Hello everyone, are there castles or fortresses that have been besieged but never been conquered by enemy armies ? I can't seem to find the information by searching. [[Special:Contributions/130.79.160.112|130.79.160.112]] ([[User talk:130.79.160.112|talk]]) 12:41, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
Hello everyone, are there castles or fortresses that have been besieged but never been conquered by enemy armies ? I can't seem to find the information by searching. [[Special:Contributions/130.79.160.112|130.79.160.112]] ([[User talk:130.79.160.112|talk]]) 12:41, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
:The [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] in Rome is one notable fortress that comes immediately to mind.--[[User:Jeanne boleyn|Jeanne Boleyn]] ([[User talk:Jeanne boleyn|talk]]) 13:01, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
:The [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] in Rome is one notable fortress that comes immediately to mind.--[[User:Jeanne boleyn|Jeanne Boleyn]] ([[User talk:Jeanne boleyn|talk]]) 13:01, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
== Jaikie Galt real-life antecedent in John Buchan book ==
I just found the article James Galt, about the Scottish football player (active 1906-1914). Was the character Jaikie Galt in John Buchan's novel Castle Gay (published in 1930 but set earlier, around 1923) named after him, or are the names and professions just a coincidence? This question applies to Scotland and literature in English. It's not homework. Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/70.24.113.45|70.24.113.45]] ([[User talk:70.24.113.45|talk]]) 13:06, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
Revision as of 13:06, 27 May 2010
Welcome to the humanities section of the Wikipedia reference desk.
The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
What is the difference between net debt and accumulated deficit? Government financial reports give each of them separate sections in reports, but according to definitions I can find, they are both total liabilities minus total assets. 142.104.139.242 (talk) 00:46, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Government foreign net debt is money owed by the government and its agencies to non-residents less money non-residents owe to the government and its agencies. Accumulated deficits are the sum total over a period of time (which may vary) of the federal budget balance. DOR (HK) (talk) 10:09, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The surname could very well be Cook. The photo is of exceptionally good quality for that era; therefore bearing that in mind, I would guess it to have been taken in the early 1970s rather than late 1960s.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 13:35, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That would place the photo's date before 1971. The soldier is so young-he couldn't have been more than 18 or 19. I hope he survived the war.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 13:54, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Blowing it up and lightening it up a bit, it's "R.C.COO"-something, not "COG" (there's a little discoloration in the middle of the second "O" that might make it look like a "G" at normal scale.) The fourth letter is a roundish blob, so probably not a "K". ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 13:59, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Was it standard practise for the uniforms to have the first name initials along with the surname? I have a photo of my cousins which was taken in Vietnam in 1967 and their uniforms just show their surname, no first name initials. However, they were Army and this is a Marine.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 14:11, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You are right, it's R.C. I also blew up my cousins' picture and I was mistaken as they have a lot of writing on their uniforms besides just their surnames. Could R.C stand for something other than first name initials? There is also writing on the side of his helmet. There's PET.. C0...--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 14:27, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think they had ranks on the uniform name tag. In any case, I ran across this site[2] which doesn't answer the question, but it does have an even larger print, clear at the bottom, and farther up the page some well-known and not-as-well-known images from the war. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 14:59, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
They look like scenes from Platoon; in fact the guy leading the old bearded man reminds me of Bunny. If the guy survived the war he'd be about 63 0r 64 years old today. The writing on his helmet seems to be PE something.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:14, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I found a book online called The Marines in Vietnam 1965: The Landing and the Buildup. In the Chronology of Significant Events section it says that on 3 August 1965 (the date of the photo) Company D, 1/9 had conducted a one day operation (Operation Blastout 1) at Cam Ne, south of Da Nang, and a CBS crew did some filming. Perhaps our mysterious Marine was part of that company as the dates and places match!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:43, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
At this level of vernacular carpentry, the Italianate details (National Register of Historic Places's ambitious descriptions notwithstanding) are so rudimentary and elided, and so thoroughly converted to joinery and turnery and jigsawn outlines, that high-style designations are derisory. Is the projection of the front parlor to be read as a truncated tower, even though it doesn't rise above the cornice band? Is the projection of the cornice an Italianate feature? or simply carpentry? Is the paneled cornice band an implied statement of architrave, frieze and cornice in some fashion? Are those brackets substituting for architectural consoles or modilions? Is that an oriel at the side? or just a bay window? If the Jacobean antecedents of the spindles and carpentry of the porch are pointed out, are we bizarrely inflating the picture? The National Register of Historic Places' paperwork has blanks to be filled in with stylistic designations, and they do always fill them in. --Wetman (talk) 04:28, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I overstated. More typically, vernacular houses of c 1810-40 are categorized "Greek Revival" when such design features are limited to doorcase surrounds.--Wetman (talk) 15:55, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I would interpret this one as Italianate on the larger-scale elements and stick/Eastlake on the smaller scale elements. It's entirely possible to work at two differing scales in disparate styles. Acroterion(talk)16:58, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Many WW1 aircraft had a service ceiling below 20,000 feet, but the 1917 SPAD S.XII article says it had a service ceiling of 6,850 m (22,470 ft), so you may be onto something. Nothing said they had to routinely go that high, and the endurance (fuel supply) was only 1 3/4 hours, so they might have spent some time patrolling at altitudes where they could observe or attack things on the ground, rather than just going as high as the plane would go, for no particular reason other than to swoop down and surprise the enemy aviators, or to get above antiaircraft battery range, not a big problem in WW1. See Aviation in World War I. There is no mention of oxygen masks. Wiley Post experimented with a steel helmet and pressure suit looking like something like a deep sea diver might use, but long after the war, in 1934. He flew up to 50,000 feet and attempted stratospheric cross country flights. Edison (talk) 04:35, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
When British fighters became proficient at finding and destroying German Zeppelin airships, the Zeppelin company developed a new design called the 'height-climber' which could go up much higher than the service ceiling of the fighters. The Germans knew that the crew would need Oxygen so supplied the crew with breathing apparatus, but they found that the crews didn't actually use them. When they asked the crews, it turned out that they knew the first man to put on the mask and use the Oxygen would be labelled as the wimp, so none of the crewmembers dared to begin. There was also a problem with the Oxygen which was full of impurities and gave the crew nausea when they did use them. Sam Blacketer (talk) 11:27, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Israel and Mossad
Israel: I read an article stating that the "Mossad Men" (Institute of Intelligence and Special Operations) have killed American and British soldiers if it suited their purpose, specifically to keep the war going. Is there any evidence that this is a fact and is this organization presently in operation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.184.196.151 (talk) 04:19, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Response: Please clarify: Which war are you referring to? Mossad seems to be still in business, and its predecessor organization started operations in 1938, per the article. Zionist forces did kill British soldiers at times during the 1940's while the British had a mandate over Palestine . The killings may have been by other Zionist organizations (see Irgun, The Sergeants affair, and Lehi (group). The article Mossad does not attribute any killings of U.S. or British soldiers to Mossad. Edison (talk) 04:43, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Of course, the Mossad is generally recognised as one of the more competent services. So we wouldn't necessarily know. Let the paranoia flow! --Stephan Schulz (talk) 08:28, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This question has probably been asked before, but who is the typical Wikipedia editor based on sex, age, nationality, occupation, etc?--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 09:58, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I have just read this article [4] and found it interesting but very pessismistic & a bit scarey (I live in the eurozone). And then there is an interesting first comment from a reader: "And the dollar?" attacking the article & writer and saying the dollar is just as theoretically vulnerable, next poster writes "excellent post", and then someone else writes under that: "And sterling?" too, and others say it is "alarmist nonsense". So with all this talk of the euro breaking up in the press that I keep reading, could anyone with economics knowledge please explain: Why is everyone so pessismistic at the moment about the euro - as the comments suggest, don't the US dollar or British sterling have just as huge problems and huge deficits and could default on their debts too? Please help understand, thanks, --AlexSuricata (talk) 15:39, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The difference is that the Euro is used by multiple countries, each with their own fiscal policy. The lack of a coherent fiscal policy means it is very difficult to take any control over the Euro. Britain has a high deficit and lots of debts, but it almost certainly won't default on that debt since it can just inflate away the debt (and there are less drastic steps too involving manipulating exchange rates in order to change trade balances). A country like Greece can't do that without the help of the rest of the Eurozone, but what's good for Greece isn't the same as what is good for, say, Germany, so it isn't going happen (Germany has a strict policy of keeping inflation below 2% and it isn't likely to relax that since it is a good policy for Germany). The Eurozone is at risk of being pulled apart by the differing interests of its member states (personally, I don't think that will happen, but it may well take something big to avoid it and I don't know what that will be). --Tango (talk) 18:36, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Tango's absolutely right about the problems/advantages of a unified currency. It's hard to inflate away your debt worries when you can't control the currency, then again you receive the monetary benefits that come with that (in the form of better borrowing terms) not to mention the political benefits. Shadowjams (talk) 06:15, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, a declining euro isn't necessarily a bad thing for euro economies. Debt costs less (in terms of other value) and exports become more attractive to other countries. For a long time the dollar declines helped U.S. exports; the roles have switched somewhat, but a declining currency, especially if controlled, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Shadowjams (talk) 06:18, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Basically the risk to the Euro is pretty similar to the situation with the old ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism), one of the precursors to the Euro, in that various countries were forced out of it by speculators exploiting differences in fiscal policy between member states or economic shocks to individual currencies. 93.109.243.13 (talk) 10:10, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Tango got the essence right, but Shadowjams missed the knock-effect to prices that deflating the Euro vis-à-vis the dollar would generate: inflation. As we discovered here in Hong Kong, giving up monetary policy (in our case, by pegging to the US dollar; in Greece’s case by being part of the EuroZone) means that the adjustment cannot be made via external prices (devaluing), and so has to be via domestic prices. That’s deflation, and it really, really hurts. DOR (HK) (talk) 02:44, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Here's a column by Paul Krugman arguing "We're Not Greece," "We" being the U.S. Similar articles have appeared regarding the UK. It's worth remembering that despite their wide budget deficits, there is comparatively little fear that either the U.S. or UK will default on its debts. Both countries still have an AAA credit rating from S&P, at least for now. Greece's credit rating is BB+, the same as Azerbaijan's. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:07, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Unknown oil painting artist
I found this painting in the attic of the house I used to rent. I was wondering if anyone know who the artist is. The name on the painting looks to be "Harlt". It is an island scene.--76.22.134.203 (talk) 18:12, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It looks mostly to be a souvenir type of painting that are usually produced in great quantities and, at least here, can be found on the walls of cheap pizza parlours and other such places. --Saddhiyama (talk) 09:40, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Just out of curiosity, what about the picture of the painting suggest that is it is a cheap mass produced souvenir painting? I am not delusional enough to think that it is a valuable painting, and I do not know much about art, but the painting is rather intricate and looks to be done by a professional with a fair amount of skill that spent a decent amount of time on it.--76.22.134.203 (talk) 18:02, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Getting money for US Healthcare
Seems to me that Healthcare is more important than libraries. Lets say we close down all the libraries in the US. About how much money would that free up to pay for Heatlhcare? ScienceApe (talk) 19:53, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I assume ScienceApe is referring to publicly funded libraries. Wikipedia is not publicly funded and shutting it down would not contribute anything towards healthcare. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:27, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sure you see the fallacy of the either/or approach to these particular two issues. (I think Healthcare is more important than your house—let's sell off your house!) I'm not sure how easy it is to figure out total public library expenses. The American Library Association says that "Public libraries in the U.S. are set up under a local governance model, as the majority of funding for most public libraries comes from local taxes. On average, nationwide, local taxes are responsible for over 80% of public library funds, with 10% coming from state sources; federal interests contribute less than 1%." So most of the funding is local taxation, not federal. Federal funding is something like $170 million. So one could estimate, given those percentages, that total is probably something like $10 billion (combined state, local, and federal). Which is pretty much peanuts. Note that in 2007, the US spent $2.26 trillion on health care. Even with a healthy guess of how much one might save under more ideal systems, $10 billion isn't going to make up the difference, and it would probably not be the best trade-off anyway. One could much more easily trim $10 billion off of the military, for example, with little obvious effect to the whole of society (they'd be out a few planes and a couple tanks, but they'd still exist in pretty much the same form). Trimming all library budgets—which isn't possible anyway, considering how the taxes are allocated—would have probably a larger effect on people's daily lives than you probably guess (I assume you are not a library user), and have an entirely negligible effect on health care services. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:42, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think the net effect on the health of the nation would be negative. You would have a less intelligent population, which means less competent doctors (or more spending on training doctors, cancelling out the savings). There is also a correlation between education and health - poorly educated people tend to lead less healthy lifestyles. That means more people needing healthcare, increasing the required spending. --Tango (talk) 21:07, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure that argument is really convincing. I don't think education at libraries probably amounts to a significant change in health care costs. I think you could argue, though, that removing libraries would reduce the quality of life for a significant number of people, would negatively impact the poor, the young, and the elderly disproportionately, would reduce literacy by a real amount (libraries are chief sites of adult literacy programs), and would probably involve other unexpected costs (e.g. ending after school programs). You'd also be slashing a good number of jobs. None of these costs are really justified by what you would gain from the cost cutting, which would be a very small drop in a very large bucket of funds. To me, that's enough of an argument to make the idea seem rather silly. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:05, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that the increase in costs wouldn't be very significant, but the change in health care costs only needs to be very small to cancel out the benefit, since libraries only constitute a very small portion of US public spending. Imagine the closure of each library results in one more case of type-2 diabetes a year (which is plausible). The cost of treating just that (for the remaining life of the sufferer) would probably match the cost of running the library (I haven't actually looked up the costs of either treating diabetes or running libraries, so this is just a guess, but you get the idea). --Tango (talk) 00:03, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming that the money could be redirected - I don't think it would make a dot of difference - consider a library's cost - a few staff, the upkeep of the building, plus the books. this [5] gives some figures for UK and US - only higher education librarys - compare the figure £430 million pa (uk) with the NHS budget of £65,000 million that year. Note that higher educational library costs are higher than public librarys due to high costs of books/periodicals. Maybe someone else can find the figures for the USA.87.102.18.191 (talk) 21:18, 22 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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I think you will find... ScienceApe... that a great number of philosophers and writers have placed learning and education (an ideal supported by public libraries) at the center of human improvement, while palliative care is just that -- palliative. And remember the old admonition -- "Physician, heal thyself". It questions the whole notion that doctors are really all that effective at preventing incontinence of this organ or that, in the end. Vranak (talk) 06:39, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm writing an article about a house that some people have seen as an "astronomical calendar" and compared to Stonehenge because it has "four west doors [that] indicate the seasons of the year", because the sun shines directly onto a different door at noon at four specific times of the year. Do we have a term for "a structure that is built to focus on the angle of the sun at specific times of the year", whether Stonehenge or this house or Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Box Tunnel? Nyttend (talk) 00:59, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't offhand think of (or find) a specific name for this kind of structure, but if you haven't already seen it you might be interested in our article on Archaeoastronomy which mentions many such buildings, erections and other constructions. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 09:23, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hi. I wasn't sure whether to ask this in the humanities, science, mathematics, language or miscellaneous desk, so I'll ask it here. How long on a statistically viable average time would it take for an individual person to communicate with every person that he or she knows, so that these people communicate with all the people they know or can contact, up to a point where ≥75% of the world population has been communicated to? In this case, communication can consist of verbal communication, a phone call, online chat, participation in an online community, email, news broadcasting, public speaking, public displays of something, intercom, playing an instrument, or simply making eye contact. Thanks. ~AH1(TCU)02:58, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Today, I guess, not that long for the internet-viewing world. But to get to over 75% of the world's population would be very hard. I was thinking upload a video on YouTube that then goes viral. That's pretty fast. Or chain spam emails. Or via a virus that streams a video of you. {{Sonia|talk|simple}}03:09, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Of course this isn't a random network though--not all people are connected to the same extent; I'm sure there have been studies done on this issue generally, although you can ask it dozens of different ways and get that many answers. As for the research that's actually been done on it, Six degrees of separation has some. The original idea comes from a Stanley Milgram article, and there's plenty of research that addresses it. Try a google scholar search for "six degrees of separation milgram". I found a lot. Shadowjams (talk) 07:17, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
China pegs the dollar. Can America peg the yuan? What would happen?
So China is dragging its feet on floating the yuan, which they've pegged to the dollar and tightly control. Could America decide to simultaneously peg the dollar to the yuan at a different rate? What would happen? Has this ever happened before in history where two countries control currencies and demand different mutual rates? 61.189.63.157 (talk) 08:26, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Think about it. China says it will give you 10 yuan for every dollar. The US says it will give you a dollar for a yuan. An enormous amount of dollars is flowing to China. A much more modest amount of Yuan flow to the US. I get rich. ;-) --Stephan Schulz (talk) 08:38, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The world would implode.
Pegging two currencies together recursively is absurd, someone would try to game the other. That said, as a monetary experiment, it's an interesting question.
Stephan is right: that sort of imbalance is absurd and would never persist for long. That's what arbitrage is about. However, assuming a more nuanced question, here are some very very basic thoughts.
The yaun is pegged because China sets an exchange rate. Exchange rates are dictated by market forces, however monetary policy is set by nation states. For the Dollar it's the U.S., for the Pound it's the U.K., and for the Euro it's the E.U. (I think). Pegged currencies are classical; fiat currency is a modern development.
Two currencies that moved exactly in sync would be indistinguishable. However, if the question is about the interim, or what would happen with a Chinese central bank, I can't answer. I'll leave it up to those with advanced economics degrees. Shadowjams (talk) 08:45, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
@Stephan -- my unstated assumption was that if our hypothetical US chose to take this extreme measure, they would also surely announce mechanisms to strongly deter other parties from honoring China's version of the exchange rate. 61.189.63.157 (talk) 10:21, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
How would they do that? China is not propping its currency up by artificially restricting exchange (as eastern block countries tried to do during the cold war era), they are keeping it artificially low by selling Yuan for dollars (or Euros) at a better rate than we would expect in a free market. For me to become rich, it's enough that the exchange rates offered by both countries differ. I can exchange dollars for Yuan in China, and Yuan for dollars wherever the US mandated exchange rate is honoured, i.e. at least in the US. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 10:57, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In addition to the perversity described above (someone would just cycle money endlessly through the two countries for extreme profits), in pegging a major exchange rate in this way the US would lose some ability to control its own money supply (and therefore combat inflation and stabilise the economy with monetary policy). See impossible trinity.--Jabberwalkee (talk) 11:20, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The only way that this could ever work is if the two countries pegged currencies in concert — if the USA agreed to give $1 for 10 yuan, and the PRC agreed to give 10 yuan for $1. That's vaguely how the euro works, if I understand rightly; each country pegged its currency to the euro before transitioning to it, so effectively each eurozone currency was pegged to all others for a short time. Nyttend (talk) 15:00, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Not so short a time. Fist the European Monetary System defined certain target exchange rate bands, and cooperated on interventions to maintain those rates. Then the European Currency Unit was introduced. Later, this became the Euro, which first was used for banking transactions and eventually also replaced the individual cash supplies. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:59, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
So that's what the "ecu" was...I hadn't realised that it was an abbreviation. I'd only seen it on a few French stamps (I'm a stamp collector) and had assumed that it was an attempt to establish something such as the euro that failed rather quickly. Nyttend (talk) 12:28, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, not quite. The écu was an old 19th century currency unit in France. When a more user-friendly name for the "European unit of account" was needed, the English language acronym 'ECU' was accepted by the Francophones because it coincidentally recalled the French coin. Otherwise no connection. Sussexonian (talk) 10:37, 29 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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It would appear that alot of people have been jumping on theband wagon lately, eith pegging themselves, their children or famous people as eith Autistic, dislexsic (lol) or gay, I have nothing against these famous people, or other groups, but come on people, Hitler, Autistic, WTF? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 09:34, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Looking for a Russian poem
A while back I heard a short Russian poem which I now cannot find, despite various keyword searches. Here is what I remember:
It was written by a Soviet poet. I'm quite sure the poet was male, and I'm quite sure he was Russian.
It was written during or shortly after World War II.
It is a rather short patriotic poem.
It is about burying a simple soldier, without fancy fanfare.
The image still lingering in my memory is that of the entire globe being the soldier's mausoleum.
"The entire globe being the soldier's mausoleum" rings a bell: Pericles' speech in Thucydides: "For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men". Tinfoilcat (talk) 15:04, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Spot on, dear East of Borschov, this is the exact poet (no article on en:wikipedia, yet) and poem. Thank you so much! And thank you too, Tinfoilcat, for referring the image all the way back to antiquity. ---Sluzzelintalk19:37, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
architects
Technically not homework, I need help with my coursework, which is completely different. Well, actually it's not the work itself I'm finding difficult, I am sure I can do that quite easily, instead I am having trouble choosing what work to do. Basically I have to write an essay on almost any topic of architecture, about how a building, or an architect, or a style addresses a particular issue, any issue, equality, different senses, freedom, sustainability, the representation of power or trust or democracy, whatever I want, and I simply have no idea. Having only been studying the subject for a little while, it isn't something I know much about, and I find it difficult to conduct research into a subject i don't know, so what would be really nice would be if someone could suggest a particular building or architect that I could research and write about, narrowing down slightly the area I would have to study. In particular I would like to write about a famous architect that has attempted to design buildings for ordinary people without trying to follow any particular ideals, or trying to be dramatic and modern and show off their new designs, if such a person exists. Could someone possibly help, I only have a few days to do this, and I promise next time I will spend a lot longer doing my own research.
Take a look at Samuel Mockbee, who made a name for working with the vernacular architecture of the rural southern United States, dealing with issues of social responsibility. For broader applications, the field of urban design is much richer with discussions concerning power, trust, democracy and such, since the way towns and cities are planned has a much more evident influence on, and is influenced by, the political environment. The Bauhaus and the entire Modernist movement of the time would be a fertile area, as would the work of Le Corbusier and specifically his Voisin plan, as well as the Unité d'Habitation. Frank Lloyd Wright had similar leanings, at times. I have a book on his Marin County Civic Center whose title is The Architecture of Democracy, discussing how Wright incorporated his ideas of governance into the work. Acroterion(talk)11:42, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I was about to suggest Wright myself, particuarly his Usonian work. In the United Kingdom, you could go for the "love-it-or-hate-it" Brutalist work seen in so many council estates and other urban residences, which eschewed "showy" and "frilly" in an attempt to push towards a more socialist ideal. GeeJo(t)⁄(c) • 11:51, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Mockbee would be the most modest of the bunch - Wright, Corb or Gropius could hardly be described as modest - visionary or socially active design usually isn't compatible with self effacement. A counter-example might be Pruitt-Igoe, a prototype of high-rise low-income housing, designed, ironically, by Minoru Yamasaki. The work of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in the UK might be worth a look as well, since you appear to be in that part of the world. As GeeJo observes, they were in the forefront of Brutalism. The whole New Towns movement in the UK is relevant. Acroterion(talk)11:55, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The idea of a Model village as built by philathropist or socially responsible industrialists is an easy one to quickly get info on. (You could practically just copy the wikipedia page word for word :) )87.102.18.191 (talk) 14:39, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
From a less sociological/more technological point of view "bridge design" is an easy one to quickly get info on.. How different types and styles of bridge are used for different lengths of span, as well as the history of it. Google books etc should give plent via a search for "bridge engineering" etc.87.102.18.191 (talk) 14:42, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's a little bit of a stretch, and I wouldn't necessarily say that they describe themselves this way, but the Nature Conservancy is an environmental organization in the U.S. that is attractive to property-rights proponents, and yet an extremely environmentalism oriented organization. Shadowjams (talk) 07:04, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Heard it on the radio a few days ago. He was French. A writer or an artist. He was so obsessed with suicide that he carried a noose with him all the time. And he did, in fact, hanged himself on a lamppost in Paris. My first googlehit would be Gerard de Nerval (born May 22), but wikipedia article differs a bit with the radio story. Could anyone else fit the description? East of Borschov (talk) 17:17, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry to bring up such a "full on" topic. I was wondering if there are any philosophers who agree with my theory on the convoluted topic that is the meaning of life. I believe that God did indeed create the world and and humanity and all life on the planet. However, his master plan of an all pervading harmony on earth was cut short by Adam and Eve taking a bite from that pesky apple and of course the events after that which revealed humanity's "wickedness" to each other. Over a course of time and after observing man's inhumanity and disregard for God's work, I think God realised that he'd made a mistake by creating everything, granted humanity free will and made it our destiny to destroy ourselves and the earth and thereby rectify his mistake. Sorry to sound so morbid but I just wondered if there are others who share this theory and if, in your opinions, it stands up to objective scrutiny. --Thanks, Hadseys18:04, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think the topic for discussion is the raw material for a novel, to be crafted in accordance with a writer's skills and inclination. What all of us are doing is writing that novel. It is a multi-input literary work that will probably be either awesome or awful whenever it is considered to be a finished product. Bus stop (talk) 18:52, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't imagine that there are not others who agree with this, in part, or in whole. It seems as if there are more interpretations of scripture than there are followers of it (if you even based your assumptions from scripture). Does it stand up to objective scrutiny? Well, religion is very subjective. I don't think that there is any way that one person can determine that your views are more or less valid than another (though people try all the time). All they can determine is that they don't agree with your views, and that you don't agree with theirs. Falconusptc19:08, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You will lose a rather large proportion of classical and contemporary philosophers, myself included, with the phrase "God did indeed create the world". Anything that follows from that would be deemed specious and unsatisfactory in any worldview that does not a priori grant the existence of a Creator God.Vranak (talk) 21:08, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Some people believe(d) that the present world is actually Hell, which seems similar to the OPs idea. Perhaps there is a word and an article that describes this notion. As someone who does not believe in the supernatural, then this is at best amusing nonsense. 92.28.255.202 (talk) 22:09, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I thought there was an obscure Russian sect from the 19th or 18th centuries who behaved like Adamites and who believed this, but I cannot find any mention of them anywhere. Edit: I must have been thinking of the Doukhobors. See also Ranters. I suppose that any person or group who thinks we are living in Hell is going to self-destruct and not survive very long. 92.15.20.47 (talk) 19:30, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Or Mark Twain's comment on how all his friends were apparently going to hell and all the disagreeable people he knew were certain they were going to heaven: "Heaven for climate; hell for society!" ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 13:27, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
So is the Star Wars saga. :) The OP raises an interesting idea. When God destroyed humanity by flooding the earth, afterwards He promised Noah that He would never again destroy humanity. (Let's not even get into the issue of how the omniscient God didn't see all this coming.) Ah, but He didn't say He wouldn't give man the means to figure out how to destroy himself. Ya gotta hand it to God for craftiness: He wasn't born yesterday. :) ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 22:14, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's only one translation. Most of the others are more ambiguous. Moreover, this is what he said to himself - it's not a promise. What's normally considered the promise is Genesis 9:11, where he promises "no flood", but seems to keep an open mind about fire and brimstone ;-). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 10:57, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
But if anyone is entitled to indulge in hyperbole, the creator of the entire universe would be. The universe, infinite as it is, is mere chicken feed compared with an infinite number of infinite universes. He could claim to have created everything that exists or has ever existed or will ever exist, in this or any other universe, but someone would rightly counter that he's hiding his light under a bushel, because his actual achievements far outweigh that modest tally. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 12:17, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
As individuals we have free will but collectively as humanity our actions, which are a result of free will, would enable us to wipe out everything God made. Of ccourse we have to do it unknowingly because if we knew we were doing it that would interfere with God's grand plan --Thanks, Hadseys10:27, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't agree with the main idea, but this makes me think, so you are basically saying we have free will but not in a social sense ? like I could choose not to work today but society pressure scratch that possibility off ? I'm curious on this subject now, do we have an article on that ? 200.144.37.3 (talk) 10:54, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Who said: "If God did'nt exist, we would have to invent Him"? I think that is what is happening here. We are inventing God as we are un-happy with the current One! Only, we may come full-circle and find Him/Them/Her/It. MacOfJesus (talk) 18:51, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
According to today's Mail on Sunday, 23. (Of course, you have to remember many of them live in homes around London, of the 4-5 bedroom type that sell for £500-£750,000, and this contributes to their "millionaire" status, but doesn't necessarily mean they all live like people we think of as "millionaires".) - Jarry1250[Humorous? Discuss.]19:39, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed - language hasn't quite kept up with inflation. Being a millionaire doesn't make you that rich these days. Lots of people reach retirement with a nice house, a big pension pot and maybe a holiday home and flashy car. It isn't hard for the values of those to add up to more than a million pounds. That certainly makes you one of the wealthy, but not exceptionally rich. --Tango (talk) 21:33, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Very true. The Economist Intelligence Unit claim that there are 4 million dollar millionaires in the UK; does that mean 1 in 16 people here live to that stereotype. No.--Leon (talk) 21:33, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The houses do not have to be 4-5 bedrooms. According to rightmove dot co dot uk, in London there are 281 houses with three bedrooms for sale at over a million pounds, 71 with two bedrooms, and nine with only one bedroom. Its depressing to see the ugly terraced tatt that even a million buys you in London. And these millionaires - is that net or gross?
They are definitely net. It is completely meaningless to talk about gross millionaires. Property prices are determined largely by the location rather than the quality of the property. --Tango (talk) 23:55, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Even ugly terraced houses in seedy locations like Finsbury Park or Haringay can sell for £1M+, so even bad locations are expensive. 92.28.251.49 (talk) 10:43, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Not meaningless at all. The ability to raise finance (resulting to high gross and lower net assets) itself is a status symbol. Surely, the subprime craze made housing loans available even to people of modest means, but those days seem to be gone, and anyway it was limited to the U.S. market. In less sophisticated places a person can be well past the million-dollar mark, net and gross, and don't qualify even for a car loan. East of Borschov (talk) 08:00, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The ability to raise finance is meaningful, but it isn't that strongly correlated with gross worth. There are people that could get big loans but choose not to and there are people that have taken out big loans in the past and not paid them back yet but now couldn't get such a loan (either due to the changing market or due to them not making payments on time). --Tango (talk) 15:12, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A reasonable estimate based on the MoS figures as to lifestyle (and not a particularly flash one) would be around 12, which brings you down to Nick Clegg. By comparison #13 is David Willetts, who owns a £300,000 house in Hampshire, a £1.3 million London home and a buy-to-let property. Th is gives him a "wealth" of £1.9 million, but based on that I don't think it's champagne dinners, caviar and house-staff. - Jarry1250[Humorous? Discuss.]09:06, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Adulterous princess imprisoned
I have read the article here about the unfatiful Crown Princess of Prussia, Duchess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and I wonder about something. She was divorced because of her adultary. Then she was put in prison for the rest of her life as a prisoner of state. But why was she imprisoned? She was divorced, so she should have no further importance for the state. It should have made no difference if they let her free and let her continue to have lovers. Why was it considered necessary to put her in prison? What was the reason for it? --85.226.40.118 (talk) 20:56, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If the wife of the king (or heir to the throne) is unfaithful, it is usually considered treason. It's a betrayal of and an insult to the monarchy. They couldn't let something like that go unpunished or it would make the monarchy look weak. --Tango (talk) 21:39, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And there is a school of thought that suggests that punishment is for the 'good of the punished'. A little hard to swallow I know, but there is a great history of personal abnegation (self-imposed or otherwise), penance, and severe restrictions on personal freedom before... shall we say, the 20th century? Vranak (talk) 22:02, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I see that the article states that she had one child (Frederica Charlotte, b. 1767) and makes no mention of the result of her 1769 pregnancy. 124.157.249.129 (talk) 00:18, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't find any reference to her 1769 pregnancy at all on the web. I have checked (through google translate) the other wp articles, external links, and references. The only ref. to a pregnancy are the German and Italian articles, cited to an offline source. Gwinva (talk) 01:24, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Identifying Isaac Asimov short story
I wonder if anyone can help me identify a short story, which I am almost positive is by Isaac Asimov (though maybe, maybe, maybe it could be by Robert Heinlein or Kurt Vonnegut). It is a marooned-in-space type story. The main characters (about three) are near Mars and are quickly losing oxygen (or something else essential). Because of orbits and so on, even though Earth and Mars are close planets, at the wrong time they could be on opposite sides of the solar system, so they have to get to a specific orbital point at a specific time. The story goes into some depth about the details of Earth and Mars orbits. The result is that one of the characters must sacrifice himself so there is enough oxygen for the rest to survive.
The end result sounds a lot like The Cold Equations, though the rest of the setup doesn't. That article notes a couple of similar predecessor stories, one of which features three characters. I'll note, for what it's worth, that a detailed discussion of Earth/Mars orbital mechanics doesn't sound much like Vonnegut or Asimov's fiction to me (and I'm not familiar enough with Heinlein's to judge that). — Lomn23:54, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Well, not *that* detailed. Asimov can just be a little dry to me at times, and it struck me like that. Probably just a couple lines. zafiroblue05 | Talk01:25, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Asimov's Law of Universal Attribution: If you can't remember who wrote a piece of science fiction, assume it was the good doctor. Clarityfiend (talk) 18:31, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Church attire
Does anyone know the name of the clothing that these choristers are wearing: [6] (the young men singing in red and white)? Thanks, Blurpeace23:51, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I consulted a reliable Church Lady, who advised me that the innermost visible white garment, with the lace collar is likely an alb. The red garment is probably a cassock. The white "angel" garment is a cotta. Edison (talk) 00:38, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's time for me to come out as a former choirboy. I once wore the exact same choir uniform that you see in the video. The lace collar is not an alb, and it's not really made of lace. More like cotton. We called it a "ruffle". I guess you could call it a "ruffled collar". That's the first thing that goes on. Over that goes the long red robe, known as a cassock. On top of the cassock, the white frock-like thing is called a surplice. At least one of the choirboys is wearing a ribbon and a medal. The color of the ribbon and the type of the medal are indications of the choirboys' rank. This is all more or less standardized for Anglican churches by the Royal School of Church Music. Marco polo (talk) 00:52, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any one all encompassing name for the garbs, or does one have to refer to the attire generally (e.g., chorister clothing)? Amendment: also, could you please explain choir "rank"? Do the ranks lead to some form of graduation, or higher position? What is the purpose of ranking in Anglican choirs? Blurpeace01:19, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think we called the whole ensemble the choir "uniform" or "choir robes". My memory is a little hazy on that; there wasn't really much discussion of the clothing since we took it for granted. As for what is the purpose of rank in Anglican choirs, there are a couple of purposes. One is that the prospect of gaining a more respected medal or color of ribbon is an incentive to improve one's performance through practice and such, since choristers are "promoted" based on attaining a higher level of achievement. A second reason for the rank is that higher-ranking choristers sometimes have a leadership role. They are supposed to encourage more junior choristers to improve their singing and to lead sections of the choir in multi-part singing. (The choir is often divided into sections singing different parts. If you are in a section and lose track of the line you are supposed to sing, you are supposed to be quiet and listen for the lead chorister for that section.) The lead chorister also sometimes has a disciplinary role when younger choristers are misbehaving or joking around when they are supposed to be sitting quietly. (This is usually just a matter of looking in the direction of the younger boys in a friendly way and putting your finger in front of your lips.) Choristers are therefore promoted not only because of their singing performance, but also for their leadership. At least in the choir in which I sang, the junior choristers respected and looked up to the lead choristers. Marco polo (talk) 15:28, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A current member of a Church of England choir speaking. Yes, "Robes" is the collective term. I agree with cassock and surplice, but the neckwear (for Trebles only) is a Ruff - some Anglican choristers wear an Eton Collar as an alternative. As Marco Polo says, the blue ribbon represents musical competence, while a red one denotes a Head Chorister. There are two of these, one leads the half of the choir that sits on the north side of the church called Cantoris and one leads the southern half called Decani. The ribbons can only be worn by choirs that are affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music - many parish church choirs don't make the grade or choose to follow a less rigid choral tradition. The red cassock can only be worn by churches that have the status of a Royal Peculiar - ie having royal patronage. Major churches and cathedrals each support a full-time choir school. Although the British don't think of themselves as a musical nation, there are 44 choir schools here, while most European countries only have two or three[7]. Alansplodge (talk) 23:50, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hello,
I inquire as to Tony Hayward's actual birth date.
I see that Wikipedia has only recently added his date of birth as 21st May 1957.
As the media is full of stories re it being his 54th birth day, I am seeking the actual date if possible and if it can be verified as the 20th or 21st; 1957 or 1956?
Is it also possible to know if he has a middle Christian name?
a. Anthony Hayward born 21st May 1957
b. Anthony (*) Hayward born 21st May 1957
c. Anthony Hayward born 21st May 1956
d. Anthony (*) Hayward born 21st May 1956
I take it, from the birthday, that you mean Tony Hayward and not Anthony Hayward: it would be helpful if you had linked the article.
Unfortunately, like much of the information in the article, his birthday is not specifically referenced (and should really therefore be removed). It was added to the article last week by User:78.151.136.230: perhaps you would like to ask that user on their talk page where the information came from? --ColinFine (talk) 23:02, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Who's Who gives his full name as Anthony Bryan Hayward and his date of birth as 21 May 1957: ‘HAYWARD, Anthony Bryan’, Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009; accessed 24 May 2010. Sam Blacketer (talk) 23:39, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Agnate of the Stewart line
Is there anymore legitimate male-line descendant of Robert II of Scotland or, if not, any legitimate male-line descendant of his ancestors, the High Stewards of Scotland? Basically if Scotland had practice the Salic law of succesion, who would the King of Scotland be now (excluding the fact about England)? --Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk) 02:09, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I had a tenant who claimed to be descended from the House of Stewart but he worked as a janitor and had been married to a black women in NYC and had a daughter and was then divorced according to him. 71.100.3.228 (talk) 05:13, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
See also list of heirs to the Scottish throne. Basically, Mary I was the last male-line descendant of Robert II. Scotland did practice semi-Salic law prior to the accession of Mary I; a woman was able to ascend the Scottish throne only when all the agnatic descendants of Robert II died out. The Scottish act of succession of 1371 said that the Scottish crown would pass to the sons of Robert II and heirs male of their bodies, failing which to his heirs whatsoever (i.e. daughters and their descendants). Mary I succeeded to the Scottish throne only because there were no legitimate male agnatic descendants of Robert II.
Mary I married her own agnate, thus keeping the crown in the family. However, her agnate had no succession rights because he was not descended from Robert II in male line. So, today there are no men who could claim the crown of Scotland on the basis of their male-line descent from Robert II. Surtsicna (talk) 20:04, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I just wanted to know if Robert II had any male-line descendants who would still bear the surname Stewart. But I see that Mary must be the last one. But I don't agree with you on Scotland's succession laws. If Mary had an legitmate uncle in the male-line she still would have been her father's heir.--Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk) 23:49, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Hamiltons although descended from a woman: Mary Stewart, Princess of Scotland, were the next in line to the Scottish throne after Mary, and also during the reign of James V prior to Mary's birth, when his infant sons had died. Anyway, the Hamiltons were the senior claimants to the throne after Mary, coming before all the other Stewart branches.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 06:16, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy, you can't really disagree with me. Scotland had a law. The law said that women could succeed if and only if there were no more legitimate male agnatic descendants of Robert II left.[8] Therefore, had Mary's father had any legitimate brothers at the time of his death, that brother would have become King. That was the law. Unless you have some other information? Surtsicna (talk) 21:04, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In fact, had the Hamiltons of Arran been descended from a son rather than a daughter of King James II, you can be sure they would have successfully challenged Mary's right to the throne.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 06:56, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Schools of law
By schools of law I mean concept of law one relates to or references. For instance, I know a judge who rejects all notions and concepts of law later than about 200 AD. Other judges have a complete modernistic view which means they uphold laws and legal principles passed or formulated within the last week. What time periods demarcate each period of legal thinking a judge might subscribe to? 71.100.3.228 (talk) 05:08, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
No, it should not be more complicated since many humanities topics such as politics are demarcated by time periods. In fact I recall a number of books on Philosophy, two by I think Will Durant one entitled Age of Reason and the other Age of Faith along with the Story of Philosophy. Certainly if philosophy can be demarcated by tiem so can law. 71.100.3.228 (talk) 08:57, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That is not true at all and there is no reason for it to be. There are different things that happened in legal circles during different time periods, but they aren't that fundamental to different schools of law. Likewise, schools of philosophy aren't that time specific. The "Age of Reason" isn't a school of philosophy. Schools of philosophy are things like Logical positivism, which isn't the philosophy of a particular time, it's the philosophy particular people. --Tango (talk) 15:19, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Time is used to distinguish between Ancient, modern and Germanic and other periods of Rome and I am sure that each of these are characterized by various takes on "Roman" law. 71.100.8.229 (talk) 23:17, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
From what I can see (Germany, also lived in Italy, Austria, UK), rare, but not very rare. Nobody would think it "weird" or notice it in particular. Most of the ones I see are simple affairs, though - a small pendant or cross on a thin chain or even leather string. I got one or two as gifts over my lifetime, but rarely if ever wore them. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 08:06, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I have been living in Italy for years, and most men as well as teenage boys wear them. While the traditional necklace is as Stephan Schulz correctly describes: a gold chain with a crucifix, many are now funkier and clunkier. Silver, leather and plastic are now preferred to gold.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 08:24, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure that there is anywhere that you could find evidence of it, but in my experience silver and fairly simple are not unusual in the UK, when I've been in the US on business it's probably been a little less but not distinctively so.
It's difficult to tell in a business environment though when most men wear ties so the collar is closed.
More bling is lot more common amongst the more chav segments though.
It definitely makes a variety of statements, which is the reason many religious sects forbid them along with wearing any other jewelry in order to distinguish those who maintain spiritual things in their minds from those who indulge constantly in carnal thinking. 71.100.3.228 (talk) 10:05, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, I'm not clear on what you're sayinf here. Could you clarify what you're getting at please?
Ignore the posts below. They are simply trying to defend it (their own necklace wearing). Wearing a crucifix is on top of one's clothes is certainly different than wearing one to adorn and draw attention in the direction of one's exposed skin. 71.100.8.229 (talk)
I would think like any fashion it comes and goes in cycles. A number of years ago in my neck of the woods (Scotland) thin Gold/silver chains with a cross/crucifix were very popular. From what I can see it is not anywhere near as popular as it once was. Jack forbes (talk) 10:51, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In Italy people of all ages still wear the standard gold chain with crucifix/Madonna/saint-even babies; however, over the last few years, designer necklaces are preferred by young men. The necklace shown in the photo also has a matching bracelet. String necklaces of leather or plastic are popular as well and usually have a silver pendant attached to it.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 11:38, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I used to wear one and I am not, never have been, nor have I any future plans of becoming a prostitute; so I would have to say you have most likely been misinformed.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 16:50, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
As someone who finds ankle bracelets fairly hot but has no real interest in prostitutes, I'd like some more info on that particular factoid. would come in handy to prevent embarrassment in the future as well. TomorrowTime (talk) 17:25, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps no one has linked to my ankle bracelet comment? Those kind of ankle bracelets may be worn by prostitutes, though I don't have any inside knowledge on that. Jack forbes (talk) 17:30, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
So far I've failed to find a reliable source for this, but it's certainly the case that, at least in the UK, and years ago, ankle bracelets were taken as indicating sexual availability - whether as a prostitute, or not. There are ample references to this in online forums, but I can't find anything definitive. From hippie days in the 60s and later, they began to be worn much more widely. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:29, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I used to wear a DIY ankle bracelet. I just took a pair of black jet beads and coiled them several times around my ankle. It looked fabulous and I never once got busted for suspicion of soliciting!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 06:51, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Offshore accounts
How does the US know if you have offshore accounts and how do they know if you earn money that is outside of the US? Are earnings from offshore accounts reported to the IRS? Also, if you don't pay taxes on income earned from offshore accounts, what can the IRS do to recover those taxes since the account is outside of their jurisdiction? Also, if I am a resident of a foreign nation, what can the country I am a citizen of do? Count Westfall (talk) 06:27, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The US, and other nations, have bilateral agreements on taxation and, to some degrees, on the exchange of banking information. I don't think they get actively informed if you open an account, but if the IRS notices a discrepancy between your income, wealth, and lifestyle, they may become suspicious and inquire. If they find out that you transfer a million a month to Grand Cayman, they will become very suspicious. If the IRS determines that you owe them, it can recover assets from wherever the US has jurisdiction. So if they cannot touch your offshore account, they can grab your house in Palo Alto instead. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 08:18, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If you have more than $10,000 in offshore accounts, you're supposed to file a report with the Treasury Department every year. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 12:24, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If you live outside the US, and you're an American citizen, you have to report any and all bank accounts on which you have signing rights, regardless of how much money is in the account, and the largest amount in that account in the previous year. So, if you are treasurer of your local (overseas) club, and nine other people have to sign for any money to move, you still have to report it. DOR (HK) (talk) 08:46, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Rain musical contraption
Hello all,
I was wondering about the contraption shown here : http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/others/rain.htm
Is it really, as I assume it is, a contraption/musical instrument that makes sound when rain falls on it ? If yes, how is it named ?
Indeed, that looks like it. Thanks! Too bad, I liked the idea of a contraption that made sounds when the rain fell on it. --Alþykkr (talk) 11:07, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I just had a look at the article on the Irish song Molly Malone and it says that while there were many girls named Molly Malone born in Dublin in the past three centuries, not one has been identified as the fishmonger of which the song is about. There is, however, the possibilty that she did exist. Does anybody know whether there actually was a fishmonger in Dublin by that name?--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 14:44, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A lot of songs come from the imagination of the songwriter. "Molly" is a nickname for "Mary", although the article says it's Mol Ní Mhaoileoin in Gaelic, and it's unclear which name came first. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 15:03, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Mol is Molly and Ni means daughter of Mhaoileoin (Malone). Yes, there were many Molly's in Ireland; even as late as the 20th century, some mother's were naming their daughters that. It's pretty much regarded, along with Bridget, as the archtypical Irish female name. I was curious if it did have it's origins in an actual person who bore that name.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:11, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The article claims they found someone they thought fit, and that others consider that claim to be bunk. It reminds me of the icon of Switzerland, William Tell, who may well not have existed, although some claim they have a record of his overture. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 15:15, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Well, historians used to believe Robin Hood was the Earl of Huntingdon who lived in the 14th century; now they are pretty certain he was based on Fulk FitzWarin, who lived during the time the Robin Hood legend is based.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:26, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. What is the University of Toronto's (St George campus) first year kickout rate for Life Science (Faculty of Arts and Science) and the average GPA in that program/faculty? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 18:23, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
According to the Academic Calendar there are no first years in life science (actually "human biology"), since it's a second year program. No minimum GPA is required, so presumably they don't keep track of the average. You might want to look around the Human Biology website, and maybe contact them directly. Adam Bishop (talk) 18:54, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
From what I've seen, the only way to get kicked out of an undergrad program is not passing at least half the credits you're enrolled in. One way to avoid getting kicked out is to drop courses that you probably won't pass before the drop date or, if you're really stuck and it's almost the end of the year, you can apply for a Late Withdrawal (LWD). I think you only get three of those in your entire U of T academic career though. I have a buddy who dropped all but two courses in his first year and U of T didn't seem to care at all. As for the average GPA in the program, that's definitely something you won't find officially published online, but POSts do tend to have GPA cut offs for admission (but as Adam Bishop said, that's a second year thing). flagitious (talk) 06:52, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
KECHEMECHE
What does KECHEMECHE mean in the lenape language? they were the indiginous people of cape may county along with the tuckahoe. I had no luck at the language desk. I know about the general history and the like but I can't find the meaning of the word!?165.212.189.187 (talk) 18:44, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently Lenape means "people". But as to Kechemeche, I've tried a quick look around online Lenape dictionaries, and I don't see anything like a KECHE- root. Howerver, MECHEN apparently means "large" with several compound words built from it (Mechinkhakihakan: large field). But you'll notice that in these cases MECH- comes first, not last as in KECHEMECHE. So... Mystery! Another possibility is that the demonym (=Kechemeche) was originally related with nouns/adjectives in Lenape, but that since then, the pronunciation and spelling of the demonym, the nouns/adjectives, or both, went their separate ways. --Alþykkr (talk) 01:31, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
For comparable questions, ask "what does Peruviano signify in Spanish? Or "what is the etymological significance of Apollo?" And be skeptical of "explanations" of Lenape placenames etc.--Wetman (talk) 15:29, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
On the other hand, a number of placenames (and associated demonyms) do have an etymology. For instance, "the word Peru is derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, in the early 16th century" (see Peru). Although you're right in that such etymologies need to be taken with a grain of salt as it's always difficult to be sure... --Alþykkr (talk) 17:13, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If I am a business person or a customer service representative speaking with a customer who is seriously lacking in English-language fluency, and I really want or need the income involved, or, if I am a customer speaking with a business person or with a customer service representative who is seriously lacking in English-language fluency, and I really want or need the product or service involved, what is a polite way in which I might inform that person about the problem and/or find another person who can assist in communication? Lack of vocabulary and lack of clear diction can prevent adequate understanding in both directions. -- Wavelength (talk) 19:44, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
[I am revising my message, by inserting "with" for clarity. -- Wavelength (talk) 20:19, 24 May 2010 (UTC)][reply]
Say "I better call a translator for <your language>". Have phone numbers handy for translators for languages of people you're likely to have to deal with. There are probably also agencies that can dispatch such calls. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 04:09, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
"I better call a translator" is not standard grammar so the recipient may have trouble deciphering it. I suggest you ask this question on the Language Desk. 92.15.20.47 (talk) 20:52, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
When I worked customer service in a call center, we had a person in the office who spoke Spanish. So there may be someone there who is at least familiar with the language. If I'm calling a business and can't understand the customer service rep, I will specifically tell them that I can't understand what they are saying and ask for their manager. I've been asked before by the manager why I requested to talk to them and have been rather up front about telling them that I couldn't understand their employee. If they're a good manager, they would want to know that their employees are not able to conduct business with English speakers fluently. After all, it hurts business if your customers can't understand your CS reps. I pointed out to one manager that they, the manager, spoke very well and asked where they were (believing the whole CS department to be outsourced to India or the like). I was a bit surprised when she said that she was in the Philippines. I detected no accent at all. Dismas|(talk)02:11, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I have found that Indian call centres have speakers who speak English very well, but so fast as to make them difficult to understand. Asking them to slow down and explaining that I am slow witted and partially deaf has no effect and the poor and crackling telephone line to the UK does not help. I dread having to talk to them at all.--Artjo (talk) 16:35, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I've been holding back on this question before, but seriously? You badly want the business of this client, aren't satisfied with their English, and your first thought was not "Where can I get an interpreter for the language?" - an interpreter would help smooth out the negotiations, and besides, you get them to start talks for you with something along the lines of: "Hello, my name is this-and-this, and I'll be interpreting today." No room for any misunderstanding or nothing there. TomorrowTime (talk) 17:31, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Does the literature of psychology give us any account of what is typical of women who are accustomed to supervising male subordinates and feel visceral disgust at the thought of having a female subordinate? 76.17.204.112 (talk) 21:21, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
But those articles are about female bosses who are tyrants. The query is about a female boss who only has male subordinates and gets along harmoniously with them, and is disgusted by the thought of having a female subordinate. 160.94.49.83 (talk) 00:41, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Uh, no. These are articles about female bosses who get along less well with their female employees than they do with their male ones. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:04, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Trying to track down a Daniel Patrick Moynihan quote
In his 1978 book "A Dangerous Place," Moynihan said: “The true diplomatist [is] aware of how much subsequently depends on what clearly can be established to have taken place. If it seems simple in the archives, try it in the maelstrom.” I'm wondering if anyone has read this book and can tell me what page (or even approximately where in the book) this quote appears on. Thanks.128.2.66.228 (talk) 03:16, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Food policy
i am researching on food policies and looking for case studies on food policies, everywhere on internet i find the general definition of food policies, but not any examples of some of the most common policies.
Could you explain in a little more detail what you mean by "food policies"? There are any number of topics that could get you in the right direction, but given such a broad topic, it is impossible to give you any useful information. If you could tell us specifically what you are researching, we could aim you in a better direction. --Jayron3205:38, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
i mean , any government policy that affects nutrition.
Policies related to schools, food labels, agriculture, advertising, education, the military, taxes, transportation, government spending, sales of food, research, etc can all affect nutrition.
please help me research something , about any specific policy that affects nutrition.i am looking for a policy that has Directly observable effects, the military spending or govt. spending does not have clearly identifiable link to nutrition.
And drilling down a bit to Pakistan-specific resources, you might look at this Agricultural Perspective and Policy (pdf) document from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. It gives an outline of all the ways the Government of Pakistan is involved in food and agriculture issues that affect nutrition – funding research into more productive crops, ensuring food security, regulating fertilizers and pesticides, promoting crops that don’t require a lot of water, soil desalination and clean-up, regulations to prevent plant and livestock diseases, taxes, subsidies…
Mykonos appears to be correct; the picture at right matches up with the scene that begins at 0:28 in the video - they both have that pier near the building with the large brown roof clearly visible. Thank you. However, do you think you could be more specific in your source of information than "Google?" Garrett Albright (talk) 15:27, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Umph, I think I put down "stereo love video location" or something similar as the search string and the first hit I got was from some forum discussion on this where one person figured it could be Mykonos. Can't seem to find the exact link again... Sorry :/ TomorrowTime (talk) 23:15, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Passport fraud
I read this article written by Alan Dershowitz regarding the recent passport fraud allegedly perpetrated by Israel in a successful plot to assassinate Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. In light of the recent summons/expulsion of Irish + Australian Israeli diplomats, does Dershowitz make a valid point and is such action by the aforementioned governments merely meant to quell uninformed nations, or is his point invalid and the governments are truly outraged? DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)12:55, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Passport fraud undermines sovereignty, for it undermines a state's ability to protect its citizens. Now, I'm sure he's right that many intelligence agencies use fraudulent passports in their work - but I think that using them in the commission of murder is significantly different from using them to, say, place an operative in a sensitive location or get an agent inside an obnoxious organization. In that article, Dershowitz doesn't seem to understand the moral repugnance that many feel about murder - and about state-ordered murder in particular. If you think it's OK to go about murdering your opponents - then you are adopting the same code as the terrorists, and then they have won. DuncanHill (talk) 14:05, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
He seems to make a sort of wp:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS argument: the fact that many countries adopt these practices does not necessarily make the practice right. A political assassination in general, when carried out in a foreign country, undermines that nation's sovereignty. Doing it with stolen passports just undermines even more nations' sovereignty. There may be valid reasons to steal passports (though personally, I have a hard time seeing them), but I think it's a pretty poor argument to point to someone else doing it and say that that makes it OK. Buddy431 (talk) 14:24, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
So you're saying it's the extrajudicial punishment that's behind the of the fraud that's the problem? So Israel decides to assassinate those on it's Most Wanted List rather than bring them home to justice, and since other countries don't agree with that form of justice, they complain. But it does seem that no one is making that point, other than you, DuncanHill. It seems that they focus on the passport fraud, seemingly denying reality, as Dershowitz asserts. DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)16:15, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The fraud is a problem - certainly no country willingly tolerates misuse of its passports by another, but what makes this case special is that they were used in a murder, and I think that has been made clear by the British and Australian governments. DuncanHill (talk) 16:59, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Really, it's very simple. The Israelis got found out. Everyone knows this kind of thing goes on and it doesn't usually get mentioned but if you get caught in the act they're going to complain about it. --Tango (talk) 20:54, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
To summarise there are two things here. Just because many people do it, including some of the ones protesting doesn't mean they like others doing it to them. When you get found out, it's entirely resonable to expect the government of the country to be rather annoyed, see 2004 Israel – New Zealand spy scandal. The fact that these were used to commit a murder of course means there is even greater concern. Nil Einne (talk) 04:09, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The question is probably unanswerable in a 100% rigorous fashion, but it can be answered in a "most likely" fashion by hypothesizing: Suppose Israel had identified the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 88 Australians, and Israeli spies forged and used Australian passports to travel to the mastermind, kill him, and escape. Would the Australian government protest this strongly? No, I don't know for certain, either, but we can all form a guess. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:30, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
American Gold Eagle coins
The article on American Gold Eagle coins states that they're legal tender and that the value of the gold in the coins far out-strips their face value. I know that in the US (and, presumably, other countries) it's illegal to melt down the coinage and sell the raw metal, although given commodity prices the metals are worth more than the face value of low denomination coins like pennies and nickels. So does this mean that people in America cannot legally melt their American gold coins? Is it legal to melt down gold coins from other countries? 96.246.63.175 (talk) 14:15, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't comment on the legality, but I can tell you that the market value of the coin (as opposed to it's face value) almost certainly exceeds the value of the gold in the coin. So whether it's legal to melt it down or not, it would be stupid to do so. Buddy431 (talk) 14:19, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
These are bullion coins, made in mass quantities in recent years. They are not rare old scarce coins, like St. Gaudens Double Eagle, which have numismatic value greater than the bullion value. The value of "American Gold Eagle coins" is based on the gold content, not the negligible numismatic value. Edison (talk) 16:35, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, we do have a Bullion coin article. It says they often sell for a small premium above the value of their metal, due to the small size and costs associated with manufacture and storage. Buddy431 (talk) 17:50, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Can you cite a source that it's illegal to melt bullion coins? I used to be into this, and I have never heard of such a thing. During the height of the silver boom 30 years ago, there was a lot of melting down of US quarters, dimes, and half-dollars minted in 1964 and previous, and those weren't even bullion coins. You may be thinking of the US law that criminalizes the defacing of US currency for purposes of fraud. Anyway, I can't think of a reason you would melt down a bullion coin, because everyone knows what the gold content is and will pay you accordingly when purchasing it from you — the $50 (or whatever) face value is just a nominal number that nobody pays attention to. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:56, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The relevant section of US Federal law is 18 USC §331 which says "Whoever fraudulently alters..."; merely melting the coin isn't fraudulent. Similarly 18 USC §332 covers debasement (such as melting it, mixing in some copper, re-pouring it, and keeping the resulting excess gold). 96.246.63.175 may be thinking about §333, which covers mutilation of notes. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk18:29, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It says at Penny (United States coin)#Numismatics and regulations that it was made illegal in 2006 to melt down pennies and nickels, and puts regulations on the export of the coins. The article cited is here, and says the rules mirror similar legislation used for silver coins during 1967-69, and (presumably copper) pennies in 1974-78. It appears to be legal (though I'm no lawyer) to melt down higher denomination coins, including bullion coins. Buddy431 (talk) 18:59, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting. I remember an article by an amateur astronomer who made his own telescope. He got the silver for the telescope mirror by melting down some silver coins from a coin dealer (it didn't cost that much since only a few coins were required). 69.228.170.24 (talk) 08:27, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The concept of the king (or queen) as protector of the church goes back at least to the dark ages. I guess holding the church is one way of representing this pictorially. Earls & lords & such also tended to found monestaries & act as local protectors. --Tagishsimon(talk)15:03, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sure they did this as a way of expiating their sins as in the case of Guy de Beauchamp, or else in memory of a dead relative as in the case of Margaret de Braose who founded a religious house in memory of her mother Maud de Braose. Thanks for your prompt reply.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:10, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Beauchamps probably owned an advowson, which is shown in the illustration; same with Queen Agnes of Hungary. I notice the churches are different, so are not meant to represent the Church in general but their own particular advowson. These answers are very helpful.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 15:30, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The article on Guy de Beauchamp says he donated 42 books to the library of Bordesley Abbey, Worcestershire, where he was also buried. It's possible the building pictured is this Abbey. Of course, he would have had to do something to expiate the death of Piers Gaveston! I originally thought it was the original St Mary's Church, Warwick, but another member of the Beauchamps of Warwick built that. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:29, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Compare the image of her mother and predecessor (predecessress?) Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol, obviously from the same source. By the way, it would be nice if people uploading images to Commons were more careful to research and note the original source of images like these ones, not just the immediate source where they found the image. --Hegvald (talk) 10:41, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Elisabeth's article needed a bit of fixing; I'm glad you linked it here. This is all very helpful, as it proves the churches depicted were indeed religious houses that were under their patronage.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 12:28, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
in the united states, can you write a newspaper article calling for the eradication of black people (a la klu klux klan)
I have no interest in this and this is not a requestion for legal advice. Instead I just want to know whether it is true that America is absolutely adamant about free speech on a constitutional/supreme court decided level, even when it conflicts with America's ideals. For example, can you write a newspaper article calling for the eradication of black people, ie as a klansman might? 82.113.121.113 (talk) 21:50, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
No mainstream newspaper would print such a letter though, so essentially it would still be censored (just not by the government). You could, however, right it in your blog, and while many people would think negatively of you, the government would not intervene. Buddy431 (talk) 22:41, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There are limits to the First Amendment, though. Calling for the eradication of black people may (or may not, depending on how you word it) be seen as either a threat, or as inciting people to do illegal things. In both of these cases, the government may intervene. The other two exceptions to the First Amendment that I can think of are obscenity (a difficult to define concept: in the U.S. the Miller test is applied) and Child pornography. Buddy431 (talk) 22:59, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
See also Hate_speech#United_States for the specifics of your scenario, with links to the relevant major cases. There are limits but they are pretty specific. In general, if you are not calling for direct violence or trying to incite a riot, you can publish any hateful thing you want, generally speaking. (And people do.) --Mr.98 (talk) 01:28, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
As Buddy431 pointed out, you can write it but it may not see the light of day in a newspaper. Newspapers often have a "Letters to the Editor" section where people can write in and state their opinions on many issues such as local politics, social issues, etc. The newspaper isn't required to print these and will generally only print those that have some merit to them (as judged by the newspaper's staff). If the newspaper feels that they will suffer a backlash from people canceling their subscriptions, their advertising, etc., then the paper will likely not print your letter. Dismas|(talk)01:57, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It doesn't matter whether some existing newspaper will or won't print your article (an editorial judgment that is up to them). You can always buy a printing press and print your own newspaper. That said, there's probably lots of content you might print that is legal but would get you investigated. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 08:30, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think people overestimate newspaper standards. Even venerable newspapers like the New York Times will print all sorts of hateful stuff if it is carefully written and argued, and is espoused by someone with a fancy title or pedigree. Less venerable newspapers print all sorts of hateful columns about gays, hispanics, Muslims, or any other feared group. (Ann Coulter was able to get published in the National Review the sentiment that with regards to Muslim nations, the US should "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"... is this really so different from the sentiments of the KKK? Hate is hate, whether the group hated is considered legitimately "scary" at the moment or not.) And of course there is the internet, which is essentially the world's largest printing press, which contains all manner of foul bile. To say that a newspaper won't print hate is wrong, and is an antiquated definition of "newspaper" anyway... --Mr.98 (talk) 12:29, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Examples? How about, say, citing the two or three most recent examples of "hateful stuff" printed in The New York Times and written by someone with a "fancy title". —KevinMyers13:18, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think anyone would say that inflation guards against a recession. A moderate inflation rate can be a sign of a healthy economy. I would not consider Hyperinflation healthy for an economy, though it may not actually accompany a true recession (contraction in economic activity). Buddy431 (talk) 01:57, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Is there an optimum inflation rate? The 2% target in the UK is like a jet fighter flying at 2 metres above ground level - it is flying so low that it wacks into the side of a hill, as we have recently seen. 92.15.6.183 (talk) 21:09, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The standard newspaper-headline inflation figure is based on the Consumer Price Index, which is a basket of goods and services that is supposed to represent what the average consumer buys. Typically, some products (say, computer chips) crash in value and others (petrol) soar, and the net result – depending on things like weighting within the basked – may be that optimum (?) +2%. But, if the basket is out-of-date, which is to say it is based on what people bought 5 or 10 years ago, it may not give as much useful information. So, what happens is central bankers use a variety of inflation measures and hope that they can see far enough into the future to adjust monetary policy so as to prevent prices from rising too fast, or falling too much. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:20, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Biblical prostitutes
When the Bible says it is better to couple with a prostitute than to leave your mark on the ground does that mean any prostitute (including those that are not Israelite)? 71.100.8.229 (talk) 23:34, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm looking. I recall it went something like, "... it is better to spill thy seed in the belly of a whore than to spill it on the ground..." but while I can find the phrase in Genesis 38:9 that Onan "...spilled it [his seed] on the ground..." I can't find it in reference to a whore. 71.100.8.229 (talk) 02:43, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Something not stated in the text couldn't possibly be a literal interpretation. The only thing I could think of, too, is the story of Onan. However, God's displeasure at Onan's action is more easily attributable to Onan's dereliction of brotherly duty and disobedience of his father. Paul (Stansifer)02:47, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(ec's)Chapter and verse would be good. Else we can't tell whether you're talking about hors de combat or hors d'ouvresPhGustaf (talk) 02:50, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Having scanned with "belly" and "on the ground" and a variety of other phrases it does not yet appear. I do not think it from my imagination but it could be from a comment I overheard or from other reading. Anything you find that is close please post here. 71.100.8.229 (talk) 06:47, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Having scanned for prostitute, whore, and harlot, there are an awful lot of them in the Bible, but no suggestion that any of them are better or worse than the ground. (There are many statements that people think are in the Bible that turn out not to be there at all.)--Shantavira|feed me07:49, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There is no such scripture/phrase/reference/advice in the Bible; it is most likely an extrapolation and a misinterpretation of the story of Onan (from which we have the word onanism), Tamar, and Judah. Onan was "slain by God" for not ejaculating inside Tamar, his dead brother Er's widow (whom he was obligated to marry according to levirate marriage). Tamar then posed as a prostitute in order to get Judah, the father of Onan and Er, to sleep with her; which he did, and she bore twins, and according to scripture, Judah was never "punished" for sleeping with "a prostitute". You can see how the phrase has gotten around, but its implied meaning is far from the Biblical story upon which it's (probably) based. A decent explanation is here, too: [12]. Maedin\talk08:11, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that explains it very well why it can't be found in the Bible so I'm wondering now just how many other false extrapolations are out there which are believed to be scripture and if the Wikipedia has a list? 71.100.8.229 (talk) 08:40, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think there's a list, as it would be unverifiable. But two that spring immediately to mind are the apple that never was (see forbidden fruit) and Noah's animals being in pairs. (Our own Noah's Ark article seems to ignore Genesis 7:2-3.)--Shantavira|feed me10:25, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I once saw a clip from an American news show where some lady was talking about how the free market stems from the Bible and proving this by the biblical saying that "if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime". TomorrowTime (talk) 12:33, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Exactly. That isn't a Biblical quote at all — it's actually a Chinese proverb. [13] (Or is it? [14]) That's a perfect example of yet another false extrapolation from the Bible. Gabbe (talk) 13:11, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Whoever wrote that (otherwise well-researched and argumented) blog post under (13) fails to acknowledge that "ancient Asian" wisdoms have seen some very loose translating through the ages - you can look up translations of verses from the I-Ching or The Art of War on the Internet, and some translations of the same passages stand ridiculously far apart. But yeah, that was my point - that saying is not even from the Bible, but obviously the above mentioned talking head thought it was because it, well, sounds Bible-y. TomorrowTime (talk) 17:40, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The answer to your question will certainly depend on your orientation and preconceived notions, but I can provide the Jewish perspective. For a Jewish male, there is at most a rabbinic prohibition on prostitution assuming that the prostitute is not similarly male (which would fall under the biblical ban on homosexuality) or a Jewish female either married or in niddah (with whom intercourse is biblically prohibited because of adultery or niddah prhobitions, respectively) and there is debate as to whether coitus interruptus, masturbation and other forms of "spilling one's seed" are biblically or rabbinically prohibited. It's therefor debatable as to which one is worse, and doing one to avoid the other is likely not a legal defense because one should have done neither. The Christian perspectives are likely different. DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)15:20, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
From a christian point of view, it depends on whether or not you take the Catholic or mainline Protestant point of view. Catholics recognize differing degrees of sin (see cardinal sin, venal sin, mortal sin etc.) and differing degrees of penance one can do to atone for sin. Many mainline protestant denominations do not rank-order sins, instead seeing sin as a binary state: You are either in a state of grace or not. All sin is equal in the eyes of God in that sin prevents one from having a relationship with God, and Jesus resurection redeemed all people who profess faith in him from all of their sins. In other words, there is no sin which God can allow in his presence, and there is no sin which Jesus's death and resurrection did not wash away, so there is no sin that is "better" or "worse" than any other. Though there are likely a continuum of views on sin from the hundreds of Christian denominations, so it would be difficult to answer the question in any singular "Christian" view. --Jayron3201:04, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
May 26
Victorian court case about Calvinist Priest not seated in Anglican Church?
Does anyone know of a Victorian court case about Calvinist Priest not seated in Anglican Church? As I recall the Bishops backed up the decision not to seat a Calvinist as a priest, but he appealed the decision to the Privy council that supported him.--Gary123 (talk) 05:30, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Wasn't the Victorian era a bit late for hammering out these sorts of things? This seems a few centuries too late for such debates to have been going on within the CoE, are you sure of the time frame? --Jayron3205:35, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Buddy's #3 is wrong. In North American usage, for any political division smaller than a country its own name is used as an adjective rather than being inflected. So our state and provincial governments would include the Ontario government, the Kansas government, and the California government, not Ontarian, Kansan, and Californian... and thus any Victoria in North America would not have a "Victorian government". And then, of course, for cities we generally don't say "government" anyway, but "council" or whatever they call it in that city. --Anonymous, 21:01 UTC, May 26, 2010.
There is no copyright protection for Mathematics. Therefore there must be hundreds of thousands of bit torrent downloads of all the mathematical works. No mathematicians who produces a work of mathematics will ever sell a single copy of their work. If they ever wrote something, people can legally duplicate their work without paying them a single cent.
What makes you think there is no copyright protection for mathematics ? Mathematical theorems and methods cannot be patented, but I don't see why a published mathematics book or paper should have any less copyright protetction than any other published work. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:21, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Even more, many mathematicians are paid for solving particular problems, as e.g. creating risk models for insurances or financial derivatives for banks or economical models for governments. As in many disciplines, the knowledge is basically cheap (but not easy) - just spend a few hundreds on books. Understanding what to do when is much harder. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:59, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Papers are protected by copyright law, and universities pay an annual fee to academic journals for access to those papers. However, the money just goes to the journals; the researchers aren't paid and will usually (at least in computer science, with which I'm more familiar) put all their papers on their website for anyone to download. In order to push the state of the art forward, it's necessary to have access to the current state of the art, and mucking around with permission is the last thing that researchers want to do.
The researchers generally get paid by a university or government or occasionally a business. In each case, a combination of prestige and a desire for access to the result. It's understood that everyone will have access to the newly-gained knowledge, but that's doesn't diminish its value. Paul (Stansifer)13:36, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
the real question is "why are there mathematicians"? In a free market, there would be almost 0 mathematicians. Accountants, chemists, physicists, wall street quants, yes. But pure mathematicians: none. Professional pure mathematics is an example of government waste and excess. It also just so happens to be the only true progress humanity makes. 82.113.104.240 (talk) 13:17, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Pure mathematics is extremely useful in chemistry, physics and quantitative finance (along with hundreds of other fields) - in fact, those fields wouldn't exist without it. While a lot of funding of mathematical research (and other academic research) does come from governments, that's mostly because it is more efficient and effective to share results but companies are inclined to keep things to themselves (although they do often publish their results anyway, at least in less competitive industries). If governments weren't funding this research, companies would do so, so there would be pure mathematicians. There wouldn't be as many and they wouldn't make as much progress, but they would still exist. --Tango (talk) 13:47, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Your statement asserts that your statement is meaningless, since it isn't mathematical. Complete waste of space which will achieve no true progress, according to you. Indeed, you may be right. 81.131.30.213 (talk) 15:00, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Copyright Law : we discuss works for which copyright law cannot be applied. The law is designed to protect creative written works.
Ideas are generally not subject to copyright. From section 102 of [US]: In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
You are confused. Mathematics papers are indeed subject to copyright. The ideas in the papers are not. But this is no different than any other field. For example, a legal brief is copyrighted, but the legal theories it describes are not. The actual writings of a philosopher are copyrighted, but the theories the philosopher describes are not. — Carl (CBM · talk) 13:43, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Let me give you an example: suppose no one know how to solve a cubic equation. Suppose I wrote/published a paper on the procedure or method of operation to solve the cubic equation. What do you think the Copyright status of my paper will be? 122.107.207.98 (talk) 13:45, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Exactly the same as the copyright status on any other original work. The method you describe wouldn't be protected but the presentation of it would be. --Tango (talk) 13:49, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The prevalence is about 0.8 to 2.5 per cent of males and 8 to 13.7 per cent of females, according to the studies cited here (PDF). Using our estimate of world population, 6,823,200,000, and assuming 50-50 male-female split, that's roughly between 300 million and 550 million people. Best, WikiJedits (talk) 18:08, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Typography in Shakespeare
Why exactly does the text of a Shakespeare play often exhibit a strange typography (specifically, the use of leading blank white space in the lines of some characters)?
For example, these are lines 1-3 of act 2, scene 6, in The Merchant of Venice:
1 Gratiano: This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo
2 Gratiano: Desired us to make stand.
3 Salarino: His hour is almost past.
Thus, in line 3, why is there all of that leading blank white space in Salarino’s line? What is this supposed to indicate? I assume that this has something to do with the keeping the correct meter of a Shakespearean verse, but I am not sure. Also, even if it does keep the Shakespearean meter in proper form, what practical effect does this leading white space have on the reader of the play (when he is reading the lines)? Or on the actor performing those lines (when he is speaking the lines)? Thank you! (64.252.65.146 (talk) 15:11, 26 May 2010 (UTC))[reply]
Yes. It's a meter thing. It's used to indicate that Salarino's line is half a verse. In other authors like Edmond Rostand you can even find thirds or quarters of verses indicated in this way : see for instance http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac_(Rostand) (right at the beginning) :
LE PORTIER, le poursuivant :
Holà ! Vos quinze sols !
LE CAVALIER :
J’entre gratis !
LE PORTIER :
Pourquoi ?
LE CAVALIER :
Je suis chevau-léger de la maison du Roi !
(First alexandrine : -Hey! It's fifteen sols! - I can come in for free! - Why?
Second alexandrine : - I'm a chevau-léger in the King's Household!)
Rostand's example demonstrates the utility of this - with halves you could keep track without the spaces, but when it gets into thirds, quarters, or even fifths or sixths, it can become difficult to see where a verse ends, begins, or reaches its half, all things important for proper diction. I think there would be some examples in Shakespeare where you could find thirds or quarters of verses. --Alþykkr (talk) 16:01, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
PS : it may also have to do with the text being visually more pleasant (arguably) thanks to this typographical "trick". --Alþykkr (talk) 16:29, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
PPS : one last note : this manner especially highlights the beginnings and ends of "divided" verses, which allows one to see what rhymes with what. --Alþykkr (talk) 16:32, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Unlikely. Mutual assured destruction is a strong deterrent to open warfare between major world powers (any such war could easily turn into a nuclear war, so everyone would rather not start a war at all). It's impossible to know for sure, of course. The ref desk doesn't really do speculation, so I'll stop breaking the rules and leave it at that. --Tango (talk) 17:52, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A war is one thing - it could easily spark a war between North and South Korea - but the OP is asking about a world war, which is very different. --Tango (talk) 18:26, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think it is pretty unlikely that this event will cause a war between Austria and Serbia, so no, it will not be like the assassination of ADuke Ferdinand. 65.121.141.34 (talk) 18:54, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I am conducting research on Father Junipero Serra.
One of the names that came up was Juan Bautista de Anza
In reading his biography,I came across the following -
"He continued on to Monterey, California with the colonists. Having fulfilled his mission from the Viceroy, he continued on with Father Pedro Font and a party of twelve others exploring north and found the first overland route to San Francisco Bay. In de Anza's diary on March 25, 1776, he states that he "arrived at the arroyo of San Joseph Cupertino, which is useful only for travelers. Here we halted for the night, having come eight leagues in seven and a half hours. From this place we have seen at our right the estuary which runs from the port of San Francisco." [1] Pressing on, de Anza located the sites for the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asis in present day San Francisco, California on March 28, 1776. He did not establish the settlement; it was established later by José Joaquín Moraga. While returning to Monterey, he located the original sites for Mission Santa Clara de Asis and the town of San José de Guadalupe (modern day San Jose, California), but again did not establish either settlement."
The final part about him finding the first overland route to San Francisco and locating the sites for the presidio and missions appears to be wrong. Reading the biographies of Portola' and Crespi indicates they found those locations in 1769/1770 more than six years earlier.
I believe that it was Douglas Hofstadter that said that the reason that you don't remember much about your early life is that everything is completely new. We organize information in a certain way, and it's only when we have a concept of certain fundamental objects like table, mother, car etc. that we are able to 'anchor and adjust' i.e. Ship - it's like a car (anchor), BUT it goes on water (Adjust). After a while we develop larger concepts by bundling our understanding of these fundamental objects together.
Anyhoo - I think that's how it goes - I could be all wet. I've Googled Allegorical Bundles, Metaphorical Bundles etc. but not found anything.
ISTR a nice concise piece that described this, and I'm pretty sure it was by Hofstadter.
So with all the foregoing, does anyone recognize this piece, can someone point me to it?
I remember reading that Pal Erdos could remember things happening when he was just a few months old. I myself can remember moving house when I was 9 months old. It may be that our brains are still forming in the early months (I did a psychology degree and remember reading that, but damned if I can remember where!) --TammyMoet (talk) 09:28, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
What makes most sense to me is that babies do not individuate for quite some time. That is, they do not perceive themselves and the outside world (including their parents, siblings etc) as separate things, but all part of one whole. It's only when this realisation finally occurs, and they get a sense of where their body ends and "other things" start, that memories of those things can be formed. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 12:27, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
no longer by boat
While I was in line at my local post office, a customer at a window wanted to send a padded envelope via surface mail to a country overseas. But the clerk told him that type of method, originally done by boat, isn't done anymore. Why is that?24.90.204.234 (talk) 22:28, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Where are you? The UK's Royal Mail still offers surface mail, as does Canada, I believe, but many other countries don't. (Leaving a bizarre scenario where you can send things by boat from UK to NZ, but not back.) This is apparently due to decreased volumes/increased costs of sea shipments, and better/more competitive air options. Having just googled a reference for this, I discover that WHAAOE: our article notes the USPS rationale: "On May 14, 2007, the United States Postal Service canceled all outgoing international surface mail (sometimes known as "sea mail") from the United States, citing increased costs and reduced demand due to competition from airmail services such as FedEx and UPS". Gwinva (talk) 23:03, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Canada certainly does. I recently sent a small package "surface mail" to Australia. It took about 4 months to arrive. Bielle (talk) 01:40, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In one of the South Park episodes Cartman asks Kyle to hand out his "jew gold". Kyle denies it at first, then he gives him a decoy bag filled with rocks, but finally gives him a bag filled with gold which hung around his neck. Now I know South Park is a satirical show, but once I asked, semi-seriously, a friend of mine, who is a Jew, about it, and he changed the subject rather quickly, without answering the question. Also I remember that an old neighbor of mine, who spent some time in the concentration camp, told me once that he was surprise when some of his friends, who were Jews, came to the camp, they had huge amounts of gold hidden on their body. Since I don’t know any other Jews, could you tell me if its true that all Jews (or most of them) have such bags on them at all times? And don’t worry, I’m not planning to rob any Jews, I just find it interesting, that not many people know about it, if it’s true. Thanks. 92.244.144.224 (talk) 00:36, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
No. There's no such thing as "Jew gold." (I am Jewish and I assure you that I have no gold on me right now.) It's an anti-Semitic trope that Jews hoard wealth. It's not that surprising that Jews arriving at concentration camps would bring gold with them. It would make sense to take any gold you have, usually in jewelry form, because it may be useful to buy things when you don't know where you're going or to bribe officials or guards as part of an escape plan. It didn't help most Holocaust victims because they were stripped of their possessions upon arriving at the camps.
Jews throughout history have often had to flee their homes on a moment's notice and having gold as a backup plan makes sense in such situations. I knew a Holocaust survivor who from his traumatic experience learned to keep several hundred dollars in cash on him at all times just in case he had to buy a plane ticket in a hurry. —D. Monacktalk01:14, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's what I was about to say. Carrying gold around today?... What for? A few grand make sense, but could you picture a Jew (for additional comical effect we are going to assume this is an orthodox Jew, complete with hat and beard) going to the airport and saying "I need to leave the country quick, a ticket please, here are 100 ducats"? No, the only place where all Jews have gold with them is antisemitic stories and stories using such stereotypes, such as Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.--Alþykkr (talk) 01:25, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, if Jewish people (or anyone) realy did carry around large amounts of gold regularly, you can be assured that even if you don't want to, there would be plenty of people who would want to rob them who would know about it, so it wouldn't be such a secret. And anyway most of them wouldn't be carrying it unless they somehow had unlimited supplies because they likely would have already had it stolen. So it's sort of a self defeating thing. Nil Einne (talk) 03:52, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
From my brief search of the internet (type "Jew Gold" into your favorite search engine), it appears that the South Park episode started the idea. Urban dictionary has 6(!) definitions, all essentially the same, and all appearing to originate from the South Park episode. The South Park reference undoubtedly comes from the stereotype that Jews are rich and greedy (and indeed, there are many prominent, wealthy Jews. It would be interesting to compare the percentage of rich Jews vs. rich others in the west to see how accurate the stereotype is). Buddy431 (talk) 04:11, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Ha! Awesome. Full disclosure: I must admit that, on the advice of Decision Moose, I own a substantial stake in the GLDexchange-traded fund in an IRA. I guess that could count as my "Jew gold" but I can't spend it until I'm 59½ without a substantial penalty. Those damn, anti-Semitic IRA withdrawal rules. —D. Monacktalk07:20, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(EC) Indeed a search on usenet finds most references from before the episode [17] are about gold that belonged to Jewish people that was stolen during WW2 and the holocaust Nil Einne (talk) 04:29, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A possible origin for the myth might be diamonds. As this site claims, "During the Inquisition, diamonds proved to be an invaluable asset for the Jews. Unlike almost any other asset, they were small enough to be concealed on the body; and they were also instantly redeemable for money in any country in Europe."TastyCakes (talk) 05:16, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think studios would like that to happen because 3D movies are not so easily pirated, but I doubt it. The technology has been around for ages, but it never really took off. Why would that happen now? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.56.13 (talk) 09:50, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
An article I read recently claimed that the old 3D films were so awful it turned people off 3D. The advent of 3D films that are actually good might revive it. I'm reminded of the video game crash of 1983 - ask people around that time and they'd have said video games were a passing fad that wouldn't take off. And now... Vimescarrot (talk) 11:17, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Someone told me that in the past, certain findings from the Coroners Court of Victoria have driven change in the law. I was unable to find any specific examples. Could someone hint me in the right direction? I can understand mainstream courts (Magistrates, County, Supreme) are able to 'change' law by setting Precedent, but how can a court that can't actually make rulings change law? — Deontalk09:11, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This is a pure guess, Deon. The Prime Minister of Australia, Harold Holt, disappeared while swimming on 17 December 1967. A massive but fruitless search of the sea was conducted for two days. On 19 December he was declared presumed dead, a necessary step before his commission as PM could be withdrawn by the Governor-General and a replacement PM sworn in. His term as Prime Minister officially continued until 19 December, even though it was widely considered most likely he had actually died on the 17th (hence, the office of Prime Minister was for two days occupied by a dead man, who was most likely shark food by that stage.) There was no mechanism in Victorian law at the time for reporting presumed or suspected deaths to the Victorian Coroner, hence Holt’s status remained “presumed dead”, with effect from 19 December 1967. This remained the case until 2005, when the law was changed. At that late stage, the Coroner was finally able to re-examine some old cases of presumed and suspected deaths, and returned a finding that Holt had indeed drowned on the day he disappeared, 17 December. See Harold Holt#Enquiries into Holt's disappearance for full details. I’m guessing that the Coroner had some role to play in having the law changed so that these sorts of cases could be investigated by the Coroner and brought to closure. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:21, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Definition of "episcopal list"
A book on medieval history refres to "episcopal lists." These are also refered to in some articles on the WEB. What are these lists and what they enumerate? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.186.218.162 (talk) 12:34, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hello everyone, are there castles or fortresses that have been besieged but never been conquered by enemy armies ? I can't seem to find the information by searching. 130.79.160.112 (talk) 12:41, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Jaikie Galt real-life antecedent in John Buchan book
I just found the article James Galt, about the Scottish football player (active 1906-1914). Was the character Jaikie Galt in John Buchan's novel Castle Gay (published in 1930 but set earlier, around 1923) named after him, or are the names and professions just a coincidence? This question applies to Scotland and literature in English. It's not homework. Thanks. 70.24.113.45 (talk) 13:06, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
