User:Rfl/Old

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Penrose Tribar
Penrose Tribar

Rafał Pocztarski[edit]

Administrator of the English Wikipedia since 2004 (original nomination)

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

Quick links[edit]

Administration[edit]

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[edit]

Current events: Tuesday · May 28, 2024 · 05:45 UTC

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in 2023
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian
Ongoing:

Selected anniversaries

May 28: Republic Day in Armenia (1918); Independence Day in Azerbaijan (1918)

Mozaffar ad-Din
Mozaffar ad-Din
More anniversaries:

Links[edit]

Featured articles[edit]

Featured articles · candidates · collaboration of the week

May 28[edit]

Crypt of Worcester Cathedral
Crypt of Worcester Cathedral

Nicholas of Worcester (died 1124) was the prior of the Benedictine priory of Worcester Cathedral (crypt pictured) from about 1115 until his death. He was born around the time of the Norman Conquest. It is not known who his parents were, but William of Malmesbury wrote that he was "of exalted descent", and it has been argued that he was a son of King Harold Godwinson. Nicholas was the favourite pupil of Wulfstan, the bishop of Worcester, who brought him up. Wulfstan was influential in transmitting Old English culture to Anglo-Norman England, and Nicholas carried on this work as prior. He was respected by the chroniclers William of Malmesbury, John of Worcester and Eadmer for his assistance with their histories. Nicholas was an English monk at a time when both Englishmen and monks rarely received promotion in the church, and when Bishop Theulf of Worcester died in October 1123, Nicholas led an unsuccessful attempt of the monks of the priory chapter to be allowed to choose the next bishop. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

April 28[edit]

Satellite image of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a large republic in Southern Africa. It is located at the southern tip of the continent, and borders Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho, which is entirely surrounded by South African territory. Its economy is the largest and most well developed of the entire African continent, with modern infrastructure common in nearly all of the country. South Africa has the largest population of people of European descent in Africa, the largest Indian population outside of Asia, as well as the largest Coloured community in Africa, making it one of the most ethnically diverse countries on the continent. Racial and ethnic strife between the white minority and the black majority have played a large part in the country's history and politics. The National Party began introducing the policy of apartheid after winning the general election of 1948; however, it was the same party under the leadership of F.W. de Klerk who started to dismantle it in 1990. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular free and fair elections are held since 1994, making it a regional power and among the most stable democracies in Africa. (more...)

Recently featured: Kylie Minogue – 1896 Summer Olympics – Hydrochloric acid

March 28[edit]

Venus' clouds as seen by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, named after the Roman goddess Venus. It is a terrestrial planet, very similar in size and bulk composition to Earth; it is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" as a result of this similarity. Although all planets' orbits are elliptical, Venus' orbit is the most nearly circular of all, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. Venus was known to ancient Babylonians around 1600 BC, and probably was known long before in prehistoric times given that it is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. Its symbol is a stylized representation of the goddess Venus' hand mirror: a circle with a small cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). (more...)

Recently featured: Julia Stiles – Helicobacter pylori – Military history of the Soviet Union

February 28[edit]

The first page of Hrafnkels saga
The first page of Hrafnkels saga

The Hrafnkels saga is an Icelandic saga telling of struggles between chieftains in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkell, starts out his career as a fearsome duelist and a dedicated worshipper of the god Freyr. After suffering defeat, humiliation, and the destruction of his temple, he becomes an atheist. His character changes and he becomes more peaceful in dealing with others. After gradually rebuilding his power base for several years, he achieves revenge against his enemies and lives out the rest of his life as a powerful and respected chieftain. The saga has been read as the story of a man who realizes that the true basis of power is not belief in the gods but the loyalty of one's subordinates. It is widely read today and appreciated for its logical structure, plausibility and vivid characters. For these reasons, it has served as a test case in the dispute on the origins of the Icelandic sagas. (more...)

Recently featured: Great Lakes Storm of 1913 – Lord's Resistance Army – John Vanbrugh

January 28[edit]

A 335,000 gallon (1.3 million liter) aquarium at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
A 335,000 gallon (1.3 million liter) aquarium at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

An aquarium is a clear-sided container (typically constructed of glass or high-strength plastic) in which water-dwelling plants and animals (usually fish and sometimes invertebrates) are kept in captivity. Aquarium keeping is a popular hobby around the world, with about 60 million enthusiasts worldwide. From the 1850s, when the predecessor of the modern aquarium was first developed as a novel curiosity, the ranks of aquarists have swelled as more sophisticated systems including lighting and filtration systems were developed to keep aquarium fish healthy. Public aquaria reproduce the home aquarist's hobby on a grand scale — the Osaka Aquarium, for example, brags of a tank of nearly 5.3 million litres (1.4 million U.S. gallons) and a collection of about 580 species of aquatic life. The careful aquarist dedicates considerable effort to maintaining a tank ecology that mimics its inhabitants' natural habitat. Controlling water quality includes managing the inflow and outflow of nutrients, most notably the management of waste produced by tank inhabitants. (more...)

Recently featured: Robert Walpole – Battle of Hampton Roads – Hip hop music

December 28[edit]

The Palace of Westminster, with the House of Lords on the left
The Palace of Westminster, with the House of Lords on the left

The House of Lords is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is an unelected body, consisting of senior clerics of the Church of England (the "Lords Spiritual"), as well as certain members of the Peerage (the "Lords Temporal"). Lords Spiritual serve as long as they continue to occupy their ecclesiastical positions, but Lords Temporal serve for life. Members of the House of Lords are known as "Lords of Parliament". The House of Lords evolved at some point during the fourteenth century and has been in almost continuous existence since. It was abolished in 1649 by the revolutionary government that came to power during the English Civil War, but was restored in 1660. The House of Lords (the "Upper House") was once more powerful than the elected House of Commons (the "Lower House"). Since the nineteenth century, however, the powers of the House of Lords have been steadily declining; now, the Upper House is far weaker than its parliamentary counterpart. Under the Parliament Act 1911, most legislation passed by the House of Commons can be delayed, but cannot be rejected, by the House of Lords. (more...)

Recently featured: Niagara Falls – Battle of the Somme – Shroud of Turin

November 28[edit]

Mozilla Firefox is a free web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and hundreds of volunteers. Before its 1.0 release on November 9, 2004, Firefox had already garnered a great deal of acclaim from the media, ranging from Forbes to the Wall Street Journal. With over 5 million downloads in the first 12 days of its release, Firefox 1.0 is one of the most-used free software applications among home users. With Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation aims to develop a small, fast, simple, and highly extensible web browser (separate from the larger Mozilla Suite). Firefox has become the main focus of Mozilla development along with the Mozilla Thunderbird email client and has replaced the Mozilla Suite as the official browser release of the Mozilla Foundation. Firefox has attracted attention as an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer, since Internet Explorer has come under fire by the media for insecurity, lack of features, disregard for Web standards, and vulnerability to spyware and malware installation. (more...)

Recently featured: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution – Athanasius Kircher – English poetry

October 28[edit]

Buddha, standing
Buddha, standing

Greco-Buddhism is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan. Numerous Greco-Buddhist works of art display the intermixing of Greek and Buddhist influences, around such creation centers as Gandhara. The subject matter of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist, while most motifs were of Western Asiatic or Hellenistic origin. The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and Central Asia in 334 BCE, going as far as the Indus, thus establishing direct contact with India, the birthplace of Buddhism. (more...)

Recently featured: Portuguese – Race – Karl Dönitz

September 28[edit]

Robert Lowth was the first grammarian to prohibit the split infinitive in English
Robert Lowth was the first grammarian to prohibit the split infinitive in English

A split infinitive is a construction in the English language made by inserting an adverb or adverbial phrase between "to" and a verb in its infinitive form. One famous example is from the science fiction series Star Trek: "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Here, the infinitive verb form of "go" is "to go", and the adverb "boldly" has been inserted, creating a split infinitive. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some grammatical authorities argued that split infinitives should not be allowed in English, by an analogy with Latin, where they are usually impossible. Most authorities from the last 100 years, however, agree that this rule was mistaken, and indeed that splitting an infinitive can sometimes reduce ambiguity. (more...)

Recently featured: Yesterday – Mixed-breed dog – Du Fu

September 6[edit]

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 28[edit]

Cyrillic alphabet as given by Meletius Smotrisky in 1619
Cyrillic alphabet as given by Meletius Smotrisky in 1619

Russian is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. It belongs to the group of Indo-European languages, and is therefore related to Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, as well as the modern Germanic, Romance, and Celtic languages, including English, French, and Gaelic. Written examples are extant from the tenth century A.D. onwards. While it preserves much of its ancient synthetic-inflexional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian shares a large stock of the international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of political importance in the twentieth century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations. (more...)

Recently featured: Coca-Cola – Art competitions at the Summer Olympics – Tuberculosis

July 28[edit]

Illustration of mitochondrial DNA
Illustration of mitochondrial DNA

A comparison of the mitochondrial DNA of humans from many races and regions suggests that all of these DNA sequences have evolved molecularly from a common ancestor sequence. Under the assumption that an individual inherits mitochondria only from his or her mother, this finding implies that all living humans have a female line of descent from a woman who researchers have dubbed Mitochondrial Eve. Based on the molecular clock technique, Eve is believed to have lived about 150,000 years ago. At the time of Eve's existence, there may have been up to 20,000 individuals. Phylogenies suggest she lived in Africa. (more...)

Recently featured: Copyright – Siege – Lollapalooza

June 28[edit]

The synapse seperates the dendrites
The synapse seperates the dendrites

Synapses are specialized junctions through which cells of the nervous system signal to one another and to non-neuronal cells such as muscles or glands. Synapses are circuits in which the neurons of the central nervous system interconnect. They are thus crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They also provide the means through which the nervous system connects to and controls the other systems of the body. At a prototypical synapse, such as a dendritic spine, a mushroom-shaped bud projects from each of two cells and the caps of these buds press flat against one another. (more...)

Recently featured: Poetry – Heavy metal umlaut – Greek mythology

May 28[edit]

Ludwig Wittgenstein's grave
Ludwig Wittgenstein's grave

Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-born philosopher who contributed several groundbreaking works to modern philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic and the philosophy of language. Although numerous collections from Wittgenstein's notebooks, papers, and lectures have been published since his death, he published only one philosophical book in his own lifetime—the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; his second magnum opus, Philosophical Investigations, was published posthumously. (more...)

Recently featured: Submarine – Single malt Scotch – British East India Company

April 28[edit]

Beer in a Glass
Beer in a Glass

A beer is any of a variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is often called brewing. Historically, beer was known to the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians, and dates back at least as far as 4,000 BC. Because the ingredients used to make beer differ from place to place, beer characteristics (type, taste, and color) vary widely. (more...)

Recently featured: postal system – 2004 Taiwanese presidential election – Assassin

March 28[edit]

DNA splitting
DNA splitting

Bioinformatics is the use of mathematical and informational techniques to solve biological problems, usually by creating or using computer programs, mathematical models or both. One of the main areas of bioinformatics is the data mining and analysis of the data gathered by the various genome projects. Other areas are sequence alignment, protein structure prediction, systems biology, and virtual evolution. (more...)

Recently featured: Mandarin – Medieval literature – Gough Whitlam

Featured pictures[edit]

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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