User talk:Lambiam/Archive 6

Slave trade and nautical language theory of Creole Genesis
I read somewhere that AFD is "not a vote" (and have seen it repeated in discussions). The administrator closing the debate is supposed to look at the actual arguments, should presumably read beyond the first word of each line and simply ignore baseless claims that something is "original research" or plagiarised from some unspecified place, or even a hoax with invented references, as some recent comment implied. At this point I feel that there is little I can do about the knee-jerk "delete" squad at that page. I have other things to do right now, and participating in that discussion is simply not a productive use of time.

I have saved all the pages created by User:Konrad Rybka (unless some have already been deleted) offline. If they are deleted, I will try to wikify them and merge them into one large article and then ask for the individual articles to be undeleted and redirected. Rybka seems to be a linguistics student in Amsterdam: The Creole language article said for a while that "This webpage (and the subpages, excluding pages on pidgin and syntactic similarities of creoles) was designed by Konrad Rybka as an assignment for a course: Contact Languages and Creole Studies taught by Umberto Ansaldo at the University of Amsterdam."  Pharamond 06:16, 3 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Good. I suppose a merger should now be worked on. Any idea on how to organise this? Should one article be moved to the new & improved title and the rest merged and redirected to that? Pharamond 05:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I will have to look closer at this. I have looked at Arends et al (1994). I don't really have the time to properly read and digest it, but I can look e.g. at the order in which those authors list the various theories. It is probably appropriate to model the merged article on that. Pharamond 06:08, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

You're probably right...
about this. Will restrain myself from now on, at least until it's possible to discuss topics such as improvement again. Thanks for remaining calm, I will try to do so too. Take care. ---Sluzzelin talk  23:14, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

pre-SSR "Belorussia" vs. "Byelorussia" in US English
Lambiam, your discussion of the Cyrillic-to-English transliteration issues regarding this name is quite enlightening and helpful. I'd like to post it as a reply to my original query on the Belarus discussion (Talk) page, if you have no objection—and/or on other pertinent pages. What do you say? -- Thanks, Deborahjay 08:38, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Limit of Detection
Thanks for your help on the Limit of Detection question I posed on the Mathematics Reference Desk!

--Mabris 17:13, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

TR settlement
Don't do much work on that article for the moment, I will take it to the deletion review.. Baristarim 19:09, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thank you for replying to my question re. Persian alphabet! -Dpr 22:12, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Responding to suicidal individuals
Hi Lambian. I would like to invite you to commenting upon or edition the new proposed policy Responding to suicidal individuals now that it has finally come up for discussion on Village pump (policy) and Requests_for_comment/Policies. Hopefully we can reach consensus (or not) within a week or two. Thanks! S.dedalus 23:01, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Internet shorthand notation
An editor has nominated Internet shorthand notation, an article on which you have worked or that you created, for deletion. We appreciate your contributions, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in his/her nomination (see also "What Wikipedia is not"). Your opinions on whether the article meets inclusion criteria and what should be done with the article are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ). You may also edit the article during the discussion to improve it but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate. Thank you. Please note: This is an automatic notification by a bot. I have nothing to do with this article or the deletion nomination, and can't do anything about it. Jayden54Bot 18:49, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Admin?
Hi Lambiam. I have a question. You've been here for a while, and from what I've seen, you're doing a lot of good work while being a good community member. Would you like to candidate for admin? If so, I'd be very happy to nominate you. What do you think? You can reply here. Cheers, Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 03:58, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the compliments, but no, I don't think it would be good for me to be an admin – I already get more upset than is good for me by what I see as unreasonable argumentation and an unwillingness to work towards consensus, which I think I would be exposed to only more as an admin. --Lambiam Talk  05:56, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * OK. :) Keep on doing the good work. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 15:17, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Peer review of Equipartition?
Hi Lambiam,

I'm hoping to improve the equipartition theorem to Featured Article status and I would appreciate your help with it. The article is under scientific peer review right now; would you have some time to look it over? It's pretty physics-heavy, but I'm hoping that it might be OK. Thanks muchly! :) Willow 12:29, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Pinyin
I'm worried. I would say in what word the letter "j" in pinyin in sporununced as "q and in what as "j-ch". --Vess 16:10, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Ave Lambiam
Hello, Lambiam, and greetings from me. I just wanted to let you know that I admire both the clarity of your thought and your wit. It is badly needed. Clio the Muse 11:36, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Help?
Do you think you can help me with my questions:


 * Reference_desk/Humanities


 * Reference_desk/Humanities


 * Reference_desk/Humanities

--Goingempty 16:11, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Cooool
Thanks for the awesome reply!--Sonjaaa 16:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Mathematics CotW
You are not listed as a participant at WP:WPM but I still got you, anyway... ctrl V... I am writing you to let you know that the Mathematics Collaboration of the week(soon to "of the month") is getting an overhaul of sorts and I would encourage you to participate in whatever way you can, i.e. nominate an article, contribute to an article, or sign up to be part of the project. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks--Cronholm144 00:35, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Mathematical beauty
Lambian I think you may be missing the essential point that inner beauty is often perceived through the presence of external beauty; we are not talking about catwalk models here. AussieOzborn au 09:21, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Dear Lambian, I appreciate your speedy response to my comment. Although we may have some difference in our point of view, I do think I can see what you are getting at; so point taken. I do think that a great deal of the inner beauty of the world is manifest in outer beauty. Perhaps an adequate example might be a rainbow where colloidal raindrops are separating white (sun)light into all the various visible colours that are present in it. Another example might be various beautiful (macroscopic)crystals that reflect the beautiful mathematical/geometric symmetries that are present at the atomic & molecular level. Anyhow I am happy to agree to disagree, but I still appreciate your reply. With regards. AussieOzborn au 09:55, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Height of Knowledge
I know from your answers on Ref Desk that you are both knowledgeable and articulate in many areas. I shouldn't be surprised, then, that you have a whole slew of talents and thus were able to identify the poser of the question about being a "perv" as a banned user. Thank you for adding the specifics to my passing on of the information to Friday and A.Z.. Is there a way for me to tell who is a troll, aside from deductions based on the form of the question? Thanks for your help.Bielle 21:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your answer. Experience has much to do with it, I suspect. I've only been around for less than a month. Bielle 22:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

LC
Hi Lambiam. Regarding this question, you stated it was. However, unless he has moved across the Atlantic in the last few days, it's not him. He edits from 88.108.*.* to 88.112.*.* out of Manchester, England. This IP is from Vancouver, Canada. I have no issue with your removal, however I thought I would let you know for future reference. Rockpock e  t  08:01, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Ah yeah. I see. I was a bit perplexed, since I was sure you had been around long enough to recognise the 88.* IP. I'd missed the earlier trolling. Rockpock  e  t  08:20, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I say long enough, in fact I note that you signed up just 4 days after me. Old-timer ;) Rockpock  e  t  08:24, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the little message telling me about the desk being restored. It was very good of you to take the time and effort of telling me, kind regards RobertsZ 12:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

AFD discussion
Hello, you participated in the AfD discussion for Lowercase i prefix. That discussion was closed with a "keep" decision but I felt there was enough consensus to warrant merging the information to Internet-related prefixes. I have placed a comment regarding my decision to go ahead and perform this merge on the talk page here and as you participated in the original discussion wished to alert you to this action and invite you to comment if you felt it was inappropriate. Thanks!  Ark yan  &#149; (talk) 06:07, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Best Answers, Least Visual Noise
First, thanks for the Icelandic words. (Is there any language in which you can't provide pronunciations, vocabulary or relevant quotes?)

You, Angr, Clio the Muse, Utgard Loki, Dweller, JackofOz, Dr.e.f.tymac and pastordavid can all be counted upon for thorough and useful responses to Ref Desk questions. I look for your names before I even read the questions, certain that whatever any of you writes will be well worth the read. What amuses me is the current fad for "big" and "bling" user names, practised, one assumes, by those who want the same high degree of recognition, but for all the wrong reasons. I note, in particular, the current drama of "The Random Editor", for example, which has been escalating almost hourly ever since he set up his Editorial Review page. I suppose it does speak to his programming skills in a way that even a computer void, like me, can appreciate. It certainly draws attention to his user page, which is even more dramatic than his signature, but the drama there is less intrusive. The trouble with "Look at me!" (all caps, double bold, 36-pt.Comic Sans)is that, after the first gasp of surprise, there is nothing to back it up. It seems noteworthy that, with the relativey modest exceptions of the likes of TotoBaggins and Rockpocket, all those who really do the work on the desk have the most discrete identifications. End of small rant. Bielle 08:11, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

The Language Reference Desk
The question is this: is the lawyer known or unknown? That is the question. 69.216.16.151 00:04, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

How did you do that?
You found my sandbox... my hidden sandbox. The article wasn't ready yet... how embarrassing :( How did you find it? Was it by my contribs or was it by some other method? I would love to know. Thanks--Cronholm144 14:34, 3 June 2007 (UTC)


 * It's easy; go to Special:Prefixindex and feed it something appropriate. --KSmrqT 18:36, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks KSmrq, looks like Lambiam, G-guy, and CBM beat you to it though :) (see my talk page)--Cronholm144 18:46, 3 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Au contraire! The answer has been in plain view on my user page since long before you asked the question. :-) --KSmrqT 09:14, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

English negatives
Your answer here was really interesting. Thanks! Anchoress 08:13, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Non-universality in computing
I have removed the prod from this page and have given a brief explanation as to why in the discussion page. Please respond it if you don't mind. I feel very strongly that this article should NOT be deleted and feel that it would be a disservice to the computer science community if it was. Thank you Ewakened 18:52, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

William Joyce
Hi, Lambiam. You may have missed my question to you in the Fascist Literati thread on the Humanities Desk. What is it by William Joyce that you have read? Please forgive my curiosity! Clio the Muse 14:24, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Small type
For those of us whose eyesight is less than perfect, I would humbly request that, if you are going to use the small type in your Ref Desk answers, could we use it everywhere consistently, from talk to headers to titles (proportionately, that is)? Then the near blind, and the over-fifties, can set up the whole of Wiki to expand the type to a readable size. If the sizes are not consistent, then, while those of you with good eyesight may see more on the screen (and I am assuming this is not a "size of file" issue, but a screen display one, where you are using "page" to mean what is seen on the screen), the rest of us will see much less. (The type that stays the current size becomes really big, and takes up too much of the screen just so that the small stuff can be read.) I suspect the original sizes where chosen for their general readability. I enjoy reading your posts. I cannot physically see them at the small size you like. I appreciate any consideration you may give to this request. Bielle 22:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


 * People on Wikipedi generally appear to take themselves so very seriously that I am no longer confident that I can identifiy facetiousness, sarcasm, irony, or even slapstick, without an identifier or a footnote. I am sorry to have troubled you over a silliness. Bielle 23:05, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Oh, I have no idea how to do the fancy stuff here, but wanted to thank you so very much for your references for musical instruments around the world. What a gift! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.101.103.162 (talk • contribs).

Castro and Nixon on the Humanities Ref Desk
And, because I am never sure who is making what joke, the point is. . .? Bielle


 * This was my mistake. From the way the question appears, with no signature by the original poster, and a continuation of the original tone and content in your remarks, I thought you had asked the original question. This belief held notwithstanding the silliness of the content and the awkward construction which did not really seem much like you. Given that both Edison and Clio the Muse have presented serious (I think) answers, I wonder if they do not think the same. Any of us would go further for a question signed "Lambiam" than by a "stranger", however puzzled we might be by the question's form and content. Bielle 13:09, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Frau Doktor
Your helpful, comprehensive initial response to my current query on the Language RD spurred me to add some details I'd inadvertently omitted (**blush**) in my initial posting... perhaps you'd have some further advice for me there? -- Thanks, Deborahjay 12:53, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you!
Thank you so much for your great help with my stats vector problem on the math help desk. 75.35.79.57 00:05, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Carl Hewitt
Hi! During the recent AfD discussion about the article Carl Hewitt you expressed some concerns about the article, and suggested that it needed to be rewritten. I have undertaken a substantial rewrite of the article in an attempt to address the concerns raised by you and other editors, and would appreciate it if you could look over the current state of the article to see if you have any suggestions for further improvement. Thanks. --Allan McInnes (talk) 14:09, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

My question
Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2007_June_19, just in case, you did not watch the page. --KnightMove 09:28, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Cadence (?) in Nazi camps
Thanks for your helpful reply on this rather odd query I'd posted on the Language RD on behalf of a colleague involved in a production of a stage play on this topic. The particular context of the original query to me had to do with the "girl orchestra of Auschwitz", to which page I ultimately referred said colleague for its ample links both internal and external. That plus your comments may have to suffice. And as times before, I appreciate your responsiveness on the RDs—worthy of emulation (to the best of my modest abilities and resources). -- Cheers, Deborahjay 21:29, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Nepali
(...we've got to stop meeting like this... ;-) Thanks for the assistance with the "sounds like..." query, and ESPECIALLY for the link to the online Nepali-English dico. I never thought to look for, let alone find, such an item. Nice bonus, and yet another instance of your generosity on us querents' behalf. -- Deborahjay 15:33, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Redirect of Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Yitzhak Gruenbaum, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Yitzhak Gruenbaum is a redirect to a non-existent page (CSD R1). To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Yitzhak Gruenbaum, please affix the template to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Please note, this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion, it did not nominate Yitzhak Gruenbaum itself. Feel free to leave a message on the bot operator's talk page if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot. --Android Mouse Bot 2 12:26, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Well! Just seeing this "Greenbaum" [sic], however it came to appear here, was enough to prompt me to do some work on the page, including a discussion of the subject's surname. I'll have to resume translating the Hebrew page when I have more time; meanwhile, I'm curious what's going on, anyway! -- Cheers, Deborahjay 20:29, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Update: Thanks for the assist with the above. I went ahead and translated all the Hebrew in one sitting, as I'm about to go on a two-weeks' Wikibreak and don't know when I'd get back to it. Page still needs some work... I'll post it to the Jewish History project. -- Deborahjay 21:35, 26 June 2007 (UTC)