Re: [Wikimedia-l] Timeless: a grant proposal

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
What remains unclear is what it is that you aim to achieve. There are great
possibilities possible but there has to be a focus.

One such focus would be that it helps us focus on the relations that an
article has with with other articles. They are all or should all be related
in Wikidata anyway. With a skin that helps in determining this you have a
reason for another skin, a skin that will achieve greater quality for
multiple projects. The only question I have is how your skin would work for
other projects.
Thanks,
 GerardM

On 29 March 2017 at 04:01, Isarra Yos  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm Isarra, a volunteer MediaWiki developer, and I've submitted a grant
> proposal to the WMF to support my work on a new responsive skin designed
> for the Wikimedia projects, Timeless:
>
> * Abstract: A new skin, Timeless, has been deployed to the Beta Cluster,
> but to make it worth eventual deployment to all projects, we need proper
> research into what's expected/needed from a better skin, and the ability to
> devote development resources to making it meet these expectations/needs.
> This grant, as part of a larger series of vaguely planned grants intended
> to work on many of the underlying issues with MediaWiki's user-facing
> interfaces, will serve to address this need.
> * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Timeless
>
> Timeless currently exists as fairly basic prototype, but I invite you to
> take a look at the current version:
>
> * Wiki specifically for Timeless: https://timeless-skin.wmflabs.
> org/wiki/Main_Page
> * To see what it might look/act like in production, there is a copy of the
> Simple English Wikipedia on the Beta Cluster, where Timeless has already
> been deployed: https://simple.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/Main_Page -
> you can create an account, set your skin to Timeless, and go through some
> of the things you might do here, or simply append the string
> ?useskin=timeless to the end of any page url to see what it would look like
> in Timeless
> * Skin documentation: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Skin:Timeless
>
> If this looks like a project you would be interested in seeing happen, I
> would very much appreciate your feedback. This applies especially if you
> have any specific concerns about the skin or the proposal itself, or have
> faced particular problems on your own projects that you think this might be
> able to address, because the more of these are documented, the better they
> will be.
>
> I look forward to working with all of you to redefine how we handle our
> project interfaces.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Isarra
>
>
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[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact

[María Sefidari]

Forwading.

-- Mensaje reenviado --
De: "María Sefidari" 
Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06
Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact
Para: , ,

Cc:

Hi everyone,

Since early 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation has been evaluating efforts
and engaging in discussions related to the environmental impact of the
movement, and specifically the Foundation. During that time, we
supported improvements to our on-wiki documentation,[1] talked with
members of the community, and began reviewing internal processes.

The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to finding ways to reduce the
impact of our activities on the environment. We aim to always act as
responsibly and sustainably as possible, including favoring renewable
energy where it is available for our operations.

To help clarify and solidify our intentions in this important matter,
the Board of Trustees has passed an environmental impact
resolution.[2] This resolution commits the Wikimedia Foundation to:

1.  Seek out information about our overall impact on the environment
and then work to minimize it;

2.  Consider sustainability as an important part of decisions around
servers, operations, travel, offices, and other procurement;

3. Use green energy where it is available and a prudent use of resources;
and

4. Starting in 2018, include an environmental impact statement in our
annual plan.

We appreciate the input of the nearly 200 Wikimedians that have
already spoken to this in on Meta-Wiki,[1] and hope that you will join
future efforts to minimize any negative impacts on the environment.
Thank you!

Kind regards,

María and Christophe


María Sefidari, Board Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation

Christophe Henner, Board Chair, Wikimedia Foundation


[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_Initiative

[2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Environmental_Impact
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact

[James Salsman]

A frustrating reason why it is difficult to "use green energy" in general
is because of the secret accords between Franklin D. Rosevelt and King Faud
of Saudi Arabia just after the end of WWII, wherein, according to the BBC
documentary "Bitter Lake," the U.S. agreed to uninterrupted purchases of
Saudi oil in return for regional security in the Middle East. The U.S. Navy
has been sending masters' students to MIT to work on shipboard synthesis of
liquid diesel fuel from the carbonate in seawater since the 1970s, and the
U.S. Strategic "Petroleum" reserve stopped announcing purchases in the
1990s when the number of oilers assigned to carrier groups and their port
fuel purchases both declined sharply. The SPR still frequently announces
sales, however.

Google recently developed a prototype of liquid transportation fuels
synthesis from the dialysis of carbonate in seawater, which incidentally
produces large quantities of fresh water as a byproduct:
http://x.company/explorations/foghorn

Other researchers have developed similar ways to recycle the flue exhaust
from natural gas power plants: http://bit.ly/co2-ccr

Both of these U.S. projects stopped abruptly, supposedly because they were
not economical at the retail cost of power, and the researchers refuse to
discuss the reasons that they did not calculate the cost of their outputs
from off-peak power. I recommend efforts to encourage resumption of these
projects using discounted nighttime wind power (which as per
http://freenights.txu.com is so inexpensive as to be entirely free at
retail in Texas, where some Foundation datacenters are located) as a more
effective means of minimizing environmental impact than merely contracting
for renewable energy.

Merkel's Germany and her neighbors in Europe have developed a vibrant
power-to-gas research and nascent industrial infrastructure which the U.S.
Department of Energy has never yet touched because of the corrupt U.S. "all
of the above" strategy of catering to fossil fuel producers because of
their political power in this political environment where unlimited amounts
of money from any source can be funneled to politicians' campaigns. If the
Bitter Lake accords are in the way of lessening environmental impact,
another approach would be to encourage national leaders to talk about how
the increasing use of non-supply limited renewables and concordant
continued decline in the price of all energy via power-to-gas and
gas-to-liquids infrastructure which is already built out in Europe and
Qatar (the Pearl GTL plant produces about 10% of Royal Dutch Shell's fuel
output) will effect geopolitical crises. I am convinced that Syria would
not have had a refugee crisis if they were producing their own fresh water
as a byproduct of Project Foghorn-style fuel from the carbon in seawater
instead of having to depend on changing weather patterns.

The heart of the question is: can alleviating pressure of scarce energy
resources, and in turn alleviating the scarcity all of the goods and
services in the real economy that energy underpins, provide more
geopolitical security than a 70 year old secret agreement to buy peace by
uninterrupted purchases of oil?

Another important consideration is that recycled carbon can be used for
more than just carbon neutral fuel. Researchers such as those working on
http://co2-chemistry.eu can use recycled carbon as plastic feedstock,
allowing structural plastic fiberglass composite lumber to replace most if
not almost all of the wood timber used in construction, allowing
reforestation.

Could the Endowment be chartered to ask the same environmental
responsibility of the directors and officers of its investments?

Best regards,
Jim Salsman

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 8:10 AM María Sefidari 
wrote:

> Forwading.
>
> -- Mensaje reenviado --
> De: "María Sefidari" 
> Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06
> Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact
> Para: , <
> wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>,
> 
> Cc:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Since early 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation has been evaluating efforts
> and engaging in discussions related to the environmental impact of the
> movement, and specifically the Foundation. During that time, we
> supported improvements to our on-wiki documentation,[1] talked with
> members of the community, and began reviewing internal processes.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to finding ways to reduce the
> impact of our activities on the environment. We aim to always act as
> responsibly and sustainably as possible, including favoring renewable
> energy where it is available for our operations.
>
> To help clarify and solidify our intentions in this important matter,
> the Board of Trustees has passed an environmental impact
> resolution.[2] This resolution commits the Wikimedia Foundation to:
>
> 1.  Seek out information about our overall impact on the environment
> and then work to minimize it;
>
> 2.  Consider sustainability as an im

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact

[Liam Wyatt]

Excellent news, thank you for this María and to the Board!
And, thanks to those - especially Gnom/Lukas - who have been doing such a
good job of raising awareness in the community, and documenting their
progress, at [[Sustainability Initiative]] on Meta over many many months -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_Initiative

Sincerely,
- Liam/Wittylama [who is not part of the secret accords between Franklin D.
Rosevelt and King Faud of Saudi Arabia]

wittylama.com
Peace, love & metadata

On 29 March 2017 at 19:30, James Salsman  wrote:

> A frustrating reason why it is difficult to "use green energy" in general
> is because of the secret accords between Franklin D. Rosevelt and King Faud
> of Saudi Arabia just after the end of WWII, wherein, according to the BBC
> documentary "Bitter Lake," the U.S. agreed to uninterrupted purchases of
> Saudi oil in return for regional security in the Middle East. The U.S. Navy
> has been sending masters' students to MIT to work on shipboard synthesis of
> liquid diesel fuel from the carbonate in seawater since the 1970s, and the
> U.S. Strategic "Petroleum" reserve stopped announcing purchases in the
> 1990s when the number of oilers assigned to carrier groups and their port
> fuel purchases both declined sharply. The SPR still frequently announces
> sales, however.
>
> Google recently developed a prototype of liquid transportation fuels
> synthesis from the dialysis of carbonate in seawater, which incidentally
> produces large quantities of fresh water as a byproduct:
> http://x.company/explorations/foghorn
>
> Other researchers have developed similar ways to recycle the flue exhaust
> from natural gas power plants: http://bit.ly/co2-ccr
>
> Both of these U.S. projects stopped abruptly, supposedly because they were
> not economical at the retail cost of power, and the researchers refuse to
> discuss the reasons that they did not calculate the cost of their outputs
> from off-peak power. I recommend efforts to encourage resumption of these
> projects using discounted nighttime wind power (which as per
> http://freenights.txu.com is so inexpensive as to be entirely free at
> retail in Texas, where some Foundation datacenters are located) as a more
> effective means of minimizing environmental impact than merely contracting
> for renewable energy.
>
> Merkel's Germany and her neighbors in Europe have developed a vibrant
> power-to-gas research and nascent industrial infrastructure which the U.S.
> Department of Energy has never yet touched because of the corrupt U.S. "all
> of the above" strategy of catering to fossil fuel producers because of
> their political power in this political environment where unlimited amounts
> of money from any source can be funneled to politicians' campaigns. If the
> Bitter Lake accords are in the way of lessening environmental impact,
> another approach would be to encourage national leaders to talk about how
> the increasing use of non-supply limited renewables and concordant
> continued decline in the price of all energy via power-to-gas and
> gas-to-liquids infrastructure which is already built out in Europe and
> Qatar (the Pearl GTL plant produces about 10% of Royal Dutch Shell's fuel
> output) will effect geopolitical crises. I am convinced that Syria would
> not have had a refugee crisis if they were producing their own fresh water
> as a byproduct of Project Foghorn-style fuel from the carbon in seawater
> instead of having to depend on changing weather patterns.
>
> The heart of the question is: can alleviating pressure of scarce energy
> resources, and in turn alleviating the scarcity all of the goods and
> services in the real economy that energy underpins, provide more
> geopolitical security than a 70 year old secret agreement to buy peace by
> uninterrupted purchases of oil?
>
> Another important consideration is that recycled carbon can be used for
> more than just carbon neutral fuel. Researchers such as those working on
> http://co2-chemistry.eu can use recycled carbon as plastic feedstock,
> allowing structural plastic fiberglass composite lumber to replace most if
> not almost all of the wood timber used in construction, allowing
> reforestation.
>
> Could the Endowment be chartered to ask the same environmental
> responsibility of the directors and officers of its investments?
>
> Best regards,
> Jim Salsman
>
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 8:10 AM María Sefidari 
> wrote:
>
> > Forwading.
> >
> > -- Mensaje reenviado --
> > De: "María Sefidari" 
> > Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06
> > Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact
> > Para: , <
> > wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>,
> > 
> > Cc:
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Since early 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation has been evaluating efforts
> > and engaging in discussions related to the environmental impact of the
> > movement, and specifically the Foundation. During that time, we
> > supported improvements to our on-wi

[Wikimedia-l] Tonight is Bay Area WikiSalon at Noisebridge in SF and you are invited!

[J.]

Hi, Everybody.
We are reaching out to any Wikimedians or WMF staffers that might be at the
Wikimedia mothership in San Francisco today. We are meeting at Noisebridge
hackerspace/makerspace (near 16th ST BART in SF) tonight and everybody is
invited.

Details and RSVP (helps us figure out the food and if you need any special
food or have special needs):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bay_Area_WikiSalon_March_2017

(RSVP is optional, but encouraged)

Hope to see you there! Wayne Calhoon (co-organizer)
925-899-4051
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact

[gamaliel8]

It's okay we can just use the green tech on the secret CIA moonbase.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 29, 2017, at 7:30 PM, James Salsman  wrote:
> 
> A frustrating reason why it is difficult to "use green energy" in general
> is because of the secret accords between Franklin D. Rosevelt and King Faud
> of Saudi Arabia just after the end of WWII, wherein, according to the BBC
> documentary "Bitter Lake," the U.S. agreed to uninterrupted purchases of
> Saudi oil in return for regional security in the Middle East. The U.S. Navy
> has been sending masters' students to MIT to work on shipboard synthesis of
> liquid diesel fuel from the carbonate in seawater since the 1970s, and the
> U.S. Strategic "Petroleum" reserve stopped announcing purchases in the
> 1990s when the number of oilers assigned to carrier groups and their port
> fuel purchases both declined sharply. The SPR still frequently announces
> sales, however.
> 
> Google recently developed a prototype of liquid transportation fuels
> synthesis from the dialysis of carbonate in seawater, which incidentally
> produces large quantities of fresh water as a byproduct:
> http://x.company/explorations/foghorn
> 
> Other researchers have developed similar ways to recycle the flue exhaust
> from natural gas power plants: http://bit.ly/co2-ccr
> 
> Both of these U.S. projects stopped abruptly, supposedly because they were
> not economical at the retail cost of power, and the researchers refuse to
> discuss the reasons that they did not calculate the cost of their outputs
> from off-peak power. I recommend efforts to encourage resumption of these
> projects using discounted nighttime wind power (which as per
> http://freenights.txu.com is so inexpensive as to be entirely free at
> retail in Texas, where some Foundation datacenters are located) as a more
> effective means of minimizing environmental impact than merely contracting
> for renewable energy.
> 
> Merkel's Germany and her neighbors in Europe have developed a vibrant
> power-to-gas research and nascent industrial infrastructure which the U.S.
> Department of Energy has never yet touched because of the corrupt U.S. "all
> of the above" strategy of catering to fossil fuel producers because of
> their political power in this political environment where unlimited amounts
> of money from any source can be funneled to politicians' campaigns. If the
> Bitter Lake accords are in the way of lessening environmental impact,
> another approach would be to encourage national leaders to talk about how
> the increasing use of non-supply limited renewables and concordant
> continued decline in the price of all energy via power-to-gas and
> gas-to-liquids infrastructure which is already built out in Europe and
> Qatar (the Pearl GTL plant produces about 10% of Royal Dutch Shell's fuel
> output) will effect geopolitical crises. I am convinced that Syria would
> not have had a refugee crisis if they were producing their own fresh water
> as a byproduct of Project Foghorn-style fuel from the carbon in seawater
> instead of having to depend on changing weather patterns.
> 
> The heart of the question is: can alleviating pressure of scarce energy
> resources, and in turn alleviating the scarcity all of the goods and
> services in the real economy that energy underpins, provide more
> geopolitical security than a 70 year old secret agreement to buy peace by
> uninterrupted purchases of oil?
> 
> Another important consideration is that recycled carbon can be used for
> more than just carbon neutral fuel. Researchers such as those working on
> http://co2-chemistry.eu can use recycled carbon as plastic feedstock,
> allowing structural plastic fiberglass composite lumber to replace most if
> not almost all of the wood timber used in construction, allowing
> reforestation.
> 
> Could the Endowment be chartered to ask the same environmental
> responsibility of the directors and officers of its investments?
> 
> Best regards,
> Jim Salsman
> 
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 8:10 AM María Sefidari 
> wrote:
> 
>> Forwading.
>> 
>> -- Mensaje reenviado --
>> De: "María Sefidari" 
>> Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06
>> Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact
>> Para: , <
>> wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>,
>> 
>> Cc:
>> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> Since early 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation has been evaluating efforts
>> and engaging in discussions related to the environmental impact of the
>> movement, and specifically the Foundation. During that time, we
>> supported improvements to our on-wiki documentation,[1] talked with
>> members of the community, and began reviewing internal processes.
>> 
>> The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to finding ways to reduce the
>> impact of our activities on the environment. We aim to always act as
>> responsibly and sustainably as possible, including favoring renewable
>> energy where it is available for our operations.
>> 
>> To help clarify and solidify 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Using non-free elements vs our values (Apple Maps vs Wikipedia iOS app)

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
Today it is announced that for maps in Commons, maps that are known in
Wikidata we have now support for "geoshapes". Dan, you indicated nine days
agao that this is not on your road map. But it is there. Could you please
inform us how this can be used in Apple maps?
Thanks,
   GerardM


https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikidata-tech/2017-March/001106.html

On 21 March 2017 at 17:17, Dan Garry  wrote:

> On 21 March 2017 at 14:34, Gerard Meijssen 
> wrote:
> >
> > Technical considerations are imho less relevant. What trumps it is
> > functionality.
>
>
> Technical considerations are very relevant if one is doing something
> technical, for example developing an iOS app or a maps tile service.
>
>
> > Our maps have to be good everywhere and as far as I know OSM
> > is superior in places where there is profit to be made from maps.
>
>
> If you choose to ignore the technical difficulties and half of my earlier
> email, then yes, that may be true.
>
>
> > Current maps world wide and historical maps are what we need. How would
> you
> > use the Apple maps for a map of the Ottoman empire?
> >
>
> Given that our maps service does not support this, and will not any time
> soon, this is very off-topic.
>
> Dan
>
> --
> Dan Garry
> Lead Product Manager, Discovery
> Wikimedia Foundation
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