User:Kiefer.Wolfowitz

Labor donated

Epigraphs
I like epigraphs! ""true eloquence I find to be none, but the serious and hearty love of truth: And that whose mind so ever is fully possest with a fervent desire to know good things, and with the dearest charity to infuse knowledge of them into others, when such a man would speak, his words (by what I can expresse) like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command, and in well order'd files, as he would wish, fall aptly into their own places.""

- John Milton

""when complaints are freely heard, deeply considered and speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civil liberty attained that wise men look for." "For he who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done, and fears not to declare as freely what might be done better, gives ye the best covenant of his fidelity.""

- John Milton

Other Puritans set high standards in the Westminster Larger Catechism:
 * A144: The duties required in the Ninth Commandment are, the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man,[1] and the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own; [2] appearing and standing for the truth;[3] and from the heart,[4] sincerely,[5] freely,[6] clearly,[7] and fully,[8] speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice,[9] and in all other things whatsoever;[10] a charitable esteem of our neighbors;[11] loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name;[12] sorrowing for,[13] and covering of their infirmities;[14] freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces,[15] defending their innocence;[16] a ready receiving of a good report,[17] and unwillingness to admit of an evil report,[18] concerning them; discouraging talebearers,[19] flatterers,[20] and slanderers;[21] love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requireth;[22] keeping of lawful promises;[23] studying and practicing of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.[24]
 * A145: The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are, all prejudicing the truth, and the good name of our neighbors, as well as our own,[1] especially in public judicature;[2] giving false evidence,[3] suborning false witnesses,[4] wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, outfacing and overbearing the truth;[5] passing unjust sentence,[6] calling evil good, and good evil; rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous, and the righteous according to the work of the wicked;[7] forgery,[8] concealing the truth, undue silence in a just cause,[9] and holding our peace when iniquity calleth for either a reproof from ourselves,[10] or complaint to others;[11] speaking the truth unseasonably,[12] or maliciously to a wrong end,[13] or perverting it to a wrong meaning,[14] or in doubtful and equivocal expressions, to the prejudice of truth or justice;[15] speaking untruth,[16] lying,[17] slandering,[18] backbiting,[19] detracting,[20] tale bearing,[21] whispering,[22] scoffing,[23] reviling,[24] rash,[25] harsh,[26] and partial censuring;[27] misconstructing intentions, words, and actions;[28] flattering,[29] vainglorious boasting,[30] thinking or speaking too highly or too meanly of ourselves or others;[31] denying the gifts and graces of God;[32] aggravating smaller faults;[33] hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins, when called to a free confession;[34] unnecessary discovering of infirmities;[35] raising false rumors,[36] receiving and countenancing evil reports,[37] and stopping our ears against just defense;[38] evil suspicion;[39] envying or grieving at the deserved credit of any,[40] endeavoring or desiring to impair it,[41] rejoicing in their disgrace and infamy;[42] scornful contempt,[43] fond admiration;[44] breach of lawful promises;[45] neglecting such things as are of good report,[46] and practicing, or not avoiding ourselves, or not hindering: What we can in others, such things as procure an ill name.[47]

Name "Kiefer.Wolfowitz"
Jack C. Kiefer and Jacob Wolfowitz were two statisticians and mathematical scientists. Their eponymous theorems include the "Kiefer-Wolfowitz" (first-order) optimality criterion in the optimal design of statistical experiments and also the "Kiefer-Wolfowitz" methods of stochastic approximation (estimating an optimum when using only noisy function evaluations).

Professional interests
I am a statistician by profession and a mathematical scientist by schooling and avocation.

In statistics, my interests include experimentation, computational statistics, and statistical inference. In the statistical decision theory of Abraham Wald, optimal statistical procedures solve problems of stochastic optimization, which may be sequential. The formalism of maximizing expected utility and methods for stochastic programming are useful for operations research and economic decisions, e.g. for designing optimal experiments.

History in encyclopedia articles
Some thoughts (following some edits of History of macroeconomic thought, which again has added fringe economics).

The first Encyclopaedia was created by French philosophes during the Enlightenment. Since the time of Diderot and D'Alembert, Encyclopedias have striven to cover the best currently available thought and to sketch the development of these thoughts.
 * Enlightenment

Immanuel Kant wrote an essay "Idea towards a universal history with a cosmopolitan intent" (along with "What Is Enlightenment?").

Charles Sanders Peirce wrote extensively on the history of science: His familiarity with science, as a practitioner and as a historian "at close quarters", helped him to formulate and to give an improved account of the scientific method, which accounted for progress in mathematics, logic, and science:
 * Pragmaticism
 * Peirce, C. S., Historical Perspectives on Peirce's Logic of Science: A History of Science, 2 vols., Carolyn Eisele, ed., Mouton De Gruyter, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, 1985, x + 1,131 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0899250342, ISBN 0899250343).
 * (1877–1878), "Illustrations of the Logic of Science" (series), Popular Science Monthly, vols. 12–13:

Peirce's student, John Dewey, adapted some of Peirce's ideas—any changes always being for the worse. (Dewey's politics were excellent, however: He supported unions in the Pullman Strike, was a founder of the League for Industrial Democracy, defended victims of Soviet communism and Stalinist purges, etc.).
 * (1877 November), "The Fixation of Belief", Popular Science Monthly, v. 12, pp. 1–15. Reprinted (CLL 7–31), (CP 5.358–387), (PWP 5–22), (SW 91–112), (W 3:242–257), (EP 1:109–123), (PSWS 144–159). Eprint. Internet Archive Eprint. The Fixation of Belief.
 * (1878 January), "How to Make Our Ideas Clear", Popular Science Monthly, v. 12, pp. 286–302. Reprinted (CLL 32–60), (CP 5.388–410), (PWP 23–41), (SW 113–136), (W 3:257–276), (EP 1:124–141), (PSWS 160–179). How to Make Our Ideas Clear. Arisbe Eprint. Internet Archive Eprint.
 * (1878 March), "The Doctrine of Chances", Popular Science Monthly, v. 12, March issue, pp. 604–615. Reprinted (CLL 61-81), (CP 2.645-668), (W 3:276-290), (EP 1:142-154). Internet Archive Eprint. Selections plus CP 2.661-668 and CP 2.758, published as "The Doctrine of Chances With Later Reflections", PWP 157-173.
 * (1878 April), "The Probability of Induction", Popular Science Monthly, v. 12, pp. 705–718. Reprinted (CLL 82-105), (CP 2.669-693), (PWP 174-189), (EP 1:155-169). Internet Archive Eprint.
 * (1878 June), "The Order of Nature", Popular Science Monthly, v. 13, pp. 203–217. Reprinted (CLL 106-130), (CP 6.395-427), (EP 1:170-185). Internet Archive Eprint.
 * (1878 August), "Deduction, Induction, and Hypothesis", Popular Science Monthly, v. 13, pp. 470–482. Reprinted (CLL 131-156), (CP 2.619-644), (EP 1:186-199). Internet Archive Eprint.
 * (1883), "A Theory of Probable Inference", Studies in Logic, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, pp. 126-181. Reprinted (CP 2.694-754),(W 4:408-453).

Alasdair MacIntyre has written about the philosophy of science:
 * MacIntyre

MacIntyre has written several philosophically sophisticated histories of ethics:
 * 1998 (1966). A short history of ethics :a history of moral philosophy from the Homeric age to the twentieth century, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan / London: Routledge.
 * 2007 (1981). After Virtue, 3rd ed. University of Notre Dame Press.
 * 1988. Whose Justice? Which Rationality?. University of Notre Dame Press.
 * 1990. Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Tradition, Encyclopedia, Genealogy. The Gifford Lectures. University of Notre Dame Press.
 * *1971. Against the Self-Images of the Age: Essays on Ideology and Philosophy. London: Duckworth. This collection has less concern with historical philosophy but is brilliant.

MacIntyre has acknowledged the genius of Peirce's account of progress in the last decades.

Policies

 * WikiProject Copyright Cleanup:  close paraphrasing


 * *WP:Biographies of living persons
 * Reliable sources
 * Avoid gossip and feedback loops
 * Privacy of names
 * Removing poorly sourced contentious material
 * Presumption in favor of privacy
 * Avoid victimization
 * *Restoring deleted content: "The burden of proof is on those who wish to retain, restore, or undelete the disputed material. When material about living persons has been deleted on good-faith BLP objections, any editor wishing to add, restore, or undelete it must ensure it complies with Wikipedia's content policies. If it is to be restored without significant change, consensus must be obtained first"


 * Manual of Style: Music
 * Manual of Style: Tunings of stringed instruments


 * Avoiding conflicts of interest: Tan Bu De Sheng （贪不得胜）—Do not be greedy!


 * "SPAM" does not belong on Wikipedia


 * Requiring that administrators be adults (a perennial proposal): "Editors are free to use age as a personal rationale for opposing adminship on RfA".

I've been asked to step in and give the Foundation's legal view on this question. My view as the Foundation's general counsel is essentially the same as that outlined by Swatjester [below]. Allowing non-administrator users to have access to deleted pages would vastly increase the frequency and volume of legal complaints. (It could have even worse consequences than that in the long term, up to and including corrective legislation by Congress, which would be a disaster.) It is difficult to overstate how much legal and practical difficulty this would cause the Foundation. To be frank, community adoption of such a disastrous policy would create an actual emergency that would likely require Board intervention. I normally favor and support community-driven initiatives, so please believe me when I say I am not raising this set of concerns lightly. The current system is not broken -- so the best advice is 'don't fix it.' MikeGodwin (talk) 13:47, 1 October 2008 (UTC) I have been asked a couple of times whether, as WMF's present general counsel, I share Mike's view as expressed above. I can confirm that I fully agree with Mike's assessment. Geoffbrigham (talk) 02:18, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Essays

 * Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia (especially for scientists)
 * Dealing with promoters of fringe science and pseudoscience ....
 * Wikipedia's main page and decadence
 * "WikiSpeak"—Are you in need of a "WikiBreak"?

Good things to know

 * Facepalm differs from talk to the hand.
 * Behave especially nicely when editing articles about Eastern Europe. If Eastern Europe is too contentious for you, try editing articles about the relaxing and peaceful regions of Northern Ireland or Israel–Palestine!
 * Editors may be nominated for deletion.

Writing articles
""I know how to write down words on a piece of paper? That’s what you do, man, you put down one word after the other as it comes in your head. It isn’t like having to learn how to play the piano, like you have to learn notes. You already learned in school how to write, didn’t you? I hope so. You have the idea and you put down what you want to say. Then you get somebody to add in the commas and shit where they belong, if you aren’t positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words. There people do that for you. Some, I’ve even seen scripts where I know words weren’t spelled right and there was hardly any commas in it. So I don’t think it’s too important. You come to the last page you write in ‘Fade out’ and that’s the end, and you’re done.”"

- Elmore Leonard

This collection is useful for editing articles.

Text editor

 * Text editor support.

Style manuals

 * Style manual
 * Mathematics
 * Biographies
 * Footnotes

Templates

 * Find sources:
 * Infobox scientist
 * Templating talkpages of users (for e.g. vandalism, personal attacks, etc.)

Wikipedia projects and selected articles
For several WikiProjects, I've contributed to many articles (more significantly to those with emboldened titles). As an editor, I focused first on design of experiments and more recently on computational statistics and econometrics, related to convex minimization. Then I focused mostly on convexity in economics, non-convexity (economics), and Shapley–Folkman lemma. Lately, music has been my main area of editing.
 * Guitarists, King Crimson, Music theory: King Crimson,  Robert Fripp, Discipline Global Mobile, Grooveshark, Guitar Craft, Ovation guitars, New standard tuning, All-fifths tuning, Augmented-fourths tuning,  All-fourths tuning, Major-thirds tuning, Ralph Patt, Regular tunings,  Overtones tuning,Guitar tunings, Guitar chord.
 * American political history: Social Democrats, USA, Tom Kahn, Bayard Rustin, Carl Gershman, Penn Kemble, Gang of Four (pro-Contra), Freedom House, Freedom in the World, Michael Harrington.
 * Statistics : Design of experiments, Optimal design, Analysis of variance, Crossover study, Generalized randomized block design (GRBD), Experimental psychology (Psychophysics), observational study; computational statistics, EM method, Per Martin-Löf, statistical inference, maximum likelihood, fiducial inference, Ronald A. Fisher, Bayesian probability, Bayesian statistics, Statistics education, Robert V. Hogg, Peter Whittle, Herman Wold, Henry B. Mann, Oscar Kempthorne, Deb Basu.
 * Mathematics ("maths rating") : Convex geometry, Hans Rådström, Per Enflo, Svante Janson, Peter Orno, John Rainwater, Robert R. Phelps'.
 * WikiProject Mathematics (Deprecated and obsolete)
 * Systems : Mathematical optimization, Operations research, Control. Linear programming, simplex algorithm, criss-cross algorithm, oriented matroid ; ordinal optimization on posets; Nonlinear programming, convex optimization, dual problem, Lagrangian multiplier, subgradient method, Claude Lemaréchal, Roger J-B Wets, Terry Rockafellar.
 * Economics : Econometrics, mathematical economics, convexity in economics, market failures associated with non-convexity; Jacques Drèze, Andreu Mas-Colell, Graciela Chichilnisky.
 * Computer science : Algorithms & methods used in statistics and mathematical optimization.
 * Philosophy : Philosophy of science, decision theory, Charles Sanders Peirce.
 * Biography : Statisticians, econometricians, mathematicians, computer scientists.

It has been a pleasure to learn from more experienced (and energetic) editors such as David Eppstein and Melcombe.

Footers
The editing of footers is plagued with disagreement on their purpose, organization, and inclusion criteria. However, we can try to improve existing footers:


 * Statistics
 * Experimental design
 * Least squares and regression analysis
 * Applied mathematics
 * Optimization algorithms
 * Complementary problems and algorithms
 * Microeconomics

Did you know? (DYK)
Labor donated

I've added some images here:


 * Did you know

Overtones tuning

 * ... that, on Bad Company's song "Can't Get Enough", the "ringing" guitar uses an open tuning constructed from C's overtones (pictured) 20–21 March 2012, 1245 Visitors

Regular tunings

 * Major-thirds tuning

Repetitive tuning



 * ... that major-thirds guitar-tuning is a repetitive tuning in which chords are raised an octave by shifting all notes by three strings on the same frets? 20–21 September 2012, 1117 Visitors, 2076 for Major-thirds tuning(!), 1967 for Guitar tunings and 587 for Guitar chord

Ralph Patt

 * ... that the music of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Arnold Schoenberg inspired the jazz-guitarist Ralph Patt to invent major-thirds tuning? 3 September 2012, 511 Visitors and 1119 for Major-thirds tuning!

Major-thirds tuning

 * ... that the Russian guitar's open-G tuning D-G-B-D-G-B-D (illustrated) approximates the major-thirds tuning D#-G-B-D#-G-B-D#? 28 June 2012, 1652 Visitors

Augmented fourths

 * ... that, while the standard guitar-tuning E-A-D-G-B-E includes one major third amid four perfect fourths (illustrated), the augmented-fourths tuning B-F-B-F-B-F has only tritone intervals?  4 July 2012, 2524 Visitors

Discipline Global Mobile



 * ... that Robert Fripp's music company Discipline Global Mobile has the policy that copyrights belong to artists and consequently does not own even its corporate logo (pictured)? 25 March 2012, 5090 (3788 + 1302) Visitors

Alfie Fripp

 * ... that RAF Squadron Commander Alfie Fripp (1914–2013), the longest-serving and oldest-surviving British prisoner of war of World War II, scrounged tools that were used to excavate the "Great Escape" tunnel (pictured)?  17 January 2013 11.773 k Visitors (Nomination and expansion)

C. A. Patrides

 * ... that Constantinos A. Patrides, the author of Milton and the Christian Tradition, earned a hero's medal for his boyhood service with the Greek Resistance against the German Occupation? 28 November 2011 1.3kVisitors (Expansion of article by Kenatipo)

George Meany

 * ... that, in supporting peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War and opposing a U.S. withdrawal, AFL–CIO President George Meany stated that "in Vietnam the AFL–CIO is neither hawk nor dove nor chicken"? 3 December 2011 465 Visitors (Copy editing of Cullen328's article)

Penn Kemble

 * ... that the 1980s "Gang of Four" consisted of Penn Kemble and other Democratic critics of the Vietnam War who advocated Congressional funding for the Nicaraguan Contras? 19 November 2011 1.8k Visitors

Carl Gershman

 * "... that the President of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman, worked  during 1965–1967 for Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)?" 25 August 2011 253 Visitors ("Quality, not quantity")

Tom Kahn

 * "... that Tom Kahn organized American unions' $300,000 aid to the Polish labor union Solidarity in 1980–1981, despite Secretary of State Muskie warnings that this aid might provoke a new Soviet invasion?" 13 June 2011 501 Visitors
 * Follow up: After the initially donating $300,000 in equipment to Solidarity, the AFL–CIO channeled 4 million dollars to Solidarity by 1989 (this funding was publicly allocated via the National Endowment for Democracy from the U.S. State Department).

Svante Janson

 * ... that mathematician Lennart Carleson (pictured) received his Ph.D. when he was 22 years old and later supervised the thesis of Svante Janson, who received his first Ph.D. on his 22nd birthday? 6 July 2010 1.3k Visitors (Expanded Qwfp's article)

Hans Rådström

 * ... that, in addition to having worked on convex sets, mathematician Hans Rådström edited the Swedish translation of the Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions, which was written by Martin Gardner (pictured)? 31 December 2011 105 Visitors (Collaboration with Sasha)

Mikhail Kadets

 * ... that mathematician Mikhail Kadets became interested in the theory of normed spaces after reading the Ukrainian edition of the French treatise by the Pole Stefan Banach? 19 December 2011 677 Visitors (Sasha's DYK was reviewed by humble KW, who admires Kharkov/Kharkiv mathematics.)

Ivar Ekeland

 * ... that Jurassic Park discussion of chaos theory was inspired by Ivar Ekeland? 21 April 2011 (4.1k Visitors) (Expansion of article by Tkhuvo)

Robert Phelps

 * ... that Robert Phelps is a "grandfather" of modern variational principles, according to Ivar Ekeland? 13-14 April 2011 (713 Visitors)

John Rainwater

 * ... that, despite having been created as a student prank, a fake mathematician is the author of several well-received research papers and is the namesake of the functional-analysis seminar at the University of Washington? 1 April 2012, 10,032 Visitors]

Peter Orno

 * ... that the fictitious mathematician Peter Orno's pseudonymous abbreviation "P. ORNO" was inspired by erotic publications? 7-8 May 2012, 2775 Visitors]

Optimization and economics: Convex sets
Most of these were done following the excellent leadership of David Eppstein

Criss-cross algorithm

 * ... that, while the criss-cross algorithm visits all eight corners of the Klee–Minty cube when started at a worst corner, it visits only three more corners on average when started at a random corner? 4 April 2011
 * (4.4k Visitors to Criss-cross algorithm)
 * (5.8k Visitors to Klee–Minty cube)

Jon Folkman

 * ... that Paul Erdős (pictured) challenged Jon Folkman to solve mathematical problems immediately after Folkman's surgery for brain cancer? 28 October 2010 2.6k Visitors (Assisted David Eppstein)

Shapley–Folkman lemma



 * ... that the Shapley–Folkman lemma quantifies the non-convexity of the Minkowski sum of non-convex sets? Snubbed, despite David Eppstein's wonderful graphic!
 * ... that Starr's corollary to the Shapley–Folkman lemma was proved by an undergraduate student of Kenneth J. Arrow (pictured)? 28 October 2010 3.6k Visitors

Non-convexity (economics)

 * ... that economists blame market failures on non-convexity? 7 February 2011  2.5k Visitors

Andreu Mas-Colell

 * ... that Andreu Mas-Colell, currently the Minister of Economy and Knowledge of Catalonia, Spain, has studied general equilibrium theory by using differential topology? 30 January 2011 765 Visitors (Assisted David Eppstein)

Graciela Chichilnisky

 * ... that Graciela Chichilnisky, who proposed the Kyoto Protocol's market for carbon credit trading, obtained her PhDs in mathematics and economics without ever having been an undergraduate? 27 January 2011 2.3k Visitors (Assisted David Eppstein)

Gustav Elfving

 * ... that Gustav Elfving invented the optimal design of experiments, and so minimized the cost of a cartographic survey, while trapped in his tent in storm-ridden Greenland? 5–6 April 2011 951 Visitors

Henry B. Mann

 * ... that Henry Mann 1949 book, Analysis and design of experiments, filled mathematical gaps in the statistical writings of Ronald A. Fisher? 1 February 2011 1.2k Visitors'' (assisted David Eppstein)

Robert V. Hogg

 * ... that, while President of the American Statistical Association, Robert V. Hogg wore the name tag "Boss Hogg" after the character on the television series The Dukes of Hazzard? 24 May 2010 1.3k Visitors

Wikipediocracy

 * ... that Wikipediocracy, a web-blog and forum dedicated to criticizing Wikipedia, has assisted journalists reporting on controversies involving the online encyclopedia? 22 June 2013  3.1k Visitors (copy-editing, expansion, and protection of article by Volunteer Marek and Alf.laylah.wa.laylah)

Barnstars

 * ...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)

Food and drink
Labor donated