User talk:Mandarax

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unless Trump appoints himself Dictator for Life


Me, after hearing whatever insane thing Trump did today
   Wikipedia is the best thing ever.
   Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, 
   so you know you are getting the best possible information.
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Happy New Year, Mandarax!

   Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Moops T 20:22, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

Thanks; happy new year to you too! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 20:44, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

Pisote

Perhaps Pisote is more of an alternative spelling for Pizote than a misspelling, but we need to reconcile that these two redirects currently point to different articles. Both seem to refer specifically to White-nosed coati, as the lede says for Pizote at least. Either way, it doesn't seem like these two redirects should point to different articles. The ledes should be updated accordingly. Mdewman6 (talk) 02:59, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

The Merriam-Webster page I linked to says that a pisote is a coati, which it defines as one of various species. I don't know if they were being imprecise, or if the pizote spelling is used in reference to only one species or for others too. I don't think it matters if the redirects point to different targets if they do indeed have different usages, especially since each of them averages fewer than one page view per day. I don't care either way, so feel free to make whatever changes you'd like (as long as they're not classified as misspellings). MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 05:29, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
Based on google searching, it looks like both spellings are used in Central America to refer to the coati native there, which is the white-nosed coati specifically. So not unreasonable that an attempt at a dictionary definition would simply say "coati" since this is what locals in the native range of the white-nosed coati would call it in English, given that it's the only species present. Certainly this seems to be true for the 'pizote' spelling, and I can't imagine the same word spelled with an s would purposely be meant to refer to coatis more broadly, with the z spelling referring to a specific species. As to which spelling is "correct" or has etymological precedent, I am not sure. So, I am going to retarget pisote to white-nosed coati to match pizote and categorize as an alternative spelling. Cheers, Mdewman6 (talk) 01:07, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

I am gifting you this kitten for your taking care of lint errors on DYK nominations very frequently.

The Aafī (talk) 17:52, 22 January 2023 (UTC)
Thanks! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 19:22, 22 January 2023 (UTC)

@Mandarax, could you please help in finding what the problem is with journal citation in Sanaullah Bhat? ─ The Aafī (talk) 15:04, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
Have you already fixed it? I don't see a problem. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 16:56, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
If you try to see the article in preview, you'll get to see "One or more {{cite journal}} templates have maintenance messages". I don't know what that means. ─ The Aafī (talk) 17:23, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
Ah, a maintenance message. This was not anything that a reader would notice. I fixed it by using the correct dash (en dash) in the date range. For future reference, hidden categories help decipher what the cryptic notice is about. If you don't see them, you can enable their display at your preferences, Appearance tab, under "Advanced options": select "Show hidden categories". In this case, the category was Category:CS1 maint: date format. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 18:48, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
Hi @Mandarax: could you please take a look at this and see where this lint error is exactly? I'd be more than thankful to you. Thanks, ─ The Aafī (talk) 08:08, 15 February 2023 (UTC)
I looked, but gave up after searching for a long time. I assume it's some <tag> without a corresponding </tag>, but the page is too complicated for me to find the error. However, Jonesey95, I've seen you fixing litterally millions of similar errors; maybe you have a tool or are just keenly perceptive. Could you please take a look at meta:Deoband Community Wikimedia and fix the "Missing end tag" error? MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 20:10, 15 February 2023 (UTC)
Fixed. There was some ending bold markup that was missing starting markup, so I removed it. – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:58, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Thanks for assistance @Jonesey95 and @Mandarax. I'm very much thankful to both of you. ─ The Aafī (talk) 03:37, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Yes, thank you, Jonesey95! Your help is much appreciated. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 10:36, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

Linked misspellings

Hello. I work through new entries in Wikipedia:Database reports/Linked misspellings and spotted that most of today's are linked from your sandbox, so I wondered if we might be duplicating each other's work. I usually check the entries which haven't appeared before. I look at all occurrences rather than just links but sometimes work a few days in arrears. I'm happy to carry on or to leave this to you if we'd be tripping over each other. Alternatively, one of us could divert to User:Certes/Misspellings which is a backlog of entries I missed when I was busy off-wiki for a few weeks. Certes (talk) 22:26, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

I've been working on those for quite a few years. Actually, not most, but all of them should be in that sandbox (unless you're seeing a cached version from a previous day), because it's the same database report, automatically reformatted in a form that's more useful for me. I generally go through the list every day and fix all of the linked occurrences (except for a few that I skip for various reasons), and almost never check out any unlinked ones. So it looks like we're not tripping over each other. I'd seen you mention your page before, and I sometimes use it. It's very helpful in finding unlinked misspellings. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 01:40, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

January music

Quick facts happy new year ...
Close

-- Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:56, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

February songs

Now I write my own stories, today a book, Alte Liebe, for Valentine --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:31, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

... and today the regional festival - DYK of 13 years ago ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:17, 17 February 2023 (UTC)

My story on 24 February is about Artemy Vedel (TFA by Amitchell235), and I made a suggestion for more peace, - what do you think? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:26, 24 February 2023 (UTC)

today: two women whose birthday we celebrate today, 99 and 90! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:51, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

DYK nomination: Gregg Rickman

Hi @Mandarax, thanks for looking at the DYK nomination for Gregg Rickman. I made the change you commented on here. Longhornsg (talk) 15:39, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

You're welcome. Someone will, hopefully, be around soon to review the nomination. Good luck! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 17:02, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

Exciting news!

Babylon 5 is now available on Tubi, which is a free streaming platform! It's been many, many years since I've seen this extraordinary show, which has been called "the greatest work of science fiction ever produced". If you've wondered what I've frequently raved about, and what Badger and Skinny Pete talked about for three hours straight, you'll have to check it out. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 20:36, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Abby Day Slocomb

Thank you, I had no clue how to do the technical parts. I also have no idea how to respond there, so if you could please add Ipigott and GRuban. SusunW (talk) 05:00, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

 Done. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 05:18, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

Galium hardhamiae

ITIS is wrong if it implies that the correct spelling is "hardhamae". I've now explained why this must be corrected to "hardhamiae" at Galium hardhamiae § Taxonomy, which I should have done when I moved the article. Note that Tropicos. which is usually reliable on taxonomy, also has the corrected spelling here. (Actually, if you follow through the major taxonomic databases in the taxonbar, you'll see that ITIS is the one out of line.) Peter coxhead (talk) 11:14, 22 March 2023 (UTC)

This could not possibly matter to me less. I just don't think that the redirect, which uses the same spelling that one of the most authoritative taxonomic sources does, should be classified as a misspelling, but rather as an alternative spelling or former name. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 01:17, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
thank you for a great reply! - sharing impressions from vacation on Madeira 20-30 March, pics now at 25 March with ups and downs and two cats --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:04, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
Very nice pictures. It's great that you get in so much traveling. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 23:36, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

History of invention timeline

Is it necessary to split the agriculture and modern section since it has becoming more complicated Cuando de hyiopi (talk) 21:18, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

I have no opinion on the matter. I've never read any of the article, and I've made only one edit to it in the last ten months, and only three ever, all of them very minor (like typo fixing). You've made more than sixty, so you're in a much better position to decide. If you think a major change in the structure of the article would improve it, I'd suggest discussing it on the article's talk page. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 22:20, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

April thanks

Thank you for consistent DYK fixes! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:05, 15 April 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for noticing. That's a great picture of the appropriately-named glory-of-the-snow. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 18:45, 15 April 2023 (UTC)
thank you - you said that well! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:10, 15 April 2023 (UTC)
Today is the 80th birthday of John Eliot Gardiner. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:17, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Quick facts my story today ...
Close
I had a good story on coronation day: the Te Deum we sang that day. And the following day we sang it for the composer ;)
I heard pleasant music today - did you know a string quartet with two cellos (and no article yet in English? - I nominated Soňa Červená for GA just to give her a bit more exposure. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:52, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
Wow, congrats on singing it for the composer! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 01:57, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
That was really great! - Now May scenery pictured when you click on songs. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:32, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
Pentecost was full of music, and my story today is that 300 years ago today, Bach became Thomaskantor, with BWV 75, writing music history. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:12, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

Amazing DYK authorship skills

Batman is half female. Roasted (talk) 02:38, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
Thanks! That was a dozen years ago. And two years later, I had another Batman hook: "... that Walter Baxter wrote about the gay Batman–Kent relationship?" MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 04:51, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

DYK thanks

You are speedy, my friend! Thanks for fixing those issues. You might have remembered me from my previous DYK participation, but it's been a while, so I've since forgotten the formatting rules. :-) Edge3 (talk) 01:36, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

You're welcome for the tweaks. And thanks for the note. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 01:39, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
Quick facts my story today ...
Close
Thanks for the fixes! - Today's story is about a singer whom I saw twice, not Wagner and Strauss, but Bach and Weill. - Vacation pics! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:33, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Quick note

Please note in greyhound racing, a male is officially a dog and a female is officially a bitch, so I had to revert one of your edits. Many thanks. ApricotFoot (talk) 08:44, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, ApricotFoot, for letting me know. I had no idea. Is it standard in dog articles to link it as [[Male|Dog]]? I think it would be much more useful to link as [[Dog#Terminology|Dog]], where this odd convention is explained. Although it's still a little fuzzy for me. Dog#Terminology says "dog" refers to "the species (or subspecies) as a whole, also any male member of the same". So a male dog would be called a "dog", but it looks like its sex would still be referred to as "male". Unfortunately, Template:Infobox greyhound has no documentation. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 19:06, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Stranded in the rain

I assume you are not among them? Those poor people. Drmies (talk) 22:17, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Right, I'm not there. (It did rain one year that I went, and it was a super-muddy mess, but nothing like this.) I watched an extensive piece of drone footage, and the flooding looked horrible, but the truly remarkable thing was the near-complete absence of people, bicycles, and mutant vehicles. The playa had turned into a ghost town. I can sympathize with all of those burners trapped in their shelters. And it's even worse than many people realize – according to Twitter X, they've got an Ebola outbreak!!! This morning, the Man was scheduled to burn tonight at 9:30 Pacific time, but the latest update no longer provides an estimate for when the Man and Temple burns may happen. Anyone interested should be able to watch whatever's happening live at https://burningman.org/live-webcast/ . Right now, there's a huge rainbow. Thanks for the note. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 23:13, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
Ebola?? Holy moly. Thx for the update. I guess it's been a while since you went? I'll try to check in in a couple of hours--though chances are all of Alabama, including me, will be asleep at that time, happily intoxicated after wins by Alabama and Auburn. But yeah, I feel bad for all the folks out there. It's so easy to laugh at people who do different things from what many others do, and so cheap. Drmies (talk) 01:33, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
Someone had even taken a screenshot of a news story reporting that the Ebola thing was a hoax, and altered it to say that yes, there's an Ebola outbreak on the playa. Sorry if anybody took me seriously, but I thought the reference to "X" plus the three exclamation marks would be sufficient. I'm not sure if the pre-Elon Twitter would've done anything about such a hoax, but now anything goes. Yeah, it's been a while since I attended. I mentioned the little rain/mud I experienced, but the main environmental problems every year (until now) are the heat and especially the frequent, devastating, dust storms. I guess an optimist would say that there won't be any dust storms while it's all muddy. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 02:01, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
Hmm were those exclamation marks extra fat? Gotcha. I saw a few dust references on the page you linked, yes. I'm taking a break from deleting weird pages created by someone who, I think, set up an imaginary Hangul course for themselves. So many lonely people on Wikipedia. Drmies (talk) 02:16, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
Alright, I feel like I accomplished something. :) Later, Mandarax! Drmies (talk) 02:25, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
Thanks for your adminwork, congrats on your team victories, and don't get too drunk. There's been an official update. 1) The Man burn is tomorrow at 9 pm. 2) The Temple burn is three hours later. That's 2 am in Alabama, but don't worry if you miss it. The Temple burn doesn't have fireworks like the Man burn. 3) "The online rumors of transmissible illnesses in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue." MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 02:46, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
Update: it is not the Temple (Temple of the Heart) that's scheduled to burn at midnight (Pacific time), but instead the Chapel of Babel. The Temple burn is scheduled for Tuesday at 8 pm, which follows the usual practice of happening the day after the Man burn. Sorry for misinforming. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 23:50, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

September music

Quick facts my story today ...
Close

Thank you for the little fixes repairing my sloppiness! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:33, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

You're welcome (but I wouldn't call it "sloppiness", since such redirects generally don't matter other than Main Page content).
Another pretty picture. The flowers somewhat remind me of the naked ladies (Lycoris squamigera, I think) that I've got blooming now. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 07:08, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
Lovely flowers also! - Herbst means autumn or fall, zeitlos means without time or any time, - a strange name, but when you see them (ad I did on 2 Sep) summer is past. I picked them for September as the prettiest pic I took in September 2022, and they - "weeping" if you look closer - were already used for a user who died and others who went on long break or are enjoying "vacation" for months. No idea how I knew. Next year will probably have a bright sunflower, - reminding me that I should upload more ... --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:59, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
Today's story is about a great pianist with an unusual career, taking off when he was 50. It's the wedding anniversary of Clara and Robert Schumann, but I was too late with our gift. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:59, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
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) 18:51, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

DYK spelling

I see here you made a comment about the spelling meter vs metre. Must the DYK hooks use US spellings, or can they be use any spelling dialect? It is spelt "metre" in New Zealand. Panamitsu (talk) Please ping on reply 05:48, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

Well, you had spelled it "meter" (twice). The hooks should use whichever spelling is appropriate (which is usually "metre"). I had added a {{Convert}}, figuring that its default spelling was correct here, then I noticed that you had also used the other spelling in the caption, so I added a conversion parameter to make it consistent with what appeared to be your preferred spelling. I've now changed it in both places. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 06:27, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

Some stroopwafels for you!

Thanks a lot for cleaning up after my constant forgetting of bolding the article title in my DYK hooks. #prodraxis connect 04:20, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
You're welcome. Thanks for the delicious stroopwafels! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 05:31, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

Help

Hello. Help improvements for acticle Akane Yamaguchi. Thanks you. 113.161.210.125 (talk) 02:23, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

No.
Drmies, from Talk:Akane Yamaguchi, I see that this is a sock you've encountered before. MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 02:43, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

October music

Quick facts my story today ...
Close

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) 21:16, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Today, it's a place that inspired me, musings if you have time. Thank you for the much needed link to the right person for the artist! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:05, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

It's always nice to see you branching out into the visual arts from your usual field of music. You're welcome – yes, my edit was necessary to distinguish between your sculptor and a concentration camp overseer! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 19:09, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

November

Quick facts my story today ...
Close

Thank you! - Vacation pictures offered if you click on songs, and my story today is a DYK hook from 13 years ago OTD: about the great music at one of my churches. Mozart's Requiem to come on Sunday, coupled with Arvo Pärt's Da pacem Domine, - I guess you might come if it was a bit closer. Perhaps watch the video of our last production, our first on yt, ever. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:21, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

RIP, Andre

I would like to acknowledge Andre Braugher, who recently died. It has been said that his Brooklyn Nine-Nine character, Captain Holt, "may be the funniest sitcom character of all time". MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 00:22, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

Quick facts
December: story · music · places
Close
I came just to say thank you for again fixing a DYK nom after a page move, and before I could even ask. About the actor: the article looks well sourced, you could probably nominate him for WP:ITNN as it is, unless someone else did it already. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:05, 15 December 2023 (UTC)
You're welcome for the DYK fix. Braugher already made it to RD. I'd seen him in a few other roles, but his performance as Raymond Holt was extraordinarily funny. Oh, I don't know if you've seen the show in your part of the world. but Captain Holt was also a big classical music/opera fan! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 17:48, 15 December 2023 (UTC)
Thank you for what you do and stand for! I wish you a good festive season and a peaceful New Year! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:04, 20 December 2023 (UTC)
Thanks, Gerda. I hope you have a very happy holiday season! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 07:57, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
Thank you! - Today, I have a special story to tell, of the works of a musician born 300 years ago. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:40, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

The DYK Barnstar

The DYK Barnstar
For all of the valuable work you do! You are appreciated. Bruxton (talk) 18:13, 15 December 2023 (UTC)
Thank you very much, Bruxton! And, incidentally, I also appreciate all of the valuable work you do for DYK! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 20:27, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

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