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February 14

Sodor

2 questions: (1) what mineral resources are present on the Island of Sodor, and in which locations are they mined? And (2) according to canonic sources, does Sodor have any monorail or high-speed rail lines (the latter presumably intended to be used by Pip and Emma), or not? 2601:646:8080:FC40:A0EA:E55B:2645:FEAF (talk) 03:21, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

(1) I suggest you acquire a copy of The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, where there is much information, albeit scattered around.

Awdry, Rev. W.; Awdry, George (1987). The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways. London: Kaye & Ward. ISBN 0-434-92762-7. -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 21:13, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! But what of minerals discovered and railroads built after 1987? 2601:646:8080:FC40:5008:56A0:C556:EE41 (talk) 02:32, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

For an island this size building a high-speed rail line would make no commercial sense. --Lambiam 01:00, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps so -- but all the same, some maps I've seen show a high-speed line paralleling the original main line and merging with it near Wellsworth -- so the question remains, is this canon or not? (I'm asking this because I'm doing some very early work on a Thomas & Friends-themed scenario pack for Train Simulator Classic and/or Train Sim World, and this requires me to map all of the railroads present on the island per the canonical sources!) 2601:646:8080:FC40:5008:56A0:C556:EE41 (talk) 02:32, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think that you need to define what counts - for your project - as a Reliable Source. Wikipedia has that article which lists books in and associated with the Railway Series; if you find more that are arguably canonical (eg authorised by the Awdrys) then add them. Otherwise, if you want to include details from fan fiction and the like into your project, that's entirely up to you. -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 09:57, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I already have defined what counts -- the Railway Series and the Thomas & Friends TV show count, but the various Youtube fan fiction videos (of which there are a great many, e.g. the "Ghosts of Sodor" series) don't! And that's why I'm asking about the monorail and the high-speed line -- I see them on some of the maps, but I haven't found any reference to them in Thomas & Friends, so I was asking to see if anyone happens to know if they are there somewhere (after all, the show did add a whole bunch of other lines over and above those in the Railway Series), or are they only in fan fiction? 2601:646:8080:FC40:C4F4:FCE1:FA5B:3015 (talk) 03:12, 17 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Unless it's passing through from big island to big island then maybe. Dublin or Belfast to London in x minutes! Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:04, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Trying to find reliable sources??

Hey guys I need your help. I'm trying to find more sourced genres for the song "Tempted" by Squeeze, can you help me find some Iamthegoat524 (talk) 04:38, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

More than the four we have already (Blue-eyed soul; Rhythm and blues; New wave; Power pop)? Wouldn't that be overdoing it? --Lambiam 11:18, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I feel like the song counts as "soft rock", its part of my OCD Iamthegoat524 (talk) 04:58, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No, Squeeze is not soft rock. --Viennese Waltz 21:23, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 15

Neighborhoods of the world with the most film productions

Which are the neighborhoods of the world with the most film productions? Hollywood, Los Angeles and Goregaon, Mumbai possibly are the neighboorhoods with the most film productions. However, how are films defined? Kind regards Sarcelles (talk) 06:40, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are you asking for locations where film production companies are registered, or filming locations, or locations that are the narrative focus of a film? --Lambiam 00:44, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to have answered your first question yourself. For the second, see Film. Shantavira|^{feed me} 10:09, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your answers.

So far, I would say filming locations. Canoga Park (LA) was missing. Is it relevant? Sarcelles (talk) 12:59, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

City Hall discusses these issues and places London third [1]. 2A00:23D0:71C:C901:A5B0:A253:D09:2E4F (talk) 14:54, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We list more than 2,000 films shot in Los Angeles (said to be first) and 1,700 films shot in New York City (said to be second), but these, like London, are sprawling cities with very many neighbourhoods. While San Francisco has a mere 322 films listed, it is not inconceivable that one of its neighbourhoods scores higher than any LA or NYC neighbourhood. --Lambiam 15:06, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your answers. Nigeria and India also have potential contenders. Sarcelles (talk) 07:45, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 16

Dinner with Mr. DeSantos

When I was about ten years old there was a movie on TV with Brian Dennehy where he was playing a lawyer in a court. He was going over some case with a witness and kept asking about "Dinner...with Mr. DeSantos". We later had a game where we would chase our dog while shouting "Dinner with Mr. DeSantos!" but that's another story. Anyway, what was the film? I would love to see it again. KTcup82 (talk) 03:53, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps Legal Eagles? If not, have a look through Brian Dennehy#Filmography, it must be in there somewhere. Your exact quote has no matches anywhere on Google. Alansplodge (talk) 11:44, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing like that in a dialogue transcript (found at www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/l/legal-eagles-script-transcript-winger.html) of that specific flick. --Lambiam 14:42, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would guess that DeSantos (or de Santos, etc.) was a character in the movie. I looked through a few Brian Dennehy movies and didn't find one with that name as a character, though. --142.112.220.50 (talk) 22:20, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Funnily enough, the first movie of his I clicked on was Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan which seems to feature Brannigan playing a lawyer (his son is also a lawyer), has a dinner party near the beginning and includes a character apparently called 'Allan "Al" Disanto' so I think we have the answer. (Although I'm not sure if the dinner referred to is the dinner party since it seems to have involved several people.) Nil Einne (talk) 23:26, 17 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To be fair, it wasn't a complete accident. A search doesn't find anything like that line and given the abundance of subtitle sites, some of which aren't banned by Google and do have full text searchable subtitles indexed on Google, the fact this is one only results for 'dinner "with mr desantos"' (along with 2 results for that Riverdale episode sort of proving my point about subtitles) made me guess that either the OP is remembering the line wrong or it's a somewhat obscure movie.

The name of the person is something easy to remember wrong. Since it could easily be 'desantis', well trying to search for variations of the name sounded like a fool's errand.

But also I sort of expected that people might have looked at most of his main movies by now and at least seen if he played a lawyer. Although now that I look more carefully there are a lot in that list too. But I still expect any particularly prominent ones where he plays a lawyer might have been mentioned.

So there was a fair chance it was a TV movie and some of these we don't even have an article on so it might be fairly difficult. OTOH, when I had a quick look through that list, indefensible sounded like the sort of title that might involve a lawyer. Definitely those ones where he's called sergeant, general etc probably weren't it. When I looked a second time, Shadow of a Doubt (1995 film) sounded like another one where he might be a lawyer and it seems he indeed is there too.

Oh and now that I wrote all this, I search for "dinner with Disanto" and find it doesn't produce anything useful. (My earlier search is nearly as useless with disanto as desantis.)

However it does seem quite obscure I can see a DVD on Amazon but I have no idea if it's on any streaming services. (These services like to only show you what's available based on geolocation and I'm not going to bother try a VPN so I don't know for sure. Apple TV says it's on Pluto TV, Pluto TV seems broken, and Google Play just says it's not available but in any case I think Google Play for movies is dead replaced by Youtube and other stuff.)

Nil Einne (talk) 23:56, 17 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Okay yes I forgot the Mr in my later searches but adding it didn't seem to help except find Bob's Burger subtitles from a quick test. Nil Einne (talk) 00:36, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, thanks for the great information! Maybe it was Legal Eagles, but I think its possible it was also Presumed Innocent. I watched the other films mentioned here, none of them rang a bell. The one I remember had Dennehy strutting around a courtroom, but it was a long time ago. Thanks for the memories! -KTcup82 (talk) 18:48, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Question on the laws of rugby union

There's an aspect of the laws of rugby union that I don't understand. Rugby union gameplay#Tackle says that "[a]fter the ball has been released by a tackled player, players from either side may try to take possession of the ball." But it seems to me that following a tackle, the attacking side retains possession of the ball. For example, see the clip exactly here. The ball is on the ground but Wales make no attempt to regain possession - England just pick up the ball and start attacking again. So what exactly is the rule here? --Viennese Waltz 17:01, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The key word in the quoted passage is "may try to gain possession . . .".

Wales could have engaged in a multi-player shoulder-to-shoulder struggle over the ball – a 'ruck' – or at least an attempt by the tackler to grab the ball – 'jackalling' – to try to gain possession, but when the tackled player had good support, as here, this was unlikely to be successful. Moreover, such attempts would have committed one or several Wales players to the ruck, leaving fewer to oppose England's when the ball was passed from the ruck to their attacking backs. Instead, Wales opted to retreat from the potential ruck to maximise their defensive numbers.

It's more common for some of the defenders to engage in a ruck or at least for the tackler to jackal, so this alternative tactic can sometimes confuse the attacking side who were planning on a ruck or jackal happening, and even lead to them accidentally committing an offense. Famously, Italy repeatedly deployed this refusal to ruck or jackal in a game against England a few years ago, eventually leading to the England captain asking the Referee "What are we supposed to do?" and the referee replying "I'm not your Coach." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 176.24.45.226 (talk) 19:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that makes sense. --Viennese Waltz 20:58, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 20

What's the most popular enharmonic equivalent of each note?

Like is C sharp played more often than D flat, presumably D is played more often than C double sharp or E double flat, is D sharp played more often than E flat and so on. Keys vary in popularity, the note with the same name as the key probably isn't exactly as common as the other 6 notes of the key, some keys aren't even used. Are any of the five black piano keys much more popular as the sharp or flat version? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:37, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The question is about where a note has two or more ways of notating it, which is most commonly used. (For example, G sharp and A flat aren't two different notes, they are the same note expressed in two different ways.) I'd suggest that from the way the scales are structured it is surely far more common to see B flat or E flat than A sharp or D sharp, similarly C sharp and F sharp far more commonly than D flat or G flat. My best guess is that G sharp and A flat are about equal! Even then, scales have a preference too: that is you'd surely compose a tune in B flat major rather than A sharp major even though they're actually the same thing, just because I've never been taught about (or even heard of) the A sharp major scale until I just wrote about it myself in this comment. AndyJones (talk) 13:27, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

They come out the same for an instrument tuned in 12 equal temperament, but in other tuning systems, including the "natural" just intonation of a capella singing, enharmonic notes may be realized at different pitches, depending on the scale. For some systems, such as 31 equal temperament, which requires a different type of keyboard (see Adriaan Fokker), the concept of enharmonics is completely different. --Lambiam 14:00, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The question only makes sense for Western tonal music, but also then depends on the genre; blues scales were not used by Haydn. Restricting the examination to the nine major and minor keys of classical music whose characteristics were sketched by Christian Schubart in his Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst,^[2] and considering merely their key signatures, ignoring the complexities of the different minor key scale patterns, I find – not surprisingly – that for all white keys on a standard keyboard the corresponding note of the C major scale is the most common. For the black keys, I find

3 × C♯, 3 × D♭
2 × D♯, 5 × E♭
1 × E, 2 × G♭, 3 × F♯
3 × G♯, 4 × A♭
1 × A♯, 5 × B♭

This does also not take the relative popularity of these nine keys into account. --Lambiam 13:42, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 23

Mutatis mutandis

It seems to be accepted internet-knowledge that Mutatis mutandis is the motto of the X-men school (which has had many names, and probably retcons, alternate realities and what have you). My question is, when did this motto appear in comics? Or did it originally come from a film? Or did someone just slap it on some merchandise at some point, and it became "real" that way? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:11, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

First, let it be said that the phrase itself is centuries older than any X-Men stories.

This page on a fan site identifies it as appearing in an X-Men connection in a comic in 2011, but doesn't say that was the first use. --142.112.220.50 (talk) 11:52, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Your 2011 example comic seems to expect the reader to know that this is the school motto, suggesting it was well established in-universe at that point (or concievably just established earlier in the same issue). Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:57, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can't give an actual citation, but I remember it being used in the early 1990s. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 19:27, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A 2006 addition to our article X-Mansion: 'The school's motto is "mutatis mutandis."' I assume that the user who added this got it from the comics. If not, perhaps the writers at Marvel Comics thought this original contribution to the Marvel Universe fanlore was worth reusing in the actual comics. --Lambiam 14:42, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would be surprised if this is a case of Pringles, but as we've seen, it can happen. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 14:55, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

YA fiction about a teen girl stranded on an island with birds when the boat she was on explodes

When I was in my teens I read a book about a teenage girl being stranded on an island when her parents' boat exploded. I'd love to read it again but I leant it to a friend (can't remember which one) and have been trying to find a copy for the past couple of decades. I would guess it would have been the mid-90s when I read it and I probably got it in a local bookstore (I'm in Scotland).

From memory, the cover showed a sea covered in debris, with a loan hand sticking up, but my pictorial memory isn't great so I could be making that up.

Plot elements I remember:

• The girl's parents were very well-off and appearance was very important to her mum, who was nagging her about being fat

• The girl hated her mother and they'd been arguing about what she was eating just before the boat blew up. The girl had been eating something deliberately to anger her mum

• The boat exploded due to an error in switching from one fuel tank to another (caused by language difficulties in instructions, maybe?)

• The girl ends up rescuing a couple of sailors and setting up a shelter for the three of them on an island

• The island is full of birds and she survives by eating their eggs

• There's a walrus or seal or something in a cave on the edge of the island

• There are men who come to the island to kill the birds and she doesn't trust them so she doesn't reveal herself to them. She does end up putting one of the sailors out on the beach for them to find because he's so ill she thinks he'll die without help

• She is eventually found and taken back to America

After so many previous attempts at searching, I don't hold out a great deal of hope, but a friend suggested this reference desk so it's worth a shot. Hezza1506 (talk) 15:35, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know the answer unfortunately, but if you don't get an answer on here, I suggest you open a Reddit account (if you don't already have one) and post your query on r/whatsthatbook. You will almost certainly get an answer there. --Viennese Waltz 15:54, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good suggestion but I put a post on there about it four years ago, unfortunately, and haven't had anything. I actually started to wonder if I was going nuts and had made it up in my head but I've just checked with another friend I remembered reading it (I think I loaned it to her as well), and she remembers it, so it's definitely real! Neither of us can remember the name, though. Hezza1506 (talk) 16:22, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are documentaries unscripted?

In many articles on lists of programs on TV channels or streaming services (List of Amazon Freevee original programming, List of Amazon Prime Video original programming, List of Apple TV+ original programming, ...) the sections for Docuseries are subsections of sections titled Unscripted? What gives? I'm pretty sure documentaries are generally tightly scripted. (See also Script (recorded media) § Documentaries.) --Lambiam 17:45, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Naturally it will vary from show to show, but a true documentary should at least have a script for the narrator or presenter to read. Interviews however, and statements from other people will be devise by these people, and it is possibly their decision if they want to prepare a statement in advance to say. Pablothepenguin (talk) 12:40, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Do you (or anyone else) have an explanation for why they are nevertheless so systematically placed in the Unscripted sections? --Lambiam 18:22, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It is true that the documentation of subjects like biographies are scripted and colored (by their writers, photographers and producers, some more than others), but unlike game shows the subjects of the documentaries are usually not scripted by the presenters. For example, An Inconvenient Truth is scripted but it documented global warming which is not. It's the latter part which places it within the genera. Modocc (talk) 14:15, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 25

Maximum number of T20 and ODI games

What is maximum number of T20 test games does a full member of International Cricket Council can play to face with another full member? What is maximum number of ODI test games does a full member of International Cricket Council can play to face with another full member? --Donmust90-- Donmust90 (talk) 01:13, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

One thing's bothering me about the 1939 Wizard of Oz. (resolved)

EDIT: I got my answers so no need to go on. You are free to keep posting comments, but no more are needed. Thanks for the help. Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 06:15, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

King Kong (1933) proves that they did have the technology back then to not make it look like people were just in costumes.

So why is it that it's so obvious they are wearing costumes?

And that was a high budget movie at the top of it, which makes this even more confusing. It's close to impossible to see any of the animals on Kong Island are fake in the 1933 movie, that's how great it looked.

Look, I know technology wasn't as advanced back then as it is now. That's why I brought up a movie that came the same decade and years before in the same decade. Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 04:27, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps because they immediately proved they weren't real animals by talking. HiLo48 (talk) 04:42, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I mean the dinosaur in the 1933 King Kong movie wasn't a real animal either, but it was hard to tell it wasn't a real dinosaur. Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 04:44, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To me, stop-motion has always looked fakey. But what is it about TWOZ that's bothering you, specifically? Are you saying they should have had the scarecrow, tin man and lion as stop-motion? I don't think that would have worked at all. As HiLo says, they have to talk. And they also have to relate back to their human counterparts in Kansas. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:58, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, first thing's first, even if so what else were they supposed to do? The advanced computers most people use today didn't exist back then. What else could they do back in the 1930's? Genuine question.

Second, well, I want it to not look like it's just people in costumes. I guess that was impossible back then without slow motion. I get it now thanks for answering my question. Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 06:14, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To create suspense, the animals in King Kong had to look realistic. They were animated with stop motion,^[3] a not super high-tech method realized with puppets for King Kong and claymation for the dinosaurs. The Wizard of Oz is like a fairy tale, aimed at children. There was no need to make the Cowardly Lion look like a real lion, which (to remain realistic) could not have interacted with the other characters as required by the script. --Lambiam 06:03, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

February 27

Is there a name for this?

"Guy who you would expect to be silent in a conversation but ends up speaking anyway" trope. Example:
Hero: Okay, this guy's gotta go.
Police officer: (insert celebrity imitation here of them saying "I agree")
Criminal: Hey, is that (celebrity police officer was imitating)?
Police officer: Yeah. Now move along.
TWOrantula^TM (enter the web) 05:39, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Where have you seen this? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:19, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Why not ask the good folks at TV Tropes? They might be able to help you figure this out. Pablothepenguin (talk) 12:22, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 166: / Line 166: @@
 "Guy who you would expect to be silent in a conversation but ends up speaking anyway" trope. Example: <br>'''Hero''': Okay, this guy's gotta go. <br> '''Police officer''': (insert celebrity imitation here of them saying "I agree") <br> '''Criminal''': Hey, is that (celebrity police officer was imitating)? <br> '''Police officer''': Yeah. Now move along. <br> [[User:TrademarkedTWOrantula|<span style="color: darkgreen"><span style="font-family: Georgia">TWOrantula</span></span>]]<sup><small>TM</small></sup> <small>([[User talk:TrademarkedTWOrantula|enter the web]])</small> 05:39, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
 :Where have you seen this? ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 07:19, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
+::Why not ask the good folks at [[TV Tropes|TV Tropes?]] They might be able to help you figure this out. [[User:Pablothepenguin|Pablothepenguin]] ([[User talk:Pablothepenguin|talk]]) 12:22, 27 February 2024 (UTC)