User:DavidWBrooks

I am a reporter and science columnist for the Telegraph of Nashua (New Hampshire), a small daily newspaper. I came to Wikipedia in January 2003, following a minor media storm when it hit 100,000 articles, and think it's fun, although I'm still uncertain how useful it is as a knowledge tool.

Articles I have started, or done considerable work on, include:

• Authors/literature:
  • Gerald Durrell; "My Family and Other Animals"; Jersey Zoological Park
  • P.G. Wodehouse; Bertie Wooster; Jeeves; Drones Club
  • Arthur Ransome; Nevil Shute; A.A. Milne; Robert McCloskey; "Make Way for Ducklings"; "The Mysterious Affair at Styles"; "The Alexandria Quartet"; "The Phantom Tollbooth"; "Burmese Days"; "Why I Am Not a Christian"; "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"; Leonard Wibberley, Grand Fenwick; Walter Mosley; Jean Kerr; "Pat the Bunny" (definitely literature);

• Comedy:
  • W.C. Fields; Red Skelton; Fred Allen; Erma Bombeck; Bozo the Clown; Bert Lahr; Harvey Kurtzman (Mad magazine pioneer); Cartoon laws of physics

• Math:
  • Underwood Dudley; Kenneth Appel; Wolfgang Haken;

• Journalism:
  • various newspapers; Linotype machine; ETAOIN SHRDLU; Newsweek; Bob Woodward; Katharine Graham; AP Stylebook; AP; UPI; William S. Paley; Look magazine; Test Card F; copy editor; Tom Shales

• Games:
  • Candy Land game; Trouble (board game); Mastermind;

• Music:
  • Wynton Marsalis; Elmer Bernstein; Ernest Tubb; ghettoblaster; Dr. Demento; Nils Lofgren; Dave Davies; Arthur Fiedler; Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr., Holland-Dozier-Holland; Loudon Wainwright III; Dan Fogelberg; Don Kirshner

• Labor/social issues/history:
  • United Mine Workers; Carry Nation; Socialist Party of America; Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere; Teamsters;

• Autos:
  • Ford Model A; Ford Aspire; Harvey Firestone; Datsun 240Z

• Sport:
  • Wilt Chamberlain; Oscar Robertson; Jerry West; Bill Walton; Red Auerbach; Howard Cosell; Earl Monroe; Bill Russell; Julius Erving; Harlem Globetrotters;
  • "The Curse of the Bambino"; Moe Berg; ski patrol; sandboarding; NELSAP;

• Space:
  • Deke Slayton, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper; Robert Goddard (scientist); ram scoop;

• Technical:
  • Area code; North American Numbering Plan; X Prize; Scaled Composites; BabelFish;

• Corporate:
  • GEnie (the ISP); New England Telephone and Telegraph; Sabena; Timex; Rolex; BankBoston; Ferromex; Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad; Schlitz; Planters; Mr. Peanut; Dixie Cup; Sara Lee; Coppertone;

• Miscellany:
  • 1906 San Francisco earthquake; bombardier beetle; Palmer Drought Index; Cardiff Giant; Amazing Stories; snipe hunt; Bible belt; ceiba; town meeting; umpteen; Iridology (oof, what a mess); cosmotheism (off, what a mess II); Inside the Beltway; Doughboy; Overseas School of Rome;
  • maple syrup; pancake;
  • stirrup; socket wrench;
  • Jane Barbe ("time lady" voice); Geraldine Ferraro; Keir Dullea; Stamford Raffles; Captain Kangaroo; Walter Reed; Philip Zimbardo; Tom Mix; Ted Mack;

Geographic

• New Hampshire:
  • various geographic material; Old Man of the Mountain; Boston & Maine Corporation; Live Free or Die; Meldrim Thomson, Jr.; Hugh Gregg; Gravity Research Foundation; America's Stonehenge; Eugene Mallove; Kancamagus Highway; Nashua Corporation

• New England:
  • Logan International Airport; Patriots' Day; Passamaquoddy; Charlie on the MTA / The MTA Song; Wapack Trail;

• Virginia:
  • various geographic material; Virginia Tech;

• Australia:
  • Alice Springs; Pine Gap; camel train; thorn tree (Lonely Planet);

• Africa:
  • Northern Rhodesia; Southern Rhodesia; Niger River; Tombouctou (now Timbuktu); Gambia River; Jonas Savimbi;

• Latin America:
  • Huacachina;

Special characters

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Criticism of other editors

I'm not sure if you are watching my page, so here is our discussion from it.

excess links

This is a judgement call, of course, but in my ever-so-humble opinion, I think you might turning a few too many words into wiki-links - I'm thinking specifically of "read" in The Two Cultures. I can't imagine that anybody encountering it would be baffled and/or seeking more information about what it means to read. The problem is that sentences with lots of linked words can be hard to read, so I think we need to be cautious about adding them even if there is a Wikipedia article that could be linked to. - DavidWBrooks 22:53, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm not aware that I turned any words in that article into wikilinks. My edit was a recategorisation. Philip 22:55, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've checked and that link has been there since 18 December 2003. Please check your facts before criticising other contributors. This sort of thing doesn't make for happy and industrious editors, which I presume you want.Philip 22:58, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)