User talk:Esowteric/Archives/2008/October

Arif Ali-Shah

Dear Esowteric, thanks for starting the Arif Ali-Shah article. I've nominated the article for the "Did you know". Please see the hook at Template_talk:Did_you_know#Articles_created.2Fexpanded_on_October_22. The bio needs some work, but it is a very good bio, and I feel it will qualify for the "Did you know". Have a nice day. AdjustShift (talk) 14:29, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks AdjustShift. Arif Ali-Shah seems to keep his head down and stay out of the limelight, so with a lot of help from friends, hopefully we can dig up some more bio. EricT (talk) 14:36, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome. And thanks for expanding the bio. Have a nice day! :-) AdjustShift (talk) 04:04, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Shah family

Eric, we now have rather a lot of relatives listed in the info boxes for the various Shah scions. If you want to keep track of the entire clan, perhaps a better solution would be to create a family template to be added to the bottom of the various articles concerned. For an example, see Kennedy family. Cheers, Jayen466 21:24, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm new to this lark as you know, Jayen. It's beyond my competence, so feel totally free to do whatever you see fit. EricT (talk) 21:26, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I've never done this either, but I've started a page here: Template:Shah_family. I think you have more expertise in web design than I do, feel like having a go? If the content format doesn't suit, you can browse for similar templates in this category: Category:Family_templates. Cheers, Jayen466 22:28, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Other (simpler) formatting options we could copy: Template:S._C._Johnson_family, Template:Bush_family Jayen466 22:32, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Oh well, I've had a go. Does this Template:Shah_family look right? Jayen466 00:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

That looks very good, Jayen. Could you give it a try, please? Regards, EricT (talk) 09:07, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

OK, all the Shah family changes have been made -- looking good, thanks. EricT (talk) 09:32, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

National Archives

Eric, I've asked for some of the National Archives material on Ikbal Ali Shah. If you're interested, 10 pages are available for download here, for a limited time period. Haven't looked at it myself yet. Cheers, Jayen466 23:38, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Ah! Thanks Jayen, I didn't realize you could do that. I thought one would have to physically go to a location and photocopy. Have grabbed the images and will browse later when the dust has settled. EricT (talk) 09:30, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Had a quick scan through. Well, they certainly wanted to discourage a return, describing the planned return to Montevideo with his son as an unwelcome project ("whence he was extricated with so much difficulty last Autumn"), and managed to omit countries in South America from his new passport. They suspected that the real purpose of Ikbal Ali Shah's propoed visit would not be oriental studies but his commercial activities. The India Office had no intention of employing Ikbal Ali Shah again. Will need to look more closely for reference to "swindler", etc. EricT (talk) 09:49, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Will copy the scans to the Tenth Donkey yahoo! group files section (viewable by members, anyone can join). The group is here. EricT (talk) 09:49, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Did you see this caravansarai message? Search for dorej ikbal. EricT (talk) 10:23, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I see you've already found FO 371/61379. EricT (talk) 10:38, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Are we missing some correspondence from 1946 re. scandal (see scan 2)? EricT (talk) 10:46, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, there are 8 more pages in that folder. I'll have to shell out another £8.50 if I want those. Some of the other ref numbers Moore gives I've been unable to find in the catalogue as yet. Cheers! Jayen466 18:22, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Safia Shah

Eric, pls double-check that that is her shop. I can't find the article where I originally saw that she ran a shop; and her name is not uncommon. Just to make sure we don't have a case of mistaken identity. Jayen466 18:00, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Will do. (James Souttar certainly maintained that A. Gold is their shop and her partner was Ian, though). EricT (talk) 18:05, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Have searched the back issues of "The New Therapist" to no avail, though I know that around 2001 I found her and other old Shah folk contributing. EricT (talk) 18:05, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Funny thing is, I only walked down that street a week ago. :-) Mind you, I was heading for the Patisserie Valerie opposite. Next time I'll have a look, sounds yummy. Jayen466 18:12, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shopping/A_Gold/c6c3/ EricT (talk) 18:15, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

They may have married; Timeout referred to them as S + I Thomas. [1] But we should perhaps check whether they really want to have a WP article on themselves. Jayen466 18:17, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

That's a good idea, Jayen. Would you like to make an approach? You could maybe point them to the current Shah line-up (???) EricT (talk) 18:22, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Taking Jayen's advice: don't create the article. Run the idea past Tahir Shah with a link to the sandbox article. Send regards and enjoyed from Jayen. Let Tahir run it past Safia and Ian. EricT (talk) 18:53, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Email sent. EricT (talk) 09:41, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Eric, your archive set-up looks fine. Once the bot does its first archiving run (ten days after last activity on a thread, the way you've set it up), it will tell you in the edit summary where it's put the old posts. Cheers, Jayen466 23:55, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

ICR

Here are some potential sources: google news; though many of these seem to be for other ICRs. Then there are these: [2], narrowed down a bit more. Then: google books, google scholar. Google scholar and google books would seem to be your best bet. Jayen466 22:29, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Some notable people like Chris French (a noted skeptic) have written for the ICR, e.g. [3]. Some of these monographs will have citations in google scholar. Jayen466 22:33, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Google scholar is a new one to me and nearly time for bed. EricT (talk) 22:36, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Here's a list of google scholar refs for icr.org.uk; there's at least one monograph by Doris Lessing, who is certainly a notable author, Nobel Prize and all. Might be worth giving an overview of notable authors who have written monographs for the ICR in the article, if you haven't done so already. Cheers, Jayen466 22:38, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Artist infobox

Drat ... unlike the Writer infobox, Artist does not have children and relatives. Omar Ali Shah uses Artist, Idries Shah uses Writer). EricT (talk) 16:58, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps use the writer box for OAS, after all, Eric. It makes more sense really, on reflection.

On another matter, I am aware that the Bibliography in Idries Shah does not give first publication dates. The reason I haven't looked at that so far is that so many of his books have been republished, either by Octagon or others, that it's hard to tell if any publication date one meets is the first one. Do you happen to have access to a reliable list detailing the order in which his works appeared? I know there may be something on Olsufiev's site, but all that would have to be double-checked. Jayen466 17:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry, no Jayen. All my books went to friends or to be recycled, so I can't even look inside their covers. EricT (talk) 17:13, 29 October 2008 (UTC)