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July 5

Foreign Aid

Which countries do not receive foreign Aid? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dwestgate (talk • contribs) 00:45, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean foreign aid from a specific country, or from any country? Over what time period? I am sure that every country in the world has accepted aid from another country at some point in its history. Plasticup ^T/C 03:42, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

What kind of foreign aid? Developmental aid, disaster aid, food aid, military aid? The U.S. received disaster aid in the form of search and rescue teams, etc, during Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. Would that count? The U.S. provided a military presence in Iceland from 1941-2006. Would that count? Rmhermen (talk) 13:35, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I think we can safely say that countries that don't exist anymore no longer recieve foreign aid. --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 16:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

NCHS Life Tables

I'm sorry, currently? I'm curious because in my research I want to compare it to national debt. Economic Aid.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Dwestgate (talk • contribs) 05:07, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

When are there no tables past 2004? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikindeling (talk • contribs) 04:32, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I accidentally delete a friend on YouTube and I added the user back

I accidentally delete a friend on YouTube. I was rushing and thinking about the OU (kosher). I accidentally click the "Remove Friend" buttin and I addedthe user again. I'm afraid the user will reject (denied) me. What should I do? Should I pray for the user to add me again? Jet (talk) 04:46, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well if they are your friend why not call/speak/email/text them and explain this. I'm sure anyone who is a friend wouldn't consider this anything more than a little odd - it's hardly like it takes effort on their behalf. ny156uk (talk) 07:53, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

If I may be so bold, I feel our friend Jet is a member of the well known and well loved Reference Desk band of trolls. See Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 January 1#How to be a YouTuber's friend when s/he denied me to be her/his friend on YouTube? for a similarly silly question. These sorts of questions amuse me, but I doubt other Reference Desk regulars appreciate them.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 17:59, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Really? Jet has an extensive history of contributing the main space it appears. Perhaps we should give him/her the benefit of the doubt and assume that’s/he is simply confused by the YouTube layout? --S.dedalus (talk) 05:23, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Couldn't get a answer on Humanities or Entertainment

Is 大戲, or Cantonese opera, in A flat Major?68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:06, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried the language desk? Julia Rossi (talk) 00:29, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

That sounds to me a bit like 'is rock music in A flat major?' If all the songs in the entire genre are in the same key you'd think that would be significant enough to be in the article. Nevertheless, I learned the music from the soundclip in the article enough to know the key, and it's C# Major Pentatonic. -LambaJan (talk) 18:24, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

(This was left on my talk page but I thought it belongs here, so I moved it. -LambaJan (talk)) Yes, you would think that if all the songs in the entire genre are in the same key would be significant enough to be in the article, but unfortunately, some articles are terrible, and they don't list information like that, for whatever reason. Maybe because the contributors of the article did not bother to include information (like the aforementioned information) for their racist agenda, who knows.68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:29, 11 July 2008 (UTC)68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:31, 11 July 2008 (UTC)68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:32, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Please assume good faith. The quality of the articles is increased when people who are disappointed by their quality fix them. I'm not aware of any racist agenda on the part of any editors on the Cantonese cultural pages but I would be much happier knowing that if that is going on it's counteracted by other editors who use sourced facts to fight bigotry. That's the beauty of Wikipedia. If there's a racist agenda in a traditional encyclopedia you have almost no power to change it. Over here you can let your voice be heard. -LambaJan (talk) 13:30, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

child development

pyshical,social and cognitive aspects of growth of a child aged between 2-3yrs ——— —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.220.225.10 (talk) 08:22, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, they definitely all exist. That is, if you mean "physical". I'd suggest you have a look at some of Wikipedia's articles on the subject, such as child development. Either that or actually ask a question. Grutness...wha? 09:01, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Garden Party Games

We are organising a traditional English garden party and would appreciate suggestions for activities suitable for adults. Along the lines of: guess the weight of the cake; how many sweets in a jar; what is the time on a watch sealed in a package. In each case the winner takes the item as a prize. Thanks in advance for the (hoped for) avalanche.86.209.28.131 (talk) 14:59, 5 July 2008 (UTC)DT

Instead of "guess the weight of the cake", why not have "guess the weight of the hostess"? (Prize: the hostess). Or maybe you don't want to go down that road. ;) You could try pass-the-parcel (prize: whatever's in the parcel), or croquet (prize: the croquet set, though it might not be easy to get hold of in the Paris area). Also, here's a link to games played at Butlin's in the past.--87.252.35.195 (talk) 18:29, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

If you play at garden parties, you might want to consider this article.

Atlant (talk) 21:03, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Charades is very traditional, and similar guessing games, such as pictionary, human putty, and so on. Steewi (talk) 00:31, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I might be a bit late now, but I would suggest a tombola, there isn't a specific article and indeed what is in the raffle article isn't quite what I think of as a tombola, but it is common in fetes in England. In brief, it is similar to a raffle but the selection of prizes are allocated to specific winning tickets prior to the draw (prizes are generally smaller than in a real raffle though, bottles of wine, cakes and books are normal). People then pay a fee to draw a ticket from a hat. If the number drawn matches the number allocated to a prize then they win that prize. It is basically the same as a raffle but the prizes are won instantly, rather than waiting for a draw at the end of the day. According to raffle they are also a way of circumventing licensing laws!Franmars (talk) 10:27, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

How much money will a music artist typically make off an album?

For example, 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' sold 12 million units worldwide, and is $9.99 on iTunes. How much money out of that $120million (if its the same price everywhere) does 50 actually see? How much does a music artist typically make from the sale of an album? Thanks. 70.105.164.43 (talk) 15:11, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, first of all, whatever 50 Cent makes off an album of his, it's probably not going to be what a typical artist makes from an album. There are a number of reasons for this, the chief among them being that 50 Cent is not a typical artist; he is -- at least in terms of popularity -- an exceptional one. Secondly, much of the sales took place outside of iTunes, and a new album in the stores tends to cost more than $9.99. It's also possible that the royalties are different for an online sale than they are for a store sale. Thirdly, to (kind of) answer your actual question: I don't know exactly how the royalties for sales work out for artists, but of course the idea is that the artist gets a percentage of the sales. However, there are a lot of factors that affect this.

Naturally, the percentage varies depending on how good a deal you've got (50 Cent presumably has a pretty good deal, at least these days, as he's a very popular artist and therefore has obvious leverage in negotiations), but in addition to that, the actual performer isn't the only one getting a cut of the profits. Usually, the person who wrote the song also gets one, and so does the producer, and as it's not uncommon for there to be numerous song writers or performers on a CD, things can get a little complicated, with lots of people getting little slices of the profit. So a big factor in this is how much of the actual creative work the artist is doing himself. I wish I could provide you with some typical numbers here, but, well, I can't; I tried to look things up, but couldn't find anything definite.

Also, bear in mind that a successful album also spans singles and music videos, which can be a pretty significant source of income, and all sorts of merchandising, which tends to bring in a lot of money for successful artists. These things go beyond the scope of your question, but you may want to take them into consideration anyway. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 19:52, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Although I too, can not give specific numbers, most artists that are signed onto a record label receive only a small portion of the total revenues from the album sales; the producers receive most of it. On top of that, the artists themselves have to pay for recording time and all sorts of other expenses that further allocates the revenue towards the producers. That is one of the reason you see so many rap artists, like 50 Cent, creating their own "mini-record label" within a larger record label in an attempt to generate a larger stake in the profits.

50 Cent, specifically, owns G-Unit Records, which, I believe, is further owned by Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records, which is further owned by Interscope Records, which is owned by an even higher parent company. As a result, I would imagine 50 Cent would receive a larger portion of the album sales than artists such as Clay Aiken, whom, I believe, do not own their own record companies. Acceptable (talk) 04:27, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

One indicator of how little artists actually receive from digital downloads is the Radiohead experiment. They put their album up for sale on their website, and they let the user choose what he wanted to pay for it (including not paying at all). They had it up for two months. Read what Thom Yorke had to say about the experiment:

In terms of digital income, we've made more money out of this record than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever — in terms of anything on the Net. And that's nuts.

Indeed it is. --Oskar 16:11, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

It's worth bearing in mind digital downloads come in various shapes or forms. iTunes for example is extremely large and have significant clout meaning that they can afford to dictate their terms including taking a significant proportion of the profit. Smaller sites in generally probably can't afford to and so may have to give the artist a larger share of the profit (however this may mean fewer total customers for the artist so it's not necessarily better for them). Clearly selling your songs directly means you only lose out on whatever PayPal or whoever your payment processor takes (but unless your already a big artist it may be hard for you to get people to even visit your site so no one may notice the songs you're selling) Nil Einne (talk) 07:28, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Flashes from Zen Vision W

The flashes from my Zen Vision W, which I told you about earlier, are real, not my imagination. I've just seen one while looking directly at the device. The screen flashed a solid light gray for about a tenth of a second, while the device was turned off. What is the cause of this? JIP | Talk 17:33, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

So the backlight turned on by itself? --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:43, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Seems like that, yes. And it turned off by itself immediately afterwards. JIP | Talk 18:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I'd like to direct you to the science desk - where the 'flashing light experts' hang out.. One moment please...

Please see Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science#Flashes from Zen Vision W. Good luck87.102.86.73 (talk) 19:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Weekly Universe

Is there a article on the article Weekly Universe?65.173.105.131 (talk) 19:24, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, if you searched for "Weekly Universe" and came up with nothing, I guess not; if it's of enough notoriety to be included in wikipedia (in other words, something enough people would find noteworthy, etc.) then cretae one.209.244.187.155 (talk) 19:54, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

ferdinand maximillion, i have one of his walking sticks.

hi there, im new to your site and found lots of information on maximillion, my quistion is i have one of his walking sticks do you know who would be interrested in it, ie a musume. if you can help please let me know many thanks. terri —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.201.125 (talk) 19:26, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

To which "Ferdinand Maximilian" do you refer? We have articles on five or six people with that name. Fribbler (talk) 22:49, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Additionally, if the person in question is of suitable historical significance for his walking stick to be of interest to a museum or a collector, you should also make sure that you have some way of proving that it is, indeed, his walking stick, as opposed to any other walking stick from the appropriate era. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:44, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

If you know which Maximillion, you can contact the curator for that century's artefacts. Some museums have periodic times (such as once a month) when the public can bring along stuff to be identified or assessed. If he's a VIP he might have a museum in his name somewhere. So yeah, contact your museum, Julia Rossi (talk) 03:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

If the querent talks about Ferdinand Maximilian I, last emperor of Mexico, then Miramare in Trieste is the only museum. Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City is today the Historical Museum. The man is buried in the local Imperial Crypt in Vienna and, of course, there is Manet´s painting of his execution.

About half a year ago there was an exhibition where it said that he gave a - well, royal - tip to the solders entrusted with this final task.

And here I am, answering questions for free on the the WP:RD when I could make a maxi million in maxico. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 15:34, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

hi there, thank you all for your responces.yes it is ferinand maximillion 1 it has his crest and the man fom the antiques road show confirmied it. he was very pleased.thanks for your help. terri —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.212.21 (talk) 21:24, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Women bodypainted topless

Why do so many female body painting models (not all of them though) go topless while being painted? The idea is to present the most of one's body to be painted, not necessarily all of it. They're already wearing panties while painted, surely a thin top covering just enough of the breasts to be decent wouldn't hurt the effect that much? JIP | Talk 19:52, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

• Killjoy. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 20:55, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

You may be missing the point, which is simply that body painting is about painting the body, not tops -- small or otherwise. Whether that's a reasonable distinction or not can be argued, of course, but then you might just as well ask why some people want to play specifically a Fender Stratocaster rather than, say, a Gibson Les Paul, even though you can play the same songs on just about any guitar: the answer is simply that the end result or the process itself is different, and details tend to matter quite a bit in art. Also -- I know I'm stating the obvious here, but anyway -- people like titties, and a lot of people like showing their titties, either for fun, for art, or for money, or all three. That's by no means a factor in all cases of topless body painting, but it's certainly one in a lot of it, especially when done for commercial purposes. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 21:18, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

The Captain speaks the truth. Also, in some cases there's an artistic point to be made about the nature of the naked human body. I've seen several body-paintings that look just like clothes if you don't look closely (and then suddenly, it's like, "Hey, an areola!"). This gives the artist a way to comment on nakedness and the clothedness. Mostly, though, it's about the honkers.--Oskar 22:36, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, this sounds reasonable. I am by no means advocating women covering up their breasts while painted, I was merely asking. (Hey, as a man, what do you think I would think?) I have seen body painting in two different places: at the World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden, and at the Health & Beauty Fair in Helsinki. Female models go topless in both places, but in Helsinki they are more shy about their breasts until they are fully painted. JIP | Talk 18:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Visiting U S need to buy oxygen Maryland area. Resident of British Columbia

I'm hoping to visit my great niece for four days July 31 to Aug. 3. I'm 91 and use oxygen therefore can only go if I can buy the commodity and have it delivered I will of course get a doctor's prescription, if in the event I can't buy it then I shall have to cancel air and accommodation and probably never see her again.. I would deem it a favour to be advised of the cost, thank you in advance. C. Baker —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.69.101.26 (talk) 21:31, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

There appear to be a number of firms providing home care medical equipment including oxygen. Here is a contact for a company which serves Maryland, having a medical branch in Linthicum Heights, MD 21090 (sorry, I am European and know nothing about the state).

I hope a local USian across the pond can advise you on the cost. A Californian supplier charges around USD 60, but this clearly depends on the volume. I hope you will enjoy your visit with your grand niece. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:34, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I would suggest a google search for medical oxygen and the name of at least the county that your great niece lives in. Im sure you will be able to find a supplier. But really, you would have to contact them first. If you cant find a supplier online, I would recommend calling the hospital nearest your daughter, and Im sure that they could give you some options.--omnipotence407 (talk) 03:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Come on, oil don't come in "barrels" anymore, do they?

Why do people measure oil prize in barrels? It makes no sense to me, oil hasn't come in barrels since like the There Will Be Blood times, has it? I mean, you get it out of the ground, into a pipeline, into a tanker, then to a refinery, from there to tank car and finally to a gas station. I probably got that chain wrong, but the point is: at no point in the chain is the oil in a barrel, right? So why are people reporting "Oil hit $100 a barrel!" instead of reporting "Oil hit 85 cents a liter"! (or, if you're a silly American, "Oil hit $3.22 a gallon!")? I realize that it's a tradition, but it's not like we prize the cost of wheat in sheafs. --Oskar 22:31, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well wheat is priced in bushels as far as I know. Another outdated measurement. And diamonds in carats. I'd say changing to litres, although it would make sense, would be very disruptive as people are used to hearing about the 'per barrel' price. Fribbler (talk) 22:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

When oil refineries buy oil on the wholesale market, they buy it by the barrel. It is a good standardized unit of measurement that lets us compare prices across many decades. It also abstracts the price of the raw commodity from "retail effects" that might distort the price at the pump and not reflect the underlying value. Plasticup ^T/C 22:52, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

But you could still compare it to old prizes, a barrel is simply 117.35 liters (or so google tell me). And the liter is also a very good standardized measurement, since we use it for, you know, everything else. And also, tankers (boat or car) presumably have a capacity measured in a regular volume measurements, and pipelines in liter/[some time unit]. Same thing for refineries. Doesn't measuring oil in an artificial unit that hasn't had connection to the real world for half a century just make everything more cumbersome? There seems to me that there is a whole lot of converting from barrels to liters and back to barrels for no good reason. --Oskar 23:04, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, I dunno. It's really no different than someone selling paper by the pallet or eggs by the dozen, is it? -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:39, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, eggs come in discreet units, so there's not really a unit that makes sense. And paper actually come on pallets (unlike oil). But I guess you have a point, commodities come in many strange units. --Oskar 01:26, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean when you say a barrel is an "artificial unit". It, at least, refers to actual containers that existed at one time, unlike the liter which really is artificial. I suspect that the continued use of the barrel as a unit of measurement in the petroleum sector is due to path dependence. Since nearly all of the infrastructure (tankers, refineries, pipelines, commodity markets) is measured in barrels, very little conversion has to take place and changing the whole system to metric would be expensive and disruptive without much benefit. --D. Monack | talk 02:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I in turn don't know what you mean when you say "the liter ... really is artificial". The litre not only existed at one time, but still exists, and is in very wide use. (Except in certain countries, where, despite not using it, they've chosen to change its spelling to liter.) -- JackofOz (talk) 15:23, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if artificial is the right word (I would use "abstract"), but barrel is much more concrete in the sense that barrels are standardized in terms of shape and size. A litre is like an inch or a pound; it doesn't look like anything in particular. Oil barrels were created first and the unit of measure was derived from that whereas a litre is just the volume taken up by a kilogram of water; it's not based on anything else. Matt Deres (talk) 15:42, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi. This isn't really relavent to your question, but err, since when is oil 85¢/litre "expensive"?! We here in Canada pay on average roughly the equivalent of $1.40 USD per litre, and there's more fuss over it in the US, where it's cheaper, than in Canada! In Europe, they pay roughly the equivalent of over $2.00 USD! Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 19:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi. The current Canadian average price for oil, by the way, is equivalent to ~$163.80 per barrel (or $5.30 per gallon). Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 19:53, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

They're talking about unrefined crude oil. I suspect you're thinking about some sort of processed oil product, like gasoline or heating oil. APL (talk) 20:56, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Standardisation is the reason. WP has an unhelpful article (for this purpose) on Standardisation in oil industry. Basically, the hassle involved in changing the unit would offset any good that may come off it. Players in the Petroleum industry and commodities-trading industry (see Commodities market and Commodities exchange) use the barrel as a unit of measurement which imho gives it a very tangible "connection to the real world". A futures trader would be more interested in the price per barrel. Also, quoting the price of brent crude in litres wouldn't be very helpful because people who buy/sell petrol in litres (e.g. the retail market) don't buy brent crude and don't all pay the same price. They only look at the oil price to gauge the relative value of oil to determine what might happen to the the price they pay. I can't see how much good will come off changing the unit for this purpose. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 13:27, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

July 6

Solve this puzzle and win some bragging rights!

I created this puzzle and was then told it was too hard, so I want to see if anyone can get it. First to explain the solution correctly will win the right to gloat or a barnstar (I've never given one to anyone so be the first!). The numbers in each row share a common feature with one another. Please explain what it is.

• 1
• 2, 5, 10
• 3, 4, 6, 9, 11
• 7, 12, 15
• 8, 13, 14

The order of the numbers within a row does not matter. Additional numbers can be added to the series. If you passed 5th grade you probably have the knowledge you need to solve this puzzle. Happy solving! Sifaka ^talk 00:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I *think* I've solved it. If I'm correct, then you can add more numbers like this:

• 1
• 2, 5, 10
• 3, 4, 6, 9, 11
• 7, 12, 15, 20
• 8, 13, 14, 16, 19
• 17
• 18

Mind you, four could have gone in a different row... Am I right? Cute, and nasty, too! Grutness...wha? 01:07, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Right on! Four belongs where it is, but your placement for all the numbers is correct! You win the prize! Sifaka ^talk 03:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Actually you were right about the four having the possibility of being in a different place... Sifaka ^talk 03:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

What's the solution??? ~EdGl (talk) 03:03, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Spoilers!!! Highlight to see it. Sifaka ^talk 03:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

• Hint:Try thinking writing them in a different numeral system
• Answer:When each number is written in roman numerals, each row represents the number of strokes used to write that number. 11 = XI = 3 strokes so row 3, 5 = V = 2 strokes so row 2, 19 = XIX = 5 strokes so row 5, etc...

I'm guessing whoever told you it was too hard isn't someone who does number puzzles very much. The two things the seasoned puzzler knows to look for before anything else is patterns formed by either spelling the numbers out as words, or changing them to roman numerals. - 89.168.238.53 (talk) 14:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Bass distortion

I have an Ibaneze practice amp for my bass that unfortunately does not feature distortion/overdrive... I did, however, once get it sounding like it was distorted (it was impossible to tell the difference between it and actual distortion) by fiddling around with the settings. But I can't seem to get back to that sound and I'm not sure why. On the amp I can control bass, treble, middle, and volume, and on the bass itself I can control bass, treble, pickup sensitivity, and volume. Anyone have any idea what combinations of settings might get it back to its pseudo-distorted sound? I need to just get a new amp, obviously, but I'm a little short on cash at the moment and wouldn't mind being able to play overdriven songs before then. --69.146.230.243 (talk) 02:00, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

If you boost the treble quite a lot on both you can usually get a pretty nasty sound. You could, of course, just get an overdrive pedal—it'll be cheaper than a big new amp, and probably have more variability to its sound than the distortion built into the amp. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:31, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

True... It's a sucky amp to begin with, though, so I need to get a new one eventually. But I'll try the treble and see if it doesn't help. Thanks --69.146.230.243 (talk) 20:48, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Seems to me if you turn up your bass volume and pickup sensitivity all the way you have a chance of overdriving the amp. If that doesn't work the turn up everything all the way on both the bass and amp, except of course for the amp volume (you want to overdrive the circuits, not your ears). -LambaJan (talk) 18:07, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Help Wanted

I've been trying to upload images by going to

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload

but everytime I go there, I'm asked to log in, even if I already am. Then, when I try to log in, I'm told that no one with the username La Alquimista exists!! Please help. La Alquimista (talk) 05:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

see meta:Help:Unified login —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tcsetattr (talk • contribs) 07:31, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Do you have an account on Commons? It is not the same system as Wikipedia. You probably need to create a new account there. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:32, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

instruction to use valiya narayanatailam

I would like to know how to use valiya narayanatailam. Are there any after effects for this oil? Can males and females use this regularly? (We are 64 and 60 years old). Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.100.2.3 (talk) 08:21, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Please understand that we cannot give medical advice regarding your specific case or possible side-effects (whether it's conventional or ayurvedic medical advice). Please seek a professional medical doctor or pharmacist for your query. ---Sluzzelin talk 09:00, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

AS Roma Strip

Could someone be kind enough to tell me what the Red, Wite and Green circle on the AS Roma strip represents. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.71.248.179 (talk) 11:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

It's a cockade ("coccarda"), similar to a roundel, carried by holders of the Coppa Italia. The colors are the Italian tricolore, see the article on flag of Italy for possible interpretations of the green, white, and red. ---Sluzzelin talk 11:36, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Foot

would it be corrent to say that all animals have

a least one foot? For example snails and snakes

could be considered their whole body as one foot? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.255.21 (talk) 16:59, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think so. I can think of many examples of animals without feet. Fish, for instance. Plasticup ^T/C 17:02, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

A snail has a foot (it is a gastropod); a snake does not.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:16, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

The late S. Freud has proposed the term Pedis Envy for the traumata experienced by species having no feet or less. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 18:36, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you mean limb? 87.102.86.73 (talk) 18:09, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

parodies of wikipedia

out of all the parodies of wikipedia, like

uncyclopedia and encyclopedia dramatica, w

hich is the biggest and most active. Thank

s —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.255.21 (talk) 18:14, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

ED has approx 2x hits of U - source http://www.alexa.com/87.102.86.73 (talk) 18:41, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I disagree with that. Uncyclopedia has a traffic rank of 6,309 [1] whereas encyclopediadramatica is much lower down with 13,823,307, and doesn't even show a graph as it's not in the top 100, 000 [2]. Also, a quick glance at both site's recent changes logs and Uncyc has a lot more activity than ED. JessicaN10248 12:56, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

There are 2 m's in it... http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/encyclopediadrammatica.org87.102.86.73 (talk) 15:21, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

There is one m but it's http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/encyclopediadramatica.com 87.102.86.73 (talk) 15:24, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Which has 'rank' 2000-3000 depending on what day of the week.87.102.86.73 (talk) 15:25, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

drainage grids

Hi everyone! I hope someone can help me here, I'm looking for the company that makes drainage grids, similar to the one in this picture: http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/maths/060627_psimmons_mp_maths_env_maths3_120.jpg Can one order them directly from the supplier? Thanks. User:Rhodopsin drinker (talk) 19:56, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

They're almost certainly made by a foundry, and often have the foundry name on. They are also called manhole covers.. that article actually gives the names of major manufacturers of, luckily. (if you want more help on this page you'll have to tell us what country you're in, and if it's a big country possibly the state as well.) Hope that helps.87.102.86.73 (talk) 20:20, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

They would normally by purchased from your local builders' merchant rather than the manufacturer.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:15, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Style of Shoes

Within the past several month here in Canada, I've seen quite a few teenagers/young adults walking around in a specific style of shoes that I am unable to name. These low-cut shoes are characterized by their slim, form-fitting shape and are very "slick" looking. Puma shoes like these ones: [[3]] are a prime example, so are these Lacoste ones: [[4]]. Adidas ones: [[5]]

By style of shoes I mean, like skater, "gangsta", "preppy", etc...

Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 20:53, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

They look like sports sneakers that would mostly be worn by atheletes (or slang, "jocks"), but really anybody could wear them. Highly doubt skaters would wear them, since they favor wider shoes like DCs, Etnies, and Vans (all skateboarding shoe brands). Also punks don't wear sneakers like that. ~EdGl (talk) 02:23, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

They actually look like track shoes, without the spikes. Maybe an athletic-inspired street version? Plasticup ^T/C 02:52, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I've been searching around some more, could they be driving-styled shoes? Acceptable (talk) 03:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

How to Compliment Wikipedia?

How do I compliment Wikipedia?

Just state:"This is a hell of a website! Keep up the good Work!"?65.173.105.27 (talk) 21:25, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

• The best compliment you can give is to contribute via editing or make a donation. Exxolon (talk) 22:32, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
• I've found that it goes well with fish, chicken, and even pasta on occasion. --Several Times (talk) 16:02, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, better that than "a nice Chianti and some fava beans".

Atlant (talk) 18:19, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

can someone identify this SUV?

Image:PCMS.jpg (or tell me where I should go to ask?) ninety:one 21:44, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

From the shape of the windows, this looks like a Chevrolet Tahoe to me - according to our article, the Tahoe is widely used by Brazil's police forces -- Ferkelparade π 21:59, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

wikipedia is amazing, thank you :) ninety:one 22:13, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

July 7

UK SIZES TO US SIZES

I'm a size 8 in the UK... but what letter would that be, like an S(small); M(medium); L(large)? PLEASE TELL ME! Thank Youuuuu :) BringMeTheHorizon112 (talk) 00:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

We need more info. Is that your hat size, dress size, man's shoe size, or all of the above ? StuRat (talk) 02:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Googling UK SIZES TO US SIZES gives this helpful page as the first hit. 152.16.59.190 (talk) 04:07, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Size 8 UK dress size is definitely not M or L. It is S or XS. You should try the clothes on anyway because whatever the system the labels are often inaccurate. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:08, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

How many MB's does 1 minute of music and 1 minute of video take up?

I'm wondering how much space music and video take up on a computer hardrive. In addition to the above question, about what length would the music (or video) have to be to take up one GB of space? I realize different file formats (such as .mp3 and .m4p) will take up different amounts of space, so what are those different amounts of space? Thanks. 70.105.164.43 (talk) 00:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

This depends on the so-called bitrate, that is, how many bits per second a multimedia file takes up. Higher bitrate = higher quality = bigger size. So one minute of video can take up anything from a few megabytes to as high a number as you want. Say you have a music file with a bitrate of 256 kbit/s (this is the quality you get from the DRM-free files from iTunes and from the Amazon MP3 store) one minute will be 256 kbits/s * 60 s = 1.875 megabytes (this is a fairly high quality for audio). A standard youtube video has a bitrate of around 320 kbit/s, so that would be 2.34 megabytes. However, as I said, these are not hard and fast numbers, especially the video one. Youtube is fairly low quality, those numbers can grow virtually without limit. One minute of DVD-video (at about an average bitrate of 4.5 Mbit/s) is at 33.75 megabytes. --Oskar 01:52, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Oh, yeah, as for how much music and video it takes to fill a gigabyte

• iTunes/Amazon DRM-free music: 9.10 hours
• Youtube quality video: 7.28 hours
• DVD quality video: 30.34 minutes

(I love Google calculator :) Here you can really see the difference between different qualities in video. --Oskar 02:32, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It's worth bearing in mind you can easily get DVD quality video at a much lower bit rate (at least half) by using a more efficient codec, e.g. H.264, compared to the rather old MPEG-2 used in DVDs. Nil Einne (talk) 06:52, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Religions without Claims of Evidence

Once, when I asked others if religions other than Christianity also claim to have proofs or evidences for themselves as the one true religion just as Christianity does, in Claims of Evidence for Other Religions as the One True Religion, one person replied: It is not too difficult to imagine a religion which says, "We don't claim to have any proof or evidence for our religion. You just have to believe it!".

Do such religions actually exist? If so, then what are religions are like that? If they don't have any evidence for themselves, why would anybody believe in them? Why would anybody be so stupid to believe in a religion which doesn't have any evidence for it? If you tell or show the evidences that Christians have, or claim to have, for Christianity to the believers of such a religion, what would they say and think?

Bowei Huang (talk) 01:55, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

All of them? I don't mean to be flippant, but when you talk about "proof" the way you do, you mean something like scientific evidence, and there's no religion that provides that, not even Christianity. That's why they're called faiths, because you have to have faith in them. People believe in them because they want to believe in them, because it gives them comfort and makes them feel loved. It has nothing to do with looking at all religions objectively and then picking the one that's the most plausible. People who look at the world that way are called scientists.

Ask a person from some religion "How do you know, for a fact, that what you believe is true?" most of them will say that they feel the presence of God inside of them, or that they look at the world and see purpose in it, or something like that. They couldn't care less about the ontological argument for the existence of God or anything like that (although the teleological argument seems to have won a lot of people over recently). Most people just simply subscribe to the religion in which they were raised.

Personally, I don't subscribe to a religion, but I understand those who do. I understand why they don't need a proof. It's not for me, but hey, judge not lest ye be judged, right :P In my opinion, analyzing religion through the lens of "What proof is there?" is the wrong approach, since lets face it: there is none. --Oskar 02:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

If there was incontrovertible proof that a religion was the one true one, either:

• vast numbers of people from other religions would become adherents, or, more likely
• the religion would cease to exist because there's nothing to believe in any more. It would have become a matter of accepted fact (no different than the existence of Henry VIII or the achievements of Roger Federer), not faith or belief, and religions are all about believing in things that can't be proven scientifically one way or another. -- JackofOz (talk) 02:34, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Bowei Huang is not asking whether religions actually have proof of their veracity. He is asking whether they all claim to have proof. Off the top of my head I cannot think of any religions which make no claims to evidence, but I am sure that some exist. Are you willing to count "cults"? Plasticup ^T/C 02:49, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I had some liberal Jewish religious teachers who told me that we can't prove that our religion is "true," but, similarly, no one can prove that it's untrue, and therefore, we can assume it's true for the sake of its rituals, traditions and ethics, which tie into its metaphysical beliefs. Not everyone follows the same reasoning, however, and some consider that line of thought downright atheistic. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:52, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I consider that line of thought stupid, but that's just me. --Oskar 02:59, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

You may have been talking to an adherent of Reconstructionist Judaism. I'm no expert on that sect, but it is interesting for this discussion in that Reconstructionist Judaism is an explicit rejection of theology. Their main "belief" is that Judaism is culturally important and should be preserved by performing Jewish rituals. It makes no truth claims about God or any other theological concept so it may satisfy the original poster's question. --D. Monack | talk 06:33, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I guess it depends on what you mean by religion. To me, a sytem which contains no spiritual beliefs but is simply about preserving culture is not a religion. (This doesn't mean it's followers are stupid or it's unimportant.) For example, I preserve some part of my Chinese culture including the reunion dinner on Chinese New Year eve following some of the rituals on rare occasion (e.g. ancestor veneration). But I don't actually believe in any of this from a spiritual context and wouldn't say I practice any religion nor do I consider these religions practices of mine even if a lot of this originates from what are generally regarded as religious practices. But to answer Bowei's question, I think many non-organised religions and also Eastern religions are less focused on proof then simple belief. It's IMHO a different philisophy. It's not so much about 'you must do this or otherwise you'll go to hell' nor is there any call to convert people. If you believe you believe if you don't you don't. I'm not saying there are is no proof, obviously there will still be a lot of 'I did whatever and then whatever happened' from people who believe that carrying out (or not carrying out) some ritual or following (or not following) some practice either helped or harmed them but by the nature of most non-organised religions, there is no general concern about proving the 'religion' must be true/correct. Nil Einne (talk) 07:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

These were Reform Jews, not Reconstructionists, although I sometimes can't tell the difference either. I think the way to look at is that since science can't answer certain metaphysical questions, one assumes that his ancestors have been right in their metaphysical assertions for 3,000 years rather than assumes that they are wrong. I think that what Nil says applies to most cultures outside of Christian and Muslim ones. That is to say, "This is what we believe, this is what we do, and what other people believe or do is their own business." With that philosophy, there really is no battle to "prove" which religion is the "correct" one. Religion is simply part of a particular culture. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:42, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Archaeology and the Book of Mormon may be of interest.--droptone (talk) 12:25, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

You mean postmodernism? Relativism? Bowei Huang (talk) 05:57, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Theologians tried to prove Christianity for centuries. See Existence of God for the arguments. Though accepted for a while, these arguments have nevertheless been discredited in one way or another. Faith is now the operative word in theological circles (creationists don't know their faith). And faith is different from beliefs, which may be based on evidence. Imagine Reason (talk) 20:16, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Buy Tickets Don't Use Them

I recently bought some baseball tickets for a game in august, however after purchasing some i realized i got tickets which were all the way at the top of the seating section i was looking at and so i decided to get some that were lower. all in all it was a total of $20 i spent. I want to make sure i won't get a no show charge for not sitting in those higher up seats. These lower seat tickets i got are the ones i am using. i was wanting to call the box office to release the earlier seats but they were no help. is it common for a sports club to charge you if you do not cancel earlier tickets?--logger (talk) 02:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

The short answer is yes, you will be charged. This response presupposes you have left a credit-card number in order secure your tickets. As far as the organization is concerned, you have purchased both sets of tickets, which you may have done for any number of reasons. I don't know of any group, sports or otherwise, that allows you to return purchased tickets. The organization does not care if the seats are used, however, or even if they are picked up; they only care about being paid for them once they are sold/reserved. This is personal experience speaking, which may be too much WP:OR for you. ៛ Bielle (talk) 02:55, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

These tickets are non refundable and i realize i can not get any refund back, all i want to do is release those seats for other fans and void those earlier tickets.--logger (talk) 03:04, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I've never encountered any scenario where you can simply "release" the seats and "void" the tickets. You could, however, sell them for face value on Craigslist or some other web site. Or sell them near the stadium on game day. As long as you sell them for face value and/or away from the premises of the stadium, you shouldn't have to worry about being arrested for scalping. Check your local laws for specifics on this before attempting it though. Dismas|^(talk) 03:54, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

You can also just give them away, if re-selling them is not an option. As you are going to the event anyway, drop by the "day of game" sales window and just give them to someone in line. Be a hero! ៛ Bielle (talk) 03:59, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Or (better) be a ticket tout at the entrance and get (more than) your money back! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.171.151 (talk) 23:31, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Some sports teams will accept donations of unwanted tickets for charitable purposes (sick kids, etc.). -- Coneslayer (talk) 11:59, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Stubhub? 86.53.80.11 (talk) 22:45, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

What to drink when sweating

What drink should one drink when sweating, but not physically active? Such a scenario could arise when one is lying or slowly walking on a very hot and sunny day. Sports drinks that replenishes electrolytes and other vital minerals lost through sweating are usually high in calories and are suited for those that sweat due to physical activity. Does there exist a drink that has the mineral-replenishing ability of a sports drink, but without the caloric content? Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 03:17, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Propel is similar to Gatorade, Powerade, and the like, but it only has 6 grams of sugar and 30 calories in a 24 ounce bottle. Also, to be honest, nothing works like plain old water. Grango242 (talk) 03:59, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Plain water is good. Slightly salted water can be better.86.219.36.166 (talk) 10:23, 7 July 2008 (UTC)DT

SLATED water??? have you not hered the frase "whater water everywhere and not a drop to drnk?" it means you MUST NOT drink salt water. NOT. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mud Flood (talk • contribs) 16:44, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

The body needs electrolytes (such as salt) in order to maintain a salt-balance in the blood. If you're sweating a lot for a long time and you only drink plain water, there is a small risk of you suffering from water intoxication because you have to few electrolytes (this is a small risk for amateur marathoners, for instance). If you drink seawater, the opposite thing happens, you get too much electrolytes in the body. To get rid of all that extra salt, the body dehydrates itself. In other words, you die of thirst. However, if you have just the right amount of saline, that's great for drinking. In medicine, you use a saline solution of 0.9% NaCl, so that seems to be the sweet spot --Oskar 17:22, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Ever been to an NFL training camp? A sign in the cafeteria says, "Remember to put two shakes of salt on all of your food." -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It might be good to keep in mind, in this connection, that most people already get far too much salt in their diet, and what they lose in sweat is, more likely than not, a step to the good. Obviously this varies with individual circumstances and is just my personal, non-professional, understanding of the matter. --Trovatore (talk) 04:22, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Mineral water! That stuff is great! Get the kind that's high mineral content. I prefer if it's sparkling, particularly naturally sparkling (it doesn't make a difference but I figure it's less processed). It's great on it's own and doesn't take very long to get a taste for, but it's also good with a splash of juice, like cranberry or pomegranate. Actually, price dictates I don't drink that stuff all the time but you can get some juice and add maybe 1 part to 4 or 5 parts regular water and that really refreshing and it stretches your juice to where it's cheaper than fancy bottled stuff. You can even get condensed lemon or limeade and do the very same thing. One thing that sounds terrible but is actually worth a shot is soy sauce, 1-2 packets to 12 or so ounces hot water. Maybe cold water too. I've only tried hot but it was _good_. I'm thinking of finding things to blend it with but I haven't yet (I'm thinking of some kind of lemon or something). One last thing... and this isn't for good taste (I don't mind it but I fully recognize that it's awful for some people): pickles and pickle juice. This is more for if you're running around playing sports all day but it's a good way to get a lot of what you need without all the extra sugars. -LambaJan (talk) 19:47, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Training and eating

When I go training, particularly early in the morning, what is it best to eat before? --212.120.246.239 (talk) 08:33, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Banannas. they are high in posasissum and goodness.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Mud Flood (talk • contribs)

It depends on what type of training you're doing and how intense it is. This provides a guide for runners.-Wafulz (talk) 18:05, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Wipro

who is the CEO of wipro? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.2.236.143 (talk) 13:58, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Azim Premji. Fribbler (talk) 14:47, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Russia

I have read the article on Russia numerous times and have read the articles for as many particians thereof as I possibly can, from the Jewish Oblast to Siberia and many many others inbetween. However I still have an almost unnatural fasination with what is very very far from where I originally come from, however. What I still wish to know, is how did such a large county develop? how were all these minor regions brought under one Tsar? and why have they not disbanded over the centuries, they all have different cultures, different languages, and are vastly seperated by enormous areas, yet they all are Russian? How can Chukoltka honestly consider themselves to be even vagly related to Omsk and how can moscow all the way in the east maintain control over Kamchatka further more how can they be happy being ruled by Moscow? Please help me to understand this Thanks193.115.175.247 (talk) 14:02, 7 July 2008 (UTC)Zionist

Have you read Russian conquest of Siberia? While this article does not tell the complete story, it provides the essentials. The Russians were able to conquer this vast area because they had European technologies, particularly weaponry, much more advanced than those of the various peoples who inhabited Siberia before the conquest. Essentially, the Russian empire was brought under the control of the tsar by superior force of arms and the superior organization of a modernizing state. The empire did not disband over the centuries because the Russian-dominated state was able to put down any challenges to its control, even after Communists took over and reconfigured those state structures. The Russian state, like any other state, retained legitimacy for its ethnically Russian subjects largely through ideology. During the tsarist period, the key ideologies were the image of the benevolent, paternalistic tsar and the religious sanction of the Orthodox church for the tsar's rule. During the Communist period, the key ideology was that the benevolent, paternalistic Communist leadership was fulfilling Marx's prophecy and championing the interests of workers and peasants. Most of the productive resources, and particularly the industrial infrastructure of the Russian state lay within areas with ethnic Russian majorities, and so the state maintained control of these resources. This control allowed the state to put down any challenges to Russian control by the numerically much smaller ethnic minorities. As you may know, some parts of the former Russian empire did in fact disband after the collapse of Communist control in 1991. However, the post-Communist Russian state, which has increasingly relied for legitimacy on an ideology of the benevolent, paternalistic strongman (Yeltsin, Putin) as the nationalist defender and champion of the Russian people, has so far successfully put down the only serious challenge to its power (in Chechnya) by a subordinate ethnic group. As before, the state controls organizational and material resources that allow it to overwhelm any challenge to its power by an ethnic minority, and the state's willingness to deploy those resources with deadly effect in Chechnya has probably discouraged other ethnic groups from attempting to break free of control by Moscow, even if they aren't happy about Moscow's control. Marco polo (talk) 14:45, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It has been said many times than Russia managed to create an Empire but not a Nation—it was able to use military force to build up a gigantic landmass into a single major political entity, but it never managed to produce a feeling of "Russianness" to unite the various groups. Hence it is often considered a rather fragile arrangement, relying solely on the strength of an often aggressive state to hold the whole thing together. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:06, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Optimising gear raitios

What sort of things do you need to look at when optimising the gear ratios of a car for a particular race? --RMFan1 (talk) 14:44, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I believe this is frequently done in things like formula 1 and stock car racing. The general idea is that you can trade top speed for better acceleration at lower speeds. So, if the track is short and/or twisty, and you know you won't go above a certain speed, they gear for better acceleration. Given enough gears, of course, you don't need to make such tradeoffs. I don't know if the limited number of gears tends to be due to rules or due to engineering constraints. Friday (talk) 14:50, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It is also possible to optimize ratios for specific corners. If a circuit only has one very low speed hairpin then you can change the ratios so that they are optimal for that corner. If you tried to accelerate out of the corner in third and the car seemed to "bog down" because the rpms were too low or if you tried to accelerate out in second and had to shift very early, then you might want to make some adjustments to your gearing.

Similarly, you can set the highest gear to work best with the longest straightaway. You don't want to run up against the rev limiter at the end of the straightaway and you also might not want to have a lot of top speed left, depending on what the rest of the course is like. Recury (talk) 20:23, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

High-end clothing in the UK

Greetings,

In France, high-end clothing is sought from brands such as Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Vicomte Arthur, Cyrillus, Saint-James etc.

What are their British counterparts?

Thank you in advance,

--Anon 18:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Lacoste and Ralph Lauren are internationally known. The others may be as well. I don't know, I'm not that into fashion. So, what are you asking? Are you looking for brands that are in vogue and have a lot of popularity amongst certain demographics? Or are you asking if those brands are simply available in the UK? Dismas|^(talk) 19:02, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I understand that the brands that I referred to, other than Lacoste and Ralph Lauren, are unknown outside of France, so I would like to know what their equivalents are in the UK, and which brands are renowned there for high-quality clothing.

--Anon 19:18, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Burberry is the only one I know off the top of my head. If you're desperate, you can have a look through the articles at Category:High fashion brands and try to pick out the British ones. Recury (talk) 20:34, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

In that list I recognise only Aquascutum and Pringle of Scotland. There is also Fred Perry (scroll down to see the fashion brand mentioned). But I think labels have a different place in UK culture than they do in French culture. In the UK the chav stereotype can easily become attached. This leads some people to avoid buying clothing with labels at all. Or they wonder why they would pay a premium when they could buy a similar item at Marks and Spencer. Itsmejudith (talk) 21:13, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your answers.

--Anon 18:18, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

the rich jerk

what do you think about therichjerk.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.74.73.68 (talk) 19:50, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I know that my Macafee Siteadvisor gives it a big red X, and "breached browser security" as the summary.... Fribbler (talk) 20:01, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

At a glance it looks like a pretty typical get rich quick scheme. You pay the jerk money for the "plans" on how to get rich. (Apparently, the plans include such sure-fire techniques as convincing other people to pay you for the "plans" on how to get rich!) See this article:[6] The only thing new here is the attitude, otherwise sites like this are dime-a-dozen. APL (talk) 20:48, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I think participating in the laughable scheme the site is peddling is going to make the participant feel very sad and stupid. (The "proof" section is very impressive, though! Nobody could ever fake that kind of solid and undeniable evidence.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 21:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks CD, I think this is just the very case where we need a user with official military grade disdain :-) Fribbler (talk) 23:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

staplers

why do some staples open outwards and others inwards? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.210.72.103 (talk) 21:19, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Depends on how the plate in the stapler is placed. Ive been known for changing it and other students can't figure out what is going on :) --omnipotence407 (talk) 21:31, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Stapler with staple plate

staples bent outwards and inwards

If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the staple plate Omnipotence is talking about: it has two types of guide for bending the staple. It is currently set to bend staples outwards, but can be rotated to present the inwards-bending form. Gwinva (talk) 23:13, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Can I ask a follow up question? Is there an advantage to one or the other direction of bending the staple, perhaps under different circumstances?Artpainter (talk) 23:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

It is easier to remove the staple when it is bent outwards. People sometimes do it that way when they know they are going to have to take the staple out. Plasticup ^T/C 00:20, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

There's a real reason, believe it or not...

Curl the points inward for a "permanent" staple; turn the plate around and push them outward for a much more easily removed and thus more temporary staple. --Danh, 67.40.169.42 (talk) 00:21, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

But, of course, this brings up the further question, why would someone who only wants a temporary fastener use a staple at all when paper clips are designed specifically for that purpose ? This might explain why the outward bending staple setting is rarely used. StuRat (talk) 04:41, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

The temporary staple is probably a bit more secure than a paper clip and less likely to lead to the pages becoming unordered through repeated removal of/reassembly with the paper clip. Me, I like binder clips.

Atlant (talk) 18:06, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

A temporary fastener is needed when papers are passed from one person to another in the knowledge that they will need to be separated - and then, perhaps, re-stapled. (No need for a staple remover.) Or because what is stapled must be removed by the other person, i.e. a form attached to a letter. In which case it is courtesy not to hard staple.86.216.123.52 (talk) 14:27, 8 July 2008 (UTC)DT

I thank those who have suggested that the outwardly pointing staples are easier to remove. That idea hadn't occurred to me. My feeling is that the difference in ease of removal is probably slight. Has anyone read a claim by a stapler company that the intended feature is as you describe it, or does anyone have any other source stating that as the purpose for the outwardly pointing staple?

The answer I thought I was going to hear was that the outwardly pointing staples were meant to be less likely to damage fragile varieties of paper. My reasoning is that the staple contacts a larger area of the paper with the outwardly pointing staple, than it does with the inwardly pointed one. Even that I would have found to be a bizarre explanation, but it was the only one that I could think of. Artpainter (talk) 21:11, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Our own article on staples recites the "easy to remove" meme, as does, for instance, ehow.com (to which I cannot link because that website is on our linkspam list - the articler is at /how_2265680_remove-staples.html). The following is OR: I've just stapled a circa 140gsm card with a couple of staples, one outwards & one inwards. I can now reveal that it was v.easy to remove the pinned staple, but the clinched staple is still embedded and I'm buggered if I'm going to risk an injury trying to get it out bare-handed. --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:11, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

My wife uses a lightweight stapler in this mode to attach sewing fabric to patterns before sewing and cutting. It is quicker than hand-pinning but only works on coarse-weave fabric. -- Q Chris (talk) 13:19, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, staples come in a lot of varieties. Length of the staple varies, as well as the robustness or slenderness of the steel. (I'm sure some staples are not made of steel.) This would greatly affect how easily or difficultly staples are removed. Artpainter (talk) 20:04, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Will an article from a stapler manufacturer convince the Doubting Thomases of the use of "temporary staples"? If so, here's Swingline explaining it all for you: [7].

Atlant (talk) 21:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

That's great. Thank you for that. Artpainter (talk) 22:01, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Seagull pet

Can I keep a seagull as a pet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.171.151 (talk) 23:28, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

This link [8] may help you! Fribbler (talk) 23:31, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes[9],[10] (may require login). Also, I have personally raised a baby gull to just beyond fledgling age. I could've probably kept her as a pet if I'd wanted to - but she started to become very 'assertive' and more interested in the outside world and the other gulls than she was in hanging around with me. It's against the law to keep wild-caught native birds as pets in many places though (I've never heard of anyone breeding gulls in captivity)... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 23:41, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

In addition, I just found this forum post, with pictures of someone's pet gull. Most of the 'pet' gulls I've heard about have been lame-but-otherwise-healthy birds (as a result of wing fractures that won't heal correctly) that are unable to return to the wild and have been returned to the person who first found them by the veterinarian (I'm not 100% sure if they're supposed to do that) as an alternative to euthanasia. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 23:57, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

One more image I just found (unsure of the exact context). --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 00:02, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

My main concern would be are they house trainable? Richard Avery (talk) 07:27, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Many species of parrot can be house trained but I have no idea about the gulls. I certainly never tried with the gull I looked after (I noticed that she didn't like to shit in the basket where she slept) - she was in the garden most of the day anyway. FWIW, 'bird people' usually grow quite tolerant of bird poop in the house and on the clothing anyway... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 10:26, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Right, thanks for that KSB - I think. Richard Avery (talk) 06:49, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Obesity and genetics?

Why is it that some people, like myself, never seem to get fat no matter how much they eat, whereas some people seem to get fat from nothing? Is it caused by genetics? What physiological "feature" causes this? --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:45, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I "enjoy" the ability to eat whatever and never gain weight, while my brother gains weight by just looking at food. It seems to be a mix of genetics and metabolism. Fribbler (talk) 23:54, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Genetics plays its part. For example, individuals with certain allelic variants of MC4R (PMID 18454148) and FTO (PMID 17434869) and LEPR are fatter than those without those alleles. There will be many more of these type of genes as yet undiscovered that, in combination, predispose people to obesity.

In terms of what physiological "feature" is involved. In the case of MC4R and LEPR, both are receptors found in the central nervous system. Their normal function is to limit/regulate food intake. What happens is when you are sated, the circulating levels of leptin and insulin bind receptors in the arcuate nucleus (including LEPR). Through a cascade of intermediate signaling molecules, melanocortin is produced and AGRP is suppressed. The melanocortin then binds to MC4R on the surface of hypothalamic neurons which, through and unknown mechanism, results in the reduction of food intake. When the MC4R or LEPR protein is non-functional, that mechanism no longer works and your body still thinks you are hungry so you continue eating. In extreme cases, when the gene is entirely non-functional, individuals will literally eat themselves to death. However, the mild sub-clinical variants appear to also have an effect on appetite. There are other genes (such as MC3R) which regulate the metabolism of the food already eaten. Variants in a gene like this, for example, could explain why some people never seem to get fat no matter how much they eat, while others can't seen to keep the weight off no matter how little they eat. Rockpocket 01:07, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm interesting. I eat in big servings and my weight never seem to change much, so I guess it's my metabolism then. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:57, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

I loathe you with a burning passion. Just so you know :) --Oskar 01:34, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

One can hardly blame one's weight on genetics if one sits around all day, does no exercise and eats high-fat high-sugar foods. Yes, there is probably a genetic disposition but it is not the only factor. I have a high metabolism because I do a lot of exercise. -- _{Escape Artist Swyer} ^{Talk to me} _{The mess I've made} 14:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Those people with severe loss-of-function mutations in MC4R could do as much exercise as you and still be obese, since the mechanism of their action has little to do with the amount of calories burned by activity. However, as with all genes, the phenotype is a result of the genotype + the environment. If you change your environment (i.e. by exercising more), then you can ameliorate the genetic predisposition to some extent. Rockpocket 20:37, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

July 8

Airliner Names

The first A380 purchased by Qantas is about to be named after a famous Australian pioneer aviatrix. Are there any other commercial aircraft in the world named after a woman?Govgirl (talk) 01:06, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Virgin America has an airliner named Jane (as in Plane Jane) [11] and pretty much the entire Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Blue fleet have women's names. According to Virgin, "Very few of our aircraft have been named after [real] people, however in 1993 Princess Diana had an aircraft named after her which was called Lady in Red. In 2002 Claudia Schiffer named an aircraft Claudia Nine. HRH Queen Elizabeth II named one of our A340-600 aircraft Queen of the Skies". [12] Rockpocket 01:58, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

How much power is required for the Internet?

Excluding all PCs/modems/instruments that end users use to connect to the Internet, is there any estimated figure of world wide power consumption by Networking hardware which keeps the Internet functional? - manya (talk) 04:11, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

This guy http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/10/how_much_power.php has a guess at it..87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:58, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Post World war 2

I would like to find out some history of the reason that C.A.R.E parcels were issued to some of the poorer families after the second world war.

From our article CARE Package - "In 1945, the newly-formed CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) initiated a program to send food relief to Europe, where large numbers of people were at risk of starvation in the wake of World War II. " There is also a link in CARE (relief) to a brief history of the organization on the CARE website, which gives a little more detail. --LarryMac | Talk 14:35, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

An Austrian website has the following: The US CARE relief scheme, which was set up in Austria after 1946 to support individuals, kindergartens, hostels, schools and hospitals (CARE parcels) served as a model to the organisation. In terms of 1998 money, the CARE donations made available between 1946 and 1957 reached a value of ATS 1.2 billion.

The ATS (Austrian Shilling) is, of course, long obsolete and has been replaced by the Euro. The 1:1 equivalent would be some 87 million EUR, but it is not obvious what area they are referencing. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 15:38, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Russia II

Thanks for the previous answers, and further more... Why are there more Russians all over Siberia than native peoples eg Tatars, also, why is there such a large percentage of Ukranians in Russia? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 15:20, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

To start with the first part of your question, there are in fact some rural pockets of Siberia where non-Russian ethnic groups form a majority. However, it is true that, across Siberia as a whole, ethnic Russians form a large majority of the population. The reason for this is that there was a large migration of Russians from European Russia into Siberia from around 1600 to maybe 1950. These Russians either moved voluntarily seeking land to farm, were stationed there for military or political duties and ended up settling there, or were moved to Siberia forcibly by the state for political reasons and ended up making their permanent homes there. The Russian imperial state encouraged peasant farmers to migrate to Siberia by granting them freedom from serfdom upon their migration. Most of the indigenous peoples of Siberia did not practice agriculture but lived instead by hunting and foraging or by herding livestock. These methods of sustenance cannot support high population densities. By contrast, the agriculture practiced by Russian peasants could support much higher populations in a given area. With the backing of the Russian state, Russian migrants occupied the most fertile areas, and their population in areas where they settled soon outnumbered that of the indigenous inhabitants. As for the second part of your question, on Ukrainians: until 1991, Ukraine was part, first, of the imperial Russian, then, of the Soviet state. Like ethnic Russians, Ukrainians were compelled or induced to settle in Siberia. Also, many Ukrainians in imperial or Soviet times were assigned to work or other duties outside the Ukraine in regions, including European Russia, that are now part of the Russian Federation. Therefore, when Ukraine became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991, many ethnic Ukrainians found themselves on the Russian side of the border. (Likewise, many ethnic Russians now live in Ukraine.) Marco polo (talk) 18:12, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Abducted by the Daleks

Where can I buy "Abducted by the Daleks" on DVD? 86.136.7.234 (talk) 16:54, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

There are two copies on eBay (UK) at the moment.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:02, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

The online retailer "xploited cinema" stock it. Be quick though as they are winding down operations.--80.176.225.249 (talk) 19:35, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

A very chunky bottle of wine:

I've got a bottle of 1970 Chateau Beau-Rivage, in the bottom of the bottle is a large clump of something, (I'm not sure what it is). If the bottle is disturbed the clump will break up into smaller chunks and darken the wine. My question is....Is it safe to drink the wine after the particles have settled to the bottom, and what are the particles? Derulk (talk) 18:08, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Possibly lees. --LarryMac | Talk 18:11, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

This is not uncommon in old red wines. In fact, some kinds of port are commonly decanted to remove the dregs.[13] Rmhermen (talk) 18:20, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Wine is normally taken off its lees before bottling; what forms in the bottle during aging is more often called "sediment", and its formation is normal (and copious in ports, as Rmhermen points out). It is not harmful, but if it's poured into the glass, the texture is unpleasant. Thus the sediment is normally allowed to settle over a period of days (either with the bottle upright, so that it settles to the bottom, or with the bottle in a decanting cradle, so it can be poured without disturbing the sediment). The wine is then carefully poured into a decanter, stopping before the sediment pours out. A candle (or, in modern times, a flashlight) is useful for observing the shoulder and neck of the bottle, to know when to stop. -- Coneslayer (talk) 18:39, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Sediments are common in aged red wines. The presence of sediment does not mean that there is anything wrong with the wine. Plasticup ^T/C 19:46, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Quote

I need a good quote for a particular situation. As it goes, there is a person/acquaintance/friend I will never see again. Not in a tragic sort of way, she and I are just moving to different places and we're not close enough to exchange e-mails/phone numbers. I want a good quote acknowledging that even that we will probably never cross paths again, I wish them luck/will always remember them.--Endless Dan 19:45, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

"Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it." Don't tell her it's from Southpark. Plasticup ^T/C 19:50, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Though we'll probably never cross paths again, I wish you luck and I'll always remember you. -Endless Dan (I thought it was pretty good). -LambaJan (talk) 20:00, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Kinda reminds me of We May Never Pass This Way Again -LambaJan (talk) 20:04, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

LOL - LambaJan, I suppose my own words could work. --Endless Dan 20:09, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi. How is it possible to live too far away to exchange e-mails? Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 18:52, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I think EndlessDan meant that it was not a close relationship. Nothing to do with geography. --LarryMac | Talk 19:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

From Homer Simpson,the fount of tactful emotion-'Six words.I'm not gay,but I'll learn'. Lemon martini (talk) 15:11, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Human Resource Implications of Outsourcing in Developing Nations

Detailed explanation of Human Resource Outsourcing, Outsourcing and also the implications of human resource implications of outsourcing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.205.167.156 (talk) 20:13, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

You may want to look at our articles on Human resources and Outsourcing (particularly the criticisms) if you haven't already. —Pie4all88 (talk) 20:58, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

July 9

Any speaker-builders out there?

Hi, all. My kid is attempting to build a couple of speaker cabinets for bass guitar work; I'm involved due to the need to use power tools from time to time :-)}. He's done much research, we have purchased a couple of books, and read a couple of others; while there's a great deal of science in parts of the process, there's a glaring lack of it in one area. Perhaps we have experts on insulation here?

We are struggling with how much or how little insulation to add to the box, and of what type.

• One author said he had lined his cabinet with leftover asphalt shingles, which in my opinion is as good as no insulation at all -- they're dense and rigid, and expecting that surface to soften or eliminate interior echoing is flat-out counterintuitive.
• Some authors say a couple of inches of fiberglass (or its non-fiberglass equivalent) is sufficient. This implies to me that the goal is to reduce but not eliminate interior sound.
• One book shows a picture of low-density egg-crate style foam. This stuff absorbs a lot of sound energy (I think) -- and implies (to me, at least) that the goal is the opposite of what I concluded in the previous bullet!

So, is there ANY science here? What are we REALLY trying to accomplish with insulating the box? How much? How little? Or does it not really matter that much? Many thanks, --Danh (and his kid), 67.40.169.42 (talk) 00:22, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I thought the intent is to dampen standing waves found at resonant frequencies, for which purpose both of the last two techniques - fibreglass, or foam - seem appropriate. And I think it's reasonable to say that there will be better or worse egg-crate profile foams; I'd think some would be inferior to fibreglass. How much or how little is, I think, mainly a tuning issue which is best accomplished by experimentation. You can work out the resonant frequencies of your box since wavelength equals the velocity of sound divided by the frequency, and standing wave lengths will be the whole or fractions of the distance between parallel surfaces ... but I don't think that knowledge will help in determining how much insulator to stuff into the thing. My limited experience: the bigger the cabinet, the more is stuffed into it. See also Loudspeaker enclosure#Closed-box enclosures--Tagishsimon (talk) 00:41, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

First of all: you dont need two cabs; one will be quite sufficient because 2 cabs will only give you 3 dB increase (which is almost inaudible).

Second, the wadding inside is to reduce the cabinet resonances (not the panel resonance). BAF wadding is commonly recommended. It also increases the apparent volume of the cab (which is a good thing) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.144.199 (talk) 00:47, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Please see Bass instrument amplification for more info. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.144.199 (talk) 01:27, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for that reference, I hadn't run across it yet. Could you elaborate slightly on those two red terms, the types of resonances? (I'd read the articles, but they don't exist yet!)

That said, though, I don't see anything in the referenced article (or your response) that answers the two primary questions: how much wadding is actually needed, and is there any science behind it -- anything as formalized as the myriad Thiele/Small variables? --Danh, 67.40.169.42 (talk) 03:53, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Cabinet resonances are the "standing waves" inside the cabinet - and so depend on the dimensions of the cabinet - and lead people to build weird pentagonal shaped speakers etc...

Panel resonances are the vibrations of the stuff the walls are made out of eg wobble board - use stiff enough material and these shouldn't be a problem.87.102.86.73 (talk) 12:16, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Additing asphalt or gluing heavy rubber sheets to the walls can damp panel resonances. I'd still use something else in addition to stop box resonances.87.102.86.73 (talk) 14:43, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

OK, that makes sense; thanks. Does anyone have an opinion on chipped-foam carpet underlayment? It's only half an inch thick, and maybe too dense for sound absorbtion -- but I can get a lot of it for free! --Danh, 67.40.169.36 (talk) 12:44, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I think you'll find a lot of it is just determined by experimentation. And it's pretty easy to add or remove stuffing or even foam on the interior walls and run another round of experiments. The hard part is determining subtle differences and whether they sound "better" or "worse". By the way, if we're talking about wall resonance, Dynamat ([14]) is a good material to consider. Many other techniques have been tried through the ages as well; Wharfedale once built speakers that had an outer box and an inner box with sand packed between the two. That was one pretty acoustically-dead enclosure!

Atlant (talk) 22:07, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Dead panels? Probably. No cabinet resonances? Who knows? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.184.112 (talk) 00:17, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, of course; that's what I meant.

Atlant (talk) 10:29, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Hornets&wasps when do they?

Hi I was wondering when do Hornets&Wasps go to sleep,how long do they sleep for and when do they come out? I'm up at 5:00am and I've seen them flying around and in my pool(alive) I didn;t think that they were "up" at that hour. So what I can;t find on Google,Yahoo and in your artticles is ther sleeping habits. Does temp. affect there sleeping or what? THANK YOU FOR UR TIME AND FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER ALL OF MY ABOVE Q'S Sincerly:§IrishPhantom —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.150.116.26 (talk) 00:58, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

The best I can give you, quickly, is from Signatures Of Sleep In A Paper Wasp by B.A. Klein, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, who states: "Polistes flavus paper wasps spent extended periods from dusk until several hours after sunrise in a relatively motionless state, with bodies usually contacting the substrate, antennae lowered, and with occasional limb-dangling in the direction of gravity." You did not say when sunrise is, wherever it is you live. I suspect other wasps, or even other colonies of paper wasps, might have slightly different sleep patterns. Oh - and this looks good. --Tagishsimon (talk) 01:07, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

9/10 of a cent on gas prices

When are they going to stop with that ridiculous 9/10 of a cent on a gallon of gas? The difference between 3.979 and 3.98 is 1 cent per $40. About 1-1/2 cents on a 15-gallon fillup. They started that when gas was less than 20 cents per gallon. This is too small to worry about. Why not make the price a whole cent? Bubba73 (talk), 03:14, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Hey man, you don't want to get them started. First it'll be one cent, then two, then ten, then... best leave things how they are! --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:31, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

For those who don't know what the OP is referring to (i.e. everyone who hasn't visited the U.S.), we have a system that adds $0.009 to the price of a gallon of gas. I think it's just the U.S. that does this, my apologies if I'm pointing out the obvious and other countries do this as well. Dismas|^(talk) 03:35, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have been clear that this is about the pricing of gasoline in the U.S. Bubba73 (talk), 03:46, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Could it possibly be part of a complex plot to make the United States of America look like an idiocracy? "Ooh! Instead of buying my gas here where it's $4.20, I'll drive over there where they are selling it for a mere $4.199 per gallon!" Edison (talk) 05:25, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Every price I've seen for many years has the 9/10 of a cent. I don't think it makes sense to have it anymore. Bubba73 (talk), 05:31, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

It happens elsewhere too. UK prices are along the lines of 121.9 pence per litre (e.g. See the min and max prices here), and this site shows similar in Germany. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 08:46, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

When are the Americans going to join the rest of the world and give up fractions ?86.200.6.219 (talk) 10:31, 9 July 2008 (UTC)DT

Well, as far as history goes, when it first started, when 1 cent was a HUGE difference, people didnt want to raise it a whole cent, but wanted to still raise the prices. So it worked its way up to 9/10 of a cent. Now, its just tradition, albeit a stupid one that should end, but still it goes on. --omnipotence407 (talk) 12:07, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

But now 1-1/2 cents on a tank of gas is practically nothing. 1.5 cents of gas will carry you approximately 400 feet. Bubba73 (talk), 15:01, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Interesting. I just calculated that with my 12mpg in town and gas at $3.90, it costs me 32.5 cents to go a mile or 244 feet on 1.5 cents of gas. That's depressing. At least it's a lot better on the freeway. Useight (talk) 15:58, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Someone should link to Psychological pricing. I guess I just did. Rmhermen (talk) 12:44, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

That mentions the problem. But as far as I know, nothing else in the US sold to consumers has a fraction of a cent on it. If you buy a pound of beef, for instance, it never has a 9/10 of a cent on it. I can't think of anything that does, except gasoline. It seems like an anachronism. Bubba73 (talk), 02:17, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It's like that in Canada too. This morning I was excited to find that gas was "only" $1.315 per litre. Adam Bishop (talk) 13:06, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Half a cent per liter is far more significant than a tenth of a cent per gallon. The half cent per liter works out to around 2 cents a gallon, or some 20 times more. In a 30 gallon gas tank that would be $0.60, which is well worth crossing the street to the cheaper station. StuRat (talk) 14:57, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

See also Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's The Meaning of Liff, wherein one finds the following definition:

"Kibblesworth (n). The footling amount of money by which the price of a given article in a shop is less than a sensible number, in a vain hope that at least one idiot will think it cheap. For instance, the kibblesworth on a pair of shoespriced at £19.99 is 1p."

Cheers. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 00:29, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The simple solution would be a law stating "all gasoline prices must be given to the exact cent as of the following date: xx-xx-xx; and any stations which fail to comply will be charged a fine of $1000 per day". This would bypass the problem of no gas station wanting to try to sell gasoline for $4.00 a gallon when the station across the street is selling it for $3.999. I'd think any legislature that ended this idiotic practice would be almost universally applauded, although comics might miss this opportunity for humor, like when the Simpson's went to Bob's Discount Gas (because their prices always end in 8/10 of a cent instead of the usual 9/10). StuRat (talk) 14:47, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

How does the men's hair color product called "touch of gray" actually work?

Touch of Gray made by the same company that makes Just for Men hair color dyes some of the hair but leaves other parts gray. It does not work with ammonia or peroxide. How does it know where to leave the gray? how can it color only part of the hair even though it is applied all over? Just how does it work? Thank you very much.

Jonny (talk) 04:52, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Paul Walls

EGGS

Why when i boil an egg (chicken) and leave it in the hot water does the yellow inside go black, unlike when if I put it in cold water it stays yellow? What reacting takes place to cause this? 86.159.56.251 (talk) 09:42, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

The colour is caused by iron sulphide formation. See http://www.biochemj.org/bj/014/0114/0140114.pdf for details. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 09:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Polish History

A friend was trying to tell me about a war or series of wars that occured in Poland a few hundred years ago, he said that the common folk, farmers and peasent and such like took up arms and fought with pitchforks and syths from thier fields and fought armies who were rather scared of them. After this or these events Poland was disbanded or ceesed to exist for a hundred years or so. Does this ring a bell with any of out resident historians? If so please provide me with a link or two so I can go back and have an intelectual debate with my learned friend. Thank guys and keep on learning. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:15, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Several hundred years ago, those weapons would have been common in many countries' conscript armies, not unique to Poland. You will probably want to look at History of Poland (1569-1795) and partitions of Poland. The history is quite complex. Rmhermen (talk) 12:41, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Could it be the January Uprising? or Kościuszko Uprising see List of Polish wars

It was the Partitions of Poland that erased poland from the map.87.102.86.73 (talk) 12:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Kościuszko Uprising Thats it!!! Thanks people. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 14:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Sports

Why are most baseball and basketball players African Americans? 208.76.245.162 (talk) 12:04, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

They don't - at least not in baseball where they make up only 8%.[15] Rmhermen (talk) 12:22, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

They did make up 67% of NHL football players as of 1997[16]. Perhaps that is what the questioner meant. They do make up 80% of basketball players.[17] This source probably also has information on the why's. Rmhermen (talk) 12:30, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

There were (at least) 3 football players in the National Hockey League in 1997?! -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:02, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

For basketball, at least, it's for the same reason that East Africans dominate some running sports and Eastern Europeans often dominate chess: they're extremely popular in that culture, and many kids in that culture want to excel at them and are encouraged to do so. Any other explanation is a just-so story, in my opinion. --Sean 13:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

People from West Africa tend to be faster than people from other countries. At the level of the average person, the difference is too slight to be important, but at the extreme ends of the bell curve, the difference is exaggerated. Thus, the fastest 0.01% of people in the world are disproportionately likely to be of West African descent, just as the best marathon runners tend to be from East Africa. Most African-Americans are of West African descent. In the case of basketball, the sport's great popularity in urban areas probably explains more than any biological factor. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:20, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

At the risk of adding a slightly controversial note, it's worth mentioning that there are slight (when averaged overall) skeletal differences in body shape between different ethnic groups. The waist tends to be proportionately higher in many African races and proportionately lower in Polynesian races, for instance (the difference is minute, but enough to help pathologists and the like in their work). High waist = longer legs = faster; Low waist = lower centre of gravity = greater pushing strength. Therefore, Polynesians are more likely to take to sports like Rugby or American football, and African-Ameriucans are more likely to take up sprinting and basketball (there are exceptions, of course, and these are general average trends only). Grutness...wha? 02:59, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

At the risk of offending those who believe that every population on the planet is exactly equal in every aspect, hasn't there been scientific documentation of differences in the muscle types of different populations with respect to the ability to jump or to win a 100 meter race, i.e. "fast twitch muscle"? See [18] Science, 30 July 2004, Vol 305, pages 637-639. Edison (talk) 04:12, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

John Entine's Taboo : Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It discusses many of these ideas.--droptone (talk) 17:22, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

What type of duck is this?

Okay, a question from my mum, who is currently abroad. She's taken a photo of a duck. She says she took the photo in a campsite near Bordeaux, in France. Any ideas what type of duck it might be? Dreaded Walrus ^{t c} 12:09, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

A white crested duck? Like the picture at the bottom of Domestic duck. Fribbler (talk) 13:25, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks. It appears we have an article on Crested Duck (domestic breed), which appears to be it. The external link in the article seems to have photos that match up to the one she took. Thanks for the help. :) Dreaded Walrus ^{t c} 13:37, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Last European Question, I swear!

What would one need to do to enable an emmigration from UK, with no qualifications other than finishing high school, to Eastern Europe, eg Poland, Ukraine, Russia. How would one find work? would this be possible? Any relavent info would be greatly appreciated thanks a bunch —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 14:53, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I can't answer your question, but note that migrating to Poland is a very different proposition from the other two, as Poland is in the European Union. Algebraist 15:00, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) yes, effectively you can go and live/work in poland if you are an EU citizen, will very little extra paperwork..87.102.86.73 (talk) 15:02, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

What's "no qualfications other than finishing high school" in a UK context? Do you have no GCSEs at all? Itsmejudith (talk) 15:06, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Ok so lets concentrate on Poland, yes, I have A level equivalent. Please help me! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 15:08, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Well, if you're a British citizen, it's not that difficult, really, provided the Eastern European country you want to live and work in is a member of the European Union, as the United Kingdom is. Citizens of EU member states can move about freely and work in other EU countries without visas, work permits or whatnot, thanks to the Four Freedoms. As Poland is an EU member, that would work just fine. Russia and Ukraine are likely to be a little more difficult, though by no means impossible. This means essentially that you can just about jump on a plane to Poland right now and get a job there, if you can find one. Of course, it's not really that simple -- if you don't know the local customs and don't speak the language, that's going to be challenging, for example. There may be other hurdles, and certainly there's a degree of bureaucracy involved. But these aren't so much obstacles as they are things you have to take care of; if you bother to learn enough of the language to get by and put in the paperwork (which I understand to be fairly simple), you can do it. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:09, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

You'll want passport/proof of identity - that's really all you need, plus a train/boat/plain ticket. Enjoy your stay in Poland!87.102.86.73 (talk) 15:32, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Okay, thank you, but i dont speak the language, and thus what sort of job could I get, and what are the chances of acctually getting one? and what would the pay be like? could I acctually live in a decent way? how much of a barrier would the language be? what sort of paperwork would be required? I have been there several times and appsolutley love it! Thanks again —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 15:42, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, according to our article on Demographics of Poland, 97.8% of the population speaks Polish. That might mean that there are fewer support structures for people not speaking the language. Since you've already been there several times you've probably got a good idea what it's like to get around in that area. Do you have a hard time ordering food, following directions, asking questions, etc? If so, you're going to have a really tough time trying to be a productive member of that society. If you were a skilled worker or had some other demonstrable assets, companies would probably be more willing to overlook language issues (or foot the bill for some classes), but a guy that offers little will get offered little. That's no different anywhere you go. Matt Deres (talk) 18:30, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

If your qualifications are vocational that might help you to get a job. In some EU countries you would need translations of your certificates by a registered translator in order to be allowed to practice a trade. If you have City & Guilds or BTEC then they should be able to supply an explanation of what your certificates cover. Itsmejudith (talk) 19:43, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Here's an article on the only Englishman who works for the Polish Fire service, and how he came to get that job. -- Arwel (talk) 20:11, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

There is (was?) an RD regular user:Ouro from Poland. He has been inactive for about 2 months. Try his page for local advice. Good luck. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:00, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Woodworking - how to make a long thin wedge

In need to make some long, thin wedges of wood. Much like a standard wooden shim, but at least 2x longer. I have most of the common power and hand tools. I think that somehow this could be done with a table saw, but I'm not sure how. ike9898 (talk) 16:11, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I would instantly have though of using a plane for that (or a power-plane if you have one). Get your wood, mark it, plane it. Maybe I'm missing something though (haven't been woodworking for about ten years). Fribbler (talk)

You can just run the stock through the table saw at a small angle. If you have an adjustable angle pushblock it's simple. Rmhermen (talk) 17:09, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Can you elaborate? I don't understand what holds the board at an angle. ike9898 (talk) 17:13, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

The pushblock. Or you can clamp a wedge to the fence - it wouldn't need to be as long as the one you were trying to make. Rmhermen (talk) 17:48, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Good grief. We do not have a picture of a table saw. If we did, we'd be able to show the pushblock - a raised section of metal or plastic used as a guide for the wood - set at an angle such that the wood can be presented to the blade at an angle suited to making long thin wedges. But we cannot. --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, I understand now at least enough to look for more specific instructions in my owner's manual. Thanks! I'd take a picture of my saw for the article but my basement is dark and cluttered and it's too hard to pull the saw out. ike9898 (talk) 14:13, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Child porn

The Child porn article says that it is illegal to take or possess a naked image of a child, and that a child is a person who has not reached the age of 18. But what if my 17 year old girlfriend sent me a picture of her naked? At 16 in the UK we can have sex legally, so why would a pic of her be illegal? I am also 17. 86.159.56.251 (talk) 16:14, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Probably written from American POV. Generally there's some level of common sense applied, for instance it is unlikely someone would be charged if they had photos of their children naked. Similarly, there's a level of common sense applied to sex with minors - edit: in the UK, a 16 year old is not likely to be charged with statutory rape for having sex with his 15 year old girlfriend. -mattbuck (Talk) 16:23, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Um, the last statement is true in some jurisdictions and not others. Age of consent can vary greatly. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 18:09, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I think in some jurisdictions, the girlfriend is violating laws to take pictures of herself naked. Also, I always wondered why there's American movies where 17 year olds are naked on camera (American Beauty (film) comes to mind). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 19:37, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

While Mena Suvari may have been portraying a 17-year-old, I believe she was older than that when the filming was taking place. Joyous! | Talk 01:22, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It was Thora Birch who appeared naked (or topless, at least) - and yes she was 17 at the time. Grutness...wha? 02:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

At least in the US, the words "common sense" and "child pornography" don't go together. --Carnildo (talk) 22:32, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Nudity is not the same as pornography. Naked pictures are not necessarily pornographic. Plasticup ^T/C 01:05, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

There have been some truly insane cases where teenagers have photographed themselves and been prosecuted for having pictures of their own bodies. Exxolon (talk) 01:28, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The current controversy in Australia over the work of photographer Bill Henson may be informative on this, by the way. Grutness...wha? 02:52, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Question

Did the robots want her brain because the ship was named after her? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Glsoone (talk • contribs) 16:16, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Probably, yes. The Girl in the Fireplace was an excellent episode. -mattbuck (Talk) 16:23, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

How did you decide Dr. Who was the subject here? Rmhermen (talk) 17:06, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't think what else it might be referring to. -mattbuck (Talk) 18:07, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Yea, I'd bet money that Mattbuck is right. It wasn't at all obvious to me until he said it though. There should be some sort of award for answering the most non-specific question of the week. APL (talk) 18:28, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

And to think I was originally just going to delete it as trolling. -mattbuck (Talk) 01:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Iran/Isreal

With the current sabre-rattling by both Iran and Israel, it seems ever more likely that with a couple of years we're going to come to a crunch point. Now i'm going assume that Israel will launch a first airstrike as that tends to be their normal strategy, but after this airstike how will events likely play out with regards to Iran's inevitable counterattack and any possible escalation to involve other countries? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.19.150 (talk) 18:47, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

The reference desk is not a discussion forum. We're no more in a position to speculate on this than your average pub bore. --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:31, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I think we are. We can point out some facts, like that Israel has nuclear weapons and presumably any strike would occur before Iran had them, thus giving Israel a critical advantage. This wouldn't mean no counter-strike from Iran, but rather would only limit such a counter-strike to something not likely to threaten Israel's existence and thus put the use of their nuclear weapons on the table. StuRat (talk) 14:26, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi. Shahab-3 may also be relavent in this case. Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 18:42, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia accuracy philosophies

N.B. I am not attempting to be insulting or controversial. I am simply asking for clarification. If anything here offends you, please know I mean no harm, and I am just using examples extracted from the relevant articles and drawing logical conclusions. If I have offended you, feel free to let me know. However, whether you were offended or not, do NOT post biased drivel as a response to my inquiry!

I've read the appropriate articles on MediaWiki, I've read their respective talk pages, and I've browsed through users in their related categories, and still I wonder…what is the fundamental difference between eventualism and immediatism????

I recognize that there are differences in what they stand for, such as the allowance of non-registered edits and of stubs, but these seem to only be examples added to further contrast the two philosophies without ever defining them...

My original post was almost essay-sized, but I've decided against placing that here for now. Instead, I'll ask a smaller question, one that could prove to be controversial and offensive if taken at face-value.

Do these philosophies imply that the immediatist takes an active role in editing, while the eventualist just sits back and waits for someone else to do the appropriate edits? A great portion of the articles lead to this conclusion. Yet, it also seems that immediatists would rather delete stubs than improve them, which argues against the "active role in editing" I suggested.

P.S. (well, is it really a P.S. if I haven't signed yet?) If this is not the appropriate venue for this question, please redirect me. If you want to know why I chose to post here, just ask me; there was a loooong deliberation process involved! -- Skittleys (talk) 18:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Why is deleting stubs not an active role in editing? Unless immediatists delete all articles labeled as stubs instead of just the ones with little or no content, they're still sorting through and deciding what's keepable and what's not, and that's an active role in editing, imo. But yes, the immediatists seem to be the ones who take an active role in editing because they want everything to look the best as soon as possible, and it seems like the eventualists ignore it because it'll eventually get fixed (or go to hell). Since it's raining here, first analogy I can think of is that the immediatists will wash their car after it rains because it looks bad, while the eventualists waits till either someone else washes it, or it rains again and makes it look cleaner, or it rains again and makes the point of washing it moot. Why is this that controversial? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 19:27, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

You're right, deleting stubs is a very active role. I should have said it's not an "active role in article improvement" or something—it does play a active role the improvement of Wikipedia in general, but not for that specific article. Skittleys (talk) 04:10, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

An eventualist says, "don't worry if that article doesn't have much in it yet, it'll get there someday." The immediatist says, "until it's in a certain form of good shape, it shouldn't be here." The immediatist is more concerned with the appearance of Wikipedia right now, whereas the eventualist is more concerned with it over the long term. An eventualist is not going to worry too much about any given current state of Wikipedia, the immediatist does. Obviously there's something of a spectrum between the two positions in practice, and both approaches have things going for them. Perhaps one way of summing it up could be that the eventualist has faith that people will still want to use Wikipedia in the future even if it is not very good in the present; the immediatist is worried that how Wikipedia is judged today will affect whether it will be vibrant and active tomorrow. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 19:36, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I do understand that eventualists are more "relaxed" about how Wikipedia appears at the moment, but does this mean they don't edit? If so, is the general consensus that eventualists are, in layman's terms, lazy and/or don't care? Does that make pretty much every editor an immediatist of some degree? Does the immediatist expect the entire article to be "featured article"-quality before it ever hits a Wikipedia page, and therefore dislike collaboratism? Skittleys (talk) 04:13, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

If you haven't read it yet, you may find Conflicting Wikipedia philosophies#Eventualism vs. immediatism useful. --Shaggorama (talk) 06:48, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't have to do with everyday editing. It has to do with egregious examples of crap or lack of content—whether it should be kept and built upon, or just gotten rid of until someone decides to do it right. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 12:45, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Sunflowers

I have a few sunflower plants growing in the backyard. It is common knowledge that sunflower seeds are edible and very popular all over the world, but I want to know if the rest of the plant can be eaten as well. Our article doesn't really address this question and neither do the other sites I have visited. I know it sounds a bit silly, but it started out as a joke when I told someone I was going to eat the plants...and now I am wondering if I really can? thanks and cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 19:33, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Not knowing a thing about sunflowers, may I offer up the little heuristic that if something is not commonly eaten, even though it is readily available and there are no, say, moral reasons against eating it, then it is probably either inedible or simply not that tasty. There are no doubt exceptions to this approach, but it's probably basically accurate. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 19:37, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Sunflowers are milled to make animal feeds for cattle and poultry. Don't know 'bout you, but that doesn't whet my appetite. Fribbler (talk) 19:39, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

So is corn. You don't like corn either? Cuz I have a plate of hot cornbread slathered in butter that says you love it ;) 161.222.160.8 (talk) 23:28, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Point taken. :-) What I meant was that the only sign of consumption of whole sunflowers I could find was as animal feed. Fribbler (talk) 23:34, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

To be honest, the corn grown for cattle is not the same thing that we eat. Feed corn (aka dent corn) is mostly tasteless and starchy. Matt Deres (talk) 10:49, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Jerusalem artichokes are a species of sunflower grown for their edible tubers. Corvus cornix_talk 23:58, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I've heard people using sunflower petals in salads, and in fact I found at least one recipe that mentions it. I also seem to recall someone talking about using young sunflower leaves in salad, but I can't find any recipes that mention doing so, so I may be wrong. Oh, and from what I understand, sunflower tea has also been used to treat diarrhea, but most of the links I found with reference to that are with alternative medicine enthusiasts, so perhaps you want to take that with a grain of salt. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:02, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Way to strawman. -LambaJan (talk) 13:34, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I expressed myself badly, I apologize. Let me clarify: I didn't meant to doubt that it's used as a tea (I'm sure it is; I've heard it mentioned a bunch of times), or that it works as a diarrhea treatment. What I meant is that the links I could find for it during my admittedly short Google search are from message boards and comparable sites where people who appear to be very enthusiastic laymen share their experiences or beliefs. In general, I don't consider sources like this particularly trustworthy unless I happen to have enough knowledge about the topic at hand to evaluate them. (The key word here was not so much "alternative medicine" as "enthusiasts"; it's a little like wondering whether Star Trek is any good and checking a Star Trek fansite to find out. I tend to take that kind of information with certain reservations.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 16:10, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification. The scientists in this field are particularly victimized by quacks, and guilt-by-association and strawman attacks. I agree with your position about enthusiasts. -LambaJan (talk) 20:56, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for all of the responses. I'll probably just stick to eating the seeds unless I have too many drafts in the backyard one evening and decide to make myself a sunny salad. :-) cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 18:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Article: Alien War

I have Googled the matter about the Andromedan aliens comming to Earth to throw out other aliens. Here is what I've found:

• [19]
• [20]
• [21]
• [22]
• [23]
• [24]
• [25]
• [26]
• [27]
• [28]
• [29]

There is more of these that describe the Amdromedan aliens, the alleged enemy aliens, such as the reptile aliens, aka, "the lizards" "Dracs", the Greys as well. Can someone with more experience create a article on this matter? I have "Googled" the Andromedan aliens, the other aliens, and this and related matters is what I've found. For some reason, IPs cannot create articles at all.

Summarily, this indicates that a alleged alien race, who is extremely powerful militarily has told the (alleged) other aliens to leave Earth and the Sol star system voluntarily or involuntarily, they are leaving. However, the lizards and their allies are'nt leaving at all, since they have claimed Earth as their own, so this means that there will be war. It means that "Earth humanity" will be caught in a war and there is nowhere to run to. UFO Casebook.com , Re.: SEARCH: Alien Races/ Alien Species has claimed that the lizards have a warship disguised as a asteroid that is already here (See Cruithne Talk, Re.: UFO rumors), or is on the way here. Rumor also has it that 2012 is when these aliens arrive here.65.173.105.27 (talk) 20:17, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

None of those sources are going to pass the Wikipedia regulations on Wikipedia:Reliable sources. You are wasting your time if you think that you are going to get Wikipedia articles written on the so-called "Alien war". It's not the sort of thing that's appropriate for Wikipedia, whether you think it is true or not. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:49, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Time to return to base I think [30] Richard Avery (talk) 21:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

IPs cannot create articles but aliens can. We have a long entry on such an alien creating the universe, but He has been blocked indefinitely for vandalising the article on atheism. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:21, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

He was also blocked for page blanking, edit warring, Biting Newcomers and harassing other editors... Fribbler (talk) 22:52, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Ah, good old psychoceramica. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:49, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Ah the Robertson Panel guidelines are still enforced. Kidding aside, I have 1,000s of these that I have found while Googling. Do these pass WP muster?65.173.105.27 (talk) 23:53, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, not as sources on something factual, they won't. An article on the phenomenon of people believing this kind of stuff might be a different story -- but then, we already have articles on topics like ufology, UFO conspiracy theory, reptilian humanoids and all sorts of crazy ooga booga crap. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:23, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, right, it doesn't matter if its really true or not. Wikipedia is not about being "correct". It's about being "reliable." None of the sources about this sort of thing, at least judging from your many listed ones above, comes anywhere close to being "reliable sources" by Wikipedia standards. There are other places on the internet for this sort of thing—Wikipedia is just not one of them. If it ends up on CNN tomorrow, though, you can happily be the first one to add it to an article. Until then... best not. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:28, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Sounds familiar. And also this. Adam Bishop (talk) 00:58, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

trawler nets

could anyone tell me what the diablo shaped net at the front of fishing boats are called and for what purpose. thanksBimbopat (talk) 21:41, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't see anything on diablo that relates to a shape. What kind of fishing boat? Are they not fishing nets? Any chance you can show us an image? Rmhermen (talk) 21:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean shaped like a diabolo? What size are the boats and nets? Could they be lobster pots? Gwinva (talk) 22:21, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

And which country. I'm thinking we might be talking about some sort of netting buffer on either side of the pointy end of the bow, but I can't find a photo of said thing on flickr yet. A pointer to a photo would be invaluable. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:35, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Are you referring to this? --Anon 12:05, 10 July 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.244.88.141 (talk)

no picture to download but type in trawlers in bridlinton in google then click on boatman.fotopic.net there is a picture of a trawler called NOVANTAE showing the diablo net if that helps.thanksBimbopat (talk) 20:10, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Here is a link to the Novantae picture. I don't know what the black hourglass/diabolo shaped object is, but someone else might. Gwinva (talk) 22:44, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I've emailed the owner of the NOVANTAE ([31] ... who knew?) and live in hope that he checks his email. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:03, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It looks too small to be a net but I am not sure what it is - or even if if it intended to go in the water at all. It may be some sort of guard for the cables on that part of this boat. Rmhermen (talk) 16:04, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

According to the U.S. Naval Institute (bold emphasis mine): "Engaged in Fishing. This isn't your neighbor in his Grady-White with a Penn reel in hand. This is a working vessel, trawling lines or nets. The light sequence depends on whether they are fishing or trawling. The shape is constant – two inverted cones, tip to tip. If she is fishing, the light sequence is red-over-white (red over white; we be fishin' tonight). If she is trawling, the light sequence is green-over-white (green over white; we be shrimpin' tonight)." --Anon 19:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.112.151.103 (talk)

Burned stained steel pot

Does Bar Keeper's Friend really work? Are there similar products out there? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Imagine Reason (talk • contribs) 23:40, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

It's just a polish isn't it? Brasso/Silvo spring to mind, but I'm sure your local DIY store would have advice. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 08:20, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

(Brasso/silvo are for brass/copper/silver I wouldn't recommend for steel - could get expensive)

The answer is yes (probably) - but what did you do? you've got a (stainless steel?) pot and food burnt in in? now you want to clean it?

Here's the steps I'd do

1 Clean as normal - get as much as you can off.

2 Try soaking in water (adding biological washing powder or just detergent) see if that helps any more.

3 Pot still dirty/burnt looking - try some steel cleaner eg what you mentioned, you could also try pure elbow grease and wire wool..87.102.86.73 (talk) 10:15, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it concerns a burned pot, and no, it's way too badly burned for elbow grease. I'lll have to try some commercial products--seems a waste to throw out the pots for one bad burn. Imagine Reason (talk) 13:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Bar Keeper's Friend works well for me on stainless steel cookware, particularly for flat, brownish or black "staining". BKF is also good for enameled cast iron. Another good product is Dawn Power Dissolver, which you spray onto stuck-on bits (without water) and leave for a while. I mostly use that for burned bits that have a perceptible thickness. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:14, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I assume it's black carbon burnt on stuff? if so you could also try many other oven cleaners.. (make sure it says ok for stainless steel.. not all do

Maybe have someone sandblast it, or use fine crocus cloth/emery cloth/sandpaper on it. After soaking, scrubbing, and scouring with steel wool and cleanser, why not just live with the discoloration? What difference does it make? Edison (talk) 19:47, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It has been my impression that burned area on a stainless steel pot catalyzes further burning or other bad reactions when cooking. Having said that, almost any stainless steel pot can be restored to reasonable operating condition using abrasives, starting with mild ones like BKF/Bon Ami and moving up the scale as necessary to crocus cloth, emery cloth, sand paper, sand blasters, Dremel Mototools ;-), and the like, and then back down the scale to restore a reasonable polish to the surface. Or you could just loan it to a friend who lives in the desert and they could hang it up outside their tent for a few years worth of sandstorms...

Atlant (talk) 20:52, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Before you buy any expensive proprietary products, try Baking soda. Sprinkle liberally over the burnt areas, and cover with a little water (or mix to a paste with some water first). Leave for a while (eg overnight). You can also try boiling with baking soda. Then get to work witha pot scrubber. (I've also heard that vinegar can help after the baking soda.) Gwinva (talk) 20:19, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

July 10

Gas prices

Why are Americans complaining about "high gas prices" when their gas is just 40% of the price of petrol in the UK? I just paid £1.22/litre (over $9/US gallon) compared to the $3.90/US gallon mentioned a few questions above. Astronaut (talk) 00:00, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Most likely because they are not accustomed to the sudden rise in gas prices. $3.90/US gallon is high for them compared to what they enjoyed previously. Acceptable (talk) 00:03, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Additionally, much of the price difference is due to higher taxation in the UK. So for your £1.22, you're not just getting a litre of gasopetroline, you're getting the government services that those taxes pay for. -- Coneslayer (talk) 00:08, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind that most US cities are not set up in ways that conserve gas. How far in the UK do you have to go to get your groceries? How far to work? How far to schools? The US has had cheap gas for decades; most US cities are oriented around the idea that you drive everywhere and you'll drive relatively far. One of the main problems with the US's dependence on cheap gas is that everything falls apart in the economy if the price goes up much, because we've set up our infrastructure around the idea of cheap gas. Our biggest housing booms are in distant suburbs, some 5-10 miles away from everything else. Couple that with large, inefficient vehicles, almost no reasonable public transportation in most cities, and high gas means something for people in the US that it probably doesn't mean in the UK or Europe in general. My mom used to commute 35 miles each way to work, in her own car. That's not sustainable unless the gas is cheap. In the US equation, gas was always the cheap aspect, things like location the high aspect. So we spread out. Too far. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I was reading an article in the New York Times a few weeks back that compared the gas mileage and weekly usage of the Ford Focus (The Uk's best selling car) and the Ford F-150 (America's best selling car). Amazingly, despite the disparity in the price of gas at the pump between the two countries, the average Briton driving a Focus will pay less per week on gas, than the average American driving a F-150. So even though US gas still seems relatively cheap to a Brit, when you compare the gas-guzzling vehicles and the large distances needed to be driven, it becomes a different story. Of course one could ask quite why millions of Americans bought a F-150 monster truck simply to sit in a traffic jam every morning.... Rockpocket 01:58, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The IP above said "Keep in mind that most US cities are not set up in ways that conserve gas." This is true. When we lived in Atlanta, we were 25 miles (40 km) from my wife's work (one way). Now we are 11 miles from her work (17+ km). The nearest grocery store is 5 miles (8 km) away. (In fact, all shopping and doctors, etc, are at least 5 miles away. The nearest drug store is probably 8 miles away.) There are people we know that live 70 miles (113 km) away from their work, one way. Bubba73 (talk), 02:31, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

And Americans driving everywhere is completely true, as well. I live maybe a mile from my college campus and I drive there and back twice a day. Then I drive to work and back, which is about 8 miles each way. There's a bus stop within one block of my apartment and the bus would drop me off almost exactly where I needed to be for school or work. But I still drive. Useight (talk) 03:01, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

An appropriate graph

Eleven of the states in the United States are individually larger in area[32] than the entire United Kingdom [33]. The relatively low population density means greater miles to travel to work or to shopping. The lower population density of the U.S., 80 per square mile compared to 637 per square mile in the U.K., means less mass transit available, necessitating automobiles. Edison (talk) 03:54, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

File:Revised petrol use urban density.JPG

Another one — notice that Australia has comparable density to the US yet is in a totally different category of gas consumption.

I want to emphasize that it doesn't have to mean that. It only means that because we are used to cheap gas and have been used to it for decades, a few hiccups of energy crises notwithstanding. If travel costs were more expensive, it would put more economic incentive on having things not be out in the middle of nowhere. For example, the big chains that really make the money are the ones that go out where land is reeeeeally cheap, and build a giant warehouse, and then people from all around drive over there. That makes economic sense as long as gas is cheap. If gas is expensive, then that offsets the number of people who go out there, which then offsets the benefits to all that cheap land. I'm just saying: it's not inevitable that somewhere as large as the US has to be all about gasoline. Personally I think that if the gas prices continue to stay high over the long term, we'll end up with, in the end, a much more sustainable society that is not so contingent on the price of oil (and some cars with better MPG, at the very least). The Saudis think that too—and are afraid of the idea of a US not dependent on their oil. (I of course say this in the luxury of someone who currently lives in a pretty densely populated area with great public transportation and easy options for quickly and cheaply renting cars when they are needed, e.g. Zipcar).

You don't have to build a sprawling metropolis—for the last, I don't know, forty years, the US has been doing its development horizontally, rather than vertically. We build out, not up, or even over in many cases (how many totally dead strip malls and commerce centers are in your town? and how often do they just go out somewhere new to build something new? that's urban sprawl, plain and simple). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 04:16, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Quote from above he big chains that really make the money are the ones that go out where land is reeeeeally cheap - that is probably true. When WalMart opened here many years ago, they were pretty far out of town. Probably out of the city limits too, where the taxes are cheaper. I wondered why they put it on that road with nothing on it. Now just about everything is in that area, and and it is 5-8 miles for me and most other people. Bubba73 (talk), 04:40, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, there is the Field of Dreams theory: "if you build it, they will come". If you build anything with sufficient attractive value, other busineses and housing will spring up around it, so even if it was initially out in the middle of nowhere, it won't remain so for long. StuRat (talk) 14:13, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

A comment on public transportation in the US: it is often dangerous and filthy with limited routes, and therefore only used by those have no choice. This is because politicians, rather than viewing it as a benefit to all, view it as a "safety net", for those who can't afford to buy a car. Then there is GM, which bought up public transportation throughout the US and then destroyed it, so people would need to buy their cars. StuRat (talk) 14:13, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Filthy? Sure. Limited routes? Oh yeah. Dangerous? Not so much, in my experience in a number of different regions. I mean, maybe in some really nasty parts of cities is it as dangerous as the city around it, but the metro is usually a pretty safe zone. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:59, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

If you have to travel very late at night or very early in the morning it may be or at least seem fairly dangerous I guess depending on how far the bus stop/train station is from your house. Of course an interesting thing is that in most countries including I suspect the US, the actual journey is potentially safer since the bus/train is probably less likely to have an accident and you're less likely to die or be badly injured in any accident. Nil Einne (talk) 18:21, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

General Motors wasn't the one destroying public transportation -- that was Ford and Chrysler. GM made buses, so they bought up public transportation systems and converted them to use buses. --Carnildo (talk) 22:15, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

That was just a ruse. GM ripped out the old, efficient, non-polluting public transportation systems, like the electric trolley in Detroit, and replaced them with diesel buses belching black smoke, with more limited routes and fewer stops, in order to "convince" people that public transportation wasn't for them and they all needed to go out and buy GM cars, which were far more profitable for them than buses. StuRat (talk) 04:42, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

an interesting discussion on npr the other morning; gasoline is one of the few things you purchase which you sit and watch the money get essentially extracted from you right before your eyes, penny by penny. thus, people tend to obsess more over the cost than is proportional, then go in and buy a bottle of water or cup of coffee which is not only more expensive per unit volume,but ridiculously so, without thinking about it; will drive halfway across town to save $1 on a tankful of gasoline; etc. Gzuckier (talk) 14:32, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

True. I've often thought other things should work that way, too, like your phone having a price readout that grows per minute spent talking. As far as I know, however, none of them do that, although some do have minutes-used displays (because if the price was shown like that consumers would cut back). StuRat (talk) 15:04, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Gas is also the only product whose price is displayed in foot-high numerals on every major intersection. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:21, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Banking in Turkey

Good Morning

can you give me the address of all HSBC bank branches in Turkey? can you advice which is the currency most used in turkey? which bank is most avaialble in Tureky??

thanks for oyur help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.139.47.41 (talk) 07:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Good morning, We can't give you a list of all Turkish HSBC branches, but you can look here for your nearest branch. Turkey uses the New Turkish Lira (YTL). AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 08:16, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Picture

I remember seeing a picture of someone with their head in a toilet and the caption "don't stop your curiosity," underneath. But where can I find this picture on the internet? 208.76.245.162 (talk) 13:21, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Here. - Eron^Talk 14:35, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

What did people with Asperger's Syndrome do before the Internet?

I have noticed a number of people on various groups who have mentioned that they likely have Asperger's Syndrome, and my hunch is there are at least twice that number who frequent the boards I'm on.

Now, obviously, there are varying levels of it - especially since it's a spectrum condition. Some people may have very specific interests but can manage - maybe even with little trouble - to maintain a normal daily lifestyle.

The ones I'm asking about are those who do have more trouble, and prefer the online world with no external body language and such to take into account. When engrossed in their interests, what did they do? Were libraries frequented a lot more?Did they simply make more effort to interact, and just get worn out from it easier?

I have never been the kind to say 'get a life" to someone; in fact, i felt very pained to see it on the Star Trek baords in the early '90s. But, it saddens me more now to know there were bullies out there saying that, when in fact some of the ones so totally engrossed in it may well have been so because of Asperger's Syndrome, though certainly not all. It's just that now, Aspies can really spend hours engrossed in any interest. But, what did they do before that?209.244.30.221 (talk) 14:43, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, stamp collecting, trainspotting... Itsmejudith (talk) 14:51, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Crosswords, check

Jigsaw puzzles, check

Stamp collection, check

Internet forums, check... uh oh... Plasticup ^T/C 16:17, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

But then again, far fewer people had Asperger's Syndrome before the internet. Recury (talk) 16:56, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Take self-reported claims of this sort with a grain of salt. Surely some of them do have Aspergers but, for a variety of reasons, people find it attractive to claim they have this disorder.--droptone (talk) 17:39, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Self-diagnosis is a big problem in this case. The criteria, when applied outside of a clinical setting, are quite vague. Have a look at the DSM criteria in Diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and take criterion 2: "Stereotyped behaviour". From a non-psychiatric point-of-view, it would seem that doing something alot would qualify, but in psychiatric terms the word Stereotype means very unusual repetitive behaviours such as constantly standing up and sitting down. This is why these syndromes are best diagnosed by professionals and not internet forums. Fribbler (talk) 18:41, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Narrow shoes

My wife has very narrow feet(4A). It difficult to find this size shoe. We have tried searching the internet with little success. Ant suggestions?129.112.109.251 (talk) 16:01, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Interesting, what search terms have you tried? Simply searching for Narrow Shoes for Women brings up lots of promising looking links. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] Just to link a few... Dismas|^(talk) 16:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

• My personal recommendation would be Zappos.com (one of Dismas' links); they're real fast, real responsive, and real good about returns. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 16:25, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

• Another way to go is just to get some padding, or wear thick socks. Obviously, this will work better with some types of shoes, like sneakers, than others, like formals. StuRat (talk) 04:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Ref. an earlier question on Genetics and Obesity.

The responses to that earlier question were extremely erudite and informative, and I have no challenge to anything said therein. But it occurred to me to question whether there existed any non-toxic, digestible compound, whether food or drink, that could possibly add more than its own weight to the recipient's weight, once digested. Conversely, might there be a non-toxic, non-corrosive substance that could safely accelerate the body's ability to process food and drink, beyond the substance itself, thus causing desired weight loss? 92.21.72.20 (talk) 16:36, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I know a substance that is non-toxic, non-corrosive and accelerates the rate of digestion. -- _{Escape Artist Swyer} ^{Talk to me} _{The mess I've made} 22:37, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Dr. Ward Character Assassination

A series of recent attacks has been posted on various sites by a cult adhering to Gnostic Cathar beliefs. Some time ago Dr. Ward aired an expose on television about such cults and also wrote an online article about them. These attacks are their response. They are attempting to link various online bloggers as one blogger whom they accuse as being Dr. Ward. They have attempted to link Dr. Ward with a certain "Manuel" which does not even believe the same doctrine as Dr. Ward. Manuel has been banned from several blogging sites , however, according to his overseers as well as he himself, Dr. Ward has never been banned from ANY web site or blog whatsoever. Manuel allegedly has some personal and professional problems while Dr. Wards reputation is impeccable. The cult attacking him advocates homosexuality, reincarnation, and various other new age beliefs. They are hiding behind generic, untracable names such as the recent BlazzinPaddles. I am Dr. Chuck Wilson, which has been quoted in the Oneness Pentecostal article, and have written much on Pentecostal history. I have personally met with Dr. Ward on occasions and am well acquainted with his overseers. The Wiki editor who recently took on the name of BlazzinSaddles put a write up in his talk page about Dr. Ward. He published his full name, address, IP address, and several personal details about him. This page falsley connected him with these various other bloggers. False accusations have been made against Dr. Ward. His character was intensly marred. The author of these false accusations has written these false accusations on other web sites and ANYTHING at all referring to Dr. Ward is deleted. Dr. Ward is somewhat of a subculture hero in certain Pentecostal ranks and this is sure to ignite an outrage. What do you suggest? Is Wikipedia legally accountable?Chuwils (talk) 18:43, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I can't find the links right now, but several courts have ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation is not responsible for the content of wikipedia.org and implied that the responsibility lies with the editor. Thus the harsh wording of WP:BIO. Plasticup ^T/C 19:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

This sounds like some kind of a personal and/or religious argument between two people, this Manuel (whom I don't know, have never heard of and, frankly, don't much care about) and Dr. Ward (ditto). You certainly don't sound like an impartial observer here. It is my experience that on the internet, things like this often involve a lot of posturing and talk of legal trouble for either party or both of them, as well as other people for good measure, and more often than not, nothing comes of it. Generally speaking, though (and not related to this particular instance on any level other than the most generic), this is how society works: if someone commits an actual crime, such as defamation, it's a matter for the police. A person can call them up and report it, and they'll investigate it. Since you specifically mention Wikipedia, I would expect it to cooperate with any actual official investigation into a crime, just like any other organization. Anything beyond that is, frankly, just talk until someone actually makes a move. I could go into this in more detail than that, but that would constitute actual legal advice, which we aren't supposed to give here. Talk to a lawyer. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 19:15, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

See WP:BLP , a Wikipedia policy which requires that any controversial statements about living persons which are not reliable sourced must be removed, and may be removed by any editor without falling under the WP:3RR penalties for edit warring. There is a BLP noticeboard where a complaint may be made. I cannot find any user named BlazzinPaddles, so a link is helpful (copy and paste the URL at the top of the page where the problem is, after clicking on the "history" tab). Apparently you meant User:Blazinpaddles. That user has blanked his page, but the problem edits are still there in the edit history [39]Ordinary admins cannot remove this. You could use the Wikipedia:OTRS system to request that "oversight" remove all trace of it. You should complain at the Administrator's noticeboard when problems require the assistance of administrators, not here.Edison (talk) 19:27, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, please read WP:BLP (BLP stands for 'biographies of living persons') to see that biographies are taken seriously, and that there is a mechanism to deal with incorrect, defamatory, or other harmful content.

Please go to Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard to report what you have said. Also mention the breach of privacy there. In other words follow the advice of Edison above.87.102.86.73 (talk) 21:01, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Thumb work Method in Management

Sir,

F.W. Taylor's scientific management replaced the rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.

So my question is What is Thumb Work method adapted in pre-scientific management principles by Taylor ?.

Awaiting your reply

Mathew Philip ETA STAR Group Dubai.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.209.117.23 (talk) 20:14, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Email redacted. See Rule of thumb. It means that work was arranged without the sort of quantifiable measurements which were a feature of Taylor's method, and instead based on the best suppositions that the management could come up with. --Tagishsimon (talk) 20:40, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) A rule of thumb is an idiomatic phrase to refer to a general principle which can be broadly applied, but is not a specific rule or application for specific issues. Without knowing anything about the company, we cannot speculate on what general rules they might have used. It is quite possible that they were unwritten rules. (We removed your email address since we do not respond by email, and its presence here on this page might attract spam.) Gwinva (talk) 20:42, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The Frederick Winslow Taylor article should be helpful. Rmhermen (talk) 20:54, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It just means that Taylor's approach was to make management systematic, whereas before it was unsystematic, or ad hoc. It's the difference between me saying, "Oh, let's just do it how it feels like it should be done" and saying "Let's measure everything very carefully and find the most optimal, perfect way of doing it, based on our observations." The latter would be more like what Taylor was doing. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 04:04, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Dogfight

I wonder why a battle between airplanes is called a dogfight? It doesn't seem to do anything with dogs. Whenever I hear the word, I usually think of those money matches where owners pit their dogs to fight in the arena. 210.4.122.42 (talk) 21:01, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

That's where the word comes from. The word was transferred to any scrap or disturbance, and then to the small air combats, which (in a way) resemble dog fights. (The OED confirms this etymology.) Gwinva (talk) 21:11, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

edit conflict: :Considering that another name is furball I think that animals savagely fighting is the image intended. Rmhermen (talk) 21:14, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Persian porn

Is there a porn site where Persian ladies liberate themselves sexually? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.54.33 (talk) 23:56, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Rule 34 suggests yes. anonymous6494 00:06, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

It is considered to be a rule of the internet (rule 34, to be precise) that there is porn of everything, no exceptions. Plasticup ^T/C 02:52, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Google is your best bet for finding it (if you turn off safe search). It might cost, but that would depend on your own budget. I am on a work account, so I will not do the search myself. Steewi (talk) 03:41, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

July 11

Patents

What does it mean when a land or mine patent is outdated, do they still have rights to it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.143.158.156 (talk) 01:33, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Mining Patents are sales aggreements, so I don't see how they can become "outdated". In what context did you see that? Do you have a link? Fribbler (talk) 14:05, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Seat belts in Military helicopters

When soldiers are flying in Blackhawk helicopters with the doors open, are they usually wearing seat belts or some other forms of seat restraints? Although I've never flown in one, it seems to me that when the helicopter banks or turns, the soldiers inside are susceptible to falling out if unrestrained. Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 04:16, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure they're obliged to wear seatbelts unless they are about to jump. I wonder what makes you think otherwise.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:39, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Just Responses

RE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008_July_5#Couldn.27t_get_a_answer_on_Humanities_or_Entertainment

To Julia, No I didn't try the language desk.

To LambaJan, Yes, you would think that if all the songs in the entire genre are in the same key would be significant enough to be in the article, but unfortunately, some articles are terrible, and they don't list information like that, for whatever reason. Maybe because the contributors of the article did not bother to include information (like the aforementioned information) for their racist agenda, who knows.68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:28, 11 July 2008 (UTC)68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:33, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

The reason could well be that it's not true. Chinese music is unlikely to all fit exactly to one western scale, even within one genre. You could try reading up on Chinese musicology, hopefully from a more comprehensive source than our article. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:25, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

It would be much easier on everyone if you would post your responses at the relevant open discussions. It's not necessary to make a new section for this or post responses to talk pages. In fact it's confusing because it leaves a lot of people not knowing what is going on in the conversation. It's like having a conversation with ten people in five different rooms at the same time. I just got to this section now after having already responded to my talk page, the still open original question and the new one on the language desk, now I finally understand why that one is there. I gave a more comprehensive answer there, you might find it interesting. -LambaJan (talk) 15:05, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

iq question

our teacher asked us this question and we have to think of the answer in 2 days... so... puleeez help a car with three windows and very much similar looking ends (so we can't distinguish which is the head and tail)is on a bridge. in which direction is the car moving: left or right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.50.248.203 (talk) 10:36, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Taking your question literally (and using the very, very limited amount of information you provided), here's some of the answers I came up with:

• Look at which direction the wheels are turning.
• Look at the direction the driver inside the car is facing (assuming he is actually looking, and not driving blindly!)
• If it's night, you can probably distinguish the headlights from the taillights.

If you give us more information about the problem, we can give you better answers. Remember, however, we will not answer homework questions for you. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 11:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Here's my attempt at interpreting the question. Left and right are Relative directions. So if the car is moving, you need to consider which direction the car is moving relative to the car. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 11:07, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Also, what kind of car has three windows? I certainly haven't seen one; maybe that's a clue. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 12:38, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

• Look at which side of the road the car is on. If it's on the near side of the bridge, and people in your country drive on the right, it's probably going to your right. 81.174.226.229 (talk) 13:25, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Maybe the car's not moving at all? Anyway, I think you either remembered the question wrong or are recounting it to us wrong. As it is, it is not a coherent or answerable question in the form you've given it. At best it is a poor quality riddle. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:33, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Left. It's not a car, it's a bus. Matt Deres (talk) 15:38, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

That, mr Deres, depends entirely on if the bridge is located in a country where traffic is on the right or left hand side of the road. What Matt refers to is the following: If the vehicle is indeed a bus, its direction can be deduced from where its doors are, since a drawing of a bus usually has doors only on the side close to the kerb. /Kriko (talk) 17:15, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Glass

I was told that glass is a liquid, because, if one looks at glass in very ancient windows, like in cathedrals it is thicker at the bottom than at the top, this is because it flows very slowly. So what I would like to know is A, is glass a liquid? B, at what speed does a liquid need to flow to be considered a liquid and/or C, what is the substance betwwen liquid and solid? Sludge? Mud? Goo? Thanks people. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 10:56, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

The first part (A) is dealt with here: Glass#Behavior of antique glass. Fribbler (talk) 11:03, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

oops edit conflict. Its a myth see for example [40]. Mhicaoidh (talk) 11:08, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, and thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:18, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Nothing to be sorry about! As to C, there are all sorts of suggestions (try googling between liquid solid) but not much consensus because it very much depends on conditions (atmosphere, temperature, pressure to say the least). Try State of matter and Phase (matter). And eek! heres the answer to B Viscosity of amorphous materials. Mhicaoidh (talk) 11:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Finding out the legitemacy of a foreign Travel Agency

I would like to know if "AKWABATOURSof ACCRA/GHANA is a scam or not69.3.198.187 (talk) 10:59, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

That name turned up no results in Google, which is a bad sign, West Africa or not. You might find this site a bit useful. I can understand (from personal experience) why you might want to deal with a travel agency in West Africa, but you might consider just forgoing that and taking care of things yourself. I guess it depends on your situation but Ghana Airways is reasonably professional and the consulate isn't too bad. Unless you know how to heckle you'll probably get gouged by the hotel (but a travel agency won't necessarily change that). Just make sure you pay upfront and tell them you don't want any room service and you're not taking anything from the fridge or cupboard so they might as well remove that stuff before you get there. The common scam is they remove a couple of bottles of liquor or whatever's there right when you're checking out and say you drank it and they charge you for it. That's why they'll fight you a bit when you insist on paying upfront. Just hold your ground and when they say no say you'll go somewhere else and turn around and start walking away. They'll most likely call you back and make a deal that's more in your favor. As a matter of fact, do that for everything. Get a friend who knows the prices and be content to pay a little bit more not anywhere near what they originally offer you -for anything. Walk away, there's always someone else selling the same thing and they know it. They nearly always call you back. -LambaJan (talk) 15:45, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) A google search for "akwaaba tours" (notice the spelling and space) showed up 649 hits.

Akwaaba Tours appear to be a tour operator specialising in trips to Ghana - official sites http://akwaabatours.com/ and http://akwaabaonline.com/. They are based in Maastrict, Netherlands (the second site has their address in Maastrict and phone number). If you read dutch, there are lots of links to them from various dutch online travel agents, but I couldn't find any independant reviews (good or bad). What makes you think it might be a scam?

Incidentally, they're not to be confused with http://www.akwaabatours.org/ who run tours of the Underground Railroad from Rochester, NY.

Astronaut (talk) 15:59, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Not to make fun of an innocent typo, LambaJan, but I cracked right up at the idea of heckling the guys at the hotel instead of haggling with them. "Your hotel sucks!" "Sir, please, just sign the guest register." "That's what your mom said! Woo!" -- Captain Disdain (talk) 19:57, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

solids and liquids

At what speed must a substance flow to be considered a liquid and/or what is the substance between solid and liquid? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:19, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's a question of speed, really. A good indicator that something is a liquid is if it tends to form an even surface when at rest. Another good definition is in our article on the subject, "a liquid's shape is confined to, not determined by, the container it fills." You may want to check out our article on states of matter. Some liquids are denser than others and thus move more slowly; in theory, you could have a liquid so dense that you couldn't really perceive any movement with the naked eye when it started to flow, but it would still be a liquid, not a solid. If, for example, you were to put a "chunk" of it into a bucket, it would would eventually result in it spreading itself evenly across the bottom. By comparison, a rock or a steel rod will never do this. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 11:56, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Also check out pitch drop experiment. --Sean 14:20, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

You may also find this bit from our glass article interesting. Matt Deres (talk) 15:41, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

ex wheelchair motors

Have two old wheelchair motors. They are dark blue in colour. Can find no markings on the cases. Motors at right angles to drive , wheels attached. Need to know voltage, or how to test for voltage.Kweery (talk) 11:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Apply DC from a power supply, adjust voltage until it's roughly at its normal speed? --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:36, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

..starting with a low voltage of course. DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:34, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Arab street hookers dress

In the porn site, the models were wearing arab attire, where my wife can get those? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.128.34 (talk) 15:07, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm familiar with that web site. You might want to start here.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 16:41, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Or if you're looking for something more modest, you may wish to purchase an abaya (see picture) for your spouse.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 16:47, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Jesse Jackson's "nuts" comment

Recently, Jesse Jackson publicly expressed the desire to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. I am looking for an uncensored video or audio clip of this statement. Does such a clip exist anywhere online, or is the bleeped O'Reilly footage the only clip available?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 16:30, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I was under the impression that Fox News was not releasing the uneditted tapes. Plasticup ^T/C 17:07, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes the clip apparently came from a comment Jesse Jackson made to another guest while waiting to be interviewed for Fox & Friends so Fox likely have copyright of and also complete control of the recordings Nil Einne (talk) 17:54, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I wasn't clear whether this clip made its premiere on The O'Reilly Factor in its censored form or whether it was originally a "slip-up" on live TV. Clearly, the former is the case.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 18:08, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

They actually held the tape for two days before first airing it. They said that they needed time to determine whether the language was too strong for their viewers, but they were obviously just trying to stretch the little story and hype up their star sex offender. Plasticup ^T/C 18:23, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Red Light Bulb

I have a red light bulb that has been around for many years..at least thirty, perhaps even more since I don't know where it really came from. It still works! I used it at my previous place of residence for the last eight years as my general lighting in the room where I used my desktop computer and it got anywhere from one to six (maybe more)hours of use every day. Then there was the occasional all nighter as well. Now at my new place it is used in another room and still going strong. The bulb is similiar to a hot dog in shape, but slightly thicker and slightly shorter. Probably 4-5 inches in length. Some of the red coloring has worn off. Does anyone have any idea what kind of bulb this is? I can try to post a picture of it this weekend if needed. thanks and cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 19:20, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

art therapy

If somebody could help me; i m looking for the significations of colours, to help the interprate a drawing picture of somebody. i m working in a therapy house and i have a project that could help uor clients.Thank you. Marie-Eve me_n80@hotmail.com