User talk:David Vasquez/December archive

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Using METAR
Hi.. How about using METAR data to update the weather map?. It has data for all cities in the world that has an airport, so I suppose it widens the range of cities that can be covered.

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml

You could check out that for more information. - Anoop

We're using a site run by Capescience, which also has data from the world's airports, so I think we're getting the same data as METAR - although a few cities keep showing up as unavailable. I've read comments from other developers that the METAR data is not well-formed enough to build an automated report (we generate XML using the WeatherChecker open souce application) but if you've looked at the format of their data stream more closely I'd be interested if you have a different opinion. I'm planning to take a second look just to compare their results, but they would need to have at least as much data as Capescience to serve our long term goals. — DV 12:39, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes I do have a different opinion about that :) . Some time ago, I had done a Visual Basic app for a company using METAR. It was a few years ago, but I'll try to find that code and inform you. - Anoop

Weather

DV, I've made the entire section Template:Weather. Also, the bottom portion is Template:Conditions. Feel free to edit those at will. Lyellin 21:44, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Culture and entertainment

DV, I had this idea to put in new movie releases on the Culture and entertainment section. However, Lyellin asked me if we should put in movies coming out in the U.S. or various different nations. Look to our conversation in the talk page on Culture and entertainment for more info. Please respond soon. I think it would be a good idea to have movie releases. If you want, place your response on my talk page.- B-101 13:32, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

DV, a while ago you asked me about opinions for the movie section. I think we should make someone the critic for the movies, leaving other people for the plot summary and general info. Count me out. Even though I'd like to be the critic, I am quite busy and I'd have to see a lot of movies.- B-101 17:02, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Barnstar

DV, I wanted to award you this, because the work you have done with the weather system is truely amazing, and a great asset to the project. The fact that you are constantly updating it is even better ;). Thanks! Lyellin 05:51, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, Administrator Lyellin. I have to share this with Ilya right away. Although I developed the data-driven graphics on my own, Ilya started the development project to automate the weather map reporting to a degree that makes it feasible to update so often.

I'm working with Ilya to add additional features that you will see coming online soon. Ilya has helped set me up with the developer tools so I can contribute to the code as well, and we already have a list of improvements we are working on. — DV 06:16, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It's just Lyellin ;) Administrator is nothing special at all, and I don't need to be treated any differently. Lyellin 16:22, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Logo

The deadline just got extended to Jan 15th by Eloquence- apparently people have been requesting more choices. I don't know much about it- I haven't been concentrating on that aspect much at all. Lyellin 16:22, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wiki-No-News

Some follow-up comments to our discussion at the Water Cooler:

Karim, so far I have chosen not to wait for others to drive the review process, I went right ahead and put the updated version of the Indian Ocean Earthquake story up on the main page when I felt it was as complete as it could be at the moment. I put another story in the "developing" section, so I am trying to work according to the "spirit" of the review process.

Great! And the page looks immeasureable better because of it. It's still editable, it's still updatebale, but now it's immediately useful aswell - and it can be usefully linked to by outside web sites - thus increasing the exposure of Wikinews.

When I spoke about 'fun' and 'pleasure' I was referring more to the sense of purpose and fulfillment in publishing a news article. I think (I Imagine) a journalist does get a sense of pleasure in seeing his article in print. Yes you have to accept criticism and editing - but I think this must be rationalised.

I think events like the Indian Ocean Earthquake are going to be vital for Wikinews. Wikinews must process and synthesise the information rapidly and have an authoritative page up immediately, which is updated by users all around the world on a minute-by-minute basis. When one set of writers goes to sleep there is another set still working. Wikinews should be the first place people go to for information. Not the place they go to after the event for the final, definitive, dry take on events. I think Wikinews missed a real opportunity here, which you are only now catching up on.

Karim

Automated weather report

Hi David,

Your weather map is Great work. I'm trying to implement a Version of the global weather map for our German Weather Channel in Wikinews de:Wetter. You could help me a lot by uploading the most current global weather map in Celsius under a static name like weathermap.jpg or WSCT_C_current.jpg in Wikimedia Commons. Maybe a Redirect from WSCT_C_28Dec04at0240UTC.jpg where the date would be some kind of Date Mediawiki variable is possible( {{CURRENTMONTH}} 12 {{CURRENTDAY}} 28 {{CURRENTYEAR}} 2004 see m:Help:Variable) . Or you could upload the "WSCT_C_28Dec04at0240UTC.jpg"-style images for archive purposes and the current one for the weather channel. I already tried to redirect or insert your Template:WeatherMapLinks but without luck. Thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work. --Monet 15:06, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I don't read or write German, but I'm happy to see the weather map on the German Wikinews site.

In any case, I'm changing over to use a static name for the generated weather map images, one with the word "current" in its name and the other with the word "previous" in its name, so neither of us will have to update the links template again.

I'll start posting updates on top of these static images in the next update.

However, I'll continue to post copies of the images with the date and time embedded in their names for archival purposes, as I think it will be interesting to create a page in the Weather section that allows our readers to click on links to maps from earlier dates.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

— DV 10:30, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

P.S.: What major German city should appear on the map? I'm guessing Berlin, but please let me know if you have another preference.

Yep, Berlin would be great. The whole Russia area looks prette empty too.

Thank you for the Update, i was some days off.--Monet 11:43, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for the welcome.

I haven't written anything in WN yet but plan to do so in the future. I do admit at first glance the submission process here is daunting and about 50 hoops too many compared to the Wikipedia process. That user unfriendliness (due to the complexity) could be scaring off potential contributors. Davodd 09:54, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I replied on Davodd's user talk page. — DV 10:23, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Online stylebook.

The main goal of news writing is not to let words get in the way of what you are trying to say.

Short sentences.
Active voice.
No fear of 1-sentence paragraphs.

The best free online stylebook I've found is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/ Although a good stylebook of American-style English is here: http://www.tameri.com/edit/style.html

Davodd 11:13, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Compare contrast

Let's look at the subject of satellite radio, a topic I know: Satellite radio's unsteady orbit (an article by me last year)

A specific area: Sirius Satellite subscriber growth:

Good:

Bad:

http://news.designtechnica.com/article6175.html

The good includes context and relevancy for the reader, is less wordy in descriptions and is less one-sided. Davodd 11:35, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Tables in wiki

David, in a Dec. 19 article, you asked about better ways to do tables in wiki. Here ya go with a link, and an example I copied this from the w:2004 in film article I follow:

Instructions for editing wikimedia tables: http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Table Example:

2004 Rank	Title	Studio	Total Int'l Box Office Gross	U.S. & Canada Box Office Gross	United Kingdom Box Office Gross
1.	W:Shrek 2	W:DreamWorks	$896,526,247	$441,226,247	£47,548,741
2.	W:Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	W:Warner Bros.	$789,791,069	$249,541,069	£45,966,441
3.	W:Spider-Man 2	W:Columbia Pictures	$783,964,497	$373,585,825	£26,419,256
4.	W:The Passion of the Christ	W:Newmarket Films	$611,274,604	$370,274,604	£10,604,723
5.	W:The Day After Tomorrow	W:20th Century Fox	$542,545,811	$186,740,799	£25,049,442
6.	Troy	W:Warner Bros.	$497,378,256	$133,378,256	£18,001,854
7.	W:The Incredibles	W:Warner Bros.	$432,123,000	$242,623,000	£21,892,831
8.	I, Robot	W:20th Century Fox	$347,183,439	$144,786,439	£17,790,336
9.	W:Shark Tale	W:DreamWorks	$309,807,303	$159,748,155	£22,587,273
10.	W:Van Helsing	W:Universal Pictures	$300,157,638	$120,177,084	£15,019,852

Thanks for the tip. Since my original query, I found a few tables on Wikipedia which use a lighter single rule line, background shading, interior cell margins, and slightly smaller text. I think this style looks more professional:

title	title	title	title
data	data	data	data
data	data	data	data

— DV 11:07, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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