User:Slashme

I am David Richfield, a German chemical engineer / biochemist born in South Africa. I'm a founder member and former director of Wikimedia South Africa, the South African Wikimedia Chapter. I also created the parliament diagram tool, which is widely used to create diagrams for political articles on Wikipedia.

My username comes from IRC: "/me" is a shortcut which inserts your username.

I enjoy learning languages, graphic design, 3D modeling with Blender, cartography on OpenStreetMap, computer programming, playing Go and promoting free software. In 2016, I started juggling.

Here's a Limerick: $\int _{1}^{\sqrt[{3}]{3}}\!t^{2}\,dt\cos({\frac {3\pi }{9}})=\ln({\sqrt[{3}]{e}})$

Babel user information

en-N	This user has a native understanding of English.

af-N	Hierdie gebruiker het kennis van Afrikaans op moedertaalvlak.

de-3	Dieser Benutzer beherrscht Deutsch auf hohem Niveau.

nl-2	Deze gebruiker heeft basiskennis van het Nederlands.

xh-1	This user has basic knowledge of isiXhosa.

ru-1	Этот участник владеет русским языком на начальном уровне.

fr-1	Cet utilisateur dispose de connaissances de base en français.

es-1	Este usuario tiene un conocimiento básico del español.

it-1	Questo utente può contribuire con un livello elementare in italiano.

el-1	Αυτός ο χρήστης έχει βασικές γνώσεις Ελληνικών.

This user has been editing Wikipedia for more than 15 years.

This user has been on Wikipedia for 20 years, 10 months and 17 days.

This editor is a Senior Editor II and is entitled to display this Rhodium Editor Star.

This user has autopatrolled rights on the English Wikipedia. (verify)

This user is part of the Welcoming Committee.

This user is a recent changes patroller.

This user is a Wikigraphist from the Graphics Lab, where you can request image improvement.

This user is signed up for the Feedback Request Service.

This user contributes using GIMP.

This user contributes using Inkscape.

This user models with Blender.

This user contributes using Linux.

This user contributes using Debian GNU/Linux.

This user uses Microsoft Windows under duress.

elinks

This user contributes using ELinks.

This user contributes using Mozilla.

-3

This user is an advanced LaTeX user.

This user contributes using Vim.

This user can program in Python.

Perl

This user is just another Perl hacker.

BASIC

This user can program in BASIC.

C

This user can program in C.

pascal

This user can program in Pascal.

<html>

This user can write HTML.

PHP

This user can code PHP.

re

This user writes regular expressions.

SQL

This user can program in SQL.

awk

This user can program in awk.

This user is a Go player.

gk

This user is a geek.

BE

This user has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical engineering.

MSc

This user has a Master of Science degree in biochemistry.

This user has published peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.

This user shaves with Occam's razor.

your
you're

This user thinks that if your grammar is incorrect, then you're in need of help.

to¦go

This user chooses to sometimes use split infinitives.

whom

This user insists upon using whom wherever it is called for, and fixes the errors of whomever he sees.

Activity

Parliament diagram tool

Schematic diagram of the House of Lords, showing government, opposition, cross-bench and speaker
Arch version
Another arch

You can make diagrams using this online tool!

I started work a while back on a tool to render svg diagrams for legislatures - I started out with a tool that spits out a rectangular diagram with a title and a legend. In May 2010, I saw some very nice arch-shaped diagrams drawn with User:Habbit's ADSvote program requested for conversion to SVG on WP:GL/I. Instead of doing manual SVG conversion, I programmed a similar algorithm, which I now host on Wikimedia's Toolserver (link above). The source code is hosted at GitHub - Bug reports, feature requests and patches are welcome!

The arch tool is quite popular for election results on Wikipedia, but the Westminster-style tool is still under development: a standard style has not yet been clarified, so if you use it, expect criticism and/or correction. If the output is not as you expect, consider editing with Inkscape and saving the result as a "plain SVG".

You can also upload the diagrams directly from the tool. You can see the most recent uploads here.

It is currently mostly maintained by Gouvernathor and Rade-Mathis, with significant contributions by Ambady Anand S, Ranjith Siji and others.

Pages I started

~~Don't~~ start what you can't finish.

Translations

Some pictures and animations I've contributed

Here are some selected files. For a more complete list, with many more pictures, see my Commons uploads (or if you have javascript enabled, you can see them in a gallery view)

A small sample of boleite photographed at the Museum Reich der Kristalle in Munich.
The main steroidogenic pathways. I made the first version of the svg from scratch; expanded, coloured and successfully shepherded through the featured pictures process by User:Mikael_Häggström.
The compression action of a Rotary-screw compressor
3D structure of promin - was used as the illustration on WP:DYK
A W-type external-thread collet being pulled into its spindle seat with a drawbar, clamping and then releasing a shaft.
Life cycle of Echinococcus
Lots of thumbtacks, just for fun!
An old Cadmach tablet press
Round, biconvex white tablets
Tablet failure modes
An empty pycnometer
A full pycnometer
Laboratory distillation set-up
Red and white deposited hard candy
Animated SVG: the rotors of a three-lobe Roots blower meshing and rotating.
Chlorophyll a
Two snails investigate each other before mating
A specimen of Duberria lutrix
Green insect eggs found on a curtain
A sundew in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch
A cockroach in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch
The Painted Tree Frog
Parapioxys jucundus
The P450 catalytic cycle - thanks to User:Rob Scarrow for the correction!
Stress vs Strain graph: re-drawn with actual stress line added
Stanley Bridge in Alexandria by night during Ramadan 2009
An SVG icon for manufacturing company stubs
Baseball stub template pic, built from parts

Tools

Camera

I bought a Canon PowerShot A630 in April 2007, and have since started contributing photos to Wikipedia. In 2008, due to an insurance payout after a stupid accident involving seawater, it was upgraded to an A650IS, which runs CHDK, which greatly increases its flexibility. That camera was stolen in 2013, and I replaced it with an SX270HS, which at the time didn't run CHDK.

In 2014 I bought my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 600D. It's a very nice camera! I had good success with macro photography using extension tubes with the stock lens, but I later also bought a Tamron AF 70-300mm combination macro/telephoto lens, which gave me good results until 2025, when the connection between the lens and body became dodgy, and I wanted a new camera anyway, so I upgraded to a Canon EOS R7. It's a very nice camera! The stock lens on its own is excellent and quite flexible, and the camera's IBIS together with the lens image stabilisation gives great hand-held performance. There is no noticeable lag on the electronic viewfinder. Having a connection to my mobile phone for remote shooting and for direct import of snapshots that I don't want to work up in darktable is also great.

External links

Go, Baduk, Weiqi

Footnotes