Jump to content

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
→‎Parking direction: not seen that here
Kleop (talk | contribs)
Line 605: Line 605:
:::Dismas: Perpendicular. "Battle park"??? Shantavira: The first reason makes sense, but for the second reason, surely the effect is canceled out by how much longer it takes you to unpark your car by backing out when you're leaving. —[[User:Angr|'''An''']][[User talk:Angr|''gr'']] 08:41, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
:::Dismas: Perpendicular. "Battle park"??? Shantavira: The first reason makes sense, but for the second reason, surely the effect is canceled out by how much longer it takes you to unpark your car by backing out when you're leaving. —[[User:Angr|'''An''']][[User talk:Angr|''gr'']] 08:41, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I've never seen such a sign (in Great Britain). I was taught to reverse in and drive out, and rule 201 of the [[highway code]] (broadly interpreted) seems to recommend it. I think the ides is that it's more dangerous/disruptive to reverse into moving traffic. [[User talk:Algebraist|Algebraist]] 08:53, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I've never seen such a sign (in Great Britain). I was taught to reverse in and drive out, and rule 201 of the [[highway code]] (broadly interpreted) seems to recommend it. I think the ides is that it's more dangerous/disruptive to reverse into moving traffic. [[User talk:Algebraist|Algebraist]] 08:53, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

== ITALIANS ASK THE TIME ==

Why in Italy there is a tendency to ask the time,from a public service telephone more frequently than in other countries? In other words Italians telephone to ask the time from a telephone centre quite often. Why?

Revision as of 09:10, 25 May 2008

Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.
Select a section:
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.



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:


May 19

Tailoring a suit jacket

I have a suit jacket that hasn't been tailored at all, and I assume that some changes should be made so it fits me properly. How do I go about doing this? Can I just bring it to my dry cleaner (who advertises doing alterations)? Will I be expected to know anything about what I want? If so, what should I be looking for? The sleeves fit fine, but I'm a fairly skinny guy and I think it needs some adjustment in that regard. Thanks for any tips. 207.229.190.19 (talk) 00:02, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have no background in this. But I'd just take it to a tailor/your dry cleaner guy and assume he knows what he's doing. 4.159.182.242 (talk) 01:35, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If they advertise alterations, then they should be fit to correct the size and answer your question/take your directions as to how you like the fit. Fribbler (talk) 02:05, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Check with other people around, or see if your place has a review website. Like any other service there are good and bad providers. Finding someone with a good reputation makes it more likely that your first experience with employing the services of a tailor won't be a disappointment. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 04:22, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I was a Savile Row trained tailor for the whole of my working life. I sat cross-legged and hand-stitched flat shapes of cloth and other materials to make them "bend" around the most complex of 3 dimensional shapes (the human body), whilst standing, walking, stretching, running, working, and relaxing. I had to take account of all manner of strange bumps, lumps, projections, cavities and yes, even deformities. And no matter the shape, the garment had to fit, drape correctly, and look as though it was uniquely tailored to fit the owner/wearer. My apprenticeship took 7 years, and I had to pass a series of very difficult written and practical exams and gain accreditation to the City and Guilds of London Institute Full Technological Certificate in Men's Bespoke Training, as well as the Joint National Apprenticeship Training Council of Great Britain. And you want me to tell you how to "tailor" a garment to fit your "skinny" body in a written answer on Wikipedia? You could just as easily ask a nuclear scientist how to make a bomb! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.189.105 (talk) 15:16, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, all due respect to your experience and skill, but you may want to take note that he wasn't actually asking for anyone to tell him how to tailor a garment to fit his skinny body. He was asking how to go about getting someone who knows what they're doing -- perhaps someone not unlike yourself -- to do it for him. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:18, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Certainly the best answer- of its sort- that I have seen on the Reference Desk in a long time. Would that the questioner could engage the responder to make alterations in the aforementioned garment whilst in tailor's seat. Perhaps the responder could suggest the words the questioner might employ in requesting the garment be altered to fit. Edison (talk) 02:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That's easy, "Dear Mr. Tailor, I have no knowledge or skill in the art of Bespoke Tailoring, but I wish to have this ill-fitting jacket of mine altered to fit this skinny body of mine. I realise that your time is expensive and that you will need to charge me not only for making the necessary alterations, but also the time-consuming and laborious cost of unpicking the original seams, pressing them flat, re-cutting the shapes of the various panels, and re-assembling them. I expect that the cost will far exceed the cost of you making me a custom-made garment from scratch - either that or advising me where I could purchase a decently fitting ready-made garment - but in any event, I accept that the cost of altering the existing ill-fitting garment will in all likelihood be extortionate, and much more expensive say, than me taking a trip to Cambodia or Kuala Lumpur where I could have a whole wardrobe of garments made to fit my skinny body, from materials of my choice, in Summer weight and Winter weight, including my flights, hotels and food costs, for less money than a gallon of petrol would cost in the UK". How about that Edison? Will that suffice do you think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.21.158.126 (talk) 09:14, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, that's pretty good. Personally, I would add, "And while you're at it, Mr. Tailor, please indicate now if you are extremely condescending to the point where most people would rather drink battery acid than have a conversation with you." I think that would be extremely helpful to the potential customer when he's choosing a tailor, an event which undoubtedly will take place in one fine Savile Row establishment or another. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:59, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK, so I was the OP here and I'm now more confused than before. Is altering a jacket an unreasonable request? I bought a suit at a Men's Warehouse or some such place, and changes were made to the pants but none to the jacket. I didn't think anything of it until my friend pointed out that it didn't seem to fit me right and asked if it had been tailored. Have I just bought the wrong jacket? Should I really anticipate paying an arm and a leg for changes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.229.190.19 (talk) 18:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mr. Tailor over there is obnoxious, but he's entirely correct in that altering a jacket takes quite a bit of work, so it probably isn't too cheap. (Pants, by comparison, are easy in that if they fit your waist, they just need to have the legs shortened a little, which is no big deal.) On the other hand, the standards (and prices) of fully tailored Savile Row suits don't have a whole lot to do with the kind of suits most people buy in real life, any more than the prices of outrageous European sports cars have to do with the kind of money people usually pay for cars. You should really ask a couple of tailors about how much they would charge for it and make your mind up based on that. I suppose it all depends on how much you paid for the suit; if it was really cheap, you'll probably be better off buying another really cheap jacket that fits you better. Also, any tailor you talk to who doesn't know what to do about it without specific instructions from you probably isn't a tailor you want to deal with. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 18:33, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's a difference between a full-on tailoring job and a simple alteration to an off-the-peg jacket. My last suit was bought at Slater Menswear (sounds like it might be similar to your "Men's Warehouse") and altered (both jacket and trousers) by their in-house service (I've also had a suit from there altered by a small independent tailor). I'm sure The Obnoxious Tailor above would sneer at it, but for my purposes it feels like it fits well (makes me look slimmer, too!) and I'm very happy with it. Getting this sort of simple tweak made to an off-the-peg suit is definitely worth it, and I don't think mine was expensive (might even have been included in the purchase price). 81.187.153.190 (talk) 21:20, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, by the way, it's not true that trousers are "easy in that if they fit your waist, they just need to have the legs shortened a little". A pair of trousers isn't just a pair of simple tubes with a single length and diameter. As someone with former-prop-forward legs I know this :-). The Slater alterations people above did a nice job along the seams of the trousers to shape them to my legs. 81.187.153.190 (talk) 21:32, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, people with crazy mutant legs are an exception, of course! ;) I stand corrected. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 22:59, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a place on this earth that men never stepped on

Is there a place on this earth that men never stepped on(apart from the bottom of the ocean,of course)?

89.216.101.61 (talk) 01:33, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. There's probably some little islands here and there that nobody's ever been on. Useight (talk) 01:35, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The not-quite bottom of the ocean? ;) 4.159.182.242 (talk) 01:37, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd imagine that there are vast areas of Antarctica that humans have never actually walked on - though they may indeed have flown or driven over them when traveling from place to place. Possibly parts of the High Arctic too. Or the most remote parts of the large deserts - places where people wouldn't really have any good reason or desire to be wandering around on foot. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 01:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
[ec] Also, there are almost certainly very steep mountain slopes in the higher elevations of the Himalayas or Andes that have never seen human footsteps (because they are too steep for a person to stand and/or covered with snow and ice). Likewise, there are probably places on the ice sheet of Antarctica where no person has ever walked. 76.19.109.186 (talk) 01:43, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The OP may be looking to name somewhere/be the first to explore somewhere. I don't think anywhere on earth is left but Inaccessible Island still needs a thorough going over, and anyway isn't it a tempting name? Fribbler (talk) 01:48, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like a challenge to me! Is there an island-naming equivalent of WP:BEANS? ;) --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 01:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
New islands are occasionally thrown up by the sea (or more strictly, volcanic activity beneath), Home Reef being (apparently) the most recent. *Someone* is going to have to be the first human to take a stroll there, rite? I guess that you just have to be in the right place at the right time... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 01:55, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Does it count if an island was "repaved"? If so, I'm sure most of the now volcanic rock-covered parts of Montserrat are still probably untouched. Paragon12321 (talk) 01:56, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The mantle/inner crust/core of the earth as well as the upper atmosphere, to be literal, although there are some places (such as Lake Vostok) which have been declared unsteppable. Also, there's also the top fo a sequoia tree and such other things. There are untold thousands of virgin caves. Man hasn't gone very many places in the grand scheme of things. Ziggy Sawdust 02:09, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Some parts of Fiordland, New Zealand, have never been stepped on; similarly parts of Patagonia in Chile remain "unexplored". If you want somehwere in the earth, then there are many cave systems around the world which have never been explored. Gwinva (talk) 02:14, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've just installed new carpeting and there are several areas that have not yet been stepped on (I think).  ;-) --hydnjo talk 02:49, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are many unclimbed peaks in the Himalayas. The highest summit on which no-one has yet stood is Gangkhar Puensum. Gandalf61 (talk) 09:20, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Highest unclimbed mountains for more. Neıl 10:02, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sure quite large chunks of Australia haven't yet been visited, although finding out exactly where everyone has ever been in that country would be rather difficult, so I don't actually know which parts are still untouched.HS7 (talk) 17:46, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Blue Mountains Nation Park, Australia

What are some of the most popular attractions in the Blue Mountains National Park besides the Three Sisters? 121.217.58.235 (talk) 03:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you read Blue Mountains National Park? Fribbler (talk) 11:39, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wentworth Falls Lake (not far from the village) – a lake that was created to provide water for steam engines in the old days, and a "hanging swamp". In the Blue Mountains article, the first panorama is likely from the Govett's Leap track on the way to the Bridal Veil Falls (via Blackheath). Julia Rossi (talk) 12:04, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Eric Winter

Eric Winter is not just an actor but a very important children's illustrator. He illustrated Ladybird books in the 1970's and if you can find out any more information, it would be very much appreciated. All i know is that he died in the 1980's and that he used to illustrate The Eagle. thank you michele smith

Smithm31 (talk) 06:35, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michele. Obviously the Eric Winter article is about someone different, being an American actor born in 1976. As far as I can see, no one's done a Wikipedia article on the Ladybird Books illustrator, and I for one think there ought to be. Perhaps you could create one yourself by clicking on Eric Winter (illustrator) and entering what you know along with references. Alternatively, you could request an article by adding Eric Winter (illustrator) to the appropriate place on this page.--85.158.139.99 (talk) 07:28, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, heres a start for someone [1] Mhicaoidh (talk) 10:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've started it, but information is pretty scant. Angus Lepper(T, C, D) 15:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

IQ Tests

If a person gets every question right on an IQ test what is their score? --Candy-Panda (talk) 08:45, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It depends entirely upon the details of the test and how it has been calibrated. However, any "theoretical" result that you get from a perfect score is likely to be inaccurate. Our intelligence quotient article says:
"Each IQ test, however, is designed and valid only for a certain IQ range. Because so few people score in the extreme ranges, IQ tests usually cannot accurately measure very low and very high IQs."
A perfect score indicates that a different (more difficult) test must be administered if an accurate measure is required. And the utility and meaning of the standard IQ measure becomes dubious for people at the extreme ends of the general intelligence distribution, or who have an outstanding ability in one particular field. Gandalf61 (talk) 09:13, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Their score is unknown. IQ tests compare people with other people. If a hundred people take the test, and four get all questions right, all we know is that those four people are in the topmost four percentile of that population. That only gives a lower limit to their IQ — whatever it is when you take the top 4% of the gaussian distribution with which IQ is defined. To get the IQs of the four people you'll need more tests and more people to compare with, so you can figure out where on the distribution those four fall. (Disclaimer: IQ measurement is not exact, there is criticism on the concept, yadda yadda; read the criticism section in IQ.) Weregerbil (talk) 09:19, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I remember IQ tests I took at school had a disclaimer saying that this test was only accurate for scores between 80 and 140, and that other specific tests should be used for results outside that range. I guess that if you got 100% correct it would mean that your IQ was at least 140, but you would have to take a further test to give an exact result. I imagine that if you got 100% in that test then you would need a harder one still, and so on. -- Q Chris (talk) 10:32, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Complicating things further, there's some evidence that IQ distributions do not follow a simple bell curve, but rather a three-bumped curve. --Carnildo (talk) 22:27, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (1955) manual includes maximum IQ scores for getting the maximum score (202) from correct answers (combined verbal and performance) of IQ159 for ages 16-17, IQ157 (ages 18-10), IQ155 (ages 20-24), IQ155 (ages 25-34), IQ157 (ages 35-44), IQ161 (ages 45-54), IQ165 (ages 55-64), IQ168 (ages 65-69), IQ174 (ages 70-74)and IQ179 (ages 75 and over). The same exact set of correct answers would gain you a higher IQ score if you were elderly, because it is a comparative measure relative to your age peers, and old people did not get that many correct answers compared to young people. This has been true of other IQ tests as well. Edison (talk) 01:48, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cuban cigars

How can I get Cuban cigars? I live in Maryland. Jussen (talk) 10:17, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fly to Cuba or fly/drive to Canada. Dismas|(talk) 10:29, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Flying to Cuba may cause difficulties; I don't know how serious these would be. Our article also suggests buying on the internet, though no sites are given. Algebraist 10:31, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It is possible for an American to visit Cuba. I know of one bird watcher who was granted permission, though it was far from easy due to legal hoops that he had to jump through. Dismas|(talk) 10:33, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you happen to have two passports, you can do it easily (going via a sensible country). Algebraist 10:38, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You don't need two passports; you just need to travel through a country (like Canada) that isn't pandering to voters by maintaining a ridiculous embargo. Cuban officials won't stamp your U.S. passport [2]:
"...But these measures are easy to get around, and some American tourists do. It’s similar to visiting Israel and knowing that you might well visit Dubai, Doha, or Muscat in the future, and the Cuban authorities, as the Israeli officials, will stamp a separate paper on your arrival and departure, rather than marking the pages in your passport."
Where you may get into trouble if you follow that strategy is on your return. While you can purchase Cuban-made products legally in Canada, generally speaking you can't take them back across the United States border. U.S. customs officials may also wonder why you packed shorts and sunblock for your midwinter visit to Toronto, and they may be inclined to ask awkward questions. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:31, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That's interesting, thanks. I hadn't realised you could circumvent the whole visa thing like that. Algebraist 13:54, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect this thread needs to be removed now. We can't offer legal advice - but we are willing to offer advice on breaking the law? Rmhermen (talk) 14:10, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As a citizen of the European Union, I am required by law not to comply in any way with the US blockade, so I certainly can't remove this thread. Anyway, meta-discussions should probably go on the talk page. Algebraist 14:54, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Tis true. From Helms-Burton Act:
The European Union introduced a Council Regulation (No 2271/96) (law binding all member states) declaring the extra-territorial provisions of the Helms-Burton Act to be unenforceable within the EU, and permitting recovery of any damages imposed under it. The EU law also applied sanctions against US companies and their executives for making Title III complaints.
Fribbler (talk) 15:02, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fribbler's quote does not support Algebraist's comment. I don't think that there is any law "requir[ing]...not to comply in any way with the US blockade", which by the way is an embargo, not a blockade. Rmhermen (talk) 15:38, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You don't have to go to Cuba. I'm sure Cuban cigars are available in Canada or Mexico, and other Caribbean and European countries. But you won't be allowed to import them into the US. Corvus cornixtalk 16:12, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to our article, you can import them if you remove the cigar bands. Also, I've heard numerous accounts of people bringing Cuban cigars into the US because they were only bringing a few for personal use. If you were to try to bring in large quantities, then more eyebrows would be raised. Dismas|(talk) 21:37, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have read in years past that it was legal to have pre-Castro Cuban cigars in the U.S, but by now they are probably getting pretty crumbly. If anyone gave me some, I would burn them, one at a time. Edison (talk) 01:53, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Weather

How do I use this page to find out what the weather is. If Wikipedia is the sum of all human knowledge, shouldn't this page tell me what the weather is like in every city all over the world? 69.143.226.129 (talk) 13:44, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not the sum of all human knowledge, nor does it attempt to be (an ill-judged comment by the founder notwithstanding). It is, rather, an encyclopedia. As such, it does not contain up-to-date weather information. There are plenty of weather websites out there; some are listed in the article you linked to. Algebraist 13:58, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(ec)Yes you can use this page to find out what the weather is like in world cities. Just go down to External Links and voila! Fribbler (talk) 13:59, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The article on Weather forecasting has more helpful links (in the "External links" section). Providing current weather forecasts would not only be unfit for an encyclopedia, it could also be seen as an extreme case of recentism, a problem Wikipedia is struggling with as it is. ---Sluzzelin talk 14:09, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If we Wikipedians are doing our (unpaid)jobs, you should be able to learn the climate of every city in the world; how hot and how cold does it typically get in the summer and winter, how much rain is there typically in each season. But we are not the daily news and weather, we are an encyclopedia. Therefore it is unrealistic to expect us to update the articles for every city in the world to tell you whether to carry an umbrella today. Edison (talk) 00:29, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Laws

Not legal advice, just curious, in UK law, is it illegal to be on drugs? It is illegal to buy, sell, transport etc., but what about use? If someone put MDMA into your spagetti, could you be charged with something? Thanks 193.115.175.247 (talk) 14:03, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]

IANAL but I think that apart from in specific circumstances (driving, flying, etc.) provided you are not causing a nuisance or danger then no. I remember reading about a case where someone was charged with possession of a hundredth of a gram of cannabis resin stuck to a knife blade to get around this problem. -- Q Chris (talk) 14:11, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, drugs are illegal in the UK. All drugs are illegal except maybe the most lethal and the one most people are addicted to. That is alcohol. See I think its silly that they even restrict the other drugs. If we can have alcohol, why aren't we allowed to have the other stuff?(It doesn't matter for me not a big fan of alcohol and not big fan of any other drug.) Seems a bit backwards to me.

Always

Cardinal Raven

Cardinal Raven (talk) 16:04, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven[reply]

That was not the question, it was, If you went to a dinner party and someone offered you a cup cake afterwards for desert, and the caster sugar sprinkled on top was in fack cocaine or some other drug, and you took it unknowingly, would this be illegal? on either side, to be intoxicated with an illegal substance, and to give some one something that you know they will enjoy, but do not tell them before hand. Thanks193.115.175.247 (talk) 16:18, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]
You had better have an ambulance stand by in case you need to rush one of your guests off to the emergency room. There are people who react quite heavily to certain drugs. Plus you don't know what other meds someone has taken that might interact with the stuff. Given the increase in allergies all round, feeding anyone anything they are not aware of what's in it, is very irresponsible. As for the legal aspects you'd be in danger of prosecution for "possession of" and "supplying" drugs (see here [3]). And if one of your guests ends up having an accident as a result of the party, like getting involved in a car accident or diving off a roof, you'd be liable for "criminal negligence." Your guests would fall under exemption because "A general rule concerning all criminal cases is that a person has to have a guilty mind if they are to be convicted." [4] if they can manage to make a convincing argument that they were clueless as to what went on. For minor offenses authorities might not want to go to any trouble prosecuting (also depending on how they found out in the first place), but if something happens there are a lot of other things on the books they might throw at you. (e.g. Accessory (legal term) or Accomplice. For a professional opinion you should contact a lawyer. Lisa4edit (talk) 18:13, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know about the UK, but in the US, it is not illegal to be unknowingly intoxicated. It is, however, generally some form of battery to get someone intoxicated without their knowlege and consent. --Carnildo (talk) 22:34, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Furthermore, regardless of the legalities involved, drugging people without their consent or without warning them is a prime example of how to act like a complete and utter dick. And it's got nothing to do with whether or not it's okay to use drugs; it's just bad manners on a level that may well net you a pretty solid reputation as a real tool. Or a kick in the teeth. Or both. Which you would probably have coming at that point. Seriously, 193.115.175.247, that's just uncool. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:10, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But if you were then stopped for driving under the influence of drugs, I think you would have a hard time convincing many people that your drugged up state was due to someone else who spiked your food or drink. Astronaut (talk) 07:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I once read a newspaper article about someone who was cleared of drink-driving caused by a particularly potent christmas cake, on the grounds that they didn't know they had consumed as much alcohol as they had. I'm not certain, but I think they may have (knowingly) had a small drink which should not have put them over the limit - the cake provided a "topping up" rather than the full 80mg/100ml. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 18:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I want to know scouting skills

All the scouting skills that are found in scouting.If can, i hope can get more details about scouting skills.Ueioy (talk) 15:08, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest going out and buying a copy of Scouting for Boys. -mattbuck (Talk) 15:26, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, many different topics fall under Boy Scout skills, such as First Aid, Knots, Lashings, Camping, Fire building, Wilderness survival, cooking, orienteering and leadership. Shooting sports and knife and tool safety are also included. Could you be more specific? You may want to try and get the Boy Scout Handbook, as Mattbuck suggested.Sports+historyguy333 (talk) 15:32, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Depending on your age, country, and situation, you might want to become a scout or a scout leader. Great fun! Merit badges! Camping!Tents! Sleeping bags! Campfires! Knots! Hikes! Mosquitoes! Blisters! Poison ivy! First aid training! Lord of the Flies if there is inadequate adult leadership onsite! (been there). Living in the woods as if you were a survivor of a plane crashing in the wilderness and almost freezing at night! Edison (talk) 00:12, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
For some reason one day in Scouts we had a big bucket of ammonia. We were told not to smell it, so, of course, we did. And that is my most cherished memory of Scouts! Adam Bishop (talk) 08:20, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cigarettes

If you became addicted to packaged cigarettes eg. Marlboro and then quit them and started smoking roll-ups, would your body notice the difference ? Would you still be craving them ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.5.206.57 (talk) 15:30, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Cigerrattes are a drug. And your body would notice. If you have been smoking something that your body has come to like and has become addicted to then yes it will notice and yes you will still crave what is usual to your body.Cardinal Raven (talk) 16:06, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven[reply]
In my experience, sometimes I want a Rollup and sometimes I want a cigarette. If I smoke a Rollup, it will cure the craving, but I need to smoke two Cigarettes to cure a Rollup craving. However, a Cig, will cure a cig craving and a rollup will cure a rollup craving. 193.115.175.247 (talk) 16:11, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]
The active, addictive ingredient in both commercial cigarettes and roll-ups is nicotine, from tobacco. The physiological cravings will be satisfied by nicotine from whatever source is provided. (There may be psychological cravings based in ritual or habit, however.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 17:26, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Based on my observations as a non-smoker, I would say that the psychological cravings mentioned by TenOfAllTrades above are the worst. The physical symptoms of addiction will pass soon enough, but just about all of my friends who have quit or tried to quit smoking seem to feel very strongly that the social conditioning is the most difficult part to overcome -- lighting up a cigarette when hanging out with friends, or smoking when drinking, etc. I've never been a smoker myself, but I've at times smoked for acting purposes, and I was surprised and a little spooked how quickly certain mannerisms and physical actions started to feel natural and easy; a lot of certain type of social pressure is relieved simply by having something to do, and smoking fits the bill remarkably well. All of the little rituals -- taking out the cigarettes, lighting them up, tapping that ash... it's a weirdly efficient and pleasing social lubricant of sorts, really. Judging by the conversations I've had with people, this (pretty limited) experience doesn't seem to be unique. I wonder how well that applies outside my circle of friends. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:03, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm glad to see someone else recognises the powerful effect of the choreography of the "smoke" ritual. Growing up with two chain-smoking parents (without becoming a smoker myself, don't ask...) I'm still fascinated and slightly envious of the stylistics of social smoking and the body language interchange, even the separate life of the dangling hand with cigarette as seen in traffic. When did something so health-threatening look so cool (besides base jumping that is) -- Julia Rossi (talk) 09:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Automotive engine problem:

I am looking for advice as to how to remove carbon build-up inside automitive engine cylinders, without dismantling engine? 71.173.81.76 (talk) 15:36, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Karl Austin[reply]

Run a higher octane fuel, it will loosen up and expel some of the dirty and grime in the cylinders, also might try some octane booster type additive and also fuel injection cleaner additives help clear up the dirt. --Nick910 (talk) 16:02, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think that's bad advice. The idea that higher octane fuel will clean things up is regularly disregarded as a myth by the automotive press. Here is a link to one automotive site discussing regular versus premium. What makes you think you have harmful buildup? You may be trying to solve a problem you don't have. Friday (talk) 17:03, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If the engine isn't detonating ("knocking") and the fuel economy is still good (indicating that the engine isn't automatically backing-off on the ignition timing to prevent detonation), you probably have no problem worth worrying about. But if you really had a lot of carbon build-up, there's always a die grinder or Dremel Moto-Tool equipped with a wire brush...
Atlant (talk) 17:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Tool

I have thier album 10,000 days, and while I love it I do not like the tracks such as Lost Keys(Blame Hoffman) as it is just album filler. Have they released an album that is full of fast heavy songs such as Vicarious, or Grudge and Schism from the Lateralis Album. Alternativly, what is thier best album, if one enjoys death metal usually? Thanks 193.115.175.247 (talk) 16:14, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]

Firstly, Tool (band) isn't death metal by any stretch of the definition. All of the songs you mention are more likely defined as Progressive metal (I have had many debates regarding the validity of this but I don't think the refdesk is the appropriate place for another). Unfortunately, the only way to learn which is their "best" album is to get them all and listen to them yourself. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 16:21, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
<Slaps himself on forehead.> I see that you weren't saying that Tool is a death metal band. I'll answer on your talk page. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 16:31, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

bank a fire

how does one bank a fire so that it will burn all night while you sleep. as mentioned numerous times in the earths children series by jean m aeul. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.18.34.51 (talk) 17:18, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mostly smother it with ashes so that the inflowing oxygen to the coals is restricted? Cover it with "turves" (turf) for the same purpose? Obviously, either is a delicate balance between not banking the fire down enough and completely smothering it out.
Atlant (talk) 17:39, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
From what I understand, completely smothering it out is not a problem, because what you want to do is retain the heat; it's not expected to actually burn any further. Coal is actually a pretty bad conductor of heat (which is why you can pick up an ember with your bare hands and toss it back in the fire, if you're quick about it, or walk on coals), so it doesn't let go of it too easily. Ash is another very poor conductor, which means it doesn't suck it away from the embers all that quickly. So, essentially, you want to use the ashes to insulate the heat of the glowing embers and make sure it doesn't escape; when you crack that sucker open again in the morning, the heat'll be there waiting for you, ready to light up some fresh firewood. Obviously, you really want to bury those embers in a good deal of ash and make sure that none of them are in contact with the ground, rocks or anything else that would make a good conductor for the heat -- and, naturally, the hotter the embers are when you do this, the better off you'll be. I'm sure there's quite a bit to the actual technique, but that appears to be the principle. A good covering of ash will probably shield the embers from a bit of rain, too, but if you're caught in a real torrent, chances are that you're out of luck.
Oh, and another point of interest: apparently "banking a fire" is also used when people mean building a ring of stones or a similar structure around a camp fire to shield it from wind and contain the fire. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


NOTE: The following is presented only for information and neither I nor Wikipedia can be held responsible if someone creates carbon monoxide or causes injury or damage with a fire. I have tried this generally without success with fireplaces and campfires. It is very hard to still have coals in the morning say 8 hours after the last fuel is added to the fire. A fire which has ashes or dirt over the coals and fuel can blaze up if the pile of fuel burns down or the wind picks up, starting the tent if not the forest on fire. A banked fire is an unattended fire and is frowned upon by camping authorities. [5] suggests using "green" (I.E recently cut) wood, and covering the hot coals with ashes and a layer of dirt. [6] is an 1897 book with detailed instructions for banking a coal fire in a power plant. [7] is a 1908 book with similar instructions (possible copyvio). [8] is a recent book with instructions for banking the fire in the hearth. [9] is a recent survival book with minimal instructions on banking a campfire. The suggestion to use dry dirt argues against the suggestion to use sod, which is fuel once it dries out. [10] is anpther modern camping book with some fire banking suggestins. [11] is a 1919 book with some cautionary notes about the formation of carbon monoxide when banking a fire. Edison (talk) 00:08, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Just me?

Is it just me or why is the link from the desk Desk page say this is Avril Lavinge page lol--Nick910 (talk) 18:06, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ehh? Details please...
Atlant (talk) 18:08, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The Desk selection page with address http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk, shows that the misc desk is now called avril lavinge for me, is this a issue with my computer or did wiki get vandalized. --Nick910 (talk) 18:09, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It was vandalism, now reverted. -- BenRG (talk) 18:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And the vandal is no longer among us, at least in that incarnation.
Atlant (talk) 18:17, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Tim Cahill,wearing a mask while nude did it.hotclaws 18:27, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Coll'ottava?

While researching Beethoven piano sonata No. 7 (Op. 10, No. 3), I came across a passage that used "col'ottava." Unsure of the meaning, I referred to trusted WP for help. After looking up the term in the Octave article, I found this sentence under "Notation":

Col 8 or c. 8va stands for coll'ottava and means "play the notes in the passage together with the notes in the notated octaves".

What does this...er...doublespeak mean? --LaPianista! 19:07, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I guess it means play as you would normally and as you would with 8va notation at the same time, e.g. if G2 is written, play simultaneously G2 and G3. I'm not sure about this either. Admiral Norton (talk) 20:03, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm guessing the same thing: you would play the note written and the note above or below it as a double-stop. bibliomaniac15 22:57, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I found Music Notation and Terminology, by Karl W. Gehrkens, which agrees: The sign Col 8 (coll'ottava—with the octave) shows that the tones an octave higher or lower are to be sounded with the tones indicated by the printed notes (when the sign is above or below the staff, respectively). --Bavi H (talk) 23:09, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I took a look at my copy of the sonata, and coll'ottava doesn't appear anywhere. No disrespect to Beethoven but it seems the editor, Liszt, did the right thing and wrote out the notes to be played, rather than leaving it up to the guesswork of the player. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:47, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Custom Love Potion Requests?

I would like to have a custom recipe made for a love potion (specially designed for my current situation). Anyone got any links to someone on the internet who may be able to make one for me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.220.246.235 (talk) 21:00, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You should probably know that there is no love potion which has been proven to be any more effective than, say, a small bottle of tap water. That said, I would be happy to prepare a love potion for you for $100 + shipping and handling. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 22:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm willing to prepare one for you for $99.99, shipping and handling on me. Acceptable (talk) 23:22, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid might work... bibliomaniac15 22:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
12 cans of Guinness? Always gets me in the mood for lurve....Warning: Willingness may be inversely proportional to ability using this method ;-) Fribbler (talk) 23:18, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe you just need to sweat a lot.--Lenticel (talk) 23:28, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Be careful with that stuff; it could end badly. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 00:19, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
When the wish to manipulate comes in, love has left the building (if it ever entered) imho. Still believe it or else, you can be inspired by our articles Potion and Lappish Hag's Love Potion! I'm sure any blueberries will do. As with lurv: improvise, improvise... best, ; )) Julia Rossi (talk) 08:59, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What is it with Canadians and their unspeakably brutal public service announcements?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwCyVku1HvI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rON7EeT0Nxg

Damn, those Canucks are serious about workplace safety and domestic abuse--a bit too serious, if you ask me. Are these for real, and, if so, are all PSAs like this up north?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 23:37, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The "Prevent-It" ads are real. I think the idea is to shock people into watching them. The goal seems to have been achieved. The other one, Googling reveals, appears to have been intended for TV, but no TV station would show it. I can't imagine a TV station airing an ad with profanity in Canada. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:41, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0z94AxRbZU&feature=related As an aside here is a compilation of Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland (joint campaign) road safety ads. Shock safety ads are common here. Fribbler (talk) 00:57, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And then there are the PA emergency announcements: "Kindly proceed to the nearest exit." Translation = if you speak the language well enough get the hell out, otherwise please ignore this and burn to a crisp. (Haven't found a language yet where they don't do something like this. e.g. the Germans had "begeben sie sich bitte") Nice and friendly isn't always the most efficient. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 03:48, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I am not sure what would be a better solution for the PA safety announcements. What language would you choose? In an international airport, for example, you'd have quite an array of possibilities. If you use the local language, it is likely that most of the people lisening will be able to understand. If I missed the announcement and suddenly saw almost everyone heading for the nearest door, I doubt I would just keep puttering along, ignoring the activity. ៛ Bielle (talk) 04:03, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What I meant to indicate is that vocabulary like "proceed" is not among the things a foreign student would know until they've reached quite an advanced level. "Begeben" certainly wasn't among my first German words. As far as seeing everyone heading somewhere goes, I travel quite a bit and not uncommonly end up in public places or waiting areas with not a soul in sight. Should I start running for the door whenever someone runs past? (People run because they want to catch their flight or bus, are late for a meeting or noticed they've forgotten their wallet, too.) I know the argument of using this type of advanced vocabulary to keep the locals from panicking. I just think we should be aware of the trade-off of not reaching everyone. 71.236.23.111 (talk) 06:58, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Those "Prevent It" adds ended up being unintentionally funny, I thought. They were too cartoon-y. The one where the guy gets blown out of a building and thrown onto a big truck, for example, that was hilarious! Adam Bishop (talk) 08:17, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


May 20

air medal recipients

hi. iwas looking at the list of air medal recipients that is listed in the article about the air medal (us medal) and was wondering where do wikipedia get that information. because i own a air medal ,not awardet to me. , but bought throuh an kind of army surpuls store in norway. the medal i have has a name engraved in the backside of it . but i couldent find it on the list. can anyone help me with locating info on the name engraved or mybe varify that this is an orginaly awarded medal?

Audisd14660 (talk) 01:58, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia gets its information from wherever the people who wrote the particular article found it. In principle every article should contain references to exactly where the information comes from, but unfortunately many articles do not live up to that ideal. In particular List of Air Medal recipients contains a reference for only one of its entries, though the pages linked from its entries may themselves contain appropriate references - I haven't looked.
However, the case of missing information is a bit different. The guidelines on verifiability make it quite clear that you may not add the name from your medal unless you can find a published reference that lists it. If you can find such a reference, I would encourage you to add the name to the page. --ColinFine (talk) 12:41, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Opposite Places

Is there a web site that calculates the exact opposite of any place on the globe (example - Neath, Wales' opposite place on the globe)?"Bold text —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andromeda m31 (talkcontribs) 02:09, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Two points on opposite sides of the globe are called antipodes (isn't it fun to have a big vocabulary?). The article on them gives information on how to calculate the antipode of any given set of coordinates, and lists a bunch of external links to sites that will do it for you. — Insanity Incarnate 02:25, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Amazingly, yes there is! The internets, eh? [12] Fribbler (talk) 02:11, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

managerial accounting

a company sells a product at $60 per unit that has unit variable cost of $40. The company's break-even sales volume is $120,000, how much profit will teh company make if it sells 4,000 units —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.97.137.121 (talk) 03:34, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is this your maths or your business administration homework? --71.236.23.111 (talk) 03:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Most likely Managerial Accounting. :) Zain Ebrahim (talk) 09:44, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
O.k. not being nasty, I'll give you some pointers: Look at Fixed cost and Break even Then ask yourself: How many units does the company sell at the break-even point? What are the variable costs for this volume? Can you find out the company's fixed costs from the data you have this far? How do the numbers for variable costs and fixed costs change if you sell 4,000 units? What is the relationship between total costs, sales price, income and profit? Can you calculate the profit from the data you have? (Look in your books for the formula if you can't figure it out. Our page is a bit confusing.) --71.236.23.111 (talk) 06:25, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cost of a euphonium

In US dollars ($), how much would an average quality high school level euphonium cost? --Scofield Boy 03:35, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Yamaha lists the YEP201 as their standard school use euphonium. According to this it lists at $2,653. But is available for $1850. --Gwguffey (talk) 03:58, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And you can get a used one on eBay for under $500. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 14:18, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Shrimp Ecosystem

I have looked on Wikipedia's Shrimp article, but I want to find out more about a shrimp's ecosystem, including a food web, and the influence of abiotic factors. Where can I look? --Scofield Boy 03:45, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


Google. Do you need to ask?Cardinal Raven (talk) 04:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven[reply]

Cardinal Raven: as was recently discussed, some users do not have unrestricted access to the internet, but may have access to wikipedia, which is an encyclopedia. When they come to the Ref Desk, the idea is we work to give them good, referenced answers. This is a good question for us and desrves a good answer. The OP has obviously looked at Wikipedia, but not found quite what they need, so has come to the Ref Desk. I know it will involve research work on the part of some Ref Desk regulars, rather than just voicing opinions, but thats the idea. We help. Mhicaoidh (talk) 10:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are many different species that are known as shrimp in English. While scientists distinguish between shrimp and prawn, many Americans apply the label shrimp to both shrimp and prawns, while many people in Britain and Australia apply the label prawn to both shrimp and prawns. (There are also several different species of prawn.) Each species of shrimp (or prawn) has its own ecology. Different species may have different diets and may live in environments with widely different abiotic characteristics, such as temperature and salinity. Most species of shrimp live mainly on zooplankton and/or phytoplankton, though some may feed on vegetable or animal detritus (dead matter), seaweed, bacterial scum, slime moulds, or yeast. The best source of information on the different species of shrimp would be scholarly texts such as this one. Marco polo (talk) 18:35, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) No luck over at [Yahoo answers]? Anyway, I did a brief bit of research. It's not a natural ecosystem, but would our shrimp farming article be of help in starting to research a food web? If not the following links (all readily found with Google) might be useful: Marine Fisheries Food Webs, Great Salt Lake Food web and how the brine shrimp fits into it, and Antarctic Krill. However, almost anything including specific discussion of abiotic conditions leads to scientific journals which need a paid for subscription to read more than the abstract - a local college library might be able to help you there.
(straying off topic) strangely enough, hasn't Mhicaoidh voiced an opinion (on Cardinal Raven's comment) without actually doing research to help the OP with his question?
Astronaut (talk) 18:46, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Answered on Astronauts talk page as, ideally, this is a Ref Desk not a chat room Mhicaoidh (talk) 08:47, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think Mhicaoidh made a valid point. Cardinal Raven's response was rude, unhelpful and pointless. Mhicaoidh flagged that up so that hopefully Cardinal Raven will have more considered responses in future, he does seem to post some inane banter at times! --87.112.87.223 (talk) 00:25, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Mike[reply]

Thanks Mhicaoidh, Marco polo, Astronaut, and Mike. I found the info, thanks to you guys! --Scofield Boy 23:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scofield Boy (talkcontribs) [reply]

Socks!

If anyone would be so kind, could you identify the style of socks the girl in the front of this image is wearing; it's the girl in the tan duffle coat with the winged backpack (name Ayu Tsukimiya).-- 03:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see no girls, just distorted cartoon figures; however, the figure in the duffel coat is wearing what appears to be a simplistic Argyle (pattern) on its knee socks. ៛ Bielle (talk) 03:55, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No need to insult the artist, you know. But thank you for identifying the socks.-- 03:57, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My comment was not meant to insult the artist. I suspect she has drawn exactly what she intended to draw, which is not a human girl but a fantasy figure. My concern is that these anatomically impossible "girls", like the Barbie doll of prior generations, are setting up the basis for a peculiar image for young girls, and thus my remark. ៛ Bielle (talk) 04:09, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Whether you have concerns about the images presented to todays young girls or not is beside the point. The OP was obviously using the term "girl" to describe a female humanoid figure and you took the word to be entirely too literal for the context. The day when respondents cease this political soap boxing because of their own perceptions of what the OP means will be a happy day for many, including me. Dismas|(talk) 05:10, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, you can blame Walt Disney since he's the one who inspired Osamu Tezuka, and thus the entire Japanese manga and anime industry. It's all Disney's fault. ···日本穣? · Talk to Nihonjoe 05:48, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Of Mice and Men? ;-}71.236.23.111 (talk) 07:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There is no doubt the pseudo girl figure is distorted, so its entirely valid to mention it as it also impacts on the realism / materiality of other things in the image such as the laws of physics, the internal logic of the created world and umm, it's socks. ps lets remember in all these column centimetres that Bielle's the only one who has addressed the question and answered it. Mhicaoidh (talk) 10:56, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's a major stretch to go from a question on sock pattern to questioning if the girl wearing the socks looks like a girl or not. And imagine, if only I would have cropped the image, none of this would be happening.-- 09:20, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh no its not! You might want to catch up with a bit of post-modernism or Post-structuralism philosophy and theory over the last few decades. How can you assume that though the girls, and for example their eyes, are distorted and stylised, that the rest of their universe is not and is readily identifiable with ours? The famous coyote / roadrunner cartoon is a good example, yes they are very readily identifiable as stylised creatures from our world, yet we wouldnt assume the physics in their world, or the objects are just as "real". Would you assume realism and post here asking exactly what kind of Acme explosive products there are in that cartoon and where you can order them? Mhicaoidh (talk) 10:12, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As I said, you are vastly stretching the issue. Why does the rest of the fictional world where the girls come from matter if I only wanted to know what pattern the socks were made of? I knew they had a name, I just couldn't remember the name, so I asked here. I did not except the art or the realism of the image to come into question because it's just a major tangent on the issue at hand: the socks!-- 22:22, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, I'm not criticising you or your question, I'm just saying that every fiction or creation has it's own internal logic and you can't assume that it is the same as in our universe. Everything is stylised in a cartoon and no art can be realistic. And indeed as you see below, doubt is creeping in...! Mhicaoidh (talk) 09:06, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why would the rest of us need to answer the question again? There's no point in the rest of us saying "Oh! Oh! It's Argyle!" Dismas|(talk) 23:44, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I quite agree with you Dismas, I think we should all post a lot less on this desk : ) Mhicaoidh (talk) 10:12, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The image lacks a lot of detail that would prove the pattern to be Argyle. After a little more research, I suggest that it might instead be, simply, a diamond pattern. The one shown here [13] has more diamonds, but is otherwise a closer match to the pattern in the image. Wikipedia does have an editor expert in knitting, but I have just discovered that Willow appears to be on a wiki-break, and is thus unavailable for comment. ៛ Bielle (talk) 01:33, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd call it Argyle even though simplified – the diamond inscribes the sideways square of Argyle type tartan and OR I know, I've seen this colour combo around in particular. The simplification is in keeping with cartoon representation and cleverly, I think, signals what it is in the way that a trace implies the whole – to bring, without labouring over it, a range of patterns to distinguish one girl from another. Fwiw, Julia Rossi (talk) 02:26, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Star Wars

I can't seem to remember for the life of me what that massive, metal, dog-like thing was called in Empire Strikes Back. Anyone know?--ChokinBako (talk) 09:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

AT-AT. Neıl 09:37, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That's almost certainly what he was looking for, but I've never thought of them as dog-like; they always looked like dust mites to me. Matt Deres (talk) 10:46, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've always called them "Imperial walkers". They seemed funny to me, one of the most impractical war machines I've ever seen: slow, massive, and easily defended against by tripping them or even just digging trenches. Had the Empire put their resources into a better system, like cruise missiles, they might have won. LOL. StuRat (talk) 14:07, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, they are described as "fear over function" machines. =) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:35, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On the other hand, the Death Star was also impractical. Every time they fired it, they annihilated massive amounts of their own resources. · AndonicO Engage. 17:49, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you think the AT-AT is impractical, you might want to look at the historical weapon that inspired them: the war elephant. --Carnildo (talk) 23:54, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The actual appearance was inspired, according to Lucas, by the cargo lifters at the Port of Oakland. The photos online don't really do them justice, IMO. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:56, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It kinda doesn't have to do with the question since it was answered already, but the imperial walkers always will remind me of the Robot Chicken skit. Where one of the jedi cut open the imperial walker and one of the enemy troopers is on the toilet as a grenade is thrown in. :)X27 (talk) 23:45, 20 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

Private information on the net

What kind of private information shouldn't I put on the web? Is it dangerous to put my address on it? Is it dangerous to let other know my whole CV (with all employers)? 217.168.1.150 (talk) 12:08, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Anything you wouldn't want just anyone to know, really. You should especially not give out your phone number, because that could be a bit awkward. --WikiSlasher (talk) 12:13, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Whatever you put on the net, others can get to. If you put your address on the net, it's akin to walking round with a midget following you, shouting out your personal information to everyone he sees. It's also important to remember that once stuff is on the net, it's almost impossible to remove it. -mattbuck (Talk) 12:14, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Don't put anything on the web that you wouldn't want to tattoo on your forehead. It will be just as available for everyone to read for the rest of your life (and beyond!). --Sean 12:55, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd agree with that. Also, remember even things you send in "private" emails can be forwarded to all and sundry. While its true that someone could do the same with a real letter and photocopier the fact that it is free and easy means that it is much more likely to happen on the internet. -- Q Chris (talk) 13:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Put only on the net what you are comfortable complete strangers knowing. Be it your age, date of birth, full name, address whatever. You must balance the risks of this information being used negatively for the positive benefits of having it on the net. Uploading your CV to jobs-sites is pretty standard, as is putting your name/address on an account for something like amazon/play.com (or anywhere you'd buy products to be delivered to your home). I wouldn't advise posting your personal details on sites where it isn't necessary though and do try to take care over your personal details online, try to stick to reputable sites. I find the site www.tempinbox.com to be a god-send for being able to sign up for 1-time use registrations where you don't want to provide your real email-address/details (beware tempinbox.com email can be accessed by anybody as it is password free - ideal for signing up to websites you have to register to post in forums/queries that you only anticipate asking a question of once). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk) 15:11, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Usually personal information on the Internet is a bad thing, but not like "you-post-it-and-immediately-die" bad. If it's buried somewhere in a profile, you don't really have to worry about anything, unless you do do something to incur the wrath of Failaholics Anonymous. But it's probably a Bad Idea (R) to post personal information as a rule of thumb.Ziggy Sawdust 19:30, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wiccans

Do Wiccans practice sacrifices? Or is it more because they personally want to rather than it being damanded by the religion? Bed-Head-HairUser:BedHeadHairGirl12:48, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's not definitive, but our Wicca article does not contain the word "sacrifice". Considering the kinds of people who are attracted to Wicca (mostly teenage girls, in my experience), I'd be shocked if they killed anything. --Sean 12:58, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thats what I thought, but I was reading the talk page on Wicca and people didn't seem sure about it. Is there any link that explains this more? Bed-Head-HairUser:BedHeadHairGirl13:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wicca is not organized and has little in the way of standard traditional practices. Considering that human sacrifice would run afoul of the wiccan rede I doubt many self-identified Wiccans would consider it an acceptable practice. Friday (talk) 14:22, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Who mentioned sacrificing humans? Algebraist 15:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ack, you're right- I just assumed. I doubt most wiccans would approve of sacrificing fluffy bunnies, either, but you never know. Friday (talk) 15:08, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As a Wiccan myself no we don't sacrifice. Most of, I don't know if this accurate enough though since its just my experience, Wiccan culture is protection magic. We use the provided elements that nature has given us for protection; and we use that to protection for events in our lives(such as a great enemy or a meeting with the boss) or maybe even something a little more supernatural(your great demon enemy...or a demon stalker.) All Wiccan is, is protection and natural belief, at least for me.71.142.222.245 (talk) 15:26, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven[reply]

From my own reading and direct observation, "offering" might be a better word than "sacrifice", and usually consists of a bit of the bounty of harvest or whatever the participants might partake of (e.g. bread and wine), not the life or suffering of another living being. But that's not exactly an authoritative answer. --Prestidigitator (talk) 20:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Again, it's not exactly organized. I doubt it's possible to give a definitive answer. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 22:04, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

bajork a dork?

Is the iceland girl bajork respocible for all the fuss in resent weeks by screaming Tibet! Tibet! at the end of her concert? did it all stem from there? User:Tal metta one 13:53, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Her name is Bjork, and no, she is not single-handedly responsible. A great many people around the world object to China's oppresion of Tibet, as well as their support for the genocidal nations of Myanmar/Burma and Sudan/Darfur and their military threats against Taiwan/Formosa. StuRat (talk) 14:00, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually her name is Björk. --S.dedalus (talk) 00:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Team building, team schmuilding

Does anyone know of a 'team building' activity where the team is asked to put marbles through a tube as quickly as possible? I'm sorry I don't have more info, but I'm looking for a competitive edge for something at my job. --Endless Dan 14:07, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, I do not have access to the net (outside of wikipedia and other encyclopedias, so I could not do a google search. --Endless Dan 14:09, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It would be boring and not team building to just have marbles and tubes. Suggest locate a number of tubes (inside toilet rolls would do). Say 6 per team. Then a roll of Scotch tape per team, a bag of marbles, and a target. Object: shoot marbles through a completed long tube to knock down the target before the other team(s). Variations could include one target per team - less one (Musical Chairs principle). Organiser holding the Scotch and giving out a piece at a time. Making each team collect only one colour of marble, or a range of colours. Colour collection, but one short of each colour but another colour "wild" (thus a team could collect more than one wild card and so stop another.... I could go on, but you will see the principle. Good luck.90.9.81.4 (talk) 14:38, 20 May 2008 (UTC)petitmichel[reply]

Feeding marbles through a tube (pipe) faster than another team can be competitive, too. Give them each a tube that's just wide enough and a bag full of marbles. The trick would be for the team to devise the best way to feed the marbles into the tube opening as fast as they can. (Funnel? Designated marble feeder, resupply? Feed trough? etc. For a cheat you could bend the other team's pipe ever so slightly, make it a bit longer and roughen up the inside. Or only one team gets materials to build a funnel with. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 19:00, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I understood your question as though you had already once heard of this game or seen it in action. Such a game, mirroring "how business processes flow (or don't)", is listed at Indoor Team Building Game #2 - Customer Connection ---Sluzzelin talk 19:26, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I Need A Bit of Help

Hi! I want to write the article about immune collapse. Can someone give me some references or links about immune collapse?Thank you very much.X27 (talk) 17:45, 20 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

"Immune collapse" is not a well defined medical term, as a google or pubmed search will confirm. Check out the article on Immunodeficiency, with links to subpages, if you are thinking "collapse" in the sense of loss of function. If you are thinking "collapse" in the sense of the immune system, through hyperactvity, causing a person to physically collapse, check out Anaphylactic shock and Cytokine storm. --NorwegianBlue talk 21:08, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much. I will read those articles and pull all my efforts to making Wikipedia the best gathering of knowledge. I want people to read the articles and say oh that is so good. I mean they do it still, but they be like oh that article awesome now. :)X27 (talk) 22:14, 20 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

How does this work/not work?

The Video Is this video fake, or is there a real scientific proof behind it?

I don't care about any "Clues" in the video hinting its fake. I do know there were 2 different paper cut-outs used in the demonstration.

Also, if this is true, is it 100% alcohol? In my experiment, the paper would not even stick to the glass. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.191.102.55 (talk) 18:34, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well if it is fake; it's the most boring fake I've ever seen. Yeah, I'd imagine 100% Ethanol is used. What did you try? Fribbler (talk) 22:20, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Probably not 100% ethanol which is difficult to obtain. Rmhermen (talk) 04:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fuel efficiency when burning regular gas in vehicles that prefer high-octane

This has been brought up here and there, but I wondered if anyone could shed some light on this topic. It's well-known and accepted that burning higher octane fuel in a car that doesn't call for it is a waste of money. However, I recently came across this article on gas-saving myths, and they claim that you don't get better mileage with premium even in a vehicle that prefers it. They claim peak power will suffer, but fuel efficiency will not. I'm not sure I buy this. What I do know is that modern vehicles will commonly back off on ignition timing to prevent knock- thus allowing a high-compression or forced-induction engine to operate safely (i.e. without causing undue stress to the engine) on the lower-octane fuel. However, I suspect this would result in a loss of fuel efficiency as well as power. But, I have found no source to contradict cnn's advice, either. Can anyone confirm or refute my suspicions? I understand car engines, generally speaking, but I'm certainly no expert on all the little details. Friday (talk) 19:30, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

From what I skimmed here, Octane rating, it would agree with your assessment. I can't help wondering though if it wouldn't affect engine life in some way.--71.236.23.111 (talk) 20:42, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The adjustment of engine timing and such should prevent excess engine damage. As to the CNN thing, Car Talk suggests that they're correct -- cars calling for premium gas generally don't have to do knock adjustment (which does reduce fuel efficiency) under most driving conditions. — Lomn 21:26, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure I trust the car talk guys on this- they are notorious for disapproving of any vehicle with good performance. They might enjoy recommending low-octane fuel because they like less powerful cars. I guess one thing I've gotten from reading about this is that it may well depend on the individual car, fuel, and driving habits. The owner's manual of my car says it's safe to operate down to 87 octane but that it may take a tank or two of premium to restore expected performance. To me this suggests that this particular vehicle must be doing more to compensate than just retarding the timing as knock occurs. Maybe in the interest of engine life newer cars are staying "detuned" for a while after they detect knock? Friday (talk) 14:19, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pizza Temperature

Hi!I hope this doesn't break any rules. Cause I asked another question up there. I don't know the rules of how many question one person is suppose to ask on a particularly day. But here goes nothing. For lunch I made myself some frozen pizza. They said for a softer crust to cook at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, but for a crisper crust they said to cook for 400 degrees Fahrenheit. So, how does that work? How does a higher temperature get a softer crust instead of a crisper crust? Wouldn't work the other way around? Since my crust was crispy when I cooked it at the softer crust temperature. What is the science behind this?X27 (talk) 21:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

Sort of reminds me of the old joke "I've cooked this egg for 20 minutes and it's still not soft." The higher temperature would presumably mean shorter cooking times and thus less water could evaporate from the dough. The lower temperature won't cook the surface as fast, allowing moisture to escape. Cooking temperature settings for ovens are utterly imprecise. Using an oven thermometer gets you a more "precise" reading. (It's at least going to be in the ballpark.) Where in your oven you position your pizza and what type and size of oven you use also affects results. Mostly it's trial and error. Not happy with this setting, try a lower one next time. BTW. For a soft crust put an oven-safe bowl of water in the oven with your pizza. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 21:25, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I will try that soft crust pizza trick when I make pizza for my mom. She likes soft crust and I like almost to the point of being burnt pizza cause then it taste good in the pizza sauce that has fallen off the piece you were eating :)X27 (talk) 22:15, 20 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

I took a double-take on exactly the same thing the other day, but mine also had the difference of a baking sheet for the softer crust and straight on the oven rack for hard. I'm guessing the sheet shields the crust from direct radiative energy from the oven coils, so it is heated mostly by convection. Best I can come up with. --Prestidigitator (talk) 05:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Partly. You also have a lot more surface fro things to evaporate from. With a sheet you get a layer of vapor under the pizza and that limits any further evaporation and traps moisture on that side of your pizza. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 16:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

London transportation

I'm planning a trip to the UK. What's the best way for tourists (18-year-old tourists on a tight budget!) to get from Gatwick Airport to Euston Railway Station? Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 21:44, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cheapest option would probably be the coach to central London (Victoria), followed by the underground to Euston. Alternatively there are direct trains from Gatwick to Kings Cross which is fairly close to Euston (one stop on the underground). This option will be a little more expensive but much quicker. --Richardrj talk email 21:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to save money, walk from Kings Cross to Euston stations, as they're only 5 - 10 minutes' walk apart on the Euston Road, and the one-stop trip on the Underground will cost £4 cash (or £1.50 if you have an Oyster card). -- Arwel (talk) 22:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I believe the trains from Gatwick now stop at the new St Pancras Thameslink platforms, not Kings Cross - but it's only next door. Gandalf61 (talk) 22:16, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I cannot find a direct Gatwick to KingsX train. National Rail seem to advise a change at London Bridge and get the underground. Confused. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:17, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Doh. And there it is. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:18, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Train operator is First Capital Connect. Timetables here - around 4 trains an hour during the day, journey time from Gatwick to St Pancras International about 50 minutes. Standard ticket price for single (one-way) trip seems to be £8.90, but your mileage may vary depending on what day and time you are travelling. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:14, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

BTW, "coach" is British English for "long-distance bus," in case you're confused. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:58, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I thought it was a coach if we arranged it all ourselves, rather than busses which travel along preset routes and pick up anyone that happens to be waiting. Anyway, unless using the cheapest route is absolutely necesary, you might want to try a bus rather than the underground, it really isn't a very nice place. And you get to see more of the city whilst above ground, which is what being a tourist is all about.HS7 (talk) 19:39, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like a rather ominous assessment of the Tube. Personally, I quite like it. The only thing to be aware of for travellers like the OP is that their large rucksacks and hesitant choice of tunnels/platforms/etc will not be very popular during the rush hour. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 08:21, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's nothing wrong with the Tube, HS7. God knows why you would describe it as not being a very nice place.
And I don't see what you're getting at by saying "unless using the cheapest route is absolutely necesary, you might want to try a bus". Buses are the cheaper option anyway. Malcolm XIV (talk) 08:29, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And Mwalcoff is right, in Britain a coach is just a long-distance bus, more luxurious than a regular bus. Coaches travel on preset routes as well. --Richardrj talk email 08:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It seems I don't even know my own language as well as I had hoped. I found the underground rather dirty and crowded and confusing, and I've known people get stuff stolen whilst there. I actually don't think I've ever met someone that's actually liked it there before. And I'm sure someone near the top said the tube was the cheepest way. Anyway, don't they do those all day travel passes in london, so you can get one ticket and go on as many trains and busses as you want around the city? It's been a while since I last visited london, so I can't remember all the details about them.HS7 (talk) 19:28, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What are those sacs in the trees?

I live in pennsylvania and have trees covered in white sacs filled with catapillars. What are those things? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.254.200.107 (talk) 22:34, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cocoons? — Lomn 22:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Probably the eastern tent caterpillar. --Milkbreath (talk) 23:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or possibly the gypsy moth. --D. Monack | talk 03:57, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


May 21

The Human Body

Why is it that some of us (girls) develope later than others My Mom is a d size and developed at age 14. i am 15 will i soon get my breast and big but like her? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.122.83.105 (talk) 01:01, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes body types in families give a clue. People can inherit characteristics from parents, relatives or from other generations. The range can be close, or widely different. Mostly it's about observation and guess work... and waiting to find out. Cheers, Julia Rossi (talk) 03:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You might find this chart helpful...and of course WP's article on puberty. --zenohockey (talk) 02:59, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

London (and other UK) museums, tourist attractions, etc.

Anyone know of any "must see" places for a tourist in London? I've got a few of the normal ones down (ie. the British Museum, London Eye), but I'm just wondering if anyone has other ideas. I'll also be around Chester, Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Bath, so any other interesting places to be would be appreciated. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 01:59, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Out of London,if you can get to Cardiff in Wales,visit the castle in the centre of the city,and travel to St Fagans welsh folk museum is free to visit.You will need to pay to go into the castle.In London,Hampton Court Palace and the gardens,they do also charge to go into the gardens.A boat trip up to Greenwich is nice for about £6 pounds return,and you can visit the meridian line there and stop off on the way back at St Pauls,also walk over to the TATE.In the west end/soho and Covent garden where there are always street entertainers to watch for free.Have fun! Fluter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 07:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In London, I'll propose the Tower of London, the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. If I were you, I should skip Chester and take in some great houses instead, such as (to take one at random) Blenheim Palace. Xn4 02:08, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, you're not the first who has recommended Blenheim. I'll have to consider that too. The only thing is transportation costs, which limit our moving around too much (and Chester... I think we went with that because of the zoo?). I've got the Tower of London, I'll have to throw the National Gallery and V&A Museum onto the list. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 02:33, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Chester's good, if history's your thing : most complete city walls in Britain, plenty of Grade I listed buildings, Roman fort, medieval buildings (plus lots of Victorian ones!), cathedral, and so on. Gwinva (talk) 03:05, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Skip Chester?! Chester is awesome, and not just because I live there. Lots of Roman stuff, as Gwinva says, and Chester Zoo is one of the best zoos in Europe (and hence one of the best in the world - [14]). Plus good shopping. If you time your visit right, and you can get there when Chester Races are on, it's even better. Neıl 09:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You should at least have had a look at Harrod's, even if you don't go for a shopping trip there. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 05:02, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Harrods also have a shop in the Highlands at Shin Falls where you can also watch the salmon leaping.--Artjo (talk) 06:22, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
£99 t-shirts. Wow. 24.76.169.85 (talk) 06:31, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To make you feel today's London, I would suggest junk & antiques markets like Portobello Road Market and Petticoat Lane Market on Sundays, or the atmospheric street performances at Covent Garden -- Meister (talk) 06:30, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In Edinburgh, if you are reasonably fit (i.e. able to walk a couple of miles) go to the top of Arthur's Seat. You get a great view of the city and coastline. -- Q Chris (talk) 06:51, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
London sites not yet mentioned, in no particular order ... Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, Shakespeare's Globe, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, London Zoo, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ... Gandalf61 (talk) 10:25, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Bath has lots of attractions such as the Royal Crescent, roman baths, a cathedral, some sort of teddy bear shop/museum... It's also not too far from Bristol which has sights such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the Victoria Rooms, a cathedral, the SS Great Britain and The Matthew, a widely-renowned zoo, the Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Queen Square, At Bristol, as well as the New Rooms, John Wesley's first Methodist chapel. -mattbuck (Talk) 23:24, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Just have to let you all know, I <3 all of you. Very useful suggestions :) 206.126.163.20 (talk) 23:38, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unused political campaign contributions in the US

When a candidate drops out of a race in the United States, what happens to the unused campaign contributions? 76.199.151.77 (talk) 04:17, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

After federal campaigns, the money can be used for "any lawful purpose" that does not benefit the candidate personally. ([15]) Typically, the candidate donates the money to another campaign organization. John Kerry gave the leftover funds from his presidential campaign to Democratic Party organizations. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 07:35, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Campaigns often end up in debt, a situation covered in this recent story. --Sean 12:21, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Who are you?

Just wanted to know who you people are that answer all of these questions. Just random people who want to answer questions, or people who somehow work or volunteer for Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.7.126.152 (talk) 06:25, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Random people like me. -- Meister (talk) 06:31, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Everyone who edits Wikipedia is technically volunteering. Wikimedia doesn't have that many employees, and you probably won't see them around much. 24.76.169.85 (talk) 06:33, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We are the internet. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We're people who think it's fun answering questions. Many of us are doing it during breaks at work, or while watching TV at home. We're not invariably right, so the answers you should take most seriously are the ones that cite sources you can double-check. Me, I'm a bored junior high school teacher on her lunch break. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 14:51, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What? You're surrounded by all that teenage angst and drama and you're bored? ;-) So you come here for Wiki angst and drama? ;-)
Atlant (talk) 16:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm Spartacus. Ziggy Sawdust 19:31, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No! I'm Spartacus!! (just had to do it) Fribbler (talk) 19:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No, I'm Spartacus and so's my wife! Matt Deres (talk) 00:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a software engineer in the UK, working for a large IT company - though I started editing Wikipedia about five years ago while at university. I usually read the Desk rather than write, for interest (and sometimes amusement) in the questions and answers. When something comes up that I know about, though, I'll offer an opinion. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 08:13, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose I am a person that works for the readers of Wikipedia. I answer questions when I believe that I can be helpful. Thomprod (talk) 17:42, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

St John the Apostle

How did St John the Apostle become a saint? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 07:01, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Canonisation. Fribbler (talk) 09:20, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Still that does not say anything specificly about how or what St John did to actually become a saint. 220.233.83.26 (talk) 09:58, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Whoops. His sainthood would pre-date the Canonisation process.... Basically all apostles are saints by default, by virtue of their association with Jesus. Fribbler (talk) 10:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
...Apart from one.--Shantavira|feed me 11:00, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

St Johns?

Is St John the Apostle the same guy as St John the Baptist? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 08:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

John the Baptist and John the Apostle suggest that they were not. --Richardrj talk email 08:27, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

St John the Apostle

Can someone explain what it means if John was exiled on the Isle of Patmos at the age of about 100, where he had a vision of Christ and of the future? Basicly I'm confused what the exiled part means? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 08:34, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Exile. Basically it means being forcibly sent somewhere where you must remain. Like Napoleon Bonaparte for one, he was exiled to Elba and St.Helena at different times. Fribbler (talk) 09:24, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, in a sufficiently abstract sense, yes -- the "somewhere you must remain" being "anywhere but here". If you have to stay in one particular place, that's not so much "exile" as "imprisonment". --Trovatore (talk) 19:46, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if I recall correctly, it wasn't John the Apostle who was sent to Patmos, but John the Divine. --Trovatore (talk) 19:58, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Although they might be one and the same. Lots of guys called John? One John who did lots of things? Gwinva (talk) 01:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

St John the Apostle

What were St John Beliefs about the resurection of Jesus? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 10:01, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are we doing your homework for you? Read St John the Apostle. If the information is not contained within the article, follow the external links the article provides. Neıl 10:26, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is Tim Cahill back with yet another mask? Dear 220.233.83, I encourage you to read the article as Neil says, then if you still have questions, put them all in the one section. Maybe you could call it, the remains of St John the Apostled or something like that. Julia Rossi (talk) 10:41, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Could you just answer the question? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 11:49, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The answers to your homework questions are probably in the article St John the Apostle. We don't do homework, though, so you'll have to read the article- or your assigned reading- and finish your homework yourself. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 11:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To tell you the truth this wilipedia article isn't as crash hot as your making it out to be. You think this almighty article will hold all the answers. WELL IT DOESN'T!!!!!!! Why do you think I'm asking this question! Because your pretty little article doesn't have the answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 220.233.83.26 (talk) 12:03, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The answer to your question is in the article - it is in the paragraph beginning "After the Resurrection ...". Takes much less time to find it than to type out rude responses to folks who are trying to help you. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:46, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And using common sense would probably help. St. John the Apostle, is first of all a Catholic Saint. He's going to share the beliefs of the catholic church. Second of all, the guy, or one of his followers, wrote one of the Gospels in the bible. It talks about the resurection. Checking that out would most likely be a tad helpful. 63.110.146.129 (talk) 15:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

News channel

What is most neutral TV news channel? I personally think EuroNews, but I can compare it only to CNN and BBC, have no idea about other channels. 89.236.214.174 (talk) 11:17, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

From an American perspective, I'd have to say Auntie Beeb; all of our locally-produced news networks are crap (and yes, that definitely includes National Public Radio). I'd probably give CBC a nod, but I don't hear them often enough to really say.
Atlant (talk) 12:08, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There is no neutral TV news. The BBC is no exception, especially now that they've got an interest in marketing to the Arab world. The change in their thrust has been noticeable—shocking sometimes. The closest thing to neutrality is achieved by Fox News and the like, so yellow that they look like sunshine. Their entire agenda is to get you to watch, that's all, and that approximates integrity. --Milkbreath (talk) 12:53, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fox News neutral? Maybe in the Bizarro World. Clarityfiend (talk) 15:30, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think he's suggesting that they at least make their biases obvious. I think that the best way to find out what's really going on is to get news from multiple, diverse sources, rather than relying on any one news source. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 15:37, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In America, the trouble is that there are several prominent Right-Wing sources (e.g., Fox), several center-right sources (the major networks, NPR, most newspapers), and few or no blatantly-left-wing sources except Pacifica and, to a certain degree, Air America Radio.
Atlant (talk) 16:05, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(NPR is center-right? I've always thought of them as center-left. I'm center-left myself, anyway, and always thought that most of their news programs and commentary seemed to be right up my alley. But maybe we're using different definitions of left and right; I've noticed that much of what passes for "left" in the US is considered to be much more "center" in the rest of the world, as we are a country of liberals and not radicals.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fifteen years or so ago, I would have agreed with you (that they were "center left"). But as the government started attaching more and more strings to CPB's money and as corporate sponsorship had a larger and larger influence on their programming, their news and commentary definitely shifted rightwards. They used to at least occasionally have overt socialist commentators but nowadays, it's nothing but several choices of Right-wing propagnda.
Atlant (talk) 17:18, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It is pretty impossible for any broadcast news program to be neutral, because even a twenty-four-hour source such as CNN has limits on what it can reasonably cover. There are limits on time, personnel, and viewers' sensibilities. These limits mean that someone has to decide what's going to be covered, how much time it will be given, and how many of the other resources will be allocated. Since these decisions aren't being made by a large number of differently-minded people, neutrality is quite impossible. It's somewhat more attainable with Wikipedia, since the definition of "noteworthiness" has been arrived upon by a collaborative, constantly-evolving means and since the resources are virtually limitless. Mitchell k dwyer (talk) 17:50, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Some of the best American public-affairs reporting comes from the Voice of America, which is legally prohibited from broadcasting to the U.S. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Who's got time to watch the news? You're obviously not taking your roles at WP seriously enough! Anyway, what can be more neutral than Wikipedia? :) Gwinva (talk) 01:54, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

MYLAR BALLOON

Why is the material called MYLAR, what does it mean and where does it come from? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.103.69.50 (talk) 13:31, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See PET film (biaxially oriented) --Tagishsimon (talk) 13:34, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If it's the word meaning you're just after, this is from The Online Etymology Dictionary:
Mylar: proper name for a polyester film, 1954, trademarked by E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co., Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. Like many Du Pont names, it doesn't mean anything, they just liked the sound.
Fribbler (talk) 15:39, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

black suit combinations

I own just one black suit and wanted to see what different combinations of shirt/tie I could use? Mr.K. (talk) 14:27, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That isn't a question, it's a statement. However, if you have the shirts and ties, you could try them on in front of a mirror, if not, try drawing all the options and cuting them out, and creating 2D figures dressed in your pictures of clothes.HS7 (talk) 19:27, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The statement has an indirect question. Mr.K. (talk) 23:35, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you are a pretty consevative dresser, try a plain pale blue or white shirt with a darker tie (plain or patterened doesn't matter). If you are more flamboyant, try a bright coloured shirt and maybe a contrasting tie. Keep the black tie for funerals or joining the "Men in Black". Astronaut (talk) 01:55, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Work as a librarian

I am currently in the process of finishing my BA in history and then was thinking of pursuing a masters in library science and was wondering what it is like being a librarian - what do the daily duties include, what sort of jobs can you get a library science degree and how is the job market? Would you recommend being a librarian, what is the good of the job? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Baalhammon (talkcontribs) 15:29, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a listing of the major division of roles. The job market data would be a function of the type of librarian you plan to be.--droptone (talk) 17:34, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A couple more, slightly fuller answers here. --Richardrj talk email 09:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Who discovered that the liver has four lobes?

I have been asked by a proffesor to find a picture of the man who discovered that there were four lobes to the liver. I have searched high and low and no answers. He said that the man was a grave robber and was possible named Darius. That he was competing with a well known man named Galund who did autopsys on bodys. That Darius proved the well known man Galund wrong and discovered that the human liver has four lobes and not six which was originally thought. I'm not sure if i spelt those names correctly. Please assist. 64.24.174.179 (talk) 16:56, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For one of your anatomists, see Galen.
Atlant (talk) 17:27, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And my bet is that "Darius" is really Vesalius. Note that they were not contemporaries. Galen was a well-known authority on anatomy from the Roman times who was much respected in Medieval Europe even though Galenic anatomy had a lot of well-known problems (one of which being that Galen only dissected animals and so was quite wrong about certain parts of human anatomy that he extrapolated from them). Vesalius was not the first to suggest a new anatomical approach based more on empiricism, dissection of humans, and conceptualizing the body not as a series of regions but as a body full of sinews and organs and blood and other nasty things in a three-dimensional space (Galenic anatomy is more about regions of humors and conceptualizing the body as a 2-D arrangement), but he was one of the most popular and influential, and is sometimes called the "Father of modern anatomy" for that reason. Vesalius is widely seen as one of the major forces to overthrow Galenic anatomy, though again this is a convenient simplification. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(After ec beaten to it!)It was Andreas Vesalius. Check out the impressive illustrations from his book De Humani Corporis Fabrica. They're excellent and online somewhere. (Also, Galen and Vesalius lived at very different times, but Andreas proved much of Galen's work to be false, even though it had been taken as infallable for centuries.) Fribbler (talk) 17:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Scars

Hi! Everyone has gotten a scar from a cut, right. So, why do some old scars ache?X27 (talk) 17:56, 21 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

They don't. There may be some nerve damage or something if a scar still hurts after healing; see a doctor, not Wikipedia. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 23:34, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry if it seemed like I was asking for medical advice.:(X27 (talk) 00:49, 22 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

My first Kiss

Yesterday I went to the dentists and had a replacement filling because the old one was leaking or something. I got an injection and my whole face area around my mouth went numb. Anyway, later I went to school, and as I didn't have no lessons in the morning nobody knew I'd been to the dentists. So I'm with this girl I like and we share our first kiss, and I fact my first kiss ever. But I didn't feel it! My lips were totally numb! I'm really upset because I wanted it to be special, but I don't even know how it felt. She says it was good, but what should I do? I haven't told her about this. Everyone would probably laugh at me. Does this count as a first kiss or should I tell her and we can do it again but it won't be as special? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.241.52 (talk) 18:48, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, in a way, it was special. You'll likely never forget it because of whole dentist drama. And yeah, I'd tell her. It makes for a light-hearted anecdote. Dismas|(talk) 19:29, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Holy shit, talk about bad luck. Do you work at the ladder factory? Wittiness aside, kissing isn't really that unique an experience physically; it's basically the same as smooshing your mouth into your elbow. The specialness of it would lie more in the fact that you're sharing a relationship/personal moment/French fry with someone else, and the physical sensation is more of a side effect. (Of course, this is coming from a Wikipedia editor, but...) Ziggy Sawdust 19:33, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It does count as your first kiss, but you should probably still ask her if you can do it again. :) If you do it right, being able to tell a humorous story at your own expense can work wonders. Bovlb (talk) 19:48, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Consider yourself lucky. You could have been to to the andrologyst and have had an injection into a different part of your anatomy. Whereupon your entire <insert name of organ here> goes numb.
Anyway, so I am with this girl I like and we share our first <insert name of activity here>, but I didn´t feel it! My <you know what> was totally numb. I´m really upset because I wanted it to be special, but I don´t even know how it felt.
Should I tell her and we can do it again? --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure about that one. If said body part was numb, I don't think it would actually functioned in the way it should meaning 'name of activity' wouldn't have happened in the first place. Of course, when it didn't work you would have had some explaining to do... Nil Einne (talk) 16:41, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ha ha! You've made my day with that one 79.75.241.52! Think outside the box 19:45, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DTS

Hi. I am wondering how DTS on a surround sound system works. I can't seem to figure it out. Other than the fact I know it's loud. Do I have to turn it up in order for it not to sound like crap because it seems that way. If I have it on DTS mode on a surround sound and it's at a low volume, it will sound like not all the sound is coming through the speakers. Yet if I turn it up, it will sound extremely loud but not as crappy. Also, what is the difference between DTS Hi-Def and normal DTS?Jwking (talk) 19:18, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, you need a surround system actually capable of playing 5.1 audio. Then you'll need a DVD or Bluray/HDDVD player that can either decode DTS itself and simply pipe the 5.1 audio to the surround system (in which case you don't need DTS mode enabled on the receiver, it just has to be set to accept the 5.1 input), or that outputs the DTS data to the system directly so that it can decode it instead (in which case you do). Then you'll need a DVD / Bluray / HDDVD disc that actually has a DTS track. That's about it. HD DTS does up to 7.1 channels of audio and has a higer bitrate than plain DTS. 24.76.169.85 (talk) 19:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can't stop having Conservative thoughts

Hello ! How do you become Enlightened ? Does being enlightended make you superior to the unenlightened ? There is much social stigma associated with Unenlightened Ideas such as free trade, patriarchy, theism, etc. How can one make an effort to not think those dangerously reactionary thoughts ? Thank you. 69.157.238.199 (talk) 19:29, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is there an actual question in here? Please don't use the reference desk as a soapbox, if that's what you're doing. Friday (talk) 19:34, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you can't stop the conservative ideas, I suggest a lobotomy. -mattbuck (Talk) 19:35, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
SYNTAX ERROR: QUERY FAILED. PLEASE TRY AGAIN. Ziggy Sawdust 19:36, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you genuinely want to become less conservative, one effective thing to do is to spend more time with people who are significantly different than you- especially, try to make friends who are poor, or who are part of racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities. Another good way to become less conservative is, if you are able to afford it, to travel to countries about which you have lots of stereotypes but little personal experience. Gaining as much education as possible can also be helpful- in general, people who are more educated are less conservative, as are people who live in large cities (and thus have frequent contact with many different kinds of people.) -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 19:48, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What's a sexual minority? :) Zain Ebrahim (talk) 20:42, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered people. Conservatives often find them very upsetting in theory; in practice, they're as dull as straight people -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:48, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The french? A very sexual minority if stereotypes are to be believed :-) Fribbler (talk) 22:58, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Free trade is a very whiggish new-fangled idea. William Avery (talk) 20:01, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Now, wait just a second. Who is telling you that you must do this? because, you are sounding like someone who is being told they must think a certain way; which is dangerously close to brainwashing.
Do not stop thinking conservative thoughts if you do not want to. If you wish to be a theist, then do so, for instance. Just becasue certain people label something as "reactionary" doesn't mean you are not entitled to think that way - freedom of thought is central to you as a person. And, this is coming from me as a devout Baptist; God does not want to force you to believe anything. i believe the way I believe because I choose to.
So, exercise your freedom of choice. If you are freely choosing to believe in something other than free trade, for instance, as the proper way for a society to run, then do so. But, you are not "dangerously reactionary" if you believe in free trade, theism, or anything else. And, nobody should say that you are.
I will stop now, as I feel this is becoming something of a soapbox statement itself. But, I was troubled by the notion that you sound almost compelled to stop thinking certain thoughts, instead of exercising free will. And, I wanted to ensure you that certain thoughts are fine. Some opinions may not be as acceptable in one culture or another, that's all.(And yes, I would say that to someone feeling compelled to think liberal thoughts, too.209.244.30.221 (talk) 15:31, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I thought the OP was constantly plagued by visions of David Cameron,John Major and Maggie Thatcher.That might not be such a bad problem-after all the good folk of Crewe share your desires Lemon martini (talk) 14:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestions for an itinerary in Great Britain

I am planning a two-week holiday in England, Scotland, and possibly Wales. I have been to London several times, know the city fairly well, and will be spending just three days there on this trip. However, most of my past trips to the UK have not gone beyond London, and I am eager to explore the country. I want to see some of the great cathedrals and have already made a list. I have also made a short list of prehistoric monuments, since they interest me as well. Beyond this, my traveling companion and I are particularly interested in medieval castles and places for exhilarating hill walking. Can anyone suggest a few impressive castles and scenic hill walks? For example, I was thinking of doing some walking in the Grampians and/or the Lake District, but would welcome suggestions of particular routes in those places or other places I might not have thought of. Also, I would like to take a look at a well-preserved Victorian industrial cityscape. I had been thinking that Manchester might fit the bill, but it seems to have been redeveloped and repurposed and maybe not much different in feel than London. Would Liverpool be a better pick? Somewhere else in Lancashire or Yorkshire? Thanks in advance for your help. Marco polo (talk) 20:38, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The major castles are, I think, Dover, Edinburgh and north Wales (Conwy, Harlech, Caernarfon and Beaumaris). If Canterbury is on your cathedral list, then Conrad's grave is a little-known cultural spot. Algebraist 21:40, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I can recommend countryside in the North Pennines and Yorkshire Dales for walking and castle-spotting. Middleham castle has Richard III associations and the surrounding countryside is scenic and fine walking territory, being a national park and containing parts of the Pennine Way. You are within an hour or so of Skipton Castle, Barnard Castle, and of York Minster and Durham Cathedral and castle, with Hadrian's Wall an easy car trip in a day as a plus. Durham in particular is a World Heritage Site and the cathedral is spectacular. -- Karenjc 22:22, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Arundel Castle. Dover, yes, is the major businesslike fortification, a real must-see, but Arundel.... Chock full of treasures, beautifully restored, also a major serious defensive work, lovingly maintained on fairy-tale grounds by a charming village. A real best-kept secret. --Milkbreath (talk) 22:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is it safe to assume you will be renting a car? If so, most of the country will be accessible to you. Because of the heavy traffic, expensive parking and £8/day congestion charge, I suggest you only pick up the rental car when you leave London (if you can't drive stick, make sure you request automatic transmission).
England:
West of London there's Stonehenge (get there as soon as it opens to avoid the bus loads of tourists), and Salisbury has a cathederal. If the tourist crowds get too much at Stonehenge, you could take a look at the much smaller stone circle in Avebury. You could the push on further west to Glastonbury, Wells (another great cathederal), Bath.
If you're heading north-west from London, I would suggest brief stops in Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon. Further north, Chester has an encircling city wall, Manchester still has some Victorian industrial cityscape but you might find more of what you're looking for in the smaller cities just north of Manchester (I'm thinking, places like Bolton, Bury, Burnley, etc. - though those cities are not really set up for tourists). Liverpool still has some preserved victorian architecture and is currently the European Capital of Culture (ie. lots of cultural events going on), plus there's the Beatles, football, the ferry across the Mersey.
Further north, there's the Lake District, and at the northern end of the Lake District is the scottish border and Hadrians Wall.
Alternatively, on the eastern side of the country, I would suggest stops at Cambridge and the cathederal cities of Ely and Lincoln. Industrial cities of Leeds or Sheffield. York has a cathedeal, Whitby was one of the settings of Dracula, and Durham is yet another cathederal & college town. Newcastle-upon-Tyne is another city like Liverpool with a distinctive culture and accent. North of Newcastle, Bamburgh Castle and Lindisfarne island could be worth a vist.
Astronaut (talk) 22:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Scotland
North of the border, Edinburgh is definitely worth visiting. There's a huge arts festival every year in August. In the north-west of Scotland, the Scottish Highlands give lots of opportunities for fresh air and peace and quiet. I would suggest heading towards Skye, going through Glencoe and past Eilean Donan castle on the way there. Many people say it rains a lot in the Highlands, but in my experience, the weather can be good with bright sun in August and into September.
Astronaut (talk) 01:23, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Living nearby, I'm probably biased, but I'd recommend the Peak District for walking. It has two distinct areas (Dark and White Peak) with very different scenery, both excellent walking areas, and contains countless prehistoric monuments - I'm a particular fan of Stanton Moor. It's fairly convenient for York Minster, Lichfield Cathedral, Conisbrough Castle, and the industrial landscapes of urban Yorkshire and Lancashire.

With regard to Victorian cityscapes, it really depends on what you hope to see. You won't find large expanses of Victorian industrial buildings still in use by industry, although there are the odd few. East Manchester is good for imposing former industrial buildings towering over canals. Liverpool has extensive Victorian docks, but for my tastes, they're so sanitised that it's difficult to get any impression of their former use. Sheffield has some small scale industries still operating in Victorian buildings north east of the centre, but they're nothing much to look at. For my money, the best options are the Derwent Valley Mills - mostly pre-Victorian, but great cityscape, or Halifax, West Yorkshire for the general impression of a Victorian mill town. Warofdreams talk 22:59, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I personally suggest Bristol as it is an absolutely beautiful city. -mattbuck (Talk) 23:00, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Bristol is cool -- gotta walk the bridge. But one place you may not have visited in London is the British Library, which use to be in the British Museum but now has its own building. The exhibitions are amazing -- you may get to see both the Lindisfarne Gospels and the original handwritten lyrics to "I Want to Hold Your Hand!" -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:13, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks to all of you for these suggestions! Many of these are places I wouldn't have thought of. I guess I wasn't too clear what I meant by a Victorian industrial cityscape. Maybe it isn't so important that it be industrial. I just know that my favorite cityscapes in many places (Berlin, Bremen, my own Boston, also London) date from the 19th century. In the 19th century, cities were built compactly, for walking not driving, but on a scale that feels urban in a way that earlier smaller cities (like Bruges) cannot. I was thinking that there must be a lot of that in England's old industrial heartland. After doing a little more research, I am thinking that Manchester might not be a bad choice after all, though I am tempted to try to head west and squeeze Bristol into the trip too. (Bristol has a particular interest for me as an American because of its role linking England with the colonies in the 18th century.) Marco polo (talk) 01:19, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Try Saltaire, in Yorkshire or New Lanark, Scotland, for Victorian industrial towns; both are World Heritage sites. Saltaire is on the outskirts of Bradford, which offers its own depressing example of a degenerating industrial town, and close to Leeds, a thriving ex-industrial city, which has some Victorian highlights, including the Leeds Corn Exchange, but also the marvellous Royal Armouries which is a must see if you've an interest in military history. (But if you are in Manchester, then check out Quarry Bank Mill, a National Trust restored cotton mill complex: plenty to see.) For medieval castles, I add my vote for Skipton Castle and Middleham Castle, in Yorkshire. (Much more atmospheric than the trophy castles like Edinburgh, which is mainly post-medieval, anyway.) From Leeds, you can get commuter trains to Skipton (via Saltaire), Bradford, York, Halifax, Harrogate... Head up through Yorkshire, Durham and Northumbria to the borders to take in a fine selection of medieval castles (I love Norham), battle fields such as Flodden, Hadrian's Wall and the various Roman forts (buses shuttle along so you can walk along and get picked up). Of course, on your way past is the unmissable city of Durham: Cathedral and Castle are another World Heritage Site. The Scottish side of the border has more castles and abbeys (Melrose Abbey is good; for castles see Hermitage Castle and the tiny Smailholm Tower, for starters. If you're heading up the West coast, then the East Cumbrian castles such as Brougham and Brough are pretty good; Carlisle Castle is tired and knocked about, but the Tullie House Museum opposite is pretty good, particularly on Reiver history. I could keep going, but you're getting inundated with advice. You've a wealth to choose from, so you're bound to have a good time. Enjoy! Gwinva (talk) 02:30, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
addition: Glasgow is a fine example of a Victorian city; for something earlier, see Edinburgh's New Town. The heart of both cities can be enjoyed on foot. Gwinva (talk) 02:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Manchestr still has lots of Victorian stuff left.Try walking the canal tow paths.They have Victorian warehouses all along them and some really exciting new developements.Manchester town hall is a monument to Victorian architecture.There is the Royal Exchange theatre too, and Central library.The Science museum has a working Victorian loom amd Manchester was built on the cotton industry and there are guided walks through the city.Salford Quays is well worth a visit too, the Lowry Gallery has matchstick men paintings.The art galleries have great collections of Victorian art too.hotclaws 08:09, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like you're going to need a couple of years. Have a great time, anyway.90.0.129.100 (talk) 09:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)DT[reply]

Shopping Embarassment

Suppose one is shopping in a North American store such as Wal-Mart. One loads a shopping cart with the desired merchandise and proceeds to the cashier, just to discover that one forgot one's wallet and has no money. What does one do in such as case? Should one just excuse oneself and leave the loaded shopping cart aside and go home? Acceptable (talk) 20:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you're planning to go home, get money, and come back, you can park it by the information desk and tell them so. If you're just leaving, the polite thing to do is to take the time to put items back on the correct shelves. If you aren't able to find the correct shelves, or really don't have the time, you should deliver the cart to the information desk, explain that the items need to be reshelved, and apologize profusely. If you just leave it in an aisle, you are saved embarrassment, but the frozen / refrigerated items will have to be thrown away, which costs the store money and is wasteful as well. My opinion. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:53, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ditto to the above. I've seen this done a time or two when I was younger and not everyone had a credit card. Back in those days, people would sometimes forget to go to the bank to get money first or to bring their check/cheque book or whatever. They didn't have a number of credit cards in their wallet or purse to just whip out. Dismas|(talk) 21:03, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, and additionally, many small retailers still don't have the facilities to make credit card transactions. So unless you have cash or a check (that they're willing to accept), you're stuck there as well. I know of a few small local stores around me that are this way, including one restaurant. This is why I always carry at least one blank check with me since I rarely carry more than a few dollars cash. Dismas|(talk) 21:06, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have had once this problem. I have loaded the shopping cart until the point that it was difficult to push it. As I came to the cashier I tried to pay with my credit card but it was not accepted by the system. I apologized and suggested that I could left everything at a corner, go to the nearest ATM and come back to pay for it. Unhappily the ATM didn't give me any money since my account was overdrafted so - as you can imagine - I came never back to this supermarket. Even years after this event I avoided going there. Mr.K. (talk) 01:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's most likely they won't remember you, if that's what you're worried about. In addition, a significant number of them have probably changed jobs. --WikiSlasher (talk) 10:38, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Screen shots

Are there any Wikipedia pages that could use a screen shot? Example: User script pages, assorted editing pages. I just love making them! WikiZorrosign 21:12, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Try Wikipedia:Requested images -mattbuck (Talk) 21:13, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Anatomy of the Penis (This is a good question!)

What's the part of the penis called that is like a string that attaches the top of the foreskin to the bell end and stops you from pulling your foreskin all the way down your penis? I've searched on Wikipedia articles, but they don't help me. Meaty♠Weenies (talk) 21:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Frenulum? --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:00, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah yes, thanks. Is it possible that it could snap if you stretch it too far? Meaty♠Weenies (talk) 22:02, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to Frenulum of prepuce of penis yes. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:04, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hmmm, what a lovely thought... Meaty♠Weenies (talk) 22:05, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. See here. [16]. -- Karenjc 22:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ouch! Is this common i.e. is this likely to happen to me at some point in my life? Meaty♠Weenies (talk) 22:13, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The link above states (and I quote) "...but information about it is hard to come by..." --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:28, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not too likely to tear unless the frenulum is shorter than normal. Frenulum breve is the name for that condition. If there is no pain associated with sexual activity don't be concerned. If there is pain, see your doctor for further infos. (BTW a torn frenulum is incredibly painful and much bloodier than one would think.) 161.222.160.8 (talk) 00:25, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, thanks a lot, I'll have loads of fun for the next 3 hours while I try to get that delightful image out of my head. Ziggy Sawdust 02:05, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fuel economy and opening car windows (This question is better)

How much fuel does it cost to open a window (partly/completely) in a driving car? It's obvious that opening windows increases turbulences, but by how much? This must depend (at least) on the specific car, the speed, and on the combination of open windows (if more than one is opened), but what is a ballpark figure for opening a car window? As a minor point, are convertibles generally more or less fuel efficient (keeping everything else constant)? Thanks, Ibn Battuta (talk) 23:19, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Modern vehicle owner's manuals advise using the A/C at highway speeds instead of opening a window to maximize economy. You could probably ballpark a figure based on the energy requirement of the A/C compressor. Below about 40 mph any difference is negligible. As far as convertibles go- they are typically less efficient than their hardtop counterpart, often because they are heavier in order to provide the same level of occupant protection in a collision. 161.222.160.8 (talk) 00:33, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(Original research warning!) Last summer, I did extensive research into the maximum fuel economy I could achieve with my 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan (3.3L motor). The bottom lines, for that vehicle, were:
  • Running the A/C was extremely detremental to fuel economy, costing about 3 MPG.
  • Opening the windows had no discernable effect on fuel economy, even at pretty high speeds.
  • Reduction of driving speed from (say) 72-ish MPH to 52-ish MPH dramatically boosted fuel economy (from ~24 to 29 MPG).
  • It is very difficult to drive slowly on American superhighways, even where the posted speed limit is "55 MPH". You're taking your life into your hands!
This summer, I may try a similar study using my Audi A8. With regard to my point #4, look for my obituary come September.
Atlant (talk) 13:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't have a link handy but the advice commonly given in "gas saving tips" these days is that the difference is usually insignificant. It stands to reason this may vary somewhat between vehicles tho- and we see from the observations Atlant made that in his particular vehicle there was a noticeable difference. Convertibles have a bit of extra weight as pointed out above, altho I bet this doesn't matter much cruising on the highway. Convertibles may also have a higher drag coefficient than their hardtop counterparts, which would make some difference. Friday (talk) 15:21, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I'm surprised, though, because I asked this question after reading the Loremo. The article claims that the predicted fuel efficiency of the Loremo is partly due to the door-less car body. Now I would have thought that a tiny gap between car doors makes less of a difference than opening an entire window (or more)! ... As for the minimal speed, yes, I know that problem. (sigh) The most outrageous thing in this context that I've heard of so far is that German courts have ruled that a slow driver on a highway (who drives above the minimum speed!!) is in part responsible if another car crashes into him from behind. I don't know the specifics of the case, but according to the news, it was really just about driving slowly! ... --Ibn Battuta (talk) 16:12, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Without having a source to reference, I'm guessing that's in connection with the Autobahn. Germany (and Europe, generally) are sticklers about respecting the "slow traffic keep right" (or British equivalent) that Americans love to disregard. If you're puttering along at 100 mph in the left lane, then yeah, you're going to take some portion of fault when a Porsche rear-ends you. — Lomn 18:06, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You'd be amazed at how much drag minor irregularities can cause. During early WWII, metalworking technology reached the point where countersunk rivets could be used for aiplane construction. One model of fighter airplane got a 100mph increase in top speed just through being redesigned to use countersunk rivets. --Carnildo (talk) 23:18, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking of the Loremo article, what exactly is the point of the map near the bottom? From nowhere in particular in Missouri, you could drive to Washington if the roads didn't have any curves? Matt Deres (talk) 02:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How can i get my first car trick my ride

My name is Tiffany Viola Willamson and my baby daddy bought me a car after i had our little girl in november 3, 2004. I would love for ya`ll to trick my ride so how do i sign up for that? I`m from pine biuff Arkansas,deep down south —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.255.139.160 (talk) 22:11, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a truck, you could try leaving a request on the Trick My Truck message board. If you have a car, you might try leaving a comment on the Pimp My Ride blog. Of course, there are probably thousands of other people out there who'd like the same treatment, so your chances may not be great. Marco polo (talk) 00:21, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. We do not perform non-manufacturer-authorized alterations on cars. Ziggy Sawdust 02:05, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What the heck does trick my ride mean ?90.0.129.100 (talk) 09:56, 22 May 2008 (UTC)DT[reply]

Article Trick My Truck, Pimp My Ride and Monster Garage are shows that look for deserving rigs to be customised, road makeover shows. Julia Rossi (talk) 10:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One meaning of "ride" is: "vehicle used for transportation".  --Lambiam 19:08, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How did I know she would be from the Deep South even before I got to the end of that sentence just from 'baby daddy' and 'ya'all'? Lemon martini (talk) 14:02, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have two questions - a linguistic one and general one

1. What is the name of a round, usually wooden, instrument in English, that has metal rings on sides, so when you hodl it in your hand and shake your hand it makes sound? In Serbian we call it daire, but I don't know what is its name in English.

And secondly, I've been always curious about this. When TV anchors says 'yesterday's show generated 2.3 million viewers blah blah blah', how do TV networks measure viewerships? I mean, how do they always know how many people tune in to some program or TV station?

I know these are totally separated questions, but I figured this is where to go for the answer! :)

Thank you!!

Svetlana Miljkovic (talk) 00:37, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Audience measurement. Specifically, in America, the popular ones are the Nielsen Ratings, in the UK they're the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, and there's a specific article on Television ratings in Australia. There are other companies, but these are the big ones and the ones we have articles for. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 00:42, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
1. That would be a tambourine I believe. 76.22.123.202 (talk) 00:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps more specifically: a Dayereh. Unfortunately, there is not a Serbian language version of that article. Astronaut (talk) 01:34, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, but there is: Даире (инструмент). But it interwikilinks to tambourine on en.wikipedia, and now it interwikilinks from Dayereh to sr.wikipedia. :S ---Sluzzelin talk 02:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Swearing

Why are swear words considered taboos? It's not like they hurt anyone. For example, in elementary school sex-ed, the teacher will say the words "sex" and "intercource" over and over again, and yet if an elementary student were to say "fuck", they would get a detention even thought the words mean the same thing. It just makes no sence to me, and I have yet to get a good explanation. You're dreaming eh? 02:19, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


They indicate an extreme lack of respect, or even hostility. When someone says "fuck you" they are not saying "intercourse you", they are attempting to indicate great disrespect and often anger. It is this latter translation, not the literal one, that is taken umbrage with. Anyway, I'm sure someone on the Linguistics desk could give a more thorough explanation of swear words and their role in communication. Rest assured, communication is not about literal translation much of the time. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm... I do have an argument for that, but I'll take it to the Linguistics desk. You're dreaming eh? 03:11, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As an interesting (and somewhat relevant) addition, my "theory that I have but cannot prove" is that the idea of 'fuck you' is as a passive and non-volitional meaning, and thus rape and humiliation. Of course, that might seem obvious to everyone else, but it came to me in a flash of inspiration. Steewi (talk) 05:23, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How come I can't find this user's contribution page? Just a user page and no talk page either. Julia Rossi (talk) 09:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think that's because you clicked on the "eh?" which leads to a user sub-page. If you click on "You're" you get the user page with talk page and contributions. ---Sluzzelin talk 10:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, thanks, Sluzzelin, *illumination* : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 10:22, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Heres an interesting article [17]. I remember reading it at the time and thought it was good. Fribbler (talk) 11:43, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you're interested in the subtleties of swearing, Maledicta is a good place to go to. Here is their website. See also archived questions from over two months (emerging question on the topic of taboos) and almost two years ago. ---Sluzzelin talk
And if you're not interested in the subtleties, there's always Gordon Ramsay who calls it cheffy-language and doesn't recommend it to non-chefs (especially his underlings talking back to him). Julia Rossi (talk) 23:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And while my pop-up dictionary has popped up, its definition is 1. sexual intercourse and 2. to ruin or damage; and fyi, lists fuck in 14 variants. So if you think it's okay and use it on someone who doesn't, they'll likely react badly, so run.  : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 23:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Article Creation by IPs nullified?!

Here is the article(Placed here, since all I get is "Unauthorized")

Article Title: GET US OUT!

Article:

The organization, called GET US OUT! is a US organization that charges that the UN is corrupt, anti-American, worse. Claims include the UN being the "World Government" or is part of the World Government, that the UN wants to terminate the soverignty of the US, disarm the American people, so that foregin armies can occupy the destroyed US, destroy all Christians.

See Also

External Links


As a IP I cannot place this, any articles. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 02:26, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk and Wikipedia:New contributors' help page are for wikipedia questions, this page is for general questions. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 03:29, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You might want to see Articles for Creation. However, I highly doubt that this article will be posted as is. It has a highly anti-UN POV (see WP:NPOV). It also sounds almost as if you are part of the group, meaning you have a conflict of interest. Thirdly, without reliable, outside sources it might be seen as non-notable. Paragon12321 (talk) 03:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • 1. Been there, done that. Negative results 2. I am NOT in ANY org, much less that one. 3.The Organization's signs are all over the Texas area, especially all over the highways near Port O' Connor, Port Lavaca, and Victoria, all in Texas. There are other signs like that all over Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, other places. Each sign measured 4' X 1.5' to 8' X 2' has the organization's name on it, a profanity riddled comment about the UN, such as "They're commin' to take your (censored) guns, you (censored) idiots","Are you a Christian? The UN will lock up your (censored)(censored) in prison, mental hospitals", worse. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 04:38, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Great, I don't know what you want us to do then. 24.76.169.85 (talk) 04:44, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I hope it is a malfunction. Just got a "Database Locked" error message while answering a question. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 04:58, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Can someone make it Wikipedia compliant? I can't due to a weird malfunction. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 05:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Just tried to creat a article, say about a BIG "Z"(silly I'm sure). Got the SAME problem. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 05:04, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've just found out that IPs cannot create articles. Maybe there should be a IP corner for IPs to create articles. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 07:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the help. Finally I got a straight answer. *Me hugging, kissing a female Admin, shaking hands with a male Admin!* 65.163.115.254 (talk) 07:05, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You're the Fox News/UFO guy, aren't you? Hi there, I quite enjoy your breathless contributions to the Ref Desks. Why not just create an account? That way you can create as many articles as you like. However, I suspect that if you were to create an article on this "organization", it would be swiftly deleted due to not meeting the Wikipedia notability criterion. By the way, did you notice that the "organization" is in fact a front for the John Birch Society? --Richardrj talk email 07:47, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not only no, but HELL NO. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 07:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I did not know that about the org either. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 07:58, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You know, you technically have an account as an IP. Making it named so you can actually create pages is probably less of a personal intrusion, since IPs make more information public than a regular account. In fact, current user account guidelines allow you to essentially create an account solely to make an article and then forget about it. --Haemo (talk) 09:19, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Restless mind

I am being troubled by my restless mind.I always seem to live in my fantasies and never get into the real world.I imagine myself fighting with martial artists but in real I dont even have guts to face when somebody slaps me unjustly or challenges me to a fight.I imagine myself as a genius and a scientist but my academics and IQ are hopeless.My attention span is hopeless (its about 10 to 15 minutes maximum) and I even get mentally tired easily.How can I become mentally resillent? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.246.173.175 (talk) 07:48, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

While Wikipedia is not going to give you medical advice, you might consider seeing a doctor or psychiatrist about that — at the very least they can recommend some mental exercises which might help your concentration. --Haemo (talk) 09:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Such as meditation perhaps. Some types are specifically designed to aid concentration.--Shantavira|feed me 12:52, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
While we can't give medical advice, have you tried looking under neurology and some of the different things that are out there? I have a guess...from the attention span...and while I'm not saying it's what you have it's probably the same thing you guessed, too. You can certainly do a search or look at attention span and see if it sounds plausible. Colin Cowherd, an ESPN radio talk show host, guessed the same thing for himself as I'm thinking for you, through just research on his own. But, only a doctor can say for sure.209.244.30.221 (talk) 15:01, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also wishing to avoid giving any medical advice, you might try to look into your sleep pattern and your diet. If it were me, I'd try an Elimination diet starting with caffeine and sugar. Is having a restless mind really that bad, though? These days there is a tendency to medicate everyone into conformity. You could instead see if you can not benefit from being different. There are career options for creative and unconventional individuals {see Art, Landscaping, Writer, Cartoonist, Designer, Game design Copywriting Inventor for just a few.) Since you know what your idiosyncacies are, you might be able to establish a support network and methods for yourself to cope. If you can't do the same thing for more than 15 min., set up several tasks simultaneously, get yourself a little timer and switch every 15 min. (Hey presto, dishes, laundry and sorting the bills all done!) Find out what tasks you can't do and don't be bashful about hiring help for those. If you can't work within the constraints of a company nor deal with the ins and outs of running your own company, try to find a business drone to partner up with. (Keep a close eye on them, it's not uncommon to get cheated.) If you can write about your imaginary life as martial artist or scientist, please do! I'm always looking for something interesting to read or watch on TV rather than those awful reality shows :-}--71.236.23.111 (talk) 17:49, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This is just anecdote and OR, but it's to let you know not to worry too much about IQ tests. Someone I know won a world medal in math yet couldn't get past the easy stages in iq answers at school. Check out the rest of your symptoms though. Going with special con 71.236, there's a classic on a dreamer The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and probably a few since, so if you can, turn it into material. When you get more settled you could try a creative writing class. Best, Julia Rossi (talk) 02:10, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do i challenge inaccurate information?

On the ballistics trauma section it states:

"the range at which the victim was shot; i.e. wounds inflicted by 7.62x39mm bullets fired from a distance of 5 metres will invariably be more severe than those fired from a range of 500 metres. The velocity of a bullet (and therefore its destructive potential) gradually reduces as it travels from the muzzle of a firearm. "

That is compeltely wrong. The longer the distance a bullet travels, especially RIFLE/ASSAULT RIFLE type rounds, the more chance they have of KEYHOLING or tumbling in flight. Or simply bouncing off things, penetrating objects and deforming yet hitting their target. The resualt is catastrophic. Shooting someone with anything FMJ (full metal jacket) from a short distance will normally cause the bullet to go right through causing minimal tissue damage (of course if it doesnt hit the heart, brain, liver, etc.) and will more than likely be found in the dirt, gun range backstop or wherever completely undeformed, almost as if you could reload it and fire it again.

Scott Nichols Gun enthusiast and gun knowitall <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.185.110.245 (talk) 11:55, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Start by bringing up your concerns on the talk page of the relevant article (see the "discussion" tab at the top of that page. I would assume this is Talk:Ballistic trauma in this instance. Then see if you can find reliable sources that back up your information. We seek to have as much information as possible sourced back to mainstream publications like "Gun Knowitall Weekly" rather than individuals. Once you've got that, edit the article (or add the source to the talk page and request someone else add it). Where you insert the statement, please also add something to the effect of <ref>"Assault Rifle Keyholing", Gun Knowitall Weekly, Vol 3 Issue 17</ref> or whatever the source information may be. This will help ensure your contributions aren't deleted as idle speculation. Hope this helps! — Lomn 13:32, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you have a source and the existing text doesn't, just go ahead make the change yourself and cite the source as Lomn suggests. If you don't have a source, or the sources conflict, you should discuss it on the talk page. --Sean 14:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to change voicemail

I changed my voicemail to a Rickroll that goes for 3 minutes and 25 seconds and now I've forgotten the number to call to change it to something else. My simcard is Virgin Mobile. --124.254.77.148 (talk) 12:15, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

According to here, you should dial 212 and follow the instructions. Algebraist 12:27, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Logo: ?!

Is there a pre-existing brand logo that is made up of only a question mark and exclamation point? Example: ?!

I've tried searching the USPTO database but wasn't really able to get it to show me anything. It's an idea I had but I want to make sure I'm not accidentally copying something else I've seen but forgotten I've seen.

Just curious if anyone else has seen it somewhere, if it rings a bell, if it's something obvious that I'm overlooking. I have major problems with cryptomnesia when it comes to graphic design, where I'll end up with something that looks awesome and then a day later I'll realize I subconsciously copied the motif from a book cover I saw years ago—I've got a near photographic memory for the content of images but I don't always remember where they're from, it's a bad combination! ;-) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:29, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When the two marks are superimposed, the symbol is called an interrobang. That article indicates that the interrobang is used in the logo for Partnership for a Drug-Free America. --LarryMac | Talk 16:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Weird! Thanks. That's not at all what I was going to do with it, but that's good to know. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rally the troops

I need a short speach preferably by a great leader, that I can edit slightly, to then recite to my band members before a gig, something to rally the troops, or to boost moral. any ideas? I was thinking of Churchill, we will rock them on the beaches, we will rock them on the streets, we will rock them in the cities, and NEVER sleep! But this is a bit to obvious and they will know where I got it from. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 16:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC) Zionist[reply]

Patton's Speech to the Third Army (note: the full speech is available here; the article only includes choice quotes)? Angus Lepper(T, C, D) 16:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
there's also a slightly different version of the speech here: http://www.pattonhq.com/speech.html, which seems to contain more swearing. Does anyone know which version is the most accurate? Not that historical accuracy really matters here.HS7 (talk) 21:34, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage.
Henry V, Act III Scene i Malcolm XIV (talk) 18:16, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or, also from Henry V:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day"
Matt Deres (talk) 02:35, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Speech to the Troops at Tilbury? Adam Bishop (talk) 16:13, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where to buy casual cravat?

Sorry in advance if this doesn't qualify as an appropriate question for here.

I'm in the UK, near London. Can anyone recommend a shop (in the real world) which sells what this site calls casual cravats?

Thanks, Daniel (‽) 18:55, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Any well stocked menswear shop - outside bespoke Savage Row - should have what looks like the real Croatian McCoy to me. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 20:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Tie Rack perhaps? I'm pretty sure I've seen them in Marks & Sparks--80.176.225.249 (talk) 23:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Er, Savile Row, too. Just think of Lord Arthur Savile's Crime. Xn4 23:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Harrods, of course!--Artjo (talk) 09:20, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I looked in one Tie Rack, and couldn't find any, but it's possible that there are better-stocked Tie Racks elsewhere which I shall peruse if the opportunity arises. The same goes for your other suggestions (although I can't say I'm a regular customer at Saville Row). Thanks for the advice. Daniel (‽) 13:57, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Searches through various store sites (Debenhams, M+S, House of Fraser, Next, Monsoon...) didn't yield any treasures. If you have a sewing machine, and a minimal sewing skill, vogue patterns V7644 has a pattern for a cravat which they call an Ascot. SaundersW (talk) 15:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
New & Lingwood. MilkFloat 15:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Life Insurance Beneficiary

If there two people named as beneficiaries to a life insurance policy. Are they payed separately or are both of their names on one check.Dstoppa (talk) 20:07, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like the sort of thing that might vary from one country to another, maybe from one company to another, and maybe even from one policy to another (that is, it could be at the insured person's option). Best to contact the relevant company and ask them. --Anonymous, 20:50 UTC, May 22, 2008.
As an aside, a UK insurance company advertising 'whole life policies' states that if you stop investing then "you get nothing back". You don't get it back anyway once you are dead !!--Artjo (talk) 06:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect the above comment was "tongue-in-cheek" but could be misleading to the OP. The fact is that Whole Life Policies only pay out on death - there is no investment value attaching to them - and clearly, they cannot pay out to the insured life (who will be dead). What the above humorous comment alludes to is that if the insured life ceases to pay his premiums (whilst still living), HE will not get a refund. As to the OP's question, any sums payable after the death of the insured life will go into that ex-person's estate and be re-distributed according to any Will that was made whilst still living. In the event of there being no Will, the estate will be wound up and distributed by a named executor, failing whom, a nominated executor, both situations being ratified in Law by an appointed lawyer, who will take fat fees for the service. All the foregoing is based on UK Testacy and Inheritance Law - but is not to be taken as Legal Advice, merely information.92.21.248.30 (talk) 10:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Would it make sense that...?

I was thinking about this for a while and decided to bring it to Wikipedia:

If you were really good at doing something, wouldn't it imply that you would be good at doing the opposite thing?

Let me explain, suppose you are the world's most skilled assassin, wouldn't that also imply that you would (potentially) be the world's best bodyguard? If you are the "best" assassin, then you'd be able to recognize weaknesses in security or be able to secure areas that assassins normally would know.

Along the same lines of thought, wouldn't a world-renowned thief be able to construct a perfect vault?

Is there a word (or a phrase) to describe the relationship between two different jobs that imply this?

Thanks for your time.

Cheers!

ECH3LON 20:23, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, specifically in the area of security we have the proverb "set a thief to catch a thief" and the job of being on a "tiger team". I can't think of anything that generalizes the concept to other areas, like a structural engineer working as a demolitions expert or vice versa, although people might describe these by using the proverb as well. --Anonymous, edited 20:54 UTC, May 22, 2008.
If you were really good at doing something, wouldn't it imply that you would be good at doing the opposite thing? - No, not always. For example, a good writer rarely becomes a good critic, or it is very hard to a good goalkeeper to be a good striker. 89.146.74.28 (talk) 21:30, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As to the word you're looking for, I'd say "counterpart" is far more accurate than "opposite". Why, for instance, isn't the opposite of an assassin an avowed pacifist? That doesn't jive very well with the job requirements of a bodyguard, but it perhaps fits a doctor.
As to counterpart competency, I like 89...'s example above -- someone is likely to have a mental understanding of their counterpart's job, but that's not necessarily going to translate into practical competence. — Lomn 21:43, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, this isn't even an issue of opposites or counterparts! To use the assassin/bodyguard example given above, it's a question of a person having thorough experience, knowledge and understanding of security, and then applying that knowledge in one way or another -- to breach or reinforce it. That same competence could also enable a person to be a good security consultant, a trainer in security-related skills, a person who plans assaults on or infiltration of secure locations (for military or law enforcement purposes, for example), someone who works with architects when a building is being designed to make sure that it's designed in a way that's conducive to maintaining good security, or even a writer who specializes in realistic fiction in the appropriate genre. Among many other things. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 22:13, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Walking in someone else's shoes." comes to mind as a descriptive term. 71.236.23.111 (talk) 22:44, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd say that it's generally true that if you excel in one area of life, you're likely to excel in various others as well. But not necessarily in the "opposite" things. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:48, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking more along the lines of a job/expertise, that gives the person applicable experience to do something often contrary to their original job/expertise (eg. an expert hacker designing a firewall program), I was wondering if there was a word or phrase to describe this relationship, like counterpart (although I don't think it's the right word) Cheers! ECH3LON 00:05, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Could Sherlock Holmes become the "Napoleon of crime" while Professor Moriarty became the world's greatest consulting detective? Edison (talk) 00:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it all depends on what version of opposite you use. For example, the opposite of an assassin (one who takes life) could be Gandhi (who objects to taking of life), a bodyguard (who protects life), or a doctor (who restores life). Similarly, the opposite of any of those things could be an assassin, soldier, serial killer, Shaolin monk, knight, or guerilla. But yes, if the definition of opposite is someone in the same field who uses the same expertise to opposite ends, then your axiom holds true. Ziggy Sawdust 00:21, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That reminds me of that fire fighter who attempted to become the perfect arsonist, would "converse" be the appropriate word by chance? The only flaw with it is that it does not imply that the two things require the same (expertise/reasoning/etc...) Cheers! ECH3LON 00:34, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

From recent experience working with the Fire Service, I have noticed that senior firefighters are fascinated by fire, fireworks, garden flares, bonfires, and will use any of the above at the slightest provocation. Firefighters also appear fascinated by lighting training fires in order to control them and put them out. There is a smaller distance between firefighters and firelighters than might at first appear. SaundersW (talk) 08:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Politicians often become lobbyists, and journalists sometimes go into public relations. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And people switch between being prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges... another case where it isn't clear which ones are really "opposites". --Anonymous, 04:34 UTC, May 23, 2008.
Again, that's clearly a case of legal expertise being applied in various ways. This idea of "opposites" has a great deal of thematic appeal to me, and in a work of fiction, it's pretty interesting -- but honestly, it strikes me as kind of misguided when applied to the real world. It's a simplification of reality that ignores real-world dynamics. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 05:04, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at ECH3LON's examples (but not at some of those provided by others), they are restricted to running the same race of wits and technology against and opposite of one another other, and with the line of legality between them (making it easy to attribute "sides" that can be switched). I still don't know what to call these pairings, except antagonists. And this cliché of inverted mirroring came to my mind. Speaking of Moriarty and Holmes, Flambeau is one literary example of a criminal mind that became a detective mind. ---Sluzzelin talk 10:44, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's a phrase (in UK English at least) "poacher turned gamekeeper", which describes what you're talking about pretty well. -- Karenjc 16:35, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I take it you'd still be doing the same thing but for opposite reasons, like the hero in Catch Me if You Can -- it can depend on your values, position in life, outlook and opportunities. Even former txxxls or ex-vxxxxls sometimes become good wikieditors. I like mirror or counterpart, especially when police and criminals are compared. But no ex-cons become policemen because they've got records. Julia Rossi (talk) 01:59, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

May 23

Boy Stuff; Girl Stuff

Is it true that men created activities and chores for woman to do so that they could control their woman not to do bad things? What I mean by this is men made sure the woman staid at home doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, sewing, shopping, etc. so that they knew where their woman were at all times.Is it also true that to separate the genders out men created activities that only men could do and only woman can do?X27 (talk) 00:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

Er, 1.No and
2. No —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.208.101 (talk) 01:19, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure I quite understand the question. I don't think anyone created laundry and dirty dishes, they just kind of happened on their own. The history of male/female relations and gender-specific duties in each culture is horribly complicated, but I think the answer you're looking for is closer to: Women got stuck doing those things because they weren't allowed to do much else (politics, arts, warfare, etc.) and because someone had to do them. Women probably got the shitty end of that stick by being tied down to the household more due to the needs of child rearing. Yes, in many case I'm sure women were considered male property, but I don't think that specifically contributed to the point of your question. Matt Deres (talk) 02:51, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

lol! I know no one created laundry.I should rephrase my question shouldn't I. My question is: Did the men use those activities to control where their woman should be and shouldn't be? Why did the men claims those to be only woman activities?X27 (talk) 03:11, 23 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]


In Western society men traditionally worked outside the home and women worked within it — raising the children, primarily. Activities like cooking, cleaning, and washing traditionally fell to women because they did most of their household activities at the home, and these are home-related objects. These activities were not created to "control" where women should be, but rather fell to women as a consequence of where society said they should be. A key to understanding this is to realize that neither men nor women are usually conscious of how they play into sexual stereotypes and gender roles; they try to help out, within the socially constrained environment they operate in. It seems odd, especially to modern people, since they take it for granted that people question the gender roles assigned to them — however, that is an ahistorical view which does not take into account that people (even today) rarely question the established wisdom when it comes to social status and role. --04:02, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
These arguments never cease to amaze me. I was wondering and looked into it a bit. "Traditional" seems to be what conforms to the ideas of the person putting forward the argument. Gender roles are not the same in all societies and within societies are not the same for all levels. This is consistently so throughout history as far as I can find. For example, European Queens certainly didn't stay home to do the laundry. Anyone who could afford to do so, either because of their social status or because they paid for it, got someone else to take care of the kids. Office clerk used to be a male profession. In some societies sewing is a "traditional" male task, whereas in others it's female. Mucking out stables is shared work done by whoever can best fit it in on most farms I know about that don't do it mechanically. (And it's no fun!) There may be some slice of history somewhere, where X27's "tied down woman" was in the majority. I admit I don't know the subject well enough, I just know that whenever I encounter the "traditionally oppressed female" argument and ask for details, I find that there are tons of examples to the contrary. I used to think females in a household with more than one wife were subject to male oppression until I encountered one and found out that at least in that society, there was a matriarchy underneath it all and the husband was just as much under the matriarch's thumb as the other wives were. As far as not "letting their woman do things" that begs the question "Bad by whose standards." Looking at historical literature, there are tons of examples of females doing things their husbands would probably not have approved of by modern standards. Views on what is morally acceptable change. Look at the Romans for example they've dug up a brothel and unless someone has refuted the findings since, they were sure that ladies from the upper classes also frequented the establishment as customers. In some historic periods it seemed to have been good taste to "lend" your wife to a nobleman of higher rank. (I guess in tribal times small and skinny guys would also not have objected if the local two ton grunt took a fancy to their lady, for reasons of survival.) I'm not saying that there have never been or that there aren't women in the world that are subject to deplorable living conditions due to social pressures, I'm just saying that we need to look at situations very carefully and try to not frame things in our own value system. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 05:51, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Differentiation of roles goes back much further than what we think of as 'traditional values'. Hunter/gatherer societies would have had different roles for males and females since males would be almost always stronger and faster, whereas females pretty much have to stay at home to look after infants (males being noticeably less good at breast feeding). This is true even in those societies which were matriarchal. DJ Clayworth (talk) 17:17, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That might be the case that even in "hunter gather" times that woman may have been given different roles, but when we no longer needed to move or hunt woman were still being given those roles. A woman might have had to breast feed her child when she did have a child, but how about when a woman didn't have a child or wasn't married. Housework had always been the woman's job while power, military,etc. was a man's job. What right in that time gave the people to say what is a woman's job and what isn't a woman's job? What right did they have to say that woman couldn't be educated in schools?X27 (talk) 18:17, 23 May 2008 (UTC)X27[reply]

Muscle? Zeitgeist? Where being assigned a place applies, the Ghengiz Khan type Mongolians used women as packhorses and being the smaller of species, I guess they didn't have much say. In the movie, A Mongolian Tale (1997), the husband tells a visitor the wife has gone for firewood and she'll be back in three days. When she returned from several mountains away with bullocks and carts piled high with tree trunks, she was expected to prepare meals for everyone from scratch without complaint. The wife has a choice, to leave with her former sweetheart, or stay and the argument she puts for staying is that the man took her in when she had no-one, providiing protection, security and children. Seems that no matter what is achieved, in a duo, the woman is commonly perceived as the "helper". Julia Rossi (talk) 01:48, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why do US citizens care about Israel?

Why is so much talking about Israel on US elections? Jews - according to wikipedia - are only 2.2 of the US population. Is Israel more important than Arkansas, Nebraska or Montana? Mr.K. (talk) 01:59, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You don't have to be Jewish to support Israel. Paragon12321 (talk) 02:01, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To answer the question in the header, I am a US citizen, and I don't care about Israel. (Well, maybe a little, but no more than I care about Burundi, which has a roughly similar population.) However, some US citizens care very much about Israel, and their votes could be sufficient to shift a state such as Florida to one candidate or the other. In Florida, elections are often very close, and because of its large number of votes in the Electoral College, winning Florida can determine a close election. To some of these people, Israel might well be more important than Nebraska. (Note that not all supporters of Israel are Jewish, nor are all Jews necessarily supportive of Israel.) Supporters of Israel can also be an important source of campaign contributions. So US candidates for president tend to go to some lengths to prove their commitment to Israel. Marco polo (talk) 02:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) I don't think there's been a whole lot of talk about Israel in the elections compared to other issues. I think Barak Obama has had to reassure people that he supports Israel because of his family background and because of some guilt by association that he's had to deal with regarding some of his former associates. It's just another loose thread Obama opponents have tried to latch on to since his policy ideas aren't really that different from Clinton's. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:24, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Additionally, Israel is one of the few allies that the US has in that part of the world. So they are important to the international outlook of the US. Dismas|(talk) 02:38, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A few other allies in the region are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Turkey.--Goon Noot (talk) 03:42, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hear! Hear!193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:20, 23 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]
Jews have had, and continue to have, a far greater impact on history and world affairs than their raw numbers would imply. A whole nation of them in a unique position in the world with a unique relationship with the USA will naturally take up a correspondingly greater political mindshare in an election for the (ahem) "decider" of US foreign policy. --Sean 12:29, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know anything about politics, but is it possible that the presence in Israel of sites meaningful to Christianity (the major religion of the US) contributes to the interest in it? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 13:02, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you take 2.2 percent very roughly of the US population, that's not quite 1 mill less than the population of Israel, so per Jewish household or whatever, that's quite a basis for special interest in the people of Israel. The diaspora makes for many who might have influence or political weight towards the welfare of homeland Israel. Fwiw, Julia Rossi (talk) 13:28, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You ask why Americans care about Israel, which is a different question than why they defend and fund that nation. By "Americans" I suppose we must mean "non-Jewish Americans", there being proportionally so few Jews in the US. Lately, Americans and Israelis have been forced closer together by the common enemy of Islamic fundamentalism. Americans feel a new kinship with that beseiged people. Religion is certainly a factor (although it must be borne in mind that the anti-semites among Americans hold religion against the Jews); American Christians know their God by the name "Jehovah", and most still would be surprised to learn that He is also essentially Allah. I think there is a sympathy born of pity for the Holocaust. It seems right that the scattered "chosen people" should have been allowed to go home at last after that horror. The basic values of the Jews have been incorporated into the American psyche, and the Jews embraced the American ideal as no other group has, so that there is a real identity of world view on a fundamental level, I think—a realism, an imperative for progress. Besides, they're the funniest people in the world, and Americans like to laugh. --Milkbreath (talk) 13:52, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And, of course, AIPAC is a powerful lobby. Contrast with CAIR.

Atlant (talk) 14:08, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For evangelical Christians, who seem to have a bizarre amount of influence, the existence of Israel is some sort of prerequisite for the Rapture. So John Hagee, Pat Buchanan, etc, like to show how friendly they are with Israel and Jewish leaders in the US, and I would imagine a lot of Americans don't know anything about the country except that it has something to do with the return of Jesus. (But perhaps I am overstating the number and influence of evangelical fundamentalists.) Adam Bishop (talk) 16:10, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There's a much more simple reason why the US government cares about Israel, which is that it is a pro-Western country in a region which is a) largely anti-Western and b) strategically important (oil). Not that anything said above is false, but global politics certainly plays a part too. DJ Clayworth (talk) 17:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This section has gotten a bit soapboxy, but I do want to point out that the influence of the "Jewish Lobby" is probably overstated. Many Jews do live in swing states, and they are more politically active on average than non-Jews tend to be. But they're still 2% of the population. If you look at the other legislative items Jewish organizations have supported, chiefly social programs and separation of church and state, the supposedly all-powerful Jewish Lobby has been rather impotent. Clearly, there's more to American support for Israel than the Jewish Lobby. On the other hand, Pat Buchanan, mentioned above, is clearly not pro-Israel. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Lobbies are not made up just by numbers. They are made up by influence and money and political activity. In the United States, there has long been a disproportionate amount of Jews in higher echelons of medical, legal, and entertainment professions, and they are often highly politically active and interested. Consequently their influence is often taken to be far greater than, say, even much larger minority groups, like Black Americans or Hispanic Americans, who politicians often feel can be ignored for a variety of reasons linked to socioeconomic status and lack of political activity. (And no, I'm not postulating any sort of conspiracy, it is clearly just a difference in cultural upbringing, family expectations, family structure, etc.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:30, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Pat Buchanan is a Roman Catholic, not an evangelical. Most of the reaons given in this discussion have, however, been more or less correct. The real question is of weighting them by importance, which I suspect is regional. In New York, I bet the Jewish population is disproportionately wealthy and politically active, thus weilding disproportionate clout. In the Bible Belt, the dominance of dispensationalism in evangelical circles is probably the cause, since it has a special place for the Jewish people. Evangelicalism, per se, is not the cause, but rather a specific eschatology which is today predominant in North American evangelicalism is. In the Bible Belt, where relatively fewer Jews live, the Christian population strongly supports the Israeli state as one with a special relationship to God and biblical prophecy (I think). Among neoconservatives and hawks, a so-called Republic base, Israel is probably regarded as a key player in the US's geopolitical and military strategies for the Middle East. Certainly for the average American who is not an evangelical, a neocon, or a rich New Yorker, the fact that a small Western democracy and its people are struggling for survival after years in the wilderness against foes that resemble America's greatest foes today cannot be unmoving. And besides, they believe in a right to self-defence in the USA. Srnec (talk) 19:13, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's no question that because the average Jew is wealthier and more politically active than the average non-Jewish American, the Jewish community gets more attention than other 2% minorities. However, if the Jewish lobby was as powerful as some people allege, we'd have universal healthcare, rigid separation of church and state, gun control, a broader welfare state, and other stuff the organized Jewish community tends to support. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 07:56, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Srnec wrote, "Pat Buchanan is a Roman Catholic, not an evangelical". It is possible to be both (see Evangelical Catholic), but I don't know whether Buchanan falls into that camp. —Angr 08:32, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Need to Type Odd Character

I need to find out how to type a certain character, but I do not know its name or even what language it is from. Thus, I can't find the correct code or font to use. The character looks like a 'P' but the tail curves out to the right. Does anyone have any idea what it is and how to type it? -- VGF11 (talk) 02:42, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can you give us a link to a webpage where this character is used? It would be easier to assist you if we could see this character. Also, try this: click on the edit link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a long list of alternate characters below the edit box. Is the character you're looking for any one of those? 152.16.59.190 (talk) 03:48, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Try looking on this list for it: List of Unicode characters. It will give you a code for it. (If you meant "left" rather than "right", the symbol is rho.) --Haemo (talk) 04:05, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is it maybe ♇ ? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 04:05, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It could be "Greek Rho Symbol" (ϱ), which is a seperate symbol to the "Greek small letter rho" and which curves to the right in many typefaces, such as Arial Unicode (which many browsers use to render odd symbols). This doesn't have a set way of typing it, but its Unicode code point is 03F1. If you load Character Map (it's usually in Accessories, assuming you use Windows) and type this into the box marked "Unicode", it will take you to this symbol. Laïka 11:29, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think Jpgordon found it (♇). What is the code for it, and will it work with all fonts? -- VGF11 (talk) 22:02, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's the astrological symbol for Pluto. It's classed in "Symbols and Dingbats", which unfortunately is a group most font designers don't bother with - Arial Unicode has it, but otherwise, I think you're out of luck. There's no standard way of typing it - it's an obscure symbol, but if you load up Character Map and type 2647 into the "unicode" field (making sure you have the Arial Unicode typeface selected), it will appear, and you can then copy and paste it into whatever you need it for. Laïka 00:02, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NES catapult

Anybody here watch AVGN? Anyway, in one of his videos he reminisces about Nintendo Power magazine. He mentions some accessory called "NES catapult" and there's even a shot of it in the magazine, but he gives no information. I can't find anyother references to it. What is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by KeeganB (talkcontribs) 03:18, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cognative ability

I heard recently on BBC Radio about a new form of cognative ability enhancing drugs that have been discovered, i wish to read more about these, could some one please help Thanks 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:16, 23 May 2008 (UTC)Zionist[reply]

Here is an article about cognition-improving drugs in general, and here is an article on anti-cholinergic drugs, a specific class of drugs under investigation. Fribbler (talk) 11:22, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Here's a handy chart.--droptone (talk) 11:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You may be interested in this column on his experiment with smart drugs by Johann Hari [18]. BrainyBabe (talk) 15:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You guys are great

Hey this is just a note to say that all you guys who hang around at the ref desk answering questions are an amazing bunch of people who are both incredibly nice and exteremely learnt. I'd love to be one of you and answer peoples' queries but I have a FULL time job that doesn't leave me time :( Keep up the good work, fellas :) ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 12:19, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, RP what a buzz... maybe on your days off join us sometime : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 13:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The trick is to get a job where you can answer refdesk questions on the clock. Or so I hear. ;) --Sean 16:48, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

free bookseller's catalogs about latin and south america

Hello,

can anybody give me a hint for free online bookseller's catalogs (or national catalogs or bibliographies) about actual liteature from latin and/or south america? It's for a literature research. The sources should be interdisciplinary and don't need an english interface. I'm in search for special sources from latin and south america, i know the worldcat, and so on ...


Thank you in advance for your help ... --130.133.152.127 (talk) 14:32, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I had a brief look. One problem you are going encounter that there are several languages spoken in South America, most prominently Spanish and Portuges. When you limit yourself to a certain country or subject matter, things get a lot easier to find. Otherwise most places sort by language, not area. These may not help matters a lot [19], [20]. You may be able to get better results if you search for strings. If you describe things in a bit more detail, one of the computer geniuses might help you formulate something. Good luck.--71.236.23.111 (talk) 16:13, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Investment a little less secure than CD

If I want to earn a little bit more than with a CD, but not incur too much risk more, which is the way to go? I mean, a CD pays perhaps between 3 and 4 % for sure. I want to know what pays between 4-10% but is not completely secure. Mr.K. (talk) 14:36, 23 May 2008 (UTC)×[reply]

What is your timeframe, and where do you live? Historically, the US stock market averages 10% over the long term, but it is subject to wild swings along the way. Mutual funds are a good instrument to smooth out the vicissitudes of any individual stock, with index funds specifically designed to track one of the major indices. --LarryMac | Talk 14:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Callable CD springs to mind - it's FDIC insured. Also depends on who you are, are you investing your personal savings, are you investing on behalf of a school board, charity, pension fund? Also, what do you mean by "secure" i.e. what type of risk are you willing to assume? Zain Ebrahim (talk) 16:32, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you are in the US and don't want to go with a fund or stock you might have a look at TIPS. Two major drawbacks are that they could bite you in the tax area and that you can't get at the money for a couple of years. Talk with your tax adviser before you buy. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 16:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for the information so far. I should have provided more extra information as I asked the question. I am interested in investments in the UK and the US. I save every month and don't have a timeframe (different from my own life). I am not saving towards an objective (like buying a house). Just saving for having more security for the rainy days. I will not retire in the next 30 years. Mr.K. (talk) 17:45, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
UK-wise, you may be interested in the variety of offerings from NS&I. Maybe this? Angus Lepper(T, C, D) 17:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
TIPS are issued by the US Treasury and are pretty much the safest things money can buy so the returns they pay are pretty much zero - here's a list of rates on Treasury paper. Mr. K, we aren't allowed to give you any advice and I'm not a financial advisor, but if you're investing with a 30 year horizon then you really should consider all your options.
For example, here's a chart of the S&P500 index since its inception (I think). If you had invested in the index and your 30 year period ended at the worst part of the stock market downturn of 2002, you would have earned 7% per annum on a lump sum by my calculations.
Once again, this is merely for demonstrative purposes and you should consult a professional financial advisor before you make any decisions.
Zain Ebrahim (talk) 21:40, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
@Zain: you calculated the 7%/anum based on (815/110)^(1/30)-1. But how to you come to this figures?217.168.1.48 (talk) 23:50, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In that graph from yahoo finance, I saw that in 2002 the index dipped to 815 and thirty years prior it was 110. Then I used . Zain Ebrahim (talk) 23:58, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Phonemes -> Sound

Hi. I'm trying to find a text-to-speech program that can read phonemes (IPA, Kirshenbaum, X-SAMPA, whatever, so long as it can do most of the phonemes) and output them as speech. The only program I've had any luck with so far is espeak, which doesn't sound that great, and can only understand and synthesise a subset of Kirshenbaum. Festival is very arcane, and the manual doesn't help a whole lot either. 79.78.114.42 (talk) 17:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How does Wikipedia make money?

How does Wikipedia makes money? Or, does it? Please explain tome, because I cannot understand... 134.162.84.134 (talk) 17:40, 23 May 2008 (UTC) Carlos.[reply]

I suggest you look at Wikipedia and Wikimedia Foundation. Essentially it's all donations. -mattbuck (Talk) 17:44, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is hosted by Wikimedia which is a non-profit company. You should be able to get all the info you want from the Finances section of the Wikimedia article. Dismas|(talk) 17:45, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We lure vandals into our secret mincing factory and sell their remains to the local pet food shop. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 20:51, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Spicy foods

Hi all, can anyone give me a bit of extra info on spicy foods? Even after drinking to cool/wash away the spicy food a burning sensation remains. I had a look at Capsaicin which was handy and there's a section (mechanism of action) that explains what causes the burning. However, I believe that not all spicy foods contain capsaicin (eg. cinammon) but do they all work by a similar process?

PS. The article made me laugh when I read 'In 2006 it was discovered that tarantula venom activates the same pathway of pain as is activated by capsaicin', I'll have to mention that next time we go for a curry :-)

Thanks, Mike 87.112.87.223 (talk) 18:19, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Water doesn't really work on cleansing your tongue. You'd be better off with milk, or eating a slice of bread. Corvus cornixtalk 20:01, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
OR my brother swears salt helps. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 23:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'll have the tarantula curry please, with cold milk on the side.  ; ) Julia Rossi (talk) 05:41, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've heard what works against capsaicin is fat and alcohol, so whole milk, ice cream, or beer are the way to go. I once had a peanut brittle sundae made with peanut brittle that had cayenne pepper in it. You took a bite of the peanut brittle that was so hot you thought your head would explode, and then you took a bite of the ice cream and everything was OK again. It was the most remarkable dessert I've ever had, as it was sweet and salty and hot and cold all at the same time. —Angr 08:28, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Does reading single side of a hand written notebook increases the concentration level of reader ?

Hi,

My name is Pawas and I am a citizen of India. I want to know whether the person's concentration level increase if he always reads the left or right side of the notebook ? Actually it might sound a bit funny but I want to know that if you are reading a book or your own hand written notebook, would you read it with more concentration if it is written only one sided or when it twin sided. Please let meknow about it. I am curious to know.

Regards, Pawas —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.167.111.184 (talk) 18:37, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where did you come across that bit of information, Pawas? ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 19:20, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Doesn't sound likely to me. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:24, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There has actually been quite a bit of research done in the area of typesetting and page layout, which is basically what you are describing (even if your text is handwritten). I don't know of a study on blank pages on one side, but things like spacing, white space, line length, fonts and size, etc. have been studied and described. They use cameras and a gadget that tracks where one's eyes are looking. I'm not sure how far the results of existing studies would apply to handwritten text, but it's really not more than a script font in rather large font-size. Layout used to be limited to a few fonts and the ability of the setter. With software like "Pagemaker" or "Wordperfect" everyone became their own setter and after a couple of snafus a field of study developed in a flurry. I used to get results in professional magazines, so I don't actually know what the area those research studies originated from is called, now that I come to think of it. --71.236.23.111 (talk) 23:53, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Molecular cloud, eh?

Is this picture real or photoshopped hoax? It seems God hates us. 89.146.64.77 (talk) 19:29, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What would give you the idea that NASA would want to photoshop an image or that your god hates us? Dismas|(talk) 19:34, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What makes you think he's pointing at us? :) Zain Ebrahim (talk) 19:50, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe pareidolia is to blame here? Dismas|(talk) 19:57, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In fact, NASA pretends to hold a more lofty association here: "This Carina sub-cloud is particularly striking partly because its clear definition stimulates the human imagination (e.g. it could be perceived as a superhero flying through a cloud, arm up, with a saved person in tow below)." Here is a zoomed out image showing the bigger picture around the keyhole nebula. ---Sluzzelin talk 05:13, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How remarkable it is that 'God' should provide us with the ability to build equipment to be able to see his distant message. (Why didn't he make it closer - Ah, yes, of course, 'He' moves in mysterious ways!) Richard Avery (talk) 07:01, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think this is the message. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 15:52, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sc-AK750 Stereo

This is a stereo from Panasonic. It is 660 watts meaning it is, as far as I know, the most powerful stereo in North America (as there are much more powerful ones in Asia). Is this correct?Jwking (talk) 19:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, It is incorrect. I personally own this Home Theater System and it pushes out 1000 Watts of power. And i know a couple people who have car stereo systems that push out over 1000watts of power. --Nick910 (talk) 20:19, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, but stereos, car systems, and home theater systems are three different things. I specifically said STEREO, two way speakers with possibly a sub. So...I stand correct it seems so far.Jwking (talk) 04:19, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Autobon in Europe

Someone told me that the Autobon in Europe is made of really thick concrete. Now my friends and I are wondering, exactly how thick is the concrete on the Autobon? I have tried to search it, to no avail! Thanks for any help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.124.33.83 (talk) 21:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note the Autobahn is the name of motorways in Germany (and also Austria and most of Switzerland) only. This says that it is 68 cm thick. That is mighty thick! Fribbler (talk) 21:32, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
P.S.: 27 inches if you're not metric! :-) Fribbler (talk) 21:34, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, "Autobahn" is the word in German in all countries where they speak it, not just Germany. But since Germany is the only one with no speed limit, they may very well make theirs more durable by using thicker concrete than the others... I don't know. --Anonymous, 22:28 UTC, May 23, 2008.
(Corrected my answer above accordingly) Fribbler (talk) 00:18, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Apologies in advance for not being able to cite references here, but I remember reading, at least a decade ago, about the differences between Autobahn and Interstate. There are two big ones:
  • Thickness of concrete layer, already noted, is more than double an Interstate highway, and
  • Depth of roadbed, in several layers, is four feet rather than two.
Consequently, a properly-maintained length of Autobahn has an expected lifetime of over 40 years, while the US Interstate system expects to replace theirs in the 20-25-year timeframe.
-- Danh, 63.231.162.222 (talk) 00:24, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why use concrete rather than more standard materials? Concrete is bad to drive on, it's noisy and iirc saps engine power. -mattbuck (Talk) 21:13, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
[21] They do take their Autobahns serious. There are tons of regulation describing what and how they should build and pave an Autobahn. The German wiki article describes two paving materials used on Autobahns one is mastic asphalt with "0/8 and even 0/5 mm" mineral mixture, sprinkled with gravel "2/5, 2/4 or 1/3 mm" to make it less slippery. It's said that this material is expensive because it has to be applied at high temperatures and tends to get slippery under certain conditions. The other is concrete paving (white paving) in a thickness of "18 to 30 cm". In "5-6 m " long slabs, not counting rebar. (Standards are DIN 1045, DIN 18316 und ZTV Beton-StB) [22] You should note that the paving material (Deckschicht literal translation "top coat"?) is only the very top layer of several that make up an Autobahn. That's probably why the figure in this article differs from what Fibbler found. Lisa4edit (talk) 03:57, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. could someone get that image Oberbau.Autobahn.jpg to show up properly here?
Only by moving it to Commons, which is hardly worth it since it's labeled in German and so it's only usable at German Wikipedia. But anyone can see it by clicking de:Bild:Oberbau.Autobahn.jpg. —Angr 08:23, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Transgendered abortions

Look at this article : male pregnancy. It is being reported that more and more transgendered people want to have babies. But yet, isn't it illegal for men to have abortions ? Would it be a form of discrimination if men can't have abortion ? What does the law say about all this ? 69.157.238.199 (talk) 22:58, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I am not aware of any law restricting abortion to one gender. In any case, if your question is about transgendered men who want to have babies, they are not likely to abort a pregnancy that was wanted and planned, surely?. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 11:16, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
XD, see Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina --Ouzo (talk) 18:05, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Empire State Building Dedication

When I was a wee lad (Some 60 years or so ago), we had penny scales that (for a penny) would give you your weight and answer a question or give some piece of trivia. I seem to remember that the scale once reported that the Empire State Building was dedicated as a monument to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Is there any way to confirm/deny that? I'd imagine that if it were true, it's been expunged because of the obvious political incorrectness to today's USA culture. On the other hand, it would be a fabulous piece of trivia! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.32.8.9 (talk) 23:28, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Assuredly an urban legend. The guy who had the ESB built, John J. Raskob, was a staunch conservative. Perhaps someone got mixed up and is thinking of Diego Rivera's mural that was going to go into the Rockefeller Center but was removed because it had Lenin in it. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:59, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(after edit conflict)I think you may be thinking of the Statue of Liberty being related to the French revolution; which it certainly is! The Empire State Building is capitalist in ideation as far as I know. Anybody heard of this rumour? Fribbler (talk) 00:02, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
[citation needed] Corvus cornixtalk 03:08, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Take your pick[23]. Julia Rossi (talk) 05:39, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think Daleks were bolshevik... -mattbuck (Talk) 12:57, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
However daleko is Russian for "far away". Is this a sign of conspiracy? SaundersW (talk) 17:22, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Furthermore, there are some - mind you, weasely characters of a McCarthystic bend - who think the Bolsheviks actually were Borgian Daleks. Merely consider their favourite mantra of dialectic materialism "EX-TER-MI-NATE", an early tribute to Soviet Social Realism... --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 19:55, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Could the Borg assimilate a Dalek? -mattbuck (Talk) 21:11, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My citation needed wasn't clear. I was asking for evidence that the Statue of Liberty is related to the French Revolution. Corvus cornixtalk 19:08, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Here the French gave the statue of liberty to America on the hundredth anniversary of their revolution, and the Americans gave the French a mini-version on the hundredth anniversary of theirs. Tenuous a bit, but heh, it's a well known connection! :-) Fribbler (talk) 21:04, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This connection? Have to laugh at the French getting in first with the biggest one. By their statutes statues ye shall get the picture. Julia Rossi (talk) 06:48, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

May 24

observation

How can I be more observant? sumal (talk) 00:41, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You might take study carefully the writings of Sherlock Holmes (as reported, of course, in the stories of Dr. Watson) on Holmesian deduction and observation. Assuming this is the sort of observation you mean. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:20, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mormon Dress Code

If I become a Mormon will I have to wear a tie? 71.231.121.77 (talk) 02:10, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

All the time? Of course not. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:21, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
However, see Temple garment. Corvus cornixtalk 03:29, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not all the time, of course, but I suspect you would be expected to a wear a tie at least some of the time, maybe even a lot of the time. Here in Berlin I can recognize the Mormon missionaries 100 feet away because they are probably the only young men in the entire city wearing slacks, suit jackets, white button-down shirts, and ties. At a distance of 2 feet away my suspicions are confirmed when I see their nametags reading "Elder Johnson" or "Elder Smith", which I find amusing because these kids look about 20 years old and I can't help but think, "elder than who"? —Angr 08:17, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ipod Touch Downgrading

When I try to downgrade my ipod touch it comes up with "an unknown error has occured (5)"I am trying to downgrade my ipod touch from firmware 1.1.4 to firmware 1.1.1 and it comes up with that error. I have downloaded the 1.1.1 software. What I am doing is when I am in Itunes with the Ipod summary I click restore (while holding shift), select the 1.1.1 firmware and then it comes up with that error!! Is there something I'm doing wrong? PLEASE HELP!!!!!! 220.233.83.26 (talk) 09:23, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What does rooibos tea taste like?

Hi, what does rooibos tea taste like? Can it be minty? Is it sweet? Thanks in advance. :) --Kjoonlee 09:25, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OR: I drink it quite often and it's not minty but slightly sweeter than ordinary tea. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 09:54, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Personally, I find it a little less -- I want to say bitter, but I'm not sure if that's the right word. I'm gonna say it anyway. A little less bitter than black tea. It's definitely got less bite; it's a softer taste. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 11:43, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Milder than normal black tea. I get a hint of the smell of cardboard or paper. William Avery (talk) 12:22, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually I find it softer, bitter, and a bit sweet. Its very good morning tea. Especially for those groggy mornings. Have good day. I hope that I have been of some help.Rem Nightfall (talk) 16:45, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Sweet, soft, somewhat fruity. Not minty. Not bitter, unless you prepared it incorrectly. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:21, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

sports medicine in karate

I learn karate in India.Please help me What I do and do not physicial training —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.247.131.199 (talk) 11:28, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good day sir or madam. Would it be kind of you to please specify what you are trying to say. I know that you are from India and it may be a bit hard, but I have patience and I am willing to help you. I hope I can help.Rem Nightfall (talk) 16:43, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Nightfall: "I have patients" = "I am a medical practitioner", or "I have patience" = "I can wait without becoming agitated"? SaundersW (talk) 17:16, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry. My mistake I didn't mean to do that. Patience, I meant patience. lol! Sorry about the screw up. Now I confused the whole world. Thank you for pointing that out though. I appreciate it greatly.Rem Nightfall (talk) 17:25, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

See karate. You should only learn this art from a qualified professional. They will tell you what type of physical training you need.--Shantavira|feed me 18:49, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to this [[24]] you should work slowly at developing calluses without cutting your skin. Your trainer should know how to do that. If not you may have to look for a more qualified place, maybe. --Lisa4edit (talk) 04:44, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cure the Disease Doctor

Good day ladies and gents.I have watched and read many articles about how we are going to cure disease and everyone will stay in healthy condition. About how our lives will be extended and disease will not ravish us. But disease is life and life always find a way. There is no way that we will be able to cure all disease and even if we cure all disease, disease will find a way. Won't it? And if that is the case then why aren't the scientist, that are looking to cure all disease, looking far into the future? Why aren't they saying that the disease might come back? Why aren't they looking into that scenario as well? What if disease came back. Why aren't they looking into those questions? Thank you all for your time in answering this question. And have a good day.Rem Nightfall (talk) 15:55, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Well it is scientists' endeavor to fight and minimize the effect of diseases. Already improvements in medical science have made life less disease-prone for people and increased life-spans. May be we will never be completely disease-free, but that shouldn't hamper our endeavour to fight disease. I hope that answers your question. ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 16:55, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I believe that your assumption that doctors aren't concerned about the possibility of eradicated diseases coming back is quite simply false. That said, "life will always find a way" isn't a very accurate way of looking at it either -- if we look at something like smallpox, which has been completely eradicated from nature, it's gone. It will not suddenly "find a way" to come back, any more than dodos will. That's not to say that smallpox couldn't be encountered in the form of a biological attack, of course, and the virus itself still exists in laboratory conditions for research purposes. But there's effectively no chance of it suddenly popping up somewhere in the world just by itself. Also, I think the assumption that all diseases are going to be destroyed is also false. It's unlikely that this will ever happen, and if it did, it wouldn't do us any favors. A little disease is a good thing; it keeps our immune systems healthy and active. There's a big difference between learning to control diseases and eradicating them. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 17:19, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all for the clearing up of the situation. I understand what you mean and the smallpox example was helpful. I guess sometimes I misunderstand things. I appreciate the information greatly. Have a wonderfully positive day.Rem Nightfall (talk) 17:32, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Electric lawn mower

Any suggestions for a electric lawn mower? I'm thinking of a medium-price tool, around $300, maybe. --76.197.29.29 (talk) 16:31, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good day sir or madam. A quick search of my own and I found two reasonably priced electric lawn mowers or I should say something that fits your budget. They have at Amazon.com a Black and Decker Lawn Hog 18-inch 12 amp for 214.89. At Tyler Tool Co. they have a Black and Decker LM175 18" Electric lawn mower for 168.95. I hope I have provided you with some help. Have a positively wonderful day.Rem Nightfall (talk) 16:42, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Thanks for your help, but I was seeking personal opinion. Better yet, an evaluation of the "pro-and-con" effects of an electric mower would be better. A great day to you, too. :) --76.197.29.29 (talk) 16:51, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Personal opinion; buy a petrol lawnmower. Unless you have a very small lawn, an electric mower is a pain in the grass. Fribbler (talk) 17:22, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh I see,then if you want opinion. I agree with Fribbler. My only concern is that gas has gotten pricer over the years. Well I am off now. Hope I helped a little.Rem Nightfall (talk) 17:29, 24 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Unless your lawn extends a great deal from any outlets, an electric weed eater with a long extension cord can be nice. Using one can almost feel like painting. I can't really give any advice about brand, but I suspect there aren't major differences between manufacturers. Maybe try Consumer Reports. --Prestidigitator (talk) 19:20, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've used a 1.4 kW, 12.5kg electric lawnmower (Victa I think) with 50m of extension cords. After years of petrol ones I prefer it; of course I wasnt cutting huge lawns. The 24cm cutting width means more going back and forth. It provides continuous power wherever the blades are not just on the power stroke. The only maintainance has been sharpening the blades and unjamming after going into wild long grass. The really good bit that I hadn't realised before trying one is stopping and starting the mower; I stop the mower when pedestrians pass or to move junk out the way. Also, you can transport and store it without petrol fumes. I still use earmuffs even though I used the quietest model. In Australia "Choice" magazine had a trial of various types. Overall I much prefer the electric mower. Polypipe Wrangler (talk) 22:42, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

May 25

Soveit Photo Manip.

Per Censorship of images in the Soviet Union, how did the censors edit out the people in the photographs? Surely, digital post-processing software did not exist back then. Acceptable (talk) 01:16, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Airbrushing was one method. bibliomaniac15 01:27, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Other methods are here[25]. It used to be called "photo retouching", now "image manipulation" which seem smore manual than it is. Julia Rossi (talk) 06:23, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Whom would you call?

Imagine that you need to go to Scotland for a job interview. Your direct contact person in the company is English and you understand her accent pretty well. However, you would like to have some exposure to Scottish English before you travel there. Whom would you call in Scotland to experience the accent? 217.168.1.48 (talk) 01:30, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good evening sir or madam. Because you did not specify if the person was to be famous or not. If my information is correct I would call David Tennant. That is if my information is correct. I hope I helped you a bit. I hope you have a positively wonderful evening.Rem Nightfall (talk) 01:57, 25 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

Why would you want to call someone to listen to the accent? Listen to these e.g. [26]--Lisa4edit (talk) 02:33, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
@Rem Nightfall: I think it will be rather difficult to come through to this guy.
@Lisa4edit: radio is too perfect. However, I think a podcast will be appropriate and I'll give it a try. 217.168.4.191 (talk) 02:38, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry about that. I didn't know it wasn't a fantasy question. I'm sorry about my misunderstanding, but wouldn't it just be wonderful to talk to the actor of Doctor Who(totally lost tract). Sorry once again.Rem Nightfall (talk) 02:49, 25 May 2008 (UTC)Rem Nightfall[reply]

See if you can find some of Billy Connolly's stand up routines.Funny and full of Scottish slang such as "plukes" for spots.hotclaws 07:49, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There are also plenty of Scottish movies you could watch, especially Trainspotting (not the US dialogue version!), not to mention Shrek, Fat Bastard and so on.--Shantavira|feed me 08:30, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do I make change?

As I sit here watching my pathetic life go by, I am besieged by the overwhelming desire to make change. And not namby pamby change. Im talking REAL change! For example, what if I'm tired of lookin at trees and want to eliminate them worldwide? (I know, but that's why we have oxygen tanks.) Do we need to have suffering in the world? Ask the people going thru that. Spoiler alert!- They dont need it. Gravity? Who needs that ball and chain? Obviously sometimes, but not all the time. In short, if I so desired how would I make pink green , 1 plus 1 equal 3, break every law of thermodynamics (especially the second), and still get any woman I want?--Dr. Carefree (talk) 03:24, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dr C, I can take some of the weight off your shoulders by assuring you that gravity doesnt exist.... Mhicaoidh (talk) 03:46, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you get a job as a Cashier you will be able to make change hundreds of times a day. The way you make change is to determine the amount of coins and currency needed to make up the difference between the amount tendered and the total for the purchase and taxes, taking into consideration credits, coupons, discounts and returns. Edison (talk) 03:55, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you really want to change something, I'd say run for some political office. Useight (talk) 04:49, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Here [27] you can make changes without the rest of us having to figure out how to fill oxygen tanks without binding more of it in producing the energy needed to do so than we can put in the tank. Real bummer, that would be. (I guess you get your power from the outlet in the wall :-)--Lisa4edit (talk) 04:57, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Penis fantasy

Do women/girls sometimes fantasize about (images of) the male penis? If so, what proportion do?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.141.94 (talkcontribs)

It's very hard to get good sociological data on internal thoughts in general, especially sexual ones. At best you're going to get, "how many claim to, in one particular context in which they were asked." --98.217.8.46 (talk) 04:05, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Women and girls absolutely fantasize about penises, just like men and boys fantasize about vaginas. And, yes, plenty of men and boys also fantasize about penises, just like women and girls also fantasize about vaginas. A whole lot of people fantasize about both. People have an endless fascination with sexual organs, which has enabled an entire industry based on feeding and encouraging sexual fantasies to grow and succeed. As for how many people fantasize about the penis specifically, it's impossible to tell. Essentially all people have sexual fantasies, though, and they're considered to be the sign of a healthy person. Taking a semi-educated guess, I would say that among heterosexuals, it can be safely said that more women fantasize about penises at one time or another than not. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:04, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Knee trembling disease

Why do people (mostly young men) tremble their knees whilst sitting and usually whilst eating/ I find it grossly annoying. Is there something wrong with their legs? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.141.94 (talk) 04:26, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's anything in particular that causes it, possibly just a habit. I see it sometimes to, bouncing their knee up and down. I only find it annoying when it shakes the table or the desk or something. Useight (talk) 04:47, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I doubt it's a disease. I just always figured it was due to some small form of hyperactivity or just a nervous thing where the kid doesn't want to be sitting in a classroom but instead by out playing sports. Dismas|(talk) 05:24, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Excess energy, feeling you could "jump out of your skin"? Julia Rossi (talk) 06:17, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Guilty as charged. Speaking for myself, there's nothing wrong with my legs - I just like doing something rather than just sitting there. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:35, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Help Me Figure Out Song Please

Hi, this is going to sound trivial but it's really bugging me. I heard a really great song today but I can't remember its name. Someone told me "Leap and Bounce" or something like that (relatively unintellectual, two words describing motion, the first was somewhat uncommon), and the artist/album started with a syllable that sounded like "Duke". The only problem is that I've forgotten the real name of the song, and would really like to know. It was an electronic/dance track, and sounded like it was produced recently (probably last couple of years). Can anyone help me out? Thanks 121.216.129.51 (talk) 05:13, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Could it have been Fluke (band)? Rockpocket 07:54, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Parking direction

Why do so many parking garages and parking lots have signs asking you not to back in to the parking lots? Why do they care whether you park with the nose of your car pointing inward or outward? —Angr 08:10, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do these lots have diagonal or perpendicular spaces? If the spaces are diagonal, I would think the reasoning would be that you could mess up the flow of traffic when pulling in/out. I've never seen a sign like that. And if the space is perpendicular, I prefer to "battle park" as often as I can. Dismas|(talk) 08:33, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(after edit con) Presumably it's because most drivers are more likely to hit another car when backing between them than when backing out. It's also quicker in getting you out of the way of other cars.--Shantavira|feed me 08:36, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Dismas: Perpendicular. "Battle park"??? Shantavira: The first reason makes sense, but for the second reason, surely the effect is canceled out by how much longer it takes you to unpark your car by backing out when you're leaving. —Angr 08:41, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've never seen such a sign (in Great Britain). I was taught to reverse in and drive out, and rule 201 of the highway code (broadly interpreted) seems to recommend it. I think the ides is that it's more dangerous/disruptive to reverse into moving traffic. Algebraist 08:53, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

ITALIANS ASK THE TIME

Why in Italy there is a tendency to ask the time,from a public service telephone more frequently than in other countries? In other words Italians telephone to ask the time from a telephone centre quite often. Why?