User talk:Mdf

Hi I really like the diagrams you did for Time dilation and restored them in the article. They might get deleted again, but they should at least stay on the discussion page. You could also consider putting them into the wikimedia commons? I've had things I've done been reverted before so I know how it feels but thats what happens here Astrokey44 15:45, 26 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hallo Mdf, I am in the process of publishing a book on the history of Ornithology on a “print on demand” basis. I found your amazing photos and would like to include some of them in my book. I wondered if you would allow me to do so free of charge. I will include a clear attributions to you in the book, and gladly let you have a complimentary copy of the book. Thank you. Tian Hattingh 183.15.56.119 (talk) 16:40, 20 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Tyrannus-tyrannus-001.jpg[edit]

Hello Mdf, have you taken this image? Jonathan Hornung 10:16, 27 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I took it at a city park in Toronto, Canada earlier this year. I can provide a Canon .CR2 "raw" file if there is a dispute with another party as to it's provenance. mdf 19:06, 27 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, it going about uploading to the commons! Jonathan Hornung 15:43, 29 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What do you thinking about uploading your images to the commons, from now and not only on the english WP, so that the German Wikipedia can benefit from your great Images? Jonathan Hornung 15:46, 29 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Map Images[edit]

Hi, I like your map image for UTM — I'm putting together an article on Georef, and it makes sense to have a similar map showing the Georef grid. So I was wondering how you prepared your map? Any chance of getting some sources I could use to make up a Georef map? A layered Gimp XCF file (or PSD file) would be great. Cheers. — Johantheghost 14:06, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The background is an old "Blue Marble" product from NASA that I downloaded from somewhere back in 2004 December. You might be able to find a copy of it by looking around for "ev11656" at google (my search didn't turn up much). You can download more recent versions from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble or thereabouts. If you want my copy, I can upload it to the Commons -- but it's kinda big (8192x4096, 13MB JPEG).

The foreground was produced by program I wrote that marked up the background. I can probably make your job somewhat easier by simply tweaking this code to do the GEOREF thing. I see that GEOREF has no article yet; feel free to start one going, and I'll add the graphic.

This is semi-timely, as I'm almost ready to start uploading a bunch of map projections based on this "ev11656" image -- a semi-consistent gallery of projections. (You can an early start at goode homolosine projection). mdf 18:40, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And I also have a set of "markups" for the military grid reference system also waiting to go. That article, though, needs to be written almost from scratch, and I haven't had the time to klatter in the description. Arguably, it may be better to work on an MGRS article before GEOREF, as MGRS is probably more common these days. mdf 18:45, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent, thanks. I did find the blue marble image, I was just wondering how you did the grid. Your idea sounds good though; I'll get the text up, and we can see about the graphic.

The reason for me doing Georef is simply that I once used it, and I was looking for an article in WP to remind myself how it worked; not finding one, I decided to write it!

BTW, I also once used a system that we called "UTM". It was like British grid, but extended to cover Europe with patches of square grid. As I remember it, in between the square patches were triangular bits to adjust the alignment, also gridded with letters and numbers. This doesn't sound like MGRS — I wonder what it was? — Johantheghost 11:41, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've added my Georef article. A bit rough, but there you go — it would certainly be improved by some diagrams. :-) A nice one like the one in UTM, showing the 15-degree quadrangles and their names, would be great. The references contain some images we can check against. Of course, if you know any more about Georef than me, feel free to fix the article. — Johantheghost 13:08, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've added a pair of graphics to the article, and started the "Talk". mdf 18:38, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a bunch! I suggest further discussion at the talk page. — Johantheghost 19:08, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! Could you be so kind as to share with me what you used to produce the Werner Projection image? ArcGIS only has Bonne.. Thanks!! Rawhead (talk) 23:35, 14 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I am also very interested in how you made all the different map projections. I had some great results with Mathew's Map Projection Software under ImageMagick and got also the advice in the shatters.net forum to try it with ISIS. Maybe you could give me another hint? Cheers, Klaudiusz —Preceding unsigned comment added by Klaudiusz (talk • contribs) 20:57, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Sitta-carolinensis-001.jpg[edit]

Great image of White-breasted Nuthatch. Unless you object,I am going to nominate it for featured pictures. Dsmdgold 20:27, 28 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I can't object or not object: I don't think it is seemly for the guy who took the picture to say anything more about nominations, etc. mdf 22:05, 28 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've nominated it. Browsing through your contributions, I see you have added some really great bird images, please keep up the good work. Also congrats on the Double-crested Cormorant on the front page. Dsmdgold 20:15, 7 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Picture of the Day[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that your photo Image:Phalacrocorax-auritus-007.jpg is due to make an appearance as Pic of the Day on the 7th January. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Wikipedia:Picture of the day/January 7, 2006.

Great Bird shots![edit]

Hi Mdf!
I guess a lot of people have done what I've just done and that is to have a quick look through your contribs! And I must congratulate you on the exceptional quality of your bird photography. Whay lens/camera do you use? --Fir0002 23:22, 7 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I was just blown away by your bird photographs! I hereby award you the photographer's barnstar for your fantastic photos. You've captured the essence of quite a wide variety of birds and made substantial contributions to Wikipedia. Thank you! ~MDD 46 96 01:17, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Time-dilation-001.jpg[edit]

I've created an SVG version of your image Image:Time-dilation-001.jpg. I will try to do one for Image:Time-dilation-002.jpg as I have time. ~MDD 46 96 03:03, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you are interested, I created the image with Inkscape, a free, open source SVG editing program. I admit that the program's not perfect (yet) but it is easy to use and intuitive. ~MDD 46 96 03:11, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Featured Picture[edit]

An edit of a picture you took, Image:Sitta-carolinensis-001.jpg, has just been promoted to Featured Picture. Congratulations, and thanks for taking it for us. Raven4x4x 05:38, 21 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Spherical-aberration-slice.jpg[edit]

Hey, I was wondering if you could put an updated PD tag on this image. Someone else seems to have updated your original tag with a PD-USgov tag (seemingly with no proof), and I was hoping you could double-check this. --Colonel Cow 01:01, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The tag has been corrected to PD-self. Thanks for the heads up on this! mdf 01:07, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the clarification. I've also gone ahead and changed Image:Spherical-aberration-disk.jpg for you, as I assume that you also made it & released the rights. --Colonel Cow 01:11, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Moon orbiting Earth[edit]

Can you find a way of compromising on this issue? I know you seem to feel very strongly about it, but some of the language (the navel comparison, for example) seems very unhelpful to me. You obviously know a lot about the topic; please try to be more patient with those who (apparently) know less. Thank you. Guinnog 21:06, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A few points to consider:

If someone feels they are ignorant of a subject, should they really be editing an encyclopedia article on it in a substantial way?
At the bare minimum, any encyclopedia article should be factual and honest. I believe I have demonstrated that the statement that the "Moon orbits the Sun" is not supported by any physical evidence at all. It certainly, as part of the Earth-Moon system, is "dragged" around the Sun, but, as I whimsically noted, so are bellybuttons, cash registers and (unfortunately) politicians. So far as I have seen them, all the arguments for the position are little more than special pleadings.

So I'm not sure what there is to "compromise" about. Show me where I am wrong! mdf 23:11, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Request[edit]

Hi Mdf,

My name is Fernanda Viégas and I have been studying Wikipedia for a while now (you can see a paper I published on the subject here). I would like to ask you a few questions about your activities as a Wikipedia photographer. I am fascinated by the pictorial side of Wikipedia and it would be great to hear about this community from one of its members. Would you be available for an email interview? Thanks, — Fernanda 00:22, 4 April 2006 (UTC) | talk[reply]

Hi again, Mdf. I have started sending out the questionnaire to participants in the study and it would be great if you could participate too. If you'd like to get in touch with me via email, please use the "Email this user" feature on my page. Thanks! — Fernanda 20:44, 4 April 2006 (UTC) | talk[reply]

What great photos[edit]

These photos are great! Erasmus Quasar 01:36, 27 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

One of your pictures on WP:FPC[edit]

I've nominated an image you took, Image:Protonotaria-citrea-002.jpg, for a featured picture. Here is the nomination page if you would like to comment. —Cuivi é nen (talk•contribs), Thursday, 11 May 2006 @ 02:16 UTC

Question regarding one of you pictures[edit]

Hi Mdf. I (de:Benutzer:Avatar) work for the Wikimedia Support Team Germany and just got a question from an (book-)author, who would like to use one of your pictures in his forthcoming small book (700-1000 run). I told him, that it it extremly hard to use a GFDL-licensed image in print but that I would ask you about finding other conditions. So, perhaps you like to get in contact with me (info-de@wikimedia.org), so that I could establish a mail contact between you and the author or perhaps you like to license the photo also under the CC-BY-(SA) license. --Avatar-en 14:20, 19 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Featured picture promotion[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Protonotaria-citrea-002 edit 2.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution!

FYI an edit of the image got promoted, not the original. Ravedave 03:40, 20 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulation[edit]

Great pictures! I'm very impressed with your contribution.

Zimbres 10:04, 27 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Spherical Aberration image[edit]

Hi, I was looking your Spherical Aberration image, that's a wonderful image! I was wondering how do you make that image, there are any open/free code that can generate those kind of pictures?

Thanks a lot and congratulations for your work.

[]'

-- P. Henrique

Effectively, numerical integration of the Fraunhofer approximation [1]. In the situation used for the images, further simplifications remove a dimension (ie, the function depends only on a radius [2]), and the integrations are fast and simple to carry out. See Suiter's "Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes"[3] for an easy to follow prescription, or, Born and Wolf's "Principle's of Optics" for the nitty-gritty physics[4]. There are a few freely available codes that carry out these computations in more general cases[5]. mdf 18:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Moon photo[edit]

Nice moon photo! Thanks. Elf | Talk 04:36, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks[edit]

Thanks very much for your comments on my LA Times Op-Ed piece. You are absolutely correct that that is how I feel. Wikipedia needs to develop a more sane and fair policy. Regards.Haisch 16:40, 27 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Manual of style[edit]

Regarding this edit: our Manual of Style stipulates that only the first words in section headings is capitalized; all of the rest of the words (unless they are proper nouns) are lowercase. Just wanted to make sure you were aware. --Cyde Weys 15:03, 24 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pardon me, but a proper noun is a direct reference to a unique object. Returning to the context of the article (which your edit reference does not include), it's clear there was only one such draft before the IAU. Perhaps you were confusing this with the with the multiple recommendations inside it. mdf 15:29, 24 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Don't mean to press you but...[edit]

Your asteroid belt image is getting a lot of kudos from across the site. Do you think you could create a similarly detailed image for the Kuiper belt; one that includes the Centaurs, the resonant belt, the classical belt and the scattered disc? The available representations really aren't up to scratch, and it would be really nice to have an image as detailed. No pressure, just an idea. Thanks. :-) Serendipodous 15:20, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Barred Owl[edit]

Hello. I read the Barred Owl article and saw the striking picture you uploaded. I feel it is good enough to be featured. I was curious though (after a fellow editor brought it up) if you have a larger picture since the one is slightly smaller than one would hope. You can join the discussion Here. Nice pictures by the way! They make a lot of pages look so much better. Dark jedi requiem 21:28, 17 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Can you upload a higher resolution of that picture? The minimum size for a featured picture is 1000 pixels in at least one dimension. -Ravedave ^{(help name my baby)} 02:30, 18 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've uploaded a 1536x1024 version to the commons, but there is apparently some kind of cache consistency bug: the old version is still visible. If the new doesn't appear in a few more hours, I'll retry. mdf 12:19, 18 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your wonderful edits[edit]

		The Original Barnstar
		For significant and encyclopedic contributions beyond your FP-worthy bird images. - Debivort 19:57, 19 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congrats[edit]

Congratulations. A photograph you took, Image:Anas-americana-004.jpg, as been nominated for Featured Picture over at Featured Picture Candidates. You can go here to vote and participate in the discussion. NauticaShad e s 21:25, 21 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Featured picture promotion![edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Cyanocitta-cristata-004.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! howch e ng {chat} 18:21, 24 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is to let you know the Featured Picture you uploaded and/or nominated Image:Cyanocitta-cristata-004.jpg is scheduled to be Picture of the day on January 24, 2007, when it will be featured on the Main Page. Congratulations! howch e ng {chat} 01:02, 23 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Strix-varia-005.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! howch e ng {chat} 17:02, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is to let you know the Featured Picture you uploaded and/or nominated Image:Strix-varia-005.jpg is scheduled to be Picture of the day on January 29, 2007, when it will be featured on the Main Page. Congratulations! howch e ng {chat} 07:34, 31 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Featured Picture[edit]

I wanted to say congrats on your latest featured picture. When I found it I was suprised it was not featured. It's my first time a picture I nominated actully got featured but as I've gathered from your talk page, it's one of many for you. Hopefully you'll keep taking them since they all look very nice (some even look featured picture quality)... Dark j e di requiem 18:52, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congrats... Again[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Archilochus-alexandri-002-edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! NauticaShad e s 21:02, 28 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Just to let you know that your photo Image:Archilochus-alexandri-002-edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on February 4, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-02-04. howcheng {chat} 19:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Anas-americana-004.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! NauticaShad e s 16:44, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hello again,

Just to let you know that your photo Image:Anas-americana-004.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on February 7, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-02-07. howcheng {chat} 17:00, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You have so many great FPs, I thought that they should be displayed! So I created a Featured Picture Gallery for you. If you don't like it, please feel free to remove the link on your user page. I also leave you with this:

I hereby award Mdf the *Photographer's Barnstar* for so many amazing bird pictures, which I'm sure will all become FPs one by one. --*Nautica*Shad e s 08:03, 29 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FPC Nomination[edit]

Congratulations! A picture you uploaded, Image:Calidris-pusilla-001.jpg, has been nominated for Featured Picture over at Featured Picture Candidates. You can come to participate in the discussion and vote here. --NauticaShad e s 21:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations![edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Tamias-rufus-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Mailer Diablo 19:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Tamias-rufus-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on February 24, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-02-24. howcheng {chat} 17:07, 31 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding your e-mail[edit]

I've thought exactly the same thing the past few days. I believe you are right, they are socks. But to be sure I will file a request for checkuser tomorrow. A ecis ^{Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984.} 22:58, 17 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have now filed a CheckUser request at Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/RunedChozo. If there are any more suspicious accounts you wish to add, feel free to do so. A ecis ^{Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984.} 17:39, 18 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FP Promotion[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Falcipennis-canadensis-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Fir0002 04:56, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations! --Fir0002 04:56, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Falcipennis-canadensis-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on March 3, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-03-03. howcheng {chat} 17:08, 31 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

User:Mdf/BlackNet[edit]

Have a go at it. ~ trialsanderrors 00:39, 22 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I saw the state of DRV and this being turned back from MFD. I think the intent was that you worked on it in user space, then it got moved back to main space and AFDd. If you are still interested let me know and I'll undelete and do so --pgk 10:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Image deletion possible[edit]

Please go and check Your commons user talk as an image of Yours is going to be deleted (actually it was already). Best, feydey 18:22, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please tag self-made images licensed under GFDL always as {{GFDL-self}} to prevent those problems in the future. Your images are too valuable to be deleted because of lacking information. --Denniss 01:21, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Article in need of cleanup - please assist if you can[edit]

The article Amanita muscaria, to which you have helped contribute, has been flagged as requiring cleanup.

If possible, we would appreciate your assistance in cleaning up this article to bring it up to Wikipedia's quality standards. If you are unsure what the nature of the problem is, please discuss this on the article's talk page.
If you do not want to receive bot-generated messages on your talk page, please consider using the nobots template on your user talk page

Featured Picture[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Catoptrophorus semipalmatus edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Raven4x4x 07:59, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, and thanks for taking it for us. Raven4x4x 07:59, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Catoptrophorus semipalmatus edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on May 1, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-05-01. howcheng {chat} 17:06, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Barred Owl[edit]

Hi Mdf, I see we've got another one of your stunning photos as POTD today - this time it's the Barred Owl. There does seem to be some sort of problem with it though: the high resolution version doesn't appear to be there (red x in IE, and the text of the URL in Firefox but no image). I've reported it on the Main Page Error Reports page so hopefully someone will come and restore it. Anyway, congratulations on another superb image. What lens do you use for your bird shots? I'm considering upgrading to a digi-SLR in the next year or so and I'd welcome any recommendations. Cheers, --YFB ¿ 16:27, 29 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Photographer's Barnstar[edit]

		The Photographer's Barnstar
		Awarded to Mdf for his incredible wildlife photography! Way to go, Mdf! You're amazing! MoodyGroove 22:18, 4 February 2007 (UTC)MoodyGroove[reply]

Image:Podiceps-grisegena-008.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Podiceps-grisegena-008.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! KFP (talk | contribs) 15:15, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Podiceps-grisegena-008.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on June 30, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-06-30. howcheng {chat} 18:14, 31 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Eugenes-fulgens-001.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Eugenes-fulgens-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! KFP (talk | contribs) 22:11, 7 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We are interested in contacting you regarding the possibility of getting permission to use one of your images in a book we are publishing. To see the quality of the books we publish, please go to www.adventurepublications.net If you are interested, please contact Adventure Publications. kathy@adventurepublications.net

Shall I hail you as a Hero or something? Aran|heru|nar 15:09, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

CIE chromaticity diagram on gamut[edit]

I liked the CIE chromaticity diagram you created for gamut which presented a planar slice through the xyY space and therefore avoided the "Y" artifact. But that image stays only in the talk page, and not in the article. I think it would be worth bringing the discussion back, and maybe just replacing the images in the article with that image, in the spirit of WP:BOLD. --jacobolus (t) 09:21, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WOW!![edit]

		The Photographer's Barnstar
		I hereby award you this barnstar for the truly fantastic pictures you've contributed. Thanks for sharing them with Wikipedia—they're certainly upgrading the quality of the articles they're attached to! MeegsC \| Talk 10:33, 20 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Robinson Projection of NASA Satellite Data[edit]

Hi Mdf,

I stumbled upon your Robinson Projection of a world satellite map and I was wondering how you made it. It seems like all of your projections are based on the same worldmap image, and I was wondering how you managed to create all the different projections. I need a larger version of the same image without the grid for a project I am working on, and I was hoping you could point my way to figuring out how to create that.

Thanks a lot!Cheesy 07:54, 29 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

All of those projections (and more I have not yet uploaded) are the output of custom software, loosely based on the libproj (see http://proj.maptools.org/), and extended to have the inverse of all the projections. How big an image do you need? I can easily generate a grid-less version for you. mdf 12:48, 29 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you could make one about 5400x2700 that would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance! -Cheesy 04:35, 30 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You'll find a 5400x2739 version, without grid, at Image:Robinson-5400.jpg. mdf 14:50, 4 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Yellow Warbler[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Dendroica-aestiva-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 06:40, 14 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Dendroica-aestiva-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on October 29, 2007. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2007-10-29. howcheng {chat} 18:03, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bird Photographs[edit]

Dear Mdf, Could you please contact me at your convenience regarding your GNU pictures. steve@gamesforthemind.com. Thank you in advance.

Request[edit]

Hello Mdf (user: Mdf)

I am writing on behalf of Paul Docherty, who would like to use one of your beautiful photographs in a wildlife book.

Please can you contact him at PaulD@quarto.com as soon as possible.

Many thanks

Fabio Ribeiro --Fabio^Talk 23:14, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates/Pseudacris-crucifer-003[edit]

The aforementioned featured sound candidacy has been closed as promote. Image:Springpeepers.ogg is now featured. Congratulations! MER-C 11:09, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

American Pipit[edit]

Are you sure about the ID on this one? Looks a bit more like a Thrush to me. It seems to lack the white eye ring and supercilium, blackish wings with buffy edges, brownish-olive upperparts with fine black streaks on back and doesn't seem to have dark feet. Wwcsig 03:40, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

FPC Nomination[edit]

Congratulations! A picture you uploaded, Image:Larus-glaucoides-002.jpg, has been nominated for Featured Picture status over at Featured Picture Candidates. You can come to participate in the discussion and vote here. --NauticaShad e s 14:56, 13 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mystery bird[edit]

Looks like a first-year Swainson's Thrush to me. Why not move the image there rather than deleting, it's a brilliant picture? Jimfbleak 15:15, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

and the existing image on the page is a full adult Jimfbleak 15:16, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

VisibleEarth Projections please halp![edit]

Dear Mdf,

I'm an architect currently looking for a digital version of either the buckminster fuller earth satellite map ( dymaxion world ), or the Goode Homolsine projection world map based on satelite image, or the world map based on satelite image. My pourpouse is to print it out at a very large format ( 5.50 mt width), so i need a very good quality raster or vectorial digital map. I have been looking for it through out the net, but with no results, so i really hope you can help me. I sow your Goode-Homolosine projection on Wikipedia at [1]( ElectionWorld told me about you ), it is wonderful. Also I sow on your page other very interesting projection you are able to execute...

> Are these projectio available in good digital quality as to print out as I need ? Or is it possible to produce these in best quality ? I really hope you to halp me

>I found a satellite image on visibleearth.nasa.gov, it is available as TIFF 21600 x 21600 pixels (173,5 MB or 240,1 MB or 400,7 MB ). Do you think we can transform this image in Goode Homolosine or Dimaxion projection ?

>Are you able ( or someone you know ) to execute these transformations for me ( from satellite image to Goode-Homolosine or to Dymaxion map )? >How much does it would cost to me?

You can look a sample of Dymaxion map i'm tolking about at [2] If you are not able to help me please let me know which other sources could be useful to me.

thanks a lot and kind regards.

"Mogeco", marchi_leo@yahoo.it Trieste, Italia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.2.63.196 (talk) 20:34, 8 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Spizella-passerina-015.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Spizella-passerina-015 edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Chris.B • talk 16:57, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Spizella-passerina-015 edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on April 22, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-04-22. howcheng {chat} 21:21, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Melanerpes erythrocephalus[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Melanerpes-erythrocephalus-003.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Chris.B • talk 17:01, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Melanerpes-erythrocephalus-003.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on April 14, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-04-14. howcheng {chat} 21:45, 9 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Coragyps-atratus-002.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Coragyps-atratus-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 02:25, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Coragyps-atratus-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on April 30, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-04-30. howcheng {chat} 22:12, 23 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wow[edit]

Three Featured Pictures in one week! I'm very glad you are willing to share your work with us. Thank you. Dsmdgold (talk) 04:08, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Chris.B (talk) 13:56, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

POTD

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on May 9, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-05-09. howcheng {chat} 22:32, 4 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Calidris-alpina-001 edit.jpg[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Calidris-alpina-001 edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Chris.B (talk) 09:53, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Calidris-alpina-001 edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on June 8, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-06-08. howcheng {chat} 22:44, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Photographic Master Award[edit]

Congratulations! You have been selected as one of Wikipedia's Masters of Photography for your outstanding contributions to the project. Please place this award somewhere on your userpage! Also be sure to visit the Photographic Masters' Guild Homepage. There you can find out more about project and utilize the forums etc. As a recipient I would request that you create yourself a profile and add five of your very best images (not necessarily 5 FP's - just five photos you think are your best) to the Guild Gallery. If you don't do this within 14 days of recieving this award I'll assume you'd rather I do it on your behalf.

Well done Mdf - I've always greatly admired your photographs and consider you as one of the finest photographers on Wikipedia! --Fir0002 08:19, 24 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf, could you please add more detail into your profile here? It's for the Guild Members section. Alternatively you can contact me with details. Regards, --Fir0002 10:20, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- PS - congrats on the new body! The Mk III is supposed to be one helluva camera - what are your impressions? --Fir0002 10:21, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nicer sensor. The larger display makes a big difference too. Generally improved user-interface. The "live view" turns out to be useful in a few situations, particularly for focusing for images of the night sky. The notorious AF problem hasn't been noticed on my unit ("blue dot", see below). The main problem with the camera is that Canon is still paying too much attention to the overly proud professionals who think they can get by with limited amounts of automation. Well, ok, maybe they are just better than I am, but I'm still losing picture opportunities when flipping between Av-mode non-flash to manual-mode with flash, depending on lighting. This problem is an old one though, as it happened with the MkII as well. If you feel the urge to get one - it appears you deserve one - make sure the box has the now famous "blue dot": these units have properly functioning AF systems right at the factory. mdf (talk) 03:06, 8 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I know exactly what you mean re:av to manual flip I have to do that all the time myself. But what I would really love to see in a body is focus limiting. You'd have two small LCD's and scrolling dials to adjust your min/max range like so: File:Focus limiter.jpg. This would not only make your focus faster it would be an absolute life saver when trying to get mid air bird shots - I've had so many near misses with the kind of thing because the AF kept trying to pick up the background. Maybe this isn't so bad on a 1D series with all those active focus points! But for me it would be a major feature. Logically I guess that kind of thing should be on the lens as different lenses have different min focal distances but I guess if the camera can focus the lens it will know the min focussing distance of different lenses and adjust correspondingly. And the advantage of having it on the body (it could do it on all lenses) is pretty clear. Thanks I'd love to be able to get one but as student I simply don't have the money. I've been saving for a while now in anticipation of the 5D Mk II - hopefully it'll come out soon - it should be a pretty good budget "pro" body! :-) If you don't mind could your name for your members section profile - it's entirely up to you tho. I'm guessing your first name begins with "M" ;-) --Fir0002 11:07, 9 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/American Robin[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Turdus-migratorius-002.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 11:04, 30 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Turdus-migratorius-002.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on July 5, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-07-05. howcheng {chat} 00:19, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

trying to contact mdf[edit]

Hi. I would like to use some of your excellent images on my site birdphotos.com, giving you all credit of course with whatever info you want to provide, and respecting all copyrights. This site up to now totally my creation (site and all photos) but I am trying to improve the quality of the photos on the site (from good to really excellent). If this posting is not appropriate, please advise me; it is my first to a wikipedia discussion area. thank you, tom friedel —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomfriedel (talk • contribs) 16:12, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Abide by the GFDL and/or the variously similar CC licenses is all that is necessary for you to re-use most any user-authored image you find at Wikipedia. Exact licensing details usually decorate the page surrounding the image. In your case, you may find further (and probably better!) material by looking around at the commons. mdf (talk) 02:50, 8 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Colibri thalassinus[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Colibri-thalassinus-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 06:04, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What flash equipment did you use when photographing hummingbirds? They're pretty impressive photos :). I'm planning a trip to costa rica but I don't think I'd be able to get anything decent with just a single flash..? I just wish I could do one of these [6]! Benjamint 04:55, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Yellowish Flycatcher[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Empidonax-flavescens-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 06:32, 7 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

POTD

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Empidonax-flavescens-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on October 3, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-10-03. howcheng {chat} 16:21, 29 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

image[edit]

I recently began an extension of the antbird page and wanted to thank you for your images of otherwise hard to get species. I was wondering if the image to the left would ever be featurable (I don't really follow the ins and outs of FPC), if it is I've written a good encyclopaedic caption for it on the antbird page. Sabine's Sunbird talk 23:45, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your welcome! In fact, I enjoyed taking them, and am really sorry about the number I missed (very poor images of two more species, and maybe 2 or 3 more species unimaged completely). I desperately wish I was back in the rain forest, listening, watching, smelling and generally experiencing it, collecting images and recordings. Beats the 24/7 roar of so-called civilization. It will forever outrage me that enduring the stink of a city pays more than documenting and explaining the contents of a forest.

I can't comment on the the featurability of the image either. People will probably complain about the tight crop, lack of focus on the feet, distracting elements on the tree. Or maybe they can transcend those difficulties, and recognize it's probably one of the best at Wikipedia on that bird, and of antbirds in general. Apparently anyone can nominate one; you just have to follow the instructions. Seems complicated though.

I really like what you did to the antbird article though. I wish all the species accounts here were of that level of quality and detail, and wish I could contribute more in that manner. But I'm just a guy with a camera. Too much time at school staring at unthinking computers, forsaking biology. In hindsight, a mistake.

Next time I'm in Central America, I have a plan to try and video the remarkable activity that surrounds a swarm of ants ... still photographs just don't convey it. There is nothing like it in temperate forests. Maybe I should pitch this idea to the Foundation. Get me away from this computer, while not starving. mdf (talk) 02:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ha! I am a biologist, doing my PhD in avian evolution and behaviour, but I've spent the last year in front of a computer too! I get into the field (woodland near Wellington) soon though. I miss the rainforest too though, the sheer staggering diversity and the fact that you see something new absolutely every day. I wish I'd had a halfway decent camera when I lived out there.

As for your image, I put it in peer review to see if other people agree its a gem. I mean, if that yawning cormorant could get through.... Sabine's Sunbird talk 03:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations[edit]

Thanks for your contribution to size the real world (image 800px-Gall-peters using berhrmann projection). See you may be at Wikimania 2008 ? --Eurobas (talk) 10:26, 6 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Bicolored Antbird[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Gymnopithys-leucaspis-001 edit2.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 10:07, 9 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

your beautiful barred owl[edit]

I can't get enough of looking at this photo, so I've had to add it to my user page. Thanks! --Hordaland (talk) 05:50, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reattributing edits[edit]

Unfortunately this is not possible. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you want you could always revert the edit and re-apply it. –xenocidic (talk) 01:53, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

American Tree Sparrow[edit]

Totally cute picture. --Blechnic (talk) 05:52, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry I didn't notify you ealier. A picture you uploaded, Image:Spizella-arborea-002.jpg, has been nominated for Featured Picture status over at Wikipedia:Featured Picture Candidates. You can come to participate in the discussion and vote here. --NauticaShad es 00:44, 23 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

POTD notification[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Bucephala-albeola-010.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on August 3, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-08-03. howcheng {chat} 00:02, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/American Tree Sparrow2[edit]

An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Spizella-arborea-002 edit2.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 10:46, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Gadwall[edit]

Congratulations! A picture you uploaded, Image:Anas-strepera-001.jpg, has been nominated for Featured Picture status over at Wikipedia:Featured Picture Candidates. You can come to participate in the discussion and vote here. --NauticaShad es 14:25, 23 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Query[edit]

Hi Mdf, would you mind adding an explicit assertion that you are the author of Image:Podiceps-grisegena-008.jpg to the image page (assuming that's indeed the case)? There's interest in using the image in a featured article candidate and this is just needed to dot the Is and cross the Ts (WP:IUP needs an explicit assertion of authorship; we can't rely on the implications of a GFDL-self tag). ЭLСОВВОLД _talk 14:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I hope I did that right. All I changed was a template, making the GFDL-nature stand out. If there is a better way, feel free to make the edit: I did in fact take that picture. mdf (talk) 11:43, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, not quite. Like I said, we can't rely on implications of the tag. All you really need to do is add "self-made", "Author: Mdf" or something similar to the description page. ЭLСОВВОLД _talk 13:34, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I edited the commons version, and then copied the information template. Hope that helps. mdf (talk) 16:41, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Anas-strepera-001.jpg[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Anas-strepera-001.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! jjron (talk) 08:44, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Piping Plover[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, Image:Charadrius-melodus-004 edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 06:48, 26 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

POTD notification[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture Image:Gymnopithys-leucaspis-001 edit2.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on November 9, 2008. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2008-11-09. howcheng {chat} 00:03, 7 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your nickname[edit]

It sounds like "modafoka" or something... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.230.163.113 (talk) 12:49, 9 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bird photography advice[edit]

Hey Mdf, I've recently started getting more "into" bird photography and was wondering what your opinion on camouflage is? I'm guessing from this that you use it? How big a role does it play (in your opinion) in bird photography? At the moment I'm using a very basic slowly-approach-the-bird-and-hope-it-doesnt-fly-away method which is a bit limited! --Fir0002 05:11, 11 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for the extreme delay in answering this! The camo covers I have for my larger lenses were bought mainly to protect the lens from the random bumps and scrapes due to dragging it into the bushes and such. There might be a real camo effect, but it's hard to tell with certainty. I'm hardly an expert on this, but getting closer to the subjects is mainly an act of luck, preparedness and patience on your part, and general temperament and predictability in subject behavior: some species are a lot easier than others. Tired and hungry birds tend to ignore you more, as do (sadly) sick or injured ones. Arthur Morris (no article on him!) has a bit to say on this, but just going outside one learns more, and faster. mdf (talk) 20:10, 16 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

POTD notification[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Spizella-arborea-002 edit2.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on March 14, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-03-14. howcheng {chat} 16:41, 11 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

POTD notification[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Anas-strepera-001.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on April 8, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-04-08. howcheng {chat} 04:01, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

POTD notification[edit]

Hi Mdf,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Charadrius-melodus-004 edit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on May 17, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-05-17. howcheng {chat} 23:38, 13 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

File:Two-point-equidistant-asia.jpg[edit]

Hi, I am considering resubmitting your set of map projections as a featured set of images on Commons. Would you be able to make a new version of the two-point-equidistant projection that shows the whole world instead of just Asia? I understand that the rest of the world would be uselessly distorted as a result, but the map would be directly comparable to the rest of the set and make the whole set consistent. --İnfoCan (talk) 14:50, 21 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations![edit]

Congratulations Mdf! Your image Image:Carduelis-tristis-001.jpg was the Random Picture of the Day! It looked like this:

Random picture of the day

The American Goldfinch, the state bird of Washington

Image credit: [[User:Mdf (talk)|Mdf (talk)]] ([[User talk:Mdf (talk)|talk]] · [[Special:Contribs/Mdf (talk)|contribs]])

. - Talk to you later, Presidentman (talk) Random Picture of the Day 21:03, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Solar System Plot[edit]

I really like your plot of the asteroids of the Solar System! Excellent job. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:InnerSolarSystem-en.png

I am interested in the math behind this plot. There was a similar plot in a different article and the author was kind enough to provide the sourcecode. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nearby_Stars_%2814ly_Radius%29.svg

It was most useful for doing things like this: http://kisd.de/~krystian/starmap/

So what I'm interested it how do you determine the spatial position of a celestial body of the solar system at a certain time when you have only the ephemeris to start with? I would like to try doing an interactive 3D map of it. I'm good with the 3D and interactive part but I'm not sure how to derive the data. Is there any chance you could you help me out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Krystman (talk • contribs) 12:27, 19 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The inner solar system image was produced from two sources: the MPC asteroid database, and the JPL ephemerides. Radically difference sources. The asteroids are "snapshots" -- osculating elements -- at a given instant in time, while the JPL data is a monstrous tabulation for a few thousand years. Using the JPL data amounts to interpolating, and it's not simple managing the job.

The MPC data is easier, and the best way forward is to use the universal variable formulation of the two body problem. The Danby reference in the universal variable article is indeed an excellent one -- it even includes code (albeit, in BASIC) for the Stumpff functions. Essentially, directly from (x,y,z) and (dx/dt, dy/dt, dz/dt) and a time, a new position is computed. Even if you only have the classical geometric elements, it's cleaner to just convert them to rectangular and let Stumpff deal with the problem. mdf (talk) 18:30, 4 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Inverse Map Projections[edit]

Hi MDF: would it be possible for you to send me the formulas or a pointer for the inverse map projections for the following: (a) Peirce Quincuncial (b) Craig retro-azimuthal Thanks. Love.maps (talk) 02:15, 15 August 2010 (UTC)Love.maps[reply]

MDF: I figured out how to invert the Craig (I used bisection). So now I'm still looking for the Peirce. I can invert the elliptic integrals, but have not figured out how to invert the expressions for sin(m) and sin(n). (This comment also applies to the other projections that use elliptic integrals such as the Guyou and the various versions of the Adams). Love.maps (talk) 08:22, 18 August 2010 (UTC)Love.maps[reply]

Craig is straightforward algebra, no bisection required. Very helpful here (and other projections) is a routine that can solve a*sin(x) + b*cos(x) + c = 0, for x.

The difficulty with the Peirce is the one you mentioned: the elliptic integral. The forward requires a "special function", and the reverse can be done by numerically with the help of the forward. But once you have those in hand, the rest is again easy algebra: the reverse is done by peeling off each layer, going backwards. mdf (talk) 18:13, 4 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

MDF: as you pointed out, I did not need to bisect for the Craig. Thanks for pointing out that it hinges on the solution to a*sin(x) + b*cos(x) + c = 0, for x. I found an algorithm for that, which is faster than bisection.

I also got the Peirce to work (along with its cousins the Adams and the Guyou). One thing that puzzles me, though. The solutions for cosA and cosB in terms of sinM and sinN do not seem to be unique: in other words, there are sometimes two or more possible solutions that need to be checked out. Am I missing something here? In any case, thanks for your expert advice. Love.maps (talk) 01:24, 8 September 2010 (UTC)Love.maps[reply]

Solar system plot (Asteroid positions) to vector format[edit]

If I were to redraw the image InnerSolarSystem in vector format, I wonder if the exact positions of the bodies are necessary to duplicate or if an image that was "similar" in appearance would do just as well? One with groups of dots in the right colors and places but not EXACTLY the same positions as your image. Maybe you could generate vectorized output with tools at your disposal? Vectors are much prettier than pixels! gs (talk) 10:36, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mdf - I've signed myself up in the Illustration Workshop to take on vectorizing the InnerSolarSystem image, before I realized that the custom code bit was very non-trivial. I think there is real value in providing a vector version, especially in light of how informative and widely used your image is, and that a SVG is amenable to automatic translation for other languages. Is it possible for you to provide me with either the coordinates that was used to plot the objects, or a series of images for the isolated elements (i.e., only Hildas; only planets, etc), preferably in higher resolution (e.g., 2kx2k)? Jon C (talk) 21:40, 23 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Important[edit]

Hi, I wrote you a message on your talk page at Wikimedia Commons. --Vale93b (talk) 14:24, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Photo usage[edit]

Hi, I've been working on a small game built around animal quizzes and I wanted to let you know I've used some of your pictures.

I found your pictures here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turdus-migratorius-002.jpg I attributed this picture as described on that website: Mdf with this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mdf and also added a link to the license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cyanocitta-cristata-004.jpg I attributed this picture as described on that website: Mdf with this link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mdf and also added a link to the license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

I hope you're happy with it, please let me know if this is not the case. You can find the game here: http://apps.facebook.com/animalalbum

Regards, Garfunkel Jansen

P.S. Thanks for taking the pictures and making them available.

Permission for photo[edit]

Dear Mdf, for our student textbook about Charles Darwin we want to use your nice two photos of a male and female black-chinned hummingbirds Archilochus alexandrii. We kindly ask you for permission to use your photo. Of course your name appears in the list of figures together with a hint of the licence conditions. With best regards Paul

Prof. Paul Wrede Charité-Universitätsmedzin Berlin Molekularbiologie und Bioinformatik Arnimallee 22 14195 Berlin (Germany) paul.wrede@charite.de --92.78.190.225 (talk) 14:28, 20 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly unfree File:Georef-global.jpg[edit]

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Georef-global.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree files because its copyright status is unclear or disputed. If the file's copyright status cannot be verified, it may be deleted. You may find more information on the file description page. You are welcome to add comments to its entry at the discussion if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Stefan2 (talk) 22:34, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank You for the Wikipedia Picture[edit]

Hello, My name is Duane Hurst and I recently made a free (non-commercial) English web site to share information with people. I added links to your Wikipedia/Wikimedia freeware picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phalacrocorax-auritus-007.jpg). I also gave credit to you on my web pages for your work. Thank you for sharing with the public. My website is:

http://www.freeenglishsite.com/

I add pictures such as yours to one of the following major sections of my site: 1. World section - contains information and over 10,000 images of every world country and territory. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/world/index.htm

2. USA section - contains information and images of every USA state and territory. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/world/usa/index.htm

3. English section - "Mel and Wes" lessons in conversation format. Stories are located in various USA states and world countries such as China, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Thailand. Each lesson has many slang terms and idioms, which I link to my Slang Dictionary. This eventually will have over 5,000 terms. Currently, it has about 3,000 slang and idioms. I regularly add new lessons and slang terms. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/english/lessons/index.htm Slang Dictionary link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/english/slang/Eslang_a.htm

Prior to retirement, I taught English at several private and public universities in the United States.

Please share this free site with your friends. I hope all will enjoy the pictures and find the English information useful. Sincerely, Duane Hurst in Utah, USA

Email address: duanerhurst@freeenglishsite.com --75.169.27.34 (talk) 20:56, 14 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I use some of your photos[edit]

Hello Mdf!

I have some of ypur photos from wikimedia in my free software educational proyect "Animalandia" (http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia)

You can see directly in the follow links and click over "Siguiente" ("Next"):

Agelaius phoeniceus: http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/imagen.php?id=30442

Tyrannus melancholicus: http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/imagen.php?id=37462

Strix varia: http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/imagen.php?id=30733

Surnia ulula: http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/imagen.php?id=32093

Hydroprogne caspia: http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/imagen.php?id=36389

If you wish, you can send me (via fernando.lison@educa.madrid.org) some letters or/and a photo for your "contributor profile" in Animalandia (In your profile there is a link to your flickr gallery):

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=Mdf

I want show to my students (and so everybody) that Animalandia is make for "real person", and I can tell them about "generosity", "share" and other similar words that we use very few at this time...

This is my "contributor profile" and others, for example:

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=Fernando%20Lis%F3n%20Mart%EDn

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=Carmen%20Jim%E9nez

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=David%20P%E9rez

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=Boris%20Loboda

http://herramientas.educa.madrid.org/animalandia/autor.php?nombre=Steve%20Garvie%20%28Rainbirder%29

In the future, I use more of your photos, I sure!

Thank you for the licence and, of course, for your splendid photos!! Regards! Fernando Lisón

--Fernando.lison (talk) 16:48, 1 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of automated file description generation[edit]

Your upload of File:Charadrius-semipalmatus-002.jpg or contribution to its description is noted, and thanks (even if belatedly) for your contribution. In order to help make better use of the media, an attempt has been made by an automated process to identify and add certain information to the media's description page.

This notification is placed on your talk page because a bot has identified you either as the uploader of the file, or as a contributor to its metadata. It would be appreciated if you could carefully review the information the bot added. To opt out of these notifications, please follow the instructions here. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 14:21, 22 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom elections are now open![edit]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:49, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Chukar Partridge Image[edit]

Chukar_partridge#/media/File:Alectoris-chukar-001.jpg

I know you are getting a lot of requests for image permissions, but I just wanted to see whether you would give me written permission for the use of your Chukar Partridge image (linked) within a publication? Written permission from the author would help me adhere to my organisations copyright policy.

Also, considering the image is licensed under the CC Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license, I wanted to check whether you preferred to be attributed as Mdf or another name?

Many thanks

--BGreet (talk) 12:20, 11 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

File:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg nominated for delisting as a featured picture[edit]

One of your photos, File:Mimus-polyglottos-002 edit.jpg, has been nominated for delisting from Wikipedia:Featured pictures because it was replaced with a higher resolution image. Please see Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/delist/Northern mockingbird. MER-C 11:31, 15 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

InnerSolarSystem image[edit]

I was looking for the original source of this image, or something similar. I looked at the book mentioned on the image page, Solar System Dynamics by Murray and Dermott. I reviewed the book online and note that this Mdf image does not appear at all in this book on any page. Page 107 is the start of a section on Trojan Asteroids and Satellites. Cthyg3 (talk) 14:19, 27 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]