet corps" which I assume refers to the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps. Not sure how he got in because from what I gather you had to be a university graduate to be admitted and he wasn't unless the Dudley School of Arts and Crafts counts. Otto4711 (talk) 00:58, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

• Oh, my source also says "At the age of 26 he made a good candidate for officer training" so I guess that's how he got in, just by being older. Otto4711 (talk) 01:03, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Re: The curse of the Map, Chapter 64 and an offer

Just to make sure, after you do control and print screen, you do then try to paste it into Paint (by pressing control and V simultaneously), right? I do not use Firefox Mozilla, so I am not sure if that is an issue. You could try asking at the Village Pump Technical.

I have an offer. I can either make the Mozart travel map for you and try to write each step as I do it, or I can make the initial OMC maps and send them to you or upload them here for you to use. I have to finish a map of Millennium Park first, then could work on the Mozart map. Just let me know, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 22:26, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

The map looks very nice - I can certainly clean up the right side, and a few other things if you would like. I think it would be best to keep it at 300 px (at least on my monitor) as the city labels are small. The city between Milan and Verona is missing its label - if you let me know what it is, I can add a label and make the other labels a bit larger (if you want, to allow the map to be displayed smaller). I also wondered if the header "Third journey, October 1771 – March 1773" should not be "October 1772" instead? I was bold and made the change, please revert if needed. I think this would be a great WP:DYK, perhaps DYK ... that the young Mozart made three trips to Italy between 1769 and 1773, which produced commissions for three operas and several other works? Congrats on the lastest FA too. Yours, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 00:51, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

I think that is a much better DYK hook - I must admit I have not yet read the whole article. I will work on the map over the next few days and add Brescia. Is adding a thin black border all the way around the map OK? Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 01:10, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Glad you liked it. I am still slogging my way through the park map, but this was much easier. I noticed making the Mozart map that at least of the places on it are not mentioned by name in the article that I could find, i.e. Rovereto. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 21:44, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:DrWSBruce1905.jpg)

Thanks for uploading File:DrWSBruce1905.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media 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 media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:16, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Reviewers Award
		Given to Brian Boulton for all of your help with Peer review, especially reviewing items from the backlog. Given with respect and admiration, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 21:33, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Go ahead?

Hey Brian, sorry to bother you again, but I was wondering is Kirsten Dunst's article is ready to go. I asked User:Cliff smith do a copy-edit and now I'm wondering if anything else needs a fixin', before the nomination. I would appreciate your comments, you know that. :) --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 22:26, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Believe me, that's exactly what I did when I nominated Aaron Eckhart to FAC and it failed, that's my fault, though, I rushed the nomination. Anyways, yeah I've read the FA criteria, believe me, I did that when I was in the steps of adding Maggie Gyllenhaal to FAC. I feel that Kirsten Dunst's article is there, so, I'll nominate it and see where it goes from there. Man, I gotta thank you for "putting me in my place", for our discussion. :) --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 15:32, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Updating PR backlog list?

Hi Brian, I don't know if you've seen this conversation, but Ruhrfisch is getting burnt out from doing Peer reviews and is taking a break. I have volunteered to keep updating Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog/items for the next week or so, but I'm looking for people who would be interested in helping maintain this list in the longer term. I'm asking both you and User:Finetooth since you've both been active in reviewing articles from this list recently. I figure if a few people are willing to update it, then each person would only have to do it a few times a week. Interested? Dr pda (talk) 07:47, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. All I'm talking about is doing this. Once a day someone needs to add the peer reviews from WP:PR which are at least four days old and haven't had any comments to Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog/items, no tools required :) And also remove any from that list which have been reviewed but not removed. Dr pda (talk) 10:33, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

It's not automatic I'm afraid. What I did today was go to WP:PR and look for all reviews which said Peer review added on Monday 12 January 2009, found the ones which didn't yet have any comments, and typed these in under January 12 at Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog/items. I then changed the reminder at the top to January 13 so the next person to update the list knows what date to look for. (Ruhrfisch pointed out it might be easier to use the version of PR sorted by date, Wikipedia:Peer reviews by date, to find these reviews without comments, instead of the standard version Wikipedia:Peer reviews which is sorted by topic area). Then, as you say, I manually checked that none of the existing entries in Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog/items had gotten reviews. To save myself having to click on all of them, I instead clicked on Related changes in the left-hand sidebar (just under What links here) That gives a page which looks like this so I could quickly check whether any of the review pages show any activity other than the statement of the person nominating it for PR, or the semi-automated review. As it happened today there were none. Hope this makes things clearer. Dr pda (talk) 12:56, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

I'd be happy to help with this too if you like. When Dr. pda is done with his week (not sure when that ends), you could do the next week, and I could do the next. If you'd rather do it all, that's fine too. Finetooth (talk) 19:31, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to all, I added directions on how I do the update of the backlog on the backlog talk page Wikipedia talk:Peer review/backlog/items Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 23:00, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Re: Review request

Brian, I am taking a look right now, although I might not finish it over the weekend (family matters). On the first glance, I have to say:

• Did Mozart really look like a 50-year-old when he was 14 (File:Mozart at Melk09.jpg)?
• The article could do with public domain or short clips of performances of the pieces Mozart wrote during his visits of Italy.

Cheers! Jappalang (talk) 00:26, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

An interesting article, Brian. I have finished my review and left a few more comments on the review page.--DavidCane (talk) 02:01, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

I know I should be reviewing this, but... besides making the SVG, I noticed that this article was new (in the sense that it was just created) and qualifies for DYK. I am uncertain of your feelings towards this facade of Wikipedia, but I took the liberty to submit one.[2] I hope this is fine with you, but if it is not, do let me know. Jappalang (talk) 10:41, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

If you have any concerns with the SVG map (fonts, colours, geography details), I will gladly implement them for you. Jappalang (talk) 10:53, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

I have finished reading the article. I will probably put my thoughts to the peer review soon either tomorrow or on Monday. Jappalang (talk) 18:32, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Mozart in Italy DYK

I am sad to say that I had to decline your DYK nom as your submission was past the 5 day deadline (by only 10 hours). However, if you request a WP:IAR in this case I would support you. You would have to ask though at Wikipedia talk:Did you know.Nrswanson (talk) 22:40, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Done on my behalf by someone else. Brianboulton (talk) 22:53, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Jack Kemp FAC

I'm sorry if my support comment on the Jack Kemp FAC was taken the wrong way. I wasn't trying to put down any articles, merely trying to state my support in the strongest way possible. I firmly believe it's one of the best Wikipedia biography articles I've read, and if I went overboard in stating that, I apologize. JKBrooks85 (talk) 11:23, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Peer review/Hot 100 number-one hits of 2003 (United States)/archive1

Hi Brian. I find your comments very helpful especially that I'm not an English-native speaker. Kind of straightforward but nor hurting. Thanks. BTW, I have an FLC, Hot 100 number-one hits of 2008 (United States), maybe your not busy and would like to comment on; your input would be great. Thanks again. --Efe (talk) 12:59, 19 January 2009 (UTC)