User:Mendel/Talk Archive 6

I reserve the right to edit section titles to coincide with the section content. =Comments=

Promotion
I'll be honest with you: I still have my apprehensions. But I want to see just how right (or wrong) I am. So congratulations.

Don't forget to update Administrator information, also.

(T/C) 23:45, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you! It means less of a nuisance in day-to-day operations for me, I'll try to not disappoint you.  I feel even more honored because of . My plans for the first hundred days of my reign adminship are to not change my behaviour much, but do my deletions and simple edits by myself now. --◄mendel► 00:08, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

GASP!
'Grats! Entrea   [Talk]  23:46, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Congratulations mendel. Cress Arvein [[Image:Cress sig.JPG]] 00:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yay! No more "Ishy, please delete this/add this to common.css/etc." annoyances on my talkpage! ;)  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 00:31, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Finally, we may rejoice, Ishy :D Congarats ;) --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  16:03, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, and since I never actually said it... Congratulations, mendel. ^_^ &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 16:39, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * "Yay!" was good enough for me. ;) --◄mendel► 17:41, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The ghost of Linebeck doth congratulate thee. [[Image:Rsz_PLSig.jpg‎]] 20:16, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * A bit late, but CONGRATULATIONS! Hope you enjoy your new position! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:31, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
 * BTW, now you can edit/delete This stuff yourself! Gratz! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 15:32, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Sorry about being late, but congratulations on the promotion. Glad to see you got it. Here's to hoping you wear your crown well, lest you be beaten with it. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ridiculously powerful fairs ftl [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 08:25, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I miss your meaning. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:27, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Play Brawl more. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 08:30, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * GASP! You're back!?! Neat! That makes me insanely curious how the affair that made you leave progressed. Thank you for your gratulations! Well, now you know whom to ask should you wish to have your userpage restored. Should I look in the fridge for some leftover champagne? --◄mendel► 08:35, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm not actually back, although I may make a few more contributions tonight before I go to bed. As far as between me and Heather, we're still on shaky ground, but at least we're staying in contact. Today would've been the 3 year 8 month mark. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:42, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

My density far exceeds yours
You're doing a great job already. One of the hidden criteria I have for sysops is to amuse me by generating memorable quotes. <3 (T/C) 05:32, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Now that's a good reason to idle on irc. --◄mendel► 05:35, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * What this means, in effect, is that any given volume scooped out of mendel would weigh more than the same volume from Nalee. This could also affect gravitational fields. [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 05:36, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This deserves a userbox. And you've finally convinced me to attempt to get IRC. Gold star? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:40, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

The truth
Let me tell you the plain truth, Mendel.

I don't trust you to be a sysop. I promoted you because I was going out on a limb. I wanted to see just how good or bad you could be. Basically, to use Auron's words, I promoted you to see if you would fuck up. Since that would prove him/me right once and for all.

(paraphrasing from RfA page and some of Auron's thoughts)
 * 1) ...despite the fact that you misinterpret almost every major policy.
 * 2) ...despite the fact that you make mountains out of molehills and blow things out of proportion.
 * 3) ...despite the fact that you are a "troublemaker".

Personally. I agree with the negative points. But I do not agree with them strongly enough that I would waste your talents. I believe there is enough good in promoting you...I believe it is worth the risk. I bet that I will be proven wrong and my doubts will be baseless.

In short, I believe in you, and I have full faith and confidence that you won't turn out to be the devil others have predicted.

If this alienates you so much that you no longer want the position, I can understand; I would be pretty disheartened and upset also if I saw I was being "manipulated" in such a way. So I apologize if that is how you feel. But I feel I must come clean and explain things, if not for your sake, than so others know what the hell is going on too. (T/C) 19:11, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * None of the arguments are new. As you have surely seen from the hidden text in my original reply above, the parallels to Felix's promotion were not lost on me. If that had alienated me, I'd have stated it then.
 * As to the points themselves, I'm counting on the GuildWiki community and the strong admin team to show me when I fail, as you all have done in the past (thank you!). I hope that me being an admin now doesn't change any of that.
 * Editing on this wiki has been a strong learning experience, I hope it can continue this way, and the only thing I regret in my brief stay here is that I somehow upset Wolfie into leaving the Wiki &mdash; and that for some reason I had caused you to take a dislike to me. I am happy that this seems to be changing (?).
 * Already I am thinking about how my status as an admin affects how my actions are being interpreted. I am just as curious as you where it'll end. Any advice? --◄mendel► 19:29, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Advice; don't ban for fun. No really, I doubt you'd break a lot around here just because you can ban/prot/del now. Quote: "In short, I believe in you,[..]". --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  19:36, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your understanding.
 * As to advice...when in doubt, ask the community/let them know your plans in advance (whichever is more relevant). No one likes having key changes happen without them noticing, and you would be surprised how differently some people can interpret your actions when you take them suddenly. In other words, it's better to clear up misunderstandings and opposition beforehand than to just "deal with it" later. (example: removing sysop flags from inactive admins. we would have missed a constructive discussion if I had just "done it".) [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 19:42, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Advice
I made a page just for admin advice and copied the above advice there. There's more on that page, too. --◄mendel► 01:14, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Champagne
I forgot to ask, what is this "free images feature"? (T/C) 19:55, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Images in teh public domain? (or other copy-left licenses). -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it's a new Wikia feature released around... March/April? -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:03, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict) I don't know much more than what it says on Special:ImportFreeImages. I found another image on Wikimedia commons that I originally wanted to use, and it was imported that way, so I decided to use that to import it here. --◄mendel► 20:04, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, that. I remember tooling around with that before but never thought to actually use it. Cool. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 20:05, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * More info: Help:Import free images -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:06, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Drop rate
I seem to remember you were working on a way to automate drop rate tables, such as miniatures from birthdays, using a Count* template or such. Is that on hold for infinity? Been looking at the drop rate for Trick-or-Treat bag and thinking of this... :) (T/C) 16:28, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think we can do it with the currently available tools (or it would be exceptionally convoluted), but I was looking around this afternoon and found an extension that would let us do it: Mediawikiwiki:Extension:Winter. It looks like it was modeled on Perl, which means it should be real easy for anyone (especially me :D) to pick up and use.  I'm already thinking of other things we could use it for, in fact.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 22:09, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, I can do tables like that, that's what I did the Fibonacci test for initially. The template would be at the end of the table and extend the table on every save. It's a fair piece of work, and not lightly undertaken, and it'll be at least Friday(ish) until I'll have time. What can be done quickly is to make a template that displays the totals and calculates the percentages. --◄mendel► 23:53, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * That looks awesome. Other than drop rate, what else could we use it for? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 00:05, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The storeh, of course. --◄mendel► 00:10, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Symbolic?
I feel happy today. --◄mendel► 13:40, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Fact 1: Earlier today I've had a 3-hour long chat and maybe made a new friend.
 * Fact 2: It's been overcast and showery all week, but when I came into my kitchen after the chat, the sun came out.
 * Clearly this is a sign that Breakfast McRitual is more powerful than we ever imagined. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 21:56, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

∞
It's "the infinity symbol", not "a sideways 8". :P &mdash;Dr Ishmael  16:55, 8 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you for expanding my vocabulary.  = &infin; = ∞ --◄mendel► 16:59, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

hey you
Stop logging off irc 4 minutes before I get on and need to ask you a question D: --Shadowcrest  19:07, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

you presumably have shared a bed
Whoa! Damage +15% vs. hexed foes! :p (T/C) 13:17, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Hmm, I think that langugage needs to be more inclusive. And I doubt your reference means what I think it means. --◄mendel► 13:27, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, got it. --◄mendel► 13:58, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Immortalized
OK, maybe it was discussed on IRC before I joined or something, but what is so great about that quote? It was the !topic on IRC for awhile and now it is immortalized as a userbox. It's not that great or poetic or anything... (T/C) 13:52, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I'll tell you about yours when you tell me about mine. Or get on irc (why aren't you? it's lonely out there). --◄mendel► 13:58, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

This code
 Michael Mendelsohn · Miguel El Mendson ·

&shy; &shy; &shy; It covers up the links to my watchlist/contribs in the top right. It should probably be moved down some (to the same level as the page title would probably work).  &not; Wizårdbõÿ777  ( talk ) 19:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It needs  in your .css file to look right. Basically, until that is implemented site-wide, this is experimental (using my userpage as a sandbox here). I suggest transferring to another page when you need your watchlist or contribs. --◄mendel► 22:20, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Or use shortcut keys: alt+shift+l for watchlist, or alt+shit+y for contributions. &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 22:29, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It's only one page. The language feature, when it goes live, will look like the demo on GuildWiki talk:Languages. --◄mendel► 22:37, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

About guildwiki.fr
You're mistaking gwiki.fr with the original guildwiki.fr : me and the two others sysops of fr.guildwars.wikia are comming from the first french wiki about guildwars that was started before Factions came out. See a bit of the story here. Then clic "current version" to read : "I've found another french guildwiki at http://gwiki.fr/". Some users of the first french guildwiki prefered to go on gwiki.fr instead of comming with me on the new wikia i started a few month before the hosting service get rid of the bugged wiki.

That was the first domain name they had because for many month, guildwiki.fr was still host and owned by someone else. I have a lot of grudge (?) for the admin of gwiki.fr because they never came to us when we where still struggling with the bugs caused by the move of hosting of guildwiki.fr. They said they didn't know there was still users on that one but they could have looked in the recent changes...

Feel free to ask for details or clarifications. — TulipVorlax 03:31, 17 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Ah, ok, I thought it might have been something like that. Thank you. --◄mendel► 03:36, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Your userpage obscures Log out link
Something you did to your userpage obscures the log out button. It's not a major problem since I rarely (never) go here to log out, just thought I'd point it out. See this for pic GW-Viruzzz 12:43, 19 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Aware Was Mendel. --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]] -- (contribs) &emsp;(talk)  13:36, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

User_talk:Fire Tock
(undoing Isk8's change to the triple big) ... Yeah, the page wouldn't let me save the .px change; some kind of spam blocker kept preventing me from doing it. Did your placement of the nowiki tags allow the change the article? I thought I had gotten all of them, but seems you found alot more. I guess having both bots and manual searching works in situations like those :P --   Isk8   (T/C) 21:41, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Boobies card
For you  21:57, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Page views
At the bottom of every page, for GuildWiki, there's a bar with some info links, and a statement "This page was last modified on..."

On GWW, there is "This page has been accessed X times", or basically, page views.

How would I go about finding such data for any given page? (pretty sure I can add it to that bar at the bottom from the Allmessages, somehow) (T/C) 12:05, 21 November 2008 (UTC)


 * You can't, because the wiki doesn't know. Only the varnishing gurus do. --◄mendel► 12:25, 21 November 2008 (UTC)


 * D:


 * I've looked at the "Most viewed" and such caches and they do seem to be way off compared to teh other stat calculators (Alexa n stuff). [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 12:28, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Webcomics
I saw your mention of Gunnerkrigg on Warwick's talk page, and couldn't help checking it out. That is pretty good! If it wasn't so late, I'd read more of it. As it is, I finished two chapters. On the subject of webcomics, I've just gotta share another one I enjoy... Lackadaisy. If the story sucked, it would be made up for with the art and style. Happily, the story is quite awesome as well, in my opinion. :D -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.> .cнаt^  11:14, 26 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, it looks attractive. I've added it to my "check out" list - which is quite long, unfortunately. Thanks for the tip! --◄mendel► 23:16, 26 November 2008 (UTC)


 * The artist's a pretty fun person as well. I watch her artwork on deviantART. --[[image:GEO-logo.png]] Jïörüjï Ðērākō.> .cнаt^  01:29, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

disabling navbar
Broke things for me. All of the "stuff" which belongs up there above the content - the GuildWiki logo, my "tabs", the links in the right hand corner - everything moved down. It is moved about the same length of px as the navbar was. I am thinking that there is some code somewhere which forces the content down by X pixels, and it was calculated assuming the navbar was there, so now it's broken somehow...or I dunno. In any case I reverted because it makes some tabs unusable for me (they clash with the sitenotice, etc.) (T/C) 08:18, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, sorry. Px layout fails, but it needs to be fixed. --◄mendel► 13:07, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * And 24 hour cache fails as well (varnishing Gurus etc.). The new change has been tested on my personal monobook.css this time, and seems to work ok. Since it affects only monobook users, I'm a bit more bold than usual. Please complain if the "extra" tabs or anything else doesn't work the way it should, and I'm going to fix it ASAP. --◄mendel► 13:47, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * As a stopgap fix until the cache updates, add the following lines to Special:MyPage/monobook.css or switch to Monaco.


 * 1) column-one { padding-top: 145px; }
 * 2) p-logo { top: 0em; }
 * 3) p-personal { top: 0.6em; }
 * 4) p-cactions { top: 1.9em; }
 * --◄mendel► 13:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Why did the bar go, anyways? --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]] -- (contribs) &emsp;(talk)  16:11, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * See User:M.mendel/Talk_Archive_4. I just thought it'd be simple to remove... --◄mendel► 16:13, 1 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Bah. Gonna miss it (actually, already do since the top bars are now borked, but that should be temp.) --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]] -- (contribs) &emsp;(talk)  16:17, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, it is still there, so you can redisplay it. Just add this to your monobook.css :

div#navbar { display:block; }
 * 1) column-one { padding-top: 160px; }
 * 2) p-logo { top: 2.5em; }
 * 3) p-personal { top: 2.6em; }
 * 4) p-cactions { top: 3.9em; }
 * and it should override the changes and give you the navbar back. --◄mendel► 16:28, 1 December 2008 (UTC) & 16:34, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The bars are still ever so slightly off for me, they are just barely hovering above the rest of the page. (But at least they're usable now.) I'll probably end up tweaking the numbers for myself a bit to get it just right. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:43, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I think I've got it fixed - it looks right for me, at least. Tabs are sitting on the content box, non-active tabs have a bottom border, active tabs don't.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 17:37, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
 * IN that case, it is better than it was before! ;-) Have teh wikia techs managed to un-cache the monobook.css? --◄mendel► 19:12, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It updated immediately for me, so I assume they have. &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 19:59, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I did notice that it doesn't work in IE - the tabs are still floating above the content box. I have a partial solution on my shoepuppet's css, but for some reason the selected tabs are ignoring their padding.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 20:10, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday Userbox!
To commemorate the effort you've put into preparing GuildWiki for our Wintersday celebration, I have created a special userbox at Template:User Wintersday:

Wear it with pride! <3 09:39, 2 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Now blue and icy! --◄mendel► 05:28, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Well that's kind of depressing... [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 05:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Whatever the fuck you did to that thing made your page EXPLOOOOOOODE --Gimmethegepgun 05:33, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It doesn't do that in preview :-( --◄mendel► 05:42, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * ... because preview is in a section, and gimme inserted a div tag higher up the page while I wasn't looking in a misguided attempt to fix the indented userbox! Grr! --◄mendel► 05:49, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * --◄mendel► 05:54, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not exactly certain why that div tag fixed it up there or whatever, but YOU of all people should've known that section editing won't accurately display the formatting of the page unless that's where the problem is --Gimmethegepgun 05:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Since that section is all that I edited, I wasn't expecting anybody else to create a problem elsewhere on the page without telling me :-P --◄mendel► 06:00, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I created that other "problem" because I was trying to fix a problem that seemed to do with the stuff at the top but was actually created because of the substitution stuff you did --Gimmethegepgun 06:16, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Tip: find the exact change that caused the problem before doing the fix. Understanding the problem you're trying to fix = win. ;-) Or, alternately, running the page through the validator, which incidentally points out that there is a problem with the irc user box... hmmm. --◄mendel► 06:24, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Which would probably explain why my change actually fixed the problem :P --Gimmethegepgun 06:26, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, not really. But it is fixed now. --◄mendel► 06:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * That would appear to be one of the most valuable links I've seen in years. [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 06:44, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The reason I figured something was wrong up there was because, you know, a closing div tag without a starter one usually causes issues. However, removing it didn't DO anything, but adding a starter did for some fucked up reason --Gimmethegepgun 06:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for fixing that poll on my user page, wasn't sure how to do it myself. If you see anything else that needs fixing go ahead and have at it or let me know. Tenetke Mekko 00:18, 3 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I'd also like to thank you for showing me how to make a table,it made my page look much more organized.Durga Dido 17:52, 4 December 2008 (UTC)


 * He does tons of good stuff, on that note I uploaded the .png of that peppermint shield. On my User page you will find a blue variation that, for some reason to me, is much prettier. That image of the peppermint shield is really bad looking though. I know you only need a small version but please let me know if you want me to fix it up. I don't mind in the slightest bit. Also I want to put one of your boxes on my page so let me know when it is ready. [[Image:Spikeicon.png]]Tenetke Mekko 06:52, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * What is your IGN so I can add you to friends. I wish there was a wiki guild so bad. So if any of you ever start one let me know[[Image:Spikeicon.png]]Tenetke Mekko 05:12, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I predict the rise of [WIKI] again. Also, no one knows Mendel's IGN except for his most trusted comrades. But will he reveal it now?! [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 06:38, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, didn't realize it was a secret or anything. Just thought it would be cool to talk in game sometime. [[Image:Spikeicon.png]]Tenetke Mekko 06:46, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I've always been a casual GW player, and my playing time has gotten even less now that I've started "playing" GuildWiki, so even knowing my IGN you wouldn't be able to talk to me much, account sharing aside - besides, I don't like to chat and fight at the same time. :-P But if you really want to waste a lot of your time on chat(I'm sure Entropy and others can confirm this), get on IRC. There are some guilds that have a high number of GuildWikians, but I've been in a German guild for a year now and am not likely to leave soon. --◄mendel► 11:04, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Was waiting on my new installation of Linux to add in my irc, but seeing as I can't wait that long I will log in using pidgin in a bit. Been experiencing emesis for a bit now. No fever, no cramps, not post nasal. What times are you usually on?[[Image:Spikeicon.png]]Tenetke Mekko 11:42, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * That's a bit hard to tell, but often from 21:00 GMT to whenever. (Right now I should be offline, actually, and will be in a minute...) --◄mendel► 11:46, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Please template
22:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Dangit, mendel, why do you make your templates so stupidly complicated? I can type and sill get this icy version!


 * That makes it very difficult to figure out what the heck is going on. Not to mention totally screwing over the legitimacy of the documentation, you horrible, horrible liar =P[[Image:Entrea Sumatae.png|Entrea Sumatae]] Entrea   [Talk]  00:16, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The undocumented behaviour can break with the next revision, so if you use that, it's your risk. And the docs do not state what happens when you enter anything else. Anyway, gonna extand it now. --◄mendel► 01:04, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Pain
I hope it is o.k. that I posted this here. You can delete it if not. I wanted to explain a bit about pain and how it is relayed through the body. The train station is the best analogy for pain there is I think. You start off by pricking your finger, this stimulates the Nociceptor in that finger. That nociceptor sort of turns on a green light allowing people to board a train. The train tracks are nerve fibers, they will carry that train full of people. First the train connects to a larger rail system of the Periphery Nerves. Then it moves on toward the spinal cord. At the spinal cord another signal is set off, to follow the analogy the people get off one train and move to the next. After the people get on the new train they are headed directly to the Dorsal Horn. The people leave the train once they arrive at the Dorsal Horn. Now they are neurotransmitters. They are mad as hell for having to take so many different trains, and while the speed was good they are still pissed. So these neurotransmitters are taking their complaint directly to the boss. Screw the employees they want the brain. They arrive at the Thalamus, the big gating mechanism of the brain. Well some are so mad they want to go directly to the manager. Those guys are going to the somatosensory cortex. That is the part of your brain that deals with physical pain. Now some of the passengers are still pissed but they say screw it they just want to see their loved ones. Those passengers are headed for the Limbic System. That system deals with emotional feelings. The rest of those passengers are so pissed they figure "what the hell we aren't going to get anything done here, we will write a letter". They are headed directly for the frontal lobe, the area that controls different aspects of thought. Now those nasty passengers that went to the Somatosensory Cortex, are going to raise hell. Normally this area has a good deal of signals but they are orderly. These people are crazy, so the brain responds. You quickly go "@#$%^^&$@#er why did I stab my hand with that needle" and pull away from it. Now all the groups of angry people can finally shut up. Not sure if the analogy worked or not, first time I have ever used it to be honest. Tenetke Mekko 07:20, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * The quality of the analogy depends on how well you can use it to explain stuff and promote new insights, so it depends, I guess. It works badly on me because in my head I am translating everything back to nerves and synapses anyway. And it leaves me with an number of questions (take your pick ;-):
 * I talked to my private biologist who came home early today, so here's more detail.
 * I thought the "rail system" was used by other stimuli as well, so how do they differ?
 * That's where the analogy breaks down, because "what" a given nerve impulse is depends on which sensor is connected to what part of the brain (i.e. I assume that in embryonic brain formation, nerve endings connected to similar receptors get grouped).
 * How can a free nerve ending "feel" anything without a receptor?
 * Evolutionary, nerve cells should be an advantage only if they're useful by themselves, and the most useful information for any organism would be to know of injury, so it makes sense that "raw" nerve cells sense injury and that the receptors are later evolutionary stages that tack onto that system.
 * I read that free nerve endings can detect chemical, mechanical and thermal stimuli aside from pain, how are they distinguished?
 * Possibly by level, or by where they originate (how close they are to the skin surface).
 * The distinction probably depends on which neurotransmitters are getting released (and where?), but can a synapse release different neurotransmitters, or always a fixed set of types, depending on function?
 * It seems that the set of NTs a given synapse can release is limited, but it's definitely more than one NT for any synapse.
 * How much pain we feel depends on how receptive the receptors for these neurotransmitters are (that's how pain killers work?). Is that the part that is influenced by emotional stress etc.?
 * There are synapses that inhibit signals, and neurotransmitters that do (endorphins), and if there are less of those because of stress or another disturbance in the emotional balance, it is also easier for pain to "get through".
 * I assume that the somasensory cortex is somehow more receptive when we're emotinally stressed, with maybe a higher base level of neurotransmitters floating around so that smaller pain signals coming on top of that cause a stronger reaction than they otherwise would (explain that with trains ;-)?
 * When you're stressed, there's more adrenaline being released, so it could be a possibility, but lower inhibition explains it better.
 * And are the neurotransmitters considered part of the nervous system?
 * Yes.
 * --◄mendel► 10:47, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * --◄mendel► 11:28, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

You have new ice
Would there be a way to set the icy background for the New Messages bar? It's hardcoded into the sitenotice... and doing that to the MediaWiki New Messages would make it apply to everyone by default, which I wouldn't want to do without asking first. I know that you can just change the background color easily (mine's pink now), but I see that "class = icebox" is what is needed, which doesn't seem to work... (T/C) 10:25, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah, just do it where you pink it. You don't have to use the class, look the class up in MediaWiki:common.css (or wherever I put it) and use the style associated with .icebox {the part with the braces} where you use your pink now. The two pixel values are an offset to shift the ice texture a bit, because otherwise all upper left corners of all ice backgrounds are going to look alike. --◄mendel► 10:41, 10 December 2008 (UTC)