User talk:Kiefer.Wolfowitz

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Afghan documents leak and child prostitution

Hello, Kiefer.Wolfowitz. You have new messages at Talk:Afghan War documents leak.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Arguably the second tallest skyscraper in Topeka, Kansas

Я поздравляю вас!

("Я поздравляю вас!" is Russian for "I congratulate you".  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 10:25, 19 October 2011 (UTC))

		The Workers' Barnstar
		This user has shown great editing skills in improving articles related to Communism or Socialism.

• ...For your ongoing efforts to eliminate tendentious distortions from histories and biographies relating to 1970s American radicalism. Carrite (talk) 16:21, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Stakhanov on the cover of Time Magazine, 16 December 1935

Agitprop poster by Vladimir Mayakovsky: "Hurry to join shock brigades!"

Dear Brother Carrite!

Thank you very much!

My efforts would be so much easier if I had not reacted to the anti-anticommunism of previous versions with sometimes POV anti-anti-anticommunism. (However, the arch of the universe does incline towards NPOV justice, which is democratic and therefore anti-communist.)

Thank you for your work recently on Penn Kemble. One of the pleasures of writing about Kemble or Tom Kahn is writing about personalities, rather than cookie-cuts.

In solidarity,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 17:42, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Talk:Tom Kahn/GA1

Review waiting for you. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 04:25, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

This was the best news I've heard in a long time. Thank you, Piotrus.

 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 09:26, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Tom Kahn image, and other matters

Hello KW in Sweden,

This is to advise you that I have gone over to Wikimedia Commons, and cropped and retouched the image of Tom Kahn a bit. I very much hope that you approve. I have also cropped the image of George Meany and uploaded a higher resolution image of Lane Kirkland. I am now in the midst of a planned major expansion (in my sandbox) of George Meany, which I mentioned to you a while back was in a parlous state. Can you believe that we have a stub on George Meany and incredibly detailed articles about insignificant mid 19th century schismatic ministers and 21st century YouTube sensations? I guess that the encyclopedia isn't finished after all. Please see User:Cullen328/Sandbox/George Meany for a glance at my (admittedly inadequate) work in progress. By the way, welcome back to Wikipedia, my friend. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:57, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi Cullen!

Thank you for your greetings. :)

I was fed up with WP the last weeks, and the "national socialist" smear really crossed a line.

However, the mathematicians' support and Piotrus's review as well as many kind private e-mails reminded me that the writers do constitute a warm, supportive, and productive community. (Like many writers, I am troubled by developments in the larger Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects.)

I shall try to look soon at your articles and work on the Kahn pictures within a week or so. Remind me if I am lazy.

BTW, friends of Carrite's have found some fascinating documents about SDUSA, Michael Harrington, the Debs caucus, etc. I'm too tired to mail them now.

Cheers,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 05:27, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

When sweet rest has revived your spirits and your typing fingers, please do so. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:36, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

The cropped picture does look better.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 22:44, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Constantinos Patrides

Hello, Kiefer. I apologize for tampering with your note to Ealdgyth on her talk page. Hope you don't mind too much. I just wrote a little article on CAP and your anecdote would be a wonderful addition to it. What do you think? --Kenatipo ^speak! 15:25, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi Kenatipo!

Thank you for correcting my spelling. It reminds me of C.A.P. correcting my mis-spelling of "varorium" as "valorium". :D

I think that C.A.P. deserves his article, and I shall immediately read your biography.

My anecdote did not do justice to the true rhetoric of C.A.P. or to his elegance, either the first day (when I confess wondering whether I should walk out of the lecture hall) or the second day, when his smile and sense of sharing a prank immediately broke the formal barriers to learning (while maintaining a formal tone, where the men were addressed as "Mister"). I can say that his intelligence and kindness and his love for the O.E.D. were inspirational, and many of us were touched by his personal interest and encouragement. In my imagination, when he first appeared in the classroom, he seemed to be performing the role of Herr Lodovico Settembrini, the spirit of humanistic intelligence and love-of-life in The Magic Mountain; and I have never heard a person speak with such elegance since.

I believe that the 1987 or 1988 Michigan Daily carried an obituary, which noted that as a Greek-American boy trapped with his visiting parents in WWII, C.A.P. carried messages for the resistance. I think that his introduction to Premises and Motifs in Renaissance Literature noted that Pravda or Izvestia had denounced one of his articles, and he commented with the Russian saying, "Pravda" is not Izvestia, and Izvestia is not Pravda".

C.A.P. was the first person I knew who died of AIDS, but not the last, alas. I had only had a few sentences of discussion with Tom Kahn, whose biography may interest you.

The memory of C.A.P. is one reason that I have not apologized for zealotry against misuse of sources or zealotry against charges of totalitarianism in my RfC. On a happier note, I thought of C.A.P.'s notes that Paradise Lost's Christ rules by virtue (rather than by royal-birth) and that He has a dim view of the demos when I addressed Malleus (on SandyGeorgia's talk page) on his and her roles as leading writers on WP; on a silly note, I thought of C.A.P.'s explication of farting in Areopagitica when addressing a gag-order proposed in my RfC.

Sincerely and with best regards,

 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 17:37, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Outstanding work on the article, Kiefer! The man sounds like quite a teacher; it's a shame he died too soon. I felt stifled by a lack of sources -- I expected to find an obit in the New York Times, but found not a word. Some day you'll have to tell me how to find information in journal articles (more easily and for free). I haven't followed your saga closely enough understand what you're telling me about your RfC; sorry! Thanks for improving the article. I'll have some questions for you tomorrow, but first let me read your sources. Until then... --Kenatipo ^speak! 02:09, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi Kenatipo!

Thanks for your nice words. I confess that I cannot access the Milton Quarterly at my University, but I remember reading the obituaries in the printed journal. Apparently, the Michigan Daily's archives are down; I remember the 1986 (corrected) article that quoted Dean Peter C. Steiner and others, and mentioned his childhood heroism, I believe. The publisher (now Wiley) has multiple errors in that issue, and indeed it fails to list one of the three authors of memorials; the correct details of the third are listed in the Summers & Pembith introduction, which quotes Frye and others on him. His friends find a diplomatic way of suggesting that his prose was over-wrought, unlike his lectures, which were amazing displays of erudition, virtuous eloquence, and good fun.

I may have been wrong about "The Salvation of Satan". The Pravda-ain't discussion may have been about an article about the hierarchies of angels, but I'm unsure.

I was unsure also about mentioning his death from AIDS, because his personal life was absolutely private. My room-mate, who was nearly an English major and studied with Bornstein, was amazed by how C.A.P. would disappear for a weekend and appear with his tan a darker shane of bronze!

Honestly, C.A.P.'s personality and interesting life and Milton sustained my interest, and my long-term memory and access-rate are some of my strengths. (I would be willing to give up some long-term memory to have the working memory of a concert pianist or a "real" mathematician, but that's life ....)

I would have liked to have worked more on this article, but a (perhaps misguided) concern with "protecting my good name" (per #9) has otherwise encumbered me. The RfC has been compared to a "tar baby" by a wise Wikipedian, who advised me to edit where I'm appreciated. There is too much scandal and especially sexual content to interest anybody. ;)

Best regards,

 Kiefer.Wolfowitz 02:36, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

"He died of AIDS after having been nursed by his mother" could be misunderstood to say that his mother gave him AIDS. It still is ambiguous and needs to be re-written. (Talk to you again tomorrow; it's late). --Kenatipo ^speak! 05:17, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Of course! I shall correct it. I see that Summers has his own article.  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 05:19, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Ummm...

So, a massive change to your talk page showed up on my watchlist. Then, I saw it was just you and not some vandal... so I was moving on when your edit summary caught my eye. I'm never looking up any words you use in your edit summaries again. OUCH!!!! Though yes, I agree, a colonoscopy seems the better of the two. :-) Hope things are treating you well here. Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI | ^TK/_CN 19:39, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your vigilance, friendly neighborhood Robert!

Best regards,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 19:47, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

LoL. Yeah, I've got "auto add to watchlist" enabled, and have never bothered pruning it. ROBERTMFROMLI | ^TK/_CN 21:23, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi Robert!

"Auto add to watchlist" is a wrong answer!

;

Didn't you mistype, "Your colleagues' contributions are so fascinating that your talk page has an honored place on my watch list ...."?

:D

*LOL* etc.

Ridiculously,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 21:31, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

ROTFL!!! Though, there is truth to that. If I did manage to clean up my watchlist, you and about 2 or 3 dozen others would still remain for such reasons. Best way to learn others' perspectives, gain insights and learn about Wikipedia. :-P ROBERTMFROMLI | ^TK/_CN 21:37, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Final message

Hi KW. I hope you don't mind me leaving you a parting message here. I considered leaving something at the RfC, but as far as I'm concerned closed means closed and I've no wish to go back there. I'm sorry I didn't reply to your guide to IRC request, the coordination was never going to happen there due to the fact that TParis and I operate on opposite timescales - however if you'd ever like some tips, let me know.

On the RfC itself, I'm glad it's over - I hope all the participants have learned something and will modify their behaviour based on what they've learned. I know that all participants have the ability to, I know I will. My hopes for the RfC weren't realised, which is a pity, but I think my goals were. In any case, I thought you'd like to know I'll be keeping a wide birth from now on, I doubt you'll see me except in my regular haunts. I've no interest in taking things further, as I can't see any positive outcomes if I do.

However, I'd like to officially extend this hand of friendship for the future, if you ever need help that I can give, please don't hesitate to contact me. Worm^TT · (talk) 22:26, 30 October 2011 (UTC)