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I first came on here to edit on April 28, 2004 (19 years ago now!) It is an addicting idea to try to add to something much bigger than I could ever do. I am a little skeptical over the idea of freedom to change anything, but overall I'm very impressed by the quality of articles and I have faith good work is being done and I can add to it.
There are many quality websites out there and it seems silly to duplicate too much. I like the idea of learning about something and testing my knowledge by trying to share it. For me that motivates much of my efforts here.
My specialty has primarily been image generation, perhaps because I've found so many articles where useful images were absent. I try to make quality images, but I will compromise perfection for meaningful improvement. I'm happy if anyone can replace my images with better ones.
[3] Jimmy Wales is founder of Wikipedia, the self-organizing, self-correcting, ever-expanding, and thoroughly addictive encyclopedia of the future. In this presentation, he explains how Wikipedia's collaborative system works, and why it succeeds. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 20:47)
Michael William Balfe (1808–1870) was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas. Balfe was born in Dublin and grew up on Pitt Street, which was renamed Balfe Street in 1917 in his honour. After moving to Wexford with his family as a child, he began a career as a violinist, moving to London in 1823 after his father's death, later relocating again to Italy and Switzerland, where he married the Hungarian-born singer Lina Roser. Balfe began pursuing an operatic singing career as well as composition, and moved back to London with his family in 1835. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed at least 29 operas, almost 250 songs, several cantatas, and other works. He was also a noted conductor, directing Italian opera at Her Majesty's Italian Opera House for seven years, among other conducting posts. His most notable opera is The Bohemian Girl, which continues to be performed. This photograph of Balfe was taken by the studio of the French photographer Nadar; this albumen print was made in 1900.Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden