User:Rfl/Old

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Penrose Tribar
Penrose Tribar

Rafał Pocztarski

Administrator of the English Wikipedia since 2004 (original nomination)

My Contributions: All · Articles · Talk · User talk · Wiki · Wiki talk · Page Deletions · Current rights

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Administration

I am proud to announce that I have been nominated by Quadell to become a Wikipedia administrator on December 3, 2004. The voting ended on December 10, 2004 with the result of 12 Support votes by: Quadell, jni, 172, JOHN COLLISON, M7it, Dittaeva, Grunt, Lst27, GeneralPatton, Andre, RedWordSmith and ffirehorse. There were no Oppose and no Neutral votes. I have been promoted by Cecropia. Now I am also an administrator on Wikimedia Commons. Having one Support vote by Quadell, no Oppose and no Neutral votes, I was promoted by villy on December 20, 2004.

If you have any opinion, positive or negative, about my administration-related contributions—mostly reverting anonymous vandalism, protecting pages and posting comments to vandals in their IP talk pages—please post a comment on my talk page.

My contributions: all · articles (look for reverts) · user talk (look for IPs) · deletions

In the news

Current events: Monday · June 24, 2024 · 12:28 UTC

Iberian lynx
Iberian lynx
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Selected anniversaries

June 24

Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
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Featured articles

Featured articles · candidates · collaboration of the week

June 24

Etika

Desmond Daniel Amofah (1990–2019), known as Etika, was an American YouTuber and live streamer, known online for his enthusiastic reactions to Super Smash Bros. character trailers and Nintendo Direct presentations. The son of Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah, he resided in Brooklyn. Starting his online career in 2007, Amofah created his main YouTube channel, EWNetwork (Etika World Network), in 2012. He garnered popularity following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, primarily stemming from his reaction videos of news surrounding the game. Beginning in October 2018, Amofah showed signs of mental distress, and was reported missing on June 20, 2019. Officials confirmed his death on June 25, finding it to be a suicide by drowning. His death was met with shock and grief by fans and fellow YouTubers, with many commenting that Amofah's mental deterioration had been dismissed or ignored. Numerous commemorations were held to honor Amofah, including fan-made memorials and murals. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

April 24

Velázquez's self portrait, painted circa 1643

Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. His two visits to Italy while part of the Spanish court are well-documented. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece, Las Meninas. Starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork proved a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works. (more...)

Recently featured: Canadian Pacific Railway – Robert Oppenheimer – Krag-Jørgensen

March 24

The known history of the Yosemite area started with Miwok and Paiute peoples who inhabited the central Sierra Nevada region of California that now includes Yosemite National Park. At the time the first non-indigenous people entered the area, a band of Miwok called the Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. Conflict ensued in the mid 19th century and the Mariposa Battalion pursued the Ahwahnechee into the Valley. The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia were ceded to California as a state park in 1864. Naturalist John Muir and others soon became alarmed about over-exploitation of the area and helped push through the creation of Yosemite National Park, in 1890. It would not be until 1906 that the Valley and Grove would be added. Park jurisdiction was at first under the United States Army's Fourth Cavalry Regiment then in 1916 it was transferred to the National Park Service. The failed fight to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from becoming a reservoir and hydroelectric power plant in the early 20th century sparked a great deal of controversy that polarized the nation. Since then about 94% of the park has been set aside in a highly protected wilderness area. (more...)

Recently featured: Pioneer Zephyr – Flag of South Africa – Isaac Asimov

February 24

DSid McMath
DSid McMath

Sid McMath was a U.S. Marine veteran and progressive Democratic reform Governor of the State of Arkansas from 1949–1953. In defiance of his state's political establishment, he championed rapid extension of rural electric power, massive highway and school construction, the building of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, repeal of the poll tax, open and honest elections and broad expansion of opportunity for black citizens in the decade following World War II. He remained loyal to President Harry S. Truman during the "Dixiecrat" rebellion of 1948, campaigning throughout the South for Truman's re-election. As a former governor, McMath led the opposition to segregationist Governor Orval Faubus following the 1957 Little Rock school crisis. He later became one of the nation's foremost trial advocates, representing thousands of injured persons in precedent-setting cases and mentoring several generations of young attorneys. (more...)

Recently featured: Big Bang – Roe v. Wade – Liberal Party of Utah

January 24

Witold Pilecki
Witold Pilecki

Witold Pilecki was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from Auschwitz in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944). Pilecki was executed in 1948 by communist authorities. (more...)

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December 24

Homo floresiensis is a newly described species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body, small brain, and recent survival. It is thought to have been contemporaneous with modern humans on the remote Indonesian island of Flores. One sub-fossil skeleton, dated at 18,000 years old, is largely complete except for arm bones which may yet be found. It was discovered in deposits in Liang Bua Cave, Flores, in 2003. Also here, parts of six other individuals, all diminutive, have been recovered as well as similarly small stone tools from horizons ranging from 94,000 to 13,000 years ago. The discoverers have called members of the diminutive species hobbits, after J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional race of roughly the same height. In the island's mythology there were common references to Ebu Gogo, a small furry man, even into the 19th century. (more...)

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November 24

Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire.
Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire.

The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama. This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. Throughout this period, the religion evolved as it encountered various countries and cultures, adding to its original Indian foundation Hellenistic as well as Central Asian, East Asian and Southeast Asian cultural elements. In the process, its geographical extent became considerable so as to affect at one time or another most of the Asian continent. The history of Buddhism is also characterized by the development of numerous movements and schisms, foremost among them the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, punctuated by contrasting periods of expansion and retreat. (more...)

Recently featured: William I of Orange – Indus Valley Civilization – ROT13

October 24

Casablanca is a 1942 movie set during World War II in the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and stars Humphrey Bogart as Rick and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa. It focuses on Rick's conflict between, in the words of one character, love and virtue: he must choose between his love for Ilsa and his need to do the right thing by helping her husband—Resistance hero Victor Laszlo—to escape from Casablanca and continue his fight against the Nazis. The film was an immediate hit, and it has remained consistently popular ever since. Critics have praised the charismatic performances of Bogart and Bergman, the chemistry between the two leads, the depth of characterisation, the taut direction, the witty screenplay and the emotional impact of the work as a whole. (more...)

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September 24

Defintion of the Akermann function
Defintion of the Akermann function

The Ackermann function is an important example encountered by mathematicians in the theory of computation. It is a recursive function which takes two natural numbers as arguments and returns a natural number as its value. In 1928, Wilhelm Ackermann considered a function A (m, n, p) of three variables, the p-fold iterated exponentiation of m with n or m → n → p in Conway's notation. He proved that it is a recursive function which is not primitive recursive. This definition was later simplified by Rozsa Peter and Raphael Robinson to the two-variable definition given above. It grows extremely quickly, and this extreme growth can be exploited to show that the computable function f (n) = A(n, n) grows faster than any primitive-recursive function and is therefore not primitive-recursive. Due to its definition in terms of extremely deep recursion, it can be used as a benchmark of a compiler's ability to optimize recursion. (more...)

Recently featured: Black hole – Irish theatre – Coronation of the British monarch

September 6

Polish boy scouts fighting in the uprising
Polish boy scouts fighting in the uprising

The Warsaw Uprising was an armed struggle during the Second World War by the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from German occupation and Nazi rule. It started on August 1, 1944 as a part of a nationwide uprising, Operation Tempest. The Polish troops resisted the German-led forces until October 2. An estimated 85% of the city was destroyed during the urban guerrilla war and after the end of hostilities. The Uprising started at a crucial point in the war as the Soviet army was approaching Warsaw. Although the Soviet army was within a few hundred metres of the city from September 16 onward, the link between the uprising and the advancing army was never made. This failure and the reasons behind it have been a matter of controversy ever since. (more...)

Recently featured: Anno Domini – PaX – Behistun Inscription

August 24

Cold fusion is the name for a nuclear fusion reaction that occurs well below the temperature required for thermonuclear reactions — such reactions may occur near room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and even in a relatively small experiment. The term was coined by Dr. Paul Palmer of Brigham Young University in 1986 in an investigation of the possible existence of fusion in a planetary core. It was brought into popular consciousness by the controversy surrounding the Fleischmann-Pons experiment in 1989. Unfortunately, no "cold" fusion experiments that gave an otherwise unexplainable net release of energy have so far been reproducible. (more...)

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July 24

Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was a Tuscan astronomer, philosopher, and physicist who is closely associated with the scientific revolution. He has been referred to as the "father of modern astronomy," as the "father of modern physics," and as "father of science." His experimental work is widely considered complementary to the writings of Bacon in establishing the modern scientific method. Galileo was born in Pisa and his career coincided with that of Kepler. The work of Galileo is considered to be a significant break from that of Aristotle; in particular, Galileo placed emphasis on quantity, rather than quality. (more...)

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June 24

A billboard is a large outdoor signboard, usually wooden, found in places with high traffic such as cities, roads, motorways and highways. Billboards show large advertisements to pedestrians and drivers traveling from one place to another. The vast majority of billboards are rented to advertisers rather than owned by them. Shown with large, witty slogans splashed with distinctive color pictures, billboards line the highways and are placed on the sides of buildings, peddling products and getting out messages. Billboard advertisements are designed to catch a person's attention and create a memorable impression very quickly, leaving the reader thinking about the advertisement after they have driven past it. Thus there are usually a few large words, and a humorous or arresting image in brilliant color. (more...)

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May 24

Self-portrait by Rembrandt (1661)
Self-portrait by Rembrandt (1661)

Rembrandt van Rijn is generally considered one of the greatest painters in Western art history, and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Rembrandt was also a proficient engraver and made many drawings. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age (roughly equivalent to the 17th century), in which Dutch culture, science, commerce, world power and political influence reached their pinnacles. (more...)

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April 24

Aum symbol
Aum symbol

Hinduism is the oldest of the major world religions and first among Dharma faiths. Hinduism has a diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures. It has its origin in Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BCE. It is the third largest religion with approximately 1.05 billion followers worldwide, 96% of whom live in the Indian subcontinent. (more...)

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March 24

1908 Olympic marathon winner
1908 Olympic marathon winner

The Summer Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event held every four years, organised by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics are the most prestigious of such events in the world, featuring a larger range of sports than others. Olympic victory is generally considered to be the most prestigious achievement in any field of sport. The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 by Pierre Fredi, Baron de Coubertin, who sought to promote international understanding through the sporting competition. The first games were held in Athens in 1896. (more...)

Recently featured: Attack on Pearl Harbor - Electronic amplifier - punk rock

Featured pictures

Featured pictures · visible · candidates

I just saw the Mandelbrot set above generated by Evercat as Picture of the day for September 2, 2004 (see the archive) which inspired me to uploading three pictures of my own. They will be located below just next to the Picture of the day template so if anyone asks me whether my pictures had ever been Picture of the day, I’ll be able to say: “No, but they were really close.”

Calm Mandelbrot Cool Mandelbrot Hot Mandelbrot Shot Mandelbrot

See also: other pictures I have contributed to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:

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