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December 18

Multicolored infinity symbol on certain tiles in Windows 10's Start menu

When I moused over the soccer ball and shoe icon in the search bar indicating "World Cup final coverage", I noticed that in the Games for you from the web section, each of the four tiles I saw there (Mahjong FRVR, Fish Merge, Kitten Force, and Lines FRVR) had an infinity symbol on the bottom-right corner that was colored like this:

I know the rainbow infinity symbol is associated with the autism acceptance movement (especially the portion of it that prefers to call it that instead of awareness), but I wonder if the particular symbol I'm talking about was meant to mean something else. – MrPersonHumanGuy (talk) 11:59, 18 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This is apparently just the logo of FRVR, some kind of marketing-focused games company. FRVR might be a contraction of "forever" (or fervor, forgiver, frugivore, or fibrovascular). Card Zero (talk) 16:43, 18 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

FRVR use the slogan, "Change the Game, Forever." They have a "press kit" about their brand and its logo,^[1] which mentions the colours but does not assign a symbolic significance ("Our colour palette plays a vital part in how we present ourselves. It’s what makes us feel distinctly FRVR.") The rebranding was done by BRND WGN;^[2] their page also shows the old FRVR logo, a rumpled cubistic infinity symbol with a confusing jumble of eight colours, some rather drab and together not evoking the idea of a rainbow. BTW, "BRND WGN" stands for "Brand Wagon",^[3] but, what with the high tax on vowels on Malta, these have been dispensed with. --Lambiam 21:05, 18 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 19

Is my user page appropriate?

It sure has a lot of information. Trakaplex (talk) 08:23, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

While I confess I haven't read it in full, You are basically free to post anything you wish on your user page as long as it is not demeaning, offensive or insensitive. Be careful not to infringe on others' copyrights or privacy and you're fine. See WP:USERPAGE. --Ouro (blah blah) 08:35, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On the contrary, we are here to build an encyclopedia. Quoting Wikipedia:User pages:

User pages are available to Wikipedia users personally for purposes compatible with the Wikipedia project and acceptable to the community; Wikipedia is not a blog, webspace provider, or social networking site.

[My emphasis by underlining. --L.] I do not see how the stuff on your page is related to the purpose of the Wikipedia project. The Wikipedia:Teahouse is a better place to discuss this. --Lambiam 08:45, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Uh oh --Ouro (blah blah) 13:20, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Trakaplex, the purpose of your user page is to tell your fellow Wikipedia editors about your accomplishments and plans as a Wikipedia editor, which is a pretty basic concept. Your user page in its current form is a pathway to bewilderment instead of clarity, and I fail to see how it advances the goal of improving this encyclopedia. Cullen328 (talk) 08:47, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A vanity publisher or a personal website may offer outlets for fiction that the OP composes but that is not an appropriate use of a Wikipedia user page. Philvoids (talk) 17:14, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You've contributed nothing to any articles and three quarters of your comments to article talk pages have been reverted as unconstructive. Other than this question (and one a year ago which seemed designed to send traffic to your WordPress site), all your other contributions are to the ramble on your user page. You're clearly not here to build an encyclopedia. Perhaps another site would be a better fit for your efforts? Matt Deres (talk) 02:07, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion discussion is here: Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Trakaplex Matt Deres (talk) 02:10, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Would anyone even have noticed it if he hadn't called it to our attention? That sure sounds like self-promotion. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:34, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Why did you put it there? —Tamfang (talk) 05:58, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Trakaplex: Are the people you mention in the "story" real people? If so, the page also violates our policy prohibiting unsourced negative statements about living people. Newyorkbrad (talk) 16:01, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 20

Constant/Variable-Q transform with non-logarithmic frequency spacing

Most CQT implementations are done in a logarithmic frequency scale. However, I found out the algorithm is actually flexible (which was proven by spacing the frequency bins in Mel scale and setting window size for each Goertzel bands appropriately to provide equal frequency resolution on the aforementioned scale). 125.164.18.14 (talk) 12:05, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

What is your question? AndyTheGrump (talk) 12:08, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@AndyTheGrump Is variable-Q transform with Mel scale better than typical Mel spectrogram (which although it uses triangular filter banks, this does not actually improve the temporal resolution on higher frequencies because it is calculated by summing FFT magnitude with filter banks, unlike Brown-Puckette method)? 2001:448A:3047:13E4:11FC:BB2B:C9B3:F4EE (talk) 10:31, 23 December 2022 (UTC) ^{(actually, my IP has changed from my previous post)}[reply]

Mel scale is an empirical logarithmic law intended to plot the ability of an average human to distinguish changes in pitch. The Brown-Puckette algorithm (see abstract here) does employ an FFT followed by selective weighting of the output bins; this method is the one described here. An audio spectrogram may also be implemented with a set of individually tailored filters but using an FFT greatly simplifies computation. I won't declare any particular implementation as "best" in this field of psychoacoustics where skilled musicians have their opinions but I have these conclusions from my work with objective rating of telephone speech impairments:

There is not a universal exact agreement on a Mel scale
My work employs the Bark scale that is similar to Mel. A simple conjecture is that the Mel scale works well for identifying pitch in musical (desired) sounds while the Bark scale works well at quantifying the annoyances caused by interfering sounds.
I use a single FFT that is configured for real-only (no quadrature) input samples and sampling duration 100ms. This gives fractional-second temporal resolution and adequate frequency resolution (small bin separation) to handle the lowest audible frequencies. This is much finer frequency resolution than needed at higher frequencies.
The phase information in each FFT output bin is discarded by squaring the complex number result.
To distribute power on the required (Mel or Bark) scale, filters collect groups of FFT bins and add powers. The filters should overlap at their half-power ( -3dB ) points, proven by a linear freqency sweep test. Philvoids (talk) 17:03, 24 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Polk HS and Andrew Johnson HS

In the Television show "Married with Children", the main character "Al Bundy" had as his shining moment scoring four touchdowns for Polk High School in the City Championship game against Andrew Johnson High School in 1966. It got me to thinking, In real life James Polk and Andrew Johnson are among the two US Presidents that I would expect to have the fewest High Schools named after them (and maybe Buchanan and WHarrison). If there *is* a city with both High Schools, I would expect it would be in Tennessee. So, any ideas on a better way than google to find a) Any cities that actually have a Polk High School (In google, I'm only finding a few and these are intermixed with "Direction" Polk High School from Polk County, Iowa) and b) whether there are any cities with high schools named after both? Naraht (talk) 14:15, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: Married... with Children.

Whether there actually are or not (I will leave that to researchers on your side of the Pond), I suspect the show's writers would have wanted to pick a nonexistent combination, to avoid possible legal problems, non-legal controversy, or just distracting attention to the use of supposedly identifiable schools. Of course, 35+ years ago it might not have been easy to make a definitive search, so perhaps they (as you imply) just picked the least likely combination they could think of. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.245.235 (talk) 15:59, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I can't help but be reminded of the grandiosely named George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:03, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the other useful information about April 27. --Askedonty (talk) 21:07, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Fictional locations are not unusual. The Law & Order franchise has often referred to the non-existent "Hudson University". Going farther back, there was the famous "Train leaving on Track 5 for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc...amonga," Those are real cities, but there was no single train connecting all three. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:02, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't find any Polk High Schools either, just North Polk and Southeast Polk. And there don't seem to be any Andrew Johnson High Schools, with or without a cardinal direction, so obviously there are no intersections. (I'm also not holding my breath for a Trump or Nixon High School.) Clarityfiend (talk) 05:59, 21 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

At least there was a Trump University. —Tamfang (talk) 06:01, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

There are none in List of educational institutions named after presidents of the United States. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:01, 21 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Have you searched on Google Maps, Here.com or OpenStreetMap? They may be better suited for physical locations. --Error (talk) 00:44, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I found a Polk County High School in my state (NC), but the county is named after someone else. There's another Polk County HS in Tennessee, but I don't know who that county is named for.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 00:51, 24 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Update: Polk County in Tennessee was named after President Polk before he attained that office.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 00:53, 24 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 22

Photo credits

Is there a specific license I must obtain to use photos found on Wikipedia pages? Is there a recommended attribution? GHorvitz (talk) 15:03, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You'll probably get a better answer at the WP: Help desk. Clicking on any WP image will get the file information page having its attribution, usually CC BY-SA 3.0. Details: Commons:Reusing content outside Wikimedia 136.56.52.157 (talk) 16:14, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Better explanation: About The Licenses 136.56.52.157 (talk) 19:21, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Perfect. :-)) GHorvitz (talk) 19:36, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Three Phase Power for Safety

In the Kennedy Space Center reference for their IMAX exhibit, it details the projector system and notes that it uses three phase power for safety. I've been asked what is safe about the meaning of "for safety" in this context. In researching, I cannot find any reason why three phase power is safer, particularly for a movie projector. Is there an obvious reason that would be too mundane to have references scattered about the internet? 97.82.165.112 (talk) 16:50, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

As our article says, “ As compared to a single-phase AC power supply that uses two conductors (phase and neutral), a three-phase supply with no neutral and the same phase-to-ground voltage and current capacity per phase can transmit three times as much power using just 1.5 times as many wires (i.e., three instead of two). Thus, the ratio of capacity to conductor material is doubled.[9] The ratio of capacity to conductor material increases to 3:1 with an ungrounded three-phase and center-grounded single-phase system (or 2.25:1 if both employ grounds of the same gauge as the conductors). This leads to higher efficiency, lower weight, and cleaner waveforms.” DOR (HK) (talk) 02:13, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I share the OP's puzzlement. On seeing their query earlier, I went and read that article, but failed to find anything that obviously related to increased safety: "higher efficiency, lower weight, and cleaner waveforms" might well mean lower installation, operating and maintenance costs, and perhaps better performance, but none of that seems to me to have any implications of safety for the Center's visitors, and no obvious ones for the Center's employees. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.245.235 (talk) 05:30, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is the reference a printed document? What is the precise statement? --Lambiam 06:50, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A three-phase supply is actually more dangerous than a single-phase supply as the voltage across phases is higher and more likely to result in a fatal shock. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:45, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Xenon arc lamp#Power supply requirements looks like less Ripple current might make it safer for the equipment, and would there be less leakage current in the power supply filtering in 3 phase? fiveby(zero) 18:37, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 23

Receiving Envelope

I recently received an envelope from the Arthritis Foundation c/o Fulfillment Warehouse 100 Jamison Court Hagerstown, MD 21740, and there was nothing inside! What was this suppose to be? My name (Redacted). 216.170.150.229 (talk) 00:25, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

We don’t need to know that information, and we suggest you contact the sender to find out why they sent you something. DOR (HK) (talk) 02:15, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A 'Fulfillment' operation is one that addresses, fills (appropriately) and posts envelopes (etc.) on behalf of their parent company (if they're an internal department) and/or various client companies, usually on an industrial scale. Like any industrial operation, sometimes mistakes happen. Evidently the Arthritis Foundation wanted to send you (and probably a million other people on a mailing list) something – probably a donation request – but the machinery failed to put the document(s) into the envelope addressed to you. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.245.235 (talk) 05:24, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

What was supposed to be in that envelope was an appeal for funds to enable them to send out more envelopes. Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:43, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hooded raincoats and cold weather clothing as substitute for hazmat suits

I wonder if cold weather clothing or raincoats (especially with a hood) could provide same amount of protection from dangerous substances (not just cold weather or the rain) as actual hazmat suits when paired with something like SCBAs. If so, is it appropriate to wear such type of thing I mentioned before when there is PPE shortage? And which different materials provides the best protection against chemicals? 2001:448A:3047:13E4:11FC:BB2B:C9B3:F4EE (talk) 11:09, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Since your life may depend on a proper answer, we are not qualified to reply directly. Suggesting appropriate sources is the best that this reference desk can do, (e.g. here). 136.56.52.157 (talk) 14:53, 23 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

No. Hazmat suits are designed for a purpose that raincoats are not. As for chemicals, you would need to specify which chemicals. Everything is made of chemicals. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:16, 24 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 24

Oceans closed & roads taken in

How can oceans be closed and roads be taken in? 86.130.114.204 (talk) 20:28, 24 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Anything is possible in fiction. DOR (HK) (talk) 01:01, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Time cube based reality augmentation. Dinglepincter (talk) 05:17, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

December 25

Cinema Name Contradictions. Should I rename the article "Wetherby Cinema"? Also could someone replace the out of date image with the newer images I've listed?

Wetherby's Cinema hasn't been called Wetherby's Cinema since April 2015 when it was renamed Wetherby Film Theatre.

It's still called Wetherby Film Theatre today as shown by the signs on the North and South sides of the building, however...

Its website, its Facebook profile, its Twitter profile, and its Instagram profile all have it listed as Wetherby Cinema.

A Blue plaque which was added in April 2015, and is located on the East side of the building, to the left of the North-East corner entrance, also has it listed as Wetherby Cinema plus it has Cinema written above that Eastern entrance.

I think...

The article should be renamed Wetherby Cinema
Wetherby's Cinema should be added to the Former Names
Wetherby Film Theatre should stay as an "Official Name

I also think that the out of date photo should be replaced with...

This taken from the North-Eastern side https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre,_Crossley_Street,_Wethery_(12th_July_2015).JPG
This taken from the North side https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre_(18th_July_2019)_003.jpg
This taken from the East side https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre_(17th_August_2019)_002.jpg
The Blue plaque obviously https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre_(10th_August_2015)_003.JPG

And maybe even...

This taken from the North-Western side https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre_(9th_March_2019)_001.jpg
This taken from the South side https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wetherby_Film_Theatre_(18th_July_2019)_002.jpg

Elsewhere on the article. However I wouldn't know how to add the images to the article. Danstarr69 (talk) 06:39, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you could contact someone who owns the theater, and ask them for its official name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:46, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Baseball Bugs: do you mean by emailing info@weatherbycinema.com? It would seem that they've already disclosed their official name by way of a unified social media presence. The OP is correct that the website, Facebook, Twitter, and IG (and domain name) all agree on that name. If the signs outside the building don't agree with that, well wcyd? Elizium23 (talk) 11:15, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The OP is trying to get the answer indirectly. By actually contacting someone directly, they might get the information they're looking for. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:53, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Bugs the article needs the photo changing as it the old name Wetherby's Cinema...

And the article needs renaming as it's also titled Wetherby's Cinema

The question I'm basically asking is...

Should the new article name be Wetherby Cinema aka the online presence and Blue Plaque name?

Or...

Should the new article name be Wetherby Film Theatre aka the name on the building itself?

Which should be the primary name? And which should be the secondary name? Danstarr69 (talk) 15:02, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Bugs Elizium23 I've just had a quick look on their Instagram profile, and noticed the sign outside the building is also now Wetherby Cinema, so I've answered my own question.

They've had another refurbishment (just one of many over the last 10 years) which apparently finished in October, so Wetherby Cinema is definitely it's new name, and the photos I recommended are now all out of date too. Danstarr69 (talk) 15:14, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Baseball Bugs, since this is not actually a Reference Desk question but a Wikipedia content question, perhaps your answer is valid for the former while I am answering in the latter context. "I talked to someone at the business on the phone" is not a source. Elizium23 (talk) 15:31, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly the most bizarre question to ever touch the reference desk

Someone in a Discord group chat asked whether it would be okay to microwave several packets of balloons. Nobody knew the answer, but I got curious and decided to ask here if it would be safe to do so. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong let's assume these are not metal balloons (because attempting to microwave anything like metal will never end well) and that they are straight out of the packet. 172.112.210.32 (talk) 16:00, 25 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 156: / Line 156: @@
 ::::They've had another refurbishment (just one of many over the last 10 years) which apparently finished in October, so '''Wetherby Cinema''' is definitely it's new name, and the photos I recommended are now all out of date too. [[User:Danstarr69|Danstarr69]] ([[User talk:Danstarr69|talk]]) 15:14, 25 December 2022 (UTC)
 ::::@[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]], since this is not actually a Reference Desk question but a Wikipedia content question, perhaps your answer is valid for the former while I am answering in the latter context. "I talked to someone at the business on the phone" is not a source. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 15:31, 25 December 2022 (UTC)
+== Possibly the most bizarre question to ever touch the reference desk ==
+Someone in a Discord group chat asked whether it would be okay to microwave several packets of balloons. Nobody knew the answer, but I got curious and decided to ask here if it would be safe to do so. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong let's assume these are not metal balloons (because attempting to microwave anything like metal will never end well) and that they are straight out of the packet. [[Special:Contributions/172.112.210.32|172.112.210.32]] ([[User talk:172.112.210.32|talk]]) 16:00, 25 December 2022 (UTC)