alecf

NPR: Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Podcast: Split Podcast from Radio Sho

2008-08-26T21:46:57.0017Z

Somehow the WP article for the radio show got conflated with the podcast of the radio show. The two are not really the same thing (although they are obviously related), and should be split into separate topics. Notably, the podcast did not win a Peabody.

United Kingdom: Don't merge

2008-08-20T19:45:53.0017Z

The United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland is different then just Great Britian; it also includes Northern Ireland (and some other stuff, depending on just how you want to define your various terms). However, this article should be renamed The United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland, the correct legal name of the country.

China: Medal Count by Country

2008-08-19T17:01:42.0027Z

Here's a query to see the 2008 Olympic medal count according to Freebase.

Sport: Championships

2008-08-19T15:47:42.0032Z

I added his Masters Tournament wins in here. As a result, he was typed as a sports team. Is there a better way to enter in individual sports championships?

Alcatraz Island: Split the island from the prison

2008-08-04T20:25:21.0017Z

The prison is not the same as the island; it was just located on the island.

Food: Dishes and ingredients

2008-07-30T08:24:04.0012Z

Xian One Day Terracotta Warriors and City Gourmet Tour

Xian Gourmet Tour Itinerary:

1 Pick up from your hotel between 8:30 am and 9:00 am by private vehicle and English speaking tour guide. Enjoy xian-style breakfast: Meat-Ball Hot Soup

2 Drive to and visit Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses - the Eighth Wonder of the World. More than 6,000 different looking pottery figures depict the history of the Qin Dynasty from 221 BC-206 BC. Take sightseeing in this attraction for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

3 Drive back to Xian city and Go to the famous Tong Sheng Xiang (Prosperity and Fortune) Beef and Lamb Paomo Restaurant for lunch. Here you will taste Yang Rou Pao Mo (a soup dish that involves breaking wheat flour flat bread into a bowl and adding a delicious mutton stock). Yangrou Paomo is a tasty xi'an specialty that consists of a mutton soup served with wheat flour flat bread. The hard bread is broken up and added to the soup. Then the mixture is eaten along with pickled garlic cloves.

4 visit the ancient City Wall - the best preserved, oldest and largest ancient city defense system in China. The wall has a history of over 600 years.

5 Be transferred back to De Fa Chang Dumpling Restaurant for supper. Xian Dumpling Banquet is another interesting culinary experience in Xi'an. This was first started in 1984 by the Xi'an Dumpling Feast Restaurant on Jiefang Road , offers up to 108 different kinds of Chinese dumplings ( Jiaozi ). Now the most popular restaurant for this is De Fa Chang Restaurant. Ingredients for the dumpling fillings include various meats, vegetables, and seasonings. Cooking methods include steaming, boiling, pan-frying, deep frying, and roasting. Many flavors, including salty, sweet, hot, and sour are offered. Other house specialties include Peking dumplings, steamed sweet bean paste buns, steamed shrimp paste buns, and various uniquely spiced dishes. While guests sample various delicacies, traditionally waiters will explain the cuisine culture of each dumpling.

Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses: The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses are the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. Work is ongoing at this site, which is around 1.5 kilometers east of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum, Lintong County, Shaanxi province. It is a sight not to be missed by any visitor to China. Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. Most of them have been restored to their former grandeur. It was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages

Ancient Xian City Wall: After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, emperor Zhu Yuanzhang began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

for more information please visit http://english.51766.com/detail/line_detail.jsp?info_id=1101372835

from http://english.51766.com by lisa

Halloumi: is it just me?

2008-07-26T13:28:33.0012Z

wikidesign: pdavison removed the person type. For any type attached to a topic, you can use the “more options” drop-down menu to de-type it. BTW, a new thread would probably have been a better idea than replying to this one.

larryola: please keep your comments on appropriate topics. Daryush Shokof and Yekishim have nothing (so far as I know) to do with Cypriot cheese.

Halloumi: is it just me?

2008-07-26T07:53:23.0000Z

yekishim makes it all a good reason to continue life on earth. i say, yes to yekshim. the most simple words i ever read that convinced me there was a reason for us to be here. one simple word and fun details with much gallant visuals describing the images what all can happen if people on earth just "unite", and create the phase of "yekishim".

count me in Mr.shokof.

Halloumi: is it just me?

2008-07-26T06:50:45.0012Z

sorry, I incorrectly added a person type. I did not to how to remove it. Please do me a favour!

Halloumi: is it just me?

2008-07-25T01:06:51.0012Z

Jon, it's not just you, but it's not everyone either. :) From what I understand, the featured topic that shows up on a logged-in user's home page is dynamically generated, and depends on the user's domain membership. I'm not a Food domain member, so (sadly), Halloumi is never a featured topic on my home page.

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-07-24T14:54:09.0000Z

Wikipedia tends to classify by the broadest institution, so there are a lot of actors associated with Yale University instead of the drama school. I think it's fine that we start with the lower-precision classification and as data becomes available, replace it with the more specific.

Apple Inc.: What will be the next bullet of Apple Inc.

2008-07-24T14:32:34.0012Z

this is the interesting questions, I also wondering what would be the next bullet of Apple

Apple Inc.: What will be the next bullet of Apple Inc.

2008-07-24T07:38:50.0017Z

Apple have bring 3G iphone to the market, any idea about what's the next bullet of Apple

Broadcast: Internet-only radio stations?

2008-07-21T21:58:29.0007Z

Er, forget that internet stream typing business, the real question is should it still be typed as a "Radio station" ?

Broadcast: Internet-only radio stations?

2008-07-21T21:57:09.0012Z

An example:

WOXY is a radio station that used to broadcast terrestrially but is strictly internet-only now..so it's typed as a Radio station, and as such it has properties like "Frequency" and "Serves Area", that i guess historically make sense..but not anymore.

Should it instead by typed as Internet Stream?

525 Power Tracks: The best rock station!!

2008-07-20T02:50:51.0005Z

This is the best internet radio station on the internet! Hard Rock and Heavy Metal and no emo crap!

Halloumi: is it just me?

2008-07-18T22:33:56.0005Z

or is Halloumi the most frequently featured topic in freebase?

Food: Plain old food type

2008-07-18T16:40:02.0000Z

The USDA has a fairly extensive database of nutritional data (per 100g unit) available for download at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964

It includes base ingredients (e.g. various cuts of meat), both cooked and uncooked. If you're looking for nutritional information or ideas on how to classify it, that may be a good place to start.

The data consists of multiple files - one per table - containing one record per line in a fixed width text format. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for someone with time on their hands to write an importer for freebase.

Food: Dishes and ingredients

2008-07-18T01:06:20.0020Z

These three very well populated types have been moved into this domain.

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2008-07-14T11:50:43.0000Z

This is on my to-do list and should be complete late today.

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2008-07-14T05:18:54.0012Z

Geolocations now include elevation, so mouth/origin elevation could be merged into the mouth/origin geolocations.

Germany: Merge

2008-07-13T04:03:59.0012Z

merge to other

River: Tributaries

2008-07-03T18:14:23.0014Z

Should River include a field for tributaries? And then how could we show if that specific river was a tributary of another river?

For exampe, the Koshi River in Nepal has several tributaries, and then in India it becomes part of the Ganga River. So it both has tributaries and is a tributary.

Or is this linkage somewhere else?

Food: Dishes and ingredients

2008-06-26T00:13:31.0012Z

I've created three types in my own food domain called Ingredient, Dish, and Type of Dish. We're (the data arch team) looking to promote these into this domain but thought we had better run it past the locals first. Thoughts?

Car Sharing: partners

2008-06-18T16:52:36.0000Z

Sure - I'll add a new type for it to, with an included type of "company"

Car Sharing: partners

2008-06-14T16:57:04.0012Z

Could you add a partners link to Car Sharing/Agency? Some agencies have roaming agreements.

Car Sharing: GoGet locations

2008-06-11T20:00:24.0013Z

I just added all the Sydney locations for GoGet. If anyone wants to do the rest they're at http://www.goget.com.au/content/view/66/77/

Academic Library: Thanks for creating this type!

2008-05-01T18:02:28.0007Z

Yes, I think we shoudl probably model it on how hte public libraries work: Academic Library System (with associated institution), which has associated Academic Libraries.

Academic Library: Thanks for creating this type!

2008-05-01T15:26:38.0000Z

I'd like to see a field for linking it to the affiliated academic institution. A complexity that needs to be addressed is that on many university campuses, there are a number of different libraries, each of which may have its own name. I'd recommend that there be topics for each library on campus and field that links to the overall library system topic page and a field that links to the affiliated academic institution.

I'd do this myself, but I have no clue how to.

Mountain: Volcanoes?

2008-04-30T16:47:23.0007Z

That's a good idea. Would you be interested in modeling in your private domain, with an eye toward having promoted to the commons when it was finished?

Mountain: Volcanoes?

2008-04-30T06:01:03.0005Z

There should be a separate type called "Volcanoes" so there can be more than one eruption.

Academic Library: Thanks for creating this type!

2008-04-18T18:24:30.0012Z

Thanks so much for creating this type. I've added a couple of topics: the Bodleian Library and Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne.

Can we help you at all with building this out a bit further? We could add properties for collection size, affiliated academic institution, etc. And then I think we'd probably like to promote it into /library if you'd be interested in that.

Lake: Max Depth vs. Average Depth

2008-04-17T23:10:16.0000Z

What about median depth? Variation in depth?

This is an issue I have with a lot of statistical data and units contained in Freebase. While it is good that the system enforces standards, they way it enforces them reduces the flexibility for users. For example, if the property asks for data in kilometers and the user has a bunch of data measured in feet, then the user must make the calculations to enter the data and anyone wanting to check their accuracy must back transform the values. This opens the door for errors. Similarly, if a property just asks for a value and the data are provided as a mean with min, max and standard error, which value does the user choose?

For these reasons, I created a Domain of summary statistics for times when I need to document a value and a summary statistic (e.g., mean, max, median, standard deviation), which I've been collecting within an enumerated list. For an example of how I use these in a CVT, see Length statistic and Parasitism.

Unfortunately, these summary statistics need to be used as part of CVTs (hence the need for a domain of them). Presently, this means they can't be nested within other CVTs. Therefore the context of the summary statistic must be built into the CVT (e.g., Parasitism), which makes for very wide tables in the UI and CVTs that are limited in application.

Lake: Max Depth vs. Average Depth

2008-04-17T20:48:14.0012Z

@ Powerset were looking at the depth of various lakes and noticed that a few (at least Huron and Baikal) are mixing up average depth with maximum depth. Lake Michigan has both average and maximum depth numbers in the maximum depth field.

I'd recommend adding average depth to the schema and then probably re-extracting the depths from the infoboxes in Wikipedia.

I didn't make the changes in Freebase because i thought you might want to see the live data.

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-03-27T22:13:29.0017Z

Or, I suppose you could argue that everyone should be linked to the University itself, but I think that's less useful in the long run (if I'm interested in directors who went to the Yale School of Drama, I'd rather query that than to have to filter Yale Univ. grads by degree [MFA] and field of study [directing, drama, acting, etc.]).

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-03-27T22:10:34.0022Z

It does complicate queries, it's true. Ideally everyone would be linked to the school they graduated from. That said, it's useful to be able to say that someone graduated from Yale University, even if you don't know which school they attended.

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-03-27T21:26:57.0012Z

This is the case, although it complicates queries. Also, many alumni are linked to the university even though they attended Yale College.

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-02-14T23:16:00.0007Z

As near as I can tell, Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University, and should therefore be made a constituent school of Yale, along with Yale Law School, Yale School of Drama, etc., which I've now done.

Yale University: yale college and yale university?

2008-02-14T21:56:01.0012Z

shouldn't these two be merged?

-chris

Food: Plain old food type

2007-12-16T23:36:38.0032Z

Also a property for the basic food type called 'form' or something similar would help add more detail to the original food type. You example of crackers containing powdered cheddar cheese is a good candidate. In that scneario 'ingrediant' itself would be a cvt between food A, food B and the form of the contained food. However things like HFCS complicate things a bit, but for the most part, it would be quite helpful as shredded cheddar cheese is different from powedered cheddar cheese.

Food: Plain old food type

2007-12-15T20:58:43.0000Z

Lets start thediscussion on food... My primary interest is in nutritional information and ingredients of "complex" foods. But I think this gets complex reasonably quickly.

For example, some brand of crackers may contain powered cheddar cheese, which is itself a food. But the nutritional value of the crackers probably can't be easily derived from Cheddar Cheese.. not to mention that Cheddar Cheese is itself a food. Cheddar Cheese contains cow's milk and rennet, but I don't think we'd consider rennet itself a food.

So my proposal is a type Food which has an included type Ingredient, as well as a property Ingredients which points to a list of Ingredients.

Food would have properties like Genre, maybe Country of origin, etc... but Ingredient would have stuff like "Nutritional information"

Nutritional Information would be a CVT which would indicate how many units of some nutritional thing, normalized to a "per 100g" unit (I think that's the standard in Europe, and the US is based on Serving Size, which is totally non-normalizable)

for example, cheddar cheese might have "2 mg of Vitamin A" - so the CVT for Nutritional Value would have an Integer quantity, a mass unit unit, and a nutritional thing.

Thoughts? I'll model this up on sandbox...

Food: Plain old food type

2007-11-13T20:03:03.0007Z

I have to agree.. then we could list the ingredients of Twinkie which appears in the wikipedia article.

Food: Plain old food type

2007-09-15T17:10:00.0012Z

It would be good to have a plain old "food" type (very much like beverage) and perhaps a "food genre" type (fruit, dessert, meat, vegetable etc). There's lots of very simple things we can say about food that there's no way to express right now.

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2007-07-16T18:47:47.0007Z

Great -- I've added the properties here.

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2007-07-13T04:17:35.0007Z

Thanks, looks good to me -- except for using the dash to separate the compound values. An mdash or a ⋅ might reduce confusion with numeric data. Cheers!

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2007-07-12T17:39:57.0007Z

This is a good idea. I've mocked it up on the sandbox -- take a look and let me know what you think. http://sandbox.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000002cb83

River: Mouth & Source should be geolocations

2007-07-12T01:39:27.0011Z

Mouth and Source might better be geolocations or have a parallel entry as geolocation as USGS gives the lat long of the mouth and source.

alecf: Hello...

2007-06-29T00:05:30.0007Z

Hey -
I like the idea of incorporating web comics because I think they share a lot of characteristics of newspaper comic strips (they come out frequently, have recurring characters, are sometimes syndicated, etc)

it's probably best to start a conversation on the domain page for comic strips - http://www.freebase.com/view/domain?id=/comic_strips

alecf: Hello...

2007-06-07T02:30:20.0011Z

As my first toe-dipping into the freebase experience, I have created a "Webcomic" type and added it to those comic strips to which it obviously applies (Diesel Sweeties, xkcd, Penny Arcade). I do an almost-daily blog about comics on-line and off- at funnypaperless.com. My plans are to flesh out the Webcomic type with entries for my other hundred-or-so favorites. Should I also automatically add them all to "Comic Strips"? I intend to provide content to the Comic Strip type also. Just letting you know "Who IS this guy?"