Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

March 1

Lists of contest winners

If you do the customer satisfaction survey for Wendy's, you're offered the chance to participate in a cash drawing. The contest rules, which give the contest's address as New York, include a statement of how to obtain the name of the contest winner (or perhaps all of them?) from Wendy's. I've never heard of this kind of thing before (why would they give out the name?), so it makes me wonder if it's legally required. Does New York have some sort of requirement that contest winners' names be made publicly available? Nyttend (talk) 04:24, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, it's supposed to give customers confidence that they did give out the money to somebody, whether they are legally required to supply the list or not. It's common for them to offer the list. (BTW, in Detroit, the customer survey gets you $2 off a large salad or sandwich. This used to be a sweet deal, but now the price on those items has gone up, and $2 off is a smaller percentage.) StuRat (talk) 06:00, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

StuRat, the survey here in PA does that too; I was unaware that they also did the $500 drawing. I wouldn't do the survey just for an extremely miniscule chance of winning $500, but when I'm guaranteed an unrelated $2 coupon, I might as well sign up for the drawing too. Nyttend (talk) 13:21, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes, the only contests where it's worth your time to enter are generally those with food prizes or discounts. That $2 off might be less than the profit margin on one meal, so they still make money. On the other hand, when they give away $2 outright, or more, they definitely lose money. This is why the odds of winning are so incredibly bad, when dealing with cash prizes, but fairly good, when dealing with food prizes (even 100% in many cases). StuRat (talk) 17:07, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

"Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission to use the winner's name, likeness and any and all identifying characteristics including, but not limited to, the taking of photographs and/or videos by the Sponsor's photographer/videographer for publicity purposes, without further consent or compensation, unless prohibited by law...".

A good corporation shouldn't need to be told to take (and use) whatever potentially valuable info they can. The law is (ostensibly) there to mitigate this default setting. Wendy's would otherwise literally kidnap and sell you (or cook you) if it meant a marginal increase in profit. Not knocking them, so would the competition. It's called "leadership". InedibleHulk (talk) 07:56, March 1, 2015 (UTC)

InedibleHulk, see Anna Ayala :-) Nyttend (talk) 18:39, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

I remember hearing about that, but never got this full a story. Thanks. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:45, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

You could also probably ask them for a list of people who asked for a list of winners, but it'd cost more.

"If you are making a comment that warrants supervisory or other attention, we may need to share your information with others. We may need to bring your correspondence to the attention of our attorneys or other appropriate staff. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:03, March 1, 2015 (UTC)

Oh wait, that's not actually Wendy's, just a franchisee. The Questar policy is the relevant one. "Confidential information is collected through registration or contact forms on this site and will never be used for any purpose other than internal use or by our clients." They straight up invite you to transform customer feedback into business intelligence. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:20, March 1, 2015 (UTC)

From Wendy herself: "You agree that Wendy's and those with whom we share personal information ("Recipients") may Disclose and transfer your personal information worldwide (including in and outside the U.S, the European Union and other jurisdictions ) for any purpose relating to our operations, programs, or otherwise that is not allowed or prohibited by this Policy. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:26, March 1, 2015 (UTC)

In general, the names of lottery winners are usually announced. But it could depend on various laws. There may be a legal requirement for transparency in these kinds of games, but it may also be Wendy's protecting itself. A few years ago, a sting operation foiled an ongoing fraud by the ones running the McDonald's "Monopoly" game. So at least two reasons why a place like Wendy's might be impelled and/or compelled to reveal winners' names. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:26, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Also good publicity. Being known as the company that made someone happy and rich makes you look benevolent. Putting a name and face to that person humanizes the benevolence. Good people = good food, at least on a primal level. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:45, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

Cost of shipping from US to Serbia

I was wondering how much it would cost to ship, let's say a book, from US to Serbia. I wager it's pretty expensive. RocketMaster (talk) 17:43, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

According to the USPS website here, a Priority Mail International Small Flat Rate Box (8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8", maximum weight 4 lb) will cost you $24.95 to send to Serbia, and will take 6 - 10 business days to get there. Quicker delivery is, of course, available at higher prices. Tevildo (talk) 18:16, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

How big of a book? You can send a Little Golden Book in a manila envelope, and it will probably be a lot cheaper than sending a 2500-page Oxford Universal Dictionary, which measures 10.7x8.3x4 inches and weighs eight pounds. Nyttend (talk) 18:43, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

International shipping from the USA gets insanely complicated. For example, putting a "Little Golden Book" into an envelope makes the envelope too stiff to flex - and you get a surcharge on that because it prevents the envelope from going through the machine that automates reading the address...UNLESS you're shipping it first class, when it doesn't..sometimes it's cheaper to pay the surcharge, other times it's cheaper to bump it up to first class. The weight and size of the box matter - and the definition of the "size" is weirdly variable too...in some cases the longest dimension matters, in other cases, the sum of the length, width and height. As Tevildo points out, the "Priority Mail" flat-rate (kinda) system is the most predictable - but it's by far not the cheapest. Bottom line is that you take your package to the post office and they come up with a dozen confusing options depending on speed, tracking and insurance needs. USPS.com has a calculator for shipping costs, (click on the "Mail & Ship" menu then select "Calculate a price") and it seems to work OK...but it's tricky to use and it's easy to miss some of the cheaper options because they are often hidden in little drop-down boxes where you might forget to look! SteveBaker (talk) 16:09, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Westboro Baptist Church and ISIS

Westboro Baptist Church have been known to thank God for tragic events such as the Holocaust, 9/11, the Utøya killings, AIDS and Ebola. Have they been known to thank God for ISIS? JIP | Talk 19:01, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

If this is any indication supporting ISIS is too far, even for them. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 10 Adar 5775 19:14, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

The site requires me to watch an advertisement video to be able to read the story. I couldn't get the video to even start. Is there an advertisement-free version available, or can someone give me the basic gist of the article? JIP | Talk 23:02, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Try it with Javascript off. I didn't see anything except the story. The gist is quite opposite. A comedian offered to fly WBC to Iraq to protest ISIS, since ISIS is ostensibly an enemy of Christianity. ""I will personally pay for every member of the Westboro Baptist Church to fly to Iraq right now. I'll even fly you first class and pay the carbon offset."

WBC tweeted "We accepted! Whence tickets? @PhilCooke: An offer to fly WBC members 2 Iraq 2 protest. Sounds like good idea to me." But then the comedian reneged, despite plenty of donations, because he assumed they'd back out. "I don't want to fight hate with hate and I certainly don't want to give these guys more publicity," he said, apparently forgetting he made the initial challenge. He gave the donations people had intended for plane tickets to some charity St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which Robin Williams supported (this stemmed from WBC wanting to picket his funeral). I suppose he just wanted to piggyback his name. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:56, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

Meanwhile, Scott Walker compared unions to ISIS. But not to worry. He only finished second in the CPAC straw poll. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:22, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Lord, that's off topic Bugs--which I say as a former Teamstress and a current union member. But could you at least have the decency to give a verbatim quote and a source? μηδείς (talk) 20:21, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Here's the story.[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:19, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, there's a huge difference between what he said and how it was characterized.... The National Review is known for its support of liberal Republicans, so I think the most interesting part is that they don't even link to a full text of what was asked or said, just one phrase, where he's praising neither organization. μηδείς (talk) 23:16, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Here's something closer to a full quote.[2] It's worth noting that Rick Perry jumped to the same conclusion as "liberals" did, and that he accepts Walker's "what I meant was..." explanation. And I wasn't aware that NR was a supporter of "liberal Republicans", unless its direction has changed since William Buckley founded it. (And I've never, ever heard Buckley referred to as a liberal-anything.) But, anyway, it's the start of the 2016 campaign season, and foot-in-mouth disease has returned also. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:38, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

NR is seen as supporting "establishment Republicans" which conservatives call RINO's. They were whole hog for Romney, who would never have won, given the base and the Tea Party opposed him, and did not turn out for him, as if Dems would have after his 47% comments and forced dog hosing and cutting the fag's hair incidents. The only way Buckley was conservative was in the religious sense (he loathed Ayn Rand as an atheist and smeared her repeatedly), and although plenty of religious support the Tea Party, the Tea Party is basically small-government classical-liberal, not ban-smoking and brand-the-fags-on-the-foreheaders, like the "devout" Catholic Buckley was. I assume you are aware Buckley's son Chris was an Obama backer, and that the NR fired Mark Steyn? In any case, this is off topic for the OP, so that'll be my last comment on this here. μηδείς (talk) 02:33, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

If you still think Buckley was a liberal, you would do well to read this writeup about Buckley. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:34, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

No, I don't call someone who wants to ban smoking and tattoo aids victims foreheads a liberal, in the sense of classic liberal. Nor di I so call a supporter of agrarians, monarchists, and turncoats from communism, like the ghastly Whitaker Chambers, betrayer of the principled communist spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Neither did Buckley really care about free markets. He was an anti-communist who smoked pot but refused to argue in favor of its legalization, a snide Catholic who hated the sinner but tolerated the sin. A fascist of the middle. He'd make a great tour guide for a modern-day Dante's Inferno, as he was sometimes at least half as interesting as Orwell or Chesterton to read. In the end he was a pragmatist, no different from Greenspan or LBJ, whatever their avowed principle of the moment. Oliver Stone should write a movie. But given Truman Capote's dead, who would play him? μηδείς (talk) 04:06, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

David Frye did a dead-on impression of Buckley, but he's gone too. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:48, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I hope they'll release it soon; there was a segment of the Dick Cavett Show where he and Robin Williams did an impromptu conversation impersonating Buckley and Truman Capote. It was drop-dead hilarious. μηδείς (talk) 17:07, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Non-musical traits correlated with musical rhythm

I see from sociolinguistic research that high aptitude in musical rhythm among those without musical training is highly correlated with adult second language acquisition. Are there any other robust correlations established between musical rhythm and non-musical traits? Others that I can think of but don't find data to support are popularity and extroversion. Muzzleflash (talk) 21:11, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Do you have a source for the claim of the correlation? I ask only because I cannot for the life of me keep a beat, but can pick up a foreign phrase with a few repetitions and a new language with a week or three of intensive training. μηδείς (talk) 23:20, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm in the other boat. I can drum Latin, but forget almost every word after learning it. I'm a bad tympanista. "Log out" looks easy, according to that page. InedibleHulk (talk) 06:47, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

It's possible that you aren't horribly bad at rhythm perception. Maybe even moderately above average. Could you please take the following rhythm test and report your score? test link Muzzleflash (talk) 07:14, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

I think it's very possible. I worded that poorly, but meant to say I'm bad at languages, not drumming. Never gave the timpani a serious go, though, I may screw that up. I don't take online tests on anything, as a matter of principle. InedibleHulk (talk) 12:51, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

Some time ago I read a book by Deborah Tannen, in which she states that factors contributing to popularity vary from culture to culture. I don't remember which book it was, though, but the references in the book could be of interest to your second question. --Judithcomm (talk) 10:52, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I've often heard that there is a significant correlation between musical and mathematical ability. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:00, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Here is at least one source link but it's not rhythm in particular, general musical intelligence rather. It's a study of musical intelligence and English learning aptitude of students in Iran. [3] Muzzleflash (talk) 07:26, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

March 2

Have any legal threats on Wikipedia ever actually gone anywhere?

I hope this is isn't an inappropriate question to ask, but I've been wondering. Occasionally I'll see angry and often poorly-worded legal threats reported on ANI and though they're amusing, a body has to wonder if anything ever comes of them. Has anyone ever actually sued an editor on Wikipedia and had it make the news? Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 11 Adar 5775 05:40, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Sure: This one actually shut down the German language Wikipedia for three days. SteveBaker (talk) 05:52, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Wow, talk about the Streisand Effect in action. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 11 Adar 5775 06:30, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Clarification, that link says wikipedia.de went down, but that de.wikipedia.org and search engine links still worked fine. So it's not so much that the German WP went down, more like one front end did. SemanticMantis (talk) 17:14, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station lead to an admin answering questions at the French national intelligence agency. Rmhermen (talk) 17:57, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I issued a legal disclaimer with an edit summary one minute before you asked this. I hope it absolves me. InedibleHulk (talk) 06:07, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

Afraid that's between you and the Universe, good sir. However, as you are inedible, maybe there's nothing to worry about. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 11 Adar 5775 06:30, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

So far, so good! InedibleHulk (talk) 06:40, March 2, 2015 (UTC)

How did you make your text even smaller? I was an idiot and didn't put a closing tag.... Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 12 Adar 5775 06:15, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

I didn't even know they stacked. Thanks. Carelessness isn't all bad. InedibleHulk (talk) 13:05, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

Size isn't EVERYTHING, so they say. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 18:22, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Does anyone's monitor see that? If so, you're better than I am. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:56, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

If using Firefox, click on the options button, then zoom in. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 12:21, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Oh yeah, that works. Zooming the Mac screen doesn't. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:30, March 6, 2015 (UTC)

It depends what you mean by legal threats. But see also Litigation involving the Wikimedia Foundation. While that primarily covers litigation where the WMF was somehow directly involved, contributors have also face action e.g. [4] [5]. A lot of the stuff which happened didn't AFAIK involve much, if any, threat published by the aggrieved party on wikipedia. Instead they often went with more conventional means. (Anyone involed in legal action would still likely be forbidden from editing as long as the case is outstanding per policy.) Many of the cases were also unsuccessful, so it also depends what you mean by "comes of them". Nil Einne (talk) 12:42, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Ah yes, I saw these on the Streisand Effect article, actually. By legal threats, I guess I mean anything unpleasant involving lawyers/law enforcement/government agencies and lawsuits/arrests/extraordinary rendition. Stuff covered under NLT I guess (they really should cover extraordinary rendition if they don't...). By come of them I meant legal threats that went beyond someone's threatening edit summaries or talk page comments and resulted in landing some poor editor(s) in hot water. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 12 Adar 5775 06:15, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

On a side note, I've thought of something new. I shall start handing out kitten threats to disagreeable users. Problematic users shall receive a fluffy kitten on their talk pages with the notice that should they continue to act in a disruptive way, said doe-eyed kitten will be removed. The natural human desire to always want more kittens will then kick in and they will become docile. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 12 Adar 5775 06:15, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

One example I know of: A Commons user named Xanderliptak went through "proper channels" and succeeded in getting images he had uploaded deleted from Commons. He claimed copyright violation, which was a lie, but they didn't feel like bothering with him anymore, so they deleted the images. And of course banned him from Commons (he was already banned from Wikipedia by then). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:12, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I dimly remember part of that. Liptak's specialty was heraldry, right? I have the impression that he was cranky because not everyone was grateful to see his works (in a style that I thought anachronistic, and signed) replacing less "professional" illustrations. —Tamfang (talk) 22:49, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes, except the problem was that he wanted to retain copyright control despite having uploaded them with the usual understand that they are surrendering copyright. But what really irritated him was that he wanted to retain his company logo down in the corner of each one, as free advertising. When other editors started editing his precious illustrations to remove his logo, he went ballistic. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:35, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Sounds perfectly reasonable. I mean Wikipedia is meant solely to advertise, push our own agendas and POV , edit emotionally, and remove anything we don't like, is it not? Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 12 Adar 5775 06:15, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, he thought so, anyway. And it's worth pointing out that this brouhaha went on for over a year, until things finally came to a head. Sometimes the wheels grind slowly. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:00, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

March 3

How can I save Ice Ditto?

My wife drew a :3 on an ice cube and keeps him in the freezer. We call him Ice Ditto. Recently we've noticed that he's melting despite spending 100% of his time trapped in the coldest part of the house. Why is he still melting, and is there a way we can save him? --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 01:50, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

As the comments there say, the ice cube is sublimating. Dismas|^(talk) 02:18, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

The exact article you want is Sublimation (phase transition). This article implies that the ice cube might sublimate more slowly if you enclosed it in a container inside the freezer so that it isn't exposed to air currents circulating inside the freezer. But it will still slowly sublimate. Marco polo (talk) 02:21, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Besides submlimation, as mentioned at the site in your link, it might also be a "frost-free" refrigerator, which then doesn't always stay below freezing (during the defrost cycle). This is especially true of the walls, floor, and ceiling of the freezer compartment, which are the targets of the defrosting effort. StuRat (talk) 03:11, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks guys! I posted this question on both sites at the same time, and between the two of you we've gotten some good ideas. We'll try the closed container (probably a baggie) and maybe look into 'reincarnation' (replacing in new water of an ice tray) to keep Ice Ditto alive. Turns out even a pet ice cube requires some maintenance ;) --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 06:05, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

• There's the question of what she used to make the :3 with. One possible solution might be crunching up some ice chips and putting them in cold water left in the freezer set at the lowest temp possible so that you have a bath at 0C or well below. For example, if the ice-chips have salt in them, they may be even colder than a chip on the verge of melting at 0C. Then, submerge ice ditto just below the waterline, and allow the solution to refreeze. Now there is a protective body of new ice around Ice Ditto, assuming he wasn't killed or defaced in the process. (You can always experiment ahead of time.) Then put him in a baggy.

The second problem will be he's on life support, so unless you keep him burried in permafrost or in a basement with a back-up generator you will still hve to face loosing him some day.

And, there's the alternative of ordering a small, chocolate covered ice cream cake yearly with a :3 on him, and eating him ceremoniously and with dignity and some red wine, tenderloin, and cashew salad a year later, once the new cake has arrived.

There's also the possibility of bearing a son named Ice (depending on how that goes with your last name) or getting a dog named Ditto (no sarcasm intended).μηδείς (talk) 19:41, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Historical Tourism...

Apparently Wikivoyage considers time travel in scope (even if technology hasn't yet been developed) voy:Wikivoyage:Joke_articles/Time_travel

However, in drafting this article I was wanting to include some actual historical curiosities, alongside the science fiction tropes.

So as well as being open to reasoned (and sourced suggestions) I had some additional queries relating to specific ideas.

1. Did prisons of the 18th century allow paid visitors to view the inmates as a sideline?
2. What guidebooks existed in the Pre-Rough Guide era? (This can include literary works that wouldn't be consider travel guides as such)
3. What was the official procedure for visiting pre-reunifcation Berlin (and other Iorn Curtain states)
4. Which historical periods are/were considered to be the most dangerous?
5. Are there any centuries old scams that are still used on modern travelers?

The assistance of the wider Wikipedia community in adding educational value to a tongue in cheek article would be appreciated :) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 11:21, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

The classic British/European guide books from the Victorian era were Bradshaw's Guide--Phil Holmes (talk) 12:51, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

And Baedeker --Phil Holmes (talk) 13:35, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. Any idea when Michelen went into the publishing business? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 15:47, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

1900, according to Michelin Guide. Adam Bishop (talk) 15:51, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

See Bethlem Royal Hospital#Public visiting for the most notorious answer to your first question. It was literally the closest thing we've ever had to bedlam. InedibleHulk (talk) 13:41, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

No source, but I imagine the old "give a tourist looking for x directions to robbers instead" trick is...old. InedibleHulk (talk) 13:46, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

Come. I show you cheap shop. Owner my cousin. Make good price. 196.213.35.146 (talk) 14:20, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Exactly. "Helping" carry luggage probably goes back to the beginning, too. And "blind" beggars at ports. InedibleHulk (talk) 15:48, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

There are dozens of ancient and medieval "itineraria" that are basically travel guides for pilgrims. The Holy Land in antiquity and the Middle Ages certainly had a tourist industry. Lots of holy sites were probably completely made up just to attract pilgrims...such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which conveniently contains several of them. Adam Bishop (talk) 14:51, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

From our article, True Cross:

By the end of the Middle Ages so many churches claimed to possess a piece of the True Cross, that John Calvin is famously said to have remarked that there was enough wood in them to fill a ship:

"There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In some places there are large fragments, as at the Holy Chapel in Paris, at Poitiers, and at Rome, where a good-sized crucifix is said to have been made of it. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it."

— Calvin, Traité Des Reliques.

Hope that helps. --Dweller (talk) 15:55, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

This is all great stuff people :), 'Plunge forward' :) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 16:16, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Rome's seen it all, and I can see most of those working since that time a wolf-boy honestly, no kidding built the place. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:45, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

A fond memory: the time a souvenir-hawker at the Piazza di Spagna called out to me, a blond teenager: "Bist du deutsch oder änglisch?" I'll forever regret not calling back, "Nein!" —Tamfang (talk) 09:22, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Shanghaiing seems relevant. Most dangerous time/place might be anywhere in the way of Gengis Khan (who caused the death of ~ 40 million, and also was a force of climate change [6]), or perhaps Fall_of_the_Western_Roman_Empire. You'd have to clarify what you mean by "danger" though. I mean you might be more likely to get robbed or murdered in a city, but you're more likely to starve or fall to your death in the wilderness. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:19, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

People used to prefer being murdered and robbed on the road. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:40, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

I meant the sort of thing you'd get FCO/State Department advice about to be fair, so in essence WarZone, pollitical instability, raging epidemics and so on. ( I've note Cambodia in the Stay Safe portion of the article.)ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:24, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Wolves in Great Britain used to be a hassle. Scotland's government was cool enough to set up spittals. A few centuries later, some people think they'd be good for tourism. Go figure. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:29, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

It could be said that the immediate cause of the crusades was the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the Holy Land, and their disruption of established pilgrimage routes. At least one of the versions of Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont talks about Christians (pilgrims or otherwise) being killed in various nasty ways by the Turks. In that sense the crusades were a "police action" intended to make it safe for Christian pilgrims again. Later, some of the various military orders were founded specifically to protect pilgrims (not just in crusader territories, but in Europe as well). Adam Bishop (talk) 21:53, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

ISIS

From what I understand about ISIS, they take fundamentalist and radical Islam to the extreme. As I see it, their ultimate goal is not only to conquer the entire world for Islam, but also for all the people in the world to devote their entire lives to do nothing else than worship Allah and Muhammed. ISIS forbids all kinds of recreation, fun and joy from its subjects. No one may do anything else than worship Allah and Muhammed. Were ISIS to ever reach Europe, the first thing they'd do would be to start destroying all possible signs of European culture, such as restaurants, cafés, bars, theatres, cinemas, libraries and public artworks. Is my understanding correct? JIP | Talk 22:06, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

No, it is very much oversimplified, not to say caricatured. And your hypothetical question also assumes that a conquering culture remains unchanged in the process - that did not work for the original Arab expansion, and it did not even work for the Mongols. It also is very much implausible - the difference in resources is so extreme that the idea that ISIS could conquer Europe is borderline absurd. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 22:17, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

That one guy seems to take plenty of joy in doing beheadings. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:07, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Jihadi John is not coming back here, mate, until his statute of limitations is up, or he has had enough of his rather limited number of heavenly virgins (with respect to the amount of time eternity lasts for). KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 23:27, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

People are fucked, not peoples. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:22, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

But the system shares responsibility. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:38, 3 March 2015 (UTC) >

I don't get it. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:02, March 4, 2015 (UTC)

It's not just lone madmen that are fucked up. The system and it's prime actors bear responsibility for creating situations in which people snap, and indeed for encouraging inhuman acts by dehumanising parts of humanity. Der Fisch beginnt am Kopf zu stinken. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 00:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Got it. There are a few "the systems" out there, gets a bit confusing sometimes. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:15, March 4, 2015 (UTC)

Note that none of this is new with ISIS. The Taliban also wanted to ban all fun activities, famously even music and flying kites. They also had the same desire to destroy ancient artifacts, and brutally murdered anyone who disagreed with them.

If you look at what happened to the Taliban, that's probably what will become of ISIS. At some point they won't be able to hold territory, since they are very busy pissing off each and every one of their neighbors (the Taliban was at least smart enough to keep the Pakistan intelligence agency as an ally). With the kind of firepower they have managed to attract against them, it's just a matter of time. However, they will probably then become just like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, etc., and do suicide bombings, etc. That's impossible to stop, unlike an enemy trying to hold territory. StuRat (talk) 23:43, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

The US bans these foods. That's no fun, either. Also doesn't allow many drugs. Or other things. Here's an official list. Does that mean people don't do it, anyway? Of course not. If an Islamist group (they couldn't still call it ISIS) takes over the world, they can't be everywhere any better than the current superpower can. Some people would still be horribly persecuted, and some people would still be fine. It only seems universally terrible when you focus on certain things. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:59, March 3, 2015 (UTC)

@JIP.

"... do do nothing else than worship Allah and Muhammed. ISIS forbids..."

Muslims do not "worship Muhammed". Muhammad (pbuh) was a human, and in Islam the last of prophets, like Ibrahim, Musa, Sulaiman, and Isa (that radical C1 ACE rabbi whose message "don't follow rules because they are rules, do what is right" I try to follow in every act of my life) before him.

--Shirt58 (talk) 10:27, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

One reason it appears to western eyes that Muslims "worship" Muhammad is the frequently violent and deadly reaction to depictions of Muhammad. We are used to seeing depictions of Biblical figures, including Jesus, and including in satirical ways. When the depiction of a human being is labeled "blasphemy", the obvious conclusion to us westerners is that Muhammad is considered to be equivalent to God. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:04, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Also, it wasn't that long ago that Islam was often called "Mohammedanism" in the west. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:14, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Saying that ISIS takes Islam to an extreme assumes that their policies are based on Islam. In fact, probably most Muslims would say that ISIS violates and perverts Islam. Muslim leaders around the world have condemned ISIS. Marco polo (talk) 16:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Which is why it's important that the Islamic world take the lead in defeating ISIS. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:14, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

The lead has been taken. Several Islamic states are "with us". Any that try to take over will likely be "against us". InedibleHulk (talk) 18:57, March 4, 2015 (UTC)

March 4

Identify parking (?) tags

In the fifth episode of Better Call Saul, we see a woman (Mike Ehrmantraut's daughter, I think) driving a Subaru car. Affixed to the inside lower left of the Subaru's windshield are these two stickers (sorry, that's the most detail I can get). I'm hoping y'all might be able to help me identify what they are. The show is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but they don't appear to be NM vehicle tax stickers (which seem to be stuck to the licence plate instead). The logo on the stickers isn't a Subaru logo, so they probably not manufacturer or dealer stickers. Better Call Saul is set in 2002, so it looks like they're six-monthly parking stickers, presumably to allow the character to park at her place of employment. She is shown wearing scrubs, suggesting she works at a hospital or some kind of care facility. The logo (to the extent that it's discernible in the image) doesn't resemble the current logo of any of the larger hospitals I can find in Albuquerque, but my search can't have been exhaustive. Does anyone recognise what these stickers are for? Given the show's attention to detail, they're not there by accident - but of course I recognise that they might only be props pertaining to some fictional hospital too. Thanks for your help. 46.208.59.195 (talk) 11:22, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Here in Texas, we have two stickers *exactly* like that on the window - one being the tax sticker and the other the state inspection sticker. Just because the show is set in New Mexico doesn't mean that there are no out-of-state cars there. Those stickers don't look like the Texas ones - and it's odd that they both seem to have the same graphic on them - but it's possible they come from out of state someplace. SteveBaker (talk) 15:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

I think the OP is right about them being intended to be consecutive stickers for something. The 02 is I presume the year. The number under IM is I presume the month of expiry. They probably don't both have to be on the car, but I guess people may do that often if they get them both and don't want to bother to have to remember to put the second one up. I had a look at all the examples at Department of Transportation, but can't find any examples with a similar logo. Of course, the logos could have been different in 2002. Nil Einne (talk) 16:46, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

@steve - The car's plates aren't shown clearly enough to be sure, but they look like the usual sunny-yellow NM plates that other vehicles in the show have. 46.208.59.195 (talk) 17:56, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Just FYI, Jimmy/Saul's car is a Suzuki Esteem, not a Subaru - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:23, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

It's not Jimmy's car, it's the woman's car. 87.112.25.246 (talk) 17:05, 5 March 2015 (UTC) OP, with apparently new IP lease

Oh dang, sorry. Reading fail! - Cucumber Mike (talk) 17:51, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

The visual display of the articles

Hello,

The first thing you learn in Graphic design school is how to set out text in order for it to be easy to read.

This is why newspapers have columns. It is so much easier and more pleasant to read large amounts of text when it is presented in small widths. The eye travels down easier than across.

It is such a shame that all the Wikipedia pages are set out in long and extremely wide paragraphs. I always have to reduce the size of the window to create a skinny text in order to read up on things.

Creating regular paragraph breaks also makes it so much easier to read text. I have had a look at your editing options but there does not appear to be any page formatting tool available.

I would love to do some pages for you so that you can see for yourself how much better it reads.

Many thanks, Alexandra — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dingbatdelux (talk • contribs) 13:09, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Graphic design schools have an unfortunate tendency of teaching a bunch of pseudoscientific cobblers (like their perennial favourite, the golden ratio) and passing it off as "fact". But if we use actual scientific studies of the effect of line length on readability, we see little to no effect, certainly no evidence that narrow columns are better and a weak suggestion that they're worse. 46.208.59.195 (talk) 13:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

@Dingbatdelux: Appreciate the interest in improving Wikipedia, but you're on the wrong page. This reference desk is for questions of fact in miscellaneous topic areas, usually unrelated to Wikipedia. For any real chance at change, your best bet is Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), and be warned such a major change has little chance even there. ―Mandruss ☎ 13:41, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

As with any modern website, just change the Skin until it displays how you want it to. If one that you like isn't available that displays things exactly how you wish, create one. See also Wikipedia:Skin. Nanonic (talk) 13:58, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't think CSS supports laying out a <div> in two columns, so you'd need some JavaScript split the text for you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LongHairedFop (talk • contribs) 14:40, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Having two columns in an online document makes zero sense (see my comment below) - but having a narrower swath of text with images off to the sides is (arguably) a nicer presentation - and that could easily be done in a MediaWiki 'skin'. SteveBaker (talk) 15:46, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

CSS 3 does support multi-column layout (modulo some technicalities) - see here and here. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 20:50, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

The problem with multiple columns is that they only work in a situation where there is an actual page - you need to be able to flick your eyes from the bottom of one column to the top of the other, without having to scroll up and down with the mouse. Problem is that the concept of a "Page" doesn't really exist on a computer screen...the height of the screen is variable depending on the window size. If you find a PDF that's organized into two columns, but the page is larger than the screen height, it's a MAJOR pain to have to scroll up and down between columns - and very easy to lose your place by accidentally scrolling up more than one page height. But think about it...why do we need to pack our columns so close together? We're not paying for the cost of paper - so one long, continuous column - without page breaks is much easier to handle because you only have to scroll gradually in one direction.

So even if you were right about short line lengths being easier to read (which, as 46.208.59.195 points out, you aren't) - then a single narrower column would make vastly more sense than having two wedged in side-by-side.

Which in turn leads me to say: Adjust the width of the browser window to the line length you find easiest to read...which is what you're already doing.

There are plenty of websites which have bought into this idea that narrow columns are easier to read - you see that (for example) in http://medium.com, which leaves large white borders either side of the text, and has much wider photographs and graphics. This also allows for readers to respond to the text by putting short annotations in the margins.

SteveBaker (talk) 15:46, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

• Line length does affect readability, and the IP and Steve should do more research before dismissing the claim entirely. But line length technically has nothing to do with the number of columns.

We shouldn't talk about "short" or "long" lines if we want to study the effects, we should quantify line length, either in terms of character count or an actual length unit, like millimeters. Obviously, lines 1000 characters long will be very hard to read, as will lines that are 3 characters long. Most studies find peak readability in the 50-80 character range, though different methods and metrics and sample sizes will cause a decent amount of variation between studies. Also consider that there are many different metrics for readability, and that an optimal line length for reading speed will not necessarily be the optimal line length for reading comprehension. A selection of scientific articles addressing the issue here [7] [8] [9], [10], [11], many of which use at least slightly different methods and ask technically different but related questions. More can easily be found searching google scholar.

But as Steve points out, 2-column would likely be bad for WP, and you can resize your browser to give a line width that you are comfortable with. 18:23, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Also the paragraph breaks are more about writing style than text presentation per se. Feel free to be WP:BOLD and split up long paragraphs wherever you like. You need no special formatting, just but two lines of white space between paragraphs. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:24, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Er, that is, two consecutive newlines, giving one line of white space. --70.49.169.244 (talk) 19:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, that's what I meant to say :) SemanticMantis (talk) 20:10, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps the first thing they should teach in design school is how to resize your browser window, and perhaps the second thing they should teach is that it is generally preferable to provide flexible options that allow readers to display text according to their personal preference. Fortunately, modern technology allows this.

It's also worth noting that not everything in Wikipedia is prose. We also quote poetry in our articles, and wide pages are almost a prerequisite for poetry - it's extremely difficult to understand the structure of the Aeneid and The Song of Hiawatha if you have to read them in narrow columns!

The user has confused her personal preference, or that of her teachers, for a universal law. For the record, I keep my browser windows as wide as possible, and would find newspaper-style columns a nuisance to read. RomanSpa (talk) 11:30, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes, this is entirely personal preference of the OP, I vastly prefer a wide layout to multiple columns. (Which, as an aside, would make editing here more complicated too). 131.251.254.81 (talk) 11:46, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes, Alexandra's question seems to be based on a false assumption. The page layout taught in graphic design is for the purpose of making a whole page look attractive, and to encourage the reader to read it. Sometimes this is to the detriment of readability, even on a printed page (though that's probably because the designer failed to consider readability when making the page look pretty). I strongly dislike narrow columns because they make the text difficult for me to read (possibly because I read whole words at once and hate hyphenation), and I find pdfs set out in columns really difficult to follow when I can't see a whole page at once. Columnar layout is totally unsuitable for Wikipedia, but we could reduce line length by including more pictures at the side. I agree with Alexandra about long paragraphs. Dbfirs 12:49, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

March 5

Does vegetarianism imply a conscious choice?

A typical American may eat a meal that is heavy in meats and fats. However, this does not take into account of ethnic minorities, especially those who recently immigrated into the United States and are more accustomed to preparing foods from their homelands. Now, if such a person eats breakfast and dinner at home and brings a sack lunch to work or school, then he or she may not adopt American eating habits and preferences so quickly, but have nothing against American cuisine, so such a person may eat potato chips and hamburgers during parties or purchase sodapop from a vending machine when the water fountain is non-functional. Alternatively, a person, irrespective of culture, may eat a primarily vegetarian diet, because it tastes good but would not self-identify as a vegetarian, because the eating habits are not made out of concern for the environment or for one's health. I am just wondering if vegetarianism implies a conscious choice for an explicit reason or if vegetarianism can be made arbitrarily and unconsciously by reviewing one's eating habits and preferences. 140.254.136.149 (talk) 18:28, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Vegetarianism is not eating meat. The reasons why someone may not eat meat are many. So the unhelpful answer to your question is "It can be both." Mingmingla (talk) 18:50, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks for your reply. 140.254.136.149 (talk) 18:57, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

The "-ism" means it's an ideology, which means it's a choice. Those who choose to not eat meat because they prefer another flavour made a choice, just like the ones who did it for health or morality reasons.

The ones who don't eat meat because it never crossed their mind have no idea and aren't vegetarians. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:30, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

That may be your personal opinion, but please see etymological fallacy for why basing your personal opinion on the etymology of words is an unproductive venture, and leads one to wrong conclusions. People may have dietary and health reasons for being vegetarians. It has nothing to do with the "-ism" and "choice" as to how they are properly identified. Vegetarianism means "eating no meat", full stop. It does not mean "eating no meat for reasons that fit only within my own narrow definitions that I try to backjustify with some etymological bullshit." If you practice vegetarianism, you don't eat meat; whether you could eat meat or choose not to, OR if you have reasons why you couldn't eat meat, and thus choice were taken out of the picture. --Jayron32 20:11, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Narrow definition? I allowed for every reason. And it's not only my opinion, I read it in the vegetarianism article. First sentence. Of course, you could say the definitions of "practice" and "abstain" are also meaningless. I think words matter. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:38, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

merriam-webster.com, dictionary.com, and oxforddictionaries.com all define it to include anyone who doesn't eat meat. The Vegetarian Society, which is apparently responsible for popularizing the term, also defines it that way. -- BenRG (talk) 01:33, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

The full definition in Merriam doesn't, and the others include an "or" or "especially" for the rational aspects. Vegetarian Society is clear that they intend to convince more people to become vegetarians. That requires a conscience. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:48, March 6, 2015 (UTC)

When you're young, you eat what the parents put on your plate. Your only choices at that point are "take it or leave it." As you get older, you might choose to continue with that type of food or you might choose to take another path. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:43, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

And if you put a plate of fried chicken to the left of a stone and a plate of spinach to the right, the stone will never eat the meat. Is the stone a vegetarian? Why or why not? InedibleHulk (talk) 20:52, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

It depends. What do stones normally eat? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:54, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Whatever they want. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:44, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

Good point. In Hawaii, they are omnivores. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:49, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

In some places, they will tigers away. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:56, March 5, 2015 (UTC)

Words are an indirect means (often inadequate, inaccurate or imprecise) for expressing facts. Reasoning about the words themselves is not the same thing as reasoning about the facts behind them.

Perhaps it would be safer to reserve the term "herbivore" for one who happens to eat only vegetable material and "vegetarian" for one who does so by active choice or ideology. I am currently an omnivore - but might be forced into a herbivorous diet if I were stuck on a desert island with nothing but berries and coconuts to eat. However, I don't think you'd say that I'd become a vegetarian or taken up vegetarianism - because that's an ideological position that I don't embrace. If forced by circumstances into becoming a full-time herbivore, I'd certainly crave that juicy burger and I'd be very likely eat one if I could get my hands on one. So you couldn't remotely say that I was a vegetarian - that would be silly! Rather a non-vegetarian living a herbivorous life-style. If you found a vegetarian and brutally force-fed him/her a steak, then he/she is still a vegetarian - albeit (temporarily) a carnivore. SteveBaker (talk) 20:52, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

"-ism" doesn't always imply ideology. For instance, Old-maidism isn't an ideology, it's a condition. Wikitionary's entry vegetarianism states it's "the practice of following a vegetarian diet." A practice is not the same thing as having an ideology regarding that practice. --Modocc (talk) 00:00, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Other examples include abranchialism, absinthism, achromatism, acromegaloidism, acrosticism, actinism, .... Also, any dictionary's entry for -ism will mention that it has non-ideological meanings. wikt:-ism lists a few commoner examples such as magnetism and colloquialism. -- BenRG (talk) 02:04, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm a 2nd-order vegetarian: I don't eat any carnivores. - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 10:29, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Left and right side on bridges

Is it correct to pick the reference point of a person walking along a bridge (a pedestrian or with a pedestrian sidewalk) and say, for instance "(s)he was walking on the right side of the Fooian Bridge", i.e. on his/her right hand? (Since for a person standing on one end of the bridge the right side would be the one that is left for a person on the other end and vice versa). I suspect that many bridges, particularly pedestrian and those with pedestrian sidewalks, don't have a labelled entrance and exit, so both ends could be an entrance and exit. Brandmeister^talk 22:36, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

When walking on any kind of road, bridge or otherwise, you would label which side you're on relative to yourself. To say you're walking on the "right side" of a roadway is insufficient info, as your direction also needs to be part of it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:40, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Yep, but I have an impression that the sides may be aligned to north-south direction, as on the maps. Just wanted to confirm whether it's safe to simply write that a person walked on the right/left side. Brandmeister^talk 22:57, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that works. If I'm walking on my right side of the bridge, and you're coming toward me from the other side, you're also on your right side of the bridge. When highway traffic is being discussed, you're most likely to hear "inbound" and "outbound" lanes (relative to a central city or whatever). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:18, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, whether it works depends on what information you want to convey. If you want to say that the person was walking on the right, then say so. If you want to say that they were walking along the east side of the bridge, then say that. If you want to say both things at once, then say both: they were walking north (or "towards the Tower of London", say) along the east (or right) side of the bridge. There's nothing special about bridges in this. --70.49.169.244 (talk) 07:07, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

If the bridge is indeed north-south, why not say east side or west side? Mingmingla (talk) 03:45, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

If it's a bridge over a river, then upstream side or downstream side are also unambiguous.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:21, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, meh. Brandmeister^talk 09:23, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

One small complication, rivers and streams have right and left banks, the Seine being the most famous, The orientation faces downstream, so a bridge could be said to have right and left ends according to the bank nomenclature. Acroterion (talk) 18:13, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I need help editing my novel.

How can I go about finding someone to edit my novel? Hopefully for free with low risk of someone taking my idea's. My mother said she would do it but she's taking far too long and has only reached chapter three in the first week. I can't rely on her to edit, I won't have it until next year. I've searched the internet and can't come up with anything on my own. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.128.121 (talk) 23:05, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

You likely aren't going to find someone to do reliable work for free. People who do this for a living do it to pay their bills and feed their children. It's not reasonable to simply ask one of them to do it for free just because you ask real nice. Unless you're going to pay someone, then you've got your mom. --Jayron32 02:13, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Have you tried looking in your local Yellow Pages or similar directory? You will probably find several freelancers who perform document preparation, secretarial services and so on for a modest sum. If you are looking for free editing, you might also try asking for help from one of the "beta readers/editors" who provide help on such websites as Fanfiction.net and AO3. Remember that "free" services are very often worth only what you pay for them!

As for your concerns about someone taking your ideas, whilst this is not legal guidance, it is generally the case that it is unlikely that you will be able to copyright the ideas expressed in the novel. With certain specific exceptions (dependent on your jurisdiction) your intellectual property rights are in the expression of the ideas in the text, and not the ideas themselves. You should read our articles on copyright and the idea–expression divide for more information.

Finally, you should be aware that editing takes time and care, and your mother is doing a difficult technical job for nothing and in her spare time. To have reached chapter three in the first week seems to me to be good progress; it is unlikely that a reliable beta reader on FF.net would be as efficient. I'd encourage you to spend a little less time feeling entitled, and a little more time feeling grateful that you have a parent who'll take on this task for you. RomanSpa (talk) 02:20, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

March 6

Stalling and modern car engines

Sort of an engineering issue: Why do many modern cars stall so easily?

I don't have any hard numbers on the issue, but I have witnessed a lot of stalling lately, say during the last 10 years. This includes both other cars and my own.

My car is a modern electronic model, and I found that stalling is not always connected to the lower displaceent (my first car was an old model, OHC engine with close to twice the displaceent, i.e. more power at low RPM), but also to the fact that the engine seems to quit around 700rpm even with no load.

The old car, which was 17 years old when I got it but in great condition, could recover from 300 to 400rpm with no problem if I disengaged in time, but with new cars, it's different: no matter what load, if the rpm drop below 700, the engine calls it a day. I don't know the exact rpm figures; I'm extrapolating from the internal RPM meter, so the figures could be off. However, it's definitly about twice the rpm I could recover from with my old car, i.e. roughly the same power, and with a smaller engine with lighter parts.

Now, why does the engine chip give up? Is it dangerous to run an engine at low RPM, to an extent that it's less dangerous to stop the engine completely and let the user restart than to try to keep it running? Is there some code in it like

if (time_since_last_rev >= 90 milliseconds) {
    stop();  // don't risk engine damage
}

OTOH, I always thought that stalling an engine is bad (as in, potentially damaging)...

Our article on stall (engine) claims that electronic engines are less plagued by stalling, but in my experience, that's not true, not at low RPM.

Pleas note that I'm not really a "car guy". The most complicated car maintenance I ever did was an oil change - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 12:19, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm not a car guy either, but I think any modern car that stalls at low RPM needs a tune-up. I think idle RPM is still something that can be adjusted. ―Mandruss ☎ 12:25, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks but sorry that's not it; it didn't drop below 700 without load. It's just that it never recovers once it drops that low.

• When reversing or otherwise when going very slowly, with the old OHC I could disengage around 400rpm and push the gas only so slightly, and it would recover 99% of the time.
• Now when I fail to disengage in time and it drops below 700, it's already dead (as in it didn't recover 'once). It does restart just fine, and it never drops below ~950 without load.
• Yes I am part of the problem; I'm so used to engines with more power at low RPM that my reflexes don't kick in in time to save a modern engine. :(

And when I bought that one,

Vendor: Oh, you're from America, please wait while I pull up the pricing of our AT cars...

Me: No thanks, I'm looking for manual transmission.

Vendor: *wat*

And it happened twice.

Back to the main issue, I don't stall that often, I'm down to about once per month, but that's much more than I did before. And the amount of stalling in other cars has increased, too, but now that I think of it, drivers who are still adapting to a newer engine could be to "blame" for most of these.

p.s. I reformatted Stalling (disambiguation). - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 13:06, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Judicial Sentencing for Witchcraft

Context: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Wikivoyage_talk:Joke_articles/Time_travel#Witch_Trials

What was the historical sentence and methods of carrying out used in history? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 14:52, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Which country? KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 15:16, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

in the Context pre-colonial United States. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 15:22, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It appears to be Salem, Mass, in what would become the United States, at the time of the Witch Trials. Thus, in 1692. Did you read our article on the Salem Witch Trials, ShakespereFan? LongHairedFop (talk) 15:23, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I'd also recommend Entertaining Satan - Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England by John Putnam Demos, an excellent read and very comprehensive. Demos has written several other books on Witchcraft as a historical study. --Jayron32 15:29, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Mysterious fuel gauge

I recently bought (in the UK) a second-hand Toyota Yaris which has a digital instrument display. The fuel gauge has the letters "I/I" at the top, and "R" at the bottom. Is this from another language or some sort of international code? Just curious. The speed is given in Miles Per Hour, and it's a right-hand drive so you would think it was optimised for the UK market. Alansplodge (talk) 17:58, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Have you checked the car's manual? Maybe it explains there what these mean? --Jayron32 18:02, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Checking this out in various car forums, mentioning other Toyota models too, such as the Scion tC, I saw consensus that "1/1" stands for 100% (not 1/2-full, not 2/3-full, but 1/1-full!), while "R" appears to stand for reserve (though at least one person suggested "refill" too). One reason for this choice might be that they're more universally understandable outside the Anglophone world (reserve is called something similar, starting with the letter "R", in many languages, while the words for "full" and "empty" usually don't start with "F" and "E" in those languages. ---Sluzzelin talk 18:20, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Sluzzelin, that makes perfect sense. Unfortunately Jayron, the manual wasn't supplied, but I've been able to work most of it out so far.... Alansplodge (talk) 18:24, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Resolved

Faecal transplants between species

OK, I didn't know whether to ask this on the relevant wiki or here so forgive me if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Basically, I'm wondering what the consequences of a faecal transplant between two difference species would be, or any references towards this.

Let's say, a human having a transplant with a dog. Or a horse. Or even a primate. What about the opposite? --89.137.178.174 (talk) 18:30, 6 March 2015 (UTC)