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September 17

design of the bank of england notes

so, ever since series c in 1960, Elizabeth II. has been featured on the obverse of the banknotes issued by the bank of england, with the notes before that not featuring the then reigning monarchs at all. Given how long this has been going on, clearly by now this a a tradition with significant cultural inertia. But how will this play out now that Elizabeth II is dead? Will a.) the bank of england in the near future redesign the banknotes to feature Kind Charles III. instead, i.e. interpreting the tradition as "the currently reigning monarch get's displayed on the obverse"? b.) keep Elizabeth II. on the notes, even long after her death, i.e. interpreting the tradition as "Elizabeth II get's displayed on the obverse"? 1234567891011a (talk) 00:06, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

There is no chance that they won't put Charles on the UK banknotes. Anything else would be seen as a colossal insult. Blythwood (talk) 01:05, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

There is a long discussion of this question on the Humanities reference desk. CodeTalker (talk) 04:54, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Bank of England notes are redesigned every so often, most recently the new polymer £20 and £50 pound notes, the old paper ones (introduced in 2011) cease to be legal tender on 30 September this year. The first of this series was the £5 which was issued in 2016, so I expect this will be the first note to be updated, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Alansplodge (talk) 13:46, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

The Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, said in a statement that "current banknotes featuring the image of Her Majesty The Queen will continue to be legal tender." The bank said it would offer updates on future currency once a period of mourning of at least 10 days had been observed. [1] Alansplodge (talk) 13:50, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

(I've never heard of someone holding another person's breath...) A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 13:33, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

September 18

The science behind the collage of short clips in documentaries (or similar videos).

I noticed, maybe too late, that documentaries present often a lot of short clips over a certain subject. Say be those penguins moving around, or waves from the sea, or overviews of financial districts in certain cities.

Then I wonderes why are those clips always 3 to 10 seconds long. Are researches behind those that show that people are captivated to them best if they are short? Is just chance that someone started with short clips and the other copied them? Is there any formalized reason why collages of short clips in documentaries and similar videos are so widespread? Pier4r (talk) 18:22, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

I guess it has to do with copyright avoidance. There are no established rules how many frames or seconds of copyrighted (but typically not particularly creative) documentary material can be used by someone else as filler material for their documentary before it constitutes copyright infringement; each case will need to be judged on its own merits. Some short clips may be available for free use. Or the makers of the documentary may want to avoid having to pay copyright fees or even asking for permission to use the material for a fee, which already is a lot of administrative hassle, and hope to get away by appealing to such doctrines as fair use and fair dealing (or hope that the copyright owners will not go after them for such trivial infringements).  --Lambiam 08:15, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

question about the snack cake called Suzy Q

Where in the Vancouver area in Canada can I buy a snack cake called Suzy Q? Someone from the states told me about it. 2001:569:7D9A:1300:69E8:BADD:9F1F:21A6 (talk) 19:29, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

According to the article, Hostess stopped making the Suzy Q about two years ago. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:36, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

Websearching "Suzy Q recipe" easily finds several sets of instructions, written and video, so perhaps the querant would like to try making their own. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.193.131.160 (talk) 09:12, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

CCR discontinued Suzy Q ca. 1972. --136.56.52.157 (talk) 23:13, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

September 19

Minimum runway for an aircraft to possibly get airborne

In Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick gets the F-14 airborne on a "short taxiway". In moviemistakes.com this is listed as a "factual error" because "It needs about 800m, about half a mile." But there is a difference between the usual runway length specified for an aircraft to start safely, and a minimum runway length so that it may possibly succeed with raising itself into the air. Has this minimum distance ever been analyzed for any aircraft? What may have been the minimum for an F-14? --KnightMove (talk) 15:32, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

@KnightMove: I have no idea whether the topic was ever studied, but the minimum runway length may depend on a geographic location and on weather. If you're at (or close to) the sea level, the air pressure is higher than at some plateau or in mountains. This makes air a bit more dense, which may result in a bigger lifting force, hence reduce the runway length necessary – and a similar effect may result from a barometric high. Additional, and much stronger, effect can be expected from a wind. Sometimes, when strong enough, it can even rise motion-less planes from a ground, which makes a runway length ZERO. --CiaPan (talk) 16:47, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

I saw a video discussing it and the issue was that the jet itself could do it, but the force of sudden acceleration would make it difficult for the humans to take off safely. Also, it was pointed out that flaps would be down for added lift, but they weren't during takeoff in the film and then they were when it was flying. That is a production issue. The "on the runway" scenes were filmed in a stationary museum jet that doesn't have operational flaps. The flying jet was either CGI or a real jet with normal flaps. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 21:57, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Thank you very much. You don't by chance have a link to the video, or more info where it was screened?

The air scenes were all CGI, as no airworthy F-14 remain outside of Iran. To protect secret technology and to avoid anything being smuggled to Iran or other enemies, US authorities were keen to dismantle the interior of all remaining F-14. --KnightMove (talk) 03:13, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

How long is a "short" runway? The ground roll distance for an F-14B, flaps up, under favourable conditions (hard dry runway, no excess weight, sea level, 59 °F, head wind of 40 knots) is given as 1,455 feet (443 m).^[2]  --Lambiam 11:17, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Take-off weight is also a factor. I remember a story about a large airplane having to make an emergency landing at an airport with a short runway, and the only way to get it out, once repaired, was to strip it of all of its seats and other non-essential equipment in order to make it light enough to use the short runway to take off and reach a conventional airport. Googling this, it seems to have happened a number of times (see for example here [3] and this forum discussion [4]). Xuxl (talk) 13:21, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

According to some sources, the F-14 engines (variant unspecified) with afterburners could deliver a thrust of 90,000 lbf, in SI units 400 KN. With a takeoff weight of 58,000 pounds (26,000 kg), ignoring the relatively low friction, that should give an acceleration of 15.2 m/s². Expressed as a g-force of 1.55 g₀ this is quite moderate and easily tolerated by untrained humans. Under the favourable conditions mentioned before, the takeoff speed is given as 152 knots, which I assume should be taken relative to the headwind. Even without headwind, this speed will be reached in 200 m. Assuming a 40 kn headwind, this decreases to 110 m. With flaps down, the cited takeoff speed is just 132 kn, giving under the most favourable condistions a roll distance of a mere 75 m. Perhaps considering the fictional stunt a "factual error" is itself an error.  --Lambiam 09:29, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Jet engines are inefficient at low speed. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:37, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

As the pdf linked above shows, the F-14 normally took off under 'military power' - i.e. maximum thrust without using afterburner. I believe this was because in an event of an engine failure, the resultant asymmetric thrust would make the aircraft uncontrollable. Later twin-engined fighters, like the F-18, had their engines closer to the centreline, and could use afterburner on takeoff. AndyTheGrump (talk) 13:47, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

@AndyTheGrump: So... were the F-14 takeoffs in Top Gun with afterburners just shot for the movie? Or is it different for carrier takeoffs? --KnightMove (talk) 10:25, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

Ah - our article Grumman F-14 Tomcat answers it: "Thus the launch of an F-14B or F-14D with afterburner was rare, while the F-14A required full afterburner unless very lightly loaded." --KnightMove (talk) 10:50, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

September 21

Origin of polo

The origin of polo is said to be "Persia (Iran)" by Encyclopedia Britannica but the Guinness World Records says the origin of polo is "Manipur". The Guinness World Records clarified the record of the origin of polo as Manipur in its 1991 edition, from its former record, Persia mentioned in 1984 edition.

In the 1991 edition of Guinness World Records, it states

Polo can be traced to origins in Manipur state c. 3100 B.C., when it was played as Sagol Kangjei. Other claims are of it being of Persian origin, having been played as pulu c. 525 B.C.

The same Guinness World Records' fact is re highlighted in various renowned newspapers and magazines like these -

At the same time, Encyclopedia Britannica says

polo was first played in Persia (Iran) at dates given from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD.

I respect both the sources and I want both information to be added in the article citing their sources properly. What does the community think regarding this? Shall we add both the information or only one? --Haoreima (talk) 16:34, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Hello, Haoreima. It is not the job of Wikipedia to decide between sources, and if equally reliable sources disagree, an article should say so, without trying to reach a conclusion. But I note that WP:RSNP says There is consensus that world records verified by Guinness World Records should not be used to establish notability. Editors have expressed concern that post-2008 records include paid coverage. ColinFine (talk) 18:17, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

If anybody is feeling ambitious, they might find source(s) linking Sagol Kangjei (loosely translated as "horse hockey") with the Kangjeiron Purana. Here's a possibility:

• Singh, Dr W. Dhiren; Singh, Dr Oinam Ranjit; Devi, Dr S. Jayalaxmi (27 September 2019). "Traditional Games Of Manipur With Special Reference To Sagol Kangjei (Polo): A Fresh Survey". History Research Journal. 5 (5): 130–136. doi:10.26643/hrj.v5i5.8053. --136.56.52.157 (talk) 21:35, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

The following source could be helpful for research, but perhaps is not suitable for WP:

• Mishra, Aniket. "From Sagol Kangjei to Polo - Recording the evolution of the game in Manipur". www.sportskeeda.com. --136.56.52.157 (talk) 21:48, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

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I don't consider The Guinness Book of World Records 1991 a reliable source. Can one show a historic continuity through five millenia from sagol kangjei to modern polo? The claim is based on a puya known as Kangjeirol, purportedly a historical account recorded by contemporary scholars. Note that our Puya article contains a caveat: "Saroj Parratt noted in 2005 that none of these Puyas were yet dated by professional historians or subject to serious textual-critical scrutiny.^[2] Consequently, she criticized the tendency of local authors to treat Puyas as reliable sources in their reconstruction of Manipuri history.^[3] Scholars have noted that Puyas had been forged by Meitei nationalists to support their reinvention of history and tradition.^[4][5][6]" Also, it seems conceivable to me that essentially the same form of sport was invented independently more than once.  --Lambiam 08:15, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

User language

When I log in, all appears in unknown to me language, probably Romanian. How can I keep English when I am logged in? Thank you, Maxaxax (talk) 00:13, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

What URL shows up when you first log in? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:01, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

At the top of your screen there should be a line with a symbol looking like a chess pawn, followed by your user name, then probably a bell and a screen symbol, then some words. If the language is indeed Romanian, the third word is Preferințe. (The fourth word should be Beta.) Click that third word, and you will land on the User profile page of your preferences. On that page there should be a bold heading like Internaționalizare, under which there is a box in which you can select your language preference, currently probably set to "ro - română". Select "en - English", check the box below if it is not already checked, and click the blue button at the bottom of the page, with a text like   Salvează  . This will save the language preference change.  --Lambiam 01:10, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

You should be able to fix this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences?uselang=en . Generally, when something is in the wrong language, you can always try to append "?uselang=en" to the URL. —Kusma (talk) 07:55, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

September 22

Z

Why is "Z" used as a symbol for Russian forces in Ukraine? 136.56.52.157 (talk) 17:39, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

It seems there are a few theories Z_(military_symbol)#Naming BbBrock (talk) 18:33, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia really does have an article on everything. (I assumed it didn't have anything to do with Zorro or Zelenskyy). 136.56.52.157 (talk) 18:45, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

Their grade for military effectiveness? Clarityfiend (talk) 22:28, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

I can't stop to think Eviv Bulgroz when I see it. —Kusma (talk) 21:01, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

September 23

Color soccer goal nets

Today they must be strictly white, but why could they once be other colors, for example, black or red? Thank you very much. 93.41.98.74 (talk) 08:52, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

I can buy colored soccer goal nets right now if I wanted to. Your supposition that they only exist in white today is thus incorrect. --Jayron32 11:48, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Indeed. Earlier this week I watched highlights of a Norwich City F.C. home game, and noticed the that the goal nets were yellow and green (the club's colours since 1908).

It is possible that some local Football authorities stipulate white-only nets, perhaps only in certain leagues (though I cannot find actual instances of this). Might this be the case for the Italian Football Federation? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.205.227.236 (talk) 12:17, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

The FIFA Rules of the Game can be found here: [5]. The rules pertaining to the goals are on page 21. It is specified that that goal posts must be white, but there is nothing about the color of the net. Xuxl (talk) 14:47, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Acceptance of umbrellas in England

The use of the umbrella or parasol (though not unknown) was uncommon in England during the earlier half of the eighteenth century...By 1788 however they seem to have been accepted: a London newspaper advertises the sale of 'improved and pocket Umbrellas, on steel frames, with every other kind of common Umbrella. But full acceptance is not complete even today with some considering umbrellas effete.

The last sentence was left unsourced in umbrella for eight years, so I removed it. But it got me thinking: was England truly culturally resistant to the adoption of the umbrella, and if so, what is the real reason for this kind of strange intransigence? Is it possible, for example, that the climate of the United Kingdom might not have been conducive to older umbrella technology, and had to wait until the mid-18th century for it to improve? Just throwing that out there as a hypothesis. Viriditas (talk) 21:02, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Umbrellas became a feminine accessory beginning in the 16th century in Europe. Jonas Hanway was the first male Londoner to carry an umbrella^{[citation needed]} ...it was an Englishman - Jonas Hanway (1712-1786) - who made the umbrella as we know it today popular. 136.56.52.157 (talk) 21:24, 23 September 2022 (UTC)