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6.46, 10 October 2005
Although I have not previously been involved in the recent changes to this article, I reverted your changes to War on Terror. The phrase encompasses both Afghanistan and Iraq, and the criticism section discusses both of these. The criticism about oil is generally not applied to Afghanistan, as it is not strategicially important when it comes to oil. Other criticisms, however, may be (more) valid, depending on one's point of view. btm 05:55, 25 October 2005 (UTC) (Comment copied from User talk:Copperchair from which it had been removed by User:Copperchair)
I just noticed the Willard Straight entry. It's nicely done... good work! I also noticed you had a discussion about the 1987 Ivy Lacrosse championship -- I found this Yale Daily News [1] that confirms that Cornell won (outright) that year. btm 06:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC) (Copied from User talk:Cornellrockey for context)
Xtreambar put up a new intro today that he said you worked on -- it's really good stuff. Good job! JDoorjam 22:04, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
I've been dithering about this one. I don't want you to think me biassed toward my own alma mater and I think the "MIT of" section is unencyclopedic and just silly. But there are three differences between it and the Harvard of the Midwest article that have kept me from deleting it personally.
First, it's not a whole article, just a section of what is a fairly lighthearted article.
Second, I find Harvard of the Midwest slightly more objectionable than a comprehensive "Harvard of..." list would be, or than the "MIT of..." list is. Here's why. The implicit message of "Harvard of the Midwest" is regional boosterism ("we have lots of schools as good as Harvard"). This is unpleasant but I don't think it's sustainable. Harvard is in a different class from most of the schools mentioned. Do you think Oklahoma State, or Carleton College (a college I seriously considered myself), or even the University of Chicago, is really comparable to Harvard? I don't.
The implicit message of the "MIT of..." list is MIT boosterism: "Look, MIT is the standard of comparison." But... well... to some extent I think this is supportable. Whether or not MIT is really the mostest more betterer highly rankaged Nobel prize count yadda yadda yadda compared to CalTech... consider the following list: Who is the best composer? Beethoven. Best scientist? Einstein. Best car? Cadillac. Best college? Harvard. What's the best engineering school?
All nonsense as objective facts in themselves. Nobody really thinks Cadillac is the best car any more, or even the most expensive, but people still use the phrase "the Cadillac of..." They are not facts, but their existence as popular memes is (probably) an objective fact.
Third, and this is really what has kept me from pulling the trigger on it myself, at least the MIT list editors went to the trouble of providing actual verifiable citations, rather than just asserting "Google and ye shall find." I'm sure that in both cases the research consisted of casual Googling, but at least the MIT editors took the trouble to pick out relevant hits and copy and paste the references.
Does this mean I think it should be kept? No. I'm just explaining to you why I personally haven't done anything about it.
In my own personal view, the MIT of... list is borderline and does not desperately need deletion, while Harvard of the Midwest does.
However, if someone else were to excise the "MIT of..." list I certainly wouldn't lift a finger to defend it. Dpbsmith (talk) 22:32, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, at first I was amused by that post, but now it's not even funny anymore, just stupid. Thanks for reminding me that was still on my talk page. Cheers, JDoorjam 12:18, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
I have a lead, under deep cover double secrecy not for attribution background only. I can say only that it is not Weeren. I am sworn to deepest secrecy on this. This source tells me that he believes that someone he asked kind of thought he remembered talking to someone who recollected that Penn/Princeton's positions in academic processions has changed _within the last few decades_.
He says that formally the order is determined by the institution hosting the procession; the founding date is usually printed in the programme for the event; the founding date is usually the result of the host asking the participants and accepting their self-reported founding date. He says that the result of this is that several decades ago Princeton generally preceded Penn but that starting circa 1990 Penn preceded Princeton.
This would be interesting if it could be confirmed, as it would indicate that the issue is fresher and less settled than I had thought. I had thought Penn claimed 1740 since 1899, sort of "that's our story and we're sticking to it," but if Penn itself has waffled since 1899 I'd find that intriguing. Dpbsmith (talk) 11:05, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
The changes look good. Courier new 18:04, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the information about how to fix a misspelled category name. I'll know for next time. --Jdlh | Talk 01:44, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
Can you, who I think to be very sensible, please tell me why the people who use Wikipedia should not be able to make decisions for themselves. Are we all to become Panurge's sheep? Courier new 00:41, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
That is very kind of you to say, but I do feel I have a tendency to be overly defensive, and harsh to criticism, when I feel I am being ganged up on. Speaking -- or, writing -- loudly always, always has the opposite of the intented effect. Courier new 16:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Boosterism seems to have reached epidemic proportions. I have found a great deal of bias in the Vassar article, just one of many similarly biased articles: “Vassar is often praised for its beautiful campus, a 1000 acre (4 km?) lot of land marked by period and modern buildings that is also an arboretum; since that time, it has maintained its reputation as one of America's outstanding liberal arts colleges, and is especially noted for its tolerant social atmosphere; the college is a member of the "Little Ivies," an unaffiliated group of elite northeastern liberal arts colleges; Vassar is a leader in producing doctoral candidates; Vassar students are well known for their individuality, creativity, and open-mindedness; many beautiful old brick buildings are scattered throughout the bucolic campus, but there are also several modern and contemporary structures worth noting." (The sentence on the noble character of these students got me to laugh.) Did this come directly from the College's website? Hmm. Courier new 22:29, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Curious as to what is your opinion on the discussion on the Shakespeare talk page. Courier new 01:19, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
- Shakespeare also spelled Shakspere , byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.[2]
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Hundreds of editions of his plays have been published, including translations in all major languages. Scholars have written thousands of books and articles about his plots, characters, themes, and language. He is the most widely quoted author in history, and his plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist.[3]
Hey there - I've submitted Oregon State University as a Join in page and thought you might be interested in signing up. Thanks! VegaDark 02:07, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Hi, you may begin working on Oregon State University with your two fellow editors. The collaboration will continue to be listed under active collaborations, so more editors may join later. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 09:01, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Thank you! Hey Btm, thank you for your support in my RfA: it passed with a final tally of 55/1/2. If you want a hand with anything, please gimme a shout. Again, thanks! – JDoorjam Talk 22:08, 9 March 2006 (UTC) |
Thanks for the removing that section. I put a long note in Talk because I think perhaps it does deserve some discussion, though. And I also removed the statistics I had put in myself commenting on the many respects in which Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have relative ranks of 1, 2, and 3. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Excellent job a few months ago with the Cornell history page. Any chance that you will fill out the rest of the history? --Xtreambar 20:37, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
Me and a small team of editors have brought Cornell University to near-featured article status, but we still have a few things to do (see the talk page). In particular, I saw you did a lot of work on Cornell Big Red and would like you to expand the Athletics section of the main Cornell article. It doesn't describe enough significant athletic programs successes (or lack of successes) to really hit the issue with a neutral point of view. Could you help out? -mercuryboardtalk ♠ 18:34, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
Hi. I'm involved in an argument on the Turn Left page. As you have edited the page in the past, I'd like to seek your input on the matter, also dicussed on Talk:Turn_Left. Thank you. Xiner 02:27, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
Since you are interested in Pomona College you might want to check out this AfD of a professor's bio: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Frederick Sontag. Borock (talk) 20:23, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
The article Nonsectarian has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:
Dictionary definition every organization is either secular or not so making it a list seems untenable.
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