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Fripperesque topics

DGM

A barnstar for you!

The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For your contributions to Discipline Global Mobile sir. You deserve it! :) Yasht101 09:48, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much, sir. You are very kind! :)
Writing about DGM is uplifting, and was made easier thanks to the high-beam access.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Best regards,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 09:51, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

New Standard Tuning

I did some honest work at New Standard Tuning. Others are welcome to help.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 09:21, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

This article got 1500 hits on Saturday. Wow! There was a similar spike 2 weeks ago.
What is happening? Can somebody ask the IP who made a correction this weekend if she/he knows why the article has had a spike in readership?
I had just wanted to save others the time I spent to find guitar-strings! (In Europe try EBay.)  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 17:55, 30 April 2012 (UTC)
Gary Goodman's Octave4Plus makes extended-range strings that have been used for NST by Robert Fripp.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 16:50, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Ovation guitars and imitations

Ovation guitars
  • Marks, Brenda (1999). "Connecticut firm makes guitars, helicopter blades from same fiberglass" (html). Waterbury Republican-American. New Hartford, Conn.: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. (subscription required). Retrieved 24 April 2012. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

"Ovation makes high-end acoustic guitars in Connecticut. The New Hartford plant employs about 90 workers. Lower-end models designed for beginners are now made in Korea." "The majority of our workers have been with us for more than 10 years. They're a skilled and versatile work force," Hall said. Workers are cross trained so they have fewer repetitive injuries and that also means they don't get bored with one job, he said." "Country singer Shania Twain uses an Ovation. A photograph of her is in the old brick factory's foyer. There's another picture of rock and roller Melissa Etheridge. And the list goes on for Ovation and Hamer guitar users: Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, the Pretenders, Paul McCartney."

Updated articles with HighBeam sources
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Imitators
Updated 2 articles using HighBeam sources
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Extended content

I have mixed feelings about these manufacturers.

Their imitations of Ovation Guitars don't have a word like "Inspired by Ovation Guitars manufactured and sold with lower costs". My sense of the sacred has not been respected!

Why should I hold a double standard against manufacturers who emulate the best? I don't complain about generic drug manufacturers that manufacture inexpensive loratidine (Claritine), after the patent lapses. A molecule like C_60 is as beautiful as a soccerball, and the molecule for loratidine prevents ear infections. (My Ovation infects the ears of my neighbors!) All that is solid still is melting into air....

Somebody should be able to find reliable information on Ovation's imitators. What most readers want most are product reviews and comparisons with Ovations, which don't seem to be in reliable sources.

Stagg Music
Harley Benton

Steve Ball, football player from the UK

Importance

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Hello K.W. Yes, I changed the importance of that article. It certainly wasn't intended to be in any way to influence the discussion over at Sandy's talk page, I was simply shocked at the original judgement of "medium" importance! Cheers, The Rambling Man (talk) 21:42, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

No problem! I just wanted to minimize confusion and avoid having somebody check Steve Ball because of the previous rating of "mid"-importance. (I wish that I could have played half as well as Ball!)  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 21:45, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Something useful

I noticed you use a lot of nbsps, particularly in dates and other strings of info. Have you considered (or do you know about) the {{nowrap|blah blah blah}} template? Saves a lot of typing, and is easier to read in the edit window :o) Pesky (talk) 18:25, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Hi Pesky,
The nbsps substitutes for LaTeX's tilde ~, and the nowrap template substitutes for LaTeX's \mbox{} command, in my way of thinking.
 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 20:07, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
Hehe! I know I was delighted to discover the nowrap, instead of having to type nbsps all over the place! It's especially useful where you have a longer phrase which you don't want to wrap, rather than just one nbsp insertion. I approve of labour-saving devices. Speaking of which, our chainsaw (all of £32 at a farm auction!) came back from being repaired today, and we had great fun playing with it on the field. One day soon, when we can afford it, we're going to hire a mini digger to save us hours of back-breaking work putting in a ditch-and-bank ... Pesky (talk) 20:15, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Tom Kahn: Copy editing

This is the first and may be the last time that I type "nbsps", so I trust that you enjoyed it.
I point and click, once, and then copy it, and paste away. The real master of such unbreakable punctuation is the statistician User:Melcombe, btw.
You have very good eyes, I can see. You found so many typographical and other errors in Tom Kahn, which I thought I had copy-edited rather well. I'm very grateful for your help. It is worthwhile reading some of the accounts of Kahn, to see an example of a man who was not always professional, civil, and decorous, but who made the world a better place.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 20:56, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

A real master of nbsp-ing copy-edited the article. :)

"When he became an assistant to the President of the AFL–CIO in 1972, a position he until 1986, Kahn developed an expertise in international affairs. In 1980 AFL–CIO officer Lane Kirkland appointed Kahn to organize the AFL–CIO's support for the Polish labor-union Solidarity, in the face of protests by the USSR and Carter administration."

  • The verb "held" was omitted from the first sentence.
  • the last phrase is unclear and reverses the sequence of events. I would suggest replacing "in the face of protests" with "which was maintained and indeed increased after protests", because AFL--CIO first supported Solidarity and then the Stalinists and bankers complained.

Thanks to another great copy-editor.

 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 19:44, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I initially wondered why you didn't just fix my errors yourself, but then I noticed ... anyway, can I ask you about something?
"Kahn acted as Director of the AFL–CIO's Department of International Affairs in 1986, after Irving Brown suffered a stroke and resigned that same year; after Brown's death in 1989, Kahn was officially named the Director.[ He accepted the responsibility in 1986."
Isn't that last sentence redundant and just repeating what the first sentence has already said? George Ponderevo (talk) 21:19, 3 May 2012 (UTC)
Of course it is essential to protect Wikipedia from my disruptive editing and incivility, and my blocking has nothing to do with the principles I noted during the civility enforcement meshegas.  ;)
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Wikipedians cannot tolerate prolonged conflicts

1) Wikipedia exemplifies authoritarianism. Wikipedians with personalities have authoritarian personalities; when stressed, they sustain themselves by imagining themselves to have a personal relationship with an all-powerful and all-knowing ruler, his appointed guardians, and a cadre of supermen.

Thus, Wikipedians cannot tolerate prolonged disagreements, particularly conflicts, especially when its leaders are criticized and mocked. Protecting Wikipedians from the stress of observing disagreement and protecting its administrators from ridicule and criticism is therefore an imperative.

Alas, ordinary Wikipedians have proved themselves in practice to be incapable of restoring the necessary conformity of the ruled. Even Administrators have been unable to restore the conformity of the ruled.

Therefore, our enlightened despots need to remove editors who do not conform to the majority's wishes.

(C.f. Jantelagen, Sterilization in Sweden, and Involuntary commitment in Sweden.)

The Administrators Corps cannot be ridiculed publicly, particularly not at Requests for Administrator

2) In addition to authoritarianism, insecurity and sadism thrive in Wikipedia's administrators; feelings of inadequacy can be temporarily alleviated by the frisson of punishing the scapegoats, particularly in public, where the punishment intimidates the population for years to come. Vicarious punishment of the scapegoats temporarily alleviates ressentiment.

Alas, ordinary Wikipedians and even administrators have proved themselves to be incapable of maintaining the esprit de corps of the rulers.

Plebians who criticize administrators in public, rather than on the talk page of a non-administrators (which is read only by those interested in writing quality articles), threaten the majesty of the administrators and, hence, the social fabric of the cosmos.

Therefore, our enlightened despots need to remove editors who do not conform to the majority's wishes.

(C.f. Jantelagen, Sterilization in Sweden, and Involuntary commitment in Sweden.)

That last sentence is redundant. I probably rewrote the paragraph chronologically, and forgot to remove the old sentence. Thanks for catching it.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 21:24, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Whilst in London...

BTW, you might mention on Malleus's talk page that Equazion's advice on grammar did not meet the usual standard of Equazion.

The original prepositional-phrase modified Clarke, who presumably was the subject of the narrative. The rewritten sentence places the prepositional phrase ambiguously, likely modifying only Churchill, which is unlikely to be the intended meaning.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 21:06, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Can you explain that in more detail? Does it affect the conclusion (i.e. the comma is needed)? Why might reordering modify Churchill? (grr, never even noticed that miss-spelling :S) I read the reordered phrase as modifying the whole initial fragment; i.e. the meeting happened whilst in London. I agree it is ambiguous in some aspects, but it is entirely accurate in both forms. --Errant (chat!) 21:42, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
I read the reordered sentence as you did, but then I realized that my new reading was informed by my previous reading of the original. The meaning you impute (and I imputed) to the sentence would better be conveyed by "Clarke and Churchill met whilst in London.",
If no mention of London had occured, I would use "Clarke, whilst in London, met Churchill".
 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 07:27, 3 May 2012 (UTC)
I like "Clarke and Churchill met whilst in London." I'm not familiar enough with Equazion's usual standards of grammar to comment on them anywhere!

By the way, if you want to splat a (short!) list of articles on here which you'd like me to tweak about (if required), then I know where to find it when I feel like doing some tweaky stuff. Adding: my grammar and stuff isn't based on "rules of grammar", it's 90% instinctive "what feels right" stuff. But I was brought up in a family of writers, journalists, and so on, and probably just absorbed stuff from a very early age, by example. I never studied rules of grammar (or, in fact, much else) at school; I spent most of my time listening with half an ear whilst gazing out of the window at much more interesting stuff, or surreptitiously writing poetry ... Pesky (talk) 08:43, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I wrote neither "of grammar" nor of the quality of the "usual standards".  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 05:35, 4 May 2012 (UTC)
I apologise, I misunderstood / misread what you meant. My bad, I should have been more careful. Pesky (talk) 07:45, 4 May 2012 (UTC)
Thanks guys that all "clicked" for me. Comma's are the bane of my life :P I constantly misuse and abuse 'em. Pesky; Dudley Clarke is 5,000 words of raw article that I dumped up yesterday (and the day before), it needs some love. If you're bored and want to pick at it feel free. it's 90% complete in terms of detail, just needs massaging into shape --Errant (chat!) 09:17, 3 May 2012 (UTC)
Errant, I have decades of experience of massaging things .... TPSers, will you please stop that leering and gibbering! I shall take a look for you. Pesky (talk) 09:46, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I have placed a friendly request ...

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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
...here, which (if it works!) could ease things a bit. I'm fairly sure it's not meant to be baiting, rather keeping repeating some points, but it's very easy to see why it feels like baiting, and also (if I failed to AGF) I could easily see it that way, too. Hopefully just the simple request will be enough, but if that doesn't work, as someone who's trying to work with you under the best possible conditions, my next step would be to ask for a formal interaction ban. Whether you want one or not ... just to make my life easier! Of course, what you need to do, as well, is be the other kind of duck, which you are getting much better at. At which you are getting ... oh, forget it ...

In other words, pretend that there's already a formal interaction ban: neither comment nor respond. Nor, ideally, even be irritated. OK? Pesky (talk) 14:26, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I've long stated a willingness to give up one of the simple pleasures of Wikipedia if the yapping and whining could end. However, after you have lit a candle to St. Jude, let us wish for the best.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 19:30, 3 May 2012 (UTC) You should stop the cur's yelping on IRC also; can one call a warden on IRC?  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 22:19, 3 May 2012 (UTC)
[snorts coffee out of nose] I love that link! It's so cool! Trouble is, that's a bit the way I could be when I let my vile temper ride me. Did that one, once, at school, to a thoroughly nasty little piece of work who had been tormenting me for months; the last straw being when she decided to slap me around the neck and shoulders with a dead bramble stalk. Many, many thorns to remove. Followed by a snide little remark by a noticeboard later in the day. I don't actually remember hitting her ... I just saw red, temporarily left the world of the sane, and only came to myself some minutes later, sitting in the cloakroom. It took me a short while to realise I was being spoken to ... "Are you OK? Hey, are you OK? Wake up! Coz [name redacted] is totally unconscious, and they've taken her to Matron's room ...." Ahhh, nostalgia! That was 40 years ago ...

I have just four simple rules suggestions for you:

  1. Remember that you are a highly intelligent, very passionate, and somewhat intense person. (This isn't a criticism, these are things I love about you; properly steered, it's a truly magical combination)
  2. Go overboard on the assumption of good faith thing
  3. Take great care not to fall foul of Hanlon's razor. Sometimes it can be very, very hard to believe that someone could really be that stupid
  4. Quoting from what I added to the Civility policy: " Someone may very well be an idiot. But telling them so is neither going to increase their intelligence nor improve your ability to communicate with them."
If you can combine that lot, and internalise that combination so that viewing everything thataway becomes second nature to you, everything will be fixed. At least in terms of you getting blatted. And it's more than likely to decrease your own stress levels, by increasing your patience and tolerance. Also remember: a simple apology can go a very long way to de-escalate things. And it really doesn't cost you anything at all. Pesky (talk) 03:51, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Adding: About Demi ... Demi is golden, with the occasional glitch. Very much like you, lol! In fact, very much like an awful lot of people in here. Demi is very warm, very caring, very protective. Demi will stick his neck out for people, and chip away at things. What you and Demi have is yer bog-standard personality clash, which has just got badly entrenched. So, quick fix, avoid each other. Pesky (talk) 04:06, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Pesky,
I am sorry to end abruptly, but I shall not further participate in a discussion about rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous.
The Amish community may come out for the funeral, pray for, and speak well of a man who just murdered their children.
Not being Amish, I would have preferred the man have simply shot himself before he thought of shooting innocents.
After an assailant is arrested, I am satisfied when he receives his lawful punishment (so long as most competent criminologists would bet that he have no greater probability of harming another innocent than do almost all free persons).
Sincerely,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 05:17, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

I remember when the answers seemed so clear ...

but today ... Pesky (talk) 08:03, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I loved The Monkees, and I've listened to Michael Nesmith's Repo Man soundtrack manytimes.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 22:30, 4 May 2012 (UTC)
I was virtually addicted to the TV series, as a youngster (yup, when it first came out, lol!) Pesky (talk) 02:02, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Something for you to enjoy :D

This! Pesky (talk) 20:12, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

COI and misuse of tools: Account SW should retire

Discussion for free editors at WP:AN
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I was right to oppose SW during his RfA.

Others have criticized SW's involvement (e.g. WTT) and misuse of tools in blocking my talk page access. This was trivial in comparison to the recent allegations against SW.

Deleting an article that SW edited (after soliciting payment for it) and after SW has criticized another editor for paid editing is a mis-use of tools. He should have avoided outing an editor, as was explained by the check-user account.

For reasons that are apparent on reading the ANI thread, he should be quickly desysoped.

To reduce damage to his reputation and minimize the discussion of his misuse of tools, etc., the SW account should immediately request a desyssoping, after which the SW account should be retired. The user should never edit articles that were associated with the SW account.

SW's present WikiBreak will only increase the negative discussion of the SW account.

Sincerely,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 12:59, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Completely agree with you. And it seems like yet again an administrator attempts to evade sanction by taking a short break. Malleus Fatuorum 14:04, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
This seems to be much more serious, and it's best for the real-life editor ASAP to make a clean break with whatever may have happened.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 14:35, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
Silver Serene again shows himself to be a man of principle. He condemned the outing at the same time as he criticized the apparent alleged hypocrisy.
SW's administrator-tools usage was really disturbing: Closing an AN discussion despite involvement, Preventing non-administrators from contacting him on his talk page (c.f. [1]), besides his deletion of the page he created following the accusation of paid editing (after he had criticized others for paid editing). It's funny that such administrative actions don't appear on his "user contributions" list.
(Salvio seems to have no clue what risks be increased by continued discussion of this administrator's actions. The account should be desysopped ASAP for his own good.)  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 16:28, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
I think you have amply demonstrated your feelings here. Any more would be superfluous. Pesky (talk) 19:53, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Footnote removal

Not sure if you followed the recent brou-ha-ha over User:Fladrif's serial removal of footnote information linking back to spartacus.schoolnet (see ANI Archive 750). Your opinion on this matter would be of interest to me. Also your opinion as to whether an RFC to settle the question would be merited in light of this individual's unrepentant continuation of past methods anew after the discussion scrolled off the ANI page without the dramazombies pronouncing definitively on his behavior. Carrite (talk) 00:49, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Hi Tim,
No I missed that.
I have been missing 96% of what I used to watch. I just removed median from the watchlist, pending an administrative wake-up call to an IP editor who called me a "dh", which I suppose means "dick head" or "dashing and handsome" . :)
I agree with Elen's comments at ANI. A one-man campaign, despite frequent protests across the board, to remove only citations and leave the cited facts, is violating several guidelines for editing and collaboration. I think that the UK Spartacist board is generally okay on the facts. The USA Sparts, may they rest, were less reliable than LaRouche.
More later.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 08:28, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 May 2012

DYK for Peter Orno

PanydThe muffin is not subtle 00:05, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you kindly Panyd!  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 07:32, 8 May 2012 (UTC)


  • Plagiarize, Let no one else's work evade your eyes, Remember why the good Lord made your eyes, So don't shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize - Only be sure always to call it please "research" ... I was almost dragged up on Tom Lehrer ;P Pesky (talk) 23:12, 8 May 2012 (UTC)
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